Knight of the Night

I don't remember how long my body and mind were frozen. It had to be only a couple of minutes, but for me, it lasted hours upon hours, days on days. Everything just shut down - Nothing but incapacitating fear and a building, flaming rage in my chest existed. My mind slowly warmed up, as the shock ebbed down, but the fury in my chest set fire to the rest of my body, driving me to act. I stood up and passed Luna, who had a worried expression on her face, and walked over to the open window. I gripped the edge of it with an iron grip, and looked at the night sky.

I'm fucking stuck in this place now?! First something blows up my house, then beats the shit out of me, and now leaves me trapped here for who knows how fucking long?!

With a loud roar, I swung my hand at something solid next to me, and heard the shattering of glass. I looked at the damage, and saw my fist reaching through the window, glass shards all around the floor around me. I noticed in a small part of my head that there's glass embedded and blood dripping from my hand, but through the anger, I didn't feel it.

I'll kill the fucker who did this!

I yanked my hand back, and with another shout, I kicked right at the window, my foot breaking apart the wooden frame easily, and sending more broken glass through the air. I planted my foot down and stood there, panting, for what felt like hours, before taking a step back. With a shuddering groan, I slid down the wall behind me, my body shaking with pain and the overwhelming grief that replaced the fury. Hot tears ran down my cheeks, but right then, I didn't care - My life, everything that I had known, everything that I had loved.

Gone.

I just sat there and shook, crying silently, as memories of my life raced through my brain. Each one brought more pain and weight to the my reality, dragging me further and further to despair.

What the fuck am I going to do?! I'm trapped here, and I can't get back. What's going to happen to my house? What are my friends going to think, when they find me missing and my house... destroyed, like that?!

An eternity passed as I sat there, soft sobs echoing through the air. I felt completely and utterly lost, homeless, alone. I felt like an alien, and right then, I knew I probably was.

I felt something touch my shoulder gently, and I look up to see Luna standing over me, a worried yet comferting smile on her face. I saw her lips move, and knew she was trying to say something calming, even if I couldn't hear the words.

I didn't care about anything right then -  I didn't care she was some sort of alien, I didn't care she was a princess, I didn't care that me breaking down like I was looked really unmanly. Right then, I needed a friend.

I reached out and grabbed onto her, burying my face into her shoulder, still shaking and giving out silent cries. She stiffened at first from the sudden contact, but soon gently returned the hug, holding me while rubbing her hoof up and down my back calmingly. Her presence was somehow an anchor for me - Even though I had only known her for less than an hour, having her there somehow gave me a foothold, something in the darkness to help me though this.

Eventually, I calmed down enough so I wasn't crying or shaking anymore. I pulled away from the hug, and sat back against the wall. I offered her a embarrassed grin, rubbing my good hand around my face to wipe away the wetness.

"S-Sorry, about that...."

Luna merely smiled and shook her head, and her voice was gentle and caring.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. Though, in the future, TRY not to make a habit of breaking my windows? They aren't that cheap, you know."

I laughed a little at that, before giving her an abashed grin. "Y-Yea, next time I'll just break the wall instead."

She rolled her eyes at me, and gave me a stern glare. I tried to fight off a grin from my face, but it broke through, and I started laughing. Her facade also broke, and soon we were both howling like idiots, my own troubles being pushed aside for a moment. Eventually we calmed down, and sat there together for a while. A fiery pain broke me out of the silence, and I hissed as the glass shards and cuts in my hand made themselves VERY well known. I brought it up to my chest, and winced at the amount of blood coming out of it.

"That must hurt quite a bit."

I scratched the back of my head with my good hand, chuckling slightly.

"It hurts like a bitch. I should probably get to a hospit- Wait, there's hospitals, yea?"

Luna sighed, and nodded slowly. "Yes, we do, but however...."

She looked away from me, and she suddenly looked nervous. I raised an eyebrow, confused at her sudden behavior change.

"Go on?"

Luna sighed, and looked back at me. "I think it would be best if nopony else knew about you for now. If you were to suddenly appear in public, without any sort of prior introduction, then I have no doubts that things would go.... Badly."

I nodded slowly, and sighed, looking at my hand. "I suppose that's true. Aliens on my planet would most likely be dissected or shot at or something. But, uh.... what do we do about this, then?"

I held my hand up, wincing at the sudden shift of the glass in it. Luna let out a small "Hmm", before her horn started glowing a light blue aura. Before I could say anything, the aura also extended to my hand. I gritted my teeth as I felt my flesh start to re-knit itself, pushing out the glass embedded within it. It hurt worse then it did before the healing, and it took all of my willpower to not cry out in pain - Instead, I just gritted my teeth, clenching the unhurt hand into a tight fist.

Thankfully, before long, the healing spell was done. I let out a held breathe, grateful that the pain was finally gone. I looked at my hand, and was surprised - There was no damage left behind at all. There wasn't even any scars left - Plain, smooth skin was all I saw on it. I blinked in surprise, and looked at Luna, who was grinning.

"H-How?..... How did y-you do that?"

Luna grinned wider, and pointed to her horn, which started glowing slightly again. Her voice came out happily and cheerfully.

"Magic."

I blinked again, and shook my head. My tone was one of disbelief and slight contempt.

"Magic...."

I took another look at my hand again, before letting it flop down to my side. I gave Luna a wide, thankful grin.

"Well, thank you. That would have sucked completely if I had to wait for it to heal normally."

Luna waved her hoof at me, already trotting over to the damage I caused. "Don't worry about it. Minor damage like that is simple enough to fix, if you have the knowledge."

I watched silently as her horn once again glowed, and her aura appeared around the damaged frame and the shards of glass on the floor. The wood was mended back together, and the glass set back into the frame itself, each piece sealing with the rest, eventually making it look like nothing had ever damaged it.

I expected her to walk away from the window, but then, she did something odd - She walked right to the window's opening, and sat down. I saw her horn start to glow, and looked around the room, expecting to see something start to glow towards her. To my surprise, nothing was. I looked back at her, and she was already walking away. However, outside, it looked much brighter now - the sun could just be seen peeking over the horizon.

Huh? It did't look that late when I was looking out there.... Maybe I just thought it was earlier than it was.

I shrugged it off, and stood up flexing my hand to see if it was truly healed. To my slight surprise, I felt nothing out of the ordinary - No pain, no stiffness, nothing. It felt exactly like it did not even half an hour ago.

"Does everybody here have magic?" I ask, looking over to Luna, who was now sitting by her desk again. She stopped writing a note and looked at me, shaking her head.

"No, no, only Unicorns and Alicorns have true magic. Pegasi and Earth ponies have some innate magic in them, but not in the way I imagine you would expect. The Pegasi can use their magic to manipulate and create the weather, while Earth ponies use it passively with the earth itself. They have the ability to grow some of the finest crops, and often when you have a large eough Earth pony group staying in one area or living there for a time, the greenery starts to bloom.

Zebra's have many potions and tonics that can do almost as much as Unicorns can, and even some things they cannot. Dragons have the ability to manipulate their firebreathe, but aside from them, most other races rely on Unicorns for enchanted items or scrolls if they need the help of magic."

I blinked rapidly, my brain pitifully trying to comprehend all this new knowledge.

Pegasus's.

Potions.

Scrolls.

Enchantments.

...Wait. She said... DRAGONS?!

"Wait.... Dragons?! You guys have dragons?! That's so... Awesome!"

I laughed loudly, fist pumping in the air. Me and a few friends of mine played Dungeons and Dragons quite regularly using Skype and an online tabletop website, and we often got into huge nerd debates about aspects of the fantasy, such as if a mythical beast could exist or not. I'd always been a bit skeptical about some of the races and creatures, but I ALWAYS had believed Dragons of all things were real. My theory was that they'd either gone into hiding sometime during the medieval ages, or they'd all been sadly wiped out.

"In your stinking face, Jordan! I knew they were re-"

I froze midsentance, still triumphantly raising my fists in the air, staring at the ceiling. I slowly tilted my head downwards, and stared at a very confused Luna, who was giving me a look that just screamed "I'm starting to think you are mildly insane."

I felt my cheeks slightly heat up, and I tried giving her a grin. "Uh, heh heh, my bad. It's a, erm, long story."

She just stared at me some more.

My grin grew wider, trying to convince her alone that its owner wasn't crazy.

She sighed, and promptly facepa-hooved? I heard her mutter under your breathe "Always get the crazy ones..."

I frowned, and pouted. "Heeey! I'm not cra-"

"Anyways, I think it is high time we get a room for you. I would expect you are rather tired after tonight."

I nodded, yawning. "Now that you mention it, I am really tired."

She nodded, and walked over to a large door near the fireplace. She opened it, muttered some words to someone outside it, then look back at my, gesturing to follow her. I quickly got up and walked over to her, and she lead us out of the bedroom.

We walked down a small hallway towards a set of stairs. I noted that there was only two other doors that we passed, and the distance from them suggested rooms of about Luna's bedroom size housed here. We started walking down the stairs, and while it was a large staircase, it didn't take us too long to make it all the way down. At the bottom she silently lead me through an opening that lead into the rest of the castle.

I looked around in slight awe at the halls around us, barely remembering to keep following her. This place was huge! Along the stone walls sat paintings, statues, what looked like suits of armor, old-looking weapons like lances and swords and crossbows. I didn't see any windows to see what the rest of the castle outside looked like from here, but if it was anything like this, then I wouldn't doubt Luna was really a princess.

While I continued to stare at the castle, Luna lead us through various hallways, and eventually came to a stop in front of a solid oak door. She motioned me inside with her hoof, and I complied, pushing it open with ease. Stepping inside, I noticed that while it wasn't quite as big or well-furnished as Luna's bedroom, it was still much better than any I'd ever slept in back home.

Luna cleared her throat behind me. "Is this adequate enough for you? It's one of the best we have for guests."

I blinked, and whistled softly. "Uh, wow. This is much more than enough. Thank you."

She smiled and nodded, and let out a huge yawn. "Well, I must be going to bed. That healing spell is quite tiring, and we've both had a long night."

I nod, feeling a bit guilty for causing her that hassle. "Sorry about that, I sho-"

She waved me off, stifling another yawn quickly. "It's quite alright, just please, try not to hurt yourself next time. I will have one of the guard send a servant to assist you once you wake. Have a nice rest."

I nod and wish her a good night, before she walks down trough the halls. i watch her silently for a moment, before closing the door, and looking at my new room. It didn't have a fireplace or anything, but being lower made it a bit warmer. The bed looked to be almost a King size, and had a really nice headboard, with carvings of a sun and a moon symbol on it. A chest sat at the foot of it, and I assumed that was for things like clothing or personal belongings. A small table sat across from the bed, and a dressing mirror stood on it, giving me a good glimpse of myself.

I yawned again, and walked quietly over to the bed. Without bothering to cover myself, I just quickly climbed on top of it and layed down on my back, closing my eyes, surrendering myself to sleep.