The night was cold and a light rain was falling. My face was lit by the backwash from the headlights and the console in my old Taurus. Yvette was lightly dozing beside me in the passenger seat, her hands folded over her still growing belly. I smiled like a damn fool, in a few short months I would be a dad. We were driving back from visiting her parents. It had been a good day, full of love and fellowship with her family. We had waited until the fifth month to reveal the news. Needless to say her parents were delighted to know a grandchild was in the near future. On the way back we had stopped at the cemetery to tell my mother and grandparents. Though it was a somber occasion it, in a way, still felt joyful.

It was nearing eleven at night when I pulled in to the all-night station near our house. Just a block from home, but Yvette had woken up hungry and wanted some junk food, it was convenient. We walked in and I headed to the back of the store for my usual Gatorade while she raided the snack cakes.

I was walking up to the clerk when I saw the look on her face. She was terrified. Then I noticed the person at the register wearing a hoodie, face covered, and a revolver in their hand. I was not thinking. Only acting at this point. I saw someone in danger. I was equipped to deal with this. When Yvette had told me she was with child I had obtained a license to carry a firearm. I reached under my vest and pulled out my weapon. I leveled it at the robber in a two handed grip and made eye-contact with the clerk. I nodded. She dropped behind the counter while I shouted for the thief to drop the weapon.

To my horror they turned and fired. I fired back. My shot was true, one round, center mass. Their shot passed by. I walked forward kicking the gun from their reach as they lay clutching their stomach moaning in agony. I reach down and pull the hood back. It's just a kid. Maybe fourteen or fifteen at best. I yell for the clerk to call 911.

I turn to check on Yvette. Where is she? I walk back, shaking still from adrenaline. She is laying on the ground behind where I had been standing when I fired my weapon. She isn't moving. Her eyes are staring ahead lifelessly. I begin to scream.

I was standing in a field with an old oak tree. Green grass stretching from horizon to horizon. From behind the tree steps a pony. Larger than any I have seen to date. An alicorn with a midnight blue coat and a mane that shown with stars. She looked at me expectantly. I slowly walked towards her and stopped a few paces away.

"We greet you Bear O'Hara." She said in an even voice.

I looked at her curiously, I had been in the store stopping a robbery now I was here. "Where am I?" I asked with hesitation.

"You are in bed asleep Bear O'Hara, we have been trying to catch a glimpse in to your dreams and tonight for the first time we have been able to do so. Tell me human, do you always dream of such violence?"

She began walking in a circle around me, "Is it your nature to kill or be killed? Answer me human."

"Who are you? What is this place?" I asked again.

"Do not test our patience human, Princess Sparkle may think you are harmless and perhaps even a hero but what I have seen here so far does not convince me. I, Luna, Mistress of the night and the dreamworld can see deep in to any thinking being's soul when they dream. Your dreams have constantly have kept me at bay and I know not how." She snarled, her voice dripping with venom.

"Now I find my way in to your dreams with great effort and what do I see that you keep from me, I see murder. So tell me human is murder what you dream of, is it what makes your nights pleasant!" She demanded to me.

I started shaking, not knowing if it was anger, disgust, regret, or some horrid mix of the three. I leaned back against the tree and slid downwards until I was sitting upright hugging my knees to my chest. Finally I spoke. "Twilight told me about you. You are the one who controls the moon in this realm and watches over the aspects of the night. Princess you did not bear witness to a dream, that was a memory. One that haunts me every night."

Her face softened ever so slightly and she took a step back. Finally she laid down in the grass bringing us to eye-level. "Bear O'Hara truly we did not know. We thought...mistakenly...that this was. We are sorry." She reach a hoof out and gently placed it on my shoulder.

"This place is a dream isn't it?" I asked.

She nodded confirmation. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out, "Princess Luna, my mind, my dreams, are no place for royalty. They are a place of darkness, sin, and regret." Focusing I tried to control the dream. The world rippled and was replaced with a vista out of memory.

The Princess and I were now seated on a cliff in the Arizona desert. It was night time. I had visited this place when I went on a bit of a walkabout after Yvette's passing. I looked up and beheld the spread of the Milkway above me.  The Princess looked to me then to the night sky. "Is this another memory?" she asked.

I nodded, "Yes, though I lived in the countryside there was too much light pollution from the nearby city to see this. This is the first time I ever saw the Milky Way outside of a picture."

She looked up in wonder, "This is beautiful, truly your Night Princess must be of great talent."

"We have no magic in my world Princess, what you see is how nature made it." I said.

She looked at me, a hint of wonder on her face, "'Tis true? This is the hand of Creation itself and not an immortal?"

I smiled, "That is a religious debate that has gone on for a long time."

She nodded seemingly to understand.

"This was the first place I had felt any peace after she died." I said after a time.

The Princess only nodded in reply, still gazing up at the majesty of nature. Finally I did something on impulse, I began to sing.

"When the blazing sun is gone,

When the nothing shines upon,

Then you show your little light,

Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveler in the dark,

Thanks you for your tiny spark,

He could not see which way to go,

If you did not twinkle so."

I noticed finally the Princess staring at me, her mouth agape, "Forgive me Princess, it is a song from my world. I had looked forward to singing it to my child when they were born, to teach them to not fear the night."

If I didn't know better I would swear this immortal Princess was blushing. "Y-you truly fear not the night Bear O'Hara?"

I nodded my head, "I have always preferred the night to the day. When the sun would set the dark was easier on my eyes, the air was cooler and more comfortable to me. My wife and I would go on moonlit walks in the countryside. We would look up at the stars and marvel in their beauty."

I pointed upwards, "Though we never got to see anything like this together."

I felt her warm hoof on my shoulder again, "We were wrong about you Bear O'Hara. You are not dangerous, just hurt."

My face fell. "Princess, don't judge me on a partial memory and me waxing nostalgic."

She tilted her head, "What do you mean?"

The scene rippled and once more and we were outside the store. I stood by the Princess of the Night and said, "Go inside and see what happens next. I have no desire to relive this memory anymore but if you are to judge me then see the whole truth."

With hesitant steps she walked inside the building. A moment later two shots rang out and screaming could be heard. Then quiet. Then a series of rapid fire shots. A moment later Princess Luna walked back outside to where I was standing looking visibly shaken.

"Y-you...to a foal...you..monster..." She said, her chest heaving.

"Let it finish." Was my reply.

A moment later the dream specter of myself walked out, blood splattered on his clothes, dropped to his knees and placed the gun to his head and pulled to trigger. A primal scream of anguish issuing forth when nothing but a click could be heard.

The scene faded and was replaced once more by the tree and endless field.

The Princess looked to me, "You tried to end your life." She said with a mixture of sorrow and understanding.

I nodded.

"To be with her?" She asked.

I nodded again.

I went and sat back under the tree and asked, "When will I awaken? Forgive me Princess but I have had my sin torment me enough for one night."

To my surprise Princess Luna came and sat beside me and draped a comforting wing around me. "You speak of sin as if you can never be forgiven." She said.

I shook my head, "I took a life not in defense but revenge. I made that life suffer before ending it. No Princess, there is no redemption for me."

With a heavy sigh she reset her chin on my shoulder, "No soul is beyond redemption Bear O'Hara. I know."

I shook my head in disagreement. She then said in a gentle tone, "Let me tell you a story. It is about a pony named Nightmare Moon."

I awoke to the light of dawn streaming through the window. I slowly became aware of two sets of gentle snoring. One the snore-purrs of a little cat and one of a little pony still with a wing draped over my chest. I smiled at the peaceful mare asleep beside me.  as the ghost of my dream began to fade. A frown began to form on my face as the earlier memory of how I got in to this ever-so-comfortable position reasserted itself. I will have to address this sooner rather than later. But do I want to? I haven't even looked at another woman since Yvette now here I have this non-human intelligence crawling in to bed and brazenly kissing me as if I am her lover. Or maybe I am reading too much in to it? I am a pilgrim in this land and do not know their ways. I really need to start my cultural acclimation studies with Twilight.

I crawled out of bed without waking the two, muscle memory and long practice allowing me to accomplish this. I made my way to the bathroom and took care of my morning needs before sliding on one of my new pairs of jeans and heading to the kitchen. I was greeted with Angel bunny looking at me sternly as I descended down the stairs, his little paws crossed while thumping one foot in irritation.

"Nothing happened between your mistress and I." I said to the little rabbit.

"And if it did she is a consenting adult...at least I think she is."

Note to self, figure out how old everyone is here and sync it to my perceptions of adulthood. The little rabbit huffed and hopped to the kitchen pointing to his food bowl. I looked sternly at him, "Pets eat second little guy. Now behave or you are on my breakfast menu."

Angel bunny scampered off at a speed I am sure violated general relativity. I wonder if it was something I said? I rummaged through the cupboards and to my delight I found a sack of grits. After a bit of preparation two bowls of grits with butter, cheese, and pepper in them sat on the table as well as some toast and blueberry jam. The smell of breakfast must have awoken her as Fluttershy was soon seated at the table eyeballing the spread with interest.

"Um, Bear, you made me breakfast?" She asked shyly.

I nodded, "Peppered cheese grits and toast, just like my grandma used to make me. I would have made some coffee to go with it but I don't know if you drink it...or even have it in this world."

"Oh um, yes we have it but I don't drink it." Was her demure reply.

We ate in a companionable silence and Fluttershy seemed to like the food well enough she that went back for seconds. After I finished and gave a happy burp, which caused a bit of a giggle fit from Fluttershy, I cleaned up the dishes and packed away what little left over grits there were in a covered bowl. I took said bowl and my tablet and placed them in my bag then slid on a shirt and my vest. After a moment of thought I added my hatchet to my belt as well.

Fluttershy watched me curiously, "Where are you going?" she asked.

"I'm going to visit Twilight and if I have time look around for a job. If I'm going to stay in this world I need to find a place in it. Step one is to learn more about your ways. Otherwise...I might as well take another walk in the woods." I had said the last part without thinking.

Like a blur Fluttershy was in my face hovering on her wings. I withered under her stare and then found out just how much it hurts to be slapped with a "hoof".

"Don't you ever joke about that!" she growled angrily at me.

I nodded not wanting to anger her further. Angry Fluttershy is a uniquely terrifying thing.

"Good!" She said much more gently, then planted a lingering kiss on my cheek. At that point Tripod hopped from under her mane and clung happily to my shoulder. I was ushered out the door with a wave and a bit of a giggle. Women it would seem truly are inscrutable in any world.

Next Chapter: 10 - Novitiate Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 10 Minutes