Luna

by Bob Jet

Chapter 3

A month passed. Sombra was sure he had blown it that night. He had made her feel valued, but somehow, he had blown it. He could not focus; he could not sleep. His conversation with Luna kept running through his mind. He wished he knew what he had done wrong.

He sat on the edge of his bunk one day, looking at his mail. It had been an excruciating day, and he decided that reading his mail would be the last thing he would do before hitting the hay. The sun was just starting to set, and the new day would bring long hours of staring stolidly ahead, and patrolling corridors and halls that had not seen crime in centuries. That was a minimum.

One letter was from his parents, keeping him updated on family and life in the outside world. Another was from his best friend in high school, inviting him to a class reunion in a few weeks. The last one was very odd, though. There was no return address, and the recipient address was written in a beautiful black scroll.

He carefully opened the envelope.

Dear Sombra,

It was a pleasure to speak with you several weeks back. Nopony has ever complimented my on my sky before, let alone watched it every night since they were sixteen. Therefore, I have a challenge for you. Within the next couple of nights, I will hang a new constellation. I would like for you to come up with a story about it, and then tell me, inpony.

Sincerely,

Princess Luna

Sombra could not believe it. He must be dreaming.

He was about to pinch himself when he decided that, if this was a dream, he did not want to cut it short. Instead, he got up, walked outside, and found a bench with a decent view of the sky.

Suddenly, he was sitting in a field overlooking Canterlot. The city shimmered and twinkled in the distance. The tall spires of Canterlot Castle glowed red above the strait rows of firefly streetlights. Pegasus’ carrying orbs of flashing green, red and white light landed and took off from Canterlot Airport.

Sombra could not remember the sky ever being as dark as it was that night. Even the moon was not out, and the stars shone so brightly that he had trouble identifying constellations. After some time, he was able to discern the brightest stars in the sky and connect them to form constellations. Off to left, under the Hydra, a new cluster of stars had appeared.

“That must be Luna’s new constellation,” Sombra thought.

He started connecting the stars with lines, trying shapes representing Celestia, carriages, castles, ponies…ponies. That was the closest thing he could get to look right. Then it hit him. The cluster of stars suddenly materialized into two ponies locked in an embrace. One was a unicorn; one was an alicorn.

Sombra was floored.

“Figure it out, yet?” asked a silky voice.

Sombra spun around. There standing behind him was Luna, even more majestic and beautiful then when he had last seen her. She seemed to have an internal radiance that illuminated her, and only her.

“Figure it out?” she asked again.

“Y-- yes,” he stammered “I see a unicorn hugging an alicorn.”

“Yes!” Luna exclaimed, throwing herself into his hooves.

Sombra was so shocked, so excided and happy that he woke up.

He was alone again, lying on a bench in the castle gardens. The sun was beginning to peak over the horizon.