//------------------------------// // Entry 8 - Surprises // Story: Journal of the Princess of the Night // by Basmati //------------------------------// Sorry I missed a few days - I've been quite busy. But I know you will forgive me when I tell you what happened today. I woke up today, as I usually do, but instead of seeing the sun shining through the lace curtains around my four-poster, guess what I see? Or who? Tia is flying above me and yells, "SURPRISE!" at the top of her voice. What would you do in that kind of situation? Panic or scream? I did both. I screamed, and fell out of bed, pulling the sheets and the curtains with me. Once I was untangled, I looked over towards my bed, and Tia was rolling on it, laughing her head off. "Tia! What is wrong with you? Why the hell did you do that?" "Well, I'm sorry for wanting to wish my sister a happy birthday!" "Birthday?" That's right - I forgot that it was my own birthday. Who does that? I'm sure I don't usually. Anyway, yes, today is my birthday, and I am 216 years old. 216! I'm so old! Well, not as old as Celestia, who is actually 226. Don't tell her I told you that. So, anyway, after Tia made fun of me for forgetting my own birthday, we walked to dining room (I now know where it is!) where she had a birthday surprise for me. Pancakes! Heaps and heaps of pancakes, with lemon juice and sugar and maple syrup and chocolate sauce - it was wonderful. Tia knows me so well. When I went back to my room, stuffed full with pancakes, I suddenly heard some music. I looked out of my window, and saw Gem standing there, with his lute once again. He put it down and then said, "I think there's something for you at your front door." I immediately ran out of my room, and towards the front gate. Once I got there, the guards were bringing a huge package in. As soon as they saw me, they said, "A package for you, Your Highness." As walked towards it, they wished me happy birthday. Once I got to the package, I saw a label that said 'To Luna, Love Gem' on it. I picked it up and took it inside, where I saw Gem standing, waiting for me. Once I got inside, Tia arrived and instantly fired questions about what it was. I started opening the package, carefully. Once it was open, I picked up the object inside it, and placed it in front of me, and gasped. A telescope. Not just an ordinary telescope though, it was made from pure silver, and had some kind of magical element to it, as it seemed to shimmer constantly. I walked around it and noticed something on the side. I looked closer and realised it was my name. 'Luna,' it said, written in gold writing, with a gold star at the end, and a silver crescent moon before the 'L'. I was amazed. I turned to Celestia and she looked amazed too. Though she also looked extremely happy, as if she was expecting this and she was completely right. I made a mental note to ask her about it later. When I finally turned to Gem, he was standing with a small smile on his face. As I walked up to hug him, he brought out a small envelope and held it out to me. I took it and opened it, shook out what was inside. Two tickets. Two tickets to see none other than Melodia, the star of 'Amante del Unicorno', the new opera that came out a few weeks ago! Not to mention other members of the cast! I froze with shock, just standing there, holding the tickets in front of me with my magic, with my mouth wide open. Everypony started staring at me, waiting for my reaction and eventually Gem came up to me, asking, "Luna, are you ok?", I immediately jumped on him, yelling "Monoceros Gemini, you are the best friend a pony could have!" 'Amante del Unicorno' is probably the best opera I have ever seen. The music is wonderful, and the acting is amazing, and the story is superb. We were sitting in the Royal Box when we watched it - the best seats in the house! Gem was with me, as was Tia, but, of course, she found it a bit boring - I don't understand why she didn't like it. How can you find the story of Bella and Argento boring? The number of times I cried...too many to count. I won't ruin the ending, in case you want to see it, but if you do...bring tissues. Plenty of them. But my favourite was Bella, played by Melodia. She is just a simple townspony, living her normal life, going to work, hoping to be married some day, and then she meets Argento, and her entire world is turned upside down. She loves, she loses and she learns. She discovers truths and doesn't necessarily always like what she finds out. And her voice is amazing! Melodia is my favourite singer, and I think she knows it. Well, I think she could guess when, at the end of 'Amante del Unicorno', I stood up, projected my voice with my magic and shouted, "Brava! Brava! Bellissima! Thou art wonderful!" (that's the way they talk in the opera, so I thought she might appreciate it) I've never heard Celestia laugh so hard. But she took a liking to it - she's started talking like that in front of crowds. I actually quite like it; it makes us sound far more sophisticated than we actually are. She's been calling it 'The Royal Canterlot Voice', which isn't a very thought-out name, but whatever floats her boat. Wow. I've never used that saying before. It looks weird. But anyway, the show was wonderful, and I was so looking forward to seeing Melodia again. The show was starting in about an hour, so Gem and I left immediately for Canterlot Theatre, using the royal carriage. I have a feeling that Canterlot took my birthday off, as they were a lot more ponies in the streets than usual - well, at least I saw a lot more than I usually do as we flew over them. I wonder if the rest of Equestria take Tia's and my birthday off as a holiday. Once we arrived at the theatre, there were a number of ponies waiting outside for the show. I starting walking towards the end of the queue, but Gem rested his hoof on me, and led me towards the doors, skipping the queue all together, which I realised I could actually do, because I'm a princess. Sometimes I'm a bit stupid. As we walked in, there was the usual bowing, mixed in with happy birthday wishes. The show was scheduled to start in 30 minutes, so we went up into the royal box, and waited for the curtain to rise. I don't think I've ever been so excited - I couldn't sit still. I could see Gem out of the corner of my eye smiling at me. I must have looked pretty funny. We could see everypony walking in and taking their seats, and the more ponies I saw, the more excited I got. Finally the curtain went up, and...oh it was wonderful! She sang songs from 'Amante del Unicorno' and others like 'Mio Amore e vita' and my favourite 'La Luna d'Amour'. I think she knew I was there. During 'La Luna d'Amour', I turned to Gem, mouthing thank you. He nodded at me and I whispered, "I'm serious - this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I don't know how I can thank you." We looked at each other for a moment, and then... Then he kissed me. I'm sorry. It's just...I still can't really believe it. I won't go into detail about it. I don't think you really want to know that. Well, you probably do...but I'm not telling. But he did kiss me. I was a bit shocked. My head was just full of thoughts like 'I had no idea' and 'Do I like him back?' A few things started to make more sense - the fact that he would always insure that I was safe before going home or leaving in general, the fact that he wrote me a song, and the fact that when I visited his house on my first day in Canterlot, he came running when he heard I was there. I sat there with my eyes wide with shock, and when he broke away, I was still in that expression. He immediately looked extremely worried. "Oh, I'm...I'm so sorry. It doesn't matt-" And then I kissed him. Ok...now you can start with the 'aww's and 'Luna's got a coltfriend'. We sat there, kissing, for some time, knowing that all everypony had to do was turn around a bit, and they would see us. All the ponies on stage could probably see us, but I didn't care. I was happy. Once we broke apart, we smiled at each other, and then turned towards the stage, where Melodia had just finished and the performers were giving their final bows. We started applauding with everypony else, slightly blushing. Then Melodia said, "That song was for the two love birds at the back," and everypony immediately turned towards us, and I felt myself blush once again. I turned to Gem and he was bright red. I laughed and eventually everypony stopped staring at us, which was nice. After that, we went home, but not before we met Melodia! I was so happy; I could not stop smiling. She was so nice - she asked us if we enjoyed the show...and the kiss, and she wished me a happy birthday. We were silent in the carriage ride home. I was lost in thought, as was he probably. I offered to drop him off first, but, as usual, he wanted to insure my safe return home. He's so sweet. I told the pegasi leading the carriage to take Gem home, after we landed at Canterlot Castle, and I waved him goodbye as he left. I then walked into the castle, and into my room...where I found Celestia, for some weird reason. "Soooooooo...how was it?" she asked, walking right up to me. "It was great. What are you doing in my room?" "I was waiting for you, so you could tell me what happened?" I walked over to the door, and kicked it open. "Please leave." "Luna! That is no way to treat your sister. I might just stay here, as your punishment." She flew over to my bed, and lay on it. Great. Facehoof. I just tried to ignore her and get on with my own life, until she said, "Get anywhere with Gem?" I spun around. "What!? No!" I could feel myself starting to blush, so I quickly turned away. Tia was silent for sometime, so I turn around to check that she was still alive, and saw that she was standing right behind me. "What did you do?" "I didn't do anything." "Fine. What did Gem do?" "Nothing." She was definitely starting to get suspicious now. "Luna," she said, putting her hoof on my back. "You know you can tell me everything. If you kissed Gem or something, you can tell me." Again, I could feel my cheeks starting to go red again, and the look of sudden realisation appeared on Tia's face. "No..." "No what?" "You did not kiss Monoceros Gemini III." "No..." "Then he kissed you." I froze. I do not like lying to Tia - in fact I cannot lie to Tia. I just can't. She always knows when I do, because I am such a bad liar. So, in this case, I felt my best option was to say nothing. "Luna?" "No comment." "Oh my goodness! He kissed you! And then you kissed him back?" "No comment." Tia was jumping with joy now. "I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I knew he liked you! I was right!" She started skipping around the room saying 'I knew it!' and then skipped out of the door. She immediately put her head through the door and added, "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone!" Again, facehoof. I sighed and went over to my bed, where I got you out and began writing. Wait a moment. Gem just sent me a letter. Goodnight, my dearest Luna. Love your Gemini He's so sweet! Anyway, it's getting late, and I should probably get some sleep. So far, this has been the best birthday ever.