I walked the castle halls toward my sister’s personal rooms to see how she was this evening. It had been a quiet day and I had had plenty of comforting sleep and had been updated on the day’s outcomes, though there had not been much for today. So when I didn’t see her at dinner like usual, I ate alone in silence waiting for her to come. When she never came, I decided to look in on her, thinking of the only place she could be.
As I approached my sister’s chambers, the two Unicorn Guards saluted. “At ease you two.” The two lowered their hooves, but were still alert. “Is my sister busy?” I inquired.
“Not currently Ma’am.” Thunder Seeker replied. “Although I do believe she’s mulling over the Everfree Forest again.”
“Isn’t she always.” I sighed. “Thank you.” I said as I proceeded in.
“Not a problem Ma’am.” Thunder Seeker said as they both saluted again. As I went in, I saw Tia lying in front of her fireplace with what I knew were Twilight Sparkle’s letters.
“Reminiscing?” I asked making Tia look up in a bit of shock.
She smiled. “A little I suppose. I never knew how much I would miss the occasional update from Twilight.”
“All though it does seem like she’s taken the advice on taking residence in our old home.” I tangented on a subject I knew would lead to my sister’s neurosis.
“Well, I only suggested she look through the library, not move in. I’m just worried if she actually does think of staying there. It was fine when we were there, but now? The protective charms have to have dissipated by now, and who knows what’s in there now.” I only smiled and shook my head.
“But we both know that the Everfree Forest is necessary for the balance of Equestria. We can’t, and should not, control every aspect of this world. You know this.”
“Yes, and we we’re able to leave it that way because nopony was living there.”
“Ah, if you remember Twilight’s letter on the zebra Zecora, I believe that would prove you otherwise.”
“Oh, right.” Celestia blushed in embarrassment, forgetting something from Twilight would do that to her.
“So you can be perfectly safe in mind that living inside the Everfree is possible without ramifications. Now as for dinner.”
“Right, we should get to it before it’s to late.” Celestia a said as she headed to the door.
“Actually, it already is.” I said as Celestia laid a hoof on the door.
“Excuse me?”
“Tia, it’s nearly time for me to raise the autumn moon. I just came from dinner, you’ve spent far to much time in here today.”
“Oh.” Celestia said a bit crestfallen. “Breakfast and dinner are almost the only times we get to talk anymore.”
“But when you hole yourself up in your room, you miss even that time with your sister.” I smiled. “But I wouldn’t mind having a snack with you here.”
Celestia smiled in return. She opened and said something to Thunder Seeker before coming back in. “He said we should have a tray of apple and crackers in a few minutes. How was dinner, as it was?” Celestia asked as she gestured to lie in front of the fireplace as she was before.
“It was quiet.” I admitted as I lay down.
“Perhaps if you felt comfortable dinning with others beside me it wouldn’t have been so quiet.” Celestia smiled, but there was a hint of sadness behind her eyes. It was true I was uncomfortable to eat in a casual fashion with even the other nobles, but that was still a discomfort of mine.
“I’m sorry Tia, but I still can’t help the feeling that they’re judging me when I eat. I don’t know how you can be so comfortable eating with even the Ponyvilleians.” I expressed, but my discomfort went deeper than I was willing to admit. Deep down I still felt judged for the incidents of Nightmare Moon, even if her short incident had been three years ago.
“Well, maybe we could invite Cadence and Shining Armor to breakfast then?” Celestia suggested.
“They’re here? When did they arrive? I didn’t hear of them coming.”
“That’s because they’re here on personal business to deal with you and I.” Celestia explained in short before there was a knock at the door. Celestia stood and answered the door, taking in the covered platter and closing the door before returning. True to their word, we had a spread of apples and crackers with an additional bowl of caramel in the middle. Celestia took her time to dip her apples and eating before continuing.
“Apparently some of the buildings in the empire are losing their luster despite any attempt to buff them. Cadence doesn’t want to worry her newly returned ponies, so she’s taken it on herself to deal with this as quietly as possible.”
“Hm.” I considered as I nibbled on a cracker. It was quite odd for something as magically enchanted as the Crystal Empire to lose any of it’s shine, but using the Crystal Heart more than once in a quicker succession than a year might indeed cause panic.
“So? Do you think you could stand having breakfast with our niece and her husband?” Tia smiled. I still couldn’t understand how Tia had come to adopt Cadence as a niece.
“I suppose I could.” I said without much conviction. We finished the platter and Tia took it to the guard. As she came back and dowsed the flame with magic, she yawned.
“Perhaps now would be a good time to sleep. Good night Luna.” She headed past me and toward her bedroom. I followed to make sure she was in bed before ushering my own ‘Good night’. I slipped out quietly and nodded to the guards as I headed up to the Raising Grounds.
It was a simple yet practical space, an open roof tower with a 360o view of the sky and not a building to obstruct any lateral view. Being open to the air, there was no chance of magic reverberation for clashing signals at any point. As I arrived however, I unexpectedly met a star gazing colt.
“Shining Armor? What are you doing here?” I asked upon my approach.
“Princess Luna, I was just here to admire your… raising of the night.” The white unicorn said a bit to quickly. He wasn’t in any sort of formal wear, so I suppose Celestia was correct when she said he and Cadence weren’t here on official business. But seeing him here alone was more than strange, I had known him to never leave his wife’s side when they had the free time, and now was freer than ever.
“Of course,” I said with hints of disbelief. “And what of Cadence then? I usually don’t see you two apart while you two are free.” I smiled to give a friendly face to open up to, though I doubted it worked.
“Ah, she’s… already asleep.” Shining Armor said hesitantly as he looked away toward the ground.
“And you do not join her there? Is there a problem?” I asked, a bit more concerned about their personal lives now. Perhaps the reason they were here was not simply because of not wanting to panic the populace, at least, not in the way they had presented themselves.
“No! No, there aren’t any problems” Shining Armor said defensively as his attention snapped back to me. “Cadence just wants her space right now.” He admitted.
“Well, if you are here to admire the night, I am not one to complain.” I smiled again. I strode to the center of the roof as Shining Armor retreated to the edge.
It was routine, but it still took vast amounts of concentration to raise the moon. I was still wondering how Celestia had managed both the moon and the sun for the last one thousand years on her own.
I focused the spell that would raise the moon and braced myself to regulate how fast the moon rose. The weight of the moon came upon me fast, but the many years of the same routine had made it an easy burden to bear, especially since I had spent my last one thousand understanding its every last crevice.
“So? How was watching the rising of the night?” I smiled a bit apprehensively. From the outside, it may have not seemed like much at all. The reaction of the unicorn, however, implied differently
“That… that was amazing.” He was finally able to admit. “Princess Celestia’s days might be wonderful, but actually being able to see every part of the spell was beautiful. I doubt I could have anywhere near that much accuracy or power.”
“Thank you very much for your kind words.” I relaxed my smile and dipped my head slightly. If I had to be honest, no pony had told me what they have thought of my job since I had returned. To hear such a positive response made me feel very proud. “You know Shining Armor, I don’t seem to recall any pressing matters, why don’t we walk for a bit? I would like to know more of my nephew-in-law.”
“I don’t see why I couldn’t accompany you for a while. I’m sure an hour or two won’t hurt.”
“Well then, why not take this to the garden?” I said as I walked past and down toward the gardens.
“It doesn’t seem like I have a choice Princess.” Shining Armor chuckled as he caught behind me. “So, what do you want to know?”
“Hm, now there’s a question. Well, let us start with how you met our niece.” I asked over my shoulder. It may not have been odd for ponies of higher status to know one another, but as I had understood, the two had known each other long before they took up their positions.
“Well, that’s a bit simple. I met Cadence when I was looking toward entering the Guard.” Shining Armor said with reminiscence. “Twily was still a foal and needed a sitter when mom and dad were out and I was studying, so Cadence got the job. Well, not before Twily ran a few other sitters ragged.” Shining Armor chuckled. “For a while we were just friends, but after Twily stopped needing a foal sitter, Cadence and I never ceased seeing each other, and more so over the years. And you know where we ended up.”
“Married and keeping your distance.” I looked at him with an unspoken question as we began walking abreast down the main halls.
“Y-Yeah.” Shining Armor looked away again.
“If something’s the matter, you know you can tell either myself or Tia.”
“Well, it’s not like there is a problem, but I’m not quite so trusting of my judgment on that point.” He sighed. “Cadence just hasn’t seemed to be herself recently, and I’m just worried because of the last time she acted out of character.” I could understand his discomfort and doubt, but the wedding had happened months ago. As we walked into the garden, the statue of Celestia and I over the entrance reminded me of what we had discussed before I left.
“Don’t dwell on the past Shining Armor. It happened and it was fixed. Don’t let the past drag you down from forging a future.” I tried to be encouraging. As much as I had become better in talking about common problems, sometimes a diplomatic solution wasn’t quite a correct solution.
“Thank you Princess Luna.” Shining Armor seemed to cheer up, though I believe it might be a mask to wear in front of me. “I think I’ve been letting the wedding get to me lately.”
“I am glad I could be of assistance. But what do you think is going on with Cadence right now?” I unconsciously pursued a question that had been nagging at me.
Shining Armor shook his head. “I really don’t know. She just seems to be so cut off right now; I’ve barely talked to her in the last week, and in brief spurts when we do. She just seems, I don’t know if cold would be right, but she doesn’t seem to be herself recently.”
This truly concerned me; the Cadence I knew had always been a loving and compassionate pony. I would need to see her later if Celestia didn’t before hand. Isolation for one like her would not bode well.
“I’ll see to her when I can.” I lay a concerned hoof on the deterred unicorn. “Have you told anypony else about this? Twilight perhaps?”
“Oh no.” Shining Armor shook his head vigorously. “If I told her she would probably jump to all sorts of conclusions. It might have been for the best before, but one concerned unicorn is better than two.”
“I suggest talking to your sister Shining Armor, perhaps personally so as to stifle action yourself. I’m sure her encyclopedic knowledge would help a mystery like this.”
“Maybe.” Shining Armor considered. “But I have my position to think of, I can’t just leave.”
“I can assure you that I would approve at least a week of leave to mull this over with your sister.” I put my hoof over my chest to convey how sincere I was in this matter. Aside from discussing this matter with Twilight Sparkle, a personal look into this affair was needed, and I knew accusations, even if they were presumed, would not help this matter.
“I will think it over. Goodnight Princess Luna.” Shining Armor bowed.
“Goodnight to you too, Shining Armor.” I waved as he retreated to the castle. After he was gone, I put my hoof down and sighed. Having to be the overseer of all of the night was important, but it was lonely, but even the humdrum would be welcomed against worries of Cadence. Even work would have kept me distracted, but there were not that many nocturnal kingdoms, and none of them currently had any business with Equestria.
I wandered around the garden, admiring the sculptures that had been switched out with the previous seasons, trying to push the business with Cadence to the back of my mind until there was something I could actually do about it. The statues were regularly rotated so that there was a sense of uniqueness to each season. I stopped at the only one that was never moved, the statue of Discord.
Even after his release, we still kept a statue of his laughing figure in the gardens to help us never forget the day we finally sealed his chaotic ways away the first time. He had admitted to us that being trapped in the stone was no laughing matter and hated it when he was briefly trapped again. Now the statue also stood to remind us of the terror we ourselves had inflicted on him, even unintentionally.
I wondered briefly why the Elements had simply banished me to the moon instead of turning me to stone, or returning me to my former self when they were used again. I shook my head at the conundrum; even I could not understand the magic of something far older than myself. Though for it to be older than myself and Celestia would mean they would also have to be far older than Discord, for surely he wouldn’t have allowed their creation under his rule.
After a few more minutes of looking upon Discord’s statue, I convinced myself to make a fly of the land and to see the world under the moonlight. Even though I had done it hundreds of times before, the land never failed to enthrall me. Sometimes it was the only thing I had to look forward to.
Sometimes, though, I wished that there were more ponies that shared my nights with me. Somepony that I could converse with, to learn of the rest of my kingdom from. Sure, I knew of the state of affairs, but I knew next to nothing of my subjects, if that was one thing I had learned of my night in Ponyville that Nightmare Night.
Perhaps I could take a student or two of my own. Tia had taken in Twilight Sparkle, but that had been as a personal student to teach the ways of magic. What could I possibly teach? All I knew in depth about was the dark and silent world of night. I also knew what it was like to be alone and self-sufficient. My talk with Shining Armor about his wedding reminded me just how underprepared the pony populace was when dealing with an emergency.
The guard was well and necessary, but when it came down to it, their priority was to protect Tia and I. I remembered the guards bursting into my room to make sure I was all right and were there until the changelings were expelled. I saw Twilight and her friends run through the infested streets without any protection and I was restrained from helping.
That’s what we needed; we needed to have the ponies of Equestria not just be self-sufficient to live, but also to protect themselves. The changelings proved that running wasn’t always going to be an option, and in those times ponies would need to know what to do.
The more I stewed the idea, the more convinced I became. I would bring it up with Tia during breakfast the next morning. I would more than likely pitch this as an extra curricular to the existing schools, though it was probably going to have to coincide with my own working schedule or I was going to have to find a teacher, but the thought of finding somepony that had extensive self defensive knowledge in Canterlot stumped me.
I smiled at my own planning. This was perhaps the first thing I had thought of myself to implement that was separate from any other endeavor since coming back. As I flew across the land and felt all was at peace, I headed back towards Canterlot and landed on my balcony.
I headed in and toward my desk where an unlit candle, an inkpot with a waiting quill, and a stack of blank papers waited. It was there for the usual official work and notices, which hardly came across my desk, but tonight would be different. Lighting the candle and placing the tip of the freshly dipped quill on the paper, I began to scrawl the ideas of this proposal as they came to me. Self defense, emergency exit strategies, and species studies flew out almost immediately. Subcategories for each of the pony tribes would have to be included of course.
As the thought of the tribes came up, I was brought back to the thought of Cadence. I took one last look at the draft before setting it aside.
For somepony like her to be cut off and cold would be practically unheard of, and unhealthy. While there were ponies that thrived in being alone, the crystal ponies weren’t so independent. I decided that, perhaps, some further investigation on her state would be necessary. But if she were being as distant as Shining Armor claimed, she wouldn’t openly admit it, I was going to need somepony to watch her closely.
