The Sun, The Moon, and The Stars

Chapter 1: The Encounter

I finally entered the world of the emotion that was conveyed to me. I was utterly astonished at how advanced this world was compared to Equestria. Huge buildings, towering up to the skies; radiant lights, covering the busy roads in the city; unknown carriages, racing through the chilly night; and large billboards, showing what these species do for 'fun'. While I was in a trance-like state, I noticed a sudden surge of sadness envelope me again. This one was even stronger, which only meant that I was close to the source. I quickly regained my composure and headed towards the source...

I felt it almost clinging to me as if I was its only hope. Its unshakable aura, surrounding me almost uncontrollably. As I approached it further, the surge encompassed me and eventually forced my wings to close. Once I realized this, I had to quickly decide where to land. Unfortunately, there wasn't a open field at my current position, so I settled for the next best thing: a tree. At first, I thought that the tree would have helped me break my fall so that I wouldn't have hurt myself in the process. As I crashed into the tree, I immediately realized I was wrong. The impact made me cringe in pain. I tried not to whimper, but my lack of energy made that whimper a reality. As I crashed to the earth below me, I heard sounds of several voices emanating from a nearby building. They were soft, female; I almost could recognize them.

Is that Twilig-

This was all I could think of before the darkness entered my midst and shrouded me...

Man do I love watching my favorite show at night! This show is formally known as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Why was this such a good show? Well, I could list you so many reasons as to why it is great, but for now let's cut to the chase. My name is Calvin E. Hartman, you can just call me "The Man". I got my nickname from a fight I participated in. It was in high school, I was just a freshman...

I was getting bullied by a couple of juniors; they felt they were upper class man. They didn't know I was the best fighter in the whole freshman class. These two juniors were such jocks, but after the fight, they were referred to as 'losers of the junior class' because they weren't able to lay a punch on me. The fight I'm describing lasted only twenty seconds; I only punched the two once, respectively. In this case, when two fists connected to the two bullies, they collapsed into unconsciousness immediately. The other freshmen looked at me with shocked looks on their faces. I just turned to them and said,

"Well someone has to do something to these bullies. I guess I'm the man for the job."

When I said that, my class cheered and supported me for my valiant effort to fight off bullying. It was a good day...

Sorry, I tend to space out sometimes. Anyway, I was currently watching the latest episode of the show when I suddenly heard a few faint whimpers. I disregarded them immediately, but I decided to take them seriously when I heard a loud THUD, which caused me to jump at the sudden crash.

"What the heck was that noise?"

I ran over to the door and before exiting my home, I quickly put on my emergency jacket. This jacket was such a lifesaver, I didn't have to worry about grabbing a flashlight, a first-aid kit, or anything of that sort. This jacket had all of that in a nice complete package and more. Once I had that on, I rushed out the door to where I thought the sound came from. Utilizing my flashlight, I tried to look for any sort of tracks or unprecedented figures in my shrubs.

Note to self: get those shrubs trimmed before they turn into massive hedges.

I prowled around for about five minutes when suddenly, I heard a faint whimpering sound. I tried to approach it, but it felt like it was changing direction. Eventually, I decided to return to my humble abode. As I was moving, I noticed a shrub shaking.

This can be one of two things. It could be a thief trying to find an unique way to complete a breaking and entering, or it's a defenseless animal.

I approached the bush, and very gently pulled back on the twigs surrounding the bush. It wasn't an intruder; to be exact... it was a horse. It looked like it had seen better days. It had a blue purplish coat color; its mane was a nice light purple with little specs of white in it. This horse also had jewelry on its hooves and on its head, glistening in the night. And for some reason... this horse looked strangely familiar. The realization hit me like a train.

This can't be happening...It's....Luna. I-

I was interrupted in my thought process when I realized she was waking up. She looked at me and yelped in fright. I knew she was afraid so I gave her some space. She noticed this and stood up on her hooves. I immediately took the wheel on this one.

"Are you okay?"

"We...I-I'm fine," she replied in a sensitive tone.

"You sure don't sound fine," I answered. I noticed that she was favoring her left wing and her right forehoof appeared to be hurt. "Looks to me like you have wing and hoof problems there, miss...?" I asked.

She relaxed a bit and then answered, "Luna; and yes, I'm hurt."

"Well let's just assume this isn't a 'Tis but a scratch!' moment. Let's get you in my home so we can inspect your injuries."

She remained there, paralyzed with fear.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Luna. I'm only here to help," I answered in the most serious tone I could muster.

"Art thou sure? We..I mean, I, have never seen a creature of such height and sincerity before. I've only had this treatment when I was back in m-my world," she stammered.

She really is afraid of me. I have to think of something so that I can gain her trust...

I looked back over at her and pulled out my first-aid kit. She looked at it with intense concentration. She then looked back at me and said,

"What in Celestia's mane is that?"

"Well, this case is a first-aid kit. I carry these around in case someone gets injured or is in need of urgent care." She looked at me with a confused look on her face.

"Let's put it this way, does your wing hurt when you try to move it?"

She tried to move her wing, immediately wincing in pain. She then whimpered and cried,

"YES!"

"On a scale of one to ten how much pain do you sense when you move it?"

"TEENNN!" She squealed as she yelped in pain.

I looked down at her hoof. I then motioned for her to lift it so I could examine it further. She looked at me and slowly but surely raised it up enough for me to see it. I then asked her,

"How about your hoof? Does it hurt the same when you try to put pressure on it?"

She shrugged in a pony-fashioned way.

So that's how they shrug. She attempted to put some pressure on the injured hoof and immediately yelped in pain. I swear if I had any neighbors around here, they would have been calling the police right now.

"YES!" She exclaimed as she continued to whimper.

"Well I hate to point out the obvious, but you need to stay off your injured hoof for a while."

She nodded slightly and asked,

"What about my wing?"

"Considering the pain is the exact same, I suggest you stay off the wing as well."

She looked down as I said this. I got down to her level and said,

"Look at me, Luna."

She slowly brought her head up to my level and stared at me with tears streaking down her face.

"You'll be fine. Like I said before, I'm not here to hurt you. I only want to help you get better. Can you trust me?"

Still shaking, she sighed.

"Well... I guess s-so," she stammered.

She slowly approached my side and nuzzled it. I decide to return the favor and hug her back. She got scared for a second but returned the hug anyway. We stayed there for a few seconds before breaking the hug. I looked at her and wiped her face with a cloth from my jacket.

"Feeling better now?" I asked.

"Yes, thank you." She continued to nuzzle me as we sat there admiring the night.

I felt a sudden sense of despair pinch my sides. I haven't felt this since the night of my...abandonment. I remember it as if it happened yesterday...

I was six when that cold breezy night arrived. The night was beautiful yet so distinct it glowed. I would always gaze at that beautiful night sky and wonder if I could be able to create my own version. I didn't know that this night was also the one my parents would go out drinking. At the time, I didn't know what my mother meant when 'Your father and I are going out to get some groceries'. After the incident, I understood it vividly. My parents never shopped for groceries, they were on government welfare checks and food stamps.

Anyway, my parents were leaving to go get some 'groceries' and they decided to leave me at home with my babysitter. Her name was Lauren, she was fourteen years old.

She loved me. I don't know why she did, but I'm glad she was there for me. Before they left, my father said something to Lauren. With that, they left. There wasn't a single goodbye or an 'I love you'; instead, my reward was a door slammed in my face. Lauren turned to me and said,

"Well, They're gone kiddo. Here," she handed me the remote, "take this and go watch some TV. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

I nodded and playfully ran over to the TV. I sat down on the couch and turned it on. Since this one was slightly older, it had the old antennas you had to adjust in order for the channel to come in clear. It took me a good forty-five minutes to finally get it to work. As I sat down, I was frightened at what I saw. The channel was on news and apparently, there had been a shooting at the local bar. I listened closely to what the newswoman had to say.

"It appears to be some new information coming in about the case...There...Oh my God..."

She gulped at what was on the paper. She began to read:

"T-two people were killed in the shooting. Their bodies have been identified as thirty-two year old Ashley Hartman and thirty-three year old Jarrett Hartman."

The screen showed two pictures of my dead parents.

I screamed on the top of my lungs and started to cry. Lauren rushed in to see what was happening and gasped at the TV screen. She came over to me and kept me close.

Even though I was abandoned by my parents, I missed them greatly...

I snapped back to reality and realized we were still outside. Luna saw how strange I was acting and asked,

"Are you okay?"

I wish I was...

"Yeah...I'm fine. Let's get in the house. It's getting a bit chilly."

She nodded and hopped over to my side. She winced in pain as her injured hoof accidentally came in contact with the hard, frozen soil. I immediately put my arm around her and told her to lean on me so she would be off her injured hoof. She did as I told her and we entered my abode. I have a lot of questions to ask her, but it looks like she may have some for me as well.

Why would this creature help me out? This isn't a loyal subject of mine, but as I cling to the creature for comfort; I sense a feeling of sadness lodged in the depths of its heart. Is that the source I was looking for? My mind started to come up with questions to ask. I hope it doesn't recoil at me when I ask him.

I quickly dismissed the thoughts and entered the creature's home.