Ruling a nation was annoying work, Luna thought. Certainly, she had done quite a lot of difficult things in her time, but they had always been challenges she could face head on. Facing down a foe or defeating a griffon army she could do without hesitation or doubt. This subtle game of nobles however, was something she had difficulty comprehending. Finding loopholes in the laws, playing your allies and opponents, showing favour to some and disregarding others… She couldn’t see the point. She was a goddess for makers sake, and the ruler of the nation to boot! Her will was supposed to be law!
Why should she have to do this?
Because Celestia had told her to.
Not directly of course. Makers forbid Celestia should be direct! No, her sister had just subtly indicated that maybe Luna should get more in touch with how Equestria was managed currently, and she, like the good little sister she was, had of course jumped on the possibility to please her older sibling.
What a foolish decision that had been. This “game” of nobles wasn’t for her. It had always been Celestia’s task in the olden days, while Luna was out, expanding Equestria or defending it from those who would see it destroyed. The affairs of court had never been her strong suit.
Not that Celestia had not tried to help her. Several advisors had been appointed, by Celestia herself she was told. Not that it did aid her much. She was more inclined to set fire to the bunch of them than let them “advise” her.
Furthermore she felt lonely. A familiar feeling to the night goddess. She might have denied it in the past. Convinced herself it was her how she preferred it. That she didn’t need other ponies. But why bother with delusions anymore? She knew what she was, now.
Her sister had insisted she go out and make some friends. But how should she do that? The castle servants were terrified of her, half the nobles hated her, and the other half hated her as well, but hid it in order to suck up to her in order to gain more power for themselves. Her Night Guards were the only ones she could trust, and they kept their distance out of respect and awe of her. She couldn’t just venture out of the castle either. The general population of the country despised her as well, only the ponies of Ponyville had shown any appreciation for her, and that was mostly the foals and fillies, she could tell the adults there still feared her.
She sighed to herself, the same loneliness that had filled her with so much anger and hate all those years ago now only left her feeling empty and sad. It wasn’t like she didn’t deserve this after all, she had no right to complain about her plight. Least of all to her sister who had allowed her to resume her position even after all she had done.
Luna rose from her position on the puffy sofa like pillow that served as her chair, deciding to get some fresh air in order to clean her mind. Wandering the ancient garden always seemed to help whenever she was feeling down. The paperwork and scheming could wait for another few hours-or nights, she decided.
As she exited her room she ignored the frightened gasps of some passing servants and quickly dismissed the guard who made to follow her with a slight wave of her hoof, she’d prefer to be alone, now.
Not long after she had descended onto the main floor of Canterlot castle, making sure to avoid the main thoroughfares, no need to scare the servants unnecessarily after all, or worse, meet some noble wandering the halls, the mere thought made her shrug in discomfort, and she quicken her pace ever so slightly.
Finally she arrived at the little door that served as a the castle entrance to the royal gardens, named such because only Celestia and herself, along with only a handful of other ponies were allowed to use it. That fact and the vastness of the gardens nearly assured her privacy, something she cherished. Nopony to bother her in her moments of weakness.
At least that was what she told herself.
Fresh mountain air mixed with the smell of moist grass assaulted her senses as she stepped outside and filled her with a sense of joy and peace. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to simply enjoy scents of the night and the feel the slight breeze in her fur. For a moment Luna imagined she was free of her burdens, free from all the responsibilities and the duties, free under the night she had created so long ago.
The moment passed and Luna walked deeper into the garden occasionally stopping to admire some flower she had not seen before or to recall memories from ages past when a much younger version of herself had joyfully broken into this very garden in order to prank Princess Platinum or her guards. She smiled at those memories. Those had been simpler times, long before their war with Discord and that which came after.
She tried to push the train of thought aside, but found herself still recalling those fateful events. That day when they had first confronted the god of chaos, a wounded Celestis whimpering in a pool of her own blood while the abomination Discord stood laughing over her broken form. Her own failure to protect her own sister that day… How she had sworn to never let it happen again, only to do the very same thing when she herself was corrupted. She remembered the feeling. The joy of seeing her sister suffer, the thrill she’d felt as she heard her cries of pain. How she had laughed as she sniffed out the life of her sisters apprentice in front of Celestia’s own eyes. She felt stained, unclean, she wasn’t worthy. Her memory would not allow her to forget. Every life she had taken, the pain she had inflicted upon her subjects, she recalled it all in perfect detail down to the smell of their blood and the excitement she’d felt as she made it happen.
Luna let out an almost inaudible sob. She turned her head towards her stars, but could find no comfort in their cold light. The moon only served to strengthen the memories as they assaulted her. The past flashed before her eyes, all her past failures from that fated battle with Discord up until her last encounter with the Elements of harmony. Luna couldn’t muster the will to clear her mind of it, and there was nopony there to help her, as always…
“Excuse me princess, are you alright?”
The ring of the foreign voice broke through the haze of Luna’s mind. She opened her eyes and looked at the intruder with a tear strained face, noticing in the back of her mind that she had, at some point fallen to the ground.
A Pegasus pony greeted her sight, even in the dark of night she could tell she, for it was a she, had a light green colour to her fur and a mane of dark emerald, a white band with the symbol of the sun around her right hoof indicated her as a servant of Celestia. Most likely she had snuck into the garden, Luna ought call the guard and have her removed, banished even, it was a grave offense to intrude in the royal garden.
“Yes, we art fine,” Luna chocked forward trying to sound dignified through the lump in her throat.
“You don’t sound fine, is something wrong your highness?”
Luna took a few moments to collect herself. The utter lack of fear in this pony’s voice took her by surprise. It was the first time since nightmare night anyone but her sister had spoken to her in such a way.
“We were just lonely, pray tell, what is thy name? Why art thou not afraid of us?”
The pegasi looked unconvinced but answered nonetheless, “Do you want me to be afraid of you?” when Luna did not respond she continued, “I’m Lime Green” she paused for a moment, smiling at Luna, “How come you’re lonely anyway? You’re a princess, after all, all the nobles flock to you!”
Now such a brash question would usually have made Luna angry, but she was sad and although she wouldn’t admit it, desperate for some company, and she didn’t wish to chase the only pony who was not terrified of her, away. “Thou art wrong then, the nobles only speak to us because we wield power, they care for nothing for anything but themselves”.
Lime Green contemplated this for a moment, “I guess you’re right, I’ve never meet a unicorn as stuck up as that Blueblood fellow,” the pegasi mare said, “This one time he demanded that I should hover in front of a window to give him shadow while he read, he claimed it would be an honour to serve ‘a unicorn of his stature’” she snorted at her own words causing Luna to smile slightly.
“We once knew a pony who would put even Blueblood to shame in snobbery,” Luna replied, a slight smile emerging.
“No way!”
“Oh yes,” Luna insisted. “His name was Grand Duke Redmane, during the fifth century he was the richest pony in Equestria, he had eight Unicorn squirts, all sons of noble rivals, carry him on a golden chair whenever he left his mansion, he insisted that his ‘noble hooves should only touch gold and diamonds’” Luna giggled at the memory, “poor duke Redmane”.
“Poor duke Redmane?” Lime Green questioned.
“Ah, he meet a most unfortunate end thou see. As it turns out having sons of thine rivals carry thou around on a mountain was not the brightest idea,” Luna explained. “One day a squirt “slipped” and Duke Redmane and his golden chair tumbled down the side of Canterlot mountain, the poor duke survived the fall only to drown Canterlot’s open sewers,”
Lime Green giggled merrily at the mental image, “Are you serious? That’s kind of ironic,”
“Indeed” Luna agreed. “It was after that incident that Celestia had the underground sewers built, to prevent it from happening again. I think she regrets it now, it would have been fun to drop Blueblood there”. She laughed a little at her own joke and Lime Green chimed in. “Tell me Lime Green, why did thou come here to me, surely thou did not encounter us here in the garden by hap stance?”
Lime Green looked hesitant for the first time so far that night, “Well, you see princess, I kind of snuck into the garden, I’ve always been curious about them you understand…”
“We had already guessed as much”.
“Yeah well, you see, I kind of saw you, looking sad, so I followed you, my special talent is camouflage you see,” Lime made a show of her cutie mark, a few splotches of dark green and brown on her flank, “And then you fell and began to cry, so I kind of felt like helping you”.
Luna felt a strange wave of appreciation for the mare in front of her, she had not known anypony compassionate or fearless enough to preform such an act, it warmed her heart, and sooner rather than later found herself nuzzling the Pegasus, “We thank thee Lime Green, thou art a pony most unique”.
Lime Green smiled bashfully, “Oh, I’m sure there are lots of ponies like me around, I’m nothing special”.
“On the contrary Lime Green, out of all the ponies we’ve meet here in Canterlot, thou art the first to approach us willingly ,without a personal motive and without fear. Would thou do us the courtesy of accompanying us as we walk?”
“Sure, I’d love to, and princess,” she added with a slight grin “just call me Lime, everyone does”
Luna smiled in turn, “and thou may call us Luna, nopony does, but it would be a nice change”.
The two ponies, pegasi and goddess walked further into the gardens, talking and laughing about the silliest things. Their stations and duties were forgotten for a night and Luna’s memories found themselves suppressed to a corner of her mind, and by the end of that day they had both earned a new friend.
End.
Really just something I wrote to get some feedback on my writing so that I can improve.