Luna was overwhelmed with the sweet aroma of cider and berry wine the moment she stepped in the tavern of The Boysenberry Inn. The large room was lined with huge wooden barrels, stacked so high in some places they nearly obscured the stone walls. Rafters crossed the high ceiling and wagon wheels hung from chains, creating a flat surface for the candles circling them, stuck to the weathered wood with dripping wax.
The tavern was littered with ponies sitting at the round spindle tables. A pair of minstrels sat on stools in a corner by the massive stone fireplace that was nearly as long as the wall it was built into. A cheer could be heard from across the room, and Luna turned to see a horseshoe throwing stall being used in lively competition by several rowdy mares and stallions.
Cloud Climber seemed oblivious to most of this, scanning the room casually for Big Macintosh and Cheerilee. As they walked past the long bar, a grey unicorn stallion with a scruffy white mane stopped wiping a mug with a rag long enough to smile heartily at the blue pegasus.
“Cloudy! Haven’t seen you ‘round here in a while! What have ya been up to?”
Cloud Climber trotted over to the bar, giving the bartender a grin as they shook hooves firmly. He had to raise his voice to be heard over the ruckus of the tavern.
“Hi there, Vin! Been busy! Volunteered for the night shift, and this just happens to be one of my few nights off.”
“Eh, I guess the clouds don’t clear themselves, even at night. Who’s this lovely mare you’re escorting?”
Luna jerked her head around, looking at the bartender with wide eyes. Was he talking about her? Cloud Climber leaned on the bar, motioning over his shoulder towards the disguised princess.
“Oh, I’m not her escort. She’s more like my indentured acquaintance. Moonlight Breeze, meet Vintage, the owner of the finest establishment in Ponyville.”
Luna smiled and approached the bar, looking up and down the long shelves of spirits, berry wines, and ciders in awe and interest.
“Hello, Mr. Vintage. What a lively place you have here.”
The aging pony laughed, wiping his hooves on his apron.
“Oh, none of this ‘Mr. Vintage’ nonsense. Just call me Vintage, or Vin, if you like!”
“Which would you prefer, sir?” she asked, meeting his eyes in question.
“Well, I s’pose a pretty thing like you callin’ me Vin could make me feel like a young stallion again!”
Luna nodded.
“Then it is decided. I shall call you Vin.”
The grey unicorn laughed, tossing his dirty rag in the washtub.
“Well, mare’s first. What can I get for ya, darlin’?”
Luna placed both of her hooves on the bar with confidence, raising her chin and giving Vintage a smile.
“My acquaintance and I will have two mugs of your finest cider, Vin!”
The barkeep stomped his hoof with a huge grin.
“Now that’s what I like! A mare who knows what she wants! Two mugs of cider, comin’ right up!” Luna watched as the stallion used his magic to flip two large mugs into the air, then hold them beneath the spout of the cider barrel. When the mugs were full and frothy, he slid them down the bar in front of the truly entertained Princess of the Night.
“There you are, darlin’! First round is on the house!”
She met his kind gaze with concern.
“No! I must purchase these drinks! I owe Cloud Climber a debt!”
Vintage laughed heartily.
“Well, sweetheart, you can buy the next round then!”
Luna opened her mouth, preparing to once again protest, when Cloud Climber leaned over her, taking both the mugs in his hooves.
“Much obliged, Vin! I knew there was a reason why this was my favorite joint!” He then nudged Luna away from the bar, steering her towards a table in the back of the room.
Big Macintosh and his mare friend were already seated there, the stallion taking long swigs of his cider and the dark pink earth pony sipping on a glass of berry wine. Cloud Climber glided down to his seat, letting the steins he carried plop on the table.
“Mac,” he greeted with a nod. “Cheerilee! You lovely filly, how have you been?”
She ran a hoof over her pink and white curls.
“Oh, he calls me lovely. Such a flatterer! Watch out for this one!” she teased Luna. The princess slowly took her seat.
“If I had watched out for him, perhaps he would not currently have that black eye.”
Big Macintosh snorted into his glass while Cheerilee snickered gleefully. Cloud Climber looked at her strangely, unable to tell if she was being literal or clever. The dark pink mare leaned across the table to extend a gentle hoof to the lavender pegasus.
“I’m Cheerilee! I teach the colts and fillies at the town schoolhouse.”
“Moonlight Breeze,” Luna responded, lightly shaking the teacher’s hoof.
“You have already met Big Macintosh, of course.”
“Eeyup,” the large scarlet stallion replied, nodding in greeting.
“And the unicorn over there,” Cheerilee continued, motioning to a yellow stallion with a shaggy blue mane, who appeared to be attempting to charm some mares, “Is Comet Tail. He should be back over shortly, once those fillies get tired of him.”
Luna raised an eyebrow, even as Cheerilee’s prediction came true, and the downtrodden stallion returned to the table and nursed his cider.
“I don’t understand,” he mumbled. “They said that all my ‘star talk’ was boring them.”
“Who could ever consider talk of stars dull?” Luna asked in shock. He brightened at this, raising his mug to toast her.
“Her, I like. I am Comet Tail. And who might you be, you sky-enamored mare of my dreams?”
“This is Moonlight Breeze,” Cloud Climber interjected, pushing Luna stein closer to her. “And you should slow down on that cider until the rest of us have had a chance to catch up!” He lifted his mug for a toast.
“To good friends and good times!” he shouted. The other four ponies raised their drinks in kind.
“Here here!”
Luna took a small sip of her strong cider, before noticing in shock that all of her table mates were chugging their beverages. She took a deep breath and tilted her mug back, her eyes growing wide as the warm frothy liquid slid down her throat.
When she emptied her glass, she slammed it down on the table in satisfaction. The pale blue pegasus appraised her proudly.
“Wow, Moonlight, I didn’t think you had it in you.” He raised himself from his seat to make his way back to the bar, but Luna placed her hoof on his shoulder.
“Oh, no you do not. I have been told that I, in fact, have the next round.”
Cloud Climber and Luna were leaning over the railing of the horseshoe throwing stall, watching Comet Tail as he took his turn tossing the rusty metal shoe at the peg. Cheerilee and Macintosh were sitting at a table nearby. He took a sip of his cider and whispered something in her ear, causing her to blush and giggle. Luna looked back over her shoulder at them.
“They seem very sweet,” she commented to the stallion beside her.
“Mac and Cheer? They’ll give you a cavity. But… HEY COMET!” he suddenly bellowed.
The yellow unicorn stumbled as he released the shoe, throwing off his attempt.
“Bucking hay, Cloudy! That was messed up!”
Cloud Climber trotted around the railing and snatched up a shoe to take his turn.
“Focus, my friend, you need to learn focus.” He bumped Comet out of the way with his flank, furrowing his brow as he gauged the distance between himself and the peg at the opposite end of the stall.
“Hey Moonlight, let me show you how a real stallion tosses a shoe.”
There was a sudden crash behind her, and before Luna could turn around, she found herself swept aside by a blur of pale blue. Luna’s flank thudded against the stone wall as two scrapping stallions crashed through the wooden railing where she had been standing. The stall exploded into flying splinters and hay as the ponies continued to fight.
Luna looked up at Cloud Climber, who still had a front leg across her body, holding her against the wall as he turned to shout at the stallions.
“WHOA! HEY! KNOCK IT OFF!” He swooped away from her, joining several other ponies who were attempting to break up the fight.
Luna stared after him as he dove into the fray, barely noticing Cheerilee rushing to her side.
“Oh my goodness, are you alright?” Cheerilee gasped. “Those idiots nearly took you out!”
Luna nodded as Big Macintosh casually trotted his way over to the fight. Comet Tail trotted up to the two mares watching the brawl from the corner, looking wide eyed and wild.
“Did you see that? Did you see how fast he moved?”
Cheerilee nodded excitedly in agreement, while Luna just looked between them in confusion.
“What happened?”
Cheerilee placed a hoof on Luna’s shoulder, more to calm herself than the disguised princess.
“Cloudy whipped around that stall so fast it was startling. He shoved you out of the way just before the fight crashed into you! His reaction time was incredible!”
Comet looked to Luna with concern.
“Are you alright?”
She nodded again, watching the large red stallion dip his head into the fight, snatching one of the offending stallions out of the fray. He slowly backed away from the cluster, ignoring the thrashing and shouting pony in his bit.
Cloud Climber released the stallion he had been holding back.
“You good?” The earth pony turned on him as if to strike him, and the blue pegasus slammed him on his back onto the hay. “Whoa! You two are tearing up the place and wrecking everyone else’s good time! You destroyed Vin’s stall! Now get out of here!” He pushed off the pony, shaking out his now more than usually disheveled black and grey mane. He started trotting over to where Luna and the others stood, watching over his shoulder to be sure the grumbling stallion left the tavern as ordered. The pony stormed out, just as Big Macintosh dropped the other offender to the floor before turning and bucking him out the door.
Cloud Climber looked back to his companions with a grin.
“Well, wasn’t that exciting?”
Luna screwed up her muzzle, giving him a strange look.
“You actually enjoyed that, did you not?”
Cloud Climber’s grin widened.
“No, of course not!”
Cheerilee rolled her eyes with a resigned smile.
“Adrenaline pony.”
Big Macintosh was making his making his way back over to them, a tray filled with fresh drinks balanced on his flank.
“Hey now, it’s not a night out ‘til someone breaks somethin’,” he drawled, winking at the dark pink mare.
Luna was staring down at the five cards she held in her hooves, taking another long sip of cider. She glanced around the table at the other ponies, attempting to guess if they held a good hand or a bad one.
It had been Cheerilee that suggested the game of Marks. Luna had never heard of it and she had lost a decent amount of bits before Cloud Climber had finally agreed to help her. After the two argued for some time over the gameplay, the other ponies laughed at them mercilessly, and many more rounds of cider had been guzzled, Luna sat in fuzzy silence as the other four ponies at the table laughed and chided one another.
“What ya got, Comet?” Big Macintosh asked.
The yellow unicorn sighed heavily, throwing his hand on the table top. Cheerilee couldn’t stop giggling into her berry wine.
“He hasn’t had a good hand all night, Mac!” She dropped her cards onto the floor, and her face fell. “Oh dear. I guess I’m out.”
“Well, Loony Moony,” Cloud Climber teased, “It’s down to you, me, and Mac. You got the nerve?”
Luna stared at her cards for a few more moments before absently pushing the last of her bits into the formidable pile in the center of the table.
“I acknowledge your taunt, and I shall accept your challenge.”
Big Macintosh flipped over his cards, showing a high Sun Mark card and a pair of Lightning Bolts. Cloud Climber eyed Luna, watching her expression carefully.
“On three?”
She nodded, still stoic in her resolve.
“One… two… THREE.” They both slammed their cards down on the table. His hand consisted of 2 pairs, Clouds and Balloons. Luna laughed, her wings spreading and lifting her up off her stool as she revealed a Full Stable of three Suns over two Moons.
“Ha HA!” she laughed. “The victory is MINE!” She leaned towards the pegasus stallion, putting her face directly in his. “HA! I have won the day!” She swooped forward, gathering the bits in her hooves with a smile. Flying up to stand on the table, she raised her voice and shouted so the whole inn could hear her proclamation.
“CIDER FOR EVERYPONY! THE ROUND IS ON ME!” The whole tavern cheered, stomping their hooves to the tune of the lively jig the minstrels began to play. Luna flapped her wings and danced in the air, paying little mind as her prize rained down on the table with little clinks.
Cloud Climber leaned back in his stool, eyeing her with a grin.
“You really are a special kind of crazy!” he yelled to her. She made a face at him before bursting into laughter, her dance taking her from table top to table top. Cheerilee giggled uncontrollably, clapping her hooves, while Big Macintosh and Comet Tail stood and gave their new friend a few whoops for good measure.
Cloud Climber snatched up his mug and finished off his beverage before leaning forward to gather up the bits. He stood, stopping momentarily to let a light wave of dizziness pass, before flying over to the bar and dropping all the bits on its weathered surface.
“You heard the mare!” he shouted to Vintage. “Cider for everyone!”
The dark grey unicorn looked wide eyed at the mound of bits before him.
“A round for the whole bar doesn’t cost this much!”
Luna suddenly swooped down and landed beside Cloud Climber, putting a hoof over his back and throwing the other out to her side.
“Then start a tab, I believe it is called! Keep the cider coming to our table, Vin!” And then she rose into the air and over the bar, hovering over the elderly barkeep long enough to take his head in both her hooves and plant a kiss on the tip of his horn. The lavender pegasus then whirled away, losing herself in the tavern jig once more.
Vintage flushed a little as he chuckled, setting the first few mugs on the bar.
“Well, ain’t she just a peach?”
Cloud Climber watched her, taking a fresh stein of cider in his hoof and pouring back a large swallow. He wiped his mouth, letting a smile grace his numbing lips.
“She grows on you.”
“And then he said… he said… ‘IT WAS STUCK TO MY FLANK THE ENTIRE TIME!’” Big Macintosh head tears in his eyes, guffawing loudly after finishing his story. Cheerilee fell against him in another fit of giggles. Luna snorted into her cider as Cloud Climber and Comet Tail pounded the table in laughter.
A fresh tray of drinks arrived at the table, and Comet Tail snatched his up and raised it in another toast.
“To Celestia! May her wisdom and guidance shine down upon us always!” The other ponies raised their mugs.
“Here here!” they shouted.
Luna smiled, gladly toasting her beloved sister. She had barely begun to take a drink, when Comet Tail toasted again.
“And to Luna! Sweet Princess of the Night! May her dreams be as peaceful as her heavens!”
Luna choked on her cider.
Big Macintosh pounded the table top as he unknowingly drank to her. Cheerilee sipped her wine with a nod. Cloud Climber raised his mug, overemphasizing his actions as he thrust it into the air.
“Here here.”
Luna looked around at her companions blankly.
“You toast to Princess Luna?”
“As they should,” came a voice. Luna struggled to focus on the brown stallion trotting towards the table. The hourglass marked flank dropped in the stool beside her. “That princess has been through more than any of us will ever understand.”
“S’not her fault,” Comet Tail slurred, taking another long sip of his cider.
“That, we can’t be sure of. But what we can be sure of is that Princess Luna carries greater burdens than she herself may even know.” The pony took a sip of his drink, tipping back a little too far on his stool and quickly righting himself.
Cloud Climber leaned in close to her, putting a hoof around her casually.
“Listen to the Doc. He studies this stuff.”
The Doctor set his mug down on the table carefully before continuing.
“I consider it a hobby,actually, the study of the Royal line.”
“Seriously, Doc. Tell her about the…”
Luna put her hoof over his blue muzzle.
“Celestia and Luna descend from an ancient line,” the Doctor continued. “A line graced with immense power. They are of greater magic and stature than anypony in Equestria. Everything about them is enhanced.
“That’s the thing about alicorns. I believe that if everything about them is amplified, then their emotions must be as well. Princess Luna’s jealousy of her sister’s power led to a hatred so intense that it transformed her into what we have come to call ‘Nightmare Moon.’ Surely such a transformation would be limited to beings of such great power. If it was not, ponies all over Equestria would be turning into nightmare versions of themselves!”
Luna stared at him.
“So you think that the reason… Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon was because her emotions have more power than the average pony?”
The Doctor shrugged.
“It is only my theory.” He took another swig of his drink before continuing. “Combine great emotional turmoil with great magic, and the outcome cannot be predicted, or possibly ever understood. But I have no doubt that the emotions of the princesses rival the magic they carry inside them, and our sweet Princess of the Night fell victim to them.”
Luna looked into her cider, watching the swirls of sugary goodness.
“I do not think the Princess would want you to pity her.”
“I do not pity her. I respect her. I feel for her struggle, especially now that she has returned to a world that fears her, even after a thousand years.”
“Her sky,” Cloud Climber suddenly blurted. “I feel it in her sky.”
Luna turned to look at him.
“What?”
He put a hoof in the air, slowly motioning above them.
“It’s her canvas. She paints her canvas with darkness and stars and glowing light. Only a pony with passion could make what she makes. Her night sky is beautiful, but sometimes it feels sad.”
The table was quiet. Too quiet. The discomfort of it made Luna stifle a giggle.
“Well, are you not poetic?”
Cloud Climber looked at her with a flat expression.
“Don’t you think she must be sad?”
“I think the princess would not want us to be filled with sorrow on her account. I think she would want us to be joyful and merry and celebrate,” she said lightly, picking up her mug and chugging the rest.
“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh agreed. Slamming her empty mug down on the table, her abruptness caused everypony to snap out of their thoughtful state.
“You have interesting ideas, dear Doctor. But the real question I pose to you,” she grinned at him slyly, “Why is your mug still empty?”
Vintage was standing at the door, ushering his drunken patrons into the night. Cheerilee was laying across Big Macintosh’s back on her stomach as he slowly rumbled out of the tavern. Comet Tail was asleep with his head on the table back in the inn.
loud Climber and Luna were flying haphazardly a few yards off the ground, singing an old Cloudsdale folk song he had spent the last half hour attempting to teach her. Luna took the first verse, giggling as she landed on a lopsided fence and tipsily hopped from post to post.
"She was a young filly
So dainty and pretty
With mane of pale pink and brushed shiny hide."
Cloud Climber hovered over her as he finished the verse.
"The stallions pined for her
For they all adored her
Each one longed to make that sweet filly their bride."
Luna flew up beside him, bumping into the stallion drunkenly, causing them both to laugh as they continued to sing loudly.
"Then one fateful mornin’
One stallion was soarin’
When he spied the mare bathing down by the stream.
He smiled so slyly
Landed next to her spryly
And that stallion gave her the night of her dreams."
They looked at one another mischievously as they sang the last verse of their tune.
"Now she’s surly and swollen
And our stallion’s so sullen
He captured his mare but he’s down on his luck
‘Cause that fat filly’s yellin’
The foal’s diaper is smellin’
And now he wishes they would never have…"
“MOONLIGHT!” Cheerilee exclaimed from her position slung over Big Macintosh’s back. “That is a terrible, wretched song and you have no business singing it!”
Luna grinned wickedly, nearly dropping to the ground before righting herself.
“It is deliciously inappropriate!” she corrected.
Cheerilee glared at the blue pegasus who was laughing hysterically.
“Shame on you for teaching her that!”
Big Macintosh smiled and let out a low chuckle.
“We’re headin’ his way. You ponies have a good night now.” And the apple farmer and the teacher lumbered off down the path to town and into the darkness.
Cloud Climber looped around and around Luna, smiling at her.
“C’mon, Moonlight, I’ll walk you home.”
“You cannot walk me home,” she laughed, drifting to the ground and landing on the road a little harder than she meant to. She started trotting forward. “It is too far and you do not know where I live!”
“I’ll know once you tell me,” he quipped, dropping next to her.
Luna giggled at the thought of telling him she lived in Canterlot Castle.
“I cannot tell you.” She put her hoof to her lips. “It is a secret.”
The stallion moved in front of her, trotting backwards. He put his face close to hers and smiled slyly.
“I can keep a secret,” he whispered. And then he tripped.
Luna cackled, spreading her wings. She fluttered over the cross Cloud Climber, who continued to sit on his flank, kicking at the offending rock.
“Thank you for a glorious evening, but you should obviously be going home. You are in no condition to escort anyone besides yourself!” She slurred while weaving from side to side.
“Look who can’t fly straight,” he snickered, laying back in the dirt.
Luna stuck her tongue out at him before shooting up into the clouds.
“Goodnight, Cloud Climber!” she shouted.
He watched her disappear, putting his hooves behind his head as he laid on his back, watching the starry sky spin above him.
“G’night, Moonlight.”