//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 – A Rude Awakening // Story: Can't a Princess Get Some Sleep? // by runner2 //------------------------------// Can’t a Princess Get Some Sleep? By Garrett Tate (runner2) Chapter 1 – A Rude Awakening It had been a long night of keeping watch over Canterlot for Luna. She was tired, exhausted, and quite ready to sleep the day away. After returning from her end of the night patrol around Canterlot, she made her way directly to her room in the castle. Before she even got to her room she was beginning to take off her crown, shoes, and regalia. Luna’s room was a midnight blue color, similar to her fur, with star patterns and charts haphazardly scattered around. It was a mess after her recent changes with constellations and other celestial phenomenon. Groggily making her way to her bed, Luna tossed her attire into the corner before tossing herself onto her bed. “Canterlot is safe for another night.” Luna mumbled before drifting off to a restful sleep. ---------- A frantic knocking on her door was what greeted Luna upon awaking. Glancing at a nearby clock she seen the time… 7am. Groaning and rolling over, she tried to get back to sleep. When the knocking continued she was forced to get out of her comfortable bed and answer her door. The instant she opened the door she was assaulted by a blur of pink. Pushing the unknown assailant off she rolled to her hooves and was preparing to attack when she noticed who it was. Luna just stood there blinking for a moment before she could grasp what was happening. Pinkie Pie was standing in her room with a massive smile on her face, it was extremely early and she was still very tried, and she had been awakened for… what? “Pinkie Pie?” Luna asked, to which Pinkie rapidly nodded in reply, “Why have you woken me up so early? Is there an emergency?” Pinkie Pie slightly tilter her head, still with the massive smile, and replied, “Nope.” Becoming a bit annoyed now, Luna asked again when Pinkie didn’t continue, “Pinkie, why have you awoken me?” With a large inhale, Pinkie began, “I was asked by Princess Celestia to throw a party for the citizens to Canterlot to celebrate the completion of a new trading outpost with both the zebra lands and the dragon lands thus establishing ties to both of their nations and promoting peace between our races since Princess Celestia feared their reactions to Canterlot’s recent completion of a trading outpost with the griffon lands thinking that they might see it as favoritism.” Luna just stood there, mouth hanging open, trying to process all of what Pinkie just said. It took her a moment, but she finally responded, “Umm… Pinkie. Did you just wake me up this early for a party to promote the completion of a trading outpost?” Pinkie just nodded and started bouncing around while humming some unknown tune and said, “It wouldn’t be a great party if everyone wasn’t invited!” Completely at a loss on what to do, Luna decided to ask to do something she really wanted to, “So… can I go back to bed now?” Pinkie paused mid jump and gasped, “No silly. You gotta come join in on the party! Everypony is already there! Princess Celestia and Twilight and Dashie and AJ and Rarity and –“ Pinkie was halted mid-sentence by a hoof over her mouth. “I get it Pinkie.” Luna sighed. ---------- After that rude awakening, Luna just decided to force herself to go to this party. She was mostly afraid of what Pinkie would do if she decided to skip it, but she was also somewhat interested in what kind of party Pinkie would throw. Reequipping her crown, shoes, and regalia, Luna made her way out of the castle. Yawning and making her way out into the halls she noticed the lack of guards and figured that they would be at this random party as well and began walking toward the entrance. The closer to the gate she got, the louder the music and talking became. After a few minutes of making her way to the entrance, she noticed the lack of anypony in the castle. Figuring Celestia would have it covered, she exited the front doors and was instantly assaulted with the blasting music coming from outside. The whole city seemed to be participating in this party, despite how early it was. Wandering around for a while, Luna visited several snack tables set up throughout the city and managed to speak with some of her subjects as well. This party was massive. With a few streets turned into impromptu dance floors, Luna had to take flight to get around to some areas. She eventually found the center of the excitement, the grounds around the trading outpost. Setting down on a nearby shaded building, Luna watched as Pinkie Pie was bouncing all around giving out snacks to anyone and everyone. Celestia was down there as well enjoying the party. Chuckling a bit at her sister’s attempt at dancing, she decided to lay in the shade at the corner of building she was on and just watch. Still very tired and laying far enough away to avoid most of the noise, Luna ended up nodding off to sleep. ---------- The sound of somepony landing roughly nearby startled Luna enough to jump up awake. Taking a defensive stance she started scanning around until she heard a small chuckle. Turning to look at the source she spotted Rainbow Dash. Relaxing her stance, Luna turned to greet Rainbow Dash. “Hello Miss Dash.” Luna said, giving a slight nod. With a dismissive hoof wave, Rainbow said, “No need for the ‘Miss’ stuff. Just Dash is fine.” She walked over and asked, “So. What are you doing sleeping up here when the party is down there?” Luna hung her head a bit and simply replied, “I’m just tired. I had a late night and was trying to sleep when Pinkie Pie started pounding on my door to wake me so I can come to this party.” “Oh. Well, has she at least seen you here?” Rainbow Dash asked, “If she sees you here at least she knows you attended, even if only for a short time.” Rainbow was speaking from experience. She knew that turning down Pinkie can lead to unpredictable outcomes. “I suppose I could go down there for a little while. But then I really must get some sleep.” Luna gave a nod, “See you later Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow Dash responded with a simple ‘later’ before Luna took off. Making sure Luna was gone, she creeped over to where Luna was sleeping and decided to take a nap of her own. ---------- Rejoining the party for a short while, Luna tried to make sure that Pinkie seen that she was there before meeting with a few of Pinkie’s friends. A short talk about Canterlot fashions with Rarity, a lengthy talk about astronomy with Twilight, and a quiet talk with Fluttershy about nocturnal animals later and Luna was ready to get back to bed. After bidding them all a good day, she returned to the castle. A short flight later and Luna was entering the front doors. Guards seemed to be back on patrol at least as Luna made her way back toward her room. Every guard she passed seemed to tense up and slightly move away from her… but in her sleep deprived state she barely even noticed it. At last she arrived at her room and went right past the guards standing outside her door to get at her bed. Quickly removing her attire and tossing it into the corner, she jumped in bed and got comfortable before finally falling to sleep.