The sun began to set over the snow-capped mountain that shadowed over Canterlot, the blazing orange slowly shifting into the darkened violet of the night sky. Or at least, that was supposed to be the case. Yet, as Celestia began to lower the sun, she had yet to see the moon rising to fill its place in the sky. A glance at her sister’s balcony showed that she was present, but it seemed she was distracted by the table and cushioned chairs she was arranging on it. Curious as to what had caused her sister to be pacing nervously about as the world, and one of the chefs from the royal kitchens who was standing by Luna impatiently, for night to arrive, Celestia took flight.
“She is a travelling showmare and therefore spends a lot of time on the road, yes? So, a simple platter of breads, cheese, fruits, and vegetables would be most comfortable for her, correct?” Luna said, glancing over at the unicorn mare in a fluffy white chef’s hat.
“I suppose so your majesty. Is that what you wish us to bring for your dinner tonight?” the mare replied, Luna noticing the barely restrained rolling of the eyes.
Taking a moment to take a calming breath, Luna gently placed a hoof on the shoulder of the chef. Her frustration was quite reasonable in retrospect. The last hour or so had been spent discussing the plans for tonight’s dinner, and despite the certainty in wanting the dinner, Luna had been much less certain as to what to serve at it.
“My apologies, Miss Soufflé, for this constant questioning. It has simply been a long time since I have had a dinner of this sort of intimacy with somepony other than my dear sister. Much has changed since then and I am simply…nervous as to what may be considered appropriate.”
The mare nodded with a smile.
“I understand your majesty, but based on the information you have given us your guest should be arriving soon. If you wish for my opinion, the platter idea you suggested sounds rather reasonable. As you said, a mare constantly on the road may not be used to the…finer dishes that our chefs could prepare. It also presents a more relaxed, casual atmosphere that may make your guest more comfortable considering the situation.”
The mare’s words were of great comfort to Luna, and with a nod of approval she dismissed her to begin to prepare the meal. With, of course, and additional request for some coffee to start with. While the nightlife was livelier in these days than in the past, the night was still quite a difficult time for many ponies to remain awake. The introduction of such a stimulating drink as coffee into the diet of ponies was one of Luna’s favorite advances since her banishment to the moon. Since her plan was to talk for quite some time with Trixie, such stimulation may prove useful in ensuring she would not fall asleep too soon.
“I see you are being quite thoughtful with your dinner tonight dear sister.”
Luna slightly jumped, startled out of her thoughts as Celestia swooped into a landing on the balcony.
“Relax, Luna, twas but a simple joke. Still, you are unusually nervous for what is supposed to be a simple dinner. You’ve even forgotten to raise the moon in your worrying about your dinner plans.”
“Oh, has the time come already?! I was simply caught up in the details on what to serve…” Luna said, blushing from embarrassment at forgetting about the time.
With haste she walked to the balcony edge, her horn glowing with a blue aura of energy as she focused her attention on pulling the moon up into the sky and lighting the stars for the night. As she did she could feel her sister’s wing drape across her back, and her side leaning slightly into her. Instinctively, Luna snuggled into her sister, the tension in her body relaxed by her comforting touch.
“I am sure that Trixie bears no ill will towards you Luna. It was, after all, a simple mistake. Based on Twilight’s words it was surprising she was still so traumatized by the sight of an Ursa.”
“Thank you sister, but that is not the only thing about that night that has weighed on my mind.”
With the moon now safely up in the sky, full and white so as to provide a perfect setting for tonight’s events, Luna sat down in one of the cushioned chairs as Celestia sat in the one across from her. The table was empty for now, but Soufflé had by then returned with a cart with a piping hot pot of coffee and all the various creams and sugars ponies commonly used to flavor it. After a quick exchange of thank yous, the two sisters began to make their drinks as their discussion continued.
“Is there something about Trixie that is bothering you?” Celestia replied as she stirred in a rather generous amount of sugar from what Luna would guess.
“Yes. On the one hoof, her dreams showed a rather strong sense of vulnerability in her. Her fear of being rejected by others appears quite genuine,” Luna said as she placed a very small amount of cream into her own coffee,” However, in our duel her responses seemed rather….aggressive in their response to my magic.”
Celestia nodded with a slight grin.
“Indeed, you told me how she dropped what felt like a small lakes worth of water on top of you. It would have been quite a sight to see you drenched as such,” she said with a slight giggle that induced a slight rolling of the eyes in Luna.
“Yes, it was a humorous sight indeed, but every response to my magic was done to embarrass me as well as to show off her own abilities. While some level of that is to be expected in a magic duel, the degree to which she did so seemed rather…excessive.”
Luna waited as Celestia took a sip of her drink. She expected another joke about being a ‘sore loser’ or of some such, but instead found herself watching her sister close her eyes in deep thought for a moment before speaking again.
“Are you concerned about the possibility of a repeat of the Alicorn Amulet incident?”
It was hard for Luna to ignore the sudden return of tension to her chest as Celestia brought up that accursed thing. The stories that Twilight told of what Trixie did under its influence were quite disturbing. Yet, despite the desire to say that she expected Trixie had learned her lesson, Luna was quite aware of what ponies who were desperate could possibly be capable of.
“In…some ways, yes, I am concerned about her future. While I do not doubt the sincerity of her feelings, I am worried that without proper guidance it is possible that she may, what is the saying, ‘fall off the buggy?”
“Fall off the wagon, Luna, and it is usually in reference to addiction. Still, I believe I understand what you are getting at. Redemption can be a tough road to travel on, and there is always a temptation to go off of it when things get tough,” Celestia replied, her eyes drifting towards the gardens below and an empty spot in the line of statues.
“Are we talking about Trixie or Discord now?” Luna said, her brow furrowing just a little. She didn’t like the idea of comparing the magician to that….draconequus, but she hated to admit that how they felt about Discord’s recent ‘reformation’ was in many ways similar to her worries about Trixie’s future. Sure, they seemed to be sincerely trying to make up for what they had done, but would it stick? Between the two, Luna would bet the royal fortune that Trixie would most likely be okay. Still, there was still enough of a sense of anger and frustration to worry her about what the mare may do in the future.
“Why can I not be referring to both?” Celestia said, a small little grin appearing that Luna only saw when Celestia believed herself to be particularly mysterious, “In any case, the question is what is it that you wish to do about this concern of yours?”
“I will be discussing some options with her tonight,” Luna replied, with it now being her turn to give that small, mysterious grin to her sister.
---
It had been several days since Trixie had received the invitation for dinner from Princess Luna. She had been kind of suspicious at first, what with the letter simply having appeared from nowhere, but upon sending a reply and receiving one in turn with a settled date, her suspicion had turned into glee. That glee had translated into her practically prancing up to the gates of the castle, her wagon currently kept safe in the stables the city provided for all travelers who had wagons and carriages with them.
For such a special occasion as this, of course, Trixie had made sure to appear in her finest attire. That meant, for the most part, simply making sure to have washed her star-studded cape and hat and polish the gemstone on its clasp. But, to class it up just a little bit, she had splurged and bought herself a small set of crescent-moon earrings. They seemed appropriate enough, what with both her own cutie mark and of the guest she was about to meet.
Still, even with all the preparation and ecstatic glee coursing through her body, Trixie couldn’t help but feel some nervousness causing her legs to quiver a little bit with every step. It was, after all, a meeting with a Princess. Even if it was technically her second meeting with her, it was the first one in which they were meeting in the flesh. That, and it was going to be a private dinner between them. Trixie’s mind was racing with the various possibilities that could come from such a thing! A chance to be invited to the Grand Galloping Gala maybe? No, even better, maybe a chance to be booked as entertainment for it! Everypony knew that the event needed a little livelier entertainment to keep the guest from dying of boredom. All she needed to do was make sure to make a good impression on Luna, establish a bit of rapport, and who knew where her life could go!
So of course, her mind began to wonder what would happen if things went wrong. Having the displeasure of a princess was never a good thing. Sure, she probably wouldn’t be banished, but if word got out her career would be ruined! Well, more ruined than it was now at least.
Trixie shook her head, clearing her mind of all these thoughts. It was just an apology dinner after all. There was no need to get worked up in either direction.
“Just go in there, enjoy yourself, and everything will be okay,” she mumbled to herself as she approached the gates, guarded by two white stallion pegasi in golden armor. Taking a deep breath to restore her confidence, she strutted up to them.
“Excuse me, but I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, am here for my private meeting with Princess Luna.”
“That would be my responsibility Miss Trixie,” a third voice said.
Both Trixie and the guards looked upwards as the sounds of flapping wings could be heard. A grey-colored mare in dark blue armor was coming towards them. What surprised Trixie, however, was that the wings were not that of a pegasi but of a bat! Trixie simply watched as she landed in front of her, taking a moment to register the scene before realizing that the new arrival had extended a hoof to her.
“Haven’t seen many bat ponies, have yah Miss Trixie?”
“Well, I mean, I’ve heard about them but haven’t really met any personally,” Trixie said, embarrassed by her shock but unable to stop staring at the fangs and that were so vividly shown off by the mare’s grinning.
“Meh, don’t worry about it. Unless you’re at one of the colonies or in trouble with the Night Guard, most ponies rarely ever run into one. Name’s Star Breaker by the way. I’m supposed to be your escort. Luna’s waiting for you on her private balcony. Just follow me”
Trixie blinked as the three guards exchanged salutes before following after the bat pony. She had known that the dinner had planned on being private, but to be invited to the private rooms of the Princess? Hmph, Luna needed to mess up her dreams more often.
As they walked, Trixie looked over her new companion. She was rather well built, quite fit. No surprise since she was a guard of course. Her coat was a dark gray, almost like an actual bat when you added in the leathery wings by her side. The mane was rather interesting, a dark, violet color with brighter streaks of red in them. And those fangs! Even now Trixie could imagine them. Did…did bat ponies eat meat? There really couldn’t be any other reason for a creature to have such sharp teeth…
As almost as if she recognized she was being stared at, Breaker suddenly turned around to stare at Trixie with her dark green eyes.
“Hey, I know what you’re thinking,” Star Breaker said, causing Trixie to nervously return a smile, a slight bead of sweat dripping on the side of her face.
“A-and what would that be?’
“It’s okay, everypony asks about it, and yes, the red streaks are a mane dye,” Breaker said before breaking out into a laugh. Tension broke and Trixie joined in.
“Oh, and yeah, bat ponies are capable of eating meat, but we usually just keep it to eating various bugs and insects. We’re still ponies after all, just with sharper teeth and some sweet night vision abilities,” she added. Trixie could hear the additional laughter being aimed at her as her own face began to be redden.
“Like I said, don’t worry about it. Lots of ponies are curious about my kind. But enough about that, I’m curious about you. What got you a special private dinner with Princess Luna? You’re not gonna be some kind of consort or something are you?”
Trixie shook her head with a bit of an embarrassed laugh.
“No, it’s nothing like that. She simply invited me to a dinner to apologize for messing up a dream I was having.
Star Breaker stopped right in her tracks, turning around to face Trixie with a raised eyebrow and a look of disbelief.
“Wait, the princess messed up a dream?”
Trixie nodded.
“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such a thing happening,” Star Breaker said, blinking a little in what looked to Trixie like a foal trying to comprehend some absurdly difficult math problem. It seemed that the idea that the princess could mess up a dreamwalk was one that was hard to comprehend. Apparently it didn’t phase the bat pony very long however as she quickly shrugged.
“I’m gonna guess whatever happened it’s kind of personal, right?”
Trixie nodded her head.
“Yeah, it kind of is.”
“Say no more then. What happens in the dream world stays in the dream world.”
With that the two continued their walk through the tapestry-coated halls of the castle. While Trixie was not completely a stranger to the castle’s insides, having once walked through it quite commonly when she was a foal many, many years ago, it had been so long that she was once again enamored by the sight of it. At least, that was until they passed by a portrait of Twilight Sparkle in her regalia from her coronation ceremony. The sight brought back many uncomfortable feelings that Trixie had been trying to squash for some time. When adding in the context of why this meeting with Luna was occurring, well, it wasn’t exactly a welcomed sight.
“Pretty nice picture isn’t it? Just got it put up recently. Discord had been messing with it, adding bunny ears and mustaches and all sorts of things. Honestly, I thought they were improvements, but official portraits are supposed to have some level of professionalism. They finally got it taken care of after adding a couple of protective enchantments.”
“Yeah, it’s a real nice piece of work,” Trixie said, huffing a bit as she walked away from the picture and in front of Star Breaker. She could sense that the guard mare wanted to say something, but nothing ever came. Instead, they simply continued on their way until at last they arrived at a large, dark blue door with silver highlights and crescent moon handles.
“Well, this is it, Luna’s personal chambers. Just walk straight in and you’ll reach the balcony. Twas a pleasure to meet you Trixie,” Breaker said as she opened the doors before offering a hoof out for another hoofshake.
“Pleasure to meet you too Star Breaker,” Trixie said, not exactly looking at Breaker as her eyes gazed upon the majestic bedroom of the princess. She was still aware of the guard’s presence to at least return the hoofshake as she walked inside.
The door shut behind her with a thud, and it with it the room was dark enough to reveal the true beauty of the moon princess’s bedroom. The ceiling was studded with twinkling lights and barely noticeable blue lines that connected them, forming a map of the cosmos and constellations. Dominating the center of the bedroom was a massive bed, the sides of which were shaped like crescent moons. Trixie couldn’t help but notice that the curtains of said bed shared an eerie similarity with her cape, sharing a similar color and star-studded design. Of course, in her opinion she wore it better. The floor was carpeted with a giant, dark blue rug with swirls of dark burgundy, in perfect match with the curtains on the windows that circled the room.
It was beautiful, to say the least, and Trixie found herself quite wanting to spend a night or two in it. That bed was definitely more comfortable looking than any five-star hotel, let alone her cot in the wagon.
“I take it that the room is to your liking Miss Trixie.”
Trixie was broken from her awestruck stupor by the familiar voice of the princess, who was waiting by the double doors that opened to an outdoor balcony. Not wanting to keep the princess waiting much longer, Trixie ran towards her.
“Oh, yes, it looks absolutely gorgeous your majesty. I have to say, if I had a room I think I would decorate it just like this.” Trixie said before dipping into a bow. When she heard the princess let out a small laugh, however, she had to turn her head up with a raised eyebrow.
“Dear Trixie, there is no need for you to bow to me. In fact, tis I who should be bowing my head to you in order to beg your apologies for the trauma I may have inflicted on you in your dreams by exposing you to the Ursa.”
“No, no, there’s no real need to worry about that,” Trixie said, swiftly flailing a hoof around in a dismissive manner, “Inviting me here for dinner is more than enough to make up for that”
Luna, however, shook her head.
“Nonsense. I was aware of what had happened the last time you had faced an Ursa Minor. I had hoped to use the safety of a dream to give you a chance to face your fears, but doing so without your permission was reckless of me.”
“Well, uhm, thank you for the apology then your majesty,” Trixie replied.
With glee, Trixie watched as a small smile grew on the princess’s face, though she was slightly confused as to why she sounded like she had also breathed a sigh of relief. Was the princess just as nervous about this dinner as she was? No, that couldn’t be: why would a princess by nervous about meeting some random, travelling magician like herself? In any case, she had put the princess in a good mood. Hopefully that would continue through the rest of the dinner.
“I am glad to have your forgiveness Trixie. Come, please sit with me. The servants will arrive with our dinner momentarily. In the meantime, would you like some coffee?”
Now the princess was serving her coffee?! Trixie was almost tempted to ask Luna if this was yet another dream she was going through, but if it was, well, Trixie didn’t exactly want to end it just yet. Instead, she simply trotted over to one of the cushions and made herself comfortable as Luna poured the two of them coffee.
“Thank you your majesty,” Trixie said, gently adding in her sugars and creams.
“I hope your journey here was not a difficult one?”
Trixie shrugged her shoulders.
“Not really. Mountains are a bit of a pain to go uphill on, but it’s not my first time in Canterlot by any stretch so I knew the paths pretty well. Weather was pretty good too so that always helps,” Trixie said as she begun to stir her drink.
“That is good to hear Trixie. I would not have hoped to inconvenience you.”
The two soon went quiet, with only the sounds of cups and spoons clinking with an occasional sipping sound to break it up. Trixie could feel that awkwardness of an audience that was unsure how to feel about a situation, a tension brought on when all parties involved were at a lost at how to approach a situation. It was a rare one for her, but she had felt this tense air once in a while even in her show. That and, well, small talk seemed rather petty when the one you were talking to was a ruler of an entire part of the time cycle, didn’t it?
If Trixie thought Luna’s silence was because she believed small talk to be petty, she was quite mistaken. For Luna, an intimate situation such as this was unheard of between ruler and subject in her day. There had always been a level of separation between ruler and subject, filled with ceremony and prompt to ensure the proper hierarchy of relations. So she was not exactly sure what the appropriate discussion to have in such casual settings. In other words, she didn’t exactly know how to do small talk. When she considered her longer goal for this evening, however, she soon came to an idea, one that Trixie would no doubt approve of. Based on all she knew about the showmare, there was one topic she loved above all others: herself.
“So Trixie, if I may ask, what do you mean when you say this is not your first time in Canterlot? Have you performed in the city before?”
Such a simple question, yet Luna was stunned when Trixie stopped swirling her drink, the widening of her eyes before looking away suggesting something about the question was bothering her.
“Oh, uh, well, the thing is I’m actually from Canterlot,” Trixie said, remaking eye contact.
“Really now? Well, then I guess this is simply a return home for you. Do you plan on visiting your family at some point then?”
Once again, she had expected a simple question and answer but was instead greeted with Trixie yet again nervously looking away. Luna never recalled Trixie or Twilight ever mentioning that Trixie was from Canterlot, and something about Trixie’s current behavior suggested that such information might not have been something Trixie gave out lightly. So before Trixie said anything, Luna responded.
“If that was too personal a question, I apologize.”
This seemed to make Trixie rather relieved, and Luna made a note to save the topic for another time. There was, however, something else that she wanted answered first.
“However, there is something I do wish you too tell me about that may be a little uncomfortable for you to discuss. Please, bare with it as I truly do wish to know about your feelings.”
“O-okay then?” Trixie said, her head tilting a bit in confusion.
“If you would, please, tell me about the Ursa and Alicorn Amulet incidents.”