Houston, We're Coming Home

by EpicBG

Chapters

HQ, Mission Accomplished
Welcome Home!
Interview
Reunion
Hope
Not A New Chapter, But Please Read...

HQ, Mission Accomplished

Ten... The ship‘s engines spark on. “Let's do this…”

Nine... “Hurry up!”

Eight... "Just be patient." He says to himself.

Seven... He sucks in a gasp of breath to keep himself calm.

Six... With a boom, the engines come to life.

Ignition sequence start…

Three... "Come on!"

Two... His head grows light with adrenaline.

One... Thoughts were far from possible now.

Ignition…

We have liftoff…

“Houston, we have cleared the tower.”

“Altitude and velocity right on the line.”

“Brace yourself, boys!” Two explosive booms of the Saturn V losing a chunk shake the entire ship underneath him, forcing his head into the seat behind him. Another announcement of check rings through his ear, then another boom and detached section falls to be burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere. The heavy helmet protecting his head smashes into the padded seat behind him yet again, making him cringe slightly. Slowly, the restraints of his buckle seem to loosen up - not violently, but as if he were floating upwards. Yet another boom, this one not as loud as the other two. It tells him that the LEM has detached. “Houston, getting set for transposition and docking.”

“Roger that.”

“We’re going to start pitching around. Everything looks good, over.”

“Aligned. Thrusting forward. One hundred feet. Forty feet. Twenty feet. Ten.” The sound of metal hitting metal is a relief. “Retracting and… Houston, we have hard dock.”

“Copy that, Eleven.”

Neil Armstrong takes off his helmet and unbuckles the restraints. A quick look of out the plexiglas window tells that he is indeed in space. The idea itself of being in space is unheard of, yet it wasn’t the first time he’d been in space. It was simply something people thought to be impossible, and still it had been done many times before. Humans were supposed to be forever bound to their home, their Earth, with no alternative. This was seemingly one of the many tacit laws of life. That law seemed to be broken so easily.

Neil takes a breath in, holds it while he stands up, and let it out as he regains his balance on the floors, which completely lack the familiar safety grip of gravity. He carelessly hits his head on the panel of buttons above him. With his covered hands, he rubs the spot where he knew a bump would soon grow; it was only a matter of time. Time…

“How long is it gonna be until we get there, Mike?” Michael Collins, the pilot, scratches his head and turns around in his chair to look towards Edwin.

“Four days sounds about right. What do you think, Buzz?” Edwin Aldrin, informally known as ’Buzz’, ponders the question for a few moments in silence, or what would have been silence had the ship not echoed with an ambient humming.

He shrugs. “Hopefully soon. This dehydrated food is pretty bad.” In his hand is a sickly colored orange tube of what was supposed to be… “Applesauce.” Buzz reads the label quietly to himself. “My ass…” Then he rips the plastic seal open with his jaw and swallows a gulp, then shudders and lets out a loud, displeased groan.

Neil rolls his eyes. “It isn’t that bad.” The tube in Buzz’s hand is floating away towards Neil’s face ever so slowly.

“So… what exactly are we supposed to be doing?” Buzz says amidst slurps of so-called applesauce. Truth be told, Neil didn’t truly know either, aside from the fact to show those damned Russians who’s boss. That couldn’t be the only reason; it’s such a huge expense of supplies and manpower! Mike stops pressing buttons and twists around in his chair to answer the question while resting his left palm against his face.

“I’m only going say this once, okay?” Buzz and Neil nod in unison. “You two really should have been paying attention. Alright, It isn’t about the Russians. We’re looking for someone - or… rather something.” Neil’s jaw falls to the floor as Buzz raises an eyebrow, having been the skeptic. “You’re gonna think I’m crazy, and I can fully understand that, but it’s - she’s a… pony.”

Buzz bursts into laughter. “You’re kidding, right? That isn’t possible. It‘s the freakin‘ moon!” He waves an arm out towards the direction where he suspects the moon is, and with the sleeve of his other arm, wipes away a tear in the corner of his eye. “That’s really cute, Mike. Sorry to break it to you, but nothing can live there!” A scoff leaves his lips. “Dumbass.” He whispers, barely audible by his partners. Mike frowns down at Buzz. “Sorry, it’s just that -”

The ship shakes violently seemingly without reason, cutting off Buzz’s apology. “What was that?” Neil calls out.

“Just the ship adjusting to the lack of gravity.” Mike messes with a few buttons, and sure enough the ship levels out. “Get used to it. It‘s gonna’ happen a few more times.”

Neil takes another look out the window. Behind it he sees Earth, or at least he was told was Earth. It looks way too small! How could that thing possibly be Earth? It seemed that he so easily escaped the grip of the planet. How? It didn’t make much sense to him at all. His daydreaming is disturbed by a blur of black. Or maybe it was blue? Perhaps cobalt? Neil couldn’t really tell the difference. It wasn’t there for more than a fraction of a second, but it was enough time to be seen. Nonetheless, he falls backwards onto what would’ve been his ass, had there been gravity. Instead he makes a noise that didn’t sound entirely human, but instead much more like a surprised chimpanzee. As he floats backwards, he rubs his eyes lightly with his gloved hand and shakes his head. “Did you guys see that?” He follows the question with an index finger pointed at the window.

“Hmm?” Mike turns around in his chair. “See what?”

Buzz looks Neil square in the eye. “See what? You goin’ loony on us? Hah! Get it,” He jabs Mike in the midsection with his elbow. “Loony? Like the moon?” Mike’s face was insensibly blank. “Fine then, forget you.”

“Neil, maybe you ought to go take a nap? Buzz and I will wake you up if we need you.” The thought of a nap was a welcoming one, and come to think of it, didn’t seem like a bad idea. After all, he had been through an awful lot for one day: it’s not every day that somebody goes into outer space.

Neil walks back to his chair and ties himself down with all of the restraints he could find under his seat. Nobody wants to wake up floating around the ship. The pressurized suit itself was only for show when they left Earth, and Neil could have taken it off a while ago, but something about it filled him with a sense of pride. When they’d all left the atmosphere, Buzz and Mike had already stripped themselves of their heavy suits and were relaxing in their jumpsuit-like standard regulation clothing. Neil begins to take off the suit to finally rid himself of the labor of lugging around that damned outfit.

Getting comfortable in the seat was a pain, and falling asleep was even harder with all of the ambient beeping, but eventually Neil manages to drift off into sleep. His rest was not a refreshing one - it was plagued with nightmares. Darkness reigned over his dreams as a figure makes its self clear through the shroud of blackness. “Why dost thou wish to visit our moon?” The voice asks. Neil looks around and quickly realizes that he is alone, and that he's in perfect lucidity with the dream - to the point where he can feel the goose bumps on his skin.

He shouts back into the void in a cracked and shaky voice, feigning bravery as best he can. “Who are you?”

“We are the moon. We are the stars. We are the night.”

The void around him gave way to a silhouette of what looks like to be a horse, yet it has wings, which were fully extended, and it seems to have a large pointed horn protruding from it‘s head. The voice of Mike echoed in his head “She’s a… pony.”

The eyes of the pony glowed in a shade of crimson not unlike that of blood. “We do not like to repeat ourselves. Answer the question, mortal.” The voice booms outward, shaking Neil to his core.

Neil stumbles over his words as he tries to form a sentence. “I… we, my team and I,” Neil clarifies. “Were sent to the moon by our kind.”

The creature tilts its neck questioningly, the blood red of its eyes dimming down slightly to a less hostile hue. “Our mission is to secure the moon, and…” Neil racked his mind for the correct word. “Befriend any possible inhabitants, though we doubt there will be any.” The creature begins to form through the darkness as it slowly trots towards him; its eyes are rimmed in a beautiful aqua color. Neil finds himself lost in those beautiful orbs before the creature speaks again.

“Didst thou sayest… to befriend?” The pony asks in a much friendlier tone. Neil nods, his eyes squinting to make out more of the mysterious entity’s features. Its coat is a dark blue that seems to melt into the darkness around them. “We have decided that we shall welcome you to our self-made prison.” Neil could’ve sworn that he heard her say, “It would be nice to finally have some company.” But he wasn’t certain.

The metal floor embraces Neil’s forehead as the rest of him lightly floats in the air. A soft growl emanates from his larynx as he hears hushed laughter come from his side. “Nice one, Neil.” Mike reaches down to help Neil back to his feet. He was met with a light shove. “What’s your problem, man?”

“Sorry, I just… nightmare.” was all he could think of saying. His stomach growls at the sudden change of posture when he stands up.

Floating towards the small collection of cabinets, the confused astronaut couldn’t help but think about his dream while looking for an at least somewhat appetizing tube of food. He ends up settling for a tube of off-brown tube labeled ‘Chocolate Pudding’. “Huh. Not half bad! Buzz, you should try some of this!” An exhausted, baggy eyed astronaut lazily glides over to him.

“That’s nice…” Buzz sits back down in his seat and pulls the buckle around his waist. “You’re up.” An index finger points towards Neil’s chest, “You too!” the second hand mimics the first’s action, except it was pointed towards Mike. Mike eyes Neil and inspects him from afar: his eyes were droopy, his hair a mess, and his skin a pale pasty white. Clearly Neil wasn‘t entirely himself, but Mike didn’t look much better either. Nobody really did.

“Hey, uhm…” Neil couldn’t think of how to strike up a conversation about the weird dream that he’d had. “Remember what‘cha said about that thing on the moon?” Mike’s eyes shot open to stare at Neil. “Well, I, um, kind of, sorta’…” he begins to trail off.

“You kind of sort of what, Neil? Spit it out!” and spit it out he did, with incredible speed, Neil retold the nightmare in great length to Mike, whom sat silently and eagerly listened.

“, And how did you know anyways, huh? I’m pretty sure that they didn’t say anything to us about a moon-pony horse thing with wings!” Mike’s palm meets his forehead with an audible smack. “And a horn!” Neil adds.

“Neil… do me a favor and take a deep breath. Slow down, and just think.” The seat squeaks underneath Mike. “You - you actually believed what I said, eh?” Neil nods in response. “Good, because it’s all true. I need you to know that if there’s ever been a time that you should trust me, it’s now.” Fear struck Neil, working it’s way down his spine in the form of a chill that branched off to every nerve of his being. The realization that something was alive on the moon struck him as an impossibility, but Mike has no reason to lie to him, that he knew. He’d known him long enough to know that Mike didn’t lie about anything unless it was menial, or for someone’s well being

“Now, I know Buzz doesn’t believe me, and that’s fine, but please don’t stress yourself out about it. She’s harmless, kind, and above all else, friendly.“

“Yeah, right,” Neil retorts sarcastically “she looked as if she was about to kill me! How do you know all this, hmm?” The previous statement set off Neil’s inner detective.

“I just do, okay?” Not good enough, thought Neil. He shot Mike daggers, which he could practically feel.

“Okay, okay, just stop that look, you’re creeping me out.” They each take their seats at the cockpit, and wait for the other to begin. It was Neil who finally caved in.

“As you were saying, how do you know… her.”

“A few days ago, I was getting these… dreams. Much like the one you had, only they were much more pleasant. Over time, we told each other who we were and about ourselves; think of it as being friends.”

“And?”

“And nothing. That’s it, it’s that simple,” Mike shakes his head. “You’ve just got to trust me on this one. Now please… chill out and get to work.”

Neil didn’t know what to think, that is if he even could. A half-unicorn, half-pegasus, pony thing on the moon. The moon! That is obscene! The rest of the day was rather uneventful, the only interesting happening being Neil’s compulsive daydreaming and long sessions of silent thought. The time came when Buzz woke up, and Mike patted Neil on the shoulder before reclining back in his chair. Neil didn’t know if he should ask Buzz about that dream or not.

“Neil.”

“What?” Neil was stolen from his thoughts yet again.

“I said, what do you think about that B.S. that Mike told us?”

“Oh, I – uhm… don’t know.” Buzz shoots him a glare.

“What do you mean, ‘I don’t know’. It’s not possible! Please don’t tell me you actually believe him.”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore.” Good response, Neil thought. That seemed to shut Buzz up.

‘What if that… thing really is there?’ The thought began to cripple him from the inside out, his palms got sweaty and he began to shake in fear. ‘What if she… No, that’s stupid. Just take a deep breath.’ Inhale. Exh-CHOKE. The window, which Neil had been absentmindedly staring out of, gave way to her face; she waves at him and then dissipates into the darkness of space, which gives way to stars light-years away. “Buzz!”

Buzz turns around and gives Neil a glare before asking, “What? Jeez, you sound like you’ve seen a ghost or somethin’.” Oh, how right he didn’t know he was.

“You seriously did not just see that?” Neil points his arm towards the window. Buzz shrugs, and then shakes his head to say no.

“You’ve really gotta chill out, there’s nothing there.” Buzz extended his arm towards Neil. “Here, just eat something. I promise you’ll feel better.” The tube had a small label that reads ‘Peaches’. Why the hell not, it won’t kill me, Neil thought.

It wasn’t bad per se, a tad bit too sweet for his taste, but edible nonetheless. “Better?” Buzz asks, to which Neil nods. “Now then… don’t freak out again. Nothing is there, and honestly you’re creeping me out. It won’t be too long until we make contact, you’ll be the first man to step on the moon, and then all three of us will go home. There is going to be only three of us, got that?” Neil reluctantly nods; he just wanted Buzz to shut up. Who the hell was he to say whether or not something existed?

Buttons being pressed, among many other devices being switched on and off were the only sounds coming from the cockpit of the ship. Mike had woken up, and said, “If you guys want, you can go get some sleep. I’ll be okay for the meantime.” Mike patted Neil on the shoulder and whispered in his ear, “You’re up.” He practically pulled Neil out of his seat and took his place there. “Thanks for keeping the seat warm for me, buddy.” Mike says jokingly before striking up a conversation with Buzz.

Oddly enough, Neil was able to sink into the world of unconsciousness easily regardless of his fears of the dark blue mare from his dreams and the extremely uncomfortable seat. “Thine comrade hath told us of thy fear. Please know that it is in vain. We mean thee no harm,” Neil took a breath to begin a response, but the pony continued speaking in that soothing and innocent voice of hers. “We do welcome you to our less than humble abode, I shall be waiting for thee when thy contraption lands on my moon.”

“What is your name?” Neil asks, uncertain whether or not he was justified in asking.

She stares at him before blinking and says, “We bid thee call us Luna. How about thee, Human.”

“My name is Neil.”

Neil wakes up without fear and entirely ready for the day ahead of him. Buzz is sound asleep in his seat, though he was moving around quite a lot. His face was contorting as he makes odd noises. Neil thought about waking him up but decided against it: Buzz was a whiny bitch when he didn’t get enough sleep, and an even bigger one when he wakes up. The sound of buttons being pressed told him that Mike was still awake when he floated towards the ship’s cockpit. “Hey,” Neil pats him on the shoulder; Mike turns around and smiles to Neil.

“How is she?” he asks.

“At least she isn’t terrifying anymore… Thanks.”

The dust cloud ahead of them moves out of the way as they cut through it. The moon is in clear sight. “Wow.” The trio of astronauts sigh in awe.

“Morning, Buzz.” Neil says. He looked even worse than he had the day prior, the bags under his eyes having gone from a light pink to a very dark purple. “Sleep well?” A jab in the gut was Neil’s answer. He chuckles to himself as he tries to ignore the sharp pain in his midsection.

“Are you all still talking about the stupid freakin’ moon-horse?”

“Pony.” Mike corrects. “And yes, as a matter of fact we are. Care to join us?” Buzz lets out an exasperated groan and floats over to the cupboards to find breakfast, or what he had decided was breakfast. It is awful difficult to tell what time it is in space, even if you have a clock. For all they knew, and cared, it could possibly be three-oh-seven in the morning back on earth and it wouldn’t make a difference when they ate or slept.

“How long until we make contact?” Neil asks. Mike rubs his stubble and hums to himself.

“An hour or two?” Neil nods in acknowledgement.

Buzz takes his seat in the comfortable vinyl chair and watches out of the plexiglas window to Earth’s moon ahead of them. The grey surface is covered in craters so deep they seem to go on forever. The curvature is covered in a darkness that seems to recede, as they get closer to it. No sign of her yet. Neil was somewhat relieved that he would be the first one off of the ship; it would be nice to finally get off of it.

The beeping of the buttons seems to go silent as every noise was deafened under the sound of his own heartbeat in his throat. “It’s now or never.” Buzz nods, and then the two men travel through the small opening from the Colombia into the Eagle, and close the hatch behind them. “Undocking.”

“Roger, Eagle. Colombia is standing by. We are go.”

The heavy suit reminds Neil that he’s extremely vulnerable on the surface of the moon, but he still carries on, disregarding his thoughts and carrying on with the mission at hand. The onboard guidance system kicks in, but seconds later begins to lead them towards a steep, football field sized crater covered with boulders. Neil notices it and wraps his fingers around the over-ride joystick. “We can’t land there. I’m taking a detour, do you copy, Houston?”

“Houston copies. Keep an eye on your fuel levels, Eagle, over.” After taking a deep breath and steeling himself, Neil begins to move the ship away from the crater.

Buzz guides Neil down, calling out directions and how far they are from the surface. “Sixty seconds of fuel. Too right.” Excruciating seconds pass as the entire world holds their breath. Buzz calls out, “Forty feet down, two and a half… pickin’ up some dust. More forward, you’re driftin’ to the right a little.” He looks to Neil and smiles. “Contact light! Okay, engine stop.”

“Houston, uh, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

"Roger, Twan - Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."

The hatch opens, Neil slowly climbs out onto the ladder. He looks down and announces, “The surface appears to be very, very fine grained as you get close to it, it’s like almost like a powder – it’s very fine.”

Another deep breath and he says, “I’m gonna’ step off the LEM now.” Who would’ve thought that the first thing that Neil thought would become so famous. Neil hops off of the bottom rung of the ladder and says, “That's one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind.” The flag in his hand stabs into the ground of the dusty rock multiple times until it finally sticks deep into the powdery surface. The headset around his ear beeps to congratulate the three crew members of Apollo 11 on a successful landing; the woops and cheers echoing in the background make Neil smile through the helmet and forget about his anxiety for a moment.

"Hello, Neil and Buzz? I'm talking to you by telephone from the oval room at the white house and this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made. I just can’t tell you how proud we all are of what you-." The call cuts out for a second in a hiss of static. "For every American, this has to be the proudest day of our lives, and for people all over the world, I am sure they too join with America in recognizing what an immense feat this is. Because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of mans world, and as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquility to Earth. For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this Earth are truly one: one in their pride in what you have done, and one in our prayers that you will return safely to Earth."

“Thank you, Mister President. It’s a great honor and privilege for us to be here representing not only the United States, but all the nations of the world with common interest in the vision for the future. It’s been an honor for us to participate today.”

“And thank you very much. And I look forward, and all of us look forward to seeing you on the Hornet on Thursday.”

“I look forward to that very much, Sir.” Neil and Buzz both salute the flag ahead of them.

Neil turns around and hears Luna’s voice call to him, almost as if it was in his head. Perhaps telepathy? Neil wasn’t sure. “Find us so that we may leave this forsaken rock.” It’s rather difficult to sprint when there is no gravity, so instead, after nearly getting stuck facedown, Neil begins hopping around, which he finds to be much easier. There was a small dust cloud ahead of him; through it cut a bright blue light that called to him like a siren. Neil found the pony lying down inside of a crater, her dust covered hooves tucked under her seeking some sort of comfort in warmth. Behind her, laying on its side in many pieces was a small probe that Neil knew as the Luna 9 – a Soviet invention.

She moves one of the pieces, which is shrouded in some kind of azure aura, back into it and inspects that it’s still in one piece. As she turns to face Neil, her face lights up with a smile. She stands up and begins to gallop towards the suited astronaut. The lack of gravity doesn’t seem to affect her as much. Luna reaches her hooves around Neil’s leg in an odd sort of hug. Neil reaches his arm behind her neck as best he can and scratches her ear lightly with his gloved hand and gently runs his hand through her mane. “We apologize for having to speak to thee like this, but sound does not travel properly out here. Allow us to look presentable so that we may leave proper.” With that, she trots back to the crater and slips her hooves into shining glass slippers. Neil watches in awe as she levitates a dark crown behind her horn and ties a chest piece around her neck, the marking on it similar to that on her rump.

“Houston, we’re coming home.”

A/N: My sincerest apologies for my half-assed first attempt at the chapter with doing next to no research beforehand. I hope this is more accurate to the actual moon landing.

Welcome Home!

Buzz watches in awe as he sees Neil return from the barren wasteland of darkness with a small pony walking by his side. Floating around her is several large rocks, each shrouded in a bright blue glow. She waves to him and he gawks back at her, stupefied. Neil motions for her to stop, he taps his hand on a silver plaque which reads, “HERE MEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON JULY 1969, A.D. WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND” Neil then points to the Earth behind them.

Luna nods, and telepathically says, “Let us aboard thine metal contraption, we are so very cold.” Luna drops the moon rocks on the floor in a small stack. She turns around to close the hatch, but Neil frantically waves his hands and shakes his head as best he can inside of the encumbering suit. Luna raises her brow, then silently sighs and trots into the ship.

“We’ll talk later.” Buzz says to Neil through the microphone. An hour and forty-three minutes pass while Neil and Buzz do various experiments such as testing soil, searching for water, and finding any additional life.

The reinforced metal door silently slams shut behind them when they return and take their helmets off. “We art glad that thee hast listened to our pleas for help.” Luna looks at Neil, and then glares at Buzz. “Thou, on the other hoof…” She scoffs and turns her head upwards.

“Hey,” She ignores him. “Hey, uhm…”

“Thou may call us by our title: Princess.” Buzz rolls his eyes and looks at the pony.

“Princess,” he begins. “How was I supposed to know that you were stranded on the moon? I mean, we’ve never been here before.” He moves his arm out towards one of the plexiglas window. “, And it’s not exactly what any of us Earth-folk would call… survivable.”

“Thou dost have a point, however we still wish for an apology, Human.” Luna raises her right hoof up into the air and closes her eyes. Buzz looks to Neil, who is stifling back his laughter.

“I hate you so much right now…” He murmurs to himself before kneeling down and planting a kiss on the frozen cold hoofshoe. When he brings his head back, he realizes that his lips are stuck to it and says as best he can, “Uhm, a little help, Princess?” Luna opens her eyes and, much to her surprise, sees Buzz stuck to her hoof. She smiles before her horn glows and giggles when Buzz yelps in pain. “How’d you do that?!”

“With our magic…?” Buzz’s eye twitches.

“What do you mean ‘magic’, that’s not possible! Magic does not exist! You are not supposed to be possible! STOP BEING IMPOSSIBLE! AGH!” Buzz grips his head in agony as he tries to sort through his pained thoughts. “And what are we going to do about the extra weight, huh, Neil? The ship was designed for two people and some moon rocks, not two people, a pony, and some moon rocks.”

“Take less rocks?” Neil suggests.

“I don’t think you understand! We. Can. Not. Bring. Her. Home. She is an alien, and she’ll cause nothing but problems back home! She is extra weight that we simply can’t carry!”

“Shut up! Just give me a goddam moment to think! There has to be a way that we can do this, we can’t just leave her there! Luna is much more important than these stupid rocks!” Neil kicks the stack of moon rocks next to him. “Just because it was designed for two people doesn’t mean it’s incapable of holding more than that.”

“You’re insane if you think that we can get back to Mike, and even if we can, we don’t know how everybody back home will react! Do you realize how paranoid everybody is?”

“What is the worst that could happen?” Neil says with a scoff.

“They cut her open, and take a look at her insides.”

“That will not happen, we can take care of ourselves.”

“Buzz, just listen to me. I’ve got a gut feeling that this’ll work out. Please believe me?”

“Fine, but if we don’t make it, I’m not hesitating to eat you when we run out of food.” Neil couldn’t tell if Buzz was kidding or not.

“Speaking of food, let’s go get dinner – beef stew or cream of chicken soup?”

Luna looks at Neil with a combination of shock and confusion in her eyes. “Thine kind eats… chicken and bovines?”

“Uhh… you don’t?”

“How could thee! Those were living creatures, with feelings, and –“

“Luna. Humans are omnivorous. That’s just the way we are. We could be purely vegetarians like ponies, but it isn’t as easy.”

“What dost thee mean by ‘easy’?”

“Meat is just easier to get.”

“We feel it is going to be very difficult to adjust to thine outlandish culture… have thee anything to eat that is not meat?” Neil and Buzz both shake their heads. “Ugh.”

With all of the noises, barely any of the three get any sleep. "Tranquility Base, Tranquility Base, Houston. Over."

Neil eagerly answers, "Good morning, Houston. Tranquility Base. Over."

“Tranquility Base, it’s time to rendezvous with Colombia. Get yourselves together, over.

“Tranquility rogers.”

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this. If we don’t make it…” Buzz says.

“Three. Two. One. Ignition! We’re on our way, Houston.”

“Roger that Eagle, you’re lookin’ good.” Under Neil’s careful hand, he guides the LEM upwards from the lunar surface and Mike successfully re-docks it with the Colombia. Neil, Buzz, and Luna climb out of the Eagle and into the Colombia, it’s a very tight fit with all of the stuff, but they manage. Mike guides the CSM to sling around the moon, using its gravity for forward momentum to get back to Earth.

Mike performs a burn to escape the moon’s orbital pull and looks at his side towards Luna. She smiles at him and says, “It is nice to see you in person, Michael.”

“You too, Luna. Though, you’re a bit smaller than I thought you’d be.” Mike says jokingly.

“So, you’re a Princess, Luna? How did that come to be?” Mike asks.

“Long ago, our s-sister and us…” Luna begins to trail off.

She takes a deep breath through her nose to try and stop the oncoming torrent of tears from forming in her eyes. In no time, the memories are dripping down her face and floating around the ship for all to see. Mike wraps his arm behind her neck, and pats her back caringly while gently rocking side to side as if consoling a small child.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to -“

He tilts his neck towards the ceiling, indicating a cupboard to Neil. Inside of the cupboard were stacks of grey cubes. Neil turns around to look at Mike, who was nodding slowly. Inside of the bag was a brick of brittle, tricolored, freeze-dried ice cream. “It’s all my fault,” Luna moans. “She probably hates us now.”

“Who?” Mike courageously implores.

Luna sniffs back tears and says in a near whisper, “Our sister, ‘Tia.” Neil wraps his spare arm around Luna to further comfort her. The tears cease into quiet sniffles as Luna opens her eyes. “Dost thou know how long it has been since we have last heard the voice of another? Been hugged? Eaten something? Breathed air?!” Mike tightens his grip around Luna as she begins getting louder, then she whimpers into his shoulder. Luna looks up to him to see shaking his head side to side. “We do not either.”

Some time the next day, Neil and Luna are sharing the generous supply of neapolitan flavored astronaut’s ice cream with each other while Mike is comfortably sitting in his pilot’s chair. Luna likes vanilla, but doesn’t mind strawberry. Neil has always liked old-fashioned chocolate. Buzz groans as he finally comes to. “How was the nap, sleeping beauty?” Mike taunts. He gets a grunt as an answer.

Buzz floats over to Neil and Luna, grabs an unopened foil covered brick of freeze-dried ice cream, and looks at Luna intently before cracking the cube into bite sized pieces. “Hey.”

“Hello.”

“I - I wanted to say that I’m sorry,” he takes a deep breath. “For everything.” Buzz looks down to hide his face in shame. Luna’s horn glows cyan and she teleports the short distance into Buzz’s arms.

“We whole-heartedly accept thine apology, Buzz.”

“Oh, uh, one thing, Luna? “

“Hmm?”

“You’ve gotta’ cool it with that ‘magic’ of yours, ‘cause when we come back to earth, your looks alone are gonna’ be enough to scare some people. No offense, but you don’t entirely look like you belong on earth.”

A boom shakes the entire ship as the service module detaches from the CSM. “Hey, take your seats, everybody. We’re about to hit the atmosphere, and it’s gonna get bumpy, and kinda’ hot.” Luna cringes at the mention of heat. With there only being three seats, she uses her magic to restrain herself to the floor while Buzz and Neil leap into their seats and click on the restraints. The temperature had gotten fairly hot for the three astronauts, their brows beginning to form thin layers of sweat. For Luna, the heat was excruciating compared to the frigid moon temperatures she had been forced to endure for so long. Luna screeches in pain all the way down. When the shuttle splashes into the water, she stops and gasps desperately for air.

The hatch opens, revealing a flimsy orange boat. Luna flew out of the ship, eager to stretch her wings and feel fresh air for the first time in thousands of years. A man in a black diver suit falls backwards into the water, his eyes bug out of his goggles in surprise; Luna giggles and pulls him out, she shutters at the familiar sensation of cold water. “Hi.” She says. The man waves a gloved hand to her, then pulls Mike out of the now cooled hatch.

“Luna, please try to be more careful.” Mike shouts up to the ecstatic mare. Her wings gracefully cut through the air, entrancing Mike.

“We apologize, we suppose that we lose control of ourselves for a moment. It just feels so wonderful to be back, even if everything is so very different.” Luna follows the statement with a backflip through the air.

The helicopter lifted up the astronauts one by one, waiting inside of it was a, older, well-suited gentleman with a not-so-subtle comb-over. “Gentlemen, and, uh, pony… welcome home!” They all shake hands and hooves while the helicopter roars overhead, cutting through the sky. In a minute’s time, they land on a large naval ship and are rushed into the medical wing for examination. Buzz, Neil, and Mike are all checked out and deemed well.

Neil sees Luna’s horn glow when one of the many people in white scrubs holds up an empty needle in his hand. “Luna, let them do whatever they want. They will not hurt you, I promise!”

A brief screech echoes down the metal corridors of the ship, and Neil hears Luna shout in an unbelievably loud voice, “HOW DARE THEE! WE ARE A PRINCESS AND DEMAND TO BE TREATED AS SUCH!”

After coming to the conclusion that Luna isn’t dangerous, she is placed in the quarantine along with the other three astronauts. “Luna, see that man over there?” Buzz points to a man wearing a black suit and red tie. “He’s our president, kind of like a king.” Luna nods.

“Hello, boys and… alien!”

“Hello, Mr. President.” Luna pushes Mike’s head away from the window and inspects President Nixon.

“Take us to your leader, earthling!” Luna smiles and giggles as the three astronauts behind her cringe.

“I am the leader, sweetie.”

“Oh. Our name is Luna, by the way. Not ‘Alien’!” Mister Nixon nods.

The president looks towards the microphone, and says, “Welcome home everybody! First, I’m sorry to have to say this, but you’re going to have to stay in there for quite a while. We don’t know what else could have been hiding up there on the moon.” He looks down at the window and smiles to Luna before going on with his speech.

”Well, this bites. I wonder we going to be in here?” Buzz whispers.

”We do not know, however there may be a way that we can fix that.” Luna’s aqua rimmed eyes close shut in focus; her horn’s glow encompasses the small room in bright blue – blinding Neil, Mike, and Buzz. A second later the hatch creeks open and a man in a suit reaches his arm in to help Luna out.

“Luna, what did you just do?!” Neil asks, his voice cracking on ‘what’.

“Time travel spell, we big thee not to panic.” She telepathically broadcasts to the three men as she flies into the air, buzzing around happily.

“Wait, what?! No, I’m not letting this one slide.” Buzz says.

“Aw, fewmets… Fine, thee hast gotten us. It was not really a time travel spell. We simply… altered all of our perception of time to make the time pass faster. No harm hast been done, we assure thee. Art thee happy now?” The three men each say a different variant of ‘yes’ aloud. ”Good.”

Luna hovers in between Buzz and Neil as they all slowly work their way towards a large helicopter. She declines a ride in it and instead opts to fly alongside the metal contraption.

“Just watch out for the blades.” The pilot says. Luna looks up at the sharp metal slivers and stretches her wings again before taking to the sky.

The convertible hums with life underneath Luna and Neil. Posters above that read ‘Welcome home!’ line the crowded New York streets as multicolored confetti rains from the sky. Luna sits in the back seat with an enormous smile plastered on her face while she’s waving at the people sprinting to keep up with their car’s moderate pace. Children line the streets, some sitting down on the sidewalks, others hoping up and down in excitement – everybody is grinning ear to ear.

The sound of clapping and a catchy tune played by the deft hands of uniformed marching bands echoes down the streets as people (and automobiles) from all walks of life crowd the streets – men in business suits, dancing cheerleaders, teenagers wearing dirt laden T-shirts, and official looking police officers.

When the people begin to thin out, Neil bends forward and whispers something into the driver’s ear while brandishing a tenner. The driver wordlessly nods after grabbing the bill out from Neil’s hand; the car turns down a side street, leaving behind the virtually dead parade. With a screech, the car comes to an abrupt stop outside of a small building. A red flashing sign reads ‘OPEN’ in big, welcoming letters.

Neil and Luna both take seats on opposite sides of a booth seat table. When the waitress comes by, Neil orders a tuna melt for himself, and watches as Luna eyes the floating menu in front of her. “Uhm… a garden salad? Please.” Luna points at the picture of a salad. The blonde waitress jots down the orders on a small notepad with a pencil and walks away towards the counter to deliver the small slip of yellow paper.

Other people at the diner watch as ’The Alien’ levitates a forkful of salad into her mouth. “What?” she asks. They all look away, trying to avoid eye contact with her entirely. Luna looks to Neil with her lip quivering in a pout.

Neil shrugs. “Give it some time.” He smiles before finishing the last bite of his sandwich. The speakers overhead cut out into static before beginning to play a song that piques Luna’s interest. Neil recognizes Frank Sinatra’s deep baritone voice and begins humming along to the song.

Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On a-Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby, kiss me

Luna places the fork down, as she’s just about to take another bite; her dark coat turns pink in a bright blush when she hears the lyric. Neil closes his eyes, and adjusts his hat to cover his eyes before singing along quietly in deep mumbles.

Fill my heart with song
And let me sing for ever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you

By now, Neil’s singing aloud surprisingly well. Luna listens to Neil and Frank Sinatra’s voices intertwine into an amazing duet-like piece.

Fill my heart with song
Let me sing for ever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words, in other words
I love you

Neil and Luna laugh as the song comes to an end. Neil leaves enough money on the table to cover the check, and a generous tip for the polite, young waitress.

A/N: No, I am not shipping Luna, do not even say it! I know that you’re thinking it! What lovely but absolutely ridiculous sentiment! [/Chryssie]

Interview

It has been a hell of a month for Buzz, Mike, Neil, and Luna. Traveling around the entire world is extremely stressful for anybody – especially for a virtually immortal alicorn who had had no contact with anything for an unfathomable amount of time, and possesses century old communication and linguistics skills. Luckily, the time has come to return home to the United States after visiting the many people of the world. Luna was disappointed to see that she, in fact, looks similar to a horse after a short flight to a farm on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain. Luna found that when she tried to talk with one of the colts, he could not do anything but neigh and snort. She attempted to talk with a different horse, only to get her mane eagerly bitten. She pushed the horse away with a screen of magic and flew back to the hotel, disappointed, and with questions plaguing her mind.

After doing much research during the tour, she still could not see why, or how, they looked so similar. Her thoughts were that Equestrian Ponies and Earth Horses shared a common ancestor, as dictated by the theory of evolution, yet to her dismay, she found no solid proof. Today, the last day of the “Giant Leap” tour, was scheduled to end with an interview inside of the White House, followed by a large feast with the President.

Reluctantly, Neil, Buzz, Mike, and Luna take their seats (in that order, from left to right, to the eyes of the crowd under them) on the uncomfortable folding metal chairs while the crowd under them begins to shout questions at them. Luna taps on the microphone and covers her ears when it screeches at her. The crowd goes silent before Neil begins to speak. “Ladies and gentlemen, I am not one for interviews, however I too shall be here, open to questions like my friends. One question at a time, please.”

The crowd erupts with life until one man with a dark fedora on his head and a small notepad in his hand manages to step forward and shouts, “Mister Aldrin! What were you thinking when you first saw Luna come into the lander?”

Buzz bends forward to look past Mike towards his left at Luna, who is smiling eagerly at the crowd of people in wait. “I… thought that I was hallucinating. Neil and Mike here,” He places his hand on Neil’s shoulder with his right hand. ”Had been havin’ these weird dreams, for lack of a better word.” Neil and Mike silently nod their heads. “I just thought that I was going nutty like them. Next question.” The man with the fedora scratches down a shorthand version of what Buzz had said while melting back into the crowd.

Another man steps forward from the mob of people, and asks, “Mister Armstrong, do you plan on flying into space again?”

“No, I do not.”

A skinny man steps forward and asks, “Luna, how did you know Buzz was a human, or for that matter, what humans were?”

Luna raises her brow in confusion. “When did we call him a human? We have not uttered the word since we hast been inside that metal thing, if our memory is correct. Also, we are well read in the field of anthropology.”

“Likely story…” The small man says under his breath before the next volley of questions.

Over time, the questions gradually begin to grow weirder, all of them targeted towards Luna. “Question for Luna: did you ever celebrate your birthday with Skippy the Moon-rock?”

“Skippy the what?” Luna squeaks out, confused. She turns to her side, and is met with seeing the three astronauts shrugging. “Next question.” She hesitantly says.

“Do you have a massive fortress hidden on the dark side of the Moon” Luna rolls her eyes at yet another clearly stupid question, but answers it regardless.

“Sadly, no. We had taken refuge in the large craters.” Luna says without a moment of pause.

“Are you a communist?!” A man wearing a tin-foil hat shouts.

“Pray tell, what is a communist?”

A man bearing an incredibly disheveled appearance pushes the tin-foil hat wearing person out of his way and practically shouts, “Why are there stars in your mane? Is it a window into space, or... does it actually CONTAIN space? Is all of existence, life forms included, comprised of the strands of your hair? That's the "String Theory", right?”

“There are no stars in our mane, and it is most certainly not a portal to space. My mane does not contain space, nor is it capable of creating life, and we dost not know of this “String Theory” of which you speak.”

After answering the question, Luna brushes her hooves through her mane while thinking to herself about how weird Humans are.

A brave interviewer steps forward, clears his throat, and asks, “Is that alien a horse?”

Luna feels her eye twitch in rage. She extended her wings and flies the short distance between her and the ignorant questioner. “WE ART NOT A FILTHY EARTH HORSE, HOW DARE THEE COMPARE US TO ONE!” By now, Luna is hovering mere inches away from the man’s face. He’s shaking in fear. “AND WE ART NOT AN ALIEN, WE HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE, LONG AGO!” With that, Luna flies away, crying, and the interview is over.

Neil sprints through the crowd, carelessly pushing people out of his way left and right. He follows closely behind Luna, watching as every time he turns, he sees her tail turn the corner down another corridor. Neil watches as a large, white door slams shut in front of him; he skids to a stop before running into it. He reaches his hand out to the knob, only to see it shrouded in Luna’s magical aura. When he grasps it, a jolt of what feels like electricity shocks his hand, and makes its way up his arm; Neil yelps in surprise and pain. “Luna, come on. He didn’t mean it, he’s just stupid!”

Silence.

“Don’t be like this. Being alone never helped anybody.”

Sob.

“C’mon, Luna. You know as well as I do that this is childish.”

Thud.

Hummm… bzzt.

Click.

“Fine.”

Luna is sitting on her bed curled up in a ball with the lights dimmed and the blinds closed – devoid of light entirely. The only thing that Neil can see is her beautiful eyes, and her horn’s glow softly fading into darkness. “Why are you humans so inconsiderate?” Luna asks between sobs. They say everybody, no matter how good they look, immediately turn ugly when they cry. Luna was the exception. She still retained her natural grace and beauty, even in her moments of sorrow. “We are sorry you have to see us like this, it’s just that –“

Neil pulls Luna into an embrace again says, “It’s alright. I know all about the research you did. I’m sorry.” Luna cries into the elbow of his expensive suit, but he couldn’t care less - he didn’t pay for it, anyways.

Luna wakes up wrapped in Neil’s arms when a featureless man wearing a suit and sunglasses opens the door after knocking, and waiting for an entire minute. “Dinner is being served in the dining room, Luna… and Mister Armstrong…?” He says in a slightly confused tone before walking away. Luna’s muzzle turns a light shade of pink, but thanks to her dark coat, it’s hardly visible. Luna magicks Neil’s arm off from around her and pushes him on the shoulder.

“Neil, wake up.” Neil groans and sits up.

“What?” He asks. “Why am I – never mind, I heard. Let’s go, I’m hungry.” The hallways, though large, take no time to traverse, and Neil and Luna reach the dining room in a minute or two. The president and first lady are sitting next to each other on one side of the table, Mike and Buzz are on the other; Buzz is stuffing his face with a turkey leg, and shoveling in spoonfuls of mashed potatoes covered in gravy in his mouth between gasps of air. Mike is talking with the president about funding for future missions into space, and the first lady is sitting silently, poking her food around with a fork – she’s clearly bored out of her mind.

Luna takes a seat next to Mike, and Neil next to her. “Hello, everybody. Sorry we are late.” Buzz grunts in acknowledgement; Mike, as well as Mister Nixon, nod before continuing on with their important conversation. Luna uses her magic to pull the chair out enough for her to sit down, and is met with staring from the president, and his wife.

“What?”

After a phone call to his wife, and from the USO, Neil orders a Taxi to come pick him up. The yellow car pulls up outside of the White House, its destination: the airport. Neil looks down at Luna and he brushes her mane away of her eyes and rests his palm on her shoulder. “Luna, take care of yourself. Can you promise you’ll do that for me?” She nods while tears roll down her cheeks. “I promise I’ll only be gone for a year, okay?” She reaches up and wraps her hooves around his neck.

“We will miss you, Neil.” Neil silently nods and lets go of Luna. He gets into the taxi, waves at her through the window, and watches as she grows smaller in the distance. Luna fights against her urge to fly after the taxi, but doesn’t. Instead, she turns around at the sound of footsteps and sees Mike.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Wanna see a movie?”

Luna shrugs. “C’mon, he’ll be back. I promise he’ll be okay, alright?” Luna nods. “Lets get going, standing here isn’t going to make it better, y’know.”

Luna’s intrigued by the taste of ‘Popped Corn’, and confused as to how the giant screen works - far too much to focus on the movie. Mike seems to like it, but in no time at all, it’s over. Luna thanks Mike for taking her to the theater, and takes to the sky. “Hey, wait! Where are you even going?” Luna stops and begins lowering herself to the ground until her hooves clack against the concrete.

“We do not know.” She says, embarrassed.

“Wanna crash at my place for a little while?”

“Sure, why not.”

Luna drags Mike out of his comfortable, warm bed, being careful not to wake up his wife, and brings him deep into the forest surrounding his home. “Where are we going? Luna, relax!” Luna lets up a little bit, but keeps moving. The trees quickly begin to thin out as the night sky becomes clearer above – acting as their only source of light. Luna finally lets go of Mike’s hand and he collapses against a tree, exhausted and gasping for air.

“We bid thee to watch us, we believe you shall enjoy this.” Luna says before closing her eyes and unfurling her wings. Her horn glows in her cyan aura before she jumps up into the air and pumps her wings. The moon was already high in the sky, yet it was alone – “it needs some friends”, Luna thinks. She focuses her energy into the dark canvas, which is splayed across the entire sky for her, and begins to envision stars. Beautiful masses of hydrogen and helium make themselves seen through the atmosphere, surrounding her moon in tiny white specs of light.

Luna nearly collapses when she lands to the ground, she’s panting for air, yet smiling. “It has been… far… too long… since… we have… done that.” She says between breaths of air. Mike sits with his back still against the tree, and his jaw to the ground.

“How?! D-did you just - no, no way? You just made stars!”

Reunion

“Homerun!” The announcer shouts. With that, the game is over. Luna watches as the baseball players begin to sprint towards the center and condense into a group hug. The other team, distraught, hangs their heads in shame.

“Hell of a game, huh, Luna?” Buzz says over the sound of the other fans either shouting, or cheering in the seats. The enthusiastic looking ones, adorned in silly face paint and expensive looking T-Shirts, are either ecstatic that their team won, or depressed that their team lost. Luna nods to Buzz, yet she still didn’t understand the idea of hitting a ball with a fancy stick of wood. “We’d better leave, y’know Neil’s going to be back in an hour or two.” Luna perks up at the mention of Neil’s name. She’s changed a lot during that long year, but she’s still happy as ever to finally see him again. Mike’s even going to be there too, which was a surprise to everybody. He had been very busy with his job as the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, but he’d made an excuse to get out of work for one day.

After a long taxi ride through crowded streets, Luna and Buzz arrive safely at the airport. Buzz looks down at his wrist and reads the time out loud to Luna. “Only about ten minutes, hey, look! I think that’s his plane!” Buzz points to one of the windows near the landing pad. Luna enthusiastically gallops through the crowd of people, causing havoc as she goes. She accidentally trips a suited businessman, but catches him in a cloud of magic.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to trip you.” Luna apologizes as best she can with the suitcase handle in her mouth; the man runs away in fear, he obviously wasn’t an avid watcher of the news. Buzz simply relaxes in his seat and chortles to himself as he watches the event unfold while trying his best to keep his stifled laughter quiet. He didn’t understand the bond that Neil and Luna shared, but it was obviously a strong one seeing as Luna’s pressing her face against a filthy window, looking at a plane. “There he is!” Luna shouted, turning her head to grab Buzz’s attention. “There!” Her hoof clicks against the class when she points to add emphasis. “You see him?”

Buzz grunts as he gets up from his seat and walks over to look out of the window. While putting his hands in his pockets, he says “Yup, that’s definitely him.” Neil, though disheveled, is wearing a genuine smile on his face.

“Hey, guys,” Says a familiar voice from behind. Luna and Buzz turn around to see Mike with his wife under his arm. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Luna smiles, and Buzz extends his hand out in a shake. “Buzz, Luna, this is Pat – my wife.” Luna waves shyly at the woman.

“Heya, everybody.” Pat says. “So, you’re… a pony?” Luna, though concerned, nods slowly. “That’s… interesting.” Awkward silence ensues for around ten excruciating seconds.

“Ahem…” Everybody turns around. “Have any of you seen my idiot husband, Neil?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact I have. He should be here any minute, ma’am.” Buzz says. “I’m Buzz, a friend of his.”

“That’s nice…” The woman says while impatiently taping her foot against the tiled floor, and crossing her arms in annoyed frustration. Luna didn’t really appreciate the woman’s attitude, but who was she to say anything, so she kept her mouth shut and smiled at the lady. The woman’s pupils shrink in fear at the sight and her eye twitches seemingly uncontrollably. “What the hell are you?”

Just as the rude woman was about to lose a few teeth, Neil turns the corner around the room. Luna averts her leer with the woman and her horn glows as she takes a second to prime a spell. Neil falls backwards onto his butt when a bright flash blinds him. When he opens his eyes, he sees Luna looking up at him with her hooves wrapped tightly around his waist while she nuzzles against his chest.

“Luna? Wow, you sure do look… different.” Neil cringes as her horn glides across his cheek. “Watch the horn.”

“Sorry.” Luna says. “It’s just so good to finally see you again, is all.” Her hooves tighten around him.

“I really like your mane.” Luna blushes while brushing her hoof through her ethereal mane. Luna lets go of her bear hug around Neil, and he stands up with her help in the form of a light magical push. “Thanks.”

“Let’s go.” Neil’s wife says.

“Now, you wait just one minute. I haven’t seen these people, my friends, for an entire year, and you’re rushing me away from them? I don’t think so, Janet.” The woman screeches before walking away while mumbling under her breath.

“Well, that was, uh… interesting?” Mike says in a whisper.

“Uh-huh.” Luna agrees.

“C’mon, let’s go. I’m hungry.” Amazingly enough, it wasn’t Buzz that said that: it was Neil.

“Are you sure you just want to, you know, leave your wife – “ Mike asked, before he could finish his sentence Neil interrupted.

“Certain.”

“So how was Mister Hope?” Mike asks while twisting his fork in a pile of spaghetti.

“Mmph…” Neil swallows the mouthful of sandwich. “He was a swell guy, bit peculiar, but swell.”

“Who is Mister Hope?” Luna asks as she places her fork on the table, the clang being the only noise for a few seconds.

“You don’t know who Bob – never mind.” Buzz slaps himself. “Okay, Bob Hope is… well, um, Neil, a little help?”

“Bob Hope’s the host of what we call the USO shows. He’d tell jokes, and chat with famous people. It helps boost the morale of the soldiers.”

“Soldiers? There’s a war?!” Luna nearly chokes on her salad.

“Well… yes, but it’s nothing to worry about though; our boys have everything under control overseas.” Mike tried as well as he could to reassure Luna, who was practically traumatized by the news of a war. Unbeknownst to the trio of ex-astronauts, Luna came from a world where war did not exist for the most part. A moment of silence passed before Neil said, “I got a call today with a job offer,” Mike’s fork clanks against the table as he places it down. “The director of DARPA, Steve Lukasik, you guys might’ve heard of him? He wants me to take some important position. I don’t really know what it will entail, or if I should. What do you all think?”

“I think it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity!” Mike shouts. “You really should do it, I mean. Ultimately, it’s up to you I guess. If I were you though…” He trails off into mumbles.

“Yeah, man. Do it, the dough’s bound to be nice with a gig like that.” Buzz adds.

Neil shrugged. “That’s the thing, it’s not a gig or just a job. It’s a career, and it’s extremely important. I know I’ll be making a lot of money, but I don’t know if I’ll be happy. You know that old saying, right? Find a job you like and you’ll never work a day in your life, or something like that.”

“You really should do it, Neil.” Mike urges. “When are you going to get the opportunity again? Anyways, you could quit if it’s not what you had in mind.”

“But I don’t know, I mean…”

“Neil, I think you can do it.” Luna says, “If I can run an entire country full of ponies w- with… my sister, then I believe you can do this.”

“You mean to tell me there’s a place full of ponies just like you?!” Mike says, clearly awestruck.

“Is, or perhaps was – I don’t know anymore, I can only hope that Equestria still stands… somewhere.”

“But I thought you said you were here a while ago.”

“I thought I had. This planet looks like Equestria, but I am no longer certain that it is. I do hope that I will see my sister again one day.”

“Luna, I know you will see ‘Tia again.” Neil says.

“Well, I’d best get going. Don’t want to keep Jeany waiting.” Buzz was talking about his wife. He pulls out his wallet and leaves a twenty-dollar bill on the table, then says goodbye to everybody before walking out of the restaurant.

“Yeah, I think I should leave too. It’s getting kind of late.” Mike looks down at his wrist and pulls up the sleeve of his suit to reveal and expensive looking watch. He takes a second to read the time to himself, and then says it out loud. “Five thirteen. I hope Patty isn’t upset, by the time I get home it’s going to be really late. It’s been great seeing you two again, but I’ve think I should’ve left half an hour ago.” Mike adjusts the tie of his suit, leaves enough money for the bill like Buzz had before him, except with a tip of five dollars, and then shakes Neil’s hand.

“Goodbye, Mike. It’s been nice to see you again.” Luna says.

“You too, sweetie. Don’t get yourself into too much trouble, okay?” Luna nods and flutters over to hug him. Luna’s ethereal mane tickles against his nose and he pulls himself backwards as he sneezes. When he opens his eyes, he cringes at the dark blue fur embedded in his suit, “Aw… jeez. Patty is gonna’ be pissed.”

“Sorry. Here, let me help you.” Luna’s horn glows and the fur from her coat floats out of the expensive, black suit in her influential cyan aura.

“Any chance you can teach me that?” Mike says with a hearty laugh. “Alright, as I said, I’ve really gotta go.” He makes a gesture with his thumb towards the door behind him. “I’ll see you two later.” Mike waves as he walks out of the restaurant, leaving Neil and Luna alone to speak with each other.

A few minutes of silence pass while Luna plays with her fork, moving it around in the air with her magic. As always, people are watching her with a combination of confusion and awe. “Luna, about what you said earlier… with your sister?” Luna’s ears flatten against her head at the mention of her sister. “There has to be a way you can get back home. I don’t know if you want to talk about it now, or here, but I want you to know that I’ll be here for you to talk to.” Luna smiles while forcing back tears.

“I… don’t know. Perhaps Celestia and all of Equestria are well. I can only hope so, as I have no way of knowing.” The waiter walks by them, and collects the bill. Luna catches him gawking at her. “What! What is so incredible, what is so amazing about me that you all have to stare at me all the time!”

“Luna! Calm down.”

“I am sick and tired of it! Have you any idea what I have been through? How much I have had to endure? How long I have had to bide? Leave me be, human!” A window cracks at Luna’s display of raw magical power, scaring the small crowds of people inside the restaurant. The waiter runs away and cowers behind the counter to dodge the glass thrown at him.

The sound of it shattering brings Luna’s mind back to normalcy as she hears Neil say, “Luna, maybe we should – “

“Go? Yes, that sounds like a good idea.” The two of them sprint out of the restaurant, and five or so blocks later they begin to slow down.

“As I was saying…” Neil takes a moment to catch his breath. “I know that one day you’ll be home, we just have to bide our time for a bit longer. I know you’ve had to wait for…“

“Hah! You don’t even know how long I was there, do you?” Luna gestures to the sky with her hoof. “Can you even fathom what it feels like to be alone, and isolated for a thousand years? Are your kind even capable of living for a thousand years? I think not.”

“Luna, don’t be like that. Remember what happened last time?” Luna sighs at the memory of the horrible interview from a year ago. “We really should talk this out, we can do it! I know we can! As time goes on, technology will advance – we will be able send you home, wherever home is… but you’re just going to have to be patient. I’m sorry, but we don’t have magic or anything to aid us like your kind did... er, does I mean." Luna places her hoof against her head and sighs, "Sorry. You remember that metal thing that brought you here a year ago? That was our best and most advanced piece of tech. I know it’s probably nothing compared to - ”

“Neil, I’m sorry. I just want to see my sister more than anything right now. A thousand years is far too long for a simple reunion, yet I still fear whether or not she will disown me for what I did.”

“Is that why you were on the moon? Were you… banished?” Luna sniffs, and then nods slowly. “Feel free to say no to my prying, but what exactly did you do to deserve that?”

“Something very, very dumb. Something I cannot fully explain, I was young and ignorant I… can we talk about this somewhere more private? I feel as if everybody is watching us.”

“Of course, have anywhere in mind?”

“I care not. Just somewhere more secluded.”

Neil rubs his chin in brief thought before shouting, “Got it! C’mon, I know just the place.”

“Where?”

“You’ll see. Let’s go, I know you’ll love it.”

After a quick walk, Neil and Luna arrive at a small park devoid of people entirely. The only living things around are ducks swimming in the pond, and squirrels jumping from tree to tree. Luna and Neil sit down on a small wooden bench that has seen better days. It creaks underneath their weight. Luna takes a deep breath and says, “All I ever wanted was acknowledgement for what I did. I never asked for all this attention, and honestly I don’t want it. I know they don’t mean anything by it, but it’s just so infuriating!”

“Luna, I – I never knew. I can’t imagine what it must have been like… one thousand years is a long time to be alone.”

“Indeed. You’ve been bored or alone before, but you’ve never truly been bored or alone. Not until you’ve been on the moon for a thousand years, for you see it’s an entirely different thing. You haven’t lost your sanity, or been on the brink of… never mind." Luna takes a deep breath before continuing. "I had resorted to simply laying there on the frozen surface. After many years of solitude I had calmed down, and I was no longer the vengeful spirit known as Nightmare Moon. I was me – Princess Luna!”

Neil holds his arms out as if asking for a hug. Luna graciously leaps into his arms and begins sobbing into his shoulder. “I just want to go home. I want to be with ponies again. I want to be able to live again. I don’t care if the ponies sleep through my nights; I’ve come to accept that. I was young and stupid, but nopony deserves what I’ve been through. And after all that, I don’t blame Celestia. I don’t. Truly. My sister… she did what she had to do to protect her little ponies.”

“It sounds to me like you’ve done a lot of thinking. You’ve certainly learned from your mistakes.”

Luna takes a moment to swallow back tears, and then nods. “I just want ‘Tia to know how sorry I am for everything I’ve put us through. I’m sorry for dragging you into this too, I know - ”

“It’s okay, Luna. I’m glad to help, really. I promise I'll do everything I can to get you home.”

Luna’s hooves dig deeper into Neil’s back before she pulls away from the embrace. “Thank you. Thank you so much. I… just needed to talk with somebody about… everything.” A purple blush forms under her midnight blue coat. Neil simply smirks as he stands up and looks towards the sun high in the sky.

“Where are you…?”

Hope

“What do you mean ’I quit’? Do you have any idea how much we need you, Mister Armstrong?” The suited man swings around in his chair with determination burning in his eyes.

“I’m sorry sir, but I must resign from my position.” Neil unknots his tie to prove the point. “I can’t juggle two jobs, and I feel education is my true calling in life. I am certain you’ll find a suitable replacement.” Without another word, Neil turns heel and walks out of the door, feeling a slight pang of guilt nagging at him for quitting such an important job so abruptly.

“Wait! I can give you a raise!”

“No, thank you, sir.” Neil walks out of the building while the suited gentlemen was practically begging him to stay, but Neil would have none of it. The leather seat of his car squeaks underneath him as he takes a second to reach into the glove compartment for his two-and-a-half pound cell phone. Neil dials in a number, then pounds in a special code. No more than thirty seconds later, he had resigned from NASA. He sits in his seats, lost in thought about his new life, so to speak. Something clicks against the asphalt outside, making Neil lift his head up from the steering wheel. “Luna?” He reaches over to his door and unrolls the window. “What are you doing here?”

Neil opens the door of his car and sees Luna looking at him with something not unlike sorrow lining her aqua eyes. “I wanted to apologize for what you just did. If I hadn’t coaxed you into accepting this, you wouldn’t have – “

“How did you…? Never mind, it doesn’t matter. Luna, it’s okay. I just want to forget about it, alright? I know teaching will be easier than that.” His thumb points backwards towards the large building behind him.

“You know, there’s another reason why I just quit.” The smile across his lips confuses Luna as her brow creases. “The university of Cincinnati has an aerospace department. They have the technology I need to –“

“You didn’t!”

“I did.” Luna propels herself into the air and nearly tackles Neil to the ground. “But wait - why did you just call NASA?”

“If they get news that either, one: I find Equestria, an alien planet, or two: you disappear, there will be a huge shitstorm within the media. We need to keep this on the down-low, okay?”

“Thank you, Neil. Maybe you Humans aren’t that bad after all.”

After opting to present a report on various aspects of Apollo instead of a thesis on the simulation of hypersonic flight, Neil sealed his position as University Professor of Aerospace Engineering, and was the only professor to go to the moon – a rather unique title. Many sleepless nights spent away from home and in the lab, making excuses to his superiors, and examining the heavens above had finally paid off after four long years. Neil had found a small handful planets that he believed could be Equestria, at least from what Luna had described it as looking like. Today would be the day that he snuck her in to show her and confirm whether or not it truly was Luna’s rightful home.

“I really want to thank you for doing all of this, Neil.”

“Luna, I wanna tell you something - I believe that every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don't intend to waste any of mine. If I can help anybody in any way, think nothing of it. Now then, first things first: how are we going to sneak you in? Could you do something with your magic, perhaps?”

“I know just the spell.” Luna’s horn glows in its ever-present azure color before a bright flash sparks out from the tip. When he opens his eyes, he sees that Luna has shrunk down to the size of a small doll at barely over three inches tall.

“Neat.” Luna unfurls her tiny wings and slowly flies into the pocket protector in Neil’s shirt, poking her hooves over of the edge. While cautiously looking around for anybody walking around campus, Neil slowly begins making his way towards the aerospace department of campus. The light posts illuminate his way to the large brick building, while trying his best not to attract any form of attention. His palm wraps around the cold metal bar as a large fuzzy arm pushes him backwards.

“Oh, hello Mister Armstrong. Sorry, I didn’t see you there.” A large bear-like monstrosity says. “I’ll see you tomorrow in class, sir.” The bearcat suit wearing man walks away towards the football field, leaving the two ex-moon dwellers somewhat confused. Thanks to the obstructive head, he couldn’t have seen Luna even if he had tried. Luna and Neil both sigh in relief as they enter the university.

The long halls seem to blend into each other for Luna, however to Neil, who had memorized the confusing halls, it was simple to find the aerospace department. After confirming that the wing was void of people, Neil nodded down to Luna and she flew out of his pocket and returned to her normal size in another bright flash. A short walk to the giant telescope in the center of the room, and a quick adjustment of a few knobs later, and Neil guides Luna over to the glass eyepiece.

“What exactly am I looking at?” Luna tentatively asks while swatting her ethereal mane away from the eyepiece. “It’s all blurry.”

“Twist that knob.” Neil points out one of the small, plastic knobs on the side of the telescope. Luna’s breathing goes silent as her hoof slides down the knob, the sound of her heart beating wildly and the blood pounding in her temples masking out the sound of Neil’s guiding words.

“No, that’s not –“

“Let’s try the next one. There’s still a few more possibilities.” Neil adjusts the telescope, correctly repositioning it to face the next planet.

“No, that is definitely not Equestria.”

“How about… that one?”

“By the Gods…” The soles of Neil’s shoes dug firmly into the tiled floor as he steeled himself for the inevitable glomping. Luna turns from the telescope and throws herself at Neil as he brings his arms up to swing her around. Her hooves clop against the tile floor as she finally lets go of her tight grip.

“That’s amazing to hear, I can’t believe it! I had found many other possibilities, but… I’m just glad I found it after all this time,” Neil looks down to Luna’s beaming smile and sighs, “However there’s still the matter of actually getting you home. There is no way that we can construct a space ship, or something like that. Once again, there must be something you can do with your magic, there’s nothing else that I can think of.”

“I can easily teleport short distances. Anything longer than a mile takes a lot of concentration. One time, many moons ago, I had managed to teleport thirty miles, and then another thirty back home. I wasn’t even tired when I got back – it was as if the dark night had empowered my magic. Perhaps I could draw power from something, I don’t know what though. Any ideas?”

“The stars, or maybe the Moon? Mike told me what you did, when you made those stars a few years ago. I’ve never heard of anybody having magic, so maybe the way your magic works here takes less of a strain on you? I don’t know, no person has magic; it just doesn’t exist in Humans, or any animals on Earth for the matter. Like you had said, the night empowered your magic. It might be worth a shot to do some research on what exactly can strengthen your magic.” Luna’s hoof scrapes against the tiled floor as she thinks about the possibilities.

“Perhaps, but It mustn’t be a normal night. Something more powerful, genuine.”

“The winter solstice is the longest night of the year: December twenty-first. There are also these rare occurrences, which we call the Supermoon. It’s when the Moon appears to be much larger in the sky than normal. Other than those two, I can’t think about anything else that may be able to bolster your teleportation.”

“When is the next Supermoon?”

“As luck would have it, exactly one week. That gives us ample time to prepare.”

“Hey, Neil?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

A/N: If there are any errors you've noticed whilst reading, or you just want to remark on something, feel free to comment below - I appreciate any and all criticism so long as it is serious. This was started well over two months ago, and with recent encouragement, I decided to iron it out post it as is and stop worrying. I go back to school tomorrow, August 29th, so it may be a while (yet again) before I can sit down and type out what's in my head. I have all Honors classes (except English, but I am trying to get into the Honors level too), so I expect a much heavier workload.

~ Ben

Not A New Chapter, But Please Read...

It has come to my attention via a post on tumblr that Neil Armstrong has passed away today: August 25th, 2012. The cause of death was complications after a surgery to relieve blocked coronary arteries in his heart, or so says Wikipedia. Please, take a moment of silence to remember what a hero Neil Armstrong was. He did the impossible. Rest in peace.

I know that this piece of shit story doesn't honor him in any way, but please know the actual man is not being depicted accurately even in the slightest in this... I can't even call it a fic. It is a giant slap in the face to history, and now to a deceased man and his family. I'm so sorry. I hate myself right now, I really wish I hadn't posted this.