I slowly woke up with a groan before I slowly blinked my eyes open and raised my head, looking around.
“Good evening, My Page,” Luna said from next to me with a smile.
I shifted and leaned softly against her side, her wing settling across my back as I leaned my head against her neck, “Evening.”
“Feeling better?” she asked a bit playfully.
I groaned softly, “Feels like I drank a desert… and don’t remember how I ended up here,” I admitted, “I remember telling stories with Shining, but then things turns a bit fuzzy…”
Luna nodded and turned a page in her book, “Not surprised,” she teased.
I groaned and shifted a bit closer, “...I’m sorry, I ruined one of our mornings. And this is the last night here.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Luna said and gave my ear a small nip with a smile, “I spent the night getting to know Twilight and Sunset better. We talked a lot.”
I nodded and then blinked, looking around, “Speaking of Sparks and Sunny, where are they off to?”
“Going to spend the night with Celestia and Midnight,” Luna said and rested her head against my mane, “I know my sister has missed them.”
“They did too,” I agreed and rolled onto my back to look up at her in the light of her horn, “Are you sure you have to go?”
“I’m afraid so, My Page,” Luna said and sighed softly, leaning down to bump her nose against mine before she flinched back slightly.
“...I’ll go brush my teeth,” I said and scooted out of bed, rolling onto my hooves and stretching before I blinked as I spread my wings.
Celestia, how much did I drink yesterday? Alicorns don’t really get hangovers as a rule, but I was actually feeling all kinds of off.
Shaking my head slightly, I left the bedroom to get my teeth brushed and looked into the mirror for a second before I frowned and also gave my mane and coat a quick brushing along with my tail.
Shaking my mane back, I blinked at my mirror image. Mane’s getting a bit on the long side. Sunny liked that so that’s not that big of a problem, but my tail could use a picking too.
Hmm.
Should try to get that done soon. Just because we lived out here didn’t mean I had to look like a barbarian pony.
Giving both mane and tail another quick brushing, I put the brush back and returned to the outer room to find Flower Rain on the couch. She looked up when I entered, “Good Evening, Your Majesty,” she said with a small bow and a smile.
“Good evening, Flower,” I said and paused to start picking pieces of fruit onto a tray with a pair of glasses of ice tea, “How are things tonight?”
“Quiet,” she answered and sat up, closing her notebook, “Nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow night anyway.”
“In which case,” I said and flicked my ear, “Why are you here and not out with that colt you like?”
Flower blinked, “In case you need me, your highness.”
I downed one glass of ice tea before refilling it again and putting it on the tray, “Not tonight, Flower,” I told her with a smile, “Take the night off. In fact, go take that coltfriend out for dinner and have them put it on my tab.”
Flower rain shifted a bit uncomfortably, “...Are you sure, sir?”
“Do I have to make it a decree?” I teased her and picked the tray up in my magic, “Go have fun, if anypony deserves it, it’s you.”
She smiled a bit shyly, “Well, if you put it that way…” she said and put her notebook away in her bag before she jumped off the couch and bowed, wings half spread, “As you command, your majesty.”
I looked after her as she left.
I have got to start giving that mare more time off. At least one night a week or preferably two. Sadly, I really relied on her to be able to get anything organized and done.
Maybe get her an assistant. Not Glimmer, she was an administrator, but I should really look into getting my assistant an assistant.
There are assistants all the way down.
Grinning at that thought, I headed back to the bedroom and closed the door behind me as I crossed over to Luna again, jumping back onto the bed and setting the tray down, “So…” I asked and nibbled at a piece of an orange, “How soon do you have to go?”
Luna sighed softly and smiled sadly, picking a piece of mango from the tray, “We should leave for the train by dawn,” she said and scooted closer, touching her horn softly against mine, “So too short a time.”
I nodded and looked up at her, “You know… we may be technically be part of Equestria, but would it cause a diplomatic incident if I took you prisoner and refused to give you back? Or would that just be an insurrection?”
Luna smiled playfully, “Really?”
I nodded and eyed her, “I have ropes and everything. Equestria would have no choice but to give in to our demands,” I said and rolled onto my back, smiling up at her.
“Oh?” Luna asked and settled down, her wing across me as her nose touched mine, “And what are those demands?”
“Mmm… can think of some,” I said and flicked one ear as I ran my hoof along her wing, “More Luna time.”
“Mhmm,” Luna agreed and gave me a soft kiss.
“Free books for everypony.”
Luna giggled softly and gave me another small kiss, “Mhmm. Would make Twilight happy.”
“And moving the seat of the Princess of the Moon to Nocturnis.”
“Hmm,” Luna said and sighed softly, resting her head against my chest, “It’s a nice thought.”
I put my forelegs around her, “Yeah… but Sparks has some ideas about shortening the travel time at least. She thinks it’ll take a couple of decades to figure it out, but in time…”
“That would be nice,” Luna said quietly, resting against me before she lifted her eyes to look into my eyes again, “I will miss you, My Page.”
“I’ll miss you too, My Sky,” I said and pulled her softly into a kiss.
Lord Hiver... The peasants... They are rioting! They demand 'Luna time' to be extended!
What do we do?!
Luna time is best time
10945056
Give out books of Page and Luna's "Happy Fun Times" to the peasants.
"Plus I am sure a little dream manipulation might convince them"
"Page!"
"Hey I didn't say I was gonna give them nightmares!"
I wouldn'tbe surprised if they find the train destroyed, thanks to a passing Rexosaurs.
I'm always reminded of Page and Luna when i hear this:
*Slams fists on table*
MOAR LUNA TIME
Nice nice
So Luna won't leave Canterlot because she wants to be with Celestia. I mean, that sounds okay, but she's choosing her sister over her husband. When you have that in mind, it makes much less sense...
Look, all page has to do is clear a 3 mile strip of land, invent high tensile strength cement, advance the science of aerodynamics, invent the afterburning turbojet engine, composite aluminum materials, synthetic rubbers, and oil refining, then he could hop on a plane and be in canterlot by midnight every night
10945111
She's not leaving Canterlot because she can't do her job as a diarch from a remote jungle settlement.
10945118
Or--he could easily kidnap Rainbow Dash, superglue a chariot to her butt, keep her chained up until needed, and then just pop a whip whenever he needs to get somewhere.
One crack = Warp 1
Two cracks = He's in Canterlot in Ten Seconds Flat!
etc.
Yes! At least a theory how Luna can stay.
Snuggle pile hostage! ♡
10945111
Oy! What are you doing here?! Get back into the writer basement and keep churning out those updates!
More Luna time... A thing worth fighting for...
10945111
Ponies are still rather xenophobic. How would it look if the veiled 'nightmare princess' moved to a bat pony town?
Nice
MEANWHILE SLIGHTLY OFF-SCREEN FROM THIS LOVELY MOMENT...
Amber: Wait...oh dear...Sir and Madam were being sarcastic?! Well this is embarrassing.
*Amber opens window and starts yelling*
Amber: DRONES! This is a false alarm! Remove the webbing off the tracks and release the train conductor from the cocoon! Intercept the ransom note!
10945234
that uh went down a road...
It looks like Page is getting resistant to ear nips, he didn't squeak! All in all, a very sweet chapter and one in which the jackboot of grammar gets to continue its holiday.
10945111
Ozymandias said it already, but I felt it was worth seconding with more than a like. Keep in mind that Nocturnis is right out on the edge of the country, while Canterlot not only has a central location but existing governmental apparatus. If Luna were to move half the court down there, leaving aside the enormous cost of setting up the infrastructure, the resulting bureaucratic nightmare from the time lag (remember, this Eqestria doesn't have radio quite yet) would be of mythic proportions. It would be like having the House of Commons in London and the House of Lords on the island of Orkney in 1800.
10945636
Luna just said she'd "never do that to Celestia," so it was too ambiguous for me. But yeah, I get the idea. Kinda funny considering the fact that the Castle of the Twin Sisters was in the middle of the Everfree...
10945662
Aye, the move of capital to Canterlot is something that I've been wrestling with in my own ongoing project, not that it's come up just yet as an issue. I'd assume that originally the Castle might have been placed where it is to force a single angle of attack through a cleared area of forest which has in the thousand years since begun to close up again. As for Canterlot, it might have originated as a border fort meant to control a gap in the mountains (on the EaW map, since I'm working in that setting) that, as is usually the case, had a town and later city grow up around it to service the soldiers while also being protected under the walls.
Presumably at some point, either Celestia got too upset over the reminders of her missing sister and moved the court for the sake of her mental health, or it simply became economically unsound to have the capital in the middle of a forest crammed full of monsters as the borders expanded and raids deep enough to threaten it became unlikely. Canterlot would be an obvious option to move to, still being defensible enough but easier to maintain in terms of required garrison, while also sitting on the only major pass between (and thus major trade route through) the mountains before one goes to either coast. An ideally lucrative spot when one is making the jump from iron age city states to an entrenched feudal monarchy.
Or... As with most things, I might be overthinking it just a tad. Sorry for talking your ear off.
10945786
I always just assumed that their castle was once the capital of their faction with the forest being controlled and held at bay by pony magic, and later the first capital of equestria when they unified with Canterlot being a major unicorn city. The castle itself was damaged significantly during the fight with luna and probably the strain of government for a growing kingdom forced celestia to move the capital to a larger settlement (this is how places like London or Paris became defacto capitals even when monarchs came from all over their kingdoms) and without the prestige of the capital, ponies eventually moved away and the everfree forest overtook the land as the magic waned.
10945636
just because its stupid doesn't mean monarchs haven't done that before plenty of times such as Akanahten or various english kings, or the french monarchs with Versallais or the romans in moving to constantinople, or alexander and alexandria, even the US government was kinda set up in the middle of nowhere for the first 150 odd years of the country as DC was quite literally a worthless swamp and the job of the president was mostly to keep the buildings from falling over between congresses
10945536
I was just looking at it from a practical economic standpoint.
Why use up billions of bit (which he's short on, anyhow) to start work on a project that, at best, won't be ready for years, when you have a viable solution to the transportation woes by grabbing up something readily available and can get him there much quicker?
True, years down the road, one might still need to begin the long-term project--considering that the immediate workaround will eventually age and lose her effectiveness. But the delay of spending those billions of bits now when they could otherwise be invested in more profitable considerations should net a substantial windfall for the new DarkWing Empire before needing to start construction.
Rainbow Dash: "umm... I'm still not seeing the upsid--URK! "
Amber: "We've got her! Let's roll!"
10946027
True, though usually those moves of the court were either to a more central location for bureaucratic efficiency (Constantinople) or to put the King closer to a threatened border, such as when Septimus Severus moved his court to York.
10946420
or the king wanted to screw over the nobility by randomly moving court, which is one of the main tenants of the magna carta
10946056
maybe but I feel like a flock of swallows, (zubrican, not europonian) could achieve the same effect if they were attached to a gondola
What is so hard if teleportation runes?
It my not be pratical and require some charging up of crystals so only usable every N time still something.
10946515
Something both are not taking inyo consideratipn: They don't need permanent portals, only being avle to generate said portal for individual use.
The spell already exist so instead of creting a permanent one just open one for themselves wenever they want.
Luna: On second thought, let's not go back to Canterlot. 'Tis a silly place.