"Love is in bloom! A beautiful bride, a handsome groom..."
Screams and cheers erupted from a massive crowd as Princess Cadence and Shining Armor did their first dance as a married couple. Rhubarb and Merry watched on, cheering and stomping hooves just as much as anypony else. A few seconds later, Rhubarb was caught by surprise as Merry grabbed him and held him in her arms, leaning back to dance. Although nervous, he complied to her wishes and danced. As it turned out, he was a fine dancer when Merry May led.
Just about everypony was dancing that night. Rhubarb and Merry, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, Rainbow Dash and Soarin', and even Sweetie Belle and Spike. At one point Rarity even gave in and danced with Spike (well, as much as they could with height difference.) Applejack played the fiddle and created sweet country music. Merry laughed in the background as she spied Pinkie Pie gorging herself with sweets. If only for awhile, Scales forgot his woes.
Finally, near the end of the night, right as Merry May was swinging Rhubarb down, her eyes caught onto a nearby clock tower. The massive clock read eleven. Alarmed, she dropped Rhubarb flat on his back and gasped. Rhubarb gave a groan and coughed. "What was that for?"
"The bride and groom are leaving in twenty minutes and I'm not even by the carriage or with my flower petals! Sorry, love you, gotta go, see you shortly by the train station," she said as she flew off. Had she flown off any faster, no doubt a trail of smoke would be following her path in the night sky. Rhubarb watched her speed off, and he turned to the tables where catering was and got himself a glass of punch. A green glow surrounded his cup as he lifted it to his lips.
He pulled it away from his face just long enough to see Pinkie Pie bouncing up to him. "Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb!" she gave him a tackling hug, which would've sent his drink flying. Had it not been suspended in midair by magic, that is. Rhubarb fell to the ground and Pinkie laughed. The changeling simply laughed as well.
"Nice to see you, too, Pinkie." He got up and brushed himself off. He began to sip from the cup again. Pinkie then bounced off to the next pony to be tackle-hugged. Slowly he looked around. Nopony seemed to notice him for the moment. He then began to walk around the castle, until he found a nice spot overlooking the city and country right along the western reach of the palace. There was a stone bench set out to sit and look out.
He took a seat and stared out at the starry sky, mingled with the leftover smoke of fireworks. The city below twinkled and shined as the festivities ran through the streets. Ponies young and old ran rampant with confetti and treats, balloons in tow. The surrounding country was mostly empty except for a train chugging along, gentle puffs of smoke rising out from it. It lay silent, an ocean of darkness with an island of light and partying. Scales should've felt amazed, awed by the beautiful sight. Instead, a different feeling came.
A deep feeling of guilt and forlorn hope returned to him. The party was over for him. As much as Rhubarb hated feeling sorry for himself, he couldn't help it. Helplessness was painful, and mingled with guilt made it worse. When he was distracted, he was fine. When he was idle and with free time to think...that was bad. That was very bad.
Woeful, he kept his feelings to himself and looked out over the city. For a moment, he swore he heard a swooshing noise behind him. The stallion shrugged it off as probably just a bat or two. When the noise was accompanied by the sound of hooves touching the ground, he looked behind himself. What he found was not what he was expecting.
Princess Luna stood behind him, meeting his gaze collectedly. He stumbled over his own hooves to bend down in a bow immediately, almost tripping over the bench to do so. "Your majesty." he remarked, a little embarrassed by his depressed display.
"Arise. What is your name?" she replied.
"Rhubarb, your majesty."
"I notice you are not partaking in merry-making any longer. What ails you?"
"I..."
"Do not hesitate to tell me," Luna said kindly, "it is my duty to help my subjects when I can clearly see something is wrong."
"It's nothing you need to be concerned about, Princess Luna." he commented anxiously. "I just...I've been feeling down lately."
"For what reason?"
He stiffened. "I just...I did something bad recently. I knew something was going to happen but I didn't say anything because I was scared. And then it happened and ponies got hurt. That means it's my fault."
Luna did not ask what it was. She didn't want to make this unicorn any more uncomfortable. "Cowardly indeed." she stated. Rhubarb frowned, and she frowned as well. "But do not mistake my words. I, too, have done bad things." She shuddered and looked to the sky sadly for a moment before looking back to her subject. "Take a princess's advice. If you do bad things, it's understandable to be sad. But nothing changes if you merely mope." Rhubarb looked back to her, hoping to understand what she was to say. "You can't allow these bad things to follow you and darken the rest of your life. The best thing you can do is move on.
"I recognize this is much easier said than done, but it is possible. Be a good pony instead. Be loving and gentle and understanding, just as others might forgive you if you do wrong. If you can help others, help them, and if you cannot, help by doing something else...I notice your cutie mark is a pie. Thou art a baker? I tried thy delicious yet fattening cupcakes." she guessed.
Although a little confused by her archaic language, he nodded. "Then keep making those cupcakes and pies and keep making those sweets. Fill ponies' hearts and stomachs with love." The princess giggled a bit. "Above all, forgive yourself. What's done is done and you can't go back to fix it. Might as well learn from it and be good in the future."
Rhubarb was shocked by the princess's kind words of wisdom. Luna, the princess who had been in prison for a thousand years and separated from her sister. Luna, the princess who vowed to plunge the world into eternal night. Luna...the princess who spent a moment to help a pony in need like him. True, she had done bad things. But now? Now she was good. Luna did little things like this for little ponies like him. And it really did help.
"Thank you, your majesty." He sniffled and wiped a tear from his eye. "Those words. They help a lot."
"It is my job along with bringing the night." She smirked slightly, proudly. "Pray tell, where are you heading now?"
"I'm heading to the train station for Ponyville. My girlfriend is waiting for me there so we can go home. I have work tomorrow." he said with a yawn.
"A hard worker. Admirable. I can teleport you, if you so wish, with my magic to the train station." the princess offered.
"Wow...really?"
"Really."
"Thank you so much. Is there anything I can do to repay you for everything?" Scales asked. The princess was about to say no, when she looked to his cutie mark again and paused.
"Actually, yes. I tried your cupcakes at the dessert table and they were good. Can you make me a blackberry cobbler and sent it to the castle within a few days?"
"Done and done." He shook hooves with the princess, and with a flash of her magic, he was teleported to the train station. Shortly after, he found Merry May, and both boarded the midnight train to Ponyville. Within a few moments of the train taking off, both had fallen asleep against each other. They slept silently in peace, and the train chugged and puffed the way home.