Luna's hooves made contact with the ground and the soft sound of muffled disturbance from her presence followed. She folded her wings and paused. The moment just long enough for her mane to settle into its usual movements now that it was no longer swept up and dancing in the crisp midnight air. New spring grass and a light, glimmering frost crunched under her hooves as she walked with a fluid grace unmatched by any, her dark form slipping into the shadows with a natural nonchalance. Mountain grass brushed her long legs, their soft sound its own melody. Fireflies blinked in the air that was just cool enough to excite the softly treading goddess.
She quickly found her specific destination other than the familiar mountain ledge. From this clearing above the city of Canterlot, she could see the city whose lights glowed with a soft, distant loveliness below. Though the sight was beautiful, she no longer paid it any mind.
Firelight glowed with an enrapturing and breathtaking warmth. The sight of the bonfire, so very far away from ponies only served to widen the growing smile on her face. It was one that nopony in Canterlot save for her friend, Cadance, and sister were likely to ever see, and even they only glimpsed it in part.
But he almost always saw it.
Soon, Luna was grinning and couldn't help but hum a small snatch of a song under her breath. The fresh grass tickled her bare hooves and the stars glittered above, at least, when the cover of curling clouds didn't hide their light. The bright glow of her moon, which shone softly from its place in the sky.
The cloaked figure sitting by the bonfire looked up. Luna watched as the dramatic shadows and dancing flame brought out the deep crimson of the cloak and flicked across the cover of the book being levitated in familiar, crimson magic. A couple of empty cans of soup and discarded plastic sporks lay nearby the rock he sat upon. Luna did not mind them, she saw how there was order to how they were arranged and knew they would be cleaned up later.
It was only when she stumbled over her 'hello' with a giggle that the hood fell and two knowing crimson eyes met her, unsurprised by her presence. He was clearly pleased to see her all the same. Luna saw him mouth 'hello yourself' with a teasing arch of his eyebrow and a friendly smirk in the dark. She knew it was a smirk because she saw the glint of firelight on his small fangs. Her forehoof raised in a small, giddy wave, and watched him blow a strand of his disheveled black mane out of his eyes and return the gesture. His were hooves bare of the metal boots he usually wore. There was always a small rush of good feeling when she finally got to see him.
Without a word spoken, she nearly jumped over to where Sombra was, her nimble movements blurry and only the deep swoop of her wings heard. Sombra didn't flinch like everypony else or give her the mildest of disapproving looks. He was both used to her mannerisms and was bothered by so few of her traits, if any at all.
Soon, one of her wings was wrapped around him, feathers stroking the opposite wither. Luna's telekinesis was greedily weaving small braids in his mane.
"What are you reading?" she asked, voice soft, happy, and brimming with curiosity. Luna's eyes were all too eager to drink in Sombra's features and the subtlest of motions — like the glance he made at the contents of his diverse reading material.
When she caught the curve of his usual smirk in the dark, she leaned forward to give him a soft kiss on the cheek — which he leaned into — before pulling away so she could hear his response.
"More philosophy I wasn't around to see developed in full."
She glanced at the page. "'Science of Logic'? Oh, I know that one. What do you think of it?"
Sombra's smirk grew in the dark and his crimson eyes were alight with familiar roguishness. "Maybe it's just me, but I can't help but find morbid humor in these things. This was the same stallion who said that what mortals learn from history was that they don't learn from history — and he was right, you know. It's no wonder there are Alicorns."
"That's because you are you Sombra. You find 'irony' in flyers hanging around the city when we are out. To find dark humor in such things all too you, love."
She felt him shrug and watched Sombra's horn glow a slightly brighter shade of crimson than before. Right on the corner of the page that Sombra had been reading, a translucent crimson symbol in a language that nopony but Sombra knew upon first glance shimmered on the page. A few more soon followed. They faded and Sombra closed the book. The sight was not strange to Luna — Sombra marked his place in books all the time when they were among the company of one another and nopony else. Another flash of his horn and it was gone — most likely to the hidden pocket realm he lived in between trips, anchored in this same clearing.
She continued to stroke his mane. "How did your trip to Tall Tale go?"
He snorted. "There was sub-par coffee and a lot of fire."
Luna's smile vanished, but she wasn't angry or upset. "So there shall be stories that I can expect later?"
"Unfortunately," Sombra mumbled.
Laughing softly and nuzzled her way into his dark mane and gasped, a few giggles of surprise followed when Sombra pulled her into a surprise hug. "What have you been up to this past month then? Mercenary business was flexible enough for me to still be able to read all your letters."
"Even if it wasn't," Luna murmured, kissing him again, "I know you would have."
"You know me far too well," Sombra grumbled, only to have Luna pet his ears. She smiled up at him from where he held the slightly taller goddess in a hug.
"I would hope so; being ignorant of my lover would be most insensitive of me." She flicked one of Sombra's ears with her magic and flashed the grumpy stallion a cheeky smile.
The flat stare she received in response could only hide so much amusement. "And it's somehow possible to be ignorant of me? I'm only a recluse, Luna. With a lifestyle like that, it's hard to be anything but notorious."
A dramatic gasp escaped Luna. "Indeed! You are truly infamous in your choice to remain hidden from the public instead of throwing yourself among them and declare your—" she held a hoof to her mouth to hide her shining smile and choked giggles, "—alleged 'reformation' to all every chance you get."
Grumbling, Sombra gave a playful roll of his eyes and nuzzled Luna, whose muzzle met him halfway, bestowing a small kiss before she shifted herself so that she was seated next to him.
Luna's eyes sparkled with mirth as she looked at Sombra. "It is always a pleasure to see you," she said softly. No matter how obvious her words were to them both, she could see the brief curl of a half-smile on Sombra's muzzle tell her that the sincerity was what mattered."And it shall forever be a delight to have you back in my hooves, no matter how many times you return to me."
Sombra nodded curtly, but not unkindly. They didn't always need words and he was a blunt stallion most of the time.
Pragmatism and flamboyance ran in him in equal measure. He quietly accepted Luna resting her head on his cloaked wither, sighing.
"...Ponies?" he asked, guessing the cause of any stress for her during the time they were apart.
"Ponies," she confirmed with a touch of exhaustion, and, of course, relief at their absence.
Sombra snorted and rolled his eyes up to the stars, sardonic exasperation written over every bit of his expression. A short bit of dry laughter sounded from him, and Luna thought the sound a treat, relishing in the sound.
The look he shot Luna next was a silly one — dramatic, sarcastic, both things she knew to expect from Sombra. They promised wit and the theatrics that only they liked to engage in, and more often than not, privately. She loved the look of that rare smile — Sombra was not unhappy around her, he just chose to show it in other ways most of the time. She just knew one of the jokes that held humor they alone enjoyed was to come. Silently, Luna predicted that Sombra was about to begin one of his grand, grumpy, cynically humorous monologues that never ceased to entertain her with what his mind came up with. They always had the over the top humor and touch of morbid insight and exaggerations that were a riot... to her, at least.
So she waited eagerly, and stared up into Sombra's eyes with no attempt to hide those feelings. Her eager, almost innocent, stare and cheeky smile as patient as she was, watching every bit his tricky smirk. His eyes were hiding something, those crimson irises held some kind of trickery just for the two of them. There just had to be a monologue coming.
Sombra looked at her and she looked carefully back at his intense stare. Just what genius tirade was he about to go on?
"Ponies," Sombra said simply and clearly, ruffling her forelock teasingly with a hoof. His tone was level, and there was a snarky edge to it, but when wasn't there?
Rarely. Very rarely.
Luna's laughter was all the agreement that Sombra needed.
...
They talked for hours sometimes, and other times not at all. In the case of the latter, they might slip into his pocket realm, unless they had some other idea of where to go. Otherwise, they would often stay outside. Sombra's clearing and the rest of the remote territory of Canterhorn Mountain were perfect places to roam, there they could talk and hide their laughter and words from everypony... or say nothing at all.
Those silent days were filled with reading or other tranquil activities that they shared only with one another. On the days — to be truthful it was more often nights or evenings instead of 'days' — that they had something to say, it was often in excess. Sombra and Luna would discuss the content of what they read, what Luna sketched, or something interesting Sombra saw on a walk.
Today was the former. Sombra and Luna had been talking for hours into the night and unlike so many other sounds, their voices suited the atmosphere and added to it instead of butchering the usual sounds of the night.
Any topic could come up when they put their minds to it. Lighthearted and grim topics could occur within a few minutes of each other. There were times when Sombra, to show off or for any reason, spoke some language other than Equuish. Luna would join in if she knew what tongue he spoke in, or even better, there were times when she'd respond in another language too, one that they both knew but wasn't what he had spoken in.
It didn't matter how they spoke, they understood one another, no matter how it was they spoke. Even if she knew nothing of which language he spoke, Sombra would see curiosity beat out the confusion in her eyes and he'd coax the correct pronunciations out of her and help her stumble through a few new phrases. History and grammar would be woven in there too, and she would start to grasp things, slowly some times and quicker during others.
Tonight started off wading through hours of conversation that was meandering like a river. Contemplations flowed in parallel, voiced and debated lightly and pondered in the silence between them. Wit was tossed back and forth. Small questions popped into being, with curiosities that had to be satisfied.
Luna's smile had softened to a thoughtful look - one that she had far more often than the smiles she showed Sombra. She snuggled up to his side, the dew-slick grass underneath her exposed belly dampening her fur the longer she lay on it. The cool sensation was welcome, so she did not mind.
Sombra's side brushed against her own from his place next to her and his forehoof lay over hers, clasping it. She felt his tail overlap with hers and heard the soft sound of its occasional, slow swishes across the grass. Luna thought it made a nice background noise.
"...and Cadance ended up eating the contents of three cans of spray-able paint-cheese before demanding a glass of water."
Sombra stopped nuzzling into her thick mane for a moment to look at Luna. "That is a sight I hope I never have to see."
Smiling a little, Luna tilted up her head to nuzzle him before lowering it again to make viewing the fireflies across the clearing easier. "It was certainly strange. After consuming the contents of four more cans she passed out. Shining Armor had to come and check on her... needless to say, she slept quite soundly on the train back to the Crystal Empire."
Sombra's muzzle was in her mane once again, nuzzling around. Luna heard him chuckle into it, his small fangs pulling gently at something in her mane.
Luna bows her head forward so her long mane can spill in front of her face. She feels something come undone and Sombra nuzzle something familiar out of her mane.
A black headband fell into Luna's hooves as she brought her head back up, shaking her head so that her mane whipped Sombra in the face. By accident, of course.
"Murp!" he exclaimed grumpily, much to Luna's delight, a grin breaking across her face and a peal of rich, melodic laughter filling the air.
When that was done he looked down at what lay in her hooves, his black bangs spilling into his eyes, and even in the dark, she caught the vivid shine of those crimson irises.
"This is the new regalia then?" he teased, nudging her once and lifting up the simple black headband with his telekinesis. It wasn't what she usually liked to wear, but it was comfortable enough — and a bit different too. She especially liked it for not being that cute, and Cadance had agreed, in her girl-talk and slumber parties way that she had introduced to Luna, telling her how it was Luna and her quirkiness that helped the outfit. The mare made the clothes.
Another smile made its way onto Luna's muzzle. "Yes, Sombra. 'Tis all the rage. Princesses bedecked in nothing but headbands."
Without warning, Sombra promptly tied the headband into his mane and tossed his mane flamboyantly before fluffing it with a forehoof.
Luna bit her lip, and thus biting back more giggles. He did look very good with the headband on and the unnecessarily dramatic display. Too good. A small part of her — a too-small-to-matter part that never made sense and was dismissed easily — wanted to curse Sombra. It would be in jest, of course, she'd do no such thing to him otherwise — for how he just had to flaunt he was far from bad looking to her. But she loved it far too much, and found herself with a smile on her face once more. He certainly was a sight to behold when he did things like this, only half-joking with how full of himself he was.
"Then how does Princess Sombra look? Am I with the times? Do I appear mainstream enough for you? On a scale of 'Above Mortal Standards' to 'The Universe Has no Hope of Ever Coming Close to Competing with Me' how stunning am I?"
Luna gulped. "Come again?"
In the back of his throat, Sombra produced a short, indignant growling noise. "Flatter me."
Luna crossed her forehooves in front of her and fidgeted with a strand of her mane, reclining carefully against Sombra while she thought. She noted that his fluffy winter coat was almost entirely gone and nestled deeper into the fur his cloak did not cover, eager to snuggle into the still-soft, familiar warmth.
"You look..." She paused and waited for the right word to come to mind. Sombra loved attention and praise from those closest to him — he was a shameless egotist, after all — but he wouldn't tolerate being lied to, and Luna was not one to lie.
"...Eccentric," she finished, tugging at the sleeve of the black hooded sweatshirt she wore.
"Don't I always?" Sombra said, poking one of her wings with a bit of magic and smirking when she started, eyes widening temporarily.
She nodded and reached up a forehoof to flick one of his ears again. The small tufts leftover from his winter coat made them especially irresistible... and fuzzy. The small bits of fuzz that made lynx-like tips at the ends were stupidly fun to tease. And almost every time, Sombra looked on with the same grumpy stare. The only exceptions were when he was startled, then he would recoil slightly, his own pupils going wide and tail swishing suddenly. A startled warble would sound in his throat and a flicker of shock and the mildest bit of offense would cross his face.
However, today was not such a day. Luna received a grumpy stare that only intensified gradually with each passing moment like water boiling in a pot.
He lit his horn and tugged at the dark fabric of the sweatshirt's sleeve. "What's the story behind the hoodie?"
"Oh!" Luna exclaimed, propping her head up with her foreleg as soon as Sombra had released it. "Cady and I were spending quite a bit of time together while you were away."
"Despite the fact that she's moody as Tartarus and eating the most disgusting combinations of food now?"
"Actually, Sombra, Cady is nearly as moody as you now."
"That's impossible," he huffed, ears twitching.
"You didn't share a room with her as often as I did. She's gone from being peppy about parties of slumbering to almost militaristic about them."
"Lovely. Now, all we have to do is wait a few more months for the corruption to be finalized."
"Sombra, she's expecting a foal, not delving into dark magic. There is a difference."
He snorted and rolled his eyes once more, and wrapped a forehoof around her withers. "Of course there are differences between a pony corrupted by dark magic and a pregnant mare, they just aren't substantial."
It wasn't as if he didn't have a point... Luna flicked his ear with her hoof when he wasn't looking and was rewarded with a startled, yelping trill.
A mischievous smile curled across her muzzle. "It works every time, no?"
"It doesn't," Sombra grumbled, folding his ears.
"Nearly every time, Som," Luna corrected.
Sombra made a series of grumpy demon growls before answering. "...It does not."
"Most times."
"Stop."
"You did not deny that my tactic is effective."
More growls, purposely kept unintimidating, but low little growls all the same.
"You know you like it~!" She poked his muzzle.
He narrowed his eyes and shot her a direct, withering look. "It's your fault my life is like this."
"Aye, it is." She smiled briefly, fondly. "Yet you never deny that you like either."
Sombra's response was to pull her closer. "I don't deny those things because I'm not much of a liar."
"I know," Luna said softly, leaning against him. "For that, I couldn't be happier." A brief flash of her magic raked through his mane carefully, stroking it. "Now may I continue my tale of the fabled and exotic 'Casual Fridays' without interruption?"
"Perhaps for now," Sombra replied, smiling slyly in the dark.
...
In her forehooves, Luna carefully guarded a softly pulsing orb of magic. No matter how many times she looked at it, the orb — a soft little flare — was like a star that she cradled. It didn't quite touch her forehooves so much as it was just guided and restrained by them.
Night wind blew again, stirring Luna's mane with a cold gust. She was glad that her headband, as impartial as she was to the object, was safely stashed in the pocket of her sweatshirt. She sighed in bliss as the cold mussed her long mane and tossed it about. A few sparkles shone in the dark before her mane resumed rippling.
It was late enough that the sky was chilly and dark enough to frighten most children and be dismissed by most grown ponies as 'black' and black alone, as her hoodie was. These were the hours when sunlight didn't seem possible. Everything was dark, cold, vast, and solitary. One could look around and never feel more alone in the world opening before them.
It was absolutely perfect. The looks Luna and Sombra shared with one another in a silent way to comment on this 'said' the same thing with a multitude of silent variations.
Starlight was bright, but distant. Dawn — or even the thought of it — was distant. The cloud cover was plentiful too, but nopony would notice that — not without the night vision Luna had. Maybe Sombra, who spent a long time in the dark and had nocturnal habits could make out the outlines of the drifting shapes.
The luminescent glow reflecting in Luna's teal eyes and bathing her dark coat with a haunting, beautiful glow did not come from a single one of the stars in the sky. Instead, the bobbing orbs nearby the mountain's edge, where she was perched. The wind was strongest there, and she did not doubt that she would safe. To be on the edge of what would be an abrupt and lethal drop for a pony wasn't the same for her. Balance and the absence of fear did wonder. Wings that slid easily through the holes that she had cut in the fabric of her sweatshirt some time ago helped too.
Exactly seven great werelights, all roughly the same size, drifted around and nearby Luna. She was still devoting her attention to the one between her forehooves. Having a chance to show Sombra magic she had been working on was always something to look forward to. She was always eager to see any magical work he had been doing as well. Each of them always had something to share, and there were plenty of projects that they could collaborate on too.
This was not one of them, but that was no bother. She simply wanted to show Sombra the special faux stars she created — ones that, when pushed into the sky, would begin to grow and drift farther... and yet the light of the imitation stars would be visible from their world and whichever others happened across the lights.
A nearby sound caught her attention. "Som?"
What Luna found upon turning around certainly wasn't something she'd seen before, and yet, it wasn't entirely unexpected either.
"Rr-row?"
There was the demon's distinct vocalization, brimming with confusion as the sound escaped him. He rarely let such tell-tale sounds occur outside of the company of Luna and Cadance. While his appearance could be disguised, for it too was an obvious clue to his nature, Sombra's array of non-pony vocalizations marked him as too different for the ponies of Equestria.
Sombra stood close to one of the lights that had drifted away from the more hazardous edge of the mountain. Though he was able to sense magic, there was far more for him to be curious about.
Luna watched, a thoughtful frown on her face as she observed Sombra — who, in turn, observed the light.
Observed. Curious. Neither word was fitting for the sight Luna beheld. She pulled her light a little closer to her, so she held it as a mother might cradle an infant foal. She could see the look in his eyes and how they focused, with the utmost clarity, upon the shining light before him.
Entranced. Sombra was entranced by the small light. It was not the same fondness he had for stars. That was just a love of star-watching that Luna was glad they shared — but the obsessed, utterly enthralled, and distracted look that he had around rays of sunshine on the ground, floors, and walls. It was the same look that he got when he spotted moonbeams and other, obvious stray beams of light.
Usually, Sombra would pause just long enough for Luna alone to notice and she'd see restraint and all the body language of disinterest set in... except...
Except for the slightest prick of his ears and how he could never hide all traces of that look from her.
With her own light still clutched close to her chest, Luna watched as Sombra prodded his light gingerly with a forehoof, the movement delighting him. His ears perked up even more as an obvious confirmation of this.
He batted the light with his forehoof and watched as it moved ever so slightly because of his interaction.
Sombra promptly sat on his haunches and jerked the light down slightly with a short, rough, and possessive jerk of his crimson aura.
Luna watched his crimson irises shine in the dark, visible even to her, though no great distance was between them.
He tilted his head to the side and his long mane spilled into his eyes. One forehoof reached out to bat at the light quickly, and he continued to bat at it with that forehoof, nudging it around.
Biting back a giggle or any tell-tale smile was frustratingly difficult for Luna.
It became even more of a challenge when Sombra started using his second forehoof to bat at the light.
And then the first again.
When he decided to use both forehooves to rapidly paw at and bat the light back and forth Luna was unable to contain herself any longer and burst out laughing.
The night would not last forever. She knew she would be returning to Canterlot Castle — where, for various complications — Sombra would not be following her.
She would be surrounded by ponies as part of her job as a princess. It was inevitable. Yes, she usually took up the less social duties whenever she could, as Tia and she had plenty of work to divide when they weren't attending to certain duties exclusive to themselves, but she was bound to have to suffer through a meeting here and there, and everything else that might come.
Luna ruled Equestria, not the other way around. Ruling Equestria was her job, and it was not meant to be fun or anything other than what it was.
However, spending time with Sombra was everything that ruling a nation wasn't.
He was stubborn, honest, temperamental, charming, and eccentric. There was nopony she knew who disliked ponies as much as he, but an hour with Sombra was nearly priceless in comparison to all the hallmarks of being a princess — mostly anything about dealing with ponies outside of the dream realm.
Equestria was Equestria. It could be bothersome and Luna knew this. That would be okay.
Sombra was Sombra. Spending time with him was practically Paradise... just better.
She watched Sombra stand at the edge of Canterhorn mountain. He had batted his light too far off the edge and he was currently standing and looking out over the city's dim lights below and his own — the one he didn't bother to fetch. His crimson cloak was caught in the night's wind and billowed dramatically as he stared at the world before him with a look of deep understanding.
"Luna?" he said eventually.
"Y-yes?" she answered softly, the first syllable marred by a hiccup-like giggle.
"I want another."
Luna wrapped her light in her turquoise telekinesis and tossed it over to him, watching the crimson of his aura shine in the dark with a smile on her face.
It was certainly a wonderful night.
Author's Note
Technically, this is a prequel to Castles, but I didn't think it stood that well on its own, so here's a fluffy prequel-sequel. The ability Luna shows here is also a callback to this story here, in case anyone wants to read it.
[Revised for print on 11/26/2020]
