Luna and Tiberius: The Nightly Crusade

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter One: Shoes fit for a Princess

LUNA AND TIBERIUS: THE NIGHTLY CRUSADE
Chapter One: Shoes fit for a Princess
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Luna’s eyes opened very slowly as she woke from her deep slumber. The room was dark and a chill air was breezing through the window. The night had just begun. It was always such a treat to wake up to the moon rise. A small warm, ball of fur began rousing next to her from underneath her bed covers. Luna lifted the blanket up to see a possum curled up against her chest.

“Good Night, Tibbles,” Luna cooed to her pet and closest companion.

Tibbles was of course simply a nickname for the animal, his real name being Tiberius. It was a fitting name for such a cute and cuddle creature of the night. Tiberius gave Luna a questioning stare and Luna who had long since learned how to understand him let out a sigh. “Yes, I’m afraid so. We do have to guard over the night, but, “Luna began speaking with an increased excitement, “we may get to go to the Everfree Forest. Maybe we will meet one of our dear friends on the way.”

Tiberius uncurled himself and stretched on Luna’s bed, reminding the princess that she too must be ready for travel. Luna threw the blankets off and jumped out of bed proclaiming in her Royal Canterlot voice, “THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT HAS AWOKEN, PREPARE MINE BREAKFEST POSTHASTE!”

The voice rang out loudly, and carried itself through her bedroom door and into the corridors beyond. The servants working in Luna’s section of the castle had gotten used to hearing their princess wake up like this by now; at first it had been a delight to see the confusion and shock on their faces whenever she used the voice. Her elder sister never used such tones with her servants, and soon enough Luna learned that she did not need the voice for all communication with those under her position, but it still carried enough volume and weight for the important things in life; such as food.

Luna had Tiberius aid her in finding the royal shoes that she had flung off after last night’s watch. She had been forced to search deep into the sewers of Canterlot for a monster, and when she finally found it…well it left its disgusting marks against her royal armor. Her shoes had seen much better days. It was never fun to encounter an Otyugh.

After some searching Luna had found the first shoe underneath her hooded jacket in the corner. Tiberius began making a clicking noise causing Luna to look over, Tiberius had found another one of Luna’s shoes underneath the bed. The next shoe was hidden behind Luna’s dresser, however it got there she will never know. But for all her searching Luna simply couldn’t find her last, and final shoe.

After a few more minutes of searching Luna finally decided to give up. She looked longingly at her three light blue shoes and desired to bring them together with their lost sibling. She stared at them with increasing worry though, as she realized the muck that was stuck to her shoes…was something far fouler then dirt. Sewers were places not to tread carelessly, or with newly found hindsight, at all.

The next thing Luna did was use a brush to untangle her mane, she looked into the mirror as she worked out the various knots in her blue hair. It was painful but after a few minutes of excruciating agony, she finally got her mane straightened out. There were still a few bandages on her face from the hard battle, but she had won and in the end that was something the Otyugh couldn’t claim.

After that though, she had to wonder if she had not been missing something. Other than her poor lost shoe, she felt as though she had been missing something dreadfully important. She looked over at Tiberius and asked, “oh Tibbles…what is it that I am forgetting to do?”

Tiberius gave her another long stare.

Luna replied, “I know full well that you are a possum and do not care for the rudimentary task of royal grooming. But I could still use your aid, if you are willing to offer it.” Luna gave the possum a sad, puppy dog stare, hoping to obtain some sympathy from the rodent.

Tiberius looked around the room, and then back to her before scratching his head.

Luna began saying, “so you are just as lost as I-“ she paused as she watched him. “MY CROWN!”

Luna searched for a few more minutes until she found the crown on her vanity mirror. She had been staring at the crown the entire time she had brushed her mane. It was a simply little slip up, and now that the crisis, was averted she trotted out of her room with the intent of eating an early night dinner.

***

Luna along with Tiberius riding on her back, entered the small dining room, one that was privately used only by the two sisters of Canterlot. Celestia was sitting down at the table, she looked tired from a hard day’s work. Luna walked in nearly bouncing on her hooves in joy as she saw her sister. Celestia took a sip of her tea which was held afloat by her magic, and looked up at Luna. Luna saw Celestia’s kind smile and said, “good night my dearest sister. How has the day been?”

Celestia took another sip of tea before setting the cut down gently and saying, “the day has moved forward as usual. Tell me though, did you forget something?”

Luna stopped bouncing and looked down at her bare hooves and said lamely, “I could not find my last shoe…I thought I’d look ridiculous if I wore three shoes without the forth. Please forgive me for my sub-standard appearance.”

Celestia looked at Luna and then her gaze followed down to Luna’s hooves. Celestia then began grinning madly, as she tried her hardest to stifle a building laughter. Luna felt offended by her elder sister’s laughter and stomped her hoof down saying, “’tis not funny dear sister, we have searched for our missing shoe throughout all of our room, but simply couldn’t find it.”

Celestia’s laughter finally broke free and she could no longer contain herself. Embarrassment, and shame flooded Luna as her elder sister continued her laughter. Finally after her laughter began to slow down, Celestia managed to say, “your hoof...”

Luna could not understand what had gotten into her sister. Was there something stuck to her hoof? Looking down at her forehooves Luna couldn’t see anything wrong. She checked her rear hooves and saw nothing out of the ordinary there either. She had her shoe on, but that was not so odd. Luna looked back at Celestia and said, “I do not see what is so…oh.”

Luna looked again at her rear hooves and she was indeed wearing precisely one shoe, the missing shoe. Luna was overjoyed to finally have found it, but it was in no better shape than her others. Luna kicked the shoe off and said, “I see, so I have been wearing the shoe the entire…” Luna couldn’t hold her own laughter back as she joined in with her sister. It was probably one of the silliest things she had ever done, and to think she could have gone through the entire day not knowing that she was wearing only one shoe.

After the bout of joyous laughter was completed the two of them began dinner. While Celestia and Luna were treated to a meal of steamed vegetables and soup, Tiberius was given a bowl of strawberries to devour. Half way through the meal Celestia looked up at Luna and said, “you do realize, you forgot to raise the moon tonight.”

It was not a question, rather it was an accusation. Luna looked at her sister and defended, “I had a most terrible battle last night. What do you expect from me?”

Celestia’s face grew worried as she said, “I didn’t mean for it to come out that way, I do not blame you for forgetting. I saw the shape you were in this morning, you needed your rest.”

Luna wasn’t entirely convinced that Celestia hadn’t been judging her, but she was willing to look past this so long as it did not become habit once again. Luna let out a sigh and said, “I am sorry for misunderstanding. I do truly wish to be as good a princess as you, though it is hard sometimes…”

Celestia was quiet for a few moments before saying, “you are a good princess, Luna. You do not need to compare yourself with me. Why don’t you try and take it easy tonight, you still don’t look up to full health.”

Luna stood up from the table and asked, “are you, dearest sister, suggesting that I, Princess Luna, take a night off?”

Celestia nodded with a smile.

Luna replied, “I would never do such a thing, how could I take a night off? I am the Princess of the Night, not some…commoner.”

Celestia took another sip of her tea and said, “Luna, it’s not a terrible thing to take a break every now and again. Even I take vacations every once in a great while.”

Luna sat down and asked, “do you really?”

“Of course, for my last vacation I spent about two weeks in a nice little resort town. Cadence was still living in the castle at the time so I had her in charge until I returned,” Celestia explained.

Luna had never thought of her sister as being one to take vacations, or to shove responsibility onto other ponies. It had always been a point of pride for Luna that she had taken her role seriously. She felt like a train wreck though, and the idea of a short break was very tantalizing indeed.

“Ok…I shall…I shall take this break of yours. But what should I do?” Luna asked feeling a little ashamed for needed a rest.

“Why don’t you go and hang out with your friends?” Celestia offered.

Luna thought about it for a few minutes in silence. Celestia in the meantime yawned loudly and said, “forgive me Luna, but I have stayed awake far too long just so that I could see you wake up. I will see you in the morning, good night little sister.” Celestia then got up from the table and left the dining room.

Luna looked longingly into her soup thinking about what ponies she could even visit. There was Shining Armor of course, but if he was awake this late in the night, then he and Cadence were probably not wanting company. Twilight Sparkle and her friends were another choice, they could be awake and ready for some comradery. Finally Luna decided that she would go and hang out with one of her friends, and she knew just the pony to go and visit.

Luna stood up, and using her magic lifted Tiberius off the ground and placed him squarely on her back. Luna looked back at her companion and said, “we are going to Ponyville. Oh what an adventure this should be.” Luna then happily walked out of the room, her destination set, and her heart soaring. Tonight was going to be a fun night.

Comments

[LiterarySerenity]

Ooh! This is going to be fun. ;3