The Bright Equestrian Moon

We make it to the cinema and take the best seats, Luna looking at me with a soft smile. “Would you like me to choose which movie we watch again? Or would you prefer to choose one this time?”

Hmmm, I don’t really know any movies here – apart from the Daring Do one –, but I suppose I can look at a list. “I think I’ll try to choose one this time… I just go into that room and speak to a pony there, right?” I point to that back door that leads to the projector room.

Luna looks at the door I point to and nods. “Yes, that is correct. I am sure you will pick something good, even if you do not know Equestrian movies.”

“Okay then, I’ll go have a look to see if I can find a good movie.” I get up and go to the door at the back, knocking on it. I wait for a moment, before I hear some hoofsteps approaching the door.

The door opens to reveal a smallish unicorn stallion with a beige coat and a dark brown mane. He is wearing rectangular glasses that only seem to highlight his green eyes. Considering that there are three main kinds of ponies, there are a hell of a lot of unicorns at the castle. Maybe it’s a Canterlot thing? Anyway, he nervously speaks up. “O-Oh, you’re that human called Travis… Are you here to pick something to watch with Princess Luna?”

“Yeah, I’m the human called Travis, and yeah, I’m here to pick a movie.” I look into the room curiously. “Can I see a list of movies? I don’t really know any movies in Equestria, except for that Daring Do movie…”

“Oh! Of course, Travis sir.” He rushes into the room and after some time brings me a fairly heavy book. “Here’s a catalogue of every movie at the castle cinema sorted by genre and ordered alphabetically.”

“Thanks… This thing is unexpectedly heavy…” I open it to the index and check the genres. Maybe I’ll go with action. I’m just here to relax, not focus too heavily on story. I skim through basic descriptions of movies for a bit until I laugh a bit. There’s something that’s kind of Like Men in Black, and it’s called ‘S.M.I.L.E.’. I guess I’ll pick that one. “I think I’ve made up my mind, I’d like to watch ‘S.M.I.L.E.’.” I give the catalogue back.

The stallion nods. “That’s a pretty fun one; I’ll go put it on now.” He closes the door and I hear his hoofsteps rush away from the door.

I guess that’s that. I go back to my seat beside Luna. “I chose some movie called ‘S.M.I.L.E.’. Have you seen it before?”

She shakes her head gently. “No, I do not believe that I have.”

I give her a smile. “Cool, I guess we’ll both be watching it blind.”

Luna tilts her head in confusion. “What do you mean by watching it blind? We are not wearing blind folds, and we can see perfectly fine.”

I chuckle a little. “No, not literally blind. It means that we’ll be watching it without knowing anything about the movie, except for a basic description.”

She nods and giggles softly. “Oh, I see. So, what is the movie about?”

“From what I read of the description, it seems to be about a secret organisation that captures monsters.”

“That sounds quite interesting and exciting.”

“Yeah, it does -” I lift the arm/hoof rest between our seats and sit against Luna’s side. “- and it also reminds me of another movie back on Earth; like how Daring Do was similar to Indiana Jones. The description of this one is similar to an Earth movie called Men in Black.”

“Very intriguing.” Luna drapes her wing over me to snuggle closer. “We will have to investigate other similarities between our worlds when Twilight is able to find a way to Earth.”

I rest my head against her neck. “Yeah, it’d be interesting to see the results, but for now I’d rather just focus on settling in Equestria.”

“I understand, we can worry about such a thing later. After all, it may still be quite a while before Twilight succeeds.” Luna tenderly nuzzles me in return.

“Yeah…” I relax with Luna on our seats as the movie begins. I’m too drained from the speech to pay much attention to the movie, but see enough to understand that I was right in comparing it to Men in Black. I mainly just focus on peacefully snuggling with Luna, closing my eyes part way through the movie…

“Travis…” Luna gently nudges me, and I open my eyes. The credits are rolling. Damn. I must’ve fallen asleep during the movie. Oh well, at least I got a nap out of it.

“Luna?... I missed most of the movie, didn’t I?” I stretch my arms and legs a little, and turn to her as I wake up.

Luna giggles softly and nods. “You did indeed sleep through most of the movie.” She then lightly strokes my hair with a hoof. “How are you feeling?”

I smile softly and chuckle at myself a bit. “I’m feeling pretty good, especially after that nap. What did you think of the movie?”

“I enjoyed it; it was rather entertaining with a mix of action and humour. I take it that you did not enjoy it as much as I?”

“Oh, it’s not that I didn’t enjoy it. I was just feeling really tired after that speech, and a nap was just what I needed.” I gently brush Luna’s cheek. “So, is there anything you’d like to do now? I’m not feeling so tired anymore.”

She smiles and leans her head into my hand, looking into my eyes with her beautiful teal eyes. “I would like to have something to eat for lunch, how about you?”

“That sounds like a good idea, I am starting to get pretty hungry.” I slowly take my hand from her cheek and stand up to stretch again. I then offer her my hand. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

Luna places her hoof in my hand and rises out of the chair. “Very well.” She puts a wing around me, and I put an arm around her as we soon head out of the cinema towards the dining hall.

I look out a window and see Celestia outside taking a seat at an intricately decorated, white table in the garden, speaking with what looks to be a unicorn waiter. Perhaps she’s about to have lunch as well? I decide to bring it up with Luna. “Hey, Luna, it looks like Celestia might be about to eat her own lunch.” I nod to the window. “Do you think we should join her?”

Luna glances out the window and smiles, before nodding. “Yes, that does sound rather nice. I do not often get a chance to eat with her, as she is usually so busy during the day.”

We make our way out to the garden to meet Celestia who gives us a vibrant smile as she sees us. “It’s lovely to see you, Luna and Travis, would you care to join me for lunch?”

Luna and I nod, with Luna happily speaking first. “Yes, we would love to join you for lunch, dear sister.” We take seats beside each other and opposite to Celestia at the table which I now notice is made from some kind of metal.

I speak next. “We actually saw you out here from inside while we were on our way to the dining hall, so we decided to see if we could have lunch with you.”

“I’m glad you decided to come see me; you arrived just in time before this kind waiter left with the orders.” She looks toward the waiter.

The waiter turns to us with a notepad. It’s a stallion who I haven’t met yet. “What would you like, Princess?”

Luna taps her chin lightly. “I think I would like to have a salad accented with varied flowers, and a glass of red wine please.”

“Of course, Princess.” The waiter takes notes and looks at me. “And what would you have, Sir Travis?”

I’m really craving red meat, but I know they don’t stock any. I’m also not in the mood for fish. I guess I’ll have to pick something vegetarian then… “Hmmm, perhaps a pesto pasta and I’ll also have a glass of red wine, thanks.”

The waiter writes my order down and nods. “Very well.” He then leaves us amongst ourselves.

Celestia looks between Luna and I. “Good work on the announcement, you two, I quite liked it.” She then focuses on me. “And you look very striking in your new clothes, Travis.”

I don’t remember her being there… “You heard it? I didn’t see you there, besides I think I rambled a little too much. And thanks, Rarity did a great job on making them.”

Celestia dismissively waves a hoof. “You’re right that I wasn’t on the balcony with you or in the crowd, but I was at a nearby window to hear it. And perhaps your speech could have been a little more to the point, but you did admirably for your first time.”

I smile. “Thanks again, Celestia, I wasn’t exactly confident with it, which is probably why I wasn’t as succinct as I should have been… Luna did a far better job, and she picked up the slack when I wasn’t sure what to say next.”

“Yes, Luna was quite good, wasn’t she?” Celestia looks to Luna. “You really held the announcement together and advanced between the points when you needed to, Luna.”

Luna nods with a smile. “Thank you, I tried my best to introduce Travis and explain the situation. How has your day been so far?”

“My day’s been lovely so far, thank you for asking, although I’ve already had a few ponies show up to court about the announcement. I think you two have caused quite a stir!” Celestia laughs a bit.

I shouldn’t really be surprised about that, although I kinda feel bad for causing such a commotion. “Is that good or bad?”

“Oh, I find it rather refreshing, so I’d say good. A fair number of the nobles strongly disagree, but it isn’t up to them to decide things for you two. Besides, they have been needing to be put back in their places for a while so that they learn not everything goes their way.”

“That’s good to hear then, I guess; I’d hate to cause you any trouble.”

Celestia dismissively waves her hoof again. “Trust me, it’s no trouble for me to deal with the ponies from court you’ve riled up.” She laughs a little more. “Now, apart from the announcement, how have you both been?”

Luna looks at me, then back to Celestia. “We have been wonderful! We have been able to unlock Travis’s magic and he has successfully used it!”

Celestia looks surprised by this notion. “I thought Travis didn’t have any magic himself.”

I smile and laugh. “Yeah, that’s what I thought, but Twilight performed a magical scan on me which revealed some hint of a kind of magic she’s never seen before. According to Twilight, when I was transported to Equestria, the ambient magic of the land unlocked my own magic which was locked on Earth.”

Celestia looks at me more attentively. “What kind of magic is it and will it have to be monitored?”

I get a little nervous as she seems to become more serious. “Well, it’s a form of transformation or shape shifting magic. You weren’t there when I mentioned this, but I feel like a wolf on the inside, despite physically being human. It’s a very little known and heavily misunderstood thing on Earth called therianthropy. A person who feels that they are an animal other than human on the inside is known as a therian, and I’m a wolf therian.

“So, with my newly acquired or unlocked magic, I’m able to take the form of a wolf with the body mass of a human. It also shows that therianthropy isn’t just something in peoples’ heads, but something real. Without magic, therians are physically no different than humans, but it seems they are different when they have magic. Oh, I’m rambling… Back to the point, I don’t think it’ll need to be monitored too closely. I can only change shape with complete concentration and is unlikely to happen by accident.”

Celestia is quiet for some time, which makes me nervous, before she finally speaks. “I see… You’ll have to show me after I finish my day’s schedule. I hope it isn’t too much trouble for you.”

I shake my head. “Nah, it isn’t too much trouble, although I’ll be in quite a lot of pain after it. Last time I did it, I was in immobilising pain for the rest of the day and needed a spell from Luna to help me recover for today.”

Celestia frowns slightly. “Oh, in that case, don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t want you to be in pain just to satisfy my own curiosity.”

“It’s fine, besides I could use some more practice with it. Maybe it’ll hurt less each time I do it.”

Celestia softly nods. “If you say so, but I would understand if you change your mind.”

I smile slightly. “Thanks, although now I’m already set on trying it again in the afternoon or tonight.” It isn’t long before the waiter arrives with our food. He sets down a sandwich and a glass of sparkling wine for Celestia, the salad and red wine for Luna, and the pasta and a wine matching Luna’s for me. We thank the waiter and start eating our lunch. The pasta is good, but not as good as I last remember it. It’s probably just my cravings for red meat getting stronger. I should probably bring it up with Celestia. “There was something I was wondering you could do for me, Celestia.”

She looks up from her lunch and finishes her mouthful, before speaking. “And what might that be?”

“Well…” I look down and nervously play a little with my pasta. “Ever since I shape shifted into a wolf and then back, my cravings for red meat have become stronger than before… And Luna mentioned something about how you could perhaps try to make some sort of deal with the griffons to import red meat to the castle…” I then look back up to Celestia. “Would that be okay?”

Celestia seems to think for a moment, then nods with a smile. “I believe that I could make such a deal, and yes, it would be okay. It would probably be a good idea anyway to enter diplomatic talks with the griffons, since they’ve recently started accepting the value of friendship.”

I give her a big smile of both relief and anticipation. “Thank you so much! That would be so awesome!”

“However,” It seems that Celestia’s not done speaking… “I am somewhat concerned that using your magic intensifies your cravings. Be sure to keep them in check, for the sake of everyone.”

She does have a point. It’s also possible the repeatedly transforming will make such cravings more and more difficult to suppress each time. I give her a solemn nod. “I understand… I’ll be more careful from now on and make sure to stay on top of it.”

Celestia gives me a cool tempered smile. “That’s good; I couldn’t ask anything more of you.” She then raises her glass with her magic. “Now on a lighter note, I propose a toast to your first speech for the Equestrian Kingdom and to your learning of how to handle royal affairs.”

I raise my glass. “Yeah, here’s to hoping I learn how to deal with this stuff.”

Luna telekinetically raises her glass too. “Indeed, to the speech and your future learning experiences.”

We all clink our glasses with cheers and take a sip of our wines. It’s pretty good, considering that I don’t normally drink red wine. I just felt like having a matching drink with Luna this time. I then get back to eating my pasta and intermittingly sipping my wine. Hopefully having a glass of wine won’t hinder my ability to transform later today. We soon finish our lunch and the waiter comes to collect the dishes and glasses.

Celestia then speaks up. “As much as I would like to stay here longer, I have a busy schedule ahead. It was lovely having lunch with you and talking with you.” She stands up and walks around the table to give us each a hug. “Good bye, Luna and Travis, I’ll see you both at the end of my schedule.”

Luna hugs her back with a smile. “Yes, I am glad we were able to have lunch with you as well, Celie. Farewell, we will indeed see you tonight.”

I return the hug as well. “Yeah, it was good catching up, Celestia. See ya later.” She smiles and goes on her way to whatever royal business she must attend to now, leaving just Luna and I in the garden. “So, is there anything in particular you’d like to do now, Luna, before we see Celestia again? I’m not counting that you chose to have lunch. I’m thinking that you should choose an actual activity for us to do.”

“Very well…” Luna smiles and seems to think to herself for a little while. “What do you think of archery, Travis?”

I give her a big smile. “I think archery is awesome, and sometimes meditative to me; I love it. I never got much of a chance to do it very often on Earth though.”

“Then it is decided; we shall go do archery.” Luna rises from her chair and offers me her hoof, which I gladly take and stand up.

“Awesome, and thanks.” I lightly give her a peck on the lips as I stand. “Lead the way.”

Luna returns the soft peck and starts leading me around the garden. “All right.”