Chapter 12

I open my eyes to see that I’m no longer in my room at the library but standing in some sort of misty void. I look around and see nothing, yet I’m standing on solid ground. I look down at myself and see I’m in my clothes again. I start to walk around the void to see if I’m taken anywhere. About five minutes pass and I feel like I haven’t made any distance from where I started so I stop walking. I cross my arms and start to ponder what happened before I ended up here. I went with Twilight and the others to the library, there was a party, we laughed, sang, danced, and afterwards everypony besides the mane six went home. We then cleaned up the library and I remember telling my friends I was gonna turn in early because I was too tired from todays events.

“So I guess that means I’m dreaming.” I conclude. “But if I’m dreaming, why is my dream like this?” I wonder.

I close my eyes and concentrate on an image of my choosing. I hear the area around me start to change and I start to feel the ground below me shift. I open my eyes to see I’m in an all too familiar setting. I was in the middle of the fighting ring and arena from Dragon Ball Z. There were tall audience bleachers and the ring was made of stone slabs. I look behind me and see one of the main buildings that the participants are supposed to come out of for each match.

I notice that it’s still night time and I look up to see the same moon as the one from this world. I personally don’t mind since I prefer the night anyway.

“Pretty cool I’m actually standing in this place, now I know how Goku and the other characters felt when they walked up here.” I say to myself.

I start pacing around the ring for a bit while taking in my surroundings. I start to think back to all the shows I used to watch, how every time the show had episodes about the World Martial Arts Tournament were my favorite sagas. I stop as I realize that this may be a good opportunity to test my new skills. I walk back towards the ring and mimic Goku’s basic stance.

“Alright, let’s see what I can do.” I said.

Once my stance is made, I begin to take deep breaths and focus my mind. I start to feel my thoughts clear and my body shift as I begin to play out the different hand to hand combat techniques. My eyes shoot open as I throw a swift punch with my right. My left follows and then my right again. I start to throw quick jabs in the air and twist my body around to a roundhouse kick with my right leg. I hold my leg in the air for a moment as I then sway my body in the other direction and kick with my left. Over the next half hour I’m performing a variety of different karate strikes and kicks such as up, down, high rear, back, rake strikes and front, groin, knee, side, middle, high and low roundhouse kicks in different combinations. I feel like I should be hitting something instead of just attacking the air so I close my eyes again and make a large punching bag appears in front of me hanging on a chain. I smirk as I continue my strikes on the bag which feels way better than just punching and kicking nothing. My attacks feel hard and heavy which makes the bag sway a lot. As I’m striking I feel myself starting to pick up speed. I’m side stepping all around the back at incredible speeds and I continue to try and hit harder than before. I jump back a bit and get in a stance that has my right arm over my head and my left arm under it with my hands and fingers open making it look like a large jaw.

“WOLF FANG FIST!!!” I shout.

I rush towards the bag as I feel ki start to envelop my hands and feet. I make it to the bag and start punching and kicking it like a wild animal. The bag starts to shake and sway violently as I continue my assault. I real back my right fist and slam the bag as hard as I could and it comes flying off the hinges and off the ring. I stand there catching my breath slightly with my fist still hanging out in front. I slowly stand up straight and take a deep breath and let it out as I calm the adrenaline and ki in my body. Once I’m breathing normally again, I walk over to the edge and look at the bag on the ground. It has a sizable hole in the middle as sand pours out on the grass as it starts to fade away.

“Damn, that was probably the coolest thing I’ve done! Well, besides my Buster Cannon of course.” I say.

I‘m then brought out my thoughts when I feel a presence behind me. It feels similar as when I met Celestia but slightly less powerful yet still quite strong. I turn around and only see the other side of the ring and bleachers which makes me arch a brow. I walk back towards the center of the ring while looking around for the source of the presence I’m feeling.

“That’s strange, there’s someone here yet it feels like they’re all around me. What’s more is that this is my dream…” I wonder to myself.

I stand in the middle of the ring still looking around for the source of the strange presence. My gaze then brings me to look towards the moon. I stare at it for a couple of minutes until the moon begins to glow more brightly making my eyes squint a bit. I then see a figure literally come out of the moon like some sort of doorway and float towards me. I see that she’s a female mare with a midnight blue coat and her long mane and tale look like pieces of the night sky while flowing gently in a nonexistent breeze. As she floats down to me, I get a better look at her appearance which makes my heart stop for a moment. She looks just as beautiful as Celestia, arguably more beautiful. She’s wearing a black thin strapped dress that is decorated in what looks like twinkling stars that goes down to her hooves. Her figure is just as stunning as a goddess, much like Celestia’s, yet slightly more toned than hers. On her shoulders was a black smudge like mark with a crescent moon on it. What catches most of my attention was the fact that she to had a black tiara and necklace with a crescent moon on them and a horn with a pair of large wings on her back, which were spread out as she was descending towards me. Her eyes were a light teal and I felt like there was something within them, an emotion like she was looking for something.

She makes it to the ground and stares at me as I stare at her. She starts to walk towards me while still staring. Knowing she’s a princess, after my encounter with Celestia, I quickly bring myself to a kneel and bow. She’s now right in front of me, staring down at my bowing form as she speaks.

“Thou may rise, human. We hath been told of thee by our elder sister.” She says in a regal tone.

I arch a brow at her accent and tone of voice and pick myself up. When I stand at my full height, she takes a slight step back at me taller stature since she only comes to just below my chin, excluding the horn. I smirk at her slightly shocked face and bow my head slightly.

“Forgive my tall appearance, your majesty. I was born with it so I can’t seem to make myself shorter even if I wanted to.” I say jokingly.

She blinks and smiles at my statement. “Tis quite alright, human. We are Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria, raiser of the moon and night sky, and watcher of dreams.” She proclaims while holding out her hand.

My brows raise a bit as she tells me this. She’s the night Princess? That must mean she’s Celestia’s sister she mentioned. Wow, pretty sweet I’ve gotten to meet both Princess. I think to myself.

I look at her hand and smirk. I then proceed to do the same thing I did with Celestia and take her hand gently and lean my head in and lightly kiss the top. “It’s an honor to meet you, Princess Luna. My name is William Saber” I tell her. I look up slightly, “but please, call me Will if you like.” I finish with a wink.

Her eyes widen and she blushes a deep shade of red while bring her hand back. She then begins to fidget a bit since she looks like no one has done this before to her.

Heh, still got it. I smirk to myself.

“W-we thank thee f-for the kind g-gesture, Sir W-William. It is a p-pleasure to meet you t-to.” She stutters nervously.

I chuckle as I give her a nod. She then clears her throat and begins to look around curiously. She walks past me as she gazes around the ring.

“Tis a peculiar place thee are dreaming. Pray tell, where exactly are we?” She asks.

Uh oh, what do I tell her? This isn’t exactly a real place where I’m from. Although it is technically from my world so it should be ok. I think.

“Well, this is an arena,” I say making her turn back to me with interest, “it’s a place where a tournament of strength takes place where warriors of all shapes and sizes gather to battle agains one another.” I explain.

Luna then furrows her brows a bit and frowns. “Thou fights others for entertainment in this place? It sounds barbaric, no?” She accuses.

“Not exactly,” I reply, “this tournament is a well-known event back where I’m from. As I said, many different warriors participate in this event called The World Martial Arts Tournament. Fighters battle against each other until one is left standing which gains him or her the title of champion and worlds strongest.” I explain. “Some participate for honor, glory, and recognition while there are others who do it just for their own greedy and selfish gains but those kinds of participants never make it far.” I add.

“We see,” she says in a more relaxed tone, “we did not expect thee to have such traditions from thy homeland. Though, we shall admit, the idea of one combating for the title of the strongest does indeed peek our interest.” She says.

I smile knowing Luna’s now ok with what the tournament is all about. Well, I’m not actually lying. It’s true what I say about this place. I convince myself.

“So I was wondering, “I tell her, “you said that you are the raiser of the moon which means you raise it while your sister is in charge of the sun. But what exactly do you mean as the watcher of dreams? If you don’t mind my asking.”

Luna smiles and looks up towards the moon. “While we are in charge of raising the moon and creating the night sky, we also have a duty whilst everypony slumbers. We are able to traverse through the dream realm and watch over all who dream, making sure that everypony sleeps soundly while we banish the nightmares that may haunt them.” She explains.

“So that means this is actually you in my dream?” I ask.

She nods, “Yes, though thou are not being plagued by nightmares we were curious about thee. Our sister hast told us of thee thy deeds this day and we became curious as to what kind of being thee were.” She says.

“I see, well it’s pretty cool you get to watch other ponies dreams and make sure they don’t have nightmares. They must really be thankful to you for doing that for them.” I tell her.

Luna flinches slightly and looks down with a frown while her ears droop a little. “If only that were true…” she mumbles.

I raise a brow at her comment, “What do you mean?” I ask. Luna looks up at me with a saddened expression and moistened eyes. I frown slightly while walking up to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m guessing it’s a bit of a sore subject?” I ask. She nods slightly. “If you wanna talk about it, your majesty, I’m more than willing to listen. But if it’s too painful I won’t force you.” I reassure her.

She smiles as I lift my arm off her shoulder and step back a bit. “We thank thee for thy kind words. We believe since thee are a kind soul we wish to tell thee of our past. Though we believe thou may not enjoy our tale…” she says. I nod as she tells me about her past, how she and Celestia used to rule together in peace and harmony. (skip to 4:32)

Celestia governed the the day when all the ponies were awake while Luna would govern the night while everypony slept and dreamed. Luna told me how she became jealous of her sister since she felt like everypony appreciated her more since everypony was awake during the day and didn’t really pay attention to her duties at night. She had accused Celestia of hogging all the attention and wished to rule along side her like they were meant to but she refused and insisted that the citizens appreciated what she does at night. Luna was unfortunately too blinded by her jealousy and new found hatred for Celestia and let her dark thoughts take over, causing her to turn into Nightmare Moon. As Nightmare, she attacked Celestia and threatened to usurp the throne by force and plunge the world in eternal night so that ponies could appreciate the night forever. Luna continues saying that while she attacked her sister, she had forced Celestia to use these things called The Elements of Harmony. With The Elements, Celestia managed to defeat Nightmare and banish her to the moon where she had been for the past 1,000 years. As she Luna tells me her story, I see tears start to fall from her eyes which makes me frown

“We had just recently returned from the moon and had tried to usurp the throne once again. But thanks to Twilight Sparkle and her friends, who are now the new bearers of the elements, they defeated us once again and purged the darkness from within us.” She says sadly.

More tears start to fall from her eyes as she continues, “Now ever since our return we have continued our duties from before and the ponies seem to be more appreciative, but not fully. What is worse is that every time we look at our sister she may look back at us with a smile but her eyes are full of disappointment…”she whimpers. “We cannot blame her, for we have tried to do the same thing not once but twice. We still wonder how she came to forgive us after what we had done.”

Luna now has more tears leaking from her eyes as she whimpers and sniffs in sadness. I felt so bad for her, she had gone through so much yet she still feels like she’s a burden to everypony. I decide to comfort her by bringing her into a light embrace. She flinches and I embrace her a little tighter.

“You’ve gone so through much Princess. It may not be as serious, but I can kinda understand where you’re coming from.” I tell her.

I pull away and look at her staring at me with curiosity. “When I was younger, I wasn’t exactly a good kid. I’d slack off and avoid my responsibilities, even though I was well liked by many. There was a point where I almost didn’t do anything of what I was supposed to do and it almost costed me my future.” I explain.
“By the time I realized how what I was doing was affecting me, I believed it was too late and I began to become severely depressed. I had waisted my life doing frivolous things and not taking the initiative for anything. There was a point in my depression when I thought it would’ve been best if I just wasn’t around anymore, since I felt like such a burden to everyone around me, including my family…” I say with a heavy sigh. I looked away from Luna and closed my eyes and smiled.
“But someone saved me from the darkness, my father,” I say. I turn back towards her and continue, “My father was the most wise and patient man I’ve ever known. He helped me when all seemed lost and provided me with an opportunity to better myself. It took a long time for me to adjust and to regain my focus on my responsibilities. It was a tough process, so tough that there were times I would want to give up because of how useless I still felt. But my father wouldn’t allow it. He kept pushing me and helping me, believing in me when I didn’t really believe in myself.”
I smiled and looked up towards the moon. “As time went by I began to believe in myself again. Soon, I had finally regained my focus and became a better man. I was able to do things like become a better student in school, become employed at a wonderful job, and managed to discard any distractions or bad influences.” I looked back down at Luna who was smiling a little.
“Ever since I changed, my father had always looked at me with pride because he knew I could achieve anything as long as I don’t give up on my ideals.”

Luna wipes her tears and smiles a bit wider. “Thy father sounds like a very honorable human.” She compliments but then frowns again slightly, “We wish we were like you with Celestia…” she sighs.

“You know,” I say, “When you said she looks at you full of disappointment, I don’t think you’re the one she’s disappointed in.

Luna looks at me a little confused at my claim. “What does thou mean?” She asks.

“Maybe it’s her herself she’s disappointed in.” I guess. She goes wide eyed as I put a hand on my hip and continue. “Maybe, when you were sent to the moon, she blamed herself for what happened to you. She probably believes she could’ve done a better job with handling the situation back then. But because she underestimated your feelings, you became too emotional and went rouge. She’s most likely been cursing herself all this time for sending her own sister to the moon for a thousand years and is still cursing herself despite your return.” I explain.

Luna’s tears return in her eyes as she looks down in total shock. “O-our sister, blames herself? B-but we’re the one who attacked her!” She defends.

I shrug my shoulders, “It’s only a hypothesis. If you want to confirm this then I suggest you talk to her about it. Who knows, maybe you’ll both find the closure you didn’t realize you were missing.” I suggest.

Luna looks back up to me and manages to hold back her tears. She takes a breath and nods in agreement. “We suppose thou have a point. Very well, we shall confront our sister about thy claim.” She says.

I smile at her declaration and nod again. Suddenly, the area begins to dissipate and fade away making me slightly worried. “Wait, what’s happening?” I ask.

“It appears thou is about to awaken.” Luna reassures me. She then unfurls her wings and begins to fly back towards the moon. “We thank thee for speaking with us, Sir William. Thou art very wise beyond your years” she tells me.

I smile and wave her goodbye as she flys towards the moon. “Oh, Princess!” I call out making her turn to me. “If it’s any consolation, I personally find your night sky to be absolutely gorgeous! Especially the moon! You certainly got your work cut out for you and I look forward to go star gazing so I can continue to admire your craft!” I tell her.

Before the area fades out completely and she’s almost through the moon portal, I see her eyes as wide as dinner plates and the biggest blush spread across her muzzle and cheeks. I chuckle and wave her goodbye once again as my vision darkens. But before it completely fades to black, a sudden realization hits me square in the face.

Wait, did she say she’s been around for over a thousand years?!?

Author's Note

Aw, what a wholesome scene with Luna! Next chapter, the long awaited Interview!