//------------------------------// // 5. Game. // Story: Princess Luna's Assistant. // by PrincessLunas Assistant //------------------------------// I suppose once you're past the fact that she's a princes, Luna is quite a pleasant pony. Sadly I'm a wreck when it comes to getting past these outer layers. Throughout the entire time I was there I simply sipped coffee and avoided eye contact with the Princess. Now that I was fully awake my mind has gone into full blown introvert mode. I sort of receded into myself emotionally, using as many one or two word answers as possible. I reverted to using "Yes." and "Uh huh" and of course "I understand". She quickly took notice to this and spoke up. "You come all this way to just to get coffee and then turn into a hermit crab?" She asks. I'm unsure if she's joking or annoyed. "I....ummmm......well a coffee is good. I....think....less when I'm tired. The more I think the shyer I get, it's just a kinda quirk." I say as I look at a drawing of the gas cloud. It's quite pretty, even if it is just a scientific chart design. "That's a very cute perk. You must be the master of playing hard-to-get." She jokes as I set the chart down on the half wall. I move a coffee mug closer to my lips and down the last of my third full cup. "I suppose that's umm one way of putting it." I squeak out avoiding eye contact with the princess. She takes a second of silence to think quickly. Luna gets an odd look about her when she thinks deeply. She usually looks to the ceiling or sky at an angle, then raises a hoof to her chin or lips. An eyebrow could also raise while the other lowers, she sometimes hums a kind of tune while she does so. "How about we play a quick game?" I raise an eye brow, then mumble out a response. "What kind of 'game'?" I ask. "The kind that allows you to find out a little more about the other individual. Here's how it works, I pick a topic, you tell me something relevant that involves that topic and yourself. Like if I say 'color' you could tell me your favorite color and why you like it." Luna explains with a comforting smile to me. "Then you pick a top and I answer you in the same fashion." "Oh, okay." I say with a slight smile. "That sounds uhh fun. Go ahead..I suppose." I say with a curving smile. " 'Romance'. " Luna says grinning at me. Unexpected. "Ummmm well.....my first mare friend was at about age ten. She was very....out going and took great joy in making me.....uncomfortable at every possible moment. She gave me my first kiss and was the first mare who ever met my parents under the designation of 'Star's marefriend'." I say with a blushing feeling soaring throughout my face. Luna sits attentively as she listens to me, her eyes barely dwell from mine as I speak. "Good. Now you pick a topic for me." Luna says with a wave of her hoof. I grin lightly then give her the topic on my mind. " 'Me.' " I say. "You're fascinating." Luna says. "I find you cute, physically appealing, and of course interesting. I'm a fan of puzzles and challenges; to me, you're both of those things. I'd feel a sense of success to be your friend; to have any sort of connection to you beyond that of an employer, really." As she speaks, I nod my head a bit. I try to not make eye contact, but can't help myself at some points. She'd catch me looking at her eyes and her smile would increase a little bit. Then I'd shy my eyes away from hers and her smile would dampen, but not fade fully. "Okay, now I guess you give me a topic now." I suggest with a grin as I wait patiently. She repeats my own topic. " 'Me' " She says with a smirk of her own. I put up one hoof, telling her to give me a minute. I think of exactly what I want to say to her. Once I have the idea in mind I began to form the words. "Higher authority usually makes me nervous, when I accepted this job I realized that I'd be nervous...a lot. Working this closely to a princess would be....interesting." "Hmmm." She hums as I finish my statement. "So ummm what's you're next topic, ma'am?" I ask politely. I'm beginning to somewhat enjoy this game. "Hmmmm...give me one minute." She says going into her thinking pose once again. I grin at her slightly-funny pose and think about what I look like when I think deeply. I always picture myself seeming somewhat deep while I think, but then again I'm not the one looking at me while I think. "How about....'Arts' any art form you practice." "I'm not bad with clay. I made a four foot alicorn once when I was like fifth teen or so. I think my parent's still have it." I say remembering the old thing. I used a few pictures and portraits to make it. All of them were of Celestia but I modified the physical attributes enough to make it look nothing like her, although the basic physiology is there. When 'Princess Twilight Sparkle' was announced, my parents said my old sculpture looked just like her. I was at the ceremony and took notice of this days before their letter arrived though. I remember laughing my booty off at the ceremony.