I cast an occasional glance at her, trying to catch her eye, but she refused to even look at me. The tension between us mounted, but I couldn’t fathom what had her so upset. I returned to my own plate, finishing it as quickly as I could. The quietness was something I wasn’t used to from Fam, and my attempts to draw her into conversation were met with glares. The moment dragged on and on, and I wondered why I had piled so much food onto my plate; I cursed my insatiable appetite.
I moved away from the table and looked around the mess hall. “I suppose I should go find Princess Luna…”
“Why?” Fam cut me off. “Gonna kiss her again?” She was oddly hostile.
“Well, that’d be nice I suppose, but-“
With one fluid movement, my captain spun around from the table and smacked a hoof across my face. “You’re supposed to love me most,” she stated angrily. “Go be with your princess.” She walked off, but not before she flicked me with her tail.
I stared after her, rubbing the sore spot on my face with a hoof. When she finally disappeared into the crowd of the banquet hall, I decided it would better not to seek out Luna; I didn’t need to be hit twice in the same day. Instead, I returned to the buffet line, and loaded a third plate with food, and then a fourth; food was a comfort for me.
I was happily munching on my meal when Snap walked up to me, a concerned look creasing his features. “Show, listen; I need to talk to you,” he said with a serious tone.
“Yeah, what’s up?” I asked, smiling to break his uneasiness. There had been far too much melodrama today as far as I was concerned, and I intended to do something about it.
“Well…” he began, but stopped suddenly. His eyes grew wide and he saluted as a large shadow dimmed my world.
I looked up and saw Luna standing over me. I snapped to attention, the epitome of self-control. Inside, however, I was panicking; I was going to be slapped again.
The Princess disregarded my wingman, and looked directly into my eyes. “We were impressed by thy bravado earlier today,” she said to me.
I breathed an internal sigh of relief. It seemed like my face was safe for the moment. I was however mistaken; my muzzle was soon to come under assault once more.
The Princess knelt down and very quickly kissed my cheek. “Thou shalt be in our prayers,” she whispered into my ear, sending a tremor through my entire body.
I felt blood rush to my face, and knew my dark coat would do nothing to keep it from showing. My knees felt weak, and I had to concentrate to keep from falling over. And for once, I was grateful that Basic had trained me to keep my wings folded when I was at attention regardless of any outside circumstances.
Then Luna did something that was grossly unfair. As she turned to rejoin the nobles, she ran her tail under my chin. The enchanted star field hairs tingled against my skin, and for the second time that day, I had to force myself to maintain my composure in the presence of a beautiful mare. I continued staring at where she had been long after she had gone.
My ear tickled and Famosity walked past me, a large red and orange feather stuck in her hair along with her many other accessories.
Snap leaned over to me. “Um…where’s Celestia’s bird?” he asked.
I didn’t even hear him. My eyes stayed glued to the spot where the lunar princess had kissed me, and I was grinning stupidly.
Snap walked off towards the buffet table and Fam went off to mingle with other ponies. I lingered a moment longer before finally coming out of my daze. I looked around the mess hall once more, spotting each of my squad-mates—my friends—and noting what they were doing.
Famosity was entertaining a few of the nobles with drawings in mid-air; I smiled wistfully after the mint-green unicorn. I wasn’t entirely sure what I’d done to upset her, but I could make a decent guess. I resolved to make it up to her at a later date.
Quill busied himself with his pencil and notebook, no doubt logging the events of the day in a great narrative voice. I admired his ability to eloquently and intelligently dictate even the most basic events with finite detail. I’d seen him writing in that notebook the entire time back at Fort A, and we had tentative plans to write a drama when the war was over.
Snap it seemed had finally gotten around to eating, but as he ate, he stared longingly at the sky through the window. I knew that he was under orders not to fly until his leg had healed for fear of damaging it again during landing. My heart went out to him; it was in a pegasus’s nature to fly. It’s what made us so good against the CB’s. We had another couple of weeks to rest in the rear echelon, and then we’d be shipped out east. I would never feel comfortable with any other pony at my side.
I regarded my own fate. On the battle field, I wasn’t the best; at the start of the war, I was usually concerned with keeping myself alive. Now, I still wasn’t the best, but I valued my friends’ lives much more than I ever valued my own. I’d take a gumball for any of them any day, and slept well at night knowing they’d do the same for me.
I smiled and nodded to myself. I glanced down at the Distinguished Fliers Cross that Celestia had pinned to my chest earlier. It was clean and glistened in the light, and its weight was an odd comfort.
I looked back up and sighed contentedly. “Yep…good day,” I said to myself. I turned and trotted happily back to the food tables, feeling the need for some dessert.