Lueur de la Lune

Luna could hardly contain her excitement as she crept through the gardens behind her house. She had every intent on visiting her betrothed, whether her parents wanted her to or not. It was a beautiful night and despite finding it hard to see, Luna still admired the beautiful glow the moon gave off, which had lit the path in front of her.

“What would I give just to be up there, just once.” Luna thought to herself.

She was almost at the exit when she noticed a colt within the garden. He was young, around her age for sure. He had a dark blue coat and a mane as black as charcoal with Jade green eyes. His cutie mark was a constellation of some kind, but Luna couldn’t make it out from where she was standing.  It looked like he was… stargazing?

Luna looked bewildered. Someone broke into their back yard just so they could stargaze?

She coughed, drawing his attention. “Excuse me, but you’re trespassing. You need to leave before I call the guards on you.”

He neither gave her a look of satisfaction nor surprise, but instead looked her over and smirked. “Oh come now, it’s a beautiful night out! Surely you wouldn’t want to disrupt the serenity?”

She huffed in frustration, “I most certainly would! How did you get in here anyways? The gate to the garden is locked.”

He sat in a chair that he must have brought with him, kicking his hind legs up. “Sorry to tell you this, but I think you need to buy better locks. It only took me a couple of seconds to get through that one.”

She choked a bit, “You broke into my house?!”

He smiled smugly at her, “First off, yes I broke in. Second, I broke into your back yard, not your house. And finally, it’s not even your house.”

She was irate with anger, did he know who she was? He was talking to the daughter of a noble family. Who was he? Probably a commoner, Luna mused.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m not just going to stand here and be insulted by your rude remarks!”

He sat up from his chair and resumed looking through his telescope. “That’s strange, princess. I don’t remember insulting you. Last I recall, the first thing you told me was to leave. That was quite inhospitable of you. And in my opinion, rude.”

Her ear twitched, did he just call me a *princess? That **insufferable little brat*!

He continued to speak before she could retort, “I suppose I’ll be the better pony and disband this little altercation of ours, though I admit it was fun while it lasted. It was nice talking to you, Luna.”

He smirked and walked off with his equipment in hoof as the color in Luna’s face left her. He knew who I was the whole time, and he still had the nerve to break into my house? Is he asking to be thrown in jail?

She caught one last glimpse of him before he left. His cutie mark was a constellation of Taurus.

She groaned audibly. His cutie mark was a bull, how ironic.

To her chagrin, the thoughts that accompanied her were solely based on the stallion she met in the garden. She didn’t even get his name. She smirked, it’s probably not even worth my time to figure it out.

Still, the thought had perturbed her. All her life she had never thought that she’d meet anypony in Canterlot with an attitude like his. How could he act the way he did? Did he treat everypony like this? She shuddered at the thought, he must not have a whole lot of friends.

She immediately started to feel bad. Maybe he stargazes because he doesn’t have anypony else to talk to. She dismissed the thought and chuckled uncomfortably, he probably had plenty of air-headed friends that he would brag to about breaking into a family’s back yard. He might even impress a few of them.

Even though it was pitch black inside the manor, she knew the design of her house well enough to navigate through it. Everypony was asleep, including her father Nebula, who often stayed up much later than the rest of her family.

By the time Luna finally made her way to her room after avoiding countless creaky floorboards, she stopped in her tracks. Celestia was sitting on her bed.

Celestia smirked, “You weren’t out for very long.”

Luna had to keep herself from shouting, “Tia! What are you doing in my room?!”

Celestia giggled, “What are you doing sneaking out of the house? Did you want to visit Ivory?”

Luna blushed visibly against her blue coat, “So what if I did?! It’s not like it’s any of your business anyways.”

Celestia’s expression shifted to a more serious tone, “You may be right about that. But you know how mother and father feel about Ivory Crown, sister. He’s not exactly popular with them.”

Luna groaned and fell next to her sister on the bed, her voice becoming slightly muffled through the pillow as she spoke. “I don’t care about his social status, Tia. The caste system is nothing more than a mere fallacy designed to keep ponies in line.”

Celestia hushed her, “Don’t let mother and father hear you talk like that Luna! We don’t want their reputation among the council to be tainted.”

Luna rolled her eyes at her sister’s behavior, “Speaking of petty, guess what I saw while I was down there?”

Celestia leaned in closer, urging Luna to continue.

“There was colt in our garden. He broke in and started stargazing.”

“Stargazing?” Celestia asked, bewildered at the revelation.

“Yes. And the strangest conversation ensued afterwards. I told him that he was trespassing, to which he reacted with utmost apathy.”

“How rude.” Celestia remarked.

“Not only that. But he picked the gate's lock, set up a chair and even sat back and relaxed like he owned the place.”

“Sounds to me like he was being nothing more than a mere ruffian. We’ll make sure to check on the back gate in the morning. What did you say his name was?” Celestia inquired.

Luna sat there with a blank expression, “I didn't ask his name.”

Celestia groaned in response.

“Hey! It’s not like it matters if I know his name or not! I know what he looks like now, plus he probably attends the same school as us.”

Celestia sat up, “Two things need to happen. First off, find out the name of whichever colt broke into our backyard. Second, stay away from Ivory Crown.”

Luna whined, “Tia! It’s not like I can control who I fall for!”

Celestia glared at her and admonished her one last time before heading to her room, “Luna, you are only sixteen years old. You are too young to understand what love even is. Don’t become ensnared before you are even able to make sense of the situation.”

Celestia shut the door before Luna was able to rebut.

Luna grunted in frustration, “Gah! She’s so annoying!”