//------------------------------// // A Night To Remember // Story: A Beautiful Night // by bakersong //------------------------------// It's been about a thousand years since she was in Equestria, and she still felt so out of place. Granted most of the ponies of Ponyville had accepted her, but she saw how close they all were, and she wished she could share the same companionship. But there's always two things that gets in her way of getting that kind of companionship. First, most of the ponies still held the tinniest fear of Nightmare Moon, thus making them not want to get to close to her. The second reason being more obvious, she is still the princess of the night. She still wished the ponies of Equstria would appreciate the night, but according to her sister a lot of ponies now had a great appreciation of the night. When she asked how much they appreciated her night time sky now, her sister simply answer that the ponies that she was talking about preferred to stay up in the night rather than in the day. But she had not met anypony like that. Sure she had met many travelers in the night, but they were either sales ponies who wanted to get to the next town to sell their products, or just on a long journey that was now almost done. Yes, she could talk to one of the royal guards that had the night shift, but that was another problem. Either they wouldn't talk to her like how they would with each other, or they were just stationed on the night shift for a night or two. Because of this she still felt that sadness and loneliness in her heart, but she had learned from her mistake of hiding it and always talked to her sister about it. Yes Celestia could be accounted as her only friend, but at the back of her mind she still thought that her sister was only being that way because she had felt guilty about banishing her to the moon. Celestia always tried to act like she was better than everypony. Quickly shaking the thoughts out of her head, she couldn't afford to think like that for it lead down a path that she had only came back from not to long ago. She continued her usual patrol trying to shake the dark thoughts, and since they persisted she went to a spot that she only knew to try to shake them there. For this spot always seemed to calm her down because of the view of both the city and the night sky. As she glided down to her favorite spot she had thought she had heard something from the ground, but she just figured that it was just a little critter trying to look for some food. When she stepped onto the familiar perch she could already start to fell relaxed as some of the dark thoughts already started to disappear. This spot could only be accessed by either a pegasus or a unicorn with a teleportation spell, which was just fine with her because she preferred to be alone at this spot. That's when she heard a noise behind her, a noise that sounded like hooves on stone. That would be impossible though, she would have spotted anypony flying in, and she would have heard and felt the magic if a teleportation spell would have been used. As the steps grew closer she looked toward where it was coming from, and right there was a little cave. How could she have not noticed it earlier, she did come to this spot often after all. "Holt, who goes there?" She asked with authority. The steps quieted and she could now see an outline of what looked like a Stallion. "Come out and show yourself." He then stepped out into the moonlight and revealed himself. He was a unicorn with a light brown coat, a dark brown mane, and he was built like an Earth Pony. His eye's were an inviting soft brown, and when she stared into them she could she his kindness. But she could also see his nervousness, but that was quickly replaced with what looked like excitement. "Your Princess Luna, princess of the night." He said with excitement. "Yes i am, but who are you and why are you out so late?" She asked again with her authoritative voice. As she waited for an answer, she saw his excitement deflate and replaced with a little bit of fear. "Well you see, uhh..." He started to say with a mixture of both fear and nervousness. "Are you by any chance one of these night owls my sister told me about?" She asked trying to calm him. "Yeah, I am." He answered and was now a little more relaxed. "My name is Baker Song, but everypony just calls me Song." He answered. "Alright now can you tell me how you got up here? I mean how did you know about the cave, when I did not? Why did you even come up here?" She asked. "Well you see when I was just a little colt I found the entrance to the cave, and my curiosity just took hold and I explored the it thinking that I will be an adventurer. As for why you probably didn't know about it is because I hid the entrance so nopony else would find it. Though i'm surprised to see anypony up here since no pony knows about the cave except me, and that also means no pony comes up here. As for why I came up here, it's because I love the view." He turned, obviously with a little embarrassed. "I mean looking out over the city at night at this point makes everything look so beautiful, especially when it's a clear night like this. Cause that's when you're able to see all of the stars, and look at the beauty of the moon." He now had a look of sadness. "That and I come up here to clear my head." She was surprised at what he said. He came up here to look at how the night time sky brought beauty to the sleeping city. Then he also had what seemed like a deep and rooted appreciation for it. Her sister's voice rang in her ears reminding her of what she had said. But what really caught her off guard was not only the fact that he seemed to be genially seemed honest, but he comes up here to do the same exact thing she comes here to do. That's when she noticed that he was now walking away. "Wait don't go please?" She asked without thinking. He turned and gave her a curious look. "I mean you and I can share this spot for right now, if you only come here to clear your head." She lowered her head in embarrassment, though she did not know why. He turned all the way around and walked over to the edge and sat down. "Alright, thank you." He said without turning his head, but she could hear the appreciation in his voice. Then she looked up and noticed that he was now looking at her with a smile and patted his hoof next to him, beckoning her to sit down. "So Princess, since I told you why I come up here I think it's only fair you tell me why you come here?" He asked as she sat down. "Fair enough. I come up here to do the same as you, to clear my head." She told him. "That's understandable, I mean coming back after a thousand years to a completely different world then what you're used to. Then the fact of what you was when you came back." He stopped realizing what he was saying. "It's quite alright, and you are right in what you said. Those are a big part on why I come up here. Because I still feel the darkness inside, and the thoughts I have..." She drifted off in a trance with the thoughts in her head, then she felt a reassuring hoof on her back. When she looked he was staring at her with an understanding look in his eyes. She took a breath and continued. "Anyway this is the only spot I could find to help get rid of the dark thoughts, because I can see the beauty my night sky brings to the slumbering city." She looked out at the city and smiled. "You know I meant what I said about why I come up here, to not only clear my head but to look at the beauty of the night." She looked straight into his eye's and knew that he was being sincere. "So why did you become a night owl, I mean I can understand someponies staying up late, but I typically don't find any up at this hour unless it's one of the royal guards?" She asked. "You sure you want to hear that story?" She just simply nodded in response. "Alright, well it started when I first discovered the cave entrance. For you see when my curiosity pulled me in I got lost inside the cave's many turns." He looked away for a second when a flash of what seemed like sadness crossed his eyes, but he quickly regathered himself and continued. "Lucky for me my dad told me that if I ever got lost in a cave or in the woods mark the walls or the floor, so that you can know where you've been. I used this technique and found myself up hear at night time." Again another pause another flash of pain. "I looked over the city and all of it's beauty in the moon light, and from then on I decided to never miss another night. When I finally got home my pare..." He stopped himself before he said anything else. "Its alright you don't have to tell me anything that personal." But she still wondered what did his parents do. He gave her a strange look that she did not recognize. "No, if there was anypony I told this it might as well be the princess who probably saved my life." The look on his face was one of pure sadness and pain. "What do you mean I saved your life? I've been gone for a thousand years." She asked confused but she still put a comforting hoof on his back just as he did with her. "Yes, I know but not once did Celestia change the night sky when you were gone." She hadn't realized it, but when she looked back when she came back she recognize the night sky. Because it was the same after a thousand years, a small comfort. "See when I got back to my house I found out that I was gone for days and my parents didn't even notice that I was gone." He turned, but she knew he was hiding his tears. "But how do you know you were gone for that long?" Not wanting to push to much. "Because when I came out of the cave I ran into a pony who I knew. He told me that he hadn't seen me in a couple of days." She was about to ask why this would be strange but he was already started to tell her. "You see he's my next door neighbor and I always hung out at his place every day. Apparently my parents told him that I just caught the flu. When I told him where I actually was he turned my parents in, and he adopted me and raised me as his own son." He now had a small smile on his face as he remembered his upbringing, but there was still so much pain and sadness in his eyes. She just couldn't explain why all of a sudden she wrapped him up in a hug, and whispering in his ear "Please don't cry." He may have been surprised by this but he didn't resist her hug. They stayed like that for a minute, but eventually he broke the hug and she could tell he wanted now more than ever to finish his story. "He was a great father to me, but when I was younger I couldn't understand why he did what he did. But he gave me everything I wanted, like the space I needed, he even enrolled me into a magic cooking school when I got my cutie mark." She looked and saw that his cutie mark was a spatula that was bent a weird way, and again before she could ask he started to already answer her. "It not only stands for my love of cooking, but also my love of singing. When I combined the two I feel like I could prepare any dish, and it didn't matter what song I was singing. In matter of fact that's why everypony started to call me Song." He once again turned his head to the city and she could see him relax. Though she wanted to know why her night sky saved him and not the kindness of his neighbor, but she really didn't want to push him. When he calmed himself down he continued. "But like I said back then I didn't understand why he turned in my parents, and by the time I was old enough to understand he was already dying." A sadness that was deeper than that of even hers crosses his features. "See even before that time I already was a night owl, though I didn't really know why. If you're wondering the school I was enrolled in was a night school. But even though he went out of his way to make me happy I kept reminding him that he was the one who took my parents away from me. Yes he did try to explain himself, but I refused to listen. The last time we had the argument I told him I wanted him to go and die." He looked away once again, but she saw the look of shame and sadness on his face. "If he really was as great as what you say he was then you should know that he didn't think you actually hated him." She said trying to not only stop him from crying but to stop herself. "I know, but after that I ran out and tried to start my own life. Once again he came to my rescue by paying all of my debt and still let me live on my own. Though what I didn't know was that he sacrificing his own health in order to keep me happy. Then one day he took me back to the cave." He pointed over to the cave entrance. "He said he had explored it and found what I used to find my way, he even told me that he found this spot remembering how I described it. When he told me about what he saw he wanted me to call this my quiet or happy place. I asked him why I would need that he didn't give an answer, but today I now know why he brought me back to the cave's." He took a deep breath. "Soon after that I found out that he was very sick and was dying, and like I said the last thing I told him was that I wanted him to go off and die." She couldn't believe what she was hearing though, why would a pony tell somepony else this. Even though she remembered what he said about how the night had saved him, she just couldn't understand it. Another urge to just hug him and comfort him came up again but she managed to fight it off not wanting to scare him off. Even though he had accepted her last hug she just didn't think it would be a good idea right now. "When I heard that he was hospitalized I rushed to him. He didn't tell me everything, but I did talk to the doctors they said that according to his medical record he had not been to the doctors in three years, the same time he paid my debt and started to pay my rent. Apparently he had a treatable cancer, but because he was to busy trying to make me happy his condition grew worse until he finally died." Tears now freely streaming down his face and he wasn't even trying to hide it or fight it. "I never got to tell him how much he meant to me, how much I love him. Even though I got to see him before hoof the doctor told me that he needed his rest. So I left and when I came back in the next day and went to his room he wasn't there. When I asked where he was the nurse told me he had died in his sleep that night after I left. I never got to say good bye, never got my closure and because of that I went into a deep depression, a depression so bad that I went into a daze and end up here." He was now on the verge of completely breaking down. Her heart aced for the poor stallion who had tears streaming down his face, which she had also started to cry as well. She again couldn't believe what she was hearing, him going into a depression so deep that he ends up on a cliff. Knowing where this was now heading she felt like pulling him back away from the edge. "I'm sure by now you probably know where this is headed, I was thinking about jumping and ending my pain right there. But there was always something that held me back, when he took me back to this cave he told me to always look at the moon and think about him. For he also loved the night, not as much as me but still, he was the one who taught me the constellations I know today. Then one night when I was actually about to jump your sister Princess Celestia showed up and found me, she asked me what I was about to do. She didn't wait for me to answer, but instead she just told me that what I was about to do would go against what he sacrificed for me. Then told me what he exactly told me that day, and I looked up at the moon and saw his face smiling down at me as I realized that she was right. Ever since then I only go out at night, Though I can not figure out how she knew all of that." He finally stopped to breath. As he looked at the moon he closed his eyes and welcomed the moon lights embrace. She once again found herself hugging him and yet she was now crying more than he was by this point, but she felt him wrap her up in a hug as well. This time he was whispering to her that this was his burden and that he was sorry for telling her about it. When they broke the hug he apologized once again and got up to leave. "Please finish, you never told me how exactly my night sky saved you." Her voice was cracked from how much she had cried. He just looked at her and sighed, not wanting to upset her anymore but knew he had to finish. "Well like I said when I look at the moon I see him smiling at me from beyond. After that I started to become more of a night pony once and for all, i'm barley awake during the day anymore. Then when I heard you had come back I really got excited about being a night pony, for the hope of thanking you for your beautiful sky. Shot I even found a night time restaurant that i'm now head chef at, it's actually the biggest one that's open during the night. The reason why I took the job was because I was once again hoping you'd eat there so I get the chance to meet you." He now looked more embarrassed. "And that's how your night sky saved me. But when I start thinking about what happened I come up here to remind myself my life is worth living." He gave her a smile and looked at the horizon. "Man how time fly's, it's going to be dawn soon." She looked and saw that he was right, which means that her sister was awake, but there was a good two hours before the sun was supposed to rise. Why had time gone so fast just by listening to this stallion's story? Even though she had just met him only a few hours ago she felt like she had a good connection with him. "Hey can you stick around and watch the sunrise with me? That's if you don't mind of course, but I always watch it alone." He asked surprising her with the very question she wanted to ask. "Sure." She replied with a smile on her face. Is this what it feels like when you have a close friend? They sat there making small talk until she lowered the moon to allow the rising sun. She always loved watching the sunrise as well, but she always watched alone to. Again another example of her not really having friends. They sat in silence as the sun rose casting early morning light across the landscape, when it was a good way in the sky Song stood up and stretched. She completely forgot about how long they've been in the same position for. "Hey listen Princess I can't thank you enough, not only for your night sky but for listening." He walked over and gave her a warm embrace. This felt different then the last two hugs, for this wasn't a hug to comfort each other it was out of sheer gratitude. Then when she did not do anything he backed off and looked down. "I'm sorry it's just I really wanted to thank you, but I never thought that I would be telling you my life story." He once again headed to the cave entrance. "Hey wait!" She ran up and gave him a hug. "Thank you." She pulled back and saw the confused expression on his face. "Thank you for telling me, thank you for trusting in me enough even though this is the first time we met. And I would like to consider you a friend." She said with a little hesitation. "Of course we're friends, I mean I don't think ponies go around telling strangers their life story now do they?" He asked. Which made her blush, but she was hoping her dark coat would hide it, but he let out a small chuckle. "Now I have to to get back to my house. I'm glad I finally got to meet you Princess." He said with happiness showing all over. The golden lights of the sun struck him in a way that made it seem like he was actually glowing. "Since we're friends you can call me Luna okay," She told him trying to regain her royal demeanor. "Alright Luna, I guess i'll be going now. See ya..." He stopped coming across a little bit of trouble finding the right words. "Well this isn't a good situation. I mean you're still a princess." When he said that she realized what he meant. Then an idea popped into her head. "How about we meet here tomorrow night about the same time. I'm usually done with my rounds by then." She looked at him and he gave her a smile. "That sounds great, cause I get off work at about that time to. But for now I have to get to sleep, so you tomorrow?" After he asked he gave a big yawn. "Yeah sleep sounds good, and yeah see you tomorrow." She said, when he heard this he turned and walked toward the cave. As she watched him leave she couldn't help but to look at his cutie mark again, seeing it in the sunlight she realized that that spatula was actually bent to look like a half note. He turned his head enough to catch her staring at his flank and she just turned her head and blushed, he just gave another chuckle and left. Why had she been so embarrassed? All she was doing was looking at his cutie mark, but she felt exhaustion come on so she turned and took off towards the palace with a smile on her face. The reason being because she had finally had a friend. ----------------------------------------- "Well there you are Luna. Where were you? Because I got little worried that after you lowered the moon you didn't come back to your sleeping chambers." Celestia was saying, but she saw how tired her little sister was and let up. "I was just hanging out with a new friend." That got her sister to raise an eye brow. "Oh a new friend huh? Tell me who it is." Her sister asked with curiosity in her voice. But there was something that held her back from telling her who it was. He told her that her sister had helped him out and she didn't know weather to tell her who it was or not. "Well believe it or not I think you've already met him before." This definitely caught her sisters attention. "If I met him before then could you perhaps jog my memory. I met plenty of colts." Her sister really was excited about her little sister who had trouble fitting in finally made a true friend. "You might know him by his nickname. Do you remember a colt named Song." This got a reaction that she hadn't expected. Her sister seemed to drift off in a memory. "Hey big sis you alright?" Celestia quickly snapped out of her memory. "That's great, I know exactly who you'r talking about." But there was still something wrong with her big sister, before she could ask what was bothering her she told her to go get some sleep. Which she did, and she had some nice dreams for a change.