It was a stunning night in Canterlot, the moon full and hanging in the sky with the diamond stars that could be seen perfectly from the castle. Princess Luna sat on the throne, listening to a noble drone on about some fancy new building he wanted to construct. He was the 307th pony to come into her court tonight, yes she had counted.

She couldn’t believe her sister Celestia had directed most of these ponies to her domain. Luna was trying to catch up on work from her banishment as Nightmare Moon. Yet, she was a bit stressed out with a few stupid requests for example; she had to explain to some teenagers that she had no control over the bar they had been kicked out of, even if it was a 'night club'.

As always Luna was listening to whoever this was who was speaking. She believed his name was some pun for all the money his family had. Yet, this pony wanted a large sum of bits to build this extravagant drinking hole that seemed to cost more than the two royal sisters combined, although he was proposing to give almost a third of his income to the crown.

What Luna wouldn't give for Fancy Pants to be here right now, while he was a noble, he was the kind that proposed charity events and wanted to try his best to help the poor. He was a pleasant stallion, one that Luna enjoyed for his positive attitude and light quips. His wife Fleur was also another blessing on Luna. She was from Prance and knew the language quite well so they had plenty to talk about while she was trying to adjust to common speech. It was interesting to find out how much the dialect had changed in the 1000 years she had been away.

She wished all nobles could be as generous as that pair; her first encounter with Celestia’s distant nephew Blueblood didn't go over that well. Let’s just say 'the old mare with fake wings' sent him on his way with a slap on the wrist.

Luna decided enough was enough and stopped the stallion in his metaphorical tracks. “While your proposal is interesting, it would require several long discussions with my sister and I but Celestia is currently sleeping at the moment. I shall schedule you a meeting with us at the most reasonable and convenient time to talk about this further at a later date”

“Thank you your majesty”, said the noble, who was pleased at his accomplishment to get his idea across. He left the throne room with a smug smile on his face as he passed the stoic guards and made his way out of the palace.

Luna sighed and glanced over to her assistant, a grey-blue unicorn mare with a long black mane that was tied in a braid who was currently organizing papers next to her, “Nicely done princess, though I doubt your sister will agree to his pitch”

“Oh please, I don’t even agree with it but Tia has always had better judgment then me when it comes to the pricy requests”, answered the dark alicorn as she hopped off the throne and stretched her sore limbs.

“So are you going anywhere special tonight?” The unicorn asked as she put the files in the appropriate folders and tucked them into her purple saddlebags. She then trotted over to the princess and fell into step beside her. They both exited the throne room as Luna dismissed the guards on duty.

“Oh, yes I am, I heard a tavern is an excellent place to go to when one wants to relieve stress.” Princess Luna was smiling as they walked through the hallway.

“May I join you?” questioned Star as she sheepishly blushed red and dropped her bags off in her quarters.

“Why of course, I always enjoy the company of a good friend. Follow me into my chambers and soon we shall depart”

The night princess was going to ask Tia but remembered her sister wouldn’t be too happy if she barged in at 10 pm but having Star with her was still better than no pony at all. So she rounded the corner with her assistant, stopping in front of the two muscular guards before her. “Excuse me sirs, but you are relieved of your task to guard this post, enjoy your night off” The bat-like stallions gave her a brief salute and left their station.

Although, the lunar mare happened to catch their smiles as they passed. She then opened the door and closed it once her friend was inside. Soulful raised an eyebrow at the princess as she lit up her midnight blue horn. “What’s the spell for?”

Luna’s horn went dim, “It’s an illusion spell, can you imagine the headlines if I were to go as myself?”

“Oh, well what’s your umm ‘name’ going to be?” inquired the curious mare as she watched the display.

In a flash of light, she was not Princess Luna, but a simple unicorn. “My name shall be Moonlit Skies” Not totally original but it hadn’t been used in centuries so what the hay. Then she took a minute to admire herself, she had a powder blue mane and tail and her fur was a few shades lighter than before. Her cutimark was the night sky with a moon illuminating a grassy field.

“You look beautiful princess”, answered Star as she eyed the ruler’s masquerade.

“Thank you Soulful but please address me as Moonlit Skies tonight” Luna had left her given herself one last look then turned to her friend. “I’m going to teleport us there since it’s the quickest way”

The grey-blue unicorn gave her a nod and with a flash of radiance, they were gone. Soon the pair appeared right outside the structure.
Luna’s highly trained ears picked up joyful yet drunken laughter and the sound of music was literally pouring out of the tavern. She gave Soulful a nod as they walked inside and made their way to the red stools. The pair was just about to order something when a stallion sat in the chair adjacent from the monarch and ordered three drinks.

“Hello Miss?”

“Moonlit Skies”, Luna quickly answered as she observed the newcomer. He was dark unicorn and his mane was a bit messy, so she couldn’t decipher the colors it held. “And this is my friend Soulful Star.” Soulful gave him a curt nod and a small smile.

“Hello Miss Moon and Miss Star, what are lovely mares such as yourselves doing here on such a fine night as this?” he asked with a friendly tone. He smelled quite nice to Luna, not too much cologne, but enough to make the aroma known.

“Well we were just tired of working, Princess Luna has endless amounts of work for us to do and we felt like taking a break”, answered her assistant as she made small talk.

The stallion’s eyes widened, “You two work for one of the princesses? That must be a hard job”

“Pretty much, thought we could lift our spirits tonight with a drink or two”, answered ‘Moonlit’ as she showed off her own grin as well. He gave a nod and passed them their drinks.

They both were about to protest but he cut them off. “It’s my treat, so I’m with a few friends, I’m sure their dying to meet you two” He said as he flicked his eyes over to a table where a few mares and stallions sat with merry expressions on their faces.

“Oh, well let’s not keep them waiting, shall we?” Luna uttered as she swigged down her drink in one go and SS did the same then trotted off with her, the stallion on their tails.

“Hey guys, meet Moonlit Skies and Soulful Star, apparently they work for Princess Luna” The ponies around the table gave her cheerful hellos and they decided to join them. It started with the group ordering drinks for one another and having contests, Luna also won all of them that she was challenged to. After all when you lived thousands of years, you build up a tolerance to alcohol.

Soulful was enjoying herself as well and Luna was surprised that the mare could guzzle down her liquor almost as fast as she could. Then they went out on the dance floor and showed off their moves. The sovereign of the moon was doubly surprised when she found out her assistant could dance as though it was first nature to her.

Soon they stepped out of the sweaty crowd as it was now crammed full with teenage and adult ponies alike that were rocking their bodies to the beat. Moving back to the booth where the group was chatting away. The mares were giggling at some joke the stallions had cracked. They got in and joined the conversation as the guys ordered more drinks.

“Hello ladies, enjoying your night?” asked the same stallion they had met when that first arrived. He slid in next to Luna and gave them a jolly smile.

“Yes we are DS! It has been the most amazing night ever!” answered Soulful as she finished her beverage.

“Indeed, this is just what we needed”, said Luna as she tried fixing her tangled mane with her magic but the knots wouldn’t come out no matter how much she tried so she just gave up.

“Well I’m glad, up for another contest guys?” questioned DS as he looked around the table.

“Nah, I’ll pass out if I have one more”, replied a bright blue earth pony mare who was leaning up against her pegasus boyfriend. In spite of that, yellow male retorted, “Yeah man, I’m in!” Soon almost half of the table was in for the challenge including Luna and Star.

“Well that settles it, I’ll be right back!” countered DS as he went off to the bar to get the drinks. In next to no time the unicorn came back with a round of alcohol on a platter. He passed each of them a beer and they all chugged them down. Most of the mares sputtered and a few stallions had the concoction dripping out of their mouth.

“Wow, that’s strong beer right there”, Star said as she shook her head to quench the dizziness. She looked over to the princess who was kidding with DS about having just one more.

“Trust me, I could beat you, I’ve been drinking way longer then you”, Luna uttered as she put her hoof on the wooden table.

“Oh please, you must be joking, to think you could win against me is impossible” The stallion puffed his chest out and gave her a prideful smirk.

“One more time, just you and me buddy”, retorted the princess as she put her hoof up in the air.

The stallion’s smirk grew wider, “Deal”, he hoof-bumped her and they silently walked over to the bar. Yet, just as they were about to order, Soulful came up to them, “Moonlit, I got to go finish my work, will you be ok here?”

Luna gave her friend a big grin; “Sure as soon as I teach this chump a lesson.” She gave DS a friendly bump on the shoulder.

“Ok well bye guys, see ya later, Moon”, Star replied as she gave the princess of the night a quick hug and trotted out of the establishment to the palace.

“Now let’s get to the fun part”, DS slid the drink over to Luna who had just gotten off the stool.

“Umm I’ll be right back”, said the dark mare as she headed towards the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face. This gave the stallion the chance he had been waiting for; he stretched out his arms and dropped a stark white pill into her drink that dissolved instantly.

No pony had seen him; his friends over in town said this new drug would put mares like her right to sleep; it was a strong tablet, meant to take out even the toughest of ponies. She was the perfect candidate to test it on, since she never seemed to run out of energy. Princess Luna quickly arrived and sat down on her burgundy stool.

“Hey Moonlit, are you up for this or are you going to chicken out?”

Her lips pointed upwards, “Bring it on”, swiftly downing her glass and placing it back on the table with a clank. The stallion mimicked her but he sputtered out some of his drink. Luna then raised a hoof in the air, “Ha, I have claimed victory!” They shortly went back to the booth and chatted with the ponies that occupied it.

It was a vigorous exchange of jobs, ranging from one that paid enough to go out every single night to one that could only leave one mare with enough money for a few pieces of food each week. Then the females started to gossip about stallions, couples, love triangles, maybe getting together later, etc. While the men talked about sports and some stupid bosses who never gave them any breaks and so on.

However before long ‘Moonlit Skies’ didn’t feel so good, everything around her was slightly blurry and felt like it was going in slow motion. She concluded that she had probably broken her tolerance rate which seemed very unlikely but it would be best not to think about it now, she would have a killer hangover tomorrow.

“Thanks for the drinks guys, but I got to go”, she muttered as she stumbled to the floor and headed for the exit believing it was best to get home before she did anything stupid.

DS on the other hoof followed her out into the cool night breeze. “I’ll take you home, where do you live?” he questioned as they got out of the club.
“In C-canterlot cas-“She slumped against his form and he gave a snicker as he went ‘home’.
“Perfect”

Author's Note

This is my first clopfic so constructive critism is welcome. Any hate comments will be deleted.
Special thanks to my friend Aunt Celestia for helping out.