Always and Forever

Artemis awoke the next morning, Luna still asleep against his flank. She looked very peaceful, and he did not want to disturb her. He realized that it was time to lower the moon. Artemis had seen Luna do it a few times, and thought ‘I might as well do it. Luna deserves to sleep in now and then. Besides, how hard could it be? All she does is lower the moon.’ He stood up and pointed his horn to the sky. Using his magic, he attempted to lower the moon. It was much harder than he expected, but he managed. By the time he was done, he was sweating and panting. Using so much magic was tiring. ‘Whew. That was tougher than I’d like to admit. I don’t know how Luna manages. She makes it look easy! Luna is way more powerful than I thought.’ Artemis looked over at Luna’s sleeping form, her chest rising and falling gently with every breath. He watched her for a while, eyes full of a new and intense love and protectiveness for the princess. His eyes wandered away from her and rested on the necklaces, still glowing vividly even as the sun’s light grew brighter. He went over to them and gently picked them up, pulling them apart, then tenderly holding the necklaces to his heart.

Luna awoke sometime later, the sun already high in the sky. She blinked at the light, the gasped and sat up. “I overslept! Oh, now I made Celestia lower the moon for me!” she gripped her mane with her hooves, frustrated, and started grumbling and reprimanding herself.

“Hey. Hey. Luna, it’s okay. I let you sleep. You were tired, and you deserved to sleep in this morning. I lowered the moon for you. No worries.” Artemis assured her, putting a comforting hoof on her shoulder. ‘Even though it was a little harder than I thought it would be…' he added silently. “Here’s your necklace, by the way.” He fastened it around her neck for her, already wearing his.

“Thank you, Artemis.” She breathed a sigh of relief. She yawned, and looked down at her necklace. “For the necklace and the extra sleep.” She smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek. He blushed at the touch.

“Your welcome, love.” He smiled shyly at her.

“How was it? Lowering the moon, I mean.” She asked him.

“Oh… well, it ended up being harder than I thought…” he admitted, his cheeks turning red with embarrassment.

“Don’t worry. It took me a few tries before it got easier.” Luna smiled reassuringly. Artemis gave her a lopsided grin. ‘He’s so adorable!’ she thought to herself, and she felt her cheeks grow hot. She covered her cheeks with her hooves, hoping Artemis wouldn’t notice. But he did, and giggled.

“You’re blushing, Luna.” He purposefully stated what she already knew. This only made Luna’s cheeks flush even redder. She squeaked, hiding her face with her hooves. Artemis teased her. “Hey cutie. Your face is red.” She squealed again, her cheeks turning dark red in embarrassment. Artemis kissed Luna’s hoof affectionately, still smiling his lopsided grin, giggling mischievously. He gently pulled her hooves away from her face, planting a kiss on her sensitive nose.

“Squee!” she squeaked.

“Haha! There it is!” Artemis laughed.

Eyes sparkling, she kissed his nose, wondering how he would react. Artemis blushed, but didn’t make a sound. She licked his nose testily. He blushed more, holding back a squeal. Luna giggled and pressed her nose to his. “Squee!!” he squeaked, hiding his red face behind his hooves.

Luna giggled. “You’re so cute!” she tussled his mane playfully. He smiled at her, laughing. With a more serious expression on her face now, she ran her hooves through his mane. He sighed, enjoying her touch. She massaged his head, and Artemis purred delightedly. She couldn’t help but smile.

“That feels good…” he purred, closing his eyes. Luna kept going. After a bit, she stopped. Artemis looked over at her, smiling appreciatively. “Thanks, love.”

“Artemis, do you think we could go back to Ponyville? Fluttershy invited me to spend the afternoon at her place.”

“Of course! Do you want me to come with you?” he turned to face her.

“Only if you want to. I feel confident enough to go there on my own, now that I know at least a few ponies aren’t afraid of me.” Luna offered.

“I have a few things to take care of. If you aren’t comfortable, I can always come. But if not, I will see you later this evening.” He smiled warmly at her.

“Alright. I'll go alone. I will see you later, then.” She said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning to walk down the hill.

“Love you, babe.” Artemis waved goodbye, then started down the other side of the hill.

Luna walked steadily down the path toward Ponyville, feeling a little nervous of how everypony would react when she got there, but was still excited to get to know her friends more. When she arrived at Ponyville, a few ponies just stared at her, eyes wide with fear. Some chose to ignore her presence altogether. Luna sighed, at least they were starting to get used to the fact that Luna wasn’t the monster they thought she was. She couldn’t help but smile when she saw Pinkie Pie bouncing enthusiastically towards her. “Luna! Good to see you!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Hello, Pinkie Pie.” Luna nodded at Pinkie. “Fluttershy invited me over for the afternoon, so I’m on my way to her house.”

“Cool! That sounds like fun!” Pinkie said, bouncing around Luna.

Luna smiled at Pinkie. “It will be.”

“Well, I’ll let you get going then.” Pinkie said.

“See you later, Pinkie Pie!” Luna smiled, continuing own the path towards Fluttershy’s house.

Luna knocked on the door. Fluttershy looked out the window. Seeing Luna, she smiled and opened the door. “Hello, Luna. Come on inside.”

Luna stepped into the house. Looking around her, she admired the coziness of it all. “You have a nice home, Fluttershy.”

“Thank you, Luna. That’s very kind of you to say.” Fluttershy smiled shyly at her.

A little white rabbit hopped into the room, wiggling his nose at Luna. The little bunny grinned at her and hugged Luna’s leg. “Aw! A rabbit! He’s so cute! What’s his name?” Luna asked Fluttershy.

“That’s Angel.” Fluttershy answered. “I think he likes you!” she watched as Angel smiled up at Luna. “To be honest, he’s not normally this friendly around guests. But I think you two will get along just fine.”

“Hello, Angel.” Luna smiled sweetly at the little rabbit.

“Luna, would you like to see the other animals?” Fluttershy asked with her quiet voice.

“Sure, Fluttershy. I’d love too!”

“This way.” Fluttershy led Luna outside, Angel Bunny trailing after them.

Once outside, they had a big surprise waiting for them. Animals were running rampant through the yard: the squirrels scurrying up trees, the bears growling and lumbering through the flowers, chickens clucking and scattering feathers all over the place, and the goats were trying to eat the vegetables in the garden.

“Ah! The animals! They’ve escaped!” Fluttershy exclaimed, her voice louder than normal. Angel Bunny’s eyes grew wide.

“Do you want me to help?” Luna quickly asked.

“Yes, please!” Fluttershy said, running into the yard, begging the animals to stop running around.

Luna stood for a second, wondering how she could help. Then she got an idea. Luna glanced over at the chickens. They were squawking loudly and flapping their tiny wings, spreading feathers on the ground. Luna pointed her horn at them, and using her magic, the chickens levitated off the ground. Luna carefully carried them to the coop and gently lowered them onto the ground. Then she locked and secured the gate so the chickens could not escape. As she turned around, she noticed a hole in the wire. She used her magic to seal it up again.

While Fluttershy calmed down the bears, Luna turned her attention to the goats. Again using her magic, she skillfully made designed some ropes out of the long grass beside her. She looped a rope around the necks of the goats, and pulled them out of the garden. The goats were stubborn and tried to resist, but Luna was stronger. They soon obediently followed her out of the garden and back into their pen. Luna bolted and locked the gate. She looked around the pen to find the goats’ escape route. She soon found it: there was a broken board on the fence, and the goats had chewed a hole large enough for them to escape through. Luna quickly repaired it.

Fluttershy finally managed to calm down the bears. Turning to look at the rest of the yard, Fluttershy realized that all was back to normal. The chickens were in their coop, the goats were in their pen, and the birds and squirrels had calmed down also. “Wow! How did you manage to do all this in such a short time?” Fluttershy said, her eyes wide with surprise. “It usually takes hours for me to get all the animals under control.”

“I used my magic. It is very efficient, I must say.” Luna admitted.

“Thank you so much, Luna. I never could have done it without you. I’m sorry that you had to do this. I was hoping that we could have spent more time getting to know each other, not chasing animals.” Fluttershy sighed.

“It’s alright. It was kind of fun, now that I think about it.” Luna smiled.

“I agree.” Fluttershy said, smiling. “Now, why don’t I make us some lemonade? Lemonade is always refreshing.”

“Thanks, Fluttershy. That sounds lovely.” Luna followed Fluttershy inside the house, and sat down in a chair in the living room.

In the kitchen, Fluttershy hummed a quiet tune as she mixed together the lemonade. Then she got two cups out and carried the pitcher into the living room. Filling a cup, she offered it to Luna. “Here you go. Fresh squeezed lemonade.”

Luna took a sip. “Mm! This is delicious!” Luna smiled.

“Thank you. This is my special recipe. I’m glad you like it.” Fluttershy took a sip from her cup.

The two friends talked and laughed together for a while, enjoying each other’s company and getting to know each other. Finally, Luna glanced outside. “It’s almost time for the sun to be lowered. I had better get going soon. Thank you for letting me spend the day with you, Fluttershy. I really enjoyed myself.”

“I had a great time, too. We should do this again sometime!” Fluttershy said. “Have a wonderful evening, Luna. See you later!” Fluttershy gave Luna a hug, then walked to the door with her. Fluttershy and Angel Bunny waved goodbye as Luna trotted down the path. Luna waved back, then continued on her way.

Once Luna arrived back at the hill, she sat down and waited for Artemis to come. Just as he had promised, Artemis came trotting down the path. He waved at her as he climbed up the hill, taking a seat beside her.

“How was your day?” he turned to Luna.

“I had a great time.” Luna told Artemis all that took place at Fluttershy’s.

When Luna finished, Artemis smiled and laughed. “It sounds like you had a fun day.”

“I sure did. And how are you? What did you do?” Luna asked.

“Oh, I took care of some errands, the usual. Not too exciting.” Artemis answered. “But I do have something planned for tonight. I assume you have nothing major going on?” he glanced over at her.

“No. Why?” Luna questioned.

“Good. It will work out then.” Artemis said.

“What will?” Luna wondered.

“Oh, you’ll see.” Artemis smiled. “Come with me.”

Luna followed Artemis down the path and up a large hill, providing a beautiful view of the countryside. There was a blanket spread out on the ground, and a basket full of good things to eat. When Luna saw the picnic that had been set up for her, she smiled. “A picnic! How lovely!”

Artemis sat down on the blanket, Luna beside him. “I’m glad you like it. I thought a picnic would be a perfect addition to this beautiful evening, and a good way to end the day.” Artemis said, taking out two daisy sandwiches out of the basket and handing one to Luna. She nodded appreciatively and took a bite. The two sat in silence for a little while, eating their food and enjoying each other’s company.

Luna finished her sandwich, then said, “I had better raise the moon now.” Standing up, she walked to the edge of the hill. She pointed her horn to the sky, and the moon slowly rose into the sky, followed by twinkling stars. Her task complete, she returned to her spot on the blanket by Artemis.

Artemis moved the basket off to the side and lay down on his back. Luna did the same. The two alicorns lay together, staring up at the starry night sky. “The stars are so beautiful tonight.” Artemis paused. “No wonder you love the night so much. It really is peaceful. It’s a shame nopony stays out like this more often.” Artemis continued.

“Yeah. I’m glad that you appreciate it, though.” Luna said.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think ponies love your night more than you realize. They appreciate the serenity and quietness the night brings, so they go to sleep and rest from all the activities of the day. Just think, if there was no night, nopony would get proper rest with the sun glaring on them all the time.” Artemis stated.

Luna pondered this. “Good point. I think maybe I just felt lonely because there was nopony with me whenever I raised the moon, and I always spent my days and nights alone. I just wanted somepony to be here with me, to be my friend. I never thought about what life in Equestria would be like without night to bring peace and rest.” Her ears drooped sadly.

Artemis held Luna’s hoof in his, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “It’s alright, Luna. Nopony can blame you for feeling lonely. And now you have friends. You don’t have to be alone anymore.” He reminded her.

Luna smiled. “Thanks, Artemis. It does help a lot to have friends to be there for you. But I never could have done it without you, Artemis. I feel so much more at peace just knowing that you care. I am proud to call you my friend.” She turned to face him. “I love you, Artemis.”

“I love you too, Luna. Always and forever.” He smiled at her. “Together, I know we can get through this. Together, we will show everypony who you really are. They will see you as Luna, Princess of the night, not the monster they think you are. You will finally get a new start.”

“Together.” She repeated, a smile lighting up her face.

The two lovers lay side by side, still holding hooves, looking into each other’s eyes. The moon shined above, casting a soft glow onto all its gentle light touched. Overhead, the stars seemed to shine all the brighter as two shooting stars flew across the sky.