//------------------------------//
// Interlude with Luna 
// Story: Midwife Crisis 
// by starshine_dash 
//------------------------------//


Just a brief Interlude with everypony's favorite princess.


Luna took a deep breath of the clear night air as she finished raising the moon.  Every night since she had returned to her job, her moonrise was heralded with the clear notes of an expert flutist.  It had taken her several months of research and sneaking around in the dark of night, but the princess of the moon finally found the player.

As much as raising the moon was a chore, now it had become a pleasure for her to do so with Fluttershy's wonderful songs keeping her company in the early night.  The music has also helped rekindle her own love of song and sound and she had been an extremely generous, if anonymous, donor to the performing arts since.  Every week she looked at the schedule of upcoming performances and hoped to see one particular pegasus on the docket.  Every week she was disappointed that she could not see that expert musician play in a setting where she could be lauded.

The princess shook her head as she adjourned to her halls, considering that perhaps a performance in front of hundreds of ponies would be a little much for the shy mare.  A knock at her door roused her from the reverie of replaying tonight's performance in her mind, "Thou mayest enter," she spoke loudly enough to be heard, but not quite as loud as the royal canterlot voice demanded.   Her sister was such a light sleeper after all.

"Lulu, it's just me," replied the guest, opening the door carefully and entering with all the grace expected of the Princess of the Sun.  While Luna had put most of the jealousy of her sister behind her, she still felt a small pang of envy at her gorgeous elder's figure.  Tall, graceful, and lithe with powerful muscles and a tight flank, she was the definition of a goddess for the mortal ponies.  Luna was more studious, spending most of her night studying quietly in the library, reviewing laws and making changes to royal policies as needed to update them for the modern age as she learned about the changes from her thousand year detention.

"Lessa! Should you not be in your chambers asleep, sister?"

"Oh, I always stay up to hear the Element of Kindness play.  She is truly an expert."

"She is that.  It is unfortunate she is so shy.  I would love to see her perform in the royal hall," Luna sighed, looking out her window as she took a seat by her desk, noticing the stack of paperwork that had built up during the day.  Taking the top sheet in hoof while she placed her glasses on with her magic, she sighed again, glaring at an impenetrable tangle of numbers that would take most of the night to decode, "Honestly, Lessa, must all these accountants write so small?"

Her sister giggled, a light sound like a bell, "Well, they said that the cost of parchment for scrolls was increasing, so they limit their use of it to a single page per month per ledger, no matter what.  I can't wait to see your reaction to the Discord  Repair ledger... It should be about 900 sheets long, but is still one...  I sometimes wonder how they manage to write that small that legibly without unicorn magic.

Taking her glasses back off and running a hoof over each eye, Luna looked back over to her sister, "So, how do we bring that pegasus out of her shell and into the spotlight, Sister-mine?"

"Lulu, that mare would probably die before she even set foot on the stage.  I suggest we enjoy the show each night, and treasure each as we treasure each other.  Her music is beautiful, and each night is a unique piece, never to be performed again..."

"But, Lessa... "

Celestia sighed and turned to look out the window, moving one star slightly to the right to fix a constellation, "Luna... There are some things I've learned over the thousand years you were... gone... that give me an insight into this situation.  Fluttershy is a quiet, kind, and very shy pony.  Performing on stage in front of thousands or millions of ponies, traveling the world, and being featured in magazines and radio programs is not in her nature.  If we force her to be something she doesn't want to be... Well, you remember what happened with Nightmare Moon."

Luna looked at the papers on her desk without seeing them, instead playing the months that lead up to her imprisonment over again in her mind.   At length, after mulling it over carefully and adding the data together, she replied, "I do... and I understand.  Can we at least hide a recording device near her hill?"

Celestia laughed and leaned over to kiss her sister on the forehead, "I'll have the accountants see if such a thing is in the budget," she whispered before turning towards the door and opening it with her magic, "I'll see you in the morning, Lulu."

Luna smiled at her sister and turned back to the papers, "Sleep well, Lessa."





It was demanded that I write an interlude about Luna hearing the music Fluttershy played each night.   This is what fell out of my brain.  It hasn't been edited since it's just a short interlude with the Princesses.  Chapter 7 will be done some time tomorrow for all of you eager for it.