//------------------------------// // Chapter 30 // Story: The Eyes Are Blind // by Fe94Knight //------------------------------// Chapter thirty To walk through the castle at this time of night, and only be passed by the royal guards that patrol the area is a treat that only the sleepless find themselves receiving. With the marble tile all over the place and the warmth radiating off of them from the day time on a cool night like this, it is a wonder that Midnight is glad to have, as opposed to his usual travels through dark woods in the middle of the night, or even the long flights to a new area when he is run out of town. However, as much as he may like this feeling of being able to think to himself. His travel is to find a particular princess of the night. Though in doing so he, meet’s a particular set of guards that unlike the others, show no fear towards him, only intrigue. “Comet come here!” Nocturn calls over to his companion. Getting Midnight’s attention in the hallway, as he is gestured over by the guard with a wave of the hoof. The guards of the castle have been made aware of his arrival, so the night time colt knows this isn’t anything of malice, while he remains curious why the guards would want to see him, “This is the stallion that we were informed of… Midnight is it, sir?” “Yes it is, Sir,” Midnight returns the bow that he gets from the pair of guards, “Though there is no need to bow to one such as myself, I’m the furthest thing from royalty you could see,” as the guards rise up though, the colt realizes where their interest comes from, after getting a better look at them… Two slit eyes meet his own, both of them in awe of the colt, “Force of habit there, sir,” The lunar guard acknowledges, while his unicorn counterpart of the night follows up shortly. “Nocturn here has mentioned that there was another like us here at the castle,” Comet answers him with a slight chuckle to follow, “Though we never thought that we would run in to you.” “Well that you have.” Midnight follows suit for a bit. Noting the obvious height difference between him, and the pair that he is a head, and a half taller, and broader on all accounts. It’s no wonder they’re star struck by the sight of him, “Though I never realized that my name has gotten about the castle that fast?” “You would be surprised with that sir, news here travels faster than a high school.” “Especially when it comes to a colt that has spent a lot of time with the lunar princess herself…” Comet gets a quick elbow to the side from his companion as they all start to giggle a bit from his statement. Only to elaborate on it further, “…for being what was once our soul ruler under the moon, needless to say. Every lunar guard has had the hots for her at one point or another.” “Though that eventually fades away, when they realize there isn’t a chance,” Nocturn sighs a bit off to the side, “but hey, you got something going on… from what we heard at least, sir.” “Sir will not be necessary…” Midnight brushes off, “however speaking of Luna, me and her came back last night from our…” He tries to think of the best way to word this last sentence, “…Trip. Though her majesty ended up in a slightly less ideal position…” “Had a fight out in Equestria did you?” Nocturn guesses out of the blue. “That’s an understatement,” Midnight simply rolls his eyes off to the side a bit. Recalling the vivid memories fresh in his mind of him and the princess fighting with his inner demon. “Love to hear about it sometime, trade war stories?” Comet offers, “heard you been around for a while, you’ve got to have some. If you wouldn’t mind of course,” he remarks while in wonder of the colt before him from what he has heard around, “From what I understand you have quite a few tricks up your sleeve, which would make short work of whatever the problem could have been.” “Dark magic?” Midnight asks flatly. Nocturn steps slightly away as his friend tries to deliver the same elbow strike. Just leaving him glaring at his counterpart while they both eye the unusual colt, “Is that really true? Can you use it?” Midnight simply shrugs his shoulders at the comment. The fact that these guards aren’t even fazed by his appearance, let alone his gift, is a comfort to him. Though considering he, and them share much the same traits, it’s no wonder, “It’s just a talent I was born with, much like yourself,” He gestures to Comet. “Do you know if you’re sticking around?” The Lunar unicorn asks, almost sounding like a kid talking to his foalhood hero, “Wouldn’t mind sparing with a new lunar pony about the castle.” “I wouldn’t mind that at all either,” He answers first before following up with a new question to them, “However, as for me staying, that would be up to the princess. She’s probably in the med bay I would imagine. Could you point me in the right direction?” His question is graced by a hoof thrown up in the air, to point his way by the other guard, a smile on both their faces after having met the colt of their kind that they heard about roaming the castle. And one that is more extraordinary than they could ever imagine. After a gracious thanks, a departure, and a short walk. Midnight finds himself standing outside the doorway with a red cross on its exterior, and gently pushes it open. The lights in the bay have been dimmed down for the few ponies that are sleeping at this time of night, like most should be, though that is all except for a lone nurse tirelessly staying up to ensure that any patient in need is attended too. Still being in full armor from the fight earlier doesn’t help a colt’s skills when it comes to sneaking about, and it isn’t long until the mare at the desk reading a book turns her tired eyes to see the colt tiptoeing his way over. “Good evening sir…” She rechecks the wrist watch she wears, “Or my bad… morning… is there anything I can help you with?” The mare asks while taking in the many cuts, and smaller injuries about his face from the scuffle she knows nothing about. “Actually ma’am, I was hoping to know if the princess was still in.” “That I can answer for sure,” She pauses for a moment, taking a sip of her coffee before setting it back down on the desk to fight back the drooping eye lids, “She’s not actually, her majesty checked herself out after getting a splint put on, and a tighter dressing… after that she walked out.” “Any idea where she could have gone?” He asks concerned. Even after having not known her for long, it didn’t take long for him to figure out how strong headed she can be. The nurse sees the colt’s concerns clear as day on his face, and tries to help him as best she can. Putting the pieces together from what she can see. “You’re Midnight aren’t you?” She waits for confirmation before going on, “She mentioned you several times while I was attending to her. Though when she was patched up, instead of getting some sleep here where she would be waited on with ease. Princess Luna got up, and left. Seemed kind of upset about something… Though I know not what.” Midnight bows his head out of respect, before continuing his search elsewhere, “Thank you miss… I will try to find her. Have yourself a good night.” With a polite wave from the mare at the desk. The colt leaves her alone for now, and ponders her words. ‘Why would she be upset? After all granted the time we just shared wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t all that bad… minus the fact about my own fears, and demon trying to kill us,’ the last thought crossing his head giving an answer to his question. However, it is behind them. So what could it be? ‘Where would she go if she was upset…?’ The question brought up is answered sooner than expected, as one place comes to mind instantly. _____________________ The faraway garden provides sanctuary to those that need just a little space from the rest of the castle, and the lightless area does that tenfold for a mare sitting alone on a park bench, surrounded by the onyx colored flowers that darken further with the setting of the sun, but still give off such a fragrance that the princess of this time can only adore. The slight wind chill running about the area causes the peddles to wave back, and forth with one another as the nocturnal mare holds her hooves around herself. Relishing in the cold enrapture of the night, while hating it all the same. “Tis strange… I adore this time of year, but hate it all the same because I can’t enjoy your company,” She talks to the floral setting around her. The situation hitting her even more so while she slumps down a bit further in the bench, and would have had her head in her own lap if it weren’t for the brace on her blocking the movement, “Then where will I go when I don’t have these wonders to cheer me up?” The snapping of a stem draws her perking ears up, soon followed by her head as she sees a blackened rose float over to her in a green aura. As the magic clips off the thorns, and glides the flower gently in to her mane behind her ear. Even in the cool of the night, Luna cheeks reign fire upon them as the colt responsible stands off to the side for a moment before coming in to the light of the moon in full few of her, “I figured you’d be out here.” “You went to medical first?” “Yes, but the nurse said you weren’t there,” He responds while taking a seat down next to her. The space between them becomes even cooler in the growing silence after the last statement. As they both seem to twiddle their hooves without a word, before the princess breaks the ice that is starting to form, “You know…” She starts with a coy smile, lowing her head to hide it under her mane while he turns to look at her, “it is kind of chilly out here this clear night. If you scooted a little closer for some warmth and comfort, I wouldn’t be against it,” ‘That’s even too corny for your liking, Luna,’ she teases herself in her head. With a simple chuckle, and a nod the colt stretches out one wing, glides it around her taking care to avoid her own injured one, and brings the mare closer in to his side as he does the same, “I had actually hoped to find you out here tonight, and not in a bed before tomorrow.” “And that you have now…” She leans in to the warmth of the wing, and the side of his chest a bit. Thankful that it helps to fight off the growing cold of winters approach, “… how noble of you.” “Well after bringing you back to the castle and to your family, it wouldn’t have been that respectful to leave you high, and dry in the medical ward before going off to bed,” Midnight answers in his defense, “The nurse said you had checked yourself out, and that you seemed…well… upset about something.” Luna grows silent at that moment, looking even further down from him and nowhere near the wonderful golden orbs that she loves, “It’s… ah, nothing really.” “You are a horrible liar, your majesty… you know that?” He toys with her, and squeezes her ever so slightly with his large wing, “You can tell me, can’t you?” Finally Luna works up the courage, looking at him eye to eye. Her blue like ice melting in to his golden sun as she heaves one last sigh in to the night. ‘Well if I don’t say anything now, I may never get the chance later…’ Luna ponders before continuing on, “Our time together…” She starts off, putting the words together as best she can voice them to the stallion, “… It was a special thing to me, if that’s not off to say. But now that all is well said, and done with. Then I don’t know what to do…” A single blink and her long eye lashes brush away what’s left of a tear leaving her eye that she had dropped earlier just before his arrival, “…I don’t know what you would do.” Midnight puts it together as best he can, summarizing her words, “You are worried about what I would do… now that I’m, well… free?” The night mare rolls her eyes over to one side in haste, before bringing them back to him with a nod. Midnight only leans forward a bit while keeping her wrapped up in the warmth of a leathery wing, as she snuggles a tad closer to him as he speaks his mind, “My mind is healed now. For the first time sense I was, but a foal. There is nothing I couldn’t do with my gift…” Midnight starts off to list many things that have come to his mind before while he was pondering years back what it would be like to be normal, “I could travel the world once moreover, visit countless other kingdoms, meet untold number of other ponies, or griffons, or any other creature that would come my way. Before last night, any of that would have put myself and others in danger. However, the danger is gone now…” With every word that the colt speaks. The princess next to him feels a knife hitting her still heavily beating heart over, and over again. Hearing about all the things he could go, and do now that he is well. Puts her in a place she never wanted to be again, and hadn’t been sense she was banished to the moon. A cold, dark… and lonely place. But who is she to stop him? She and even Twilight did set out to help the colt, with no intentions to keep him here really other than for the help. Even if the lunar princess did have an odd fascination with him at first, after really talking to him. She couldn’t have helped that attraction, and it’s not her place to have him to stay. So no matter what his choice may be. Even if it is to leave, she would have to suck it up. “The badlands would always be welcome to one like me that may not be accepted by others, and there is the old home that I never really knew still there in nearly mint shape… besides the whole back side being blown out recently, but that’s a quick patch job,” Midnight ponders for a second going back and fixing up the home. Perhaps a vacation spot? After all, he has family in the area that he has much catching up to do with, “Plus on top of that I can list off several dozen places in other nations that I had loved to go to from time to time, that I can now enjoy because my little travel companion is no longer there with me, tugging my hoof.” The blades twist deeper, and deeper in to the mare, tearing away any hope she had once had while he speaks. So much so that Luna in her trance doesn’t even realize that he has come to a stop, and is just glancing over to her with a sly, wicked grin about his face. Leaving her mind busy trying to process it all. ‘That’s it Luna… It’s over,’ Her mind races through the motions, ‘any hope you had is gone, considering he basically just shot you down in a moments-’ “However…” The stern tone breaks her out of her trance, and back in to reality while he picks back up, “All of those things I would love to do… and kind of already have done. So I think I’d rather stick around for a while, settle down a bit, travel later maybe when I have free time? I think I know a particular mare that would enjoy some of the sites to see out in this world that I could show her, and if she wouldn’t mind, I’d gladly stick by her side,” An eye rolls back down to her confused face, as it slowly starts to realize what he is entailing. “Do… I know this mare?” Her frown is slowly replaced by a smile while he answers ever so truthfully. “You may… about your height, wondrous cobalt eyes, and lovely pair of dark blue wings,” His own face starts to glow a similar color red as it goes through the motions. Even rubbing his lower jaw with a hoof, “A mean right hook when she is mad enough… on top of all that, a mare who is as sweet as honey… and can be as volatile as hard cider,” The princess giggles at first. Quickly playfully shoving him a bit off the bench. However, Midnight goes along with it, and falls to the ground. Pulling her along with him with a slight yelp, as he looks back up to her laying atop him, “See what I mean by volatile?” “I can show you volatile,” Luna glares back at him, quickly replacing it with a wide eyed smile in place of the false hostility, “Though I can save that for later… considering this particular mare, would love to have you stick around the castle,” She nuzzles his cheek with her own. Savoring the warmth that he radiates off of himself, while they both manage to feel the others heartbeat. Almost in rhythm with each other as they lay there for a moment in their own little trance. Though as she remains there in bliss with her muzzle against his own. A light moisture running down the tip of Luna’s snout summons her to rise up, and see a colt that she has the utmost affections for… tearing up at his eye lids. “You have brought me out of the brink of self destruction, Luna…” Midnight tries to fight back from the dam ready to burst, “Given me the gift of peace which I have not known for the longest of times. For that I will never be able to repay you in your life time, for the life you have returned to me…I am forever in your debt, your majesty.” “And there is nothing you have to return… Although I could get used to hearing that last bit from you,” With a wink she gives him a quick peck on the cheek, and is only met by a sincere smile from the colt. “The eyes are blind, your majesty… you have to look with your heart,” A crimson hoof runs itself through the marvelous lunar mane as Midnight strokes it down the back of her head, while he rests a hoof on her cheek, “and my heart is showing me clearly what it yearns for.” Luna bites down on her tongue in order to attempt to quell the wake of tears trying to break through, and make their way through her eye lids, down her muzzle, and drip down to his face as she leans in to the colt. Taking the hint, he does the same. And for the first time, beside the coy side kisses here and there, their lips meet in the middle in a glorious exchange of affection that only two ponies that have a mutual attraction to one another could have that rockets the fireworks that have been building up in them to the sky. The warmth of the soft lips pressing against his own, draws the colt in further while the feeling of having his sharp fangs against her own lips. Has the same effect on Luna as she slips her tongue out between them, and in to his own mouth. Encapsulating the insides of his mouth, Midnight lets loose a slight grunt, and uses his fangs to nibble down on the mare’s soft tissue, granting him a fleeting moan from her own throat as it reverberates to his own. The fires in both of their chests riding up even more so as the passions start to cap off, and Luna throws her hooves around his neck, and buries herself back in to his face. Ignoring the growing pain in her wing from the motions and only relishing in the moment she is blessed with. Smothering each other with warm levels of affection. Their lips nearly suffocate each other like a pair of lustful teenager. This outburst long in waiting, left to fester until it was finally released. While they enjoy every little spark that goes off in the back of their minds, as it rides through the neurons in them. Lighting off even more pyrotechnics in the display all the same, and even more so when a pair of leather like wings wrap around the princess’s torso and pulls her in closer than she has ever been before. The appendages ride up her spine, and between the base of her own wings sends a relaxing chill down the mare. Leaving her hind legs starting to twitch from the action, and she responds with a bite of her own on to his lips. The resulting gasps leaving his mouth, runs past her own as Luna laps her tongue across his sharp fangs. Diving even more in to the display, driven by lust and pent up desires. The feeling of being a mare in heat, rushes through Luna once more in the back of her mind as she kisses his lips again. Though between the two of them. Midnight is the one that gains a little self-control first, and pulls back to not only give themselves a chance for a full breath, but also to keep them from getting ahead of themselves… at least for now, especially while out here in the open garden. Glaring in to the eyes that behold him. Luna’s eyes reflect the stars light above, almost making it seem like the celestial bodies are in fact trapped in her own orbs, as they twinkle in the watery ducts of the princess. A sweet hearted smile stretches between the edges of his lips, as Midnight draws her in once more. Kissing her a single time on the fore head, just before the horn, as the soft giggles of the mare fill the space between them and his ears. “Hehe…” She teases him while covering her muzzle. Straightening out her hair, and tiara before both of them just lie there for a moment, with Luna still relaxed atop his strong frame, “We should probably keep our affections a little more controlled in the future,” she makes a note out loud, though afterwards breaths a hefty sigh of relief, “however, that did feel great to finally let out in to the open instead of just bouncing around the subject.” “That I can agree to. On both accounts of course,” He chuckles at first before they both lean in to one another. Touching their foreheads to one another, and almost melding as one mind as they nuzzle their snouts together. Though the flash of a picture being taken immediately issues both of them to snap their heads off to the side of the light. Where they now find Celestia standing there with the camera, Discord there also grinning as wide as can be, Rose jumping up and down, Shining covering up his muzzle full of laughter, and Cadance having the face of ‘figures’ plastered all over her. The newly made couple, fumbles back up to their feet from a less than desired picture perfect position. Now dumbfounded as they both scratch the back of their heads trying to look for a way out of this mess real quick, to avoid as much conversation with the royals as possible, for tonight at least. Luna looks up to the sky, over past the dozens of towers that dot about the castle, and to the lone one that still has an open balcony on it. Leading to her own bed room. “This is probably the time when we depart, Mister Midnight,” Luna winks at him, “It has been an eventful few days and I for one could use a rest… with some company.” “I’ll lead the way, Princess Luna,” He bows to her lightly. Spreading his bat wings out as wide as possible. The princess leaps up on his back, takes hold, and with one mighty flap her colt takes off to her castle room. Away from prying eyes, and to share one more private moment with one another before they retire for the night, and start the day anew. A few tears fall down from Celestia’s muzzle, and hit the ground as she watches the pair go off in the distance. The chance to finally see her sister happy, is something that she has looked forward to for years, and finally gotten to witness, “That a girl.” “It’s about time!” Rose blurts out, soon covering her mouth when she gets a slight glare from the rest of her family, “What? It was…” The youngest princess tries to back up her reasons as the rest of the group starts to head back to the castle for the night as well, “…Seriously did you see the look on her face when their lips parted!” Rosebud starts to go on, and on about how the two will be so perfect together. How long it will take them to get married, and even to the extent of what their kids will look like. The simple chuckles from her mother are lost to the filly all the way as they walk. “Oh she has this all planned out,” Tia mentions to her husband as they walk claw, and hoof. “Luna can do some better planning than we did,” Discord points out to her about their little unexpected pregnancy, which resulted in gracing their lives with kin of their own. Even the father of the filly finds it hard to hide the grin on his face, thankful that his daughter can’t see, though the eldest princess picks up on it all. “What are you thinking about over there?” She raises a curious brow to the chaotic male. “Just thinking…” Discord starts off while he pushes open the door to the castle. Holding it for the others while Celestia stands there with him waiting for an answer, “…If this is how she acts when it’s her aunt… How do you think she’ll take it, when a colt takes a fancy to her?” It’s an image that the father himself can start to see every now, and again. Even though he may not want that for quite a while, he knows it’s inevitable. So might as well get used to the idea? Though the snowy alicorn with him, has her eyes almost spread out of their sockets, at the thought of her daughter falling in love for the first time. “Oh dear,” Celestia mutters to herself, while the door behind them all closes.