Between Two Worlds

His whole body was trembling from the gravity. One does not simply pull away from the earth attraction and Ethan perfectly knew this. He put more efforts to escape Equis’ gravity. He passed through the clouds like they were nothing. He flew at a speed Rainbow Dash could only dream of. Some parts of his armor began to ice up. Hopefully, it was created to resist at such conditions and temperatures. The black exoskeleton kept him warm, whenever he was. The view he had in front of him began to darken up, the light blue sky was slowly replaced a dark one, full of little stars.

Needless to say, the young man was amazed by this. For him, there was no word to describe what was in front of him or his feelings about it. He only could admire the little dots and the magnificent moon. The white orb was here, away from him and lighted by the sun beams.

No sound, no crazy alicorn, no magic, no party…just him. Alone. It was so calm, so peaceful. When was the last time he felt this comforting loneliness? He didn’t know.

Finally, his body was free from Equis’ attraction. He learned the name of this world when he read one of the books he downloaded from Twilight’s library. This and the history of Equestria were no longer a secret for him. Slowly, a smile grew on his face when he saw where he was.

At his right was the sun, glowing in all its glory and on his left, the moon, which could light up the darkest forest. In the middle of all of this, there was him, between light and darkness.

From his position, Ethan could see Equis and only one word left his mouth to describe it: “Beautiful.”

Very far from Equestria, at the East, was Saddle Arabia, one of the hottest deserts in this world. A wide area of ice, coming from the north, delimited the edge of the Griffon Kingdom. Several mountains stood up, on the South part of Equis. If his database said the truth, those rocks belonged to the dragons.

He stayed in this position, motionless. Only his eyes moved to admire this “second Earth”. There were many similarities between the two worlds, it was obvious to him.

A single thought passed in his mind. He could end his life everything right now if he wanted. All he had to do is disable his armor and die by suffocation or hypothermia because of the low temperature and lack of oxygen. The writer laughed. There was no way he kill himself now. Some ponies still need him, he couldn’t leave them. In a way, the fate of Equestria was on his shoulders. He shook his head to forget the thought.

Curious, Ethan turned on his thrusters and flew towards the moon. He always wanted to walk on it but never had the possibility to do it before. Even with his technology, it took him half an hour to reach it at 15 000 mph. The ground was dusty and full of little grey rocks; he could see some hills at the horizon. The young Gray was surprised to feel some attraction, even if it was weak, but enough to let him walk without any problem. His radar showed he was completely alone on the big piece of rock.

[Analyzing….Oxygen detected]

“What!? There are no plants and the temperature is too low to let them grow, how could it be possible?”

The human slowly recovered from the news. It was technically impossible. This statement broke all the physics laws existing.

[Magic detected. Used to maintain the gravity and make the atmosphere able to keep the oxygen]

"When my detective spell told me I had a visitor on my moon, I never expected it was you."

In a quick motion, Ethan turned back, unsheathed his weapon and aimed at the source of the voice, even if he knew who it was. The Night Goddess was here, in front of him, a small grin plastered on her face. He slightly chuckled and lowered his gun.

"I see. I suppose you put a spell to breathe here?"

The smile never left her lips.

"Good deduction. The moon belongs to me...I am the moon. I can do whenever I want on it. Water? I can. Gravity? I can too. Grow plants and trees? Same."

"Very interesting."

"Indeed. What are you doing here?" she asked, intrigued.

The young man looked away, contemplating the planet.

"Tourism. I was curious."

Luna nodded.

"And are you please with what you see?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised we have more in common than I thought."

The dark blue mare stayed silent. For her, there was no need to talk, everything was in the attitude and the look. It was obvious she liked to be with him, like a dog and his master. And the human knew it too. Finally, she asked the question which plagued her mind for days:

"Why?"

Ethan raised an eyebrow, not borrowing to look in her direction.

"Why what?"

"Why are you so distant? I told you I love you but you denied my advances. Don't give again your 'I'm dying' excuse, there's something else and I want to know."

He blinked a few times and sighed, his mood darkened. How? How could she know? How could she see through the iron wall he created around his heart? This fact left him completely speechless. Unfortunately, there was no turning back. He had to open his heart and tell her the truth.

"I'm afraid."

"Of what? Death?"

"Yes."

"Everypony is."

There was another silence between the two.

"I...If I act like a stranger to you and AJ it's because...I don't want to break your hearts. I mean, would you be truly happy if we are together for only four months? Is it really necessary to watch me die in your hooves? I really don't want you to cry for me."

"You are worth it, Ethan. You saved her life, you passed through hard moments in yours and you care a lot for your loved ones. I know this because if it wasn't the case, you'll never say what you just said. You deserve a second chance, never doubt that."

Luna's serious look and her warm words flowed to his heart. A small smile grew on his lips. She was right. It could be the reason why he came to Equestria and not somewhere else.

"Maybe." he whispered, looking again at the beautiful Equis.

They stayed here, side by side, for what seems an eternity even if it was not even an hour.

"There's a singing contest tonight, would you like to go and see me play a song?"

"I'd love to." replied the Princess of the Night.

"I'll ask Applejack if she want to come when I'll be on the ground."

She nodded.

“Ethan?”

“Yes?”

“Can you…” Luna began but stopped in the middle of her sentence, unsure of his answer. “Can you promise me something?”

He looked into her light blue eyes, a little surprised. “Uh…yeah.”

“Can you promise me that if you don’t die, if we find a cure for your illness, you’ll marry me?”

Luna 1 - Ethan 0. The ex-soldier never saw that one coming. The question left him completely shocked and breathless. His brain took a few seconds to recover from the blow. They barely know each other and she wanted already to stay with him for the rest of his life.

“We haven't dated yet, I’m not sure…—“

“Please, do it. You can consider our little talk as our first date.”

He sighed and closed his eyes.

“Fine, I promise.”

She didn’t say a word after that. The next thing he knew, the young man was on the ground, his back against the dirt and a gorgeous mare on his chest. Before he could do anything, she touched the left side of his helmet and makes it disappear. The information of his HUD was right. The oxygen was here, he could feel it in his lungs when he inhaled.

Holding Ethan tightly with her front hooves, she leans slowly into him with a smile. Their hearts were beating quickly from the closeness they shared right now. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she meets him the rest of the way in a kiss. The human played along, melting into the kiss. Surprisingly, like with AJ, it was far from disgusting, quite the contrary. She begged to put her tongue in his mouth. This action makes him smile and he complied. Luna put as much passion she could into the gesture, happy he wants to do the same. The young man slowly stroked her mane and her ribs.

A little moan of pleasure escaped her throat when his fingers reached the base of her wings. If they continued like this, he knew where it could end and didn't want this...not yet. His mind was not ready for something like that, even three years after the accident. Finally, the couple had stop because of the lack of fresh air.

The Night Goddess moved her muzzle to his left ear and licked her lips. "I love you. You're the only one I want my love, nopony else." she whispered, seductively.

"I love you too."

For once, he let his heart speak, not his brain, even if it was involuntary. When he realized his mistake, Ethan knew it was too late to step back. It was now official, he had a girlfriend...or marefriend in this case. Strangely, the human felt happy about this. They continued to make out for a long moment before cuddling and finally deciding to go back on Equestria.

"You don't feel bad about it, do you?"

The writer looked into her loving eyes.

"About what?"

"Spending more time with me than Applejack."

"A little...to tell you the truth, she was the first to kiss me."

Contrary to what he thought, Luna was absolutely not mad or she hide her feelings very well. She even smiled.

"Okay. I have to go back, I need some sleep before the contest and raise the moon."

She teleported herself to the castle and he was left alone on the moon. After a few seconds, he flew back to his camp.

[Thrusters power: 8%]

Even if he couldn't feel it, he knew he just broke the sound barrier, thanks to the HUD which displayed his speed. Just like when he left the atmosphere, his exoskeleton trembled because of the friction with the air and the gravity. This time, a few parts of his armor began to warm up.

*Boom*

Everything was a blur around him. His screen showed he was near 2 100 mph. A long trail of white followed him. Ethan flew above oceans and land, towards the East, towards Equestria.

It didn't take him more than fifteen minutes to reach his destination at this speed. It was the late afternoon when Ethan came to Apple Sweet Acres. He guessed Applejack had stopped bucking the trees for the day and was in the barn or the house.

"Howdy partner."

Well, he was wrong. She was coming back from Ponyville. A smile grew on his lips when he saw the orange coated pony. His black armor disappeared immediately.

"Hey AJ, how are you?"

"Ah'm fine. Whatcha doin' here?"

The young man with grey hair scratched the back of his neck, looking unsure.

"There's a singing contest tonight and...I wondered if...you wanted to come with me. I'm going to be with the others competitors."

"Sure, Ah' don't mind." she replied, grinning.

"Luna will also be there, as a spectator, of course."

The Earth Pony frowned a little.

"No problem."

"Cool, I'll pick you up in...four hours, just before the registrations." he said, before walking away.