Moonlit Dreams

	It's tough to live in the big city when you prefer to be alone. The hustle and bustle of it all can really get on your nerves. The standard routines of driving to school, the noisy traffic, the flamboyantly bright colored cars, the crowds of students, yelling at friends from across the hall. All of it drives me to the brink of insanity. I suppose this is why I choose to enjoy the night. Where everyone is sitting, watching tv, chatting with each other. I'm here, at my computer, spending hours staring at the moon....that beautiful moon. Whereas in the sun, the noises are everywhere, one cannot get a single peaceful moment to themselves, in the moon, everything is quiet, I can finally have my alone time.
	I can spend lifetimes looking at the moon, observing it's craters, looking at the terrain formed from billions of years of wear and tear. It's so large, and the brightest thing in the night sky, and yet so silent, so unobtrusive. It is the epitome of everything I look for in life. Which is why I began to wander outside at night. I would sneak, to avoid confrontation with my parents, outside and marvel at the moon. I would heave a sigh of relief in the silence of the night. This was my sanctuary.
	The terrain in my city is strange, it's still "in the city", though because of how wide the city expanded, it might as well be a suburb. Houses are a good distance apart, with a reasonable sized yard, each house fairly large (mine the largest in the neighborhood) and there is plenty of green space.
	I was thirteen when I first saw it. I was outside, sighing relief and enjoying my sanctuary for what little time I could. Staring at the stars and the moon, that wonderful moon. When something in the darkness caught my eye. A fleeting animal grabbed my attention, only for an instant. I ignored it, chalking it up to the stray cats the neighborhood seems to have adopted. It would happen again for the whole week. A light step, the sound of grass crunching magnified by the silence of the night, then a flit of something before it was gone again. Eventually my curiosity piqued. When the sound of the grass came, I pretended to have ignored it. Silence. Then another light crunch. Still ignoring it, I allowed whatever it was a few more steps before I snuck my peek. Seeing me, it fled again, but not before I got a glimpse of whatever was stalking me. It was difficult to see in the night, the outline blurred due to what I figured was a black coat. It was much larger than the cats I had originally thought it to be, it seemed to be the size of a small horse. I let this horse be for a few more nights before I tried to entice it again. I left a carrot a good distance away from me, but closer than the horse has ever gotten before, to see if I could draw it in. Sure enough it came closer, but only briefly, to investigate the bright orange intruder in the darkness. It didn't even bother to take the carrot. It did, however, become accustomed to getting close and would venture closer and closer until it sat itself down right next to me. When I looked over, it seemed nervous, as it if was afraid of me. I spoke in a hushed voice, "beautiful isn't it?" and I looked back over to the moon. I didn't dare look back at the horse, I didn't want to scare it off.
	After that encounter, I came to accept the nightly visits as a normal occurrence. The horse would come, it would sit by me, and we'd stare at the moon for a while before I'd got back inside. This pattern of moon gazing continued until one special day.  I had been laying down in the grass, and the horse had come over. It sat down next to me, and after a brief moment of silence, a voice. A sweet, beautiful, calm voice spoke to me from the horse. "Beautiful, isn't it?" it asked. Startled, I jumped. The horse took a step back as I shot up from the grass and stared at it. "You can talk!?" I managed to whisper after what felt like an hour of gawking at it. "Y-yes" it stammered, in a slightly higher, more worried voice. What I felt was baffling to say the least. I was ecstatic, I had befriended a talking horse. I was worried, could this horse be real? I decided to call it a night so I could wrap my head around what had just happened. Not wanting to be rude, I bid it a goodnight and went inside.
	That event is what started my beautiful friendship with her. After she had talked, I was able to recognize the horse as a her.  Our friendship started small. After the night when she talked,  she came over with the same timidness as when she first saw me. She stepped lightly, making sure not to startle me. She spoke in short sentences, with a hushed voice. I apologized for leaving so suddenly, explaining how the situation was very confusing and I needed time to consider what had happened. She accepted my apology, though looked slightly hurt.  She introduced herself, she was Luna. What a fitting name, I thought. My love for the moon, and she became the one friend I could stand to be around for extended periods of time.
	Most of the relationships I had made in my younger years began to dwindle and fade. I'd stop inviting them over, and they'd do the same, eventually a socially successful day became holding a conversation with them at lunch or in class. All of my affection was directed to Luna. As the nights passed us by, she'd explain to me who she was, and why she was here. "I lead the moon" she'd say, "I keep it moving across the night sky". I'd found this hard to believe, but slowly a reality dawned on me. I would spend several hours talking to her, and the moon would be in the same position. She told me of her sister, Celestia (a name I've always found to be pompous), and the roles she plays in the world as well. She told me of her origins in the land of "Equestria" , apparently a nation filled with talking ponies. I began to wonder if perhaps I was just insane, and this outline in the dark that I was talking to was a hallucination and that I was hearing voices.
	I brought a flashlight out one night, to see if it was a solid being I was conversing with. Luna came, as always, and with her permission I shined the light on her. She stood a good 3' 6", maybe a little shorter, her coat was a dark blue, her mane a lighter blue, much like the sky at the dusk hours. Her eyes were larger than I had expected, but I grew to like them. She wore a crescent moon on her flank. My favorite feature about her was an onyx studded tiara on her head, featuring a few sapphire stars and a large diamond crescent moon in the middle.  It was an impressive piece of jewelry. I also noticed a peculiar feature near the tiara, a horn. While examining her coat, I found wings. So not only was I having nightly meetings with a talking pony, but I'm having nightly meetings with a talking winged unicorn, or perhaps a talking horned pegasus? I had never heard of such a creature and did some research, according to some long lost European mythology during the age before Christianity, I'm talking to an alicorn. All of this I accepted in surprising stride. I suppose I was just happy to have someone who I connected so well with.
	Connect we did. We would spend hours talking, telling our stories. I, the lonely teenage boy with mediocre grades, no friends, and a fascination for history, and she, the princess alicorn from beyond what she called the "everfree forest"(how fitting that the everfree forest is in the United States). She spoke of her long voyages to deliver the moon and the night to the people of the world.  She told of this with much stuttering. I shined my light on her (I had carried it out with me every night since I first had it) and saw she was crying. Upon asking, she broke down and wept. "Nopony appreciates my gift", she sobbed "they all go to sleep and miss my nights".  I calmly replied, "I may not be much, but I love the moon. Its silent grace leaves me in awe every night, and spending those nights looking at the moon with you makes it all the more amazing". I knelt down and embraced her. Her tears were flowing into my shoulder and I felt a hoof rest itself on me. She had returned my hug. Her quiet sniffles assured me that my words had done the trick. She gave me a smile, and told me "well then, I guess the moon shines just for you".
	That night, upon looking back, was the mark of a change in our friendship.  She would look at me differently, and I felt differently about her. We were no longer just conversation partners, there was a deeper connection. We became closer than before, and I'm sure if it weren't for the species difference, I would've made her my girlfriend. We would more or less snuggle as we looked at the moon; She'd sit down near me and make sure her body was touching mine. I grew to love the feel of her fur and mane on me, it was the feel of comfort. Our friendship came to symbolize a release of all the pent up stress of the day. The crowded, noisy halls, the lectures from the teachers, the homework, the sound of cars speeding down nearby roads, all were reminders that life was full of noise, frustration, and stress.  It would bring me to a near depression, how annoyingly difficult life could be. Yet, looking at the moon, with Luna by my side put a smile on my face, a joy in my heart, and renewed vigor that maybe life wasn't so bad. One day, I told her this. She looked at me, a tears in her eyes. "Never has anypony been so kind to me", she whispered.  We embraced again.
	To say that we were friends would be an understatement. We certainly were more than friends. I have no idea what to call it. We connected on an emotional level I believe would be equal to a boyfriend and girlfriend, and yet we weren't. The species difference was primarily what held us back from advancing past friendship. I wouldn't even call it best friendship, it was beyond that as well. I needed her because she made me happy. Her calm, quiet demeanor was as mysterious as it was wonderful. She was very much like the object she led across the night sky.  She enjoyed my company because I offered her appreciation and I kept her company. I made her feel special for her gift, and I enjoyed it with her. I can't think of anything to describe our connection, so I'll just call it friendship. We were two friends, enjoying the same dream under the light of the moon. A dream of happiness, a dream of appreciation, a dream of compassion, a dream of friendship. These dreams brought us pleasure in a lonely world. They kept us close. They were our moonlit dreams.

	Things went well for a while, we would sit together, look at the moon, have our discussions. All the while though, something was changing. I would notice little things. Her eyes looked different, maybe more cat-like than before. I would ask her about this, she told me she had no idea what I was talking about. Luna grew to be taller than me. I was fourteen at the time, I stood maybe 5'5-5'6, I didn't grow much until later on. I told myself that ponies age faster, so she would be taller sooner. Her mane went from the dusk blue to a flowing starry mane. She told me that alicorns had these flowing manes, so I ignored it and again decided it was part of her growing up. She began to get more aloof. She would express her opinions on loneliness, telling me that she felt unappreciated. I would remind her that I thoroughly enjoyed the nights with her. She would fall silent, and that would be the end of the conversation.  Finally, she outright changed. She was angrier, she spat fire at me, accusing me of not appreciating her gift either. "Don't think I don't know what you do when you go inside" she flamed, "You go to sleep, just like all the others!" I couldn't respond, she was right. I quietly confessed my sin, and she flew off, carrying the moon across the sky once more. It was the first time Luna left before I went inside, and it crushed my heart.
	Another occurrence began to make itself apparent. The moon would change phases. I had never realized it, but whenever I was with Luna, the moon was always full. Suddenly I was looking at a quarter moon, then a crescent. When the time of the new moon came around, I was left in tears. Luna has stopped visiting me for over a month. I was devastated. She was my only friend, she was my sanctuary, dammit, she was the only reason I had to be happy, and she was gone. I would sit outside, in some desperate hope that she would come again, always to be disappointed. The moon never returned either.

	Late into my fifteen years of life, the next remarkable occurrence happened. It's been nearly two years since Luna disappeared, my heart still twinges at the memories of good times gone. A knock at the door, though it sounds different from the rapping of the usual mail carrier or solicitor. I open the door to a mail carrier, but of a different breed. She stands about 3 feet tall, with a lazy eye (normally I try to avoid looking at lazy eyes, however in this case it looked rather humorous). She identified herself as "Derpy Whooves" and with a salute, announced that I have a "telegram". I enjoyed the rather old fashioned delivery of my mail, and wished her a pleasant day. Seeing her brightened my mood briefly, if another pony from Equestria had made it here, perhaps there was hope yet of seeing my cherished Luna. I opened the letter Derpy had delivered. It was written in an orange ink, with very large, very curvy cursive writing. It read as follows:

"Dear Sir,
Per request of my dear little sister, I am writing you to inform you that due to treasonous actions and general endangerment of pony lives, Princess Luna, alias "Nightmare Moon", has been banished from Equestria. In order to ensure she does not seek aid from your world, or attempt to destroy it, I have banished her to the moon. She is to remain there indefinitely.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia,
Royal court of Canterlot"
I was devastated. Banished!? How could she be banished? "treasonous action and general endangerment of pony lives", My Luna couldn't have done this, and what's with that alias "nightmare moon"? My mind was swimming, but one thing was certain, Luna was not coming back. I wept in a way a boy never hopes he would. The sorrow, the pain I felt at this loss stayed with me. Without Luna, I had nothing. I would turn to the internet, in hopes that maybe someone out there could help.
	I was sixteen, and a new craze had hit the internet. Bronies, so they called themselves. A group of fans, men, who had discovered that a new show from a famous cartoon producer called My Little Pony was actually really good. Initially I ignored it, finding all the hype to be a little ridiculous. One day, curiosity got the better of me, as it often does, and I watched an episode. I was shocked when I saw what it was about. I couldn't believe that the stories Luna had told me were presented right before me. It made me think of her, I had to stop. Too many painful memories were being brought back. Once I built up the strength, I went back to it once more. I had discovered what became of my Luna. I was appalled. Turning day into permanent night, nearly killing off her own sister? How could Luna, the very one who snuggled up next to me and brought me my one joy every night, do this? It was night time now, and upon looking out the window, the moon was back, but with a hideous shade of red. I don't recall what happened that night after I saw what my Luna had become, but I know I woke up with what looked like a suicide note in my hands.
	After the night of the red moon, the moon returned to its normal color. Seeing the moon back brought about a new liveliness in me. Everything seemed like it was going to be ok. I laughed, yes, actually laughed at the headline in the newspaper reading "Scientists clueless at sudden reappearance of moon". Every day I would wait anxiously for nightfall, and every night I would wait patiently for Luna's return, but every night I would return indoors without a sighting. Several weeks had passed by, and a new episode of the television series had come out. I watched, dying to know what happened to my Luna. The ending was satisfactory enough as an episode ending, but for me it was the ultimate sigh of relief, not only did she live, she's the old Luna I had grown to love.
	More so than ever had I regained hope. I waited, from dusk, until I could hardly stay awake, looking everywhere for her. A week had passed since the episode was released. I had waited, to no avail, yet again. As I got up to walk inside, I took a step and heard the usual crunch of grass, but I also heard something else. As if I had taken two steps. I tested again, and sure enough, another second step. I was a little freaked out, but my heart jumped to my throat. I turned around to see if my suspicious were right. Sure enough, off in the distance stood Luna, her ears and head lowered. When I spied her, she shied away, acting like I was going to hurt her. Seeing her this timid brought back memories of our first encounters. Inspired by memories of good times, I went over to confront her. She looked at me with the most sad, apologetic eyes I had ever seen. Seeing her this upset tore my heart out. "So?" I asked, more to break the tension than to actually ask a question. The question came out with a harshness I had not intended, and she dropped her head lower and averted her eyes. She stared at the ground, not saying a word. I went back to the spot I had been waiting originally. She slowly walked over and sat down next to me, never once taking her eyes off the ground. I tried to avoid looking at her, seeing her this sad brought me to the edge of tears. I looked at the moon, a stray tear or two escaping down my cheek, glinting in the moonlight. I looked over at her once more, she too had been crying.
	Could things ever be the same between us? After all she had done, after taking away the only joy I had left in the world? I wished more than anything that it could. Seeing those tears in her eyes moved me to break the nearly tangible tension between us. I put my hand up to her eye, and caught a tear. She jumped a little, not expecting me to even look at her, let alone touch her. I flicked the tear away. She looked into my eyes. "Beautiful, isn't it?" I asked, a stupid grin coming onto my face. Her ears perked up when she heard this. She turned her head to me, her eyes begging for forgiveness. Before I could react she took me by the back of the neck, and brought me to her. "I'm so sorry" she whispered into my ear. "I know" I said, returning the embrace.  We held this position for a while, just sitting there, letting out all our emotions. When we let go of each other, the past was gone. All the damage done, all the people who were hurt, gone in that embrace. All had been forgiven.