The Story of Poland

I really need to stop thinking about what will happen come tomorrow night. I need to get some sleep! Who knows how long I'll be up for! I thought, trying to focus on falling asleep. It was no use. Besides, staying up because of Luna in general has broken my normal sleep times. On any given day I would fall asleep at around 10:00 and wake up when just a bit of light came, which was usually around 5 o'clock. That gave me a good 7 hours of sleep, which worked well enough for me. But these past 5 days has blown my normal times out of the water. Friday and Monday had about 4-5 hours of sleep, and tonight didn't seem like an exception. I took a look at my clock; 11:50.

Great.

If I fall asleep within the next 10 minutes then I'll at least have... What, 5 hours? Ugh. Ok if I concentrate on sleep maybe I'll doze off and get enough hours for me to operate normally.

It was no use. It would be at least another 30 minutes until I felt tired enough. Oh well...

“So, tell me exactly why you think dating and relationships and stuff are so funny?”€

“I don't know, really. I actually asked myself the same thing. Maybe because I'm just an old stallion, I don't know!” Aero replied.

“Uh huh.” I said. “And just who do you suspect I'd be meeting, during work may I add.”

“Not my problem! As long as you do your job then I don't really care.” He said, sipping his coffee.

“Alright...” I suspiciously replied. “I'll be on my way then.”

Coffee still in his mouth, he raised his mug as if were to say 'Have a good one'.

I decided to fly a bit higher today, as to get a better view of Canterlot. It really was an intricate place, and a society to match it perfectly. Mornings were always beautiful there, as weather patrol here (including me, at least before Friday) were always alert and well trained. We all knew that we could get in trouble if a raincloud were to float over Canterlot, or worse, rain while there. While all of the houses had roofs, the delicate clothing most ponies wore could be completely ruined, and that meant the pegasus responsible would have to pay for repairs or replacements. And that meant that I would have to take care of the cloud I've been watching since the Everfree came into view.

There was defiantly more rain in these set of clouds than earlier this week and lasts. Thinking about it, Monday had some rain, and today had more rain. Could this possibly be some kind of foreshadowing? The odds seem rather low in numbers; Then again, so were the odds of me even meeting Luna in the first place, much less what happened Monday.

After that the rest of the route was surprisingly normal. No Princesses, no more clouds, just like any other day. The night, I knew, would be the opposite.

--

The time of year made the sunset look absolutely beautiful. Not only that but I could actually enjoy it. I wasn't nervous at all, unlike I'd expected. I was hoping that Luna would tell me about why she was so sad. Sure I have a vague idea as to why, but I wanted to know her story, and give her some support if she needed it. And maybe help her out with that loneliness... I shut the thought out of my head. A relationship with Luna? Now that's really far-fetched. The chance of what happened before was already pretty slim, but having any kind of relation beyond what will probably happen tonight is about 1%. More like 1% of 1%.

She was in the same place as she was last night- On her tower behind the gold-plated telescope. As I neared closer I saw that she wore a completely calm face. I noticed that her weightless mane flowed, regardless of whether there was wind or not. She finally noticed me when I was literally within feet of her. I guess she was trying to organize her thoughts and think about what to say. She looked pleasantly surprised.

“Poland! How are you?” She exclaimed in a casual manner. I suppose there wasn't a reason to be very formal anymore.

“Hi Luna, I'm doing good! How are you doing yourself?” I said with a smile. I noticed she was sitting on a blanket that had two glasses, a small candle and a bottle of wine on it. That's a bit odd- usually those things would be used on a...

It hit me like an express train.

On a date. But why? This isn't a date... I think. No, dates are two ponies either meeting for the first time, or on one of their first few times getting to know each other. Then they usually discuss their lives...

Oh my Celestia, I'm on a date with Princess Luna, aren't I?

“€I'm happy!” She eagerly said.

“Happy?”

“Happy to be here with you, of course!”€ Luna replied.

Did she just say that? What? I don't even... This is so confusing.

“Well I am too!” We both smiled, though we didn't really make eye contact. Then again it would be hard to see, because of the darkness. I really wasn't expecting all of this.

“Oh, uh, would you like some wine?” She asked. I'm not too into those kind of drinks, but this is an exception.

“Sure.” I replied. She then used her magic to lift up the bottle, open it, and pour a little over half a glass into each cup. I will admit that while I do rather enjoy flying, magic would be an interesting thing to learn. The levitational aspect looked neat, not to mention it's usefulness. Glancing at the bottle and noting the date I realized that it was just over 30 years old. Impressive. We then both took a sip. It didn't taste bad, actually.

“So tell me about yourself Poland.” Luna said. Yep, just like a date.

“Well, I'm 30 years old, I live in Canterlot and I'm on the weather patrol team.” I proceeded to tell her a bit more of my background; Where I was born, where I went to school, some growing-up stories, and how I got to this city. I was shocked at the relative ease all of this was to say. It was going great!

“€So tell me about yourself, Princess.”€ I said. Maybe we're getting somewhere here.

“€Well, I raise and lower the Moon, I was banished to it for... a long time, came back as nightmare moon...”€ And she continued on with her background as well. It was interesting to hear such a story from a Princess; An inside look to things that most ponies don't know about.

Like me, she didn't mention any relationships. She had to have been in at least a couple in the past, considering she set up this stuff, and also how long she's been alive. Besides, she was quite a desirable mare. She has an elegant figure, a beautiful coat, and her mane... Well what can I say about her mane? I love it! The way it sparkles and effortlessly flows in the nonexistent breeze amazes me.

There was a burning question that I had to know the answer to.

“I've noticed that you seem lonely, Luna. Why is that?” I asked.

The mood seemed to change.

“€Well, the night can be that way. Nearly everypony is sleeping at this point, and while they are awake, I don't really have anypony to talk to.”€ She said. I wondered if that was the whole story.

“€And what about...” I stopped short of finishing.

“€About what?” Luna asked. I guess it's now or never.

“Uhm, well about a stallion?” I slowly asked, having no idea what she would respond with.

She moved a bit closer to me.

“Most ponies seem to be too scared, me being a Princess and all.” She replied.

“But you didn't run away.” she added.

My heart stopped and time went by in slow motion. No way that just came out of her mouth.

What do I say back? I thought as I looked into her eyes, and she looked into mine.

“Umm...”€I had to be blushing like crazy. I was at a loss for words (in a good way) and could only hope she picked up on it. We were under a full moon, and my face was so red that she probably did. We both looked away from each other. It was nerve-racking.

“Oh, I'm sorry” She said.

Stumbling over my words,

“Oh it's fine, I'm just...” nervous! I'm rediculously nervous! “Ah, whatever...”€

Luna chose to leave it alone. She had to have known that I was quite timid, so does that mean that not everypony got too scared? I mean, at one one point she had to learn what was nervous and how to act. I took a sip of wine from my glass.

“Anyway,” she said, changing the subject, “It was interesting to learn so much about you, Poland. I hope we can meet again.” I felt like she wanted to say something else.

“Same here! You're quite an interesting pony, you know. I'd love to see you again too. Maybe... Saturday?” I happily replied.

“It sounds like a plan.” She said with a smile, standing up at the same time. I stood up as well. My Celestia, how long was I sitting there for?

“Well then” I said while opening my arms for a 'goodbye for now' hug.

She leaned in and gave me a hug, and thanked me for listening to her.

But before she let go... A small kiss landed on my right cheek. Now time completely froze. I was in disbelief, shock, and confusion! My legs felt weaker.

We pulled away from the hug, and I forced eye contact for a brief second. I didn't even care about the color of my face at this point.

“Oh.. Well I'll see you.. on Saturday, Luna.”

“I'll see you then, Poland.”

I was so baffled I knew I had to actually faint, it was simply too much for my brain to handle; But doing that in front of her would be so incredibly embarrassing I had to put it off. As I opened my wings all of the blood drained out of my face- I bet that didn't help either.

I then flew away, barely holding myself up with wings made of gelatin.

Where's the damn post?? My vision was starting to decrease, which made it hard to spot it when it was actually very close. I was getting disparate, and began to panic. I really didn't want to be 'The pegasus which fainted mid air and was found dead near the streets of Canterlot.'

Just as I lost feeling in my wings I managed to aviod outright crashing into the cloud in front of the small office.

And then... Nothing.