//------------------------------// // A Courtyard Commotion // Story: The Lovely Night Mare // by Star Plasma //------------------------------// Chapter Two: A Courtyard Commotion You step out into the courtyard with Princess Luna in front of you and Golden Bow right behind you. The weather is great outside today, and it feels good to finally be outside with Luna. Golden Bow stretches his legs and shivers. Despite the warm rays of the sun, a light breeze is blowing, and it is a little bit chilly. But you are feeling warm inside due to your burning passion for Princess Luna. Suddenly, you hear some loud yelling nearby. You look to your right and see a familiar pink pelt along with a most respected pony: Shining Armor. Princess Cadence is yelling at Shining Armor about something, and he nods blankly, a distant look in his eyes. Ever since Princess Cadence arrived at Canterlot Castle, Shining Armor has had a weird look in his eyes, as if he wasn't paying attention to anything that was going on around him. Princess Cadence smiles as she sees you, Golden Bow, and Princess Luna. She also stops yelling at her fiancee, and the two quietly walk into Canterlot Castle without looking back. Luna seems surprised, and she turns around and looks at the pair suspiciously. You see that Princess Luna looks worried, but she turns around and shrugs. "Princess, what do you make of that?" you ask Princess Luna curiously. "I don't know; every relationship has its downside. Maybe they were just having a disagreement." Luna responds, looking uneasy despite her reassuring words. She quickly walks off in the direction of her favorite sitting bench, leaving you and Golden Bow with no choice but to follow. Princess Luna sits down on the bench while you and Golden Bow stand next to it. Princess Luna tilts back her head and closes her eyes, letting the gentle breeze blow through her mane. You stare at her mane while Golden Bow stares at you. You are captivated by the beauty of the princess. You didn't know why you were so attracted to her; why you didn't find Princess Celestia emanating this magnificent radiance. It is midday when Luna decides to wake up, and now you figure that Luna plans to do a couple of things before she raises the moon in a few hours. The weather is absolutely perfect for a nap, and you find yourself getting quite drowsy. You would have fallen asleep right then and there if you hadn't seen something so strange out of the corner of your eye. Princess Celestia had notified the Captain of the Royal Guard about a probable attack by Changelings, and he had quickly produced a large pink bubble around the castle; creating an impenetrable barrier that no Changeling could pass through. This pink barrier that Shining Armor had created was supposed to be indestructible, but you see something that makes you very uneasy; it flickers. As soon as you see it, it's over, but you are absolutely positive that you saw it flicker. Luna didn't seem to have noticed, but Golden Bow was staring at the shield through narrowed eyes. The breeze picks up suddenly, creating an ominous feeling in the courtyard. You are alerted by a low rumbling sound. It was coming in the direction of Princess Luna; apparently she had decided to fall asleep again. The nice weather has gotten the best of the dark princess, and she has submitted to a nap. The soft snoring of the princess was not helping you with your drowsiness, and your eyelids suddenly seem to have weights placed on them. You feel like a horrible guard; if something were to attack you right now, you probably wouldn't even fight back. But if something were to attack Princess Luna, it would be a different story. Not only was it your duty as a Royal Guard to protect her, but it was also your duty as a pony, as she was now the center of your universe. You open your eyes as you notice that Golden Bow is approaching you. "Dude, did you see what happened to the shield?" he asks, excitement showing in his eyes. You look at him strangely; why is he excited and not worried about the flickering shield? "Yes I did." you reply to Golden Bow. Now that you have actually talked to him, it seems like he isn't as creepy as you had originally thought. You felt like you could get along with the guard quite well, actually. But the reason as to why Golden Bow was excited and not frightened by the flickering shield was beyond strange. Maybe he was tired of life with no action? After all, most Royal Guards join because they are tired of their peaceful lives. But what danger would they find as Royal Guards? None whatsoever. You remember it being very peaceful ever since you had joined. Well, it had been completely peaceful before the Changeling threat had caused Captain Shining Armor to place the security bubble around Canterlot Castle. Now it seemed as if many of the castle residents had become quite concerned and frightened by the Changelings. You did not know why; Changelings were puny compared to the Royal Guards, and Princess Celestia was much stronger than the Changeling Queen. But the reason why Changelings were so dangerous was because they had the ability to transform into any being at will. That was pretty scary. You look at Golden Bow uneasily. Nopony could be trusted at a time like this, but it was your duty as a Royal Guard to place your faith inside of your comrades. You grow even more uneasy as your flank begins to burn uncomfortably from a stare that somepony is giving you. You look up at one of the balconies that overlooks the courtyard. Princess Cadence is giving you and Golden Bow a strange look. You shiver; there is definitely something off-setting about the way that she is looking at the both of you. She gives you the same, strange stare for a few more seconds, then retreats inside of the castle. You look to Golden Bow, but he had not seem to have noticed the look that Princess Cadence had been giving you. The cool breeze has picked up a little bit, and you look at the sky. It is nearing the hour at which Princess Luna usually decides to go back into the castle and relax for the rest of the day. She has woken up, but she is just sitting on the bench, staring at the castle while squinting her eyes against the wind. It's funny, today had originally felt like it was going to be a great day, but now the wind carried an ominous chill to it. Come to think of it, if you listen closely enough, it sounds like you can hear whispering... Princess Luna calls your name loudly, making you jump with fright. You turn to face the princess to see what she wants. She motions to the sky, and you know that it is time for her to raise the moon. Your day had passed by all too quickly, and, as usual, you hadn't told Princess Luna anything about how you felt for her. You watch as Princess Luna gets up off of the bench and looks up to the sky. She closes her eyes gently, and her horn begins to glow brightly. The sun begins to sink out of sight slowly, and the moon slowly comes up over the horizon. Luna gradually raises it into the sky, bringing the beautiful darkness of the sacred night, which also happens to bring a drastic change in temperature. The moon is now set in the sky, and the glow from Princess Luna's horn fades away slowly. She lets out a quiet sigh, her breath causing a small puff of fog to escape from her mouth. Usually Luna heads striaght into the castle after she raises the moon, but she has different plans for tonight. "Golden Bow, you are free to return to the guard's quarters and get some rest." Luna tells Golden Bow. Golden Bow bows to Princess Luna and then gets back on his hooves. "As you wish, Your Majesty." Golden Bow says, and then turns around toward the castle. As soon as Golden Bow is out of earshot, you speak. "Your Highness...?" you ask the princess, wondering what further business she has with you. "...Just wait a couple of minutes." Princess Luna tells you. You and Princess Luna stand side by side for a few minutes as you wonder what she is planning. You wonder what she is waiting for, and then it all comes clear as one of the guards patrolling around the corners of the courtyard turns around the left corner of the castle to continue his route by taking the path on the side of the castle to the front gate. "Follow me." Princess Luna tells you, starting to make her way toward where the guard turned around the corner. She looks around cautiously, then closes her eyes as her horn starts to glow. You watch in awe as a section of the castle wall is pushed inward and then slowly begins sliding right. Princess Luna steps into the opening, so you follow her. She turns around and closes the opening, causing the room to go completely dark. Princess Luna quickly creates a magic light, and you see that there is a stairway that leads into the darkness. You and Luna begin to descend, and you find that the stairway is not as long as you had originally thought. You step onto a stone floor at the bottom of the stairs, and notice that the atmosphere has become significantly cooler. A large circle of dirt is in the center of the stone floor, and a giant tree stands in the circle of dirt. You find this rather odd, and turn around to ask Luna about it, but instead find your face only a couple of centimeters away from Luna's. You smell her sweet breath, and you are tempted to just go all the way and lock lips with the dark alicorn. You somehow manage to stave off this rather tempting urge, and wait for Luna to wait the next move. She looks into your eyes uncertainly, and when she realizes that you are going to make no attempt to stop her, she closes the gap between you, closing her eyes as she does so. You close your eyes as well, and meet mouth to mouth with the Princess of the Night. It is everything you had hoped for, and more. It was the greatest feeling in the world, and you wanted to bask in every second of it. Luna breaks the bond suddenly, leaving you kissing the air with your eyes closed. You are sure it's the stupidest and funniest thing, and apparently Luna thinks so too, because she takes one look at you and laughs out loud. You quickly stand back up, returning to your normal self, well, your normal self plus furious blushing. "It isn't funny!" you say, realizing how untrue that is, but it didn't matter because the still laughing Luna was on her back and she wasn't even listening. After a few more seconds, Luna stands up, stops laughing, and looks at you critically. "I know how you feel about me." Luna tells you, shuffling her hooves uncertainly. "I've known for quite a while now." she says. You aren't really surprised that she knows this, because although Luna could be rather clumsy at times, she was usually quite observant of her surroundings, and she could read others like a book. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" you ask, wondering why Luna had kept you waiting so long. "I don't usually find the castle guards to be too interesting, and it is very rare that I become involved in a relationship with one. Plenty of guards have found themselves in the same predicment as you; falling in love with either me or Princess Celestia. But they are the same as eachother. We observe these ponies, trying to see what really lies in their hearts. Most of them just want us because they want to brag about it to their friends, and the others have... alternative reasons." Luna tells you. You stare at her for a few moments, and she takes this as a sign that you are waiting for her to finish. "But you are different. I can see what truly lies in your heart. It burns with the desire to protect the kingdom and to fulfill your duty as a Royal Guard. But most importantly, I can tell that you really care about me, and that is one of the most important traits there is when you're trying to find that special somepony. True love." Luna finishes. "...D-doesn't that make you feel weird?" you ask stupidly. Luna laughs and shakes her head. "I've been alive for a long time; there isn't really much that I could consider weird anymore." she says. This fills you with a fiercee happiness, and you open your mouth to speak, but Luna has more to say yet. "Have you had any... weird dreams recently?" Luna asks you. You instantly realize what she is talking about, and you nod your head vigoroulsy. You realize that you were a fool for not remembering that Luna is the one responsible for giving ponies most of their dreams, and can barely believe that she has felt the same way about you this whole time. "Those were my doing, if you had still not figured it out by now. I thought that once I sent these dreams to you, you would come forth and ask me if I was the one who was responsible for them. Things didn't happen quite as early as I expected, but I'm patient." Luna says, obviously giving you a sign that you needed to make a move. You just stand there and realize how happy you are that your dreams have finally come true. "So...?" Luna asks inquiringly, tilting her head at you. You smile at her and she flashes one back at you. "Princess Luna, I would like to be your special somepony more than anything else in the entire world."