Chapters The Moon princess and the weak link
"I'm sorry, Amber... I don't feel the same..." He said awkwardly avoiding to look at her.
She started to cry, frustrated, annoyed and sad. Her heart was just crushed by her platonic love.
"Why?" She asked. "Am I not your type? Just tell me what I have to change that I'll do so"
"No... You are great and I'm sure you will find a good guy to date. Don't be like that... I just don't wanna date anyone right now "
"LIER!" She yelled surprising him "I know you've never had dated anyone! You've never even kissed someone!"
"That doesn't mean anyth-"
"People has been talking about it... Your obsession..."
His eyes widen a little, his lips tried to ask why, but his throat made no sound to his mouth turn it into words.
"Your obsession for Princess Luna!"
He just sighted closing his eyes and started to walk away.
"You must be kidding me! She will never love you back! You are just a weak mortal! That arrogant princess will never stoop low enough to love you!"
He turned his angry face to her grinding his teeth and closing his fists.
"Don't you dare to talk this way about our princess of the night!"
He turned his back to her and leaved her there, spooked. It was the first time he would show such an aggressive face.
He walked angrily to his house, ignoring everyone in the way. Throwing his backpack on his bed and slamming the door, he just stared to his poster of princess Luna. She was wearing a deep purple cape and a royal blue Victorian dress. She had delicate pearl necklaces and ornaments on her wings with moonstones pendants. He loved this picture. It was so difficult to find it among the others princesses posters, but he found it and couldn't be happier about have bought it for a small price.
He sighed deeply, laying his body on his bed hiding his brown eyes with his arms.
"Of course they would have noticed. I'm such a fool..." He mumbled to himself "I know I'm nothing compared to the princess. I know she will never love me, you don't need to remind me that... But... I can't help it..." He laughed sadly "I'm such a fool"
He sat up and took of his snickers and socks, unbuttoned his uniform's shirt exposing his thin torso. As the sleeves were slipped out of his arms, he stared at his reflection in the mirror.
"So petty... So foolish " he mumbled sadly.
He knew he would never be a royal guard. His body wasn't even able to practice sports properly. His torso didn't had any hair, it was smooth, just like his face. He wasn't manly at all, and the worst part is that he was 18 and looked like 15.
"Pipsqueak, are you back from school?!"
"Yes, mom!" He replied slightly annoyed
"Are you okay? Your P.E. teacher said you fell in your training..."
"Mom, I'm fine! It's a track team training, people can fall anytime by accident!"
"Are you sure 'it' didn't happen today?"
"It has been almost 2 years, mom! Stop worrying about it!" He yelled annoyed.
He was born with weak lungs, so he would pass out whenever he pushed himself too hard in some physical activity. But as he grew up making some intense treatment to strengthen it, his breathing problems became easier to deal with. What annoyed him the most was how his parents became over protective. They literally asked to his P.E. teacher to report everything that had happened to him during the training.
He took off his pants and rolled a towel around his waist. Opening his window, he could see the sky darkening slowly. He smiled as he saw the dark sky revealing some shy stars ready to welcome a smiling crescent moon rising majestically from the horizon.
"A wonderful night as always, my princess..."he whispered kindly feeling the cold night wind making some goosebumps on his skin.
He walked to his bathroom to take a warm shower. The water running on his skin relaxed some of his tense muscles. Today's training sure made him a little tense today. Also, there was Amber's confession and her trying to offend princess Luna. He knew she wasn't as popular among the equestrians like the other princesses. Maybe it was because of her past mistakes, such as falling into the darkness and becoming Nightmare Moon... People were still grinding it in their minds? She was punished and had showed regret about what she did. And in the top of all, she was always known for her will to help orphanages and homeless people before she became Nightmare Moon for a misunderstanding between her and her sister, princess Celestia. Now that she is back to her old self, she seemed to keep her philanthropic behavior. But still, her popularity wasn't better than princess Twilight's. Actually, despite the fact that they would respect her authority, she was usually saw as her sister's shadows and would secretly made fun of.
That kind of thoughts always made him uneasy. Why people couldn't see the kind goddess that stands before them. He remembered very well of the Harvest Festival that he saw her for the very first time. He was just 8 and had just moved to a small town called Ponyville, he was wearing a simple pirate costume. At first, he was dazzled by her beauty, but right after, he remembered the scary stories about Nightmare Moon. He was confused for some time, but he saw how she could be fun, but he was afraid of loosing his friends if he was associated with the princess that embraced the darkness.
Such cowardliness... She was hurt for seeing how feared and possibly hated she was. He regretted so quickly about how they made her feel. He thought in any excuse to beg her to come to the town again. Asked her to scare them again next year because being scared was fun... It was sloppy excuse, but it was what he could think of so quickly. She smiled and spent the entire night playing with him and the other children. She even carried him in her arms to his house when he was feeling sleepy. Her perfume of white roses stayed in his dreams the whole night.
But in the next year, she didn't come to the Festival. She never went back to the town again. He was so disappointed...not with her but with himself and the rest of the town. They made her feel so hurt. He couldn't even forgive himself for saying what he said, for pretending being scared when he wasn't... Still, he knew she didn't hold any resentment, she still protected her subjects from nightmares. She even made sure that his dreams were adventurous and fun. He never understood why she was that kind to him, but wouldn't visit the town again.
He broke his thoughts when he started feeling the foam from the soap being washed off his body. His hair conditioner took a little longer to be washed of, but he finished his shower quickly. He dried himself with his towel and put on some comfortable clothes. While he waited for her parents to finish preparing dinner, he started making his homework.
"High School will be finished soon... " he mumbled as an attempt of cheering himself up to keep doing his dull homework.
The Moon princess and the weak link
"Time to wake up, my lady." said the albino woman opening the door.
Luna opened her eyes slowly. She was still tired, but she couldn't sleep any longer. In a few hours, she should raise the moon, but before that, she had to visit some orphanages and make sure everything was okay. It wasn't much and she wished she could do more, but Celestia wanted her to take baby steps to reclaim the responsibilities as co-ruler of Equestria. If it wasn't for her love for her people, she wouldn't complain about it, the population has grown so much since she was sent to the moon and protecting their dreams was almost too much for her to do it all by herself.
"Good afternoon, Silvery."
"Good afternoon, my lady. Your breakfast today is toast with smoked salmon and cream cheese; grapefruit juice and fruit salad."
Luna walked to her bathroom and brushed her teeth as Silvery waited patiently to serve her breakfast.
"I think I'll need some coffee, Silvery. Can you fetch me some?"
"Yes, my lady" said Silvery before leaving the room in a rush.
She wasn't hungry, even though she liked everything that was on the table, she ate it with no joy at all. She was doing well latelly, her popularity has improved, the kingdom was prosperous and in peace. She should be happy and satisfied, but something was missing. She still felt like a stranger to her own kingdom, so much has changed in thousands of year. Even after 10 years, it was hard to her talk in a soft voice with her subjects, her words were still not kind enough and she still couldn't leave her room without her armor under her dress.
"I'm back, my lady. Here is your coffee. Hope it suits your taste. The cook was a little difficult today"
"Do not worry, Silvery."
"My lady, you barely touched your meal. Should I complain to the cook about it's taste?"
"No. It taste nice, it is I that woke up with no appetite"
With a little help, Luna dressed herself with a Victorian royal blue dress and some perl accessories. She loved perls, specially when it comes with some moonstones. Stretching her wings, she walked to her balcony and flied to the bright sky. Some guards, seen her leaving her tower, followed her to make sure she would be safe on the city's streets.
Inspecting orphanages was pretty easy for her, the children were always honest to her. She wasn't so sure about why, but she has always been dear to them. It wasn't a surprise when she was asked by some of the staff to take them to a field trip once a month. She scheduled all of it for the whole year. She enjoyed to take them to see the green gardens of Canterlot and have a picnic among the beautiful white roses she loved so much.
As she left the last orphanage she had to inspect that day, the sun was almost setting. Seeing she had not much time to spare, she decided to rush her way back to the castle, but a sudden heavy rain started. It would be too dangerous to fly, so she decided to go by foot. It didn't took so long to her to get near to the castle. A weak voice was heard in the heavy rain right before the sound of something falling on a puddle.
She looked back to find a young man collapsed right behind her. He couldn't barely breath. She rushed to aid him. As she looked at his face, she gasped lightly and mumbled his name:
"Pipsqueak"
The Moon princess and the weak link
He opened his eyes to find himself in an unknown room. It wasn't exactly dark, a gentle moonlight made the room dim. He was sure it wasn't a hospital, so... where was he? He tried to remember what happened that day.
He remembered he just moved into an apartment with his best friend, since they both wanted to build a career in Canterlot. Feather Weight sort of already had a job as photograph apprentice in a small newspaper, lucky guy. While he just got a temporary job as a waiter in a Italian restaurant across the street, but since he could spend his free time making his oil paintings, he considered himself lucky too. Although his dream of meeting his favorite princess would take much more luck and effort than that.
He chose that day because it was one of his days off, Feather would be too busy to want to hang out, so it was perfect. He heard rumors about princess Luna spending some afternoons in orphanages. So he walked from an orphanage to another looking for any clue of where she would be.
Unfortunately, a heavy rain came down, making him end his quest sooner than he expected. He made his way to a bus stop when he noticed that he was some streets away from the castle. When he saw a deep blue silhouette, he felt his heart rushing. It was her.
He ran as fast as he could, he tried to yell something to stop her before she enter in the castle, but the wind muffed his voice and his lungs lacked strength to make it louder. Actually, his lungs wasn't pulling as much air as he needed too. The heavy rain, his reckless effort and his despair was too much for him to bare. He collapsed cursing his own weak body.
"Not now! Not now that I'm so close... Come on, mate... just a little more..."
His eyesight became too dark and everything faded.
"I can't believe it... I was so close." he said as he sat up. "Oh, princess Luna... will I ever-"
He noticed as the blanket slipped through his chest that he wasn't wearing his shirt, and getting aware of his body, he looked down and saw that he was wearing nothing at all. He looked around and his clothes where nowhere to be found.
"wh- what?"
The door opened slowly and a winged woman came in. He couldn't believe on his own eyes, it was princess Luna. His heart was beating so fast that it was almost painful.
"Thank heavens you are awake. I was worried you wouldn't be awake until the sunrise."
"P-p-princess Luna?!"
"Yes, Pipsqueak?" she walked slowly to his direction.
He blushed so deeply that she rushed her steps and placed her delicate hand on his forehead. He didn't had a feaver as she feared he would have.
"You collapsed right before me, and I brought you to my tower. The doctor said you just needed to rest, but I insisted to him to come back before the sunrise. Are you feeling well, my child?"
"Y-yes... I-I am just a little nervous...."
He could feel his heart almost bursting his chest.
"There is no need to be nervous, Pipsqueak." she interrupted herself as she remembered something."I beg your pardon, Pipsqueak. Your clothing was soaking wet and stained with mud. So I asked Silvery to take it to the laundry. Do not worry, none of my subjects laid an eye on you as I took your clothes off."
"Ah... o-okay.... thank you, you highness..."
She blushed lightly.
"You have my word that I respected your privacy, Pipsqueak."
"It's okay, your highness. I trust you. It's just... I still can't believe that I'm here with you. I've longed for this moment for years..."
She smiled at him and held his hand gently. His fingers were cold, but his face was burning red.
"My voice is so soft and my words are kind... why? I have never spoken like this since I came back from the moon..." she mumbled.
"Y-your highness?"
"My apologies, Pipsqueak. I must be tired. It has been a long night, but it's almost time to lower the moon."
"Dream walking might use too much energy. Specially because Equestrian population has only grown lately."
"Yes. But I shall not complain, since Equestria has been peaceful these years, there is not much fear in people's hearts..."
Suddenly, the door opened and an albino woman came in with another servants bringing some hot food and dry clothes. Seeing princess Luna so close to him made them a little uneasy, but they left silently. Silvery looked concerned at her princess, but knowing her well, she knew that Luna has always been unaware of how gossips could do big harm to her reputation. She left without saying one single word, but her mind was working on some way to advice her princess to not act so recklessly.
"I hope you don't mind, Pipsqueak, but I asked them to cook a nice meal for you. I thought you would wake up hungry."
"Thank you, princess..."
He has never seen so many different dishes at the same meal. It must have at least 3 plates of different mixes of salt`ed vegetables, 2 kinds of soup and 2 kinds of cakes for dessert.
"I... I don't think I can ever finish it all... would you like to eat with me, your highness?"
She smiled and sat right by his side.
"It would be a honor, my child."
