Conversation Piece

Chapters

Chapter One: New Beginnings
Chapter Two: Considerations
Chapter Three: Baby-Steps

Chapter One: New Beginnings

It was turning into a pleasantly cool night in Canterlot.

Despite it still being Summer, the high altitude and the last few days of rain brought in by the weather teams had ensured that the night would be a comfortable one. Not many ponies would be forced to sleep above their covers tonight. Or end up waking-up all sweaty by morning. Or be forced to keep the windows open to keep cool, potentially letting in bugs...

“Geez...what a waste...” Sea Breeze lamented, in a not-exactly-quiet voice.

Decked out in her, she thought, quite stylish Night Guard armor, the bat-pony lifted up her helmet a bit. Just enough to feel the cool breeze pass through her mane, as it swept down the halls through the open windows.

“I mean, right? Terrible timing, huh? For a night this nice, I mean.” Sea Breeze asked, turning towards the bat-pony stallion stationed with her by the doors leading to Princess Luna's quarters.

After several seconds of silence from her compatriot, Sea Breeze let her helmet back down, sliding her ears back through the holes out the top. Her ears orienting towards the stallion expectantly “...Right? Hey, Star Shade...aren't I right?”

Star Shade simply took in a deep breath before slowly exhaling and then slowly panning his gaze across the hallway once more.

Sea Breeze tilted her head to the side, pursing her lips as she did so. Panning her own gaze across the empty hall, before turning back to the stallion “Trying to ignore me, huh?”

Star Shade sighed, before finally muttering a verbal response “...Trying to.”

Sea Breeze grinned at the short answer “Funny. I knew you had a sense of humor, Shade-y”

The stallion again refused to turn his full attention towards the younger mare “That wasn't meant to be funny. It was a statement of fact.”

“...Kinda makes it even funnier, really.” Sea Breeze observed “Like you're being so serious, it cuts right back around to being funny again, you know?”

Star Shade shook his head, dismissing the mare, before refocusing on his vigil.

It seemed as if he might actually be free to do so for now, as Sea Breeze had finally managed to keep her mouth shut for more than a few seconds. He didn't particularly dislike the younger mare, but she always seemed to have trouble upholding the decorum that was expected of ponies in their position. She was a bit too flippant for his tastes, always ready to chime in with her little bits of wisdom or some odd observations. He supposed it helped keep her mood up; she was certainly enthusiastic in serving as part of Princess Luna's Night Guard.

'Can't exactly be too picky, either. And she does seem to be rather committed to-'

The stallion's train of thought was suddenly derailed as his field of view came across the mare once more.

“What are you doing?” Star Shade demanded, as he noticed the mare staring at him with a goofy grin.

Sea Breeze snickered to herself before answering “Well, you were just standing there looking all serious, so I started imagining you wearing a bunch of different hats.”

“What? Why?” The stallion asked, utterly bewildered by Sea Breeze's answer.

“Oh, you know? Just kinda imagining how you'd look if you were sporting some crazy headgear.” Sea Breeze elaborated, in a chipper tone.

Star Shade had to stare for a few moments, before suddenly shaking his head and face-hoofing. After trying to get a grip on his nerves again, the stallion turned back towards the mare “...Why?”

“Well, I was kinda getting bored and you didn't want to chat, so I had to keep myself occupied somehow.” Sea Breeze explained, as if it should be obvious.

Star Shade quietly gaped at the mare, baffled by this.

“...I think you would actually look pretty good in one of those top-hats. Oh, but I think you're gonna want to stay away from-” Sea Breeze began again, attempting to fill in the silence.

“Can you even begin to take this seriously, Sea Breeze?” The stallion suddenly bit out, clearly aggravated.

“What? Yeah. I was just trying to pass a bit of time with-” Sea Breeze began.

“We aren't here to pass the time, Sea Breeze. We are on guard-duty.” Star Shade continued in a low voice “You explicitly volunteered to take this post tonight, did you not?”

“Y-yeah. I mean it's not exactly like I'm-” Sea Breeze began hesitantly.

“Then I suggest you either approach your position, as a pony in the service of Princess Luna, with the dignity and commitment it deserves or leave.” Star Shade finished with an expectant look for the younger bat-pony.

“I-...” Sea Breeze attempted to respond for a few moments, before eventually giving a hesitant nod and turning her gaze down the other end of the hallway.

“...Good.” Star Shade muttered, before turning back towards his end of the hallway, pleased to finally have some quiet...

'A bit harsh perhaps...'

Harsh, but hardly unfair. The mare had not exactly been the very model of an exemplary guardspony, as Sea Breeze was regularly unprofessional, unfocused and just generally unsuited to the duties that were entailed. She may have been a likable, friendly sort, but this wasn't the kind of job that was about making friends and 'hanging out'. As 'boring' as this evening may have been, there would be days where danger could strike at any moment and lives could be on the line. And even if she shaped-up whenever disaster struck, what about how she represented Princess Luna's Night Guard to the public when things were at peace?

They had only recently been formed, after Princess Luna's welcomed return. And while the public had mostly accepted Princess Celestia's somewhat...doctored telling of the events surrounding her sister's return, they still hadn't exactly embraced the new branch of the EUP guard, or it's Princess. They weren't receiving a particularly large number of volunteers, outside of the bat-ponies, whose numbers were rather...smaller these days...

And, yes, he was grateful to anypony that was willing to give Princess Luna the chance she deserved, but still...this night wasn't even an atypical example of the mare's behavior.

And he knew for a fact that Sea Breeze had...'been with' more than one of her fellow guardsponies. Which wasn't strictly against the rules, but again it was a poor showing for the Night Guard, and rarely came without additional problems. Problems that they really didn't need right now.

Star Shade briefly glanced towards the mare once again.

Sea Breeze seemed to be sticking to the job for now, albeit with a rather troubled expression on her face.

'...She does seem to be at least trying.'

It was kind of hard for the stallion to believe that the mare wasn't committed to Princess Luna, at this point.

Sea Breeze had, after all, been a pegasus when she had first joined...

Star Shade had to resist the urge to sigh. It was feeling like he had done more arguing for the mare, than against, in his head. Yes, she was a bit unrefined, but so were most new recruits. And as a more senior guardspony, he probably should have been a bit more instructive, instead of biting her head off when he got annoyed with her.

And he had, admittedly, been feeling a bit moody today. Hadn't had enough sleep before finding out he would be part of this late-shift. Not an excuse for his behavior, but...

Glancing towards Sea Breeze once more, Star Shade was about to get the mare's attention, in the hopes that he could...even-out his harsher words from earlier.

Evidently, Sea Breeze had something she wished to say too, going by the way she was anxiously clearing her throat.

Blinking in momentary surprise, as the mare got his attention, Star Shade turned towards the mare in curiosity.

“Right, so...” Sea Breeze began, idly pawing at the floor with a hoof, as she tried to find her words “I...really don't want to leave.”

“...Uhm, yes. I gathered that.” Star Shade responded a bit awkwardly.

“I mean, yeah, I wasn't exactly serious or anything when I signed up. You know that...” Sea Breeze admitted, her eyes briefly turning towards the stallion as she did so “But, this whole things really is important to me now. And, uh...”

The mare trailed off, as she visibly tried to find the words she needed to explain herself.

Star Shade held his tongue, giving the mare the time she needed.

“...uh, I've let a lot of important things kind of...drift away from me. Or like, maybe I drifted away or something...” Sea Breeze continued, uncharacteristically serious “And I'm trying not to let that happen anymore. But...I mean, if I screw up or something, it's cool if you let me know when I do...”

Silence reigned over the duo for a few moments, as Star Shade processed all of this.

Sea Breeze coughed uncomfortably, before forcing a chuckle “So, uh, sorry for talking your ear off like that. I can go back to shutting-up, now.”

“It's...fine. And I'm rather glad to hear that coming from you.” Star Shade slowly admitted.

“Heh, well...” Sea Breeze tried to shrug at that, though again it came off as forced levity on her part.

“Have you been thinking about all of that for some time now? After all these months, it's still on your mind?” Star Shade asked. At a confused look from the mare at this question, he tried to clarify “You don't strike me as the...contemplative-type.”

“Oh...yeah. Heh. I'm kind of like water, you know? I've got a lot more stuff going on below the surface than it looks like.” Sea Breeze admitted.

“I see...” Star Shade replied slowly, before trailing off into silence.

“Yeah, heh...” A few moments later Sea Breeze did the same, as they both resumed their watch.

After some consideration, Star Shade found himself taking in another breath, before releasing it as a long sigh.

“So, tell me...Which hats should I try to avoid?” The stallion asked without looking towards the mare.

Even so, working as a guardpony had honed his peripheral vision rather well, and he could quite easily see Sea Breeze's brief hesitation give way to a grin.

“Well...” Sea Breeze began.

Several months back...

“So, uh, what exactly is it you said we needed to talk about?” Asked the pegasus mare of her Night Guard escort.

A slightly younger Star Shade glanced to his side before focusing back on the hallway “Not me. Your future superior would like a few words with you, before you're formally inducted in to the Night Guard.”

“Words? Words about what?” Sea Breeze asked, the feathers of her wings fluttering a bit, as she glanced towards the stallion. Chuckling a bit before continuing “I mean, I didn't screw things up already, right?”

Star Shade spared the mare a glance, not verbally answering the question, but still managing to provide an answer for the mare, all the same.

“Oh...yeah, I guess I'm not exactly the material you guys are normally looking for, huh?” Sea Breeze asked, as she passed a hoof through her light-blue mane.

“...That's not for me to say.” Star Shade eventually replied “I was asked to bring you to a meeting to discuss your recruitment. That's it.”

Though, if it was for him to say, then he would be saying she should probably look elsewhere for a job.

While most of the branches of the EUP didn't go through a particularly rigorous check of all it's recruits, the Night Guard was undeniably sitting under some different circumstances. For one thing, they were a fairly small branch, as things currently stood. And they weren't receiving any sorts of huge influxes of recruits right now, so it was kind of easy to go over their prospective recruits a bit more thoroughly. And taking into consideration how the Night Guard would be perceived as a reflection upon their Princess Luna, that struck the stallion as a prudent move.

And the young pegasus he was now escorting down the corridors of the palace had raised a few red flags for the Night Guardsponies.

The mare hadn't gone through any of the usual channels. Simply putting forth an application to enlist, without any sort of referral or background that would normally lead to enlistment. And according to the pony that saw to her paperwork, she had only applied to the Night Guard after it was pointed out to her that there were different branches that she could join. Not exactly an inspiring start, but not really that big of an issue either. The part where Sea Breeze had never actually held down a legitimate full-time job had been worrying. She claimed to have worked as a lifeguard for her hometown for sometime. Which was only technically true. She hadn't been on any sort of payroll, or had any legitimate references from her time filling that role. The town recognized what she did, and paid her for her efforts, but it wasn't as if she was actually employed.

Apparently, Sea Breeze simply spent a lot of time at the beach, and was just good enough to keep an eye out for her fellow ponies.

Word that she may have been sleeping in the lifeguard shack, on the beach, hadn't exactly been encouraging either.

All of it had been fairly simple information to acquire; just a few requisitions, and they were already getting a decent picture of the mare.

The Night Guard needed more ponies, but it sounded like Sea Breeze needed a homeless shelter and an actual job.

“So, uh, can't help but notice that we seem to be going up, rather than down?” Sea Breeze asked, interrupting the stallion's thoughts.

“Yes, and?” Star Shade asked with a glance.

“Well, kinda figured the offices for any...superiors would be down by the barracks...which would be further down, I think.” Sea Breeze explained.

Well, at least she's observant.

“Ah...Princess Luna's has deemed it unnecessary to go into any renovations for now, to add any new offices or sections to the barracks.” Star Shade explained neutrally.

“Because, there still aren't a lot of you guys yet, right? Guess that makes sense. Probably would make a bad impression on the other guards, if they had to have their barracks torn apart, just for a hoof-ful of newcomers, huh?” Sea Breeze asked, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Star Shade.

That was...actually some fairly solid reasoning, on the mare's part.

At first, he had chalked it up to budgetary constraints simply not favoring the newly formed branch. But, if the newly formed Night Guard was concerned with making a good impression, it would probably be best to start with the other branches.

'So, she's not an idiot at least. That's a start...'

“...Do you think I'll make the cut?” Sea Breeze suddenly asked, as they continued to walk down the halls.

“I really wouldn't be able to-” Star Shade began.

“Not for you to say. Right, right.” Sea Breeze finished for him, recalling what he had said earlier “So who exactly am I meeting with? Like a captain or something?”

“You'll be meeting with your superior.” Star Shade answered simply.

“...Well, thanks for clearing that up for me.” Sea Breeze responded, after realizing that the stallion had no intention of going into more detail on the subject. Something visibly crossed the mare's mind as she looked over towards the stallion, trailing her gaze over the bat-pony, in a rather blatant fashion.

After a few more moments of this the serious-minded stallion relented “What is it?”

“What? Ah, it's nothing, nothing...” Sea Breeze answered, waving off the question as she did so “It's just, you know?...You're a bat-pony.”

“...And?” Star Shade asked with some growing irritation.

“Well, I haven't really seen a whole lot of you bat-ponies before. Don't really know a lot about you guys.” Sea Breeze explained.

“...We like to keep to ourselves these days.” Star Shade answered slowly.

“Not for any terrible reasons, right? I mean, it's not as if you guys...you know?” Sea breeze continued vaguely.

“What?” The stallion asked, not understanding what the mare was getting at.

“Like...where do you guys come from? Is it like in that book, where you get all bite-y with regular ponies and they turn into bat-ponies the next night?”

“...Are you asking if bat-ponies are infectious?” The stallion demanded.

“What? No, no, not at all...well, I mean, I don't think you guys are any more infectious than any regular pony-” Sea Breeze tried to explain.

“We are regular ponies. And we come from the same place as every other pony.” Star Shade tersely explained.

“Oh...where's that?” Sea Breeze asked.

“What?” The stallion asked, not understanding the question.

“Never really been clear on where ponies come from...I heard there was something about 'Birds' and 'Bees'...” Sea Breeze explained absently.

Star Shade had to stop for a moment. This mare wasn't seriously saying that she...

“So, is it like the same deal with bat-daddies and bat-mommies, right?...Oh! Does it involve a stork? I heard that was a thing.” Sea Breeze continued excitedly.

“No, that-...” The stallion didn't know what to say to that.

“No stork?...So where do little bat-foals come from then?” Sea Breeze asked, while sending big innocent eyes over towards the stallion.

“...It's really not for me to say.” The stallion finally responded.

“Awww, why not?” Sea breeze asked, in a plaintive voice.

“It's not...appropriate.” Star Shade replied, as he picked up his pace.

“What's 'not appropriate'?” The pegasus asked again.

“We shouldn't be wasting time on this-” Star Shade began.

“Is the truth too hot and dirty for my delicate, virgin ears?” Sea Breeze asked with a sly grin.

Star Shade drew to a sudden stop, after processing the question. Shaking his head, before sending a glare that did not seem to faze the mare in the slightest, the stallion then resumed his earlier pace.

Catching up with the stallion a moment later, Sea Breeze drew up alongside Star Shade once more “So, bat-ponies are just like every other kind of pony...including when it comes to s-”

“Stop.” The stallion suddenly demanded.

“Just trying to get educated on the ways-” Sea Breeze began cheerfully.

“We're here.” Star Shade clarified what he meant a moment later, gesturing to the ornate wooden door they now stood in front of.

“Oh, cool.” Sea Breeze replied easily “Time to chat up my 'superior', I guess.”

“Indeed.” The bat-pony replied curtly, before moving to open the door.

“...You know what? You're a fun stallion. Anyone ever tell you-” Sea Breeze began to ask Star Shade, as she passed through the doorway. The bat-pony would admit to a certain visceral pleasure in the mare suddenly choking on her words, as she spotted the sole occupant of the room.

“Pr-Princess Luna?!” Sea Breeze blurted out, in a voice that was both a shout and a squeak.

Thus far Princess Luna hadn't seemed to notice their arrival.

Rather the dark alicorn seemed rather engrossed in the piles of documents scattered across a, rather impressive, desk made of darkly-polished wood. In her magic floated a tome, whose contents at a glance would likely seem profoundly dull, but which she continued to refer to as she continued reading over another scroll on her desk. Off to one side of the desk sat some partially eaten foods, from the course of the day, along with a very cold tea set. Several unlit lamps and candles waited on the desk, to be put to use when the setting sun, visible from the westerly facing balcony, completed it's daily journey.

Not gripped by the same momentary paralysis as the pegasus, Star Shade began to nudge Sea Breeze forward. To which Sea Breeze only momentarily dug in her hooves, before beginning a somewhat uncomfortable walk across the room.

This had been a rather unexpected turn of events for Sea Breeze. Though some part of her mind was chuckling at the stallion's description of the alicorn as her future 'superior'. The Princess certainly qualified as that. Really though, she had kind of been expecting at least a half-a-dozen different ponies sitting as liaisons between bottom-level recruits like Sea Breeze and the freakin' Princess.

Also, Princess Luna was kinda pretty...

...well, more than 'kinda'.

Princess Celestia had always been seen as the paragon of pony beauty and, frankly, Princess Luna wasn't too far off from the model set by her sister. Physically, she was gorgeous, in a faintly intimidating kind of way. The 'intimidating' part she wasn't really sure if it more came from the alicorn in front of her being Princess Luna or from her being Princess Luna.

Sea Breeze didn't really have any sort of reference point, not having ever been this close to either Princess Celestia or Princess Luna.

...Staring at her seemed kind of justified. Not often you got an up-close viewing of an alicorn, and it was pretty easy to see the whole 'Princess of the Night' thing. Just looking at her was kind of like looking up at the nightsky. The alicorn's pale, bright eyes almost seemed like small moons and...

Sea Breeze blinked, as she felt a nudge at her side. Turning back, she could see Star Shade prodding her side with a hoof, evidently trying to get her attention. Realizing that she wasn't getting the message he tilted his head back towards the large desk and it's occupant.

Turning back, she could now see the Princess watching her, one eyebrow raised at the pegasus' absent-minded gawking.

“I wasn't staring...” Sea Breeze found herself blurting out, before she seemed to consider the situation a bit more “...I was staring. Cause, I mean-...”

Sea Breeze again trailed off, before trying to swallow away the anxious lump in her throat and putting on a bit of a smile “Hi...Princess Luna.”

“...Hello.” Luna said with a tilt of her head. A moment later, the alicorn was setting aside the tomes and scrolls, before slowly stepping out from behind the large desk. Sea Breeze found herself watching the deliberate, powerful movements of the Princess' muscles as she stepped towards Sea Breeze, just a bit hypnotized by it all.

Soon, Luna was standing before the young mare, openly scrutinizing Sea Breeze, oblivious to the intimidating manner in which she was going about it.

She might one day ask for some advice of her sister, Princess Celestia, on how to de-emphasize her height, and not tower over ponies in such a manner.

After a few anxious moments, where Sea Breeze stared back up at the Princess, Luna turned her gaze towards Star Shade questioningly.

“...She seems healthy.” Luna observed, to which the bat-pony simply nodded. Slowly passing her gaze between the two once more, Luna again raised an eyebrow, though this time it was directed towards the stallion “I'm afraid I'm not certain why anypony felt the need to bring this pony to my attention. Could you explain it for me?”

Star Shade seemed to hesitate for a moment, somewhat placed on the spot by Luna's question. It didn't help that the pegasus had turned her gaze towards him, as well, apparently curious about what he had to say about her.

After a moment, the stallion nodded to his Princess, organizing his thoughts in that short time “Yes, your Highness. Based on my understanding of the situation, when we were reviewing her application to the Night Guard, several...potentially worrisome issues came to the fore.”

Princess Luna gave a nod to his words, prompting him to continue.

Sparing a glance for Sea Breeze, the stallion took a small breath before simply setting out the facts, as he knew them “A cursory look into Ms. Sea Breeze's background revealed that she seems to have had only intermittent or partial employment within the last few years. It also seems she has lacked a permanent residence for a similar period. She is also lacking in references, military or civilian, speaking to her character. We also ran into some difficulty in reaching any family members, for information. It was believed these facts should be brought to your attention, before she was allowed to represent the Night Guard.”

A few moments after hearing the stallion's fairly neutral summation of her, Sea Breeze made a face before tilting her head in acknowledgment “Well, when you put it like that, it does kind of sound...not great.”

For Princess Luna's part she considered all of this impassively, briefly humming to herself as she did so. Turning back towards Sea Breeze, which immediately earned her the mare's attention, Luna again stared down upon the mare once more.

“...You wish to join my Night Guard?” Luna neutrally asked, to which Sea Breeze had to stare for a moment.

“I-...” Sea Breeze trailed off for a moment, as her thoughts were set a-jumble by the simple question. Maybe it was because she was being asked by Princess Luna herself, but she found herself tamping down some anxiety and uncertainty, as she answered “...yes?”

Luna didn't seem to pay any mind to the mare's hesitant response, only nodding before continuing “And do you...take exception to myself?”

This one was a lot easier for Sea Breeze to answer, as she quickly shook her head to say 'no'.

Again Princess Luna nodded “...Very well.”

Both Sea Breeze and Star Shade blinked at this short answer, before the stallion spoke up “Your Highness?”

Luna closed her eyes for a moment, before turning towards the balcony “It seems only fair to give this mare an even chance. Regardless of how she has chosen to lead her life before now.”

Star Shade hesitated only a moment before nodding, accepting Princess Luna's decision on the matter.

“...Seriously?” Sea Breeze asked, arguably more surprised by the decision than Star Shade, though Luna didn't seem to pay either of them any mind. Watching as Luna made her way towards the open balcony, Sea Breeze soon came to the decision to follow quietly.

Star Shade seemed briefly tempted to stop the mare, but she was already beyond easy reach, and so settled for simply following after the pegasus.

The sun was sitting upon the western horizon, very nearly ready to dip below the horizon.

Within sight of this balcony stood another of Canterlot Castle's many elegant towers, with another alicorn, as pale as Princess Luna was dark, setting hoof upon a similar balcony.

Sea Breeze could see the distant figure raise her head, as Princess Luna did the same, a glow alighting down her horn as she did so.

The following sights would stay with the young mare for the rest of her days.

With this last nudging, at the behest of the Sisters of Night and Day, the Sun sank fully below the horizon beginning the steady change from sunset to true night.

Sea Breeze had seen many sunsets in her time, had watched as the sky became dark and the stars began to come out. They had always been...nice, but watching as Princess Luna brought the nightsky to life, was entirely different.

Where before the stars seemed to fade into sight in their own random fashion, Sea Breeze could now see how every star's debut was but a result of Luna's own deliberate design. She could see each star coming out to greet the world with every flourish of Luna's magic. She could see wide sections of the night sky become glittering swaths of cloth made of light, at Luna's call. Sea Breeze could swear that she could even see the exact motions that Luna went through to set the stars twinkling.

It was a carefully choreographed dance the stars performed, as they almost seemed to beckon the Moon into the sky, welcoming their bright sister ever upward.

Sea Breeze could honestly say that she had never truly grasped the scope of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's abilities before that moment. Seeing it unravel before her eyes reminded her of the first time she had dove underwater and opened her eyes to see the endless expanse of the ocean hiding just below the surface. It was like looking upon something too vast to measure, that was only fathomable to mere ponies in the broadest of terms.

And then it was over.

Or, not exactly over, as the night sky was only just coming into it's own this evening. It was more like the stars and Moon were doing their own dance now, with no further guidance from Princess Luna.

In the distance, Sea Breeze could see the pale figure on the tower send a nod towards Princess Luna, before retreating indoors. To which Luna nodded in turn, with a faint smile gracing her lips.

“Do you spend much time outside, after night has fallen, my little pony?” Luna asked, without looking back towards the young mare.

“Sometimes...” Sea Breeze answered, after a moment. It had seemed...surprisingly easy to speak-up, despite what she had just witnessed. The air about Princess Luna seemed so different now...

“...sometimes, I'll be along the beach and everypony else is getting ready to head to their homes...and I'll just wait for them all to go and watch for...you know? The Moon to come out.” Sea Breeze slowly explained, her eyes still watching the night sky “Then, I'll just...start swimming and flying. All alone...I don't have to worry about anypony else, about somepony needing my help or having to think about my day or tomorrow or anything...The water ends up staying warm for a little while, while the air's still getting cool, and everything just...looks so different.”

By now Luna had turned back and was attentively following the mare's words.

“And then, I'll just end up swimming and skimming along the waves all night and it won't be till the Sun starts to come up that I realize I need head back to my own bed...” Sea Breeze finally finished.

“...In your shack?” Luna asked with a smile.

Sea Breeze had to chuckle and look away for a moment “I prefer to think of it as a beachside cottage...”

A moment later Sea Breeze had to chuckle again “Ok...it's a shack.”

Luna's own smile remained, as she turned back to admire the Moon steadily rising through the sky “I'm glad to hear that you appreciated my nights...”

Things fell silent for a little while after that. And though peaceful, it took a moment for Sea Breeze to note the way Princess Luna's smile seemed to steadily fade away.

“I used to not believe that anypony could appreciate what I did. That nopony saw the beauty of my nights, for their fear of the darkness...” Luna slowly admitted, gaining Sea Breeze's attention.

“Have you heard the tale of Nightmare Moon?” Luna carefully asked.

Sea Breeze saw Star Shade, almost forgotten off to the side, start at this question as if he wished to speak-up but only barely held his tongue. Sea Breeze's gaze stayed upon the stallion for several moments, though the bat-pony seemed to be refusing to look her way.

The pegaus turned back to see Princess Luna facing her once more, the alicorn looking as if she were bracing herself.

After a few moments of consideration, Sea Breeze finally answered “I'm not sure...”

Luna merely nodded, before continuing “My sister has had her own telling of the story...But, for those that are going to pledge themselves to my service, I believe that I should share my own recollections...”

“I was Nightmare Moon. Or still am, perhaps, depending on one's perceptions.” Luna admitted.

Sea Breeze said nothing.

“My sister would have others believe that I was...consumed, that I wasn't myself, when I plunged the world into darkness...I remember things far too clearly for me to believe in that.” Luna continued somberly “I remember my anger, my jealousy at what Celestia had, and I did not. I remember turning a blind eye to those that claimed I had their love and appreciation. I...remember the justifications that came to mind for what I did...and the rage that rose up against my sister for stopping me...”

“Perhaps there was more to those events than what I remember now. Perhaps not. But, Celestia cannot convince me that I was not responsible for what transpired. I will understand if this affects your decision to join my guard.” Luna finally finished.

Sea Breeze had to stare up at the alicorn for a few moments, after hearing all of this. She had of course heard the rumors of what truly happened on the eve of Princess Luna's return, but had done as most ponies had and trusted in Princess Celestia's telling of the event. This was a radical shift for that narrative...

It was a lot to process.

Still, she could only think of one question to ask.

“What about now?”

“Now?...Now I...” Luna seemed to trail off at this, considering what she wished to say “Now, I try to do better. I trust the word of my sister. I don't stop trying to...make things right.”

“And hopefully, I...” Luna trailed off, evidently having her own troubles putting her emotions to words. A shocking thought for Sea Breeze, as not once had Luna's strong voice truly faltered before now, with Luna scarcely taking more than a moment or two to find the exact words she wished to use.

“I-...I didn't really set out to...join the Night Guard...” Sea Breeze admitted with a great deal less poise.

At this Luna seemed to hold her breath for a moment before releasing it, as she nodded “I understand. If you wish, I can refer you to one of the other-”

“No! I mean, no. That's not what I meant at all.” Sea Breeze interrupted, surprising the Princess “I meant, that...I was trying to change things, and...I mean, becoming a guard seemed like something that was a change for me...”

“It wasn't really a decision I put a lot of thought into...I've never put a lot of thought into the things I do...” Sea Breeze admitted “And, it's like...one day, I looked around and saw myself just sort of...alone. I didn't, you know, like it...but I didn't really know how to change it. Or how to change me...”

“...I still don't really. All I really did was leave my town, and just kind of...”

She hadn't really been changing who she was.

Joining the guard had really just been the next thing Sea Breeze had let herself drift towards. Always taking the path of least resistance through life, when things had become too difficult for her to accept in her own home, she had left. If she was being honest with herself, she probably would have abandoned any position she had taken in the EUP within a few months, if it even lasted that long.

Sea Breeze had never tried to hold onto anything. Not things, not feelings, not friends. They all came to her, but always slipped through her hooves like water. Not that she ever made the effort to hold onto anything. Things would become difficult, or require some commitment on her part, or she might have had to admit these truths to herself.

Sea Breeze had never truly stuck by anyone's side.

Even when that someone needed her to.

“I want to be a part of your Night Guard.” Sea Breeze said with absolute certainty.

Both Luna and Star Shade had watched the internal tumult play across Sea Breeze's face, and both were startled by the sudden declaration.

It didn't take but a moment for a smile to cross Luna's lips.

“Then let me be the first to welcome you into my service.”

Sea Breeze found herself smiling back up towards the Princess, even as she felt an unseen pressure settle across her shoulders. Some part of her twisted under the weight, unaccustomed to it. Some part of Sea Breeze wanted to go running out the doors, and never look back.

But she knew this was the right course.

After a few moments of silence, a thought visibly occurred to the young mare.

“Uhm...there's one more thing I was hoping to bring up?...If that's alright?” Sea Breeze began.

Luna nodded, her smile fading slightly “I think I can spare a bit of time, for one more question.”

Sea Breeze briefly glanced towards Star Shade, to the bemusement of the bat-pony stallion. Taking a couple of steps towards Princess Luna, Sea Breeze leaned in, or rather up, conspiratorially.

“So, I'm not sure if you know this...but, I just found out that the bat-ponies have been off having sex with each other this whole time!”

Author's Note

Just a small sidestory that had been sitting mostly finished. Incidentally, if their are any artistic types out there that happen to enjoy this story (Or any of my other stories) I would happy to use any artwork it inspires for a cover image, instead of the stock image I'm currently using.

As always, any questions or criticisms are welcome. I hope everyone enjoys the story.

Chapter Two: Considerations

“Thock.”

“...”

“...Thock.”

Star Shade glanced towards his fellow bat-pony, as she once again clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. It certainly wasn't the most aggravating thing Sea Breeze had ever done, but it was starting to raise the stallion's curiosity. It wasn't as if she was doing it constantly, just only every few minutes or so and it wasn't particularly noisome. Granted each time she loosed the sound into the quiet hallway, it set his ears twitching...

“Thock.”

And hers as well, apparently. The stallion found his brow furrowing as he watched Sea Breeze's own ears start twitching and turning to catch the sound, as if the mare was trying to catch every last echo.

“What are you doing?” The stallion finally asked.

“Hm?” Sea Breeze quickly turned towards Star Shade, a bit startled by the sudden question.

Noting the lack of comprehension on the mare's face, Star Shade closed his eyes for a moment, before setting the tip of his own tongue against the roof of his mouth “Thock...”

“...Oh. Oh! That. Right. Well, you know, it's just...” Sea Breeze suddenly nodded in comprehension. A moment later she gestured a hoof towards her own head, as she gave her usual easy grin “...Ears.”

“...That is what they are.” Star Shade slowly agreed with a glance towards the mare's tufted ears.

“Hah! Good one. But, yeah, I was just...listening, I guess.” Sea Breeze elaborated.

“Are the changes still bothering you? Perhaps we should speak with Princess-” Star Shade began.

“What? No, no, no! It's fine.” Sea Breeze held up her hooves as she forestalled that idea. Quickly setting one back down, she explained “It's all fine. Totally used to the eyes and ears and whatever.”

“Then what are you doing?” Star Shade asked.

“Uhm, I-...Well, playing with them, I guess.” Sea Breeze replied, rubbing her mane with a hoof as she did so.

“...With your ears?” Star Shade asked with audible skepticism.

“Yeah. I mean, it's still kind of amazing how different everything is now.” Sea Breeze explained.

“Still? It's been several months now, hasn't it?” Star Shade pointed out.

Sea Breeze seemed to consider that for a moment before nodding “I guess it has been. Still cool though. I mean, you can't tell me this stuff isn't amazing.”

“I think, I might have outgrown any amazement I had with being able to see and hear things when I was a young foal.” Star Shade replied.

Though, he supposed this was really to be expected. While pegasi and bat-ponies weren't terribly different to begin with, it was only fair to expect that Sea Breeze would need to take some time to fully acclimate to the changes, physical and otherwise. Thinking about it now, Star Shade found himself realizing that the more extreme changes were in all likelihood hiding below the surface.

Flying would probably feel quite different, as there was quite a contrast between pegasus and bat-pony wing structures. Sea Breeze seemed to have gotten over that quite quickly, adapting without much trouble. According to the mare, the lack of feathers saved her a lot of time on wing maintenance.

Some minor differences in dietary needs hadn't visibly bothered the mare.

Really, beyond the cosmetic changes, he supposed the changes in how her magic worked would have been the most drastic. The transformation had conferred some fundamental changes in how her magic worked, reworking it to the bat-pony norm.

In short, her ability to manipulate and create weather had disappeared. And he distinctly recalled the mare mentioning that her father was a weather-pony...

'I wonder if that bothers her?'

“Ah...well, that's kinda sad. I can't imagine ever getting tired of this. It's like...well, being a foal again. Like you said, I guess.” Sea Breeze said, snapping the stallion from his thoughts.

“Hm...Well, I suppose that's to be expected for somepony like you, Breeze.” Star Shade replied, after focusing back upon the topic at hoof.

Sea Breeze tilted her head at that remark, before grinning “What?...Oh, I gotcha. Cause I'm immature and childish and playful and awesome-”

“Looks like you figured it-” Star Shade tried to interrupt.

“-and irresponsible and I sometimes talk with food in my mouth and could probably stand to use more soap-”

“Yes! Alright. Enough.”

Star Shade shook his head, in an attempt to clear away his lingering aggravation, before beginning to pan his gaze back across the lonely hallway. He quite calmly refused to acknowledge the mare's quiet snickers.

He was rather relieved when even Sea Breeze's amused chuckles faded into silence.

Being open-minded and calm always seemed easy on paper, but then Sea Breeze would start talking and...

Comfortable silence and a peaceful night he could handle.

He might even enjoy it...

“So, you mind if I ask you something?” Sea Breeze chimed.

Star Shade sighed, before glancing towards the mare across from him “Sure.”

“Well, you don't have to answer if you don't want to.” Sea Breeze pointed out.

“It's fine, go ahead.” He replied.

“Cool. So, tell me if any of this sounds rude or anything, but I was wondering if you could tell me more about how actual bat-ponies live?” She asked.

He furrowed his brow at this “You are an actual bat-pony now. I honestly don't know what questions I could answer for you, that you couldn't answer for yourself now.”

“Well, yeah, I guess you're right. I do know how bat-ponies live and all that. But I was more wondering about how bat-ponies live. You get what I'm saying?” Sea Breeze clarified.

“You wish to know more about the culture then?” Star Shade asked.

“Yeah, that's what I'm getting at.” She quickly agreed.

“I suppose you should know more about our folk. Ask.” Star Shade agreed after a moment of thought.

He honestly had believed that Sea Breeze would have found out the answers to any questions she might have had by now. There were plenty of natural bat-ponies amongst the Night Guard, and Sea Breeze didn't seem the sort to be shy about getting answers. Perhaps she simply wished to get the answers from himself? She seemed to get along reasonably well with most of her comrades, but he hadn't heard anything suggesting that she had really...opened up with anypony, in particular.

That thought gave him some pause.

'Am I turning into some sort of mentor for her?'

It was hard to imagine Sea Breeze being any more “open” than she already was, but it felt right in his head.

“Alright, let's see...” Sea Breeze said to herself, as she pulled loose a piece of paper that had been tucked into her armor and began to peruse it.

“You made a list?” Star Shade asked.

“Huh? Yep. Keeps my thoughts in order.” She replied, before tapping a hoof to the side of her helmet. Glancing back at the piece of paper “Anyway, here's a good one...Where are all the bat-ponies hiding?”

“Hiding? We're not hiding.” Star Shade pointed out.

“Living then...in seclusion and away from the sight or knowledge of others.” The mare cheekily corrected.

Star Shade rolled his eyes, before clearing his throat “Alright...most of us live in a place called Hollow Shades, in the forests west of Fillydelphia.”

Glancing to the side, he noted that Sea Breeze seemed to be waiting on him to provide more details “It's not...especially large, I suppose. It's a bit hard to gauge, as we tend to build more upwards than outwards, but I suppose it's comparable in size to a very large town.”

“Huh. Haven't heard much about this Hollow Shades. If you guys are just living there and not hiding, what's up with that?” Sea Breeze asked.

Star Shade tilted his head at this “We...keep to ourselves.”

“Uh-huh. But why is that?” Sea Breeze pressed.

“It's just...easier that way.” Star Shade tried to explain.

“...Seems like it's not working out so great, seeing how few of you there are around these days.” Sea Breeze pointed out, to which Star Shade could only nod. It had not been made a secret to the mare that bat-pony numbers weren't exactly plentiful. He wouldn't say they were in any danger of outright disappearing from the world, but they were the least numerous of any modern day pony tribes.

“I don't know the exact details, but after Princess Luna's...exile, we retreated from the rest of the world, as well. Some out of resentment for the loss of what they considered their Princess. Others simply wished to mourn her loss. And others feared that our close ties with Princess Luna would have turned other ponies against us.” Star Shade explained.

“...You really think ponies would have just turned on you guys?” Sea Breeze asked.

“I wasn't there, so I can't really say. But most ponies have always found us...peculiar, at best.” Star Shade replied.

“Huh...alright, new topic. Let's see...ah, holidays. Do we have any holidays of our own?” Sea Breeze asked, quickly tossing off the somber mood that had settled over the conversation.

Star Shade found himself eying the mare for a few moments, before accepting the sudden change in topic. Giving an internal shrug, he considered the question “Hm...not exactly. It's more we emphasize certain holidays differently. And celebrate them differently, as well.”

“Can you give me a 'for example' maybe?” Sea Breeze prodded.

“The Winter Solstice is a rather major holiday, for us. A bit of a contrast to the Summer Sun Celebration. And we also have rather different ideas of how we go about celebrating...Nightmare Night.” Star Shade's mouth curled slightly in distaste at the name for the spooky holiday. Letting go of those feelings he focused back upon Sea Breeze “Hearts and Hooves day is also quite popular, in Hollow Shades.”

“What, really?” Sea breeze asked.

“Well, yes. Many bat-ponies do take their romances rather seriously and the holiday is an opportunity to follow through on that.” Star Shade casually explained.

“Can't say I really expected that...” Sea Breeze admitted.

“In fact, it's a rather popular tradition to hold weddings on Hearts and Hooves day. Very near half of everypony living in Hollow Shades ends up being invited to one wedding or another, on that day. It helps that most families know one another in one way or another.” Star Shade elaborated. Noticing the look of bafflement he was receiving from Sea Breeze, he cleared his throat for a moment “Well, anyway, it is a bit of a cliché among bat-ponies...Personally, I'm pushing for my wedding to take place in the Autumn. Preferably under a harvest moon.”

Sea Breeze's jaw dropped a bit at this news “Wait...You're getting married?”

“Well, probably not this year. It's an arranged marriage, and I'd like more time to get to know the mare, but I am hoping she proves amenable to the idea. She seemed quite nice during our first couple of meetings.” Star Shade continued on, not understanding why this news seemed so surprising to Sea Breeze.

For the mare's part, she found her mouth opening and closing several times as she processed this. A moment later, she shook her head, before pointing a hoof towards the bemused Star Shade “Alright, alright. New question.”

Star Shade simply shrugged, before panning his gaze back down the hallway “As you wish.”

Sea Breeze shook her head before going over her list once more. After spending a few moments letting her eyes slide across the list, she shook her head once more before turning towards the stallion again “So...I mean, are arranged marriages, like, normal with bat-ponies or something?

Star Shade once more shrugged “They're not uncommon. Most of the families in Hollow Shades know one another through one relation or another.”

“It's just such a weird thing to think about. You don't really look at bat-ponies and think about settling down.” Sea Breeze admitted.

“And what do you think about when you see a bat-pony?” Star Shade asked.

Sea Breeze opened her mouth to respond, before stopping herself. Raising a hoof to her chin, as she considered the question, the mare turned towards Star Shade to openly appraise him.

“...Kinky?” Sea Breeze supplied.

Star Shade face-hoofed.

“You asked.” Sea Breeze pointed out.

“I did, didn't I?” Star Shade conceded. After taking a moment to rub the bridge between his eyes, he looked back towards Sea Breeze “Right. Well, that aside, are there anymore questions you need to have answered right now? Or can we get back to our duties?”

“Eh, the rest can probably wait, I guess. I mean, I got all the time in the world to learn about being a bat-pony, right?” Sea Breeze pointed out.

“I suppose, though Princess Luna did say that it was possible to reverse it...” Star Shade reminded.

“Well, yeah...But, I'm not gonna be backing out of this.” Sea Breeze replied.

“Really?” Star Shade asked.

“That's right, this decision is set in stone. Besides...I'm pretty sure you guys kinda need more ponies like me around.” Sea Breeze finished with her usual grin.

“Maybe...” Star Shade admitted after a few moments.

Sea Breeze had been the one to make the choice. Volunteering with barely a second thought to how big a change she was putting herself through. Star Shade suspected there were some personal issues that were motivating Sea Breeze's recent life choices, but even when pressed on it, she would only say that the world could use more bat-ponies.

Which was true.

They weren't exactly on the edge of extinction, but the bat-ponies numbers had been steadily drooping over the last thousand or so years. To say nothing of their level of exposure with other ponies; some of the more rural ponies didn't even know that bat-ponies were something that existed. And a goodly portion of the blame for that could certainly be left at the doorstep of the bat-ponies themselves. Perhaps keeping to themselves had been a good idea in the days shortly following Princess Luna's exile, but after a thousand years it might be the case that their secrecy and isolation was doing far more harm than good.

It was always unsettling when ponies seemed frightened or uncertain at the mere sight of a bat-pony.

Sea Breeze was a friendly, outgoing sort of pony, that could get ponies to relax and be less wary of those ponies that just happened to be more partial to the night.

Star Shade had originally been worried about how Sea Breeze might affect the image of the Night Guard, and by extension Princess Luna. But, he had increasingly found himself seeing past her flaws, and could even admit at times that maybe they did need more bat-ponies like Sea Breeze.

Sea Breeze had just been utterly fascinated with them, seeming to go out of her way to spend time around the bat-ponies amongst the Night Guard. On more than one occasion, she had dragged members of the Night Guard out into the town just to have a good time and mingle with the locals, while making a point to include bat-pony members. It had actually been Sea Breeze that really had started drawing attention to their increasingly small population, even bringing up the issue with Princess Luna.

Maybe the mare was just over-compensating for a lifetime bereft of commitment or responsibility, but he found himself hoping that it was rather more a matter of her just being a good pony.

On the other hoof, Sea Breeze might have just had a weird fetish for the exotic. He couldn't honestly rule that out entirely.

Maybe it was a bit of both...

Regardless, her transformation seemed to be doing some good. The remaining pegasi members of the Night Guard, as a whole, weren't nearly as enthusiastic about the prospect of shedding their feathers and weather magic. But Sea Breeze had gotten some of them talking about it. It was strictly voluntary, and Princess Luna had made a point of letting them know that their prospects within the Night Guard would not be affected by the decision. It would not be counted for or against any member of her guard.

It was an odd prospect.

But one that could do a lot of good for a lot of different ponies, bat and non-bat alike...

Now Star Shade was sure he was giving the mare too much credit.

Glancing towards his comrade-in-arms once more, he had to resist the urge to voice surprise at the sight of Sea Breeze vigilantly casting her gaze across the empty hall.

Turning back to his own section of the hall, a few thoughts ran through the stallion's mind, before he nodded to himself. A moment later he cleared his throat to gather the mare's attention “Rousettes...”

Sea Breeze glanced over towards her superior officer, curious “Uh, what?”

“If you're a bat-pony now, you may want to know that term.” Star Shade elaborated. He quickly noted that Sea Breeze seemed just as confused as before “You might call it a more...proper term for our kind...”

“Proper?” Sea Breeze asked.

“Yes, there's a good deal of consensus in Hollow Shades that we are more akin to rousettes than your more typical bats.” Star Shade explained.

“Uhm, okay...what's a rousette? Sounds Prench.” Sea Breeze asked.

Star Shade hesitated briefly, fairly certain as to how the mare would react to his next words “...It's a kind of megabat.”

“...Uh-huh.” Sea Breeze remarked in a forcibly neutral tone.

“...Your hearing and sight are much sharper now, yes?” Star Shade suddenly asked.

“...Yeah?” Sea Breeze replied.

“That's more in-line with megabats, than with your smaller bats. As sharp as your hearing has become you'll note that you don't possess true echolocation.” The stallion continued.

“I guess. I mean, I wouldn't try jogging through the kitchen with my eyes closed or anything.” Sea Breeze admitted.

“Exactly, while megabats possess excellent hearing and night-sight, they lack the ability to navigate by sound alone. Your typical microbat's eyesight, by comparison, is quite poor. You'll note that no more bat-ponies wear corrective lens than other kind of pony. Also, megabats have diets that more closely match our own.” Star Shade continued, seeming to enter a sort of lecturing mode.

Sea Breeze was just staring at the stallion now, bewildered by this unexpected infodump.

Star Shade cleared his throat once more “...since you were curious about bat-ponies.”

“...Okay.” Sea Breeze slowly replied. After a few more moments of silence, a thought visibly occurred to the mare “Uh, wait, so why not just megabat-ponies then, instead of 'rusies'?”

“Rousettes. And...I'm not exactly sure, but I assume some felt that 'megabat-pony' seemed...awkward or weird. But they still wanted something a bit more precise than just the 'bat-pony' moniker.” Star Shade replied.

“Huh...so, it's not, like...offensive or anything, if I just stick with bat-pony, right? I mean, I haven't been insulting you guys by saying 'bat-pony' all the time, right?” Sea Breeze asked.

“Hm? Oh, no. It's not really an issue for most. I would say it isn't anymore insulting than...it would be to refer to a pegasus as a bird-pony.” The stallion quickly assured.

“...Bird-pony?” Sea Breeze asked with a raised eyebrow.

“...On account of the feathers.” Star Shade clarified uncomfortably, as he noted Sea Breeze's stare.

Any discomfort he may have felt evaporated when the mare loosed an unrefined snort of laughter “Hah! Bird-pony...”

Watching as his fellow bat-pony gave into a fit of chuckles and giggling, Star Shade rolled his eyes before giving a shake of his head “I just thought you might like to know.”

“No, no. It's cool. I like it. It's a cool name. Rousette. Way better than bat-pony. I can see why you guys went with that name.” Sea Breeze reassured as she tried to suppress her amusement with the term 'bird-pony'.

“Hm.” The stallion dryly responded, before glancing down the halls once more, only to note that they were as bereft of anything worthy of note as before. Turning back towards the mare “Speaking of names, I understood that you were planning on having your name changed. After your transformation.”

“Huh?...Oh, that. Yeah, I kinda changed my mind on that.” Sea Breeze, her laughter settled, answered after taking a couple of seconds to recall what Star Shade had been referring to.

Star Shade rose an eyebrow at this, prompting the mare to elaborate.

“Hm...Well, you know that Summer camp gig I volunteered for?” Sea Breeze asked. She continued after having received a nod from the stallion “Well, I had a lot of time to think about things and names, and so on. And it kind of occurred to me that I don't really need to change everything about myself to, you know, change. I mean, I want to be a better me. So, I thought that maybe I should try to be a better Sea Breeze than some completely new pony...or whatever.”

Star Shade considered the mare for a few moments, letting the silence hang over their post as he did so. He finally nodded to himself, as if coming to a realization “You couldn't think up any good names, could you?”

“It's harder than it sounds.” Sea Breeze agreed.

“Really?” Star Shade asked.

“Oh, yeah. I mean, coming up with a cool sounding name that manages to encompass all of this-” Sea Breeze gestured to herself “-is a pretty heavy task, you know?”

“You couldn't come up with one?” He pressed.

“Well, it felt like it should be kind of night-themed or something, but still me. That really narrows it down, I think. And it needed to have like some sort of...watery-component, I thought. But the best I could come up with was 'Tidestar' and, I don't know, that kind of sounded like a stallion's name. So I gave up.” Sea Breeze admitted with a shrug.

Star Shade nodded at this answer, before raising a hoof to his chin in thought. After only a few moments of consideration he turned back towards Sea Breeze “...Moon Stream.”

“...Okay, that's not cool, tossing out names just like that. I mean, I spent weeks trying to figure out a cool name to go with!” Sea Breeze said, a bit chagrined by how easily the stallion had come up with the name.

Star Shade shrugged “We all have our talents...Incidentally, I do already know a stallion named Tidestar.”

“Eh, whatever. The thing where I'm gonna become a better Sea Breeze still counts. And it's based on, like, philosophical grounds, so it's classier this way anyway.” Sea Breeze replied with a wave of her hoof.

“Oh, yes. Very classy.” The stallion agreed.

“...Speaking of me being a better pony, and all that...I've been thinking about some things...” Sea Breeze hesitantly began.

“You've been thinking? How terrible.” Star Shade deadpanned.

“Heh, yeah. But seriously though, I've been thinking a lot about all the oaths and whatnot I took when I joined up officially.” Sea Breeze pressed on.

Noting that the mare seemed to be speaking seriously, Star Shade gave her his attention “...And?”

“Well...you've gotta promise you won't...freakout or anything, alright?” Sea Breeze requested.

“...You have been thinking a lot, haven't you?” The stallion asked, a bit surprised.

“You could say that these thoughts have been keeping me up at night...” Sea Breeze admitted, avoiding the Star Shade's gaze as she did so.

“...Alright, then. I promise not to 'freakout' or become upset with you...or try not to, I suppose. Let's keep things realistic.” Star Shade agreed.

“Great!” Sea Breeze replied with a big grin. Taking a moment to take off her helmet, before setting it on the floor, she shook her mane out a bit before continuing “So, it's like this. We've all promised to serve and protect Princess Luna in whatever ways we can right? To, uh, serve out her will and make ponies everywhere realize just how great she is, or something like that.”

“...More or less.” Star Shade agreed.

“Okay. So, if we're keeping things realistic, we kinda have to admit that, you know, there's gonna be times when Princess Luna spends more time protecting us, than the other way around. I mean, if it came down to it, I'd definitely give my all and do whatever I could to help Princess Luna. But we're not always gonna be able to protect her from physical threats, you with me?” Sea Breeze explained.

“I suppose so...” Star Shade hesitantly replied, unsure where the mare was going with her line of reasoning.

“So...we can't always be a big help when it's a dragon or some sort of huge bear, or whatever. But, we can totally support Princess Luna in other ways. Ways that might be just as important as fighting off mobs or armies. And I mean, if there are other ways we can serve Princess Luna, we should totally follow through on them. I mean...oaths, right?” Sea Breeze pressed on.

“That...sounds correct...May I ask just what you had in mind?” Star Shade asked.

“Yeah, totally...I mean...you did promise you wouldn't flip-out or anything...” Sea Breeze reminded.

Star Shade found himself growing a bit suspicious now “I believe, I said I would try not to freakout...So, tell me. What is this idea of yours?”

“Oh, well...I mean, don't get all judgmental or anything...”Sea Breeze said, tapping a hoof anxiously as she did so.

“Sea Breeze. What are you planning?” Star Shade demanded.

“Planning? I'm not planning anything...I mean, could you imagine me planning anything?” Sea Breeze continued to hedge, keeping her gaze off to the side.

Star Shade continued to stare stonily at her.

Sea Breeze swallowed, before showing a nervous grin “You know, when you think about it...I'm really honor-bound to flirt with Princess Luna just a little.”

A few months back...

“Okay, so we're really doing this?”

“Are you having second thoughts? You don't need to go through with this, if you are having doubts.” Princess Luna reminded Sea Breeze, as she noted the anxious expression on the pegasus' face.

“Huh? Oh, well, I'm having lots of thoughts...” Sea Breeze admitted after a moment, before glancing again towards the door that would lead from this antechamber to where the ritual would take place. Swallowing down her anxiety again once more, before turning towards Princess Luna “But, I'm good, Your Highness.”

“This will be quite a large change for you.” Luna calmly pointed out, giving the mare another chance to change her mind.

“I'm sure about this, Your Highness. Really.” Sea Breeze reassured once more, before taking in a deep breath and letting it out.

Luna tilted her head at this, acknowledging the pegasus' decision, even as she quietly considered what this recent recruit was volunteering for. True to her word, Sea Breeze had wholeheartedly thrown herself into Luna's service, and by all accounts was coming along reasonably well as a guardpony. And while she didn't seem to fit into the traditional ideals for a guardpony, Sea Breeze was at least capable of presenting herself appropriately when it mattered.

Luna did however find herself pondering Sea Breeze's motives for volunteering so readily to undergo this transformation. As with most things, the pegasus didn't seem to approach it in any sort of serious manner; one might have assumed it was a mere whim, at first. The young mare did seem rather certain about the decision however, and had till now only claimed that the bat-ponies could use more folks like herself.

The Princess of the Night had been willing to concede that point to Sea Breeze, as Luna had been rather concerned with the state of the bat-ponies in this modern era. Even so she found herself doubting that this was the sole reason behind the mare's choice...

Noting that Sea Breeze seemed to be eying her royal self now, Luna took a moment to clear her thoughts and her throat, before focusing back upon the matter at hoof.

“Before we proceed, you did follow through on my instructions, correct?” Princess Luna asked of the younger mare.

“Uh, the stuff about not eating any food for the last couple of days?...Just how important was that, exactly?” Sea Breeze asked while glancing off to the side guiltily.

Sighing in mild exasperation for the mare's unsurprising response, Luna shook her head before turning back towards Sea Breeze “Not terribly, though you'll probably become terribly nauseous after the transformation...Just how much have you eaten today?”

“Not...a lot. Moony saw I wasn't eating at lunch and offered me half of her daisy sandwich. I mean, she was being so nice about it, it would have been rude not to take a bite or two...” Sea Breeze admitted, rubbing a hoof through her mane as she did so.

“I see. Well, I suppose if that's all, it shouldn't bother you too much.” Luna replied.

“...Might have had a few of her hay-fries too.” Sea Breeze added after a few moments.

Princess Luna rose an eyebrow questioningly at this.

“But, really, that's all. Not a bite more than that.” Sea Breeze said, crossing her hoof across her chest, as she did so.

Sighing once more, Luna nodded, accepting Sea Breeze's word “Very well, then. You do understand that you will probably be feeling rather sick to your stomach after the ritual? Are you sure you don't want to wait?”

“Yeah. I mean, yes, Your Highness. My fault anyway, so I'll just have to deal with the consequences.” The mare reaffirmed with a nod.

“Then let us proceed.” Princess Luna nodded in turn, before approaching the doors that would lead from the antechamber.

“Huh...kind of a creepy vibe we got going on here.” Sea Breeze noted, taking in the sight of the large, dimly-lit chamber. The room was some ways into the mountain that Canterlot Castle rested upon, and thus lacked any sort of windows to provide any natural light. Rather, the room had a number of dimly glowing crystals set along the circumference of the circular chamber. The plain, drab stone-work of the chamber combined with the odd lighting made the room seem like the perfect place for some sort of weird cult to hang out, or something.

“I believe you'll find yourself more appreciative of the décor in a few moments. Or more particularly, the lighting.” Princess Luna remarked, before cantering towards the center of the chamber, where another easily recognizable figure was waiting.

Princess Celestia sent an easy smile their way as they approached.

“Uhm, what's Princess Celestia doing here?...Uh, not that you can't go wherever you want...Your Highness.” Sea Breeze fumbled a few moments, after blurting out the first question to pop into her mind.

“My sister requested that she be allowed to be present for this. There is no need for concern.” Princess Luna replied a bit tersely.

“Oh...” Sea Breeze said in turn, deciding not to pry into that too much. She had to suppose it wasn't too odd for an older sister to hover a bit, to the annoyance of the younger sibling.

'Maybe more ponies should know that kind of thing about them...'

If Princess Celestia picked up on her younger sister's mild annoyance she didn't show it, instead maintaining her usual poise, as she nodded in greeting “Luna. I take it this is the young mare in question. Sea Breeze, I believe?”

Luna simply nodded in turn.

Celestia soon focused upon Sea Breeze “I see. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sea Breeze. I've heard a fair bit about you, about the castle.”

“Uhm, it's a pleasure to meet you too, Princess Celestia...haven't actually heard that much about you, now that I think about it.” Sea Breeze admitted after a moment of thought.

“Oh?” Celestia replied, a bit thrown by that, and curious now.

Sea Breeze avoided her gaze for a moment, again running a hoof through her mane, as she often did “Well, I mean, I've heard the big stuff. Princess of the Sun, saving the world a bunch, really old and tall...not really much about you though, Your Highness.”

Princess Celestia hummed in response to this, as she seemed to consider the pegasus' reply.

Sea Breeze had no idea as to whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Sister. Now that you've had your introductions, I should like to begin things.” Princess Luna suddenly interjected, shaking her sister from her thoughts.

“Oh, of course. By all means.” Princess Celestia quickly agreed, before ushering Sea Breeze off to the side with a hoof “Let us get out of your way, then.”

A few moments later, Sea Breeze found herself standing off to the side of the center of the round chamber alongside the Princess of the Sun, watching as Princess Luna began her own work. Sea Breeze found herself tilting her head in confusion as she noted the bucket floating towards Princess Luna, wrapped in Princess Luna's magic and visibly filled to the top with odds and ends. It took her only a moment to realize that the bucket was merely serving to carry the components for the ritual, as Princess Luna retrieved several pieces of chalk from it with her magic.

She supposed there probably weren't many rituals that called for buckets in their execution.

'...I wonder if she might let me keep the bucket as a sort of souvenir?'

“Nervous?” Princess Celestia quietly asked, breaking Sea Breeze from her thoughts.

“Huh? Oh, I was just thinking is all, Your Highness.” Sea Breeze replied.

“I understand. I imagine you have quite a bit to think about right now.” Princess Celestia said.

“Uhm...yeah, let's go with that.” Sea Breeze agreed after thinking about it for a second. It'd probably just weird-out the Princess if she told her that was busy thinking about buckets, rather than the life-changing event she was about to go through.

Princess Celestia nodded at Sea Breeze's response “My Sister tells me you came to this decision quite quickly, and without any real prompting. May I ask why you are so eager for this?”

“Uh...well, you know, life-experiences and all that. Trying new things.” Sea Breeze awkwardly replied, rather unsure as to where this was going.

“I suppose that's a fair answer...Have you spoken with anypony else about this, though? Friends or family?” Princess Celestia prodded.

“...Just how much have you heard about me around the castle, Your Highness?” Sea Breeze asked, tensing up as she started to pick-up on where the Princess was going with this line of questioning.

Princess Celestia's gave no answer, though that was answer enough.

For the first time in a long while, Sea Breeze had to force down a bit of aggravation, as she realized what Princess Celestia really wanted to ask her. But even she realized she couldn't just tell off the freakin' Princess of the Sun for prying into her personal life. Sure, Princess Celestia pretty much had every right to do so, as well as good reason to, considering that Sea Breeze was serving her own younger sister.

Still, this was a sore spot for Sea Breeze.

“Well, I sent a letter to my little brother, a few days ago...” Sea Breeze slowly answered. Shuffling about on her hooves for a few moments, she decided to keep her eyes on Princess Luna's own work with the ritual “Not really much more to say beyond that...”

Not much that she really wanted to say about her dad, anway...

“...Please, forgive my prying, my little pony. I didn't realize how uncomfortable this subject would be for you.” Princess Celestia said contritely.

“It's alright...Your Highness.” Sea Breeze replied.

“No, I should have realized that there was more to this issue than could be addressed with a few words.” Princess Celestia quietly added.

“...Well, yeah, kinda.” Sea Breeze agreed after a moment. Sea Breeze glanced up towards Princess Celestia for a moment, before focusing back on her own hooves “It's really alright...I'm working on fixing things...”

Princess Celestia nodded, with a compassionate smile “Well, if ever any of my subjects should need my help...”

“There. We should be ready to begin...” Princess Luna called out, cutting off any further conversation, before trotting over to the two. Looking between her sister and her guardpony, she quickly noted the uncharacteristically uncomfortable expression on Sea Breeze's face “Is something wrong?”

Sea Breeze found herself glancing towards Princess Celestia, only to note that the pale alicorn seemed as calm as ever. And what's more she didn't seem to be sending the young pegasus any signs to keep her mouth shut, or anything like that. It seemed as if the Princess was leaving it to her to decide how to answer the question...

“Uhm...no. Everything is fine here, Your Highness.” Sea Breeze finally answered, only to note how Princess Luna furrowed her brow before openly scrutinizing her sister.

Luna was met only with Princess Celestia's usual serene expression.

“Very well...if you will come with me Sea Breeze?” Princess Luna gestured, sparing only one last look towards her sister before she began to lead the pegasus to the center of the chamber.

Luna's handiwork stretched out over a fair portion of the floor, and was made up of seemingly arcane symbols, criss-crossing patterns and expanding circles, all in simple chalk. Spread out at seemingly random points, for those not familiar with such magic, were a number of gemstones of seemingly random quality. It was actually rather amazing that Princess Luna had managed to put it all together so quickly.

“Wow...all this just for me?” Sea Breeze asked in mild awe, forgetting her earlier conversation with Princess Celestia.

Princess Luna gave a quick nod, before explaining “This is no simple spell. To make this transformation both permanent and...natural, for lack of a better word, we need certain aids.”

“Oh...well, that's cool, I guess.” Sea Breeze replied.

“Indeed. Now...are you ready?” Princess Luna asked.

“Ready as I'll ever be.” Sea Breeze chimed.

“Very well. If you would stand in the centermost circle, we can begin. Try to avoid moving any of the stones, as well.” Princess Luna directed, as Princess Celestia looked on from the side.

Sea Breeze nodded, before quickly acquiescing. With a quick flap of her wings, she set down into the center of the array, settling her hooves down as she turned towards Princess Luna expectantly.

Princess Luna seemed to consider Sea Breeze for a few moments, before she seemed to shake whatever she was thinking away.

“The transformation may be a bit easier if you close your eyes.” And with that last bit of advice, Luna approached the outer edge of the spell, her horn beginning to glow.

Sea Breeze nodded in turn, before following that advice, ducking her head down a bit as she closed her eyes.

With her eyes closed, she couldn't really tell if anything magical was actually taking place, and could only assume that Princess Luna had begun her work. Sea Breeze had been reassured that while the process would likely feel very...odd, it shouldn't be painful by any measure.

She wasn't sure if mild boredom and anticipation counted as an odd feeling, but she was fairly sure that was still a pegasus at the moment.

It felt like a couple of minutes had passed, when she found that her hooves were starting to feel warm, and that this warmth seemed to be steadily moving it's way up her legs. It wasn't long before her whole body had a pleasant heat to it, reminding her of days she had spent sunbathing along the beach. It was rather soothing, and seemed to lull her mind into a quieter state, even as she felt herself sway a bit from one side to the other.

But then it moved.

Or that was the best way she could describe the sensation she was feeling now, as the warmth seemed to concentrate itself in her wings, legs, and head. Whatever this feeling was, it seemed to almost flow through her to these parts of her body, causing the accompanying heat to reach discomforting levels. Her eyes in particular felt aggravated, as if she had gone without blinking for far too long, even though her eyelids were screwed shut.

Even as she struggled to acclimate to these sensations, she found her muscles twitching and tensing up, seemingly of their own accord. It distantly reminded her of the feeling one got after being suddenly woken from a nap, only more drawn out.

That's when she felt things actually start moving around.

It seemed to mostly be along her back, and especially in her wings, but soon every part of her felt like it was trying to stretch or shift into another shape. True to Princess Luna's word, it wasn't painful, but merely a profoundly strange and uncomfortable feeling. Kind of like moving your leg around in ways that a pony's leg was not meant to move, but without all the broken bones. And you weren't the one moving the leg, but it seemed to be deciding where it wanted to go all on it's own.

Sea Breeze decided to keep her eyes shut.

She wasn't really sure how long the ritual had been going on, by this point, but she was starting to wish it was done already. The sensation of her body rearranging itself did not mix well with the unpleasant heat of the magic, and waves of nausea were soon rolling through her body. Even as she tried to steady her breathing, in the hopes of keeping her stomach calm, Sea Breeze found herself becoming more and more tense as the magic continued to flow through her body.

And not emotionally tense, but physically.

Like the rest of the transformation, it began slow at first, but quickly built in intensity. She didn't even notice it at first, but soon it felt as if every muscle in her body was starting to strain against every other muscle in her body. She wanted to shift about, to move around, and possibly alleviate the sensation, but found that her body didn't seem to feel like listening at the moment.

The sensation only compounded her discomfort, as she felt her muscles become increasingly knotted and stressed. Her innards were dancing around like eels, her head, wings and legs felt feverish, and the rest of her body seemed to be on the verge of cramping up forever.

Then, without warning, it all stopped.

The heat faded.

Her body seemed to re-solidify.

And every one of her tensed muscles seemed to release themselves at once.

Sea Breeze vomited.

Which was rather unfortunate, as she promptly fell face forward a moment later.

She didn't even bother trying to contain her moans of exhaustion and disgust, as she struggled to pick herself up out of her partially-digested lunch. She was almost back on her hooves, when she flinched back as a thunderous noise seemed to beat itself into her head. She cracked open one of her eyes to see where the terrible beating noise came from, only to see two sets of hooves drawing closer, one dark and one light.

“IS SHE ALRIGHT, LUNA?” If the hoofsteps were thunderous, then this was the sound of a lightning bolt right beside her head.

Even as she ducked her head down and tried to cover her ears against the onslaught with her hooves, she could still clearly hear Luna's whispered response “Sister, keep it down!”

A moment later, Sea Breeze felt Princess Luna's hooves supporting her, paying no mind to the mess running down her frontside “How do you feel, Sea Breeze?”

It took her several seconds to compose herself well enough to respond, but even then could only gesture to her head “...Ears?”

That seemed to be enough for Luna though, as she whispered another reply “Your innate magic is still...rearranging itself. Your hearing and sight should be more under your control within a couple of days.”

“Sight...?” Sea Breeze muttered before trying to open her eyes more fully. Her vision was rather blurry, but she was still able to make out that it was Princess Luna that she was looking at now.

“Wow...my eyes think you're all pretty.” Sea Breeze muttered. Princess Luna was a pretty pleasing sight under most circumstances. But with Sea Breeze's eyes as screwed up as they were right now, the Princess of the Night seemed otherworldly now. Luna's eyes really did seem like bright moons now, and the sight of Luna's ethereal mane had Sea Breeze completely enthralled.

“Let us get you somewhere you can rest.” Princess Luna said, not paying mind to Sea Breeze's ramblings, as she began to assist the former pegasus with standing upright.

Sea Breeze vomited again.

“Oh, my...” Princess Celestia remarked.

Princess Luna could only heave out a heavy sigh, as she looked down upon the mess that was covering herself now.

“Moony might have shared some of her dessert with me too...” Sea Breeze guiltily admitted.

Author's Note

Long awaited update. As usual, I'll be going over this to correct typos and mistakes over the next few days.

As always questions and criticisms are welcome. Hope everyone enjoys.

Chapter Three: Baby-Steps

“You what?”

“You promised you wouldn't freak-out.” Sea Breeze anxiously reminded.

“I promised I would try.” Star Shade heatedly countered.

“...Maybe, put in a little more effort?” The mare offered.

This was met with a glare.

Seeing the stallion's quickly growing ire, Sea Breeze held up her hooves to forestall him “Alright, alright, just let me explain. I can make this make sense.”

Star Shade closed his eyes and visibly settled, or at least caged, his anger, before again focusing his gaze on Sea Breeze “This had better be good.”

Sea breeze visibly let out a sigh of relief at this, before giving a nervous grin “Uh, yeah, I was totally serious about putting a lot of thought into this. You'll-...”

The mare trailed off, as she noted Star Shade's glare starting to intensify.

“...-Uhm, right. Well...” Sea Breeze had to briefly clear her throat at that, before glancing to her hooves. A moment later, she quickly picked up her helmet, before sliding it back onto her head. Making sure the protective headwear was securely in-place, Sea Breeze took in a deep breath before focusing back upon Star Shade “OK, so...I think Princess Luna is kinda...isolated.”

Sea Breeze couldn't help but notice the confused look being sent her way now, though she couldn't be sure if it was due to the notion or her tone. She did feel uncharacteristically serious about this topic.

“I mean...I can't be the only one to have noticed this, right?” Sea Breeze tried to prod things along.

Star Shade merely shook his head at this, before sending a wry look Sea Breeze's way “Why did you feel the need to put your helmet back on?”

“I-...uh, I wasn't really sure just how angry you might get?” The mare hesitantly answered.

“You thought I was going to assault you over you saying something-...something that you would say?” Star Shade demanded.

“Well, I don't know. I mean, there have been some conversations when I probably would have been better off if I had went into things with a helmet on.” Sea Breeze tried to explain.

The stallion briefly thought she might have been kidding, before realizing that, no, this wasn't some sort of joke or put-on. He couldn't help but let his mild shock, and anger, show at this upsetting admission from the mare.

He was particularly distressed by how casual she seemed about it. And the implications.

“Well, don't get all judgmental, alright? I mean, I know I made some stupid choices in my life, but-” Sea Breeze began, a touch defensively, as she seemed to think his reaction was directed towards her.

“That is not what I'm upset about! I'm upset over the idea that you think-...how can you think that such a thing would be normal?” Star Shade demanded.

“Uh, what?” Was her uncomprehending response.

“Has this always been the case? I understand that you've had troubles with your father, but-” Star Shade began.

“What?! You think that- No! What in Sweet Luna's name is wrong with you?!” Sea Breeze cut-in, finally grasping what the stallion seemed to be assuming.

“What?” Came Star Shade's equally uncomprehending response.

“All I meant was, that I spent a decent chunk of my young life on my own, being all irresponsible and whatever. I didn't always think things through well enough, to pick the right ponies to hang out with. That's it.” Sea Breeze finally explained.

“I-...Oh.” Came Star Shade's reply.

“Yeah.”

The stallion took a moment to clear his throat “Well...I suppose, I started jumping to conclusions, but still I'm not exactly pleased to hear that.”

“Well-...yeah, you knew I was kinda stupid back then. It wasn't anything that I hold a grudge over, cause it was just stupid scuffles and whatnot. Stuff that happens when folks with the wrong kind of tempers get a bit too tipsy or whatever.” The mare continued to elaborate.

“Even so...if there's anything that was ever criminal that happened towards you...” Star Shade prompted.

“I-...well, you gotta understand, alright. I learned to take care of myself, so everything's cool, OK?” Sea Breeze seemed to hedge a bit.

The stallion simply nodded at that.

“I just can't believe that you could think something like that about my dad. He's never had a problem with letting me know what an idiot I was, or anything. I mean, he could really workout his vocabulary, whenever we would get into an argument. He could come up with some really creative ways of describing someone's stupidity, believe me. But he never did anything like that.” The mare explained.

“Well, I suppose that's some relief, but-” Star Shade started.

“And don't get started on that again. I mean we were a small port, so we were always dealing with sailors and whatnot. Everyone kind of talked like that. Sailor-talk, and all that. He was probably a lot more restrained with me than with most others. I mean, I was kind of an idiot back then.”Sea Breeze continued, not letting the stallion regain any momentum.

The stallion gave another nod at that, trying to accept the explanation, though something still seemed to be visibly bothering him “So...you're saying that a lot of the ponies spoke rather...crassly, in your hometown?”

“Not just ponies, but you could say that, yeah.” The mare replied.

“You don't seem especially crass or vulgar, despite your other...traits.” Star Shade pointed out.

“Uh, well...I mean, it's not exactly a party-trick you just whip out, you know? I could probably reduce you to tears, if you really wanted me to lay into you.”

“You don't think that you're overstating things a bit?” The stallion asked, visibly skeptical of the claim.

“Nah. We even had this sort of informal contest down on the docks, where everyone would tear into each other. Verbally, I mean.”

“Seriously?”

“It's not as bad as you think. It was always, you know, quasi-friendly. It really helped get, like, grievances and bad feelings out in the open, so they could be buried for real. We also had food and drinks, so that was awesome.”

Star Shade couldn't help but shake his head at this, not sure if he believed his fellow bat-pony or not.

“If you don't believe me, dad was the reigning champion for five years running. Lost on a technicality, the year before last. Reduced the referee to a quivering pile, when they made the decision. Had watermelon afterward though, so it kind of-” Sea Breeze continued.

“I think we've wandered a bit too far from the matter-at-hoof...though, for the record, I would like to apologize for assuming that...” Star Shade offered.

“That I wanted to climb into Princess Luna's bed, or for assuming that about my dad?” Sea Breeze cheekily asked.

“You do understand, that you're still not exactly off-the-hook, don't you?” Star Shade sourly retorted.

Sea Breeze waved a hoof at that, in a placating gesture “I know, I know. And I really do have some, like, thoughts that should help make things make sense.”

“And I'm still waiting on them.” The stallion reminded.

“Right, so...what exactly was I saying?”

“...You're failing to inspire much confidence.” Star Shade remarked.

“What? I lost my train of thought.” The mare defended.

“You barely even got started before.” He countered.

“Well...look, I gotta a very specific, very convincing-” Sea Breeze began.

“I'm sure.” The stallion interjected.

“-series of points. And I don't want to mess it up. I mean, the arguments gotta build off of each other, like some sort of carefully designed, architecturally-glorious, big...thing.” Sea Breeze tried to explain.

Star Shade rubbed his brow again.

“Seriously. I got a whole process masterminded.”

“I'm sure.” The stallion remarked.

“You let me get going, you'll probably be hitting on Princess Luna yourself, before-” Sea Breeze confidently added.

“You were observing that you thought that Princess Luna seemed isolated. Now please explain yourself, before my headache gets any worse.” Star Shade irritably complained.

“Oh...right. Princess Luna seems kind of isolated...” Sea Breeze confirmed to herself.

“...”

“...So, like I said, Princess Luna is all isolated and...uhm...what was I going to say?” Sea Breeze hedged, as she brought a hoof up to her chin in consideration.

“You cannot be serious.”

“I- there was a lot of stuff to remember! I'm trying to get it all sorted.” The mare replied.

“Don't bother.” Star Shade tersely stated.

“What? Why?” Sea Breeze asked, with no small amount of confusion.

“You're relieved for the night from this post. You can head back to your bunk.” Star Shade calmly ordered.

“What?!” Sea Breeze demanded.

“For that matter, you're going to be reassigned to another part of the castle, from here on.” The stallion continued, in a matter-of-fact manner.

“I- But- Why?!” The mare asked, an edge of panic entering her voice.

“Your overly casual manner and general lack of discipline aside? If you can't explain your earlier comments, as being anything aside from a base lust for our Princess, I don't want you assigned so closely too her anymore.”

“But, I haven't even done anything!” Sea Breeze pointed out.

“And I'd rather we kept it that way. If you really are harboring unwholesome thoughts towards Princess Luna, then this course is just as much for your benefit as anypony else.” Star Shade continued, unmoved by the mare's argument.

Sea Breeze's jaw dropped a bit at this, before she whipped her gaze around to look at the doors that lead to where Princess Luna was, no doubt, hard at work. Turning her eyes back to Star Shade, a hint of desperation in her expression now “Wait. I mean, you can't right? You can't just kick me out of the Night Guard like that!”

“You are not being kicked out. You're being assigned to a different post.” Star Shade reminded.

“But, I took that whole oath thing! How am I supposed to protect Princess Luna, if I'm not here? I mean, I swore to do anything I could to help her!” Sea Breeze pressed.

“Then you can help her the same way so many other members of the Night Guard do, on a nightly basis; by representing Princess Luna and serving others.” Star Shade countered, his tone becoming more strained with irritation.

“You didn't even let me explain!”

“Then explain!”

“I just want to help her!!!”

Silence reigned in the moments following that emotionally wrought outburst. Star Shade couldn't help but glance towards the double-doors they were stationed outside of, partly wondering if Princess Luna had heard that, and partly to avoid looking towards Sea Breeze. The doors were heavy, and lightly enchanted to ensure that incidental noises didn't bother the princess, but that could only go so far. Still, he could only avoid the mare in front of him so long.

“Listen. Just try to calm down, Sea Breeze. We can-” Star Shade began.

“I'm sorry, about that. I-...I just can't go back to being that sort of pony again...” Sea Breeze admitted, now looking to the side, avoiding Star Shade's own gaze now.

This was easily as upset as he had ever seen the upbeat mare. Nothing seemed to truly bother her over the months that he had known her, until now. Whether she was being chewed-out by a superior, overworked, dismissed, rejected, or even insulted, she always carried through with the same...resilience. There were some few times that she may have been surprised or uncomfortable, but those rarely lasted for long. The few moments where she showed any deeper part of herself were, likewise, short-lived.

By now, Sea Breeze should have already been trying to laugh this whole thing off.

Not nearly in tears.

He was nearly ready to speak-up, to try to say something to calm her or...something, when she turned back towards him.

“I mean, I promised. She needs help, and I think I can...you know? Do that. She's amazing and I want to...and there have been other amazing ponies that I wanted to help. But then I never did, cause of...reasons.” Sea Breeze tried to explain, her voice a bit more in control now, even though she found herself rambling.

Star Shade couldn't help but shake his head, at this sight “We can talk about this later. Right now, you need to-”

“I can't just leave again. I don't know who I'll be, if I do that again. I don't know if...” Sea Breeze eventually trailed off, unable to articulate her emotions.

The stallion considered the mare now, even as her gaze drifted down towards her own hooves. Some part of him started to wonder if she would just root herself to that spot and refuse to move, refuse to give up this position in this hall, and her life. He didn't doubt her devotion at this point, and hadn't done so for sometime. He recalled that first meeting clearly, and even then recognized that Princess Luna had made an impression upon the mare. While not the ideal recruit, she hadn't complained through the training. Half of the reason he ended up at this post with her so often, was that she was almost always the first and most eager volunteer for any position even remotely close to the Princess. To say nothing of the transformation she willingly undertook to become a bat-pony.

He hadn't had any doubts about her intentions for sometime.

But good intentions sometimes lead to woe, regardless.

And this reaction, this didn't seem healthy by any measure. Somewhere along the line, it seemed as if Sea Breeze had placed Princess Luna as the determining factor, on whether or not she could make herself into a better pony. That if she didn't succeed in 'helping' Princess Luna, that was it. Being able to fix all of her past mistakes, rested on doing this one thing right. That was very worrisome, even if it was only guesswork, on his part.

“Can we just forget I said anything at all? It's like, ha-ha. I got you. I mean, I say things like that all the time, so-” Sea Breeze began to plead.

“Just...explain yourself.” Star Shade interrupted.

The mare couldn't help but stop to look up, a faint hope in her eyes “What?”

“Before we discuss anything else...just finish explaining what you meant earlier. How you think...flirting with Princess Luna might help.” Star Shade clarified, even as part of him realized there were greater issues at play. Even if there was some sort of sense behind her proposal, what about the rest of this? He couldn't help but wonder if the mare needed to be moved away from the Princess, for her own well-being.

But, part of him still wanted to give her a chance.

“Can you do that for me?” Star Shade asked.

A few moments of hesitation, and the mare gave a nod “Y-yeah. I just...need a minute.”

He nodded in-turn, giving her the time to compose herself.

Soon enough, Sea Breeze gave a cough of laughter, that was closer to a sob, before putting on an uneven grin “Wow, I really did kind of screw-up that pitch, huh? Heh, stupid...brain, and whatnot. Never does what you tell it to.”

Star Shade didn't comment on the mare's faltering attempt to make light of the situation; if that's what she needed to do to compose herself...

“So...I guess, I'll just stick to the basics then, huh? I mean, keep it simple, right?” Sea Breeze hedged.

Star Shade held his silence.

“...I think Princess Luna needs more friends, as opposed to guards, or whatever.” Sea Breeze eventually stated.

The stallion gestured with a hoof for her to continue, after a few moments.

Gaining a bit of confidence, after seeing Star Shade's calm reaction, the mare nodded “So, like, how many ponies do we ever see her just sort of...hang-out with?”

“I'm not sure a Princess ever 'hangs-out'...but I think I see your point. Go on.” Star Shade prompted.

“Right. I mean, she only ever spends any non-working time with Princess Celestia. And she's cool and all, but that's not normal, or anything. And there's that whole thing with the, you know, incident. The big one, from like a thousand years back?” Sea Breeze continued.

Star Shade's face soured up a bit at that point, not liking the direction it was going in. He didn't particularly like that topic to begin with, and if the mare was suggesting that Princess Luna was going to...go down that path again, he couldn't help but become a bit defensive.

“I know what you're thinking, and that's not what I'm getting at.” Sea Breeze quickly added, noting the look on the stallion's face. Swallowing a bit, before continuing “It's more like I'm thinking we need to work to help the root issue, that lead to the whole...you know.”

Star Shade furrowed his brow at this “I fail to see how trying to seduce Princess Luna helps.”

The mare gave an exasperated sigh, at this “I never said I was going to try to seduce her or anything. I have standards, you know?”

“What?”

“I mean, not that I wouldn't, like, be the first in line to-...this isn't helping my case. What I meant, is that I'm not going to do something like exploit someone's emotional issues, just cause I'm attracted to them.” Sea Breeze explained.

“Emotional issues?” Star Shade pressed.

“Yeah. I mean, there's more to it being right than just getting a 'yes' or whatever, you know?” The mare added.

“I'm well-aware of that. I just...” Star Shade stopped himself, before he could comment on Sea Breeze's own, increasingly obvious, emotional issues. Shaking his head at that “If you didn't want to seduce Princess Luna, then how could you justify flirting with her?”

“Uh, because flirting with and seducing somepony isn't the same thing?” She replied, as if it should be obvious.

At the skeptical look she received, Sea Breeze rolled her eyes “I- look. Seduction is all about the endgame. Flirting, that's more like...okay, so I don't just flirt with folks I want to sleep with, alright? There's more to it than that. It's, uh-...what's the word I'm looking for?”

“I couldn't possibly know.”

The mare let out a sigh at that “I guess, it's all about...barriers. It's about getting folks to relax, and let you in...figuratively.”

Star Shade had to rub the bridge between his eyes, at that last part.

“It's letting them know that they are attractive to others, and that there isn't anything wrong with them. That you accept them.” Sea Breeze continued on undeterred.

“And yet, you can't just tell them this? You don't think the same could be achieved with compliments or some such thing?” Star Shade argued.

“You can compliment someone without it being personal. I mean, if you didn't know me, and I just said, like...you're handsome or you're a real go-getter, would you take it to heart? No, it'd just be some nice-thing, that I said to you.”

“You can't authoritatively declare something like that.” Star Shade argued.

“Well, hey, there's lot of ponies that have said nice things about Princess Luna. I mean, you don't waste any time in letting her know that you think highly of her. Do you think of yourself as her friend?” Sea Breeze eventually asked.

The stallion was given some pause at that.

“Flirting may have been the wrong word to use. It's just sort of the first thing that came to mind. Again, not helping my case, I know.” The mare conceded with a wave of her hoof.

“But, yeah, if part of protecting Luna is making sure that she's happy, it means providing her the things that other ponies need too. I think that we need to make it clear to her, that there are those out there that want to know her and not just respect who she's supposed to be for us.” Sea Breeze finally finished.

Star Shade rose a hoof to his chin, as he processed that. He could admit that, on several levels, it made sense. He, like many others, knew that Princess Luna was trying to reach out to ponies, with uneven success. And, while she didn't exactly come across as a traditional case, their Princess of the Night had an odd sort of shyness to her. While Princess Celestia frequently went out into public and interacted with her subjects, Princess Luna's attempts were somewhat further and fewer between.

It might actually help, if those she was already familiar with were the ones to give her some guidance and social experience. Certainly nopony of the Night Guard would give her a hard time over the occasional faux pas.

His attention was brought back to the mare, as she gave an anxious cough.

“And, I-...I mean, if you really think that it's best though, that I get reassigned or whatever...” Sea Breeze began, visibly dreading the possibility “ If you think it's the best way for me to help her, I shouldn't...you know? But, still I think I'm right on this and, uh, just keep it in mind, alright? For her.”

Star Shade watched the mare for a few more moments, considering everything that had just been said and everything he knew of her. Taking in a deep breath, he closed his eyes before letting it out in a long, heavy sigh.

“That might not be necessary.”

Sea Breeze immediately looked up, hope visibly entering her countenance “...Might not?”

“Do not think that I am removing the option from the table, and you should continue to improve yourself, if you are going to continue working in proximity to the Princess. But, now that I understand your point-” He was cut-off as a pile of armored pony crashed into him, as Sea Breeze abruptly engulfed the stallion in an embrace.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you-”

“Tch- this is precisely the kind of unprofessional behavior that I was talking about!” Star Shade bit out, halfheartedly.

Looking down at the gleeful mare, it wasn't really that what she had said earlier that had swayed him, though in the end there was some sense to what she said. It was the last part, that had helped convince him, more than anything. Once her panic had passed, and she could admit that maybe she could help in ways other than being at Princess Luna's side, it came across as less of an obsession than he feared.

Still, he would need to take on a more direct approach with guiding the mare, as a member of the Night's Guard. Maybe he would have to embrace being some manner of mentor for her. Maybe-

“Am I interrupting something?”

Both bat-ponies turned to see Princess Luna standing in the doorway, a scroll floating in her magic, and a bemused look on her face, as she scrutinized the pair.

There were several seconds of silence, as they both tried to process the situation. To Star Shade's chagrin, Sea Breeze seemed to be the first to get her thoughts in order.

“Uh...hey, Gorgeous. What's up?”

Star Shade was starting to see the sense in Sea Breeze putting her helmet back on, as he was gripped with the overwhelming urge to smack her upside the head.

For Princess Luna's part she didn't seem particularly bothered, merely tilting her head in mild curiosity “I am not exactly sure. May I ask what the two of you are doing?”

Star Shade acted quickly, shoving Sea Breeze away before she could say anything more to the Princess “Nothing worthy of note, your Highness.”

“Yeah, nothing to note. He's getting married, you see?” Sea Breeze quickly agreed.

The Princess of the Night blinked at this revelation, before turning her attention towards Star Shade “Is this true?”

Put on the spot, it took the stallion a moment to reply “I-...Yes, your Highness.”

Princess Luna slowly turned her gaze back towards Sea Breeze “And you were...?”

“Me? Well, I was just so excited for him...” Sea Breeze vaguely explained.

Princess Luna nodded at this, before focusing back upon Star Shade “Then, I suppose, you have my congratulations as well, Star Shade.”

“...Thank you, your Highness.” The stallion managed to reply.

“May I ask, when is the wedding planned?” Princess Luna calmly asked, her tone as formal as before.

Before Star Shade could speak up, Sea Breeze chimed in “He was telling me earlier, that he was hoping for something in Autumn. And a Harvest Moon.”

The stallion had to swallow down a mixture of irritation for the mare and his own discomfort with this situation “I-...Is there something we can assist you with, Princess Luna? We haven't disturbed you have we?”

Sensing that now was the time to return to propriety, Sea Breeze stood up a bit straighter “We are, as always, at your disposal, your Highness.”

For a brief moment, there were the smallest of slivers of hesitation and discomfort coming from the Princess, as Luna's eyes briefly turned towards the scroll still hovering in her magic “...No. No, that is not the case. I-...that is, We thought to seek counsel on a matter that...goes beyond our own experience.”

“Is there someone you would like us to fetch, your Highness?” Star Shade inquired, all business now.

Luna frowned a bit at this, before shaking her head “Nay. I do not think that shall be necessary.”

Sea Breeze briefly glanced towards Star Shade, out of the corner of her eye “Uhm, if I may ask, Your Highness? What kind of counsel are you looking for?”

Again, there was an uncharacteristic pause from the normally forceful Princess, before the scroll began to float down to eye-level for the two bat-ponies “We have recently received a missive, detailing some manner of nocturnal establishment's celebratory unveiling to the general public. As is only appropriate, it seems We have been invited to serve as the Guest-of-Honor for this event.”

“...You got invited to a night club?” Sea Breeze summarized.

“So it would seem.” Princess Luna agreed.

“Well, that's cool, I guess.” Sea Breeze noted to herself, even as Star Shade considered the 'missive' in question.

Luna nodded at this “While We are quite naturally receptive to the compliment implied in such an invitation, We find that We are...unsure as to how one approaches such a function.”

There was a brief silence, at this admission from the the Princess.

Star Shade cleared his throat briefly, before focusing upon his Princess “Your Highness, are we to understand that you are seeking advice on how one-”

“You need help with going out clubbing?” Sea Breeze asked in a succinct manner.

Princess Luna briefly pursed her lips, before nodding “I believe that is the correct term, yes.”

Sea Breeze suddenly gave a very big grin. One that Star Shade didn't trust, at all.

About a week later...

“You are quite sure that this garb shall serve our purposes?”

Sea Breeze glanced just a little ways down the Canterlot street, to where the Princess of the Night was trudging after her “Uh...yeah, you'll blend right in, your Highness. I mean, you look like just another average, everyday...super-model.”

Princess Luna looked up at that, from beneath the brim of her cap “Is that not at cross-purposes to our goal?”

“...Might be about as much we can accomplish, your Highness.” Sea Breeze admitted.

The disguised Princess of the Night pursed her lips at that, before glancing down at her disguise. While Princess Luna had been able to temporarily poof away her wings and will her energetic mane and tail into more normal appearances, she hadn't done much to alter the rest of her appearance. It had proven a challenge setting up an outfit for Luna that could help her avoid attention. They had eventually settled upon a dark, oversized longcoat, long enough to drape over her Cutie Mark, with a plain shirt underneath. This was topped off with a simple cap, and a pair of trendy sunglasses, to better conceal her features.

It actually looked half-decent. Which was where they had run into the first problem for the night.

The Princess was still sporting a figure that a lot of mares, and some stallions, would kill to have. Princess Celestia had long been considered the epitome of pony-beauty, and Princess Luna came about as close to that standard, as was possible.

And, while Sea Breeze wasn't normally one to complain about such things, it would make going incognito a bit difficult.

Luna, for her part, had helpfully offered to alter her physical dimensions at that point. Unfortunately, this was well-after they had already secured her outfit. Going that route would have likely left most of the clothes a bit on the oversized side.

Sea Breeze was pretty sure Star Shade would have suggested putting off this little practice-run, until they could secure proper attire for the Princess, if he had been there at the time.

Fortunately, Star Shade had volunteered to be a part of the shadowing squad, the Night Guard detail that would be surreptitiously following them around town. Just in case of an emergency. As such, the overly-cautious stallion was probably off getting into position right then, and not in a position to attempt to veto anything.

“Even so, I am not sure I approve of being compared to a pony, whose sole contribution to society is their physical appearance.” Luna quietly groused, as she adjusted the ill-fitted coat over her shoulders.

“Heh. Well, every great work of art needs a canvas.” Sea Breeze remarked, as she fell in at Luna's side, even as the Princess visibly began to consider this point.

“You are suggesting that these ponies have made themselves unto the clay that others will then shape into inspirational form?” Luna asked the smaller bat-pony at her side.

“...Is that what I'm suggesting?”

“I suppose that, in that light, I have made for a poor clay then.” Luna lamented aloud.

“What? No, no, you're doing great.” Sea Breeze quickly denied, with a wave of her hoof.

“And yet, the whole purpose of this excursion is to gather the necessary experience for this event that I am to attend, without drawing attention. Which I seem to be very much failing to do.” The Princess noted, even as she openly eyed a number of other ponies that were passing them in the street.

“Uh...well, you did just say all that in a...very loud and clear way.” Sea Breeze carefully pointed out. This caused the alicorn to come to a brief stop, as she self-consciously rose a hoof to her mouth.

“Oh...yes.” Luna quietly cleared her throat, before speaking in a more subdued tone “I suppose, I still am working too hard to ensure that my voice carries to all that would hear it.”

It was a far cry from the 'Royal Canterlot Voice' but even her regular speaking voice had a tendency to carry her authoritative weight behind it, if she didn't pay careful mind to it.

“Don't worry. You're doing alright. You just gotta remember that you aren't necessarily giving out orders that need to be heard by everyone, you know?” The bat-pony quietly encouraged.

Princess Luna gave another nod at that, which necessitated her pausing to adjust the shades that had slid down her nose. Turning back towards the mare at her side, as they resumed their walk “I still am not clear as to why I should be wearing sunglasses after my night has already set.”

“They're just there to make it a bit harder for people to figure out who you are.” Sea Breeze easily replied.

“Merely concealing my eyes will serve?” The diarch asked, with a shade of skepticism.

“Can't hurt.” Sea Breeze pointed out, with a shrug.

“Hm...as you say, then. I would also know what forms of the 'night-life' we are going to be indulging in. I presume that we shall be participating at a night club, yes?” Luna inquired, even as she avoided eye contact with a couple of ponies that were scrutinizing her outfit.

“That is the plan, your High- I mean, Moony Melodious.” Sea Breeze quickly switched over to Luna's agreed upon alias, with a small grin. The bat-pony had been the one to suggest it, and had been very pleased when Luna had taken to the fake name. Granted, Sea Breeze had a lot of leftover names, that she had elected not to use for herself. So, it was statistically likely that Luna would have liked one of her ideas.

“In fact, we're gonna try to hit several clubs tonight, let you get a feel for the different kinds of places that are available. Maybe try a few other popular nightly endeavors, while we're at it.” Sea Breeze explained.

“And each of these night clubs is essentially a self-contained ongoing celebration, yes? With all that would entail?” Luna pressed.

“Uh-huh. Each one's basically gonna be it's own flavor of party. Music and dancing, foods, socializing, drinking. Some probably got their own gimmicks going on too, but most of them will have all that stuff, at least.” Sea Breeze continued to explain.

“And, we are to become inebriated over the course of the night, yes? I'm given to understand that is a crucial part of 'painting the town red' based on what I've been told.”

Sea Breeze gave a hesitant nod at that “Uh, yeah. Usually. But, that's not something that's really required of you, if you don't want. I mean, can you even get inebriated?”

“It is not an impossible feat, though I shall likely need a great deal of alcohol for that.” Luna answered rather casually.

“Well...I really only have this week's pay on me, so...” Sea Breeze mentioned, suddenly worried about how much this night might cost.

“I appreciate the offer, and your generosity, Sea Breeze. But that shall not be necessary.” Luna quickly reassured.

“Oh?”

“Indeed. A rather mousy pegasus in the Royal Treasury has seen fit to secure me with the right to charge directly to our private vaults. As the modern colloquialism goes...it is on me.” The Princess explained even as she levitated up the small tab, that would serve them that night.

“Well, in that case...”

Early morning...

“Ms. Sea Breeze?”

That soft call for her was the sound that pushed the bat-pony mare back into the world of the waking. And the blinding headache, that was triggered the moment she cracked her eyes open. Sea Breeze quickly cringed away, moaning even as she raised her forehooves to cover her face. Which only brought attention to the cotton-like dryness of mouth, her general sense of exhaustion, and the faintest waves of nausea, that all added together into one massive hangover.

She briefly tried to turn over, as a means to escape the light that was trying to work it's way past her eyelids and into her brain, but was given some pause when she bumped into something.

Something large, warm, and distinctly pony-like.

'...crap.'

Sea Breeze wasn't terribly surprised, when she opened her eyes and saw that she seemed to be sharing a bed with the Princess of the Night.

The bat-pony slowly forced herself to sit up, and take in the situation. Which brought some small relief, as she couldn't pick-up any of the...physical signs that the worst-case scenario had taken place. It seemed she had simply passed out in the same bed as Luna, and little else. Though, she had to wonder where Princess Luna's disguise had gone.

'Well...maybe Star Shade won't, literally, kill you.'

At least, it was a nice bed they had ended up in. That was probably a good sign. It was all pretty and soft, with silky sheets and nice embroidery. Though, one thing did stand out in her mind, as she noted Luna's back hooves jutting off the far end of the bed.

“This sure is a small bed...” Sea Breeze muttered to herself.

“Sorry.” Came the same quiet voice as before, which finally drew the bat-pony's gaze towards it's recipient.

A little, pale blue, unicorn filly was at the side of the bed, patiently waiting for Sea Breeze's attention. Something about the light-yellow of the filly's mane and her demure manner sent up a few flags in the mare's head.

But her brain didn't really feel like sorting through that sort of thing right now.

“Uhm...hi.” Sea Breeze eventually greeted.

“Are you feeling any better now, Ms. Sea Breeze?” The filly politely asked.

“Uhm...no. But, it's fine...I know you from somewhere, right?” If she'd broken into a stranger's house, things might just get awkward.

“You don't remember me? From camp? I'm Delicacy.” The filly, Delicacy, reminded.

“...Oh, right. The cute little filly, that was always following Kitten around.” Sea Breeze nodded, finally recalling where she had seen the young unicorn. This was Diamond Tiara's little friend from the Summer camp she had volunteered for.

“I'm glad you remember me.” Came the earnest reply from Delicacy, even as she gave a kindly smile towards Sea Breeze. A moment later, the little unicorn gestured a hoof towards the bedside table where a couple of glasses and a pitcher of water waited “Did you want something to drink?”

“I, uh...yeah, thanks.” The mare's mouth was practically a desert right now, and she knew well that a lot of the symptoms of a hangover came from dehydration anyway.

The filly gave a nod, even as she floated a half-full glass towards the bat-pony “My pleasure. And you did say that you were probably going to be thirsty in the morning. You and King Luna.”

There were two parts of that statement that nabbed Sea Breeze's attention. The first, was that she had apparently been talking to a young filly while she was utterly hammered. The second didn't need to be explained.

“King Luna?”

Delicacy blinked at her apparent confusion, before giving a nod “Oh, yes. You were both very insistent that she was to be referred to as King Luna now. You made that very clear, during the knighting ceremony.”

“...Princess Luna made me a knight?”

The unicorn filly tilted her head at this, before retrieving a small scroll, featuring some very official looking contents. Delicacy's magic quickly floated it over to the bat-pony for perusal.

There was a whole bunch of flowery language, legal stuff, and very expensive looking scrollwork, but it was the contents near the bottom that did the most to clarify things.

There was Princess Luna's very precisely written out name. Along with, like, two solid lines of accumulated legal titles, all delivered in an exacting order. Evidently, being completely drunk-off-of-her-butt did nothing to compromise Luna's penmanship.

There was Sea Breeze's name. In a barely legibly scrawl.

On the line for the witness to sign.

“...In light of her great forbearance and exemplary grace under pressure, I, Princess Luna of Equestria, do so name Delicacy-...She made you a knight?!” Sea Breeze shouted, as she finally processed what she was reading.

“I think the proper term is Dame.” The filly politely corrected.

“I- But-” The mare began to sputter, before looking back towards the filly, incidentally catching sight of the contents of the room.

Like the humungous pile of bits and gems stacked off to one side. And the giant, glowing sword that was leaning against a dresser, it's tip digging into the floor of the bedroom.

Sea Breeze paled as she took in these sights.

'You also apparently broke into a young filly's bedroom in the middle of the night.'

She brought her hooves up to cover her face, as her brain helpfully reminded her of that one fact. This lead to her realizing that she had something on her head. It turned out to be some sort of wide-brimmed hat.

“Wh-what is this?” Sea Breeze quietly intoned, as she looked at the hat that now sat in her hooves. It was undeniably awesome looking, with it's buckles and the big plume of feathers coming from the top.

Delicacy leaned in, before helpfully pointing a hoof towards something “I think there's a tag here, Ms. Sea Breeze.”

True enough, there was such a tag. One that read 'Property of Canterlot Museum of Exceptional Ponies. Exhibit #324 Captain's hat of the Dread Pirate, Jolly-Roger' all in neat, tight lettering.

“That would explain why you insisted on being called Pirate Queen Sea Breeze.” The unicorn filly noted.

Sea Breeze let the hat drop, before quickly turning towards Luna's prone form, to frantically attempt to shake her apparent partner-in-crime into wakefulness “Luna! Luna! Luna! Luna! Wake-up! Wake-up! Wake-up!-”

Her efforts were quickly met with success, as the Princess of the Night began to groggily arise from her slumber. Not all there herself, Princess Luna ended up taking several moments to rub the sleep from her own eyes.

During these few moments, Sea Breeze couldn't help but stare with worry, at the heavy, jewel-encrusted, crown that Luna was sporting.

Luna was visibly nursing her head, and presumably her own hangover, as she spoke her first words “Why am I being roused so early?”

“P-Princess Luna?” Sea Breeze quickly garnered the alicorn's attention.

And she did get Luna's attention “Sea Breeze? What are you doing in my-...this is not my bed.”

Sea Breeze quickly shook her head.

“...I hope you did not do anything untoward, while I was so inebriated?” Luna asked, in far too calm a manner.

Sea Breeze honestly didn't know how to answer that question, as she was quite busily trying to keep her panic in-check.

“Uhm, I don't think Ms. Sea Breeze did anything of the sort.” Delicacy helpfully chimed in, likewise quickly earning the alicorn's attention “You made it very clear to her last night, that if she was going to, uhm, take advantage of you, she had best do it while you were still inebriated. But Ms. Sea Breeze was already asleep, when you told her this...then you started blinking at her a lot, and then fell asleep too.”

The dark alicorn blinked, at this matter-of-fact relaying of details.

The little unicorn filly shifted her hooves a bit, before tilting her head towards Luna "I'm not really sure what you were worried Ms. Sea Breeze might do, but I don't think she did it."

Princess Luna seemed to maintain her composure with remarkable aplomb, as she quietly stared down upon Delicacy “Who is this child? And why is she in here?”

“Oh, this is, uhm...my bedroom, King Luna.” Delicacy carefully explained.

Luna didn't seem to comprehend the 'King Luna' part of that statement, anymore than Sea Breeze did. Though, she did finally notice the heavy crown, that she had apparently acquired over the course of the night. The Princess slowly levitated the gem-studded crown of iron from her head, taking in it's angular craftsmanship and the dog-like motifs it sported.

“Can you also tell me why I am wearing this crown?” Princess Luna slowly asked the filly.

“You...you said that you were the new King of all Diamond Dogs, now?” Delicacy slowly responded.

“I see...and what of that large weapon, over there? I assume it does not belong to you?”

The unicorn filly shook her head at this “You said, that any Dame of the Night should have an appropriate sign of her office. You left and came back and presented it to me.”

Princess Luna nodded at this.

“You said, that you personally forged it from bent-moonlight and the songs of the stars themselves. I wasn't sure if you were speaking literally or not.” Delicacy added. A moment later, Delicacy rose a hoof to her chest “Uhm, not that you aren't welcome here, for as long as you want, King Luna. But, I don't think I can find anymore ways to keep my family's guards from becoming suspicious.”

“You have guards?!” Sea Breeze exclaimed, the last thin strand of her calm snapping at that revelation.

Delicacy just gave a quick nod, in response.

“I-...what are we supposed to do, Princess Luna?!”

Carefully setting the large crown down, Luna calmly turned her attention to the panicked bat-pony at her side “I'm afraid we only have one recourse.”

“...Take responsibility for our actions?” Sea Breeze offered, quietly dreading that possibility.

“Of course not. We flee, and see to it that none of this is ever discovered by my sister. Ever.” The Princess of the Night calmly replied.

“Wait...we're going to try to hide all of this?” Sea Breeze asked, not quite believing what she had just heard.

“Do you have any objections to this course?”

“No, just checking.”

There came a sudden knock on the bedroom door, causing all eyes to turn towards the accompanying mare's voice “Miss Delicacy? Is everything quite alright?”

The filly quietly cleared her throat, before calling back “I'm fine, Sterling.”

“Are you sure? We thought we heard voices?”

“I was just reading aloud a bit.”

“...Well, do try to get a bit more sleep, dear.”

“Yes, ma'am.” Delicacy easily replied.

Sea Breeze found herself a bit impressed by how well the filly seemed to be handling things.

“I don't think that's going to buy much time, but-...” Delicacy began, before suddenly stopping as she turned back their way.

Noticing the filly's staring, Sea Breeze eventually glanced around to see what had gotten Delicacy's attention.

She stopped when she saw Princess Luna, Guardian of the Night, Vanguard of Dreams, and Immortal Protector of the World, stuck half-way out the bedroom window, her back hooves splayed out as she tried to find purchase.

“Really?!” Sea Breeze demanded not believing what she was seeing.

“We fear this portal may be too small to facilitate our egress.” Came Luna's mildly distressed response.

“You think?!”

“Miss Delicacy? I'm quite sure I heard somepony else this time.” Came the servant's voice once more.

“...Haste would be advised and assistance appreciated.” Princess Luna remarked.

“Yep.” Sea Breeze quickly agreed, before moving to the window. Without preamble, the bat-pony quickly put her hooves to the alicorn's backside and gave a strong shove.

This elicited a sudden yelp from the Princess of the Night, as she quickly popped through the window, and promptly fell into the bushes below.

Briefly freezing, as she realized what she had just done, Sea Breeze quickly looked out the window and calling down in a hushed, though frantic, whisper “Are you alright, your Highness?”

“...I shall survive.” Came the unenthusiastic reply.

“...can we not tell Star Shade about any of this?” Sea Breeze called down a moment later.

“...agreed.”

The bat-pony was torn away from the Princess as she heard the doorknob to the room start to rattle, and the increasingly worried voice of the servant on the other side of the door.

Glancing towards the bemused Delicacy again, Sea Breeze tried to force on a grin “So, hey! It was great seeing you again, kid. We gotta go now. Please don't tell anyone about us being here, okay? Bye.”

And before the filly could respond, Sea Breeze was out the window.

The unicorn filly couldn't help but glance about her room.

It was going to be very hard trying to explain all of this to her parents, without mentioning the two of them.

Author's Note

It's late, but I consider finishing up this last chapter of "Conversation Piece" worth cost in sleep.

Again, it's late, so I'll be putting off any errors, typo corrections, and general tidying up till I've gotten some sleep. Anyone that can point such things out when they spot them would be be very appreciated.

As always, questions and criticisms are welcome, in equal measure. I hope everyone has enjoyed this story.