An October-December Romance
An October-December Romance
One night in late fall, Luna glanced around the festivities held in Ponyville's main square. Though she was technically the guest of honor, some part of her felt empty. She had already thrown spiders tonight, and bobbed for apples, and danced as much as she dared. It was another few hours until her performance as 'Nightmare Moon' would be required to cap off the evening. For now, she spent her time much as she had in her long exile on the moon.
Well, perhaps not quite. There had not been a punch bowl on the moon.
She found herself draining another glass of the delicious concoction. Cherries... definitely some cider... she sighed. Berry Punch would never part with her secret recipe, not even for a princess, not even on her special night. Luna clearly intended to enjoy her annual chance at figuring out the punch's ingredients. Some Nightmare Nights, she could spend upwards of an hour at the bowl, writing down theories to try when she returned to Canterlot.
"Nice night, isn't it?" A slightly hoarse, somewhat worn-down voice snapped Luna out of her private reverie. "Er, your majesty."
"Please, withhold the formalities tonight. You may call me Luna." She smiled at the elderly stallion who provided the welcome interruption from her own thoughts.
"Folks call me Mr. Waddle," he answered with a smile of his own. His voice was worn, like the rest of him, but had a hidden strength behind it the years couldn't quite diminish.
"And what do your friends call you, Mr. Waddle?" Luna cocked her head to the side, an eyebrow raised as she attempted to gauge the elderly stallion's intentions.
"They used to just call me Waddle." He adjusted his clerical collar awkwardly. "Don't call me much of anything these days, seeing as most of them moved on to Celestia's Garden."
The death of friends was never a particularly good icebreaker, especially when immortality came into the mix. Luna handled the situation with the grace, dignity and tact expected of a princess of Equestria.
"Your collar... are you dressed as a priest for Nightmare Night?" She gave him a painful grimace; Luna was not especially given to pleasantries on the most mundane of subjects.
"Not just for Nightmare Night! I wear it Sundays, Mondays, weddings and funerals too. It was this or the bow tie. Don't get to be my age without taking a good long look at your wardrobe and deciding what matters."
Luna nodded, still trying to figure out the strange old stallion. "Not that I do not welcome the company, but why have you graced u- me with your presence?"
"Past couple of decades, every time I come to one of these party things I find the oldest pony in the room and strike up a conversation. For obvious reasons... tonight, that's you. I have to say, Luna, you don't look a day over nine hundred."
Luna genuinely smiled for the first time in over an hour, a filly-like giggle escaping her lips before she caught herself. "Thank you for the compliment... I think."
Mayor Mare waved at Luna, gesturing to the moon and holding up a pocket watch.
"I am sorry, that's my cue. We should speak again sometime."
"Sounds fun. Be seeing you, Luna."
"Mm." Luna nodded pleasantly at him. "I will see you soon... Waddle."
It was a few weeks later, late one beautiful afternoon in Ponyville. Mr. Waddle waited at a table outside one of the town's cafes. He chewed nervously on the stem of his unlit pipe; that doctor had finally convinced him to stop smoking, but having it helped him relax. Besides, though the affectation struck him as coltish and unbecoming of his years, he couldn't imagine parting with the trappings of his special talent.
"Another cup of coffee, Mr. Waddle?" a server approached his table with his face aglow and a tray balanced expertly on his back.
"At this hour? I'll never get to sleep."
The server looked up wordlessly at the sun, still high in the sky, then nodded and began to trot over to another table.
"Hold on, I didn't say I didn't want it." He held out his cup, the corners of his mouth spreading across his wrinkled face. "I'm meeting somepony, and she's a bit of an evening pony, you might say." He sipped at the thick brew, inky as a moonless night. "Perfect, thank you."
"Getting started without me?" Luna trotted up, smiling.
"Not at all. Just grabbing some coffee while I waited for you. Do you want to head out, or..."
"Let's just enjoy the moment." Luna gestured for the server, and soon had a cup of coffee and a blueberry scone waiting before her. She levitated half of it over to Waddle, and the pair munched their treats contentedly.
"Is that the bow tie you told me about?" She gestured to Waddle's neck.
"Oh, no. I, uh, actually bought this for tonight. I figured it'd be nice to wear something new." He blushed nearly as red as his tie.
"Well, it looks very nice on you."
"Oh, uh. Thank you."
A few hours later, the two of them sat on a hill in the park, watching the sunset.
"Oh! I almost forgot." Luna stood up on her hind legs, raising her front legs above her head as the rising moon cast her in silhouette. "Sorry.
"Not a problem... there aren't many ponies any age who've seen a private moonrise." He grinned cheekily at Luna.
"Oh, hush, you." She returned the smile, curling up on the comfortable grass beside him.
"You know, when I was a colt, I thought the night sky was enchanting." He stared off into the distance, his old eyes straining to make out the stars. "I wondered why nopony else seemed to love it like I do." He turned back to her looking at the moonlight reflected in her eyes. "A thousand thousand stars, scattered across a sky so blue it's almost black..."
Luna still had the decorum to blush. Waddle raised a hoof to her beautiful mane, hesitating before they come into contact. "May I?" Luna nodded her assent. His hoof completes its journey, burying itself in the image of the night sky.
Luna's lips smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I am not sure I can do this. What about your oath of celibacy?"
"Princess, priests haven't taken those oaths in centuries. It's not a... We're just there to help ponies when they're on their way in and out of the world, you know? Make everything feel like it really happened. Five days out of seven, I'm just some coot, but ponies still want a priest at their weddings and such."
"Oh. Hehe..." Luna laughed, but it was short lived. "I have outlived every lover I ever had by over a thousand years."
"My wife passed over to the Garden thirty years ago." Waddle stared off into the distance again, this time focused on things no eyes could see. "For years, I swore I'd never love again; I thought anything less would sully her memory." The old stallion propped himself up on the grass, a somber expression on his wizened features. "The years became a decade, and then decades... and then I realized that she would never have wanted me to use my memories of her to hurt myself. She wouldn't have wanted me to be alone for the rest of my life for her sake."
"That is when you started courting again?"
"Well, no." He winced awkwardly. "Truth be told, I haven't had any chances since then. But that's not the point. I wasted a third of my life pining after somepony who was gone forever. I'm sure none of the ponies you've had would have wanted that for you... being frank, I don't want it for you either."
Luna looked at him with wide eyes, threatening tears they never quite seemed ready to deliver on.
"Luna?"
She threw herself into his hooves, trusting the blanket of the night to do the task assigned to it even before her time.
Celestia rose before dawn; by definition, this was so, but she was responsible for making certain that dawn was at the same time every day. She accepted a cup of coffee and a doughnut from a passing servant as she made her way to the solarium. Her breakfast was complete before she had ascended the stairs. As she entered the wall-less solarium, she shed her bathrobe and raised the sun, perfectly on time as always.
"Where is my sister? She usually waits for me here before retiring for the day." Celestia stood on the edge of the balcony, drinking in the first rays of sunlight.
"Princess Luna is..." the royal secretary stammered, looking over various memos and notes that had been left for her in the night. "Ah, here we are. It seems she had urgent business to attend to in Ponyville, and intends to return to Canterlot before the evening."
"That is what it says?"
"Close enough; I had to translate it. Deareste royal systr, Sulestia, we write to inform thee of oour intenshuns with regards to-"
"Yes, I quite get the picture. Thank you, Moneypony." A hint of a smile crept onto Celestia's muzzle.
"Princess?"
"It is nothing. Suffice to say I am very happy for my sister. It has been far too long since she has left on... 'business'."
