Although younger than Princess Celestia, Princess Luna had experienced many things over time. Sure enough they had walked this realm long enough. How long exactly remained a secret they were unwilling to share.
The Princess of the Night had been part of wars amongst warring nations and demonic beings from realms ponies knew nothing of. She had seen and bested ferocious beasts and entities, once even standing up to her elder sister herself when corruption took hold of her.
Yet in all those eons she had never once been assaulted with pastry. Until now….
Three fillies stared up in shock as the royal ruler of the night stood in the doorway, her face plastered with pie. The dark substance suggested that the filling had not been apples, much to Applebloom’s dismay. Yet that was the least of her worries at the moment.
Slowly the Princess folded her flared wings back that had opened in surprise. A pink tongue briefly appeared amidst the dark pie filling, licking over her covered lips.
“Blueberries.” The Princess dryly commented after a moment.
The alicorn’s horn briefly lit up as she prepared a spell. A bright flash blinded the fillies for a moment. Once they could see again all traces of the pie had vanished. The Princess eyed them with surprise. She had not been expecting anypony to be here, in fact she had carefully planned to have this room deserted for a short amount of time.
It took her only a second or two to recognize the fillies cowering in front of her. One of which she had personally visited once, albeit only in the filly's dreams.
“What brings you here, my little ponies?” her voice was soft and kind. The crusaders had deep down reckoned to get the full canterlot voice treatment.
“We are so so sorry, Princess!” Scootaloo hastily said.
“We were jus’ messin’ around. Ah didn’t mean ta hit ya with that pie!” Applebloom added with a wavering voice.
“Are we in trouble?” Sweetie Belle tried her best to dissolve into the tiles beneath her unsuccessfully.
“At ease young fillies. I bear you no ill will.” Princess Luna gave them a friendly smile and watched the terrified trio slowly relax. “Yet I find it most peculiar to find you here. Shouldn’t you be amongst my sisters other guests?”
“We got hungry and bored.” Scootaloo explained. Unlike the other crusaders she had less reservations about talking to the Princess. Mainly due to the fact that she liked Princess Luna a lot, after all she had come to her aid during that fateful camping trip which had led to where she was now.
“We…we weren’t going ta make a mess or eat everythin’ up. We jus’ wanted a small snack, that’s all.” Applebloom stood up beside Scootaloo and pulled Sweetie Belle up from her prone position.
Luna glances over the assortment of appetizers and the contents of the open refrigerator. What had been eaten was hardly even noticeable once she would rearrange it around a bit. Her thoughts were interrupted by Scootaloo’s question.
“Are you also going to be at the party?”
“I fear not. Since my sister has chosen to host this occasion after sunset, I must take up my duties as the Princess of the Night. However I shall be dining with you later in the evening.” She explained while keeping her voice calm.
It bugged her immensely that Celestia would always host these type of things when she had to watch over Equestria during the night. It had been so in the past and was once again the case after her return. Now however she had realized that ponies did indeed honor her duties and guidance during the night. The bitterness that had consumed her all those years ago had no hold of her anymore.
“Aww…that’s not fair.” Scootaloo commented.
“Duties are not always fair.” Princess Luna smiled at the little Pegasus.
“What brings ya here, yer majesty? Are ya also hungry?” Encouraged by Scootaloo’s boldness Applebloom felt the need to ask a few questions of her own. When else would she possibly ever get the chance to talk to any one of the royal sisters like this again?
“I think you dropped something.” Sweetie Belle picked up a small glass vial with her hooves.
Princess Luna recognized the vial immediately. It had been safely tucked away under her wing until the pie to her face had caused her to open her wings in response. Before she had time to say or do anything Sweetie Belle read out loud what was written on the small label.
“Diluted Essence of Poison Joke?” Three sets of eyes slowly set their gaze on the ruler of the night.
For a few moments neither pony spoke or even moved. Princess Luna’s smile became slightly strained under the inquisitive looks of the fillies.
There wasn’t any real elegant solution to the problem Luna was suddenly facing. A look into the eyes of the three fillies told her that they knew that the Princess had not come here to merely have a snack. Using a mind-wipe spell came to her mind, but found it rather excessive to be used on three fillies. Besides she doubted she could actually go through with it. An idea popped into her mind and her strained smile formed into a smirk.
“Ahem. Yes, that indeed is mine. Tell me young fillies, how would you like to assist your Princess in a task of utmost importance?”
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Ten minutes later the trio of fillies followed their Princess out of the kitchen and into the hallway she had used previously. The crusaders kept quietly giggling to themselves.
“The garden where the festivities are being held is just down this passage. Take the door to the right and you should see it.” Princess Luna smiled at her little helpers and was about to take her leave.
“How will you see what happens, Princess?” Sweetie Belle asked politely.
“I shall be watching from the top of the castle’s highest tower.”
“You can see that far down?” Scootaloo was impressed. The highest tower was indeed a wondrous sight, looming imposingly over the rest of the castle. Even ponies that took no interest in architecture stopped and looked at it, marveling at how ponies could have built something so great. Very few knew that it had been built by magic instead of hooves.
“I have…” Princess Luna stopped herself midsentence and smiled as she had an idea. “Instead of me explaining it, would you perhaps like to join me there? The festivities shall not begin for a few moments.”
Without waiting for an answer Princess Luna opened a door to a small open courtyard. Apart from a single tree in the middle there was nothing interesting to be seen. The fillies followed their ruler outside and craned their necks to look up to the tower that the Princess was pointing at with a hoof.
“Ya want us ta meet ya up there? It’ll be mornin’ by the time we’ve reached the top.” Applebloom shuddered slightly while imagining how many stairs they would have to climb.
“I know a faster way.” Without waiting for a reply Princess Luna picked them up with her magic and with a mighty flap of their wings was airborne.
Sweetie Belle let out a choked scream and clung on to Scootaloo, who in return let out a yelp of surprise. Flying in a balloon or some other contraption was bad enough, now she felt nothing underneath her except for a slight tingling sensation caused by the magic. She shut her eyes and hoped it would be over soon.
Applebloom didn’t seem too thrilled by the experience either and hugged Sweetie Belle from behind. The only one thoroughly enjoying the flight was Scootaloo. She watched in awe as the ground dropped away from them at a rapid pace. The castle became smaller and smaller, the few ponies she could see were no more than colorful dots down below. She would have loved to stretch her wings, but the surprisingly strong grip of Sweetie Belle prevented that.
Only a few seconds later they reached the top of the tower. Princess Luna carefully set the fillies down and let her magic fade away. She noticed that the little unicorn was holding her friend in a vice like grip. Carefully she put a hoof on the little back and let a bit of magic flow through it. Sweetie Belle felt the very comforting warmth flow through her and she relaxed almost instantly.
“I am sorry if I scared you, little Sweetie Belle.” Luna was genuinely concerned.
“It’s ok now. I just don’t like flying all that much.” Sweetie Belle gave the Princess a small smile and finally let go of Scootaloo.
Finally free of Sweetie Belle’s bear hug the little pegasus observed her surroundings. The platform they were standing on was just big enough for a pony the size of Princess Celestia to move about without hitting the balustrade. Princess Luna, being smaller then Celestia, had more room to move about and left enough space for the three fillies.
Telescopes were affixed to the balustrade at regular intervals. Rising a few ponies lengths above the platform was the actual tip of the tower. The platform seemed to actually be off to the side of the tower itself, strangely from the ground it appeared to be centered. Scootaloo mentally shrugged and came to the conclusion that it might have something to do with magic.
A doorway led presumably back downstairs, but the door was closed and she did not feel like finding out if it was open. Something about this place seemed off to her. It took a moment to realize what it was. At this height they should be feeling the wind, but the air did not stir even the slightest.
“How come there’s no wind up here?” she asked.
“This observational platform is shielded by a magical barrier. Invisible to the naked eye it diverts the wind for us so that we can observe undisturbed.” Princess Luna nodded her head to one of the telescopes. Driven by curiosity the fillies investigated the nearest one.
“How far can ya see with one of these?” Applebloom studied the telescope carefully. It’s design was rather uninspiring. No more than a wooden tube with a few plain metal bindings holding it together. The telescopes Twilight had in her library were much more impressive.
“All the way to the borders of Equestria.” Princess Luna answered and prepared a spell. A small stepladder materialized next to the fillies made entirely of midnight blue energy.
Scootaloo climbed up to the telescopes eyepiece by using the magical stepladder. She aimed the telescope carefully towards a mountain range in the distance. When she looked through she was slightly disappointed.
“I can’t see anything.”
“That is due to you not being magically linked to it.” Luna prepared another spell. This time the dark blue mystical energies bathed the fillies in its glow. After a brief moment the glow died down except for a faint shimmer around their heads. “Try again.”
This time Scootaloo saw the mountain range perfectly. What was even more curious was that she could see them as if it were midday.
“How far away are those mountains?” she asked and looked over to the Princess, who took a moment to think.
“I believe you are observing the mountains that lie between Canterlot and your home town of Ponyville.”
“Too bad we can’t see Ponyville.” Scootaloo looked through the eyepiece once more carefully observing the trees plainly visible to her on one of the slopes.
“You can.” Luna smiled at the skeptical looks she received. “You just have to concentrate on what you want to see.”
The orange pegasus concentrated on the only thing she could think of, the crusaders clubhouse. Much to her surprise her view became blurred for an instant, before sharpening again and giving her plain view of the clubhouse.
“But…but how? Aren’t their mountains in the way? And trees?” Scootaloo hopped down from the stepladder and let Applebloom take over.
“It really is our clubhouse. Hey, Ah can see mah house!” Applebloom carefully moved the telescope a bit to the left.
“These telescopes have been infused with a very special magic. Thanks to it we can observe our borders and if need be individual ponies.” Luna explained to the fillies.
“So Ah can see mah brother with this?” Applebloom concentrated and sure enough after a brief bit of blurriness her brother came into view. She watched as he sneakily moved around in the kitchen, careful to not make any noise that might wake up Granny Smith, who at this time would probably be asleep in her rocking chair.
Big Mac very slowly stood on his hindlegs and reached up to a jar on top of a cupboard. He paused for a moment to make sure that Granny was still asleep. Applebloom let out a gasp of surprise as she watched her brother take a large cookie out of the jar and placed it back on top of the cupboard.
“So that’s where he keeps ‘em! Ah knew it!”
“Let me try!” Sweetie Belle hopped up beside Applebloom, who was already planning on how to get to those secret cookies once she was back at Sweet Apple Acres.
“So you can see other ponies? Do you also see their dreams from here?” Scootaloo was sitting beside the Princess and kept her voice quiet. Her friends didn’t hear her and were too busy with the telescope.
“No, that is not how they work. I can feel dreams rather than see them.” Luna explained to the filly at her side.
“My parents are having dinner.” Sweetie Belle stated and carefully watched as they sat in their dining room. “Ugh…sprouts. Glad I’m here tonight.”
Sweetie Belle was not a very big fan of sprouts, a trait she shared with Rarity who had once jokingly said that was the reason she had moved to Carousel Boutique in the first place. Far away from her mother’s obsession with sprouts. Judging by her father’s expression he no doubt would have rather come to Canterlot with his daughters. Sweetie Belle chuckled and moved the telescope over the rest of Ponyville. “I wonder what Cheerilee is doing.”
“Every pony has nightmares.” Luna continued while watching the other two fillies using the telescope. “I can sense if the nightmare is very intense. Then I observe them by my own means.”
“Oh, oh. Cheerilee seems to be preparing a test for Monday.” Sweetie Belle watched as the teacher sat at her desk concentrating on a test form in front of her. She nosed open a book and copied something written there into the form. Sweetie Belle concentrated and zoomed in to the form. “Bad news Applebloom, it’s going to be a math test.”
“What? Again? We only just had one!” Applebloom lamented and shoved Sweetie Belle away from the eyepiece to have a look herself.
“The last one was two months ago.”
“Far too soon ta have another one, if ya ask me.” The country filly moved the telescope away from Cheerilee and soon came across another familiar figure. “Hehe, Derpy seems to be havin’ fun.”
“Let me see.” Now it was Sweetie Belle’s turn to shove Applebloom away.
Luna moved her gaze from the two fillies to the one sitting at her side. “Sometimes the nightmares continue. If left unchecked it can cause harm, so I enter the dream proper and lend my assistance.”
Scootaloo smiled up to the Princess of the Night. Her nightmares during the camping trip had been very terrifying for the little pegasus. Had it not been for Luna’s guidance she might have never had the courage to open up to Rainbow Dash and confessing her fears, which in turn might have never have Rainbow Dash becoming like a big sister to her.
“Thank you Princess.” Scootaloo hugged Luna’s foreleg and nuzzled her chest, much to Luna’s surprise.
“Y-You are welcome.” Ever since her return ponies had been reserved towards her. The stigma of being Nightmare Moon stuck to her like tar. Strangely enough it had been the children that had looked past her previous self and were welcoming her during the festivities of Nightmare Night in Ponyville. She remembered a time when a mere mention of her name sent foals and even adults hiding in fear. As she looked down to the little pegasus now beaming at her with a big smile she knew that she very much preferred this kind of reaction.
“How did she make so many bubbles?” Sweetie Belle asked nopony in particular as she watched Derpy swim small circles in her large bathtub. Every so often she would disappear under the water and resurface in the middle of a huge mountain of bubbles. She smiled contently as she blew them about, ignoring the ones on top her head and hanging off her chin like an oversized fake beard. Sweetie Belle left the pegasus so happily frolicking amongst the bubbles and water. Her telescopic sight wandered over a few pony’s homes or to be more precise into their homes. After a few uninteresting scenes of Ponyville’s residents going about their usual business, which in most cases consisted of having dinner at this hour, she found an unusual sight.
“I didn’t know that Lyra and Bonbon liked wrestling.”
“Wrasslin’? Those two? Lemme see.” Applebloom took control of the telescope once more as Sweetie Belle moved aside. “Huh? Why are they on the bed?”
“I guess they don’t have enough space for a wrestling mat?” Sweetie Belle shrugged as Applebloom watched the two mares in what could have been the slowest wrestling match she had even seen. No punches, no kicks, no high flying maneuvers, just holds and why were they both smiling so goofily?
“Ain’t never seen a hold like that one.” Applebloom finally remarked entirely oblivious at what she was just witnessing.
With an audible “Pop!” the magical stepladder vanished and the faint glimmer around their heads vanished. The two fillies dropped onto their hooves and looked in surprise at the Princess, who seemed suddenly rather nervous.
“One should not spy on ponies, some things are private and meant for no other eyes.” Luna explained hastily. “Besides I do believe it is time for you to rejoin your friends down below.”
The fillies nodded and huddled together. Sweetie Belle held on to Scootaloo once more, although this time not as tight as before. She closed her eyes as Luna’s magic enveloped them once more. It wasn’t as bad as before, but she did let out a small gasp as she felt the ground below her hooves suddenly vanish. Within a few seconds she felt the ground gently touch her hooves again and when she opened her eyes they were back in the small courtyard with the lone tree.
“If you wish to speak to me, just wave to me. I shall be watching.” Princess Luna winked at them and took to the skies once more. The fillies watched her rapidly ascend high above before disappearing from their sight, presumably landing on the platform so high above.
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Remembering the instructions the Princess had given them they reached the garden just in time. Nopony noticed that they had entered the premise from a different direction than the rest. They beamed little innocent smiles as they were approached by Rarity and Rainbow Dash.
“There you are! I had lost sight of you and was beginning to get worried.” Rarity said and inspected the three smiling fillies. Out of habit she began straightening the dresses the fillies were wearing.
“Told you they would be fine.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and smiled at the crusaders. “Did you have fun? Did you see anything cool?”
“Jus’ a wrasslin’ match.” Applebloom answered.
“Huh? Didn’t know they had those here.” Rainbow Dash nudged Rarity. “Come on, their dresses are fine. Let’s get something to eat.”
“Oh very well. Come along girls, the fun is about to begin.” Rarity said and led the way further into the garden.
“How right you are, sis.” Sweetie Belle giggled along with her friends.