Off Day

by yodajax10


Luna

“Great story,” Apple Bloom applauded. “Celestia seems really nice!”

“Yeah, she is. I was a bit flattered also.” Spike looked across the room at the three ponies and remembered why they were here. “Okay, let’s get to work on the game. Who are your characters?” He asked. “I’m Garbunkle the magician! Level 30 enchanter to be precise!”

“Ah’m Lady Sternhoof!” Apple Bloom spoke proudly. “I’m a level 23 paladin!”

“Lollygag!” Sweetie Belle introduced. “Level 27 cleric!”

“And I’m Cloudburst!” Scootaloo spoke. “He’s a level 35 ranger!”

“He?” Spike asked. He, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gave a confused look to Scootaloo.

“That’s right! I’m playing a stallion!” Scootaloo spoke, triumphantly.

After a couple seconds, they all shrugged. “Alright,” Spike sighed. “I’ll try to set the scenario and we can get playing. I remember a place that came to me in my dreams once. It was a huge desert with only a few stray rocks. Perfect for this campaign.”

The little unicorn perked up about hearing Spike’s dream memory. “Dreams? You know, Spike?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Princess Luna has the power to enter anypony’s dreams! Since you’re close to Princess Celestia, does Luna help your dreams too?”

“Believe it or not,” Spike declared. “Luna’s the princess I see most often outside of dreams.”

“How so?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“She’s my dragon sitter.” Spike answered.

Scootaloo spit out her drink. “Dragon sitter?!”

Apple Bloom’s eyes widened. “Jiminy Crickets! How did y’all ever get to that conclusion?”

“It all started after my first Nightmare Night in Ponyville.” Spike exposited. “I’ve been getting lonely since Twilight and her friends are always out, and since Luna’s new here-”

“After a thousand years?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Spike’s eyes widened. “Uh, yeah, that! So, she decided to watch over me whenever I was alone, since she doesn’t do much in the day.”

It was night. Twilight and company had gone off to help Fluttershy move some animals into another part of the woods, they wouldn’t be back at least until the next evening. This left Spike on his own...bored. He sat on the balcony, looking up at the stars. He suddenly heard the downstairs door open, and he grinned excitedly.  “Luna!” Ever since the Nightmare Night festivities, Luna had presided over the youth as his dragon sitter. Because Luna didn’t have that much to do in Canterlot in the day next to Celestia, despite being a Princess herself.

He happily ran downstairs to see her, and noticed her sitting on the couch, looking a bit stubborn.

Spike was confused, but he still wanted to lighten the mood. “Hey, Luna!” Spike waved to Luna from the stairs.

Luna looked up and saw Spike upstairs and gave a sad smile. “Hello, Spike.” She then turned away.

Spike took notice of Luna’s mood and looked concerned. “Luna?” He climbed up on the couch to sit next to her. “Luna, what’s wrong?”

Luna looked down at Spike, looking at his worried face, that was saying he wanted to help. She let out a sigh. “Things have been...trouble for me.”

“Trouble?” Spike asked.

“You’re aware of my ability to enter dreams, dragon youngling?” Luna spoke.

“Yeah, which is awesome!” Spike looked up to the princess, happily.

Luna smiled at Spike upon that comment. But she looked down again. “Ever since I’ve been brought back from Nightmare Moon, almost every filly and colt has been terrified of me. I want to change and help out any way I can...but even the youngest of pony folk turn away.”

Spike noticed a tear fall from Luna’s eye and quickly ran up to hug her belly.

“Hey, come on, Luna.” Spike tried to show his comfort for the Princess of the Night. “It is taking a while...but you’re great with some kids already! That’s how you got to hang out with me!”
Luna smiled at the baby dragon and wrapped a hoof around him. “Twilight Sparkle is lucky to have you as a friend, young Spike.” Luna spoke as she stroked his scales.

“Well, I try.” Spike admitted with a joking shrug.

After almost a minute in the warm embrace, Spike got an idea. “Hey, Luna! I think I know how I can help!”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Help?”

“If you wanna get better interacting with kids, you gotta get on your playful side!” Spike encouraged.

“I do have a playful side,” Luna blushed. “Though it is at times hard to show,”

Spike thought for a second. “I know!” He spoke. “You could read a bedtime story!”

As Spike went through Twilight’s collection of books, Luna could only looked confused. “Bedtime story?”

“Yeah!” Spike pulled out a book and ran up to Luna. “That’s always a great way to bond with kids! Come on, please? It’ll be fun!”
Luna sighed looking at Spike’s eager expression. How could she say no to a face like that?

Later, the two were upstairs in the bedroom as Luna helped tuck Spike in his basket.

Spike passed along the book and she started reading from page one. “Okay,” Luna cleared her throat and began to read. “Once upon a time…”.

No, not that one,” Spike pointed at the book. “Try another one.”

Luna was confused. “But I barely even started yet. How do you know what I am going to say?”

“It’s an anthology book, so you don’t have to start at the beginning,” Spike answered snuggling deeper under the covers. “Try going to the middle of the book. All the good stuff’s towards that part.”

Luna rolled her eyes as she leafed through the book. She skimmed some of the titles until she found one that piqued her interest. It was called “The Pony who Gazed at Stars”. Quite fitting the Princess of the Night would want to read into that one.

Luna started the story in a blank monotone, as though she were trying to grasp the meaning of the words and soak in their subtext for herself.  “Once there was a filly named Crystal Soul. She loved nothing more than to look up and observe patterns in the skies. Every night she would tell her mother, ‘Mom, does that cluster of stars look…?”

“No, no.” Spike waved his arms out in disapproval, cutting her off mid-sentence. “More emotion. And…” He giggled just a little at what he was planning next. “It’s always more fun if you read in their voices.”

“But how do I know their voices?” Luna was getting frustrated now. “I’ve never heard them before.”

Spike patted Luna in assurance. “Just make something up. Anything is fine.”

Luna resumed reading from where she last left off. “Every night she would tell her mother, ‘Mom, does that cluster of stars look like anything to you?’ And her mother would respond with answers like ‘A pony lying down’ or ‘A dog’.” She deepened her voice for the mother and rose it for Crystal. Spike giggled at the high-pitched voice in particular.

The more Luna read, the more invested she got in the story. Crystal Soul would try to build a telescope to map the stars after a comet crossed the sky. It took a great deal of convincing, but Crystal’s words were at last able to grant her mother’s approval to build that giant telescope in her room.

At last, Crystal Soul observed that mighty comet and discovered a whole new set of stars in the sky. She even found her Cutie Mark in the form of a giant telescope later that night. So every few months, when the comet made a pass over her home, Crystal Soul would remember that it was her own.

“The End,” Luna closed the book. It was a nice story after all. Even as Princess of the Night, Luna still wondered what she could see in her own starry skies after dark. The character of Crystal Soul resonated with her more adventurous side, so she felt confident in her choice of story. Then, she remembered why she was reading it and looked down.

Spike smacked his lips and rustled around inside his basket. His eyelids were weighing down on him, but he was still trying to fight off that last wave of sleep for as long as he could. He was able to mumble a few words for Luna as she got up to leave. “No, Luna. Wait,” Spike squeaked out. “I’m not all that tired. Just one more. Please!”

Luna smiled as she tiptoed forward to the little dragon. “It’s alright, dragon youngling. This story was wonderful. I had fun, you had fun. And we can have much more time to do fun things tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Spike yawned in response. At last, his eyelids gave way and he faded from consciousness. But just before he drifted off, Spike whispered, “I knew you could do it…”.

Luna was flattered. She had done it. Maybe she was better with kids than she thought. As her eyes watered in happiness, she knelt down to Spike. Though he was already fast asleep, Luna still wanted to express her gratitude in some way. “Thank you, Spike,” She whispered to him as she kissed his forehead. She stayed by his bedside for the rest of the night, resting her head on Spike’s shoulder to keep him warm, as she fell asleep herself.