The Man and The Moon

"You... Took them WHERE?!"

"Now Twilight, I already lectured him on the way back here. But I believe punishment is due, so if you would kindly think of something that'd be great." The three fillies jump up onto my lap and engage puppy-dog eyes as Applebloom begins to speak.

"Mr. Edward, please don't punish Spike, it was our idea to go out there."

"Applebloom, while I respect your ability to accept fault, the blame is shared. It's on all four of you. You three, for going out there, and his for leading the way."

"He's right sugarcube, it's on all y'all, but I can't thank ya enough Edward, I don't even want ta think about what would've happened if you weren't there." Tipping her hat AJ takes Applebloom in for a hug while in Rarity lifts Sweetie Belle in the air with her magic and Rainbow Dash scoots Scootaloo back to the ground.

"You know Scoots, while I know you're awesome, and you can handle yourself, next time you feel like adventuring bring an adult. Or three."

"Edward, dear as was said by Applejack, there is no way I can possibly thank you enough for protecting my Sweetie Belle, but I will make it my personal mission to repay you in any way, shape or form."

"That's really not necessary, Rarity I'm com-"

"Oh pish posh, Edward." Waving a hoof dismissively she stands tall with her chest puffed out as if to display a dominant side that was previously non-existent. "I will not accept no for an answer. While I admire your modesty I will repay you whether you accept it or not." Rainbow hovers over me and tapping my shoulder she says.

"When she gets like this just say yes. No way she's gonna back down." Looking at the other occupants of the room I close my eyes and sigh.

"Fine, sure do whatever, I just want to make it clear that the forest isn't a place for kids to be in. So please, keep your adventures in the town." The three fillies nod, before being led out by their respective elder, Rarity giving me a sidelong glance as she exits the room, looking to Twilight, who is still lecturing Spike in the corner, deciding to ignore them I stare into the fireplace, which was now lit, looking back over to them, I can't help but wonder when it got started. When I arrived with the children it had been extinguished and I've been facing its direction the entire time. "When'd you guys start a fire?" Stopping her lecture Twilight looks in my direction, brow furrowed in confusion.

"What are you talking about? There's no fire going." Stealing a look back at the fireplace, clearly seeing the flames, hearing the wood crackle and break, feeling the heat. I couldn't be imagining the lit fireplace... Could I?

"Sorry, I meant to say, 'could you guys light a fire'."

"Oh, yeah, Spike, would you do that?" The young drake complies, however reluctantly grumbling under his breath as I watch him throw logs in the fireplace and breathe fire inside to light it but the flame I've been looking at doesn't change in the slightest. It didn't even respond to Spike blowing on it.

"... Thank you. It was getting chilly." Just how many times have I stared into an empty fireplace thinking it was lit? Am I hallucinating? Or is it just some magic toying with my eyes? Either way, today has been exhausting, laying down I use my arm as a pillow and stare blankly into the flames, before falling asleep.

---><---

As my eyes open I'm greeted with the image of the night sky under a tree, expecting to see Luna I look around, confused by the lack of her presence I stand and roam the hillside, never straying too far from the top in case she arrives. After an indefinite amount of time, something does arrive. The deep booming disembodied voice that's only visited me once before now, accompanied by the ground shaking laugh.

"You finally noticed something of interest, haven't you?"

"What is this? Who are you?! Where's Luna?!" The voice grows quiet for a long minute leaving me in an ominous silence before it speaks again in a smooth, sensual tone.

"You're slower on the uptake than I thought you'd be. You're dreaming, this is your dream space, as for dear Luna, she's off on her duties to protect ponies from their nightmares." A cool breeze starts to blow rustling the tree's branches and severing some leaves. "She won't be coming though, as far as her magic can detect, you're resting peacefully with sweet dreams, so it's just you, and me." The breeze stops as a branch lowers to caress my face, slapping it away and backing up out of its reach I scan the area for any possible bodies. "As for me... Young man, I'm the one who brought you here. And I'll be bringing another in shortly, we all need playmates don't we?" The laugh returns as I'm launched into darkness. "You'll be noticing more anomalies from here on young one... One's only you can see, only you can feel, and only you can touch. Have fun."

---><---

When my eyes open I'm still laying down on the couch staring at the fire, sitting up I look over to the desk along the wall, getting up I grab a blank piece of parchment and throw it into the flame, watching as it disintegrates in the flames I kneel in front of it. "Something only I can interact with huh?" Sitting there I think over everything that's happened and what I should do. If I go to Twilight and the others they'd believe me at first but after consulting Luna they'd think that nothing happened in my dreams, on top of that; Luna, who should be the only one who possesses powers in the dream realm isn't. Laying on my back I stare at the ceiling. "What to do..." Then it hits me, one of the last things it said before it forced me into the waking world, 'I'll be bringing another in shortly.' The second I think of it, a piece of burned parchment drops out of the air, picking it up I notice it has something written on it.

11:00 Everfree.

I look at the clock. 06:45, less than five hours until, whoever brought me here dumps another one over the skies of that damned forest. Getting to my feet I race to Twilight's room and slam open the door.

"Twilight! We have a situation!" The poor mare jumps ten feet into the air as a result of the startling awakening before giving me a look of confusion, shock, and worry.

"What is it? Whats wrong?" I quickly flick the paper out of my hand to see if she notices it and not to my surprise she doesn't see it so, using my skills of deception I quickly weave together a believable lie.

"I had a vision! Whoever brought me here is going to bring another in under five hours over the Everfree! That's all I know, but it's going to happen!"

"What?! Another human?!" Springing out of bed she quickly gets the things ready to start her morning as her alarm sounds off.

"Wait you were about to wake up anyway?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Nothing I just don't feel as bad about waking you up is all." She hands me a complete stake-out kit, complete with binoculars, pillows, a sheet, and various things to use as camo and a skin-tight stealth suit that's torn to hell. "Twilight, why do you have all of this stuff?"

"Uh... Some things came up and I needed all that stuff at one point or another. "Nervously laughing she turns and leads the way to the spot where I landed.

"Not going to get the rest of the gang?"

"The only ones who really wakes up this early is AJ and Rarity and they're both busy with their own thing anyway with chores and the boutique."

"Alright." Once we get there we waste no time in setting everything up, as Twilight gets dressed in her torn up suit, I just give her the occasional glance as I lay the sheet down and set the pillows.

"Could've put that on before we left Twilight."

"Would've been suspicious."

"I suppose." Sitting down I mull over the remaining time, I woke her up at around seven, it took her ten minutes to gather everything and about an hour and a half to get here, so should still have about two or three hours to wait. Joining me Twilight looks at the sky.

"You know when you fell out of there the girls and I were going in there to do something, though I completely forget what it was." Trying her hardest to make conversation she giggles before reminiscing further. "Thinking back we just had an urge to I guess... Brings back memories though, when we first saw you, we didn't know what to make of you."

"Feeling was mutual, waking up in a foreign land with talking animals. Completely out of my element."

"I suppose. Say, you've learned about some myths and legends from here, with the sirens and such from your stay. Would you mind sharing some from your world while we wait?"

"I don't see the harm in it." Her attention instantly goes from the sky to me, leave it to Twilight to turn a stakeout into a research project. "Long ago, before the planet split into two factions. There were two brothers, whose intellect surpassed everyone else's by a large margin." Adjusting my position from sitting to laying down I look over to her and continue. "One day, God challenged them to a game of wits, if they lost they'd be one of the commonwealth, average intelligence, no longer genius. But if they won God agreed to grant them powers unimaginable. In essence, they themselves would become gods. The exact game is not known, but in the end, the brothers won and holding true to his word, God granted them powers that would flow through their bloodline, then with their new found power the brothers concurred the world, an attempt to unify it. However, they didn't agree how it should be unified so the brothers began a war. The same war that's been raging on for well over a thousand years."

"Fascinating." Scribbling away at a piece of parchment she continues to listen intently.

"But you see, in the end, God was too clever for them, with each heir to their power they would get weaker, and when they noticed this the current kings sought out God again, unable to find him they tasked their children with it and so on and so we come to the newest generation. Now all the princes can do the one thing they were born with the power to do. That prince I was protecting with Anderson, he was dubbed the Prince of Smoke."

"Smoke manipulation!"

"That's right, but not just smoke, he can bend any vapor to his will, he can even make his body into a vapor like state for defensive purposes though, he hasn't fully mastered it yet. And of course being royalty he has exclusive access to metal weaponry."

"Wait don't you have that thing... A sword was it? Isn't that metal?"

"Not quite, it's a synthetic substitute, cheaper and easy to mass-produce. You see we used up most of the Earth's metal reserves to feed our own greed. The ones people like me use break easily and are replaced within the hour. Not to mention they're so dull the only way you're going to get a killing blow is by slashing an artery or putting everything you have into a stab. In fact, the one that I showed up with is probably no good anymore. Not too great in terms of natural selection." And with that closing remark, a blinding light flashes as a humanoid form appears and begins a rapid descent. "There they are! Hurry!" Without a second thought, Twilight takes to the skies catching the figure and softly bringing it down, rushing over to see who it is. When I reach them, my mouth goes agape as I see who it is, a boy in his late teens, messy dark brown hair, a black blazer with matching pants and a black cape with grey trim and underside with a saber on his belt along with white gloves adorning his hards. Seeing my expression Twilight hits me with the question.

"Do you know him, Edward?"

"That... Is the Prince of Smoke. Prince Joseph the Second." Looking at me in shock, her expression becomes strikingly similar to mine.

"They brought a prince from your world here...?"

--->Luna<---

Yawning We turn a corner, heading to the dining room, and once We open the doors the sight We're greeted with is Discord, carelessly munching on our favorite snack.

"Morning Discord."

"Oh, if it isn't Lulu, want a bite? Pineapple's fresh."

"We apologize but We prefer not to eat off of others food."

"Very well."

"May we inquire why you're here, so early in the morning?"

"Can't a draconequus visit their friends?" Shrugging, We lift a pineapple and begin eating it as Discord has what looks to me a seizer before chuckling to himself.

"Oh, Lulu it looks like another one has appeared."

"What do you mean?" Taking another bite out of his pineapple he waves his paw over the tiled floor and casts an image display on it and as we watch, it shows Edward rushing to Twilight and an unconscious human. Observing carefully we both hear one word spoken 'prince'. "A human prince?! Guard!" not even a second passes when two guards enter the room and taking a knee.

"What do you need Princess?"

"There's been another human discovered, a prince, inform our sister and prepare a chariot, We're going to Ponyville."

"At once princess." Without a second word they leave and branch off into the directions of the chariot stable and of Tia's throne room, looking back at Discord, he finishes off his pineapple, before smiling and leaning back into his chair.

"Things, are getting rather interesting aren't they, Lulu? I wonder what the foreign prince will do when he wakes up..."

--->Edward<---

Why him, why did that damned voice have to send Joseph of all people. Sitting there I ponder why Joseph had to be here and exactly what his presence meant, clearly because of his heritage he'll attempt to speak with Luna and Celestia to become a power. My thoughts are stopped, however, when he twitches.

"He's coming to! Opening his eyes the young prince jerks to a sitting position before quickly looking side to side trying to figure out where he is until his eyes land on mine.

"Edward...? Is that you?" Looking at him I can see the look of confusion, shock, and joy in his eyes, he was genuinely happy to see me again.

"Yes, it's me." Before I know it, I'm trapped in an embrace bringing me down so a forced sit and I can feel my shirt get moist as he speaks.

"I'm sorry, Edward I didn't want to do it but father made me, it was his decision to move you to the Shadow Blades I swear!" Pushing him out of the hug I quickly shush him before wiping the tears from his eyes.

"You're telling me things I already know, now common, dry your eyes, a prince such as yourself shouldn't be so quick to become emotional." Pouting at me he obliges as Twilight finally manages to comprehend what just happened.

"You two are rather close aren't you?"

"Who said that?!" Joseph quickly rises to a stand and observes the surroundings as Twilight raises a hoof and as his gaze becomes fixed on her lowering her hoof I chuckle a little bit before explaining.

"Yeah, there's talking horses here."

"Edward, how is it possible? How can animals talk?"

"Because, you see, we're not on Earth anymore this is Equestria, as for humans... We're the only two in existence here."