Moonlight Trails

As we finally made our way down the steps, I looked around. We wasn't in a house. We were in a damn castle! As I reached the bottom floor, there was a line of guards lining the walls. Huh, I recognize a few of them.

She dragged me into this massive dining hall that was several times the size of my own house. You could fit a stadium in here! "M-Moonlight, listen. I really need to go. I have work later tonight." I pleaded, getting more nervous as the seconds passed.

"Please, stay." I heard a booming voice come from the head of the table. I felt the color wash off of my face as I looked up to see the Princess of Friendship herself sitting there.

"I'm gonna die." I said to myself before a couple of guards moved us closer to the head of the table to sit near Twilight. She sat there, unpleased of my current existence in her castle.

"So, Mr..."

"Smokey Trail, your highness." I said, bowing before her.

"Mr. Trail, what business do you have with my daughter?" She asked, with a small tea cup in front of her, idly turning the contents of it, her cold eyes still narrowing in on me.

I looked up at her to see that she was about my height, though only going to be getting taller. I gulped down what nerves that there was lingering in my throat quickly. "I was abandoned by my friends at the new nightclub in Canterlot. Went to an older one. That's where I bumped into Moonlight. We got drunk. I woke up this morning, completely clothed, in her bed with no memory of last night." I said as bluntly as possible.

She finally brought her focus up from her tea cup. "There was nothing that happened between you two last night, was there? Sunset told me that she came into her room with her laying on top of you in your shirt."

"No mom. I didn't have any clean shirts at the time to sleep in. I asked to use his shirt while he was still drunk. I promise you, nothing happened." Moonlight said, looking up at Twilight.

Twilight's scorn slowly turned into a smile as she nodded. "Now..." She said, before turning back to me. "my only question is now is why didn't you allow him to use one of the guest rooms?" Twilight asked.

"If I may, I am completely unfamiliar with this place. If I would have woken up to being in a castle this massive after a night of heavy drinking. I would be to terrified to try and move to any other rooms." I mentioned to see the both of them let out a small laugh. I gave a sigh of relief upon hearing them.

"Well, you could have flown out the window possibly." Moonlight suggested.

"There are plenty of things I want to be in life, my dear Moonlight. A moving target on the other hand, eh not so much." I nonchalantly stated, the both of them laughing once more. Ok, Princess Twilight is laughing at my horrible jokes. Good to know.

"Please, please sit down." Twilight offered. "She's never brought anyone home that was as funny as you are." She said, as we both took our seats.

I smile a bit and nod softly. "Well, thank you, your highness, but I don't really imagine myself as the funny type. A sarcastic asshole, then I'm your man." I said to get a snicker out of the both of them once more.

"I need to introduce you to Discord. I'm pretty sure that you two would get along just fine." Twilight said with a gentle smile.

"What, is he a sarcastic asshole too?" I asked, to automatically get the result of Twilight groaning and rolling her eyes.

"You have no idea. He's the type of guy who would annoy you until the end of time with these witty remarks. And the puns, don't get me started with the puns." She stated in a mild manner.

I couldn't help but to laugh. "I like a good challenge every now and then." I mentioned in an excited tone. "Can't be as bad as you two put off."

They both looked at me in slight shock. "He seriously doesn't know, does he?" Twilight asked Moonlight to get a shrug from her. I saw a devious grin come along her face. "Oh Discord!" She called out.

"Yes, my princess?" I heard come from a vas on the table.

I looked around and then saw a small figure walk along the table. He popped up in front of me, upside down, and casually floating in the air. "Oh! What do we have here?" He asked, looking at me. "Is this Moonlight's wittle cowtfwiend?" He asked in a teasing way.

I blushed softly and shook my head. looked at him and smiled. "So, you must be the oh so infamous Discord I've heard so little about." I said, to see a betrayed look on his eyes.

"You haven't heard of me?! WHO HASN'T HEARD OF ME?!" He whined, almost throwing a temper tantrum in front of us.

I laughed and patted him on the back. "I'm just picking fun at ya, no reason to get all worked up. The name is Smokey Trail. Or Ol' Smokey for short." I teased him, looking up at him. "Now, to answer your question about if I'm her coltfriend. Eh, as far as it stands right now. I'm just a random bar guy who got to drunk to make it home or be able to tell her where home was. So the answer would be no." I said with a humble smile.

"For the time being that is." I heard her say under hear breath, my face automatically lighting up.

I then looked to see Discord was sitting on the other side of me at the table. "How is things going with you and Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, pouring a cup of tea for Discord.

"A lot more chaotic with another one of me running around. Though, everything is going perfectly well. She's planning on stopping by sometime today." He said taking a sip from the glass.

"That's good to hear. Speaking of another one of you running around, this is the first time that we've spoke since you're son has been born. How is the little guy doing?" Moonlight asked.

Discord chuckled to himself. "He's doing really well, though he's been a handful since he learned how to do magic." He said, rolling his eyes.

"How did he manage that at such a young age?!" Twilight asked. A hint of terror in her voice as she looked at Discord.

"Well, Draconequus are naturally gifted with magic prowess at birth. For example, give it a minute and we'll have cotton candy clouds outside, but I got lazy one evening and used my magic to fix me a snack real quick in front of him." He said, shying away slowly after each and every word.

"Princess Twilight, we've just got news that there is cotton candy clouds heading towards Ponyville." A guard called out.

"Called it!" Discord said before snapping his fingers. "There, now go check if it's fixed." He added, taking another drink of tea.

The guard nodded before taking off out the door. "He really is a handful, huh?" Twilight asked. She then looked at Moonlight with a devious grin. "It kinda reminds me of some baby stories from when she was younger." Twilight began.

Moonlight froze in place before looking at Twilight in complete terror. "M-mom, wait a second. That's not fair!" She said, pleading with Twilight.

"Oh yes! Let's gather around and tell tales about Moonlight's childhood tales." Discord begged, snapping his fingers once more, changing our surroundings to a campfire in the middle of the night, crickets chirping in the back ground as we all sat in the middle of a field.

I looked around and chuckled. "I think this ought to be fun learning about the mare that abducted me." I teased, turning to face her.

She blushed deeply, hiding under her long hair. "That's not fair. You all are teaming up on me!" She pouted out.

"Twilight!" We hear Sunset call out in the middle of the night. Discord snapped his fingers once more to bring us back into the castle walls.

"Yes, my dear?" Twilight asked, looking up at the mildly annoyed Sunset standing in the doorway, trying to keep a serious face.

"You're not telling him about Moonlight's childhood, are you?" She asked, looking down at the snickering alicorn, her arms crossed.

"N-no?" Twilight tried to mutter out in between snickering.

"Stop it. You're making her upset." Sunset said, gently shoving Twilight. "Besides, he's not her coltfriend yet. He doesn't need to know about it." Sunset stated, taking a drink from her cup.

"Awwwww..." Twilight, Discord, and myself whined out.

"Stop being mean." Moonlight said, tugging at my shirt. Pouting up at me.

I looked down at her and nodded softly with a gentle smile. "Fine, I'll stop." I said, before taking a drink of my tea. "For now at least." I teased.

"MOM! He's being mean!" Moonlight cried out.

"You were the one who brought him here, sweetie."

"Yeah, he is kinda cute, but still a meanie." She said, now just playfully pouting at me.

Did I hear her right? Cute? Did...Eh, I may have misheard her, that's it. "Oh, Smokey, may I have a word with you for a second." Discord said, snapping his fingers, the both of us appearing out in the hallway and away from all earshots.

"Ok, I guess so." I replied, not really having the option TO decline.

He crossed his arms and began to examine me. "So, it seems like Moonlight has taken a liking to you." He said, walking around me, examining my every feature.

"W-Well I don't think that she has taken that much of a liking to me. Besides, I'm just a standard pony. Nothing really special about me." I replied, looking up at him.

He scoffed at me and shook his head. "Well, you're right about one thing." He said in a cold tone.

My ears fell flat against my head upon hearing him. "Geez, you sure as hell don't beat around the bush, now do you?" I argued, shooting him a dirty glare.

He flew up in front of me, his eyes narrowing at me. I stood in front of him, standing my ground. He finally stopped and smirked. "Well, I try to weed out the weak ones before they waste Moonlight's time." He said, crossing his arms. "Though, you've not really given me any doubt." He said, before turning away. "Just don't disappoint me." He said, a glare back on his face.

I sighed and shook my head. "Wait, hold on. You think that me and her are going to be together. What makes you think that? She's a princess. I'm just a worker for a minimum wage job." I stated.

A gentle smile came across his face. "We'll see what happens." He said before vanishing into thin air.

I looked around for him to see that he was actually gone "Was that it?" I asked, looking around to get no reply. "Alright then." I said to myself as I made my way back into the dining hall to see Moonlight wearing my paddy cap, somehow kind of suiting for her. "Welcome back!" She called out, waving to me to join her.

I walked over and smiled softly. "Sorry to say, but I do really need to get going. It's noon and I have work to get ready for later tonight." I pleaded.

"Oh? What do you do for a living, Smokey?" Twilight asked, pouring herself another cup of tea.

I stood there for a second, kind of frozen, "Well, I'm, um..." I choked out. "I work for a security agency!" I said, trying to make my job sound at least a decent bit impressive. "Though, I'm always on overnight duties and that's why I must leave." I said, slowly inching my way to the door.

"What's the company?" Twilight asked, seeing through my facade, a cheeky grin on her face.

You are so mean! This isn't fair, I'm going up against the intelligence of the one of, if not, the smartest pony in Equestria. I gulped down the lump that was forming in my throat, before giving a defeated sigh. "Alright, fine, I work for a minimum wage job as a Security Guard." I said, completely ashamed of the fact. It's a good job with decent hours, yes, but not something that you would want to use to impress folks with.

Silence filled the room as I felt a wave of shame hit me. "I guess that I'll go ahead and take my leave." I said, turning away from them and made my way back outside.

As I made my way outside, I felt someone tugging at my wing. I turn around to see Moonlight standing there, looking up at me, "Please don't leave." She pleaded, looking up at me. "If I was concern about what you done for a living, I would have left you at the nightclub last night." She said, walking up to me, resting her head against my chest.

I felt my cheeks light up as I looked down at her, my shirt tightly grasped in her hands. What is she getting at here? Is this supposed to be some type of joke? It finally hit me though. What did she mean that she'd left me at the nightclub if it was a concern. "Moonlight..." I said, looking down at her. "What do you mean you would have left me at the nightclub if it was an issue." I asked, looking down at her.

I saw her lips form into a grin. "Well, you are rather talkative when you're drunk and told me a bunch of things." She said, looking up at me.

An ice cold chill ran up my spine as the thought entered my mind. "E-eh hehe, what all DID I tell you while I was drunk?" I asked, nervous to hear the results.

She looked up at me, a a bigger grin forming on her lips, and then gave a sly chuckle. "Well, I'll make a deal with you. You stay until dinner tonight, and I'll tell you everything." She said, grabbing me by my jacket, pulling me back towards the castle doors.

I looked at her, feeling my cheeks light up a bit before giving a defeated sigh and nodded. "Fine. I slept enough last night anyways. I should be good for the rest of the night." I said, a faint smile on my face.

"Good! And when you get off, you can come back here!" She said in a cheery tone.

"No, I do have to head home after. I got a few things I need to do at the house." I said firmly.

She whined softly, her bottom lip pouting out, though within an instant. "Ok then, fair enough." She said back in a cheerful spirit once more.

I rose a brow, slightly cautious to her attitude change. "Moonlight, I have a feeling that I should be worried." I stated.

She shook her head. "No reason to be worried." She said, leading me through the castle interior.