Progress:
Luna versus Lodging
Part 3
Andrew J. Talon
- - - - - - -
Hoyden trotted into the apartment, whistling cheerfully to himself. He looked into the kitchen/living area and smiled as he spotted his marefriend sitting and staring morosely at her hooves on the couch. He crept up behind her, and took a deep breath.
“If you’re going to scare me, do it a little less loudly next time,” Sundance said, depressed. Hoyden released his breath in a sigh, and nuzzled Sundance.
“Things aren’t any better, huh?”
“No,” Sundance sighed. “She’s even worse. She only goes out to raise the moon, work, and lower the moon. It’s driving me nuts.”
“Well, what have you tried to get her to come out?” Hoyden asked. Sundance threw up her hooves with a groan.
“Everything! I even sprang for tickets for the baseball game!”
- - - - - - -
“Princess Luna, come out, look what I’ve got!”
Luna poked her head out. “What is it SundaaaaAAAAHHHHH!”
SLAM!
Sundance blinked and looked at her attire. Baseball cap, ballball bat, and baseball in her hoof. She looked back at Luna’s door.
“... Something I said?”
- - - - - - -
“She has a phobia of baseballs?” Hoyden asked incredulously. “You’d think flying round things would be her bread and butter.”
Sundance sighed miserably. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Hoyden. I mean, if Princess Celestia isn’t able to do anything, what can I do?”
“What makes you say she’s not able to do anything?” Hoyden asked. He brushed her mane with her brush. Sundance murmured, enjoying the sensation.
“Well... Wouldn’t she have done something by now?” Sundance asked quickly, looking up at the room above. Hoyden shrugged.
“Maybe she is doing something right now, relying on us to help Princess Luna. Who knows?” He smiled loveingly. “Either way... You haven’t failed yet to bring a smile to anypony’s face.”
“Until now,” she groaned. “And stop brushing me, you’re making me feel better! I want to be depressed.”
“Aw come on, I’ve got just the news to cheer you up!” Hoyden said. “Brushie brushie~...”
“What? And stop it already!” Sundance laughed.
“I’ve got a blind date set up tonight,” Hoyden said. “For Luna.”
“What?! A blind date?” Sundance groaned. “That’s not going to help. I swear, if it’s any of your bone head friends-”
“It’s not, really. This is a stand up colt, I swear. Brushie brushie,” Hoyden sang, adding a tickle to his ministrations. Sundance laughed.
“H-Hey! Stop it, I mean it!”
“Brushie brushie, brush your cares away, haha!”
“Th-This won’t make me agree, heheheh!” Sundance laughed.
“Brushie brushie! It so can~!”
Sundance rolled onto her back and kicked her hooves in the air playfully to try and get Hoyden away. He responded by climbing on top of her and kissing her happily. She returned it eagerly.
“Mmmm~...”
“Sundance, I was thinking Iiiieeep!”
Both ponies looked up just in time to see a Luna-shaped and colored blur race up the stairs into her room with a slam of her door. Sundance glared at her coltfriend, who smiled back at her sheepishly.
“... That doesn’t make my idea any less valid,” Hoyden pointed out. Sundance grumbled.
“I hate it when you’re right," she groaned.
“Because it’s so often?” Hoyden asked smugly. Sundance smirked.
“No, because it’s so rare.”
“Ow," Hoyden said, holding a hoof over his heart theatrically. He then looked up at the ceiling. "You know, we don’t necessarily need another colt for tonight’s date...”
“What’s that supposed to imply?” Sundance asked dangerously. Hoyden gulped.
“Nothing!”
- - - - - - -
Sundance trotted up the stairs to the door, and knocked on it with her hoof. Slowly, very slowly, Luna opened it, blushing brightly.
“Er... Hello Sundance,” she said, looking up at the ceiling.
“Hello Princess Luna,” Sundance said. “Um... Look, I’m sorry for-”
“No! No, I’m sorry. I intruded,” Luna said quickly. “That was my fault, I apologize. I am... Well, I am unused to the openness with which ponies express their affection now,” she admitted with a sigh. “It was very different back in my day.”
She looked down at the floor. Sundance took the opportunity to pull the door open fully, keeping Luna from hiding behind it. Even without the magical enchantments that hid her true form, she looked small and vulnerable.
“Not that I did such things in my day,” Luna corrected quickly. Sundance nodded.
“Uh huh,” Sundance said, nodding her head. Dealing with Luna at this stage was like dealing with a frightened bird. A frightened, super powered, prudish and insecure bird who could destroy the world, but a frightened bird nonetheless.
“I mean, I was very chaste, very... Well... I preferred the sciences, the arts of politics and economies, the forces of history,” Luna went on.
“Uh huh.”
“Celestia was always more social than I was. Far more social...” She blushed. “Almost scandalously so, at least back then. Now I doubt it causes any shock how social she can be, especially with that student of hers.” Luna’s eyes narrowed just little. “Her special, beloved student who is currently researching friendship...” Her expression became one of sorrow. “Who defeated and freed me and writes back and forth with Sister...”
“Uh, Princess Luna...?” Sundance tried.
“They touched their horns together. Back in my day they had to have been sisters, or-or the closest... I mean...” Luna pawed at the floor with a severe blush. “Well! Close! You know! Very close! So very close, it was outrageous I couldn’t-!”
“Princess Luna,” Sundance said a bit more firmly. Luna looked at her. Sundance found herself resting her hoof on the Moon Princess’s shoulder with a smile.
“Believe it or not, when I was growing up I was really socially awkward too,” Sundance said. “I hid behind my parents, I hid behind furniture, I tried to be alone whenever possible because I didn’t know how to interact with anypony.”
Luna frowned. “How did you overcome that?”
“Simple. With science,” Sundance said, seizing upon sudden inspiration with a smile. “I investigated, I went out and experienced socializing. I learned how to act and how to relate to other ponies.”
Luna nodded, smiling at this perfectly logical conclusion. “Of course!”
“That’s the only way you’re going to learn too,” Sundance said. She bit her lip. Now comes the hard part. “So... I have arranged for you to learn about socializing.”
“How so?” Luna asked.
Sundance took a deep breath. “By taking you off on a double date with a friend of Hoyden’s.”
Luna’s eyes widened.
“Oh no, I-I couldn’t! I don’t know the colt!”
“Well yes, that’s the point,” Sundance said with a smile. “It’s a blind date. He doesn’t know you, you don’t know him-”
“But-But I’m, well...” She indicated her horn and wings. Sundance smiled.
“You’re not going to marry him, Princess Luna. It’s just a date. You’re going to learn about him, he’ll learn about you... Well, a little bit about you,” Sundance amended. “You have fun!” She smiled. “I’ll be there the whole time, don’t worry!”
Luna frowned. “Well...”
“Trust me, Princess Luna. Nothing will go wrong, promise,” Sundance said. “Well... Not disastrously,” she admitted.
Luna very slowly nodded. “Very well. As long as you are with me.”
“Of course, Princess Luna,” Sundance said brightly. She quickly nuzzled Luna. She then blushed, as her princess did. “Um, I’m sorry.”
“N-No... I need to get used to this kind of thing, right?” Luna asked. She moved forward and kissed Sundance briefly on the nose. Sundance’s eyes widened in shock. Luna blushed herself.
“... Too much?” The moon princess tentatively asked.
“Well yes, but I...” Sundance sighed and closed her eyes. “Hoyden. Were you watching?”
An embarrassed cough came from the foot of the stairs. “... No.”
Sundance looked down and glared. “You had better not have been.”
Hoyden stared. His marefriend glared back. He sighed.
“Yes, yes I was.”
“Eep!”
Luna’s door slammed shut. Sundance brought her hoof to her face with a groan.
“You idiot!”
“Hey! She was kissing you! This is not my fault!” The colt protested.
“Well now how am I supposed to get her back out here?” Sundance glared death at him when he cleared his throat. “And you had better not say ‘kiss her again’, got it?!”
“Never even crossed my mind,” Hoyden spoke quickly. He then turned and looked at the front door, muttering to himself. Sundance wasn’t able to pick up all of what he was saying, but at least two of the words she made out were “never” and “ever”.
- - - - - - - - -
It took a fair amount of coaxing, but Luna finally acquiesced. After all, she still had to raise the moon. After she had disguised herself and put on her bow from the day she’d first moved in, she trotted out the door with Sundance and Hoyden at her sides. Sundance felt a bit like her royal escort.
The Princess and her hoofmaiden, with her royal bodyguard, trot the streets of the capital...
They reached a rather nice restaurant, Buckeye’s, which had started out as a wagon restaurant but had subsequently become a fairly successful chain. The restaurant still kept reminders of it’s past though-In particular, the building itself had real working wheels. Sundance shot Hoyden a look, who shrugged back.
“This is about as casual as I could make it,” he murmured to her. Sundance sighed and looked at Princess Luna, who was eyeing the restaurant with some reservation.
“Miss Selene? We can eat somewhere else, if you’d like,” Sundance suggested.
“Hm? No, it’s fine...” The Moon Princess nodded. “Shall we?”
They trotted up the steps to the inside of the restaurant. Hoyden gave their names to the head waiter, and he took them to a table. An already occupied table, by a familiar big red stallion chewing on a stalk of hay.
“Hey Big Mac!” Hoyden said cheerfully. “Been a while, buddy!”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac said with a smile. His eyes caught sight of Luna, and widened. “Huh?”
“What?” Luna gasped. Sundance looked back and forth between them, a nasty suspicion entering her mind.
“You two know each other?” She asked.
“No, no,” Luna said quickly. “This is a blind date, therefore we have never seen each other before!”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac confirmed, resuming his former stoic expression. “Never.”
Sundance looked back and forth a few more times, eyes narrowed. Hoyden blinked and shrugged.
“Well! I don’t know about you but I’m starving. Let’s order something, huh?” Hoyden said quickly. He took a seat and smiled cheerfully. Luna returned a rather nervous smile as she sat down next to Big Mac. Sundance took her own seat, eyes narrowed.
“What can I get for you all to start?” The waiter asked.
A truth potion would be nice, Sundance thought as Big Mac and Luna determinedly didn’t look at each other.
- - - - - - - -
Oh dear oh dear oh dear, Luna thought to herself. It’s him, it’s him... This is so awkward! What am I supposed to do now? She glanced at Big Mac. He glanced back. She looked away and she imagined he did the same.
Oh... I need to just get through this. Big Macintosh is an honorable pony, after all. He doesn’t talk much, he is inoffensive... She glanced at him again. He is attractive... Wait no, stop that! Really, you are far too old for him anyway.
You’re far too old for anypony, her mind pointed out. How many ponies around here are pushing a thousand save for Celestia?
Somewhere, a brown pony with an hourglass cutiemark sneezed. Finding the sensation enjoyable, he and his companion headed off to procure some pepper.
So really, you might as well enjoy the night, right? Luna thought to herself. Nothing will happen... She tapped her hooves on the table and smiled nervously at Big Mac. Big Mac returned it. Luna blushed.
But what if it does?
“Oh Big Mac, I can no longer contain my crazed lusts for your handsome, broad body!” Luna cried dramatically, falling back as she held a hoof to her forehead. Big Mac caught her, his face extremely stoic.
“Eeyup. Same here. Come away with me, my alicorn angel. We will away in my pony shaped fighter plane,” Big Mac said, rolling his head in the direction of said craft. Luna gasped.
“Oh my! I didn’t know you had a pony-shaped fighter plane!”
“You never asked. Now I have to head off and fight in some war, cause that’s what I do,” Big Mac said. Luna was suddenly standing in a wedding dress and crying.
“You’ll come back, won’t you?” Luna sobbed.
“I might, might not. You’ll wait for me, right?” Big Mac asked. Luna nodded.
“Of course!”
Big Mac slipped on some sunglasses and trotted off to the plane.
“Ballin’.”
“You’ll never see him again! Just as you’ll never see me again!” Abacus yelled.
“Miss Selene?” Big Mac asked.
“No! No I don’t want you to go!” Luna said quickly. Big Mac stared, as did Hoyden and Sundance. As did a lot of other patrons. Luna’s face burned in embarassment as Big Mac cleared his throat.
“Ah... Ah’m just going to the bathroom-”
“Oh! Of course, go ahead! Ahahaha, no problem, go right ahead!” Luna said. She covered her head with her hooves, fighting the urge to just hide under the table. In fact, that seemed very appealing right now.
No! No, you are the Moon Princess, Luna of Equestria, the Arbiter of the Heavens! You will not hide under the table... Again, she mentally amended.
“Ah, we’re going to the bathroom as well,” Sundance said. She took hold of Luna’s hoof and pulled her along. “Order for us won’t you Hoyden?”
“Of course,” Hoyden said as he downed his drink with a grin.
Once in the little mare’s room, Sundance looked Luna right in the eyes.
“Okay Princess, what’s going on? Do you know Big Mac?” Sundance asked. Luna nodded.
“Yes. We um... We went to a few baseball games together. He is the older brother of a friend of Twilight Sparkle’s, who is of course Princess Celestia’s student.”
“Oh,” Sundance said. She nodded and chuckled. “That’s really nothing to get nervous about... Not unless you two made out in the bathrooms or something during the seventh inning stretch.”
“N-No! That would be-I-The very idea!” Luna huffed, bright red. Sundance raised her hooves appeasingly.
“All right, all right... I was only joking! Just relax, Princess Luna. It’s not that big a deal. Everything still applies, okay?” She rested a hoof on Luna’s shoulder. “So you don’t have to freak out, okay?”
“I... I was not freaking out,” Luna mumbled, averting her eyes. Sundance sighed.
“Yes, you were,” she said. “But it’s all right. Just... Just ask him about his day. What brings him here. Listen to him. Ponies like it when you listen to them, you know that right?”
Luna nodded. “Of course I do. I sometimes listen in on wishes made upon stars.”
“You do?” Sundance asked, interested. Luna nodded.
“Yes... I find it... Pleasant, that so many people ask for guidance and help from the night sky,” Luna admitted. Sundance smiled.
“Well then, there you go,” Sundance said. “Have you ever heard some of Big Mac’s wishes on stars?”
“Er... A few,” Luna admitted. Sundance smiled.
“Well then, start from there! You’ll be fine!”
“You really think so?” Luna asked.
“I know so!” Sundance said with a smile. Luna finally smiled back.
“All right...”
- - - - - - -
When they returned from the bathroom, their orders had come. Hoyden had dug in right away, while Big Mac had waited. When the two mares took their seats, only then did he begin eating. Luna flushed at this show of chivalry, while Sundance glared at Hoyden.
“Couldn’t you have waited?” Sundance asked. Hoyden shrugged.
“I was hungry. Long day, wasn’t it a long day Big Mac?” Hoyden asked. Big Mac nodded.
“Eeyup.”
“So, what brings you to Canterlot Big Mac?” Luna asked. Big Mac blinked and smiled.
“Ah was pullin’ some apples into market. We supply a lot of local grocers, so ah was cartin’ them all up here.”
Luna nodded. “That’s good... Don’t you wish you could fly? Wouldn’t that make everything so much easier?”
Big Mac chuckled. “Ah reckon it would.”
“Like, on big feathery wings that are brightly colored, like that cape you made when you were five,” Luna said. Big Mac blinked.
“What?”
“What?” Sundance asked.
“Mmph?” Hoyden asked through a mouthful of spicy oats. Luna coughed.
“Ah, I mean... I assume that you... Did so... Because so many young colts do that don’t they? Wear capes, run around trying to fly? Because that’s very cute for-for young colts to do?” Luna asked with a bright red blush. Big Mac very slowly nodded.
“Like that, yup,” he said. Hoyden grinned.
“Oh bro, I did that too. It was awesome. I broke my legs once jumping off a roof because I wanted to fly when there was a meteor shower!”
“Our first date,” Sundance said dryly. Hoyden chuckled.
“Yeah.”
“Yes! Remember how you wished he’d grow up and stop drinking the milk right out of the carton,” Luna asked. “And worried he was looking at the flanks of that cute waitress at the local cafe?”
Hoyden’s jaw dropped. Sundance winced, and waved her hooves in a subtle way to try and keep Luna from continuing. However, she was still going strong.
“And he was, did you know that? But he likes your flanks much better,” Luna said. Hoyden went bright red and covered his face as Sundance’s waving became as desperate as though she was trying to signal a pegasus for help from atop a burning house.
“So Sundance doesn’t have to wish any more for better flanks, because she’s got them,” Luna continued cheerfully. “She doesn’t have to worry about it, and not her diet. She can stop eating chocolates and nuts to get bigger flanks.”
“Selene!” Sundance hissed. Luna looked over at her.
“What?” She looked at Hoyden who had looked up at last. “Also Hoyden, what is a ‘threesome’? Why would you wish to have it with us? Is it some kind of social ritual?”
Hoyden hid his face under the table as Sundance shot him a glare of pure rage. Luna smiled at Big Mac, looking confused. Big Mac’s jaw had dropped and his hay stalk had fallen to the floor.
“... I said something wrong again, didn’t I?” Luna asked in a very quiet voice.
- - - - - - - -
The double date moved out to the local park, where numerous other couples were trotting together happily and contentedly.
Not so for Sundance and Hoyden.
“Sundance! Honey! Wait, wait!” Hoyden called as Sundance galloped off.
“Leave me alone!”
Luna and Big Mac were left alone. They looked at each other, and then away. Luna rubbed her front leg awkwardly.
“I... I am very sorry... This is embarrassing,” Luna admitted.
“Hm... Eeyup,” Big Mac said. He looked at her. “Wanna sit down?”
Luna nodded. They trotted over to a bench and sat there in silence. Luna looked up. She looked out over the frolicking couples and the nightlights of the city and sighed.
“This... I couldn’t imagine this. Any of this. A thousand years ago ponies were afraid of the night, or slept through it, or... Or regarded it as some kind of inconvenience.” She narrowed her eyes as she focused on the bright lights.
“They made those lights just so they wouldn’t have to deal with the darkness... Their own little suns...”
Celestia, sister... You were always the more popular one, the nicer one, the more social one...
She looked down at the ground as familiar feelings of anger arose in her. She’d spoiled the date, made her two friends angry at each other... Nothing but trouble since she’d decided to try life as an Earth pony.
“This was a mistake,” Luna growled. “I did what Sundance said, tried to use my gifts to interact with others! To be me... But being me isn’t what anyone wants. I’m not Celestia! I lost my abacus and I made everyone unhappy and now, and now...!” She kicked a rock in frustration.
“I-I should have just stayed in the moon!”
Big Mac was silent for a long time, watching her. Luna felt angry tears come to her eyes, but she tried to blink them away. The big stallion then cleared his throat. Luna looked over at him.
“What?”
“Have you flown up over the city, since you were back?” He asked quietly. Luna frowned.
“What do you mean? Of course I have.”
“At night,” Big Mac specified. Luna blinked.
“What difference would that make?” She asked softly. Big Mac just smiled.
“Just give it a try,” he said. Luna frowned, but nodded. Making sure nopony was watching, she unfurled her camouflaged wings and took off, flying up high. She stayed above Big Mac’s position and soared up higher and higher. As she watched his form fade into the darkness, she began to notice something.
All the lights of the city below were the things that shone through the darkness the most. The higher she went, the more prominent they became until finally, when she reached where the air was cold, she stopped and looked down.
She then really looked, her jaw dropping. She looked up at the nighttime sky, her beloved work of art, and back down again.
Slowly, reluctantly, she flew back down to the park bench where Big Mac was waiting. She landed, and wiped her eyes.
“... It... They look the same,” she whispered. Big Mac smiled.
“Eeyup,” he said.
“... I...” She pawed the ground awkwardly. “How could you have seen it?”
“Pictures from pegasi,” Big Mac said. “Sometimes ah like to look at ‘em.”
“Oh,” Luna said softly. Big Mac leaned forward.
“Now, can ah ask you a question?”
Luna flushed as she sat back down on the bench. “Sure... Can’t be more embarrassing than my questions.”
“The North Star... You put that up, didn’t you?” Big Mac asked. Luna looked at Big Mac with a frown.
“Well, yes... Sort of. It’s a little more complicated than that but yes.”
“Why is it always pointing north?” Big Mac asked. He trotted over to a bench and rested on it. Luna followed and sat down with a sigh. She looked up at said star and thought back to long ago.
“It’s because of how the world is tilted. It was Celestia’s idea, I think. Give the world seasons,” she said. “Due to the spin of the planet, that star moves the least right above the north polar area, and so it’s used for navigation.”
“Did you intend that?” Big Mac asked.
“No... No, but I’m glad that’s how it turned out,” Luna said. Big Mac smiled.
“Ah learned to navigate by it at night, when ah travel around,” he said. “It’s never steered me wrong. So... Ah guess I wanna thank you for it.”
“Oh... Well... You’re welcome,” Luna said, blushing furiously.
“Can you tell me more?” He asked.
“I’d like to, but... But what about Sundance and Hoyden?” Luna asked. Big Mac smiled.
“Ah think they’ll work it out themselves... Sometimes, you can’t do nothin’ to help. You gotta let things go as they will.”
Luna slowly nodded. "Mm... So um..." She looked at him shyly through her bangs. "What do you want to know about first?"
"How about meteor showers?" Big Mac asked. Luna's smiled grew.
"Sure..."
- - - - - - -
“Sundance! SUNDANCE!”
Sundance had made it to a hill near the center of the park. Panting for breath, she finally turned to glare at her coltfriend.
“I cannot believe you! Wishing for it?! ON A STAR?!” She demanded. Hoyden bowed his head.
“I didn’t think she’d hear it!”
“So you’re not sorry you made the wish, huh? Huh?!” Sundance demanded, rearing up on her hind hooves and kicking out her front hooves. Hoyden was knocked in his jaw, and he went down hard. Sundance stopped immediately and her eyes went wide.
“Hoyden? HOYDEN! Are you all right? Oh, I’m so sorry I’m sorry!” She cried. Hoyden groaned.
“No... No... I’m fine,” he said. He worked his jaw as he stared up at her. “You’ve got quite the right hoof.”
“Oh... I’m sorry, it’s just that...” She sighed. “You made me so mad.”
“Because I wished to have Luna too?” Hoyden asked. “I... I’m sorry Sundance, I really am. I say and do a lot of stupid stuff, but...” He got up and nuzzled her. “But that’s why I love you so much. You tell me when I’m being stupid, so I can stop it.”
Sundance sighed and looked aside. She then slowly looked back at Hoyden.
“I just... I guess even with how much of a spazz she is, I feel kind of... Jealous of her,” Sundance said. “And that’s the worst thing I can feel, but I do anyway.”
“Well... Yeah, it kind of is,” Hoyden said. At Sundance’s angry glare he coughed and backed up. “Sorry, sorry!”
“You really suck at cheering me up!” Sundance growled.
“But... But me wishing for threesomes... It isn’t so different, is it?” Hoyden asked quickly. “It’s really, really stupid.”
Sundance stared at him in silence for a while, before she sighed. “Yeah... Yeah, I guess,” she mumbled. “Sorry.”
“I’m sorry,” Hoyden said again. “It was a really stupid fantasy... Totally not ever going to happen.”
“No,” Sundance said. Hoyden smiled at her.
“But... Why would I ever want it to?” He asked. Sundance laughed.
“Charmer.”
“It’s why you love me,” he said. Bright lights flashed overhead, and the two looked up. Falling stars lit up the night sky in a brilliant display. Hoyden watched in awe.
“Wow... Would you look at that,” Sundance murmured. She moved closer to her coltfriend and the two watched in silence. She looked at the moon, and smiled.
Thanks Luna... I wish you could see what you’ve done for us...
Sundance blinked. She could swear the meteors formed a smile for just one moment... And then she smiled back.
Of course...
- - - - - - - -
Luna sighed happily. She looked over at Big Mac.
“I... I feel a lot better now,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Eeyup... Don’t mention it,” Big Mac said.
Luna sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Big Mac asked. Luna pouted.
“I just wish I knew what happened to my abacus,” she said. “It just... It’s made me so stressed out this week, I feel like I was about to burst and...”
Abruptly two ponies galloped up. One was a brown colt in a pinstripe suit with a wild mane of hair, and the other was a gray pegasus with a blonde mane and walleyes. The latter had a mail satchel.
“Huh?” Luna asked. The pegasus rummaged in her satchel and handed over a familiar looking brown box. Luna’s eyes widened.
“M-My abacus!” She cried out happily, grabbing it and holding it tightly. She looked up at the colt and the pegasus. “How did you-Where did you-?”
“Sorry, can’t say anything. Thank you for letting me borrow it,” the colt said. “Well! Not borrow, borrow without asking, I need to stop doing that anyway! Your sister sends her apologies that she let me borrow it without asking you after the fact... It’s complicated and right now five things and a lizard are all happening at once so really we must be off. Hello! Goodbye!” The colt ran off. The pegasus smiled and kissed Luna’s cheek.
“Aren’t you sweet?” She said, before flying after the colt. Luna stared after her, and then at Big Mac, who had no more answers than she did. She looked down at her beloved little abacus, and then up at the castle. In a single moment, it all snapped together... And she smiled.
“You evil mastermind,” she muttered.
- - - - - - - -
High above in Canterlot, Celestia smiled indulgently as she saw that her package had been delivered. She then tapped her hooves together with a warm and happy smile.
“Just as planned,” she chuckled.
- - - - - - - -
As you'll see in the future, I'm not quite so good with longer story arcs. But still, enjoy this for what it's worth.