//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: And She Waited // Story: Selene Embers // by AFanaticRabbit //------------------------------// A single grey-blue pegasus mare sat at a café set at one of the higher points in the east, where it overlooked Canterlot and the royal palace in the distance. The streets below were packed. Not for any major celebration, though a great many of those were to be had, but simply because of what the city was. An economic hub, a cultural center, and the political capital of Equestria. The mare wasn’t entirely used to that idea. She was too used to the city being at best a small town, despite a century of development that she had seen and a millennia more she had not. The café was one of a number of buildings practically carved out of the mountainside, though it was hard to tell due to its whitewash and the rounded, cerulean roof that capped it. From under the awning on the second floor’s balcony, she stared into her tea, looking into the brown-black water. The midday sun bounced off the walls and the awning’s scaffolds, casting streaks and specks of white into the drink. She had been waiting for some time that morning, and was on her third full cup, the remains of breakfast on a plate beside it. A few more minutes or hours would hardly impact her. Eventually her drink reflected something peach fluttering above, and the mare lifted her head. “Hello, little moth.” With a level expression, The grey-blue mare looked at the newcomer as she landed. “Hello, Somnambula.” She gestured with a wing to a chair opposite, and Somnambula followed, filling the seat. Another gesture summoned one of the workers, and he filled a cup for Somnambula before disappearing back inside. A brief look of surprise crossed his face when the curtains seemingly shut by themselves behind him. The two mares sat in silence. Somnambula watched the grey-blue mare sip her drink, and the mare pretended she didn’t enjoy it as she watched the city. Somnambula was the first to break it. “Luna, I—” “Mildew. Call me Mildew here, please.” Somnambula stared at Mildew for a moment, then nodded. “Why Mildew?” “It is unassuming, and I like the quiet when I can during the day. Ponies fuss over me too much these days.” Mildew sipped her drink again. Somnambula gave another nod. “...I’m sorry.” “You should be.” Clearly this wasn’t the reaction Somnambula expected, and she frowned down at her drink. “You’re angry. That is… reasonable.” “I am.” Another sip. “I also grieved and mourned but it never quite put that anger to rest.” She set the cup down, turning to Somnambula. “You made a promise you could not keep. You made me wait so, so long, and then I had to live with that for a hundred years more.” Somnambula kept her head low, biting her lip. “I am also relieved to see you safe and sound.” Somnambula’s head snapped up to Mildew’s smile. Somnambula didn’t return it, but simply held her gaze. “What do we do from here?” Somnambula asked. “I feel like I should have an answer. I usually give other ponies advice.” The laugh that followed was lighter, nervously jovial, but it still had the same endless sweetness to it. It made Mildew want to put some sugar in her tea and ruin it, so she did. “That all depends,” said Mildew, sipping sweetened tea. It tasted off. Somnambula looked down at her own cup again, and Mildew sighed. “You’re going to leave again, aren’t you?” Somnambula nodded. “Yes, but...” She at last took a drink of her own tea, swallowing down a large sip. “But it won’t be like last time. I want to visit the world as it is now, to see how my home has changed. This time, I want to do this right.” Settling the cup down, she leaned forward and rested her head on her hooves, grinning at Mildew. “I want you to come with me. I’m sure you can make the time and leave your work to Celestia and the Elements.” “You know it is not as simple as that,” Mildew grumbled, “and I still have my nightly duties besides…” “Then we can do that together!” With a glance over her shoulder, Somnambula spotted Canterlot’s main train station. Crowds of ponies piled in and flowed out as locomotives pulled in and out. “Travel is much easier and quicker these days, and we wouldn’t need to rush—” “No.” Somnambula deflated, and she turned her head down, her forehead to her hooves now. “I just wish to make it up to you.” Silence reigned between them, and Mildew stared at Somnambula. The urge to tell her to leave, to do as she pleased and damn whoever else that fell for her, but she knew that wasn’t fair. She wanted no part in the life of someone who had abandoned her, but Mildew knew it wasn’t Somnambula’s choice. Against her anger and the confused and renewed grief, she made a decision and stood over the forlorn pegasus. “Stay,” Mildew said. “Pardon?” Somnambula lifted her head again that day, a little hopeful glint in her faded violet eyes. “Stay, at least for a season or two.” She pointed to the palace with a hoof. “We have rooms to spare in a castle so grand, but my chambers are enough for us to catch up. Meanwhile the world beyond will still be there; as you say, we have allies aplenty to keep it safe.” She sucked in a breath and held it as she looked aside, once more to the city’s populace. Many might see her here, but she made her mind up. “I don’t know if we can rekindle what we had,” said Mildew—Luna as she turned back to Somnambula, her illusion now sloughing off in little winged motes. Somnambula’s head dipped by the slightest amount, but she kept her gaze on Luna nevertheless. “But I would like to try again.” She chuckled, putting her size and depth into the laugh and remembering the first time she heard something similar from Somnambula. She wanted to hear it again, and knew she might when the pillar smiled at her then. Like the radiant moon, Luna beamed. “I would like to be your little moth once more.”