//------------------------------// // Embers // Story: Lunar Gravity // by ChromeMyriad //------------------------------// Shadows flitted around the streets of Canterlot. Small groups of ponies in twos and threes meandered about, their silhouettes framed by glowing windows. Faint music and the buzz of conversation spilled from the doors of small bars and restaurants as they gradually filled with customers. Blackwell strolled lazily down the sidewalk, enjoying the light bustle and the cool night air. He always loved the nighttime. It was a time when the whole city collectively threw up their hooves and said, “I’m done being serious for today!” Downtown Canterlot came alive as if each night was a mini festival and everypony was ready to let their manes down. Rounding a bend in the road, Blackwell found himself staring at a rustic wood-and-brick structure. Boxy letters above the door labeled the establishment ‘Tankard’s Tavern’. Smiling easily, Blackwell shoved open the door and walked in. A grey-maned pony with a neatly trimmed beard looked up as Blackwell approached. “Evenin’ Blacks. The usual?” “You know it, Tankard.” Nodding, Silver Tankard reached beneath the bar and brought up a large steel mug. Filling it from a tap on the wall, Tankard asked, “So where’s Shroud tonight? It’s not like you to come alone.” “Oh, he has a few things on his mind tonight. He has a mare to please now.” Blackwell chuckled as he accepted his mug from Tankard. “I don’t think he’ll sleep a wink tonight.” Tankard raised an eyebrow. “That bad, huh?” Blackwell shook his head. “You don’t know the half of it, Tank. Honestly, he’ll be lucky to survive this one.” Blackwell turned to walk away. “Well, wish him luck for me.” Tankard called as he turned toward another customer. Blackwell took in a sweeping glance of the tables. Spying his buddies, Blackwell trotted over to their table. A thin, bespectacled unicorn noticed Blackwell as he approached. “Hey Blacks, I’m glad you’re here. Rock-for-brains here is picking Fleur De Lis over Vinyl Scratch. Care to tell him how wrong he is?” The brawny, brown-coated earth pony in question set down his mug with a thud. “Look, Crunch, I know ya have a thing for the wild ones, but ya gotta show at least a little consideration for class! If ya slept with Scratch, you’d probably wake up the next morning with a new lifelong friend, ya know what I’m sayin’?” Number Crunch rolled his eyes. “That’s just a stereotype, Dust. Even if it were true, wouldn’t it be worth it to spend a night with that piece of flank?” “I dunno about that.” Blackwell said, sitting down at the table, “Fleur’s got the whole quiet thing going for her. I bet she’d be pretty crazy in bed.” Dusteye scoffed at his drinking buddies. “You two’re like colts. Always talkin’ about what a hot piece of flank somepony is. Don’t neither of ya care about character?” Dusteye paused to let out a massive belch. “I mean ya gotta have more to your standards than just a nice flank.” Blackwell looked around the table. “You know who really has a nice flank?” Number Crunch downed a mouthful of beer. “Who?” “Princess Luna.” Blackwell stated matter-of-factly, taking another swig from his mug. Dusteye rolled his eyes. “C’mon, Blacks, ya know the rules. Sure, the princesses have nice flanks. Tartarus, they have eternal youth, but ya can only name ponies ya can actually get with. Ya can’t call out Princess Luna until she goes out with somepony.” He took another long draught and set his mug on the table with finality. “Yep,” Blackwell said, staring around the table, “that’s the rule, all right.” Blackwell and Number Crunch locked eyes. For a moment Number Crunch just stared back, confused. Blackwell leered at him, waiting. Slowly, Crunch’s eyes grew wider as comprehension dawned. “No. Bucking. Way.” His gaze snapped to the fourth place at the table, as if just noticing it was vacant. Blackwell nodded solemnly. For his part, Dusteye was far too interested in finding the bottom of his mug to think about what Blackwell was implying. Crunch’s eyes lit up. “So he finally-“ “Yep.” “A-and she-“ “Yep.” “They’re actually going to-“ “Probably.” Number Crunch slowly set down his mug. “Wow… imagine that.” Blackwell gave him a lecherous smile. “That is the point of the game, right?” Dusteye set down his empty mug with a look of disgust. Glancing up to see his two friends grinning at each other, he gave them an incredulous glare. “What're you two jawin’ about? Ya find somethin’ funny?” “Nightshroud actually asked Princess Luna out,” Number Crunch said in an ecstatic whisper, “and she said yes!” Dusteye gave a snort of laughter. “No he didn’t. Blackwell here is just pulling your leg because Nightshroud couldn’t make it tonight.” Blackwell fiddled with his mug, a sly smile stealing across his face. “I can find out where they’ll go on their first date, if you guys need proof.” Number Crunch’s eyes grew wide at the suggestion. “Don’t you think he’ll be mad?” he asked in a barely audible whisper. Blackwell smirked evilly. “Only if he finds out.” Dusteye rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Oh, come on, Blackwell. Is this joke even worth it? You’re just gonna waste an evening and neither of us is gonna be surprised when we find out Nightshroud just went to bed early or somethin’.” “Okay, Dusteye, if I’m lying I’ll buy two weeks’ worth of drinks. However, if I’m telling the truth, you have to buy me rounds for two weeks.” Blackwell spat on his hoof and held it out to Dusteye. “Care to put your bits where your mouth is?” Without hesitation, Dusteye spat on his hoof and shook Blackwell’s heartily. “You’re making it too easy, Blacks. I won’t be fooled by a bluff that bad.” “Okay, okay, so let’s go find them,” Number Crunch muttered impatiently. “Hold on, Crunchy, I don’t know the specifics yet. I need to figure out where and when Nightshroud plans to go.” Number Crunch gave a frustrated snort. “If he’s not here and he’s not on the date, then where is he?” Blackwell scratched his chin. “Actually, I’m not sure. He said something about having a lot of preparation to do. He could be anywhere, really.” “What to do… what to do…” Nightshroud paced back and forth in front of his bunk, thinking hard. “Come on, Nightshroud! You’re going out with a princess; you have to do something special.” The moonlit café idea is out. Gotta surprise her with something… He scratched his head and noticed he was sweating. He took it as a good sign. Glad I’m taking this seriously. Don’t want to blow this chance. He sat down on his bunk, kneading his head between his hooves. Eventually, he gave a frustrated sigh and let his hooves fall to his sides. “She’s thousands of years old… nothing is going to surprise her! She can even see into my dreams, so I can’t count on those for any help.” Nightshroud flopped onto his blue-sheeted bed, disappointed in himself. Maybe something will come to me in the morning. He lay on his bed, thinking wistfully of Princess Luna. He listed off what he knew about her slowly to try to find something he could work with. Let’s see, she’s a princess, she’s incredibly powerful, she’s thousands of years old, she was banished to the moon for a thousand years, she… Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. Wait… she may be thousands of years old, but she hasn’t been around for a millennium. If I’m gonna surprise her, I need to show her a good time modern-style! Brilliant! He nearly clapped his hooves together in glee, but restrained himself when he remembered he was supposed to be a soldier. Nightshroud reached up to the picture of Princess Luna he had hanging on his wall. The picture was a candid shot taken during Nightmare Night. Luna was sitting on a small stormcloud, apparently having just pulled a thunder prank on some of the hapless ponies running away. Taking it down carefully, he hugged it to his chest and kissed it for luck. Hanging it back on the wall next to his bunk, Nightshroud rolled out of his bed. If I’m going to really win her over, I need to show her I’m thinking about her. Rubbing his hooves together like a foal about to play a prank, Nightshroud hatched a daring plan. Only a pony truly close to the princess could pull off a job like this. He tip-hoofed over to the duty roster, earning a sidelong glance from a passing Lunar Guard, and began copying down the names of the guards on shift that night. This plan would take all of his cunning… “Well, why not just tell him yourself?” Blackwell looked up from his third mug of beer. “Wut?” “Just give him some ‘friendly advice’,” Number Crunch muttered conspiratorially, pushing his round-rimmed glasses further up his nose, “Tell him a great place for a date is… I dunno… wherever you take mares. We can reserve seats and see how it goes from there.” “Actually, I can’t. Luna told him not to take my advice on dating. Apparently, my romantic dreams aren’t good enough for her.” Dusteye snorted into his drink. “Well, she’s damn right about that. I don’t think you’ve dated a single mare that didn’t either hate your guts afterward or want to put ya on a leash. Sometimes both.” Blackwell smiled dreamily. “Yeah, but what a leash to be put on, am I right?” Number Crunch blushed deeply and promptly started choking on his light beer. Blackwell snapped out of his reverie. “Besides, the place I usually go wouldn’t really help us as far as checking up on Shroud goes. I think I heard mention of a moonlit café though. Either of you hear of a nice place like that?” Dusteye scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Yeah there’s a place down at the end of Shady Lake Avenue like that. I think it’s called Flight of Fancy or somethin’.” Blackwell made a gagging sound at the flowery name. “There’s not an icicle’s chance in Tartarus I’m going to anyplace called ‘Flight of Fancy’ with two guys. Hay, I wouldn’t take most of my mares to a place like that.” Dusteye cast a jaundiced eye over his drinking companion. “You’re a real catch, Blackwell.” “I try.” Blackwell shot back smugly. “Anyway, if I’m gonna find out where Shroud is planning on wooing the wuvwy pwincess, I can’t sit here chatting about it with you two all night. I’ll let you know what I find out.” With that, Blackwell stood and left Tankard’s behind. Dusteye glanced over at Number Crunch with a disbelieving look on his face. “He’s serious, isn’t he?” Number Crunch stared after Blackwell for a moment, then slowly looked back at his companion and shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” Celestia trotted wearily down the stairs from the ivory tower where she had just set the sun. Today hadn’t been as rough as some days, but she still had to deal with Sir Huffington II’s proposal. She glanced wearily at the 300 pages she was levitating beside her. Hopefully Luna would have something to talk about tonight that she could use as a distraction from work. Rounding the corner, Celestia saw Luna coming down the hall with her guard. Celestia blinked and looked closer. Was she? No, it couldn’t be… Was Princess Luna actually prancing down the hallway? The guards following Princess Luna seemed worn out, even haggard. Celestia decided that Huffington’s proposal could wait. Obviously, something far more interesting was happening with her sister and she simply couldn’t keep her mind on zoning laws tonight. Happy with her decision, Celestia teleported the stack of paper to her study and continued onward with a bit more spring to her step. “Good evening, Tia!” A lilting singsong followed by a short giggle greeted Celestia as the two parties met. “How was Court today? Fulfilling, I trust?” Luna teased heartily. Luna’s giddy smile was infectious. Grinning back at the practically skipping alicorn, Celestia stuck her tongue out at her. “As fulfilling as it always is, sister dear. You seem to be in high spirits! Did you dream about a stallion last night?” Luna playfully nudged her sister with a wing. “No, and you’re never going to guess what happened, so ha!” As they reached the small dining room, they waited for their nightly meal to be set. Celestia cleared her throat and spoke to the assembled staff, “Luna and I have personal matters to discuss tonight. You are all dismissed for now. Guards, if you would wait outside.” Bowing silently, the staff and guardponies quietly evacuated the dining room, closing the heavy wooden doors behind them. Celestia turned to Luna, her eyes sparkling in the light from the chandelier hanging overhead. “All right, Lulu, spill it! Something is definitely up with you, and I’m not leaving this room until I know your secret.” Luna smiled coyly, suddenly very interested in the glass of milk floating in front of her. “Oh, I don’t know, Tia, it’s really not that interesting. I’m sure what happened in Court today is far more relevant.” Celestia knew Luna only teased like this when she had particularly juicy gossip to share. She leaned over the table, determination blazing in her eyes. “Spill.” Normally Luna would hold out a bit longer, but she was bursting to tell Celestia the news. Practically throwing the glass of milk back onto the polished tabletop, she leaned forward as well and spoke in a whisper, “I have a date!” Celestia giggled, smirking teasingly at Luna. “Oh, so Sir Moneybags finally won you over, did he? I always knew you two were meant for each other.” Luna gave Celestia a reproving glare. “That flaccid blowhard? Come now, Tia, you can do better than that.” Celestia put a hoof to her chin for a moment. “I do seem to recall a very nice stallion painting himself midnight blue and proclaiming the two of you to be soulmates. What was his name? I think he called himself ‘Obelisk’.” Luna shook her head, grimacing in disgust. “His real name was Verdant Acre, and I’ll thank you not to bring up that… gentlestallion when we are eating. No, actually, it is one of my own Lunar Guards.” Celestia gasped dramatically. She let her wings wrap around her body as if protecting herself from unseen eyes. “Why, Princess Luna, how scandalous! What will the aristocracy think?” Her golden regalia clinked as her body shook with repressed giggles. “Who was it that caught your eye?” Luna sat up a little straighter. “Actually, I was the one who caught his eye.” Celestia let her mouth fall open. “You must tell me all about it.” She tapped her hoof on the table. “Come on, out with it!” Luna leaned closer in and told her story in an excited murmur. “Alright, you know that I sometimes watch the dreams of my Guard to keep an eye on them, right?” Celestia nodded. “Well, the dreams are pretty normal fantasies for the most part. Fame, money, power, lust, you know.” Celestia bobbed her head eagerly, urging Luna to continue. “I usually just ignore the dreams that are about me since I’m just an over-sexualized fantasy to most, but imagine my surprise when I come upon one that just features a courtship.” Celestia’s eyes widened a bit. “A dream about just a date? No… happy ending?” Luna shook her head. “Not this one. It was just two ponies; I and the Lunar Guard named Nightshroud.” A soft blush crossed Luna’s face at the memory. “He was imagining quite a scene. Moonlight was casting a glowing path across the still waters of a lake. My night sky was clear and sparkling. We were sitting at a table overlooking the lake in a restaurant far away from city lights. He was whispering something in my ear; something that made me blush. It was a little eerie, actually, seeing myself portrayed as a mare rather than a sex object.” Luna paused for a moment, looking thoughtfully at the table. She snapped out of it a second later and continued with the story. “Anyway, I was so curious that I decided to listen in. I only caught the end of what seemed to be a long confession, but the words I heard were ‘…so now you’ll never have to be lonely again.’” Celestia saw the look in Luna’s eyes as she relived Nightshroud’s dream. A pang of jealousy pricked her heart for a split-second before she crushed it ruthlessly. Luna had been alone, truly alone, for a thousand years. If anypony deserved love and companionship after all their hardships, it was certainly her often-feared sister. Celestia’s face glowed with a smile akin to the sun breaking the horizon. “That’s such a beautiful dream, Lulu. What happened next?” Luna snapped out of her reverie. “The dream ended soon after that. For the longest time, I didn’t think anything would come of it. I knew who he was, of course, but a dream like that was so unusual I didn’t want to get my hopes up. His other dreams were nice too, but none were quite like that one so I figured it was a fluke.” Luna’s eyes twinkled as she seemed to regain the momentum she had lost recounting the dream. “Anyway, a couple of days ago, Nightshroud was assigned to my daytime watch. I honestly didn’t suspect a thing. When we got to my room, I bid him and Sergeant Blackwell a good day and shut my door.” Luna’s voice dropped in volume as she prepared for the reveal. “I put my crown away along with my regalia. Suddenly, I hear my bedroom door open behind me. I walk out of my closet to see Nightshroud shutting the door behind himself.” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “He just… barged into your room? That’s… um…” Luna nodded. “Creepy, I know.” “Especially considering the rash of ill-considered assassination attempts we had after your return.” Luna rolled her eyes. “Please. Ponies these days wouldn’t know how to assassinate royalty if their life depended on it. I was rather vexed when they kept dousing me with lukewarm water, though.” Luna looked curiously at her sister. “What was that all about, anyway? They proclaimed your name when they did it.” A self-satisfied smirk tugged at the corners of Celestia’s mouth. “I had some complaints a while back about how hot my midday sun was in the summer. I got a bit frustrated at one point, so I told them the heat was due to a sacred magical ‘blessing’ bestowed by the sun.” “…Really?” Luna deadpanned. “It kept most of the complainers at bay. I think a pony named Upper Crust passed out from heatstroke, but the cleverer ones didn’t pay it any heed.” Celestia glanced back at her incredulous sister. “Oh come now, Luna, it could have been worse, right? It was just sun-warmed water. Besides, you still haven’t told me what Nightshroud said.” Luna narrowed her eyes at Celestia for a moment before continuing with her story. “As I was saying, Nightshroud burst into my room when I was getting ready for bed. Naturally, I wasn’t too happy about this. I was charging up a spell when he began babbling about having something to say. Then he said he’d fallen in love with me.” Celestia gave a very un-princessly snort. “Subtle.” “Oh be quiet, Tia, it was cute! He was so nervous and jittery I was surprised he could say anything at all. Once he got going, he seemed to pick up on what he wanted to say though. Apparently, he had been hiding his feelings for me because he felt they were based purely on superficial qualities.” Luna smiled warmly as she recalled Nightshroud’s words. “He said he even tried to forget about me by being with other mares, but he couldn’t. Eventually his desire to be with me was so strong that he couldn’t stand it anymore!” “He said all that?” Celestia said, a genuine smile crossing her face. “That part is actually pretty sweet. You always were a sucker for the romantic fools, Lulu.” Luna looked down her nose in mock-haughtiness. “Of course I am. I wish more colts grew into romantic fools. Who better to be a sucker for?” At this statement, Celestia gave Luna a sultry smile. Luna blinked, then threw her sister a dirty look. “You know what I meant, Tia.” Celestia’s smile grew soft as she sighed. “Yes, Lulu, I know what you meant. In truth, I’m… a little jealous. I wish we could know our subjects more personally, but it seems like there’s less and less time in the day to spend away from petty politics. I’ve turned down advances from so many ponies who want to court Princess Celestia that I fear the ponies who want to date Tia don’t exist.“ Celestia’s gaze had grown cold and distant as she stared at the hardwood table. A glowing ember of resentment smoldered within her that she couldn’t seem to quench. Silence prevailed in the octagonal dining room for a while, the feast on the table lying untouched and forgotten. Drawing a shuddering breath, Celestia cleared her throat and hitched a long-practiced smile into place. “But this news is about your good fortune, Luna. I am happy for y-“ Celestia was surprised to see that Luna had apparently vanished from the other side of the table. Silver-shod hooves encircled Celestia from her right side as Luna hugged her. Surprised at first, Celestia tensed up and looked into Luna’s moist eyes. “Tia, you don’t have to pretend with me. I was so happy with this news that I-I didn’t even think about how you might feel. I’m sorry.” Celestia hesitated for a moment as the ember flared briefly. Slowly, she put her wing around Luna and pressed her sister into a tight embrace. Celestia rested her head on Luna’s shoulder as she allowed the plastic smile to slip from her face. “You’ve done nothing to be sorry for, Lulu. It’s just…” Celestia paused for a moment, trying to think of just how to express what she was feeling. “It’s just hard being alone.” Celestia hated those words coming out of her mouth. Luna nuzzled against Celestia’s neck. “It’s okay, Tia. You aren’t alone.”