"It is rare I get to enjoy mornings fully rested," Luna said, smiling calmly, seeming to enjoy the peace of the palace. With breakfast over, Celestia had excused herself, leaving Luna and Felix free to wander the palace and enjoy each other's company. That was why Luna had invited him in the first place, and Felix couldn't help but feel amused it took them this long to get around to it.
"Right," he said. "Celestia had mentioned something about her watching over the day, you the night. Night-shift, huh? That's always rough."
"Is it?" Luna looked over at him with an amused expression.
"Sure. Lonely, underappreciated, sometimes not much to do. Always rough being out-of-sight, out-of-mind to your coworkers," Felix said, honestly. He knew some people thrived on night work, but it was usually a raw deal. "Any reason you two don't switch?"
"Well, since my sister is responsible for raising and lowering the sun, and I for the moon, it seemed most natural."
Sorry, what? Felix had stopped cold, and it took Luna a moment to realize and look back for him.
"Excuse me, did you just say you raise the sun and moon? As in, physically lift them? By yourselves?"
Luna had a mischievous twinkle in her eye, and grinned. "That is correct."
Felix squinted out at the sun through a nearby window, then looked back to Luna. "The fucking sun and moon in the fucking sky? That sun and moon? This isn't some kind of misunderstanding, right?"
Luna cocked her head, her expression becoming slightly confused. "Are there other suns and moons where you come from?"
"No, but, it's the... is something just really, really different, here? The sun's like a billion times bigger than the Earth! If Celestia has the strength to, like, even give it the slightest visible nudge, she could destroy the entire planet by, I dunno, snoring too hard or something! Like this is a scale of power I didn't realize we were dealing with here! Crap, is this a superhero comic world or something?" Felix rubbed his temple with a hoof as he tried to wrap his head around the insanity he'd just heard.
Ageless magic pony princesses in a fantasy kingdom? Okay, fine! He had wrapped his head around that! But this? Even ripping someone from a whole different dimension didn't sound a tenth as insane! What sort of force output would it take to raise the sun? Some crazy Latin prefix onto a really big amount of tons of TNT, he was sure. Nukes wouldn't even come close!
He'd talked about the sun, but even being able to move the moon in any visible capacity meant Luna – the girl right in front of him! – would be capable of, what? Ripping the Earth in half?
She did that every evening?!
Luna was shaking her head, and Felix came out of his thoughts when she said, "We are not nearly so powerful as you describe. Be at ease, friend Felix. Things must work quite differently, where you come from."
He took a deep breath and relaxed, shaking his head. "They really must. I mean, the sun and moon move all on their own, where I'm from. You ponies actually have to manage that yourselves, huh? Yeesh. I'll take your word for it that it's easier than it would be back home – like, I'm not physicist, but I'm pretty sure you could throw the entire Earth at the sun at an insane speed and it wouldn't even nudge it, much less raise it." He thought for a moment. "Wait, is this just an expression? Like you 'raise' the sun and moon by rotating the Earth?"
"Rotating the... huh?" Luna seemed very confused by that. "I am not sure what you mean, but no, not at all. It is even possible for us to raise both at once, if we so choose, though... we do not do that." She seemed slightly uneasy about something, but Felix was more focused on the rest of what she'd said.
"Both at once? So you could make an eclipse happen, if you wanted?"
Now Luna seemed really uneasy, to the point even Felix wasn't missing it. "We... could. Yes."
"Wow." Felix glanced out of the window again, just to confirm the sun was still there, and not doing a jig or something. "Seriously, wow. Yeah, okay, so you two literally move heavenly bodies around. That's, uh... huh. Some real mythical shit right there. Damn."
He looked over to Luna, who was shuffling uncomfortably, and knew how to brighten the mood. He shot her a grin. "That's honestly really goddamned cool, though. So you move the moon around, huh? I'm guessing no one else can do that."
"T... Tia can," Luna said with a bashful smile, not meeting his eyes. "Just the two of us."
"You're just built different, huh? Got a job only you can do. That's awesome."
The two of them resumed their pace as Felix tried to convince his mind to roll with this latest bombshell of information. So his friend was not just a magical pony princess from a fantasy kingdom, but she also wielded literally godlike powers? Not just political power, but genuine society-shaping magic that kept the natural order going?
There was only one way to deal with this revelation.
"That must be some wild grind-set you've been on, to get that strong," he said with a smirk.
Luna seemed confused for a second, but then grinned back, a little embarrassed. "I trained quite hard, that is true."
"No wonder you're bored!" Felix put in, ramping up the energy a little. "You must have cleared every DLC for this place a dozen times over. How long would it take you to recount all of your adventures?"
He had no idea if she'd been on adventures or not, but it seemed a safe bet, here. She took a moment to think.
"Days, at least," she said finally, and now his grin was wild and genuine.
"Oh, we're definitely doing that. I want to hear all about the Legend of Luna."
Luna laughed, and they continued on in companionable silence for a few moments before Felix asked, "Speaking of being built different, is that why you and Celestia have both the wings and the horn? The other ponies I've seen only have one or the other. Or neither, like me."
"Indeed," Luna said, nodding. "We are what is called alicorns, embodying the traits of all three pony tribes – earth ponies, like yourself, pegasi, and unicorns. You shall not see any others, with the exception of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, our niece."
"Alicorn..." Felix repeated, as if trying out the word. "Wait, so there are only three of your kind?"
"Indeed," Luna confirmed. "In the past, it was just Tia and myself, but Cadance ascended to the role while I was... away."
The way Luna said that implied some uncomfortable history there. There had been some hints that Luna had troubled history, but Felix decided to gloss over that, for now. "So every pony can become an alicorn?"
Luna thought about that for a moment. "Every pony has the potential. In all honesty, Tia would be better at explaining it than I. She is far more familiar with those matters."
They came to a very large training yard under the open sky, the scale of which impressed Felix immediately. Maybe it was just his new pony body seeing things as larger than he would have before, but between the sheer scale of it and all of the fancy equipment for sparring, the rows of benches for resting, and – was that an obstacle course?
This palace was hiding all sorts of tricks up its sleeve, wasn't it? There were even magically-floating platforms and rings!
"Welcome to the Canterlot guard's training yard," Luna said excitedly as the two made it out from the shade of the half roof which surrounded the yard. She was relieved to be off of darker topics – even if Felix had politely not questioned her too much about them – and had been looking forward to showing him this. If his expression was anything to go by, she'd succeeded in impressing him.
Then he grinned. "Out of Skyrim and into Sonic, huh? I'm down."
Luna had no idea what 'Sonic' was, but she was happy if Felix was happy. She had been about to respond when Saber touched down maybe two meters away, and immediately bowed deeply to Luna.
Felix noted that both Luna and Saber adopted very stiff, serious, professional postures as soon as they saw each other. Less Luna and Saber, more Princess and Sergeant, very suddenly. Saber snapped off a smart salute to Luna.
"Princess, I am pleased to report that everything is ready for the exercise!" Saber reported in a distinctly 'guard' voice.
It wasn't hard to see that both were unsure how to act, and so decided to fall back on what they knew how to do.
Christ, Felix could almost see the Berlin wall that stood between them. He had to do something to lighten the mood, without undermining Luna's authority, and without Saber going too much out of her comfort zone. Saber was still a loyal guard, and Luna was still the princess, but that didn't mean they couldn't be friends, right? Surely.
Felix smiled, and trotted up beside Saber, making her flinch a bit in confusion. "Luna, this is Saber, she is my personal bodyguard-slash-tour guide." Of course Luna would already know that, but Felix figured a more casual introduction could change the tone of their interactions.
Luna eyed Felix, then Saber. He could practically see them struggling with how to handle this. "I hope it's fine, but we're more casual since she needs to help me more than protect me. Hopefully I can add her to my companion list," He joked.
This made Luna snicker, and she gave a genuine amused smile. That wall was showing cracks already! "It is good to meet you, Sgt. Saber, please take good care of my friend."
Saber seemed taken aback. Felix wondered if she had ever really talked to Luna, had her address her like this. Saber shuffled a bit in place, scratching the back of her head as she tried to come up with a proper reply.
"I will do my best, Princess Luna," She replied, and offered a small smile of her own.
Alright, this was a good first step. Luna was still a bit nervous, but having him around seemed to calm her. "So!" Felix said, refusing to let the awkwardness return. "What do you have planned for me, Saber?"
It took Saber a moment to shift mental gears, remembering the task at hand. "Oh, oh! Yes, well, Princess Celestia said you needed some basic tests to get used to your body." She said that as if she understood it, but Felix could detect a slight trace of confusion. "She told me to make the tests as basic as possible."
Felix gave a nod. "Starting on easy mode, got it."
Saber turned towards the obstacle-course. It was a very big sandbox surrounded by tiles, with some very basic-looking small walls, turns, low hanging platforms, and so on in it. The sand was probably to cushion falls, Felix figured.
He'd probably need that.
"I want you to run through it, but it's okay if you slow down or hesitate. This is just to get you fully used to your body." Saber explained, smiling slightly. "If you handle yourself well, we increase the difficulty."
Felix nodded. "Sounds good." He said that, but when he thought about running and doing all of this stuff, he felt... excited? Back in his own world he wasn't very fit, he could be downright Jabba the Hutt lazy at times even.
So this was a new feeling to him. Was this what it was like to feel pumped?
Smirking, he looked at Luna. "Want to race?"
Luna looked at him, slightly surprised. She seemed to consider it, but a glance over at Saber seemed to subdue any such considerations. "I am not sure..."
"Come on." Felix encouraged, nudging her a little. Luna hesitated. "It'll be fun! Let's at least make a game out of it." He winked.
Then she smiled, and nodded. "If you wish," she said, then looked over at Saber. "You don't mind, do you, sergeant?"
Saber seemed taken aback by the change, but didn't protest. "Of course not, princess."
Hopefully, this could be turned into a light-hearted game. Loosen these two up around each other, help Luna come out of her shell a bit. Celestia had said ponies were afraid of Luna, right? Felix figured that if they saw her having fun, it would help change that.
Luna took a moment to remove her royal regalia, placing it on a bench near Saber. She wasn't afraid that it would be stolen, but it never hurt to be careful.
The two of them made ready near the start of the course, but before Saber said anything, Felix saw something completely new. Letters, suddenly appearing in front of him.
Quest: Foal Steps
Task: Complete Sgt. Saber's Test.
Bonus Task: Win a race against Princess Luna.
Felix blinked in confusion as the letters vanished once more. He was only brought out of his confusion when he heard Saber counting down. Luna was already getting ready to run, a small smirk touching her lips. He shook his head, trying to get back into the task at hand. Hoof?
"Go!" Saber called.
They both took off, and Luna was already over the first wall while Felix was stumbling and realizing he had to re-learn how to run. Big difference between this and walking, and he wasn't even good at that, yet! Just as he thought he was getting the hang of it, he came to the first obstacle.
Well. 'Obstacle.' That might be a little too grand of a title for a tiny fence that didn't come even a half-meter off of the ground, but Felix quickly realized he had no idea how to jump in this body, and that was about to be a serious problem.
He ended up doing his best Goat Simulator impression as he ragdolled his body vaguely in the 'up' direction, and then very much in the 'directly through the fence' direction.
Turns out, the soft sand for crash landings was a good idea after all!
Ow.
"Ow."
"You okay, Felix?" Called Saber from the sidelines.
"Yes, I'll be fine." He let out a chuckle, and then noted the sounds from a certain princess of the night landing next to him.
Opening his eyes, Felix looked up and found Luna looking down at him, her head cocked to the side, an amused smile on her face. "Art thou going to get up?"
Felix grinned, then nodded as he stood back up. "Well, I may not have jumped over the fence, but..." He looked back at the now broken fence. "At least we know I can smash shit."
Luna giggled. "You are just not used to it yet."
Felix couldn't help but laugh at how absurd it all was. He had been transported into a magical world with talking ponies, two of which could raise and lower the sun and moon. He was being taught how to do basic stuff like jumping, and he was seeing quest makers, and just...
Ergh, it was all a little much.
No, no, just roll with it! If he stopped to really put it all together, he was sure his head would explode. Then there was Luna, his friend. Looking at her, and seeing her look back with that adorable smile, and those big hopeful eyes, it somehow made it all feel more, well... grounded, somehow.
This world made very little sense, but friendship was universal, it seemed. Or, cosmic? Cosmological? Whatever! Point was, it was something he could grasp onto, and he did. Even if he smashed his face through every fence in the city, he knew he'd at least have someone there to laugh at it all with him. So laugh he did!
She looked him over. "What do you find so amusing?"
His laughs died down and he shook his head. "Nothing, I just thought how crazy all of this is. A day ago I was just some guy playing with dirt for a living. Now I'm being taught how to walk, run and jump by a magical pony princess." He turned towards where they had started. "Even if I'm stuck here, I'm really thankful it's with you. You make all of this so much easier! I know I can trust you while I figure it all out."
Luna blushed slightly, quickly following him as he headed back to the starting line. "Do you mean that?"
"Of course I do!" he replied instantly. "There's no one I'd rather go through this all with, honestly."
Luna looked down at the sand, moving some of it with a hoof absently. "That makes me happy..." She looked back up at him, her smile turning into a guilty frown. "I still feel very guilty about all of this."
Felix shrugged, bumping into her with his flank. "I know," he said gently. "But, we can get through. As long as we're together, we'll be fine." She smiled, bumping into him gently. Then he grinned. "But, we might have to wait with the race until I stop crashing into stuff."
They shared a laugh. Having to learn from zero like this wasn't going to be easy, but come on! You only live once, and there were worse things he could be doing than goofing off with Luna while going on a crazy adventure, right?
It sure beat the hell out of pulling weeds!
"Come on, Spike!" Twilight Sparkle said as she trotted along one of the many cobbled streets of Canterlot. "We have to hurry, Princess Celestia's expecting us!"
Spike groaned as he pulled a book-laden red cart behind him. "You remember how big the library here is, right? Did we really have to bring half the library with us?"
"There's almost nothing on interdimensional travel! And I had to bring my notes!"
Spike gave her a deadpan look, then robotically turned to look at the small mountain of paper on the wagon. Then back to her. "Twilight, I wouldn't call this 'almost nothing.' "
Twilight blushed slightly. "Well... maybe not almost nothing. But not nearly enough! This is a really complicated topic, and Celestia really needs our help!"
"If she'd known you were bringing a book-fort along she'd have sent a carriage, you know," Spike grumbled as he pulled the cart along behind the nervous, oblivious unicorn. It wasn't really too much effort – and he could just ask her for help if it was – but he knew if he didn't poke fun at her a little, she'd probably explode from nerves.
Or find an excuse to go hunt down more books. Heh, yeah, that's how it would go, he figured. Nah, he'd get this thing where it needed to be on his own, and hopefully Twilight would calm down a little in the process. He was a dragon! He could pull things at least as well as a pony, right?
He had no idea if dragons pulled things or not, but he decided he'd prove they could here and now.
They came to the gate of the castle within minutes, and were waved through as though Twilight hadn't ever stopped living here. Celestia was waiting right in the entrance hall, and Twilight wasted no time rushing up to her.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed, beaming as the taller pony leaned down to nuzzle her..
Celestia smiled warmly as they parted. "My dear Twilight, it is so good to see you again." The sound of a thump drew Celestia's attention to the door, where the little purple dragon sat down on the floor, panting as he sat against the cart.
"Oh, Spike! Are you okay?" Celestia frowned with concern as she trotted closer.
"Hey, Celestia. Phew..." He panted and waved.
"Dear me, Twilight, why did you bring your entire library?" Celestia asked as she helped Spike to stand, giving him a gentle hug while she boggled at the literary avalanche her student had brought with her.
"Oh, well, um... I figured if you needed help with this, it must be really obscure and difficult, so... I just wanted to be prepared?" Twilight offered, blush returning, complete with a nervous smile as she glanced at the bibliographic apocalypse she'd brought along and properly took it in for the first time.. "I... maaaay have overdone it, a bit?"
"A bit," Celestia agreed. "A butler... or perhaps two... will bring your luggage to your usual room, but for now, walk with me! Spike, would you care to join us, or would you like to rest a bit?"
Spike stood a bit taller, puffing his chest out. "Don't worry about me, Princess Celestia. I can handle it!"
Celestia chuckled, pulling the little dragon in for another quick hug. "Then let's go!"
The three of them started to make their way through a side corridor that took them to a long balcony that stretched alongside the outer wall, giving them a nice open view of the royal garden.
Twilight cleared her throat. "Sooo... about this 'magical anomaly.' Your letter mentioned it was due to a dimensional gateway, but you didn't really give many details." She looked up at Celestia expectantly.
Celestia snickered at her student's oh-so-polite demeanor. It put a bit of distance between them, sometimes, but she knew that Twilight genuinely loved her, and that helped. "I didn't, because I wasn't sure what I was dealing with, yet. Luna has helped fill in some of the gaps for me, but I must admit, there is a great deal I have yet to understand about this... incident. I thought you might understand it better if you were here in person."
They stopped at a balcony, and walked to the stone railing, looking down at the garden below. "You see, the abnormality is... actually, perhaps I'd better start at the beginning."
And so Celestia launched into a recap of what had happened so far, though she tried to skirt around Luna's state of mind as best she could. She didn't want to gossip about her sister, or push Twilight into being her friend, but revealing some amount of her motivations was inevitable.
Of course, even the most vague mention of Luna set off a wellspring of concern from Twilight. Celestia loved that about her student – she could be oblivious to others sometimes, true, but when she knew something was wrong, that somepony was hurting, she was always eager to help.
After reassuring her that Luna was doing better, Celestia had to explain why – the visitor from another world. Oh, that set off the other classic Twilight response – so, so eager to investigate! It was delightful to watch.
Celestia could almost see all the questions Twilight wanted to ask racing though her student's mind, and she had no doubt she was eager to get started. Still, Twilight kept calm, taking a deep breath as she looked her mentor in the eyes.
"So, where do we start, princess?"
Hah! Oh, look at her grow! Celestia smiled warmly as she thought of how, just a year or two ago, Twilight would certainly have been completely distracted by her own inquisitiveness. As terrified as Celestia had been to send her away, Ponyville really had done Twilight nothing but good. "First, let me show you where the portal opened. You might get a better grasp of the magic involved if you see the immediate aftermath."
Celestia led a barely-contained Twilight – she was bouncing on the tips of her hooves! – to Luna's bedroom, sharing a secretive chuckle with Spike in the process.
SPLAT! How many times was that, now? Oof. Felix grunted as he realized he'd lost count, but at least he'd nearly gotten to the end of the obstace-course a couple of times by now.
Groaning, he rolled onto his back, and looked up at the blue sky. "Ugh, it's like someone turned on inverted camera mode. Just as soon as I think I've got it I go off in the wrong direction again. Damn you muscle memory!"
He flailed a hoof at the sky.
"You alright, Felix?" Saber called from the sidelines.
"Yeah..." Felix called back half-heartedly. "Just picking up the pieces of my dignity. May take some time, I didn't have a lot to begin with and it's broken into really fine pieces."
He heard Saber chuckle while he just contemplated the clouds.
The sand was really soft, heated just a little by the sun, but still cooler under the surface. That, mixed with the gentle summer breeze, made him relax. Letting out a long and tired breath, Felix closed his eyes. As he took one or two more deep breaths, it was like his mind drifted off, shutting off the distractions of the world around him.
Something was happening to him, it was like his consciousness was being pulled somewhere—
"Art thou alright, friend Felix?"
Felix jerked, snapping his eyes open with a gasp to see Luna looking down at him. "Uhm, what?" He shook his head, feeling a little confused.
"We... I was afraid you had fainted, again," Luna said with naked concern.
"Oh, no no, I just relaxed for a few moments." He rolled over and stood up.
"Perhaps it would be good if we took a small break?"
Felix looked around, then let out a small chuckle. "That sounds good. I'll probably just add more sand ponies to the course at this rate," he said with a smirk as they rejoined Saber.
"It was a nice try," Saber assured him as the two of them sat down on the benches.
Felix gave her a coy smile. "Which, the one where I managed to bury myself up to my hips with a faceplant, or the one where I managed to break two fences at once?"
"You are getting better," Saber asserted.
He just nodded, leaning back so his head rested against the stone wall behind him. "I know, I'll get it sooner or later. Just need a tiny break..." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he relaxed in the shade of the castle wall.
Once again he found that strange pulling sensation in his mind. He took a few more deep breaths, and pursued the feeling. Like before, the world around seemed to fade out, while his mind created a new world around him. It felt like he was floating – flying, even – but only for a second or two.
He was back. Back in the clouds, looking at a version of himself standing like nothing was amiss. He barely had time to look at himself before a golden bar appeared above his head, filling up, complete with a counter incrementing as it did so.
And a label saying 'EXP' right next to the number.
The bar filled up, making the pony glow, smirk even more as it stood on its hind legs and pawed at the air in triumph.
Had Felix just advanced to level 2?
A quick check on his information tab confirmed just that! He had so many questions, but all he could do for now was press on. Attributes – hopefully he had earned some stat points? He had! Five!
Agility. Oh, God, did he need more of that! He doubled it, from five to ten. He may have lacked a body to smirk with, but the lookalike pony standing there was taking care of that. Hah! Doubled agility! In most games, that would mean stuff like acrobatics, gymnastics – general movement stuff, plus melee combat, dodging, stealth, the works. Might even increase raw movement speed! Always handy from running from mobs.
Tch. He hadn't discovered any new skills, apparently, and he didn't have more points for them anyway. Oh well – plenty of levels left in the sea! He'd get there.
Sure he had done what was needed, he felt a surge of energy, and just like that, Felix opened his eyes again. He was back in the training yard with Saber and Luna. How long had he been gone, maybe a minute or two? Didn't feel like a long time.
He glanced over at Luna, only to find her staring at him so intently it took her a second to realize he was looking back at her.
"Uh... something on my face?"
She jumped a little. "N-no, I just..." She hesitated for a moment, glancing towards Saber before leaning closer. "Are you feeling alright?"
Felix frowned. "Yeah, why?"
"Well, I just thought I felt..." She then shook her head. "No, it is probably nothing. Forgive me."
Felt something? Wait, had something weird happened while he was messing with the interface? Did he give off some weird magic vibes the magic pony princess could detect?
If all of this interface stuff – the levels, name tags, levels, skills – was unique to him, which it really seemed like it was, he had to let them know. Thing is, he had no idea if it was even real, or had any actual impact on the world around him. For all he knew, it was some kind of gate hallucination thing. Could be, right?
Well he knew one way to find out! No time to worry about vague what-ifs, he had shit to do!
"No problem." He shot her a cocksure grin. "You're just watching out for me, yeah? But I'm fine. Now... let's see." He looked back at the obstacle course.
"You ready for another race, Luna?"
Luna jerked slightly in surprise. "Wouldn't you rather wait until you've at least completed it once yourself?"
He slowly brought a hoof to his chin, as though Luna had just posited a truly profound bit of wisdom he needed to contemplate. "Hm, yes, that would indeed be the mature, sensible thing to do." He nodded firmly. "We're not doing that."
Luna spluttered as he hopped off of the seat and threw a grin at her. "Come on, moonbutt."
"Moonbutt?!"
Luna got up to follow him, still spluttering – and now blushing.
This race would prove if his attributes actually did have an impact, and if they did, he would tell them. If not... well, then he'd need a bit more time to figure out what was going on. In the meantime, why be sensible and reasonable in cartoon magic land? Just go for it!
As soon as they got out of earshot of Saber, he said, "Would you prefer 'Her royal lunar legness?' " Luna fumed at him, her face warring between an exaggerated frown and a grin. Hah! Ah, it was just like their banter in the game! He threw in, "Personally, I'm partial to 'crescent cheeks', but—"
"Scandalous cad!" Luna declared, giving him a playful swat on the hip. "We should have thee clapped in irons for such foul talk!"
He might have been intimidated if she wasn't grinning wildly while saying that. As it was, instead, his eyes lit up and he waggled them suggestively, saying, "Clapped in irons? Oh, my lady! I had no idea you were into that!"
Luna cocked her head in confusion.
Then her eyes widened and she flushed crimson, and he nearly fell over laughing. "Your face! Hahaha!" Luna spluttered and laughed, shoving him over and gently stomping him on the chest over and over while yelling and giggling, just causing him to laugh harder as he flailed in half-hearted defense.
"Knave! Irreverent jackanapes! Scurrilous rake! Outrageous, slanderous, filthy, vituperative rogue!" Each punctuated by another gentle stomp of her hooves as the strength went out of her with her giggles. "How dare thee speak of our majestic figure in such crass terms?!"
"Stop, stop!" he called out between laughs. "I only knew what half of that meant! Hah!"
At length, she did stop, and backed away as he stood up and dusted himself off. Both of them were grinning like maniacs and panting a bit. Felix sucked in a deep breath, and said, "I haven't, heheh, I haven't done anything like that since I was a little kid! Hah! Ahh... you're a riot, Luna."
"Hmph!" She tossed her head aside and turned her nose up. "I have nothing to – hahaha! Ahem! – to say to the likes of you!"
She cracked an eye to see how her comment had landed, only to find him at the starting line, waving to Saber.
"On your marks! Get set!"
Luna yelled in indignation and leapt to her position, and Saber couldn't help but smirk at their antics. She hadn't heard any of what they'd said, but whatever this was, it was adorable. Now they both looked so focused, which was even funnier. It was just a little obstacle course!
"GO!"
Felix leapt forward, surprised at his own speed but focused on the first obstacle.
Over the fence! Into a dive, slide! Roll, pop back onto four legs, jump to the next!
He'd never felt so alive! He'd memorized the sequence, mapped it out the very first time he looked at it, but even with his human body he could never pull off a sequence of moves in real life like he could in a game.
Until now!
Over! Under! Through! He wasn't surprised when Luna overtook him – shit-eating grin on the whole way as she did! – but they were both having fun, and that was all that mattered.
He made a controlled landing on the sand – no more faceplants, here! – and began weaving through a miniature maze, corridors of wooden walls to force zig-zag motions. Left, right, right, left, left, right, left, right, right!
Holy crap! He could actually do it, now! He was even spotting places where his route was inefficient and he could shave off seconds on the next run! Sonic indeed! This was speedrunning heaven!
Just a ramp and two platforms left! He put on a burst of speed – man, where was the Boost Gauge when you needed it, huh?! Someone hook him up with a Turbo skill! – and bounded up to the first platform, then the second.
The goal was in sight, and there was Luna, waiting for him! Go, go! Let's see what this pony body can do!
Oh crap.
In his excitement, he'd put out far more power on the last leap than he thought possible, and now he was flying directly at Luna!
Felix wasn't the only one surprised. Luna had been waiting to congratulate him on finally finishing the course – and so much faster than before! – only to realize far too late that he was much stronger than he had seemed.
SPLAT!
Saber rushed over to where the two of them had fallen into the sand – it was only a meter's fall, if that, but that impact looked like it might have really hurt!
Ooooonly to then come to a screeching halt when she spotted the two of them. Felix was on top of Luna, and they were staring into each other's eyes, noses touching.
Lips barely an inch apart.
They didn't look hurt, and Saber immediately turned her back to them, her cheeks tinting pink. After a moment, she cleared her throat, and called back, "Are you two alright?"
The two goofballs quickly got up, both blushing and both rambling something to the effect that yes yes they were fine it was just a little fall, nothing to worry about, nothing happened, and so on. Once that died down, they were left staring at each other timidly.
"Uhm, sorry about that..."
Luna shook her head. "N-no, I should have moved, or used my magic to catch you..."
"I should've, ah, controlled myself better, not gotten so excited." Felix insisted.
"But I could have given more room," Luna shot back.
There were a few seconds of silence, and then they both started to laugh. Saber turned back around, and seeing them laugh made her relax and join in. The whole episode was just so ridiculous!
"At least you won!" Felix put in.
"But you did much better, Felix!" Luna beamed. "You completed the course, with flying colors I might add. Isn't that right, Saber?"
Saber jumped a little, not expecting the princess to address her so casually. "Uhm, yes! Yes he did." She smiled, quickly recovering. "Although, he could have stuck the landing a bit better."
That comment made them all laugh again, and Felix grinned sheepishly. "Alright, fair enough." He chuckled.
"Well," a serene voice said from the side, gaining their attention, "I'm happy to see everyopony's having such a good time!" There was a hint of mirth in Celestia's voice, and she smirked at the three of them, while Twilight at her side simply smiled broadly.
Celestia quirked an eyebrow and deepend her smirk at Felix, causing him to flush immediately.
She hadn't seen the way he and Luna had landed, had she? He felt like he'd been caught doing something inappropriate.
"Felix, if you have a moment. I would like to introduce you to somepony."
"Oh, uh, right! Sure." Felix trotted over, quickly followed by the other two, shaking off the awkwardness from the past moment.
Celestia struggled not to laugh. Oh, he was adorable! And look at them, all dirty and laughing and just having a good time, not a care in the world! How many centuries had it been since she'd seen Luna that way? This pony – or, person, more accurately – Felix, he really did have a way with her, didn't he?
Now wasn't the time to sweep them all into a big hug – Celestia could hug a half-dozen ponies at once if she had a mind to! Those wings weren't just for show and getting caught in tight windows – but she sorely wanted to. No, she cleared her throat and said, "Felix, this—" punctuated with a gesture at the pony at her side, "—is my faithful student, who will be helping to investigate your situation."
Twilight gave a rambunctious wave, still smiling. "Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle! It's good to meet you, Felix Fox!"
This delivered with an undercurrent of excitable energy that simultaneously put Felix at ease and made him nervous. At ease because she was clearly friendly, nervous because she seemed almost too friendly. Luna was right beside him, smiling nervously, too, which just made him more nervous. What did Twilight's behavior remind him of?
His brain suddenly clicked that he was an actual alien here, which distracted it from his mouth opening.
"Keep me for interrogation, I promise I have terrible drops."
Without looking away from Twilight, Luna kicked him in the flank with a hind leg, causing him to wince slightly and reboot his senses. "Ow! Oh, uh, right. Pleased to meet you too!"
Celestia finally burst out laughing.