Chapter 9
With the nightmares at bay, you followed Luna through the castle, wondering what new adventure you would find in a place you thought you knew fairly well as a guard. The more that you were with Luna, the more that everything you thought you knew was being shattered, replaced with new perceptions and ideas. Princess Luna seemed to be a pony that you would like to get to know more as you began to see her more than just another assignment. With any luck you could find a way to do so with whatever your next assignment would be.
You followed alongside her up stairs and down halls until you reached another of the many unassuming doors in the castle. This one you knew was one of the many private offices to which the Princesses had when needing to review some information or to meet with a small group of ponies. She opened it up, revealing a nice space with a desk filled with papers in a bin marked simply as “In” with its twin next to it marked “Out” than had no papers. A third bin which was silver had a sign that said simply “Celestia.” There was a circle of chairs across from it where groups could stay and a nice roaring fire welcoming all in.
“Take a seat,” Luna said as she sat behind the large desk, “This is probably my least favorite thing to do during the night but is no less important.”
“What is that?” you asked trying to see what the papers said as to get a clue.
“Mail,” she said with a groan, “Lots and lots of mail.”
“So, I get mail and not all of it is interesting.”
“But do you get at least a thousand letters a day?”
“Oh, you’re right.”
“You have to also consider that it’s not just my mail I look at but my sister’s that she hasn’t taken the time to look at. I help by picking out the important mail and then trashing the junk. Actually, maybe you can help me with this.”
“How so?” You replied willing to do anything to help her and save you from having to sit and do nothing.
“You can read the letters and tell me basically what it’s about, and then I’ll tell you whether I or my sister will respond to it or trash it. Sound like a plan?”
“Definitely!”
“Then pull up a chair next to me and hopefully we’ll get this done quickly. Oh and I trust you won’t share any of what’s in these letters to your friends, right?”
“Yes mam,” you said giving a smart salute.
She only shook her head and waited for the first letter report. It was a good thing you could quickly skim a letter and come up with a general idea of what it meant.
“A request to merge to build an apartment building for your sister,” you said.
“That’s a keeper. Celestia will have to meet with the property owner. Next one.”
“A request for you to rearrange the stars to spell out the name of a special somepony?” you said sounding perplexed.
“Yeah, how about no. Into the fire with that one. Don’t seem so perplexed as I get stranger requests. Turning the moon pink, asking to come to a filly’s birthday party, asking what my favorite color is.”
“Well what is it?”
“What is what?”
“Your favorite color?”
“Take a guess,” she said as she whipped her ethereal mane past you.
“Oh, right dark blue.”
“Yes, although I also like black and silver too. Onto the next letter.”
Many of the other letters were of the same vein, requests for things like expanding or merging businesses or homes, settling of disputes, questions about clarifying of Equestrian laws and customs, and yes even a few more strange letters like the one before. Luna instructed with each letter, sending out replies with a swift efficiency that you had never seen before with anypony. You watched the very methodical approach, taking the letter from you, reading it closely, quickly writing a reply, and with an envelope and an address it went into the “Out” bin. Quickly the formidable pile of things to do shrunk as the letters were destined for going out, to Celestia, or in some cases the fireplace. You felt glad in helping Luna with a such a tedious task, that in some way you were connecting with her more.
“So Princess Luna can I ask you a few questions about you?” you said as she worked on a letter.
“I suppose so. It will certainly break up the silence and the monotony. I however must caution you on not asking any personal questions.”
“That’s fine,” you said as you thought about your first question, “Well, what’s it like having a sister? I don’t have any siblings.”
“I see, well I consider sisters like best friends that are with you more than mere friends. Celestia has always been there to support me, comfort me, provide guidance, and even be the voice of reason against me. Sisters or even brothers need not support you all the time especially if what you are doing is wrong. But even when we argued we would never abandon each other. I never knew what it felt like to be alone until I was without her.”
With that the Princess grew silent as if she pondered some past event. You knew to be careful when asking future questions.
“Ok, so what’s your favorite food?”
“Oh, well that’s easy, fettuccini alfredo! And before you ask my favorite dessert is cheese cake, favorite candy is dark chocolate, and favorite drink is sparkling cider.”
“Hey, dark chocolate is mine too!” you said.
“What a coincidence,” Luna said with a laugh as she folded the letter she was working on and slipped it into an envelope, “So what other questions do you have about me?”
“Well, what do you like besides the night and such,” you said as you looked at the next letter, “Oh, this one is about a meeting of a dignitary from the Griffon Kingdom.”
“Thank you,” she said as she read it, “As for your question, there are lots of things that I like besides the night and stuff as you so eloquently put it. I like listening to music, especially dance music and music played on pipe organs. I’m a little rusty playing the organ myself but hopefully I’ll get back to playing. I like taking walks at night when no ponies are around to clear my mind. Hmm… what else? Oh, I do like to meditate as I find that nice as well, and I’ve been known to dance. Oh, and hot showers, those are great to wake me up. Those are a few things I can think of right now. Does this answer fulfill your question?”
She looked over at you noticing that you had a blank stare like your mind was on something else. Your face felt flushed and no doubt the Princess saw the rosy cheeks you had further incriminating you. She snapped her fingers in front of you, waking you up again with a jolt.
“Oh huh?” you said looking around for a moment until you saw Luna’s curious look on her face, “Oh Princess, did you need the next letter?”
“Yes, but that’s not the point right now. What happened there? You weren’t sleeping but your mind just blanked out like it was on something else. What were you thinking? Unless… wait, were you thinking about me in a hot shower?”
“Yes, I mean no,” you said as indeed that was something you had in your mind but you tried to redirect, “I mean it’s about this next letter I have.”
“Oh?” the Alicorn said wondering what was on it and still not believing that your mind was on anything but the shower, “and what was on this letter pray tell?”
“Um… I can’t say.”
“Has a cat got your tongue? Surely it isn’t anything too strange as the other hundreds of letters.”
“Well…”
Before you could say or do anything else Luna let out an exasperated groan and with her magic literally ripped the letter out of your hands. If you were holding onto the letter tighter she would no doubt pull you across the desk. Once again you misjudged her magic for being as strong as a unicorn’s but she had her way of reminding you who you sat next to. She studied the letter with intent until suddenly her eyes went wide and her royal blue face changed to a slight purple as it grew flush.
“Oh, I see what you mean,” she said trying to regain her composure, “This letter is quite… interesting.”
You knew what the letter said, one that waxed poetically about how much the writer loved the Princess. But that wasn’t what shocked you the most as the letter quickly devolved from a love letter into a list enumerating what the unnamed stallion wanted to do for, and more importantly to, Princess Luna.
“You seem calm about this,” you replied, “I don’t know what I would do if I got one like this!”
“I think that a stallion like you would be flattered if you got one from a mare. But I have received letters like this before countless times before. This one in particular has been trying to win my attention and affections for months now.”
“Do you want me to do something, maybe find him?” you said although it sounded to heroically, “I mean he is kind of stalking you.”
“No need to come to my rescue like a knight of old defending a helpless maiden as I am anything but helpless. I know exactly where to find him, not doubt he fantasizes about me in a dream of his. Once I find out where his dream lies I’ll have a little chat with him and maybe give him a little fright. You have to understand many ponies, both mares and stallions, like to share their affections towards me. Some of them simply want to know me more or become friends with me, simple and innocent and ones which I can if having the time oblige to. Then there are those like the anonymous author of this letter who think they know me enough to declare their undying love, or in this case lust, for me when they have no idea who I truly am.”
“Well, have you ever met a pony that wasn’t fake, that knew you enough…”
“To love?” Luna said raising her eyebrow, “You’re getting dangerously close to crossing the line into forbidden territory, but to satisfy your curiosity, yes, I had ponies that I’ve fallen in love with but they were as fleeting as the seasons. And I know what you are thinking after reading this letter, about what that stallion mentioned and added to the fact that I’m sure you had a very interesting image of me in said hot shower, but that answer I will not reveal to you. As for this one…”
She crumpled up the love letter and tossed it into the fireplace where it immediately vanished in the flames saying, “His letter will be the closest he will ever get to me. So will I have a problem with you now that you read that letter and have a certain image in your mind? Will you be another crazy stalker like the writer?”
“Oh no, not at all Princess,” you said trying to purge any bad thoughts in your mind as if fearing that she could see into them.
“Good, I cannot change what you think, but as I said I don’t want certain feelings muddling our arrangement. Now, it looks like we tackled almost all of my sister’s and my letters. Let us finish it up and we will then go somewhere that I like to visit and I’m sure you’ll enjoy.”