Moonlight Trails

We arrived in the evening at the other side of the castle, a bar room almost. "Huh, neat." I said looking around. The room contained dark cherry wood pillars with cherry counter tops, cherry floors, maroon satin curtains lining the walls in front of massive windows, the seats surrounding the bar itself were made of a cream colored satin seats that were plush enough that you sunk into them.

"Neat?" She asked. "Wait until you see the collection." She said, stepping behind the bar, flipping a switch with different bottles lining the walls. Different liquors that have came from far away lands. Different wines as well. Their collection was vast.

I looked around in awe upon seeing the collection. I began to open my mouth to speak, but shut it shortly after, just to take in this beautiful site. "Take your pick." She said in a sultry tone, grabbing my hand, pulling me towards the counter.

I felt my face light up a bit more. "I can't have anything right now." I stated, not trying to get wasted before my shift in a few hours.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, if you've been invited into the castle, it kind of gives you a free pass from work." She replied, "Just think of it like we've borrowed your services for castle."

I opened my mouth to speak, scratching my chin. "It has been almost three weeks since I've had a full day off." I said to myself.

She smiled and poured a glass of clear bubbly liquor. "See, you need a day off every now and then." She stated.

"Well, I do at least need to go home later." I mentioned once more, doing my best to get the hint across.

She was gulping down her glass and nodded. "I understand. Just a few shots and then you go back home." She said with a smile.

I nodded before gulping down my own glass. I felt the burn from last night, hitting my stomach and churning. I couldn't help but to cough upon drinking it.

"Are you going to make it?" She asked, reaching over to pat me on the back,

Between coughs I eventually replied with a nod. "What in Equestria is that stuff?!" I asked, gasping for air.

She smiled before bringing the bottle up to her eyes. "Mother and Mom got it during their honeymoon." She said, swishing around the contents in her cup.

I felt the warmth of the alcohol running through my system as I looked at her. I smiled softly. "Well, they have a good taste in alcohol then." I said, sitting at the bar.

"Would you like some more?" She asked, opening the bottle once more to pour us another glass.

I reached out, placing my hand over top of the bottle and shook my head. "Not right now. Maybe later though." I said with a gentle smile. "What I am waiting for is for you to tell me what all I said while I was drunk." I said with a gentle smile.

She returned the smile and nodded. "Fine, though some of the things might embarrass you." She teased, before leaning over the counter,

"Couldn't have been that bad." I said, hoping for the best.

She chuckled to herself. "Well, when we left the club, we began to talk about things we liked to do in our spare time. You said that you had kind of a boring life and that all you ever do is work and get stoned." She said, disinterest in her voice. "Though, you also told me that you like to come up with ideas to help others." She said, a warmth now in her tone as she smiled. "You then proceeded to show me that you were a gentle soul with a rough exterior." She said, a faint blush on her face.

"How so?" I asked, resting my head on my hands, listening to her.

"A little kitten came along. You dropped everything to rush over and pick it up, cradling it almost." She said before snickering. "There is something oddly adorable seeing a stallion as big is as you be so gentle." She snickered out. "It's mom came out of the nearby alleyway with it's other kittens. I don't know what drove you to do this, but upon seeing this, you rushed to the nearest open store and got three cans of cat food, two bowels, and a bottle of water, rushing back to them all and fed them all."

I sat there for a second and smiled shyly. "W-Well, I wanted to make sure that they had a good meal. I don't want to see anything starve." I admitted, glancing away. "I've been without a meal a few times and it pains me to see anything or anypony else do without. Usually if I have the means to help, then I do what I can."

She reached up, placing her hand on my cheek. "And that's what I'm talking about. You're a gentle soul. You just have a rocky exterior that's sometimes hard to crack." She said in a gentle tone.

I could feel the warmth radiate of my cheeks as I looked at her, still unsure in what to do. "W-What else happened?" I blurt out.

I saw a slight annoyance on her face before the smile returned. "Well, after that," She stated, crossing her arms underneath her, placing them on the bar to support herself. " we got into a taxi for Ponyville and we arrived at town hall. I asked you where you lived, but you couldn't remember. I then decided to take you back home with me. Originally I had intended for you to sleep in one of the guest rooms, but you are quite the charmer as well." She said with a grin.

I felt my face light up once more. Gulping down what fear I had, I proceeded to ask her. "Oh no. What all did I say?" I asked, hanging my head in shame.

She laughed softly. "After we arrived at the castle, you walked into my room with my assistance and collapsed on the bed. I felt you wrap your wings around me, resting your chin on my shoulder." She said, her own face lighting up. "You then told me that how you thought I was the most beautiful mare in all of Equestria." She teased, looking over at me with a sly grin.

I sat there, lowering my head to hid the blush forming on my face. I wasn't lying. She is beautiful and any stallion would be lucky to have her. "What else happened?" I said, still hiding the blush on my face.

She laughed and walked to the other side of the bar, putting the bottle up. "At first, I thought you were up to something, but strangely enough, you didn't even try anything is what surprised me. You just cuddled up to me and held me all night." She admitted with a shy smile.

She then gave a mildly annoyed sigh. "I then asked you about your past relationships and that's when you went silent. Finally, you told me that it's kind of a touchy subject because you just got out of a relationship with someone and that you'd tell me later." She said, before looking at me with expectant eyes.

I looked down at her and gave a defeated sigh. "You're still wanting me to tell you what happened?" I asked, pouring myself another glass to see a nod come from her. I chuckled softly and nodded. "Well, I was engaged for a few years with somepony who I had full intentions of spending the rest of my life with." I said before taking a drink. "Well, around the year and half marker, I come to find out that she was cheating on me with a lot of other pony's. Both mare and stallion." I said, pain filling my voice upon going through my memory.

She stood there, almost shocked upon hearing this. "I'm so sorry to hear that." She said, hear ears drooping down.

I chuckled softly and shook my head. "That's not all." I said with a heavy heart. "When I asked her about it, she said that I was an idiot for even being suspicious. After that, that's when she started being more secretive. She would always hide her phone from me. She'd always be gone in the middle of the night at her friends house, or so she'd say." I said, growing more annoyed.

She came around the bar, walking up to me, wrapping her arms around me. She stood there, just holding me, resting her head on my shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that this happened to you." She said, resting her head on my chest. "No pony should have to go through that." She added.

I chuckled softly and shook my head. "That's not all, but that's all I'm comfortable saying for now." I pleaded. She nodded, but remained there, holding me.

Her ears perked up before she reached out and grabbed my hands, dragging me up from my seat.

"W-Wait, where are we going now?" I asked, following her through out the castle once more.

She turned around and smiled. "You'll see!" She sung out before turning back around to walk.

A few minutes passed before she led me outside of the castle and onto the balcony that shows Ponyville in it's entirety. The sun was slowly falling over the horizon, the sky different shades of reds, blues, and oranges. I looked around in awe, walking over to the railing.

I looked over to her to see her shine brightly in the evening sky. The sun perfectly reflecting off of her rose colored fur in a warm bask. A warm summer breeze blowing through, lifting her mane in an trance inducing dance of colors. Her eyes eyes glowing like the sun itself in a bright blue.

I felt my face light up as a gazed upon her, almost lost in her beauty. I then snapped myself back to reality and chuckled to myself. "So, I gotta ask." I said, breaking the silence. "Why do you have a sudden interest in me?"

She glanced over at me and smiled. "You looked like you could use a caring friend." She said before turning to face me. "You're a torn and tattered soul who has been hurt so many times, that now, you're scared to be happy. You don't know what it's like to feel a gentle touch and you shy away from it." She said, placing her hand on my cheek. "I want to be the one to make you happy again." She said, looking up at me her eyes meeting mine.

I felt my heart drop. She was absolutely right, I am scared to be happy. Every Time I have come anywhere close to being happy, I just have had it ripped out from underneath me, but how did she know all this?! I barely even know her. Was I THAT talkative last night? Was she sincere? Was this just all a big joke? How can I be for sure that if I take this step, it won't just be ripped out from underneath me if she becomes bored with me.

I felt my heart hit my throat, wanting nothing more to be happy. Though a stronger voice inside quickly silenced that feeling with fear. I reach up, gently placing my hand on top of hers. "Moonlight..." I started, looking down at her, trying to say something, my heart wanting nothing more than to reach out, begging, pleading, aching for some form of kindness. Though my thoughts quickly silenced it.I pull away from her softly and turn around. "I'm sorry." I said before spreading my wings, leaping of the balcony and taking flight towards my home.

I looked back to see her standing there, pain in her eyes before she turned to head back inside the castle. I turned around to see my path back to my house, gliding down into the middle of Ponyville, to walk the rest of the way there. I don't deserve happiness. I don't deserve joy. I deserve to be alone.

A few hours passed before I made it back home. As I opened the door, I automatically get hit in the face with "WHERE DID YOU GO ALL NIGHT?!" Coming from Bit. "Joy Stick is pissed off at you and had to leave. So you may want to call him, by the way." Another one of my house mates called out.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll get right one that." I said to myself, waving them off as I made my way up and into my room. I look around and see my long haired calico cat greet me instantly. "Hey there my little fluff. How is my Sasha doing?" I said to her, picking her up and holding her close to me as she nuzzled up to me. "Did ya miss me?" I asked as she still nuzzled into me, meowing and purring in response to my question.

I smiled and walked over to fill her food dish and water bowl before sitting down on my bed, starring at the ground, the only sound in the room being Sasha eating away at her food. I gave a defeated sigh before laying down, looking up at the ceiling in defeat.

I then bring my attention to my room, only thing apparent is my bed, desk, and bookshelf, with the rest only screaming out loneliness in it's walls. I laid down on my bed, pulling the joint from my beard finally and lit it up. "At least there is one thing I can always count on." I said to myself, exhaling the first hit.

I start to settle in to the peace and quiet of my room before I heard a set of foot steps come up. "Dude, you didn't answer me. Where did you go last night?" Bit asked, looking over at me laying down.

I chuckled to myself. "Well, the bouncer got an attitude with me. I refused to deal with it and left." I stated, leaving out the fact of knocking the guy out.

"Well, someone knocked out the bouncer! You should have came back." He suggested, sitting down at my desk.

I groaned before sitting up. "I could have yes, but after you two left me out there an after the prick of a bouncer decided to show his ass to me, I didn't want to cause a scene so I left. I found a smaller nightclub and got drunk there. End of story." I growled out, growing more annoyed by the second.

He sat there for a second before finally taking the hint. "Ok, fine. Sorry that we left you out there." He said before turning to head back down the steps.

A few minutes passed before I heard a knock on the house door. "Come on in!" Bit called out. "Let me go get him. He's in a pissy mood." I heard him say, figuring that he was referring to me.

I hear subtle steps come up to my room. "Bit, go away. Today is not the day." I growled out louder.

"A-Actually, I'm here to give this back to you." I heard a soft familiar voice of a mare from behind. I shot up in my bed, the joint still burning before I quickly put it out. It was Moonlight standing there, pain still painted on her face with the hat in her hands.

"Moonlight?" I asked, surprised at the fact that she'd walk all the way here to just return a hat. "What brings you out here?" I asked, looking up at her.

She gave a faint smile. "You left that at the castle, so I figured that I'd return that back to you." She stated, standing there a minute as an awkward silence filled the room. "I can go ahead and leave if you want to." She said, pain filling her voice as another minute passed.

I sat there in silence, unsure what to say or do. Why do I have to be so awkward?! "W-Well, I guess I'll just go ahead and leave then." She said, turning and heading down the steps.

I heard the door shut before it hit me. Go after her you idiot! My body shouted out. "Wait!" I called out, running down my steps and outside to see her getting inside a cart. "Wait! Please wait!" I called out.

The cart came to a halt before it reached the end of my road. She stepped out of the door as I ran up to her. "What is it?" She asked.

I gulped down whatever fear and doubt that I had in my heart. "Please don't go." I pleaded before any chance of doubt filled my heart. "I don't want you to go." I admitted, looking down at her, hoping that this leap of faith isn't just another major fall for me.

I saw her expression go from hurt to happy almost instantly. "R-really?" She asked, looking up at me, those beautiful diamond eyes shining up at me once more.

I nodded softly. "You were right. I am scared. After having my heart ripped out and trampled on so many times, I'm scared to try anymore. I don't want to open up to others anymore. I'd much rather just go around miserable and grumpy and I hate that. Though when you just magically show up, I thought that this was just going to be a prank." I said, looking down at the ground.

She gave me a confused look. "A prank? What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"Basically, someone playing with your heart, feeding you a bunch of crap, just to have it all crushed, and then mocked. Where you're a princess and I'm but a security guard, I thought to myself 'Why would anypony want to be with or around a guy like me? Let alone a princess." I bluntly answered.

She looked up at me with horror in her eyes. "Who would ever do something as cruel as that?!" She cried out in horror.

I chuckled to myself. "A lot of folk would." I mentioned, remembering each and every pony who has done that to me.

I felt the warmth of her hand press against my chest before she ran her hand around to my back, pulling herself to me, resting her head against my chest and wrapped her arms around me. "I wouldn't ever dream of doing something so horrible to you. You too nice of a guy to let that happen to." She said in a gentle voice.

I looked down at her and smiled wrapping my arms around her as well. "I now know that you wouldn't." I said in a gentle voice. I smiled softly and dropped my arms to her sides, looking down at her. "Though one thing. You know a lot about me. I wish to know about you. You owe me some answers missy." I said with a small smirk.

She smiled and nodded happily. "Well of course." She said in her cheerful tone.

We broke the embrace as I took my wing, wrapping it around her to pull her close to me as we made our way back inside the house and up to my room. Thankfully none of my house mates were out and about at this time.

As we made our way upstairs, the smell of the still burning joint still filled the room. She turned to look at me. "So, I do have one question for you." She asked, crossing her arms. "Why do you smoke that?" She asked, pointing towards my ashtray and at the joint.

I gave a sigh and shrugged. "Well, if you're going to be around more often. I guess I ought to tell you." I said, sitting beside of her, putting it out. "To put it simple, due to constant migraines, nightmares, and other things that I will not mention at this time. Without it, there'd be no doubt that I'd been six feet under long ago." I said, a hint of pain in my voice.

She brought it up to her eyes before examining it closely. "It's just like a cigarette, but just different contents inside." She stated, observing the joint. She then brought her attention to me. "And this actually helps you?" She asked, actually curious to my response.

I chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, a lot more than alcohol ever has." I stated, roaming around the room, lighting incense in different parts of the room.

"And those are?" She asked, completely curious at what I was doing.

"These are called incense. You burn these to mask the smell of that." I said, pointing over to the joint, getting done with the last one.

As I walked back over to the bed, she moved over for me to sit down with her. "So this is your nightly activities?" She asked.

I nodded softly. "Yeah, basically. Many ponies look down at folks who do that around here, so that's why I do my best to keep it a secret." I mentioned, laying back on my bed resting my hand on my gut. My other hand being used as a pillow for my head.

A few seconds passed before I felt her lay back against me. She rested her head on my chest with her hand lying on top of mine. I looked down at her and blushed softly. Maybe my luck is turning around. Maybe this is the start of a new chapter in my life. I wrap my wing around her and pulled her close.

She nuzzled into my chest softly, small hums of joy escaping her as she got comfortable. "Thank you." She said softly.

I raised my head up to look down at her. "For what?" I asked, completely confused.

"For saying yes. To be honest, I was kind of scared that you were going to tell me no again." She said, drawing different things on top of my hand with her finger. "And I got to be honest. When you walked into the nightclub, I didn't pay no mind to you at first. Though I got to see that you are a really handsome guy and glad that I did. I felt comfortable around you. I wasn't scared to be alone around you either. If anything I felt protected." She said, curling closer into me.

I smiled and nodded. "Well, I owe you a thank you as well for giving me shot. Especially seeing as how I really don't deserve it." I joked.

She looked up at me with a pout and playfully swatted at my chest. "Oh stop beating yourself up." She demanded before laying her head back down on my chest. "You're a sweet, charming, gentle giant. You've just been through a rough spot is all and I'm here to make it all better." She said, lacing her fingers through mine. "That's if you want me to." She said, looking up at me.

I nodded softly, gently petting along her back. "Of course I do." I said with a gentle smile. "Though, I do have a question." I said, looking back down at her.

"Hmm?" She hummed out in an exhausted tone.

"One: What convinced you to pick me out of the lot? And two: What is your past? Because apparently you know a lot about me, but I don't know much about you." I joked.

"Which do you want to hear first?" She asked, not moving from her position. "Because both of them are long stories."

"Surprise me."

"Well, to begin with to back when I was still in diapers. My mother found out that I was a baby bundle of booming magic. At this age, I was able to master spells that took highly trained unicorns years to master. I had to be drained of my magic every night by basically being put in a room with unbreakable walls and let me go to town." She joked.

"Doesn't sound that bad. The baby want's to throw a tantrum, throw the baby in the sound proof, explosion proof room. They'll be fine." I joked, getting a small giggle from her.

"Sounds about right." She said, a gentle smile on her face. "But, when I got older, they wanted to see what I was capable of and sent me to Aunt Celestia for personal training and then to Aunt Luna. By the age of ten, I had mastered most spells, both dangerous and healing. I mastered potions by Zecora, flying past her assistant Apple Bloom's knowledge in a week." She said with a cocky grin.

Though that grin was quick to fall. "After that though, no school would take me because I was to educated for my age and I was back under my mother's wings to be taught. After that, I grew up with my nose in books. Each and every day. Day in and day out. If it wasn't for Momma. I'm pretty sure that I would have went crazy." She said, waving her hand around upon the word crazy to bring out the meaning behind it.

"Momma?" I asked, slightly confused.

She looked up at me and smiled. "Momma is my nanny. Sugar Pie was her name, but she always wanted me to call her Momma Sugar or Momma. She was a older mare who was as kind hearted as could be. She'd come in every morning and throw open my curtains, and let the sun in and said. 'Wake up sweetpea, Momma's got something waiting for ya down in the kitchen.' And sure enough, it was this outstanding breakfast with everything I could ever ask for. And everyday it was something new. Something delicious." She said, a smile from ear to ear on her face.

"Then when I was sitting at home with my nose in the books, she'd come by my room every day and sit and talk and talk and talk to me for hours about the most pointless of things." She said with a smile. "She knew I didn't want to be locked up studying each and every day, but what mother says goes at the castle."

"Question." I interrupted. As she looked up at me, raising a brow. "Ok, please don't think of this as rude of me asking, but out of Princess Twilight and Sunset. Who is mother?" I asked, slightly nervous about asking the question.

She chuckled and smiled. "Mother is Princess Twilight. Mom is Sunset. To tell you how I was conceived. Magic happened. Mom turned into a stallion one night due to a spell from Mother. Sex happened. Out I came a few months later." She said bluntly.

"Fair enough." I replied. "Sorry for interrupting."

She smiled and shook her head. "It's fine. I'm surprised you didn't ask sooner." She said, before nuzzling back into me before going back into her memory. "I miss Momma." She said, looking down.

"Miss?" I asked, extremely confused now.

I glanced down at her to see the smile falter as her eyes began to swell as well. "When I was 15, Momma ended up getting sick and that's when everything made a turn for the worst in my life. The doctors couldn't do anything for her. My mother's magic couldn't do anything for her. She had cancer and it was quickly taking her."

I felt my heart grow heavy, knowing where this is going. I quickly pulled her up to me, wrapping both of my arms around her. That's when she began to sob into me. "I was there with her the night that she passed away. She looked up at me from her bed and said with a gentle smile. 'Don't worry baby doll, Momma's gonna always be here. Just remember to keep your head held high so Momma can see that beautiful face.' She said right before she passed away." Moonlight said, before breaking down.

We both sat there for several minutes as I done my best to comfort her. "It's not fair." She cried out. I've felt the bitter lashes of loss as well. Several times as a matter of fact, but none of them as severe as this.

A few more minutes passed before she calmed down, whimpers being to only thing coming from her. "You don't have to tell me everything at once." I said, placing my hand on her cheek, wiping tears off of her cheeks with my thumbs. "Just whenever you feel that you're ready." I said with a gentle smile.

She looked up at me and smiled once more before reaching up, wrapping her arms around my neck, pulling herself up to rest her head in the crook of my neck. "Now to answer your other question." She said in a exhausted tone.

I heard her laugh again. "Well, to explain that, you remind me of someone who I never met." She said, completely confusing me. She looked at me and chuckled. "Momma's oldest son. A dark grey coated pegasus with a fiery red beard and black mane, and that he stood higher than the shadows." She said, playfully mocking Momma's southernbelle accent.

"Momma told me that she had a son who was killed while in the Royal Guard during the Changeling invasion when Aunt Cadence and Uncle Shining got married. Though she told me stories of how he wanted to help everypony through out Equestria. That he wanted to do what was right." She said with a gentle smile.

"She told me that he was my guardian angel. I was skeptical at first, but to entertain Momma and not upset her, I played along. Though each and every time she told me the story of my guardian angel, I'd get this feeling of protection. A feeling of comfort."

She then whined out, remembering the past. "After Momma passed away, I have never felt that sense of comfort again. I haven't felt that warmth or sense of protection." She cried out softly. "I just grew into this grumpy husk that hated to be around anyone." She stated. "I didn't want to be awake. I just wanted to sleep all the time. Mom would take me out to do things when she could and that was fun. I was happy, yeah, but that hope still wasn't coming back. I still felt that emptiness in my heart." She admitted, sorrow apparent in her voice.

"But I learned to coexist with it after time. I just grew numb to the void and continued on with my life, though when you arrived at the nightclub, I felt this aura. Something that I haven't felt in a long time." She stated, a big smile forming on her lips. "Something made me change my mind."

"Well, what made you change your mind about that?"

She blushed. "Please don't think this cheesy of me." She whined out, covering her face. "But I saw you." She said, still hiding her face. "I saw you and I felt this aura around you. An aura I haven't felt since Momma passed away." She said, eventually looking back up at me. "Then I notice that you looked like him as well. Even down to the soft, gentle, and nurturing character." She said with a bashful smile.

I looked down at her and smiled softly and held her close. "And just taking a guess, but you ain't going anywhere any time soon, are ya?" I asked, petting along her back.

She shook her head and smiled up at me. "Nope! You're stuck with me." She purred out.

I smiled and nodded, leaning down, gently placing a kiss on the top of her head. "Sounds good to me." I added, seeing her face light up almost instantly after I kissed the top of her head.

She smiled, curling up into a ball on top of me, nuzzling into me. "I'm happy to hear that." She said, happiness in her voice and sleep in her eyes. I reach over to cut off the lamp, the whole room quickly being covered in darkness.

I was still skeptical at her being around, but at the time, only thing I knew was that it was nice to finally have somepony to hold on cold nights and to wake up to on bright sunny days. It was strange. After being so bitter and alone for so long. I was happy. I was, for once in such a long time, happy.