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// Donut diplomacy / A thousand years sneakier than thou 
// Story: Moving On 
// by Bad Horse 
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Luna wouldn't relent until she'd dragged the entire story of Twilight's evening in Joe's donut shop out of her, and when she got to the end, Luna snorted so loudly that the usher had come back up to check on her. Then Twilight had burst into laughter watching him struggling to keep a straight face while the princess emitted bellows of deafening laughter interspersed with snorts like breakers crashing on rocks. He had hurried back down without even waiting to be dismissed.

        "Poor Joe! Twilight, you must go back and apologize."

        "Go back?!" Twilight crouched anxiously. "Oh, no, no, I can't go back. I can't look him in the face! And ... and supposing he misunderstands? This is a delicate situation! It calls for diplomacy, and, and—"

        "Well, then it's convenient that I am both a dough-nut lover and a diplomat. They are one of my favorite modern inventions! Come, the night is nearly over, and we are approaching the dough-nut hour."

        "The donut hour?"

        "The hour before dawn, when on some days I leap from my tower and fly to the finest dough-nut establishment in Canterlot, to join one of the finest stallions in Canterlot for my morning wine and a rye dough-nut. With sprinkles. I bring the wine. He has coffee."

        Twilight clasped her hooves together. "Who?"

        Luna groaned.

        "Oh. Right."

        "You will accompany me this morning," Luna said in a commanding voice. "We will have dough-nuts and wine. You will apologize. I will mediate as necessary."

        "I don't believe you fly off to Pony Joe's in the morning with a bottle of wine," Twilight said. "It sounds very un-princess-like."

        Luna raised an eyebrow at Twilight. Then she put her head down underneath the desk with the astronomical instruments arrayed across its top and rummaged about. There was a click, and Luna emerged, a dark-blue bottle floating behind her, almost black in the darkness.

        "Take this," she said, pushing it towards Twilight. "Meet me outside of the dough-nut tavern." No sooner had Twilight taken hold of the chilly bottle and floated it into her tote bag than Luna leapt into the air with a muted flapping and a burst of wind as if a flock of owls had flown close by Twilight in the dark, and was gone.

.

* * * * *


"Have you the bottle?" Luna whispered.

Twilight nodded and indicated her tote bag. "Why are we being quiet?" she whispered back. She looked around her at the empty streets outside of the donut shop.

"We do not wish to make a scene." Luna began to lead the way toward the front door, then stopped suddenly, wincing. Twilight rushed over to her side in alarm.

"It's nothing," Luna said. "A tight wing-muscle. I will take a few moments to stretch it. Go knock on the door, Twilight."

Twilight looked dubiously at the door. It was just light enough that she couldn't tell whether the lights were on or off inside. "Is he even awake?"

"Yes, yes," Luna said, and waved impatiently toward the door with one hoof. "Smell. He is making the dough-nuts."

The wonderful smell of baking yeast was much stronger than last night. Twilight went to the door and knocked lightly. After a few seconds, the door swung inward again, and this time it was Pony Joe who leaned against the door frame for support and blinked at her.

"You again." His eyes were narrowed against the light, and he held up a hoof against the sky as if it were keeping him awake. His mane looked like he had just slept on it. He must have fallen asleep minutes after she left and gotten up just now.

"Yes. Me again. I came to apologize for last night. And so we could have donuts!"

Joe kept staring at her, just as if Princess Luna weren't standing a few paces behind her.

"Princess Luna isn't standing behind me, is she," Twilight said through her grin.

Joe yawned and reached up to rub his eyes. He stared at her a few seconds more, then shook his head slightly. "You're a funny one, Twilight. But I guess I got a couple of minutes." He stepped back and held the door open for her.