A Heart Eclipsed

by Show Stopper


Chapter 21

Chapter 20

"You're keeping something from me."

Sora sighed as he stared out the window at the rising sun. "I'm still not sure what it is yet. At least, I'm trying to come up with something else it could be."

Luna hummed in response as she turned another page of her book. They sat across from each other in a booth in the passenger car, alone save for each other. The rest of their team was still asleep, Strongheart and Jazz sharing a room while Coco and Fancy each had a single.

"I don't suppose I'd be of any use in figuring it out?" Luna asked.

"If I thought you would be, I'd have told you about it." Sora shook his head as he sighed again. "All I can say is, I don't think it's a threat to Equestria."

"Good enough for me." Luna looked up, meeting Sora's eyes. "Would it have anything to do with why I couldn't find your dream last night?" A sly smile worked its way onto her face. "Building a dream about another mare?"

"You wish," Sora muttered, looking back out the window. "I still don't see the appeal of ponies. I mean, sure, you're a cute lot, but you're the only one who's ever been able to make me think, 'Yay, she's sexy.' I'm afraid your threesome fantasies will just have to remain fantasies."

"Shame," Luna replied, looking back down at her book. "That Coco is adorable."

Coco Pommel's face turned red as she passed by the room, the last few lines audible through the closed door.

*****

Strongheart took a deep breath of the mist filled air, sighing contentedly as she leaned into Jazz's side. "Okay," she said, "I'll admit it. This place is beautiful."

Jazz nodded before leaning down and nuzzling her love. "Sure is. I can see why folks call this the most romantic spot in Equestria." She looked back up at the roaring water before them, thousands of tons falling every second. Jazz and Strongheart stood on a platform a few dozen meters from the bottom of the falls, surrounded by other amorous couples.

"I'm a might surprised Sora and Luna ain't joined us," Jazz said, sparing a moment to look around. "Any idea where they wandered off to?"

"I think I heard Fancy say that they were all going to the top of the falls," Strongheart replied. "Though it sounded like they'd be joining us down here soon."

*****

"Do you have to do this every time?"

"Of course!" Sora grinned from ear to ear as he hopped into the large, empty barrel on the edge of the platform. "I haven't gotten to do this in over a thousand years!"

"There are many things you have not done in over a thousand years," Luna deadpanned. "Most of those things do not involve going over the edge of a waterfall."

"Oh, come now Your Majesty," Fancy said from his own barrel, looking strangely average without his suit-coat and monocle. "It's good fun! Why even Miss Pommel is coming along!" He looked into the barrel beside him where a trembling Coco lay curled in a quivering ball. "Isn't that right, my dear?"

Coco looked up with a strained smile before going back to her ball. "It's perfectly safe. It's perfectly safe. It's perfectly safe."

"She'll be fine," Sora assured. "Soon as it's done, she'll be wanting to go again."

Luna sighed, rolling her eyes. "If you say so."

Soon enough, all three of their barrels were sealed tight and they were floating down the river towards Neighara Falls. Luna sighed and shook her head, watching the barrels as they neared the edge. "Three. Two. One."

CRACK

"WOOHOO!" Ponies on the platform turned to stare in open-mouthed shock as Sora stood up in his barrel. The remains of the lid floated past him, smashed to pieces. "BRING IT ON, NEIGHARA! BRING! IT! ON!"

Luna sighed and took wing as the barrels went over the edge. "He's going to get himself killed doing that," she muttered as she glid down to the lower platform. She landed near Strongheart and Jazz who were staring in awe at the bottom of the falls. "Before you ask," she said, "yes. He does that every time."

"I'm just surprised he managed five flips on the way down," Strongheart said, shaking her head. "Our legends say that the Light-Bearer thrives on danger, but this seems..."

"Needlessly excessive?" Luna prompted.

"I would've said 'nuttier than a pecan pie,' but yeah, that works." Jazz squinted into the mist as three barrels came bobbing towards them, one of which had a dazed human draped over the side. "Least it looks like they made it through in one piece."

"Indeed." Luna levitated the three over, setting them down in front of her. "One of these times, you could at least try to stay in the barrel."

"NEVER!" Sora shouted, waving a fist drunkenly above his head. "Tha-that's the outer's way to quit!"

Luna rolled her eyes and cracked the seals on Fancy and Coco's barrels, levitating the lids off. "And I suppose a concussion is a small price to... um..." Luna cleared her throat, looking away awkwardly. "It would seem that I may have placed Fancy's barrel upside down."

"Well, at least your view is pleasant," Fancy's muffled voice called.

Coco gasped as she leapt out of her barrel, soaked from head to hoof and shivering like a chihuahua. "thththththththat w-w-w-was..." A massive grin split her face. "AWESOME!!!" She rushed to Fancy's barrel and tipped it over, sending the waterlogged stallion tumbling out. She grabbed him and threw him over her haunches, grinning manically as she ran for the stairway that led back to the top of the falls. "WE'RE GOING AGAIN! WOOHOO!!!"

Luna sighed as the adrenaline-high mare and the flummoxed stallion disappeared. "Well, at least she is not traumatized."

"Ah, I knew she could take it," Sora said, standing up and only wobbling slightly. "She's stronger than that. And as socially shy as she can be, she's no coward."

Jazz raised an eyebrow at him. "Heartsight?"

"Didn't need it." Sora crossed his arms and smiled down at her. "After three thousand years, I've gotten pretty good at reading ponies even without it."

"And yet he misses every hint that Sol drops that he's forgotten his Birthday," Luna countered.

"That's deliberate. I just like messing with him."

"And the hints I drop about my Birthday?"

"...Oh look!" Sora suddenly pointed up and to the west at a distant shape in the sky. "I'll bet that's our airship! I'll go and collect our baggage!"