From her quarters in the highest tower in Canterlot Castle Princess Luna looked out over the city and all the ponies within in. Even now in the early morning it was a bustling hive of activity, truly Canterlot was a city that never slept. She yawned, although she could go several weeks without sleep if she needed to, she preferred to try and get some shut eye each day if possible, and the events of the last few weeks had made that an impossibility.
The truth about her court, the truth she had been wilfully ignorant of, had hit her hard, the thought of having to clean house again, while her sister was stalking the countryside had seemed like a nightmare, but she had been prepared to do it, if necessary. The court’s proposition last week had put such plans on hold for the moment, she knew all she had so far were words, but they were good words truthfully given. Now at least she had hope that things would improve, maybe this time the court could be reformed without having to break it down first.
Glancing down at the city far below she watched as, in a cloud of white smoke, a train, looking like a toy from this distance, slowly pulled away and started its journey down the mountain. With a flash of her horn she sharpened her eyes too far beyond that of even an owl or other bird of prey. There in the train’s window, as expected, was a grey coated earth pony stallion, Baron Mounty Max, starting his journey back to his province. He seemed to be discussing something with his assistant, his hooves moving animatedly.
Luna smiled, she tried not to play favourites at court but she found she liked the stallion. His simple straightforward and honourable attitude was refreshing. She was glad she had taken the risk of ennobling him. He had made mistakes in his time at court, but what pony didn’t? It was worrying that even in the short time he had been a baron he had already gotten into shaky moral ground, but he had done so with the best of intentions. Yes, she had high hopes for him over the following months and years.
Shifting her gaze she glanced up into the sky as an air chariot glided by pulled by two chauffeurs, it was headed away to the south west. Again enhancing her vision she noted the pink maned pegasus mare riding in it alone. Duchess Fragrant Posey, another pony she had had her eye on, and if she didn’t miss her guess Max’s special somepony. They were making some effort to hide their relationship, but weren’t making that good a job of it, she smiled. She liked her little ponies to be happy, as long as the relationship did not interfere with their jobs she was content to leave them be.
Fragrant had been a model courtier and at one time Luna had held her up as a paragon amongst the others. She had been disappointed by the pegasus’s hooves of clay, but maybe she had set her target too high. The mare tried her best. Luna had been saddened that the long years at court, as well as some personal traumas, she didn’t know exactly what, and didn’t like to pry, had seemed to be wearing the duchess down. Max’s appearance seemed to have reversed that decay, love was treating the Duchess well.
The chariot disappeared behind a cloud bank and Luna blinked, cancelling her spell. She was certainly living in interesting times, but maybe it was worth it to be surrounded by such interesting ponies. She sat back at her seat and put on her lens-less glasses peering at the paperwork in front of her, she still had quite a bit to do before she could sleep. She wondered what the future would bring.
Only time would tell, she thought.