Canterlot stood, silent and still, the royal palace looming huge and imposing. A bright, full moon glowed over the scene, spreading its soft, pure light. Everything was delicately illuminated, where the artificial light did not intrude. Guards patroled the grounds, Luna's silver-armored soldiers, the cushy assignment, Nightwatch palace patrol. Almost nothing save those ponies stirred in the halls of the palace.
The same could not be said of the royal gardens. The landscape was alive with wildlife, all the nocturnal animals scampering and flying around, occasionally letting out some quiet call or other indicator of their presence.
Also breaking the peace of the garden was her royal highness Princess Luna. She slowly strolled through the trees, ethereal mane whispering lightly over the leaves of the low shrubs, her silver horseshoes leaving impressions in the glittering dew on the grass. Beside her strolled the sluggish form of Lime Sherbert, her green unicorn maid. The mare seemed tired, but gamely walked in proper position beside the princess. "Your majesty... I hope you find this walk most diverting. I am unused to this sort of late night activity. My husband sends his regards, if I may pass along a bit of impudence."
Luna laughed softly, her head tilting up to look upon the moon and stars. "Please extend my condolences to thy husband's cod. I do understand thy tackle hath needs, as doth mine own. But I do so enjoy thy company; and it was not convenient to call the third of our number, so here we find ourselves."
"Yes. Here we find ourselves..." Lime looked side to side for a moment, almost guiltily. "Your majesty... would you think ill of me if I went behind your flank and arranged secret things which pertained to you, but did so under directions from somepony else?"
"I might feel some flush of ire deep in my spleen. But such would not be right. I do suppose the author of this occult activity would feature heavily in my decision, to say nothing of what thou hast done for this mysterious pony."
"You once said you wanted to be serenaded, in a form like that of that lovely musical you went to see the other week. You loved it so much you've memorized the lines."
"Some of them resonated in my soul and found purchase in mine heart." Luna closed her eyes and then unleased a loud, clear bit of singing, "Wishing you were somehow here again. Wishing you were somehow near." She sighed and shook her head. "I do feel it. Deeply."
"As well I know, your majesty. Thus, with the help of your sister and other ponies I have arranged something. But it wasn't my idea. Once the idea came up, it was all, well..." Lime looked up to a copse of trees, one of the locations in which Princess Luna liked to walk. With a clop of her shod front hooves a figure stepped out from behind a tree. It was the famous cellist Octavia, in her finest bow tie. She was blindfolded with a black cloth, her cello in her hooves. Immediately after, Vinyl Scratch stepped out as well, holding a boom box, and similarly blindfolded.
"How now? What is this?" Luna stopped with a stagger, staring disbelievingly at the blindfolded figures.
"Rest assured, your highness, we are here to play, not to ask questions." Octavia bowed as best as she could manage.
"Even thought this is TOTALLY the juciest, coolest, most awesome gossip ever, and would be TOTALLY worth a ton in the tab-"
"VINYL!"
"Woah! Hey! Chill, Octy." Vinyl smiled aside at her paramour, despite the fact that she could not see her; it was essentially implied and expected. She then cleared her throat and continued, "While it would be juicy gossip and totally cool to know things, it would violate the new Official Secrets Act and open us up to being thrown in the dungeon. Plus it would be just mean. And I am totally not mean."
"Dear, you once LITERALLY tried to take candy from a baby."
"That was a young filly, not a foal, and that giant novelty lollypop was MINE. I was in line ahead of her but she distracted me with the ol' three-headed monkey trick. I would have gotten it too if her dad hadn't decided to make a big deal out of nothing."
"You were pulling on the candy in question with all your might screaming, 'Mine, mine, you little brat, mine, mine, no fair, you cheated.' And that is a direct quote."
"I was completely in the right. But never mind. Your secret is safe with me, princess, at least as much of it as I can be allowed to know."
"'Twas most kind of thee, my maid, to bring these notable luminaries to my presence. However, and with no denigration to thy skill and capabilities as musical artists, I have not the desire to be serenaded by gentlefillies unknown to me."
"Oh no offense is taken at all, your majesty..." Octavia began.
"I dunno. I'm a LITTLE offended. I mean, having a Princess say she gets off on having me mash play would be kind of a big deal..."
"VINYL! So help me if you get me blacklisted by the aristocracy..."
"What? What can you do to back that one up?"
"No Thursday nights. EVER AGAIN!"
Vinyl, despite being pure white, could almost be seen to visibly pale. "H-hey Octy... Let's not get all crazy. You know I'm just kidding! That's me, a big kidder. Don't you worry about a thing."
As that happened, Luna turned aside to Lime and inquired, sotto voce, "What dost the well-bred mare mean by Thursday night? Surely she hath no capability to cross the divide of time and deny her lover the presence of part of one day."
Lime leaned over and replied, equally softly, "It is one of our pale remainders in modern slang for innuendo you use so freely. It implies they do something special and naughty on Thursday nights. My husband and I, for example, use Saturday night, because he has Sundays off."
"Informative... and fear not, dear faithful maid. I shall now never seek thee out on the nights of thy great passion. Thou hast great need of thy husband's cod."
"The head, the tail, the bones and all." Lime smiled aside at Luna.
"Good show, my maid! Thou hast grasp'd some portion of my many lessons. I knew always thou hadst the capability."
"Forgive me, Octy? Come on, you know you can't stay mad at me." Vinyl smiled, once more to no avail but simply because it was expected.
Octavia looked coolly away for a moment then allowed a large smile to cross her face. "Of course. Now, be good and mash play." Octavia took up her bow and readied it against the strings of her cello.
"Yes dear." Vinyl hit the play button on her boombox with a flare of magical power, then levitated out a small device, a combination synth board and mixing station. Smooth, clear classical music of a familiar type flowed out, the tone expertly mixed and altered by Vinyl's careful touch, and enhanced by Octavia's live performance.
"This music..." Luna gasped, looking to Vinyl and Octavia with some disbelief.
"No more talk of brightness,/ Forget these unfounded fears;" A male voice, familiar and wanted, suddenly burst forth from the sky. Bad Apple slowly moved into view, lowered in a harness attached to Lime's husband, Dark Skies. He was ironically named, as his coat was as pristine as any other pegasus guard; he was even wearing his golden armor, marking him as being under Celestia's direction. His build was thick and strong, very bulky and tough. Bad Apple's hooves touched the ground and he disengaged his harness, singing all the while. "I'm here, nothing will harm you,/ My words will warm and calm you." He slowly strolled towards Luna, eyes held to hers, for her, alone in all Equestria. "Let me be your comfort/ Let moonlight dry your tears;/ I'm here, with you beside you,/ To guard you and to guide you."
Luna's eyes shone with surprise and tears of joy. She almost couldn't believe it. But even with her surprise, she was able to respond, the words flowing from her mouth like a gentle stream, caressing the ears of all in the area. "Say you love me every waking moment,/ Turn mine head with talk of autumntide./ Say you need me with you now and always;/ Promise me that all you say is true,/That's all I ask of you."
Bad Apple reached Luna at last, gently pressing his head against her chest, singing out soft and sweet, just above the volume of the music still playing behind him. "Let me be your shelter,/ Let me be your night;/ You're safe, no one will find you,/ Your fears are far behind you."
Luna dropped her head, rubbing her face against Bad apple's face, her voice similarly low; she was not singing to the audience. She was singing to him. "All I want is freedom,/ No reporter's probing light;" Briefly, she looked over to Vinyl Scratch, who shuddered a little, as though feeling the gaze. "And you, always beside me,/ To hold me and to hide me."
"Then say you'll share with me one love, my lifetime;" Bad Apple closed his eyes, though he did not shy away from putting all his passion into the line that proclaimed his short life. "Let me lead you from your solitude./ Say you need me with you, here beside you,/ Anywhere you go let me go too./ Princess, that's all I ask of you."
Luna heard the passion, the courage in that admission. The truth flowing from the tongue of a pony that lived on lies. He was exposing something that, in any other context, would have been a weakness. He was strong for her. He was passionate for her. He was in love with her. "Say you'll share with me one love, your lifetime;" She kissed him swiftly, saying everything in one simple touch of her lips. "Say the word and I would follow you."
Both of them sang, moderated coloratura mezzo-soprano blending seamlessly with the rich darkness of spinto tenor. "Share each night with me/ Each dusk, each evening."
Luna closed her eyes and brushed her lips over Bad Apple's snout. "Say you love me..."
Bad Apple responded with more eagerness than was required by the song. He was no mere puppet of the music; it was all from his heart. "You know I do..."
They leaned in, beginning a slow dance to the rhythm of the music. "Love me, that's all I ask of you..."
There came a break in their vocalization, but not a single crack in their mutual tunnel vision. They barely saw, at the edge of perception, Vinyl Scratch leaning her head lovingly against the flank of her marefriend, neither missing a beat despite being in such contact; and Lime, leaning sleepily against her husband, dancing in the moonlight, the burly armored guard very light on his hooves, wings lightly flapping as he held up his wife and allowed her to dance on air even in her sleepiness. Bad Apple smiled a bit to Luna. "Surprised?"
Luna had to laugh, nodding slowly. "Aye, sir sauce, aye. Truly you are the lord of trickery. Have you any Discord in you?"
"Not a drop. How could I disrupt my deck with that joker? I don't need him. I only need inspiration. And when I have you, I have all the inspiration a pony could desire."
The princess laughed again, nosing at Bad Apple. "Away, away with your pickthank tales. Mm, let us finish this..."
The song swelled but they did not. Their voices went lower and lower, increasingly narrowing their voices until they sang only above a whisper, only to one another, "Anywhere you go let me go too./ Love me, that's all I ask of you..."
The music faded out slowly but surely. Dark Skies slowly lowered his wife to the ground and deftly managed to get her onto his back, securely settling her so that she could sleep. He trotted gingerly to Vinyl and Octavia. "Ladies, allow me to lead you to the palace where you may remove your blindfolds. Hold hooves and follow the sound of my wife snoring."
"Mm don' 'nore..." Lime stated, groggily. "Never sno... snnnxxx..." With that last bit of self defense she dropped off to sleep, snoring just loudly enough to serve as a beacon.
As the mares were led off, Bad Apple continued to dance with Luna, giving her light kisses every time the thought came to him. He placed a good number over her as they moved together. "Thank your sister for telling me what you'd been enjoying lately."
"Yes. Celestia shall receive all my love. Sister... you do protect me and you do make mine heart soar by giving me such beauty. How you care..."
"Shall we retire to the palace for the night? I think Lime had the right idea..."
"Stay your hooves." Luna fixed Bad Apple with a hard gaze. "The aforementioned maid gave me a song one day. A song which resounded in my soul and did ring with glorious wonder. It was so true. And you will be here, to hear me sing it."
Bad Apple slowly sat down on his haunches, looking into Luna's eyes. It meant so much. He had no choice but to listen. Not that he ever would have refused to listen to his lover sing. "Please... sing..."
Luna lightly cleared her throat and thought to the lyrics she had been taught and heard playing on the phonograph. She poured all hear heart and soul into it, eyes softening as she regarded her audience. "In the chilly hours and minutes/ Of uncertainty/ I want to be/ In the warm hold of your loving mind/ To feel you all around me/ And to take your hoof/ Upon the roof..." The next line caught in her throat, her tongue feeling like swollen lead, mouth suddenly dry. But she powered through it, to reach the line that meant everything to her... meant everything. "Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind..."
The End
