Luna found Josh sitting on one of the many bowl-shaped protrusions of Canterlot. The dish-shaped objects were little more than aesthetic, though some served as recreational pools. However, this one had been closed for the day. It appeared Josh had simply hopped the fence.
“Hello, Josh,” she greeted. Josh remained silent. “Is it alright if I come sit with you?” she continued.
“Not like I can stop you,” he finally replied, sounding as though he’d been crying.
Luna took a seat next to him, and considered putting a wing around his back before deciding against it. “I… I am sorry,” she began, and Josh raised an eyebrow.
“For what?” he asked listlessly, still gazing out at Equestria.
“I shouldn’t have sprung this on you. On either of you. I was selfish, I just wanted my bright-eyed little colt back… but we both know you aren’t him any longer,” Luna softly murmured.
Josh’s gaze dropped to his own legs, hanging over the edge of the cliff. “No,” he agreed. “I haven’t been that kid for a long time.” He sighed. “I want to say that there’s a chance I could be that person again. But… I can’t. I can’t feel love, Luna. I’ve tried for so long now to feel anything for my family back h… back on Earth. Either of them. I just can’t do it, no matter how hard I try. They’re just… there. Talking, and breathing. I can’t hate them… but I can’t love them either. And that’s why I can’t be your son,” Josh explained tonelessly.
“Because you won’t love me?” Luna softly whispered.
“Because I can’t love you. I can’t love anyone. Ben thinks I can, because I’ve convinced him that I’m a good person who cares about everyone. But I know the sad, sad truth. I don’t act kind out of any real sense of caring for anyone’s wellbeing. I do it to try and feel love. It never works, but… I keep trying.” Josh snorted suddenly, causing Luna to look over in surprise. “Heh. This got kind of edgy, huh?” he muttered to himself.
Luna elected to ignore that part, not knowing what ‘edgy’ meant and not wishing to insult him by guessing.
“You know something really weird?” Josh spoke up after a moment.
“What?” Luna asked.
“Back in second grade, when I was about… eight years old. I suddenly came up with this idea that I was secretly a prince,” Josh told her, a slight smile coming to his face. “I was really the son of some amazing royalty, and that they’d come and find me and take me away from my mean parents.”
Luna teared up. “Oh, Josh…” she murmured.
“It wasn’t pretty. I’d act like this big, pompous prat in elementary school, make a fool of myself, and all the kids in my grade would laugh at me. I guess it’s kind of interesting that I was right,” Josh wondered. “And when you told me I was the lost Prince… that’s what I got reminded of. Me, trying to act like stuck-up royalty when in reality I’m just a middle-class idiot,” he explained.
Luna sat back. This was clearly far worse than she’d expected. On the outside, Josh had seemed like a normal, kind person. He made jokes, he laughed. He could be uncaring at times, but she’d never have suspected this kind of internal turmoil. His apathy from years of emotional neglect, turned to self-hatred at the very thing he’d made himself into to survive, turned to a shell of kind smiles and polite words that he never meant. And at the crux of it all… was Ben. Ben had mentioned that Josh cared about him, and even if Josh denied it, there had to be something there.
“What about Ben makes him different?” she asked suddenly, and Josh looked over in surprise.
“Different?” he repeated curiously.
“You’ve stuck by him all these years. He clearly cares about you… and you care about him!” she asserted.
Josh snorted. “I keep Ben around because he’s a good influence. Unlike me, he knows how to care about people, and how to make friends. Have you ever seen him in our old high school? Never mind that, of course you haven’t,” he quickly added as Luna opened her mouth. “Point is, people will just walk up to him, and start a conversation, and before you know it he’ll have ten more friends before the day’s out. And… he helped me out of a pretty dark time in my life,” Josh admitted, sounding reluctant to speak. “Before I was like… this… well, I was a hell of a lot worse. I cared so little for others’ concerns that I’d bully them and ruin their lives for my own amusement. He snapped me out of it. He… he never forced me to do anything… but he didn’t give up on me.”
Luna was confused and dismayed at this point. She knew Josh cared about things, and he knew it too. But he was telling himself otherwise. Why? Why lie to himself that he was a bad human? Almost unbidden, a conversation she’d had with Celestia long ago resurfaced in her memory.
“You can’t think of yourself as Nightmare Moon forever, Lulu,” Celestia had said softly, as Luna tried not to cry. “You’re a better pony, even if you don’t think so. I know you are.”
“I know you do not wish to be molded by parents. But… instead of forcing you… I could help you. I have not been a stellar example of a princess myself. I know enough about doubt, and hating myself, to tell that you now know it too,” she cajoled.
Josh sighed, looking unconvinced.
“I promise I won’t be angry at you, or try to make you do something you don’t want to. I just want to make you happy. What would make you happy? If it is in my power, I shall do it,” Luna softly inquired.
Josh put his hands over his face.
“…Josh?” Luna tried.
Without warning, Josh wrapped his arms around her, causing Luna to squeak as she was pulled in for a hug. “Please don’t leave me,” Josh whispered hoarsely, his eyes watering. “I just want someone to love, anyone… please… I’m so tired of everything…”
Luna nuzzled her way into his shirt, trying not to cry and failing valiantly. “That’s all I want too,” she whispered back.
They stayed together like that for quite a while, neither one daring to speak.
Eventually, Josh came back to his senses. “So… that escalated quickly…” he joked weakly, looking at her anxiously to gauge her reaction.
“That’s alright,” Luna answered, looking up at him. “After what you’ve been through, you’ve every right to be emotional. You don’t have to hide your feelings anymore, Josh. You’re free.”
Josh stared at her for a moment, then sighed and looked away, smiling slightly. “To think I even considered leaving,” he quipped, picking Luna up. She was extremely light – just ten pounds or so. Josh remembered that birds had hollow bone structures and much lower body density, which was why their wings could support them.
Luna laughed happily in his arms as he walked around the edge of the pool and hopped over the waist-high fence again. “Is there anything you would like to do? We have some time before… before the portal opens,” she trailed off, wincing at the reminder.
Josh, however, seemed unperturbed, a small smile on his face. “Are there any science shops in Canterlot? If I’m going to stay here, I want to move my lab back home over here,” he uncertainly asked, looking distinctly like a child who’d just asked their parents if they could go to Disneyworld. What he wasn’t anticipating was Luna’s enthusiastic reaction.
“A lab? What do you do?” she asked eagerly.
Taken aback, Josh raised both eyebrows at her. “Well, it’s mostly inorganic stuff. Isolation of elements of the Periodic Table… I have a collection of them…” he trailed off. He’d been expecting Luna to be turned off by his nerdiness, as his prior parents had been, but instead she seemed more enthusiastic than ever.
“I have been studying the natural sciences as well! How many do you have? According to ‘Tia, we have only isolated thirty-one, but she suspects there are many more-“ she was stopped by Josh doing a double take.
“Thirty-one?! There are over a hundred and twenty of them!” he answered incredulously. “…Um, anyway, I have about forty-seven right now,” he added on a moment later, remembering her question.
“What is your favorite? So far, mine is phosphorus. ‘Tis a capricious element, and the white form reminds me of my own moon when it glows,” Luna fondly reminisced.
Josh smiled. “Mine would have to be… bromine. I have quite a history with it,” he remarked, grinning at the memories of many failed attempts. “You… like science?” he asked uncertainly after a moment.
“Of course,” Luna answered, looking up at him and smiling. “There is no nobler passion than the pursuit of knowledge, after all. Though, my sister might disagree. She always was the ‘artistic’ type,” Luna reminisced, smirking.
“Better than my old parents. They were the ‘business’ type. Otherwise known as the ‘is that sodium chloride dangerous?’ type,” Josh snorted. Luna chuckled uneasily.
In all honesty, she was not quite as interested in natural science as she was making Josh believe. Being a millennia-old princess, chemistry was simply one of the many passions she had picked up – and being away from any scientific advancement for a thousand years meant that she had been doing quite a bit of ‘catching up’ lately. But if it made him happy, she would unhesitatingly delve deeper into this interest. She’d make herself as enthusiastic as he was.
They walked together in silence for a while, passing by the streets of Canterlot that Josh had run through so abruptly just an hour ago.
“So, if you are to move your lab over here, I must make one request,” Luna began after a while.
Josh looked over in dismay. “Yes?” he asked.
“Please write up and publish your results,” Luna suggested. “We could certainly use the information, after all!”
Josh looked at her a moment, his face slowly breaking into a surprised grin. “And here I thought you were going to lecture me on safety,” he admitted.
Luna snorted. “I’ve gotten enough lectures from my sister to know where that would lead. Just don’t die, and you’ll be fine,” she joked.
Josh laughed, a clear, bright peal of laughter that echoed through the clearing, and Luna looked delighted – she’d finally gotten a real laugh out of him, instead of an apathetic chuckle.
They returned to the castle a few hours later, Josh’s arms still full of science equipment as Luna proudly strutted along beside him.
“-And then, the whole thing burst into flames! Half my equipment melted on the spot,” Josh regaled the Lunar Princess, who laughed uproariously.
“Sister? Josh? You’re back!” Celestia called, immediately flying over from her throne.
“Oh, hey,” Josh greeted cheerfully. “I wanted to apologize for my earlier behavior-“ he began, but was stopped by Celestia holding up a hoof.
“Ben explained everything, and you have nothing to apologize for. So… will you stay?” she asked, dropping any pretense as she looked at him anxiously.
Josh looked at Luna, who smiled back. “Yeah,” he answered. “I will.”
Celestia immediately took him into a hug, shocking most of the guards in the room as she happily nuzzled his forehead. Ben peeked out from around the throne, looking as shocked as the guards did.
“Really? You’re staying? What happened to not being controlled?” he asked.
Josh leveled his gaze at his friend-turned-brother. “Ben, I have been with my new mom for all of four hours and she has already proven herself to be a better mom than I’ve had in nineteen years. I’d be an idiot to turn away from this,” he answered, gesturing at Luna.
She smiled proudly, and Celestia flashed her an excited smile. “Then we are glad to have you back, Miracle Matter… unless you still want to be called ‘Josh?’” Celestia inquired.
Josh shrugged. “Either’s fine,” he dismissed. “So, Ben… what about you? Are you staying?” he asked.
Ben sighed. “I… haven’t decided yet,” he admitted.
“That’s fine. We’ve got plenty of time,” Josh answered. “Now, if you’ll excuse us… Luna and I have some science to do,” Josh happily declared.
“To the lab!” Luna added enthusiastically as the two of them eagerly made their way to Luna’s room.
Ben and Celestia looked at each other.
“Now there’s two of them,” Ben muttered to Celestia, who giggled.
Luna and Josh spent the rest of the day setting up the equipment they’d bought, talking animatedly about distillation and catalysts and whatever else they felt like doing. By the time lunch rolled around, they were watching a distillation run when Celestia poked her head around the door.
“Luna? Are you and Josh going to join us for lunch?”
Luna nodded distractedly. “In a moment, sister. We simply must finish this reaction Josh proposed – elemental potassium shall be ours yet!”
Celestia rolled her eyes, smirking. “I’ll have something sent to you two, then. Josh, what would you like?” she asked curiously.
“Uhh… do you have pizza?” Josh asked.
“We do,” Celestia answered, giggling slightly. “Toppings?”
Josh hummed in thought. “Mushrooms, onions, olives, pepperoni if you have it, and far too much cheese to be reasonable,” he answered.
Celestia’s giggles turned into outright laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Josh asked.
“Ben ordered the same thing,” Celestia got out.
Josh began laughing as well, and Luna smiled, glancing toward their reaction setup to keep an eye on it. “Want to make it a picnic, then? We could probably take a break, this one should be just about done,” Josh proposed.
Luna obediently shut off the heating and stirring, and followed Josh into the sunlight, where both of them winced.
They found Ben waiting in the dining hall, reading a book that Celestia had given him.
“What’s that?” Josh asked, looking at it curiously.
“It’s a book on Equestrian history. It’s actually pretty interesting, you should read it after I’m done,” Ben answered, eyes still glued to the book in question.
“I’ll definitely do that… in one day…” Josh joked, trailing off intentionally.
Ben chuckled. “You and your insane speedreading skills. So, are we all going to have a pizza party?”
Josh nodded. “I was actually persuaded to leave a laboratory in favor of socializing.”
Ben took on an expression of mock horror. “Who are you and what have you done with the real Josh?!” he accused.
Josh laughed, and Luna snorted in amusement, though she was staring at Josh the entire time. His reactions seemed so real, so genuine. But how much of it was ‘pretend’ and how much was his true emotions? Luna wondered if even Josh knew the difference.
They were accompanied to the gardens by a trio of Guards, Josh looking around in interest at the sprawling hedge maze. “I haven’t been in a maze in a long time… this going to be fun to wander around,” he thought aloud.
“I thought much the same when I first arrived! One day, I shall have to show you all the secrets I found,” Luna chimed in.
“Secrets? What, are there portals to another dimension in a few of the dead ends?” Ben wondered.
Celestia laughed. “Goodness, no, that would be quite the hazard. We simply place a few neat little commemorations and hidden treats for citizens to discover and enjoy,” she explained.
The seven of them trotted into a small, grassy clearing, where two of the Guards laid out a picnic blanket and the third set out pillows for them to sit on, the trio promptly departing once their work was done. Celestia and Luna took their seats immediately, but Josh and Ben were more hesitant.
“What’s wrong?” Celestia asked, noticing their trepidation.
“Uh… maybe if we…” Josh was muttering, taking a cross-legged seat on the pillow with his legs awkwardly splayed out in front of him.
“No, because then you can’t reach the food…” Ben muttered to him, seemingly as unaware as Josh was that they were being watched. Ben laid down on his stomach, stretching his arms out in front of him and propping himself up on his elbows.
“Are you two… alright?” Luna asked, looking at them in consternation.
“We’re trying to sit politely, but… we’re not designed to sit this way,” Josh admitted, slapping a hand to his forehead and grinning as Ben tried yet another pose.
“Oh… oh, right! Of course, forgive us,” Celestia answered, removing the pillows with her magic. “You may sit in whatever position pleases you.”
The pizza came just a few minutes later, steaming hot and carried in a wicker basket. “Your meal, Your Majesties and Guests,” the accompanying chef introduced, bowing and promptly excusing himself. Josh curiously picked up a slice, only to be elbowed viciously by Ben.
“Wait for the plates, bro,” Ben reminded him, and Josh hurriedly put the slice down again.
“Oh, right. My bad.”
Celestia and Luna lifted out plates from under where the pizza had been, as well as napkins, and passed them over to the two. Josh and Ben put their slices on their plates as tenderly and neatly as they could, tucked in their napkins, and began taking slow, measured bites of their pizza.
Luna and Celestia looked at each other. Far from dismissing their eventual role as princes, it seemed their errant children had suddenly decided to try and impress them – which, in a way, was worse. There could be no bonding between them if Josh and Ben were so scared of their opinions that they would change themselves to fit. Something had to be done.
All this and more was communicated in the look they shared, and Celestia was the first to act. Lifting up a slice of pizza with her magic, she took a huge bite out of it, forgoing manners in favor of stuffing as much pizza as possible into her maw. Josh and Ben stared in shock as pizza sauce dripped down her chin, staining her pearly white coat red-orange. She swallowed the entire thing, the bulge traveling down her sinuous neck as she adopted a look of satisfaction.
“Delicious,” she quipped after she had finished.
Josh and Ben continued to stare at her silently, and Celestia began to wonder if perhaps that had been the right decision after all. She had only meant to imply that she did not care about manners, and that the two should be able to enjoy the food they had wanted without worrying about impressing them – had she done something wrong?
Meanwhile, the only thing going through Josh and Ben’s minds was Did she just…?
Luna, looking back and forth between the two, decided to clear up the misunderstanding. “What my sister is attempting to communicate is that we will not chastise you for manners. Go on, enjoy your food!” she urged. Josh looked over at her, and just like that, the spell was broken.
“…Ooohhhh…” they both realized in unison.
“Okay, uh… sure,” Josh answered uncertainly, and picked up a slice of pizza as normal, taking a much larger bite out of it.
Ben followed suit, smiling as he dug into his slice, and Celestia and Luna relaxed, relieved that their message had gotten across.
“You really don’t have to worry about impressing us, you know,” Luna spoke up after a moment.
“Why not?” Josh asked, before taking another bite. “We’re going to be princes in a short while, after all. Don’t we have to be all prim and proper?” he wondered.
Celestia laughed. “In truth, we rarely attend meals with the nobility, as they usually swarm us with questions and concerns that would be best answered elsewhere. We got lucky earlier today, because it was not a scheduled mealtime. As for your manners… even if you were the most disgusting of slobs, we would still accept you, because we love you. No matter what you’re like, you are our children.” Ben smiled at her, seemingly accepting her argument, but Josh remained unconvinced.
“How much of that love is an obligation to care for anything you call ‘offspring,’ then, and how much is love for who we really are?” he challenged.
“All of it is love for who you are,” Luna replied passionately. “Of course we love you! You’ve shown bravery and ingenuity to come this far, and if we were not related, I would be proud to call you my friend!” Luna realized that she had slipped back into the Royal Canterlot Voice, judging by the startled looks on Josh and Ben’s faces, and looked at them apologetically. “Sorry. I… it’s an old habit of mine, born from addressing the public. I did not mean to yell.”
Josh shook his head to clear it, then smiled. “Well… at least I can tell you care. That’s… I guess that answers my question.”
They ate in silence for a moment, before Josh spoke up again. “So, I’m kinda curious, and I know this may be a touchy subject, but… how’d you lose us?” he asked.
Luna winced, and Celestia sighed. “A horrible mare wanted to take you away from us. She’d somehow convinced you that you were better off with her, not us, and foalnapped you, Josh. Ben followed, trying to rescue you, but got lost as well. We couldn’t rescue you because… well… we were… distracted,” Celestia shamefacedly admitted.
“Sister! We were not distracted, speak truths! We could not rescue the pair of you because I had become Nightmare Moon!” Luna added angrily.
Josh raised an eyebrow. “…Oh,” was his only answer.
Luna sighed, and lay back down, head resting on top of her forelegs. “It’s all my fault,” she mumbled, looking as though she were trying not to cry. “If it hadn’t been for me, we’d never have lost you. You’d never have had to grow up on another world… somehow…” she trailed off. Celestia looked as though she wanted to say something, tensing as Luna looked at the floor.
“Yeah… I’m kind of missing that bit too. Maybe this mare, whoever she was, decided to hide us off-planet to avoid your notice? But that’s kind of extreme,” Ben wondered aloud.
“At this rate, I’m tempted to wonder if we’re merely alternate-universe selves of the originals,” Josh added, rolling over to stare up at the sky. “It would certainly explain why the teleport spell went so awry, as well as our existing birth records – instead of pulling the existing copies of Miracle Matter and Clockwork Chronology, the spell found the nearest replacements.”
Luna looked uneasy. “I do not think that is the case… but it is a possibility,” she admitted.
“I prefer Ben’s theory,” Celestia spoke up. “There is no need to bring in an ‘alternate universe’ when none are confirmed to exist.”
Josh looked at her incredulously. “What about the high school on the other side of Star Swirl’s mirror?!” he reminded her, and Celestia appeared taken aback.
“How do you know about that?” she queried, just as incredulous.
Josh realized that he had managed to somehow fuck up even worse than last time. “I – uh… Twilight told me?” he tried.
Celestia was not amused. “Princess Twilight is under strict orders not to discuss the existence of the mirror. You have some explaining to do,” she commanded, spreading her wings intimidatingly.
“Sister! Calm down, I am sure there is some rational explanation for this!” Luna pleaded, tugging at one of Celestia’s wings in shock.
“Is there?! Because the only thing I can think of is that these are two impostors who have managed to fool even us!” Celestia accused.
“Wait!” Ben cried out, scared by how quickly this had devolved. “It’s not that, we can explain!”
Celestia looked at Ben imperiously. “Then please do,” she invited, still glaring at him threateningly.
“Okay, so back home, there’s this TV show we watch called “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” and I haven’t watched it in a really long time but basically it follows Twilight around and shows her adventures and that’s how we knew who you were and what the mirror was!” Ben rattled off in one breath, looking terrified.
Celestia appeared confused, though she remained suspicious. “What?” she questioned.
“Your world’s a fictional story, the main character is Twilight Sparkle, and we know everything,” Josh re-explained.
Luna appeared to be shocked speechless, but Celestia was not so easily deterred. “Prove it, then. Say something only an outside viewer could have possibly known,” the solar princess demanded.
Josh rolled his eyes. “Barring the objective improbability of that proof… alright, I’ll give it a shot. Remember when you first saw Twilight, just after she’d defeated Nightmare Moon?” he began. Celestia slowly nodded. “She asked you something about why you hadn’t told her about the Elements of Harmony. You replied that you only asked her to ‘make some friends.’ It was a very heartwarming end to the first episode,” Josh finished, and Celestia sat back.
“I had checked that room, before appearing… there was nopony in the room besides we eight,” she mused.
“See! They are telling the truth!” Luna spoke up.
“Look. We weren’t going to tell you this earlier, because we knew it’d make you uncomfortable. But, apparently, I can’t keep my mouth shut today, so now you know,” Josh finished angrily.
“I… oh, no… I’m so sorry!” Celestia hastily apologized. “I didn’t mean to accuse you of impersonation, it’s just… we’ve had reports of possible changeling infiltrations recently… oh, goodness,” she trailed off.
Josh glared at her for a moment, lips pursed, before deciding to drop it. “Yeah, I’m not getting that. Aren’t changelings on our side nowadays? I met some in Ponyville, and I might have met some in the caves when the train stopped,” Josh remembered.
“The ones in Ponyville we are aware of. According to them, they are refugees from the remainder of their Hive, and are allowed no sanctions if they return. There are a few additional changelings that have undergone a dramatic transformation lately, and they are friendly as well. But what did you see in the caves?” Celestia inquired curiously, and Ben looked over.
“Well, the train stopped because the conductor saw something that scared him, so I decided to go out and investigate while he repaired some of the wheels, which had come off of the track. I brought a lantern, found nothing, and was making my way back when I dropped it like an idiot, leaving myself stranded in pitch blackness. So, I panicked, and someone relit the lamp and brought it back to me. It was left on a really conspicuously dry patch of bedrock, so I don’t think it was coincidence,” Josh told them. “The conductor had said there were changelings in the caves, and we found a scrap of something that he was sure belonged to them and was stuck in one of the wheels. So… there you go,” he finished.
“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Ben commented, but Celestia shook her head.
“Well… perhaps they are friendly,” she admitted. “But I am taking no chances. I will not be caught by surprise again, especially if the rumors about the queen leading this attack are true.”
Josh raised an eyebrow. “Chrysalis again? You’d think she’d quit.”
Luna looked at him in surprise. “How do you… of course, Twilight was there,” she realized.
Josh simply nodded. “Now you’re getting it,” he answered. “We saw her attempt to infiltrate the wedding, and again versus Starlight Glimmer. They were both season finale episodes,” he explained.
Celestia tugged at her peytral uncomfortably. “So… you knew about us? This whole time?”
Josh nodded, having gone back to laying down and staring at the sky. “Makes for awkward conversation, doesn’t it? Meeting a fictional character, and having them claim they’re your mom. It almost makes me wonder how much of this we could have avoided if I just hadn’t told you.”
Celestia looked apologetic. “I am sorry for my outburst earlier. I just… things have been stressful lately. Can you forgive me?” she pleaded.
“Sure,” Ben immediately answered, with Josh hesitating for only a moment before repeating the affirmation.
“It’s so strange, to think we are fictional,” Luna mused.
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts,” Josh quoted.
Celestia smiled at him. “You know Shake Spear?” she asked delightedly.
Josh sighed. “...Yeah, let’s go with that,” he answered. “So, have either of you ever tried making peace with changelings before?” he asked suddenly.
“Why do you ask?” Luna wondered.
“I dunno. Just seems like it’d be less work,” Josh replied.
“Well… sister?” Luna passed off, looking at Celestia, who sighed.
“I… I have not tried,” she admitted. “After all the things she did… I do not think I can forgive Chrysalis her crimes. The other changelings… they are alright. But not her.”
Josh pursed his lips, but said nothing. Why did he even care? Sure, changelings had helped him in the past, but that didn’t mean Chrysalis was off the hook.
With no other conversation forthcoming, he closed his eyes, basking in the heat of the sun.
“Josh? Has he fallen asleep?” he heard Luna asking, and smiled.
“Josh, get up, you lazy cat!” Ben irritably replied, bumping Josh on the shoulder.
“Whaaat? I’m just resting my eyes,” he complained. He felt a soft pad touch his nose, and wrinkled it in dissatisfaction, to the giggles of the Princesses. He opened his eyes to find Luna prodding him on the nose, trying to keep from giggling more. Josh rolled his eyes and sat up.
“Are you tired?” Luna asked him, seeing him slump over.
Josh shook his head, blinking as he adjusted to not having the sun in his face. “Nah, I’ll be fine,” Josh yawned. “So… are we going to be immortal alicorns?” he asked curiously.
Luna and Celestia looked at each other. “Only if you stay… and only if you want to. You grew up as humans, if we understand correctly, and we have no desire to put you in a body you’re unaccustomed to without your consent,” Luna answered.
“Works for me,” Josh answered.
“Yeah… as cool as that would be… uh… nevermind,” Ben stopped, a guilty look on his face.
They returned to the castle, the Guards stationed at the entrance saluting as they caught sight of the Princesses.
“Your Majesties, Prince Blueblood awaits you in the throne room,” a secretary who had been waiting just inside the door informed them.
“Please tell him I will be with him momentarily,” Celestia answered.
She nodded at Luna, who gestured for Josh and Ben to follow her.
“Best to let ‘Tia attend to business,” Luna explained as she led them away.