Well, Luna did NOT think this whole 'secrecy' thing through. It had been dumb luck as well as skill that had allowed Lun to sneak back into her room without detection...... Not that it mattered for moments later Celestia damn near broke the door down along with two guards at her side. Luna had set down Aquila on the plush bed, so hiding her as no big problem, but with Celestia's loud scolding, well, Luna was just glad that by some miracle Aquila didn't wake. Celestia had gone on and on about 'sister! Where did you go that you couldn't possibly alert your guard? That was very irresponsible making me worry like that! Do you know how much you scared me by disappearing like that?' and ' Luna, do you not trust me enough to at least inform me that you are leaving somewhere?! Are you still angry at me? I'm so sorry sister, but I'm just glad you are ok now...' and so forth, which caused for one thoroughly scolded younger sister and two very uncomfortable guards.
It took 20 minutes of apologies and thinly veiled hints of exhaustion that finally caused Celestia to leave Luna alone. Once Celestia left, Luna turned back around to see Aquila sleeping peacefully, which was a miracle in itself.
After setting a barrier of pillow around the edges of the spacious, dark blue bed, Luna crawled into bed and with her forehooves gently pulled in Aquila closer to her to get some rest.
.
.
.
What's that sound? its damn near ear piercing. Luna blearily opened her eyes to the sight of a loudly crying filly. Luna's eyes snapped open and she immediately sat up. Quicky casting a soundproof spell around her bedroom -She hoped no one heard that...oops- Luna picked up Aquila and holding her close began to soothe her "What is it, little one? Did you have a bad dream? no? What is it then?," Luna held the still crying Aquila slightly away from her to check her over "Are you hungry?"
A louder cry told her that her assumption was correct. Luna quickly summoned up a bottle of mild and offered to Aquila, who greedily began to suck from it, wrapping her tiny hooves around it.
Luna sighed, soooo no more nights/days of full sleep? expected. Wanted? Definitely not. This is going to be more difficult than she thought, for starters, it meant that she would have to spend more time in her room, which would cause alarm with Celestia for certain, and not to mention the long run when Aquila grew older. What would happen when Aquila needed to interact with others her age? or when she wanted to explore outside Luna's room? But that could be put off for now at least, but it was something to consider... Maybe keeping her secret wasn't such a good idea? nope, it was a good idea. All those greedy nobles or individuals that might want to influence Aquila for their own gains? NOT a good thing. Maybe keep Aquila here until she is a bit less easily influenced? but then how would she ever learn? I need to stop thinking down this path before I go insane.
Luna shook her head before looking back to Aquila, she hadn't noticed it before, but Aquila took after her father in other aspects, such as the tufts on top of her more batlike ears, and her wings were certainly unique! Soft feathers lined the upper half of her wings, but the bottom half was membrane like a Thestral. Luna nuzzled her daughter on impulse, she just couldn't seem to stop wanting to cuddle this cutie!
As Aquila ate more slowly now, Luna couldn't help but think about all those wasted years on the moon, how Aquila was forced to be placed into a time capsule.
A quiet, raspy voice in the back of Luna's mind whispered--It wouldn't have been so if Celestia had not banished us to the moon. Our precious one would have not been a secret from the world then... She would have had friends her own age- or well, close enough to her age--
Luna recoiled slightly and hissed quietly "Nightmare. You were defeated. Begone this instant"
-- Defeated, my dear Luna. Not destroyed. I shall forever live on in either your mind or another. You know I'm right, this IS Celestia's fault. SHE was the one who banished us, SHE was the one who tore us away from Noctis, SHE was the one wh-
Luna growled "Be silent Nightmare! I will never again yield to your tricks!"
-- As you wish, dear Luna--
With that, the voice became silent and seemingly disappeared. Luna winced but did not allow fear to grow, Nightmare Moon was not entirely gone, the Elements of Harmony had done quite the number on the parasite, but if anything it said was to be trusted, it could never truly be killed.
Luna had to forcefully dismiss these thoughts as Aquila pushed away from the now empty bottle and cooed sleepily. Luna smiled softly before carefully setting the tiny Alicorn on her shoulder and gently patting her back. After a couple burps, Aquila yawned, showing her tiny teeth, and slowly closed her eyelids.
Luna set her down back onto the bed and laid down beside her, she was certainly tired, a thousand years of banishment supposedly needed a full nights rest, but that wasn't going to happen very often, so she quickly fell into the realm of dreams as she knew she needed as much as she could get.
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Waking up was lovely, unlike most mornings. See most mornings included much procrastination and grumbling and copious amounts of coffee. But this morning was strangely peaceful as Luna awoke to the gentle tapping of tiny hooves on her face.
Aquila was wide awake and using her tiny hooves to tap her momma's face for some odd reason that escaped Luna's morning reasoning.
Luna brought up her own hoof and gently booped Aquila on her nose, which caused high pitched giggles from the foal. Luna crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out which caused even more highly adorable giggles. Luna smiled and cuddled her tiny one for a few moments before a crisp knock at her door caused her to jump slightly.
Luna quickly got out of bed, made sure that Aquila was safe from rolling off the edge, and went over to the door and cracked it open just enough to allow her face to poke through. A young maid stood at the door and said, nervously but clearly "Y-your Highness, Princess Celestia has invited you to b-breakfast"
Luna nodded and spoke in a normal tone of voice, which of course she would, while a maid was a subject, they fell into a slightly different category "We thank you, maid, thou may inform Celestia that we have received her message and will the be their promptly"
The maid nodded quickly and quickly turned and damn near scurried away, clearly intimidated by the lunar princess. Luna snorted, it wasn't as if she was still possessed by Nightmare Moon. Luna closed the large double doors and turned to the stand which held her regalia. She quickly slipped into the more regalia and turned to Aquila who was still wide awake. This was a bit of a predicament... Luna couldn't leave Aquila all alone, not while she was conscious at least, but she couldn't just not attend breakfast either lest she risk Celestia's suspicion.
After thinking for a minute, Luna used her magic to create a mobile that had little bits and bobs from around the room and hung it above the bed for Aquila to look at. She then created a practical fortress out of pillows so Aquila couldn't roll off the edge of the bed before heading out the door to head to a most likely rushed breakfast
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well, this is where I'm going to leave off for this chapter. I really can't be bothered to check this over though before I post it, so sorry for any possible grammar mistakes!