Son of the Moon

Polaris gasped and sat up quickly, only to immediately grunt in pain as his head knocked against something hard. Rubbing his head in pain, he squinted his eyes open. "What...?"

"OW! That hurt, you know!!" Violet was on the ground, rubbing her forehead due to the sudden headbutt. "A little warning would be nice, next time." She shot him a glare.

"Oh, like I was supposed to know when I was gonna wake up from a coma," Polaris responded. He stood up and began doing some stretches, feeling his joints popping as he did so. "Geez... How long was I out for? I feel so stiff... Hm?" He looked to the floor to find a wet rag next to Violet. She soon noticed where he was looking, becoming flustered when she realized it.

"W-Well, you suddenly passed out for three days! What else was I supposed to do!?" She stammered. "I wanted to take care of you!"

"You could've taken me to the hospital?" He suggested. Though, inwardly, he was glad she didn't. The staff would probably ask too many questions about his origins. He wasn't too keen on meeting with too many of Celestia's subjects at the moment. Polaris frowned, remembering that both his mother and Celestia had requested he make friends in the past. It was very conflicting to him, since it was advice given by both his most loved and most hated ponies respectively.

"I... I can't go to the hospital at all," Violet clarified. "I'm... erm... banned! Yeah, I'm banned from there!"

"... Banned?" Polaris raised an eyebrow at her claim. She nodded her head rapidly in response. "... From the hospital?"

"I just am, okay!? I could set fires to hospitals for fun for all you know!" She exclaimed. Polaris gave the mare a blank look. "D-Don't question it!" She looked away, sweating profusely.

"You're a terrible liar," Polaris stated bluntly as he stood up from the couch he had been resting on. He looked over at the door as he heard a scratching sound on the other side. Violet immediately jumped up to answer it, relieved to have an excuse to derail that conversation. She opened the door, Midnight walking in with a small bag of two apples.

"Oh, you're back," Violet said with a smile. "Your cat has been bringing in bits of food to help feed you while you were out cold." Midnight set the bag down before jumping up onto the couch and laying down for a nap, seeming to not even acknowledge Polaris being awake at all. "What was that about, anyway? You just screamed and passed out after looking at the calendar."

"It's nothing," Polaris responded almost instantly. "I just... remembered something, is all."

"Liar," Violet interrupted. "I don't even know your name, but I still took care of you. I at least deserve the truth, don't you think? And you called me a terrible liar."

"Polaris Starshine," he answered, "and it's personal, like how you won't tell me why you're avoiding the hospital," he countered. He knew that he couldn't tell her that he was essentially a time traveler from a thousand years ago, and that he was technically royalty, even if the title was meaningless now. She would think he was crazy if he told her the full truth. He winced as he remembered his former status, only adding another reason to justify killing Celestia in his mind. Suddenly, a thought came to him. "Say, do you know anything about that image of a pony on the moon?" He asked, being careful in his wording so as to not raise suspicion.

"You mean the Mare in the Moon? I've read about it, why?" She asked, only receiving a deadpanned look from Polaris. "What!? I read sometimes!" She huffed before flying over to one of the shelves and retrieving a book, bringing it to him, the book was titled Predictions and Prophecies.

Taking the book, Polaris read through it, skimming until he reached the desired pages. "Blah, blah, blah, two princesses, sun and moon, corruption, wait." He paused, reading over a particular passage.

"Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal."

That was it. He had thought that he would have needed to find a way to free her himself, but if this "legend" was accurate, which he knew from experience that it was, biased towards Celestia as it was, then he would only need to prepare for her arrival. His eyes darted to the calendar, particularly, the date. His face began to scrunch up, turning red as he did the math in his head, and struggling hard.

"Are you okay?" Velvet asked in concern. "You look like you're constipated or something." Midnight made a snickering noise at the mare's comment. Polaris' face suddenly lit up as he came to his conclusion, a smile spreading across his face.

"Two thousand and two," he thought. "So... eight years." Smiling, Polaris stood up, only to collapse in a heap as his stomach growled loudly, demanding food. "Damn it... too hungry..." He grumbled. Midnight pushed the couple of apples she brought in towards him. "Thanks, but I'll need more for the road, too." He sat up, taking one of the apples and biting into it.

"The road?" Velvet questioned, tilting her head to the side. "Where are you going?"

"Just around," Polaris answered. "I wanna see more of the world. I haven't really been out much." There was more to it than the reason he gave, of course. He did want to explore Equestria, yes, but now that he knew his mother would be freed on her own, his goals had shifted. Now, rather than searching for a way to break her seal, he simply wanted to be stronger. He had to be strong enough to support her, to be valuable to her once she came back. Zen had once told him that there was no training better than real combat, that experience was a fighter's greatest weapon. He needed more experience, more training, he needed to grow. He wouldn't lose to anyone ever again.

"Then I'm coming with!" Violet stated. "A big adventure sounds super fun!" Polaris sighed. On one hand, Violet didn't seem like much of a fighter and would likely slow him down. On the other, she was clearly more knowledgeable than him in a lot of things, so she could prove useful in her own way.

"... Just don't get in my way," he said as he walked towards the door.

"That's a pretty rude way to talk to your friends." Violet pouted, puffing out her cheeks. Polaris froze up, his hand on the doorknob, trying to process what the pegasus had said.

"... Friend?" He turned back towards her.

"Duh! I took care of you for three days! So, I think that makes us friends!" Polaris couldn't believe his ears. This crazy mare really wanted to be his friend. He'd never had a real friend before, discounting Zen and the Royal Guard, who Celestia and Luna both claimed didn't really count, even if he thought they did.

"Sorry," Polaris apologized. "It's just that I've never had a... friend before." He rubbed the back of his head.

"Huh? Seriously?" Violet asked in shock. "Well, now you have two!" She said with a bright smile on her face, Midnight jumping onto her shoulder. Polaris stared at the two for a few moments, his lips slowly curving upwards into a smile as well.

"Alright," he said, "let's get going. First thing's first, we need food." He opened the door and stepped outside with Violet and Midnight in tow.

"Oh! Oh! I know a place!" Velvet jumped up and down, flailing her hand in the air. "Follow me!" She quickly said before walking ahead of him. Midnight looked a bit miffed at her sudden jumping. Polaris smiled as he watched her, feeling the boundless energy that she exuded.

"By the way, Violet," he said, getting her attention. "Thanks. For taking care of me, I mean." He gave her a sincere smile.

"It's nothing!" She returned his smile with one of her own as she continued leading him down the dirt road. "Just remember, now you owe me!" She stuck her tongue out at him in a playful manner.

Polaris chuckled softly and followed after her.

After a bit of walking, the three newly banded travel companions came to a big, red farm. In front was a sign that read, "Sweet Apple Acres". Looking around, Polaris had never seen so many apple trees in his life. Acres upon acres of land, trees lining every single one. He rubbed the bark of one of them with a hand, marveling at the sheer scale of the place and wondering who in their right mind would even have the time or energy to harvest every single tree.

"What, never been to an apple farm before?" Violet asked with a giggle, Polaris shaking his head side to side in response. "Wait, really!?" Her jaw dropped in shock. "How isolated were you!?"

"Very," Polaris responded vaguely. He had rarely left the castle at all back then, and now the world was completely different. He felt like a stranger in a completely foreign land, unfamiliar with anything at all. His mind was still reeling from the fact that he had apparently been asleep for the last thousand years, and he would need to get used to things all over again.

"There she is!" Violet exclaimed. "Heeeeey! Miss Granny Smith!!!" She called, waving her hand as she ran over. Polaris had seen the elderly mare before, the one who had sold him those apples a few days ago. He followed Violet to greet her, hoping the interaction would be a quick one. The elderly mare looked in their direction, waving to them as they approached.

"Howdy there, erm... Violet! That was it," she greeted with a gentle smile. "What brings y'all 'round these parts? Ah ain't seen you in a hot minute." As the two talked, Polaris eyed what Granny Smith held in her arms, a light-yellow foal with a red mane and tail and sporting a big pink bow. He thought she looked adorable. Smiling, he reached out a hand without thinking. The filly looked up at the unfamiliar pony that was reaching towards her. Curiously, she reached out and grasped his finger and melting Polaris' heart.

"Looks like little Apple Bloom likes you." Polaris snapped out of his stupor at Granny Smith's remark, instinctively pulling his hand back and out of the foal's grip. "Aw, ain't nothing to be ashamed of, dearie," she reassured him.

"I-I just..." Polaris struggled to find an excuse and failed. He didn't even know why he pulled away himself. For some reason, he felt an overwhelming sense of fear at being around such a small foal. He shut his eyes, taking deep breaths as he turned away to gaze at the hundreds of apple trees instead. "I'm going on a walk." Violet and Granny Smith exchanged confused glances as he suddenly walked off into the fields.

As Polaris made his way through the rows of apple trees, he found himself lost in thought. "What was that? Am I scared? Of what?" Questions plagued his mind as he walked along, grunting in frustration as he wasn't used to dealing with these kinds of complex emotions that required more than a single thought to understand. "Is it... me?" He looked down at his hands, and for a brief moment, he saw the bloodied hands of the doppelganger he encountered within his dreams. His eyes widened as his breath hitched; he didn't know what that thing was, but it was clearly intent on haunting him for whatever reason. "NO!!!!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs and punched a nearby tree, making all of the apples fall from its branches and onto the ground.

"Y'all okay?" Polaris turned to the voice, seeing another pony, this one a filly with an orange coat and a blonde mane and tail that were both tied into long ponytails. She wore blue overalls with a white t-shirt underneath and looked at him with her emerald eyes. "Ya screamed awful loud."

"I'm fine," Polaris lied, though it seemed the filly wasn't buying it for a second. "I really am."

"... If ya say so," She responded looking towards the tree he had punched. "Y'all got a mighty strong kick to knock all the apples from the tree on your first go. You're a natural!" She smiled in amazement.

"It was a punch," Polaris corrected. "I was just really mad. I'm sorry." He bowed his head in apology, a habit picked up from his mother's lessons in etiquette.

"It ain't nothing. That's how we do it 'round here anyway," the filly responded with a chuckle, making Polaris look towards her in confusion, never having heard of such a method before. "'Course, we usually kick 'em, like this." She demonstrated by giving a strong kick to one of the trees, making a lot of them fall into the buckets set beneath it. "Ah'm still learnin' and growin'," she smiled sheepishly.

"That was awesome!" Polaris shouted in awe. He had never seen someone so young with such strong legs, besides maybe himself, though that was a very big maybe.

"Aw, shucks. It ain't nothin' special," she said bashfully before looking up at him. "Ah'm Applejack."

"Polaris Starshine," he said with a smile.

"Mighty fancy name. Y'all from Canterlot or somethin'?" She questioned. Polaris winced as she had unintentionally hit the nail on the head.

"Yeah, I am." He nodded. "Did you grow up here?" He asked, looking around at the many trees.

"Born and raised," she stated proudly. "Y'know, mah Granny Smith founded the town!" Polaris hummed at the information. That meant Ponyville was a fairly recent addition to Equestria, so it made sense that he had never heard of such a place until now.

"That's nice," He responded. His face began to scrunch up once again as he thought of how many newer towns may have been built in his absence. There were probably dozens if not more that didn't exist during his time in Canterlot.

"Y'all okay, sugarcube? Ya look like ya got worms," Applejack asked, seeming genuinely worried for his health. Polaris grunted as the gears in his brain slowly began turning, his face starting to turn shades of red.

"Ah!" He suddenly perked up. "Hey, Applejack? Why did your grandma pick here specifically for a town?"

"Well, from what Ah remember, Celestia gave us the land to make a farm, and a town was just built around it one day." Applejack answered. Of course, Celestia would give them land to build a farm. She was kind to her subjects, trying to do what was best for them, and doing everything she could to make them happy. Of course, Polaris knew this to be a ruse to keep up appearances, he knew who she really was, and that was a cruel tyrant that simply wanted all the attention to herself. He knew this to be true when she banished his mother.

But for some reason, it felt wrong.

"The sun is needed for plants to grow..." He muttered, looking towards the sky. He quickly shook his head to clear his thoughts, refusing to fall into the sun loving mindset that every single pony in Equestria shared. "No. Mom is right. Mom was right to do what she did. Mom knows what's best, Celestia doesn't," he mumbled under his breath to keep his mind on track. He needed to focus on his goal, he needed to get stronger and help his mom when she came back.

"There you are!" Polaris and Applejack turned their heads to see Violet making her way towards them, a large bag hefted onto her back and Midnight riding atop her head. "Granny Smith said we can have these apples for our trip!" She beamed.

"Great," Polaris said. "Now we can get going." Taking the bag of apples and slinging it over his shoulder, he gave Applejack a warm smile as he turned to leave.

"Where are y'all going to?" The curious filly asked.

Polaris looked at her, seeing her eyes full of questions. "To see Equestria," he answered with a big, toothy grin. The trio departed from the orchard, making their way towards the forest. Polaris had a big smile on his face, but Violet looked less enthusiastic.

"W-We're going there? Into the Everfree Forest?" She asked, shaking like a leaf.

"Well, you could always just stay here," Polaris teased with a playful grin.

"I-I'm going!" She huffed, swiftly marching ahead of him. And so, the two ventured into the deadly Everfree Forest, towards the unknown lands beyond, towards the unknown dangers.

Polaris was determined to be strong enough to help his mother when the time came. It was for the best. It had to be, despite what others may say.

He was sure of it.