It began like every other Winter-Sun rise, the inhabitants of the New Lunar Republic commuted home from a long night of work and Lady Luna went for a stroll to appear more “down to earth” to her subjects. She was wearing her favorite coat and scarf; she trots thru her gardens and her city’s streets, to relax her mind. Along the street are propaganda posters, ranging from pro-griffon, to anti-solar. She trots down the main street of the NLR City and stops in front of an alleyway for a breather, out of the corner of her eye she spots what looks like a pony rummaging thru a garbage bin, then running away with something in its mouth, she didn’t know if this pony she saw was real or a figment of her wild imagination. The streets are only dimly lit by the glowing warm light of candle lamps above the street “good winter sun rise to you, my dear subject, what is your objective rummaging in litter?” Luna asks. She hears nothing in response from the pony in the shadows.
Luna cast a spell of Illumination to light up the dark alley way, a small orb of light springs from her horn and hovers above her “are you hurt, are you frightened by me?” she asks to the pony. A small face of a colt pops out slowly from behind the bin, then Luna, very slowly and cautiously brings the light closer, so she can see his face. As the light reaches his face, she sees a face the looks like something out an Edgar Allan Pony book, she sees a Unicorn, his face is grey with large black rings around his pale blue eyes, he has scars around his mouth and cheeks and a half empty can of beans in his mouth. For his clothes he has an empty potato sack with a rope tied around his waist to keep in on. A face of shock, pity and sadness all rolled into one wipes onto Luna’s face, Luna hugs the pony, pushing his muzzle deep into her chest of fur. “Why must you live like this?” Luna says as tears stream down her face. The colt drops the can at his tail “M-my name is Tantabus” Luna stops crying and looks flare in the eyes. “You poor thing, I feel so deeply for you” Luna says in an emotional way, trying to wear a happy face.
Tears stream from Luna’s eyes “Lady Luna, why are you crying?” Tantabus asks “is it me that is making you sad?” Luna wipes away her tears, she sighs softly. “here take these, as a gift” Luna takes off her scarf and wraps it around Tantalus’s neck, it’s light blue in color with dark blue tassels, the NLR logo is embroidered onto the scarf with The New Luna Republic embroidered on the back, she reaches into her pocket and passes him a small brown bag tied shut with a piece of string. Tantabus snuggles into the warmth of the scarf “thank you” he takes the bag and smiles as Luna stands. “Take care of yourself, ok?” Luna asks, Tantabus nods in response, Luna smiles as she walks away.
Tantabus lays the bag on the floor and opens it, inside is a small amount of bits, but it is enough to live on for a few weeks, he picks it up and carries it down the alley to a small fridge box laying on its side, on the side of the box is his name written with coal, he crawls inside the box he calls his home. Inside is a small pillow he found in the bin.
“Home again.” He lets out a sigh he places the bag of money behind his pillow, he lays down and falls asleep.
