I suppose I should have guessed that Twilight would take us to a library or some similar type of place after we left the meeting. We were currently walking through what I had been told was the Canterlot archives. Twilight droned on and on about how full of history this was and all the books and scrolls it held. She pointed with one hoof at a guarded door on our right, “And there is the Starswirl the Bearded section of the archives. He was one of the greatest wizards in Equestrian history!”

Pinkie piped up as she bounded next to me, “We’ve been there before too! One time Twilight got this visit from a future self and we couldn’t figure out what she was telling us to prevent so we totally snuck in her except that we got found but the guard was super nice and let us in and we found his time travel spell and we used it to try and stop ourselves from worrying in the first place but it turns out that was what caused us to freak out in the first place!”

Were anything about my life normal I would have dismissed that as crazy rambling. Instead I not only believed her but it grabbed my attention enough to ask, “Did you say time travel spell?”

She nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah Twilight used it to go back to try to warn herself not to freak out!”

“Well now, that is certainly an amazing feat,” I said. And possibly a very useful one.

Twilight interrupted my thoughts, “It only sends you back one week though, no more.”

“Fuck,” I muttered as made it far less useful for what I had in mind. Then another thought occurred to me; if there was a spell for time travel and I knew a spell existed for relocation then maybe a chance still existed. One question could determine the answer to that, “Twilight are there any magical artifacts that can be used by someone without magic?”

She tapped a hoof to her chin, “While plenty of magical artifacts exist I’m not sure if they can be used by someone without magic. Why do you ask? Wait, you aren’t thinking of trying to use one on yourself are you?”

I’m not a good liar but I hoped this one time I could be convincing, “No, just curious. I know little about how magic works after all.”

“”Oh of course, that makes sense,” She said and we continued moving through the archives before heading out into the city proper. Ponies of all kinds were moving about the cobblestone streets, filing the city with life. Even I had to admit it was a beautiful city and well designed. A pang hit me as I looked at it and found no trace of anything resembling human architecture.

One of the things I missed as the years away from Earth passed was human style food, architecture, culture and entertainment. As much as I had taken them for granted when on Earth I found out just how alone not having them can make you feel when away from home. Lost in thought I almost hadn’t noticed that we had stopped. Rarity was having a conversation with a well dressed stallion called Fancy Pants.

He gestured to me asking a question and Rarity was trying to get me to come over and introduce myself when we were interrupted by a scream of, “HELP! SOMEPONY HELP ME!” Before I even knew what I was doing my feet were pounding on the cobblestones, ponies scattering before me as I raced towards the scream. My ears and feet took me into an alleyway where a mare the color of cotton candy lay on her stomach crying into her forehooves. In my peripherals I saw a disappearing set of sand colored hooves around the far corner.

“M-my purse, he stole my purse,” She was saying as she sobbed. I had only slowed to try and ask what had happened but that told me enough and I raced down the alleyway. Turning the corner I saw a stallion with a purse in his mouth making another turn down another alley. Arms pumping I sprinted down after him but he was much faster than I was and catching him seemed impossible.

No matter how bad it seemed though I was not going to give up. Overhead a rainbow streak flew by and I heard Dash say, “I’ll help!” Nearing the corner I heard a surprised yelp and the sound of hooves striking the cobblestone. Rainbow shouted, “Hey! You give that back right now!” The sound of galloping hooves was her only reply. By that point I had rounded the corner and saw the stallion now heading my way, eyes wide with fear as he looked over his shoulder and her.

Said eyes got even wider as they turned to behold me sprinting towards him. He didn’t stop though, seemingly to figure that I would be the easier of the two to try and deal with. He figured wrong though as I spotted a plank of wood I would pass in a quarter second and I snatched it up. The stallion tried to hit me with his forehooves and knock me flying however it was pretty telegraphed by his rearing onto his hind legs and I dodged to the side easily.

A flowing feeling as my arms swung followed by a painful shockwave travelling up my arm as the plank smashed into the back of the stallion’s head, the board breaking in two. Down he went, the purse flying from his mouth to land on the cobblestone. Before anything else could happen Rainbow zipped over and pinned him to the ground. Everypony else including Fancy Pants and the mare that had lost the purse came galloping down the alleyway.

I handed the mare back her purse and she left after thanking me. Turning back to the pinned stallion I was prepared to finish the job so he couldn’t steal again or worse. Twilight and friends seemed to understand my intent because they stood like a wall between me and the thief. At the same time Fancy Pants began to talk to the pinned stallion, “Good heavens my dear fellow whatever would you steal a mare’s purse for?”

The stallion seemed near to tears as he replied, “About a month ago the shop I worked for went under and I lost my job. It’s been so hard to find work,” As he said that Windfall flinched, “I was desperate and Canterlot has so many rich nobles in it I thought I could steal what I need and they would never really miss it.”

Fancy Pants shook his head, “A tragic story to be sure. Here come on, let’s get you up.” He got Rainbow to let the guy go and gave him a hoof up, “That’s better. Now I may be able to assist you.” Reaching a hoof into his coat he withdrew a business card, “Come to this address tomorrow morning and I’ll see if we can’t find a place for you in my employ.”

The stallion’s eyes went wide, “You’d do that for me?” Tears began falling down his face, “Thank you so much! I-I don’t know what to say!”

Fancy Pants patted the stallion’s head, “There there my boy, just doing my part to help the good ponies of this city.” Muscles contracted as I frowned. My experiences over the past decade screamed at me to end it now. I couldn’t do that without having to harm the innocent ponies trying to help me. Sighing I decided not to force things; I didn’t want to hurt them and maybe, just maybe this thief could be saved from a life of crime.

“Um,” Our heads turned to Windfall as she rubbed one foreleg over the other, “I don’t suppose you could help me out as well? I’ve been out of a job and out of bits for a while now.” She pointed a hoof at me, “If it wasn’t for John letting me stay with him and providing for me I might have found myself in the same position.”

Fancy tapped his chin with a hoof, “I might be able to. You are from Ponyville along with Madame Rarity if I’m not mistaken?” At her nod he continued, “I don’t do a lot of business there I’m afraid however I have connections with a Filthy Rich who has a thriving business in Ponyville. I can contact him for you if you like.”

Windfall looked happier than I had ever seen her up to that point, “Oh thank you very much Mr. Fancy Pants.”

He replied with a smile, “Think nothing of it.”

At that moment a pegasus guard pony flew down in front of us, “Excuse me, Mr. Tracker?”

Surprised at hearing my name I replied, “Yes?”

“Her highness Princess Luna would like to speak with you at the castle. If you would please follow me I shall bring you to her immediately.” With a shrug I bid goodbye to the rest of the group and followed the guard back through the city and into the palace. When we came to Luna I recognized the same hallway that I saw the stained glass window with Twilight and friends defeating a pony with Luna’s cutie mark.

Luna stood staring at the very same window as we walked over to her. She turned her head, dismissed the guard and asked me to stand next to her. “John, I think it’s about time to tell you the story of Nightmare Moon. I believe you will understand better than most what she went through and it should help you understand why we are trying to help you as well.”

Given what I had seen so far I was certainly intrigued, “I’m all ears.”

After a moment of silently staring at the window looking uneasy she said in a low voice, “I was Nightmare Moon.” That shocked me into silence though in hindsight it did explain the cutie mark thing. Her voice was still low as she continued, “During the early centuries of Equestria my sister was often worshiped by our subjects while I was ignored by them. They loved her beautiful days and the warmth and life they brought while the night was nothing more than time for sleep to be ready for the next day.”

Tears began to form in her eyes as she recalled those days, “I grew jealous of her and how loved she was. To make matters worse she had little time for me in those days. At the time I thought it was because she too did not care for me or was too full of herself. However I now know it was only because of how busy she was with our fledgling kingdom.”

My own voice was quiet as I felt myself being drawn into the story, imagining how she felt, “Did you talk to her?”

She shook her head, “No I didn’t. I should have I know for things may have turned out differently but I let my feelings cloud my judgment. Since I believe she no longer cared for me why should I have believed that she would listen to me?” That struck home for me as I had often believed the same about others. “My jealous grew worse until it physically transformed me into the mare you seen in this window.”

“So when you said that a lack of harmony is dangerous this is what you mean?”

“It is certainly one aspect of it. There are other things, dangerous things that are imprisoned but could be released if enough disharmony were to occur. I decided to overthrow my sister and plunge the world into eternal night. If our ponies would not love me and my nights then I would MAKE them love me! My sister tried to stop me, to reason with me but I would not listen. After all I was alone and who was she to tell me how I should feel and what I should do?!”

In complete surprise I stared at her. Here was a kindred soul; one who believe she was alone again the world with nowhere to turn but to her own abilities. Luna continued, “We fought and I nearly killed her. Tia had to resort to using our most powerful defense; magical artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony. We had wielded them before to defeat our most powerful foes but this time she had to use it to stop me. At the end the Elements banished me to the moon and my sister had to take all duties upon herself. A thousand years she was alone without me until finally I was able to break free from my prison and return.”

I had to ask, “What happened? I mean you are obviously not Nightmare Moon anymore and there isn’t eternal night.”

“My sister had a plan in place; she searched for those with great magical talent who could wield the Elements to not only defeat me but also restore me. She found such talent in Twilight Sparkle. Magic talent alone was not enough however, Twilight needed friendship with others who could provide aspects of the Elements of Harmony to be able to utilize them. When the time was near Celestia sent Twilight to Ponyville to make some friends.”

“So her friends are also Element wielders?”

“Yes they each represent an aspect of harmony. Together they found the long lost Elements and restored me to who I was. My sister forgave me and I was able to return home at last. I struggled still with gaining the love of my subjects but Twilight and her friends helped me with that. I’ve been very lucky in the end.”

“You certainly have,” I muttered unable to keep the bitterness from my voice.

A soft feathery touch reached across my back and the back of my arms as Luna put a wing around me, “That is why I want to help you as well. We are offering you the same opportunity John. You merely need to accept it.”

I felt the pain welling up inside me, “For the first time Luna, I understand your actions towards me completely. Like you I know what it feels like to believe that you are alone again everyone. When I was married to Tala I felt like someone could share the burden with me and that I didn’t have to fight anymore. After she died though it became me against the world and I too became a monster during that time.”

Her muzzle gently nuzzled my face, “What happened?”

“The one who actually killed my wife and child was just an assassin, an agent of an empress who had a tyrannical bent. After finding out I was going to be a father I retired from vigilante work but she didn’t believe it hence the assassin. I didn’t go after her right away; instead I went after her friends, her family. If there was a place she loved I destroyed it or a place where someone she loved was I destroyed it too. There was no target I would not go after; I even destroyed the school her children went to though I did not kill any of the children. Even in that state I had that limit at least. On top of that I helped those who wanted to overthrow her, all of them. When I was done she knew my pain and only then did I kill her. During that time I never gave a thought to what my actions were doing beyond hurting her however I could not escape them afterwards.”

“What did happen afterwards?”

“I realized just what I had done; left her empire in chaos due to a six way power struggle and I had killed innocents during my slaughter of terror. It all came crashing down on me along with the grief of having lost my wife and my daughter. Friends left me, my name became hated far beyond the criminal underworld and I felt dead inside. There’s nothing left to keep me going and I can’t muster enough hope to move forward either.”

Luna spoke softly, “I too feel that way sometimes. My sister has forgiven me and Twilight and her friends have shown me friendship but I do not feel as if I deserve it. We understand each other all too well John Tracker.”

“Yeah,” I felt the corners of my lips curl upward a bit, “I have to admit it feels kinda nice to have someone who understands the way I feel.”

She smiled as well, “I feel the same. We are friends now you and I, a bond shared from our similar experiences and as such I shall help you as I have been helped.” Warmly she hugged me, her fur soft to my skin. For once I didn’t try to fight either the hug or having a friend. A friend who completely understands me; I’ll be damned. I gladly accept it and felt for a moment at least at peace with things.

Our hug was interrupted by a cough as a gold armored guard got our attention, “My apologies your highness but Princess Celestia would like a word with Mr. Tracker alone.”