Eclipse

“What….how dare you!?”

My eyes snap open at the sudden shout and I fight to tear the sheets off, nearly falling on my face as I hurriedly throw myself out of bed.

“Such….such vile trickery! I shall not let this stand, and my vengeance shall be swift and brutal!”

I don’t waste time getting dressed, taking only the time to snatch my pistol and pull it free from its holster before slamming the door open and dashing out into the living room.

I keep my gun lowered, but at the ready as I scan the room. I’m not sure what I expected to find. Perhaps a tense stand-off between Luna and Mason, or a squad of armed agents who had managed to track us down.

What greets me instead are the shocked faces of Lorrie and Luna staring back at me from the couch, the latter with a headset perched awkwardly on her head, and a controller hovering in front of her.

It seems I’m the last one to get up, as I spot Mason in the kitchen. A few moments of awkward silence pass, and I become painfully aware that I’m standing in the middle of the room in nothing but my boxers.

I sigh and let the gun drop to my side as I hear Mason snicker. Lorrie thankfully averts her eyes, but Luna doesn’t seem to share her sense of decency as she looks me up and down shamelessly.

“I am sorry Dave, I did not mean to wake you.” Luna starts, beginning to blush. “Oh my…I believe I see now why you humans are so fond of clothes. Your hairlessness is quite…..erm, blatant.”

“Fuck. I thought….you know what, never mind! Umm, excuse me for a moment.” I reply embarrassedly and with more than a little irritation as I turn and hurry back into the bedroom.

“Haha, nice piece dude!” Mason calls out before I close the door behind me.

I take some time to calm myself as I collect my clothes from where I’d neatly piled them next to the bed and go about getting dressed.

When I finally deem myself presentable, I reluctantly make my way back to the living room.

“Well, now that I’ve managed to make a fool of myself, what’s going on?” I ask, moving to stand beside the couch.

Luna doesn’t look up, having started a new match. A racing game by the look of it, and surprisingly she seemed to have caught on quickly as I watch the midnight blue Subaru she had selected begin to overtake a Mitsubishi holding second place. Just as she begins to pull ahead though, it swerves and slams into her, nearly knocking her off the track before she manages to recover.

“Grrr, horseapples, he’s trying to do it again!” She curses, face contorting in rage as she pushes to make up the distance she had lost as the other driver swerves to block her.

“She seemed kinda bored when I got up, so I showed her how to play Forza.” Mason answers my question as he walks up and offers me a cup of coffee, which I gratefully accept. “She really caught on quick, but-“

“Haha….how do you like it!?” Luna yells, wings flaring excitedly as she sends the Mitsubishi spinning off the track and into a tree.

“-But she really gets into it…” He finishes with a wince.

“I’m surprised she has so much energy after being up all night….and drinking an entire bottle of brandy.” I reply as I watch her play.

She’s completely engrossed, leaning from side to side with every turn of the car, the controller following her motions as it floats in front of her. The dark blue aura seems to sparkle and flash from a myriad of smaller points that surround each of the controls as she manipulates them with a level of finesse that would put my hands to shame.

She leans forward, her tongue poking out as she assumes a look of intense concentration. One turn and then another, and her Subaru flies past the lead car and crosses the finish line with barely half a car length to spare.

“Huzzah! I have succeeded in pwning the noobs!” Luna cheers, throwing her hooves up victoriously and causing the precariously balanced headset to tumble off her head.

“Ok, who told her to say that?” I ask with a bit of amusement as I level my gaze at Mason.

“Hey, don’t look at me! Maybe she picked it up from the voice chat.”

“You let her go online!?”

“Relax….who’s gonna know? Besides, it was her idea.” He replies with a wave of his hand toward Luna as he makes his way back to the kitchen to continue preparing breakfast.

“Really? But….”

“Heh, it was kinda my idea too.” Lorrie giggles. “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a pony.”

“Indeed, my opponents were more concerned that they were beaten by a ‘girl,’ though I do not understand their fixation with what I am wearing.”
Luna says as she sets the headset down next to the TV. “They became quite crass when I answered truthfully.”

“Yeah, that’d do it.” I smirk, taking a sip of my coffee. “Though you’re one to talk, walking around naked….getting drunk and teasing…”

“Yes, I was drunk!” She retorts harshly. “It would be best if you do not take my comments from last night too seriously.” Her voice softens, and her cheeks begin to redden as she continues. “I *ahem*” She lowers her voice further until it’s barely more than a whisper. “I possess absolutely no curiosity as to what you possess under your…pants.”

“Well, you could’ve..”

“None, whatsoever!” Luna growls, a dangerous tone slipping into her voice. “So I suggest you rid your mind of the thought.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little too hard on yourself? It’s not like you actually tried to fu…”

I stop myself short as she stares daggers at me, her frown beginning to contort into a snarl.

“Okay….I’ll just stop talking now.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

“Umm, did I miss something?” Lorrie asks with a note of concern from the other side of the couch.

“Don’t worry about it.”
“Nothing to concern yourself with.”

Luna and I answer almost as one.

Fortunately breakfast is ready only a short time later, saving us from a settling awkward silence. It’s a simple affair, with scrambled eggs, bacon, and buttered toast. At least for two of us. Lorrie politely declines the bacon. While not a strict vegetarian by any means, she’s not overly fond of red meat. Luna simply complements her eggs and toast with a bowl of alfalfa from the dwindling supply we’d managed to salvage.

Unfortunately it’s the pelletized stuff she’d found to be disappointingly bland, but with the addition of some milk and a scoop of sugar, she manages to turn it into a passable pony-friendly “cereal.”

The TV is flipped over to the news as we settle in to eat. I’d been somewhat curious to see if there’d be any mention of the raid at my house. Fortunately there’s not so much as a mention, though that in itself seems odd. Potential terrorism, a threat of radiation, and a manhunt should dominate the headlines. Instead, they seemed to be focused on the presidential debates and the upcoming moon mission.

In short, nothing new or particularly notable. Though that last topic did get Luna’s attention, and shifted our conversation to doing our best to share our limited knowledge of human spaceflight as she bombards us with questions.

It’s a welcome distraction, since I had noticed her eyeing the bacon on our plates more than a few times, and really didn’t want to have to explain the process behind it. While meat itself and the fact humans consumed it didn’t seem to bother her too much, I really don’t want to consider how she might react if she knew how we treated farm animals.

As the screen shifts to display a map of the planned trajectory for the ‘Artemis II’ moon mission, and the reporter continues her interview with one of the crew, Luna’s ears perk up, and she seems poised to ask yet another question.

Before she can though, all of our attention is drawn by a loud *pop* followed shortly by a green flash as something appears in the air above her and falls to the table.

“Is that?….” Lorrie gasps, leaning forward as Luna levitates up a rolled piece of parchment emblazoned with a shiny golden seal.

Luna doesn’t answer as she brings a hoof up to tenderly touch the seal, stroking it across the engraved image of a burning sun, as if unable to believe her eyes. Slowly and carefully, she unfurls the scroll. Her lips move silently as her eyes pan over the contents. I lean over her shoulder to get a look, but whatever’s written on it looks like a cross between Cyrillic and some kind of pictographs. The script is elegant and flowing, but completely indecipherable.

By the time Luna gets to the end, there’s a hopeful smile on her face, and her eyes are brimming with tears.

“What is it? What does it say?” Mason asks, pushing in beside me to get a better look.

A few moments of silence pass until Luna finally sniffles and looks up.

“It’s….it’s a letter from home…..from my sister…” Luna smiles, before seeming to realize that the rest of us are practically packed in around her to get a better look at the mysterious scroll.

“Forgive me….I suppose I should satisfy your curiosity.”

She clears her throat before beginning to read aloud.

“Dearest sister,

It is my hope that this letter finds you well. While we have not been able to determine exactly how it came to be, we are aware that some form of magical feedback has pulled you from our very plane of existence.

Not a day goes by without your absence making itself known. While I have been been working tirelessly doing what I can to bring you back, I worry more for Twilight. I do not believe she has slept so much as a wink since your disappearance, and only cautions from myself and her student have held her back from acting rashly and throwing herself after you blindly.

Despite sharing in her urgency, the risk of the unknown is far too great, and the loss of another princess would be too much for Equestria to bear. Though rest assured every great mind the country can spare is working tirelessly around the clock to bring you home.

Should this reach you, I have included a second piece of parchment, as well as the spell that must be used for it to reach us on the back of this page. It is no small task to cast, but with the proper preparation I am confident you can make it work.

Please Lulu, send a response when and if you can.

Signed,
Princess Celestia.”

“Hey, this is great! You can communicate with home!” I cheer, only hesitating briefly before throwing my arm around Luna and pulling her into a hug.

Despite her obvious joy, Luna doesn’t share my enthusiasm as she carefully separates the second sheet from the letter and studies it carefully. The letter had been unreadable, but was at least recognizable as writing. What’s drawn on the second page looks like someone had taken some Nordic runes and randomly shoved them into a wiring diagram.

“Were it only so simple.” Luna frowns as she pours over the spell. “Not only will this take a good deal of magic, but the runes will have to be printed on anything I desire to send.”

“No big deal, I can make some copies for you.” Mason offers, but she holds up a hoof to silence him.

“Nay. A simple copy will not do. It will need to be written by quill. One infused with Equestrian magic to power the runes. Do you have any ink?”

“No….” Mason frowns. “I could probably break open some pens if I have to, but where…”

He’s silenced again as Luna uses her magic to pluck a feather from one of her wings with a soft wince.

“Okay then….I’ll just grab some pens for you.”

Luna smiles and gives him a thankful nod as he heads off to do just that.

“When you say it’ll take a lot of magic….well, do you think it’ll be enough to draw attention?” I ask as Luna rotates the makeshift quill slowly until it seems to satisfy her.

“I am unsure.” She replies with a glance out the window. “We seem to be suitably isolated, but I have no way to account for your people’s instruments.”

“Well, if it acts anything like radiation, maybe there’s some way to block it?” Lorrie offers.

“Hmm, it’s worth a try.” Mason answers as he sets an assortment of pens and a bowl on the table. “I’ve got the meter, and the basement is set up as a fallout shelter. Not perfectly shielded or anything, but better than nothing.”

“You turned your basement into a bunker?” Lorrie asks skeptically. “Seriously Tony….are you expecting the end of the world or something?”

“Hey! It doesn’t hurt to be prepared. You came to me, didn’t you?”

“I guess….still seems like a bit much though.” She grumbles, unconvinced.

Luna watches as Mason begins pulling apart a pen before removing the ink cartridge and pulling the tip off. After a bit of fiddling with it, he manages to squeeze a few drops from it into the bowl.

Growing impatient, she rolls her eyes as she lifts all the pens in one fluid motion, pulls them apart, and squeezes every last drop of ink from them
Into the bowl.

“We can test this theory.” Luna begins as she dips the quill in the ink. “But first, I would like to have something to send.”