Walking home, I realized how far I had truly walked. When I was initially walking, it didn’t seem very far. Walking home, it felt like I had been walking for one whole hour. And that was just the train track. Once I finally got back into the city, it took me about another thirty minutes to reach my apartment. The walking was better when I was in a depressed state.

Opening the door to my apartment, I looked around, expecting Fluttershy to greet me as I entered. And then a got a smack in the face from good old realization. She was gone. Hell, I just saw a vision of her in the sky. I plopped down on the couch and just stared into space. I had nothing to do, and nothing to care about. I wanted so badly to just start talking to someone. Anyone! But sadly, I was alone.

I figured that sitting around and sulking in my sorrow wouldn’t do me any good. I got up, got my laptop, and sat right back down. I opened it up, signed on, and turned on ITunes. I needed to listen to some music. I set it to play the songs in a random order, picked a song to start off with, and let the music start playing. The first few were kick ass rock songs. Following that, a few softer songs to calm me down a bit more. And then, a few more hard rock songs. But, when the song “Hymn for the Missing” came on, I immediately turned off the music. I shut the laptop and stared into space yet again.

“Why did I have to download that song after all?” I asked myself. I loved the song in all honesty, but in my current state, it would crush me. I didn’t know whether or not to get it originally because of its heavy emphasis on the orchestral music. There weren’t enough lyrics in the song to keep me wanting more. But, eventually, I wound up getting it. That was about three years ago. Now, I was regretting it.

With my flow of music disrupted, I needed something else to keep my mind off things. I figured that watching TV wouldn’t do it, and music was now a bust. So, to solve the problem, I turned on my Xbox, took out the disc for Assassin’s Creed 3, and put in the disc for Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. Old as it was nowadays, it still had a great charm in my heart.

As I loaded up my game file, I was reintroduced to the charismatic Edward Kenway. When the game was being advertised, I had a heavy interest in the character. I loved him before the game came out. Playing the game fully, he became my second favorite assassin. Sure, the assassins of the games following were alright, but not quite as unique as Edward. So, as the nostalgia finished setting in, I went about playing the game.

About two hours had passed as I was finishing my gameplay. The sun was starting to set. I decided to turn off the game and make myself some dinner. Nothing too fancy, just some left over pizza. I was quick to eat my meal, for I was quite tired now. I hopped in the shower quickly, brushed my teeth, got dressed for sleeping, and collapsed on my bed. I didn’t know what to expect from my dreams tonight. But, a part of me hoped that Princess Luna would pay me another visit.

Low and behold, I awoke in my dreams to a starry night sky. It was much like the first time Luna had appeared in my dreams. I looked around the vivid sky, captivated by the millions of stars. I was curious, however, as to why Luna hadn’t showed up yet. I waited for the ball of light that preceded her arrival, but it was taking its sweet time. Eventually, it appeared in front of me, and soon was replaced by Princess Luna.

“Hello once again Matthew,” Luna greeted me. “How was your day?”

“I… I surprisingly can’t complain that much. It was better than I expected it to be,” I answered. “How’s Fluttershy doing?” I quickly asked.

“She is fine. Once again, I have already visited her. However, when I told that you still love her, she said that she already knew that. From what she told me, you two had yet another encounter, albeit across our two worlds. She tells me that the zebra Zecora aided her in this.” I face palmed out of pure stupidity. Why didn’t I figure that out?

“That makes sense. When it happened, I didn’t really care if it was real or not. Seeing as though it was real, I didn’t care how it was happening. I guess I know now.” Luna nodded her head and started to gaze through the stars.

“You know, the stars reveal quite a lot to me. While I was not focused on Fluttershy’s actions for the day, I was quite focused on you. I don’t mean to disturb you in any way, but I must say that you seemed to be handling everything quite well. How are you now?” Luna asked.

“Fine, I guess. Seeing Fluttershy earlier definitely lightened me up a bit. But this morning… everything I did felt better. Well, actually, it’s not that it felt better. It felt…” I didn’t know how to describe it all. I dug through my mind to find a proper way to describe it, but nothing came up.

“No need to continue. Clearly your loss has changed you. It remains to be seen whether or not this is for better or worse. I only hope that you may hold on to yourself for the time being. Fluttershy had quite a poor experience with Rainbow Dash this morning,” Luna said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Apparently, Rainbow Dash believes that Fluttershy should forget about you, and that she does not care for you. She claimed that the rest of her and Fluttershy’s friends also cared not for you. Surely, this was all said out of rage, but that does not make it less painful. Fluttershy ran off and wound up at Zecora’s hut in the Everfree Forest. You know what happened afterwards,” Luna explained.

I couldn’t believe what I had heard. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy’s closest and most loyal friend, uttering those words to Fluttershy’s face. I couldn’t wrap my head around it all.

“Why?” I asked. “Why would she do that?”

“I do not know. Fluttershy only told me what she said. She did not explain to me the aftermath of when she returned home. She didn’t even say if she had spoken to Rainbow Dash and the rest of her friends again.” I felt a little pain in my heart just then. Those were Fluttershy’s closest friends. Something bad must have happened if she didn’t want to talk about them with the Princess. But, that was Fluttershy’s business. I had no say in the matter as it were anyway.

“Well… alright then. What about reuniting us? Have you spoken to Princess Celestia?” I asked.

“I proposed the idea to my sister. She quickly shot down anything I had to say with the same excuses she told you. I aim to persuade her further, but it may take some time. When she discovered that I have been communicating to you both, she was also highly displeased with me. I may not be visiting you in your dreams as often as I would like to soon enough. I am sorry Matthew,” Luna explained.

“It’s alright. You’re doing what you can, and I appreciate that. It’s more than I could really ask for. I guess if what you say is true, then there may be no reason for me to give you any messages for Fluttershy then,” I said, sighing heavily afterwards.

“Although I may not be able to visit her anytime soon, I surely have no troubles relaying any messages to her. While it may take time, I will tell her what you have to say regardless. She wished for me to tell you that she loves you too in fact.” I remembered back to before. I had shouted up to the sky that I loved her. She was responding to me. That thought in mind, a tear rolled down my cheek.

“You don’t know how much that means to me. Well, if you’re willing to take a message…” but I trailed off. I couldn’t think of anything. I sighed in defeat.

“I understand. I’ll be sure to visit you first next time. That way, if you think of anything, you may tell me. Now, I must go. If my sister discovers my current acts, she may become even more displeased than she is already. Until next time Matthew, this is goodbye,” Luna said, bowing her head to me.

“I hope to see you again soon Princess Luna. Thank you for everything you’ve done so far,” I responded, bowing my head as well. She smiled as she stepped towards me. Her horn lit up as bright as one of the stars in the sky. She lowered her horn to my head. At first, nothing happened. And a moment later, after she removed her horn, still nothing happened. I looked at her confusedly, but she simply turned around and walked away.

She disappeared, and I was left alone in the starry sky.

Author's Notes:

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Another visit from Luna finishes up Matthew's first full day without Fluttershy. What's been happening in Equestria? What happened when Luna visited Fluttershy's dreams? You'll find out in the next chapter.