Stranded

Both women were sitting at the table facing each other, both with looks capable of melting iron, both waiting for the other to say something to use against each other.

Jack and Tiberius were inside the kitchen, the women could hear the clanging of pans and the occasional curse uttered by the old doctor, it seemed that a stove and other utensils were able to beat him despite being a scientist.

Luna looked around, inside her there was something burning, his veins seemed to carry hot lava all over her body, she didn't want to accept it but she was jealous, jealous that Elena was the woman that Jack wanted to have at his side, that also made her feel fury, how was it possible that he hid something as important as the fact that he had a fiancée, even worse, how did he dared to accept her kiss, her first real kiss?

"Tell me, Luna, where are you from?" Elena asked in a derogatory manner.

The night goddess gritted her teeth, Elena's tone made her feel angrier.

"...I come from a small town in Mexico, I own a ranch..." Luna started but was interrupted.

"How interesting." Elena didn't let her finish and went on as if she were completely bored. "That explains the vulgar tone of your skin, although I must admit, it contrasts perfectly with that dress."

"Just a snap of my fingers, that’s all I need to do to break your neck, bitch." Luna thought.

"It's a pity I cannot say the same of you, with that ghostly tone you have, the light seems to pass through you." Luna had a twisted smile on her face.

Elena had her eyes wide open. "You're a…" She remained with the words in her mouth.

"Dinner is served."

Jack declared proudly in the moment him and Tiberius came through the door carrying several trays of food. If there was something that Luna had learned during the month that she had lived with Jack it has been the fact that he was a great chef.

"It smells delicious, my love. I missed so much to test your delicacies." Elena said with false cheer, something that upset Luna and made her stomach churn.

Once Jack had served the meals to all his guests, Tiberius took the opportunity to try and get some information from Elena; he was an old sea dog so he knew how to get important information from the people.

"Tell me, my dear, what you do to live?"

"I have several businesses in London, stores where I sell imported products from countries like Japan, Russia, Germany, Thailand, I recently bought a small gunpowder factory in Morocco and I'm shareholder of Remington Industries, that's how I met Jack."

"Very interesting, it seems that both of you found success in the industry."

"That's right, Tiberius, and tell me, what kind of scientist are you?"

Tiberius almost spit the soup. "I never said I was a scientist, dear."

"Just by seeing you I realize that your life are the books, those cheap clothes, your frumpy image, your face shows more than you think."

Tiberius was surprised, she had won him at his own game, meanwhile, Jack had his face buried in his hands, if there was something that bothered him about Elena, it was the fact she didn't know how to talk to people that “were not at her height”. They had often discussed about it, whenever he tried to make her change she disappeared for several weeks until everything was back to normal.

"Elena... please..." Jack grumbled.

"But I said nothing bad, darling, just the truth."

"Don't you know you should think a bit before opening your mouth?" Luna questioned her.

"And what do you know about manners? You come from a country of savages." Elena told her angrily.

That was the straw that broke the camel, Luna wanted with all her heart prove to that smug who she actually was and make her pay for talking like that, but she knew she couldn't. She got up from the table and looked at Tiberius and Jack.

"Excuse me, I withdraw to my room."

"Luna, are you okay?" Tiberius asked with concern.

"Not really, I feel sick, I'd better get some rest, have a good night." Luna left the room and went to the second floor of the house.

"What's the matter with her? What kind of friends do you have, my love?"

"Shut up, Elena." Jack told her, he got up immediately and went after Luna.

When he got to the second floor, he heard a door closing; he ran to it and waited a moment before knocking.

"Luna, please, we need to talk."

There was no answer, he tried to open the door but it was in vain, a faint blue aura surrounded it.

"Luna, we can't end like this, please open the door."

"Just leave me alone, Jack, return with her before she starts thinking about something else, I bet both of you have a lot to talk about."

After hearing her words, Jack decided not to press her more and walked away with his head down. Elena appeared on the corridor and got closer to him.

“Is everything all right, Jack? Her concerned tone seemed almost real, but he didn't gave her an answer.

Jack looked at the other side and his gaze met Tiberius, the old man only shook his head in disappointment and then sat on the couch and grabbed the newspaper. Elena didn't give it too much importance and taking Jack by the hand both walked to his room, once inside she locked the door.

"You don't know how much I missed you." She said in sultry way. "When was the last time we shared your bedroom?"

She took away his vest and started to unbutton his shirt, but Jack grabbed her hands and gave a step back.

"Is there something wrong, my love?" She asked.

"No... is just... I've had a hard week, I feel tired, let's have some rest, please?"

"Did something bad happened at the factory?" Elena asked with fake interest.

"I... I don't want to talk about it." Jack sounded defeated.

"You did a good job Krause." She thought. "As you wish, my dear, I also need some rest after the travel."

"Thanks for understanding."

Some moments later both were lying on the bed, Elena hugged him and placed her head on his chest. The hours went by; Jack stared at the ceiling, his mind were a turmoil of ideas. Once more, images of the moments he shared with Luna that morning tortured him. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn't deny that he had enjoyed it. Did he felt guilty for what have happened? The answer was no.

Even before she took her human form, Jack accepted that she was gorgeous, her slender body, the softness of her fur, her expressive deep azure eyes, everything about her liked him even when they were of different species and different worlds.

He gave a look at Elena who were already sleeping and realized that he wanted to have someone else at his side, yes, she was a beautiful woman, but she couldn't compete against the night goddess.

"I need to speak with her."

***---***

"H-his... f-fiancee..."

Those words felt like the fangs of a timberwolf sinking into her heart.

"How stupid I was."

Luna whispered while seeing her reflection on the mirror.

"I didn't make this to have normal life in this world; I did this for him, to see if he could love me as a human instead of a pony."

She undressed and took off the earrings, it didn't take long before her body changed to her natural form, but her mane and tail that always moved and shone with a thousand stars, seemed to be lifeless and fell over her face. The alicorn let the earrings fall to the ground, a moment later both were crushed by her hoof.

Luna wiped her tears; she walked to the bed and slumped over it, she grabbed the pillow and hugged it tightly.

"Celestia, please, help me, I want to go back, I don't want to be here anymore."

She begged and cried with all her heart. She felt like a fool for believing that she had found that special being that would show her the meaning of love, the meaning of belonging, but all her illusions were shattered in the moment that Elena appeared behind the door.

She lay there in her misery for several hours, but to her surprise, the door to her room was opened slowly. Jack closed the door and put the secure, slowly he walked to the bed but something under his shoe creaked and he saw the remains of the earrings, a slight smile graced his lips.

Luna wanted to scream at him, show him how much she hated him, but she also was feeling very happy that he was there; the smell of his cologne gave him away in the moment he stepped into the room. She pretended to be asleep, Jack got closer and kneeled in front of her.

"Luna, I never wanted to hurt you like this". He started. "I should have told you about Elena, but I felt so happy at your side that I completely forgot about her, to be honest, when I saw her at the door all I wanted to do was to close it in her face, now I see that she is the worst human being I have ever met, I suppose I was with her because I felt lonely, how stupid I was."

Jack placed his trembling hand on her cheek, he caressed her face with such delicacy that shiver ran down her spine.

"Yes, you're a fool..." She told him.  "A goddamn fool..." Luna leaped towards him, he received her with arms wide open and both ended on the ground tangled in a tight hug.

There were no words between them; all that they wanted to say to each other they did it with their eyes. Jack took her in his arms and laid her softly on the bed, Jack rested his body over hers, her eyes showed that shine again and her mane and tail started to move again.

“Luna… I’m so sorry… I promise that I will never hide something to you again…” Jack’s words carried nothing but the truth and her heart started to beat faster.

“What about Elena?” Luna asked concerned.

“I’ll take care of that; you don’t have to worry about it.”

Luna sighed deeply. "Will you stay with me tonight?" Her voice trembled.

Jack smiled and joined his lips with hers; Luna felt in heaven, he really wanted to be with her. When he parted from her, Luna was breathing heavily, her cheeks were red and her wings fluttered a little.

"... I'll take that as a yes..." She whispered and as she fell asleep in his arms, the words of an old love poem invaded her mind.

“You and I, we play a verse, without commas.

Without rules, without time or accents.

We let the night grow.

The kisses start to be more than an attempt.

The moon is bigger than yesterday.”

***---***---***

Krause looked at the factory schemes, he marked many sites with red crosses and each one had instructions written under them. There were three more soldiers in the room, all of them expecting to hear their general's orders. He gave them a determined look and stood up from the desk.

"We already waited long enough, we need to act now. All of you will go inside the factory tomorrow and will proceed as accorded. What we’re going to do will destroy Remington's reputation, if he doesn't want to cooperate; we will hit him where it will hurt him the most."

"Mein General, what do we do if we get caught?" One of the soldiers asked.

Krause opened a drawer; he took a gun and placed it over the desk.

"I think you already know what to do, there must be no witness." He answered with stern voice. "Is there any other stupid question?"

"Nein, Her General!" The three soldiers answered.

"Ausgezeichnet! Now get out of here and get ready."

They salute him and left the room, once alone, Krause looked at schemes again.

"I gave you many opportunities, Jack Remington, now you will pay for your insolence."