Chapter 12
“Princess Luna?” Maeve pushed open Luna’s door, not bothering to knock. A worried expression lingered on Maeve’s face as the human girl pushed into the room of the pony princess. The drapes had been pulled to a close and the room was dim. Maeve felt Red brush up against the back of her calf.
“I miss my sister,” Luna whispered as she lifted her head.
“We can always go home.” Maeve crossed the room at a slow, cautious gait.
“No, you are supposed to be here, getting better, having fun, being a girl—”
“And not wrecking the castle?” Maeve stopped and stood beside Luna’s bed. Reaching out one trembling hand, Maeve touched Luna’s cheek. She saw Red rise up and place his front hooves on the edge of Luna’s bed.
The colt let out a startled cry when Luna snatched him up and drew him into a fierce hug. Closing her eyes, the Night Princess tried to squeeze back tears as she clung to Red Russet, her whole body shaking and spasming from fear.
Saying nothing, Maeve climbed up into Luna’s bed. It smelled like sweaty horsey, but now was not the time to say anything. She sat down, doing so crosslegged, and then pulled out a curry comb she kept in her pocket. She placed the comb upon Luna’s back and watched as Luna’s supple pelt quivered from the touch. She applied a little pressure and then pulled back with the curry comb, pushing the points into Luna’s flesh with a gentle amount of force. The corded muscles of Luna’s back rippled with each stroke.
“I almost ruined everything,” Luna said in a shuddering whisper.
“What do you mean, Luna?” Maeve asked as she continued combing.
“I’m no better than Queen Oonagh.” Luna shook her head. “I did terrible things.”
“Maybe, but now you’re making up for it. You helped Red get his cutie mark. You saved me. Now you do good things.” Maeve could see that poor Red was being hugged almost to the point of suffocation, but she did nothing to save him.
“Maeve, every time I dream about you cutting them down… every time I dream about the night that we escaped, I think about the hatred on your face. I think about the rage you held towards our captors. I think of how much it hurt you… and I’m no better than they are.” Luna closed her eyes and rested her chin atop Red’s head, and felt two little ears twitching against her cheeks. “I am no better than your father, who took away your free will and committed terrible crimes against you.”
Squirming, Maeve continued combing, not certain what to say. “Maybe at some point, but that was the past. You… you came and you saved me. Because of you, I am here and I have Red and I have you and I have Princess Celestia even though she’s bossy and she gets on my nerves and I have Red Russet’s mother, Rose Gold, who loves me and kinda reminds me of my mother and there is Twilight Sparkle, and I think we’re friends because she’s always been so nice to me…” Out of air, Maeve’s voice tailed off and she took a deep breath.
“It was very brave of you to step through the portal and rescue Maeve. You have no way of knowing what was on the other side or if you could even come back again. Because of you, I have a best friend,” Red said in somewhat breathless voice.
“I had not thought of that…” Luna’s voice was hesitant, slow, her words almost, but not quite halting. She spoke as if she was undergoing some great realisation. She squeezed the colt a little more, glad for his warm body, his reassuring warmth, the feel of another equine against her. The sensation of the curry comb and its rhythmic strokes against her flesh was calming.
Very much against her will, Princess Luna began to feel sleepy.
Curious, cautious, Rose Gold pushed open Luna’s door. She knew that Maeve and Red had gone in there, but they had not come out. Now, feeling a mother’s worry, she had to set eyes upon her foal to make certain that he was okay.
The room, darkened, was hard to see in, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. She blinked a few times and then made out a few dark indistinct shapes. After a few more blinks, she was just able to make out Luna and Red; Luna was using her colt as a pillow. Maeve was sitting up on the bed, her back against the wall.
It took several minutes of staring to realise that the three of them were sound asleep. Backing out of the doorway, Rose Gold shut the door and leave them be, hoping whatever dreams they had would be undisturbed.
Reaching into the bowl, Maeve grabbed a peapod, looked at it for a moment, and then popped it in her mouth. She chewed, making a great deal of noise, smacking her lips and drawing a look of disapproval from Rose Gold, who shook her head.
Maeve grabbed a whole handful of peas still in their pods. She tossed one to Red, who caught it, and then held out one to Luna, who used her lips to pull it away from Maeve’s fingers; afterwards, Luna crunched it up with an enthusiasm that matched Maeve’s.
“My sugar peas!” Mulberry cried when he realised that his dinner ingredients were in danger. He stared at the trio of invaders in his kitchen, not knowing how to shoo away a Sorceress and a Princess. As he watched, the human girl flipped another peapod at the colt, and the colt caught it out of the air, an impressive feat of dexterity.
Passing another peapod to Luna, Maeve offered the older stallion a winning smile. “These are really good just the way they are. No need to cook these.”
“I was going to make a somewhat spicy sweet and sour stir fry, served with rice—” The stallion’s eyes went wide. “No no! Stay away from the baby carrots and the baby corn! There is a whole pie in the fridge, eat that and leave my fresh ingredients alone, you bandits!”
“Bandits!” Luna blinked and her sleepy expression became something resembling amused indignation. “I have dealt with bandits and highway ponies… I am no bandit!”
“Go away, you pantry plunderer!” Mulberry lifted the bowls of produce from the counters and levitated them over his back.
“Harrumph! We shall take the proffered pie and depart forthwith!” Luna huffed. She took a step closer to the fridge, pulled open the door, and stuck her head inside. A moment later she emerged with pie, a container full of whipped cream, and a waxy cardboard jug of chocolate milk.
“You are going to spoil your appetites,” Rose Gold said as she eyed the food in Luna’s telekinetic field.
“Fallacy!” Luna replied. “I have in my company one human girl and one earth pony colt. Pray tell, have you ever observed either one of them to ever stop eating?” Luna turned her head and gave Rose Gold a serious gaze. “Even now, the human girl is grazing upon her pilfered vegetables and sharing her ill gotten gains with your son.”
Lowering her head, Luna sniffed the pie. Her nostrils flared as she drew in a lungful of air. Her ears swiveled forwards and her eyes narrowed. “What is this? This smells most pleasing, but I cannot place what I am smelling, do tell me, if you please?”
“Goat cheese lemon custard, with a streusel crust,” Mulberry replied as he set his produce bowls back down upon the counter. “There is a second pie setting up in the pantry and cooling.”
“Marvelous. I shall now depart and leave you in peace, good sir.” Luna took off for the kitchen table, a red colt following at her heels, and a human girl walking at her side.
Quickie Cob ignored his wife’s grumbling and sat down at the table with Luna, Maeve, and his son, Red Russet. He smiled and gave a polite nod as Luna served him a slice of pie and then slid him a glass of chocolate milk. A moment later, Maeve slapped down a large dollop of whipped cream on the pie.
“Did you sleep a little better?” Quickie asked as he took up a spoon with his hoof.
“Yes, yes I did,” Luna replied. She turned and looked at Red. “He makes for a fine pillow. How much for the colt?”
“I beg your pardon?” Quickie raised his eyebrow.
“The colt… how much for the colt?” Luna’s eyes gleamed with mischief.
Quickie Cob looked at his son, who looked up from his pie with an alarmed expression. “I don’t know, I hadn’t thought about it really… his mother is fond of him.”
“So, sentimental value… I have an entire treasury at my disposal. Surely we can reach some agreement?” Grinning, Luna took a bite of pie.
“What?” Red blinked and began to look worried. He was silenced by Luna placing a dollop of whipped cream on his snoot. The colt tried licking it off, his long orange tongue lapping, trying to clean his muzzle.
“He recently got his cutie mark in what I was told was quite a valuable skill,” Quickie Cob said. “I have to take his potential earnings into account.
“But I want him as a pillow, that is all. He makes for a fine bedfellow. Quiet, polite, well mannered, and a still sleeper. These are all good qualities in a pillow pony.” Luna glanced over at Maeve and saw the girl was smiling.
His muzzle still covered in whipped cream, Red started to protest, “But I—”
“Hush son, you can make a good living as a pillow pony. And all you have to do is lie around in bed all day… an ideal career for you, I think,” Quickie Cob said to his son, cutting him off.
“Daddy, I—”
“Hush son, daddy is conducting business.” Quickie waved his hoof at his son.
“He is a little rude,” Luna said, a shrewd expression upon her face.
“Son, look what you did, you cost me money!” Quickie Cob looked at his son, shook his head, and then snorted.
Scowling, Red licked his muzzle one last time and then crammed a big bite of pie into his mouth. He chewed and watched his father through narrowed eyes. The corners of his mouth twitched and the colt struggled to maintain his mock-angry expression.
“Don’t worry Red, I’ll steal you away,” Maeve whispered after placing her head close to Red’s ear. She patted Red on the neck.
“There will be no felonious Sorceresses stealing my pillow pony. I shall have to double the guards. This whole venture is becoming mind bogglingly expensive… the cost of one good night’s rest.” Luna shook her head as a wide grin overtook her muzzle.
“I could take the Sorceress off of your hooves,” Quickie Cob offered. “I understand that she is skilled with a brush and makes a great back scratcher.”
“She does!” Luna nodded, her head making an enthusiastic bob. “But she must be treated gently. Also, you run the risk of having your home ruined. She was born with the unfortunate condition of not possessing a shred of grace.”
“Hey!” Maeve pointed her spoon at Luna. “One more word and I’ll wreck your castle!”
“Again?” Luna asked.
Maeve’s jaw dropped open with mock-indignation. She lifted her spoon, armed herself with a dollop of whipped cream, and threatened Luna with her now loaded weapon.
“Thou wouldst not dare, thou frizzy maned urchin!” Luna’s eyes narrowed.
The two males at the table held their breath, watching both Maeve and Luna. Quickie Cob was grinning and Red Russet was chewing on his pie, his eyes wide, wondering if Maeve would do it.
With a flick of her wrist, Maeve launched her dairy based projectile at the Princess of the Night. With a plop, the dollop of whipped cream landed upon Luna’s nasal bridge. Princess Luna went cross eyed as she looked at the offending dollop of dairy upon her nose.
“Thou, thou art a churl,” Luna said in a melodramatic whisper. She lifted up her own spoon and armed herself with ballistic dessert. “Face my wrath, impudent Sorceress!”
With a shrill cry, the battle between the Sorceress and the Pony Princess started…
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Kudzu, I just ADORE these cute scenes. You've perfected them and they are now so close to my heart ^^
It takes a lot for Luna to forgive herself, but once she does, it's generally smooth sailing. At least, until the next swell of guilt. Rome wasn't rebuilt in a day.
6225411
The saddest clowns are the ones that cry on the inside while giving the world a perfect smile.
That was fantastic. I haven't laughed like that in some time (about the second half, of course). Thank you.
Missing quotation mark in the beginning.
Pillow pony, made me smile.
That sounds like an original species.
Ah yes, a good pillow is hard to run by. My personal favorite was left in a hotel and I never saw it again. I cried for a damn month every night when lost it. I still miss that thing.
But yes, funny chapter, me like it.
War were declared.
There are three types of people on this planet you do not screw with:
Those that patch you up. (The Doctors)
Those that cook your food. (The Chefs)
And those that handle your money. (The Bankers)
Moral of the story is: Don't Piss Off The Chef!
Ahhh, to be growing up.. it's fine for the first 11 years, hit 12-13ish.. then Bam! The Acne, a voice that crackle worse then an old record, a sense of near or utter invulnerability, an ego the size of a planet... (stupid unstable testosterone levels.
) and an appetite so ravenous.. it'd make an elephant blush.