Chapter IIX.V - A Night in Itaily
Chapter 8.5: A day in Itaily
Venice. The capital of Itaily and main attraction of tourists, foreign dignitaries and the like. In the summer heats, nothing satisfies the ponies more than the local beaches and the ice cold, freshly made gelatos. The frozen treats came in so many different flavours, expertly made to satisfy even Celestia's tongue (Celestia's hoof of approval since 837 A.N.M!). There are mints, a range of citrus, vanillas, even floral flavours have been integrated in recent years. But of course, there is the all time favourite of any pony, chocolate. Nopony can ever resist the impeccable creaminess of white chocolate, the smoothness of the milk or the bittersweet taste of the dark. And the beaches, oh, the beaches.
Aside from the food, Itaily is most famous for its beaches. There was never a bad day at sea, the swell never went too high or too low. The beaches never grew dirty or were infested with seaweed or other things that could upset the locals and tourists. The sand glowed bright gold during any time of the day, all the way until sunset. Even in the night, the sea and sands looked amazing in a stunning silver and midnight blue.
In this beautiful and abundant city, there can only be one place to sleep for the perfect holiday. The five star resort, Mare Hotel. From top to bottom, everything in this resort was five-star quality; five star banquets, five star service, five star rooms, and hell, even five star lavatories! The staff and supervisors of the Mare Hotel accept nothing short of perfection when it comes to serving customers. The head chef was even once part of Celestia's personal caterers, and the manager a retired advisor of Celestia's council. And it was in this hotel, that two very old friends were going to catch up and spend time with each other after a thousand years.
Well, they will once one of them stops being sick to his stomach from the eight hour train ride to the city.
’They really need to invent medicine for people like me...’ Thought the immortal dragon slayer as he stumbled through the entrance of the Mare Hotel with his lunar counterpart.
"I shall see to it that you'll get high strength remedies for your sickness while we are here, brother." Said Luna as she supported her brother's stumbling.
"Thank you..." He mumbled, covering his hand over his mouth to prevent himself from throwing up.
Walking very slowly, Natsu had reached the receptionist desk. The mare at the desk was a young one with a sandy yellow coat and brown mane, and she didn't look too happy. In fact, she looked very bored. The pink bubblegum bubble expanding out of her mouth and magazine in front of her made it a little evident.
"Hello...I have....a reservation." Said Natsu, his brow sweating profusely.
"Under what name?" Asked the petite mare, not looking up from the page she was on.
"Natsu Dragneel." Like that, the mare's eyes widened and she slowly raised her head to see a pink maned ape with a pale face that looked like death. The bubblegum popped and splattered all across her face.
"O-of course sir, right away!" She stuttered as she quickly picked up a golden key under her desk. "Please, follow me." She said moving towards an elevator where she beckoned the royals over, completely forgetting the situation of her face.
"What has occurred at this moment?" Asked Luna, confused by the mare's fumbling.
Natsu scratched his cheek with his finger and looked away in embarrassment. "Uhh...well, when I made the reservation through communication magic a couple of days ago, I kinda went off at the guy on the other end and used my title as your brother."
"Well, at least it was for a good purpose." Said Luna as she entered into the elevator.
"I suppose so." Said Natsu, following his sister into the newly constructed mechanism.
Within a minute, they had reached their designated floor, the top floor. In the Mare hotel, the top floor was only reserved for the highest of authorities, one of the princesses of Equestria being a prime example.
The mare led Natsu and Luna to one of the six rooms one the floor, Room S-2. The staff member opened the door with the key and allowed the two to enter their new home for the next week. The inside was magnificent and wondrous to Luna’s eyes, never had she seen like this. It was even better than her boring, old room in the castle! For a major fact, it was much more brighter than her room. Sure she was the princess of the night, but she wasn’t a vampony, she liked being in sunlight as well.
"H-here you go sire, y-your majesty. I-If there's anything else you need, don't hesitate to use the c-crystal ball in your room to call th-the other staff." Stuttered the Neightalian mare as she laid the key on the bedside table before leaving the room and shutting the door.
Dropping her suitcase on the ground, Luna quickly moved towards the windows, opened them and stepped out onto the veranda. The sea breeze was cool and refreshing as it blew delicately through her mane. She breathed it in deeply, savouring the smell of the sea before exhaling.
"This room is gorgeous Natsu, how did you-" Luna's happy question was cut short when she saw Natsu lying on the bed, panting like a dog. "Are you alright?" She asked, completely worried for her friend.
Natsu looked at his old friend, albeit haphazardly. "I'm sorry Luna, I just need to rest. I'm really not feeling too good after that train." He said in a low and quiet tone.
Luna put a hoof to his forehead and she could feel just how unwell he was, his forehead was drenched in sweat and was scoldingly hot. It was as if somepony had taken a hot kettle and just poured its contents onto Natsu’s head. Seeing a hoof towel next to her, Luna grasped it with her magic and moved into the large bathroom. Turning the cold tap on in the sink, Luna proceeded to soak the towel in the cold water before wringing it of excess water. Making her way back to her brother, she laid the cold towel on his head in the hopes of cooling down the fever.
"Get your rest brother. We shall see to the pharmacies for any treatments." Said Luna as she took the hotel room key from the bedside table before leaving the room, and leaving Natsu to sleep his sickness off. There were no complaints from him though as he was already fast asleep.
~~~~~~~~
It was a long wait, but after three hours of rest and some of the strongest medicine Luna could find, Natsu was back to full strength like nothing had happened. The two were currently sitting on the beach in some chairs provided by the hotel wearing their own swimsuits. They sat there just looking out at the glowing afternoon sun, marvelling at the shimmering blue sea and brilliant orange of the sun.
"This place is beautiful no matter how many times I see it." Natsu said as he continued to look at the rippling waves at the shore. The soft crashing of the further waves bringing a tranquil aspect to the area. "And believe you and I, I've seen this place a lot of times over the years."
Luna looked at him with a small smile on her muzzle. "But thou never truly appreciated its splendour, did you not, our guardian?" She asked.
Like a coin dropping, so did Natsu’s happy face. "Luna, I've told you already, I don't have any right to be called that. It just brings back bad memories." He said sadly as he remembered his failure.
Luna hesitantly placed a hoof on Natsu’s hand. "Believe us Natsu, thou aren't the only one who wishes to forget those vulgar days. Our sister and ourselves also wish that those times would forever be lost in our memories, but that does not mean that we cannot return to our past relationship." She said as she began to blush from her contact with her old friend.
"Well, I guess there's no point in moping. All we should see now is, and should be, the future. Our future." Said Natsu as he regained his former smile and looked back at Luna. "This time for sure, I'll be stronger than ever. So that I can protect everypony, including you. I swear." He said clenching his fist until his knuckles turned white.
"We are truly sorry Natsu."
"What for?" Asked Natsu, confused about the sudden apology… Until he saw Luna’s eyes on the brink of tears. "You're talking about the situation with my magic aren't you?" She nodded meekly and Natsu sighed deeply. "Don't cry, you know I hate seeing my friends cry. Besides, we're in Venice, this is no time to be upset. We're on holiday." He said splaying his arms wide, exaggerating his point of the beautiful city.
Luna looked shocked at his comment. "But Natsu, how can you be so calm about this?! You may have your Dragon Slayer powers back, but they are minuscule compared to my sister and I. That sealing spell drained almost all of your magic, save for the passive abilities of your magic. Because of that experimental seal, after so long, your magic may never return to the strength it once had!" She exclaimed to the dragon slayer with utter sadness and rage. Sadness for doing this to her brother in the first place, and rage for him seemingly shrugging it off like it’s not a concern.
"And what did I just tell you? I said that I’d get stronger. Just because I'm nowhere near as strong as I was a thousand years ago, doesn't mean that I'll remain the same. My power will return to its full strength, I can even use my breath attack again these days." Said Natsu as he explained his gradual returning strength. "You'll see Luna, my powers will come back, and stronger than ever. I'll make sure it does." If Natsu was anything, he was confident and determined. That, or just plain stubborn. Nonetheless, Luna couldn’t help but smile at his display.
"Your conviction is unyielding my brother, as it was all those years ago." She said shaking her head.
Natsu chuckled back at the princess. "Most of me never changed, not even after all this time Luna." He said as he stood out of his chair and began to walk ahead.
"Where're you going?" Asked Luna, stopping Natsu in his tracks.
"Swimming, we are at a beach. You wanna join me?" He asked her, and after a minute of thought processing, she decided to join her old friend.
They both made their way through the soft sands of the beach and to the waters of the sea. It was perfect for a warm afternoon, the water wasn’t too cold to go swimming in, nor was it too warm. It provided the perfect refreshment a beach should do. It was an even better when Natsu was suddenly covered head to toe in water when he had only just gotten into the water a second ago. Turning around, he saw exactly what had caused the sudden surge of water upon him; he saw Luna with her horn glowing with a sphere of water in its telekinetic grasp.
"This means war. Get over here!" Bellowed the dragon slayer as he gave chase to the princess of the night. As Luna ran away from Natsu, anypony watching could hear her giggling like a little filly. "This is unfair, you have four legs!" Natsu screamed as he continued to chase his friend who kept managing to give him the slip. The two of them kept this up for at least ten minutes before Natsu had finally managed to catch his friend and dunk them both into the ocean. After re-emerging to the surface, Natsu and Luna took a moment to look at each other before laughing like kids. They had never had such fun before in centuries and it felt amazing to let their hair down.
"Princess Luna!" Yelled an unknown voice to the two. Looking onto the mainland, they see a young stallion wearing a neatly pressed tuxedo, and he didn’t look happy. "What are you doing acting like a child? You are a princess, please act like it your highness. And you," He now looked at Natsu. "you're her guardian and brother are you not? You should do the same instead of acting like the ruffian you are." He said bravely to the two royals, scolding them for what was deemed ‘inappropriate behaviour’ in the eyes of highly distinguished ponies.
This did little other than to annoy one of the two.
"Listen here buddy, we're here on vacation. So, I'm not her guardian and Lulu's not a Princess, we're just two siblings having fun on a holiday." Said Natsu as he continued to float in the sea’s waters, occasionally splashing Luna. Casting a small barrier between each other, Luna protected herself as she spoke to the stallion.
"Plus, dear subject, even royalty such as us have to enjoy ourselves at least once in a while. We're just like any of you citizens; we have wants, needs and pleasures in life. We may be royalty, but we are still ponies. Well, in this case, pony and human." She explained calmly to the stallion.
"Yeah, don't be such a stiff just because we're aren't exactly normal people. Come on, join us, have some fun. I mean yolo right?" Said Natsu as he began to leave the ocean and walk to the pony that was deemed as the fun police.
"I have a job to do." He said turning back towards the hotel, ready to return to his shift. But he bumped into something that wasn’t there before, Natsu.
"And now you have the rest of the day off. Join us, or I'll throw you in myself." He said with the evilest grin ever.
"You wouldn't dare." Rebutted the stallion, trying to call the dragon slayer’s bluff. Natsu bent down and whispered, just two words, gently into the stallion’s ear.
"Try me."
And like that, the stallion was running for his life. It was like strapping an outboard motor to a pen, they just rocketed. All across the beach, the sand was being kicked up to extraordinary heights as the two chased each other.
"Gotcha!" Natsu shouted victoriously as he had managed to grab the end of the stallion’s tuxedo. But his victory was short lived when he saw that he had only managed to grab the blazer and not the rest of the pony with it.
"HaHA!! Eat it, your highness!" Yelled the laughing stallion as he had escaped the man’s clutches.
"Oh, it is on little colt!" Natsu said smiling, accepting the stallion’s taunt as a challenge to try and catch him again.
Once more, the chase was on, and neither of them were backing down. However, everything must end, and stamina ends rather quickly when you’re running at impossible speeds. It was a matter of who would run out first, and by unfortunate luck, it was the stallion. With even worse luck, Natsu was directly behind him at the time he had stopped to breathe. Without a second passing by, Natsu had picked up the pony with one hand and looked to the princess who simply watched from the sidelines with sheer amusement.
"Hey Lulu! Pass!" Yelled Natsu to his partner as he chucked the living daylights out of the pony. He flew for what seemed to be hours before he quickly delved down and into the water. Luna protected him from crashing into the sea floor with her magic, potentially saving the stallion’s life in the process.
The pony gasped deeply as he broke to the surface, only to see the human coming in hot towards the ocean. The water splashed everywhere as he came in running towards the ponies. With a scream from both the princess and the stallion, Natsu softly crashed into them and dunked himself and the others back under the water, laughing like a maniac all the while.
~~~~~~~~
It was now far past the time of dusk, and the children of night and fire had decided it was high time for something to eat. They retreated back to the hotel and got changed into some proper attire, however considering Natsu was and is the only human in the world, acquiring clothes that match him are rather difficult to find. So Natsu had his normal clothes cleaned, dried and ironed neatly. Heaven knows they need it after wearing them since he came to Ponyville and only washing them two or three times.
The two old friends made their way to the banquet hall, and it was beautiful. The hall was filled with chandeliers decorated with the brightest diamonds, dinner tables topped with the finest silk and silverware polished to reflect even the smallest detail. Every table was perfect in both presentation and imitation, each table looked exactly the same. Many of the guests who entered looked exquisite in their dresses and tuxedoes, so for Natsu who was dressed in what was barely considered formal clothing, he stood out far more than anypony else in the hall. Even more so when ponies saw he was sitting with one of the princesses of Equestria.
Barely any of the ponies could focus on their own dinners or their waiters/waitresses. They were too distracted from seeing a tall, pink haired, weirdo sitting, eating and talking to one of the most prosperous figures in the continent. Even after nearly an hour into their meals, ponies kept on staring, now more on the voracious appetite of the man. Stacked upon their table were no less than twenty dishes and rapidly growing. At this point, it would take something of great magnitude to distract the ponies.
"Fuoco! Fuoco!" Screamed one of the chefs from within the kitchen. That would do it.
Everypony looked in the direction of the kitchen doors to see all of the chefs and apprentices pour out in a hurried line with giant amounts of fire chasing them close by.
"If we art not mistaken, does that not mean there’s a fire, Natsu?" Luna asked, looking at Natsu with expectation in her expression. He knew exactly what that meant, and stood up from his seat with an exasperated sigh.
"For once I'd like to just go to one place without me having to save anybody else's life. Just one fricking place, honestly!" He complained as he continued to walk to kitchen where the flames had begun to erupt outside of its designated area and into the banquet hall. "Alright, stand back everypony! I'll take care of this." Natsu yelled out to the crowd as he stood in front of the blaze.
The ponies all thought he was crazy for facing the flames without any source of protection or combating the flames. However, just like the ponies of Ponyville, they were going to witness exactly how special this man was. Taking a deep breath, Natsu heaved in the flames like a vacuum. The flames all flew directly into his open maw and travelled straight down to his near bottomless stomach, just waiting to be filled. Everypony stood in shock of what they were seeing; they were watching fire itself being devoured by this man, and he wasn’t in any pain. If anything, he was enjoying it. After a minute of devouring the flames, they had all been extinguished from the kitchen and placed within the depths of Natsu’s belly. Then he let loose the loudest burp anypony had ever heard.
"Excuse me. I will say though, that was definitely a nice meal. I haven't had something that filling since Nightmare Night." He said as he wiped his mouth from the slither of drool that had escaped his mouth.
When Natsu turned around, he was suddenly met with the loud stomping of hooves from across the room with whistles from the odd pony. It was a strange concept to Natsu after a thousand years in seclusion and being feared by everypony. Being cheered for a simple action wasn’t a big deal back on his home, but this was just amazing. It had been centuries since he had felt the happiness of being cheered for something good.
"Magnifico amico! Eccellente!" Exclaimed one of the chefs of the kitchen, his followers chanting the same shortly after him.
"Grazie, grazie. Il prossimo appuntamento di bevande è su di me!" Shouted Natsu to the crowd, expecting the majority of them to know Neightalian.
“We do not remember thou being able to speak Neightalian.” Said Luna as her companion sat back down at their table.
“I told you, I’ve been here a lot of times over the years. You tend to pick up a couple of things. I also know how to speak Korean, Neighponese and some Spanish and Prench.” Luna couldn’t help but be slack jawed in awe of the many languages he had learned, especially since he barely payed attention to her teachings a thousand years ago.
“Well, what did you say to these ponies?” Luna asked Natsu.
“I said the next round of drinks are on me.” He replied simply. However, Luna knew he had no income, so came her next question.
“And how exactly are you planning to pay for all that?”
“Did I ever tell you that you were the best sister one could ever ask for?” He said smugly with a shit-eating grin on his face.
Whatever awe and impressions she had on Natsu previously, had been utterly crushed and replaced with the longest deadpan stare ever in the history of Equestria.
~~~~~~~~
Night had long since come over the capital of Neightaly, and everypony had begun to retire to their homes and beds for the night. Even though she was on holiday, Luna still had her duty of bringing forth the night across Equestria. Natsu had said to her a thousand years ago that her bringing in the night and creating the stars was the most amazing he’d ever seen in Equestria, and tonight he said the exact same thing. To hear such a compliment from made the princess blush deeply, even showing on her dark fur.
Now, they were both laying in their single, king-sized bed. Apparently, in his urgency to get the room, Natsu had failed to ask if there were two beds or not. So now the two were stuck with having to sleep in the same bed.
"You did a good deed today Natsu." Said Luna happily as she complimented her friend’s successful help at dinner. Natsu seemed to pay no heed to her words and she had thought that he was already asleep, until he suddenly jumped on top of her and looked at her in a way she had never seen before. "Natsu, what are you-" Luna’s question for him was abruptly cut off when he placed his lips on hers.
Seconds felt like hours, and after what seemed like the first hour, Luna didn’t want it to end. So when Natsu did end the kiss, she could only look at him with half-lidded eyes. The silence between them was thick and heavy enough to hear a feather touch the ground.
"I've missed you Luna. I've missed you so much in the last thousand years that it was painful. Every time I saw the moon, all I could think of was you and everything we could’ve had. Just this once, so I know that my mind isn't playing tricks on me, I want to hold you closer than I did before." Said Natsu as he brought himself next to Luna once again, but she turned away.
"But Natsu, we can't. You’re like my brother, it could never work between us. I’m also a pony, I’m not human like you." She said, almost pleading him to stop and not make this a mistake.
"I don't care, I've never cared about stuff like that. I just want you." Said Natsu seductively as he brought his lips down unto her neck. Any resistance that Luna had brought up were being burned down quickly.
His lips were like fire. Every moment they made contact with her fur, it felt like it was about to ignite. It burned her fur and melted her muscles, Luna's mind and body were crumbling under the pleasure of the human's passionate kissing. Slowly but surely, those ember-filled lips continued to move down her quivering body. From her neck, down to her collarbone, to her stomach, and down much, much lower to-*GASP!*
Luna awoke with a start, her breathing heavily laboured, and her heart racing at a million kilometres an hour. A cold sweat formed on her brow and rolled down her cheeks, cooling the volcanic heat in them.
Just a dream, it was just a dream. She thought to herself as she wiped away the sweat with her hoof.
Looking beside her, she saw her brother, sleeping so peacefully. Never had she seen him with such a serene smile on his face. He was dreaming about something, that was for sure, if his quiet and cheeky giggling wasn't a give away.
If only it were true, we could never have a true relationship like that with Natsu. She thought as she looked at her sleeping friend. In her mind, she couldn’t but think of the things he said in her dream, of what could’ve happened to them if there was no Nightmare Moon, if there was no war. She felt that because of what had happened, she didn’t deserve to have a relationship with Natsu after betraying him.
"Lu..." Natsu mumbled, still in the confines of his dream. Luna smiled at the innocence she saw before her, knowing that it didn’t need her magic to see what he was dreaming about.
But tonight, I can compromise. Just this once. She thought as she snuggled herself closely to Natsu’s bare chest and laid her hoof across it.
"Good night Natsu, my love." She said quietly as the gentle thumping of his heart drifted her to sleep. It was the best sleep both of them had had in years.
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
996 users online
174,720 hits today, 2,314,256 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
So, would this not warrant a 'Romance' tag? Or are we to expect some sadness later?
Ech!
lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4RqC7dYfd9Q/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAAw/7Byx9geKNuU/photo.jpg
I just noticed, where's happy in all of this?
I SHIP IT LIKE FED EX!!
I'm scared of the prospect that he's dreaming of Lucy, and not Luna.