Chapter VI

The library door slammed shut, eight irate and upset mares, two of each pony species, marched in and plopped down in a large circle.

Silence reigned over the room for several minutes, aside from the soft sniffle from Fluttershy and even Luna. Celestia was at a loss for words, Rarity was deep in thought, Applejack had removed her hat, setting it on the floor and staring at it. Pinkie Pie's hair was shock straight as silent tears rolled down her cheeks, but she otherwise looked calm.

A loud sigh broke everypony out of their trance, "He's not a monster, you know." They all whipped their heads up to stare at Rainbow Dash, who had unsheathed the knife that Geoff had left her. "He's the first guy to actually stick up for me, even if he did scare us all half to death."

Celestia turned her head to the side, "What do you mean by that? I've heard that he was extremely aggressive, threatening to. . ." she winced, "remove one of Soarin's wings, but how did he scare you all so badly?"

Fluttershy shook her head, responding with a whisper. "His face, Princess. It was just wrong, before that, when he would look at us he would look friendly, maybe a little scarred and suffering, but it was still friendly. When he grabbed Soarin," she choked, "there wasn't any mercy there, no caring, just anger and hate." More tears rolled down her muzzle as she looked at the floor.

Celestia looked at the other mares, who all nodded. She found herself once again at a loss for words, when Luna spoke up for her.

"Sister, with what he's told us. . . perhaps we should track him down and get him to come back." She cast a hopeful glance at the ivory alicorn, who frowned at the floor in thought.

"No." She whispered, causing everypony's eyes to snap to her. "With the information he gave us, I'm not willing to risk anypony's safety when he has the experience and equipment to survive until he decides to return."

All seven mares, except for Applejack, began shouting at her. All of them expecting her to let them venture after the human. The noise grew to almost unbearable levels before the orange mare stood, shooting her rear hooves into the wall of the library, causing a crack almost as loud as the shot Geoff had fired before.

"Would y'all quit bickerin?" She glared at them all, "If he's got the kinda experience he says he does, we ain't got a chance in tartarus of findin him unless he wants us to, ya hear?" She placed her hat back on her head, "'Sides, the Timberwolves started howlin' last night. Means they're more active since it's their mating season. We'd be more likely ta' run into a pack of them than into Geoff."

I trudged through the forest, swiping branches and vines out of my way in my anger. I couldn't believe it - them - I wasn't even sure anymore. I was just mad. It was one of those times that, in my younger days, I probably would've retreated to my room, jumped on my computer, and blast music for hours while browsing random websites while I just enjoyed the feeling of being mad.

But now it was a hindrance.

I could tell that I was unfocused, and that was a problem. Even though I'd only spent less than a day in the company of those ponies, I was already missing Fluttershy at least. The name calling I could handle, even the wild accusations that I was some psychopathic murderer, which in all honesty I could be. But the look on Shy's face when she looked at me, it had a certain. . . soul rending capacity to it that I'd never seen before.

'Come on, Geoff,' I mentally scolded, 'You've been fine on your own for this long, just buckle down and fall back into that routine.

I sighed, checking my rifle and chambering a round, doing the same for my pistol. I regretted leaving my knife behind, as it would probably have come in handy out here. Who's to say, though? Taking count of my supplies, I realized that I had little water. I grumbled in frustration as I set a stream to the top of my to-find list, if things got really desperate, I could always find a clearing and make a rain trap from the MRE wrapping, the Everfree looked like it got frequent showers.

*SMACK*

"FUCK!"

Processing different scenarios for housing arrangements, I wasn't paying attention to my path. I'd walked straight into a low hanging branch. I shouted in pain as I fell back on my ass, the muzzle of my SCAR digging into the soft mud of the forest floor and getting a good chunk of filth into the barrel. I groaned in pain as I brought my hand away from my nose, which was producing a gratuitous amount of blood.

I brought my rifle up from the mud, scooting my stupid ass back against the offending tree as I removed the round from the chamber and reinserted it into the magazine. I'd have to deal without my primary weapon until I could break it down for cleaning, or risk having the barrel explode in my face.

Yeah, I had a lot of old scars, but I did not yet have one from a SCAR.

"Yo dawg, I heard you like scars," I muttered, chuckling at my own horrid sense of humor before sighing as I realized just how terrible the joke would've been if my friends had been around to hear it.

I picked myself up, deciding to ignore the bloody nose for now as I felt the hot liquid displace itself to my face and chin. I considered wiping it on my hand or something, but that would just lead to a mess that I didn't feel like dealing with at the moment. Besides, I was looking for a stream. I could wash up there.

Four hours.

Four fucking hours of hiking and not a single stream. Either I was going in circles, or my assessment of the Everfree had been the exact opposite of accurate. On the up side, my feet felt dry and, for once, not excruciatingly painful. I silently thanked Twilight for that, even if we weren't on good terms anymore.

I found a decent sized tree and climbed up to the highest weight supporting limb, watching the moon as it descended toward the horizon. Dawn wasn't quite here, but the skyline to the east was beginning to lighten. My eyes burned from straining to see in the dark, even though I mostly relied on my hearing during my night treks.

I wiped as much crusted up blood from my face as I could, hoping that I wasn't too much of a wreck. By this point I'd pretty much figured out my path. I knew I would have to face the princesses again, although how and when had yet to be decided. Part of me hoped that Luna would speak to me in my dreams, although I wasn't too keen to see her. Even if she knew what it was like to be alone. . .

Hell, maybe she did. But my experience wasn't just isolation, it was survival. Having to scrounge ruins and run from threats or kill them, that was what I'd done for those four years. I survived. I had no reason to continue other than keeping myself alive, even if I claimed I was searching for my family, inside I knew they were long gone.

Realizing that I had been zoning out, I looked toward the eastern horizon to see the first rays of sun peeking over the distant mountains. I also realized that Ponyville sat in a nice little valley. To the north and south were more towering peaks, and it seemed that to my west was some sort of pass where the Everfree had seemingly invaded from.

I was near the base of a mountain as I sat, realizing that there was a city high up on the mountain side. I could barely make out the ghost of a silhouette as I stared in wonder. The entire thing was built upon what looked like an artificial shelf. I couldn't imagine it being stable enough to support a community, but maybe their magic was at work there.

I watched the moon a little longer as it fell behind the western horizon, before leaning back against the tree and dozing off. I wasn't worried about falling, sleeping in trees wasn't very comfortable, but for a nap, I wasn't going to complain when there was an opportunity to avoid any carnivores on the ground.

Darkness.

Darkness all around me, I could feel something soft beneath my boots, but I couldn't tell what it was. Cold air assaulted my face, or rather, just cold. I couldn't feel a breeze, or any movement of atmosphere as I moved my arm. I could hear crying. . . somewhere.

Looking around again, I noticed a faint glow coming from one side of. . . wherever I was. I could tell there was a hill there, so I began to climb. The terrain under my boots shifted and slid as I navigated my way up to the light. This void I was in was freezing, to the point where I could swear my breath was forming into ice drops in front of my face, which confused me since there was no air to breathe.

I clawed my way up the silt covered edifice, turning once to watch in wonder as my boots kicked up a rooster tail of particles that floated into the rays of light, creating a sparkling arc in the pitch blackness. The sobs were more pronounced now, beckoning me to the source. My climbing gained speed as I neared the lip of the wall, finally reaching out to pull myself over the edge.

I was blinded by the light for a moment, the unfiltered rays of a distant sun assaulting my exposed upper body. I realized that I wasn't wearing my pack or vest, and had no weapons on my person. Just my boots and pants. The heat from that star before me was so hot I was sure that I should have been on fire.

It felt like an oven, which perplexed me. Only seconds ago I was in temperatures so cold it burned, and now my body felt so hot that it was like being stabbed with ice every instant.

Blinking the light from my eyes, I gazed forward. The view took my breath away. I'd seen images from the moon of the Earth coming up, but to see it for myself was a religious experience to be sure.

Whites, blues, greens, even the tan of a desert here and there. They all meshed together into a collage of life. I thought for a moment about how many people were down there, living their lives happily, looking up at the moon as it rode through the sky. I turned away from the Earth to see the stars, which were more numerous than I would have ever thought possible.

I could do nothing but stare as the sheer number of stars overwhelmed my vision. Thousands upon millions of specks of light, each one potentially holding worlds and life of their own, I found it hard to believe that we could be the only intelligent life in the galaxy if each of those had the potential to shelter Earth-like worlds.

More sobs interrupted my thoughts. I turned back to the planet, to the day-side of the moon that I was on. Covering my eyes, I strode toward the source of those cries. They seemed familiar to me, and I realized that I had made that noise before, just after realizing that everyone I had ever known was dead.

After what felt like an eternity, the sobbing stopped abruptly with a sharp intake of breath. Somehow I'd managed to walk right by whoever it was, and they were now behind me and to the right.

"Even in my dreams, you remind me of what a failure I am."

That voice was familiar also. . . I turned around, and gasped slightly at what I saw.

"Luna," I rasped, surprising myself with the sound of my voice. She looked terrible, her cheeks matted with dried tears that boiled away the moment they left her eyes, her starry mane faded to a baby blue color, hanging limply from her neck, around her shoulders instead of flowing as it usually did.

She turned away, sulking off toward the horizon. My curiosity was piqued, however, so I jogged after her, or tried to. My first push sent me flailing into the air, my startled swings causing me to do a full front flip and rotate so I was facing away from her. I turned quickly, marching much more carefully as I caught up to her after several minutes. She had found a new spot to weep, and was staring at the ground as I reached her from behind.

I placed a hand on the base of her neck, between her shoulders. She tensed up at the contact.

"Luna, what's going on? Where are we?" I asked as gently as I could, kneeling beside her so we were level with each other.

She glared at the dust, wrestling with herself over what to say, "We're on the moon, of course."

I nodded, "Well I figured that, but why are we here, was what I meant."

She sighed, "I know why I am here, but I do not know how you came to be in my dream."

I raised an eyebrow at her, "And I don't know how you got in mine. Unless we're sharing a brain at the moment. But that doesn't answer my question; why are we here, Luna?"

She groaned a bit, "We're here because I made a mistake, Geoff. I failed to protect somepony that I cared for deeply, and the resulting chain of events landed me upon the moon that I so dutifully watched over. . . I was banished here, to contemplate the consequences of my actions for one thousand years."

Something clicked in my mind, ". . . That light, the one that Shadow died to. . ." I lost myself in thought as I ran over the memory again, "Luna, that was. . . you, and who else?"

Luna stared at me with a quizzical expression, "What light? What do you mean?"

"My memories, er, the memories of the pack, the ones that I told you and Celestia about. There was one from the Alpha that showed a huge explosion, it's when he died. There were two beings fighting over the city where he was living." I rubbed my eyes, it was getting harder to differentiate between my mind and the implanted images.

Luna's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, and she gasped, "That- you know of that?"

I nodded solemnly, "I watched it happen as if I were there myself."

New tears formed in Luna's eyes, her crying picked up again, "The- The other was Cel- Celestia."

I sighed, realizing now that it was the two sisters clashing over the doomed city. I berated myself for bringing up such obviously painful memories for her, but at the same time I was reeling from what she had told me. I replaced my hand between her shoulders, rubbing lightly. I gave a startled yelp when she dove at me, drawing me into a bone crushing hug.

"I-I'm so so-rry," she sobbed, before collecting herself enough to speak, "I should never have tried to use my own banishment as a comparison to what you must have gone through. I-"

"That's enough, Luna." I growled, a little more harsh than what I had intended. "I'm sorry for reacting as I did also. You've been through a lot, and while I see no need for you to apologize, I accept it."

She drew herself back, smiling a little through the tears.

"What's more, I can't help but feel that we cannot compare our experiences without making one or the other seem unimportant. While one could make the argument that I only lived for four years like that-"

"One could also make the argument that I only spent one thousand years out of a potential millions here," Luna cut me off, "When one looks at the ratios of time spent like this, and total time alive, I believe that in the end yours amounts to a larger percentage of your life."

I chuckled, "I guess, yeah. So we're good?" I asked hesitantly, still weary of her depressed state of mind.

She giggled, "I suppose we are, all of us would like for you to return to Ponyville, though. After how things developed as they did, all of the girls are sad that you left before they could apologize."

I sighed, shaking my head, "Not yet. You I can forgive, Luna. We have reached an understanding about each other, I think, and while I may have overreacted, I'm not ready to forgive them yet."

Luna furrowed her brow, "What do you mean?"

I sighed again, wondering how that was possible on the moon, "They didn't do anything, Luna, and that's the problem. They didn't step in to tell that Soarin asshole off, they didn't step in and help their friend, they let me do it for them." Luna went to speak, but I cut her off, "And what's more, after it was all said and done, they didn't thank me, they didn't even walk it off like nothing had happened. They were horrified by my actions, and when I tried to explain myself, Applejack told me to just leave and called me a monster right to my face."

My shoulders sank, all the fight leaving me as Luna wrapped me in another hug. Truth be told, I wouldn't mind going back to Fluttershy, she made a good space heater at night.

"So what will you do?" Luna asked from my shoulder.

I returned the hug, feeling myself drifting back to my body, "I'll survive, just like I have for the last four years. Eventually, when I can come back without blowing up in their faces like I did before, I'll allow them to say whatever they want, but not yet. I'd just end up yelling at them and leaving again."

Luna nodded in understanding, "Well until then, I'll keep a watchful eye out for your dreams. Some company couldn't hurt when you sleep, right?"

I chuckled a bit, drifting further from her, "Yeah, that sounds nice. See you later, I think I'm waking up."

Author's Note

So here's chapter 6. Right up there ^

If I messed anything up, let me know, but I'm liking it.

Removed the Slice of Life tag, because it's not quite SOL, and it's not quite adventure. . . so in place of either of those, I put the random tag.

Also, I broke down pretty accurately how I feel about the whole Luna's banishment vs Geoff's survival in this chapter. I don't like comparing them because the circumstances were entirely different and unique, and to say one was tougher would devalue the will and experiences of the other in my eyes. So there's a beautiful grey area for you.

. . . So much grey. . .

PS: The mystery of what happened between Soarin and Dash continues to elude you readers. I'm getting some sadistic glee out of making you wait for that little story.