A DJ in the Night

by dj_neon_lights

Arc I - Chapter: 4 - Royally Screwed

Have you ever woken up and wanted so desperately to go back to sleep? Sometimes it’s because you just don’t want to leave the comfortable embrace of your bed. Sometimes it’s because you just didn’t get enough sleep. And other times you just don’t wanna face an immortal god that you didn’t know you were flirting with. Well, the last one may not be as common.

I awoke about 20 minutes ago, and as soon as I did, the memory of Midnight turning into princess Luna flooded my mind. I could’ve convinced myself that it was just a dream, but that’d just be stupid. If I had my way, I would’ve stayed there the entire day, night, and rest of my life in a cocoon of my own blankets… but my stomach had other plans. Considering I didn’t eat any dinner the day before, I was pretty hungry. I groaned, realizing that my plan to just lay in my bed was ruined by my mortal desire to eat, I sat up and… Oh shit.

On any other day, and if it were any other pony, I would consider what was in front of me as cute… but considering it was a princess, I had to banish those thoughts from my mind. Princess Luna sat at the edge of my bed, her eyes closed and her head resting on a hoof. I froze, hoping that she didn’t notice that I’d awoken. After a few minutes of impossible silence, a soft snore escaped the mare’s lips, and I let out a breath that I didn’t know I was holding.

There were two things I could do. One: I could slowly get out of my house and run away to some expediting country, or two: I could just wake the... the princess and address the big-ass elephant in the room.

Many thoughts went through my mind in that moment, contemplating my choices... then it hit me. This mare wasn't going to throw me in a dungeon, she wasn't going to yell at me, she wasn't gonna do anything even close to that! This was still the same mare I met at the club that night... only now she has wings. It was then I took the opportunity to think of this from her perspective. She was a princess. She chose to take the form of a normal pony so she could go to a nightclub. She chose to have dinner with me...

With my mind made up. I cleared my thought loud enough to wake the sleeping mare. Her head jerked up, looking for the source of whatever had awoken her. Her eyes finally fell upon me, and she froze in place. I stared back at the mare, looking into those same eyes that I had seen countless times in the past few days. I opened my mouth to speak, but it was Luna who spoke first.

"We... we shall be going now... We just wanted to make sure that you were okay..." the mare said, getting up and slowly walking towards the door.

"Wait!" I screamed. "Please don't go."

Luna paused, slowly turning to face me. "You... you wish for us to stay?"

I gulped. "Y-yes I... yes, I do." I got out of bed, trotting over to the mare. She shifted nervously as I got closer, refusing to meet my gaze. I stopped when I was only a foot away from her, taking a deep breath before speaking. "You being a princess may... complicate things. But even so, you are still the lonely mare I met at the club, and I'll only treat you differently if you ask me too," I finished.

Her response came in the form of a bone crushing hug. "We cannot express how much thanks we must give you for the understanding you have shown!" She began, hugging me tighter. "We feared that once you knew who we were, you'd run away or grovel like all the others!"

I could feel warm tears begin to flow down my back. Even though I was having trouble breathing, I hugged the mare back. "I... I thought of running away at first... but then it dawned on me that you were still the same pony who I met that day, just with a crown."

Luna continued to sob, holding me in a tight embrace, almost as if she even released a little, I’d disappear. "You... you truly are the kindest stallion we have ever met..."

I can't take it anymore! "L-Luna!" I squeaked. "C-can't b-b-breath!!!"

She instantly released me, and I gasped for air. "We are so sorry!" she began. "We were just so happy... we didn't notice we were crushing you."

"It's okay," I said, taking deep breaths. "It was honestly worth it."

She smiled, and I smiled back.

Silence...

"Now what?" I asked.

Luna cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"I mean... well, I mean what does this mean?" I motioned between us with a hoof. "As much as I want to remain casual, you still are a princess. I mean, are there laws about me hanging out with you? I want to remain friends, but I also want to make sure that nothing bad happens as a result of this."

Luna bowed her head. "We... We don't want any special treatment, or for you to treat us differently at all. You... you treat me as a normal pony; you don't grovel, run away, or even fear us. I wish for our interactions to remain the same... but we also know that things have to change." She looked solemnly at the ground. "We... we would like to keep this a secret from the public, lest you become a target."

I become a what now? "Uhh... Say that again?"

"Well, you being personal friends of the princess may lead to others wishing to get to me through you. Maybe trying to gain favors from you, or wish to harm you in order to harm us as a result."

My eye twitched. Well... I didn't think of that…

Luna noticed this, and instantly spoke up. "You need not worry of that!" she began. "For we shall personally make sure of your safety."

Well, can't get much safer than being protected by a god, I thought. "I trust you, and you are truly fun to be around, so I guess it's worth it."

A small blush formed on Luna's muzzle. "We... we thank you for that." She paused. "We... we would like to have you visit us in the castle, as we would like to introduce you to our sister, as I feel she would want to know of your presence."

I get to meet two princesses?! Holy crap, I'm the luckiest stallion in all of freakin' Canterlot! "How could I say, no?"

Luna jumped up, clapping her front hooves together. "Huzza! We shall arrange a lunch for us and our sister! We shall go and make preparations, and shall give you notice once we are ready!" Her horn began to glow. "We cannot thank you enough for how you have taken this, as we feared the worst." With a pop, she was gone.

I stared at the spot where Luna had just been, trying to process what had just happened. In the end, I just shrugged it off, figuring that thinking about it too much would only hurt my brain...

"One hundred and twenty-two," I mumbled as I caught the ball I my magic grip, before throwing it against the wall again. The ball hit the wall, bouncing back as I caught it in my magical grip again. "One hundred and twenty-three..."

It had been a few hours since Mid–err... Luna had left, and I'd been bored out of my mind ever since. I'd finished my morning routine a while ago, and decided to try and find something to do while I waited for her to return. I ended up grabbing a rubber ball that I'd won in an arcade game a while ago, and was bouncing it off my wall, catching it, then throwing it again. I didn't know why, but the activity somehow seemed to calm me. Maybe it was the soft beat that it created when it bounced off of the floor and then off the wall... Meh, whatever. I threw the ball again, returning to my time-blowing exercise.

I wasn't sure how long it'd be until Luna returned, and Celestia knows when... Celestia would be free and able to attend a lunch with me and her sister...

There was a sudden "pop", accompanied by the sound of hooved landing on my hardwood floor. I jumped, turning around and throwing the rubber ball at the source of the sound.

"Ouch!" Luna cried, bringing her hoof to her muzzle.

My eyes went wide as I shrunk down. "Hehe... sorry," I mumbled apologetically.

Luna rubbed her muzzle one more, before moving her focus back to me. "It is okay, as we probably should've given you more warning before appearing," she began, giving me a reassuring smile. "Although, there are repercussions for assaulting a princess."

I meeped.

Luna stared seriously at me for a few seconds, before her lips began to curl into a smile... and then falling onto her back and bursting into laughter. "Haha! You should see the look upon thy face!" she began, still laughing. "We can't believe you believed that!"

My face scrunched up in annoyance. "Haha," I mock laughed. "You are so hilarious."

Luna finally stopped laughing, shifting back onto her hooves and wiped a tear from her eye. "Yes, we are hilarious," she began, smiling. "But we want you to know that we shall never punish you for something done by accident."

I rolled my eyes.

"Anyways, we shall get back to the reason for our sudden appearance," she continued. "We have arranged for a lunch for us and our sister soon, and have come to fetch you." Her horn ignited, and I felt my body be engulfed in her magical grip.

I shuddered and felt... violated. The feeling of being held in someone else's magic was the creepiest feeling in the world. Honestly! It was like being held by a million little hands! "Luna... What are you doing?" I asked, my face showing my discomfort.

Luna smiled. "We are fetching you!" she exclaimed, seemingly oblivious to my discomfort. "Now please do not move, as we would not want to have any parts of your body not go through the teleport."

Wait, what?! I was about to scream, before my body began to tingle, and the world around me went white.

Being teleported was an... interesting experience. It was like being separated into millions of tiny bits, squeezed into a tiny tune, flung and unbelievable speeds, before finally being put back together. And you know what the worst part is? It's that you can feel everything! It was, without a doubt, the worst experience in my life...

After the experience of being forcibly teleported was over, I felt my hooves land on solid ground, and my body giving out. I could feel myself falling onto a cold surface, my eyes still foggy.

"Haha! We remember our first teleport, and can remember how unpleasant it was!" She paused, before continuing, "We... we probably should've warned you about this, actually," I heard Luna say from somewhere besides me.

I groaned, my limbs finally responded to my commands as I began to rub my eyes. "Luna?" I said, blinking as my vision began to return.

"Yes?"

I turned to face her, glaring death in her direction. "I would like it if you never, ever do that again."

Luna nodded, seemingly unfazed by my death glare. "We shall try and refrain from teleporting you in the future, but cannot make any promises."

I nodded, then took a look around. With my vision finally back and working, I figured I'd see where, exactly, we had actually gone. We seemed to be in the center of a large, circular room. The floor was some sort of dark, black wood, and the walls were a midnight blue. The ceiling was dome-shaped, decorated in paintings of stars and planets. In the middle of the ceiling was a large telescope, probably used for stargazing. I would've figured this place as an observatory, except the room also held a bed and other bedroom furniture.

"Luna?" I began, turning to the mare.

"Yes?" she answered.

"Where... where are we?"

She beamed. "You are in my private chambers!"

Oh, that makes sense. Wait... why does this feel awkward, again? "Oh, okay..." I paused. "Uh... Why?"

Luna's eyes went wide, before her hoof smacked into her face. "We apologize, for we should've explained before-hoof. We were so excited that we forgot to mention our plans for today," she began, giving me a sheepish smile. "But, we shall rectify this, and remove your confusion! We have arranged for a lunch with our sister soon, as we have told you. But, as we have told you before: we wish to make our friendship a secret. So, we shall wait in my personal study until our sister has finished her duties."

Okay... I shrugged. "Okay, I guess. But... what exactly are we going to do in the meantime?"

Luna opened her mouth, then closed. She scratched the back of her neck with a hoof, shuffling nervously in place. "We... didn't think this far, actually."

I face hooved. "Well, we better think of something..."

Celestia smiled as she trotted down the hallway towards her sister's room. Day court had just finished, and the solar princess had immediately made her way towards her sister's intended meeting place. Luna had been acting strange lately, staying awake longer during the day, and spending time out of the castle. Celestia figured her sister had been simply been observing modern culture; trying to get caught up with what she missed. To her surprise, her sister had approached her earlier, and told her that she'd made a friend with some stallion, and that she wished for her to meet him during a simple lunch. She had agreed, obviously, to both please her sister and meet this mysterious stallion. At first, she didn't know what to think about him. But the more she thought about it, the more she got worried.

As she approached her sister's room, Celestia began to hear strange sounds from inside. As she got closer, the sounds sounded more like grunts and shuffling. Celestia tilted her head at the door in confusion, before turning her gaze to the guard besides the door. The guard in question was blushing furiously, avoiding the princess' gaze. Realization hit her like a sack of bricks, and Celestia's expression shifted from curiosity, to disappointment. She opened the door, intent on scolding her sister, but stopped dead in her tracks and she watched, her mouth hung wide open...

"Get your wing out of my face!"

"We cannot! You should remove thy face from our wing!"

"Luna! The thing says right hoof to green!"

"How are we supposed to do that from our current position?!"

"I don't know?! Ouch! Watch your horn!"

"We shall put whoever designed this game in the dungeon!!!"

While waiting for Celestia, me and Luna had decided to try and find something to pass the time. Our solution to said issue came in the form of the evil game known as Twister...

"We have put our hoof on the desired color. Now it is your turn!"

I groaned, reaching for the spinner with my magic. I flicked the spinner with my magic, watching as it stopped. "Right rear hoof on... blue." Who designed this horrible game! Already being pretty much tangled in Luna, I tried to get my hoof to the desired location. Which only lead to Luna groaning in discomfort and pain. I was about to tell her to stop complaining, when a new voice joined the conversation.

"What is going on in here?!"

My heart stopped.

"Oh, dear sister!" Luna began from her tangled position, seemingly excited with her sister's appearance. "We are just playing a game with the friend we have told you about!"

Yup, I'm dead.

"Oh... From outside it sounded as if you were... Nevermind," Celestia said, shaking her head. "Well, we better get going."

"In one moment..." Luna began, trying to escape our knot of limbs. "we seem to be stuck..." She paused. "And we are not sure if he is breathing."

I wasn't sure if I was either scared out of my mind, or embarrassed as hell... All I did know was that I was tangled in the princess of the night, and hadn't realized how... suggestive our pose my seem to an outsider... Crap!

Celestia eyes me curiously and, for a fraction of a second, I thought I saw her eyes burn…

After some struggling and more than a few curses that seemed way out of time, me and Luna managed to untangle each other. Luna had immediately went over and hugged her sister, thanking her for taking the time out of her busy schedule. Celestia hugged back, telling her that it was no problem, and that they should spend more time together anyways. I made sure to keep my distance from the princess, only bowing my head and introducing myself. I wasn’t sure why, but there seemed to be some sort of tension between the two of us, and I didn’t like it at all… I mean, when the princess of the sun gives you a dirty look, you know you’re screwed.

We soon after exited Luna’s room and trotted down the grand halls of the castle, Luna leading the way. As we walked, Luna kept pointing out some of the architecture to me, explaining all she could about the castle. I listened as much as I could, giving her occasional “Cool” and “That’s interesting” comments when needed. All of the time, I kept feeling like the white alicorn besides me was glaring at me, but every time I went to peek at her, she had her gaze set in front of her…

About ten minutes of walking later, we arrived at a balcony that overlooked the overhang of canterlot, giving a beautiful view of the land beyond. I gasped in awe when I first noticed the view, and Luna smiled at me. In the middle of the balcony was a pearl white table with a crystal teapot in the middle, surrounded by three settings with a small plate and teacup. On the floor were three cushions that surrounded the table. I picked the one that was closest to the door, and sat down. The two princesses followed suit, sitting on their respective sides.

I sat there nervously, waiting for somepony to break the awkward silence that hung in the air. To my surprise, it was Luna who spoke first, somehow being oblivious to the tension between me and her sister.

“Now that we are in a better setting, we would like to introduce our friend properly, sister,” she began, before motioning with me with a hoof. “This is Neon Lights. He is a disk jockey at one of the nightclubs in our city.” Luna momentarily “squee'd”, tapping her hooves together in glee. “Oh, we love the prospect of nightclubs! It means that ponies are truly enjoying our night. But, we digress.”

Celestia smiled at her sister, before turning to face me. “It is good to meet you, Mr. Neon," she said politely, holding out a hoof for me to shake it.

I hesitantly shook the offered hoof. "Pleasure to meet you, Princess," I replied, trying to hide my growing nerves. I couldn't say for certain, but I think she noticed my discomfort, and enjoyed it!

Celestia retracted her hoof, her horn glowing as she poured each of us some tea. "I'm curious to know about how you two met. I mean, it isn't every day you make friend with a princess," she hung on the word, staring at me as she did.

I opened my mouth to answer, but it was Luna who responded. "Well, we were curious to know about the change in culture, so we decided that it'd be best if we disguised ourselves as a normal pony, taking the name of Midnight. We went to the club that Neon was working at, and she somehow noticed how discomforted I was and went over to make sure we had fun." Luna smiled at me. "He showed us kindness and helped us have a great time."

Celestia nodded. "Sounds like he was a grand gentle colt."

Luna beamed. "Oh, yes, he was and is. He brought us to this glorious restaurant, the one that just opened. We had a wonderful time!"

Glad she left out the mugging…

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Really, now? Sounds like it was fun," Celestia began, before turning to Luna. "Sister, would you mind heading down to the kitchen and fetching some muffins?"

Luna nodded. "We shall return soon!" she said, before getting up and trotting off.

I smiled as the rounded the corner, before turning to face Celestia. My smile vanished immediately as Celestia glared at me, her eyes burning. I could literally feel the heat! I nervously chuckled, slowly sinking into my seat at the gaze of the princess. “Hey… w-what’s up?” I nervously defaulted, not knowing exactly what to say.

Celestia continued to glare at me, before finally speaking. “How dare you,” she began, her form is not changing.

“P-pardon?” I squeaked.

Celestia’s scowl deepened. “How dare you take advantage of my sister!” she bellowed, putting her hooves on the table. “I have seen your kind before, only wanting power and favors from royalty. But, I’m not going to let you do that with my sister!”

I felt like I was literally being melted. “B-but!”

Celestia slammed her hooves onto the table again, this time causing everything on the table to fall over, spilling onto the ground. “Do not lie to us! We have missed our sister for a thousand years, and am not going to lose her again!” Celestia got up, pushing the table aside with her magic. “I will destroy you for what you plan to do…” she growled. “And you shall never-” she was cut off as something black flew in front of me, standing between me and the advancing mare. It took me a second to realize that it was, in fact, Luna. She stood in-front of me, her wings flared and her horn glowing.

“Yield, sister!!!” Luna bellowed so loud the balcony shaken.

Celestia stared, dumbfounded, before shaking her head, composing herself. “Sister, please move aside. I didn’t want you here when I did this, but it still needs to be done.”

Luna growled, her eyes surrounded by some sort of black mist. “We shall not move, and we shall not let you lay a hoof on him! Back away, sister!” Luna said, advancing towards her sister.

Celestia, once again, balked at her sister. “Sister, this is for your own good! He only wants to use you!” Celestia countered.

Luna scowled. “How dare you suggest that to the first to show me true friendship!” Luna spoke, her words dripping venom.

Celestia actually scoffed. “First? What about Twilight during Nightmare Night? Have you forgotten about that?”

Luna laughed. Not a joyous laugh, but an empty one. “Yes, your student showed me friendship once… but only then.” Luna bit her lip. “But not since then. She has not written to me, asked how I have been, or even once, on her own, reached out to me! I sent her many letters, but her replies were always formal, and never accepting my offer of doing anything together! She was my friend for a day, that is it!” she said, her hoof slamming into the floor for emphasis. She softened, taking a deep breath, but still scowled at her sister. “And you question the stallion who offered me friendship for no reason but to be kind? He has gone out of his way to spend time with me, and even showed understanding when he realized that I was a princess… he did not run away like the others… he stayed.” She turned to face me, smiling genuinely. “He has helped show me that I am not alone…”

Luna then turned to see Celestia’s response. To Luna’s surprise, Celestia’s horn glowed, heat slowly building around her. “How naive are you, sister?!" Celestia began, holding her ground. "Has all this time away made you blind?” Luna frowned, but stayed put. “He is using you! I have seen it happen many times before! You are weak, lost, and out of your time. Things have changed, yes, but I didn’t expect you to be so desperate to believe this?!” Luna shrank slightly, her eyes watering. Celestia saw this, but only continued. “How can I expect you to rule when you make a mistake such as this?! You have been ignoring your royal duties to spend time with this stallion! You have been sneaking out, ignoring everything you are supposed to do! You are a princess, and should start acting like one!” Celestia finished, staring at her sister who had begun to cry.

On, hell no! I stood up from my place behind Luna, stomping over so I was between her and Celestia. I was probably gonna die, but like hell I was gonna let this continue! “Hey, Sun-butt!” I screamed, causing Celestia to raise an eyebrow. “I can see why you wouldn’t trust me, and I can understand the risk that somehow abusing being a friend of royalty would be, but that does not give you the right to yell at your sister for having nothing!”

Celestia shook her head, before her scowl returned. “How dare you talk to me like that! This is my sister, and I am only making sure that both she and our kingdom is safe!”

I didn’t back down, instead taking a step forwards towards the mare. I could feel the rising heat around her, but I ignored it. “I dare because you are being really stupid! I know the story of how she came back, I know about the legend; I know everything about it, everypony knows!” Suddenly, I realized something. “And you know what, I think I just figured this out. You aren’t afraid of me being corrupt, or your sister failing at her duties.” I took a step closer, my face softening. “You’re afraid of losing her again…”

Celestia looked like she was about to retort, she choked on her words. Celestia removed her gaze from me and brought it to the floor, seeming to contemplate what I had said. Not long afterwards, she let out a sight, falling back onto her haunches and shaking her head. “You… you are right,” she admitted, before turning to face Luna, who had stopped crying and was watching from beside me. “I… I’m sorry, sister… I… I just don’t wanna lose you again!” Celestia looked like she was holding back tears. “I spent a thousand years blaming myself for what happened to you, and I couldn’t let it happen again!”

She didn’t continue, as Luna wrapped her hooves around her in an embrace. “We are never going to leave you, sister. We shall never let ourselves come to that state again,” she said, still holding her sister.

I watched as the two sisters embraced. I felt a little awkward, feeling as if I was watching something sacred, and my presence was ruining it.

After a while, the two broke the embrace, and both turned to face me, Celestia being the first to speak. “I would like to… apologise, for my actions earlier… and would like to thank you for showing me reason.” She chuckled. “It seems like even I need to be reminded what I am being stupid.”

I smiled back, waving a dismissive hoof. “It was nothing, Princess. I’m just glad that I’m still alive!”

Celestia’s eyes went wide, and I looked at her questionably. She pointed a hoof at my back, and I turned to see that my tail was on fire! I screamed, running around in circles while I tried to stomp it out. I was stopped when I felt something warm splash over me. I stared up, seeing the teapot being held in a mystical blue aura.

I sighed in relief. “Thank you, Luna.”

Luna nodded, placing the teapot on the ground and shooting Celestia a glare, who blushed slightly. “Sorry about that,” Celestia began. “I may have gone a little overboard in my rage.”

I wrung out my tail. “Yeah, a little,” I deadpanned.

Luna chuckled. “Well, this lunch turned out far differently than we expected,” she admitted. “Although, we are happy that all issues have been resolved.”

Celestia nodded. “I agree, and once again apologize for our outburst.”

“Water under the bridge.”

Celestia nodded, before looking at the clock that hung above the balcony. “Sadly, I have to leave you two as I have a meeting with a diplomat from the gryphon kingdom,” Celestia began, as she trotted back inside the castle. “See you soon, sister.”

Luna waved at her sister, before turning her attention to me. “We have to thank you for standing up to my sister. It takes someone extremely brave to do such a thing."

Or extremely stupid, I mentally added. "No problem. Honestly, I couldn't stand to see you like that," I admitted.

Luna playfully bumped into my side. "Whatever the reason, we thank you," she began, smiling. "Now... would you wish to continue our game?"

I shrugged. "Why not..."

Me and Luna spent more time that I’d like to admit playing the curse and joy that was Twister. I don’t know how it was both fun and horrible at the same time, but it was. I’m not sure how long we played, but when we were done it was starting to get dark. Luna offered to teleport me back home, but I refused. After my first experience, I didn’t want to have another one any time soon. I ended up walking back from the castle to my apartment, stopping along the way to have a quick dinner. Considering the castle was quite far from my apartment, and I stopped for dinner, I got home pretty late. Considering I have completely wrecked my sleeping patterns by being up for the past few days, I figured that going to bed early seemed like a good idea.

As I lay in my bad, I could help but chuckle at the day’s events. I had gone face to face with the goddess of the sun! I could’ve help but feel a little bad flank for managing that, to be honest...