//------------------------------// // Sweet Blunders // Story: Luna's Misunderstood Night // by Purpleblackkiwi //------------------------------// “Your majesty, I’m afraid it’s time for you to raise the moon.” came a small squeak of a voice from a maid waited outside two large doors, hoping to awaken Princess Luna without any mistakes. Due to a series of unlucky events, she was tasked with the unenviable waking up the Princess This is the second night in a row. “Princess Luna, are you awake?” Asked the mare. The sounds of bed sheets moving was her response. “Permission to enter your majesty?” The maid requested. “You may enter.” Luna voiced back. The maid silently cursed herself: she had hoped that the princess would have preferred to prepare herself tonight. Yesterday night she had made the mistake of making eye contact with the princess, and in the day she begged Princess Celestia to keep her job. Princess Celestia chuckled, wondering why in all of Equestria she should be fired just because she had made eye contact with her beloved sister. In truth many rumors floated around the castle since the Princess’s return. Rumors ranging from how strict she was and how she fired anypony who made a single mistake while serving her to claiming she consumed ponies who looked into her eyes. Since her return, ponies who worked in the castle seemed to disappear: ponies known to have a dislike for the Princess of the night, along with ponies who still harbored fear for the Princess. “Sorry for the intrusion your majesty.” Apologized the maid. Although Princess Celestia would wave off such formalities, to Princess Luna these traditions were almost sacred. The maid placed a hoof on the door, and slowly began shifting her weight to open the door. The door made a small creek before opening smoothly, a job well done by the ponies who created the room. The trembling mare peeked into the dark room, looking for the small light switch next to the door. After feeling around with her muzzle, she finally found the switch and gave it a quick flip. Soon the room lit up with small rays of light, emanating from the magic crystals dotted around the room. The room began to light up slowly, exposing greater details of the room by the second. The room was large and circular with pillars running along its walls. In between the pillars against the wall furthest from the door, two large curtains were drawn. Beyond the curtains was a single large balcony. High above Canterlot, from this balcony the alicorn sisters watched over the city and beyond. The painted ceiling of the room was painted to look like the night sky, a spectacle the mare always enjoyed looking at. Realizing she was distracting herself she quickly brought her attention once again to the alicorn laying in the bed on the far right of the room. Thin veils covered the large bed, surrounding the bed like a thick fog. The maid could make out the silhouette of a large alicorn raising itself off the bed, brushing off the blanket with its large wings, and looking about the room to familiarize itself with the environment. Her mane slipped out of the blanket to resume it majestic flow: swaying, as if caught in a gentle breeze. Watching the alicorn raise itself was like watching the very sun set on the horizon, watching the night sky slowly change colours. The mare snapped herself out of her own trance before once again realizing that she had let herself get distracted. The mare rushed to the sink and cabinet on the other end of the room from the bed and turned on the faucet allowing warm water to fill the sink. She grabbed a towel from the under the sink and slung it over her neck, and waited for the sink to fill. “My little pony, what is your name?” Came a regal voice across the room. The maid froze as she realized that Princess Luna was addressing her. She quickly spun around to face the bed, silently hoping she didn't mess anything up. “Your Majesty, my name is Sweet Night. I am your personal maid for tonight.” Sweet Night replied as she bowed her head in respect. “You were here yesterday were you not? My personal maid’s generally don’t repeat two night in a row” Sweet Night cursed herself for her unlucky draw. True, event conspired that left many of the other maids and butlers unable to perform the task. she still cursed herself for her own bad luck. “Is there a reason for this?” Princess Luna asked. “Umm. Yes your majesty some things have happened that have left me the only pony able to attend to you tonight.” She said still quivering. Now that Luna knew her name, will she personally ask to be rid of her? Sweet Night kept her head low in fear of ruining traditions and offending Luna. However soon she began to feel a small moist feeling near her hooves. Perhaps it was her own sweat pouring out she thought to herself. Soon she noticed a dripping noise along with the moist feeling. She quickly raised her head to turn around to realize that the sink was over flowing. “Oh no!” Sweet night exclaimed. She quickly reached for the nobs next to the faucet to stop the water. In doing so she accidentally dropped the towel around her neck into the water, the white fabric quickly began to change color as it soaked up the water in the sink. Sweet Night began to panic and attempted to fetch the towel from the water with her mouth. This only pushed the towel further into the water causing even more water to spill from the sink. Her uniform now partially soaked, her breathing became more and more rapid with each blunder. After many attempts Sweet Night turned off the faucet, and fetched the soaking towel from the water. She rushed to the cabinet which held extra towels, and on her knees she began to quickly clean the wet puddle she had made on the floor. Sweat began to form along her forehead, and she knew her mane must have been a mess along with her uniform. There’s no way I’m presentable to the Ruler of the Night now she thought to herself. She finally managed to clean up the water somehow, and she still had a single spare towel for the Princess. She let out a small sigh of relief as the embarrassing ordeal seemed to have ended. She slowly got back up onto her hooves and looked around to make sure no other puddles were around the sink. With a satisfied smile she nodded her head. Sweet Night glanced at the floor to notice its unique shine. Small jewels embedded into the tile gleamed in the light. She noticed how her shadow had blocked a few gems from shining. It was then she noticed that in fact her shadow as much larger than she expected. She quickly came to blame her own eating habits. Perhaps that hay burger was too much. Then the shadow shifted in shape, Sweet Night quickly realized it wasn't her shadow but of something behind her. Walking from her left side came a large pony, or rather a normal size alicorn. “When did you get out of bed Princess?” Sweet Night asked as she once again feared for her job. She wondered whether it was the use of magic that the alicorn moved silently. In truth Sweet Night was too engrossed to fix her mistakes that she didn't notice Princess Luna move behind her. “I have been here for some time miss Night.” Luna answered. Sweet Night grimaced, knowing how bad she must have looked fixing everything. “You may leave me to prepare myself Sweet Night, wait for me until I leave my room.” Luna commanded her voice without hesitation or pause. “Y-Yes your majesty.” Sweet Night replied. Her voice finally breaking under the pressure. She quietly walked to the door. Making great care to close the door slowly and quietly as possible. This must have been the last straw, she thought to herself. Sweet Night stomped the ground in frustration and in humiliation: she had been known to be a clutz but never in a time so important. She stomped the ground countless times until her hoof began to hurt. She looked around the hall to realize that she had failed to notice the two guards staring at her like she was a crazed pony. However, she didn't care. What else could go wrong with tonight she thought. She wanted to cry and give up, but she knew neither would help her situation. After fixing her uniform she stood next to the door, silently awaiting her princess and beating herself up recalling the event: Repeating what she should have done, and then calling herself a fool for not thinking of what to do. Perhaps she should have begged to help the princess, or perhaps she should have insisted that she helped her in the hope to fix the damage. As she made future plans, Sweet Night heard a rather peculiar sound from within the room. Sweet Night turned around to face the doors and brought her ear to the wood. Perhaps it was eavesdropping, but her curiosity got the better of her. What was this sound? Surely it couldn't be possible for such a strict, regal princess. Sweet Night heard laughing.