I looked out over the jungle from high in the tree, lounging on my stomach on the thick branch, one foreleg dangling down beneath it.
The sun was rising somewhere behind me, casting its lights across the jungle stretching out towards the horizon, the river glittering in the increasing light below.
One day a week, Sunset and Twilight were staying up and out during the day. As inconvenient as it was, it was just good for Dayponies to be beneath Celestias Sun.
It did wonders for energy levels we found and most ponies had taken to doing something similar. Including some bat ponies actually.
I suspected it had something to do with vitamins, but in any case it was healthy. In the case of bats, it usually just involved sleeping outside a day or two a week instead of staying up.
Sunset used the time to inspect the guards serving during the day.
Twilight used it as a day off.
“You should try to get some sleep,” Twilight said from next to me, a book resting on the branch before her, “It’s getting late and you do know you have an early meeting tonight with the griffon ambassador..”
I sighed, “I know, Sparks. I know,” I said and shifted slightly to admire her for a moment, “Anything planned for today?”
She smiled, “Going to the lab later to join Midnight. Have some work to do and a potion batch to finish that needs sunlight,” she said and leaned in to give my nose tip a small kiss, “Now go sleep, bat. You can barely keep your eyes open.”
“Mmm,” I admitted and slowly stretched, raising my wings and pushing myself up to sit, blinking a bit and suppressing a yawn.
Sunny and Sparks could sleep in tonight.
I couldn’t.
So I leaned in and gave Sparks a kiss on the cheek, touching my horn to hers before I slipped off the branch, my wings spreading as I caught the air and flew back towards the village.
It wasn’t far, we had stayed well inside the shield and I flew off towards the so-called castle. It was still funny to me that ponies called it that, there were non-noble houses in canterlot larger than it. Buck, night to night we lived in two rooms!
We didn’t use a kitchen and had one living room and one bedroom and the rest was made up of the ‘throneroom’ and administrative spaces.
That was the realm of Flower and Starlight and I was not allowed.
Literally, last time I went exploring, Flower very politely but firmly chased me out. I had not even seen the kitchen, the head chef was a large earth pony and I had only tried once.
I didn’t dare try again.
He scared me a bit.
Glancing back, I spotted the very familiar shapes of Leaf Shade and Shade Leaf flying around behind me in formation.
Sparks had her own two guards along with her which made me feel a bit better about the entire thing. I’m used to being followed by now, barely even thinking about it by now.
Swooping in above the balcony, I landed on the railing easily before jumping down and stretching a bit. Then I looked up and flapped my wings once, bouncing off the railing again and hooking my wing across one of the rafters in the bedroom.
There was plenty of sunlight filtering inside and I got myself comfortable, pulling my legs to myself as I wrapped my wings around my body, still swinging slowly back and forth.
Suppressing another yawn, I let my eyes drift closed and it was not long until I opened them again, looking out over the sparkling expanse of the dream realm.
“Good morning, My Page.”
I smiled and turned around, stretching a bit, “Good morning, My Sky,” I said and stepped closer, looking into her eyes as her star filled mane flowed around us, “You looked exceptionally beautiful this morning.”
Luna smiled and brushed her lips against mine, “How are things in Nocturnis?”
“Well enough,” I said and shifted a bit closer, “It’s a Sun day.”
She nodded, “I’ll look in on Sunset and Twilight later when they go to bed,” she said and shifted around, her wing brushing across my back.
I shifted a bit against her, smiling up at her.
“And speaking of Sunny and Sparks,” I said and smiled, “I have an idea.”
Luna smiled and looked down at me, “Just one? I can think of several.”
I smirked, showing her a bit of fang, “Oh, well I have those as well. About you as well, My Sky.”
She leaned in to kiss me and I kissed back before she smiled, breaking it, “We can explore those later, my Page. Now what was your idea?”
“Vacation.”
“That would be very nice,” Luna admitted and sighed, “But I’m not sure it’s possible at the moment.
I nodded, “I know. And I wasn’t thinking of us. I’m thinking of Sunny and Sparks. They haven’t taken real time off for years. They even covered for me when your plan with Celestia went into effect. They deserve it and more.”
Luna smiled, “I think that’s an excellent idea, Page,” she said and nuzzled at the base of my horn, “Do you have any plans for a location?”
“Well,” I admitted, “I thought somewhere warm and sunny, but we live somewhere warm and sunny. I want it to be somewhere nice, somewhere Sparks will find interesting and where Sunny can get the treatment she deserves.”
Luna smirked, “Somewhere with room service then?”
“Roomservice, massages, the lot,” I confirmed, “So I was actually thinking of a suite at one of the nicer hotels of Manehattan?”
Luna made a thoughtful sound, “Plenty of museums, shows and other things to keep Twilight engaged there,” she agreed.
“I considered just a nice mountain cabin somewhere,” I admitted, “And I think they would enjoy that for a couple of days but then get bored.”
“Possibly,” Luna admitted as she nodded, “I think your idea has merit. Are you sure you would not like to go with them?”
I nodded, “I’m sure I do want to go with them,” I admitted, “But they also deserve time to just be together as well. And they definitely deserve to relax and just disconnect for a while away from Nocturnis and somepony needs to keep an eye on things..”
Luna nodded, “If you’d like, I could make some inquiries, My Page, easier to do so from Canterlot than Nocturnis,” she said with a smile, “I believe we can find something very nice. But it will be up to you to convince them.”
I smirked and shook my mane back, “Oh, I think I can handle that part.”
“Could you now? Perhaps we should discuss some of those other ideas you had then?” Luna asked and pulled me closer.