//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: A Moon's Tale // by Dark0592 //------------------------------// Luna woke up rather comfortably. She had a headache, but she had a feeling it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. She became acutely aware that she was entangled with another person. She opened her eyes to find Twilight snuggled into her. She smiled and thought back to last night. She remembered coming home, both of them drunk, and getting back into the house. After that it was hazy. “About time you woke up. I was worried you suffocated each other.” Celestia’s voice came. Luna looked over to find the woman watching her. Luna looked down and found the state of her attire, then at Twilight, and looked back. “Don’t worry, you didn’t. Just sucked on each other’s faces for a while. Though I imagine if you were a bit more drunk it might have gone that far. And if I was a bit more drunk I may have joined in.” Celestia said, winking. Luna raised an eyebrow and laughed. “Come on then, get dressed and let’s make her breakfast. She’s normally up early but after a night of drink she sleeps very late.” Celestia suggested. Luna nodded and tried to get up, but found the sleeping girl’s arms still wrapped around her. “On second thought I think I can handle it.” Celestia said with a laugh. Luna gave her a sheepish grin and nodded. “Besides, now that I think of it, might as well treat the tournament champion.” Celestia continued. She proceeded to stretch, get up and go downstairs. Luna just looked back down at Twilight and smiled, enjoying the embrace. It was about ten minutes, when Luna had nearly fallen back to sleep, when Twilight started to stir. She opened her eyes slowly, yawned, looked at Luna, smiled and pulled her closer. “Morning…” She said tiredly. “Morning back.” Luna replied with a giggle. They locked gazes for a few moments before Twilight grinned. “Do you remember what happened last night?” She asked, leaning forward centimeters from Luna’s face. “Not really, but Celestia filled me in.” Luna replied with a grin, closing the cap and kissing Twilight. It quickly turned into a whole session, they hadn’t even noticed Celestia trying to hold in giggles at the doorway. It wasn’t until the Princess unceremoniously plopped down next to them and held out two plates with one hand. “Come on then, you’re making me feel left out. I hope you like bacon and cinnamon toast.” She said. The two had nearly flown apart when Celestia sat down and they laughed awkwardly as they accepted their plates. “Being served breakfast in bed by the Princess. I’ve a feeling not a single soul would believe me if I told them.” Luna said as she ate, laughing. “Quite a few actually. I’m not here on formal business so I’m not going to act formal or even like a Princess. Twilight feeds me when I visit so I return the favor, and you’re the champion. Plus I imagine you’d do the same.” Celestia explained. “She once helped AJ and her family make enough apple focused food to feed the entire town, and then helped them sell it in Canterlot.” Twilight said. “Well hello miss fancy pants.” Luna said with a grin. The other two laughed and they finished eating. Twilight finished first and proceeded into the bathroom to bathe. Luna and Celestia finished shortly after and they piled the dishes on the nightstand. “Well, Sir Rose, I’m impressed. Twilight never gets this close to people so quickly. You have to know that she really cares about you. I have to ask, what do you plan to do about it?” Celestia asked, getting rather serious. Luna looked towards the bathroom and smiled. “I plan to let things run their course. I’m new to this whole social interaction thing, let alone relationships… I’m afraid that’s all I can say without worry of becoming a liar in the end.” She answered. Celestia smiled and nodded. “Good answer. That girl is like a little sister to me, a daughter almost. I’ve had more than enough experience with knights trying to take her hand, or rather something other than her hand. I trust you, Luna, and I have no idea why but I know I can. My instincts tend to be spot on. They say there’s a first time for everything, let’s not have it be for this.” Celestia said. Luna nodded slowly. The mood then shifted back to the previous lighthearted rather than serious. “Why do you know you can trust me? I mean I’ll definitely do all that I can to maintain that trust, but I’m curious.” Luna asked. Celestia put a finger to her chin in thought. “I can’t quite put my finger on it, I’ve no idea… I just… I don’t know, feel unusually close to you. Almost like your presence is familiar. I imagine Twilight feels similarly, lest she wouldn’t have even brought up banquet.” She answered. “I see. I’m glad that I have such a positive effect then, I’m certainly not complaining.” Luna said. Celestia laughed at that. Twilight finished her bath and took the dirty dishes downstairs. Celestia said she didn’t need to bathe so Luna did. When she finished and joined the other two downstairs she found them talking quietly, Luna had a feeling it had somewhat to do with her. “Well I should be off then. Write to you tonight, Twilight. And Luna, if you are ever in Canterlot I should hope to have you as company.” Celestia said, ready to leave. Luna nodded and Celestia kissed Twilight on the forehead before winking at Luna and leaving the place. Twilight stretched and got up from the chair she was sitting in and walked over to Luna at the doorway. “Well I’m afraid it’s going to get rather boring around here for you, I am a scholar after all. Scholar’s work isn’t exactly as exciting as a Knight’s.” Twilight said, putting her hands on her hips and smiling at Luna. “Well I plan on visiting our friends a little bit and exploring the village some more, but for now I think I can handle a little uneventfulness.” Luna said. Twilight giggled and pulled her into an embrace. “You know, I always thought a Knight would finally catch my eye. I would never have thought that the Knight of my fancy would be anything like you.” Twilight said. Luna returned the embrace and looked at Twilight. “I’ll take that as a complement.” She said with a laugh. Twilight nodded and turned towards the desk at the side of the room. “So what exactly are you working on?” Luna continued. She walked over and saw a bunch of words and numbers on a long scroll of parchment combined with symbols. “I’m the lead authority when it comes to glyphs and enchantments. Glyphs are remnants of an old and lost practice of magic. Enchantments are a type of magic that is very limited and only the most proficient in their use can even think of surpassing that limit. Speaking of that, where’d you learn the one you use?” Twilight asked. “Well my father taught it me when I was old enough to do so.” Luna replied. Twilight put a finger to her chin in thought. “And you said he was an old Equestrian Knight? Interesting… Did he ever mention where he learned it?” Twilight continued questioning. “He always said ‘you’ll find out someday’ and left it at that. He never really talked much about Equestria, at least nothing like that. I always heard old stories from him but that was about it.” Luna explained. “Do you know if they were more than just stories?” Twilight continued. “He never believed in telling false stories, all of them were his adventures and battles he fought. The last he told me of was the great battle of Discord, where the Queen and her army fought off the chaos loving Discordian Order and wiped them out. He was a general, the Queen’s best he said.” Luna answered. Twilight’s expression turned from interest to something Luna had never seen before. It seemed like she had a lust for knowledge, and she just found a jackpot. “The Queen’s.. in the… hang on I have to get something!” Twilight exclaimed and shot off towards the shelves. In moments she returned with a massive tome and opened it, flipping through the pages. “Battle of Discord- The Queen and her generals. Do you recognize any of these, it was rendered by the best artist in the country.” Twilight asked, pointing to a picture on the page. Luna looked closely. The Queen looked remarkably like Celestia, though with flaming red hair instead of the celestial hue of colors. Then she looked at the line of men around her. “Are there names labelled?” Luna asked. Twilight nodded and began reading off. “From the Queen’s left to right: Sir Bright Steel, Sir Marc Arrow, Sir Christopher Blade, Queen Solaire, Sir Vincent… Vincent Rose…” She stopped at the Queen’s right and looked up at Rose. Luna was staring at that man. “Is it…?” Twilight started. “Get rid of a little bit of the tone and add a lot of white hair and I can see it… That’s the man that was my Father.” Luna said softly. She smiled at him, triumphantly yelling a war cry as his Queen rallied her men. “I guess he really was quite a Knight.” Luna continued. “I don’t have anything more than this here, but I’ll write to the Princess tonight and we can see what she finds. She’s already looking into your family crest.” Twilight said. Luna looked up and smiled. “I’d like that.” She said. Twilight laughed and sat down next to Luna again, pulling her close and snuggling into her. “I definitely like that.” Luna continued, wrapping her arms around the girl. Twilight giggled and they looked at each other. “Well, I think that’s a sufficient discovery to last a little while before I feel guilty for neglecting my Glyph transcribing.” Twilight said softly. Luna smiled and they kissed. Until then, Luna was fine right there. --- Luna wasn’t used to almost everyone she came across greeting her yet, even more so now that they all knew her name. “Hail, Sir Rose. How are you today? It’s such a nice day today and now that you’re here it’s even better I mean not to be weird or anything it’s just that friends make anything better.” Pinkie called from her baked goods stall when Luna entered the market. “Pinkie, Hail. I already had breakfast, but I don’t think I can resist one of those pastries… Or maybe two… Yes, two is a good number.” Luna said, raising a hand in greeting and getting off Brynhildur. “That’ll be two pence.” Pinkie said. Luna gave her a confused look. “Pence? I um… I only have gold Florins and Franks.” Luna said. Pinkie waved her hand and shook her head. “Oh I forgot you don’t know the money here. Well, Pence is the lowest value in coin. 24 Pence makes a Shilling and two shillings makes a bit or silver florin. Six shillings, or three bits or silver florins, makes a gold florin. If all you have is gold then I could just take one gold florin and then you get free goods from me until we’re even.” Pinkie explained quickly, Luna barely able to follow. “Wouldn’t I technically be paying for it all anyways?” Luna asked. Pinkie thought for a moment and laughed. “I guess you are! Maybe I can call it a tab or something. I dunno.” Pinkie shrugged. Luna smiled and handed over a gold coin. “And on second thought, make it a whole dozen of those and keep one for yourself.” She said. Pinkie saluted and bagged eleven of the delicious looking things, already chewing on one. “Thanks, you’re my first sale of the day so I didn’t really have anything to buy something from myself!” She exclaimed. Luna laughed and decided not to question the girl, put a hand u in farewell and rode off on Brynhildur. Her next stop was Rarity’s, Luna found her in the back finishing up repairing her armor. “Hello Rarity, you know you really didn’t need to do much. I didn’t take too many lances yesterday.” Luna said. Rarity almost scoffed. “Of course I need to, I put my blood and sweat into this and if there’s any imperfections I would be ashamed to have you don it.” The smith said. Luna chuckled and walked over to the table, pulling one of the pastries out of the bag. “Hungry?” Luna said. Rarity grinned and accepted the thing. “Pinkie’s i’m guessing. Smells like it. Well I’ve just finished it so it’s yours to take if you wish, otherwise I’ll hold it for you. Spike and Bell are still asleep.” Rarity said, examining the thing before practically eating it in one bite. Luna laughed and pulled two more out of their wrapping.. “Then these are for them.” She said, handing them over. Rarity took them and put them on one of the few clean surfaces and got back to work, saluting to Luna. Luna chuckled and nodded to her in response and left for Fluttershy’s. She arrived to find the girl caring for the horses in her care. “Hello Fluttershy, I don’t recall seeing you at the tournament.” Luna said when the girl turned and smiled to her. “Oh I’m so terribly sorry, I was supposed to be your surgeon and all but… well… Angel hurt his ankle and if I were to have gone, even for a second, he would get so anxious and scared and mean with the others. I’m as much his as he is mine.” Fluttershy explained, ending with a weak laugh as she patted the horse next to her. Luna noticed he wasn’t putting much pressure on his front left leg. The horse snorted at her, but Brynhildur made a noise and when Angel looked at the mare he seemed less hostile. “Oh my, it seems Angel is a little afraid of your horse.” Fluttershy giggled. Angel flicked his tail. Luna laughed. “Well, Brynhildur is bred as a warhorse even though she isn’t a stallion. Do you need an extra pair of hands today, by the way?” Luna said. Fluttershy thought for a moment. “Well, not really… You did win the tournament so I won’t even think of asking you to do dirty work, even if I had any that I hadn’t already done. I have been meaning to go into town for some breakfast, but I haven’t wanted to leave Angel alone… Do you think you could keep him company for a little while?” Fluttershy asked. “You saved my life, I’d wade through a pond of shite if you asked me to… but I’d rather you didn’t ask.” Luna started, ending with a half-joking-half-serious laugh. “And no need.” She finished, pulling one of the pastries out and presenting it to Fluttershy. “For me? Oh, I don’t know… That looks like one of Pinkie’s and while she’s not exactly expensive she is the best baker in the village…” Fluttershy said, though her expression conflicted with her statement. Luna laughed and practically shoved it into the girl’s hands. “Take it, I got a lot for a reason.” Luna retorted. Fluttershy thanked her and started to nibble on it. After a moment or so Angel tried to snatch it from her hand. Fluttershy made to split it in half, but Luna put a hand up and tossed one to the pampered steed. “She deserves a whole one, have it you beast.” She said. Fluttershy giggled. “Thank you Luna, you’re a good friend.” The girl said as Angel caught the pastry and nearly swallowed it whole. “I try, it wouldn’t be proper if I were to be a terrible friend when you are so good to me.” Luna said. “Well I don’t see the point in not trying to be a good friend. Even if someone isn’t kind to you, you should still be kind in return. Two people being mean to each other doesn’t make a good situation, but one of them being kind balances it out at least.” Fluttershy said rather philosophically. Luna blinked and thought on the words before nodding. “That… actually makes a lot of sense. Well I’ve yet to go and see Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Speaking of Dash, do you know where she lives?” Luna asked. “Oh, she lives there, you can probably just see it from here.” Fluttershy replied, pointing to the side of a small mountain just past the edge of town. Luna looked hard and made out a thin stream of smoke coming from the trees. “She’s an outdoorsman too? Interesting. Well, I’ll be off then. Good seeing you again.” Luna said, getting back on Brynhildur. “Oh same to you, Luna. Take care.” Fluttershy said, waving as Luna turned. Luna waved back and turned Brynhildur towards her runner’s house, it would be easier to get back home from Applejack’s than there. --- Luna had found a well traveled path up the cliffside and was astonished to find a massive horse racing track, complete with a sort of obstacle course and everything, not far from the house itself. The house looked like it was put together carefully, made out of stone and wood, and Luna could only imagine how long it had taken to build it. She knocked the knocker on the thick wooden door and waited until the door opened. “Oh hey Luna, something up?” The rainbow haired girl asked as she answered the door. “Nothing in particular, Fluttershy told me where you lived and I decided to go and visit my new friends this morning. Hungry?” Luna said, offering a Pastry. “Ooh, Pinkie’s!” Dash exclaimed, accepting it and devouring half of it in one bite. Luna laughed and looked around. “This place is really cool, though a bit inconvenient to go into town it seems.” She said. Dash shrugged. “Eh, not really. This place has been in my family for a while, each generation adds something to it. Mine and Spitfire’s is the racing track and the archery range out back. And she lives in Canterlot half the time, I work at Applejack’s when I’m not racing so I tend to stay there most of the time.” She explained. “I see. I wish I had a home with such history.” Luna said, looking at the place again. “You wanna see the whole thing? It’s practically a castle by now.” Dash offered. Luna really considered it. “Another time, definitely, but I still need to go and visit Applejack.” She answered. “Shame. I’m gonna take Tank down to the track and do our morning routine so we’ll walk you down until there.” Dash said before whistling. The stallion trotted around the house and Dash hopped onto his back. Not long after they parted ways, and Luna was off of the mountain, Brynhildur started nipping at Luna’s bag. Luna almost facepalmed, she had to feed the mare her breakfast yet. She improvised and gave her one of the remaining pastries and made a mental note to buy some good high quality feed. Applejack’s visit was uneventful, though Luna did get to see the unorthodox apple harvesting method of kicking the trees with enough force to shake the leaves and drop the apples into baskets carefully placed. Luna vowed never to piss off a member of the family as she left, lest they cave in her armor with a simple kick, and continued home.