"Where would you like to begin, your highness?"
Luna and Pan now sat at a small table, set upon the balcony that overlooked the city, and the great celebration still in progress. Pan had indicated that he was rather pleased with the repair work: You couldn't even see hole that had been made when he had struck down King Sombra. The street below was still damaged, but the emperor indicated that there was talk of erecting a statue there.
The two sat with a table between them, a bottle of wine and two glasses their only company. Luna was not in the habit of imbibing spirits, but as Pan had said, this was a night for celebration: A glass or two was only proper.
Luna pondered what she should ask first. There were so many things she was curious about, but she was uncertain of where to start. Celestia would probably have known exactly what to ask, the younger alicorn thought more bitterly than she would have liked...
After a moment's thought, she finally settled on the simplest question. "What are you?"
With a perfectly calm expression, Pan said, "I'm a changeling."
An eyebrow raised, Luna asked, "What is a changeling?"
Tilting his head to one side, Pan said, "I'm surprised you've not heard of us. A changeling is a creature that is sustained and empowered by the energy generated by the love of other creatures." Chuckling, he added, "Oh, and we can alter our appearance at will. It's a cosmetic change, though: Whatever we look like, we're still a bug-pony underneath."
Luna rubbed her chin in thought, considering what he'd just said. It sounded too... outlandish to be a lie. But it was difficult to put a frame of reference around such a fantastical creature. It sounded almost like...
Verbalizing the thought, she asked, "Like a windigo?"
Luna was taken aback by the expression that crossed Pan's features. It was the type of expression that might have crossed Celestia's face if somepony had stated that she and King Sombra were in any way alike. "No. Nothing like a windigo," Pan said, his tone icy enough to freeze even a windigo's blood.
"Forgive me, I did not mean to offend you," Luna said, after she regained her composure.
Pan let out a long sigh and said, "I should apologize. It's just..." He paused, and it took a long time for him to find his voice again. "Just the act of comparing a changeling to a windigo is considered a grave insult amongst my kind. If there was ever a creature that could be considered the antithesis of a changeling, it is the windigo. A changeling seeks love, a windigo, only hatred. While changelings are creatures are flesh and blood, windigos are immaterial spirits, little more than floating scraps of petty malice and spite. While a changeling might be compelled to behave... cruelly, in order to ensure its own survival and the survival of others, a windigo does what it does because it wishes for more power, and because it enjoys the suffering of other creatures. Whenever windigos and changelings encounter one another, the apparitions never hesitate to try and destroy us, nor we, them." Taking a sip from his glass, the... changeling smiled, then said, "But enough about such things. This is a night for celebration. Please, ask another question."
Luna pondered things for a moment, before asking, "Where did you come from?"
Pan smiled and said, "It is difficult to explain it. The best way I could probably put it is that I am from a tomorrow that will never come."
After a moment, Luna gave a loud 'hmph', then frowned and said, "If you don't wish to answer the question, you can just say so."
Abashed, Pan said, "It's nothing like that, your highness. It's just..." The changeling's expression became one of deep concentration for a few seconds, then asked, "Have you ever heard of a treatise called, 'The Trousers Of Time'?"
"It's a rather obscure work by Starswirl The Bearded," Luna said, now utterly confused. "The wizard postulated that there were two methods of time travel that were possible. One of these allowed the traveler to go back in time and return safely, but the traveler would be unable to change the past. In the other, changing history was possible, but would result in a one way trip, as it would cause the timeline to split, creating a timeline where the traveler changed the past, and another where things occurred as normal. Lacking a better metaphor, he described it as being like a pair of trousers: one entrance, but two possible exits. Using the wrong method would create an alternate future, severing the traveler from his or her route home. Thus, the wizard concluded, when one attempts to travel into the past, they should be careful not to go down the wrong leg of the trousers of time." Luna's eyes widened in surprise as she put two and two together.
"You get it, I see," the changeling said, nodding.
-------------------------
"You're certain you heard all of this correctly?"
Celestia's expression was incredulous. Thankful that the orphan (who was on her third trip to the grand feast, and Celestia was delighted to see that 'Urchin' made the cutest faces and noises while she stuffed her little face) was too preoccupied with her meal, she had pressed for information about the new emperor from the pony who had spent the most time in his presence.
She was not prepared for this, though...
Pen Stroke nodded, his expression carefully neutral. "I listened through a hidden entrance to the throne room. My curiosity was piqued when he insisted on total privacy when speaking with Nana Pie, and could not resist the opportunity. Unless they were both intending to play some manner of prank upon me, which I find unlikely, it appears that both of them are travelers in time. The only difference being that, while Miss Pie could not change the future, our new emperor can, and has done so in a dramatic fashion."
Celestia rubbed her chin in thought while she considered the implications of that. It sounded improbable, and yet...
-------------------------
"Then, you know what will happen in the future?"
Pan shook his head and said, "I know what might have happened, in a very general way. The problem is, I was not a history buff, so my knowledge of the past is less than ideal, and much of it is about events elsewhere in the world. I might know a few important dates, like when and where a battle might occur, and who won, but not necessarily what may have caused the battle, or why it was won or lost. More importantly, since I've already changed one thing by killing Sombra, other things are going to change as well. The further from that incident we go, the less accurate my knowledge would be, even if it was perfect at the beginning."
This was bordering on very dangerous territory now. He'd decided to be completely honest with Luna tonight, hoping to win her trust so that he might have better luck in preventing her from becoming Nightmare Moon. Pan had taken a gigantic risk, however, in revealing the specifics about his race: He had fully expected Luna to pick up her chair and start assaulting him with it, or just plain blast his face off with a spell, when he told her that he was a changeling. The fact that she was totally ignorant about his kind was worrying, but it wasn't something he could explore in detail just yet...
"A pity," Luna admitted, "but I suppose that cannot be avoided." Luna took another long pull from the bottle of wine. He wasn't certain when she had finished her glass, or when she started drinking directly from the bottle, but the stuff was surprisingly good, so he couldn't blame her. Golden Grace's vineyards produced a fine crystal berry wine. Pan had never tasted anything like it. It was terribly strong stuff, though: After only a glass, Pan was feeling a little tipsy.
"So," Luna asked, a smile playing across her features, "what do you know about what would have happened to me? Did I get married first, or Celestia? How many kids would I have had?"
Suddenly very nervous, Pan said, "As far as I know, Celestia hasn't gotten married. In fact, as far as I know, she may still be a virgin a thousand years from now." This was approaching the most dangerous territory of all...
Luna laughed aloud. "Ha! Now that surprises me," Luna said, her voice slurred slightly. It appeared that alicorns were not immune to the power of alcohol. The wine was doing a masterful job of removing her inhibitions, which was impressive, given how many of them the normally straight-laced princess had. "She's had stallions panting after her flanks since she started filling out. Either she doesn't swing that way, or she and her paramour are very good at keeping it a secret."
Nodding slowly, Pan admitted, "Maybe. I'm not the type to speculate about that kind of thing."
An eyebrow raised, Luna asked, "And me?"
Gulping, Pan admitted, "The same."
Luna's eyebrows raised, then her eyes narrowed as she asked, "And why would that be?" When Pan made to repeat his previous comment about not speculating, Luna cut him off, saying, "Don't. I can already guess: Miss Sunny Cheeks decided that if she wasn't going to get any, I couldn't either." Now obviously irritated, she added, "That is just so like her: She keeps me under her hoof so that she can get all the glory to herself. She'll say it's something like 'Oh, it's for the good of the kingdom, Luna,' or 'There's nopony out there good enough for you, Luna,' but it'll really be just because she doesn't want me getting that particular itch scratched before she does." She gave a cute burp, then tried to take another pull of the wine bottle. Regrettably, it appeared that she'd emptied it. Tossing it away, Luna sighed, and said, 'I would give anything, ANYTHING, to get out of her shadow, if only for a day."
"I won't pretend to know all the reasons why things turned out the way they did," Pan said, trying very hard not to tell a flat out lie (It's true, he didn't know for certain all the events that transpired to cause Luna to become Nightmare Moon and be banished for a thousand years), "but I know for a fact that your sister cares about you a great deal."
Sighing, Luna said, "I know, I know, she's my sister, and she cares about me. But you know what? She is just insufferably perfect. She's what every pony thinks of when they think of the perfect mare. Even me." Looking at Pan with an irritated expression, Luna said, "I bet even you think she's perfect."
Pan, suddenly glad nopony could see him blush, said, "Actually, to be honest with you, she's really not my type. At all."
Luna's jaw dropped, then she said, "You're kidding. I mean, have you seen my sister?"
Chuckling, Pan said, "Oh yes. She's twice my height, and three times my weight... at least" Luna chuckled at that. "She should really let up on the cake before her cutie mark starts stretching. And she's so... motherly. I swear, she acts like she wants to bake everyone cookies, and maybe read the world a bedtime story before she tucks it in. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, she'd make a great mother, I'm sure, but..." Pan made a disgusted expression, then admitted, "Kissing her would feel like kissing my grandmother."
Luna let out an overly loud laugh (She was very clearly drunk now) at that. "Yeah, I can see why that would be a problem." Her expression turned sly as she asked, "And what about me?"
Pan was about to answer when he realized something: He'd never actually, you know, looked at Luna as a pony before. He'd never really looked at Celestia that way, either, but that was because, well, you know, power of the sun, able to vaporize you in a heartbeat, so big that it was likely that she'd crush you under her weight, but Luna...
She was...
...
Pan noticed that suddenly, the room was much, much brighter than before. Giggling, Luna said, "Oh, so that's what happens when you blush." Another sly look came across her face as she said, "You know, you've changed history once already." Standing up and walking towards Pan, she added, her voice breathy, "How about we see how many times you can change it tonight?"
Before Pan could voice an objection, Luna planted her lips on Pan's. The changeling, no longer thinking clearly, as he was definitely feeling the wine himself...
...kissed her back.
------------------
Celestia gently tucked the little orphan into her royal bed. The princess wasn't planning on sleeping in it tonight, as she needed to get a few questions answered by the new emperor.
A chance to find out what may happen in the near future could not be ignored, and the longer this potential source went untapped, the more likely it would be that the information would be rendered useless...
Suspecting that the emperor had retired to his bed, she approached his chambers... and stopped abruptly as she heard what could only be Luna... giggling? Sneaking a peek into the room, she was startled to see Luna trying to pull off her harness, her crown and shoes already upon the floor. Her current task was somewhat impeded by the fact that she was busy giving a passionate kiss to the emperor, but it was clear she was not going to be deterred. Pulling back into the hallway, Celestia considered her options. She could, and probably should, go in there and stop them, but...
Well, Celestia had not heard her sister that happy in quite some time, and what was going on in there definitely sounded consensual. Sighing and returning to her chambers, Celestia decided that it would probably be best if she let Luna have her fun tonight.
After all, Luna was so repressed, so straight-laced, Celestia honestly worried about what would happen if her sister ever did lose her monumental self-control. Hopefully, this would help Luna in loosening up a bit...