If You Give a Moon Pony a Cookie

Chapters

Chapter II - The Promise
Chapter III - Mending the Pain
Chapter IV - A Typical Monday
Chapter I - A Boring Saturday Night

Chapter II - The Promise

The very next day...

“I-ah… err... um,” Aaron groaned, rolling his head on the arm of his couch.

Aaron blinked his eyes a few times. Suddenly, he realized he just slept on the couch for the entire night with a magical, talking filly. If he still couldn’t believe the events transpiring in front him, then maybe Luna’s smiling gesture could help wake himself up from the weird fantasy he seemed to be experiencing.

“Good Morning!” the filly exclaimed, looking up at him from the floor. Her tail swished around she sat up on her two front hooves like a cat.

“Wha?”

Aaron turned his head to see what talked to him. Upon looking at the face of Luna, his eyes shot open as he sprang up on his couch. Startled by the sight of her, Aaron realized the episode from last night wasn’t a dream, or a figment of his imagination. It had happened. It really had happened. The proof was right there, in his living room, and looking back at him with cyan eyes.

Luna turned her left shoulder at Aaron, alarmed by the reaction she got from the seemingly normal greeting. With a hoof raised in the air to cover a part of her face, she peeked back at Aaron. He had fixed himself upright on the couch with his feet planted on the floor. Brushing dust off his white t-shirt, he looked back at Luna. She had uncovered her face and once again wore her bright smile, happy to see him.

“Good Morning...” He rubbed his eyes, still recovering from the shock. “I’m sorry to have startled you like that. I was just, surprised. That’s all.”

“Why were you surprised?” Luna asked, her head tilted.

“It's just that I thought you’d be-” he paused, bothered by what he was about to say.

Gone, is what he thought to himself. Gone from his life, an actual good thing to happen to him in quite a while. Sure, it was unexpected and completely out of nowhere, but it was something good since he realized it was also genuine to him at that moment. He somehow actually found something significant to care about in his life again since the passing of his sister. To which, the words he about spoke to Luna felt cruel and heartless to him.

Aaron shook his head. “You know what, never mind.”

He looked down at his watch and saw the time was ten o’clock in the morning. The sun had come over the horizon and shone through his blinds, illuminating the room with beams of amber colored light. That helped Aaron to see on his watch that today was Sunday, and he knew he had something he could actually do.

He gazed back at Luna. “Since I know you would get bored being stuck here inside my apartment all day, how would you like to come with me to the store?”

“Umm, what?” The filly was clueless.

“The store…” Aaron repeated with slight confusion. “Would you like to come with me or would you be alright staying here?”

“Umm… Yeah... sure.” Luna wasn’t confident with what she had agreed to.

“Is something wrong?” Aaron saw Luna put her head down.

“No,” she lied, turning herself away from him.

“Come on now, Luna.” He keeled down her level. “You can tell me.”

“I… I...” Luna murmured, “I don’t like going to the store.”

“Well...” Aaron let out a chuckle, curious to what Luna had to say. “How come you just agreed to go with me then?”

“Because…” She stuttered, “because... because I just don’t want you to leave me here, alone, forever.”

“I… I.”

Aaron was suddenly heartbroken by those innocent words as a wave of pity plagued his thoughts. With his mouth curled, he reached down and gave Luna a warm hug while his mind failed to wrap around the thoughts of her being neglected. He just couldn’t see her being abandoned and left to face this new world without any familiar faces or loved ones.

In the moments after he began to hug the filly, he somehow didn’t want to let go of her. She had become something to special to him. A magical, talking pony with a fear of being forgotten. To which, that idea scared Aaron since he wondered, What on Earth could have happened to her if I wasn’t the one to find her?

He didn’t want to answer that question. Instead, he hugged Luna as she wrapped her hooves around him in return. Tears dripped down from her eyes as Aaron heard slight sobs. He couldn’t help but let out a couple of his own as well.

After another moment had passed by, Aaron let go of Luna and looked her straight in the trembling eyes. Trails of dried up tears had ran down her face as she gazed back at Aaron with a quivering lip. He tried to wipe some of the tears off with his shirt.

“Ok, ok...” He rubbed Luna’s face, “I will tell you what. Can we make a promise to each other?”

Luna looked back up at him. “What’s a promise?”

Aaron smiled. “A promise is something that we keep between each other, knowing that we cannot do anything to break it.”

He further explained, “Let’s say that I promise you that I will give you a cookie each night.”

Luna cracked a slight grin at the thought. “I… I would like that!”

“I knew you would.” Aaron chuckled for a moment, softly patting Luna’s head. “Well then, let's say that after I promised you to a cookie each night, I don’t give you one tonight.”

Luna gasped, “Oh, no!”

“Yeah,” Aaron replied. “That is breaking a promise, and you never want to break a promise, no matter what.”

He pointed his finger at her. “You got that?”

Luna nodded, “Yes. You never break a promise no matter what.”

“Exactly!” he cheered with his fists waved out in front of him. “Now, listen to me since I am going to make this promise to you that I will keep. Ok?”

“Ok,” she replied with a small amount of eagerness. Luna lightly leaned into Aaron to hear him clearly. She stuck out an ear as Aaron made his promise.

“I am not going to ever abandon you, ever,” he said with certainty. “I promise. Got it?”

“Got it!” Luna softly exclaimed with a glistened expression. It was her first promise and she was glad to know Aaron wasn’t going to anything to leave her behind. She was absolutely certain he meant every single word of that promise he intended to keep.

Aaron smiled again. “Alright then, here’s what I plan on doing… Since you don’t like going to the store, I won’t make you come with me if you don’t want to, right?”

“Right!” Luna jumped to her hooves, tail swishing around in excitement.

“Awesome...” Aaron explained, “I will leave you here, NOT ABANDONING YOU, but just leaving you here for a short while as I go pick up some more groceries from the store.”

“You got that?” he asked, lifting himself off the floor and back onto his feet.

Luna nodded her head. “Uh-huh!”

“Good.”

Aaron walked over to his bedroom and closed the door behind him, making sure Luna remained in the living room. After reemerging with a fresh new set of clothing, along with some shoes on as well, he walked over and grabbed the keys to his car from the top of the mantel. He then said his goodbyes to Luna as he headed for the door.

“Alright now…” He directed, “You behave, and don’t do anything I will get upset over. Got it?”

“Got it!” she replied, lying on the couch. “I promise.”

Aaron could only laugh and smile at that.

A half-hour had passed before Luna heard the front door’s lock tumble. Poking her head up at the noise from the couch, she saw Aaron unlock the door and bump it open with his back. With his arms completely occupied to the elbows in heavy grocery bags, Aaron walked with a grunt before he used a leg to close the door behind him.

“You’re home! You’re home! You’re home!” Luna exclaimed as she jumped up and down on the couch.

“Eeyep,” was all that Aaron could muster out as he slowly walked towards the kitchen, bags in tow.

Managing to finally set down his bags on the dining table with a soft thump, Aaron let out a sigh of relief before Luna trotted into the kitchen. Like a dog, she continued to be ecstatic over the fact he returned, nearly jumping all over his legs. From Aaron’s view, he could see the bright smile she proudly wore on her face as she hopped on her hooves.

“You’re home! Like you promised!” she exclaimed with a certain beam in her eye.

Aaron began to remove the various items of food from the bags. “Yeah, I’m home, just liked I promised. Did you behave yourself?”

“I did,” she replied, sticking her chest out with a bit of pride. “Like I promised.”

Luna then looked up at the bags and asked, “Are there more cookies in there for me?”

“Only if you continue to be a good little girl… erm.” Aaron was surprised by the words he spoke. Shaking his head for a moment, as his eyes wandered around while his mind searched for the correct thought.

“Uh, I meant filly.” Embarrassed by what he said, Aaron turned his attention away from Luna as he put some cans of chicken noodle soup away in the pantry.

Right as he looked back at her, Aaron saw Luna levitate a piece of paper off the countertops. With a puzzled look, Luna floated it over towards him in a cyan aura to get his attention back. As soon as he grab it, she let off the spell.

“What is this?” he asked, inspecting the paper.

Luna shrugged. “I don’t know, but it was slipped under the door while you were gone. So I put it up there until you got back.”

“Hmm…”

Aaron took a look at the piece of paper. However, it didn’t take anymore than a few seconds before his jaw became unhinged. He was absolutely flustered by what he read:

Apartment Notice - 07/26/16

Lease Violation

To the resident of Apt. 101,

You have 48 hours to correct the following violations to your apartment or otherwise face a penalty fee of $100 added to the month’s rent:

Unauthorized pet: Please remove your Cat? Pony? Dog?

Your apartment will be inspected on 07/28/16 to make sure you are within compliance with this notice. Please see the community manager if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

The Management Team

Aaron facepalmed.

“Well, great,” he sighed.

"What is it?" Luna asked.

Later that night...

You should have told her! He thought to himself, It’s not fair to hide that sort of information from her! She can’t stay here in this apartment! She has to go! Yet... Gah! She just... can’t!

Aaron wasn’t able to sleep for almost the entire night. As he sat up on his bed, his mind was bombarded by unrestful thoughts. All of them were concerns about what the notice actually meant to him. It wasn’t an issue to him about how and why he broke the rule. The true problem was over the matter of Luna’s residency. She couldn't stay there at all. Otherwise, it would be an extravagant cost against Aaron.

While he didn’t make a fortune as a restaurant floor manager, Aaron was still able to get on by with the pay he received. It’s a living wage, but with no benefits. Therefore, Aaron had to cover for his own various insurances. Adding on the cost of his bills, groceries, and gas, spending money was near myth to him since the rest went into an emergency fund.

In the case of this notice, the money he would owe if he didn’t follow through was minimal since the fund could quickly cover for it. The true problem was the fact he could lose his home after a couple of more intentional offences. In other words, if Luna kept on being seen.

That is where Aaron began his thoughts. What if I just tell Luna to never go near that window ever again? No… She needs the daylight and to see the outdoors. I cannot shelter her like a pet since that would be unfair to her! Gah! She can’t be seen though! To which, that means she cannot go near the window again. However, that means she can never go outside again!

Aaron rubbed his temples. No, no, no, no, no! Again, she’s a girl- erm, filly that needs to go outside and have fun without the world shutting her in. Without me shutting her inside this apartment, hiding away her own every existence. She wouldn’t understand that. Thus, it would leave only herself to blame at first before it turns on me.

Aaron took in a deep breath before he briefly exhaled. Ok, I don’t want that to happen. Yet, if she does keep getting seen then it will be both of us that are left without a home. Where will I go? I cannot afford any other place since they are more expensive than here. Also, I know my mom and grandma won’t let me stay at her places for too long. As for Luna though….

Aaron looked up and gazed across his bedroom. On the floor and near his walk-in closet was a makeshift bed made up of white sheets that curled around Luna. Aaron admired how she slept peacefully without a single worry to her while his mind continued to frantically search for the answers to the current situation. Troubled, he got up and walked out of the bedroom.

After he quietly stepped into the kitchen, Aaron turned on the light. Once his eyes had adjusted, he walked over to the countertops and picked up where he left the notice. He then reread it word-for-word.

Skimming his finger over a single sentence, he mumbled, “Please see the community manager if you have any further questions.”

He huffed. I guess that’s what I need to do. If it doesn’t work out, then I guess, well-

The time was seven o’clock in the morning. Standing in front of a full body mirror outside his bedroom door, Aaron looked over his uniform. From his white polo to his red tie, he checked for any deformities or stains. After he pinned on his rectangular name tag, Aaron brushed off the dust from his black pleated pants, belt, and shoes before he proceeded into the living room.

Luna sat on the couch and waited for Aaron to finish getting ready for work. As soon as he stepped into the room and looked at her, Luna sat up on the couch and smiled. With her tail flicking around, she was eager to see how he dressed for work everyday. Luna was happy to see him appear sharp and somewhat ready to take on the day, despite his grogginess from staying up for most of the night.

“Ok, Luna.” Aaron yawned, “I need you to repeat the rules I said back to me.”

“Alright,” she replied, holding up a hoof. “Don’t go near the window at all.”

“Right.” Aaron nodded, walking over to the mantle to pick up his keys.

“Don’t play rough in the house or touch anything.” Luna softly sighed.

“Go on,” Aaron stated as he picked up his keys and tucked it into his pant’s pocket.

“If I get hungry,” Luna licked her lips. “... I should go into the kitchen and find the cookie jar.”

“Correct!” While Aaron gazed at her, he took a leather jacket off a metal hook near the mantelpiece. “...And what was the last thing I told you?”

“Umm, Umm…” Luna struggled for a moment as she tried to collect her thoughts. “Oh! If anyone comes in the house, I will hide in the closet!”

“Yes!” Aaron put on his jacket. “Good job!”

“Alright.” Aaron walked over the front door and turned around to look back at Luna. “I will be back in a little while… You behave now, you hear?”

“Yes, Aaron!” She exclaimed. Suddenly, she curled her lip. “Can I get a hug before you go?”

Aaron grinned with a chuckle, “Of course, sweetie.”

Luna hopped off the couch and ran over towards Aaron. He had knelt down to her level and with a single giant scoop, he had used his arms to pick up Luna and hug her within his grasp. Feeling her fur rub up against his clothing, Aaron’s thoughts about his grouchiness seemed to fade away as he realized why he was up for most of the night.

I’m doing this to keep you here with me, Luna, he said to himself. You seem to give me this strength that I just can’t seem to explain. But, heck, if the world wants to fight against me, then I shall rise and show them what they don’t wish to mess with.

After he left his apartment, Aaron began to walk over the management office. It was located across the compound of brick buildings he called home. The distance of walk wasn’t a problem, but the chill of winter’s wind made the stroll a bit unbearable for Aaron. Tucking his hands into his jacket, he shivered his way over to the apartment’s authorities.

Reaching their front door within a small amount of time, Aaron pulled it open and stepped into the marble entryway. A doorbell had rung above him, which alerted the female attendant that sat behind a wood desk surrounding the center of the room. Aaron had smiled at her when she said her apathetic, “Hello” to him with her Midwest accent. It seemed to Aaron that she was as happy as he was to be there.

“How may I help you?” she asked, looking at him with her azure eyes.

“Um, yes,” he replied, pulling out the notice from his coat pocket. “I was unfortunate to receive this note from you guys just the other day.”

He handed the piece of paper to the desk clerk. Aaron continued, “...and I was wondering if I could be able to speak to the community manager in regards towards what it says.”

The attendant scanned over the document before she handed it back to Aaron. “Sure thing, just let me go notify her and I will get back to you shortly. Ok?”

“Thank you, ma'am.” Aaron replied, tucking the notice back into his pocket.

The clerk got up from her seat and walked off into an open hallway beside the desk. She took a turn and was soon out of Aaron’s view. As he stood inside the entryway and waited for her to return, Aaron shuffled his pockets around before he gazed at the television hung behind the desk. It showed the latest commercial for a workshop where you can build your own cotton stuffed bear.

Another moment had passed by and the assistant emerged from the corner of the hallway and signaled for Aaron to come over. As he stepped towards her, she smiled once more and showed Aaron where the Community Manager's office was. After Aaron said, “Thank you,” he walked towards the last door on the left at the end of the amber colored corridor.

Aaron peered his head into the room and saw a lady with glasses sitting at her desk. On the front of it was a small plaque labeled “Mrs. Cruella Trunchbull - Community Manager.” The entire office was decked out to resemble the style of a 1950s film noir. Posters for The Big Heat, Casablanca, and Touch of Evil were hung on the wall. A statue of a falcon, a fedora, and a deck of playing cards were placed above the countertops of her L-shaped desk. At the it’s bend, a replica gas mantle lamp post stood and illuminated the room in an amber colored glow.

“Oh, please my dear,” she said in her soft British accent. “Please, please come in and have a seat!”

Aaron stepped into the room and sat down on one of the wingback chairs situated in front of the desk. “Thank you.”

“So,” Mrs. Trunchbull pulled away from her computer and turned her attention towards Aaron. “My assistant told me about the problem you seem to have.”

“Yes.” Aaron gulped, “...and that is why I came to talk to you about it.”

“Uh-hm, yeah.” The manager rolled her eyes, “So tell me the story then.”

“I’m sorry.” Aaron raised an eyebrow at her. He was confused by her demand. “The story?”

“The story of why you have a pet in your apartment,” she clarified, crossing her arms.

Aaron couldn’t think of an answer off the top of his head. If he told the truth, the story of how Luna got into his apartment would have come off as absurd and unbelievable as a magical, talking pony is. The left him to come up with some kind of a believable lie to cover for Luna. However, he had to come up with something quick or otherwise suffer through the awkward silence he created by the seconds he didn’t talk.

“Well?” Mrs. Trunchbull asked.

“Well, ma’am.” Aaron cleared his throat. “It happened this last Saturday. I was chilling out on my couch, in my living room, when I started to hear this meowing coming from the kitchen.”

Aaron scratched his head. “So I began to wonder why I was hearing this meowing over and over. So, I got up and walked into the kitchen expecting to find out what kept causing the noise.”

“Sure enough!” Aaron enthusiastically exclaimed. “There was this cat in the kitchen. She had on no collar so I assumed she was a stray since the coat was all nappy and unkempt.”

He sighed, rubbing the side of his head. “While I had no idea of how it got into my place, I thought to myself that it would be alright to take care of it for a bit until I am able to get some time away from work to take it to the shelter.”

“Then I got this notice from you guys.” Aaron pulled out the piece of paper from his coat and held it to the manager. “To which, I then knew I needed to come and talk to you about it and maybe see what we might be able to work something out.”

Aaron handed over the notice to Mrs. Trunchbull. “I see,” she replied. “So you took in the stray despite our No Pet Policy, right?”

“Yeah,” Aaron was alarmed by her emphasis on the words “No Pet Policy.” “...and I was wondering if-”

“Well, I am very sorry Mr. Knight, right?” She tilted her head down to allow her eyes to see over her glasses.

“Yes.” was all Aaron could say.

“Well.” The manager didn’t waste her time to tell Aaron the truth. “I cannot help you with this since your contract says that you cannot have a pet living inside the apartment at anytime during your residency.”

“Do you understand?” she asked, looking straight at Aaron.

“Yeah,” Aaron lowered his head. “I understand, thank you.”

“Yes, I’m sorry,” she stated with a bit of sympathy. “...but if the pet isn’t meant for therapy or service obligations then you can not have it inside the apartment at all.”

“I see, I see.” Aaron nodded.

“Well, do you have anymore questions?” Mrs. Trunchbull turned back towards her computer and began to scan through her emails. She still payed attention to Aaron.

“No,” Aaron confirmed. “...besides the fact that I need to have the cat out by tomorrow?”

“According to the notice…” She looked back over the piece of paper. “Yes. You need to have it gone before the inspection that you need to be present for.”

“Wait.” Aaron was surprised. “I need to be present for it?”

“Yes,” she firmly replied. “...or otherwise we will keep checking the place every two days afterwards.”

Aaron couldn’t understand the reasoning towards those multiple checks. “Why?”

“Well.” She turned back over to Aaron and crossed her arms again. “We sometimes have owners who will miss these inspections while taking their cat or dog with them as well.”

“So…” she adjusted her glasses. “Now we ask that the owners be there for their inspections so they can sign off on it.”

“But what if I am at work like I will be tomorrow?” Aaron asked with a concerned tone in his voice.

Mrs. Trunchbull pulled out a notebook and held within her hand a pen. “When do you work?”

“Nine to Five” Aaron answered.

“Ok.” The manager wrote down the hours Aaron claimed to work. “...and so you will be available in the afternoon until around six o’clock, correct?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Aaron replied, clenching his fist.

“Alright then…” Mrs. Trunchbull finished writing her notes down. “I can definitely make that work since I am the one that does the inspection.”

“Oh, really!” Aaron was shocked. “I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah.” She smiled. “So six o’clock tomorrow, right?”

“Perfect,” Aaron replied, not enthusiastic with knowing when she was coming to look over his apartment.

After a quick shake of their hands, Aaron left the office and walked back out and down the corridor. Making his path towards the entryway, he passed by the center desk and said, “Have a good day” to the assistant. After she replied, “Whatever,” Aaron walked through the front door and was back outside in the cold temperature. He strolled to his car parked across the compound.

Reaching his car, he opened up the driver’s side door and climbed into the cabin. Inserting the keys into the ignition switch, Aaron turned on his engine and tuned the heat to full blast. As the warm air flowed into through the vents, Aaron warmed up inside his car as he took off his jacket. Once he got comfortable, he fastened his seatbelt and prepared himself to drive to the next location...

His job.

Author's Note

Dear Readers,

I would have never guessed the reaction that I got out of this story. Thank you so much for the positive comments and the views as well. Therefore, I have decided to write out this story in full with a couple of new chapters planned out and ready to be written. I am very excited to see where I take this story and hope you readers enjoy this ride. Thank you once again!

Nugget

P.S: Even though I have wonderful editors, if you see any grammar errors in the story just PM them to me and I will be quick to resolve them.

Chapter III - Mending the Pain

An hour had passed since Aaron left the apartment.

Luna sat on the couch and glared out into the living room. She hummed to herself a tune she learned from many years of attending the Hearth's Warming Eve Pageant. It was her favorite, the only song she could recite by memory. It was The Hearth’s Carol. Bobbing her head back and forth, Luna lost herself to the anthem as she got down from the couch and ran over towards the middle of the room.

Raising a hoof into the air, she belted out the rest of the chorus. “We are a circle of pony friends! A circle of friends we'll be to the very end!” She held the last note, trying to hear how long she could hold it.

After a few seconds passed, the air Luna had left to exhale out of her lungs ran out. She coughed. It was a long note she held, but Luna was proud of how it seemed to last a bit. She jumped and hopped around the room, celebrating her accomplishment. “I did it, I did it, I did it, Tia!” she exclaimed.

Suddenly, Luna stopped upon saying her last word. Blinking her eyes a few times as she stood over the carpet, Luna looked around and realized nobody was with her in the room. The filly was all by herself in the apartment. Rubbing her face, Luna felt like a fool as pity ran through her body.

Luna used to have all the attention she ever wanted. At the least, she had her sister, Celestia, around to enjoy the good times and achievements they both endured. From traveling around Equestria to doing just about anything childish around their castle, Luna could always count on her sister to be there and support her. In return, Luna did the same since they never left each other’s side.

However, that wasn’t the case anymore. Celestia wasn’t there, and Luna was stuck in this world she didn't understand. All Luna knew about at the moment was the place she had wound up in, Aaron’s apartment. It was where she had been for the last few days, hiding herself away since Aaron told her to for reasons she could only presume.

Luna began to cry, realizing the reality of her situation. She missed her sister, her real home, and the land she came from. The feeling of comfort to her was gone along with being wanted by the ponies Luna surrounded herself with every day. While Aaron could only do so much to give her the care she needed, Luna knew after a while that he couldn’t replace the family she tragically, and instantly lost in a flash of magic. They were gone, and Luna felt lost without them.

With tears running down her face, Luna thought about when she might be able to return home, if she could return home. She didn’t know where it was, how far away, and what it took to get there. To which, Luna still had no idea how she exactly got into Aaron’s apartment in the first place, or about the new world she inhabited. The only thing the filly knew was she got there by mistake, one that had separated her from Celestia.

She missed her sister dearly. Her feelings towards her wrecked Luna’s emotions. Curling down and into a tight ball, wrapping her tail around herself, the filly cried her eyes out about the high chance of never seeing her sister ever again. Luna thought to herself about the fact she wasn’t going to hear her voice, see her face, and play with her again for probably the rest of her life.

The reality finally hit her, hard.

The apparent shock she was under for the past few days wore itself out. At first, it provided a quick recovery from the accident. The overwhelming feeling of awe and wonder had kept the little filly happy up until this point. Her mind was constantly occupied by the ideas and thoughts of what place she found herself in. Now that she finally settled down for a bit, Luna’s mind finally caught up to what mattered to her more.

Another hour had passed and Luna still remained on the carpet. Sniffling out the water that remained within her eyes and nose, the filly looked up towards the ceiling. “I know that you are out there, sister,” she spoke out loud, wiping a tear from her eye. “I know that you love me, too. Whatever went wrong wasn’t meant happen, not on purpose. You love me too much, and I know now that we did make a promise to always still be there for each other.”

Luna cheered up after saying those words. “Besides, Aaron said you sent that note. I know you are coming for me Tia!”

A day earlier...

“Well, great,” Aaron sighed.

He held the notice within his hands, completely shocked about the fact that someone saw Luna in his apartment. Aaron couldn’t understand how it happened until he walked back into the living room. Luna followed Aaron, trailing behind him.

Gazing upon the window, Aaron suddenly realized the blinds were perpendicular to the glass, making it easy for anybody to see into the apartment. He felt like an idiot, leaving it easy for anybody from management to see Luna from the outside. To which, it was the reason why he now held a notice to get rid of the animal they couldn’t exactly identify or seem to care about. It was a pet to them, and it needed to be gone.

“Why are you staring at the window?” Luna asked, wondering why Aaron was fixated on it.

He snapped out of his concentration. “Umm, uh. It’s nothing really.”

“Really?” Luna leaned her head towards the side. “It seems to me like you were looking at something?”

Aaron tried to be dismissive. “I wasn’t, really.”

“Does this have to do with the note?” Luna pointed at it.

“Uh, no.”

“Really?”

“Uhh...”

Aaron huffed. The filly wasn’t letting up with her questions. Giving him grief, Aaron thought about telling the truth to her about what was going on. However, he couldn’t think of an exact way to tell her about the problem he just encountered. For him to simply say that she couldn’t live there anymore, do to the stupid rules he lived under, was cruel and drastically sudden. She had only been there for a little over a day, and now he was told she must move out into the world.

No, no, no! He thought to himself, scratching his forehead. I promised this little girl- filly, dang it, that she can stay with and never get abandoned by me. What kind of a person would I be if I just said that and then turn around and did just the opposite?

A hypocrite. A cruel, heartless, careless hypocrite, he declared. Gritting his teeth and crumpling up the paper in his fist, Aaron told himself to make up an answer to satisfy Luna’s questioning. At this point, he didn’t want to do anything to upset the filly any more than he could. She had been through enough. Instead, Aaron thought about what he could to help boost Luna’s spirits and give her a sense of hope.

Realizing that Luna mentioned something about having a sister of her own, Aaron bent down to her level and lied. “Ok, I will tell you the truth. It was a letter from your sister.”

Luna was elated. “Really!?!”

Aaron groaned, “Yes, the note said she loves you and knows where you are. While it will be awhile before she can come to pick you up, she wants you to understand that she is sorry for what she did and hopes you will forgive her later.”

“I will,” she promised. “I love her too much to never forgive her for anything.”

Aaron smiled, hiding the guilt from his own shame. “That’s wonderful.”

“How long will it take for her to get here?”

“Uh-hm.”

Aaron searched his brain for an answer. “Well, the note said it will take a while, so, I’m not sure about when it will be, but I promise to let you know when she is coming.”

“Are you going to be ok with that, Luna?” Aaron looked directly at her.

Luna nodded. “No problem! I can’t wait though!”

Aaron sighed, rolling his eyes toward the side. “I can’t either.”

The Present Day…

After crying for nearly an hour, Luna laid out on the floor. The filly’s eyes were beet red and her stomach growled. Apparently, having a mental breakdown after realizing that you might be trapped in an alternate universe for the rest of your life can make you a little hungry. It was then that Luna realized, she was starving.

“Uhh,” she moaned, not wanting to get off the carpet to find something to eat.

She really wanted to lay there forever, but her stomach had other plans. Rumbling again, Luna had to force herself up and onto her hooves. Managing to stabilize herself at the moment she wanted to care about walking, the filly hung her head low with the top of her mane draped over her face. Luna then took each step with a thud into the kitchen.

Passing through the wooden door frame, Luna dragged herself through the cooking area. Picking her head up, she searched for where Aaron had placed the cookie jar. It wasn’t hard to find. The doggy-shaped cookie jar was situated near the pantry door, standing there with its ballcap on. When the little filly saw it, she slowly walked over to the jar and stopped. She sat down in front of it.

“Huh?” Luna pondered, titling her head to the side.

Looking at the jar, she scratched her head. How do you open it? Luna asked herself. She has never seen this type of cookie jar before. It didn’t look like a typical oval jar with a removable top. The cap couldn’t be seen. To her, the jar looked like a mutt wearing a baseball cap on its head. This conundrum confused Luna with its absolute absurdity.

The filly looked closer at the jar, scanning for any clues on how to open it. She then gasped, it became clear for her. Luna giggled, the hat was the cover to the jar! The filly could see there was a clay line that divided between the dog and the hat. While she wasn’t able to see it at first, Luna was relieved to find it without resorting to another plan she had in mind.

“I am so glad I didn’t have to mess with it! But now to open it...” she huffed, focusing on her horn. As it began to glow, the jar illuminated in the same velvet light. Luna began to lift the cookie jar into the air, wanting to prove to herself that she could use her magic on heavier objects. Luna grunted, the excessive magic was taking its toll on her.

As soon as the jar was lifted off the ground, Luna tried to control her breathing. As the filly maintained her concentration on the jar, her mind was strained by this one simple action. Letting out a small breath of air, she attempted to manipulate her magic in order to remove the top of the cookie jar. It shook as the magical force pulled on the opposite ends of the jar and hat. Suddenly, the ballcap popped off dog. The jar was opened!

Overcome by happiness, Luna hopped and cheered. The filly was satisfied with the small feat she had accomplished. It went to show how far her magical development had come. “Tia would be so proud of me!” she smiled, still distracted by her own celebration.

That’s when she lost control of her magic.

Without the aura to keep the jar and the hat suspended in the air, both objects fell towards the ground. Luna quickly used her magic to catch the jar, but by the time she was able to save the hat, it was too late. It hit the floor, smashing into several pieces. They scattered throughout the entire kitchen floor, leaving behind a speck of clay where the hat had broke.

Luna’s jaw hung loose, horrified by the sight. As she gently set down the jar, Luna re-lit her horn and ran around the kitchen. Gathering the pieces into a single aura of magic, Luna tried to reassemble the ballcap. Though to her misfortune, the pieces didn’t seem to merge back together. The filly then knew it was broken. It was really, really broken.

Luna was scared, trembling in her hooves. I am in so much trouble! she thought, putting a nervous hoof to her chin. How will Aaron react to this? Will he ground me like mommy and daddy did? Will he send me off somewhere? Luna gasped at her last thought. Will he throw me out?

The filly quivered. Luna knew she was in trouble, but what she didn’t know was the severity. The filly had no clue how Aaron would handle this situation. No amount of speculation and thought could predict exactly what Aaron might do. He could ground her, send her off somewhere, or worse, straight up abandon her! All of this actions seemed possible to Luna, just for breaking a clay ballcap.

Luna frantically searched around the kitchen for anything at could help mend the situation. While Luna wasn’t sure on what she was looking for, the filly was certain she could find something to help her out. Luna opened every single cabinet, door, and shelf, seeking items or tools useful to fix the broken ballcap. Tape? Glue? Anything would be useful at this point! The filly threw stuff she deemed useless out on the floor, cluttering it up with various kitchen supplies. However, when Luna found absolutely nothing helpful from those piles, she extended her search.

Quickly running out of the cooking area, the filly darted towards the bathroom. Using her magic to flick the light switch on, Luna did the exact same thing she did in the kitchen. She opened up every single cabinet, door, and shelf, looking for anything that could put the clay hat back together. She madly tossed out the towels, soap, and Aaron’s dirty laundry onto the floor, letting them pile up as a dirty stack of common bathroom items. She huffed, desperate to lay her hooves on anything that could assist her. However, when Luna found nothing, she left the littered bathroom and continued her search.

Stepping into the living room, Luna glanced at the couch. Letting her tongue hang out to the side, the filly figured the couch wouldn’t have anything that could fix a broken clay ballcap. Glaring over at the television, she looked up at the mantle and concluded that there really wasn’t anything there that could help her either. Is there something in the bedroom? she thought, getting even more desperate. Well, I guess there’s only one to find out!

The little filly made her way into Aaron's bedroom. This room was her last hope in finding something that could repair the hat. Sweating from the pressure, Luna stared at the mattress, peering at the unkempt covers. "Oh Tia! I could really use your help right now!" she pleaded, looking up towards the ceiling. "I don't know what to do, and Aaron is going to be really mad at me if I can't fix this!" She tapped her head, "Come on! Come on! Think Luna, think!"

She gasped, an idea came to her head.

It was her last option, the one that could make-it or break-it for Luna. She hasn't checked the walk-in closet. Ever since she saw it in Aaron's apartment, Luna had a bit of a fascination for it. To which, when she had tried to go in there the other day, Aaron had unfortunately pushed her out. He told her to never step foot in there at all, no matter what. Aaron specified that there was nothing in there for her particular interest.

Letting out a slight huff, Luna figured that now wasn't a time to obey Aaron's demands and rules. She had already broken at least one, maybe all of his rules. Besides, she figured her actions could be justified since she was going in there to find something to help fix her problem. Luna was certain Aaron would understand. Or at least she hoped...

Maneuvering around the bed, the filly walked over towards the closet. Once she was in front of the walk-in's door, Luna stared up at its knob, using her magic to turn it. The door swung open and the closet's light automatically turned on. Luna then proceeded into the small room.

It was packed tight to the walls with neatly hung clothing. Every single shirt Aaron owned was on a hanger, dangling from a bar underneath the top shelf. It wrapped around the upper part of the closet, supporting the stacks of blue jeans and small unmarked boxes. On the floor, various pairs of shoes lined the walls alongside a weight scale and a couple more unmarked boxes.

Luna looked around the closet, checking up and underneath the shoes and hung clothing. She then levitated the various cardboard boxes down and began to open them up. Sadly, most of her efforts were fruitless. Besides finding books and random pictures of who she assumed was Aaron's family, Luna didn't manage to find anything that could put back together a clay ballcap. Afterwards, she left the checked, opened boxes out in the bedroom.

Just as she was getting ready to call in a defeat and walk away from the closet, Luna managed to have something catch her eye at the last second. Turning towards the top corner of the walk-in closet, she saw what resembled a stuffed teddy bear wearing a blue baseball cap, similar to the one she broke.

Luna's eyes began to beam, she had found her solution. Instead of repairing the damaged hat, the filly figured she might be able to get away with the problem if she just switched out the clay one for the hat worn by the bear. She thought the idea was genius. If Aaron doesn't notice the difference, I should be alright! she said to herself, hoping it would be the case.

Slowly levitating the bear down, Luna placed it on the floor. As it sat upright and stared at her, Luna took its hat off and turned away from it for just a moment. Then it dawned on her, something just didn't quite feel right. Turning back towards the bear, Luna set the hat down and stared back at the bear. Luna curled her lip, feeling guilty for stealing the bear’s hat.

"I am very sorry, Mr.-uh..." She hesitated for a moment, not sure about a proper name for the stuffed animal. Stopping her hoof towards the ground, it took a couple of seconds for her to finally come up with a name for the bear. "Ah-ha!" she squeaked. “I am very sorry Mr. Tiberius, but I need to borrow your hat.”

The bear still glared at her with its brown, plastic eyes.

“What!?” Luna shouted, thinking the stuffed animal said something to her. “I am not stealing this from you! I am just borrowing it like I said!”

The filly glared back at the bear, squinting her eyes. She stuck her tongue out at it. Of course, the bear didn’t react. It just sat there, looking at her with the same deadpanned tone it was stitched with. Luna retracted her tongue, frustrated with not knowing the bear’s demand.

A moment passed by before an idea dawned on Luna. “Well, since this is your hat, Mr. Tiberias.” She addressed, “You want to go with me at see where I am taking it?”

Luna ran behind the bear. Nodding it’s head, the filly finally finding out what the bear wanted. “Ok!” She cheered, “Let's go then!”

Levitating the bear, Luna bit the hat and carried it in her mouth. Making their way out of the closet, the bear floated beside the filly as she walked across the bedroom. Exiting the room through its door, the bear still held its unamused expression as the duo processed toward the kitchen.

As soon as they made it to where Luna last left the cookie jar, she used her magic to set the bear down. Positioning it in front of the jar, Luna proceeded to place the hat on top of it. “You see, Mr. Tiberius, this is where I am putting your hat!” she declared, pointing at the ballcap. “It’s going to stay there for a little bit, but don’t worry.”

Luna placed a hoof across her chest. “I promise I will not lose it.” She ran behind the bear. Luna magically altered her voice to make it sound more masculine. “I believe you Luna! But what about the mess you left behind?” she said, impersonating the bear.

Luna’s ears drooped downward, feeling guilty for going a bit overboard on throwing everything out on the floor. “I know,” she admitted to herself. “What can I do? The mess out there makes this place seem like a jungle of clutter!”

Luna sat on the ground, upset with the idea of cleaning up the unkempt mess she had made. There was a lot she had thrown out and on the floors in the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. To Luna, it would seem like it would take forever for her to clean everything up. Besides, she had no idea where to put everything back.

Suddenly, Luna smiled, an idea came to mind.

Author's Note

When all the truth does is make your heart ache, sometimes a lie is easier to take. - Discord

Well... I guess I lied a little bit about an all Luna chapter. I recently received feedback from various sources in regards towards the progression of this story and it changed how I will be approaching it for now on. Other than that, I hope you guys enjoy the update! :twilightsmile:

Nugget

P.S: As usual, if you see a grammar error in the story then feel free to PM the corrections to me and I will be swift to fix them. Thank you!

Chapter IV - A Typical Monday

At Aaron's Work…

"Order Up! Guest #24" Aaron shouted. "Guest #24, your order is ready!"

The time was a little past noon and the uniformed employees of Ben's Burger Joint were in the middle of a fast food style lunch rush. The place was at full capacity, filled to the brim with various customers that either waited in line to order their meals, sat down at the tables scattered throughout the restaurant, talked about events in their daily lives, or ate their lunch. The scene bustled with people in a sort of organized, yet loud chaos of workers and customers that interacted with each other.

All of the restaurant's staff were on the shift, working through their separate duties that flowed together inside the greasy environment. When one took an order, another assembled the customer's sandwich while he or she yelled at the cook to restock their tray of burger meat. Meanwhile, others either scooped up french fries, made desserts, worked the drive-thru window, or helped with the cleanliness of the entire establishment. Every now and then, one or two workers might be seen sitting off to the side, trying to enjoy what they have left of a thirty minute break.

Then there was Aaron, the floor manager.

During the lunch shift, he was in charge of the whole operation. Besides gathering the orders appearing on the various monitors within the workspace, Aaron's duty kept his employees on their toes throughout the day. He was responsible for assigning tasks, break times for certain employees, and other higher matters that came with his job title.

Aaron was also the complaint manager, a position he dreaded the most. Every single customer complaint came to him throughout the day in an never ending, atrocious cycle. Often times, they were simple problems varying from a forgotten food item to a child not receiving a toy in a kid's meal. Other times, they were over what the customer considered a serious manner of importance. Though really, what Aaron thought of as important often didn’t match the customer’s.

Aaron absolutely hated those types of complaints. Those were the ones where he knew that trying to get the customer to comply with the situation of the restaurant wasn’t going to work. To Aaron, they were always selfish to him, the employees, and the rest of the customers since the complainer always wanted to have their problem fixed straight then-and-there. It also constantly boggled Aaron’s mind since those types of complaints happened almost every single day, and today wasn't an exception.

“I would like to speak to your manager.” a young, blonde haired woman demanded, wearing a white crop top and blue jean shorts. A purse and a cup full of water laid next to her on the counter.

“Certainly...” the male attendant groaned, looking upon the woman with dismay. He instantly knew that she wasn’t happy. “Give me one second.”

Stepping away from his register, the attendant made his way over towards the end of the assembly line where Aaron stood. He was in the middle of bagging an order, sweat lightly covered his face from all the running around he did. The last thing Aaron wanted to do was deal with a customer’s problem since it would interrupt the smooth flow of orders that got out as quickly as he assembled them. Yet, Aaron knew it was inevitable. Someone was going to complain sooner or later.

The attendant nudged Aaron’s shoulder. “Hey boss.”

“Yes?”

“There is a lady at the front counter who wants to speak with you.”

Ugg! Aaron groaned to himself. Here we go again! He made sure his back was turned from lobby so no customer saw him roll his eyes. It was another complaint, probably along the sames lines he had dealt with before. It shouldn’t be new to him at all. Whatever the customer had to say to him, Aaron hoped it was something quick. He didn’t have the time or the patience to listen to everyone’s bickering in the restaurant, especially during the lunch rush.

Aaron sighed, “Thanks.” He signaled for his store manager, “Hey, Carrie!”

“Yes?” she yelled back, standing inside a small office while typing on a computer.

“Can you take my position for one second?”

“Why?”

“Customer” was the only thing he said, yet she instantly understood why.

Carrie replied, “Certainly.”

“Thanks!”

Getting off the computer, she walked over to where Aaron was and grabbed a bag. After Carrie was told what order was to be assembled next, Aaron stepped away from the end of the line and over to the front counter. Wearing the most fake, yet subtle smile he could muster, Aaron greeted the woman that asked to speak to him. The lady’s eyebrows were low, arms were crossed, and toes were tapping. She appeared to be infuriated by whatever was bothering her.

“How may I help you?” was all Aaron asked, triggering the woman’s inner rage to spew out at him.

She screamed, “I HAVE BEEN WAITING HERE FOR ABOUT HALF AN HOUR AND YET MY FOOD HASN’T BEEN DELIVERED TO ME-”

“Ok, ma’am,” Aaron sighed, putting his hand out at her, “I need you to calm down.”

“NO!” the woman snapped, “Thanks to you guys, I am now running late so I need my food now!”

Well it seems like you have plenty of time to talk to me, Aaron sarcastically thought to himself, trying to keep his sanity from breaking to the point of him snapping back at the woman. He was already high strung from the lunch rush, at the point where his mind couldn’t take the pressure of the restaurant anymore. Almost about to break, Aaron felt ready to completely ignore the woman’s problem altogether and walk out of the burger joint.

However, Aaron had to remind himself to also look at the situation from her shoes. To which, Aaron could personally admit that he would get mad as well if he had to wait for over a good length of time for fast food. Therefore, he could sympathize with the customer on that aspect. However, this woman was something he rarely ever saw.
She was absolutely insane.

Aaron tried to say, “Alright, ma’am-”

“Don’t call me that!”

“Ok...” He shook his head, “Do you have your receipt?”

“No!” the woman griped, hitting the counter with her hand. “...but, I want my food now!”

Grrreeeeaaaattttt! She doesn’t have the freaking receipt. Aaron internally groaned, wishing he could say to the woman that he can’t help her unless she has the piece of paper. Sadly, though, he couldn’t since their was a reason why. Besides the fact that he wanted to keep his job, Aaron knew the restaurant's computers have the remarkable capability to store the last one-hundred orders. Therefore, it only took a simple reference to the contents of the any order before Aaron could find and print the woman a copy of her original receipt.

“Ok, ma’-” Aaron stuttered, “I’m sorry… but, anyways, can you recall your order? Maybe I can find it in our system.”

The woman scoffed, “Fine! I had a two large #1 combos with an apple pie and a cherry sundae. It shouldn’t be that hard to find!”

“I understand ma- erm... I’m sorry, um, just please give me one second to find your order.” Aaron begged, walking over to an unattended register.

Pulling up the last one-hundred orders on its screen, he desperately scrolled through the list and tried to find the exact combo of contents on a single order. No results showed up, irritating Aaron. The first thing he never wanted to say to the customer was the fact that he couldn’t find their order in the register, especially if they were mad and tapping their foot from being impatient.

“Any minute now!” she screamed, starting to become the center of everyone’s attention.

Unfortunately for Aaron, the order wasn’t found. The manager sighed, knowing that he couldn’t help her out. The lady didn’t have the receipt and the order wasn’t stored in the system. As far as Aaron knew, the woman could possibly be lying about making a purchase or her order was put into the computer before another one-hundred orders were stored. Aaron could only assume the latter, but it didn’t help the lady’s temperament or the fact that now everybody was staring at her in bewilderment.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU COULDN'T FIND IT!” she hollered, throwing her hands into the air. Aaron swore he could see the blood flowing through the veins in her head. The lady shrieked, “I ORDERED ABOUT HALF AN HOUR AGO AND NOW SUDDENLY YOU CAN’T FIND IT!?! WHAT THE-”

“Look!” Aaron touched his chest, “...I tried everything that I could, but I just couldn’t find it in our system-”

“WELL LOOK AGAIN!”

Aaron huffed, rubbing his forehead, “I did, double checked it twice as a matter of fact. It's not there, so I cannot help you.”

The lady was exasperated, completely fed up with Aaron’s reasoning. “Ugh! You are the manager, right?”

“Yes?”

“So you can’t just give me my order since I already paid for it?” she asked with bits of animosity slipping from her tongue.

“I’m sorry,” Aaron repeated, trying to remain calm, “...but I just can’t help you out.”

Her hands curled up into a fists. She banged them on the counter, “This is a disgrace! I PAID FOR MY ORDER ABOUT HALF AN HOUR AGO AND YOU TELL ME YOU CAN’T FIND IT!?!”

“I’m sorry,” Aaron tried to explain, “...but we are extremely busy at the moment and more than likely we might have lost it in the rush.”

“Lost it… LOST IT IN THE RUSH! BULLCRAP! THAT IS A LIE!” she fiercely pointed at him, “You are a LIAR!”

“I am not a liar.”

“You are a liar and a thief!”

“Lady, I’m not-”

“YOU ARE A LIAR AND A THIEF! YOU STOLE MONEY FROM ME AND NOW YOU SAY I NEVER PAID FOR ANYTHING!”

“Lady, I never said-”'

“YOU. ARE. A. LIAR!” the woman slowly declared, pointing at him.

The store manager couldn’t anymore of the abuse she witnessed. Rushing over to the aid of Aaron, Carrie intervened and tried to take a hold of the conversation. “Ma’am! Ma’am! I’m very sorry to tell you this, but I need you to calm down. All he is-”

“YEAH? WELL GUESS WHAT!” The lady declared, looking back at Aaron, “SCREW HIM!”

“Ma’am, I-”

The woman had enough. Taking her cup of water off the counter, she hastily unscrewed the lid. Using every single ounce of force she could muster, the lady threw the drink at Aaron. It hit him square in the chest, splashing water upon his uniform. With his clothing was now dampened and his skin soaked, Aaron just couldn’t comprehend what just happened. He, along with everyone else in the restaurant, was shocked by the response.

“SCREW ALL THIS! I AM NEVER COMING BACK HERE EVER AGAIN! UGG!” The woman left, leaving the entire scene in complete silence. A few whispers could be heard, but the remaining customers, employees, and managers were in awe. They all couldn’t comprehend why someone would throw a drink at a manger and consider it acceptable. That alone was mad, and a couple parents in the dining area were already lecturing their kids on how what they saw was unnecessary.

Meanwhile, Aaron just stood there as a dripping mess. His face was frozen, stuck in a temporary state of expressing how mad and upset he was over the woman mistreating him. Aaron tried to recall what he could have done to prevent it, but those thoughts quickly sailed through his head as he buried it into his hands. Aaron had enough of the lunch rush.

While he was on the verge of a mental breakdown, Carrie and a couple of the customers tried to offer sympathy and apologies on the behalf of the angered woman. However, Aaron simply dismissed them with “thank you’s.” Despite the kindness he received, their words weren’t going to help him. Aaron was mentally stressed out beyond this limits and couldn’t take being in the workplace anymore. He needed to step away from the customers and employees before he lost it as well.

He needed a break.

It had been about five minutes since Aaron had confronted the woman about her missing order. Now sitting down on the couch in a small break room, the manager shook his leg as his hands clenched around his soft drink. While he tightly held onto the cup, Aaron tried to refrain from gritting his teeth in anger over what just happened. He felt abused, knowing what the woman did was extremely necessary and uncalled for.

Shaking his head, Aaron then contemplated upon what exactly possessed her to act out in such an outrageous matter. So, she didn’t get her food after an extended period of time, correct? So that means it’s justifiable to throw a drink in my face and act like the typical soccer mom? Right?

He sighed, not seeing the logic in that. The woman, in his mind, was crazy for what she did. While Aaron could admit the woman did have every single right to bring up the issue about her order, it didn’t entitle her to scream out loud, draw attention to herself, and then finally throw a drink a him. Kids and babies do that, not fully grown adults.

Yet, it still happened, and Aaron knew he couldn’t change that. Therefore, he asked himself this question. How could I have prevented the whole ordeal from happening in the first place?

Maybe I shouldn’t have rushed through those orders. Maybe I should have took my time, like our training manual says, and made sure each order was being made and not skipped. He then shook his head and groaned, No, no, no, no, no! I don’t have the time for that! I need to push out those orders a quick as I can since those customers are depending on me to have their orders made within a short amount of time. After all, this is ‘fast’ food isn’t it? Not a freaking sit-down, two-hour long course at a restaurant in Italy!

He huffed, letting his own thoughts prevail over the questions he imposed on himself. Fuelled by the stress from the work environment, Aaron couldn’t stop his hasty thought process as the questions and answers kept on flashing through head. After rubbing a temple with his unoccupied hand, the manager tried to calm himself and slow down the thoughts within his mind.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, Aaron tried to clear his mind until it was left completely blank and free of thought. With nothing now occupying it, this allowed for his own peace and serenity to soothe over his body while alleviating the stress from his head. Then after letting out a sigh, Aaron mentally scanned through his entire body and tried to relax every single tight muscle until it didn’t feel strained or agitated.

Turning his neck towards the sides, he popped it a few times along with his knuckles and toes. He felt how loose and free his fingers and feet were by wiggling them a few times afterwards, making sure every single tiny bit of tension was released. Still keeping his mind at ease, the whole process from the deep breaths to the cracking of his fingers allowed for Aaron to feel completely, and totally at ease mentally and physically.

Until another thought, or rather a specific word, came to his head.

Another five minutes had passed when the store manager, Carrie, walked into the break room and saw Aaron still lying on the couch.
“You alright?” she asked, making sure her employee was still fine.

“Better,” Aaron replied, though the apathetic tone in his voice suggested otherwise.

“Look,” she smiled, her hand extending out towards him, “I came here to tell you that you handled that women well considering how crazy she acted.”

“Yeah.” Aaron rubbed his forehead, “I still can’t process how that came to be. You know? Why on earth would somebody do that?”

Carrie shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t really know, honestly. But what I can say is that there are just some people out there who are very willing to throw such a fuss over anything.”

Aaron rolled his eyes, “You can say that again.”

“Besides, it’s over now,” she sighed. “You handled the situation well and despite the dramatic outcome, I don’t think you could have done anything to prevent that.”

“You mean the drink being thrown at me?” Aaron deadpanned.

“That, and the orders getting mixed up.” Carrie remarked, reaching down by her feet to pick up a brown paper bag. “Apparently her food was accidentally left on top of the fry station and no one seemed to mention it.”

Aaron facepalmed, frustrated with the fact that the whole situation would have been avoided it he or his fellow employees had simply paid a bit more attention to their surroundings. He groaned, “You’re kidding me, right?”

She bent her head down, “I wish I was.”

“Thanks.” Aaron said with the least amount of enthusiasm he could muster into his voice.

“Are you alright?” she asked, noticing Aaron peer his eyes down towards his drink.

Aaron huffed, knowing that he could brush off the frustrated attitude with a simple “I’m fine.” However, he knew he wasn’t, and he’d feel bad if he lied. His mind was now bothered by not what happened, but by a certain matter outside of his job.

The manager admitted the truth to Carrie with a sigh. “No. I am not alright.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, drawing more of her attention towards Aaron’s pressing matter. She went over to a side of the break room and pulled out chair for her to sit on.

“It’s… It’s,” he stuttered. “It’s what the woman said that bothers me.”

“The part where she said where you were a liar?” She squinted her eye, as if calling it out was hard.

“I mean, sorta.” Aaron curled his lip. “Alright, yeah. A lot.”

“How so?” Carrie probed, “I mean, I have known you to be one of the most honest workers in the restaurant.”

“Well…” Aaron’s words trailed off. “To tell the truth, I haven’t been great for quite a while, and I guess it’s just now catching up to me.”

Carrie rose a hand to her chin. “Well how did this all start?”

“Umm…” It took Aaron a moment to recall the exact time when he knew his lying had started. “I think it honestly began after the passing of my sister a couple months ago. I mean, I knew at that time I was very much grief stricken to the point where anything related to truth of what was going on wasn’t easy to take. To which, I guess that was when I started lying left-and-right to not only just cover up my own feelings, but to just get by on a regular day.”

Carrie sat at her seat and nodded her head, “So you think the passing of your sister sorta triggered this unpleasant habit out of you?”

Aaron took a sip from his drink. “I think so, because it just went on for a while until I just stopped recognizing it as a bad habit of mine. It’s just sorta became more of a natural impulse to cover up whatever was going on… besides anything at work, of course!”

“Can you give me an example?”

“Hmm.” Aaron rubbed his head, trying to recall some time when he knew that he had intentionally lied. His eyes then shot wide, “Ah! I think I can remember this one time when I called my mother about the expenses to the funeral, which most of it was paid off by her life insurance. However, there were a few little of out pocket cost that I voluntarily paid for since my mother is currently taking care of my new baby brother."

"You know? Charles?” he asked, wanting to make sure that Carrie knew what he was talking about.

Carrie pondered for a moment, “Yeah, I think you mentioned him a few times to me.”

“Ok, good,” Aaron chuckled. “Anyways, one of those costs was over the flowers to adorn the top of her coffin and around the ceremony. I think they are called ‘sprays’ if I am not mistaken?”

“I think you got it,” she nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

Wiping off his forehead, Aaron sighed. “Thanks. So as I was saying, my mother still wanted me to use the insurance money to pay for it since she didn’t want the money to come out of my bank. However, I told her it would be fine for me to do so since I wanted her to use the rest of it to take care of the new baby Charles.”

“And?” Carrie asked, wanting Aaron to continue.

“We went back-and-forth on the issue,” Aaron replied, waving his hand out as he used his other one to set the drink down. “We wanted to prove our points to each other while I tried to make the argument that ‘it’s what she would have wanted’ so to speak. Yet, my stubborn mother still insisted on using the inertance money to pay for the flowers anyways.”

“I assume you didn’t use the money, right?” Carrie crossed her arms, wearing an amused expression upon her face.

“No,” Aaron firmly stated. “Not a single cent of it. Instead, after I got the money from her, bought the flowers and lied to her about how I purchased them.”

“And what about the money she gave you?”

“I set it aside,” Aaron sighed, not proud of what he did. “I figured that I would return the money to her in disguise as a Christmas gift this year, though now I am doubtful about that working out since it could raise a fuss over where I got that amount of money.”

“I see. So, do you know for sure that she isn’t going to take it well?” Carrie asked.

“Yeah, and that is my fault really,” Aaron admitted, raising an arm to his chest. “I should have just bought the stupid flowers with the money and avoided the drama, honestly.”

“Well, you could just keep the money, since you spent some after all, and then apologize to your mother about the drama,” she advised, trying to help out Aaron.

He pondered upon that idea for just a moment, and it didn’t take long for him to agree with with it as well. “Yeah, you’re right. I think I do need to do that since it would give me an opportunity to try and talk to her again about it and make amends. And it could give me a chance to solve another issue I am having right now.”

“You see, problemed solved!” Carrie cheered, happy to assist her fellow employee. “And what is this other issue that you have?”

“Oh!” he grinned, perking himself up as he set both of this shoes down on the floor. “It’s nothing really. I have this… erm… pet that got into my apartment the other night and now I am needing it out by tomorrow.”

“Aw, that sucks!” Carrie titled her head towards the side as she extended her lower lip. “What type of pet is it?”

“It’s a uh... a cat,” he said with subtlety and a straight face, trying to not reveal the identity of Luna.

“A cat!” she exclaimed with slight disbelief. “Well, gosh! How did it get into your home?”

Aaron shrugged his shoulders. “I dunno! I found it my pantry the other night and now the apartment owners want it gone!”

“Oh, that is so terrible,” Carrie said with sympathy. “I own three cats as well and I would hate to lose one of them.”

Oh no, Aaron said to himself. Please don’t tell she is going to offer-

A crisp smack came from her lips. “Shoot! I wish I could help you too since I know you always wanted to keep a pet, right?”

Oh, thank goodness. Aaron rubbed the back of his head and smiled, “Yeah, but please don’t worry about it at all. In fact, I will be taking care of it as soon as I get home.”

“Ok,” she smiled back, raising herself off the seat and preparing herself to go back to work. “But please keep me up to date with how things turn out!”

“No problem, ma’am,” Aaron replied, making sure that he knew to at least tell her something after he dealt with the owner of the apartment.

As the store manager walked away and was out of sight, Aaron laid himself back down on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. With a couple of thoughts returning to him, Aaron knew that it was going to become inevitable for him to call his mother about the flowers and Luna’s situation. Unavoidable, Aaron groaned at that thought and wished it wasn’t so.

Nobody likes to deal with more drama than they can handle, but Aaron now believed he brought it upon himself. It’s my fault, he thought. I feel so stupid for the way I acted to you mother, but now I know a little bit better. I will make it up to you some way or another...

He looked at his watch and saw his break time was almost up.

After I slave myself through another four hours.

Chapter I - A Boring Saturday Night

"This story was written in memory to those that have been affected by tragedies that cause certain family members to be "so far away" in distance or memories. - Nugget"

“Ugg…. I’m bored.”

Sprawled out on the couch, wearing a stained, white t-shirt and blue jeans, it seemed to Aaron Knight that he was kicking off another typical Saturday night of doing nothing by himself. With a hand in a bowl of Cheetos and the other over his forehead, he lay on the mattress and groaned to himself over how bored he was. Nothing of interest came to mind about what exactly he wanted to do other than be where he was at the moment.

“Ugggh!!!” he loudly groaned.

He removed his arm from his forehead and draped it over his stomach, letting the light from the living room’s fan shine down upon him. With the glare getting into the eyes and bothering him, Aaron squinted his eyes before he blinked them a few times. Upon allowing to finally open them up and gaze at the room he occupied, Aaron could not care less for what surrounded him.

Standing in front of him was a small coffee table that had his TV remote, a few magazines, and a mozzarella-stained paper plate where the pizza that he ate once rested. A huge flat screen television hung on the wall opposite from where Aaron sat, giving him a good view of the screen. While it appeared to look crooked by how his head laid on the arm of the couch, it didn’t really bother him since the TV wasn’t turned on.

All the windows in the room were shut while the door lock to the front entrance was sealed and bolted. It allowed nothing to come in or out, so this situation left Aaron to be the only bored living thing inside the apartment. Thus, he was alone, by himself, with no one else around him, and bored out of his mind with nothing to do to pass the time.

“Uggggggggggggggh!” he grunted, looking the stand in front of him.

Managing to set his eyes faintly on the TV remote, he decided to watch television for a while until he either falls asleep or goes to bed properly. Removing his cheese covered hand from the bowl and reaching out for the remote, he realized that it was just a fingertip too far from him. This meant he had to roll his body closer to the remote, using some bits of muscle in his stomach that made him grunt in determination for the plastic device.

“Coooommmeee ooonnnn!!” Aaron painfully said out loud before he was able to grab the remote.

“Gotcha!” he cheered.

Hitting the power button, he turned on the TV right as he heard some kind of commotion coming from the kitchen. Aaron poked his head up, wondering what on earth caused him to hear small strange tapping sounds coming from that general direction. His living quarters had been prone to being home to rats every now and then, but the last infestation that he knew about was taken care of about a year ago. Since then, the whole apartment has been kept clean by him constantly picking up after himself and spraying the whole place down to prevent future rodents from inhabiting the place.

“What the?” Aaron asked himself, continuing to hear more tapping noises from the kitchen.

After turning off his TV, the noise seemed slightly louder as the taps and bumps continued to resonate throughout the living room. Curiosity began to set in as Aaron raised an eyebrow. Then the ruckus suddenly stopped for a moment, fell silent for another, and then continued on afterwards with more short series of taps and bumps. They were once again coming from the kitchen.

Oh please don’t tell me it’s those rats again, he thought to himself, not happy with the fact they might have returned. It was frustrating for Aaron to consider the possibility due what had happened last time they infested his household. He'd lost an entire month's worth of food to the rats scurrying through his cabinets, eating everything in sight.

Once they were gone, it became a financial nightmare for Aaron. He had to replace most of the groceries and cabinets he lost while still being able to pay the rent. He never wanted to relive those days again.

Getting himself off the couch and walking over to a nearby tool closet, he opened the door and grabbed a straw broom from within. Carrying it with the intention of sweeping out every single rodent he discovered, Aaron mentally prepared himself by slowing patting the handle into the palm of his hand like it was stick or club. Armed and ready, Aaron slowly proceeded towards his kitchen as the tiny taps from within fell silent.

Turning the corner, Aaron anxiously peered his head into the kitchen and looked above the countertops. Nothing seemed to be misplaced or broken. His aluminum sink was clean, the wooden doors were shut, and even his doggy shaped cookie jar sat perfectly intact beside his coffee maker. The counters themselves were spotless. This made Aaron wonder where the noise was exactly coming from.

Opening and closing every single nook and cranny found within the cooking area, the young man searched for any sign of the rats getting into his food. However, after he checked under and over his kitchen table and sink, Aaron found no evidence of anything getting into his groceries. His box of cereal wasn’t chewed through, the noodles weren't torn to bits, and his bread remained sealed within it's protective paper bag. At this point, Aaron began to assume he heard things.

Then his pantry door slowly creaked open.

Turning around to gaze upon it, Aaron sighed as he realized the pantry was the only possible place they could be hiding in. It was narrow, tall, and had deep shelf space. Therefore, any rat could run on top of the boards and avoid getting smacked by Aaron’s broom.

He took his time walking up to the pantry, preparing to lay his eyes on the vermin. If he found them, Aaron was determined to get rid of the rats and see to it that they didn't come back to eat his food and live off of his expense. He just absolutely hated that aspect, and swore to not repeat the same events.

He pushed aside the pantry door.

He found nothing. None of the food was missing, none of the cans were knocked over, and none of his bags were shredded. Everything inside the pantry was perfectly safe and not cluttered around by any slight disturbance. This left Aaron to be appalled while he frantically looked through the shelves. He found only the same style of cleanliness as the rest of the kitchen itself.

He sighed.

Just as Aaron was ready to give up and go back to his couch, it dawned on him to check the gap between the tile floor and the lower shelf. It was the only location left to search. If he didn’t see anything, then he knew either the noises have been imagined or his TV wanted to mess with him. Regardless, Aaron bent down to his knees ready to end this mystery and finally see nothing at all.

If only that were the case.

“What the?” he said to himself, looking up under the shelf and spotting something with a rather large dark mass to it.

While it certainly wasn’t a rat, it also wasn’t something he expected as well. Curled up in a ball and backed deep into a corner, Aaron could see what looked like a small whimpering animal trying to hide from him. This creature wasn’t any bigger than a small dog and it tried to remain as far away from Aaron as possible. Terrified, it had its head turned away from the young man.

At first glance, Aaron thought it was a black dog since the color of its fur was hidden by the shadow of the cabinet above it. Then as he tried to reach for the animal, he realized the creature wasn’t even a cat, ferret, or a lamb either. Instead it was something he had never seen before.

It was a small pony, but not just any ordinary run of the mill pony. Taking the small filly into his arms and cradling it like a baby, Aaron could see that it had a light purple mane with a dark blue coat. On its forehead was a small horn and pair of wings were tucked up on her back. Her rear area supported a mark that bore the shape of a crescent moon.

What on earth are you? he thought to himself as he held the trembling pony. Her eyes clenched shut since she was on the verge of crying over how scared she was. Aaron, looking down upon the filly as if she was some foreign object, felt the amount of shaking the pony produced and realized it needed to calm down.

To the filly, he whispered calmly, “Hey, there buddy, It’s going to be alright. I will be here for ya if you just calm down for a moment.”

He tucked her in a bit tighter. Aaron felt the vibrations of a pony that had absolutely no idea what was going on and where she was. All the little pony knew was that she was scared and held by the warm embrace of some type of kind animal. All Aaron knew was that she needed to calm down and not be so afraid of him.

After a moment had passed by with Aaron continuing to coax the pony into relaxing within his comfortable hold, the little filly showed signs of comprehending with what was going on as she opened her cyan eyes to see. Looking up at his face, she gazed upon his warm smile before peering around the entire room. She then turned her eyes back to Aaron’s face.

“Well, hello there,” he chuckled. “I see that we are a curious one, aren’t we?”

“Umm, ummm,” she muttered, barely able to vocalize any of her words.

“Huh? What is that buddy?” he asked, leaning his ear into the pony is if he thought it was going to talk to him.

“Umm, ummm,” she said once more, still nervous from being scared out of her wits.

“It’s ok,” Aaron still pretending to think that it could talk. He tried to encourage the pony to speak. Realistically, he was expecting either a small snort or whinny. Instead, he got an unexpected response.

“Where... Where am I?” she asked with about as much confidence as she could muster at that moment.

“Huh?”

“Where am I?” she asked with a bit more clarity in her voice.

“Uhhhh...” was how Aaron reacted, completely dumbfounded by the pony’s ability to speak clearly.

Did it just talk? he asked himself. Did this little pony just now speak to me in plain English?

He shook his head. Nah, It cannot be. Horses, let alone ponies, cannot talk to humans! That’s just impossible.

Aaron stood in place for a moment as he tried to come up with an answer to her question. Here. Let's see if she responds to this.

“You...” he cleared his throat. “You’re in my kitchen.”

“Really?” She tried to move her neck in order to gaze out into the room.

“Yeah,” he replied.

Turning around to let her see the entire kitchen, Aaron watched the little filly tilt her head up in order to get a better view of the room. As she studied it’s plaid theming, Aaron was still in awe with how much intelligence the equine seemed to have. Not only could it speak, but it could ask questions and respond to them as well.

Holy crap! What on earth did I just find in my house?

“Oh, well I’m sorry then.” She was still timid, knowing the fact that she shouldn’t be there.

“It’s alright, buddy….” he responded. “Tell me, do you have a name?”

“Yeah…” She turned her body towards his chest. Tucking herself in, she stuck out her head and looked upward. “My name is Luna. And you?”

“Aaron.”

“Cool...” There wasn’t any slight indication of enthusiasm with that response. She was still timid, not wanting to look around anymore.

“Well, I'm not really thrilled by it either.” Aaron adjusted his grip on the pony so that it could rest comfortably within his arms.

“Anyway, how did you get into my house?” he asked.

“I don’t really know.” She recalled, “all I remember was Tia and I trying to steal some cookies and then poof!”

“Poof?”

“Poof!” she said. “As in I somehow managed to end up here. I was really scared.”

Aaron was befuddled. While he did hold within his arms a talking filly, it was a bit hard for him to believe that she was magically teleported into his world by mistake. However, since he couldn’t think of any other logical explanation as to what was going on, he decided to just roll along with her story. “So, this Tia just teleported you here by mistake? How?”

“We were hungry,” Luna explained. “...and she tried using her magic to lift me up so I could grab cookies from a jar in our castle.”

Aaron still wasn’t believing her story. “So that is how you ended up here?”

“I guess so.” She confessed, “My sister isn’t good with her magic yet.”

He huffed, Figures, a magical talking pony was whisked away into my apartment all because she and her sister wanted cookies. Really? Well, then. While I am convinced that this would be the making of some good fantasy story, I still don’t believe this.

Aaron continued to go along with what the equine said. “So where is this castle?”

“In Equestria…near the Everfree Forest.” She shivered at the mere mention of the place she lived by.

Aaron still had no idea what she was talking about. “And where is this Equestria?”

“I don’t really know…” She tucked herself deep into his arms, cradling herself in the warmth of his embrace. It kept her calm despite the fact that she still didn’t have the slightest clue towards where she really was. All Luna really knew was where she wanted to be.

She said, with a slight whimper, “...but I want to go home.”

Aaron couldn’t help but feel pity for the young filly. Here she was, in his house, ripped far away from where she lived, and being held by a kind stranger simply trying to understand who she was and what exactly happened. A young unicorn-pegasus hybrid that ended up in his place by accident, all because her sister was apparently bad at magic. As a result, it subjected Luna to a terrible experience within mere minutes.

It also made her extremely hungry.

While being held, her tummy kept on rumbling loud enough for Aaron to hear it. I guess she is hungry then. Well, she did say that she was trying to get some cookies from a jar before the incident, so I guess that’s what she wanted to eat. Hmmm.

He looked down upon Luna and spoke to her softly, “Well, I might not be able to help you get home, but I can help you out with another problem.”

“And that is?” She asked.

“Well…” Aaron dragged his word. “Since your tummy is rumbling louder than a full house, do you want something to eat?”

She looked up at him like a starving animal. “Yes, please.”

“Do you want a cookie?” Aaron smiled.

Luna seemed to beam at the idea, despite how upset she was. “Oh! Please, please, pleaaassseee!!!”

He chuckled. “Well, alright. But I am going to have to set you down in order for me to get you one.”

“Ok,” she slowly replied, not wanting to leave the warmth of Aaron’s grasp.

After putting the little filly down on her four hooves in the middle of the kitchen, Aaron walked over to where his cookie jar was with Luna down by his feet. Popping off the top of the jar, the young man reached into it and pulled out a chocolate chip cookie that looked as good as Luna’s expectations were. Licking her lips, the filly was eager to have the baked good within her reach as Aaron lowered it down to her level. He was soon caught off guard by her using her magic to levitate it within eating distance.

Taking a nibble out of the cookie, Luna tasted its flaky goodness before chewing into the chocolate chips. She moaned, letting Aaron know that she was enjoying her generous treat. She then took a big bite out of it, making sure her tears didn’t get into its taste.

Aaron could only smile at the scene he was witnessing. While most people see Luna as just a small filly enjoying a little delicacy, the young man looked at the filly as a small girl who needed the comfort from something genuinely frightful. As for Luna, she couldn’t just pass off what had happened as a bad nightmare. She was ripped away from her home by complete accident, out of her comfort, and out of a place she was familiar with.

Out of a world she knew.

At that moment, Aaron could only do what he could. He tried to comfort the filly and make her feel a bit better. If that single chocolate chip cookie could help to mend the pain, then it was a victory for Aaron. To hear her at least enjoy something pleasurable as a cookie made him feel that Luna could somewhat recover from what has happened.

“Enjoying it?” he asked.

Luna could only stifle out a Mmmhmm! as she shook her head “Yes.”

Aaron chuckled. “Well then, buddy, there is plenty more where that came from. Now go and finish that one up if you want another.”

She could only nod another “yes” as she bit into her cookie once more.

After about the fifth cookie she ate in the living room, Luna was beginning to feel full as she laid on the floor with a broken half-eaten cookie beside her mouth. With most of her hunger gone along with a bit of her sorrows, the next thing she was thinking about was wanting to catch some sleep. Though, while laying on the floor is mostly an option for the common household pet, she had a different idea in mind as she looked up at Aaron.

Looking back down at her from his couch, Aaron held a grin on his face since he knew sooner or later that every young thing, regardless of if it was a small child or a small-child like horse, would grow tired after a good meal. The young man enjoyed her company and was happy to see that Luna was at least eating something to fuel her through the rest of the evening. Aaron never thought about what she asked next.

“I'm tired,” she declared.

“Well, that is what happens after you eat so much, Luna,” Aaron stated, looking back up at the ceiling while patting his belly. He enjoyed a bowl of noodles while Luna was too busy eating away at the cookies he baked earlier in the day. He would never have guessed someone else was going to eat them.

“Can I climb up there next to you?” she asked, wide eyed like a puppy dog wanting another treat.

Aaron looked back down at the little pony and saw her lip quivered, tail wrapped around her as she curled up by her lonesome self. She remembered how warm he was as she pretended to be shivering as if the room’s temperature was below its seventy-two degree comfort. It seemed to Aaron that she would die of hyperthermia unless she gets the warmth that she desires.

He grinned at the little filly’s act, trying to manipulate him into wanting him to grab her and hug her to sleep. It was a very innocent in its nature, yet Aaron just somehow just had to bite for it. Whether or not it had to do with Luna continuing to present herself as helpless as she was, it didn’t matter to Aaron since it was too cute for him not to pass up.

Rolling his eyes, he averted his gaze back at the little foal. “Come here you!”

Quick to her hooves, Luna got up and took a few steps over to Aaron’s couch. After hopping up and onto the synthetic upholstery, she immediately laid down beside Aaron with her head up against his chest. While Aaron’s left arm was buried underneath her head and wrapped around the front of her body, his right arm draped over her mane and across her neck. He held her with enough of a grip to hug her and feel her fur brushing up against his shirt.

“You feeling any better?” he asked, peering at the ball of azure hair.

“Sorta,” she said, feeling a bit calm as Aaron’s hug was providing a soothing comfort over her body.

“It’s just that I miss my sister…” she remarked, held down by a burden that dampened her words. She almost wanted to cry.

“I understand…” He adjusted his grip on Luna, feeling her sorrow that consumed her body once more. “You know I had a sister once as well.”

Luna’s ears perked up, “Really?”

“Yeah, her name was Serena… But I just called her ‘Siri’ for short.” He huffed, “She hated that nickname I gave her.”

“I bug my sister all the time with name ‘Tia,’ though she doesn’t mind it,” Luna said, lowering her head down to her hoofs.

“That’s very interesting,” Aaron replied. “Well… My sister was very special to me and I loved her very much… Probably as much as you love yours.”

“Anyway,” he continued. “We grew up together for quite some time and we always, no matter how much we fought with each other, managed to make things up in the end with simple sweet gestures to each other… You know, like how a brother and sister would.”

“How so?” Luna curiously asked.

“Well…” Aaron’s word trailed off. After a moment of thought, he managed to remember a story. “One time she accidently bumped into me while I was trying to bake some cookies for the first time, and wellllll… Let's just say that my mom’s old kitchen suddenly became covered in flour batter as I nearly fell to the ground.

“Wow,” Luna giggled.

“Yeah, she was so sorry for what she did… even though it was just meant to playful. As a result, we spend an entire hour trying to clean up that room, wiping off flour from the floor and ourselves for that matter.”

He chuckled. “Anyway, after we cleaned up the mess, she admitted it was her fault. As a result, after I said that the cookies I was going to bake were probably not going to be as good as yours, she decided to take me step by step on how she made her cookies… which was a recipe she got from my grandmother. The same exact recipe that I make to this day, creating the same cookies that you ate.”

Luna smiled, knowing how much love was baked into what she ate. Yet she also asked, “Well, what happened to your sister?”

The question seemed to sting Aaron a little. He wanted to admit the truth about what happened to her, but he had to remind himself of Luna’s youth. To him, Aaron thought she might not be able to grasp the concept of which he was trying to get at, while at the same time he never wanted to admit what was the reality about his sister. Instead, he decided to dance around with his words.

“Well, let's just say that she moved on from me and my mother…” he answered.

“She moved away?” Luna thought out loud.

Aaron managed to gaze up from Luna and look across his living room. On a wooden mantle above his TV, a portrait stood with him and his sister on it. Within the metal frame was a photo of him hugging Serena while a silver pick-up was seen in the back. The words ‘Serena's 16th Birthday - 08/21/12’ were scribbled into the corner of the photo.

“Sorta...” Aaron admitted.

Just below the photo, a black rose was lying next to a set of keys. Tied to the set was a tag that read ‘08/22/12… I love my sister.’ Next to it was an apology note from a random drunk driver.

Aaron turned his attention back towards Luna. A thought came to his mind before he spoke, “But do you want to know one of the most interesting things about her? She always said she would be looking after me even if she wasn’t where I was… Since, I was the younger brother that is.”

Luna replied, “Tia sorta said the same to me when I got into trouble as well…”

“Well then,” Aaron grinned. “Then I am sure she loves you that much to say it then.”

“Yeah!” Luna perked up.”...Since she is my big sister. So I guess watching over us is sorta like their job isn’t it?”

Aaron laughed. “Yeah, I guess you can say that. But, do want to know why I said that?”

Luna was curious. “Why?”

“Well, this is sorta strange to admit…. But.”

Aaron was a bit hesitant with what he was wanting to admit. While it was true, it was strange to say to Luna only after just being with her for a short time. However, the little pony was a tid bit eager to find out.

“What! What is it?” Luna begged.

Aaron took in a short breath before looking down upon her. Suddenly, Luna was wrapped in tight hug as he began to cry himself. The truth was hard for him to admit, but he felt obligated to say it despite how much it hurted him to know the reality. To be reminded of her presence, and see something within Luna that was simular to Serena.

“You just seem to have her eyes.”

Yet somehow, Luna understood and hugged him back before they both both fell asleep holding each other close.