A Second Life chapter 3

>You set your head down on the desk in front of in frustration.
>You had been at trying to form sentences for almost 5 hours now, but no matter what they always seemed to come out broken.
>Luna seemed to pick up a bit of English in the month, but communication between the two of you was still difficult.
>“You are doing well, Anonymous.”
>She nuzzled you shoulder, in efforts to bring your head off the table.
“No, bad.”
>”You mean: No, I am doing bad. And no you are not.”
>You slowly raised your head, looking at the texts in front of you intently.
>Luna looked at the clock on the wall, and stood. “Excuse me, I am running late.”
“Yes, Princess. Good night.”
>You didn’t even bother to look up from the book in front of you as Luna trotted out to do whatever it was before the sunset.
>Maybe she liked to watch the moon rise, she had that tattoo on her flank after all.
>Come to think of it, every horse had a tattoo on their flanks, usually corresponding to their job, such as the seamstress, and her sewing needle.
>Speaking of which, these clothes were great, if not a little plain.
>They were pretty warm, probably made from cotton. The pants were a regular shade of blue while the shirt was somewhat of a white button up.
>Underwear hadn’t been included, but there was no way they could know about that little detail. You were surprised they even made pants and a shirt separate.
>You started burning the midnight oil in your studies, quite literally, committed to getting at least a few phrases down.
>”Anon?”
>The sudden voice from behind you nearly gave you a heart attack, forcing you to leap to your feet, and knocking the chair over.
>The guard posted at your door rushed into the room, charging at you head on with ferocious speed
>A light blue mist surrounded him only inches away from you, halting him in his tracks.
>At first he seemed confused, but looking to his left he saw Luna, staring at him blankly for a moment  before letting him down on the ground
>The guard silently dismissed himself, and returned to his post outside your door.
>For the first time ever, Luna closed the door behind him, leaving just the two of you alone.
“Why... close door?”
>Fuck that wasn’t a complete sentence, again.
>”Relax Anon, it is past midnight.”
“Why are you up?”
>Luna gave a small smile at your somewhat complete sentence. “Come with me.”
>You followed her out to the balcony, where she laid down on her stomach, looking up at you.
>You sat down next to her, and she shook her head to say no.
>Before you could ask, she lifted you into the air and onto her back, with your legs just in front of her wings.
>She stood up, lifting you with ease.
“Luna, what the hell are you doing?”
>Well shit, you reverted back to English on that last one, and before you could translate your sentence back she leapt off the balcony and into the air.
>Riding with your legs dangling off the side off a Blackhawk into a combat zone was one thing, this just seemed stupid dangerous.
>You threw your arms around her neck, ensuring not to squeeze too hard. The last thing you wanted to do was accidently choke her way up here.
>Luna told you once more to relax, and descended toward a hillside outside the city, leaving the lamplight behind.
>In fact it was so dark you didn’t realize you had landed until you felt your feet touched down on the ground, and the wind went back to a gentle breeze.
>Out here, you could really take in the beauty of the night sky, which seemed starrier than your own.
>Luna’s horn glowed once more, drawing down two apples, one of which levitated in front of you for your taking.
>You grabbed it out of the air and bit into the juicy fruit, its juices squirting all over you cheeks.
>Luna asked you something, though you could only make out a few words, leaving you to piece together the sentence with only a few words.
>Do you… something… stars… something?
>Luna could see you struggling with the words in your mind again. You’d pushed yourself too hard tonight.
>Her expression grew a bit sad looking, hanging her head, making you grow frustrated.
“Sorry…”
>She shook her head again, bringing herself closer to you and looking up at the night sky, sitting back on her haunches.
>The two of you sat in silence for a while; the peaceful night air was chilly, but not unbearable.
>Luna’s horn glowed softly, and up above the two of you several stars began to movie around in an unnatural way, as if…
“Are you doing that?”
>You pointed to her, then to the stars moving up above.
>She seemed happy with you noticing the correlation, and your sentence, and gave a nod, continuing to play with the stars above, pulling you in with her wing.
>You noticed she was beginning to do that a lot; she must know you liked it.
>You failed to suppress a small yawn after some time, drawing Luna’s gaze once more.
>“Come Anon, time for bed.”
>You gave her a nod, climbing back on top of her and holding lightly around her neck once more.
>Back in the air, you were a little more at ease. If she could move stars light years away, she could grab you in case you fell.
>Luna landed gracefully as ever at your balcony, laying down for you to climb off.
>The two of you exchanged goodnights, and Luna took back off into the sky to head to bed herself.
>You crawled in bed, your mind drifting to sleep before your head even hit the pillow.
>Of course, like every night you had been here, the nightmares came.
>Luna found herself back in Anon’s body, surrounded by sand and several metal buildings.
>Other than the intense heat, and carrying this extra weight things seemed fairly nice this time.
>But if nothing was wrong, why was she here?
>There was a whistling sound in the air, and everyone around Anonymous dove to the ground, several explosions pluming up sand all around him.
>One soldier leapt to his feet, making a run for more suitable cover.
>In a flash of smoke and sand, his body was replaced with a lingering pink mist.
>The sound of explosions was soon replaced by a constant high pitched ring.
>Shockwave after shockwave rolled over her, and even over the intense ringing she heard another whistle louder than ever.
>Not even a foot from Anonymous’ face, landed a dark green egg with yellow letters.
>A warming sensation flooded his lower regions, and the distinct smell of urine wafted up into the nostrils.
>Luna and Anon both bolted up from the dream they shared in their respective rooms, only a couple hours after they had fallen asleep.
>Sure enough, you’d pissed yourself in real life as well, soaking the silk sheets in urine.
>You tossed the blankets out onto the balcony, letting them air out for the night.
>Back inside ran some hot water, splashing it in your face, trying to get the images out of your head once more.
>Inside, you could feel your energy already plummet, the lack of sleep finally getting to you.
>Vision blurred and your mind fogged as you drove your fist into the mirror repeatedly, slicing up your hand and shattering the mirror..
>What was the point in getting another life if what happened in your first was going to haunt you every night?
>The sensation of the warm mist crept around your body again, much like in your dreams, and…
>As you were putting two and two together, you fell back asleep, collapsing to the cold tile floor below you.
>A very tired Luna picked you up and placed you on the bed, lying next to you with wing draped over your body, her horn kept an ever present glow about the room.
>Strange, you seemed to remember passing out on the floor of the bathroom last night.
>Yet you could feel the distinct sensation of a mattress under you, and the silk sheets you had tossed out.
>The sun’s rays began creeping into your face, forcing you to squint your eyes.
>You grabbed the blanket on top of you, giving it a firm yank to pull it over your eyes.
>”Ow! Anon!”
>All of your wut.
>Sitting up, you forced your eyes open and took in the surroundings.
>Your vision was blurred, but you could make out dark blue objects all around.
>Somehow you had wound up in Luna’s room. Even worse, her bed, and naked.
>Oh god what did you do after you blacked out?
“Luna… what…?”
>You paused long enough to rub your eyes, clearing up the last of your blurry vision.
>”You had a nightmare, and your living conditions were less than suitable. It was late, so I brought you here.”
>Oh damn, that was pretty good English…
“How did… I mean…”
>You looked over at her, noticing every detail of her dark face.
>Her mane was unkept, her crown cast aside on the nightstand behind her.
>Her eyes had a tint of pink to them, and her eye sockets seemed a bit puffy, as if she had been crying all night.
“Luna what’s wrong?”
>Damnit, English. It was too early for Equestrian dialect.
>”Anon, ever since you came to Equestria, I have seen what could only be your dreams. Horrible images that have plagued you eveynight.”
>Heh, spoke too soon it seems. Wait what?
>“Last night… You had yet another nightmare. I went into your mind, looked at your memories-“
“YOU WHAT?!”
>Luna looked away, realizing her mistake in violating your privacy.
>”Please Anon, I only wanted to help you get over these dreams. I want to understand about what happened-“
“War happened.”
>”Tell me more-“
“What, you can’t just go through my memories again and see for yourself?”
>If only your knife had been as sharp as the tone of your voice.
>You stood up from her bed, walking over to the balcony.
“I want to return to my room.”
>She trotted up behind you, “Anon, tell me-”
“No.”
>”I want to help you.” You felt a hoof against your back, setting off a small but powerful spark deep in your mind.
“I don’t need it!”
>you spun on your heel, backhanding your only friend in the world in the side of her face.
>What in the name of nipples did you just do you asshole?
>Luna brought a hoof to the spot you struck, touching it lightly, her face filled with shock.
>A few tears dropped from her eyes as her horn glowed, and the room around you flashed out of existence.
>When the light faded, you found yourself back in your room.
>What did Luna think of you now? All of that violence and death she saw you cause must surely have altered her opinion of you somehow.
>You recalled the dream of the boy you had killed, maybe 10 years old.
>Your stomach wrenched at the mere thought of it.
>Had Luna’s mother, Celestia o whatever her name was, seen those same images, she would have killed you on the spot for sure. She was already not very fond of you after all.
>Still, Luna had seen those images, and still came to see you every day and teach you.
>You lay down on your bed, pondering why such a graceful creature would try to help a murderer like yourself…
>As wrong as it was for her to violate you in the way she did, she had the best intentions.
>Could you really be angry at your only friend in this world for that?
>No, you couldn’t. You weren’t a heartless monster, even if you just acted you.
>You cracked open you book, looking up a few key words before opening the door to the guard’s surprise.
>”Speak demon.” His eyes narrowed, wings flared, and head lowered ready to attack in case you made a run for it.
“I request audience with Princess Luna please.”
>You slinked back in your room, sitting on the bed, hoping Luna would see you after everything that just happened.
>Why did you hit her? She was only trying to help you ass.
>She had seen the images of war burned into your mind, that brief moment only would have convinced her you were nothing more than an intelligent monster.
>The day passed by at a crawl, with no sign of a messenger or anything, confirming your request.
>The only thing that did surprise you was the fact that guards hadn’t escorted you out on some platform and killed you in front of the crowd for attacking royalty.
>You decided to use your time wisely, studying the text books on the desk.
>If you lived through the day, you would still need to learn this stuff to speak to any other p0ny.
>Things moved a lot slower without a tutor to help you, and quiz you throughout the day, keeping you focused and on task.
>Night fell on the kingdom as you began putting away your books.
>Finally, a knock on the door.
>You didn’t even have to wonder who it was; Luna was the only one who ever knocked on your door before entering.
>Others usually just barged in; to them you were still a prisoner.
>You opened the door, confirming your thoughts.
>Luna stood there, her face still tired looking, and the spot you had struck swelled slightly.
>“Anonymous-“
“Please, come in Luna…”
>You stepped out of the door way, making your way to your bed and taking a seat on it
>Luna followed silently, pausing in the middle of the room, shuffling her hooves in a somewhat nervous manner.
>In unison, you both began “I’m sorry”, pausing once again before trying again. “You first.”
>Well, this was awkward.
“Ladies first, Princess.”
>“I’m sorry for intruding into your dreams… I should have asked your permission. My intentions were only to help you.”
“I forgive you Luna.”
>She seemed a bit shocked, making eye contact for the first time tonight. “That easily?”
>You gave a slow nod before continuing with your own apology.
“I’m sorry as well.”
>”It is fine Anonymous, you were upset-“
“No Princess, it isn’t fine. I really over reacted. Yelling at my only friend in the world, and then hitting her.”
>”I was in the wrong-“
“As was I. You were trying to help me, and I got angry at you for it.”
>Silence engulfed the room as the sun drifted slowly into the horizon
“Don’t you usually go somewhere for sundown? I wouldn’t want to keep you…”
>Luna stayed silent, moving outside to the balcony.
>Her horn glowed for a few minutes, while in the sky a full moon came into view.
>So that’s what she was always doing. She could control the distant stars, why not the moon?
>You almost felt retarded at taking so long to realize it all, but then again, magic was an aspect of life you were still getting used to.
>She trotted back inside, the moonlight just enough to illuminate the room in a soft glow.
>Luna stopped next to you, debating a something in her head.
“May I ask you a question Luna?”
>She gave a nod, seeming to answer her own question as she settled in next to you on the bed
“Everyone I’ve met has thought of me as a monster, as a…”
“Demon, except for you. Why would you care about a creature that no p0ny has ever seen before, that crawled out of a gate of Tartarus?”
>Luna paused a moment, pondering the question over and over in her head.
“Why would you care about a demon, with a history full of nothing but violence?”
>Luna looked off toward the moon, her eyes strained from exhaustion.
>“Because not long ago, I used to be a demon to all of Equestria. I know what it’s like to be hated by everyone for the past crimes you committed.”
>Color you intrigued, how could a lovely lady like Luna be seen as a demon?
>Brain, did you just call her lovely?
>”But now, I am tired, and I must rest. May our lessons resume tomorrow. Good night Anonymous, sweet dreams.”
“To you as well Princess.”
>Luna slowly rose, trotting to the door. “One last thing Anonymous. I forgive you for your actions earlier.”
“Thank you Luna, good night.”
>Luna left quietly, as you lay back on your bed, wondering again what she had done to earn the title of demon.
>Maybe you could go to the library tomorrow, and do some research.
>Maybe, if the guards let you.