//------------------------------// // Chapter Six // Story: Falling For The Night // by Drunk Luna //------------------------------// The night after her drunken escapades, Luna summoned Phoebus to the throne room right after she raised the moon. “Captain,” she said, “before you resume your duties for the evening, I want to discuss last night with you. I sincerely apologize for what happened at the bar. My behavior was entirely inappropriate, and I can promise it will not happen again.” “Really, Your Majesty?” Phoebus said with a smirk. “That’s a shame, because I very much enjoyed it.” Luna snorted and rolled her eyes. “You shall never know how it feels to get a proper kiss from me,” she scoffed, “so I’m glad you enjoyed what you got.” Her words stung Phoebus’ ego slightly, but he could tell by the flirtatious glint in her eye that she was bluffing, so he shook off any self-pity he had and looked Luna squarely in the eyes. “I may never know, Ma’am,” he said confidently, “but I will do my best to get as close to knowing as I can. I love a challenge.” Luna laughed haughtily and walked towards the door. “Do you?” she asked, her voice lilting. “What a shame, because there is nothing worse than a challenge from which there is nothing to be gained. Don’t waste your time, captain. Report to your post at once.” She shot him a smoldering glance over her shoulder, then magically opened the doors of the throne room. “Breakfast,” Phoebus blurted. Luna stopped in the doorway and looked over her shoulder again, clearly shocked that Phoebus had not obeyed her order. “Please join me for breakfast tomorrow morning,” he said. “I just want to get to know you better, Ma’am. It would give me the greatest pleasure if you would accompany me to breakfast.” Luna stared at him for a few seconds, then threw her head back and burst into uncontrollable laughter. “’The greatest pleasure’!” she howled, once she had caught her breath. “You very much amuse me, captain. Yes, I’m quite sure it would give you ‘the greatest pleasure’--you and countless other stallions who get off on the idea of bedding a queen. You are aware that I am thousands of years old, are you not? Nothing you do will ever impress me. All of you stallions pull the same stunts with me, and most have been nothing but desperate social climbers. If you are trying to woo me, you are failing miserably. Why should I eat with you, captain?” “Because I stand here not as a guard asking for the attention of a princess,” Phoebus said, “but as a simple stallion, asking for nothing more than a fair chance to prove to an intriguing mare that his intentions are pure. Your status and title do not entirely define who you are, Your Majesty. I see the loneliness that saturates your beautiful eyes every day. I can’t begin to imagine how difficult it must be to never know who your true friends are. I only want to prove to you that you are safe with me. Behind your regal facade, Ma’am, you are still only a mare at your core. You want to be known in the deepest way. You are undoubtedly so much more than a face on our money or a portrait in our government buildings. You are more than the crown you wear and the throne upon which you sit. I am only asking for an opportunity to get to know the real you, as a friend. I swear to you that I have no ulterior motives. Come to breaKfast with me.” For a fraction of a second, so briefly that Phoebus wondered if he had only imagined it, Luna’s eyes softened ever so slightly, then became hard as stone again. “For disobeying an order from your princess and commander in chief,” she bellowed, “you will drop and give me two hundred push-ups, NOW!” Phoebus obeyed, and once he had finished, Luna smirked and leaned in close to him while he was still on the floor. The scent of her lavender perfume filled his nostrils. “The castle dining room, right after I’ve lowered the moon,” she whispered in his ear, her sweet-smelling breath tickling his neck. “Don’t be late.” She shot him another heart-stopping smile before exiting the throne room, leaving Phoebus stunned and still on all fours. The sunrise’s scarlet glow flooded the enormous dining room through its four stained glass windows and domed glass ceiling, painting the walls in brilliant shades of red, orange, pink, purple, green, and blue. Each window depicted a different scene of each member of Equestria’s royal family below a picture of each royal’s cutie mark. One displayed a picture of Celestia soaring through a light blue sky, while the next showed a picture of Princess Twilight Sparkle shooting a magenta bolt of magic from her horn with her wings spread. Another window depicted Princess Cadance prancing majestically against a background of a turquoise heart, and the last depicted Luna flying through the arc of a crescent moon. The mouthwatering smell of freshly baked bread, pancakes, and countless pastries made Phoebus’ stomach growl as he sat down at the long, polished mahogany dining table. As Luna entered the room, Phoebus automatically stood at attention. Luna walked to the chair beside him and giggled. “I thought you just wanted to know me as a friend,” she said, “so why are you acting so formal? Please sit, and please just call me Luna if we are going to address one another as friends. Remember, you are off-duty right now, Phoebus.” His name sounded slower and sweeter than molasses as it rolled off her tongue, and Phoebus had to fight the urge to gape at her. Soaked in the blood orange puddles of sunlight that bathed the walls through the windows and ceiling, Luna was even more beautiful than usual. Her glossy dark blue coat gleamed. Her horn shimmered like a tall, pointed diamond as it caught the light, its reflection dancing on the walls in every direction. Her mane and tail twinkled, reminding Phoebus of the galaxies over which she ruled. The alicorn was utterly magnificent, and Phoebus couldn’t believe she had granted him the honor of her presence. “Luna,” he murmured, clearing his throat as he sat down, “I’ve told you about my family, so why don’t you tell me about yours?” Luna gave him a small smile. “Well,” she said, her face falling, “you obviously already know my sister. Power was thrust upon both of us when we were very young. Our dear parents, King Cosmos and Queen Galaxia, were murdered by dark forces that not even the Elements of Harmony could repel. I can remember hearing the news that they had stormed the castle and were killing everypony they could find. Our guards were powerless against the might of those creatures. Our parents yelled at us to run for our lives, so Celestia grabbed my hoof and told me to close my eyes and not to open them until she said I could, and that she would lead me out. I opened my eyes, though, and I watched as one of those bastards drained our mother of all her power, including her immortality, and slit her throat. They forced our father to watch helplessly as she died, then they killed him the same way. We alicorns are immortal, but these scumbags used some kind of dark magic, the origins of which are still unknown even to Starswirl the Bearded, and the likes of which have never been seen since, to murder our beloved parents. Not even Princess Twilight Sparkle, bearer of the Element of Magic, has ever been able to figure out what kind of power was used to take our mother and father from us.” Pain saturated Luna’s eyes as she looked at Phoebus. “I blamed myself for their deaths for thousands of years,” she said. “I know it’s ridiculous, but for the longest time I blamed myself for not staying and helping them fight. I blamed Celestia for not staying or trying to save them, and for forcing me to leave them behind. During our fight that led to my banishment, just before Celestia sent me to the moon, I told my sister that our parents’ deaths were ultimately nopony’s fault but her own. The darkest part of me knew that statement would cause Celestia more pain than any magic I could have thrown at her. To this day, my biggest regret is telling her that. I still remember the anguish in her eyes when I allowed those words to escape my lips. She has forgiven me, and I have forgiven myself, but I still regret it. Actually, I created the Tantabus partially because of what I said to her.” Her eyes turned downward when she mentioned the force that she had created to torture herself for the pain she had once caused as Nightmare Moon. “You also destroyed the Tantabus,” Phoebus reminded the alicorn. “You shouldn’t harbor any more guilt. Your past doesn’t define you. Look at how wonderful the present is. You’re extremely intelligent, and you’re incredibly perceptive. Your regal stoicism makes you a calming, constant force for so many ponies. You’re a wonderful, kind and just ruler, and your dedication and devotion to duty and service will go down in history as legendary. You’re also breathtakingly beautiful. The future is wide open for you; who knows what it could hold?” “You flatter me, Phoebus,” Luna said, the slightest hint of a blush creeping onto her face. She yawned and stood up. “I’m going to retire to my bedchamber,” she said sleepily. “You may go to your barracks as well. I’ll see you tonight.” Phoebus nodded and saluted, then flew off for some well-deserved sleep.