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01 - Goodnight Moon1,120 words
02 - Stairway to Heaven1,719 words
03 - Looking for an Angel3,229 words
04 - What a Fool Believes7,628 words
05 - A Kind of Magic6,803 words
06 - Intermezzo - The Dark Side of the Moon5,044 words

02 - Stairway to Heaven

They kept soaring in the night sky, Drew still holding Luna’s hoof. Suddenly, Luna glided towards a cloud, gently landing on it.

“I suppose you have some questions for me, my friend” Luna said.

“Actually, just one: why me?”

Luna smiled once more in that strange night. “Why you? I didn’t choose you by a whim, if this is what troubles you. As I said, I’ve been watching you for a long time. Did you ever ask yourself why, every time you could, you went out in the night to lay under that tree?”

Drew pondered her words, she had a good point. Since moving back to his parents’ home, he had felt an inexplicable uneasiness, a deep sense of not belonging there. As a kid, he didn’t even know about that place, yet he found it on his first nightly stroll. Yes, he thought, there must have been some sort of connection between him and the oak.

“The night has its way of calling its children” Luna said “that particular oak is an ancient artifact, one made when your race still believed in something higher than them. You, my friend, have probably inherited the blood of those men.”

“Am I some sort of Druid?”

“I’m afraid not, my friend. But you indeed have a strong connection with the magic world. That’s why I was able to save you.”

Drew didn’t speak for a while, he let his brain assimilate that notion.

“This brings out another question: what happens now?”

“Now comes the hard part. Your body, your physical body, is bound to this world. What I did earlier was simply take your will out of that body. What is still hanging to the oak is nothing but an empty shell.”

“I can take you to my world” Luna continued, “but in order to live in there as any other living being, you will need a body that is born there.”

“And this means...”

“I can perform a very old ritual, a ritual that will allow your will to travel to my world. There’s a holy place in there, a place called Everfree Forest. In that place, a power even greater than mine dwells, that power is the power of life itself. That power should grant you a body suitable to live in my world.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me” Drew said, “but I suppose there’s a price to pay to get a new body” he added.

Luna’s eyes darkened a bit. “Indeed there is a price to pay, my friend. You have to risk your own existence. If your will isn’t strong enough, it‘ll be devoured by the Forest and you will become a monster.”

Another pause.

“Can I ask you a favour?”

“Yes, my friend.”

“Should I fail this trial and become a monster, will you kill me?”

I knew you would ask me this, Luna thought. She sighed heavily, then she said:

“Yes, I will”

“Let’s do it then”

He’s determined. His will is strong.

“Very well, look there” Luna pointed one hoof down. Drew noticed they were above a small lake.

“Water is the strongest magic catalyzer” Luna explained.

“Do I need to dive in there?” Drew said, measuring the height between the cloud and the water surface.

“Yes”

“I believe in you, Luna, take me to your world”

Luna bit her foreleg, letting a drop of blood fall into the water below. Her horn flared with magic and the lake started to glow. Steam arose from the water as the glowing increased.

“Now, jump in the water!”

Drew instinctively followed her order, jumping down. He could feel the air pressure against his face rising as the liquid surface became closer and closer.

I believe in you, Luna.

Closing his eyes, he braced himself for the impact. An electric shock went through him. The world shifted around him.

And then he was going up instead of down.

Confused, he opened his eyes, trying to understand what had just happened. It was in that precise moment that gravity required its toll to be paid, so he fell down once again, making a loud splash as he sank in the cold water. He struggled to come out of the lake, painting heavily as he landed on the muddy shore.

“Beware, my friend, for your trial is not over yet” Luna’s voice echoed in his head.

Drew, still catching his breath after the swim, took a minute to inspect the surroundings. He clearly wasn’t anymore in the familiar countryside. A dark forest was standing tall around him. The trees, the sounds, even the thick air was giving him an urge to run. That place felt dangerous.

Once again, Luna spoke in his head.

“Run. Run for your life. Your strong will granted you a body. The Forest wants that body back.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m waiting at the edge of the Forest. The place you are in now is forbidden to me, you have to come here on your own”

Drew could feel the creatures of the Everfree Forest eyeing him. He could hear their growls, he could smell their bloodlust.

“The Forest wants your body, Drew. The Forest wants back what your will stole”

Drew ran. He ran like he never did in his whole life. Branches and shrubbery hindered his path. The Forest was against him, the whole Everfree Forest was trying to kill him!
As Drew ran, the creatures were approaching to him. Even if he couldn’t see them, he could clearly hear their growling. They were closing the gap!

“Quick, my friend, you are almost here!”

He could see the end of the Forest. Dim rays of moonlight oozed between the tree tops. As he turned his head, glancing back, he felt his blood freeze: a timberwolf was no more than ten feet behind him. The giant wooden beast bared its fangs, ready to attack.

Drew, almost exahusted from the run, leapt forward, desperately trying to avoid being torn to pieces. The timberwolf leapt too, quickly approaching his prey.

“QUICK!” Luna roared in his ears.

Almost there. Please legs, don’t fail me now!

The beast was right behind him, he could feel its breath against his back. One misstep and Drew would be minced meat. He felt a massive paw swirling one inch from his right ear.

There it is!

One last sprint and he reached the end of the Forest. The timberwolf, still chasing him, bit the air in a last attempt to take him down.

“DOWN!” Luna’s voice boomed through the night.

As Drew crouched, a blast of blue energy darted above him, hitting the timberwolf and sending it back in the Forest. The beast howled, its crimson eyes shooting daggers at Luna, but eventually turned back in the depths of the Everfree.

“FOUL CREATURES, HEAR MY COMMAND! THIS MAN NO LONGER BELONGS TO THE FOREST, HIS REBIRTH IS COMPLETE!”

Finally safe, Drew collapsed on the ground, his heart still pounding hard in his chest.

“Is... Is it over?” he asked Luna, panting.

“Yes, my friend. You did well.”

He tried to get up, pushing hard on the ground to lift his torso. His arms failed him and once again he fell. He was drenched, weak and helpless.

“Can’t... Move... Freezing...”

Luna laid next to him. Unfurling one wing, she gently covered the shivering man. None of them spoke. Drew felt the warmth of her body being transmitted to him. He cringed in fetal position, allowing Luna’s wing to completely cover him. As Luna’s warmth washed away his tension, Drew fell asleep. A gentle voice blessed the night with a lullaby.

Hush-a-bye
Don't you cry
Go to sleep my little baby
When you wake
You shall have
All the pretty little horses

Dapples and greys
Pintos and bays
All the pretty little horses

“I hope I’m not intruding”

The voice came from another magnificent being. Celestia, the goddess of the Sun, was standing right in front of Luna.

“What brings you here, my beloved sister?”

“I felt something I had almost forgotten. I felt something that shouldn’t have been.”

Luna didn’t reply.

“Luna” Celestia continued, circling her sister, “could it be that you...”

She stopped, her mouth agape. She saw something hidden under Luna’s wing.

Celestia’s eyes hardened, her horn glowing with magical power.

Luna reacted a split second too late, a golden aura enveloped her. She was easily moved away by her sister’s magic.

As Celestia saw Drew, she barely held a scream.

“A human?” She hissed.

“Yes, sister, a human! I bet you remember the last ones.”

Celestia opened her mouth to reply, but her sister didn’t let her.

“I know what you’re thinking, Tia! I remember clearly my mistakes! I remember my foolishness, and the way I treated them!” Luna shouted on the verge of tears.

“Then why?”

“Because Nightmare Moon is dead. Because I want to show you what I wanted to accomplish for Equestria more than one thousand years ago! Because you are too busy being adored by your subjects to accomplish what we planned a long time ago. ”

Speechless, Celestia kneeled before her sister. The two royal alicorns hugged tightly.

“Forgive me, Luna, sometimes your sister forgets how beautiful was our reign.”

They both looked at Drew, shivering once again in the cold air.

Celestia smiled softly, a small tear running down her face.

“You’re right, Luna. Let’s move on and create a new era together”

The royal sisters both laid next to Drew, covering him with their wings. The night hushed as two voices sang in unison.

Hush-a-bye
Don't you cry
Go to sleep my little baby
When you wake
You shall have
All the pretty little horses

Dapples and greys
Pintos and bays
All the pretty little horses

Way down yonder
In the meadow
Poor little baby, crying mama
Bees and the butterflies
Fluter round his eyes
Poor little baby, crying mama

Hush-a-bye
Don't you cry
Go to sleep my little baby
When you wake
You shall have
All the pretty little horses

Dapples and greys
Pintos and bays
All the pretty little horses

All the pretty little horses