//------------------------------//
// Nº 1 
// Story: The Luna Papers 
// by CoffeeBean 
//------------------------------//

Cadance stared out at the evening sun as it dipped below the mountainous horizon line in the distance, its brilliant orange light igniting the clouds. After a time, she looked back into the room in which she sat, the quietness making her feel alone, despite being accompanied by her Auntie Luna, who sat at the far end of the superfluously sized, dark wood table that spanned nearly the whole room. Luna's horn pulsed with a magical aurora far different than what Cadance was accustomed to; instead of the normal azure light of magic was a slowly pulsing, occasionally waving aurora of pure black that faded into a mist as it expanded outward from her horn. Luna's eyes were locked with the documents before her, documents concealed by the many personal effects lining the area around her. Along with the standard types of writing supplies and papers were many different knickknacks, puzzles, time-wasters, and trinkets lying about with only minor organization in the radius of where she sat. 

The room had, a month prior, been one of many meeting rooms within Canterlot Castle's Administration wing, but Luna had commandeered the place as her study. The long, rectangular room had been decorated in the same fashion as Luna's personal quarters; deep blue walls, light blue highlights, perfectly polished hardwood floors, and the occasional moon symbol. It too held the token darkness her quarters did; no candles were ablaze in the room, leaving only the quickly waning sun to provide contrast.

Cadance found amusement in Luna's decision to keep the room's table instead of replacing it with a proper desk. The extremely long table could comfortably accommodate thirty ponies, but now it simply served one. Though, Luna did make use of some of the table's spare room; at that far end where she sat were three other chairs, and before these chairs were different stacks of books, papers, and an occasional knickknack. Cadance could only assume these other piles of paper and chairs served as separate workplaces for different tasks. Celestia herself had three separate desks in her study. 

Other than cosmetics, the room hadn't changed all that much, save for the fact the two chandeliers hung over the table were never lit during the night and the many new bookshelves that had been added to the windowless right wall.

Silence hung loudly in the study, the occasional creak of wood or mumble from Luna being the only sounds to ever break that quiet. With Celestia off to the Bridle Shores for a week's getaway, the entire castle felt a lot quieter. Celestia's cheerful, regal calls could almost always be heard from somewhere in the halls. Cadance stood up from one of two chairs at her end of the table, standing idle for a moment before gaining enough courage to make her way down the length of the room towards Luna. 

In the two months since her return, Cadance had only spent useful time with Luna two or three times. It wasn't for a lack of trying. Luna was simply a hard being to catch. 

Her nocturnality and the fact her room and study resigned in a part of the castle opposite of Cadance's, made seeing her anytime during the day impossible. Luna paid her no heed as she sat back down in one of the other chairs at that far end, her eyes still fixed on her papers and her horn still holding that strange aurora. Occasionally, instead of blinking, she would shut her eyes for a few seconds, her ears angling and twitching as if they were straining to pick up sound.

"This'll be an interesting week." spoke Cadance in an attempt to spark conversation.

"Aye."

"A quiet one, as well."

"Indeed."

Cadance chuckled a little. "Auntie has quite the voice."

Luna's lips formed a weak smile, her eyes never leaving her work. "Aye, she does. It would be almost unacceptable for a presence as large as hers to not accompany itself with grand volume."

Cadance blinked, her internal cogs turning as she made sense of Luna's words.

"So, do you plan on changing your sleep schedule at all so you can have more time with everypony around the castle?"

Luna held her silence for a moment, but still, her work never paused and her eyes never diverged from the paper before her. "Nay... the night does require our stoking and tending. I shall, however, be mindful that noon of Wednesday is a parliament session, one that, as always, requires our... my presence."

"Still working on modern Equestrian?"

Luna sighed. "Aye." She groaned. "Yes."

"I kinda like 'aye'. Though, the Royal 'we' thing can get confusing at times."

"We... I know well. Many times I have had to explain my words further because of it."

Cadance offered a smile. "You know... I don't mind all that much. If it's difficult for you to adjust your speech, then I don't mind if you speak... how you normally speak."

"A kind proposition, but I shall decline. I have been making progress, I do not seek to stem it."

The click of a door handle turning sounded off as a gray-coated stallion entered, Cadance locking eyes with this unknown Unicorn, his purely white magical aurora holding some papers. His deep orange eyes locked with Cadance's for but a moment as he passed behind her chair and to Luna's side, the documents in his magic being placed off to the side of what she currently worked on. Her hoof came up, rested upon the stack and rotated the topmost paper a little bit before coming back down to her haunches.

"Thank you, Meadowlark."

"Quite welcome, your Highness."

With that, he bowed and began his departure, Cadance's eyes following him the entire time. As the door shut, Cadance looked back to Luna.

"Who was that?"

"Frolicsome Meadowlark."

Cadance paused. "But... what's his title?"

"He is my secretary."

"I didn't know you had a secretary."

"Most don't."

Cadance fell silent again. She focused her attention to that strange aurora around Luna's horn, its pulsing darkness being something the eyes could not easily divert from. She too focused on the strange pattern her blink held and the randomly timed flick of her ears. She wanted to ask just exactly what she was doing, but refrained from doing so; it wasn't her business. That and Auntie Celestia had stated that Luna was a bit strange and hard to understand sometimes. 

Any regular pony stating such wouldn't be all too abnormal, but that statement coming from Auntie Celestia, somepony two thousand years old, was noteworthy. Cadance brought her eyes to the books and few papers she sat before, not touching or manipulating any of them as she browsed the titles. It appeared most of them were novels detailing Equestria's history. 

Auntie Celestia had mentioned many times that Luna had taken a heavy interest in history, as well as what arts the modern age brought. She spent quite a lot of time talking about Luna, in fact.

"What time is it?"

Luna remained quite for a moment, her eyes shutting, one ear folding down, and her head tilting.

"7:45."

Cadance sat up, looking at the many things before Luna to see there was indeed a small, wooden clock. In fact, there was several of them. Stranger than that was the fact Luna hadn't looked up to them.

"In that case, I'm going to attend dinner before it gets too late." 

Cadance slid sideways off the chair, her hooves against the hardwood being the only sound in the room. She stood at the door for a moment, staring at the still silent and unmoving Luna.

"Are... you going to get dinner, as well?"

"Aye, soon."

Cadance hummed, opening the door.

"I'll see you in the dining hall?"

Luna nodded.

"Alright. Love you, auntie!" 

Luna remained in her state of mind, not looking up as Cadance exited, the door softly shutting behind her.

"Auntie..." 




Only a few forks clinked against their plates in the dining hall. The Administration Wing was accommodated with its own hall for royalty and staff alike, that way one did not have to mingle with guests if they so chose not to. Many did, however, dine in the Guest hall, as it was far larger, substantially prettier, and catered to a larger palette. 

Auntie Celestia herself only dined in the Administration Wing hall if Luna chose to, which wasn't often. While Auntie Celestia preferred the Guest wing's hall for the smiles and looks of awe she received upon entering, Luna preferred neither hall, which was quite evident to Cadance. 

To her knowledge, Luna often placed a request with the chefs for her meals, remaining either in her study or quarters to have her meals. The two grand tables of the room currently received only a few of the Castle's personnel, the most noteworthy of them being Cadance and Luna, who sat together at the head of the table with the least occupants. 

If the place had been chosen by Cadance, the two would have taken a seat in the closest proximity to the greatest concentration of ponies. In fact, if the place had been chosen by Cadance, the two would have gone to the Guest hall.

"Enjoying your meal?" Cadance asked as she took a bite of lasagna from her fork.

Luna's ear flicked.

"Quite."

Cadance looked down to the plate before Luna.

"What was food like back all those years ago?"

"T'was blander. It seems every item contains some grand flavor now."

Cadance hummed as she took another bite, leaning to the side and turning slightly to better face Luna.

"What's your favorite food now-a-days?"

Luna stopped chewing for a moment, her brow furrowing in thought. "I... do not know."

"Well... what was the best thing you've eaten?"

"The croissants the baker makes are good."

Cadance's expression went more blank than it had already been.

"Surely you like something other than croissants..."

"They are my favorite part of waking up. Besides the coffee and eggs so kindly brought by my Frolicsome Meadowlark, the croissants are always wonderful."

"Well, I guess your favorite food would be croissants."

The conversation fell flat as Cadance failed to think of any further words, and Luna, of course, failed to contribute anything without being directly spoken to. 




The castle's nighttime halls were as they always were; quiet. Cadance's own soft hoofsteps barely echoed through the hall, the natural internal noise within her ears being louder than her movements. That rumbling noise was all she could focus on, and it had been all she could focus on when in Luna's presence. 

She had spent nearly two hours with her since Auntie Celestia's chariot departed, and the conversations she tried starting never went anywhere. As she walked back to the wing of the castle her quarters were located in Cadance couldn't shake the strange feeling of loneliness she felt. Neither could she shake the thought Luna didn't care for her all that much. She didn't have much reason to, but she could have at least looked up from her work when they had been talking. She had barely caught Luna's gaze when they were at dinner.

"Hey, honey!"

Cadance flipped on her hooves to see Shining Armor approaching, his decorative Captain's armor replaced with a less official gray officer's jacket.

"Oh, goodness. It's good to see you, Shiney."

The two met with a quick kiss. "Good to see you... as well. Something wrong?"

Cadance sighed as she continued on, Shining trotting at her side. "I thought this week would be a good time for me to get to know Luna a bit better... but I don't think she wants to get to know me better."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well... she never really engages in conversation, and she didn't really seem that she cared all that much I was there."

"Was she working?"

"I- yeah, I guess she was. Her eyes were totally fixed on whatever she was writing."

"Well, that might have been it; you were just interrupting her." 

"Whenever Auntie Celestia's working, and I go to her, she pays attention..."

"Luna isn't Celestia, honey."

Cadance scoffed. "I've noticed."