The Soldier and the Princess

by ACW

2

The princess did not respond. The human turned and saw that she was gazing intently at the celestial body above them. The moon glowed a gentle white, reflecting off the lake’s surface and seemingly giving it life as the water’s surface rippled. Stars dotted the night sky, upon which the moon rested on like how a precious orb would rest upon a velvet cushion.

The human unslung his weapon any laid it beside him. Looking at it, and thinking about their previous conversation, he felt a little bad about bringing his rig around. Somehow, he felt that his presence in Equestria was something akin to that of stain on a white cloth. There didn’t seem to be a need for something of his kind to be around. They seemed truly innocent to him to need any real soldiers.

Then the princess suddenly spoke.

“We… abide by our principles of loving and tolerating each other. As such, “The Magic of Friendship”, as what my sister calls it, binds us and keeps us together. Occasionally, though, we do have…complications, but we always find a way...” Her voice trailed off as she said the last sentence.

The human cocked an eyebrow, sensing the uneasiness build around the dark coloured pony. The princess did not move, her eyes still fixated on the moon. But the human saw something flicker in her green eyes. Was it a hint of doubt?

The human shifted in his spot to turn towards her, thinking of something to lighten the mood.

“Normally, back on Earth I’d say that would be a bunch of soft sack bullshit. I guess most of us enjoy flexing our muscles rather than sitting down to talk to each other. But over in this fine place we are right now? It’s no wonder you guys show so much care and concern to each other. Yeah, I reckon love always does find a way.”

The princess laughed softly. But the human saw that flicker dance in her eyes again. He knew a sad person when he saw one. And these ponies were no different.

There was more to this princess than meets the eye.

“Princess, why are you upset?”

The princess’s eyes jerked wide open. She had unwittingly closed them to a small gap, and her head thrust upwards a little as she did so. It was a very small action, but the human’s trained eye could detect it as easily as how one would have seen ordinary movement.

Gotcha.

“…No I’m not!”

A slight stammer, and a mild accusatory tone. The human wore a bemused expression on his face, and smirked a little. It didn’t take much effort to confirm that the princess was obviously hiding something from him.

“C’mon princess, we both know you’re fibbin’. It’s just the two of us here, so you can just spill it already.”

The princess pouted a little, a little frustrated at this sudden confrontation and the human’s quick detection. This prompted the human to raise a gloved hand to unbuckle the straps of his head gear, and slowly took off his helmet. Nothing obscured his face anymore. He looked her straight in the eye, and said in a low voice.

“‘Upon my word, I won’t tell a single soul ‘round here about whatcha goin’ to say.”

She regarded the gesture with uncertainty. He wasn’t a pony, and she was royalty! But despite these differences, she saw that the human was sincere in his actions. His face only revealed straight lips and hard eyes that betrayed nothing. Like the best of the royal guards, she thought. She huffed and relented by nodded her head. The human placed his helmet to his side, while the princess took to looking at the moon again.

“Do you think that the moon is rather lonely by itself up there?”

The human thought back to Earth.

“Back on Earth, there were all these dust clouds and stuff hangin’ around. It was hard to see the moon at night, and it was probably a lil’ bit discoloured too. And there were no stars, or only a few of them. The night sky back there looked real digustin’ cos of all the weird colours from that shit that hung around.”

“But here, it’s a different story. The moon’s real clear and pearly white, and together with that incredible number of stars, I’d say it beats looking at a painting at an art museum. It must be a real masterpiece princess. The moon don’t seem lonely here at all.”

The princess smiled a little at the compliment, but as her smile vanished as quickly as it appeared. The human rubbed his hand against his scalp as he thought about the princess’s question again. It seemed strange she would ask such a question.

“Why should the moon be lonely when there are plenty o’ stars ‘round?”

The princess didn’t answer immediately. She looked down into the lake. In the shimmering waters of the lake, she saw a crumpled image of herself, distorted by the rippling water surface. The moon lay somewhere above her head, partially obscured by her ethereal mane drifting in an unseen wind.

“Ever since my return from imprisonment on the moon, I have had… difficulties, in adjusting to modern Equestrian lifestyle. Sure, there were new developments throughout society and the like… Who even knew that one could cook in a metallic box called a microwave?”

“But everyone else whom I knew before my banishment had… ceased to exist. That was the change that hit me the hardest. I only have faint memories of them, and even they are slipping away with time. My sister had urged me to venture beyond the Castle to meet new ponies, to get me to blend back.”

“Yet, spending a thousand years on the moon has left me somewhat…’socially handicapped’. Although Equestrian society has welcomed me back as their ruler, I am still very shy around others except during the times I hold my Night Court, and when I’m around my sister. I feel that I have been reduced to, quite literally, a nervous wreck.”

The princess had laid aside her mask of composure. A lone tear drew a shiny trail down her cheek. Nonetheless, she closed her eyes and continued her tale.

“It’s rather ironic that I wanted ponies to love my night. I know that they do now. Yet I feel that I can’t be loved be them at all…not after what I’ve done…”

“No one else knows about this except my sister. She worries a lot about me even up till now when we are fully grown alicorns. I just wish that, if I could somehow gain the friendship of many other ponies, I could make her less worried… I feel so bad…”

She trembled.

“I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

In her mind’s eye, her reflection in the shimmering water altered between Nightmare Moon and herself. The memory of her terrible deeds haunted her.

She folded her ears back as she struggled to fight against a torrent of emotions building up in her heart, her voice choked by grief. She sniffled a little, and very unprincess-like, used a hoof to wipe away stray tears that had stained her face.

“I...I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause you discomfort…”

The human didn’t know how to react, or how to feel, really. His time serving in the military had made him quite the apathetic sort. Despite his stoic appearance, his conscience bugged him, telling him that he had to do something to mend the situation at hand.

But how? He was no counsellor, only a soldier who knew how to handle himself. Years of combat would not help at all. Yet, he thought hard, and tried to look for an answer from the bottom of his heart.

“To be honest princess, I’m sorta jealous about you being accepted back into your home and all.”

The princess opened her eyes and faced him. Her eyes, glossy from tears, silently implored for him to go on. The human pursed his lips, struggling to continue.

“What I meant princess, was that, even though you did all those things, you still get forgiven and get another chance at life. You feel bad about what you did, so that probably means you want to change.”

"Your people still love you and they’ve accepted you back. But you should know that you oughta’ forgive yourself over what you’ve done.”

“Me? I got swiped during my tour in battle, and seeing that I’m more or less stuck here, I’ve got no chance to go back home and see if people still would look me in the eye. Sure, once in a while shit happens and we screw up once in a while. But you get to apologise, and you got a sister hoping for the best for you, and as long as you can find it within you to forgive yourself, there’s no need to be shy around peop… I mean other ponies.”

The princess considered what the human said.

“But what if I… cannot find myself a large circle of friends? I wish to lessen the worry of my sister by showing her that I’ve many friends so that I won’t be so lonely. What if I cannot do it?”

The princess wasn’t crying anymore, but doubt still crossed her mind and she frowned as she asked the human.

“So what if you got so many friends? Princess, being a friend, buddy, pal or whatever, takes heart. Friends look out for each other, and stick around all the time no matter what shit storm flies over. And friends would know that you are really sorry when you apologise for somethin’ wrong you’ve done.”

“So it don’t matter how many friends you have, so long as you’ve got someon- somepony I mean, who can at least listen to your troubles without any hassle and really smile at you, then, guess that’s a start. ‘course, it works the other way round too.”

“Princess, the rest is up to you. But I don’t think that’d be problem. After all, what’s there that you and your sis can’t do?”

The human patted the princess on the shoulder, and took another swig of stale water from his canteen. His throat was dry again. He had surprised himself, really, when he of all other beings in this place, was giving emotional advice to a sad pony princess. He hoped that he didn’t mess up though.

After a few silent moments, the princess smiled and looked up, her beautiful eyes beaming at the human as she mused.

“A thousand thanks to you, human. A tremendous weight has been lifted from my heart. Indeed, no one else can help myself except me. Forgive and forget, as the wise ones used to say.”

"So the moon isn’t so lonely after all, I suppose.”

The human stretched out on the grass, and was surprised again at how soft it was- better than sleeping in foxholes, he thought.

“The moon was never lonely princess. Maybe clouds got in the way, but the stars were always there.”

The princess was still smiling as she rose to her hooves and stretched her wings. As the human watched this display, he silently congratulated himself for not messing up earlier. It wasn’t every time he was able to give some emotional advice to people, let alone royalty. He rose to his feet and slung his weapon around his shoulders, the familiar weight bearing down on him again.

The princess looked at the glittering display of stars surrounding the round moon.

Indeed; the moon has her stars.

“So does this mean we are friends, human?”

The pony posed the question while he was picking up his helmet. He ran his hands over the hard headwear, feeling the rough edges of the Kevlar scraping his gloves. He raised his helmet and nestled it on his head, the mesh inside accommodating his head once again.

“Yeah, we are.”

The helmet cast a shadow over his eyes, but it did not hide his smile as he raised his hand for the pony to shake. The pony princess raised an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah, on Earth we normally shake hands to show we’re friendly. But seein’ you’ve got no fingers, well I suppose you can tap your hoof ‘gainst my hand.”

The human knotted his hand into a fist pointing toward the princess. She laughed- a soft merry tone, and bumped her hoof against the human’s fist.

“Let’s retire back to the castle human, I am feeling drained from tonight’s events.”

“Sounds like a plan, princess.”

“Please, call me Luna.”

“Alright Luna, and you can call me…”The human stifled a yawn as he said his name.

The soldier and the princess were walking in the night. Back to Canterlot, where the both of them were to rest for the remainder of the night.

Author's Note:

Terribly sorry for the long wait! :/. As usual, please leave your comments and criticisms here. Listening to people's opinions really pushes me to go on :)

Comments

[Anonymous Assassin]

Quite the interesting concept you are working on... I like it so far, aside from a few grammatical errors it is good. Human from the post shit hit the fan era ( sadly, the inevitable future of our world), and princess Luna who carries the weight of her sins as Nightmare Moon firmly upon her shoulders. I'm looking forward to our next conversation Human...