The Heart of Pleasure
By Haunter Rayne
Chapter 121 - Affections & Projections

As the group began to disperse from Twilight's castle, Rayne made sure to saunter over beside Spike and whisper in his ear. “Excuse me, Spike, but I was wondering if I could have a chat with you. Maybe someplace quiet, like in your room?”

“Oh, okay sure. But what is it about?” Spike asked innocently as he motioned with his arm and began leading Rayne down the hall.

“It’s about that little favor I asked you for before.” He said with a grin. ”I think that now it’s finally time.”
- -

“Appleloosa? You’re sure?” Rayne complained while holding his brown in frustration.

“Yes! I am, I’m certain!” Spike repeated to the point of exasperation. “I’m telling you, your only other options are Manehattan or Fillydelphia. And both are much farther away.”

Biting his lip in frustration, Rayne whined, “I had really hoped there’d be one in Canterlot.”

“But there ISN’T!” Spike shouted. “I would know, trust me! Twilight and I only grew up there and who knows how many times I’ve gone back while helping Rarity with her fashion shows. I’m telling you, if you want to pick someplace close, then Appleloosa is the closest that you’re going to get.” Spike insisted while Rarity sat out of the way in the corner, struggling with all her might not to giggle like a little school filly over what she was being allowed to listen to.

• Elsewhere in Equestria… -

“I’m telling you Luna, this day could not have lasted any longer than it did.” A very worn-out Celestia complained to her sister as the two sat together in Canterlot Castle at a dining table.

“My apologies, sister. I had seen the schedule which had been set forth for you today and I tried to address as many of the issues as I could last night…but from the sound of things, it wasn’t enough.” Luna said with an apologetic tone.

Slumping further in her seat the white alicorn gave out a sigh, “No, I noticed and it was appreciated.” She responded listlessly.

The two sisters were taking the rare opportunity to simply lounge together, with Celestia lazily pecking her way through dinner while Luna was enjoying a light breakfast and reading the earlier day’s newspaper.

“Forgive the interruption, a letter for you princess.” One of the guards said to Luna, who then took the envelope from him while savoring the taste of a strawberry.

“Two more days…” Celestia went on with her groaning as she levitated an ice pack to her forehead to appease her migraine. “Two more days of these endless deliberations and then I’ll have the plans for every event in Canterlot all squared away from now until the end of the year. Then, I will FINALLY be able to take at least a few days off until the next disaster undoubtedly falls upon me to deal with.”

“FFTTUUPPPHHHTTT!!!” Chunks of half-chewed strawberry came flying across the table, spewing its mess about and with one piece catching the sun crested princess right across her eye.

“Eh, um… sister?” Celestia called out in annoyance. “When I said I might take a few days off, I didn’t mean to alarm you to think that I wouldn’t still be around.” She said while carefully wiping a napkin across her eye.

“Oh no, I am so sorry Tia, I did not mean for that to… Oh but thou must please come and see this.” Luna replied fervently, speaking at an accelerated rate.

Smiling almost matronly at seeing the excitement of her younger sister, Celestia got up from her chair and adopted a bit of a teasing tone as she said, “Well I suppose if you’re just going to openly invite me to poke my nose into your love life then I guess I can forgive you.” Levitating her chair over beside her sister, Celestia sat back down and scrunched her shoulders up excitedly. “Okay, so what does it say?”

“Listen to this!” Luna nearly squeaked with anticipation as she began to read.

“Dear Luna,
Please forgive this sudden request but as
the light of the moon waits for no star to shine,
so does my impatient heart long
to see you again.

As I sit here alone becoming overwhelmed
with thoughts of you,
I succumb to the longing anticipation
of seeing you again.

I hope you do not find my plea too forward,
and should my request be ill met
then I apologize. But please, princess,
torture me no more with your
absence which haunts me.

Allow me an outing without tarry to
See you again.

I shall await your favorable reply,
and hope that your wish
is to see me too.

Sincerely and yours,
Rayne

By the time the letter was through, Celestia had completely forgotten about her migraine and was an obnoxious cackling mess. Even Luna was giggling as she fought with her sister to quiet her down. “Tis nothing funny about Rayne… he is mere confessing his… tis fine if his emotions are a little carried away if… Oh, stop it, sister!” She proclaimed through rosy, blushing cheeks.

Snatching the letter out of Luna’s grasp, Celestia got up from her chair and began rereading aloud, “...I succumb to the longing anticipation of seeing you…! Torture me no more with your absence which haunts me! Ahahaha! Oh, Luna… Is he serious? Dear sister, whatever sort of kiss did you give him when last you two were alone together?” She snickered teasingly towards her little sister.

“Give me that back!” Luna shouted as she chased her around the dining table while Celestia continued to laugh hysterically.

“Ohhhh, Luna, he’s got it for you so bad! Haha. The love between you two is so cute. It’s like you're a little filly and he’s just a little colt, and neither one of you has learned how to contain your emotions for one another! It’s so sweet that it’s almost sappy, I can’t believe it!” Celestia snickered and then screamed as she had to duck when Luna shot a blast of magic at her, causing the letter to fall with Luna pouncing to catch it before her sister could snatch it back up.

“I thought it was a lovely letter! And I don’t care if thou findeth his words to be too idealistic or childish. Rayne appreciates me, and more importantly, he makes me feel appreciated in turn. And for that…” She paused, ceasing her yelling at her sister before just staring at the letter pensively. “For that, I cannot wait to see him either.” Then after staring at the letter for a moment Luna suddenly spoke up with determination saying, “It’s decided then.”

“Oh, is it now?” Celestia chuckled as she leaned back against the table with a hoof. “And when will you write that you will see him again?” Celestia asked, catching her breath but still with a smile.

Picking up a silver platter and checking her reflection in its smooth flat surface, Luna said, “I shall see him now.”

“Now?!” Celestia balked and almost fell over as her hoof slipped from the table in her surprise. “You can’t go to see him now!” Celestia reprimanded.

Stopping immediately in place, Luna turned to look at her sister and asked, “And why not? Tis night while I am up and free. And it is not so late yet, so I am sure he is awake. Also, he has stated his request to see me and I too desire to see him. So why shouldn’t I go?”

Grimacing uneasily, Celestia said, “Don’t you think that might make you seem just a little bit desperate? He makes the request and immediately you just come running?” Celestia asked.

“Uh, well um… no?” Luna pouted out awkwardly as she began to tap her hooves together.

Celestia just rolled her eyes and asked, “And what would you do if you did go to see him now, hmm? Certainly, there would be no plan. I highly doubt that even Rayne could pull a date together on such short notice that could warrant his royal girlfriend coming to see him unexpectedly.”

Twirling a hoof along the floor, Luna mused to herself playfully before saying, “Well… I bet that I could have him kissing me faster than thou could lay thyself to bed and sleep tonight.”

“LUNA!” Celestia shouted in surprise at her sister. “Careful now, else you might convince your older sister that you’re not so trustworthy after all to be allowed on dates with Rayne unattended.” She said jovially but still with an air of concern.

Laughing it off, Luna now leaned herself against the table and said, “Needn’t you worry Tia, for Rayne is indeed a perfect gentlepony. And while I am not so naïve as to think he is without interest, I promise not to proceed too hastily with… amorous desires that…”

“That you won’t be behaving hastily with Rayne as I did once upon a time with Hot Streak?” Celestia smiled, not being ashamed of admitting the truth while speaking in confidence with her sister.

“Yes, exactly.” Luna agreed. “Even if saying so might not actually be accounting for much.”

“Luna! Why you-!” Celestia growled as her younger sibling who was indeed feeling brave this evening to push at such buttons. But before Celestia could react, Luna had already stepped away from the table and began calling out behind her.

“Very well, you have made your point. Perhaps giving into excitement could lead to decisions I might regret later on. How about I write that I shall see him tomorrow evening after the proper arrangements can be made? Does that sound more appropriate?” Luna asked but did not wait for a response. “I’m off to write my correspondence to him immediately. Have pleasant dreams tonight, dear sister!”

“Oh, excuse me, princess. You have an audience requested wi-” A guard said upon running into Luna as soon as she stepped out into the hallway.

“No, I am sorry but I am preoccupied right now. Whatever it is shall have to wait.” Luna commanded without even listening and hastened with excitement to return to her tower.

• The Very Next Night -

For the small farming style town that Appleloosa was, there were far more ponies awake and about at night than Rayne had been expecting. While most of the citizens did follow a typical farmer’s schedule and had turned in for bed, evening activities were not altogether absent as amenities in the expanding town consistently grew.

One of these attractions was the construction of a proper working movie theater. Motion picture films were not quite in abundance in Equestria but there were enough for the different movie genres to each have a following.

It was outside of this theater, back around the corner of the building on the darkest edge of town, that a stallion waited patiently until somepony new teleported in to remain discreet and unseen by all the town’s residents. “Oh, it looks like I have made it. Did I arrive at the correct time to meet?” Luna asked while feeling anxious as getting ready had taken her longer than she’d planned.

“Perfectly. Right on schedule.” He reassured her. She smiled at him while immediately taking notice of how his loose-fitting white shirt succeeded in making him appear commonplace, but also made Rayne appear quite rugged causing Luna to have to quickly keep her thoughts to herself. Meanwhile, as he had requested, Luna had worn the least fancy dress she had available that was long enough to cover up her cutie mark. “And for the finishing touch…” He said while pulling a surprise for her out from behind his back.

“Oh, what’s this?” She laughed as Rayne placed a sort of long bonnet over her head to cover up the majority of her luxurious mane.

“Just a little something I picked up for you to help us blend in. Do you mind it?” He asked as she looked it over and then allowed Rayne to place it on for her.

“But I didn’t get you a present.” She said, batting her eyes and smiling to show that she appreciated the gift.

“Alright. Come on. Let’s go.” Rayne said to her excitedly and then outstretched his hoof for her very informally, not treating her as a princess at all. Luna blushed and felt refreshed. She threw her regality to the wind, took hold of Rayne’s arm, and allowed him to lead her while she held close to his side.

Looking around as they went, Luna took in the view of the small settlement to which she had never been. As she noted the dusty dirt roads and the farming equipment that lay out in the open, Luna leaned a bit closer to Rayne and whispered, “When I suggested that perhaps you treat me less like a member of royalty and more like a mare wanting a typical romance, I’m beginning to wonder if perhaps you have taken my words too literally.” She said with a gentle laugh.

Rolling his eyes and smiling warmly in return, Rayne said. “Alright, alright. Stop your teasing. I said I didn’t want to obligate you to have to travel so far from Canterlot on our next date and Appleloosa had the closest motion picture theater without having to go clear across Equestria. But, I guess if you’re really saying that you’re dissatisfied with being here then…”

Luna was quick to hold his arm tighter. “No, no. And very well, I am sorry.” She said, smiling playfully at him. “You needn’t worry so much. I trust you Rayne, and I don’t doubt that I shall enjoy our date which you have planned for tonight.” The feeling of how she almost cuddled him made the stallion blush as they walked.

“Okay then. Well, it’s right this way.” He choked out and tried not to seem too embarrassed as his voice cracked while he blushed in front of her.

Stepping into a short line in the front of the theater building, Luna and Rayne waited their turn until a stallion at the ticket booth turned to them and asked, “Ah, are you two together? And which movie would you like to see?”

Before them was a small placard that highlighted four different titles available. Rayne couldn’t tell much about the films from having just the names available to him, but one of the choices had a silhouette of two ponies together in a heart. Thinking it reminded him of his own cutie mark, he decided on that one. Then looking up to the ticket master he said, “Yes, my girlfriend and I are out on a date tonight and we decided to come see a movie together. It’s both of our first times ever seeing one.”

Luna gasped at Rayne taking such a brave step as to refer to them in public as being officially together. The ticket master, seeming to pick up on this, leaned closer over the counter with a smile on his face. “Oh, is that right? Your girlfriend you say? Special someponies together now, are you?” The older stallion asked in a teasing sort of way.

Luna, biting her lip and smiling while feeling a bit brave, suddenly clung onto Rayne’s arm tighter and said, “Yes, that’s right. We are. And my boyfriend is always full of surprises that make me happy.” Then she looked at him and Rayne to show she wasn’t just saying that for the ticket master’s benefit.

Laughing at the sappy younger couple, the ticket master tore them each a ticket stub and said, “Well, alright then. In that case, you’d better not keep her waiting. Here are your tickets.”

• -

As the two sat down together in their seats, Rayne was glad to see that his date seemed to be enjoying herself. Luna looked around never having seen the inside of a movie theater before and she marveled at the screen in front of them while also noticing the small window leading to the projector room behind them. “So as I understand it, light with pictures is shined from behind and then somehow we can see them reflected on that large white sheet out in front of us?”

Rayne chuckled and nodded as he held Luna’s hoof with his own. “I believe it’s called a screen, and yes, that’s the basic gist of how it works.” Luna just nodded in response and then was quick to snatch the popcorn back away from him with a smile.

There were a few other ponies around in the theater, some couples while others were just sitting individually, all wanting to experience the cinematic magic. But Rayne was relieved that the seats weren’t too crowded as the light on the screen began to shimmer and the audio from the soundtrack started to play.

“Ooooh,” Luna exclaimed as a musical dancing number advertising the concessions started to play. “Oh well, this is fun. It’s like cartoon pictures that school fillies draw, except much better in quality of course.”

Rayne just smiled, trying to keep his thoughts to himself, knowing full well how movies worked from having watched hundreds back home, ending up in Equestria. “Yes, I believe they start with a little introductory program and then they play the featured story right after.” However despite his attempts otherwise, he could not resist thinking to himself, "Wait, didn't I create this very scene for Discord back a couple months ago?"

“Oh, we get to watch two programs?” She cheered excitedly and then began the slow progression of single-handedly decimating the tub of popcorn while they watched the singing concession items conclude their dancing number. After that, a brief introduction starring the names of the actors began to play while a visual of flowers falling continued in the background. After that, a short scene began to unfold where a clear love connection was established between a noble’s daughter and a handsome farmhand.

As the movie progressed, Rayne was pleased to see that a smile never left Luna’s face as her eyes seemed positively glued to the screen. He tried to focus and pay what attention he could to the movie itself, despite the disappointment of finding the film script to be a bit drab. Rayne found himself to be much more entertained by just seeing Luna enjoying herself.

Knowing this was Luna’s first time seeing a movie, he really didn’t want to spoil it. However, the overly romantic stallion, with a head full of cliches, felt his heart leap into his throat when an irresistible opportunity presented itself. After innocently changing her seating position while never appearing to take her eyes off the screen, Rayne felt his mouth run dry as he realized there was a gap behind her back now which seemed perfect for the exact width of his arm. And sure enough, moving slowly after feigning a stretch, Rayne aimed his hoof to fall where it would land delicately around her shoulders.

“And just what do you think you are doing?” She whispered coyly, not even bothering to look away from the screen, but with a little smirk on her lips that felt piercing to his chest.

Rayne coughed guiltily as he pulled his arm back and then sighed to her in realization. “Heh, I guess you caught me.” He admitted, wondering if perhaps she hadn’t leaned forward on purpose just to see what he would do.

“This might be my first time seeing a movie, but I’m not unfamiliar with the ways of a stallion to place the moves on a new mare-friend, Rayne.” She said cheekily, with her smile only growing wider as she was having quite a bit of fun teasing him.

“Yeah, definitely on purpose.” He thought to himself with a laugh.

• -

When it was over and the curtain began drawing closed over the screen, Luna stood up and stretched before turning back to her date with a smile. “So, that was a movie, huh? Thank you, Rayne, I really enjoyed getting to share this new experience with you.” Then without hesitation, she stood there reaching out, seeming eager to hold hooves with him again.

Without making her have to wait, Rayne stood up and immediately took her hoof while smiling at how she leaned in close to him. “It was my pleasure. I had fun watching the movie with you too.”

“Hmm? Only with that? Not with doing other things with me during the film as well?” She teased him as they started walking up the aisle together.

Looking bashfully, he sighed, “Okay, I’m sorry. We both know that I tried getting closer to you during the film.” He admitted, trying to not seem too embarrassed while letting her have her fun.

What he didn’t expect, though, was her stopping right in the aisle, looking up to him and saying, “Well I’m not sorry about it at all. It makes me happy to know that thee desired thine hoof to be wrapped around me. And while I seem to have frightened you off during the show, you may place thine arm around me now, if you so choose.” She offered to him tenderly. Then standing there and looking away from him as if absentmindedly, she playfully waited.

Not about to let her invitation go to waste, Rayne firmly pulled her close, giving her a gasp but she otherwise didn’t say a word. She just brushed her mane back behind her ear with a hoof and he smiled back at her as they once again began walking. And why Rayne was feeling like he couldn’t have been more proud to have her at his side, Luna was obsessing over the fear that he could surely feel the heat radiating off of her cheeks from how hard she was smiling.

“So Rayne, what did you think? I truly think it's amazing how they can bring pictures to life like that. But I must say it was a shame the story they created wasn’t a little more exciting.” Luna critiqued as they passed by other theaters together.

“Oh, you thought so too?” Rayne asked, hoping the terrible writing hadn’t spoiled their date.

“It was still nice.” She reassured him. Just as the words left her mouth, they both jumped as a room full of ponies all screaming together, just as the two of them walked by. “What was that?” Luna asked curiously while attempting to poke her head in from the hallway.

Not seeing any movie staff around, Rayne led her inside where they found what seemed to be the end of a movie with several Timberwolves chasing a young group of ponies through the Everfree Forest.

“Ahhhh! Where is Littlehoof?” One actress screamed.

“I don’t know! They must have got him!” Another actor called back. Then they both yelled out as a pony in a very poorly designed Timberwolf costume leaped out to scare them both.

“Ohhh! Rayne, it’s a shame we didn’t pick this movie to watch! It's too bad it appears to be almost over.” Luna remised until her ears picked up when the actor and actress on the screen screamed out again.

With a soft chuckle, Rayne wrapped his arm around her side to lead her back out to the theater hallway again. “So you like that, do you? Motion pictures with scary stories and action scenes in them to build up the suspense?”

“Tis a bit better than a romance story with very little in the way of confrontation to it.” She answered apologetically.

Rayne, however, just waved it off and led her the rest of the way outside. But before they left, he made a quick glance towards the fine print under the movie placard where it read produced by RKO Productions.

• -

Once outside, Luna and Rayne stood far enough away from the town that they would be mostly unnoticeable to any townsponies but could still see each other in the edge of the lights. “You sir, have been very patient with me and respectful of my boundaries.” Luna praised him while standing with her front hooves together and smiling at Rayne. “And as bold as you have been declaring our relationship publicly to other ponies… I was very pleased to spend time with my boyfriend on this night.” Luna said flirtatiously, capping it off with batting her eyelashes a few times.

“Mmm, I’m glad to hear it.” He whispered deeply, speaking in a firm, husky voice.

“I suppose that you might be wanting something… before the date comes to its end.” She teased him, leaning in close and never taking her eyes off his as he wrapped his arms around her.

Rayne paused, for just long enough, allowing her anticipation to eat at her for his response before finally saying, “That may be so… and probably, no less than you’re wanting the same thing, I would hope.” He said to her in a slow, deep, whisper. Then as soon as he felt the tips of her hooves tighten upon him with yearning, Rayne took Luna gently by the cheek and thrust his lips to hers with a smooth and confident kiss.

Luna fell into his kiss as if she had been eagerly waiting for it all night long. The princess wrapped her hooves up around his neck and then held only him as if she’d never want to let go. Then, standing there on the edges of the town lights, Luna and Rayne continued pressing their lips to one another as she tugged onto his arms as if he could never hold onto her tight enough.

• -

Even Rayne could tell how admittedly she didn’t actually want to when Luna finally decided to pull herself back from him. Standing now at just beyond arm's reach to avoid further temptation, she smiled at him while having an absolute glow about her. Her cheeks were positively radiating with warmth and the smile she wore was without a doubt infectious as Rayne couldn’t help but feel the corners of his mouth turn up as he looked at her. “I feel I should leave now, else, it may become too difficult for me to part with you.” She whispered while breathing heavily.

Despite having every single fiber of his being wanting otherwise, Rayne decided not to press his advantage and just lifted one of her hooves, kissing it gracefully before taking a step away from her. “It was an evening like no other.” He said with a smile. “Perhaps if I find a different movie that you might better enjoy, then we could we do this again sometime?” He asked while seeming hopeful and full of optimism.

“I think I would like that. So much so that, in fact, Rayne, I permit you to invite me again, at any time.” She answered with an intriguing tone to her voice.

“What are you saying?” Rayne asked her.

Turning away from him but only to glance alluringly back over her shoulder a moment later, she said, “Well, should you not as a boyfriend have access to see thy girlfriend when you want to? Is that not the proper way of things?” Then after turning back towards him she added, “Allow me to invite a change if you will? Where from you merely courting me and assuming I am unavailable to you without prior request… to us now altering the definition of our relationship in that we are now a couple and I shall inform you in advance when I am not available to you in the evenings. While you may otherwise assume that I do desire to see you if you also would wish it?”

“Yes! I mean, yes.” He choked out before attempting to steady himself. But she did not leave him to waiver as in response she smiled at him endearingly before teleporting from him for the evening.

• Early the Next Day, in Manehattan -

“Helloooo there!” A wild and eccentric stallion called out while his electric golden mane clashed harshly against the dark brown coat of his body. “Welcome to RKO Productions! A company owned and operated right here in the marvelous city of Manehattan, founded by none other than Radiant Motion, Kaiser Snap, and Oscillating Word. I am Radiant Motion and together with my colleagues, we create the most cutting-edge entertainment! Now tell me, what is it that I can do for you today, sir?” He asked with a plethora of awards and certificates shimmering along the wall behind him.

Sitting across from him was an earth pony with an off-white coat and a bushy pale vermillion mane. “Yes, well my name is Svengallop and you might have heard of me. I am the exclusive manager and business broker of the leading musical star, Faceless. I’m here today because our business has taken notice of your business and we want to arrange to work together.”

“You want to bring music into the movie business?” Radiant Motion asked as he leaned forward, causing what was revealed to actually be a golden toupee to fall forward. Slicking it back again as if nothing happened, the movie producer smiled while listening as the music producer went on.

“What I’m saying is we are prepared to assist with audio tracks for your films, be it voice-overs, background scores, or even exclusively featured songs written just for your movies! Under a pseudo company name, of course. But all we ask for is the right to suggest our own stories and scripts for additional titles you might create. Now speaking of which, how long exactly does it take for your company to produce a film?”

Sitting there feeling rather caught off guard by the sudden question, Radiant fumbled for a moment before saying, “Uh, well… you mean the whole thing? From start to finish? Well, let’s see… We’ve got casting to go through, set designing, the actual recording to get done followed by editing. I’d say about four to six months if you’re talking about one of our smaller-time pictures. It can easily take twice that though if you want to produce a bigger film.”

The off-white stallion almost dropped his glasses from his face as he looked over the desk to the other pony and replied, “Over six months?! Oh no, no, no. I’m afraid that simply will not do at all. Let me tell you what… How about my company creates the film ourselves, and in record time, and then we simply provide you with the film reel? How long do you think it would take to run it through your system and have it reach distribution?” The pushy stallion asked while absolutely blindsiding the movie producer with his forwardness.

“Oh, uh, I mean you’re a music company though. Do you know anything about how creating films work?” He questioned.

With a sneer, Svengallop beamed at him, “Put me in a room alone with a camera pony, a lighting director, and a set organizer, for ten seconds and I’ll pick up everything I need to know. I guarantee it.” He remarked, much to Radiant’s confusion. Not requiring him to actually understand, Svengallop clapped his hooves together and shouted, “COME ON, I mean, hehe, time is money, is it not? Now tell me, how long would it take to kick a reel through your works?”

Placing his hooves together and thinking about the unlikely scenario he’d never had to face before, Radiant answered, “Ah well, if you did in fact somehow put a whole film reel together for us, then I supposed we could have it distributed to theaters in a couple of weeks, maybe less.” He estimated, doing his best to answer the music producer’s questions even though he didn’t see how it would be possible.

“Excellent!” Svengallop cheered as he lifted himself to his hooves. “That’s much more acceptable, and I’ll be looking forward to everything we can produce together.”

“Wait, you’re leaving?! Already?!” Radiant shouted out in surprise.

“That’s right. I’ve gotten what I came here to do. You can expect the contracts and paperwork to be delivered from my office within forty-eight hours. And I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other in the coming days ahead.” Then without a word he turned and stepped straight out the door. However, as soon as he had, the earth pony shifted momentarily to resemble a much larger and darker figure before teleporting away from view.

• Elsewhere in the City -

Sitting behind his desk in the band manager’s office, Svengallop toiled over paperwork and compared varying financial reports to confirm that all the numbers were adding up evenly with where they were supposed to be.

“Well, would you look at this? It seems that those bumbling idiots Flim and Flam have been doing such a good job with maintaining revenue that we have enough capital saved up to fund Faceless doing another Equestrian tour.” He cheered happily.

“I’m so very pleased to hear that, and at such a convenient time as well.” A deep and menacing voice spoke out. Svengallop literally jumped in his seat as a massively built black cat crawled out of seemingly nowhere and lounged itself down upon a couch as if it owned the place. “I’m glad to see you working hard for me, Svengallop.”

“B-boss…?! What a nice surprise to see you. I didn’t, uh, hear you come in.” He said, not quite sure how else to respond to Rayne’s invisible appearing act.

Waiving it off, the panther looked at him while speaking in a commanding tone. “Forget any ideas of Faceless doing another tour right now. We’re going to maintain the status quo of underground performances and record distribution for the time being. But we’re going to use that extra money we’ve earned to expand our productions in a new direction.”

After blinking only a few times out of surprise, Svengallop just picked up a pen and a blank sheet of paper while thinking to himself that he should be used to surprises like this from Rayne by now. “Yeah, okay! A new direction, great. So tell me what you’re thinking and I’ll make it happen.” He answered, knowing better than to question the devil that he worked for about what he wanted.

“We’re going to go into the movie business,” Rayne answered. “Production costs should be cheap seeing as I can just make copies of myself and then use my changeling magic to turn into ponies that don’t actually exist and use them as the actors. It’ll be a fun experiment for me seeing as I’ve never had any reason to use it before.”

“You have changeling magic too?” Svengallop sighed as his ears slumped. But he quickly began writing down notes as Rayne’s ideas came spiraling at him. “Alright boss, I think I’ve got most of this down. I should definitely have enough to get the ball rolling on this. I’ll have something put together for you by the end of the day so we can get started and I’ll have all the legal arrangements written up to send over to RKO studios by tomorrow.”

“Puuurrrfect…” The panther sneered while Svengallop avoided eye contact.

Author's Note

So it wasn't too many chapters ago when after a date with Luna, Rayne had asked Spike about there being movie theaters in Equestria. Well I hope you enjoy how that plot seed as turned out. And yes, there will be another movie date between these two lovers in the future. And also, Rayne is going to be getting yet another profit source once Svengallop quickly expands their business.

Now here was another fun bit of getting to write Celestia and Luna being sisters together. I do so enjoy writing them teasing one another when the moment allows for it. Also, Luna seems to still have a taste for strawberries lingering on her mind. I wonder where that might have come from? Hehe. But Magnus it seems has lost yet another chance with her this evening.

Now several of you have commented that you enjoy getting to see other places in Equestria and I admit, I do enjoy writing about them. Appleloosa is great because it is ever expanding, giving me a lot to work with. And you never see in the show if it's just the one theater or if they have different screen rooms. So I took advantage of that.

Now the song "Let’s All Go to the Lobby" has been referenced in my story before. Back when Rayne was buttering up Discord he created the confections display around the Ponyville fountain. But whether somepony in town saw that and then passed the idea to RKO productions in Manehattan or not, I will leave to your imagination.

Speaking of which, Radiant Motion, Kaiser Snap, and Oscillating Word are all OC names I came up with just as a placeholder to imitate Radio-Keith-Orpheum, the original parent company of RKO Radio Pictures. It's just a fan tribute because growing up I was a huge fan of RKO pictures and they liked to hide their logo in nearly all of the movies they produced. But it is unlikely we'll see any of these OC character names I created in the story again.

Now there's a point that I want to draw focus here for the way that mares interact with Rayne while on a date with him. And that is the difference between the girls "having fun" and "making fun" of Rayne. Lots of times I've had Starlight, Rainbow Dash, and now even Luna make little jokes or tease Rayne at his expense. But it was always lighthearted playful behavior. They weren't trying to be mean, but I feel that a bit of teasing is healthy in a relationship and allowing a partner to have some light jabs is nothing to raise your nose about. Chrysalis on the other hand can be downright insulting to Rayne. In fact there will be a lot of parallels I create between the things that Chrysalis and Luna do and say with him which will be the same, but are meant in two entirely different ways. So for those who are interested, it might be fun for you to look out for them.

And in case I didn't make it perfectly clear, Svengallop was not the pony talking to Radiant Motion in his office. It was Rayne while using Changeling magic. With the exception of posing as Faceless, Rayne doesn't actually use his Changeling abilities too often, if ever at all.

Oh and lastly, while she hasn't spoken to Magnus officially about it yet, it would appear that Luna has made her choice between the two stallions. Or at least for now, hehe. ;)