Light.

Blinding light.

Zero could barely even open his eyes to squint and yet brilliant, shining rays bombarded his vision. He could hear voices around him, though the man could understand none of them.

They were to fast and garbled, not to mention muffled by the pulsating of his head.

Zero tried to move something, anything to no avail.

Almost everything felt numb, and anything that didn’t was burning with an incredible pain.

He had never been so aware of his body, through either the burning the stinging or a dull pressure he could feel every part of himself all at once, overloading his senses.

It was a horrible feeling, Zero’s mind strained at a snails pace, attempting to piece together what happened to him, and what was going on around him.

It was useless, his senses were failing him, and any thought he could contrive was instantly driven out by his natural instinct to put all focus into surviving.

With no alternative and a ticking clock, the man tried to call for help with all his might, all that escaped his lips was a faint mix between groan and a deep, raspy exhale.

He felt the ground ever so slightly tremble around him as his little noise seemed to disturb the beings that the voices were coming from, causing them move around him.

One voice sounded something urgently, the trooper then felt a pressure at his side. Even the slight touch of one of the beings hurt tremendously, garnering a weak groan from the man.

He tried again to look at what was around him, hoping to see what had touched him. It was fortunate that Zero was already facing the direction of the thing, as he was unable to turn his head.

Light again blinded Zero as he cracked open an eye. Though barely, he could make out the shapes of the beings around him, the silhouettes were that of familiar quadrupeds. One of them, the closest to himself, was holding up one of their legs, a red liquid staining it.

Blood

Were they hurt? Or had it come from when it had touched him. Zero guessed it was the latter, either way the quadruped seemed to be distressed.

The others started to react to the one with the bloody leg. All the movement made Zero feel woozy.

With a deep, shaky exhale, Zero closed his eyes again. He could feel himself slipping, falling asleep. Little needles stabbed his sides as he felt himself get lifted off the ground.

The wonder of what was happening and who was around him were the last things Zero thought of before he gave into the relieving, comforting darkness…

********************

********************

********************

Luna wasn’t used to all the noise, ponies cheering, hooves stomping in applause. Years of exile on the moon had eased her into familiarity with silence. All the sounds of the surrounding welcome party made the mare uncomfortable, especially because of the guilt weighing her down.

Even though they still seemed to be afraid, the equines of ponyville had welcomed Luna back as the rightful, second princess of Equestria, and though she was grateful, the alicorn continued to scorn herself for what she had become.

Her amazing sister, Celestia, had completely forgiven her for who she used to be and for what she had tried to do, even for what she did do.

Luna couldn’t shake the thought from her mind, what she most regretted was what she was attempting to do to her people, in her blind rage and jealousy she was going to enforce her night permanently, she hadn’t even thought about how that would have affected the land.

Without the sun, all the world’s crops and every single plant would soon die. Without them, all life would have followed, it wasn’t her intent, but intentions don’t matter when it comes to such actions. At least she was stopped before she enacted her plan, but not before she attempted murder.

At that moment it was like Luna was still there, watching. She knew it wasn’t exactly her, but even still, seeing herself attempt to destroy the pale warrior, watching his limp body fly through the window of her old castle, it filled the princess with shame.

After those brave ponies had used the elements of harmony to save Celestia and free Luna from her malice, she had only wanted to hide away, too ashamed to even look at the magnificent mare that was her sister. Luna couldn’t believe how Celestia had so eagerly accepted her back. For a moment, she almost forgot what she had just done, only to be reminded as soon as she saw the purple unicorn running toward that window, starring in horror at what laid below.

Luna quickly made her way over as well, removing herself from her sisters embrace, at first she was washed with such a relief when she saw he had only fallen down to the edge of the cliff holding up the ruined castle instead of off into the forest far below.

That relief immediately twisted into worry as she saw that the abnormal being was unmoving.

It hardly made any sense, how could such a competent and confident warrior be so fragile?

Celestia came over to observe what was going on, upon seeing the state of the thing she flew down at once to check on him.

Luna could hardly move, mortified at what she had done, was he dead? Am I a murderer? By now the others had rushed over to see for themselves what was happening, all of them let out a collective gasp of shock. The yellow pegasus Luna now knew as Fluttershy, lead the blue pegasus named Rainbow Dash down to the cliffside, her aquamarine eyes showing nothing but fear and worry.

The others beside Luna simply starred down below, Rarity looked like she was doing all she could to not faint at the sight while Applejack removed her hat and held it close to her chest, not daring to take her eyes of the warrior.

It felt like for so long they were all just watching, waiting for one of the ponies below to find out how bad the situation was.

Suddenly, the stranger made a strained sound, both revealing he was alive, and that he soon might not be.

Luna remembered how terrible the gargling noise made her feel, and how much worse she felt when Fluttershy had tried to check his body for what was most damaged, and raising up a bloody hoof.

A cheer ripped her from her memories, reminding her of the celebration around her, honoring the return of both Celestia, and herself.

Luna lowered her head, she felt so undeserving of the necklace sown with flowers that hung on her neck. The mare was so focused on her thoughts that she barely even noticed somepony bumping into her.

It was a young colt with a brown mane and grey coat. “Oops, sorry about thaaa-” he started before locking his mouth shut at the sight in front of him, clearly petrified.

“There is no need to be afraid youthful one.” Luna stated in a steady tone. She had almost spoken to the foal in the traditional ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’, but had caught herself. Earlier that day she had greeted one of the townsfolk that way before they oddly scrambled away in fear, Luna’s sister had advised her to not speak that way. When Luna asked why, Celestia simply told her she would explain later and to ‘follow her lead’ for the day.

The colt’s father came over to collect him, giving a thousand apologies in the process, no matter how much Luna explained to him that it was fine.

“Will it always be this way?” The mare thought to herself, “Always being reared away from like thou is a monster?”

She let her head hang a little as a lone tear formed in her eye, “But thou was a monster…”

“Are you alright.” asked a gentle voice to her left, even a thousand years apart couldn’t make her forget who it belonged to.

“No sister,” Luna informed her fellow princess, “Thou is not, thine doesn’t deserve this.”

Celestia lowered her head to give her sister a nuzzle, “Maybe, but right now, all that matters is that you’re home, that you’re you again, and that’s worth celebrating.”

Luna give her a little smile. “Thank you, you always were there for thee.” Luna stared into Celestia’s eyes, “Thou loves you sister.”

The face the shown on the white alicorn warmed Luna’s heart. “And I, you.”

Though she still struggled with her shame, Luna straightened her head. Her beloved sister still cared for her, that fact and a desire to atone motivated her to be the best princess she could be for her people.

She had many wrongs to make right, and now that she knew her sister had, undeservedly, forgiven her, there was one other person, or, thing she wanted to do right by.

“If it is alright with thou,” she began to ask her sister, “We would like to go see Zero.”

Celestia’s smile faltered, though just a bit. “Are you sure? He still has yet to awaken, besides, he did try to…”

“We know,” Luna assured, remembering how the unknown being had tried to take his own life in an attempt to destroy hers. The mare looked away for a moment. “And we don’t blame him.”

Though Luna had never met somepony quite so extreme she had witnessed many times during one of Equesrias darker eras where an evil had to be vanquished. At worst, with lethality. Yet those who partook in such actions were seen as heroes forced to do what they had to in order to protect what is right.

Why should this being be looked at any differently? It would be wrong to judge him harshly just because the evil this time was of royal lineage.

Fortunately, Celestia agreed.

Luna always admired her sister’s commitment to being noble and just, observing any scenario with unbiased eyes. She had already admitted to Luna that though she was mortified at the thought of losing her sister, she would not hold that against the strange being considering the circumstances, regardless of how she felt. Though like Luna, she believed anypony who would so willingly use lethal force, even though it would have been the same for himself and was warranted, it was still of concern.

No matter if he was willing to die, Luna hated that she was the one who put him in the state he was in, that she was the consequence of him putting his life on the line for a people he didn’t call his own. In her eyes, that stranger, though he may be violent, deserved this event infinitely more than she did.

Luna wanted to do something, that would help him, but Celestia was not so sure that now was the proper time.

“I think this party is good for you. I believe it’ll help you ease your way back into the swing of things, after all much has changed over the millennia.” Her face showed not an expression of doubt, but of sincerity.

Luna had to admit that the party seemed well put together. She was impressed by the resolve of the one who put it all together, Pinke Pie.

Upon their return to Equestria nopony knew what to think, on one hoof, the sun rose again, Celestia was safe, and Luna had returned, but on the other hoof… Zero.

Pinkie Pie had requested that they throw a party to enjoy all the good that had come from that night. At first it seemed she was being insensitive but she insisted that if Zero were awake, that he would have wanted them to celebrate the safe return of both Equestrias leaders.

Celestia had accepted Pinkie’s offer, after all her kingdom was awaiting her and she needed to address her beloved subjects. When they left to begin preparations, Luna noticed that the pink mare had stayed behind for a little while in the ponyville hospital room that Zero now laid.

She recalled the last words she heard the earth pony speak before she walked out of ear-shot.

“I Pinkie promise I’ll save you some food! And I super duper aliooper Pinkie promise to plan the bestest get-well-soon party ever once you wake up!”

“Luna? Did you hear me?” Celestia asked.

The dark mare blinked away the memory, “Yes, but thine event is dying down anyway, and besides, should we not try and investigate Fluttershy’s claim now?”

“I suppose you’re right.” Celestia admitted, “Let’s us give our goodbyes and thanks, then we’ll head on our way.”

The white alicorn walked over to one of her guards, she asked him to retrieve the six ponies that had searched for the elements of harmony. Now that she had the time, she wanted to hear all of their testimonies before deciding the best course of action to take with what could very well be Equestrias first alien encounter.

Luna had hardly believed it herself, neither had any of Fluttershy’s friends. If it weren’t so far-fetched it would make sense of a lot of things about the stranger, but that was impossible. At least that’s what Luna used to think.

Years on the moon alone, gazing into the empty reaches of space had all but convinced her the there was no life elsewhere. She started to doubt her beliefs though, when the doctors had begun to work.

They removed all of Zero’s belongings, which were going to be locked away on account of how dangerous they could all potentially be, but Fluttershy insisted they let her view the items.

With Celestia’s permission she retrieved a small, thin, circular trinket from the stash. She started fiddling with it for a bit before the most incredible thing happened. An image just displayed in the air, no picture frame, no book, just floating red letters in an unknown script.

Neither Luna nor her sister had ever seen anything even remotely resembling this disk.

While not enough to prove Fluttershy’s claim, that when combined with the unusual look of the creature, his unique weapons and armor, and his lack of knowledge on the most basic of things, made the theory very plausible.

During Luna’s ponderings, Celestia had taken care of the formalities, all that was left to do was say goodbye, and head for the hospital.

********************

The sisters had decided to fly to their destination on their own, the royal carriage was not built for two yet after all, but it was able to hold the four grounded ponies of the group bolstering the elements.

The two pegasai, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, flew next to the guards pulling the cramped carriage. Inside it appeared that most of the mares in there were uncomfortable, with the exception of Twilight. Though she was still shaken from what she had recently witnessed, she couldn’t help but be overjoyed at the thought of riding in the royal carriage.

The princesses started to descend once they had reached their destination. After landing they waited for the wielders of the elements to exit their ride before entering the large building.

The eight mares walked up to the front desk, the sight of the princess of Equestria standing next to what used to be its greatest threat made the receptionist stand straight.

“Your highnesses.” He greeted as he bowed down.

“Hello Rusty.” Celestia responded, remembering his name from the last visit. “Has the patient woken up yet?”

“I’m afraid not ma’am.” Rusty informed as he stood back up.

“May we go and see him?” Celestia asked. Luna looked at her a bit awkwardly, she was starting to find it odd how her sister communicated with her subjects.

“Of course your majesty.” answered Rusty, “Right this way.”

The stallion lead the mares down the selection of hallways that lead to emergency care before coming to a stop outside of Zero’s room.

He then turned to address the group, “If I may, I would recommend consulting the head doctor before letting more than two ponies inside, but of course, only if you wish ma’am.”

“I will,” replied Celestia, “may you retrieve her?”

“Yes ma’am, right away.” With that the yellow unicorn made his way down one of the hallways and vanished around a corner.

“If I may,” Rainbow Dash began, “what’re we doing back here?

Celestia turned to answer the pegasus. “Well since he is not awake yet, I thinks it’s best we do what we can to figure out if Zero really is an alien. I will discuss with each of you what you experienced on your journey,” the alicorn then turned towards her sister, “meanwhile I believe you should try looking into his dreams, I do think that is the best way to find the truth.”

Luna saw the little ponies glance at each other nervously, it was clear that they all were still struggling to trust her.

“Is thou sure that would be what is best?” Luna questioned.

“Without a shadow of a doubt.” Celestia assured. The look on her face, the complete trust inspired Luna do what she had to, perhaps earning a little smidge of trust from the equines around her.

Giving a look of gratitude to her adored sibling, Luna left to find a quiet place to work her magic, one of the staff suggested a little used room near the back. After giving her thanks the black mare departed for the sanctuary. After entering the room, she observed just how calm it was, the dust scattered about reminded her of the moon in a way, not of its loneliness, but the serenity.

After choosing a spot in the dark confines, she closed her eyes, and rested her mind. Her horn started glowing as she began to transport her psyche to the land of dreams.

Opening her eyes revealed the familiar realm. Though it had been centuries since she was last here she still knew it like the back of her hoof.

She took a moment to enjoy once again gazing all the stary, crisscrossing roads and paths, all lined by the doors leading into the dreams of others.

Focusing hard, Luna closed her eyes and pictured Zero in her mind, once she opened them she stood in front of a metallic door. It looked rectangular in shape, though it had diagonal edges on the top sides rather than corners. Instead of a normal door that would swing inward or outward, this door was split in the middle with the lower half being painted with a red stripe. Luna tried to enter but the door was locked.

Peculiar

Luna studied the door for a keyhole or some sort of locking mechanism that was keeping her out. Her eyes fell upon a small box on the right side of door, sporting a bright blue, light-image, just like the disk Fluttershy had showed them, except this time the letters were more numerous and displayed on the surface of the box.

Again Luna used her magic, focusing on making the mechanism release the door’s lock. The box glowed with her dark purple aura as one by one some of the letters would flash before the image blinked green.

Instantly the door parted, revealing a misty fog on the other side.

Suddenly Luna’s nerves were overwhelmed with a terrible sense of anxiety. She could hear many loud noises coming from the other side of the smoke, it almost sounded of the ambience of Canterlot, albeit more chaotic and less comforting.

It didn’t look like there was anything to be afraid of, Luna was sure this wasn’t a nightmare, but there was something about this dream.

Some foreboding, ominous feeling that struck deep into Luna’s very core as she entered through the mist, and into Zero’s mind.

Author's Note

Hey that’s unusual, a chapter just got posted.

For real though, I wanted to get this out three weeks ago, but a ton of stuff has come up recently, and the times when I would usually write are simply few and far between.

Just to get this chapter out I had to stay up till 1:30. Which would also explain why I feel this is one of my weaker chapters, rest assured I will be revisiting it to clean it up a lot.

I’m very sorry for how long it took to post this, especially since I had said that it was coming sooner, like, three times. I know “you can’t predict life” or whatever but I value my word and I feel bad for breaking it.

I’m going to be posting new chapters less frequently for the time being, while I’ll try and post part 2 in the coming weeks, until things improve on my end I think I’m going to have to slow down to a chapter a month, so to everyone who enjoyed the weekly releases, again, sorry ‘bout this :p

I honestly do wish I had more time to write. I mean, if I could post a chapter a week again,

that would be my dream…

…

I’ll see myself out…