//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: The Monster of Canterlot // by drnkntst //------------------------------// Chapter 7 Breakfast the next morning was… interesting. There was still tension between Luna and I, but neither of us wanted to upset Celestia or the happiness she felt over finally having the whole family together. Truthfully, so were we, it’s just that our first meeting was far less than ideal. Luna had apologized, and I told her I wasn’t ready to accept that just yet. I mean, she did try to kill me without even a hesitation. I had been called a monster, but nopony had ever caused me physical damage before now. So, yeah, I was still angry. I entered the dining hall, with Dust Bunny trailing behind as always. Celestia was there before us as always. Next to her, in my seat no less, was Luna. I walked past Blueblood and completely ignored him, for my own sanity and peace of mind. “Good morning, Mother.” I kissed Celestia on her cheek. “Luna.” “Good morning, Dear.” “Good morrow, Christopher.” I sat down across from Luna on the other side of Celestia. Breakfast was placed before me as was some juice. I was about to start, but I stopped and looked up at Luna. “Listen, Luna, about yesterday.” Both alicorns looked at me with concern. “I had said something in anger that I regret. I called you Nightmare Moon and I apologize. That’s not who you are anymore and I shouldn’t have said that. Anger or pain is no excuse. I am sorry.” Luna looked shocked. She still wasn’t sure that I would ever forgive her, and then suddenly, here I was apologizing to her. “W-We accept. We also wish to apologize once more. We acted rashly when we first met. Thou art not a monster and We should not have attacked thou.” I was about to accept, I had given it a lot of thought and decided to forgive and forget, when I was interrupted from the other end of the table. “I disagree, Auntie. I feel you were too easy on that mons-“ “Finish the sentence, Blue-boy, and I swear, on the two deities before me, that I will teach you first-hand how humans became apex predators!” “Predator? Thou art a predator?” I didn’t take my eyes off Blueblood as he glared back at me. “Yes, humans are omnivores and eat meat.” I could practically feel the disgust from across the table. “Humans were descended from apes and need a high protein diet. Meat is the best source for that protein. Animals in my world are unintelligent, unlike here, and we raise them for slaughter. I agree it’s nasty business, but evolution made me what I am. I won’t apologize for it.” “We see. Well, as thou have said, tis not by choice. We shall learn to accept this part of thou.” It was about as good as I was going to get and I was okay with that. Celestia seem to feel the same way as she was grinning widely. “Good, and with that all settled, I have an announcement to make.” Celestia had decided to throw a celebration to welcome her sister back to Equestria. The idea was, the party would allow ponies to be introduced to their newest princess while at the same time, allowing Luna to acclimate to the modern world as little. Best part was, everyone I knew was going to be invited. Twilight’s parents, Fancy Pants and Fleur, and, best of all, Gurfon. “Gurfon’s coming!” Celestia nodded, still grinning. “Excellent.” I had just bit into a slice of toast, when I heard a commotion from outside the doors. The voice could be heard clearly enough to tell it was Shining Armor. “I SHOULD BUCK YOU OFF THE GUARD FOR SPEAKING LIKE THAT ABOUT YOUR PRINCESS! NOW GIVE ME TEN LAPS AROUND THE PALACE! NOW!!! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! AND I MEAN THE PERIMETER, NOT THE STRUCTURE!” My man. “AND YOU! GIVE ME FIFTY PUSH-UPS RIGHT NOW FOR EVEN LISTENING TO HIS GARBAGE!” “Morning, Shining, Cadence.” I called to them as they trotted through the door. “Cousin!” Cadence came to me and we hugged. Then she slugged me. “You had us all so worried last night. What were you thinking?” I was about to say something about being blasted and called a monster, but instead went with, “I wasn’t, okay? Besides, I never left the grounds, so nopony saw me.” “Mhmm, fine. Just don’t run off again. You know how much your family worries about you.” There was some more mumbling coming from the end of the table again. I distinctly heard sounds, like ‘mo’, ‘er’ and ‘st’. I politely pushed Cadence aside, stood and walked over to Blueblood. I reached back and slapped his perky ears. And I mean hard, too. Not a playful little slap, but full on red-maned stepfoal. The sound of the slapped skin echoed around the hall… and it felt goooood… Blueblood jumped out of his seat and spun on me. Ahh, the wondrous hate in his eyes. “How dare you, you mo-” Suddenly, he was frozen in place, held by blue magic. “We believe, thou were warned fairly. Therefore, this slight is on your hooves, not his.” “Thank you, Lu- Aunt Luna.” I think that’s the biggest smile I’ve seen on Celestia’s face in a long time. Luna and I had decided to put our first encounter behind us and try again. Now, the family could be complete. Next, came the kingdom. ***** The next evening was the party. All the Canterlot elite arrived to see their new/old princess. It was the event of the season. At least until the Grand Galloping Gala came back around. Unfortunately, even from my hidden observation point up on the balcony, I could tell a lot of the partygoers were here only to be seen being here. I felt bad for Luna. She was a rightful princess. Born into royalty and meant to rule. She had raised the moon for centuries and protected her subjects with her life. Yet here they all were, faking their adoration for her. It was sick. I wish I could be down there with her. Luna and Celestia both could see the same thing I could. She needed support and I wanted to give it to her. She did have her sister and her niece though, so that would just have to do. Meanwhile, I was stuck up here in the cheap seats. I understood, really I did, but every year it got harder and harder. If it weren’t for the fact that I had maids, well maid, bringing me snacks and drinks, along with a few visitors, I would have been far more upset. “Uncle Gurfon, it’s so good to see you.” “You too, Chris. These once a month visits just aren’t enough for me and my favorite human.” “I agree. Maybe someday, I’ll be allowed to leave the palace on my own and then I could visit you for once.” “Perhaps, though I agree with your mother on this one. Griffons can be more violent than dragons and I fear not all of my citizens would see you as harmless. Predators can smell other predators, Nephew.” “I know, I know. It still bothers me though.” “Yes, but if you got hurt, how would our little Twilight feel?” a feminine voice asked. “Aunt Velvet, Uncle Night, it’s so good to see you.” I knelt down and hugged the silver unicorn and her blue husband. “I think that means it’s time for me to make an appearance downstairs,” Gurfon said as he bowed his head and started for the door. “Alright, thanks for stopping by, Uncle Gurfon.” I stood back up, still holding both Twilight’s parents who were laughing about it. “Alright, alright, we get it, you’re huge and strong. Can you set us down now?” Night Light asked. “Wha- oh, am I still holding you two?” It was one of our little jokes, like Shining and calling me a monkey on rare occasions, I would pick them up like they were no more than toys and they would laugh. These two had been there since the beginning and there was no force in Equestria that would make me cause any harm to them. “Here I thought you were a couple of stuffed plushies.” “Oh~, you are so lucky you are immune to our magic.” “Now is that any way to talk to your beloved nephew, Aunt Velvet?” I set them both down and released them. “Says the colt who’s bigger than Celestia herself,” Night teased. “Not my fault. Besides, I would happily give up my height and magic immunity if I could just walk around town without causing a riot. It’s just one more reason ponies get frightened by me.” “Well we both see it as just something that makes you unique,” Night offered. “That’s right, and we both love you for it, and not in spite of it. You remember that.” “Yes, Ma’am, I will. Thank you, both of you. Now you better head downstairs before ponies start to think you are skipping out of the festivities.” “Okay, Dear, just keep in mind we are both here for you if ever you need us.” “She’s right you know. Besides, with Twilight staying in Ponyville and Shining out of the house, we need somepony to baby.” “Wow, thank you so much, Uncle Night.” They both chuckled. “Seriously though, I love you both and appreciate the thought.” After that, I was left alone again. I resumed peeking around a curtain at the ponies below. I caught the eyes of Fancy Pants and Fleur Dis Lee. They both nodded at me, they didn’t want to draw attention to me and risk my being spotted. But I was spotted. Luna was looking right at me. I could tell by the look in her big, aqua-marine eyes that she was hurting. She could see the poorly hidden fear and hate in all their eyes. Her subjects weren’t accepting her as their true princess of the night. I knew exactly how she felt. I was the prince of this land and still I had to be hidden away for fear of fear. We may have had the rough start to end all rough starts, but now we had something in common. Well, something in common other than Celestia. I had decided, then and there, that I would do my best to make sure I never did anything to hurt her. If I could have, I would have gone down there and shook some sense into each and every one of those stuck-up ponies. Heh, that would have been something. Instead, I could only watch and wait. At least I could tell that Celestia saw the problem too. Every so often, Celestia would wrap a wing around her little sister and offer a smile. It was helping, but not enough. She was still troubled, but at least she knew she had family here that cared about her. This went on for about another hour and a half. After that, most of the ponies had left, social obligations satisfied. Thus, only royals were left, except for Blueblood, who had left an hour ago with some green maned bimbo. I had run down to the hall as quickly as I could and went straight for Luna. I wrapped my arms around her and actually picked her up, despite her shock. Eventually, she gave in and returned my hug. “I’m sorry that didn’t go the way you hoped, Aunt Luna. They don’t know who they’re missing.” I set her back down on her thrown. “For what it’s worth, know that I like you for who you are, and I know your sister does.” “That’s right, I love you dearly, Luna,” Celestia confirmed, “and I am so very happy to have you back here with me.” “That’s right!” Shining called out a couple seconds before Cadence nuzzled him. “Luna, you have a wonderful family here, I only wish my own chicks could be half as supportive,” Gurfon offered. “It may not be my place to say, but I believe if you focus on the love and support they are offering, then, given time, the rest of your country may come to feel the same way as they do.” She looked up at all of us, wiping a tear from her eye. “We thank ye, all of ye, truly.” “Of course,” Celestia wrapped her wings around both myself and Luna, “we’ll always be here for you.” Her wings then folded back against her sides. “Now, let’s go get some cake.” And we did. We each sat around the table with our cake slices, except for Celestia who had a whole cake to herself, and discussed Luna’s assimilation into modern society. She would need to learn the history of the last one thousand years. Luna would also need to be shown around the country to see how it has changed. Not to mention her speech patterns were a tad out of date. As far as her living space, Celestia had arranged for her to have her own tower. Not because Celestia felt her sister wasn’t worthy of staying in the castle with us. Far from it. She simply believed that Luna should have her own space to call her own, complete with telescope and star chart. Needless to say, it took some time. I did what I could. I supported her and defended her. There were even a few new dents on some helmets. It wasn’t long before everypony in the palace knew better than to even utter the words Nightmare Moon. It’s worth risking one of them lashing out to see that smile on her blue face. It wasn’t long before Luna was starting to settle in. She even returned to her normal size, darker color and ethereal mane and tail. Luna had also resumed her duties of raising the moon and patrolling the dreamscape. After that came the Night Court, relieving some stress from Celestia’s day court. At least it would, eventually. It would be a while before the citizens accepted Luna as their princess. Luckily, Twilight was able to help her with that. I’m sure we all heard the tale of Luna’s visit to Ponyville on Nightmare Night. The story I got was that it was on the verge of total disaster all night. Thankfully, they made it work and the town totally loved her in the end. And that’s how Luna returned to her throne.