Serenity

Chapters

The Dance
Duels
A Quaint Village
Losing Track

The Dance

Cold.

That's all that she ever answered when asked about the moon: It was cold. Cold and dull. It wasn't painful, it wasn't uncomfortable, save the cold, and it certainly wasn't fun. Her consciousness was trapped there on the moon, while her body really wasn't anywhere. Once the stars had broken her free, her body reformed from the mist and moonlight around Ponyville, the quaint, oddly named little town where the Summer Sun Celebration had taken place.

After that, it had only been a matter of time before she either crushed the Element Bearers, or they used the power of the Elements to cleanse her of the evil power that manifested itself in the form of Nightmare Moon. Obviously, the Elements had won, or else she wouldn't be standing here in her private chambers, staring at the moon from a balcony.

Once cleansed, it was merely a matter of learning and adjusting to the new customs. A feat she failed at until her visit to Ponyville a year later. There, Twilight Sparkle and the other Elements of Harmony helped her learn to be 'normal'.

But it didn't help. Whilst in town, she believed the only reason her subjects feared and rejected her was because of her extremely loud voice and frightening displays of power. But now she knew better. They hadn't feared her status as a god-princess, nor her voice, or even her powers to cause frightening displays. No, it was her past sins that were feared. It was her, the goddess herself, who was feared by her own 'loyal' subjects.

Only Celestia, the very being she'd betrayed and overpowered twice, trusted her anymore. Only Celestia believed in her change of heart. And only Celestia treated her like a person anymore. It was actually the only solace in her daily existence these days. When it was just her and Celestia, they completely ignored their duties as goddesses and rulers, and acted like children again.

Even now, she wasn't sure if her guards were at her door because of honor, respect, loyalty, or simply because they worked for both princesses, and Celestia had told them to guard her. She glanced at the door, seeing no reason to doubt their loyalty, but no reason to expect respect either.

She turned back to her moon. Her moon. Her glorious moon. Designed, created, and controlled by her. Along with the stars, the Auroran Lights, and the sky itself at night. These were her canvas, paint, and masterpiece, all in one. To believe her entire banishment had been caused originally by the fact that no one cared for this masterpiece of hers. These days, people stayed up late, stargazing alone or with someone special, or watching the moon rise, or even waiting for a scheduled meteor shower.

One thousand years ago, she wouldn't even bother to warn anyone about her meteor showers, because she believed no one cared. But now, she would have to schedule them weeks ahead of time, lest her subjects request a repeat the next night so they wouldn't have missed it.

Oh the thrills she got the first time that happened. She actually forgot to schedule on purpose the second time, just to see if it would happen again. It did. It amazed her that the night could be so admired by her subjects even though she was so despised.

The gentle smile that had played across her lips at the thought of the meteor showers faded into a frown at this thought. It was true; her night had surpassed her in love. She was the unappreciated artist behind the most famous painting in the world. The painting that was used for love, symbolism, friendship, and peace, whilst it's artist longed for these things.

There was a gentle tap at the door, pulling her out of her sulking thought, and she turned to face the sound.

"Yes?" She called.

"Princess. Your sister is here to see you." Her guard answered. She looked over to her nightstand, where her crown waited, and used her magic to levitate it to her waiting hand.

"Very well. Let her in." She said, adorning the beautiful artifact that had been hers and hers alone to even touch for thousands of years. The door opened, allowing her radiant older sister to enter. She was, as usual, dressed in her majestic royal regalia, consisting of a white dress and golden metal pieces attached to her wrists, feet, and chest, all complimented by her white wings that rested, folded against her back. Her golden crown rested on her head, partially covered by her soft, thick, pink hair. She was adamant that her hair looked better in its glowing, flowing state, but she wore it this way for her sister only, as she believed it looked better this way.

"Sister." The younger acknowledged with a nod, then turned back to examine the sky. She focused on a small collection of stars, then with the twitch of an eye, a new star formed and three others shifted slightly, causing an entire group of fifty stars to form an elaborate image of a scorpion.

Celestia walked over and stood next to her, examining the new constellation with her. "Beautiful. You know... I couldn't do anything with your stars while you were gone, Luna. I barely changed a thing with your night sky."

"I noticed. You changed one of the Ursas. You messed it up, and it took me three days to fix it." Luna said, looking over to her sister.

"And that's why I didn't change it much..." Celestia laughed, blushing slightly. Luna giggled lightly at Celestia's distress. They looked back to the stars above them, admiring Luna's handy work. "Mm... Yes, it certainly didn't need my touch. I'm used to a clear sky, only marked by the work of my angelic subjects. Certainly, I have no artistic touch in my work. Blue isn't very artsy is it?" She asked.

"Not alone." Luna winked and for a short moment, some of the stars disappeared, showing the dark navy blue sky clearly. The stars reappeared in their exact places after a second. "But then, I think adding to the daytime sky would be offsetting for our subjects."

"True. I doubt if they'd adjust quickly..." She sighed contentedly. "No... I leave the beautiful paintings to my beautiful sister who knows how to do it." Luna blushed at the compliment of her appearance and the praise of her work. Her abashed smile suddenly faded when her eyes, in an act of shy modesty, fell to the streets of Camelot.

"Beauty doesn't matter if no one bothers to look at me..." She muttered. Celestia gave her a concerned look; the kind a daughter would receive from her mother.

"Dear, you are quite beautiful, and people do notice. They just..." She trailed off, trying to think of how to put it in a way that wouldn't prove Luna right.

"They just fear me too much to care for how I look." Luna said, turning away from the balcony railing, and walking over to her bed. She removed her crown and tossed it on the bed frustratedly. She flopped down on the bed, causing the crown to bounce up and land on the floor with a clatter. Luna didn't care, knowing that her crown was exceedingly durable.

Celestia walked over and sat next to her, wrapping an arm around her tenderly. "Trust me, Luna, there will be someone who doesn't care about Nightmare Moon. They'll just care about you. Not your godhood, not your royal status. Just you." She gave a soft squeeze around Luna's shoulders for emphasis. Luna didn't move, however.

"I doubt it." She mumbled.

"I don't." Celestia said sadly. The two stayed there for a while, before Celestia remembered why she had come here in the first place. "Here. Let me try to prove you wrong. The Grand Gala is coming up again, and I know you haven't attended the two since you... came back, but I would love for you to attend this year's."

Luna gave her an uncertain look. "I don't know..."

"I'm sure there will be someone there you can befriend. I'll invite Twilight Sparkle and her friends back if you wish." Celestia offered. The thought of Twilight Sparkle and her five friends' faces flashed through Luna's mind and she found herself tempted.

"O-okay..." Luna said after a long pause, giving a small smile as she spoke.

The Gala wasn't for another few days, but Luna could wait. She'd waited one thousand years to make amends for her sins, even though she was stopped by Nightmare Moon's rise to power. She waited through that as well, but she still made her amends.

It was then that she got her first glimpse of her saviors. There was Twilight Sparkle, the ever-loyal pupil of Celestia. She was smart and definitely one of the most talented of the Mages in Terra, but she had no social abilities. This was a minor feat, however, as it didn't stop her from helping Luna with her own social skills.

Then there was Applejack, the honest farmer. Strong, hardworking, and faithful to her friends. She was a friend that Luna would have been happy to have. Her, and Rainbow Dash. That skilled Angel stuntswoman was one of the fastest fliers Luna had ever seen. Her unending loyalty was famed throughout Terra.

Next was Rarity, the fashionista. She was equally obsessive with style, and generous. It was hard to pin how she worked, seeing as her sense of business was held as highly as her sense of giving. She would just as likely spend a day designing a new line of summer clothes as she would spend that day making a dress she intended to give to a friend for free.

Last of all was Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Those two were similar, and yet, completely different in many ways. There was no one Luna could think of who would love to see you smile as much as these two would, but their approach was the major difference. Where Pinkie would throw a party to make the world smile for a reason as miniscule as simply seeing you for the first time in three days, Fluttershy would sit and talk and listen and melt your worries away. Pinkie's massive sugar-rush personality was sporadic and untamed at the best, while Fluttershy carried a soft-spoken demeanor.

There wasn't a one of them that Luna wasn't at least slightly excited to meet again, but she couldn't say she was ecstatic to attend the Gala either. She wasn't sure what to wear, how to act, or where to go first upon arriving. She asked her sister, who simply pointed out that she only wore her regalia, and didn't often attend most of the minor events of the evening, except for the few occurring in the main hall.

So it was up to Luna to decide how she would spend her night. She decided she'd try to latch on to at least one of the Elements of Harmony.

The day arrived and she changed from her basic regalia into a black and navy blue dress, with light azure metal pieces on her wrists, feet, and chest, giving the whole ensemble a similar appearance to Celestia's basic regalia. She allowed her hair to change form from the light, soft azure she loved to the regal, flowing, dark navy she only wore it in when she was supposed to look 'godly'. After that was all ready, she adorned her crown, which was the only piece of this ensemble she really wanted to wear.

She didn't need to leave early to be on time, nor did she even need to be on time in the first place. She was a princess attending a dance being held in her own castle, after all. She could be late if she wanted to be! Besides, she didn't carry as much responsibility with these things as Celestia did. She wasn't expected to attend to begin with.

Still, the Elements would be arriving almost the moment the dance started, and she wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. Thus, she made her way down the hall, then down a set of stairs, and into the main hall. She saw Celestia greeting some visitors, regal as always, then Luna turned to the door where Twilight and her friends would be arriving through any moment.

She waited anxiously against the far wall,where nobody was, watching the door whilst silently hoping that nobody would notice her. But of course these hopes were in vain. The whole ballroom area was designed in whites, tans, and golds, probably after Celestia, the only princess present when the castle was built. Luna's attire and appearance clashed with these colors; her dark dress, her dark wings, and her dark, flowing hair all stuck out horribly against the walls and decorations.

She saw many people glance her way, but none approached her the way they approached Celestia. They would see her, then swiftly turn their heads away and go talk to the other princess. Luna glanced at Celestia, who was giving her an almost pitying stare until she was caught looking. At this point, Luna began to consider returning to her room and entertaining herself with an unscheduled meteor shower, or perhaps a display of the Auroran Lights...

Her thoughts distracted her to the point that she didn't even notice the Elements of Harmony entering the building. Preoccupied with her thoughts, she stood there at the edge of the room, silently mulling over possible constellations she could form, when one of the six friends walked over to greet her.

"Hello, Princess Lun-" Twilight began, but stopped when Luna jumped at the sound of her voice. "Oh, sorry. Did I frighten you?"

"Merely startled me, Twilight Sparkle." Luna assured, taking a deep breath. She looked up at the other five waiting on them. "Oh, have I held you up?"

"Not at all. C'mon, tonight'll be fun!" Twilight said, gesturing her to follow. Luna followed the young Mage, marveling for what wasn't the first time that someone so young could be the best Mage in the world aside from the two God Sisters. They met up with the rest of the group, who greeted her warmly. For the most part, that is.

Luna was slightly offended that the Angel with the belly-length pink hair didn't speak when she joined the group. That would be Fluttershy, she believed. The shy and timid one, as she remembered it. She silently forgave the young poor thing for not speaking. It wasn't every day you came this close to a goddess.

Well... unless you were one and your sister was one.

They went straight to the ballroom, finding a seat near the window. They chattered away for a bit before a few of them became distracted. After a while, Rarity began the hopeless pursuit of a court adviser, while Rainbow decided to go meet the Wonderbolts again.

This left Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. Luna didn't find herself highly surprised when Pinkie began insisting that she shouldn't just sit here. Applejack went with her, intending to keep her from causing another scene like she had two years ago.

Twilight and Luna held a brief conversation about Shining Armor and Cadence and their current holdings. An awkward silence fell over the three left at the table. After a moment, Fluttershy and Twilight began to look uncomfortable, then they both glanced at each other, an exchange Luna pretended to miss, and Twilight claimed she would like to speak with Celestia and got up and left.

This left the two quietest, anti-social of the group alone at the table together. Luna looked out the window at the sky, thinking that perhaps her earlier idea to head to her room and simply play with sky was not ill-founded. At the same time, Fluttershy began nervously twisting the ends of her hairs around her fingers.

"U-uhm... could we go somewhere m-more uhm... p-private?" She asked softly. Luna looked at her, surprised to hear her voice, seeing as the young angel hadn't even spoken since arriving here.

"Of course. The garden is often unoccupied during these dances." Luna said, getting up and leading Fluttershy out of the ballroom. They walked out to a piece of the garden that was closed off from the party goers. A guard stopped them, but upon recognizing the princess, immediately stepped aside, apologizing dearly, to which she merely waved a hand and said it was fine. He apologized again and moved out of earshot.

The two walked into a beautiful segment of the garden built in a circle around a set of benches. There was an assortment of flowers, all of which were in bloom, as that was the very night the Gala was planned around. Few people were aware that the Gala had originally been in garden and was planned for the night the flowers were all in bloom on purpose. Now, however, the dance is indoors and the flowers go unadmired that night. It made Luna sad...

The two sat on the benches, admiring the flowers silently, until habits got the better of her and Luna found herself laying on the bench, watching the stars. She examined the constellations that, to her, seemed like the back of her hand, but seemed to be a puzzle for anyone below a studied astronomer. To Luna, each and every set of dots was an easy to spot picture, each tiny light merely another describing point in the pictures. She'd even gone so far as to use many stars for more than one picture.

Fluttershy was closely examining a flower that had been crowded by three bees. When one of them didn't fit, a squabble broke out and she resolved it by finding the third bee a new flower. When she looked up from her quiet labor as the loving peace-keeper, she found the princess's hair in her preferred light azure, and the princess herself relaxedly lazing on the bench. She rested one hand on her belly and the other on the dirt under the bench, subconsciously drawing shapes in it.

When Fluttershy followed Luna's gaze to the sky, she saw those same shapes forming amongst the stars in the form of the Auroran Lights. They spiraled and jagged their way around the sky, dancing and showing their glory in a lighted display that only lasted for a few short moments before disappearing. The moment they stopped, Fluttershy looked back down to ask the princess to continue, only to find the princess had stopped because she'd been watching. The princess had looked over at her and realized she'd entranced the caretaker with her light show.

"I-I uhm..." Luna stuttered, sitting up.

"That was pretty." Fluttershy said quietly. Luna's cheeks turned a dim hue of red at the praise.

"Thank you..." She whispered. She was aware that her night sky was enjoyed by the populace these days, but nobody, save Celestia, had ever complimented any of her displays. At least, not to her face. After a moment of sitting there quietly, Luna laid back down, and stared at the stars, trying to decide if any changes could be made.

This was her favorite part of controlling the night sky. Even on the nights when she couldn't see anything she wanted to change, she could always be confident that she'd find something within the week. It was a big sky, and it could always use a change or two. She just needed to find those changes.

The problem right now was that she was sure there was a change to make, she just couldn't focus enough to find it. She could tell that the Angel sitting in the dirt a few meters from her was flitting her eyes between her and the sky she was trying to change. After a moment, Luna looked over and saw a constellation of a bat that she had made a year ago and left alone ever since.

Within a moment, the stars began to shift, disappear, or suddenly form in the proper places to form the bat into a butterfly. This took the princess around two minutes to accomplish. Once it was done, she grinned over at Fluttershy. She watched as the caretaker squinted her eyes at the new shape for a moment, then caught what it was and suddenly broke into a flustered yet flattered smile.

"Th-that's very... nice." She said softly.

"As I recall, you symbolize yourself with them."

"Y-yes..." She wasn't the only one that did that. One night, not long after stopping Nightmare Moon, the six friends had spent a day at a cafe together, getting to know each other better. Rarity had been wearing a skirt with three diamonds encrusted into the side, and when it was seen by Applejack, a set of jokes began to fly among the friends until they ended up agreeing upon symbols that represented each of them. After that, Rarity went home and designed skirts, pants, and work duds with the symbols attached to the sides. It had become the custom of the friends to wear these clothes to almost any occasion, simply for the fun of it.

Luna looked back to the stars with a smile that showed both pride at her newest painting, and embarrassment at its praise. Luna simply stared at her stars for a while, attempting to think about something besides the caretaker that had somehow entered and stayed in her thoughts for the past few minutes. No matter how confused she was that the Angel was in her thoughts, there was one thought that she smiled at: She had made a friend.

A shooting star streaked across the sky as her grin broadened.

Duels

Dueling.

The sound of metal impacting metal could be heard down the halls of the castle. It was a sound one would not normally consider happy, but felt that way nonetheless. The castle had been devoid of this sound most of the time, accept on the occasion that Celestia requested some recreation from one of her guards, but now the sound was heard almost daily. To the residents of the castle, this sound represented the new peace between the sisters.

The sound was the sound of swords making contact as the two god-princesses dueled in good sport with each other. They didn't follow any rules or patterns; they only followed the training of swordsmanship they learned thousands of years ago during the periods of elongated wars. Now, during this peaceful state that had lasted hundreds of years, the only way they could duel was on friendly terms.

And so they dueled. Almost every day, in fact. They dueled and talked. It was their favorite way to pass the time together. And so they dueled.

The night just before had been the night of the Gala, and both had had interesting nights; Celestia hearing all the first-hand recounts of the Elements' adventures together while Luna spent the night in the company of Fluttershy. Both had stories to tell the other. And so they dueled.

"...and after that they put all the deserts together for the contest. It was quite the treat for me to try. In all honesty, I would've eaten the whole thing if Pinkie hadn't beaten me to it." Celestia laughed as she dodged a thrust from her little sister. She parried the next swing then went to the offensive. As was the tradition they had established without words during their duels, the one on the defensive talked, then the switch of direction represented the change from commenter to speaker. It seemed senseless, and yet, sensible to both of them.

"Ha! I should have loved to attend that contest... Yes, young miss Fluttershy and I spent most the night in each others company." Luna said, dodging and parrying in time with Celestia.

"Oh?" A backhanded swing from the elder as she spoke. "You seem to have enjoyed her company quite a bit." She said quirking an eyebrow as the two locked blades and pushed them against each other.

"Are you suggesting something, sister?" Luna asked as their blades began to shake from the effort they were exerting against one another.

"That depends..." They pushed apart, both leaping away from the other. "Is there something worth suggesting?" She gave a wry grin before lunging at Luna.

"Nothing more than my first real friendship. Aside from you, that is." She deflected Celestia's stroke with ease, side-stepping to avoid her momentum.

"You told me everything up until the butterfly constellation... What happened next?" She swung vertically as she spun to face Luna.

"We spent the night talking..." She ducked under the swing, "Not much to it, really..." then rolled away from the older duelist, avoiding a downward stroke. "Although, I suppose it is of note that she went very quiet the moment I brought up romance..." A parry from her knees then another roll and she was on her feet again.

"And why do you suppose that is?" Celestia gave a forehanded swing, and there blades locked again.

"She's a shy, timid, young thing..." Luna said thoughtfully. "I suppose that she had no experience in the matter, but thought that she should for my sake, so simply stayed quiet in hopes that she wouldn't give herself away..." Their blades began to shake from the exertion again.

"Or...?" Celestia offered, sensing that Luna hadn't considered all the possibilities.

"Or what? What are you suggesting, sister?" They pushed away, but this time neither of them made an aggressive advance; they just stood, facing each other.

"I'm not suggesting anything. Merely saying that there may be another possibility..." Celestia readied herself for another attack, but Luna turned and walked to the sword rack to put her sword away.

"Don't lie, sister. You know perfectly well what you were implying." Luna said accusingly from the other side of the room. "I've only just met her, and you're assuming... what, exactly?"

"Sister, I meant nothing by it. I was just thinking you may not have considered ev-"

"Considered what?" Luna eyed her warily. Her nostrils flared indignantly as her mind raced to find the thing that Celestia had seen so quickly, yet she had missed. Celestia looked at her blankly for a moment, then shrugged.

"Nevermind it, dear. It's nothing." She walked over to the rack and put her sword away. "In any case, I asked Twilight and her friends to stay in the castle for the night, as the trip home is a long one for them."

"Why are you telling me?"

"I just assumed that you may want to go speak with them before they departed. They'll be attending lunch with us, then heading straight to the train." Celestia answered.

"Very well... Thank you for informing me, sister." Celestia smiled warmly as Luna left the room.

It was awfully quiet in the castle suite, considering that she shared a room with Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack and that was in combination with Rarity, which could only lead to friendly arguments and disputes. Then there was Twilight, who would've joined in with the raucousness the moment it got too loud for her to read, which it was normally hard to get that loud, but not if Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were in the same room.

The moment Applejack had woken up with her braid tied to Rarity's curls, accompanied by the sound of a snickering Rainbow and a giggling Pinkie, the room had gotten exceedingly loud, but it had suddenly quieted down when the four arguing girls had left the room, leaving Twilight and Fluttershy, still sleeping, in the room.

Fluttershy's eyes flew wide open the moment it occurred to her that she was alone in the room with Twilight. She looked over at her in the large bed next to her. They had shared the bed, along with Pinkie, when they found out that there was only two beds in the room. She stayed still, watching the mage sleep for a moment, then turned away with a blush.

She got out of the bed, slowly and quietly, and checked the clock on the wall. It was just past ten in the morning. She glanced over at her friend, still asleep on the bed, and sighed heavily. Twilight's eyelids twitched, and she caught her breath. Twilight's eyes flickered open, and Fluttershy let out a sigh, having been hoping she wouldn't wake.

"Good morning, Fluttershy." Twilight greeted as she stretched.

"G-good morning, Twilight." Fluttershy replied softly. Twilight got out of bed, and walked over to the window nearby, looking out at the beautiful view they had of Camelot. "D-did you have pleasant dreams?"

"You mean when the other girls weren't interrupting them?" She asked, smirking over her shoulder at Fluttershy. At the site of a heavy blush on Fluttershy's cheeks, Twilight looked back out the window. "They were pleasant, thank you for asking. Yours?" Her tone suddenly dropped its humorous sound.

"M-mine were nice." She didn't mention that the major occupant of her dreams was the mage she was speaking with right now. Nor did she mention that these dreams were so pleasant that she had refused to wake up to the sound of Pinkie and Rainbow's antics.

"Oh, that's nice." Twilight commented quietly. An awkward silence fell between them as Twilight continued to examine the streets of the city she'd once called home. Fluttershy sat on the bed, twisting the ends of her hair nervously while staring at the floor.

There was a light tap at the door, and Fluttershy walked over to answer it, cracking the door as they were both still only half-dressed in their sleeping clothes. She found Luna standing at the door.

"Ah! Hello, Fluttershy. I haven't woken you, have I?" She asked curiously.

"N-no, Princess. We wer-"

"Please, call me Luna. Formalities drive me quite insane." Luna interrupted with a polite smile.

"Sorry. Luna. We woke up a little while ago." There was a short pause. "U-uhm... if you don't mind my asking... Why did you stop by?"

"Ah, yes. I was hoping to... how do they say it? 'Hang out'? Yes, that..."

"Oh..." Fluttershy glanced back at Twilight, who kept looking out the window, not even glancing at the door. "Uhm... Sure. Just give me a moment to get dressed."

"Of course." She closed the door gently, and walked over to her suitcase to get some clothes. She picked out a butter-yellow sweater that was quite baggy on her, as well as a modest, rosy pink skirt. She gave Twilight one last glance on the way to the door, but she still wasn't looking away from the window. The Angel sighed, feeling somewhat stricken, then opened the door and stepped out.

The moment she heard the latch on the door click, Twilight let out a sad sigh.

"Of all the people she could've fallen for, why did it have to be me?" She muttered quietly, the situation weighing her voice down.

Thirty minutes later, Luna and Fluttershy were sitting on the roof of Luna's room. They had originally gone to her room so Luna could show her some paintings of the old sky, long before Nightmare Moon, but they had decided on some fresh air. So there they were, talking on the roof, watching clouds float by, swinging their legs off the roof.

"...then she ran right between the hydra's legs. I-it was really brave of her..." Fluttershy finished telling her story of Froggy Bottom Bog to Luna.

"Quite brave..." Luna agreed. "You seem to admire many things about her. In this short conversation, you've spoken highly of her intellect, her courage, and her talent. Is-..." She cut herself off.

"What? Is what?" Fluttershy asked curiously. Luna looked at her, trying to decide whether to ask her question.

"I'm not sure if it's any of my business..." She answered. Fluttershy looked confused now, trying to understand what Luna could possibly ask.

"Go ahead, i-if you want..." She said cautiously. Luna took a deep breath.

"Your admiration of Twilight Sparkle... Is that why you were quiet on the subject of romance last night?"

"U-uhm... I-I-I d-don-..." She stuttered.

"I-I'm sorry. Forgive my forwardness, but curiosity overtook me. It's none of my business if you do not wish to tel-"

"I-it's fine... I-I..." Her voice caught in her throat. She looked away, pulling her hair in front of her eyes in a shy attempt to hide. It was what she did. She hid. When she was worried, scared, or sad, she hid. When she was shy, curious, or angry, she hid. when she was happy, laughing, or confused, she hid. When she fell head over heals for a mage, she hid. "I-it is why..." She mumbled, finally, through her thick, pink hair.

"I see..." Luna made a mental note to figure out what it was Celestia had been implying earlier, so that she could either brag that her sister had been wrong or admire her sisters wit, depending on whether she'd been right or not.

"B-but she doesn't s-seem to notice me... Not like that, at least." Fluttershy said glumly, pulling Luna out of her thoughts.

"Now, don't speak such wrought. You have no reason to believe she doesn't care. You are quite beautiful, and you're certainly a wonderful young girl." Luna forced herself not to smile at how ironically similar her words were to what Celestia had been telling her only a few weeks ago.

"Not wonderful enough..." She mumbled.

"Fluttershy, stop. I will not allow you to put yourself down like this. Come, we must improve your mood somehow." Luna gave a flap of her wings and hovered in front of Fluttershy, holding her hand out in offering. She took it gingerly, flapping her own wings and floating down to Luna's balcony with her.

"Let me think... Tell me, how many times have you helped save the world?" Luna asked.

"I-I don't know... two?" Fluttershy answered quietly.

"Come now. You helped defeat Discord. You helped stop Chrysalis and her imps. You convinced a dragon to leave Terra. You even stopped... well you stopped me." Luna counted off on her fingers, stopping awkwardly when she mentioned herself.

"I-I suppose...."

" 'Suppose'? There is no supposing on this, there is only the fact that you are, in fact, a wonderful young girl. You have no reason to believe that Twilight Sparkle would not notice you."

"But she doesn't." Fluttershy mumbled sadly.

"True..." Luna consented the point. It occurred to her that Fluttershy was likely to have not even hinted towards romance with Twilight to the mage face to face. She looked over at the Angel next to her, trying to assess her mood. It seemed as though the caretaker had already come to grips with her situation, but talking about it didn't seem to be helping her mood. "We should find something better to do than make you upset. Come, there are many passtimes in this castle."

She led the way out of her rooms and into the hall, then to the dueling room. It occurred to her that Fluttershy wasn't the dueling type, but she supposed she could have one of the few Night Guards, who were unquestionably loyal to her (and at the same time, incredibly rare), duel her. The Night Guard could wear muffs to dull out his hearing, and whatever he did hear, he'll simply swear not to tell.

There, problem solved...

They entered the room, and Luna held a hand to her temple for a moment. She squinted her eyes in concentration, as psychic magic was difficult. She grunted from the strain, eliciting some concern from the Angel next to her, whom was unaware of what the princess was doing.

"A-are you okay?" She asked. Luna opened her eyes again, suddenly, and smiled at the concerned Bearer of Kindness.

"Quite alright, Fluttershy. Simply ca-" She was interrupted by the sound of the door swinging open.

"You called, princess?" They both turned to see a woman Angel in a dark version of the normal royal guard attire. Her wings were a dark gray, her hair almost midnight blue, and her eyes a dull green that seemed to sparkle despite their own dullness.

"Ah, yes. Fluttershy, this is Nightwing. She captains my Night Guard." She gestured her hands so as to introduce them. The guard took Fluttershy's hand and bowed politely in a gesture of honor, allowing Fluttershy to let her hand lay limply in Nightwing's palm. Fluttershy, for her part, blushed at the politeness of the gesture.

As Nightwing straightened back up, she turned to her princess. It occurred to Luna that her previous thoughts about the royal guards could not apply in any way to her Night Guards. Nightwing alone was the perfect example of loyalty, and she focused almost all of it on Luna. "Why did you call me, Princess?"

"Oh, yes. Fluttershy here is not much of a duelist, and I thought you would like to go for a good spar..." Nightwing perked up slightly at the prospect.

"If you would like that, then I would love to spar with you."

"Ah, but there is one thing...We wish to have a private conver-" But she stopped short as Nightwing pulled out some earplugs and put them in. Luna quirked an eyebrow at her.

"I kept them after Celestia hurt her arm, and you had me spar in her place. I figured you'd have me do this again." Luna smiled at her loyal guard, and turned to levitate a blade from the nearby rack over to her hand.

"I believe you know me quite well, Captain." She chuckled, but when she turned back, Nightwing had already put her plugs in. The guard drew her blade from where it rested at her hip and the two faced each other.

And so they dueled.

It wouldn't have been so embarrassing if Fluttershy hadn't been there to see her lose three times. She made mental note to ask if she could win from time to time. Of course, the fact that she was captain of the Night Guard, and yet the Night Princess was a better swordswoman.... well that was embarrassing too.

The duel had lasted about an hour and a half, with a few intervals when Luna had pinned Nightwing and they had had to reset. The whole time, Fluttershy and Luna had kept up quite the chatter. It would've been considered one of those girl talks that seemed to touch down on every subject that a girl could possibly care for, except that one of the girls in this one was a princess dueling her guard captain in a way that looked like it was to the death. A goddess, no less.

They had, in fact, touched down on many subjects as well, but you wouldn't consider them the average topics for girls to chatter on about. They had touched down on politics, harpies like Gilda, dragons, history, the night sky, wild critters, and socks. Well, that last one was where their conversation awkwardly ended before Fluttershy could finish her sentence. They had been interrupted by a castle servant calling for Luna to come to lunch.

So the two friends made their way to the dinning room where Celestia and Luna took most their meals when eating together. It was a large, decorative room, filled with fine china and highly decorated furniture.

They entered together, finding Celestia and the other Element Bearers sitting at the large table. The Princess of the Day turned in her chair at the sound of the doors opening. "Ah. There you are, Luna. We were waiting for you." She said with a smile.

"Thank you, sister, but you didn't need to do that." Luna replied as she took her seat next to her sister. They always sat by each other at the head of the table, even if there was no one else at the table. Fluttershy walked over to the seat next to Twilight, and sat down.

"Oh, but you know I always will." Celestia said, giving another smile to her little sister. Luna replied with a soft grin, then the elder sister clapped her hands and a group of servants walked in with trays of food. Once the trays were on the table, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack began digging in. Twilight and Rarity, however, had the decency to use more high-class etiquette in their eating. Lastly, Luna noted that Fluttershy wasn't eating at all. She assumed that their earlier conversation, in combination with who she was sitting next to, had taken away from her appetite.

The silence in the room was palpable, although by the looks on everyone's faces except for those of Fluttershy, Twilight, and Luna, you would think nothing was wrong. Twilight kept glancing at Luna, and occasionally Fluttershy when she wasn't looking, while Fluttershy kept glancing at Twilight and occasionally Luna. Luna, however, tried to pay them no mind, as Celestia kept bringing up the few moments of interest that happened in court during the time since they'd dueled.

And so they ate...

It had been two nights since the Elements had returned to their homes in Ponyville (Luna still thought the name was quaint), and Luna was out examining her stars. It was her primary pass-time, after all, and it never got boring. Nightwing had once told her that she did it too much, but she had brushed it off as ignorance. No one truly understood the love, care, hope, and sadness that went into her artwork. It was impossible for anyone to understand fully why the Princess of the Stars did what she did with them.

Actually, the thought did occur to her that if she tried to explain it to them, people like Celestia or Fluttershy, or even Nightwing or Twilight Sparkle probably could understand, but the most important aspects of it would still be beyond them. At times, they felt beyond Luna as well, but she did her work anyways.

Right now she was making subtle improvements to her new butterfly constellation. She'd taken up a fascination with all the possibilities the wings possessed for patterns and decoration. She could only hope that Fluttershy was not embarrassed by the extra attention her constellation was getting. If she noticed it, that is.

She looked to another constellation, trying to take her attention off the butterfly for now. She raised a hand and started flicking her fingers about, causing the stars to move in synchronization with her finger tips until she had a minotaurs head in place in her night sky.

She admired the new constellation for a moment before hearing a knock on her door. She levitated her crown onto her head again, and magically opened the door without bothering to see who was there. It opened, admitting Nightwing to step in.

"Princess, you haven't left your rooms in two nights. Your sister has voiced her concern to me, and must agree with her." Luna quirked an eyebrow. Two nights? She was sure she had stepped out for multiple reasons, but now that she thought of it, she hadn't so much as peaked out of her door in two nights.

"Indeed... I hadn't paid it much mind. I suppose I could use some time away from the castle..." She said, turning back to her stars.

"What are you suggesting, princess?" Nightwing asked, walking closer to Luna. Luna twitched an eye and a pair of new stars was added to the minotaurs face, causing it to look as though it were glaring.

"I think it's time I visited Ponyville again..."

A Quaint Village

Glaring.

Everybody was glaring at her. They stopped when she looked, but that doesn't mean she couldn't see it out of the corner of her eye, nor did it mean she couldn't feel their fear and hatred. She tried to ignore the looks they were giving her as she and Nightwing walked through the streets of Ponyville.

When Celestia had heard that she planned to visit Ponyville, she had insisted upon taking at least three guards with her. When Luna had refused, and Celestia finally conceded, Nightwing had insisted on "sharing the vacation with Luna". The princess had given up and decided that one guard wouldn't make socialization too awkward. The sword strapped to her guards belt would, however.

Getting to Ponyville had been easy; as one of the goddess princesses, she had access to whatever form of transportation she wanted. She could've ridden one of the flying carriages, or simply flown herself, but she chose to ride the train to Ponyville. She quietly refused a free ride from the conductor, insisting on paying full price, but not rejecting the first class car. After all, it was more private there, and there were less glaring people there.

Unlike here on the streets of Ponyville... She was almost to the magically constructed tree-library, all too willing to be indoors and away from these dirty looks. Luckily, that trip didn't take long as they arrived within a minute or two. She knocked on the door briskly, hoping Twilight would open quickly.

Twilight had received a letter from Celestia that Luna was on the way with one guard, so she was in fact ready, having prepared two beds in the guest bedroom and told Spike to wait by the door. Said door opened quickly after she knocked on it to an empty doorway. A purple, reptilian head poked down from the top of the door frame.

"Twilight'sss upssstairsss." It hissed in a somewhat craggy, yet youthful voice. The head pulled back out of view and Nightwing glanced at Luna, a question in her eyes.

"That's Spike." Luna answered. She entered the library quickly, followed shortly by the captain. The princess gestured for her to sit at a cushy looking couch, which she did gratefully, sitting and watching Spike crawl along the walls and floor as he returned books from the floor to their places on the shelves.

Luna ascended the stairs quietly, tapping at the door before entering. Twilight called for her to come in and she entered to find Twilight literally floating in the air, legs crossed, reading a book with one hand while holding the other hand in the air, seemingly drawing simple two-dimensional shape (or maybe a very complicated three or four-dimensional one). As she was doing this, there were two pieces of parchment floating in the air beside her, pens gliding across them, writing seemingly by themselves. Her eyes were glowing a purplish-white hue as she looked up, smiling politely.

"Hello, Luna. How are you?" She asked pleasantly.

"I'm quite fine, Twilight Sparkle. Although, I must admit that Ponyville's greeting has been... offsetting." Twilight frowned, flicking her wrist, which caused the scrolls and pens to put themselves away. She closed the book and floated gently to her feet.

"How do you mean?"

"Let's just say that Nightmare Night didn't win me as many supporters as we'd assumed..."

"Oh, I see... Uhm... well, Celestia wrote me saying that you'd brought along one guard. I can house you both, if you like."

"Thank you, Twilight. I believe that would be convenient." Luna smiled, seeing how tactlessly Twilight had changed the subject.

They walked back down the stairs, Nightwing joining them, to see to their accommodations in the guestroom. As befitted any Mage's guestroom, the room was enchanted to meet any needs a patron could have. Self-adjusting beds, mirrors, self-filling drawers, et cetera, et cetera. This guestroom is the reason why Celestia insisted they need not bring luggage on their trip.

"Make yourselves at home." Twilight said, smiling brightly.

About half an hour later, Luna was soaring threw the air, en route to Fluttershy's cottage. She had decided to leave while Nightwing was examining (or, as the other two put it, playing with) the enchanted furniture, and Luna decided she'd like to speak to Fluttershy.

She arrived within a few minutes, as it wasn't a long trip from Twilight's library to Fluttershy's cottage. She landed in front of the door and was about to knock, but she heard some laughter coming from behind the cottage. Curious, she walked around to find Fluttershy playing with some random critters.

The angel was being tackled and lovingly assaulted by random rodents and small birds, all of which seemed to be having a good time, tweeting and chirping and chattering contentedly. She was smiling and laughing, trying just to stand up under their assault, but to no avail as they were attacking her from all sides. She tried to spread her wings and flap them, but some birds landed on them and weighed them down. Fluttershy laughed again as she tumbled to the ground and allowed them to attack her with licks, hugs, and pecks on her cheeks and shoulders.

Luna stood by and watched this display, attempting to suppress her laughter and nearly failing until Fluttershy fell over. At that point, she did fail. Luna broke out laughing, grinning ear to ear, and accidentally startling Fluttershy and most of the critters. They scattered and Fluttershy sat up straight, staring at Luna in surprise.

"I-I didn't hear you." She said simply. Luna's smile had died away in embarrassment, and she held her hands up apologetically.

"You seemed quite distracted. I didn't mean to startle you. I just..." She started smiling again. "I just couldn't help it when they beat you. It was quite amusing." Fluttershy ducked her head behind her curtains of hair, her cheeks a bright red hue.

"O-oh...I-I guess it was." She agreed with half of a chuckle. Luna couldn't help but enjoy this adorable display of embarrassment, giggling quietly to herself before walking over and helping Fluttershy up. Thanking Luna, Fluttershy led the way into her cottage, where she offered tea, which Luna accepted gladly.

They sat down in Fluttershy's living room, Luna on the fainting couch and Fluttershy on her relaxing chair, and lounged their, sipping tea quietly for a minute. Luna examined her humble surroundings; she never spent much time outside of Camelot before the Nightmare Moon incident, and she found that this modest little cottage was far more attractive than the -in her opinion- gaudy decor of the castle.

Fluttershy, for her part, was trying to stay comfortable with the fact that a princess was sitting in her living room, let alone drinking her tea. Of course, she was aware that this princess was no fan of her own royalty. Even if she didn't say it aloud, she certainly acted like royalty wasn't pleasing to her. She seemed more like she wanted to be normal, the only part of her godliness that she enjoys being her night sky.

Once they'd finished their tea, the companionable silence began to slowly turn to more of an awkward one. Despite the growing awkward feeling, both Princess and caretaker stayed quiet, neither knowing quite what the other wanted to talk about, if anything at all. Luna, finally getting a little antsy, decided to just try something.

"*ahem* So... H-how have you been?" She asked quietly.

"Oh... I've been-... I've, uhm, I-... Fine..." Fluttershy answered weakly, looking away, hair falling in her face as she did so. Again, Luna found herself enjoying this adorable display. This time, however, she got the urge to do something for the Angel sitting across from her, such as compliment her, or comfort her, or move from her seat and tuck that hair behind her ear and then lean in and...

Oh crap.

The princess's eyes widened as the image ran through her mind appealingly, and a sudden realization dawned. Luckily, the momentary shock on her face was out of Fluttershy's sight. She took a deep breath to calm her suddenly increased heart rate. "I- *ahem* I think I hear a hint of a lie in there..." Oh, dear Sister, what is she doing?

"W-well..." Fluttershy looked out the window without turning her head so Luna could see her face, which was now what she almost desperately wanted to do. "Yes, you do..." She mumbled quietly.

Luna waited patiently (or tried to) for her to elaborate, but the poor thing seemed at a loss of words, so Luna decided to press on lightly. "And what would that be?" She felt herself come close to choking from nervousness and anxiety. This was sudden. Very sudden. She was trying to just focus on what Fluttershy was saying, but ever since that little... idea had popped into her head, she couldn't quite focus on what Fluttershy was saying so much as Fluttershy herself.

And she was focusing on that quite well. Everything about her. Her soft, thick, rosy hair, her elegant, slightly under-developed wings, her modest but still attractive body...

Luna's eye twitched as she strained to focus on Fluttershy's voice as she began to speak again. "Well..." Her face fell from the window as she looked at her palms resting on her lap. "Y-...you remember all that...stuff w-with Twilight, right?"

"Yes." Luna answered slowly.

"W-well... It got a little bit more... confusing..." She doesn't say? Nothing about this situation was ever complicated, right? At no point could Luna recall it being confusing, at least not until she ended up sucked into it by a sudden... development. She refused to acknowledge it directly by what it was, because it definitely isn't that.

Luna tried to calm down, still thanking whatever cosmic forces were above herself and her sister that Fluttershy's hair was blocking her view of the princess. She took a few slow, quiet, deep breaths to slow her heart rate, then continued the conversation. "How so?"

"I-...Uhm..." Fluttershy was silently for a moment. "I shouldn't say." She said quietly. So be it. Luna didn't exactly feel a compulsion to continue prodding her. She had enough on her mind without trying to solve this situation with Twilight... Especially since helping Fluttershy would now lead to a poor ending for Luna...

Hmmm...

"Oh, alright then..." Luna thought for a moment. What was the point of that, by the way? She mentioned that it had gotten confusing, then decided not to say how? Sure Luna had prodded her to tell her what was wrong, but Fluttershy had still led on like she was planning to tell her something important, then didn't. Perhaps she had intended to tell Luna something, but changed her mind at the last minute. Certainly possible, but how likely was it?

Luna glanced at Fluttershy. Considering everything about Fluttershy? It was actually pretty darn likely.

"D-do you want to..." Fluttershy hesitated mid-sentence. She turned her head slightly, causing a crack to form in her wall of hair, allowing her eye to become visible through it. That pretty eye...

"*cough* W-want to what?" Luna said, barely avoiding a 'choke on word' incident.

"J-just... hang out?" Dear Sister, yes! Luna kept composed against her impulse to squee. This is just odd. How do feelings fluctuate so quickly?

"Sure."

"So..." Nightwing trailed off awkwardly. As a night guard, it was awkward enough to be in such a dainty environment, but it was even more awkward to be sitting across a table from a simple student who, as a student, had done more work of note in the past few years than the guard captain had done in her entire life. Nightwing was an esteemed captain of the personal guard of a goddess, and Twilight was a student, granting that she was the personal pupil of the other goddess, but still just a student.

And Twilight was far more impressive. Ouch... Quite the blow to the 'esteemed captain's' ego right there.

So there she sat, trying not to feel overly awkward about the current situation. Of course, there was the small detail of the fact that she is the captain of Luna's personal guard, and yet is not currently guarding the princess, whom was currently visiting a village that didn't exactly support her.

Or like her...

"So." Twilight replied blandly. It was obvious that this conversation was going nowhere, and she was willing to accept that instead of keeping up the facade that it could.

"Yeah..." Nightwing went back to eating quietly, deciding that she agreed with that sentiment.

Ponyville is home to many wonderful sights for the passerby, tourist, or familial visitor to admire (the locals prefer the term 'gawk'). These include the oddly, but beautifully designed buildings such as the town hall, the library, the sweet shop known as Sugar Cube Corner, and the dress shop, Carousel Boutique. There is also the Apple Family Farm, one of the largest orchards in Terra, as well as the Everfree Forest, the creepy, problem-filled forest on the edge of town, as well as Whitetail Woods, the bright, happy forest also on the edge of town.

The town itself contained a park, market, and several areas for various businesses as any successful town would require. It also contained townspeople. These were usually the friendly kind, showing love to anyone who required it.

Not the case today, sadly. The glaring from the locals hadn't ceased, but merely let up slightly as a result of Luna's decision to leave her crown at the library. Luckily, however, they had chosen to go to a private piece of Whitetail Woods, away from the hostile stares of the locals.

"I-I'm so sorry..." Fluttershy said when they finally had some privacy.

"It's not your fault. I don't see why you feel the need to apologize." Luna replied. During the silence of the walk here she had successfully managed to regain her composure and was of somewhat sound mind again. The pretty Angel's influence was of course still messing with her mind, but she'd at least regained completely coherent thought again.

Luna noticed for the first time that Fluttershy was silent now, probably embarrassed of her habitual apologizing. She glanced over at Fluttershy, whom seemed to be avoiding eye contact. That, or the leaves were very interesting. Luna glanced up at the trees around them, thinking the former more likely.

"Anyways...This scenery is quite lovely." Luna said, hoping to revive the conversation.

"Y-yes. It is." Fluttershy said, sneaking a glance at the elegant princess while she was observing the colorful leaves. It was still Summer, but Whitetail was famous for it's white-barked trees with year-round red, gold, and orange leaves. Any visitor who came to the town while the leaves were there (meaning not Winter) often commented on it. Luna, however, was aware of these trees, although she hadn't been around when Ponyville was founded, she had been to the forest before, a long, long time ago. She wasn't completely impressed with them as a peculiarity, but more as an art form she'd seen multiple times, didn't prefer, but still respected.

For the second time that day Luna found herself wondering exactly what cosmic force was above herself and had placed the things that neither she nor her sister had any power over... Oh well; no need for such astounding philosophical thought when you yourself are the object of such thoughts.

They walked quietly for a while until they arrived at a clearing. There was still thirty minutes of sun left in the day and as such Luna saw no reason to examine Celestia's daytime sky; it was just blue and a little orange right now. Honestly, her sister was so uncreative.

A thought crossed Luna's mind that she was simply distracting herself from the matter at hand, namely her new-found...'interest' in this simple caretaker she was currently spending her day with. She decided the best course of action was the obvious one: come out with her 'interest' in Fluttershy to her. The only problem was that Fluttershy obviously didn't return this 'interest' and had similar... screw it they're feelings... Fluttershy has feelings for someone else and Luna, of course, has drawn the short stick of having similar feelings for Fluttershy.

Luna let out one heavy sigh, stealing a sideways glance of Fluttershy and having the embarrassing moment of Fluttershy having noticed the sigh and looked over. Luna's cheeks heated and she looked away quickly. Too quickly, in fact, to notice that Fluttershy had much the same reaction.

They sat down in the clearing, finding a comfortable spot against a large tree with a view of the western horizon. The Sun was getting ready to set, and the sky was slowly churning from its normal blue hues through an array or reds, oranges, and purples on its way to Luna's night sky. She closed her eyes, her face scrunching as she began to concentrate on her Moon, which was about to rise on the horizon behind them.

Together, they watched as the Sun lowered slowly, the circle of light beginning to disappear as its lower edge kissed the horizon gently. They watched in silence for a moment as the beautiful array of brilliant colors showered across the sky. Luna had to admit: this was pretty creative...

But her stars were still so much better.

The scene stirred emotions in Luna that had barely had time to settle. It was completely romantic and it gave her the urge to tell Fluttershy how she felt, whether rejection was eminent or not. So she took a deep breath, looked at Fluttershy...

And passed up her opportunity...

Losing Track

Stupid.

She felt so stupid. The scene was perfect, the moment felt right, and they had perfect privacy, but she just couldn't work up the nerves. She couldn't do it, she couldn't say it, and she couldn't stand that she didn't.

The two sat there, side by side, still staring at the empty horizon. Or at least, Fluttershy was. Luna's eyes were closed in a mix of regret and concentration as she raised the moon. It had only been a few moments ago that Luna had decided to stay quiet, and it was only that long that Fluttershy had been silently scolding herself for not telling Luna everything. Not telling her how it had gotten more confusing, in the sense of clashing emotions towards a third party.

That third party being Luna.

The Night Princess opened her eyes slowly, obvious signs of strain on her face. She took a moment to relax against the tree, visibly recovering from the work as Fluttershy watched. After a second, Luna opened her eyes, looking over at the worried caretaker next to her. "Oh, don't fret. Celestia gets worn out too." She said nonchalantly, waving a hand between the two of them as she stood up. "Now. *ahem* What next?"

"I- uhm... W-well, it's late now. I should head back to my cottage and feed the animals dinner. I-I guess you should head back to the library."

"Hm... I suppose..."

It was nearly three hours later -approximately nine'o'clock- and Luna was sitting on a cloud, watching her moon drift so slowly that only her trained eyes could really notice the slight distance it made every minute. She stared at it intently, thinking so hard of the years spent there. It was so odd, the way she'd been there, and yet, not been there at once. Using her conscious control of her powers, she'd managed to form a proxy body out of starlight that she could use to wander around the great celestial body. It was her real body, and her conscious wasn't really in the body, but it had sufficed. She could see through its eyes, and she could feel the ground at its feet.

She could recall lunar rotations spent on the peaks of high hills, staring into endless space as she contemplated whether to attempt revenge, and later on, how to enact it. Her better self had managed to convince her Nightmare Moon self through some cockamamie circular logic not to immediately kill Celestia, but Nightmare Moon had gotten the better of Luna in deciding what to do when she arrived back in Terra.

She could also recall entire years spent wandering from crater to crater, hill to hill, fissure to fissure, trying to memorize the exact design of her glorious moon, just in case she had to come back and wanted to know where to either wander to first, or build a lunar palace. She had had so many daydreams about what she would do after squashing her sister with her superior abilities. It was insane how many people in this world assumed that Celestia -as the elder- was more powerful. It never occurred to them that Luna had single-handedly defeated her twice, nor did it occur to them that she could easily harness the powers of Nightmare Moon and do it again.

Boiling in these dark thoughts, Luna barely noticed that her hair had started flowing in the dark, misting form that it had taken on when she was Nightmare Moon. The wind blew it into her line of sight, jerking her thoughts out of that dark realm that is her past, and into the slightly less dark one that is the present. She took a few breaths and calmed herself down, watching her hair slowly revert itself to normal. After all, her hair changing form was the only warning she ever had that she was about to change.

Of course, she could still maintain control over Nightmare Moon. Or at least, she could now, after the Elements of Harmony had rearranged the chain of command between Luna and her powers.

And that's another thing! The few sympathizers Luna had were under the completely false influence that Luna had no control whatsoever over Nightmare Moon. These people were as annoying as her opposers were aggravating. It was not some split personality, or even a possession by some dark spirit. It was just Luna, but with so much of her godly energy harnessed that it began to cloud and corrupt her mind. It wasn't even a different mind; it was just her mind, thinking differently than she normally would.

She sighed again, realizing that she was failing to calm herself. She stood on the cloud, looking down over Ponyville. She watched the quiet nighttime bustle, wondering to herself what it would be like to be part of it; a mere cog in the clock, rather than one of the hands on the face. Being important, without being looked at. Of course, no such thing would ever be an option for her, not with her duties as the Goddess of the Night.

Her gaze shifted, as always, to the stars. Her stars. She stared continuously, searching for a change to be made. There was always something that could stand to be changed -something that could be spruced up a bit. There was always something she could change.

Any true poet worth his weight in ink could convey the strongest of emotions behind a facade of words and rhymes. He could use hateful words to convey how much they loved someone, or happy words to show how much they despised them. He could hide any true meaning behind false words, placing a second meaning within his masterpiece that only those willing to see it would see.

In a similar way, any artist worth her weight in paint could convey the strongest of emotions within a mask of paint, stone, or art of any form. She could hide one image of anger within a larger image of love. She could use one image of joy, and hide within it an image of endless frustration.

In both cases, there are times when the poet or the artist cannot hide meaning behind meaning, such as plain word poetry or sculpting, but when they can, and do, it is truly a masterpiece in its own respect. Stars are one art form where this is possible, seeing as all that must be done is move a few stars and place a few more, then instantly you have a new image within another image.

It was this technique that Luna was applying to use right now. Within one image of a manticore that she had crafted years ago, she was placing another image. One that conveyed her own imagination, her own frustration, her own self-hate, her own hope, her own power, and simply even her own . A few stars to form the rounded top of it... and some to form the crack that would convey all the emotion... Use the manticore's chest to help create the crack... and his paw to form the plates of the design....

And within an instant, she had turned this manticore into the hiding place for a cracked and dented image of the helmet of Nightmare Moon. After all, what frustrates Luna more than Nightmare Moon? And who hated Nightmare Moon more than herself?

The cottage lights were out. Fluttershy was hovering from room to room, feeding the random nighttime animals their breakfasts and the daytime critters their dinners. She then tended to the many needs that these helpless, adorable creatures always have. The random things they can't seem to do by themselves, always bringing a smile to Fluttershy's face when they came to her for help.

After an hour of exhausting physical therapy for a bear that had broken his leg last week, Fluttershy finally walked into her living room and fell onto her couch tiredly. She laid down, resting her head on the arm of the couch, to watch the bats and nighttime birds flutter about her home. She felt a tap at her shoulder and looked over, finding Angel Bunny pushing his way under her arm to snuggle with her. He was always more companionable when he was tired.

With his warm form pressed against her side and her buttery wings wrapped around herself like a feathered blanket, she felt quite comfortable and, in turn, drowsy. It wasn't long before she slowly drifted off to sleep. She slept through the night, barely stirring once, not dreaming at all.

She woke to a combination of sunlight, birds chirping, and Angel Bunny scurrying out from under her arm. Her eyes drifted open slowly, taking some time to adjust to the rising levels of light. Looking around the room, she came to the realization that she had woken up late; the morning birds that she was usually awake before were currently fluttering around the room, probably wondering where there breakfast was.

She stood up from the couch, stretching and rubbing her eyes tiredly. She walked over to the closet where she stored all her animal feed, opened it, and began the basic daily chores. It was the usual morning of feeding the birds, preparing a salad for Angel Bunny, then moving on to breakfast for the random little critters, the the odd assortment of needs that all her animal friends have.

It was around another hour into the day later that she was relaxing in her living room chair and heard a tap at the door. She opened it, finding Rainbow Dash standing at her door.

"Uhm... H-hello, Rainbow."

"Hey Shy. Have you seen the Princess anywhere? Twi says she didn't come back to the library last night."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nightwing must've been laying in bed, awake, for nearly an hour before she finally realized why. Something was missing. Someone, that is. The Princess had not stepped in at all that night. The Guard Captain glanced at the clock on the wall, noting that it was almost midnight. She was -of course- aware that Luna was almost never asleep before midnight, but she was also aware that Luna was almost never outside her chambers this close to midnight.

Now, granting that the library was technically not her chambers, the Princess of the Night was still a creature of habit and would likely treat it as her chambers for the remainder of their stay here. As such, Nightwing was now worried about Luna, officially deciding that the Princess had gone missing.

She got out of bed and woke Twilight, explaining her fears to the librarian. Twilight reacted with a sound mind, assuming that, seeing as this was a leisure trip, Luna had decided to change her schedule up. She would probably turn up in the morning. This put the two of them at ease for the night.

But when morning came, this assumption proved to be incorrect.

The Princess contemplated whether her night on this cloud had been wise. Yes, she had slept comfortably on this soft, floating cushion, under the faint glow of her beloved stars, but she hadn't returned to the library, and now she was sure Twilight was worried. Of course, she could fix that problem easily by simply showing up.

That is, of course, if she knew where she was. The cloud had drifted during the night, as they often do, and now she had no clue where she was nor which way Ponyville was. The only way she could figure out how to navigate her way back was by using the Constant Stars that she had placed in the sky for the very purpose that they would not move and, thus, would be used for navigation. The only problem with this idea was that it was only of use at night, when the stars were visible.

She sat up on the cloud, having been lazing on top of it in thought. Oddly enough, she was perfectly calm about the fact that she was currently missing. She had absolutely no clue where she was or how to get back to Ponyville, but that was fine; she'd just hold out a day (being a goddess, that was easy), then navigate by her stars tonight.

Then the childish part of her spoke up. It was this oddity that both herself and Celestia had reported to each other. Centuries old, they still possessed a slightly immature mind at times. Yes, they would act normally, speak normally, and think normally most the time, but sometimes a little part of their mind would speak up and then they would suddenly be children again. It was more than just a simple urge to be a kid; it was that part of her really was still a child. It was actually pretty close to a second personnality, and Luna would've assumed that it really was, until Celestia said she had that problem, and Cadence said she had experienced it to a weaker extent, and considering she was a mere demi-goddess, that would be expected.

And right now her childish part (Lu-Lu, as she'd taken to referring to it, which she was sure was evidence of some kind of insanity) was thinking that this might be fun. If she simply lollygagged around here in the wilderness, Nightwing would come searching and maybe so would Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow Dash, and Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, and Applejack, and-

*Gasp!* Fluttershy! Maybe she'll come get me! That would be fun, wouldn't it?
No, this is stupid. I could so easily get back there and spare them all the worry.
But that's boring! Besides, if Fluttershy does come, she'll probably be really worried about me, so she'll come running into my arms...
Stop.
...and then she'll kiss me! Then we...
No. Stop.
...can go out, and kiss some more, and- and-
Please. Just- Just stop.
And get Married! Oh, dear Sister, wouldn't that be fan-
SHUT UP! She doesn't like me!

Lu-Lu went quiet. Luna, on the other hand, was now crying into her hands. Lu-Lu always managed to make her more emotional over things that didn't originally bother her to begin with. It did occur to her, as it usually did, that she must be insane, arguing with some kind of inner voice and all, and crying over such childish things that normally didn't bother her, and especially shouldn't bother an immortal being.

Of course, when Luna thought about it philosophically, maybe that was the whole reason Lu-Lu and Celly (the name she'd secretly given to Celestia's childish voice) existed. Perhaps their purpose was to keep her and Luna from becoming desensitized to life, thus keeping them from being goddesses, and making them more of a pair of sisters who rule an entire nation together.

Or maybe these voices just drive them bonkers. Who knows? Either purpose would be acceptable, seeing as they fulfill both.

S-sorry.
Just- *sigh* Just stop...
I don't even really wanna go back to Ponyville anymore.
...
I mean... it doesn't really seem like much fun there anymore...
I don't really want to go either. *sigh* Now I'm actually acting like you're a different person.
I practically am! I'm Lu-Lu, remember?
Just, please, stop.

Luna groaned as her inner dialogue finished. She flopped back onto the cloud, staring up at the higher flying ones. The Angels have so much potential for art in these things, but they tend to leave them in their shapeless form for most their existence, up until the moment they rained themselves out. Although, Cloudsdale is truly a central hub of all the weather-based art form she's ever seen. Visiting it again could be nice.

Wow, Luna could distract herself so easily with art. She supposed it was because there was really nothing for her without it, but she was still amazed at how easily she could change the subject of her thoughts with something so trivial as the shape of the clouds. She stood up on the cloud, examining it. She noticed that each step she took left the cloud reshaped and reformed slightly. She could easily sculpt it herself. It'd be a good way to pass the time until she felt ready to return to town or someone came and found her.

So she set to work...

"So... Yeah. We've been looking around Ponyville for around an hour, I think. You sure you have no clue where she is?" Rainbow asked.

"N-no. I don't know where she is. Where all have you looked?" Fluttershy asked, sounding worried.

"Most of Ponyville by now, I guess..." Rainbow said, glancing around as if Luna was hiding in the nearby bushes.

"O-oh. H-how can I help?" Rainbow looked at her quizzically, quirking an eyebrow. "W-well, I'd like to help."

"Okay? Uhm..." She scratched her head, trying to think of a way the timid caretaker could help. She flapped her wings gently as she thought, then an idea struck her suddenly. "Oh! Duh! You can ask your animal friends to help. No one in town has as many eyes and ears as you do! Duh! That should've been obvious..." She exclaimed, slapping herself on the forehead.

"Oh! I-I guess that's true..."

After three hours of work, Luna was sitting on the ground, admiring her handiwork. It was a rather marvelous (if she did say so herself) sculpture of a bull. After ten minutes, however, it began to loose its shape to the wind. Now Luna understood why the Angels reserved their art for Cloudsdalian homes. She decided that it was time to move on, not really wanting to be affiliated with the slowly crumbling piece of what was once art should she be found.

She turned to take off, stopping awkwardly when she noticed that six squirrels in a nearby tree were staring at her. She stared right back, watching as the held a short communion, then one scampered up, squeaked at a bird, and that bird flew away.

The princess merely shrugged to herself, then flew away.

How odd...