In which Luna hears all about Celestia's date
Princess Luna yawned; her moon hung low in the sky outside the throne room. Night court had finished over two hours ago. She had only just managed to complete the mountain of paperwork generated by the yearly Thestral migration. The soft beat of leathery wings made Luna's ears twitch, looking up to see Silver Fang stood at attention before her.
"Princess Luna, your sister has just returned to the castle grounds. She is currently on route to the dining haul. Will you be joining her?" The night guard captain asked, her bowing her head slightly in submission to the Princess of the night. Luna sighed, reaching a wing out to lift her Captain's chin to look at her.
"We shall be joining our sister, Captain. Would you be so kind as to ask Silver Fang to accompany me?" Luna spoke as she stood, rising to her full height. Silver fang nodded, falling into place beside the Princess before they exited the throne room. Two sets of metallic hoofsteps ringing out across the silent hall as they walked. Luna's dark blue magic shut the door behind them as the pair left the throne room. Luna was used to making this walk alone, so knowing she had some company was pleasant. Silver was the only night guard who could comfortably keep pace with her long strides.
Luna looked to her left as they walked, admiring the stained glass windows that Celestia had brought from what remained of their old castle. She could remember that particular campaign as if it was yesterday. She had led the Equestrian army to the south to pacify a particularly malevolent force of Griffon raiders. It was the same battle where Silver's ancestor had earnt their family heraldry. The lunar alicorn turned to look at her guard. "We would like to have this meal alone with our sister. Please take some time to relax, Silver. We shall look forward to seeing you again this evening for night court~."
The door to the dining room swung open, its handle surrounded in a blue glow before the moon Princess stepped into the room. Her jaw dropped as she saw Princess Celestia, Her sister, one of the two immortal diarchs of Equestria, bouncing up and down like a filly who had stuffed themselves with sugar.
"Celestia, we trust your evening was successful?" Luna ventured, hoping her sister would notice her. Celestia instead simply giggled, grinning wide enough to put the element of laughter to shame. As she watched her sister bounce, Luna pulled a chair back to sit down, floating over a blueberry muffin from the basket of various baked goods on the table. Its delicate aroma had been teasing her ever since she'd stepped into the room. The instant Luna sat down, Celestia stopped her face flushing into a blush that would have blinded a mere mortal. Coughing awkwardly, the elder alicorn sat down across from her sister.
"Lulu... I'm sorry about being back so late." She paused as if trying to figure out how to explain her absence. "We just lost track of time and were enjoying each other's company so much."
Any worry in Celestia's voice melted away when she saw her sister offer a warm smile, shaking her head slightly. "We are not mad Celestia, we have not seen you this happy since our return. Pray tell, what occurred?"
In response to Luna's question. Celestia, Princess of the Sun, Co-ruler of Equestria, your older sister, squeals like a filly that had just returned from prom. Clapping her hooves together in utter joy before managing to get herself under control again. Taking a deep breath before floating a glass of orange juice over to her.
" Well, Anonymous and I met up as we'd planned down at the Royal Observatory." Celestia started her explanation. Luna knew the rough details. They'd planned to meet at the observatory before going to a booking at a new prench restaurant run by the former castle head chef." Anon met me on the way to the observatory, so we figured we'd skip heading there and have some pre-dinner drinks at the restaurant's bar."
Luna raised an eyebrow at this. Her sister was many things; an experienced drinker was not one of them. However, Celestia either did not notice her sister's expression or chose to ignore it, forging on with the recounting of her night." They had a special on these lovely salted caramel espresso cocktails. I must see if Buttered Toast can recreate them here."
Shuffling little in her seat, Celestia paused her story to down half the glass of water." So, Anonymous and I got our drinks and just talked." Her smile intensified as she spoke." No title, no brownmuzzling, He spoke to me, not to Princess Celestia."
"He told me how well he was adapting to Ponyville and that he was thrilled to see me again after the summer sun celebration. He's been working with those two mares who run the spa in Ponyville."
Luna opened her mouth to speak, only to have her mouth shut by a golden glow. Celestia chuckled before continuing. "I'll tell you all about how wonderful his hands are later, but we haven't gotten there yet."
It was Luna's turn to blush, her cheeks flushing red at the thoughts racing through her mind. Perhaps that green mare in ponyville was correct about the wonders of hands?
"As I was saying, we talked about how he was adapting, and he asked me how I was." Another giddy little squeal from Celestia punctuated her sentence. "It was so liberating to talk to somepony other than you about my day, sister."
She stopped as if realising the metaphorical bear trap she'd just stepped her hoof straight into. A moment of awkward silence passed as Celestia panicked, potentially for the first time in over a hundred years. "N-not that you aren't good to talk to Lulu, it's just nice to be able to talk freely to somepony who isn't directly related to me."
"No offence taken, Celestia, I know thou did not mean it," Luna said with a wave of her hoof, calming her sister's building panic attack. It was no wonder to her where Twilight Sparkle had picked that habit up from.
Celestia sighed in relief, floating another glass of water over to her and downing it before resuming the story of her exploits." By the time our table was ready, we'd talked about all sorts. He's been reading up on history and asked a few rather interesting questions."
"What kind sister? Nothing troublesome?" Luna was worried, even though this Anon was fairly mundane. Who knows what national secrets...or more personal ones, Her sister could spill when intoxicated.
"Nothing of the sort! He was asking about Starswirl, apparently what Twilight had told him reminded him of an ancient wizard from his own world." Now, this was news. Anon had said his world did not possess magic. Luna leaned forward in excitement, eager to learn about the world that Anon came from. It seemed to be superficially similar to the world through Starswirl's portal. However, it lacked its own elements of harmony.
"Gandalf the Grey was apparently a rather famous character from some literary epic from his home. He's got a copy on that small tablet of his" Celestia refilled her water before continuing. "He said that he's going to get Twilight's assistance to copy it into a book before donating it to my personal library, I must admit even the short summary he gave sounded absolutely enthralling."
"How long has it been since you actually added to your collection? I saw some new tomes that I do not recall seeing before." Celestia's reply was a mumble so quiet that not even Fluttershy would have been able to make it out.
"What?"
" three hundred years Lulu…" She admitted with a heavy sigh." It's so hard to find most modern literature interesting, I only have an hour or so every day, and I've read most of the originals that created genres as we know them." The solar alicorn sagged slightly at this admission, prompting luna to try and get her back on topic.
"So then, how was dinner?" Luna grinned internally as her question had the desired effect. Instantly Celestia perked back up, her smile reforming wider than before. She was definitely challenging the element of laughter with that grin.
"Well, aside from a minor problem getting to our table. They graciously had the royal table prepared, but I insisted we sit where we had booked." Luna couldn't blame her, the royal table was large and lavishly decorated, but it was rather difficult to talk over. Shouting at your dining companions was never a relaxing way to spend the evening. Luna clearly remembered once having to use the royal Canterlot voice to ask for pepper across one such table.
"Did you know they have a dryad working there who runs their herb garden? I have never tasted herbs so fresh and flavourful in all my years." Ever the little Sister, Luna had to bite her lip to avoid making a snarky comment about that being an incredible number of years. Celestia smiled to herself, relaxing into her chair a little before she was interrupted by Silver Fang entering the room.
"My princesses, the chef desires to know what you might like for breakfast?" The Thestral asked a notepad held with her wing as she withdrew a pencil from her bags.
"Could I have waffles, and my sister will be having a fruit salad with toast," Luna ordered, only to be cut off by a snort from across the table.
" I can order for myself lulu, I'll have three orders of whatever the cake is they ha-"
"Sister, until the salt and alcohol are fully out of your system and you have had some sleep, let the acting princess make the decisions," Luna swore to herself; this was the last time she would let Celestia get drunk like this. The last time she had tried to make a holiday for the anniversary of her favourite baker being hired. With a huff, Celestia nodded from the other side of the table, having conceded to the acting Princess. Both of them remembered Celestia having to pull a similar stunt to make Luna go to bed on time. Neither were keen to devalue the authority of being the acting Princess. Silver Fang offered a quick bow before disappearing back out the doors, shutting them behind her.
"She's rather cute." The elder alicorn teased as soon as the door had shut.
"T-tia, can we get back to your story?" Celestia smirked at her sister as she spotted the blush forming despite the dark fur on her sister's cheeks.
"of course, Lulu, where was I?" Oh yes! The starter was apparently a special request from Anon. He'd worked with the chef to come up with the dinner menu." The last time Luna had seen Anon cook, he managed to burn cereal, so his sudden culinary talent was a surprise. "All dishes from his homeworld, modified to suit the Equestrian palette, it was truly wonderful if I'm honest."
Celestia stopped speaking as a unicorn entered through the servant's door, placing mats and cutlery on the table before bowing and exiting.
"The starter was, I am probably going to mispronounce this, a Tricolore Salad, apparently designed after one of his homeworld's nation's flags. Basil from the Dryad's garden, Some fresh soft cheese made by the Buffalo near Appleoosa and slices of beautifully ripe tomatoes." Luna leaned in slightly to get a closer look, and yes, Celestia was drooling slightly at the thought. The lunar alicorn made a mental note to go to the restaurant and request that menu at some point soon.
"As we ate, we talked about more of his world, his travels around somewhere called Tuscany. I asked him if he'd considered visiting Tuskany, seeing as they sounded so similar. He continued to regale me with his tales of adventure across his world as a student, altho he never said who his teacher was"
"He might not have had a monarch as his teacher Tia, perhaps he was just a student at school?"
"I didn't think of that at the time", Celestia admitted with a quiet giggle. "Tuscany sounded like a beautiful place. After that, he apparently travelled to a land called Greece to visit some ancient ruins."
"Why would he visit ruins? Especially if he was not there to see it in its pristine condition?" Luna asked. She knew of Daring Do and her cover identity as AK Yearling, but that pony was by far the exception, not the standard.
"He was a student of history at the time; it was rather exciting to see just how passionate he was. I granted him permission to visit the royal archives, so I must get that properly formalised tomorrow….uh later today." Celestia had continued, unaware that Luna was lost in her own thoughts for the moment. "Just how long was I out?"
"8 hours, dear sister, you left after lowering the sun at 10, and it is currently 6 in the morning." The lunar alicorn answered; she could practically feel every minute of lost sleep escaping from her. However, curiosity was enough to keep her awake for now. She wanted every detail of her sister's evidently successful return to the battlefield of romance.
"I'll finish this story quickly for you then, Lulu." The solar alicorn conceded, realising just how tired her sister was beginning to look." Once we finished the starters, we sat there in silence for a short moment, just enjoying each other's company. The main course was some kind of Pasta and tomato sauce. I'm not entirely sure because we were distracted by blueblood interrupting."
Luna signed. That certainly explained where he disappeared to. Blueblood had evidently given his guard the slip and went out on the town. Why Celestia adopted that waste of space She'd never know.
"After I shooed him off, we ate in silence. It was still delightful if I'm honest. Anon told me a little about the time before he woke up in the ponyville town square. Apparently, he was out camping, got lost and set up camp in a clearing, which he later learned was in the Everfree forest. So he must have been transported somewhere in the forest." Pausing her story to take a drink of her water, the well-trained servants arrived, sensing the lul in conversation, floating Luna's waffles along with Celestia's salad and toast. Luna couldn't help but smile as the smell of waffles, and fresh summer berry compote filled the room, overpowering the small assortment of baked goods that had been on the table before.
As soon as the servants had exited the room, Celestia resumed her tale with renewed excitement." The desert was incredible Lulu, something called a Panna Cotta, this sweet vanilla gel thing with a berry sauce over it like your waffles."
Celestia stopped speaking to bury her muzzle in the salad. If she wasn't an alicorn, Luna would be concerned that she'd forgotten to breathe. Moments passed before Celestia emerged from the salad, her muzzle stained slightly red with tomato juice. Sighing contentedly, the solar alicorn smiled at her sister. "I didn't realise how much I needed that. Thank you Lulu."
Luna chuckled as she floated a napkin over and wipe the tomato juice from her muzzle, prompting a laugh from her sister. "Aren't I supposed to be the older sister?"
Luna just smiled in response, taking a bite of her waffles whilst waiting for Celestia to resume her story. "So, we had our desert, and I know he said that his world lacks magic, but that desert must have been alchemy! It was truly incredible. He explained how it worked and how he'd worked to find a substitute for one of its key ingredients for about two months leading up to now."
Luna's waffles were wonderfully fluffy. However, that softness was swiftly forgotten as information and dates slotted together in her mind. "Wait, that means that he started planning yesterday just before the summer sun celebration?"
Celestia gave another giddy squeal before smiling wide. "I've never had somepony other than you spend that much time planning an event for me. I felt so special when he explained it all! He said that he couldn't ask for the elements' help with it because they'd likely let it slip to you in their dreams or that Twilight would tell me in her reports on his progress adapting."
Luna had learnt her lesson about investigating the element's dreams after a particularly revealing encounter in the dreams of the element of kindness involving a dream clone of herself, the element of laughter and enough whipped cream to make Discord feel ill. However, she had to admit it did make sense about Twilight's reports.
"It also explains why Twilight reported she felt Anon was hiding something from her", Luna commented, recalling a message from a distressed Twilight reporting that Anon was hiding something from her. With a swift nod, Celestia inhaled before resuming her tale.
"After we had finished our dessert, he paid for the meal, which I wasn't expecting, but it was lovely to be treated to a meal like that. Afterwards, we elected to take a walk back to his hotel room." Once more, Luna raised an eyebrow at this but refrained from commenting.
"It was a rather short walk, but once we were in his room, he offered a massage and honestly, Lulu, I am so glad I accepted. Those hands of his are absolutely divine. My shoulders were apparently like granite, so he simply stood next to me, kneading them as we talked." By now, Celestia had finished her breakfast before sitting back in her seat. "He talked me through what he was doing and how there were knots in my muscles formed due to stress and worry. By the end of the night, I felt absolutely fantastic! I hadn't realised just how stiff I was."
"So was that what took you so long? The massage?" Celestia mustered another blush as bright red as the one before.
"I was not lying when I said that my muscles were like rock. However, he was a true Gentlestallion about it all, escorting me back to the palace afterwards."
Luna gave a nod of approval, relieved to see that good manners extended all the way to other universes. However, She could still tell something was wrong with her sister's body language. Celestia's large white ears twitched subtly as if she was trying to find the correct words for something. "I can tell there is something else on your mind Tia."
"W-well, would you mind taking over my duties, two weeks on Sunday? I wish to travel to ponyville to surprise him," Luna could only smile.
"Then, my dearest sister, I shall ensure the night sky on Saturday and Sunday are truly breathtaking. It is a joy to see you this happy." She looked down at her plate to finish the world-class waffles before the sound of a wooden chair hitting the floor drew her attention. Luna looked up just in time to see a bright white object impact flying directly towards her before it crashed into her. Squeals of joy and excitement filled Her ears as Celestia had sprung across the table to pull her into a hug that would likely have crushed the bones of a mortal.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"
Author's Note
The first of two greentexts I've got written on my Ponepaste that I intend to be writing up as full Prose. Sorry if it's a little messy quality-wise, I don't usually write in the third person.
That said, I hope you enjoy!
