Blue Moon

"Luna won't you cry for me, I'm as lonely as I've ever been..." The lyrics were being mumbled by an exhausted, scruffy looking guy in his early twenties quietly as he drove home. It was late. It had been a long day. A really long day. It was close to midnight, and he still had a little ways to go before he could stumble in the door and flop into bed.

He yawned as he made his way down the highway, the dark shapes of trees blurring by on either side of the road. It was the end of April, still a bit chilly at nights, and season two of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic had just ended. Yes, this tired young driver was a brony. He thought back to the last episode, thinking about how epic it had been. Particularly the battles... and how stunning the Changeling Queen looked... and how stupid it was that Celestia went down so easily... and then Vinyl's eyes showing for a split-second... and of course the best scenes were when Luna showed up. He had joked before to friends, saying that when Luna was on screen all he could think was "LUNALUNALUNALUNALUNA!!!" and the rest of the time he was asking "Where the buck is Luna?!" It wasn't entirely a joke.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, having noticed he was starting to drift into the other lane. He couldn't remember ever being so dead-tired. He skipped to the next track on his 7th pony CD, to the dubstep remix of Eurobeat Brony's "Luna". He was hoping that'd wake him up just enough to make it home.

Just as the drop hit him, he noticed he was at his favorite part of the drive home. The trees disappeared from either side of his car as open fields of darkness replaced them. A field, usually used for corn or potatoes or something, allowed for an unobstructed view... he spared a glance out the window, and above the pitch-black planes he could see the splendor of the night sky. The night was clear, and thousands of stars dotted the dark fabric of space. The moon was just visible at the top of the window, a perfect crescent.

Ever since he started watching "the show" a year ago, this brony had picked the Princess of the Night as his favorite pony. And since then, he had appreciated the beauty of the cosmos all the more. He chanced another, longer look at the moon as he thought back to when he was a little boy. He had long ago thought that the moon was lonely and followed him wherever he went, hoping he'd be its friend. He laughed as he thought to himself, Good thing I didn't play Majora's Mask back then.

And then he heard the bellow of a semi's horn. And he noticed the headlights that were right in front of him. And everything suddenly went black...

He peeked his eyes open, and let out a massive sigh of relief as he saw the open road before him. He had barely swerved out of the way in time. On the bright side, that adrenaline rush was just what he needed.

* * * * *

Ten silent, wide-eyed, jaw-clenched, white-knuckled minutes later, and he was pulling into his driveway. The yellowy glow of his headlights illuminated the place he called home. The missing rusted out Toyota told him his brother was over at a friend's place, hanging out and playing video games and whatnot. The missing Ford reminded him his mother was working the night shift again, and wouldn't be back until well past dawn.

Now, one might think that a guy in his twenties still living at home would be frowned upon. However, this brony didn't mooch off of his single parent. His mom made sure he made it through college, that he had a degree before he left home, and after he got that degree he saw the cost of it was more than one person could handle. There was no way he could just leave. So he'd been working his ass off, along with his mom, to both pay off debts and to save up for his little bro's college expenses looming on the horizon. But even working together, things seemed bleak. Credit cards, student loans, mortgage payments, and everything else just washed away income as fast as it came in.

He sighed at the hopelessness of it all as he thought it over. He got out of his vehicle, and leaned against the beat up car(which creaked rustily in protest) as he looked at the sky again. The moon was really bright for a first quarter. He stared for a long while, marveling at how more stars showed up the longer he looked.

Finally he began to feel the nipping cold and exhaustion creep back into him, and so he decided to retreat indoors. Marking another day off of Twil-April on the FiM calender he hung by the door(best fifty cents I've ever spent at the Goodwill), he hung his lumpy brown coat and cowboy hat on the wall. He was just slipping his shoes off as he heard a noise coming from down the hall, in the direction of the back door. The back door that was jammed shut after the deadbolt stuck last week. Knowing the family was out for the night, immediately the worst case scenario played out in his head that there was someone trying to break in. So he locked the front door, picked up the nearest blunt object he could find(an umbrella with one of those J-curved handles), and started down the hall. The back door was just around the corner. He gripped the umbrella tighter. Taking a deep breath, he jumped out to face whatever threat to his home dared show its face!

And he was instantly relieved to find out it wasn't a thief trying to break into his home. But that relief was quickly replaced with the concern of finding it was instead a thief that had already broken into his home and was trying to escape. That concern grew when he saw the panic flash across the intruder's face as said intruder saw the tired brony holding what very well might have passed for a shotgun in the darkness. The burglar drew. So did the brony. As it happened, the unfurling umbrella did nothing to stop the 9mm hollow point that made its way down the hallway.

The theif rushed past the weary, wounded man who collapsed against the wall and slid to the floor. He heard the front door get flung open(The knob likely punched a hole in the drywall. Asshole.) and he clutched at the warm red wetness that was quickly soaking through his shirt. Struggling to breathe, he managed to pull out his phone and call for help, but he was fading fast. The phone slid out of his hand as he breathlessly explained his situation. It clattered on the floor, and a faint, muffled "Hello? Sir, are you still on the line?" drifted up to his ears. As his vision started to dim, he started to feel lighter. And then he started to feel like he was moving. Like he was floating towards something... pastel? And then... everything just went black.

It was late. The night was almost over, and the Princess had very little left to do. No, not Celestia. Princess Luna of Equestria, Mistress of the Night, and Goddess of the moon, stars, and dreams. And Romance, some had once said. But it had been a very long time since she had held that part of her title. Courtship has changed so much over the past thousand years. And the direction saddlewear and bridles have gone! She began to blush just thinking about it.

Night court was long over, the stars were taken care of, and the young(relatively) midnight-blue alicorn was taking a stroll through the Canterlot gardens. They were always beautiful this time of year. All the trees had fresh leaves, the flowers were in bloom, and a soft, cool breeze was tickling Luna's dark coat and wings while having absolutely no effect on her flowing, nebulous mane.

She closed her deep, sparkling teal eyes and took in a sweet breath of spring. They slowly opened again in confusion as a heavy thud before her broke the silence of the night. In front of her was a patch of forget-me-nots. In the middle of the flowers lay a bruised, battered, broken, naked human body.

Blue Moon

Humanity. A word with lost meaning to almost every living creature in Equestria. All but two(three if you include the one frozen inside a stature) had long ago forgotten the race of sentient, somewhat intelligent beings that had died out. Luna was one of those two(or three). In fact, there were still a few humans around when she... when she fell to her Nightmare.

At least one, who she remembered fondly. Her student, and very good friend(Just friends!), Starswirl the Bearded. Modern Equestrian history classes taught he was a pony for the sake of not having to explain ancient anthropology as well, but Luna remembered. Oh she remembered... they had spent countless nights talking over every aspect of magic that could be talked about over the years. Particularly the years preceding her downfall. He was the only thing that kept her sane most nights. She would begin to rant and rage on how unappreciative and unloving the ponies were, and he would talk her down every time.

But then he died. Killed finally by the same disease that had wiped out his friends, family, and species. Luna cried for months straight after his death, for she had allowed him closer to her than any mortal. It had broken her fragile heart. After months of tears, her ice cold anger that she had been holding back broke loose. Something took hold of her that fed off of her dark feelings. The Nightmare was free.

But that was long, long ago. To most, anyway. To Luna, though, it was less than a year ago. He consciousness, while aware of Nightmare Moon's actions, was mostly dormant. The wounds left from her dearest friend's death were still fresh, and so... she brought this human into the castle and insisted she be the only one to care for him.

Celestia came to check in on her sister as the midnight mare watched the human sleeping. He was covered in hoof-wrapped bandages, and was laying in the finest guest bed with the best silk sheets and fluffiest down pillows. The sun goddess was worried about her sister's... obsession with the creature. Celestia had focused on her ponies for the most part, and so she knew relatively little about humans.

She softly asked, "Luna, watching over him is kind of you, but the trauma he received will likely have him unconscious for months..."

Luna sighed, resting her head on her hooves as she leaned on the bed. "I must be present when he comes to. He will doubtless have questions as to where he is and how severe his injuries are. I found him, and so he is my charge."

Celestia put a caring hoof on her shoulder, "Luna, you won't do him any good depriving yourself of sleep. It's past noon, you should rest."

The Princess of the Night thought of every argument she could muster before accepting her sister's suggestion. "Fine. But I will be back as soon as I receive an adequate amount of sleep. Could you... no, that would be far too selfish for me to ask."

Celestia smiled as Luna stood shakily and stretched. "Oh? Why don't you ask anyway."

Luna sheepishly grinned up at her big sister and asked, "Do you think you could maybe... attend night court in my place for a time?"