Chapter ten
Considering that she is used to having many lonely nights studying to herself in the past, present, and likely future. It isn’t hard for Twilight to pull an all-nighter without issue. Though when you have the stark raving mad lunar princess with you nearly the whole time shouting this, and that about a particular stallion that made the most careless number of insults to her. That alone can drain a young alicorn as Twi tries to hold herself up with her fore hooves to stay awake while Luna paces back, and forth in the bedroom shooting out her rant of the one in the cell.
“That insolent, uncouth, discourteous, disrespectful, atrocious, vagrant, snot nosed little twerp!” Luna shouts out while her cheeks remain flustered at even the thought of the stallion down stairs that she now shares the same facial color with, “How dare he insult the royal flank, and before that even make insinuations of physical activity of rutting between himself and I!”
“Wait?” Twilight shakes her head upon hearing that last bit, “He did what now?”
“Did you not hear me screaming at him earlier?”
“Well I tuned it out while me, Cadance, and Shining talked about the matter,” Twilight bites the edge of her lip upon seeing the princess temper go up another ten degrees. Quickly adverting her eyes to the side of the room, “We were only noting the similarities of him, and your own lunar guards.”
“Mhmm?” The almost violet ears pop up after being flushed with blood at the seemingly missed detail.
“Yes Luna. I mean what do you remember of him?”
The princess sits there to calm herself before recalling the stallion’s actual appearance in to her mind. The startling similarities of him, and her own guards are in play more than she would have noticed in her angered state. Though at the same time there is no way he would be in her guard. Not simply because the way he treated her, but also the appearance. As much as they may be similar to her guards. There are the obvious size, and color differences.
“You have a valid point now Twilight Sparkle. Normally, only the royal guards are gifted with those attributes,” Luna’s nostrils flare once more, “And he most surely isn’t… a… royal… guard!”
She relapses back in to her previous state of irritation while simultaneously hurtling a stool across the room, and in to the wall. Breaking it apart in one go while steam seems to pour itself from her ears, and muzzle. Though the opening of a door does bid her to calm herself a bit while Cadance, and Shining enter the room.
“Well I know I don’t necessarily like the décor…” Shining uses his magic to reassemble the stool, and puts it back in its original place, “…though that is no reason to take ones anger on it.”
“Sorry about that,” Luna scratches the back of her head, and reseats her askew tiara atop it, “You could say I’m just a little, flustered.”
“A little?” Twilight pushes further while her face deadpans the expression.
“Okay enough that I’m ready to disembowel the colt as soon as he wakes up,” Luna cracks her neck at the thought of getting her hooves on him.
“Wait you haven’t heard?” Cadance asks her aunt, as the devilish thoughts dance around Luna’s head, “He woke up about half an hour ago.”
“What?! What time is it???”
“It’s eight in the morning, Luna,” Twilight manages to flop herself out of bed, and stand on all fours without a problem, “You were going at it all night.”
“Oh… ahh,” The night blue cheeks turn to a lightened shake of pink even under the cover of her coat once again because her bumbling, “Silly me.”
The realization at what this means consumes the mare, and in a star lit streak Luna leaves the trio in the bed room spinning while powering her way down the halls, and in a warpath towards her target. Cadance being the first one to stabilize herself after her aunt’s actions, shakes her head to get a sit rep on things, “She’s going to beat him to death, isn’t she?”
“Well… more, or less,” Twilight trots lightly past her, as her brother, and Cadance pick up the same pace, “How else did you expect her to respond to having a colt try and flirt with her?”
Even Shining starts to feel sorry for the reaction the colt is about to get. Lowering his head down while they start to gallop in an attempt to save his life now, “Oh dear.”
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Sitting idly in a cell is about as much as one can do when they have been captured by the Royal Equestrian Guard, and made a mockery of not one, but three princesses, and a prince the day before. Though it doesn’t help the fact that the one colt who is about to endure the wrath of a particular lunar princess doesn’t even know what he said, or at least what his other self said. Having been more, or less knocked out at the time, and having an odd, but massive pain in his jaw.
‘Well if there is a plus in any of this mess…’ He pauses for a moment to check his luck in the matter, ‘…At least I can finally hear myself think without having that one listening. Even if my head is pounding at the moment,’ He rests his head back on the ground. Folding either hoof behind it, and using his wings as a blanket. Midnight doesn’t even shut his eyes as he takes in the peace, and quiet that he hasn’t had in a very long, long time, “I really need to do this more often,” Midnight says to no specific pony present.
“Ahh… who are you talking to?” A guard looks back to the lone prisoner.
“No one,” He sighs with some relief in the truth of it, “No one at all.”
“YOU!”
That one word is the last thing Midnight hears before a spell causes a few of the iron bars to bend back, and snap in an instant. Leaving a gaping hole big enough for a princess to slither her way through at full speed. Not even bothering to heed the warnings of the guards there, and somewhat oblivious to the frantic calls of her friends. Luna proceeds to contact hoof to rib, gut, and face, or anything else she can manage to get within reach. A rather easy prospect seeing as she now stands over top the bewildered colt, who only lies there in a daze, with his eyes shut.
“You dare remain silent after your previous comments from the night earlier of thine own flank!” She cares not to remove a silver slipper after having her fill of much needed violence released.
The evidence of which is peppered on him in the form of bloodied bruises, and marks. With drawing a single hoof, and topping off the entire gesture with a sincere slap to the face that further rekindles the previous pain from the haymaker she delivered before. Midnight screws his eyes shut even more to avoid her penetrating gaze and protect them the best he can.
“Do you have nothing to say for yourself?!” Luna shouts at the shuttered stallion beneath her while her eyes bore in to him further, and further.
Then a simple gesture grabs the furious mare at the very core of her being.
A pair of eyes below her, open up. A simple thing to see, something that she has seen many times as one would expect. Though with this pair, the mare is stricken with her own emotions at seeing the ones she is surprised to find in his own expression. The crazed look Luna was expecting to get from a stallion that she was sure had lost his flippen mind. Instead replaced by an expression that seemingly violates her own eyes, and mind with nothing, but sorrow, and guilt that she was so callous to a creature that she hasn’t even given a chance to speak for himself until now. Even then the look on his face, and the straightforwardness in his words holding more ground than she had likely given him credit as Luna is taken back in an instant.
“I’m Sorry, your majesty,” He responds while she remains incapacitated at first, “Needless to say, I’m not myself.”
The princess in question soon finds herself backing up off top of him as she fumbles down to her own hind for a moment, while Midnight gets his footing. Now getting the full picture of who she is dealing with at the moment. A stallion that is broader than Shining Armor, and in fact even head taller than herself. Though at the moment, the height is ignored as he extends a simple hoof down to her fallen position, and helps the mare up to her hooves. Taking a bow before the royalty to show respect, while still holding her out stretched hoof.
“Good morning, Princess Luna… I’m Midnight,” He rights himself soon afterwards, and kisses the end of her hoof.
Words seem to fail the princess as she holds a hoof to her chest to avoid ‘hoof in mouth syndrome’ as her face contorts to a more ‘what the buck just happened’ look. Not quite sure how to respond to a colt that she was ready to, and already, beat with her own hooves. Thankfully the silence is broken by the presence of three others as they make their way in to the cells for what they thought would be an attempt to save a colt’s life.
“Luna stop! He probably didn’t know what he was doing!” Cadance yells out.
“If you kill him than we may never know what’s wrong, and I won’t have anything to study!” Twilight follows up shortly.
“Don’t do this, otherwise I’ll never hear the end of it from my wife!” Shining adds to the end of it. Getting only a sour glare from the mare in question.
“Shining you aren’t help-Agh!”
The alicorn of love stops just short of the cell while almost slamming herself in to the bars as the other two behind her attempt to do the same, but fall just short. All three making a mockery of themselves as they end up in a pile at the base of the door way inside, and instead look up to find something they never would have possibly imagined seeing at a time like this.
Luna stands there in front of the colt, with her hoof still wrapped in his own. An awkward grin about her face, and the faintest hint of a pair of blood filled cheeks underneath her dark coat which is trying it’s hardest to hide, as she brushes her mane in her face to further the camouflage effect. Though no matter how much of her mane she repositions, or how dark her coat may be. The one thing she can’t hide is the obvious flight devices attached to her back, that seem to have a mind of their own, as they themselves protrude outwards to their fullest.
Cadance, being in her profession, is the one that decides to ask the obvious, “Ahh… Luna are you?”
“No!” Luna snaps back at the alicorn while trying to stammer out a complete sentence, “Flew, came in, beat down, stopped, and interrupted.”
The stricken princess says in a tuff, freezing afterwards without having anything else to say on the matter. All the while the trio tries to make out what that possibly meant, or even if it was of their language in the first place.
“…Run that by us again?” Shining shares the same facial expression with as his companions. Thankfully though, Midnight steps up to clear some of the air between them all.
“Princess Luna blew through the cage. Rather spectacularly I might add…” He pauses to replay the image in his mind. Much to the dismay of the lunar princess, but the joy of the princess of love in attendance who sees what is going on with the mare in question, “Then proceeded to tackle me, and deliver a well-deserved beating, for what was likely less than tastefully said earlier…” The thought of what his other side could have said to them all fills him with guilt as he adopts an apologetic bow to the others present to try and make up for the misgivings, “I must ask for forgiveness from you all…Princess Cadance, Captain Shining Armor, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and last but not least, Princess Luna. I’m not quite myself, it seems.”
“Mhmm…” Cadance muses for a second at the unhindered statement from his mouth. While at the same time remaining somewhat eyes on with Luna, “Well I can forgive you for it, and I’m sure all of us will as well. You were a little… out of it. However, you say that you aren’t yourself? What do you mean?”
“That…” Midnight bites the back of his tongue. Holding it to try, and think of a way to say this without sounding insane. ‘Wait, I already am labeled that,’ He imagines from what others have said in his long past, “…is a bit more difficult to explain.”
“Well considering you have been out for the past day, or so, and haven’t had anything to eat it seems,” Twilight notes the plate of rations still full, before looking over to her sister in law for approval, “how about we discuss this over a meal? Provided that you…?”
“Midnight, ma’am.”
“Well Midnight,” Shining starts while taking some sympathy with the colt who just got the one two punch from the princess herself, “Provided you show no malice towards any around here. I would even be willing to have you join us.”
“A-a-are you sure?” Midnight ask, imagining that this could just be a joke. Considering what he had done earlier, “after what I’ve done?
“You’re the reason we called in my baby sister,” Shining nods. Ignoring the glare he gets from Twilight, “to find out what is wrong, and help. It wouldn’t really be proper now to try and understand you from the ‘comfort’ of a cell. Now would it?”
“Then I must thank you for the hospitality, sir,” Nodding to them, Midnight follows out the open door. Stopping for a second to turn around, and still sees the princess of the night standing there dumbfounded after her attempt of an explanation, “Your majesty? Will you be joining us?”
“I ahh… Yes!” She shouts out unintentionally. Flapping her still extended wings to give them some purpose, and landing side by side with the bloodied colt, “Yes I will be. Though as it would seem, I also have something to say.”
“And what would that be ma’am?” Midnight says without hesitation.
‘Damn it why is he so nice right now?’ She tries to put her game face on, and at least act like the royalty she is expected to be, ‘I mean before he was just a truth be told jerk, but now…’ Luna shakes her head for a second to get her thoughts on track, “I want to say I’m sorry for how I acted earlier. Regarding…” She points to the several injuries about him, “Those, I should have waited until you were at least given a chance to speak, sanely that is.”
Though Midnight simply waves it off, “Don’t worry, your majesty. I would have expected nothing less. It’s not the first time that my mind has wandered out of my control and said the wrong thing. Though to a princess, that probably is at the top of the list.”
“Oh is it now?” She questions with only a playful smirk on her face. Something that the colt is glad to see in contrast to the stark raving mad mare, “Though I have something to ask of you in that case.”
“What would that be, miss?”
Any attempt to be a princess falls to the ground in a shattered state. After seeing that she showed so much malice, towards a colt that already has proven to have better manners than half of the guards she knows, “Most of my subjects don’t even call me by my title. A little thing I dispelled years ago at Nightmare Night,” She answers while barely hiding her face under her coat that soon would be matching his own, “so formalities aside… can call me, Luna.”
A small smile stretches from either side of Midnight’s mouth around the fangs of his kind at the princess’s soft words. Especially considering the actions of his other self earlier. To see one that was the target of those insults not kicking his flank is a rather wonderful sight. Even more so by the smile she now has again gracing her royal self to match his own.
‘She looks pretty cute, when she isn’t trying to crush me like a bug,’ He mentally slaps himself before answering the mare, “As you wish, Luna.”