Luna armed herself of courage, wits and tenacity. Last night, a little spark had illuminated her vision through shame... And the conclusion she had arrived to was:

Who cares?

Who cared if she was her sister or not? It's not like she was going to shout it out in public or anything. She didn't owe them anything anyway. Those ignorant little... Okay, no.

Yes, probably nothing would happen between them even if Luna tried. Celestia would, of course, have in mind that they were sisters and the only love they shared was that; a sisterly love, and it had to remain that way. Then she would marry the noble and...

No. Luna was going to make her way out of this with her pride and dignity intact. If somepony was going to give up in this war it was going to be him, not her. With or without Celestia, that noble wasn't going to get away with it!

And a crucial question of our troubled princess now was... What was the noble going to get away with, anyway? That was what Luna wanted to discover. If there was something else going on here, but where to start?

Just like every morning, Luna walked towards the dinning room to have breakfast with her sister before she had to go to court. She was well aware that probably Celestia wouldn't be sitting there, waiting for her with that fresh gentleness she loved just like always, only to be with that stallion. The princess of dreams didn't want to be pessimistic, but she also wanted to be ready to face a couple of nightmares and endure the hard blows that would be directed towards her heart from now on.

No, she wasn't weak. The mighty Princess of the Night would stand tall and proud no matter the challenge.

With renewed courage and straight posture, she kept walking until she found the doors she was already expecting to see. She opened them... and found her sister beaming at her, bright as the sun itself. Luna smiled; she loved its shine.

Wait... Am I... blushing?

It was frustrating and annoying. Her body was always going to remind her that that was actually the mare she had fallen for. Disgusted, she changed her smile for a neutral mask and walked calmly towards her seat in the table.

"Lulu!" Celestia sweetly pulled her into an unexpected embrace with her wing. This reminded her of their fight the previous night. Though she wouldn't call it a 'fight' exactly, she was the only one exploding and seeking answers after all. It was better to leave this behind, however. Both of them seemed to be making an effort to make as if nothing had happened in the first place.

"'Tia..." Luna hugged back, burying her muzzle deep into her beloved sister's white coat. She briefly opened her eyes and found that the cooks were keeping their distance and witnessing with a smile the lovely exchange. Her smile grew wider, but she didn't know why she felt the need to cry.

"Lulu... How was your night?"

"I had a peaceful slumber." As much as she didn't want to, Luna decided to break the hug; she had to admit she was hungry. "How about you?"

"It was... fine, I suppose." Celestia's words were having more weight than usual this morning. Probably Luna would go insane before discovering their actual meaning. The cooks took the liberty of placing the meals on their respective places on the table seeing the atmosphere had been dissipated "Now that I think about it, I still haven't told you much about... him." Celestia's grin only turned Luna's stomach, but this was what she needed; information.

"Proceed, then." Luna said, playing with her food. "I do wish to know who will be courting my sister."

"Well... his name is Gallant Palas." Celestia began saying. "He is not actually a noble, however."

"Hm?" Luna quirked an eyebrow at this.

"While his family is quite wealthy, he studied at my school."

"I see." The indigo alicorn mirrored her sister, taking bites from her breakfast.

"Brilliant stallion, I must say." Yes, but the Mighty Princess of the Night created the millions of stars and hundreds of constellations in the sky, knows the history and geography of Equestria better than anypony, and has been the mischievous creator of many of the ponies' legends and horror stories. "However... he can be quite dense and he is slightly lacking in creativity." Well, Luna isn't.

And she already saw failure in this nonsense.

"Are you perhaps referring to the bouquet of sunflowers?"

"Maaaaybe." Celestia's upbeat demeanor was worrying her sister... "Would you like to hold court for me today, Lulu?"

Luna's eyebrows raised.

It is now you decide to give me a fraction of your duties? Because of that... excuse of a stallion?

"I am very sorry, sister." And so the Princess of the Night left behind the Princess of the Day with a bewildered look on her regal features as she exited the room with a victorious sway in her hips.

If somepony had to spend time with this stallion, it was Luna herself. With graceful steps she made her way to the castle entrance; she knew her sister well enough to know where she was supposed to meet the stallion for the date she had just ruined. When the hour court usually began arrived, the night princess already expected the oh-so-spoken suitor to arrive.

Luna waited.

And waited.

And waited. It didn't matter that the guards were eying her weirdly. Princess Luna waited patiently, with the cool of the night in her eyes.

Eventually, even she had to realize this was absurd. Luna sighed, feeling defeated and retired to her chambers. She only had one choice; wait. Court would be over soon and then she could talk to 'Tia... if she wasn't mad at her for refusing her earlier request. Luna felt her insides turn by the mere thought of being wrong and judging her sister in such a way.

She was allowing jealousy to pollute her heart and obscure her vision.

The princess made a mental note not to act so boldly upon simple hypotheses.

A few minutes passed. Luna knew night court would start soon, but she still had this small flicker of hope in her heart that her sister would soon be knocking on her door. When the expected sound didn't arrive, she decided to look for her sister herself.

"Please, forgive me, princess." Luna remained hidden when she heard a stallion's voice nearby. A curious teal eye peeked around the corner and met a golden coated, red maned stallion standing in front of her sister's chambers. The door opened, revealing Celestia herself.

"I am afraid I must apologize myself, Gallant." Luna silently gasped. So that was the stallion?

Horseapples. He wasn't bad looking. But what in Equestria could match the infinite cool regal beauty of the Princess of the Night herself?

"I will not be able to accompany you tonight." Luna retreated to squeal and rub her hooves in mischievous delight. "There are things I must do. I hope you understand." Luna carefully peeked again; she didn't want to miss his disgustingly handsome face forming a delicious expression of disapointment.

"Y-yes, princess. Shall I see you tomorrow then?"

"Tomorrow sounds..." Celestia paused briefly, which confused Luna. Magenta eyes turned to the side, meeting the curious teal eye of a certain indigo spy. "Fantastic."

Luna quickly retreated. She couldn't make out their words anymore due to the loud thump of her rapidly beating heart.

Court didn't sound so bad right then.

With a flash of her horn, she was gone.

Author's Note

I just proved I love you enough to write this on my phone