//------------------------------// // Intermission two: Meeting the new team // Story: Twilight's Slumber Party // by Furious Thestral //------------------------------// From within the castle itself, Midnight Snack rushed down the hallway quickly to Princess Celestia’s personal office. She was given a notification to be at the white alicorn’s office before the daily transition, and she was certain to be there to be ready for her new task, regarding Princess Luna. With a swift movement, she knocked three times at the door before she waited for her presence to known, as usual. “Come in,” came the regal voice of the princess, and with it, Midnight opened the doors and trotted inside the room until she stood in front of the solar princess’s desk. “What is it that you require this evening, my princess?” Midnight bowed as she made her arrival known to the white alicorn. “Good evening, Midnight Snack. How are you’ve been doing with my sister during the past week that you have been with her?” Celestia asked as she put aside some finished papers before focusing on the maid before her. “She hasn’t been too much to handle, is she?” Midnight Snack raised up on all four hooves and beamed at the question of her mistress. “She has been doing much better since our meeting. She has begun to find herself more curious about the history of how our kind are, in their relations to Equestria, and she has opened herself up more the more time we spend together,” she reported with a bright smile upon her face. “I am glad to hear that, Midnight Snack!” praised Celestia with a smile as she began to rummage through her papers. “I knew I could count on you for the task,” she added with a smile as she levitated four documents, along with a folder to place them inside. Once the news about the return alicorn princess was made, it was a huge impact among the entire kingdom and an even a bigger one for each Thestral who was eager to be at the service of the new Princess of the Night. That was until Celestia, herself, chose Midnight Snack from the first noble house of the thestral community to be in charge of taking care of every need Princess Luna required. Midnight was in the middle of reminiscing when a folder with three documents landed on the desk before her. “These are the names and personal information of Luna’s new working staff. They will be under her service, and they will be responding to her every need,” Celestia instructed as she then handed them to Midnight with her magic. “Once Luna arrives after nightfall for her daily studies, these ponies will be in her personal chamber in order to get to know you, each other and to be more accustomed to Luna as well,” she specified while letting Midnight check upon the files of each pony. “Does this involve with the slumber party that my mistress has requested?” the Thestral asked once she shifted her eyes from the papers to the Princess of the Sun. “More or less, as I intend for Luna to have a personal working staff and a few responsibilities in order to reintegrate her fully into her official royal duties and pony society. I wish for her to be more at ease with all the ponies around her, and with the present party, I can expect that she will be more at ease with her new working staff, with the same being the case for the ponies working for her,” Celestia explained for the details for tonight’s plan. “I hope you can convey my intentions to everypony during the event, Midnight... You may now retire,” she added, expecting that everything would go as pleasant as she hoped them to be. Luna really needed to have companions and friends along with her. “I’ll do my very best, my princess,” Midnight Snack bowed before walking away from the office, with documents under her wing, and trotted to her personal room to study the ponies she will be working with further as ordered. Celestia smiled as she watched the door close, causing her to recall the time she had received the new kin in Equestria, a memory of when she responded to a plea of sanctuary from a Thestral tribe several centuries ago because of the threat they had suffered from the constant attacks of dangerous creatures and foreign menaces against their kind that threatened their peace. Celestia made their presence known to her subjects by giving them sanctuary in the nation, and even when the majority of the Thestrals had left to continue their own ways, the others remained in Equestria to obtain their nationality and citizenship along with the other three tribes of the land, in order to live in peace and harmony. The memories brought the white alicorn a smile once she thought about the ponies that now would be fond of the idea of living alongside Luna, the Princess of the Night, as their new guide and role model to follow. If the Thestrals lived in Equestria back then in those times of jealousy and hate, then a different result may have taken place during that dark night of the fall of Luna’s sanity. Celestia returned to her documents, giving the final adjustments to them before preparing to lower the sun and have dinner with her beloved sister, intending to enjoy her time with her before the lessons and the party that was planned for her. *** Midnight Snack was in her personal room and sat down in a small chair, placing the documents on her own table and decided to read through each file thoroughly to gather any information regarding those who would meet with her mistress. “Let’s see... first, we have… Night Life,” the maid read out loud as she focused on the contents of the document and file photo. “Thestral mare… Onyx coat, indigo mane... Ranked: Specialist. Skilled in hoof to hoof combat, aerial maneuvers and stealth…” she began with a hint of a smile, feeling that the guard was capable of handling her job when the moment arrived... until she read further on. “Has… lack of discipline!? Caught reading during sessions of training? What kind of mare did Celestia assign to her sister in order to protect her?” she questioned after reviewing the most important parts of the document and placing it down by the next one. “Hmm… North Star: Unicorn mare, ivory coat and aqua mane… Given the position of secretary and notary of the castle… Educated in the university of Stalliongrad in linguistics… Known for being responsible, polite, punctual, hard worker, caring, kind, organized… Does this list ever end?” Midnight Snack asked in disbelief, dropping the papers before she got herself caught in the never ending list of good attributes from the unicorn mare. One pony being an irresponsible guard, and the next one was the perfect secretary that seemed to have little to no flaws. Both sides seemed to balance out well, but it was still a fact that she had to question if they would be of any use to Princess Luna. With a deep breath, she decided to head on to the next file from the folder. “Waxing Gibbous… Unicorn mare of white coat and black mane… Given the position of Chambermaid, efficient, quick responder, expert in the magic spells of the Immaculatam Grimoire and other cleaning spells in her experience as a Royal Maid... No antecedents nor bad word of her behavior, seems a good worker and a very loyal one at that,” the thestral maid read and commented to herself as she relaxed, knowing that at least there might be more capable mares than those relaxed undisciplined ponies. “Now, the last one…” Midnight Snack switched to the last document within the files and began to read it to herself. “Waning Gibbous?” she read the name again, as it felt familiar, but she decided to go on, “Unicorn mare of black coat and white mane… Given the position of Chambermaid, efficient, quick responder, expert in the magic spells of the Immaculatam Grimoire… Wait,“ Midnight felt as if she had read the same document and quickly reached back to the previous one and made the comparison. “They are the same!” she concluded as she saw that both of them had the same description and that the only difference was the name and colors of the mare. Certainly, a group of strange mares had been chosen to be Princess Luna’s personal servants, and Midnight Snack should be able to voice her opinion to recommend ponies more suitable to her princess. But, if there was something that she and all the ponies that work inside the castle grounds have learned in their working experiences, it was to never question The Big Mare. She might never know why they were chosen for the job, but she knew where to put her trust in, and that was, albeit, enough for her to go on with. Now that the research has been done, the last thing she needed to do was to head on to Luna’s room to meet them all personally and introduce herself. Without any delay, Midnight trotted to her personal wardrobe and collected her own jumper and her little fluffy slippers, with the design of an owl on each pair, and put them inside her personal saddle bag, ready to leave for her mistress’ chambers with enough time for the Lunar Princess to leave them to meet with her sister. With a professional strut, Midnight made her way through the castle halls and reached the Lunar Tower, where she made her way forward to the giant ebony wooden doors that held the symbol of the moon on it. On her way, she noticed a familiar face that just left the room where she was heading to. “Proper Pose... a pleasant surprise to see you here,” Snack said with a polite bow. “The same could be said to you… Midnight Snack,” the coral pegasus replied with a smile as she met with her fellow maid. “Seems you will be having a party of your own tonight, eh?” she asked with a wave of her head back at doors of the bedchambers. “It is not a party. What we are doing here is a gathering of her new working personnel, in order to be acquainted of each other before becoming servants of our mistress’ needs,” Midnight corrected, making it clear that everything was pure work ethics and no fun. “Suuure, and the whole refreshments and snacks that have been piled up, along with the phonograph, inside the royal bedchambers has just the same air of business as the royal courtroom of the castle,” Proper Pose pointed out rather sarcastically, “And the way you call her mistress is probably the cherry on the top for this proper gathering you and the others are having.” She gave coy smile at her friend, and it grew wider as once she saw the red color mark her entire face. “You c-c-c-ca-can’t say it like that!” Snack shouted as she looked desperately to silence Pose from using such words. “I-I-I c-c-c-call her that way because it is proper to address your superiors in such a manner,” she stammered as she waved her forehooves to motion for her to tone it down as she stumbled on her own words because of how flustered she was. “Well, anyway, hope you get along with the new members of the Lunar Team!” she exclaimed while marching away with a wave of her hoof. “Ye-yeah... See you in the morning!” she replied as she let her heart calm down and regain herself from the teasing. Resuming her pacing, Midnight arrived at the doors, and since she knew that knocking was not necessary at this point, she decided to barge herself inside the bedroom. She soon spotted that most of the furniture had been relocated in order to place a new table, filled with several pastries and salted snacks of different varieties. A phonograph was at the other end of the room, where it played a soft tune that wasn’t meant for dancing but more for ambiance. At the arrival of Midnight, four pairs of eyes fell upon her presence, and they observed at the new incomer. “Thank Luna’s moon! I thought I was going to be the only Thestral under Princess Luna’s command!” another Thestral trotted directly towards Midnight and stretched her hoof out to meet with the maid. “Night Life. Nice to meet another one like me!” she introduced with a wide smile. Midnight looked at the mare with a keen eye and questioned if they were really alike. From what she had seen in her reports, she hardly thought they are. “Likewise…” she said as she gave her hoof to shake with the new mare she would work with, but it was received by hoof-bump instead, as Nightlife rushed to hug her tightly and smiled excitedly. “Now, now, Miss Nightlife, I do not think that it is proper to act like that to a superior, now is it?” a motherly tone came from the ivory unicorn, who was walking swiftly to where the two Thestrals were. “North Star, a pleasure to be acquainted with you,” she introduced herself with a bow of her head. Midnight manage to get herself free from Nightlife and greeted in the same manner towards North Star. “Midnight Snack. A pleasure to be working with you.” They kept an eye on each other until two sets of hooves walked towards them, and with Midnight averting her gaze, she saw the two last ponies she needed to encounter. “I am Waning Gibbous!” the white unicorn said. “Waxing Gibbous!” the black one added a second after. “It is a pleasure to know you!” both mares replied in unison as they bowed at the same time. Midnight didn’t know who to give a hoofshake first, so she decided to just bow to both of them. “Let us work hard for the benefit of our princess,” she said once her head rose up again. Both unicorns nodded, and soon enough, the five mares were lost in silence... until Midnight decided to make her move before the silence became unbearable. “I have read about you, Nightlife, but I wish to know some things before we get to have a professional role alongside each of us,” Midnight suggested as she walked into the center of the room to find some cushions to sit on. “Well, what can I say about my own self?” Nightlife asked as she and the other mares joined Midnight in the circle of cushions. “Hmm... how about the story about the time I got enlisted to the Cadet Academy?” she asked, while receiving several nods from the others. Nightlife adjusted her body to have as much comfort as possible and smiled. “Well, it all began when I was assigned at the E-5 division, which was assembled mostly by pegasi, and I was one of the five thestral in them…” she began, telling the others as each of them listened attentively while preparing their own stories to tell before Princess Luna’s arrival.