During a freak thunderstorm, a lightning bolt somehow brings a filly princess to Earth.
The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa the bad things don't spoil the good things, or make them unimportant. When the opportunity to care for a small, blue alicorn arises, I give her the kindness that everyone and everything deserves. After all, the loneliest people are the kindest...
(This is my first ever fanfic. I don't think my own writing skills are any good, but I want to try contributing something somewhat good to the fandom.)
Edit: Many months after I initially posted this story, I never thought it would get this popular. To date my first story is the biggest, statistics wise, and it even made the features box on the front page! Thanks to all the viewers and followers <3
It had been like this for the last 3 days, just relentless, torrential, unending rain, wind and cold. I've been stuck inside wrapped up in thick layers keeping warm for the last 3 days just mindlessly gaming, browsing Facebook, watching YouTube, and anything else that piques my otherwise uninterested mind. The only solace I had in this storm was watching My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, that always cheered me up. I especially liked the beginning Season 1 episodes; Mare in the Moon Part 1 & 2 and episode 4 of season 2 Luna Eclipsed, because they had Princess Luna in them. She has always been my favourite pony as long as I can remember.
I look at the local weather for the millionth time today. There's supposed to be a little break in the weather, so I'm hoping to get at least some work.
The day drags on, only getting up from my desk to make some lunch and have a shower. Hoping to kill more time, I sharpen the blades on my knife collection, browse more Facebook, watch more YouTube. But it's cartoon ponies so it isn't all that bad! This goes on for what feels like days, and when I look at my clock it's 10:30pm. I'm too tired and exhausted from doing literally nothing all day I decide to head to bed early.
I wake up to a text message from my boss received at 8:30am asking if I want to squeeze in some work just doing some prep because everyone else "can't make it" due to the weather. I get up, put on my kitchen garb, don my hat, followed by my jersey, trenchcoat and backpack to put everything in when not working. I begin my hour and a half long trek over the hill and around the bay.
As the walk proceeds along the footpath opposite some of the smaller, more rocky beaches that dot the area around the bay towards work, I come across an old boat shed. You have to know where to look otherwise you'll go right past it. It's on 4x4inch stilts to keep it above the sea water, but they're not doing much good considering the massive waves. I stand and watch as the waves pound the shed for a few minutes, then my jaw hits the ground as a powerful wave rolls in and rips the stairs off the shed. Enough of this spectacle, I need to leave before I become the next thing washed away in the tide!
Arriving at work, I take all the layers off, stuffing it into the bag and slide it in the garage out of the way. Today goes by so slow, so painfully slow. I clean and wipe everything imaginable since there is a lot of down time, but it's not wasted. Even my boss admits everything looks cleaner than usual. There's not much time to clean everything when it's busier during the day.
I finish mopping and sweeping, write down my hours, put all my rain-proof clothing on and start trudging home. I listen to the radio for a bit distraction from the rain. "WARNING, THUNDERSTORMS PREDICTED FOR THIS EVENING PLEASE STAY INDOORS IF POSSIBLE". Bloody hell that was loud! I had only put in the earphones and turned on the damned thing and it shouts that into my ears.
Hands in my pockets, I begin walking, looking down at the ground so the brim of my hat keeps the rain off my face and glasses. There's static on the radio and it cuts out for a moment as I catch a glimpse of a bright flash of white and blue light followed by a deafening bang.
"Holy shit, was that lightning!?" I decide to put the earphones away. I continue on, and as I approach the same boat shed from before, I see something new. A great big gaping hole in the side of the shed. That must be where the lightning hit. Carefully walking down the rocks and onto the beach to the shed and peering inside. It's quite dark, so I pull myself up inside. At least it's shelter from the rain, let's just text someone for a ride, hopefully someone is free to pick me up.
I lean back against the broken wooden wall, another flash of blue emanates from outside, momentarily lighting up the whole inside of the shed from the hole in the wall. Wait, what was that!? My peripheral vision caught something laying on the wood on the opposite end of the room. Another lightning flash and it was lit up again, getting a better view from staring at the same spot.
No... it can't be! I pull out my phone and turn on the screen, weakly lighting up whatever it was at the end of the room. I stare at it in disbelief. I drop the phone and stumble back. No, it can't be! I crawl back to the other end of the room and start hyperventilating in disbelief, leaving my phone in the middle of the room. About 5 minutes goes by and it lights up, beeping to life as I get a message saying my ride will be about 20 minutes. I'm not in a rush to go anywhere!
It also lights up what appears to be of the legs of the creature. It screams out loud from the noise of the phone. I slowly inch forward, removing my jersey and draping it over the tiny thing. It struggles out of fear. "Shhh, shhh, it'll be OK." My words seemed to make... whatever this... is relax a bit. Wrapping it carefully in the jersey, I pick it up and place the little bundle in my lap. This... this thing. How can it even exist, why is it even here!?!?
I see my ride stop on the road opposite the boat shed. Carefully stuffing the now sleeping thing under my jacket and coat I carefully go to to the car, being mindful of the bundle under my jacket. It's OK, all the clothes make me look big, so a smaller bundle won't be noticed.
The drive home takes 5 minutes, as opposed to the hour and a half walking. I get inside and close the bedroom door, carefully removing the still sleeping thing from under my jacket, and place it on the bed, then take off all my wet clothes and put on warm ones. Turning to the jersey, I start to unwrap it, getting my first good look at it.
My eyes scan it for 10 minutes, making sure it's real.
I recoiled in shock and started pacing around my room trying to figure out what was going on. Ok, I still live at home, so something like this, rather, her wasn't going to go unnoticed for long. I needed to keep her hidden and safe. No one was home at the moment, but that was going to change in thirty minutes when people started getting home from work and school. So I needed to figure out a way to keep Luna out of harms way and more importantly quiet. I looked back over at the bed and she was still sleeping.
Her flank was void of her cutie mark. Which wasn’t surprising though, she was still rather young. I set her down on my bed so she could sleep properly. I’d need to make her a proper bed in the future, but she needed to sleep now, who knew how long she'd be out for. Turning on my computer, I went about my evening activities while being mindful of the filly, which weren’t all that different from yesterday. The evening itself was uneventful until there was a sudden knock at the door. My gut dropped as I jumped up to cover the sleeping Luna and rushed to the door to keep it from opening all the way.
"Dinner is ready," my brother chimed.
'Ugh, you gave me a heart attack you little worm!' I thought to myself.
When the day was over with and it was time to get into bed, I carefully slid Luna over onto the other side of the bed so as not to wake her, and I climbed in next to the filly.
When the next morning came around, she wasn’t there anymore. At first I thought it was all just a cruel nightmare but then I heard a soft thump and some crying.
Nope, it turned out it was real.
I quickly got out of bed and found the distraught pony. She was under my desk, holding her head in her hooves. "Shh shh shh, what's the matter sweetie?" I asked. Her crying her crying stopped abruptly and she looked at me with those big teary puppy-dog eyes. She pointed a hoof at the ammo box that housed my knife collection under my desk. "Awww, the the big mean box hurt you?" I let out a chuckle when I picked her up as she wrapped her front hooves around my neck and I cuddled her tightly for a moment.
I don't how or why but she must have be able to understand what I was saying, and I wondered why she wasn’t afraid of me?
Everyone eventually left for work and school and I was stuck at home during this miserable weather, but at least I had Luna! I didn’t know the last time Luna had a shower or bath, whatever it is they did in Equestria, so I decided to see how she'd take to the shower. I kept my boxers on, grabbed a couple of towels some soap and shampoo and headed upstairs. Luna was pretty well behaved, and she loved the hot water and the bubbles!
My next task was finding suitable food for her. I couldn’t say I'd seen Luna eat anything on the show that would hint at a favourite food, so I just went for the simplest and got a few apples from the kitchen. She didn't eat the apples she inhaled them! I was shocked at how something so small could eat so much?
A few weeks had passed at this point and I’d managed to keep Luna out of sight of everyone but the effort was beginning to reach a boiling point and I was afraid that people were beginning to suspect something. Copious amount of fruit and vegetables had gone missing without explanation, there was bumping around my room late at night from Luna wanting to use the bathroom, and she was getting major cabin fever from being stuck in my room all the time. I needed to let her out at some point and time.
I thought it was time that the both of us take a road trip to my grandparents farm. So I put in some leave from work, packed up a suitcase and began the three hour drive. I just hoped that Luna kept out of sight of the oldies and didn’t do anything that was noticeable by them.
Everything had been going well, nobody suspects a thing, and the grandparents had left town for a trip so they left me in charge of the house for the week. Which was perfect for Luna and I, since it meant no hiding for once! There was no computer or television, so there wasn’t any danger of Luna accidentally discovering her origin. The very thought sent a shiver down my spine. What would happen if she did? Would it be like what happened in My Little Dashie? She was going to want answers at some point and I'd have to deliver them, no matter how much it hurt.
Everything was going smoothly. I’d help tend to the vegetable gardens my grandparents kept which in turn saved money from me not having to buy loads of groceries all the time. It still bewilders me how she could eat so much but not gain a lot of weight. It had been about a month or so since I'd found her and she'd grown about an inch or two, but she didn’t yet have her astral mane like her Season Two counterpart on the show. Since she was an alicorn, I wondred how fast she was going to age. Would she still be young when I'm old? Would she still mature physically and mentally, but stop growing at some point? Only time would tell.
While I was staying on the farm, I couldn’t help but wonder how I was going to explain to my friends and family that I was taking care of a cartoon horse from a kids show. My brother and sister already knew I watch the show, but it had never been mentioned more than just a few jokes in passing.
I had just come back from doing the weeks shopping. Pulling into the driveway I spy Luna sitting underneath the tree, with her hooves over her head holding her ears down.
"What's the matter?"
"The noise, it won't stop!" She began, sobbing. "Not long after you left, the phone thing started making awful noises!"
I reach down and scoop her up, giving a little kiss on her forehead. "It's OK sweetie, I'm here now."
I go inside with Luna but there's no phone ringing. "Didn't you say it wa-" Almost immediately the phone rang, cutting me off. Apprehensively I answer it. Must be an important call if someone was constantly calling for the last hour while I was out. I gotta get that thing disconnected and start using my mobile more regularly.
"Hello? Who is this? Sorry, I was out for a while."
"It's fine" Began the voice.
Luna just sat on the floor looking up at me on the phone. All of a sudden I scream. "WHAT!?" She jumps up in fright at my shout and bolts out of the room faster than Rainbow Dash. I reach out to stop her but no words escaped my throat, just a barely audible squeak. Disbelief had me frozen in place, unable to move because of the shock of the news I had just received. The phone slides out of my hand, smashing on the floor as I fall heavily against the wall behind me, sliding down the wall until I'm curled up in a ball, profusely crying.
I couldn't hear anything until a little bundle cuddled up to me, holding me in her hooves. Sitting up properly I give Luna a proper hug.
"Whats wrong?"
Saying nothing for several minutes, just hugging the filly trying to calm myself down enough that I can explain what happened. Taking a few deep breaths to relax my heart I began.
"My family was driving up here to see me with my grandparents, when they got onto the motorway that's next to the logging distribution site next to the railway, one of the cranes -" I stopped, realizing that she didn't know what a crane was, so I quickly explained that they were basically a giant hand that picks up things that we cant carry. Luna nodded and understood. "One of the cranes had a malfunction and it didn't stop turning, smashing its load into the braces holding the logs from rolling on the road. Somehow they broke right off and rolled out onto the motorway down the hill, crushing some of the cars that were driving along ."
Luna must've known what I meant, I hear take a highly audible gasp then squeeze me the tightest she possibly could. The next thirty minutes was spent holding each other in silence, apart from the sobs echoing through the kitchen it was utter silence.
The next few weeks was spent in in utter despair. If I didn't have Luna I would have probably gone insane from the depression I was feeling at the time. It was difficult trying to figure out how to go back home for the funeral and hide Luna, or could I just leave her here? It'll only be overnight. Eventually I opted for the latter and explained that I had to go back home for the funeral, but I was only going to be gone overnight and I'd be back the following evening. So I left her with an ample supply of fruit, vegetables, water, and asked if she could possibly try to keep out of trouble while I was gone.
I had to catch the train down, I did have more family, but nobody could really drive me; they were all already busy making the funeral arrangements. I decided to opt out of doing that sort of thing, I never wanted to nor should I bury my own parents and every time it was bought to mind I just felt like breaking down in tears. Everything went smoothly; the funeral was had, followed by the repast where everyone caught up, had some drinks and reminisced about past events. I'm no good at social gatherings, so I just stick around the most familiar people I know and just idly sip drinks for the next few hours, then someone offered me a ride to the station so I could catch the train back to my grandparents house.
I got a few things in the wills from both parents and grandparents. My mother got left the house and land in my grandparents will (to do with as she pleased), but since she died it got passed onto the next in line; me. So I don't need to worry about housing or staying anywhere.
My mum left me her life insurance. Technically it was supposed to go to making the funeral arrangements, which it did, then the rest was to go to my dad. But... yeah...
In the end after funeral expenses, I got a tidy $150,000. Me being me, I'm Mr long-arms-shallow-pockets, so I would need to figure out a budget so I'm not wasting the money. I chose to invest in an extremely cheap, but rather small, $110,000, two bedroom flat in town which I rented out for $200 a week, which is $100 below the norm, and it got snatched up fast. The occupants were grateful to have such a cheap place to live; it was a couple and their two kids, saying that due to the lack of jobs in such a rural area substantial amounts of money was hard to come by not to mention cheap places to live.
Then there was that fated call to my boss explaining what happened. In the end I decided to quit and live on the farm, and asked if he could send me the rest of the holiday pay I was owed as severance, which was around $3500.
Time to look for a new job.
Since I worked in a cafe, I decided to go around all the local cafe's restaurants and asking if there's any positions available. Someone was offering 20 hours a week; mid morning to late afternoon cheffing, and I scored another job 3 nights a week doing dishes in a small restaurant. Working 35 hours a week was good for my pocket and was doubly helpful to get my mind of off the transpired events, then I had the weekend off to spend with Luna, which is good.
Then I had to sort out the farm. I put an ad in the local paper asking for someone to tend the crops, the few chickens and generally keep everything tidy while I was busy during the week. The only other problem was Luna; what was she to do while I was working? So we discussed this together.
"Since I have to go and work most of the time during the week, I won't be here as often. Luna, how do you think you'll be if I left you alone for a while during the day?"
"But it would get boring, and I will miss you!" She clamped around my middle, so I put an arm over her.
"Now now, I'll still be here to take care of you during the morning and afternoons; we can still have dinner together and play games though!" She looked up at me with an excited grin. "It's just for a few hours during the day. I'll always cook you breakfast and lunch for when I'm not here, OK cutie?" Luna giggled at the name and gave me a nuzzle and I hugged her closely. "Thank you, daddy."
My heart skipped a beat. I was overcome with pride at being good enough for her to call me her dad. I started crying again. "What's wrong daddy, why are you crying?" Luna stood back on the couch we were sitting to look at me. "I'm not crying, it's liquid pride. I'm so happy that you would think of me like a father."
"Promise you won't ever leave me, ok, daddy? Especially like yours did." Ouch. That stung a bit. She's still little, and didn't quite understand the extent of what she said, but I let it slide and embraced her for yet another hug. Luna's hugs always feel the best. Nothing compares to hugging a small, blue fluffy bundle of joy. "Don't worry, I Pinkie Promise. And you know what they say: nobody breaks a Pinkie Promise or she'll come and get you!" I exclaimed as I playfully ticked her.
"Well, you see..." Shit, why did I have to go and mention Pinkie? I needed to act fast. Holding up my pinkie finger and continuing; " This is my pinkie finger, and whenever you want to make a very special promise to someone you get your pinkie finger and wrap it around their finger" as I go to demonstrate with my spare hand, "and that way you're sure to fulfill your promise!"
Luna keeps her eyes locked onto mine with the widest, open-mouth grin her cute filly face could muster. She raises her left hoof and looks it over with her big eyes. "How can I make a pinkie promise if all I have is hooves?" her ears droop against the side of her head, clearly saddened at the realization, lowering the hoof as she looks down and to the side.
Even though Luna is upset right now, she looks utterly adorable, and I can literally feel my heart skip a beat at the cuteness in front of me. I hook my finger under her chin and lift her head up to look into her moistening eyes. "Don't cry my darling, you still can, look!" I take my pinkie and wrap it around her small horn. "Here, I now swear I will never ever leave you; an official Pinkie Promise!"
Luna lets out a huge gasp of happiness, and suddenly I spy a little blue aura around her horn, followed by a spark and a small shock. The shock didn't hurt at all, it was the surprise of it that caught me off guard.
"Woah, what was that!?"
"I don't know! You touched my horn and It's like... like... I don't know how to say, but it felt really weird!" Luna exclaimed with a tilted head and curious look in her eyes as we study my hand intently.
"Ok, that was weird. But enough of that, how about some dinner then eh kiddo?" I speak up as I shake off my hand and use it to tousle her mane.
She giggle-squeaked. "That sounds wonderful!"
"What would you like?"
"I don't care, so long as it's yummy and you made it! OH! I wanna watch you cook it too!"
I giggle slightly. "Alright, sweetie."
I decided on tortilla wraps with home made salsa and BBQ sauce, vegetarian ones at that. I'd hate to think what would happen had Luna walked in on me at one point and discover me eating something she would have considered a friend back in Equestria. Luckily there's plenty of vegetables so I can cater to Luna's diet. I get out everything I'd need; the packet of soft tortilla wraps, tomatoes, onion, capsicum and other assorted veges, herbs and spices for the salsa. Normally I'd make a bolognese sauce with beef mince, and without that I need to find an alternative. The internet is a no-go since all of the stuff I had is getting shipped up here in two weeks by courier which includes my computer. Oh, did I mention there's no internet lines out in the wot-wots? But, I digress.
I rifle through the cupboards and find ready-to-use lentils, chickpeas and arborio rice. Perfect. I soak the three ingredients for a bit to make them a tad more plump while I empty some cans of sauce and a jar of my grandads home made relish into a pot and stir until simmering. While that's cooking and the lentils etc are steeping in the water I finely dice up some celery, cucumber, tomato, red onion and capsicum with a single red chilli and very lightly coat in oil.
Next, the lentils, rice and chickpeas get added to the thickening tomato broth and plump it up exactly like a meat sauce should look. Luna is constantly, and literally, hovering over my shoulder using the tiny wings to keep herself afloat like a hummingbird, all the while I'm working, Luna has her tounge hanging out of her mouth like a hungry little puppy. Putting out two of the wraps on two plates I spoon some of the vegetarian mix on the bread and add some shredded lettuce, carrot and white onion topped with the salsa, squirting some of my previously made BBQ sauce on everything and finally wrapping it up in a small bit of tinfoil to hold everything together as I slide Luna's plate to her while I finish my own. She picks up the wrap with her magic and takes a small bite.
Remember how in cartoons when a character eats something really good and the camera zooms in on their eyes as their pupils envelop their whole eyes? Minus the camera zoom, the real life thing is really cool. Chewing her mouthful and swallowing she bounds around the room with the food in her magical grasp. "Ohmygoshitsdelicioussoyummythankyouthankyou!!!!" she exclaims, throwing herself around my neck into a hug using her.
The rest of the evening goes by rather quietly, Luna offers to clean up and does so using her magic. I wish I could use magic, it makes cleaning up SO much easier! That being said, I could out-perform all the people in the cafe and restaurant by far.
Since it's a quiet night outside we opt to lay on the still-warm concrete driveway by the front door and look up at the stars. I grab a book on astrology and show Luna some of the many constellations. "Do you see the three stars in a row with the other four stars in a rectangle around them? That's Orion, and this is his sword." I say motioning to the curved row of stars going away from the rest of the constellation. Luna sits on my chest as I have the book open to some constellations, making the explanation of where the stars are in the sky in reference to the book Luna seems awe-struck by the night sky.
"Here's another one. Do you see those four stars making kind of a "t" shape?" I show with a gesture of my fingers. "Yeah." "Well, that's called the Southern Cross, and the two stars off to the right of the cross? If you draw an imaginary line down the centre of the Southern Cross, and another imaginary line between the two stars on the right with a line coming straight down between them, eventually these lines will meet and that will always be south. If you ever get lost..." I had to take a pause at saying that. "If you ever get lost and want to come home, and you may not know where to go, the stars will always shine, lighting the way back to me. Just remember that."
"I will, but you'll never leave me, will you?" I couldn't argue with that. "Hey dad, where do the stars come from?"
I giggled a little and had an idea, beginning what will be a faux explanation. "Someone once told me that the stars are the great kings of the past looking down on us." Luna turns her head to look down at me. "Really!? That's so awesome!" Ok, that didn't illicit the response I was looking for so I gave the real explanation. "The stars are great big balls of burning gas billions and billions of kilometers away." Ok, that was better. Luna curls up on my chest to lay down with her cute eyes looking at me. I love her eyes. But... something about them bothered me. I had no idea what, why, or how, for now I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind. But, for some reason, they seemed all too familiar...
"Do you like the night, or day better?" She asks.
"I've always looked up into the night sky, and just marveled at how amazing and beautiful it is. So many little lights, and each one has it's own story. Not like the day, no. One great big ball of gas that burns your eyes out for looking into it too long? Give me the moon any night of the week. There's always so much more to learn about what's out there"
With that, Luna slowly closes her eyes drifting off into the land of dreams. Bugger. She's sitting on my chest and I'm laying down. "Hey, Luna? I can't get up, could you please hop off me so I can tuck you into bed?" Nope, she's fast asleep. I resort to sliding my hands under her belly and gently picking her up, taking the sleeping bundle into the house and tucking her into the bed while I get into the other side. Somehow, Luna always knows when she's not in my bed. It's bewildering, one of those mysteries of the universe. Amongst other things...
I feel... strange. It's like floating, but at the same time it's not. I can't see anything, feel anything, hear anything. The weirdest thing is that I'm still here. Wherever this place is.
"Help! Where am I? Daddy, save me please!"
"Luna!?"
"Dad! Where are you?! Why can't I see anything?"
"Try coming towards my voice!"
Suddenly I feel something pulling me, sucking me back further and further. Into where though? "Luna, where are you!? Luna, LLUUUNNNNAAAAA!!!"
I sit bolt upright in bed, still screaming. "LUNA!!" All I hear at that point is a loud thud in the middle of the bedroom. "Luna, where are you!?" Throwing the covers off and jumping out of bed I find the spot where she lay, groaning in pain and confusion.
"Urgh, what happened?" Luna groggily asked, clamping her hooves around the base of her horn, which, oddly enough, has a faint blue glow emanating from it. "I don't know, but I won't let it scare you like that ever again!" We pull each other into a hug, holding it for what seemed like an eternity.
Before I found Luna, before all this happened, I was, and as far as I'm concerned, still am an introvert. The only times I went out was to go to work, or into town to run a few errands, only speaking to people where it was necessary in the shops etc. Quite often something would come up around the house, and more often or not my parents would accost me about it. I'd try telling them that shouting during arguments would make me feel sick to my stomach. I got on well with my parents, more than others would but we still had "those" moments too.
After the arguments we would hug and make up. Hugs. God how I missed hugs. They felt so good, so amazing. Just the embrace itself was filled with love, it felt safe. Hugs are emotional security. Sure, I had my share of friends but we would only have the odd text conversation during the day. We hung out often enough, and it was good to have someone to fall back on.
But the thing that I missed most? The thing that I would give anything for? A hug from my mum.
Luna and I broke the hug and I turned my head to look at the time. 10am. "Oh wow, it's ten o'clock! The movers are bringing the rest of my stuff from my old home up here. Do you think you can wait in the room for a bit while they drop the things off?"
"What for? Why can't I meet someone else?"
I kiss the tip of her horn and she giggles. "Just trust me on this. I'll be back soon."
Phew, I dodged a bullet there.
The movers weren't dropping off much; just my computer, books plus bookshelves, bed, plus a couple televisions and a few nick-nacks that had previously decorated my room such as posters and the like. I sold everything that I didn't need for a bit of extra pocket money.
I let Luna out of the bedroom to see everything. "Wow, what's that thing?" She asked, pointing a hoof at the big TV. "If you help me set it up and put everything else away, I'll show you, deal?"
"Deal!"
A few hours later after putting everything away and hanging the assorted posters in the bedroom, putting the books on the shelves and at last, hooking up the tv and DVD player. I pull out my favourite childhood movie, one I've seen more times than I dare to count. Lion King. Opening the disc tray, putting the movie in and turning the tv on.
"Is it magic?" Luna inquires.
"Not quite, but it takes you to all sorts of places, places you can only dream of. Magical places of talking creatures from all around!" Shit, I hope she doesn't pick up on that last part.
"Oohhh, sounds fun!"
Hitting play, we both sit back on the couch to enjoy the film. Luna's gaze is fixed like glue to the screen, oblivious to anything else going on, captivated by the moving pictures, thoroughly enjoying it so far. But these things are short lived. The movie gets to the point of Mufasa's death scene on the gorge. The dust clears, revealing Mufasa's broken body. At this point tears are flowing from Luna's eyes but she says nothing, instead I pull her close to me and drape my arm around her. It's odd, she hasn't grown much in the few months I've had her. It makes me wander how alicorns grow up and mature.
Simba slowly makes his way up to his fathers limp body, covering himself with the limp paw of his dad, when Scar shows up.
"You big meanie, YOU KILLED HIM!!" Rages Luna, screaming with the almighty Royal Canterlot Voice. "Woah woah woah, calm down! It's not real, it's just a movie!"
"But... He makes me so mad I could just..." She trails off, glaring daggers at the cartoon lion. The rest of the movie goes without a hitch, eventually getting to the part where the now adult Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa, are laying down on the grass looking up at the sky.
"Wait a minute... That sounds like..." Luna's head turns to meet my gaze, with a smile spread ear to ear. "Oh my gosh, last night when we were looking at the stars, you said exactly the same thing to me!"
I let loose with a roaring laugh. "Yes I did, yes I did!"
"You're silly for stealing that line from the movie." she retorts.
"Aww come on, you're not going to hold it against me are you?"
"Of course not, why would I? Besides, it was better when you said it to me."
We finish the movie without any more distractions. Luna sheds more tears here and there, but I wipe them away for her like any doting father would. Shutting the tv off I turn to her and say "How did you like watching a movie for the first time?"
"Can we watch another one!?"
Wow, that was fast. "Sure, but later ok?"
"Awwww, but I want it now!" She begs, looking up at me with those big round, puppy dog eyes. Damn it! You couldn't resist a face like that, especially from something as adorable as Luna. So I decided to put on Yet another childhood movie. Hercules. Only now as I re-watch it does one pick up on the inherent jokes, both adult and not, that kids wouldn't pick on. I had had to have my own giggle at them. When Hercules and Meg were walking through the gardens after the show at the amphitheater "Oedipus? That guy had some serious issues!" quipped Hercules. Or when the two little boys were "trapped" under the big boulder. "Quick, someone call IX I I!"
Ahhh, you've got to love inside adult jokes!
After the two movies and some leftovers for dinner I put Luna to bed early, promising I'll be there soon. Truthfully, I wanted her asleep so I can set up the computer to briefly browse the internet while she slept. The internet is a scary place for a filly. It's been what, over a month since I last logged on? Shit, I got some catching up to do. After sifting through countless notifications, and responding to private messages on Facebook explaining my absence people were sympathetic to what happened and offered their condolences. At one point I glance at the little clock at the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
Bloody hell, 1am! I better get to bed, I got work tomorrow! Rather... today? Ah screw it, tomorrow officially begins when I wake up!
Venturing into the room, I find it bathed in an ocean blue light emanating from Luna's horn. Woah, hold the phone. What's going on here? I move around to the other side of the bed to see her face, and I can see it being contorted into various faces. She must be having a nightmare. Calmly leaning down I give her horn a kiss and the glow fades away, leaving the slumbering filly with a big smile upon her lips.
Quietly getting into bed, pulling the covers up and closing my eyes, and then... OH SHIT, I almost forgot to set my alarm! After doing so only then can I finally sleep comfortably.
"Goodnight, my little princess. I will make sure there's no more nightmares for you." It's puzzling; kissing Luna's horn seemed to have quelled the nightmares for some reason. I should do it more often. You know, to keep her safe.
Alarms. Fucking alarms. The bane of any sleepers existence. Just like washing lipstick off of cups at work is for kitchen-hands. Seriously, there's waterproof lipstick! That shit is a bitch to get off. Ladies, when lipstick comes off onto cups, to me, you're wearing too much. But, I digress. As I promised Luna, I made her breakfast and lunch to eat for while I'm gone and lay them on the table, but I try not to wake her so I figured leaving a note saying breakfast and lunch were on the table, and that I'll be home at four.
I love working in kitchens. Even though it gets hot, sticky and stressful the people is what I enjoy the most. Yes, they shout and scream until they're red in the face, but then you've also got the banter, lewd and dirty jokes, and seeing how long two people can last at a back and forth with insults, but it's all in good humor. Plus, free food!
So I get in the car and make the twenty minute drive to work to be there at 10, rather 10 minutes early. I had this teacher in school that always said that "Being on time is being 10 minutes early." Turns out, she was right. It gives me time to put my stuff out the way, have a quick nibble, and use the restroom. Believe me when I say that if you "go" before leaving for work then thirty minutes after you arrive you'll want to go again. But if you go at work, then not so much.
It does get rather busy, and due to me being new at this place things do get slightly backed up and in the end me and the other chef get all the meals cooked and out to the patrons. During clean-down we decide to have a back and forth for kicks and giggles.
"That service was a bigger fail than your mums condom!" Begins Anne, the resident chef and my boss.
"Oh yeah!? Well you're the c*m your mum should've swallowed!" The rest of the workplace let out a collective "OOOHHHHHH!!!" That left Anne speechless, so I pull out another one before she me to it. "You literally made Adolf Hitler get off his dick-throne in the midst of the flames of Hell, walk into the bathroom and sob quietly in the corner of a shower. He held a bottle of cheap whiskey in his shaking hand no longer secure in his position as the worlds least likeable human being." Everyone within earshot, even Anne herself, let loose a fit of laughter. Everyone stopped what they were doing, not by choice, but because they were laughing too hard.
"Alright, alright! I concede, you're the king of banter. Sheesh, I'm surprised I haven't cut myself on your wit already."
Oh yeah, gotta love work life.
After writing my hours down on the time sheet and returning home I'm met with a flying tackle-hug.
"Oh my gosh I missed you so much why didn't you say goodbye?!"
"Well hello sweetie! It's good to see you too. Sorry about that, You looked like an absolute angel when you're asleep that I didn't want to disturb you. Anyway, if you let me get cleaned then I'll get dinner started." Nothing builds up a sweat faster than working in a hot kitchen on a scorching summers day.
"Can I come too? I try to wash myself, but I can't reach my back and wings."
"Of course you can!"
It'll be a good idea if I keep my boxers on for this. Luckily for us the tub is big enough for the both of us with room to spare. Turning it on and putting the rubber mat on the floor of the so Luna doesn't slip on the ceramic tub because of her hooves. A rather generous helping of shampoo onto the now sopping wet filly and I start rubbing it into her mane, coat, and well, everything else that has hair, except her face. Don't want to get shampoo in her eyes, that would be an absolute disaster. I can tell Luna is loving how I'm rubbing the shampoo into her; she's positively ecstatic and when I get to her wings to clean those she melts at the touch. Wow, I never knew wings were so sensitive!
I clean myself and wrap a towel around my waist as Luna and I sit on the porch so I can towel dry her as much as possible when POOF! Her mane and coat explode into a ball of fur, covering everything except her head. I find myself rolling with laughter as she sits, staring at me with those not-happy-half-closed-glaring-dagger-eyes. I run inside to get a brush and put on some shorts and t-shirt, taking her into the lounge to watch some tv while I brush down her fur. I wonder. Since Luna's the princess of the night, would she enjoy a show about stars?
"Hey Luna, want to watch a show about a mad man in a box that travels the stars?"
She looks up at me with a curious look. "How can a man travel the stars in a box?"
"Let me show you." I reach down and pluck a case from my Doctor Who collection and put it in. It's a shame really, after hunting through numerous movie and dvd stores I could never find the classic series. So, Season 1 of the latest series. Episode 1, Rose.
We sit and watch it for the next 45 minutes, and Luna never took her eyes off the screen. She never could when we watched something, it's like she's mesmerized by the moving pictures. At the end of it she turned to me and said one word. "More!"
"More?!"
"Yes please! I want to see what else he does. Plus, I like Rose. She's really pretty"
"Hold on, since when was your name Rose?" It took a few seconds for that to register, and she playfully bats me with her hoof.
"Hey don't say that I'm not pretty!"
Too cute. "Ok ok, you're not." That made her look down but I knew what I am doing. I lift her head up and continue "You are the most beautiful thing this planet has on it, and I would not give it away for anything." Luna throws a hug around my neck.
"I love you, dad."
"I love you too"
Never grow old, I think to myself. Never grow old.
What the actual fuck is that god-awful smell? It smells like vomit. I wake up with scrunched up facial expressions, looking at the dark, lumpy fluid all over the blankets and bedsheets. "Luna, wake up! Luna? Please wake up!"
"D, daddy?" She wearily opens her eyes, struggling to get up only to fall back onto the bed. This has got to be a fathers worst fears come to life. I scoop her up, not caring about getting the sick all over myself, running into the bathroom as I turn on the shower and lay her down in my lap to clean everything off the both of us.
"Sweetie, what's wrong? Are you ok?" Well clearly she's not but it's instinct to ask.
"I don't know, my stomach feels all..." Luna projectile-vomits all over the tub with enough potential force to have drilled through (like a pressurized water cutter) the ceramic tub! Holding her close, idly stroking the wet fur trying to soothe and comfort the sick filly.
I'm sobbing at this point "It's ok, everything will be ok. I'm here for you, I'll make you all better."
"Daddy? I'm scared."
"I'll go get you some medicine, wait here."
As much as I hate to, I had to leave her in the shower, although I pointed the shower head away from her so the water flows around her to help with the sickness, whatever it might be. I'm no expert on equine medicine by any stretch, some of the stuff in the medicine cabinet might make it worse or better. There's no way to know for sure, so I grab a tray of painkillers, antibiotics, and a bottle of cold medicine and return to the bathroom.
"Here" I say, putting an antibiotic into her mouth and holding a glass of water to her lips. "Swallow this, it'll help make you better." This time it was the painkiller. "Ok, just one more." They seemed to go down with ease accompanied by the taste of a small dose of the cold medicine in the glass of water, but I had no idea if they were going to work. "Is the water helping you at all?" Luna weakly nods, managing a squeak as she speaks. "It's soothing." The water tank runs off a wood boiler, so I'm going to have to keep it stoked throughout the day.
"I'll make you some soup to help, ok?"
She only manages a weak nod followed by an "Mmhmm".
Soup it is. Normally being sick would've called for chicken noodle, but... yeah... Instead I make a nice smooth tomato soup with a vegetable broth as the base with freshly squeezed orange juice to boot. Bringing a chair into the bathroom I sit on it, removing Luna from the shower temporarily and holding her like a new born to feed her.
The spoon didn't work, she kept spilling it from not being able to get it in her mouth, so I voted for putting a straw in the soup bowl. Luna is content sipping the soup and OJ as her leisure, and I can't help but smile, sniffle, wipe away the tears and give her a kiss on the horn. When I do, however, it sparks again. The last time that happened was when I made the Pinkie Promise. I shrug it off for the time being; there's more important stuff to worry about. Like taking care of your daughter.
Eventually she dozes off and I put her back in the shower and stoke the boiler so the water stays warm and flows around her. As depressing as this whole situation is, I'm surprised that nothing comes back up to say hello. Whenever I've been sick, I always find that simply sitting in the shower and letting the nice hot water flow over me does absolute wanders for morale, and it helps ease the, for lack of a better word, "pains" that come with being sick.
Normally I drink lots when ill, but as a I found out one time drinking copious amounts of blue sports drink will shoot right through you and come out the same colour. Not pretty, but I found it funny. I then told people that purely to exert a disgusted reaction from them. Hey, you gotta have fun while sick or moping around won't get you anywhere.
I can't bear to see Luna like this, it makes me break down in tears again. Now, I'm not religious by any means, but, kneeling down by the bathtub I do something I never ever thought I'd catch myself doing. Praying. "Dear god" Wait, who am I trying to kid? If there was a god then he could've prevented this! So I try focusing my efforts on something that I know exists in this situation. "Dear Princess Celestia. I don't know if you can hear me, but all I ask is you make my daughter, your sister, better. I love her too much to see something happen to her. I hope you hear me." Moments later, all I see is a brilliant flash of white light from an unknown source envelop the room and I pass out.
I wake up some hours later hanging over the edge of the bathtub, shower still running.
Luna is gone.
"No no no NO! Please don-"
"Hey daddy!"
I jump around in fright. "Oh Luna, you scared me! How are you feeling, all better?"
"Much better!" She exclaimed, buzzing around the steamy room.
I pull her down into a hug. Did I mention how much I love hugs? Especially from princesses!
"You had me scared so much, never do that again!" I scold.
Luna's ears flatten against her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
"It's alright, it's not your fault. I'm glad you're all better."
Oh shit, I forgot to call into work! What's the time? Oh no, it's 2pm! Whipping out my mobile and dialing Anne she angrily answers. "Where the hell were you today!? I get a call at eleven o'clock saying that you hadn't turned up for work so I had to come in on MY day off!!" "Look, I'm terribly sorry. I woke up very ill and spent most of the morning being sick and still don't feel 100%, but not to worry I'll be better by tomorrow."
"Well, alright then, get better. Just count yourself lucky it was quiet today!" That went well. You kind of have to "know" people to understand when they joke about that sort of thing, and Anne saying "Count yourself lucky that it wasn't busy" is her way of saying you're forgiven.
I put Luna to sleep on the couch while I change the sheets on the bed and put the dirty ones in the wash. I hope it'll come out, but hell if I know. It was foul. Since I didn't get around to changing the sheets to begin with the smell had permeated everything on the bed, fortunately the mattress is safe from any smell. Great, now there's no duvet. I'm going to have to buy another one tomorrow after work.
I decided it would be a good idea to open the window, put an air freshener in the middle of the room, leave the door closed. With nowhere to sleep I sit on the couch next to Luna who is already fast asleep. Gently, picking her up and putting her on my lap I lay down on the couch, drifting happily off to sleep knowing Luna is safe and sound.
I can't help but wander. What was that light? Was it Luna? Celestia?
After the unfortunate events of yesterday Luna and I both wake up fresh and wide-eyed at 7am, which is early even for us. How does Luna sleep so heavily? I find it highly confusing when people say they slept like a baby, don't babies wake up like, every two hours? The expression should be changed to "slept like a filly" or, "slept like a baby dragon". Oh yeah, that would be cool. "Oh hi, how did you sleep last night?" "Oh, I slept like a baby dragon!" Cue weird looks.
There's time to kill before work so I manage to have breakfast with Luna for a change while we watch the next episode of Doctor Who (season 1 Episode 2). It's nothing fancy, just plain and simple pancakes with spiced honey sauce and maple syrup. Holy hell, where does she put it all?! Three pancakes later and even Pinkie would have been impressed at how fast those got devoured!
Today is Friday, so that means I've got two shifts; one at the cafe during the day and then the night shift at the restaurant with my spare two hours in between during which there's barely enough time to rush home, cook dinner for Luna and I, then drive to work again.
It's 10:30 by the time I get home and Luna is curled up on the front porch. Sleeping. That's so adorable, she must have been waiting for me to get home. Ok, time to see how the bedroom is doing. With hesitation, I creak open the door, poke my nose in and catch a quick whiff. Nothing. Brilliant! Oh crap, I forgot to buy another duvet. It doesn't matter, it's hot enough only to warrant a thin sheet. It's weird, I can never sleep without something covering me, no matter how thin. It made me feel almost... would naked be an acceptable word?
I can't be bothered to properly make the bed so I just grab a sheet from the linen cupboard and climb onto the bed with Luna under my arm and cover both of us with the sheet, laying my head on the pillow and out like a light.
The next morning I get woken up by something prodding me on the shoulder. "Wha- huh?" "Pancakes pancakes pancakes!!!" comes the reply. What's the time anyway? Looking at my phone I find the time to be a little after 9. Acceptable. I happily get up and make pancakes again.
"Can we watch more of the Doctor?!"
"Well..."
"Oh please please please!"
"Sure thing kiddo, let let me clean up and I'll be with you soon. Go wait in the lounge."
She zips off down the hallway, her little wings buzzing as fast as they could. Wow, already two episodes and she's hooked. The gardener is due to come around today to tend the crops and such, so I leave him his monthly paycheck in an envelope and tape it to the front door with a note on the door saying I'll be out for the day. If he tries cheating me out of it by taking it and running I can just cancel the cheque before he can cash it.
So back to the lounge. It's at the back of the house away from any gardens so Luna and I will be safe while we watch more Doctor Who. "Alright, what's next?" Inquiring to Luna while flicking through the episode selection menu. "There, that one! Episode 3!" Clicking play we settle down for a marathon. I didn't intend on it, but Luna insisted we watch as many as we can. Two seasons later, minus the two episodes we already watched and Luna is loving it. She even cried at the end of seasons 1 and 2! Who knew that she'd share the collective emotional empathy amongst a fandom known as "feels"?
But, everything has to come to an end.
"Come now, it's time for bed." Shutting off the tv, putting the dvd away I turn to see a look of absolute horror on Luna's face. "WHAT?! YOU WOULD DARE DENY US THE VIEWING OF ONES FAVOURITE SHOW!?" Gotta love the Royal Canterlot Voice. At that point she was hovering in front of my face, noses touching. I give her a kiss on the nose and she drops to the floor, and I look down at her with a smug grin. "Hey, that wasn't fair!" She really is far too cute when angry. Although I don't think it'd be wise to piss off a filly princess, especially since she literally has a huge capability for magic and god knows when it'll flare up.
"Luna, you've seen two years of television in one day, and that is never meant to happen! Tell you what though, we can go lay down outside and look at the stars some more. Waddaya think?" That manages to exert a tired grin. "Alright."
There's nothing better than spending time with someone you care about, simply laying under the stars on a warm summer night looking up at the stars. "Hey, dad? What do you think the Doctor is doing right now?"
"I'm not sure, what do you think?"
"Probably off in the TARDIS beating off the robot men and saving planets!" She exclaimed with an excited giggle.
"Hey, Luna, have you heard of the multiverse theory?" I sincerely doubt she would have, but you got to strike up a conversation somehow.
"Multi what-now?"
"The theory of multiple universes." I begin.
"What's a universe?" Luna ventures.
"Imagine a great big bubble, and inside this bubble are many many stars. That is our universe."
"Wow, it sounds amazing!"
"Now, imagine if there were two, three or four, or even hundreds more of them! Luna," I take a breath to continue "imagine in one of these universes out there in the great unknown and beyond The Void, somewhere, YOU, my little darling, are THE Doctor!"
"Really!?" She gasps, wide-eyed, and I nod. "That's so cool! I'd have my own time machine and we can go traveling and fight aliens, it would be so much fun!"
Normally Luna does this, but I tilt my head at her curiously. "We?" I ask, trying to exert a specific answer.. "Of course, silly! You are my dad after all!"
"Haha, yeah..." I let out a half-hearted chuckle at her words, trailing off. Not the answer I was hoping for, but close enough.
"The night is so beautiful, I wish it would stay forever."
"Ok, I think it's bed time now sweetie." Getting up off the concrete as Luna flies to get off my chest.
"Awwww but dad!"
"No buts little missy!" Luna giggled at the unintentional pun I just made, causing me to roll my eyes. "It's late, plus, we can always watch more tv tomorrow!" With that, she zips off into the house leaving a dust clone behind her. Huh. Didn't even know that was possible. Well, she's a cartoon pony, so anything goes really. Ok, I really shouldn't be thinking that. She's real and that's all that matters to me.
"Can you read me a story?"
Why not, I haven't before so this will be something new. "Of course I can, anything for my little princess!" I say as I tousle her hair.
There's a story I read on a blog a couple years back that I still remember, and the moral is perfect for somepony from a land of kindness and giving.
"This is the story of Ugly the Cat. A while ago I was living in an apartment complex in town. It wasn't the prettiest part of town. A cat lived in the alley, his name was Ugly. Ugly loved two things in the world: Eating garbage and love."
"Poor kitty, why does he have to eat rubbish? Can we go give him some food?"
"Hold on, just let me finish. Anyway. The combination of these things spent living outside had their effect on Ugly. To start with, he only had one eye, and where the other one should have been was missing." The original post had said a gaping hole, but I decided to leave that little detail out. " He was also missing his ear on the same side, his left foot was broken at some point and healed wrong, so he always walked funny. His tail was long gone, leaving only a little stub, which he often wiggled.
"Everyones reaction was the same; "That is one UGLY cat!" All the children were told not to touch him, and threw rocks at him, squirted water on him when he tried to go into the houses for food. Ugly would always do the same thing, time and time again. He would just sit there. Getting soaked until you gave up and quit. Whenever the kids threw something at him, he would curl at their feet in forgiveness. Whenever he saw children, he would run towards them and nuzzle their hands, begging to be loved. If they picked him up, Ugly would suckle on your shirt, earrings, or even nose." I booped Luna on the nose and she let a little giggle.
"One day, Ugly tried to be friends with a dog that wandered into the alley where he lived. He was not met with a warm welcome, and the dog hurt Ugly."
"No, bad doggie!" Cried Luna
"I could hear him screaming from the window, but when I got to him it was too late. Ugly was laying in a puddle in the alley, his legs were twisted and there was a big boo-boo on his side. I kicked off the dog and it ran yelping. Picking up Ugly, I heard him wheezing and gasping for air. I must be hurting him; I thought. But then I felt a familiar wet, tugging sensation on my shirt. Ugly, in so much pain and dying, was suckling my shirt. I pulled him closer and he bumped the palm of my hand with his head. Ugly looked at me with his one good eye and I swear I could hear purring. Even in pain, the battle-scarred cat was only asking for the thing he only ever wanted: Love, compassion, and affection.
"I realized something. Ugly was, no, is the most beautiful, loving cat I had ever seen. Never once did he try to bite or scratch me, or even try to get away. Ugly looked up at me with total trust to relieve his pains. He died in my arms before I could get him inside, but I sat on the couch holding him for hours afterward, thinking about how one scarred, deformed stray cat could alter my opinion about what it means to be the living definition of the kindest, in heart and spirit, to love totally and unconditionally. Ugly taught me more about love, giving, and compassion than a thousand books could, and that I will always be thankful for.
"He was scarred on the outside, but I was scarred on the inside and it was time for me to learn to love truly and deeply as Ugly did, and to give my all to those whom I care for. A lot of people want to be more rich, successful, more likeable, beautiful, but for me. For me, I will always try to be Ugly."
I don't know when, but Luna had started crying, and I put my hand on her cheek to stroke gently.
"W-why did those people have to be so mean? All kitty wanted was some food!" Cried Luna. "Was it because he was different?"
"Well, yes, but those people didn't know any better. Luna, always try to be like Ugly. Always show compassion and love."
"Daddy, did anyone ever make fun of you?
Cue repressed childhood memories. "It's great to be different, it's great to be who you are. The hardest thing I faced wasn't the teasing or the pain. It was, convincing myself I wasn't stupid, strange, or lame, and helping others do the same. Goodnight Luna, sleep well."
Using a tissue to wipe her tears away I get into bed next to her and slowly close my eyes, ready for tomorrow.
Why do I have that familiar sensation of floating again? Last time it happened I... Oh, shit.
"It happened again daddy! Are you here?"
"Luna!?" I spin around in place inexplicably, like a ball rolling in every possible dimension on water. I feel something bump into me and I grab it.
"You found me!" It is Luna, but for some reason even though I know I'm holding her, I cant see her. What in the hell is going on?
"I told you I'd protect you! Why can't we see anything? I wish there was some light."
"Hold on, I think I can..." I hear Luna grunting and straining, followed by an increasingly bright light from her horn. "There!"
All I can see is whisps of multi-coloured cloud dotted with what looks like... stars? "Luna, do you know what this place is?" This has something to do with her, maybe she knows.
"No, I thought you did. Is this the same place as last time?"
"It would seem so, but I don't know how we get here or leave."
Now that I think about it, this place looks like the Astral Plane from the end of Season 3. But what are Luna and I doing here?
Vworp.
"Did you hear that, Luna?"
Vworp.
"No, but I hear it now!"
Vworp.
We both look at each other, mixed expressions on our faces, turning our heads in all directions to find the source of the noise. I don't know weather to be excited or terrified.
Vworp, vworp, vworp.
Inexplicably, a blue police box appears in front of us. "It can't be..." The door makes that familiar creaking as it opens, and then a muzzle pokes out. Wait, a muzzle? But I thought...
A tan earth pony with brown hair and an hourglass cutie mark steps out of the box and speaks. "There, or rather, here you are! I've been looking for the the two of you for, well, I don't know how long. I would guess it's about a week, but it's all so relative these days. Anyway, I've come to give you this." He gives me a plain white envelope from his mouth. Turning it over, It's completely blank.
"Who are you?" I ask.
"Me? Oh, I'm The Doctor!"
"Doctor Whooves?!"
"No, just the Doctor. I don't know why everypony keeps adding Whooves when my name is just Doctor."
Luna and I are having a hard time picking up our jaws at this point.
"But I saw you on the screen as a man!" exclaimed Luna.
"Well, you see... Somehow the TARDIS malfunctioned and somehow bought me to the Equestrian Universe, and I'm stuck there. In the multiple universes there are, there have been cases of TT Capsules inexplicably vanishing from existence only to appear in another universe, and that usually happens when a TARDIS "collides" with a, lets call it a scar, or a door. No, forget about the scar or a door, it's neither, then gets transported to this other universe."
Ok, so that all makes sense. Similar to Rise of the Cybermen in Season 2. "So... How are you here? What is this place?"
The Doctor clears his throat and continues. "The alabaster mare whom tasked me with giving you the envelope calls it the Astral Plane, but some call it the Dreamscape."
"Woah woah woah, if Luna and I are dreaming then how can you be in our dreams?"
"I'm not, technically speaking. Whatever you want to call this place, is a place of its own that exists as a junction between that connects universes. Imagine a small bubble with two bigger bubbles attached to either side and we're in the middle, and only someone with sufficiently advanced technology can enter or leave, but not cross into the opposite bubble, so to speak."
A voice pipes up from inside the blue police box. "Sweetie, how long are you going to be?"
"But that's enough from me, you should be waking up any minute now, so I must be going."
"Wait! I just need to-" and with that, Luna and I sit bolt-upright in bed, gasping heavily.
"Envelope envelope envelope, where is it?!" What am I doing, how could I even bring... back... My hand slides under the pillow and I pull out a white envelope, but this time it has writing on the front. I'm dumbfounded, how is it possible to bring something back from a dream? I still have so many questions I wanted to ask. If you can only enter the Dreamscape with sufficiently advanced technology, then how did Luna and I get there in the first place?
Open when you need to, for the sake of my sister. - C
Regardless of what it says, I try to open it anyway, but I can't. It's sealed shut! Not even tearing it open is working! It must be enchanted to open during a specific time or event. But, something happens to the writing; it fades and newer writing appears.
Open only in the most dire of circumstances. - C
Looks like this "C" character is toying with me. Anyway, it's 8:30 in the morning on the Sunday so I get up and put the envelope in my safe.
"Uhm..." begins Luna. "Dad, what does alabaster mean? And who is "C"?"
"I don't know, Luna." I lied. I know what alabaster mean, and I know who "C" is too. But I don't think now is the right time to tell her. Of all the questions she had, why ask those particular two? Great, now my head is going to be buzzing with questions and it's looking like it'll be on my mind all day. Instead of watching tv, I manage to convince Luna to accompany me on a walk into the forest, at the far end of the road where our house is. Our. Why did I just say that?
We try not to go too deep to lose the way home, then we eventually stumble upon what used to be my favourite tree when I was a kid. This tree was massive, you'd need five people holding hands to wrap around the tree trunk. The tree itself was growing on the edge of a bank, on one side of a gorge, and at some point the weight of the tree combined with the loosely compacted dirt of the bank caused it to simply fall getting completely uprooted in the process and bridging the gap to the other side of the gorge. We called it the climbing tree.
"Oohhh, what a big tree! How did this happen to it?"
"It fell over. I wasn't around when it fell, my it would have been amazing to see it happen! But I do remember one time when I was at my cousins house at a river they had running next to their house. It was after a huge storm and flooding, and we were playing in the river. There was a cracking sound, so we look behind us and this great big huge tree fell across the river!"
"Maybe I can put it back?" asked Luna.
"How would you even do that?" I asked
"Let me just..." Closing her eyes like a vice, Luna tried focusing all the energy she has into her horn. It sparks and fades several times, as does the dim blue aura around the tree, but to no avail. "Awww, It didn't work, I'm not strong enough." she whines, pouting and digging at the dirt with her hoof. "I'm no good at anything."
"Never say that ever again!" Luna is startled by my outburst, so I calmly sit down in front of her and explain. " You can do anything you want, and it's always going to look nice. 'Cause you did it, and you're wonderful, and you have to believe that." We hug. "Thanks dad."
It's about one o'clock at this stage, we spend most of the time wandering around the tree and the surrounding area looking for new and interesting things. Other than a few bullet shells and clay pidgeon targets, nothing out of the ordinary. Some things are hard to explain, like bullets for example. Luna would have a breakdown if I told her what they were and their purpose, so i explained that the orange discs got thrown into the air and you would try to hit them with smaller bits of metal for fun. Luckily she bought it. Yet another bullet dodged, no pun intended.
Lunch is very overdue at this point, as we both can tell by the rumbling of our stomachs. I clear my throat to gain Luna's attention *AHEM* "Princess, doest though care to accompany us into thy kitchen for a luncheon?" I tried my best at speaking Old English like Luna does from time to time, she hasn't been exposed to it on Earth so it mus be something that just comes naturally to her.
"We would be most grateful to accept thine invitation!"
Oh yeah, nailed it!
Lunch is nothing special, just some tomato sandwiches and juice while watching the beginning of season three of Doctor Who like I promised Luna yesterday, then settling down to watch the first half of the season for the rest of the afternoon. It puzzles me, she doesn't get scared by a lot of the things I assumed someone else her age would. Speaking of age, how old is Luna? How old would she have been when I found her? That's something I'm going to have to figure out, if at all, seeing is I have no idea at what pace Luna is going to age or mature.
After a troubling night and running around for most of the day, it's time to go to bed early and for once, Luna is in agreement. As much as I love having Luna sleep in the bed with me mainly because of how cute she is with the safety and comfort it gives her, eventually I'm going to have to give her, her own bed. For now I get in, pull the covers over us and sleep.
It's been what, three months maybe four since I found Luna in the midst of that huge storm. Boy how time flies! She didn't grow much at all in that time, maybe a little weight gain from all the food she kept eating accompanied by all the sleeping. It'll forever puzzle me how she sleeps like that. I gave Luna freedom to watch the tv while I was away at work, we didn't get My Little Pony on the air over here so there's no danger of her finding out about anything that way.
It's almost Christmas time, and for that I bought Luna a few little gifts. The sonic screwdriver that 9 & 10 used, a nice warm blanket, and a big cozy basket bed. The basket bed was originally made for a large dog, but I'm not going to tell her that. It suits Luna just fine. Curled up in to with the blanket tucked around and the screwdriver laying next to her, it is the epitome of adorableness. I can't resist taking a Polaroid and adding it to the growing collection of the album I've been keeping.
New Years comes and brings a bit of a surprise, Luna starts slowly growing up! For months nothing happens, why start now? What caused it? But with growth spurts comes the increase of her magical capability. As a filly she didn't stand higher than my knee at most, and could really only pick up a few items at a time, but January saw that increase to picking up everything at once in the whole room, and she grew to slightly above my knee.
February saw a huge spurt; Luna is now getting really tall! Standing half way up my thigh, and her hair does grow, but really only to match her proportions. It is normal hair like from season 1, and that makes me wander if or when she gets the Astral Mane like Celestia. However, Luna absolutely loved it when I brushed her mane while sitting across my lap as we sat down on the couch to watch tv after I got home from work. It's always nice to relax and cuddle. Luna's magic got even more strong; able to now pick up everything in the whole damned house!
March saw another huge spurt, now she stands as high as my hip. Makes me almost wish that I had found an instruction manual or at least a guide on what to expect when raising a filly, such as when any why growth spurts happen and how to deal with magical energy. Nothing new happened with her magic at this stage either, which makes me wander how strong it'll be come next month.
April. I decided against pranking Luna on April Fools, I don't know how badly it would scar her, if at all. We went for a walk into the forest yet again and to the climbing tree. This time however, I looked down to Luna, she looked up to me, I nodded my head in the direction of the tree. What happened was amazing. She didn't need to screw up her face to concentrate, simply closing her eyes, and then POOF! The fallen tree was sitting upright, planted firmly in the middle of the gorge.
Ever get so used to something that you can never look at it the same way again? "Ok Luna, you can put the tree back now." Wow, never though I'd be saying something like that again.
"But isn't it better like this?"
"Sorry sweetie, but if someone else comes along and finds a tree that is upright when it was previously laying down for twenty years, they're going to want answers."
"Awww, ok then." Pouting, she puts it back across the gorge. I hate seeing her sad like that, especially when she's growing more aware that I'm trying to hide her, and I can't keep doing it forever.
May. Oh how I loathed May. It bought back so many memories from the accident with my parents. May is, or, rather was, my mother's birthday. Luna caught me laying down on my bed crying into the pillows. "Hey dad, what's wrong?"
"Well y-you see..." Talking between sobs is hard. "T-today was my mothers birthday." I know Luna was upset by that too, she dipped her head in sorrow and cuddled up to me in bed, and I death-gripped her in a hug. Luna didn't budge, she just lay there and let me squeeze the life out of her. "It's ok, I won't leave you, ever."
"You have no idea how much that means to me Luna, really. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I'm going to take a nap ok?"
"Alright, I'll see you soon. I hope you feel better afterwards." Said Luna, giving me a kiss on the forehead and walking out the door. I lied, I wasn't going to sleep, I wanted to watch My Little Pony. It had been so long since last time. What better place to kick it off than the beginning of season 1! Half way through the second episode I have to use the bathroom. Putting down the laptop on the bed and sneaking out the door down the hall.
By the time I get back to the bedroom, Luna is looking at the open laptop. It has Nightmare Moon on the screen. Luckily I had just gone to the bathroom, but I'm still shitting myself. "Dad, who's that?" Asks Luna, pointing her hoof at the screen.
I begin to speak on autopilot. "That's Nightmare Moon, she's evil."
"Why is she evil?" Pushes Luna
"She wanted to shroud the world in eternal night, thinking it was better that way. But someone stood up to her, imprisoning her in the moon."
Luna gasps. "In the moon!? Is she there now?"
I have to chuckle at that. Closing the laptop and answering Luna. "No my darling, she's not on our moon." Hopefully Luna would interpret that as not being real, and she took the bait.
"That's good then, 'cause it must be really boring on the moon with nothing to do."
"Yeah it's got to be. Anyway, what would you like for dinner? Since I don't want to cook, how about we get pizza?" I venture, trying to change the subject.
"That sounds yummy! What's pizza?"
I forgot, I had never introduced Luna to pizza! "Just wait, you'll love it." How long before one of these 'bullets' hits me? I order two vegetarian pizzas, both with different toppings, one with tandoori sauce and one with bbq. When they finally arrive and I pay for then, Luna comes out from hiding and sits at the table. She picks up one of the tandoori slices and takes a small, princess-like bite out of it. Her eyes grow wider than the tv, and she bites half of the slice off, speaking with a substantial mouthful
"Oh my gosh it's delicious! We must have more!" By the time I'm done with half of one, Luna's already finished the other.
June. Things haven't been going well since Luna saw Nightmare Moon on the computer. I can't really explain it, but seeing Nightmare Moon must have triggered something. Luna keeps saying she has flashbacks of things she can't explain, and during these "flashbacks" her horn often shoots sparks. I try to talk to her about it, but she keeps brushing it off. One night I find her outside at the top of the willow tree in the middle of the yard, doing something with her magic. "Luna, honey, what are you doing?"
Grunting and straining, she keeps trying to cast magic into the sky. "T-Trying to make you happy!" With a huge blue flash of light that completely clouds my vision, all I see next is Luna in front of me. "There, I did it." I can't believe what I'm hearing. "Luna... What did you do?"
"I made the night stay, just like you wanted." She says gleefully. "Now you can look at the moon all you want instead of the nasty, hot sun!"
I squat down to meet her gaze. "Luna, put the moon back now!" I say, raising my voice at her. "No good is going to come of this, one side of the planet will freeze and the other will burn!" She looks me dead in the eye and says very calmly, "You can do anything you want, and it's always going to look nice. 'Cause you did it, and you're wonderful, and you have to believe that."
Oh shit, I just got my own words thrown back at me, and in the worst possible way.
"I remember, father."
"Remember what?"
"What you tried to keep from me." At this point Luna is speaking through gritted teeth. "Neither of us know how I ended up on this rock, but we both know where I came from."
"But how do you remember?"
"When I went into your room and saw the picture of that mare on the screen, it... triggered something. Memories that were locked away somehow. I don't know who was on the screen, but... It all seemed so familiar" Luna winces as another spark, and quite certainly another repressed memory breaks through.
"Luna please, believe me when I say I wanted to tell you, I just needed to find the right time!"
"Before someone says something they'll regret, you have the opportunity. So speak now, father." Never before had she said that word with so much bitterness.
I have to concede at this point. "Fine. I'll show you what was on the screen."
Luna, refusing to budge tells me to "Fetch the portable device with the moving pictures." It seems that Royal Canterlot Voice of hers is coming out too. This can't be good.
I set the computer down on the concrete driveway and play the beginning two episodes. Luna watched with a thorough blank expression. Closing the laptop, I turn to her and speak. "Please, just hear me out. I have no idea how you got here, but I did what I thought was best for you. Imagine the horrible things someone else could have done had I not found you!"
Sitting down with her tail curled around her feet, Luna speaks normally. "This much is true. If not for you then I could be..." she trails off.
"If darkness and anger take hold, you will become that which you most fear." I say, gesturing to the computer. "Remember that, and never forget it. Nightmares, My Little Luna, are nothing but fears that live inside of us all. We all have the power to defeat them if we just shine the light of love upon them!" And with that, I give her a kiss on the horn followed by a nice, soft, loving hug.
"I'm so sorry. So, so sorry. For ever doubting you."
"So... are you going to put everything back to normal?" I let out a little chuckle, albeit inappropriate, and Luna responds with one of her own.
There's another flash from her horn, but nothing seems to have changed. "There, the night will continue as normal." There's a flash from inside the house. What was that? "The envelope! How could I have forgotten!?" I run inside and turn the tumbler to open the safe and take out the envelops, using my letter opener on the dresser to open it. The enchantment must have been broken somehow.
I pull out a plain white piece or paper. There are no words on it! Turning it over several times, they slowly appear on the paper. The words on the were few and simple.
You have done well to prevent my sisters transformation into Nightmare Moon. We will speak soon. - C
And with that, the words fade.
Luna pokes her head into the room. "What is written on the paper?"
"Everything is going to be ok Luna. Everything is going to be ok."
After Luna remembered where she is from which saw me show her the first two episodes of Season 1: Mare in the Moon Part 1 & 2, she then elected to watch the rest of the season on her own while I was at work and seemed rather happy when I got home.
"I saw the Doctor in episode 12!" Now, I can't say if I've known weather or not the show writers gave Doctor Whooves the name and made the Doctor a canon character, OR, it's just another generic background character with an hourglass cutie mark that the fans noticed had a eerily-close resemblance to David Tennant's incarnation of the Doctor.
"Did you see the TARDIS?" I quizzed.
"No," Luna said disappointingly "but in the last episode, episode 26, there were alot of earth ponies with hourglass cutie marks. Does that mean they're all time lords? Or rather, time colts?" she said with a giggle.
I had noticed that there were a lot of ponies with hourglass cutie marks in that episode, and one of them stuck out in particular. This particular colt looked like the 5th Doctor; blonde hair, a blue coat with a grey-ish hue, and white collar with a red bow-tie on it.
"Maybe. Or maybe they're not. It's possible though. A few of the animators could be Doctor Who fans, and got some ideas from each incarnation of the doctor?"
"'Tis possible. May we watch the next season?"
"Of course, but just be careful of the fourth episode, that one has you in it." I look over the top of my glasses to affirm with the 'be careful' look. After all, one season doesn't seem to have affected her. By Friday Luna had watched all three seasons and pointed out the place that Twilight got sent to looked like that strange place that her and I got sent to and had the visit with the Doctor.
She seemed to be rather happy with being able to get some answers and closure after what happened last Sunday, which is good for the both of us; I no longer had to lie and Luna didn't have to be confused as to why I kept dodging her questions. In a way the metaphorical bullet did hit me, but I didn't let it knock me over, I stood my ground and prepared for the worst and came out better off. In a way I did what Celestia couldn't; stopped Luna from becoming Nightmare Moon. Of course it was different circumstances but I like to think I did good by both of them, and apparently Celestia thought so by what was written in the letter.
I'll never forget that night when Luna basically made night eternal. Luckily it had only been for about an hour, and I find it to be funny how it could've messed up peoples sleeping patterns and made them late for work, but I digress. Those dragon-slitted eyes were the beginning of it, had I not consoled Luna, I might have lost her to The Shadows forever. Not to mention there was also potentially saving the whole world from the evil wrath of a magical, evil, cartoon horse.
A few days later Luna had finished all three seasons and that had seemed to sate her curiosity about her home. Her real home, in Equestria. My thought drew me back to the letter Celestia had the Doctor give me. How had the letters appear then fade, was she writing it down in real-time? Or selected a few randomly generated answers to appear in different situations? Only one way to find out ultimately; and I'm both dreading and eagerly awaiting that moment. What will become of Luna, myself? How many other other fanfiction stories with ponies landing on earth really happened?
Gah, this is too many questions! I need some rest. By now Luna had got too big for my bed, but the basket-bed and blanket I got for her six months ago still fit with a bit of room to spare. Whenever I looked down at her sleeping, holding the sonic screwdriver like a vice, my heart just melted. It warms me to see her safe and sound, and knowing I've done everything right by Luna. Well, most things. Apart from the lying to her bit.
One month down the track and Luna had grown quite a bit more; standing as high as my waist and her head was just high enough for me to rest my arm on. She didn't like it, but always knew I did it to tease. On a clear night, not a whisp of cloud in the sky, I made the decision to take her outside to see if she could manipulate the stars like in the show.
"Ok, now here's what I want you to try. You see the stars up there? Do you think you could make them move? Try to write or draw something in them."
Luna closes her eyes to concentrate, then effortlessly moves the stars around in the sky to form a simple heart then leaning into my hand for a nuzzle. I put my arm over her and use my thumb to stroke the side of her neck.
"That was beautiful, but how did you do that?"
The stars inexplicably rearranged themselves back to their original positions.
"I don't really move the stars themselves," She explains "but rather their paths of light." Ok, now this makes more sense; I'm thinking. "Because the stars themselves are balls of gas so far away, trying to reach them to move with my magic would prove utterly exhausting, physically and mentally. What I so is bend the flow of light on an angle like a mirror does and make it move to a new spot."
"A lot less strenuous for you then by the sounds of it." I remark.
"Yes it is. Moving the stars how I described could be compared to going for a hard run up the end of the long road and back in terms of physical exhaustion. But at the moment I think I just want to go to be-" Suddenly Luna gets cut off the the sounds of cracking lightning, which also makes the both of us turn around. In the middle of the driveway there's a ball of lightning shooting out bolts of crackling lightning, scorching the concrete underneath.
The ball pulsed and grew larger in size over about a minute. Finally it shrinked to a singularity leaving behind one very familiar, and one not-so-familiar pony.
"Yes, but uhm... Why the dramatic entrance? Couldn't you use the TARDIS? And who is your friend here?" I press, gesturing to the earth-pony mare standing next to him. She has curly, dark-blonde hair, a lighter blonde coat and a cutie mark consisting of an hourglass like the Doctor, but with a large blue question mark behind it.
The Doctor lets out a light chuckle, pulls out a key from under the lapelle on his white collar, which has a green necktie on it. Using the key he "beeps" the TARDIS into view. "Yes, sorry about that. Me being me, I like to make dramatic entrances. That, and I wanted to try that particular mode of materialization instead of the typical way."
"Oh for the love of..." sniped the mare, facehoofing.
"Ok, really Doctor, who is she? I want names!"
"Yeah, who is that pony!" Adds Luna.
"That's not important right now. What is however, is this." Reaching behind with his hoof, he pulls out a mysterious glowing cube. "Take it."
"Uhm, what is it?" I ask, eyeing the cube with curiosity and apprehension.
Luna picks up the cube in her Aura, turning it over and examining it. "It seems harmless enough, father."
If Luna says it's harmless enough for me, then so be it. I pick the cube from her blue aura, and the instant I do the cube melts into my hand without a trace left.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?!? IS IT INSIDE ME!? GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT!" I scream, brushing my hand down with my spare hand, frantically jumping around and stumbling over my feet where I fall onto the grass.
The Doctor is having the time of his life, watching me scream like a little filly. His friend however, only manages a noticeable smirk.
Calming himself down the Doctor finally manages to speak coherently "It's the abilities of the draconeqqus known as Discord."
"WHAT!?!?" My jaw hits the concrete, metaphorically in this case. "Why would you give me the powers of the God of Chaos!?!?" I say, shouting at him.
"You don't. Well, you do, but you can't use them. The thing is, Celestia needs a substantial amount of power on this planet for her plan to work. There's Luna and her magic, and you and Discords magic. That should be enough power in one place for her to open a portal to come here."
"H, here?" I stammer.
"Correct." Replies the mysterious mare.
"Doctor, the letter you gave me said that Celestia was coming here soon. That was four months ago."
"Yes, but that is by earth standards. It has been merely a month back in Equestria since Luna came to be in this world."
That sentence made my gut drop and my heart twinge. "You mean to tell me that in the year I've been looking after Luna, back on Equestria that it has only been one measly fucking month!?!?" I loose it at this point. "Why should Luna go back at all, she's fine here with me!!" I spit in anger at the two ponies standing in front of Luna and I.
In the back of my mind I know it's not true. Luna needs to go home at some point, and I simply cannot keep hiding her on earth forever. What would happen to Luna when I die? Where would she go? Who would take care of her?
I take a deep breath and calm myself down. "Sorry about that," I begin. "But that kind of comparison felt like a kick in the teeth, you understand right?"
The Doctor's ears flatten against his head, turning to look away from me, but glances in the opposite direction when he spies the Rose bush. "All too well..." he mutters.
"Anyway, we must be off." The Doctor gets back in the TARDIS but the mare stays put. "Are you coming?" He shouts back.
"Yes, just... Give me a minute. I want to give you something." She says, taking my hand and putting a blank photo frame in it.
"What is this? It's a blank photo frame!"
"Look at it again, and think of Luna."
My eyes trail down to the frame, and slowly an image appears on it. It's from the night I found Luna. "What is this!? How is it doing that!?"
"I picked it up on one of my travels. It's highly advanced technology that taps into the memories stored in the brain of any living creature. If you touch it and think of a memory, it gets displayed on the screen."
"I... Thank you." She turns to get back in the TARDIS, but I call out to her. "Before you go... just tell me. Who are you?"
With her head poking out the door she simply winks at me and says "Hush, spoilers!"
With the door closed I hear bickering going on inside. "I told you that the TARDIS makes that noise because you leave the parking brake on!"
At that moment, the box dematerializes with incoherent bickering sounds.
I look my hand and arm over where the cube melted into it. "You know what Luna?"
"What's that, dad?"
"When I was a kid I used to, and still do to this day, wish for all sorts of superpowers. Now that the powers of The God of Chaos are in me, it's adding insult to injury that I can't use them!"
"Oh tsk!" Luna giggles, rolling her eyes. "Imagine the damage you would cause just trying to figure out how they work, not to mention the destruction and chaos that would ensue when you got them working!"
"Ok, you've got a point there." I can't help but wander if there's a way to unlock them. Seeing how Celestia coaxed Discord to put some of his power into the cube, then it would stand to reason there he put a "lock" on them to prevent me using them.
What would it take to break that lock? I think to myself.
"All in good time." Comes a ghostly voice echoing through my head.
My head spins, eyes trying to locate the source of the voice. Ok, what the fuck was that?
The following morning bought a whole host of questions and problems. After the visit of the Doctor an his companion, things were pretty quiet. I still hadn't figured out a way to break the "lock" on the latent abilities I now possess, and I doubt I would either. Why did Celestia need enough power in our universe to get here? It didn't make any sense so i decided to ask Luna.
"My best guess would be if she put some kind of tracker on the cube that the Doctor gave you, combined with my magic and Discord's magic too, it would give her a more accurate location to focus her spell on. It's like treasure hunting; the more clues you have to the location of something the easier it is to find it."
"You're absolutely right, that makes perfect sense!"
"It does?"
"It makes sense yes, but we don't ultimately know how Celestia plans on getting here, all we know is she needs enough power on earth, as the Doctor said."
About a week went by without any further contact from the Doctor or Celestia. Discord's magic however... I can't explain it, but it seemed to 'energize' me, for lack of a better word. My productivity at work tripled and my boss gave me a huge pay-rise, I could get rid of the gardener and do what took him all day in the matter of a few hours. Pfft, what a lazy little shit he must have been to take all freaking day!
At this point I was swimming in money! I saved the $1500 I normally paid the gardener and went to get Luna a better and more luxurious bed, except this one was pure plush; no straw frame or anything like the old basket bed did. I did get a new blanket too, but Luna didn't want to give up this one saying it's like her 'special blanket'. She never slept without the sonic screwdriver either, the one I got her for Christmas last year. In fact it never left her bed, usually it's tucked down one of the sides of the pillow. Whenever I'm tidying up her bed and reach for it she's somehow already standing over me saying "Don't. You. Touch." This always leaved me perplexed until one day I asked why she never wants me touching it.
"You got it for me, like the blanket. The screwdriver and the blanket will always be my favourite two things. They bring me comfort when you're not around; they remind me of you too."
My heart exploded out of sheer cuteness at her words.
Another week goes by. What is the matter with Celestia? She said she'd be here soon! How long is soon!? Oh, wait. The time differences... What was it the Doctor said? One year on earth equals one month in Equestria? Doing some quick math in my head that means that one day on Earth is two hours in Equestria. So in the two weeks since the Doctor last saw us it's only been 28 hours in Equestria? Well shit. I'm tired of waiting for an event that I know is going to be heartbreaking for everyone involved, and the longer the wait the worse it's going to be.
"Hey, dad? What's going to happen to me?" Asked Luna, laying on the floor in the lounge while we watched tv, hooves crossed, looking down at the ground with uncertainty. "What's going to happen when I'm gone? What will you do?" She looks up at me, those large puppy-dog eyes moistening.
"Luna, sweetie, I will always love you even if you're not here. Besides, I will always have the photos and that special frame that River gave us."
"But I won't have you when I'm back in Equestria, I won't have you to hug anymore! Do you know how much that hurts?" I could hear that twinge of emotional pain in her voice as those words leave her lips.
"Remember my parents? I don't have them to hug anymore."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."
"It's ok, it's ok. I know you didn't mean it like that. But never forget that you'll always be my special little princess."
"But am I not already a princess?"
"Well yes, but you're my special princess! How many others can say the have a real princess as a daughter, hmm? And that, Luna, is what makes you so special to me. I will never, forget you. Ever. Even if something can be forgotten it can also be remembered. Memories never die, they just lay dormant, and I have that frame and those photos to remember you by."
"Your face was the first one I ever saw. It is seared into my memory and heart for the rest of my life. You know, whenever I have doubts like these such as when I remembered where I was from after seeing Nightmare Moon in the computer screen, you always held me close, and reassured me that you'll always be there for me, and you've never let me down. But... what is going to happen when Celestia comes for me?"
"Think about what you just said. I will always be with you, in memories and in your heart. We will never forget one another. If anything ever happens, I will tear apart the universe to find you, just so I know you're doing good."
Luna gets up on the couch with me, resting her head in my hands so I can stroke her mane. She loves it when I do, it gives her comfort and she needs it in a situation like this. "I guess there isn't anyone alive who wouldn't tear apart the universe to find their loved ones, am I right?"
I wandered how long it would take Celestia to get to earth to take Luna back to Equestria, and that time was now. It was a month after the visit from the Doctor and River, I went outside to check the mailbox but didn't take two steps outside the door. In the middle of the driveway was a bright blue, tall oval-type ring hovering above the ground. You couldn't see through the ring, the middle of it was all white. I'm going out on a limb here and assume this is Celestia's portal.
My heart sank, I knew what this meant. "Luna. You might want to come out here. Like, now."
Suddenly there was a pop and a bright flash next to me, and there stood Luna. Oh yeah, gotta love teleportation.
"Dad... Does this mean what I think it does?"
"I'm afraid so. Lets just see what happens from here on out."
As if on cue, a horn appears out of the portal, followed by a head, a long slender neck and multicoloured mane, two front legs, a gorgeous well kept body, and finally the rear legs accompanied by the same multicoloured tail. There she stood. Seven feet tall of pure alabaster beauty.
There was a long awkward silence before anyone spoke.
"I..." Began Celestia. "I've come for my sister. Just please understand I don't want to make this any more difficult than necessary."
"You make that sound like you're a judge handing out a sentence." I sniped.
Celestia was taken aback my my verbal outburst, hanging her head slightly. "I understand you will be upset, but I don't understand how else we would handle this situation."
"You can start by explaining how Luna got sent here in the first place." I replied flatly, my gaze fixed on her every move and word.
"Yes, I do owe you that at the very least."
I sat down on the concrete steps leading up to the front door, as did Luna.
"It began during a storm. A rather unusually large one at that. We had the weather pegasi out trying to ease the thunder and lightning, but they weren't having any luck. Luna volunteered to aid the pegasi that kept getting near misses with lightning. Figuring she'd protect them with a spell that would avert the lightning away from them, when Luna began to charge the spell lightning struck her horn and she vanished in mid air."
"That... makes sense, but not a whole lot of. You see, when I found her she was but a filly. I found her when I was walking to work when a bolt of lightning struck a building nearby. I investigated and found an unconscious Luna inside. I took her home, and things continued from there. I've essentially taken care of her for in excess of a year."
The look on Celestia's face was all I needed to see, the expression was all of awe, shock, and amazement. "I see. But for me it has only been about five weeks or so. Admittedly time differentials are hard to keep track of, but that's besides the point. I don't know how to ask this properly, but... I must take Luna home."
I look up at Luna who was wearing a blank expression. "Luna, what do you want to do?"
Looking between me and Celestia for one long minute, she finally speaks. "This is my home." Both Celestia and myself drop our jaws. You'd need a spatula to scrape them off the ground. "But..." She continues. "I also have a home on the other side of the portal too. This is too difficult of a choice to make. One cannot simply have their cake and eat it too."
I look up at Luna with a smirk. "Luna sweetie, what good is cake if you can't eat it?" A little off topic, but it does well to lighten the mood somewhat, and even earning a chuckle from the two alicorns.
"I've spent too much time here to simply let it all go. I am not choosing to stay, I am not choosing to leave." Luna's voice got bitter as she said "So please, do with me what you wish Tia. I simply cannot abandon what I hold near and dear in this place."
"I am sorry to have to do this to the both of you, I sincerely am. But Equestria needs Luna back." With that, Celestia's horn light up with her trademark golden glow, which envelops Luna, lifting her off the ground. Instantly, Luna droops all limbs and head and begins to sob profusely. I can feel my throat tighten with emotion as I too begin to weep, falling to my knees as Celestia turns to leave, taking a sobbing Luna away in her glowing golden aura.
"Celestia please! First it was Rainbow Dash, then Fluttershy, now Luna! How many other times has this happened? I know how heartbroken you left the other two people who took care of them, I found her, raised her, fed her, I even kissed her cuts and scrapes! I beg of you Princess, she calls me father, dad, HER DADDY!" Celestia stops dead in her tracks, inches away from the portal. "You know, after my parents died in an accident, I took Luna aside and said to her; "No mater what happens to you I will never, ever leave you." And you know what? I made that a Pinkie Promise too. You know what they say about making Pinkie Promises. Cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. If I break a promise to Pinkie Pie, I can kiss my flank goodbye."
Celestia stops and droops her head and pained sniffling can be heard.
"She's your sister. Think of the harm someone else could have put her through for all that time had I not found her!"
Celestia breaks down in tears, talking through broken sobs. "You are right. I did leave those other humans heartbroken. They raised the other two ponies like their own daughters. It, it brings me great pain to have to do this yet again."
"I ask only this in return for taking care of your sister for so long. I... I..." I stammer, struggling to get out the sentence, afraid of what Celestia's reply will be. "Since I Pinkie Promised... I wish to come back to Equestria with the both of you."
Celestia turns her head in shock at my request, tears matting the fur around her eyes. "Human, because you took care of my beloved sister for so long, and it pains me to have to wipe the memories of both sides again, I shall grant your request for you to come back to Equestria with your daughter, and to say thank you personally, I will grant you your own bed chambers next to Luna's room. If that's what Luna here would like?" Celestia gently puts Luna down on the floor next to her, suddenly Luna fly-tackles me to the ground and sobbing profusely on my shoulder. "Oh thank you, thank you sister, We would not have it any other way!"
"If you don't mind, can I pack a few things?" The goddess lets a slight chuckle.
"Sure, take as much time as you need" she replies.
I go to my bed and pull out my suitcase, filling it with clothes, and the little box that my grandad made me for a birthday. I keep a lot of things in there; valuables and photo albums so I can remember my family, I never want to forget them. When that's full of clothes and the like, I turn to a large backpack and start filling it with incidentals; a few books, a folder with writing and drawing materials, my ammo can full of my knife collection, (Note to self, keep these out of harms way!) and last but not least, a bottle of my favourite whisky.
Celestia walks up to and places a hoof on Luna and myself. Her horn glows a strong, deep yellow. "What ar..." Suddenly there's a flash, a weird tingly feeling washes over my body and everything goes black.
XXXXXXXXX
I'm not sure where I am or how long I've been here. It's a rather large room with a small bookcase, desk and other amenities. I sit up and get hit with a pounding headache, falling back down a taking a pained gasp through clenched teeth.
I hear the door click and creak open ever so slightly. "May I come in?" It's Celestia. Looking around I make sure I'm decent, slowly sitting back up and leaning back against the headboard of what I now see to be a medium sized canopy bed.
The door widens and the princess walks in accompanied by another pony levitating a tray with some water and fruit on it. "Here," she begins "eat this. Such a spell I used to bring all 3 of us back to Equestria would certainly have had unknown effects on humans, luckily it appears to only have slightly weakened you." I snicker. "Yeah, and a bit of a throbbing headache too!"
Celestia motions for the maid to put the tray on the bedside cabinet and leave. It was a simple spread of sliced apples, pineapple and a few other fruits I couldn't immediately recognize, with a jug of water and a glass to boot.
"How long was I out for?"
"About a day, give or take. Your fatigue would have cleared by now had it been two or three days."
Just great. Another two days of dealing with a painful headache.
"What about Luna, how is she?"
"My sister is doing well, she's resting too."
I had to let out a little giggle. She was quite the big sleeper back on Earth.
"I came here to talk briefly, it's about the other two incidents like what happened to you, but with..." I finished her sentence "Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, I am aware."
"Yes, well. You made me realize that taking children away from their parents like how I did with Rainbow and Fluttershy must have been very devastating to the other two people who raised them."
"If I may, Princess?" She gives a nod. "Home doesn't always have to be where you were born or grew up, nor does it need to be a house, and family doesn't always need to be related either."
"Such wise words. Which is why I have decided to return the memories of the parents of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, and give them a choice; the opportunity to be reunited with their daughters. Pardon my poor choice of words here, but the biological parents of Rainbow and Fluttershy are aware of what happened to them, and are welcoming to the idea."
"Just... one more thing, Princess. How does the Doctor fit into all of this? Why did you have him give me that envelops and the cube?"
"I can't simply enter and leave the Astral Plane, or, as Luna calls it, The Dreamscape at will. I found the Doctor when his box crashed here and had guards escort him back to the castle to see me. It was here that the Doctor stores for safe keeping, and explained how his blue box worked to my understanding. When Luna went missing, I asked him if his machine could go to the Dreamscape, then gave him enough of my magic for a return trip. The cube was one of two. One I gave to the Doctor to use as a significant power source to break the barrier between universes, and the other was given to you after I put a tracker on it and imbued it with Discord's and my magic; as creating and sustaining a portal across universes uses an insurmountable amount of magic. The magic that resided in you was wiped when we went back through the portal. Anyway, I must go collect the other people."
"Alright, I'll see you when you get back."
XXXXXXXXX
Celestia approaches a stand-alone house at the end of a road. Knocking at the door the lone occupant open the door.
"Yeah, what do y..." He never finished his sentence before his jaw hits the floor. "Y, you! But, I, HOW!? Why are you here, how is it even possi..." Celestia put a hoof to his mouth. Not saying a word, she leans forward, touching her glowing horn to his forehead, whereupon he collapses.
XXXXXXXXX
I'm sleeping comfortably in my bed when I'm wakened by knocking. "Are you awake? I am back. I bring good news and bad news."
"Lets start with the bad news so we can finish off with something better." I say.
"Yes, well I went back to earth to collect the other two people, but..." She trails off for a second. "Fluttershy's father couldn't join us because of, how shall I say? He has an unfortunate permanent residence and has been there for quite some time."
"I gotta give credit where credit is due, Princess, that was rather creative way of saying... Ahem. Anyway."
"Now time for the good news. I did locate Rainbow Dash's father, and he eagerly elected to join me. He is resting further down the hall, and I put him to sleep with my magic for a few days so he won't have the headache like you did."
No fair, why didn't she do that for me?! Hmph.
Everything turned out for the better. I'm living in a castle in magical land filled with magical horses, some of which can fly too, with my alicorn princess of a daughter. Ok, that is one sentence that I thought I would never ever ever be saying.
Sitting out of bed with my shorts and t-shirt on, pulling my flask out of the backpack near my bed I twist it open, take a large swig and close it. Yeah, life is great. Time to go see how Luna is doing. I grab her blue blanket and sonic screwdriver and open the door to the hallway. I have never seen such a big corridor before! It wasn't much to look at, just some vases and paintings every so often. Walking down the hallway and turning the corner, further down I see an alcove. To my surprise I see a blue box sitting in it. Ah, so this must be where he keeps it.
Taking a deep breath I knock on the door. A familiar face answers. "Oh hello, it is you! How are you! it has been a while. Well for me at least, I don't know how long you've been waiting, time is just..." I cut him off and finish his sentence "all so relative?" He chuckles.
"Yes, right. So what can I do for you?"
"Doctor, I just wanted to say thank you for the trouble you went through to find Luna and I in the Dreamscape to give me the letter, and finding us on earth. Also, I must thank river for the frame. She can have it back, I wont be needing it anymore."
Another familiar face pokes its head out the door.
"Are you sure? You don't have anything else you want to remember?" She questions, raising an eyebrow.
I realize what she meant. "You know what, I think I might hold onto it for a little while longer. So as I was saying. Thank you, Doctor. I owe you one. I'm round the corner and further down the hall if you need anything."
"I thank you for your kind words, and will take you up on your offer at some point in time. Literally speaking."
I let out a chuckle as I turn to leave. "I'll see you later Doctor. River."
Both wave goodbye as I walk down the hallway. Arriving at Luna's room and knocking on the door only to hear no reply. I gently nudge the door open, peering in to see Luna sleeping quietly on her be. Stepping into the room and quietly closing the door, I place the blanket at the foot of the bed with the screwdriver on top. Finding a seat in the corner of the room, I sit down in it to await my princesses awakening, and fall asleep after some time. When I come to, Luna has her nose pressed against mine staring into my eyes so deep you'd swear they're penetrating my soul. "Hi dad!"
"Oh shi-!" My eyes shoot open as I try to find something to grasp to prevent myself falling onto the floor, but I inevitably do anyway. "You scared the living daylights out of me, Luna!!!"
Giggling, she stands me up using her magic. Woah, that felt weird; I can't say I've had magic used on me before.
"Come father, I've much to show you. Today is just the beginning of many fantastic adventures to come."
I wandered how long it would take Celestia to get to earth to take Luna back to Equestria, and that time was now. It was a month after the visit from the Doctor and River, I went outside to check the mailbox but didn't take two steps outside the door. In the middle of the driveway was a bright blue, tall oval-type ring hovering above the ground. You couldn't see through the ring, the middle of it was all white. I'm going out on a limb here and assuming this is Celestia's portal.
My heart sank, I knew what this meant. "Luna. You might want to come out here. Like, now."
Suddenly there was a pop and a bright flash next to me, and there stood Luna. Oh yeah, gotta love teleportation.
"Dad... Does this mean what I think it does?"
"I'm afraid so. Lets just see what happens from here on out."
As if on cue, a horn appears out of the portal, followed by a head, a long slender neck and multicoloured mane, two front legs, a georgous well kept body, and finally the rear legs accompanied by the same multicoloured tail. There she stood. Seven feet tall of pure alabaster beauty.
There was a long awkward silence before anyone spoke.
"I..." Began Celestia. "I've come for my sister. Just please understand I don't want to make this any more difficult than necessary."
"You make that sound like you're a judge handing out a sentence." I sniped.
Celestia was taken aback my my verbal outburst, hanging her head slightly. "I understand you will be upset, but I don't understand how else we would handle this situation."
"You can start by explaining how Luna got sent here in the first place." I replied flatly, my gaze fixed on her every move and word.
"Yes, I do owe you that at the very least."
I sat down on the concrete steps leading up to the front door, as did Luna.
"It began during a storm. A rather unusually large one at that. We had the weather pegasi out trying to ease the thunder and lightning, but they weren't having any luck. Luna volunteered to aid the pegasi that kept getting near misses with lightning. Figuring she'd protect them with a spell that would avert the lightning away from them, when Luna began to charge the spell, lightning struck her horn and she vanished in mid air."
"That... makes sense, but not a whole lot of. You see, when I found her she was but a filly. I found her when I was walking to work when a bolt of lightning struck a building nearby. Upon investigation I found an unconscious Luna inside. I took her home, and things continued from there. I've essentially taken care of her for in excess of a year."
The look on Celestia's face was all I needed to see, the expression was all of awe, shock, and amazement. "I see. But for me it has only been about five weeks or so. Admittedly time differentials are hard to keep track of, but that's besides the point. I don't know how to ask this properly, but... I must take Luna home."
I look up at Luna who was wearing a blank expression. "Luna, what do you want to do?"
Looking between me and Celestia for one long minute, she finally speaks. "This is my home." Both Celestia and myself drop our jaws. You'd need a spatula to scrape them off the ground. "But..." She continues. "I also have a home on the other side of the portal too. This is too difficult of a choice to make. One cannot simply have their cake and eat it too."
I look up at Luna with a smirk. "Luna sweetie, what good is cake if you can't eat it?" A little off topic, but it does well to lighten the mood somewhat, and even earning a chuckle from the two alicorns.
"I've spent too much time here to simply let it all go. I am not choosing to stay, I am not choosing to leave." Luna's voice got bitter as she said "So please, do with me what you wish Tia. I simply cannot abandon what I hold near and dear."
"I am sorry to have to do this to the both of you, I sincerely am. But Equestria needs Luna back." With that, Celestia's horn light up with her trademark golden glow, which envelops Luna, lifting her off the ground. Instantly, Luna droops all limbs and head and begins to sob profusely. I can feel my throat tighten with emotion as I too begin to weep, falling to my knees as Celestia turns to leave, taking a sobbing Luna away in her glowing golden aura.
"Celestia please! First it was Rainbow Dash, then Fluttershy, now Luna! How many other times has this happened? I know how heartbroken you left the other two people who took care of them, I found her, raised her, fed her, I even kissed her cuts and scrapes! I beg of you Princess, she calls me father, dad, HER DADDY!" Celestia stops dead in her tracks, inches away from the portal. "You know, after my parents died in an accident, I took Luna aside and said to her; "No mater what happens to you I will never, ever leave you." And you know what? I made that a Pinkie Promise too. You know what they say about Making pinkie promises. Cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. If I break a promise to Pinkie Pie, I can kiss my flank goodbye."
Celestia stops and droops her head and pained sniffling can be heard. "I'm sorry. Believe me when I say this. I never wanted anything bad to happen to either of you. But Luna needs to come back with me. I will however, allow you your farewells."
Celestia puts Luna down and she throws herself around me. Both of us are crying profusely.
"Goodbye dad. I will miss you."
"I will miss you too Luna. You will never be forgotten, remember that."
This time Luna voluntarily walks through the portal with Celestia, and it closes behind them.
I stand looking at the space where the portal once was. "Never say goodbye, goodbyes are forever. But to say you'll see them 'round is to wish a future. Luna my dear, I will be seeing you soon."
Tonight, I go to bed heartbroken and end up crying myself to sleep. Once I am asleep, I feel that familiar floating sensation again.
I hear a voice echo out from the darkness of my dream. "Hi dad."
When I first started writing My Little Luna, quite a few of you expressed interest in a sequel. Well, I can confidently tell you that the sequel to my most popular story is finally here, I call it;
