Pinkie bounced along the hallway planning the party for one of her close friends. To Pinkie everypony was her friend but some friends were more of a friend than others, friendly too. Friends were the cogs that turned in the mechanism of fun. To Pinkie getting a new friend was like finding a cupcake she had misplaced, it was sweet, a surprise and always a pleasure to share.
But she didn’t know her new friend’s name and she knew everypony’s name. Why didn’t she ask for his name? It was strange, weird and unsettling all at the same time. A bubble of emotions! Did that make sense to you?
To Pinkie, everything always made sense. Things would be so simple if everypony learned to laugh a little. A quick ha, ha, he, he, ho, ho and ho and everything would be all right. She knew the best way to make somepony laugh was to also get to know them. Which is why it never sat right with Pinkie not knowing the lanky creature’s name. She got the feeling she should call him ‘Dingy Dang Dong’ or ‘Whitey’ but she had had bad experiences in the past with calling her new friends by nicknames.
Got to know him first! she cheerfully thought, rocketing down some stairs.
I'll call him ‘Whitey’ as his name until I know his name, she resolutely affirmed to herself.
A panicked servant dove to the side as Pinkie dashed the final stretch to the kitchen.
A midnight blue alicorn was in the middle of eating hoofuls of cake and was caught mid poised to take another bite. Cake dripped along her muzzle and onto the floor as the two awkwardly stared at each other. Pinkie noticed the sign under the cake labelled: ‘For Celestia’s Afternoon Snack, DO NOT CONSUME’.
Pinkie recovered first.
“Hey Princess Lu-na, what’cha doin’?” she asked cheerfully in a singsong voice.
Princess Luna immediately wiped her muzzle with a hoof, flicking the remains of the pastry onto the stove. A disgruntled cook would later discover a burning smell and would blame in on an assistant who would then blame it on a cleaner who would blame it on his supplies and would pursue a class-action lawsuit on a multi-town factory for defective goods. The cake smear would be the result of over a hundred job losses and a bankrupt company.
Meanwhile, Luna was trying to look for excuses.
“You won’t tell anypony about this, would you Pinkie?” Luna nervously asked, scuffing a hoof.
“Tell anypony about what?” Pinkie queried innocently, as Luna relaxed, heaving a sigh.
“Oh good then. I wouldn’t want Cele-“
“Oh! You mean how you ate Celestia’s cake and that I shouldn’t tell anypony or Celestia would get really, really mad and probably chase you around the castle a couple of times, which you are happy to do until Celestia finds out that you were hiding on the roof of your tower all along and then banishes you from the kitchen for a six month period?” Pinkie interrupted, smiling widely at the princess.
Luna swallowed loudly.
“Yes, that”, she said in a very, very small voice.
“Okie, dokie, lokie! No problem!” she exclaimed, bouncing towards the fridge to fetch some snacks. Luna got the feeling that this would not be the last time she would be hearing about this.
“Are you sur-“, she began but stopped as she sensed a message from her sister.
“We are to meet at the antechamber, Miss. Pie”, she declared, dragging the pink party pony from her half completed cake mix.
“Nooooooo! I still haven’t found the jalapenos!” she cried, still trying to reach her cake mix. Luna would reply but her mouth was filled with pink tail.
Jalapenos? Luna thought, shuddering.
Better to not know.
-----
The whole gang was there.
Twilight spoke up first.
“Great everypony you’re all here”, she began, motioning for Luna to finish dragging Pinkie over.
“Where is my sister?” Princess Luna inquired, casting her gaze around for the white alicorn.
“Princess Celestia has asked me to inform you on what is going on. Now-“, Twilight began again, only to be interrupted by Applejack.
“Ah am mighty confused as to why we’ve been called up here, Twilight, what is this all about?”
“Well we are headed to the Crystal Empire to-“, she explained, only to be cut off by Pinkie.
“But what about White- I mean his party?” Pinkie asked, pointing a hoof in my direction.
“Well thi-“, Twilight continued, only to be interrupted by me.
“Whitey? Really Pinkie? I don’t know how you came up with that but it-“ I paused for a moment “ –actually that’s pretty close, good job.”
Pinkie grinned while Twilight fumed.
“Okay this time-“, she ground out, only to be interrupted by the double doors to the antechamber opening.
“WHAT IS IT THIS TIME?!” she screamed, shouting at the pony who had walked through the door. Unfortunately, it was Princess Celestia who had just trotted in, so she paused mid-hoof in puzzlement. I must say the timing was comically perfect.
“I had just finished my duties early and was going to drop in to see you all off, but if that’s too much of a hassle…” she said quietly, turning away to trot back through the door.
Aw, she looked sad. I thought sympathetically.
That was until I saw a small smirk on Luna’s face.
Oh, another lesson, I presume? I thought with a grin.
These ponies really know how to live it up, if only real politicians were this cool.
Princess Celestia clip clopped slowly through the door, her head hung dejectedly.
Twilight quickly rushed up to her mentor.
“Oh Princess I didn’t mean to, oh no!” she panicked, seeing the shoulders of the Princess shake.
The shaking gradually gave way to a chuckle, then laughter as the snow-white princess broke down into giggles and mirth.
“Oh Twilight, you must learn to lighten up! For goodness sake you have so many friends and you never learned from the Element of Laughter?” she chided, everyone was breaking into smiles and chortles of their own. Even Rarity had a dainty hoof pressed to her muzzle.
Twilight sighed in relief.
“Yes, yes, hilarious everypony. Okay back to business.”
Everyone straightened as they settled down to finally hear what Twilight had to say.
“We’re headed to the Crystal Empire to show our new friend around. He may or may not be safe here but it’s really a short vacation so anypony is welcome to come”, she finally debriefed, however there were some slight shakes from Twilight’s friends.
“I’m so sorry my dear, much as I’d like to thank our new friend for seeing Twilight out and clearing the Gem Hills of the diamond dogs, I have so many orders to fill”, Rarity apologised, shaking her head sadly.
Fluttershy added her two cents.
“Uhm, I’m sorry Twilight, but the uhm, animals have been too long without me, they need some attention. I should really get back”, she said, excusing herself.
“Yeah, I’d love to crash and see what this guy has to offer but AJ and I need to head back. AJ’s got her harvesting and I have to clear the clouds and practice for the Wonderbolt Academy. After they accept me, which they will of course, I’m going to be the best flier they’ve ever seen!” Rainbow commented. AJ nodded along, scratching the back of her head with an embarrassed hoof.
“I can’t leave the farm to Big Mac all the time and Celestia knows what Applebloom would be up to”, she added abashedly.
Actually, I have no idea what the little filly would be up to. If it is anything I heard, it’ll be big. Celestia thought in bemusement.
Twilight looked disappointed and cast her gaze at Pinkie.
“I’m still with ya, Twi!” she exclaimed bouncing up and hugging her friend.
Twilight smiled.
“Okay so that leaves Princess Luna, who will be escorting us-“
Luna looked shocked.
“Wait, dear Magic, what is it you mean?” Luna asked confused.
“Oh, ha ha, I guess I didn’t mention it but Princess Celestia asked you to tag along with us”, she said meekly.
Princess Luna’s hooves reflexively dug at the ground in agitation.
“But what of the moon? What of my other duties?” Luna pleaded, looking at her sister.
Celestia smiled in encouragement.
“Do not worry, dear sister, arrangement have been made. The importance of his safety is too great to provide him without adequate protection, you may choose a few ponies to assist you with this task”, Celestia decreed, sweeping a wing around Luna.
She whispered in her ear, “Go now while I forgive you for the cake.”
Luna started in surprise. How did she know?
She glanced at the pink party pony conversing eagerly with Twilight.
No, impossible.
Or was it?
-----
I found out that we weren’t going to make the trip north using the flying chariots. I was disappointed to say the least, but they explained the weather was too dangerous to allow for flying into those territories and conditions. I grudgingly agreed.
The train was a luxurious affair. We got the royal suite reserved for Princess Luna, which she didn’t mind sharing. I had excitedly jumped onto the train with an enthusiasm of a small child. All our trains were electrically driven and most private transport had been staged for removal with heavy taxes and government mandates against personal transportation. To arrive via our own personal carriage in a steam train, was a novel experience for me.
Unfortunately, by the time Celestia had brought Luna up to speed and the rest of Twilight’s friends had left for Ponyville, night time had cast its darkened eye on the slumbering city and I had precious little to look at as we meandered through the streets to the train.
I would like to describe the views out of the train windows but they were the same after a while. I would have liked to converse with Twilight and Pinkie but I found I could not as they were fast asleep. I looked at Luna who was wide-awake and decided to strike up a conversation with her.
“Not sleepy?” I inquired, sitting beside her. She looked at me in surprise as if it were unheard of for someone to so casually strike up a conversation with her. Wait. I guess not, she was royalty. Maybe I breached some protocol?
I shrugged. To heck with it, go all the way as Dmitri would say.
“I do not require much sleep, and even so these are my waking hours”, she explained, giving me a long look.
I smiled.
“A true Princess of the Night then? I thought the title was ceremonial but I think all things are literal when I see things here”, I commented.
Luna gave me an odd look, as if I said something strange.
“How can something be not what it looks like?” she queried, then paused as if considering, her eyes turned sad for some reason. “No I see, you could be right.”
I gave a jovial nudge.
“Of course I’m right. Trust me, I’m an engineer”, I replied smugly.
“Really?” she asked incredulously.
“Okay not really, I was studying to be one. Lay off me”, I grumbled to an amused expression on Luna.
Luna looked out to the mostly blank landscape, her eyes full of shifting landscapes and distant dreams.
“Tell me about your world”, she breathed, her mane softly flowing and her eyes wet with… tears?
I sighed, casting my mind back to where it all began.
“It all began when I received a Synch, a revolutionary device that changed the world…”
-----
Some indeterminate time later I found Luna napping peacefully. I had just reached the part where I had resolved to pursue Synch at Grooble, after Emilia’s death. I touched a finger to my face surprised I could still weep tears after what seemed like so long.
I sighed and thought about useless things.
“To sleep”, I whispered softly into the stillness of the night. “Perchance to dream.”
I got up from the triclinium that Luna occupied and made my way to a small side cabin. I always like to sleep with a little privacy.
I closed the door and turned to the windows, finding them open.
A griffon with a deadly sneer lunged at me before I could utter a sound.
For in this sleep of death what dreams may come…