Sleep Walking

Chapters

A Thousand Miles, A Thousand Years, A Thousand Dreams
The Easy Life
Fearless
Side Story: Just Like Me

A Thousand Miles, A Thousand Years, A Thousand Dreams

“Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.” -- Oscar Wilde

Luna still remembers the day when her sister told her she was destined to be immortal. At the time, she couldn't have been more happy.

Back then, the world seemed so vibrant and full of color. It seemed like there was an eternity of new knowledge to learn, new things to try, new passions to discover. Perhaps there was. Perhaps there was a universe of wonder out there for Luna to experience, but that made it all the worse. When you're young, you can't walk a step without tripping over something you've never experienced before. As you grow older, it becomes rarer than diamonds, and soon, you're too weary to continue to search for it at all. It doesn't matter if there are endless riches in the world, if every coin is separated by a thousand miles.

A pony can become set in her ways. In the time she's had, Luna could have learned every musical instrument, every trade, every art, every science. She could have enriched herself beyond the most fanciful dreams of mortal ponies, but the weariness of age is like a chain that grows heavier by one link each year. Before long, you stop moving entirely.

Pain, on the other hoof, was something easy to find. There seemed to be a never ending supply of tragedy to endure, and mistakes to regret.

For Luna, the worst of all was love. Her sister warned her that surely, if she fell in love, she would suffer dearly the price of immortality. She would watch her lovers grow old and die, and she should, if she wished to be wise, be at peace with being alone. Luna could not disagree more. She was resolute in the belief that it would be better to suffer the pain of lost love, than to never have loved at all. She felt that the sting of love's absence would be a glorious affirmation that it had once been present.

In a bitter irony, there was simply no love to be found for Luna in the first place. Throughout her life, she had been ignored at best, hated, and feared at worst.

Luna was the princess of the night. Using the power of her magic, she brought forth the moon, the stars, and all the terrible and beautiful things that dwelled within the cloak of nocturnal darkness. Those ponies who did not fear or despise her night, would simply ignore it. Upon the setting of the sun, they would sleep, and when her sister, Celestia, would raise the sun back into the sky, they would awaken to greet it with contentment.

For a time, bitterness and hatred seemed like a suitable replacement for love. Luna became jealous of Celestia, and rose up in rebellion. With her magic, Luna pinned the moon and stars to the sky, and stood her ground against the coming of the sun. Celestia's magic, however, was too powerful. Luna was defeated, her rebellion was crushed, and she was banished to the moon for a thousand years.

Much had changed over that thousand years. For one, the hatred and contempt that led her down the path of ruin was gone. She was also a mare out of time. She didn't understand this new world, such as how her sister had taken it upon herself to teach the subjects of Equestria strange new ways. Now, they were free to speak to their rulers as equals. Celestia had also called an end to conscription and serfdom, and installed elected representatives to govern at her side.

In the wake of these changes, there seemed to have been a boom in population and technology. A pegasus mail service allowed any of Equesria's subjects, great or small, to deliver a message to the other side of Equestria in no more than a week's time, at the cost of spare change. Mighty locomotives traveled on rails that spanned the continent, connecting even the most weary travelers to the most distant lands. Plows made of steel and wood could be hitched to a strong pony's neck, and used to sow a field in a fraction of the time. There were even rumblings of a new technology which relied on trapped lightning, and promised to replace candles and oil lamps. It was already starting to see use in cameras, film projectors, and audio amplifiers. All of which were unknown in Luna's time.

Many things, however, remained the same. Luna walked the hallways of the palace, taking solace that, aside from some wear and tear, most of the hallways still remained exactly as they were before her imprisonment. At least her home was unchanged.

The flame light from the sconce torches covered the stone of the hallway walls with a relaxing amber glow. The only sound was Luna's echoing hoofsteps as she strolled quietly through the castle which, as it was every night, had been mostly deserted.

The midnight blue alicorn's horn was glowing with a soft blue light. Black whisps faded in and out of existence, and whipped past her horn, deflected into swirling patterns like moths circling a flame. Luna was working her dream magic. Within her thoughts, she was living out a thousand dreams at once, each one playing out in the minds of one of Equestria's subjects. She interacted with the dreams, and worked to bend the visions to her will. At times, she would even present the dreamers with images of herself, having conversations, or guiding lost travelers.

One of the whisps turned white, and launched itself directly at Luna's horn. With a fizz and a pop, it disappeared. Luna softly yipped, "Ow," and reached up to rub her horn, letting her dream magic wane. Her horn faded back to its usual darkness. With a sigh, she shook it off, and continued her slow trek down the corridor.

No longer distracted by her magic, she glanced out one of the nearby arrowslits to gaze at the beauty of the starry sky with a wistful sigh. The sky had grown orange with twilight, and it would soon be her sister's time to usher in the light, taking her place as ruler of the daytime. It was time for Luna to return to her bedchambers so she could rest.

A creaking groan resounded through the hallway as the palace doors swung open, and the sound of royal guard troops could be heard, casually marching into the cavernous main hall. It was some paces ahead of Luna, and around the corner. They were here in time to start the morning shift, no doubt. Luna turned toward the source of the sound. Perhaps at least somepony will acknowledge her tonight, before she goes to bed. Perhaps somepony will complement her sky.

Spearmint furrowed his brow when he spotted the princess. He was a bright green pegasus. His cutie mark was an iron spear, which was also embossed proudly on his clunky full plate armor. He was a lieutenant of the royal guard, and would often be responsible for overseeing the changing of the guard, such as this one. He stopped, and awkwardly turned, looking behind him with a wince. He contemplated escape, but it was too late. Luna had spotted him, and was already approaching him quickly. With a deep breath, Spearmint prepared himself. "Morning, Princess Lun--"

Luna barked her greeting, "I would deign to speak with you!" Luna had a habit of being unable to adequately regulate the volume of her voice. Spearmint was certain that this was a danger to his hearing tantamount to a safety code violation.

Spearmint stood at attention with a gentle clack of both of his left hooves. "Yes, of course your majesty. How can I be of service?"

Luna's voice was filled with unintentional contempt. "As I informed you, I would speak to you!" She reared up with a gentle flap of her wings, so that she could touch her upper barrel when speaking, as if to point at herself.

Spearmint stood uncomfortably, and he waited for Luna to say whatever she had on her mind. However, no words were forthcoming. Luna simply gave him an almost annoyed stare. It stretched on for an awkwardly long period of time.

Spearmint finally spoke, "P-princess, if I could learn the nature of your inquiry?" Nervously, he varied his intonation as he asked for clarification.

Luna looked down with confusion for a moment. Perhaps this subject doesn't want to have a conversation with her? She tried to continue to be as friendly as she could. "I am pleased that you have arrived! Your punctuality pleases your princess!" She came forward and gave him a big smile that got insensitively close to Spearmint's personal space.

Spearmint was extremely uncomfortable now. "Thank you, princess! I aim to serve you diligently. May I be dismissed?"

Luna's smile melted. This time, her voice was soft, and depressed. "Yes of course, lieutenant. Please be on your way."

Spearmint saluted, and started trotting away. He released a relieved breath as he walked off briskly, aiming to put as much distance as he could between himself and the princess.

Luna thought about how things truly never do seem to change, even after a thousand years. Even in this new world, where subjects could have conversations with their princess, as if they were equals, it didn't happen for her. Luna felt unloved, and that seemed like it would never change.

Something like this would have, at one time, flung her into a rage, but she no longer had the spirit to be set off so easily. She stared at the stone floors as she walked on toward her bedchambers. As she passed the entrance hallway, a multitude of royal guardsmen spotted her, and the room erupted into a cacophony of hoof clops as the entire room saluted her at once. Each soldier stiffly stood at attention.

She ignored them completely, and just stared at the floor as she passed them by. The room was completely silent. The soldiers weren't speaking to her. They weren't even looking at her. Their eyes were plastered straight ahead of their bodies, gazing into the distance as if they were statues. Their hooves were just as stiff. Each soldier held their right fore hoof to their brow in salute. Only when Luna fully passed by and left the room did she hear the soft sounds of conversation return to the guard stallions.

Luna turned her head back, and walked forward while eyeing the hallway behind her. Perhaps, she thought, she should have tried speaking to them. Perhaps she should have insisted that they all be at ease and that they go about their business so that she could simply watch. That way, she could at least pretend that somepony cared about her enough to be in the same room with her.

She felt herself bump something soft, and she turned to glance at it. A tall white alicorn stood before her. Celestia would normally smile and laugh off a bump like that, but in the wake of this particular collision, she wore a perturbed expression toward her younger sister. Celestia's relationship with Luna had naturally been somewhat strained, because it was Celestia who banished Luna to the moon to begin with. In fact, their sibling rivalry went back much longer than that. Luna was jealous of her big sister. It was true that, of late, they had been on perfectly civil terms, but Celestia still bore a great deal of apprehension about Luna's mental well being.

With a concerned tone of voice, Celestia apologized. "I'm sorry sister, I must not have been watching where I was going."

"Nonsense!" Luna rebuffed. "As you well know, it was I who was distracted!"

Celestia decided not to argue, even though it was true that they were both distracted. Celestia could tell something was eating at Luna. "Dear sister, you know you can tell me anything, don't you?"

There it was: that grace, that perceptiveness, her centuries of wisdom and serenity. Luna didn't know why Celestia wanted to keep throwing perfection in her face like this. Luna's thoughts turned to how Celestia's subjects saw her. She seethed that, should some calamity befall them, they would even cry out Celestia's name, as if to beseech the heavens themselves to their aid. It was as though everypony but Luna thought she were some kind of goddess. Luna wondered what that made her: the devil?

"I have no business with you, sister. See that you raise the sun. It's time." Luna abruptly sidestepped Celestia, and continued her slow journey to her bed chambers, leaving Celestia behind to lower her head to stare at the floor with heartache.

Luna took note of every change that had taken place in the castle while she was away. To a stone mason, a chipped brick or some stripped mortar was simply that. It was an imperfection to be ruthlessly cut out and replaced. For Luna, these walls were familiar friends, and her only companions during the cold silence of the night. Every slightly off-color blemish of new bricks reminded her of how much history had passed her by while she paid the price for her mistakes.

The castle even had new corridors. It had expanded over the centuries. Luna passed one such corridor, and glanced around the edges where the corners met. For anypony else, this hallway was just another turn in the maze of castle passageways. For Luna, this hallway opening was a hole that had been gouged in her familiar wall. She wondered if, besides herself, there was anypony alive, even Celestia, remembered what it had originally looked like.

Luna diverted herself from her path toward her bedchambers, and walked down the 'new' passageway. The corridor was long and straight, and lined with tall red doors, white and marble masonry, and a polished granite floor. A red carpet stretched from one end to the other, softening the clops of Luna's platinum horseshoes.

With the clanking of armor, the two guards at the end of the hallway saluted the princess, and allowed her to pass into the great open hall of the legislature. The main doors had only opened moments before she arrived, and all the seats were empty. Luna looked up at the great mahogany podium at the front of the room, where Celestia, or one of the other princesses, would sit to preside over the assembly.

Celestia had extended the offer, many times, for Luna to sit as 'first chair' during one of the assemblies. She would bare the commensurate tie-breaking vote, as well as the power to veto any bill that had passed. She had declined each offer. The whole affair made her uncomfortable. Perhaps the thing that sat with her worst was the majestically embossed symbol that rested just above the seat of the first chair. It was Celestia's cutie mark, and it was decorated with real gold by the hooves of a skilled artisan.

Luna grasped the concepts of this new democracy quickly, but she didn't grasp the purpose. Nopony would dispute Celestia's flawless benevolence, and fair hoof. Why, then, does she allow the subjects to make decisions for themselves? Surely her sister's wisdom as a ruler would outstrip the utility of some smattering of votes cast by an apathetic and selfish populace. It could not even be said that this system allows Celestia to delegate responsibility so that she might attend to herself. No, she was busier than ever.

Luna stepped quietly, and approached one of the enormous marble pillars that held the domed ceiling of the hall of commons in place. She leaned against it softly and glanced out onto the legislature floor just enough that she could see the morning activities without being spotted herself.

Several aides were setting about their morning routine. Each seat of the house would have at least a dozen pieces of parchment dropped on it. They were agendas of the proposed bills and debates to be presented during the day's session. Luna's eyes turned, however, to the confident looking stallion who was reading a scroll of his own, pacing, and quietly practicing a speech. Prime Minister Flashy was always early.

The politician and free leader of the Equestrian legislature was very attractive. He was a golden furred earth pony with a yellow mane, who bore a cutie mark of a lens flare. Perhaps, Luna thought, this system made it easier for an attractive pony to get elected. It was one more reason for the whole 'democracy' affair to leave her with a bitter taste in her mouth. Luckily, however, Flashy was a fair representative of the ponies. He didn't let his power go to his head. He was always willing to listen to the concerns of the other subjects.

Most interestingly to Luna, however, he was also filled with fire and conviction. He had a passion to see the coming of his vision for Equestria. He was uncompromising. He was loud. His soul was filled with fire. Luna stared at him for a moment, and bit her lower lip. A blush started to develop in her cheeks and she furrowed her brow as she watched him. She took a deep breath and held her head up high, and started to approach him.

The aides were the first to notice Luna. They quickly scrambled to move to the other side of the hall, moving as fast as they could without making it obvious that they were trying to avoid her. Flashy was not quite so lucky. He focused on his speech, oblivious of the approach of her royal highness.

"Rejoice, subject! I have deemed thee worthy to seek mine hoof in courtship."

Flashy nearly jumped out of his fur. He turned around with shock. The parchments slipped from his hoof and he scrambled to catch them before they floated down to the earth. "Luna!"

"You may woo me at once!"

Flashy broke into an awkward, uncomfortable smile, shaking his head and laughing at Luna's 'joke'. "Princess Luna. It's good to see you."

Luna squinted daggers at Flashy the entire time he laughed. "Yes, of course."

Flashy was having a hard time keeping up even his politician's smile. He gave a perturbed expression at Luna's abrupt response, and allowed the awkward silence to stretch.

Luna squinted at him expectantly with a half-annoyed glare. She was blushing quite furiously now.

Flashy finally asked with disbelief, "Luna, are you serious?"

Luna bared her teeth at Flashy, and his eyes slowly widened to full. "Do you not find me attractive?!"

Flashy's heart shot up into his throat. "No I-- I mean, yes, yes of course I do! It's just.. oh Celestia..."

Luna drew in a breath of shock, and developed a furious expression. There was a sudden crack of lightning just outside the palace walls, and a wind gusted through the legislature almost putting out the torch sconces. Her voice bellowed, pounding Flashy in the chest with its volume. "That is our sister's name! We would honor thee with an opportunity to woo thine princess, and thou wouldst first laugh, and then invoke our sister's name as though to beseech her to save thee?"

Flashy gulped hard, and he could feel his fur starting to stand on end from the electric charge in the air. The carefully placed pieces of parchment were fluttering in the breeze, threatening to leap off their perches and swirl in the air around the enraged princess.

Luna flashed an expression that made Flashy feel certain that he was about to have his head torn from his body. "We shall take our leave! Be thankful for our mercy!" She turned around quickly, and loosed a quick, high pitched 'Hnf!'

Flashy held out a hoof as Luna started to storm off. "Princess! Princess, I beg your forgiveness. I meant no offense! I--" The princess didn't turn around for an instant to hear Flashy out. He lowered his hoof slowly. "Oh horseapples."

Luna thrust the doors of the legislature open, nearly bowling over the guards that were posted there. She trotted past them without concern at a quick pace, slamming her hooves with each step and seething.

The more she walked, the more her furious snarl faded off her face. She shook her head with bitter resignation. She had not expected such a stinging reception to her confession of love. She moved slower and slower as she got closer to her bedchambers.

Luna counted herself lucky that she was able to get far enough away from any other pony before she broke down. She sat on her hindquarters, pressing her croup into the cold stone wall and covering her eyes.

She only sobbed once. It came out much like a cough.

With some effort, she choked the remainder of her tears down, and sat in the hallway cradling her head with her forehooves for as long as it would take for her watering eyes to dry.

It took a while.

Regaining her composure, Luna weakly rose to her hooves, and resumed her slow trudge back to her bedchambers. She glanced out another arrowslit just in time to see the last of her beautiful night disappearing. Celestia had risen the sun. She drew in a sniffle, wiped her nose, and heaved a bitter sigh.

Arriving at her bedchambers, she gently pushed open the doors, and slipped inside. It was the same room she had before her banishment, and Celestia had kept it exactly as it was. She was the first soul to step hoof in it, upon her return, in a thousand years. It was bittersweet seeing her old room again, covered with a thick layer of dust that reminded her of each of the thousand years she had lost. She had since had it cleaned, but the dust was still there, in her mind. There was a thousand years of dust on everything in her life.

Luna's bedchambers were simple. There was a bed, a writing desk, and a dresser. The dresser was mostly empty, but it bore a large oval mirror, and a single, small, mane brush on its surface.

Luna preferred not to keep knickknacks in her possession. It was some time around her hundredth year of life that she noticed her pile of trinkets was threatening to overrun her small room, and spill from the balcony. Every item represented some cherished memory of some event or pony in her life, or it was simply something she found beautiful. Her quiet, private, personal lifestyle made these objects seem like her dearest friends. Perhaps they were.

By the two-hundredth, she had it all burned. After enough time, you value the ability to forget far more than you value the ability to remember.

Just about the only such possession remaining was her gilded writing quill. She couldn't part with it because it had been made from one of her own molted primaries. Luna enjoyed writing as much as any other pony. She would occasionally correspond with academia before her banishment, to keep up on the latest developments in the world of magical study, and it was a habit she was trying to resume. Luna was discouraged, however, by the amount of catching up she needed to do. It was likely that she would soon give up, rather than face the mountain of new magical knowledge to absorb.

Turning around, she gently touched her cheek to her wooden bedchamber doors. She thought about the world on the other side of the doors, and wished she could be a part of it. With a ka-thunk, Luna engaged the lock, and walked to her bed.

The handmaiden always tucked in her bed tightly, with care and precision. Luna almost felt sorry to disturb the immaculately kept blanket. She slipped off her horseshoes, and breastplate, and curled up into her bed.

Luna squeezed in close, pressing neck to neck. He felt warm, and safe. She was taller than most ponies, but for some reason, she felt small in his embrace. She set her chin down on on his neck and drew in a contented breath. His fur smelled like lemon shampoo. She felt a foreleg wrap around to stroke her mane. "Explain to me, subject. Why don't you hate me?" Luna asked.

Flashy drew back so that Luna could see his smile. She gasped softly with surprise, and blushed at the sight of it. It was so warm, and caring. Flashy looked at her with such intense curiosity and affection that Luna's heart was filled with a sense of tentative peace. She responded with a slow smile of her own, and couldn't help but raise a hoof to touch that handsome smile gently, giving him a soft caress. She started with his lips, and moved down to feel the curves of his jaw, and then his neck.

Flashy answered. "I listen to my constituents."

Luna was confused. She furrowed her brow as her caress reached Flashy's fore leg. "But, I am your princess. I am your ruler. I am not your constituent. You must have made a mistake." She was scared, now. She was scared that Flashy wasn't making any sense. She was scared that he would leave her right then and there. She was scared that he would run to Celestia's bedchamber and be hers.

Flashy reached out to pick up his drink from a small nearby crater. He dusted the lunar regolith from the bottom of his martini glass. Ignoring Luna's words, and her caresses, he stared off at the endless sea of stars in all directions, and took a casual sip. He had a disinterested confidence about him, like he was watching a game of hoofball among business associates.

Luna felt the sudden urge to cry. "Did you make a mistake with me? Do you love me? Is that why we're on the moon?" Flashy's musculature seemed dangerously beautiful under her hooves. She wanted so bad to be here, with him, forever, but his callous expression grew all the more bored. Luna could feel her breath starting to hiccup as the tears and nervousness rose up in her chest. Her soul was filled with fear that she would soon be rejected. "Flashy," she cried out pleadingly.

Luna turned suddenly when Celestia sat down next to her on a small patch of grass. The grass was moist with dew, and the rest of the palace garden was especially peaceful tonight. There was a sound of a babbling waterfall not far away. The peace, however, was not shared by Luna. Why was her sister here? What did she want with her and her beloved? Why is she doing this now, of all times, after there was finally someone to love her? Luna choked up. "You-- you don't get to see me cry."

Celestia's horn started to glow, and Luna gasped with fear and awe. Luna shot up, half ready to fight, half ready to cower with fear. With a voice of the utmost serenity, Celestia explained. "You don't understand, my dearest, sweetest sister. This is all for your own good."

Luna's senses were flooded with fear. She turned to beg Flashy to never forget her when she's gone, but he had already left. He walked off toward a garden party to schmooze with the dignified, upper-crust guests playing croquet next to the garden. "I bucked a princess," he announced to a chorus of laughter. She turned back to Celestia just as the glow of her horn flooded all sense of vision, and she was cast with a roaring splash into an ocean of frigid sea water.

"No!" she shrieked, as she experienced the terror, once more, of being banished to the moon. "Stop hurting me! I'm so sorry! Please! Stop hurting me!" Despite her pleas, and her vain struggles against the current, she was quickly swallowed up by the ocean so deeply that she no longer knew which way was up.

In Luna's clouded vision, a small white spark appeared. Deciding to cling to the final remnants of hope before they sank into the pit of despair, she lunged for the tiny point of light, swimming desperately against the current. Her lungs felt like they were on fire. She felt sick to her stomach with the lack of air. She knew she was about to die, and she wanted more than anything to touch that last spark of hope before her wretched existence was finally snuffed out.

Growing dizzy, her swimming slowed. She screamed, sending bubbles past her nose, and with one final, desperate, impassioned lunge, she reached out, and grabbed the spark.

Luna blinked awake, taking in a surprised breath through her nose.

She had been dreaming, and although she was awake now, the feelings of fear and sorrow from the dream were still weighing on her chest. It took her a few moments to realize that the things she just experienced weren't real. The feelings of anguish slowly subsided, but a new pain rose up to take its place. Flashy's love for her was never real to begin with. It was just a dream. She was still alone, and she knew she would always be alone.

Luna blinked at her bedchambers, and drew a long breath. It was evening, and a soft orange light of sunset was streaming in through her window, casting long shadows on her meager belongings. She slid herself toward the edge of the bed, and reached for her horse shoes and breast plate. They weren't where she usually put them, but she thought nothing of it. Groggily, she scanned for the area around her bed, and found that they weren't far. She picked them up, slipped them on, and crawled out of bed.

It was time for another night, and the moon wasn't going to raise itself.

The Easy Life

The magic that enveloped the black wrought iron door mechanism lingered for longer than usual, then faded away. The princess leaned in to give it a probing glare. It was unlocked.

Luna loved her routines. Every evening she wakes up, raises the moon, and roams the castle grounds while weaving her dream magic. There were times when she'd be adventurous, and try new things, but every time she did it, she was gripped with pangs of discomfort. For Luna, there was something relaxing, and safe, about routines. Even if all the ponies around her were so difficult to understand and predict, at least she had control over her own life.

It seemed, however, that even she can forget something as simple as locking the door, even if she's done it every morning for countless centuries, give or take a thousand years on the moon.

Luna looked away from her door thoughtfully. "Huh."

With another burst of magic, and a sound like the sprinkling of diamonds, Luna's mystical wave of blue wrapped itself around the handle loop, and drew the door open with a creak. Luna was greeted with the familiar and distinctive scent of the ancient castle hallways.

The time right after nightfall was always her favorite. Any ponies that lingered all the way to sunset would by now be sleepily making their way toward the exits. Even after all these years, Luna felt a welling of pride, knowing that all these ponies were about to step outside and taste the coolness of her night air, while the pale glow of her moon showered the whole of Equestria in its serenity.

Luna made her way toward the garden to listen to the crickets. She was filled with a sense of unease about her door lock. Somepony could have snuck in during the night. It was true that such things were unlikely in such a fortified castle, but Luna slept during the day when the castle was most busy. Servants and sometimes even guests could pass her chambers with little scrutiny. It could have been anypony.

Worse, still, it could be evidence that somepony actually did sneak into her room. She made a mental note to watch for any ponies that bore a cutie mark that looked like a lock and key, or, worse yet, a unicorn bearing a mark of magical stars. Bypassing a simple iron lock would be foal's play for a pony that specialized in magic.

Luna stopped her journey down the hallway. She raised one brow and squinted the other, pausing for a moment. Did she just see what she thought she saw? Walking backward several paces, she peeked down a rarely used corridor of the castle, toward the winding storage areas used by the castle servants, containing wine and a well stocked pantry.

She made her way curiously down the back way. It was long and dreary. There were no torch sconces here, which is to be expected for a servant's corridor. They were expected to bring their own lamp. Nearing a T-shaped crossroads, the air started to smell musty and wet. It was ill-maintained down here, and Luna drew up her lip in a sneer at her surroundings.

Finally arriving at the glint of light that drew her attention, her eyes widened at the sight of her gilded writing quill. It was lying on the floor next to a bag of flour, glistening as it caught the moonlight that streamed from the hallway behind her.

"What treason is this?" Luna snarled as she approached her cherished quill. She lifted it into the air with her magic and inspected it for damage with clenched teeth. The quill was unviolated, but Luna didn't feel the same way about herself. Somepony was in her bedchamber, this proves it!

Luna's rage quickly pivoted into fear. "My throat could have been slit!" she cried out to the darkness surrounding her. It was at that moment that the fate of her personal guard commander was sealed. He would hear of this, to say the least.

The rattle that came from further down the hallway was no cause for alarm, but in Luna's nervous state it shocked her into a tiny jump. She drew in a sharp breath and abruptly turned to glance in the direction of the sound. Another rattle of pots and pans came from the kitchen. If she had not been down the service corridors, she would not have to hear such an unsavory clatter, but she was none the less annoyed that such noises would impose themselves on her royal ears.

Still, it was rare for anypony but a tiny hoofful of guards to be in this wing of the palace after nightfall, and curiosity got the better of Luna. She approached the piercing light that was shining at the far end of the gloomy servant's access corridor, and slipped into the kitchen by the back entrance.

An earth pony chef was working on a large bubbling pot. His fur was pure white, but for his rust colored mane, and his chest was mottled by tiny red dots, where tiny droplets of tomato sauce had flicked themselves. Even his cutie marks, each portraying a carrot and a large cleaver, were spattered by tiny foreign droplets.

Luna marched herself up to the chef, and stood proud and tall before him. She even spread her wings, towering majestically over the comparatively diminutive alabaster stallion. She stared at him with a dignified visage.

The chef stared back for several seconds, and Luna maintained her steely expression, until the chef nonchalantly turned back to his sauce, giving it a taste test. He nodded at his pot, and moved over to his cutting table to attend to an unchopped onion.

Luna's jaw dropped. Perhaps Celestia had been benevolent enough to hire a blind chef? "Are you not going to bow?" Luna asked.

Chop. Chop. Chop. "Nope." Chop. Chop.

Luna's jaw could drop no further. She leapt off the floor with a blast of her wings. The room erupted into a cacaphony of clattering pots and pans from the sheer gust, and she hovered in place. She held her fore hooves into the air as if to draw up the storm clouds which, at this point, were forming just behind her, sending shuddering arcs of lightning across the room to lick at the metal pots that dangled from the cieling. "We art thine princess!"

The chef looked up with exasperation and an incredulous expression at the princess's overreaction. He set both the knife and the onion down on the cutting board, and heaved a long suffering sigh. "Yeah, I could tell." He turned only his head to look at Luna. His expression asked her when she was going to leave.

Luna's eyes widened, and she gradually floated back to the floor. Her storm clouds waned and her body stiffly impacted, hooves first, with the cold concrete kitchen floor. She blinked. Overcome with perplexed disbelief she asked. "Then why aren't you bowing?"

"No reason to. Now, is there anything you need, because the griffon delegation made a dinner order and I don't want to keep them waiting."

Luna blinked. "I see. You, too, despise my night."

The chef cracked a smile at that. "Of course not. The night time is beautiful. I truly mean that. That's why I'm on the night shift."

Luna's muzzle curled into a smile. There it was! Somepony finally complimented her night! She knew it! She knew that even though they would sleep through it, deep down, her subjects loved her night.

"It's you I don't like," the chef finished.

Luna's smile nearly crashed through the floor. She sputtered with shock, taking a step back. She was too flabbergasted to even draw up her olde Canterlot voice. She spoke softly. "What-- What insolence is this?!" Her voice started to rise. "I want you to love me, not despise me!"

The chef grew annoyed, and turned back to his block to chop at his onion loudly in the hope that his obvious preoccupation would make the princess go away. "You have a funny way of showing it."

"Your princess is not 'funny'." Luna spat her words. "Is this some 'funny' game?"

The chef tried not to pay any more attention to Luna than he had to, working intently on brewing up his pot of sauce. "You really don't know why ponies don't like you, do you?"

Luna's heart sank. 'Ponies' didn't like her? Ponies in general? How dare this puny servant hurt her so badly with his lies?

The chef looked up at Luna with an expression of pity.

"If you truly wanted me to love you, you would have asked me my name by now," the chef offered.

"I would know your name then, servant!" Luna snapped.

"It's Julienne, but that doesn't count. The point is that you don't care about me enough to ask me my name. This is the first time you've even been in the kitchen isn't it? Is this even the first time you've ever been in the servant's corridors at all?"

Luna was completely confused. What was this creature talking about? First he insults her, and now he spouts gibberish? "Very well then, if you are confused, subject, I will explain it to you. I care for all my little ponies, including you. Your princess is magnanimous in nature, and she forgives whatever games you are playing."

Julienne ignored her for some uncomfortable seconds, before repeating himself. "This is the first time you've been here, isn't it?"

Luna was baffled. Her voice was sharp and high pitched with befuddlement, "Of course it is, but what interest is that to you?"

Julienne tilted his cutting board over the top of the sauce, and used his knife to slide the onion into the pot. He set to work chopping another one. "You've lived in this palace for countless centuries, and you've never visited your servants. You're privileged, and there are a lot of jealous ponies out there. If you wouldn't dirty your hooves by coming back here, then it makes us feel as though we're less than you. Sometimes that makes us lash out."

Luna released a sigh. The chef was finally making sense. Of course, it's jealousy. Surely, even Luna herself would be jealous of her own magnificence if the tables were turned, and she were bound to the earth, gifted with no magics, and forced to endure obscurity. She was about to express her sympathies to the chef.

"But that's not why I don't like you."

Luna could not believe her ears anymore. Is this what the servant's corridors were like? Filled with madness and cruelty? "Why do you wound me, subject?!"

The chef finally gave in. He stopped chopping his onion and sighed. Walking to the other side of the room, Julienne grabbed two stools, and walked back with them. He took a seat across from the princess and offered her a stool of her own. He grabbed a small bowl of his sauce, dropped a spoon into it, and offered that as well.

Looking quite heartbroken, now, Luna reached out for the sauce, and sat on the stool. Hanging her head, she stared at the hearty red concoction, and stirred it slowly with her spoon.

"Your majesty, perhaps you believe you care about me, but you don't. Love isn't a one way street. You look down on your subjects. That's why I have a problem with you."

Luna's nerves were starting to calm down, and in their place she made a heady realization. One of her subjects was having a conversation with her, of his own accord. This had only happened once before since her return to Equestria, during the previous Nightmare Night Celebration. She met eyes with the chef. "I care deeply for all my subjects. Why don't you believe me?"

The chef forced himself to remain patient. He spoke slowly. "The first thing you did when you met me was demand that I bow to you."

The princess was genuinely confused. "I was hardly demanding. I was simply confused."

Julienne stared thoughtfully at the princess. "Really? You weren't angry?"

Luna blinked. "No? Was that not clear?"

Julienne cocked his neck back and blinked. After some pondering he broke a slow smile. "You know what, I'm actually starting to believe you now."

Luna smiled back. A rush of excitement flushed through her. Was she making a friend? Could it be? "You have pleased your princess! I shall deign to sample this red sauce." A blue field enveloped her spoon, and it lifted to her muzzle. Sip.

Julienne gave Luna a sideways look and a smile. "Maybe you're just a little awkward." His smile shrunk back down into a pensive expression. "Alright, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and just ask you outright. Do you think you're better than me?"

Luna clapped her lips, and dropped her spoon back into her bowl, swirling it around for a moment. "Not at cooking."

Julienne growled softly, "Ah, I get it. I'm just a chef, and you're superior to me, is that it?"

Luna gave Julienne an annoyed look. "Subject, there are no superior ponies. It is no wonder you are so judgmental, if you would measure your worth as a pony against the station of others." She leaned forward and shoved her bowl against Julienne's chest to accent her point. "You are an amazing cook. And you are Julienne. Is that not enough for you?"

Julienne gently reached up to pick up the bowl as a hot blush crept across his muzzle.

Luna continued, "Perhaps it is you, who judges himself to be better than his princess, because he lives his life by the sweat of his brow?"

It was Julienne's turn, now, to stare at the sauce. "Your majesty... You can't deny that you live an easy life. You don't have to earn a living like we do. You cast one spell a day, and that makes you worthy of all this? Nopony should bow to you. You should bow to us, and thank us for what we do for you."

"You're too young to have ever seen war, are you not?" Luna asked.

Julienne was about to answer before Luna cut him off. "If you were not, you would never accuse me of having an easy life."

Julienne kept staring at his bowl. He remained silent.

Luna allowed her subject to ponder her words for a few moments, then curtly added, "Your sauce pleases your princess. Thank you for what you do for me."

If Julienne was told the day before that the respect of a princess would be something that would make him happy, he would have laughed. It was no more than he deserved, and it would never happen anyway. When, however, he was actually faced with the humility and admiration of someone so powerful, he couldn't help but be overcome by the experience.

Julienne looked up to gaze at his princess, and he drew in a deep lung full of air with shock at what he beheld. Luna was bowing deeply before him.

Julienne winced to keep the tears in. "Stand up." he demanded with a tremulous voice. "Stand up, damn it."

Luna stood up quickly, and smiled a brilliant pearly smile. She leaned in, getting insensitively close into Julienne's personal space. "You are friends with your princess now, are you not?!" she asked with a booming voice, filled with glee.

Julienne laughed, and nodded. "Friends."

Julienne made two extra helpings of his meal that night, and shared a table with Luna.

Luna looked out on the desolate lunar landscape with a content smile. She poured herself a cup of tea, and offered yet another to Julienne.

Julienne graciously accepted, and took a sip. "So how many of those wars were your own doing?"

Nightmare Moon looked down at herself, and was struck with a wave of shame. "I... didn't..."

"Don't worry. What's a few thousand corpses between friends, huh?"

Nightmare Moon heaved a sigh of relief. "Your words please me, subject. I thought not to inform you about the things I did before I got banished. I thought you would be angry at me." She gently reached down to play with the space dust under her tail. It seemed to ripple unnaturally, creating tiny circular waves as her hoof stroked through it.

Julienne said, "That's not very nice, but I suppose you had your reasons. Honestly, I don't care. If I cared, I wouldn't have gotten banished to the moon with you."

Nightmare Moon sighed. "Servant, your queen wishes to hear more about the perfect sauce..."

Julienne started to chatter about just how precise and difficult it is to make a perfect roux without burning it, but Nightmare Moon was soon distracted by a tiny white glint that spiraled around around a blue flower. She turned to him. "I will be a moment, subject."

Luna walked across the squishy, moist grass of the royal woods, and stopped to stare down at the curious white dot.

Twilight Sparkle leaned in too. "Huh. That certainly seems out of the ordinary. I think this deserves some further study."

Luna looked up at her sister's protege. "Twilight Sparkle, do you understand the meaning of this flower?"

Twilight Sparkle blinked, and shook a hoof. "Oh no no! No I was talking about your friendship. I'm Equestria's foremost expert on the magic of friendship, you know. That's why I'm a princess."

Luna squinted at Twilight as she bragged. "I'm well aware, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight beamed, and continued. "And that's why I'm so surprised that you're trying out friendship too! Don't you know you'll never understand it? If you understood friendship, you would have used the elements of harmony on Celestia, and this whole crazy business would be completely different! No. No I don't think this will work, and I'm Equestria's foremost expert on the magic of friendship, you know. That's why I'm a princess."

Luna was pained by Twilight's words. She looked up at the violet alicorn with displeasure, only to see her beaming back and tilting her head with sweet innocence. Luna laid down on her belly, soaking it with mud, and she furrowed her brow with pain.

"You're right. I guess you'll be taking Julienne away from me, won't you?" Luna asked.

Twilight nodded sweetly, and Luna looked away. She watched the glint of light dance around the blue flower.

Luna sighed and it finally occured to her what species it was. "Poison Joke," she said.

Twilight Sparkle asked, "Princess Luna, is there something I can help you with?"

Luna pondered Twilight Sparkle's question. "I suppose not."

Twilight Sparkle asked again, "Princess Luna, if I might be of any assistance--"

"--then I would be glad to aid you."

Luna looked around, and squinted her eyes at the firey orange glow of sunset. She darted her head to glance at her surroundings. She was in the palace garden.

Her bat-pony guard commander frowned at her, awaiting an answer.

Luna flushed, and swallowed hard, glancing around for a moment before releasing a hushed, and astonished reply. "No. No that will be all, commander. Leave me. I would be alone."

The guardsman saluted with a gentle clop of his hooves which squished in the mushy soil of the garden. With a worried expression, he made his way back to the palace.

Fearless

Celestia's quill scratched softly as she took the meeting minutes.

Aside from those issues reserved for the 'princess summit' meetings, these meetings handled the most critical issues facing the kingdom. Despite that, they had become little more than a formality.

"... require an even-handed application of trade restrictions based on the first quarter estimates for the trade gap on crystal berries with ..."

Luna wasn't listening.

These meetings used to be a lot livelier. In those days, Luna would take every opportunity to scream at Celestia, accusing her of being unworthy of the throne for even the smallest perceived lapse in good judgement. Luna had advocated for swift and ruthless justice, a conservative coin purse, and aggressive posturing against Equestria's neighbours.

"... passed unanimously to shift the assemblies of the legislature. They would start at midnight, and end at noon, to make it easier, if you so choose, to share ..."

Now, Luna would simply listen as Celestia would detail her decision making process. Occasionally, if she felt energetic, she would offer a token nod or mumbled platitude while staring at the expensive hardwood meeting table. Celestia would always patiently and fully explain herself. She was calm, serene, and dull, and she had even started to grow weary of her own voice. At first, ruling the kingdom alone was a significant adjustment for Celestia, but one can get very used to things over the span of a millennium.

"... Prime Minister Flashy has--" Luna perked up casually. "--requested that the final budget receive special approval for ..." Luna looked back down.

Sleepwalking. That was something completely new. Luna hadn't been so preoccupied with thought since her return from the moon. Lately, she had been wishing for something new to happen to her, to energize her life. From then on, she would be certain to take care when making wishes, for occasionally, it seemed, the universe was cruel enough to grant them.

"... griffon delegation has left with their thanks for our accommodations. They're still disappointed that you didn't provide them with a meteor shower, but, as we discussed, it's for the best that we don't abuse our powers simply to honor foreign dignitaries. Regrettably, an unforseen ..."

Luna looked down at the book she brought with her. She had checked it out of the library moments earlier, and hoped that Celestia would be late, so she would have an opportunity to read it. It was a dusty tome filled with arcane details of sleep magic, a specialty of Luna's. This new affliction of hers could not be allowed to continue. For one, her quill was missing again. She had spent at least an hour already plodding through dingy, musty smelling servant corridors in the hopes of finding that accursed quill. What lunacy would possess her unconscious self to fixate on a writing implement, of all things.

"... parasprite infestation was easily controlled, but it keeps finding purchase inside of hardware stores, for some reason we have yet to ascertain. ..."

This wasn't the first time Luna had checked out a book from the palace library. She would visit it at least once every night. She would alternate between magical reference books, and whatever new novel had become popular that week. She would avoid reading the romances, however. Just like seeing real romances, it was painful for her. For other ponies, connecting with one another was as natural as breathing. It had never been that way for Luna. For her, approaching somepony at the Grand Galloping Gala and striking up a pleasant conversation might as well have been an unsolvable gordian knot, forever tormenting her with its intricacies. She would sooner unravel the mysteries of time and space itself.

"... minotaur delegation has invited you to their bacchanalia tonight, and I've drafted a letter expressing your regrets for being unable to attend." A golden glow wrapped itself around a scroll that had been resting near Celestia, and it floated over to Luna. "If you could sign it, I'll be sure that it gets delivered to them during the event."

Luna was almost startled when she snapped back to attention. "Oh." The words Celestia had just spoken played back slowly in her mind, as if she was snatching them from the edge of her short-term memory before they fell away forever. "I'm sorry sister. I'm afraid I've misplaced my quill."

Celestia smiled with gentle amusement. "It's in your book."

Luna blinked down at her book. Sure enough, there was a tiny tuft of blue and gold, barely visible, sticking out of the top of the book between two of the pages. Luna opened the book with her magic, and stared, transfixed, at her trusty quill.

"The minotaur negotiations were hard fought. I wish you had been there, my sister. Lumber prices should be going down thanks to logging rights in northern ..."

Her quill tip was covered in ink that was still tacky to the touch. Next to it, scrawled haphazardly over top of the text of the priceless tome, somepony had written a word.

Fearless

"... the coming time we can expect tax revenues to increase as we see an influx of new business along the minotaur border. If all goes well, this should help us fully balance the budget. I would hate to go into a deficit for the first time in a quarter century. ... Are you alright, Luna?"

"I'll go."

The soft scratching sound of Celestia's note taking came to a swift halt.

Luna looked up at her sister.

Celestia gently set down her quill. "To the bacchanalia?"

"Yes."

"Luna, you're aware that a bacchanalia is a party, are you not? A party with alcohol, and the occasional brawl."

Luna knew this was Celestia's way of asking if she was certain, but she had little patience for it, none the less. Her words came coldly. "I am not a filly anymore, Celestia. I know what a bacchanalia is."

Celestia took a moment to watch her sister's eyes, then lifted her quill once more. She scratched briskly, crossing out her previous item in the meeting minutes, then resumed her soft scribbling, followed by the gentle tamp of punctuation. "In that case, I believe the rest of the agenda can wait."

Ambassador Razor Barb pounded her fists onto the feast table with delight so furiously that small galaxies of sailing food and mead were ejected upward on all sides. "Luna!" she cried in a piercing baritone.

Barb turned around and leapt up onto another nearby feast table, slamming her hooves as she landed. Pamf! She held her muscular arms into the air, craned upward toward the waxing gibbous moon, and cried out mirthfully. "The princess of the night has honored us with her presence! This will be a night to remember!"

There were only a couple dozen minotaurs in attendance, but it might as well have been a thousand ponies based on the sounds of delight that issued forth in a deafening blast.

Luna's eyes could not have been wider. Her glance darted between the room full of cheerful minotaurs greeting her with mugs held high. She was loathing the possibility that one of them might run in for a hug and a friendly greeting at any moment.

Barb polished off a flagon of mead and pitched the empty vessel down onto the table below her hooves with a clank, sending it reflecting off into the bushes. "Wine!" she wailed, causing another thunderous cheer from the partygoers.

One of her aides picked up a wine cask with one arm, and pierced it with his horn, sending a flood of wine spilling forth. He held it high as a dozen flagons quickly dove under the stream, jockeying for position under the flow of running wine.

Satisfied with how events were unfolding, Barb hopped down off the table with a confident swagger, leaving the frenzied revelers in her wake. Luna developed a bothered expression and huffed through her nose as Barb started to approach. "Luna! Razor Barb could not be happier that you would drink with us!"

Luna tried to protest. "Drink? I do not remember saying that--" Luna squeaked as Barb leaned down to give Luna a one armed hug. Luna grit her teeth. Barb was treading dangerously close to starting an international incident with all this touching. One involving singed fur and lightning explosions. Why, she wondered, had she even come to this barbaric ritual?

Barb hauled Luna toward the wine, and she lurched and stumbled with mild resistance, looking off at another side of the festivities. For once, Luna's booming voice was in good company. "Should I not be--"

Barb turned to Luna and grabbed her by both shoulders. "Wine, mead, or ale my friend?"

Luna blushed and looked away contemplatively. She glanced around the party at the smiling faces of the beefy minotaurs who seemed to genuinely appreciate her arrival. "We... Yes! Yes, we are friends! I shall sample this 'ale' of which you speak."

Barb stepped away to pour Luna a drink, which Luna graciously accepted into her magic.

Barb laughed heartily and slapped Luna hard on the back. "Good choice!" She managed to remain completely oblivious to the fact that Luna was now firing a furious glare in her direction in the wake of being slapped.

Luna huffed softly, and stared down at the fizzy drink in front of her. She didn't like to get drunk. She regrets having ever tried it. She's had the occasional wine at formal meals, but she hadn't even touched a drop since she returned from the moon. There was something that didn't quite sit right with her about losing one's inhibitions. Luna liked her inhibitions. She's done some unsavory things even when she did have her wits about her. Still, she started into it with a sip.

Kaff!

It was strong.

Barb laughed hysterically at Luna's reaction to the ale. "That stuff will grow new fur on you! Come! We have much to discuss. Tell me, how familiar are you with the logging negotiations?"

Luna took another sip while Barb asked, and she coughed her response. "Very little I'm afraid. I have had little interest in such trifles."

"Too good for it are you?" Barb asked solemnly, then broke out laughing. "Razor Barb likes you!"

Luna grew a delighted smile at Barb's words, and tipped back her ale, drinking it down in rapid gulps, before breaking into heaving coughs. She tried throwing the cup, much as Barb did, but it only skipped a short distance before rattling to a stop on the nearby table.

Barb seemed quite tickled to see Luna getting into the spirit of things. "I will tell you, friend, that we have gone to great lengths to please the kingdom of Equestria." Barb launched into some dry details about the nuances of the treaty, and Luna forced herself to pay attention. She wouldn't want to be rude to her new friend, after all.

"Of course. Thank you for your consideration." Luna nodded.

"Razor Barb asks you, how big is your liquid rainbow stockpile?" Barb asked.

Luna's smile slipped off her face. "'Tis not for you to know. I am no foal, Barb. I know what your administration would do with that information." she replied.

Barb laughed some more. "A mare with conviction! Here, have another ale." She grabbed Luna's flagon and filled it back up to the brim.

Luna accepted the beverage, looking down at it with a queasy expression, but she none the less sipped at it. "I must thank you, Barb. You have given me a reception befitting my status. If only my own subjects would worship me so."

Barb prepared to respond, but she was interrupted by a loud slam on the nearby feast table. A minotaur man, perhaps the biggest of the bunch, pointed his clawed finger at Luna's chest, and leaned in closely. His breath reeked of mead and he bore a surly expression. "Princess of the night! Bringer of the moon!" he snarled.

Luna was quite taken aback. She had wondered when it would happen. It seemed that something had already come to ruin her night, and remind her that she was better off in solitude.

He broke into a smile. "Honor me with a dance!"

Luna clenched her teeth and curled her brow nervously. She leaned past the brutish minotaur to look at the large bonfire in the center of the celebration. There were a half dozen minotaurs surrounding it, dancing to lute and harp music which was, at best, difficult to hear over the noise. "How does one 'dance?'" she asked.

Barb and her burly compatriot laughed uproariously at Luna's 'joke' and piled in around her, starting to walk off toward the bonfire before Luna could get out of the way. She stumbled to her feet, bringing her ale with her in her magic, sending it sloshing into the grass as she walked unsteadily. "Oof. Er. Yes! Of course, I will attempt these movements!"

Luna had developed quite a buzz by this point, and decided to discard her second flagon of ale by tipping it back, much as she did with the first, before dropping it listlessly into the grass and approaching the reveling dancers. Barb and her companion had already joined them, and were dancing in sweeping gyrations, clawing and grabbing at the air around them as if the shadows of the fire were some enemy against which they struggled valiantly.

It had been said that Princess Twilight Sparkle was the worst dancer among the four rulers of Equestria, perhaps the worst in all the land. That was because Luna had never before attempted it in earnest. She looked as though she were caught in a spider web as she convulsed in a twisted miming of the dancers that surrounded her, who themselves were pretty bad at the endeavor to begin with.

Over the course of a few moments, the party fell completely silent, and the guests turned their heads. The feast that had once been booming with noise was now deathly quiet to the point where the soft cricket song of the woods around them had returned. Obliviously, Luna continued to dance.

The mirth in Barb's voice was gone, replaced with a guttural furious rage. "What is this?!"

Halting her dance, Luna blinked with surprise and turned around.

An armored minotaur was holding a stallion pegasus by his scruff. He was jet black. The only brighter shades he had were in his messy mane, streaked with a dark gray, and his bright white and yellow cutie mark of a winged sandal. He wasn't a large stallion, even by pegasus standards, and he was no match for the minotaur guard that captured him. Quite justifiably, he was frightened. His eyes were darting, and his ears were pale as his chest heaved with anxiety. His body trembled so vigorously that it shook the arm of the guard holding him.

"He snuck past the guard parameter! I found him roaming the forest!"

"No!" the terrified stallion protested. "I flew in! I didn't know there were any guards!"

Luna frowned. This stallion had made grievous blunder. This was embassy land of the minotaur people. He was outside the reach of Equestrian law.

Barb walked over to the wine casks, grabbed a hooked device, used to tap the barrels, and walked menacingly toward the stallion. "You're here to spy on us to listen to our diplomatic secrets?! Razor Barb can not accept this!"

The eyes of the pagasus locked onto the gnarly looking tool. He panicked and flailed. "No!"

"What are you doing?" Luna called out to Barb.

Barb turned back toward the bonfire to look at Luna's silhouette. Her wings were spread to their full span in a menacing display. Barb growled. "He has invaded our sacred rite!"

Luna took a moment to respond. Her eyes seemed to glow in the night. She spoke very slowly and calmly. She would not want to be misunderstood. "You would do well to listen very carefully when your princess speaks, for it is not often that she would repeat herself. You were not asked what he had done. You were asked what you were doing."

Barb did not like Luna's tone. Her chest heaved, and she blew a frenzied puff of air from her nose. Tossing her tapping tool aside, she lifted both fists, closing them tensely with the cracking of cartilage. She twisted her jaw as she undertook the hopeless task of trying to remain calm. "How dare you speak to Razor Barb in this way in her own embassy? You are no princess of mine, little pony. You are no princess on this embassy land. You would risk the fury of the minotaur empire to protect one pathetic trespasser? Why? Are you not a friend to Razor Barb? Did you not just tell me that your people do not appreciate you?"

Luna felt a pang of guilt at Barb's words. Barb knew exactly where to hit her. What madness had that damned quill wrought? What game was her unconscious mind playing, that would direct her toward one more example, in a countless sea of examples, of how she will never be loved, and she was a fool to try.

Luna looked between Barb and the terrified stallion. She knew the only sensible choice was to leave the embassy, and file a protest, demanding the release of her subject. Her thoughts turned to what Celestia would have to say about this. It's quite likely that Luna had already started an international incident by making demands on minotaur soil. The long fought negotiations may have just crumbled to dust on the eve of their completion.

And would this stallion have been so bold in her defense? Barb was right. Her people don't appreciate her. Before her time on the moon, she would have relished the opportunity to see one of her subjects suffer. It was no more than they deserved, because they had rejected her night, and spurned her love for them.

Barb puffed through her nose once more, and turned back to walk toward the stallion; pressing her fist into her hand; cracking her knuckles. As Barb drew closer, the panicked whimpers of the stallion grew louder. He flailed now, fluttering his wings, desperately trying to free his scruff from the clenched hand of the minotaur guard.

"You will stop, or I will stop you."

Luna's eyes glowed white with an unnatural light. The bonfire flickered from the blast of wind that ripped through the forest clearing. A slow rumble of thunder cascaded through the air, echoing off the sheer face of Mount Canterlot, and in the distance, a timberwolf cried a piercing howl to mother moon.

Barb turned her attention away from the black stallion and, with thumping hooves, she accelerated toward Luna hollering an infuriated battle cry. The clearing erupted with the sounds of tables and chairs being tipped over. A clatter of drawing weapons resounded from the edges of the party.

Barb plowed her body into the cloud of black smoke that lingered where Luna's body had just stood. She stumbled from the lack of impact, nearly falling into the bonfire.

The cloud of smoke flowed up above the clearing, drawing up a spray of electric arcs that ripped through the grass, leaving fractal patterns of charred black at the hooves of the partygoers who were preparing to advance on her. The crowd halted and screamed with drunken rage.

Luna progressively returned to her normal form, staring down at Barb while she hovered in place with her wings. "Foals!" Luna's voice shook the soil itself, and cracks darted through the earth, slowly splitting into sink holes. "We were present at the birth of your puny empire, and thou wouldst invoke its name in defiance of thine princess?" Luna felt an old feeling welling up inside her; a good feeling. "Thou believest this savage celebration to be worthy of our night? We will teach thee the true meaning of darkness."

Barb pointed a clawed finger at the air furiously. "Come back down here and fight me like a minotaur!"

Luna was not usually one to be goaded, but over the centuries, she had discovered that a lesson is learned most well when the student asks to receive it.

Luna's wings crashed shut with a thunderous crack. A shower of rock and dirt sprayed upward in front of Barb, with Luna at its center. Barb barely had time to lower her arm from where it had been pointing at Luna's previous position before she was pounded in her muscular chest by both of Luna's hind legs. Her breath shot from her aching breast in an explosive heave.

She felt herself sail backward, accompanied by a the sound of a shuttering crunch of rib bones. She would have certainly flown several body lengths toward the edge of the clearing, but with another tremendous boom, Luna appeared above her in mid flight. With all four hooves atop the minotaur's helplessly floating body, she thrust Barb downward. There was an explosion of dirt and a cloud of dust as Barb bounced off the ground below.

Luna landed softly astride Barb's wheezing body, and looked down at her new 'friend', struggling for breath below.

The crowd could contain itself no longer. A rush of lumbering combatants stampeded on her position.

With an asymmetrical blast of blue magic, Luna staggered the small army of minotaurs, spreading them into more manageable groups. She shot toward the nearest one, launching herself off the body of one minotaur, and using her leverage to crash into another.

The stallion fell to the earth with a thud as the guard that was holding him decided to shift priorities and join the fray. The ebony pegasus wanted to flee, but his legs and wings quivered violently. His body threatened to stumble and collapse as he watched, slack jawed, at the unfolding carnage.

Luna slid through the dirt, kicking up divots of grass and stone. She crashed into the legs of a small group of minotaurs, bowling them in several directions. One of them reached out and grabbed her scruff as he fell, wrenching her to the ground with a thud. She struggled free of his grip just before a club strike came crashing to the ground where she laid.

The club wielding minotaur heaved his weapon high, and was about to strike a connecting blow just as a feast table flew into his side, wrapped in Luna's magical glow. It exploded into a pile of firewood, sprinkling heavy chunks of debris onto Luna's back. She loosed a frightened scream and wormed her way out of the wreckage just as a half dozen minotaurs piled atop her.

The black stallion had never seen a lightning strike from that close, before. The thing that's most surprising about it is how loud it is. Thunder is normally a soothing rumble, or at worst a startling crack. This was different. There was a piercing cry as the heavens themselves split asunder and cast their judgement on the crowd of warriors attacking Luna. The stallion's ears rang screamingly as he was temporally deafened by the blast. He watched with astonishment as a dozen minotaurs rained back down to earth.

Luna slowly rose from the ashen crater left in the wake of her lightning strike, and hovered in mid air. The clouds above swirled with blackness, and stray arcs of electricity bounced from object to object. She surveyed her handiwork with a satisfied snarl. The minotaurs were crawling, coughing, and trying weakly to stand up and continue the fight. A few were curled up in the fetal position, wheezing for air and pounding the dirt with their fists. Barb was weakly trying to stand, but kept falling to one knee.

Luna's contemptuous satisfaction started to fade, and her breast warmed with the feeling of terrified regret. What had she done? She gently touched down to earth and looked around at her defeated foes. "No. No, no, no." She didn't know what to fear more, her own lack of self-control, or Celestia's inevitable reaction.

Luna snarled at the frightened stallion, and marched toward him. His eyes shot open wide, and he found himself unable to breathe under the convulsions of his trembling body. He had never been more frightened in his life. "You!" she bellowed loudly enough for him to hear over the ringing in his ears. "Dost thou know what thou hast done!?"

The stallion couldn't answer. His body was swiftly overtaken by a wave of relaxed muscles. He released a soft puff of air, fell limply to the earth, and fainted.

Author's Note

My intention was to have every chapter be a day, with a dream at the end, and a piece of the next evening when Luna woke up, but this chapter started getting long, and I wanted to gauge how people felt about having an action scene in this story, so I published it at this point.

I'm in this for the feedback, so I appreciate anything you can give me.

Side Story: Just Like Me

[Excerpt from Just Like Me]

That little purple bean had become my best friend. I was looking at it just before dawn on the morning of the day I met you.

It was quiet. We knew that if there was any indication that we were awake, then our commanding officer would lay into us, especially on the morning of a battle. Naturally that meant it was going to be quiet, but, if anything, the quiet was an indication that most of us weren't asleep at all.

There were a lot of things going through my mind. Most of it was just random stuff that I was trying to bring up just to avoid having to think about what was going to happen that day. I thought about how cramped my bunk was. I thought about how there wasn't a lick of privacy in the whole damn barracks, and how it always seemed to smell like old socks in there.

I thought about how we would all tease my friend, Pepper... [more]

Author's Note

I was working on a piece of history that was going to become a dream sequence in this story, but I felt it deserved a story of its own, so I reworked it put it out as its own story. You don't have to read it to enjoy Sleep Walking, but it may inform an upcoming dream sequence.