Luna's Dawn

by GreySkiesAhead


The Night Life

Shining Dawn felt pretty excellent tonight.

He trotted down the mostly-deserted streets of Canterlot with a pleased-with-himself grin on his face. Just a few months after graduating Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns Celestia herself had offered him his first job, to be her sister's court wizard no less!

Most ponies would have pinched themselves, Shining Dawn, though, had cast break enchantment on the spot, convinced his friend Lucid Dream was playing another illusion-based prank on him. When the spell cleared and Princess Celestia was left standing there with an amused smile on her face, he'd quickly agreed to take the job and thanked her profusely.

Wizard of the Night Court! ...What in Tartarus is the Night Court? He'd read up on it, of course, after accepting the job. It hadn't been difficult to deduce what the Night Court was, what with the much-discussed return of Princess Luna, but it never hurt to do some research. From what he read it worked pretty much the same way the Day Court did, save historically more commoners visited the Night Court. Emphasis on the "historically"; the Night Court had not been held since Luna's banishment.

He'd sold himself a bit short, he supposed: it wasn't that surprising a newly-graduated unicorn could get picked for a job like this when the unicorn in question was as skilled as he was. He was an abjuration specialist, for sure, but he had high-level spells that weren't even abjurations. Compared to his peer group he guessed he was actually quite well-qualified. His friend Farsight often lamented that Dawn, an abjurer, could cast several divinations that eluded her, and while his roommate Starfall certainly had more powerful evocations than he did, Dawn's evocations were arguably more impressive on a technical level.

He had even managed to impress his new employer on his first night; Luna had only been asked by her sister to consider him for the position, but he was fairly certain he'd secured his new employment indefinitely.

Dawn's face flushed at the memory. The Princess of the Night had also nuzzled him; that was kind of weird.

But, hey! When the an Alicorn Princess decides you deserve royal nuzzles, you must frikkin' deserve royal nuzzles, right?

Though why did his sequester spell make her react like that in the first place? Sure, it was an impressive bit of magic, but it was hardly something to tear up over. He wondered if it was a mare thing. He'd ask Starfall when he got home; she was a mare. He'd have to wait for her to wake up, though, after all he was working nights now.

After a few hours of walking around Canterlot, Shining Dawn was coming to a realization:

Everypony bucking sleeps at night.

There was nothing to DO in Canterlot at 2 AM. Save a few late-night diners and the Canterlot Archives, most of the shops were closed and all his friends were asleep, the diurnal traitors! He eventually ended up in a coffee shop with his nose buried in his copy of Advanced Transmutation, deciding he may as well use his hours of unwanted free time productively.

He tried to focus on learning the rock to mud spell he'd chosen at random but found he simply couldn't concentrate through his anxiety. He was usually quite content to read by himself; even though he rarely needed too, he could always count on talking Starfall, Lucid, or somepony else if he so desired. He never considered how unsettling it would be without that luxury.

But now they were all asleep, and when they woke up, he would be asleep. What was he to do with himself? Distract himself with another job, perhaps? The six-hour Night Court certainly left him with plenty of time on his hooves. His salary certainly covered all his expenses and then some; did he really need another job? And if not, what would he do with all this extra time he found himself with?

Shining Dawn sighed, closed the book, and left some bits for his tab. He knew at least one pony who was awake at this hour.

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Luna closed "Equestrian Legislation Volume III: 4-6 P.N.E" with a relieved sigh. "Well, six down, 994 years of political history to go." she said dejectedly. Forget banishment, THIS was true torture. Immediately after court concluded Luna had gone to the Royal Archives and checked out volumes II through IV of Equestrian Legislation and returned to her private study at the palace, and there she'd stayed for most of the night.

She was about to retrieve Volume IV from the far end of the room when she heard a knock on the oak double doors of her private study. Strange, who could that be at this hour?

"Come in," she replied, curious. A golden glow enveloped the door on the right and it swung outward, revealing Shining Dawn of all ponies: his saddlebags full of quills, tomes, and notes. "Young wizard," Luna greeted him, surprised, "we did not expect to see you again until the morrow."

"My apologies, princess, I did not disturb you, did I?" the stallion asked. Luna shook her head, "No, not at all; do come in and sit down." She gesture to a nearby chair. "You look troubled, may we ask why?"

The unicorn thanked her and set his saddlebags down by a large, red chair near the window. "I meant to get some studying done after court concluded, but I found that I could not focus properly." He replied. He sat down in the chair, "I was quite excited about taking this job, and until court concluded earlier, I couldn't have been happier."

Luna sighed; she knew where this was going, "But?" she offered.

"But after I left court, I was walking around the city and, unsurprisingly, everypony is asleep, and all the shops are closed for the night." There was obvious sadness in his voice. "I feel so... alone, you know? Because of this job everypony else will be asleep when I'm doing my best work."

"They're always asleep, Tia! Every night I paint for them a wondrous, jeweled sky! I give them a beautiful, serene silence and calming darkness, yet they never even stay awake to experience it! Am I so wrong to think that maybe, just maybe, if they gave it a chance they'd love my night just as they love your day?"

The memory hit Luna hard, but she managed to keep her composure. She felt her disappointment with the stallion's inevitable decision fade, replaced by empathy. "We... understand," she said, proud that she kept her voice mostly level. "We won't force you to bear that burden, we accept your resignation, sir Dawn."

Shining Dawn looked confused, "I... OH!" he exclaimed, smacking himself in the head with his hoof. "That's not what I meant princess. Sorry, I understand what that sounded like." Oh? What else could he possibly mean? "I was just wondering, since everypony else is going to be asleep, and well, you look like you're going to be in here reading all night too... would you mind if I studied in here... with you?"

Luna didn't know what to say. All she could do was chuckle, just to herself at first, and then out loud. After a minute or so, she calmed down and wiped a mirthful tear from her eyes, but noticing the dumbfounded look on Dawn's face she just laughed harder. Eventually, though, she managed to control herself, "Yes, yes we think we'd like that, young stallion."

The unicorn's face changed from one of bewilderment to an uneasy smile. "Uh... thank you, princess," He said, levitating a book out of his saddlebag.

Just like that, the room descended into companionable silence, save for the occasional turning of a page or the scratching of a quill. A maid came by to check on Luna after a few minutes. After asking her to bring more coffee, Luna asked Dawn if he'd like anything, he told the maid he'd very much like some ice water. She returned shortly, and they thanked her for their beverages.

Luna had not felt so at ease since her return. Even the mind-numbing boredom of the 7 P.N.E. apple price-freeze wasn't bothering her; she could get used to this. That aside, she did eventually desire to speak with her studious companion, "What are you studying tonight, young wizard?"

Dawn seemed surprised, though not unpleasantly so, that she'd decided to break the silence. "transmute rock to mud" he answered. "What about you, princess?"

"All the Equestrian legislation from the last thousand years." Luna said distastefully. This got a laugh out of Dawn. "Why rock to mud?" Luna asked.

"Well, actually, I just picked a transmutation spell I didn't know at random. I don't know specifically what spells I should be learning to make a more useful court wizard." The stallion admitted. "Do you have any suggestions?"

Luna considered this for a moment. "If you've made any progress on learning that spell, finish learning it first. Once you've done that, though, we noticed from your application you can't cast mass lighten object, actually, we can think of several spells that would make your job easier. Would you like a list?"

Dawn smiled, "That would be very helpful, princess." That was a high level transmutation spell, so it was probably in the book he brought with him. Dawn evidently decided to look it over quickly before getting back to the transmute rock to mud spell, as he began to magically flip through the pages to find it, he asked Luna, "What year are you on right now?"

"7 P.N.E" Luna answered.

"I think... that's the year Equestria disbanded it's standing army, right?" Dawn asked. Luna was taken aback, "We do not have a standing army anymore?" Dawn shook his head, "No, we do now: it was reinstated forty years later, after the end of the Second Griffon War. Duchess-General Swift Wings' reasons for disbanding the army were quite compelling, though after Detrot was razed to the ground by the griffons nopony really felt safe without a standing army, even if it was just a small one that could react quickly to threats while the levies were raised. The Canterlot Archives actually has a very detailed book on the subject: History and Dynamics of the Royal Army, Post Nightmare Era, I could bring it to you before we meet for court tomorrow night..."

The two ponies continued on like that for the rest of the night. They read quietly, volunteered some insight to the each other's work when appropriate, and grew increasingly comfortable with the other. They even had dinner brought up to the room so they could continue their work without being interrupted by pesky details like hunger. Eventually, though, Celestia raised the sun, and Luna had speak with her about those tax issues and Dawn reluctantly had to get some sleep.

As they left the study and were about to part ways, Dawn had one final question for the Princess:

"Tonight was... I really enjoyed working with you tonight, your highness. Would you mind terribly if I studied here with you on a regular basis?"

Luna could not help but smile softly, "No, young wizard, I would not mind at all. In fact, I insist you do."