“That was the last petitioner for tonight, Your Highness.”

Sweeter words could no poet write, nor bard sing.

The city had grown busy as of late, and Canterlot’s Elite had unfortunately begun attending Night Court when their supposedly urgent matters could not be addressed by her Sister that day.

Princess Luna had at first regarded the petitioners with a cold stare- thought that they were merely made desperate by being unable to see the Princess of the Sun. But after this many nights, her gaze had softened, and she saw them now more clearly. They were desperate, yes, but now she saw that many of them had good reason to be.

Princess Luna stood up from her throne, and stretched her stiff muscles. She turned to face her attendant, a young pegasus stallion, and she gave the best smile she could manage, tired as she was. He awkwardly smiled back.

“Thank you for your service as always, Inkwell.” Luna said.

The young stallion blushed, fumbling with his papers as he made an embarrassed attempt at a bow. “Thank you, Your Highness!” he squeaked.

While she’d surely deny it if asked, Luna found that she quite liked the stallion. Hiring him had been Celestia’s idea, but he’d been invaluable in helping her adjust to the massively increased workload since the Badlands settlements had all but ceased trade with Equestria and its allies. Some sort of reward for him was in order. A payrise, perhaps? It did seem to lack the personal touch… Regardless, this would have to wait for another night.

Luna raised her voice to just below a shout, speaking now to the room at large. “Thank you all for your service tonight. You are dismissed.”

Clinks of metal on metal echoed throughout the throne room as the numerous guards in the room saluted in unison. Luna didn’t wait to see them leave, for she was more than eager to leave herself.

Walking along the corridors of the castle, she breathed a sigh of relief. The throne room seemed almost designed to be so stiflingly boring, it was a wonder her sister managed to stay sane after all these years. Luna quickened her pace. What she needed after so long in that dreadful place was some fresh air, and time to think on the night’s happenings.

And there was a lot to think on, truthfully. So many of Canterlot’s Elite that had petitioned her lately raised genuine concerns about the reagent shortage. The combination of that and newspapers picking up on the story too had led to something of an air of doom about the palace of late. Though most of that was the fault of the press sensationalising every little piece of it they could, and it was hard to believe that those very same ponies who bemoaned their fates in her court were not involved on some level with those articles- the noble class certainly had a reputation for such underhanded tactics to get their way.

That is not to say that all those who appeared before her had entirely self-interested reasons for doing so, but it was certainly hard to argue that any of them were being truly selfless when they stood to lose so much money and power.

A great deal of different suggestions had been made on how to fix the shortage tonight, as there had been every night. She’d even finally heard some new suggestions today- including from a stallion from the College of Alchemy, who had requested a research grant. The most popular suggestions, however, remained the same: increasing naval trade with Zebrica, or the truly sickening suggestion of sending a military force into the Badlands to ensure that trade returned to its previous volumes. The former was not a bad idea, and in fact was based upon a suggestion by Celestia a few years prior, but the latter…

She stopped in her tracks, having come to a balcony overlooking the palace gardens. This was a place of relaxation, in her mind. Had she been so lost in the miasma of her thoughts as to walk here purely out of habit? She drew in a deep breath, enjoying the sweet smells of the exotic flowers that her sister had arranged be collected from the world over, before slowly exhaling.

There was no need for such stress about so few ponies pushing for another war, even if they were nobility. They knew not what they were even suggesting, most likely. Luna leaned against the guard rail, draping her front legs over it. A cool breeze blew over the gardens, and she felt the urge to follow it, to clear her head as she once did, flying over her beloved city and subjects. She missed those times, in moments like this.

But, she considered, perhaps just as there were now pegasus guards to keep the night skies safe, her sister had kept Equestria safe, and raised a world that did not even think of war?

She laughed a mirthless laugh at the thought.

“Just as I was beginning to think I had adapted to this new era…” she said to herself.

An Equestria without war had little use for… She shook her head, stopping herself there.

Luna found her train of thought drifting towards darker topics, and that reminded her of the other type of petitioner she received. Some of the Canterlot Elite had been asking after her Ward, despite no official announcement having been made of her existence. They seemed to not know where Bookish was, but they knew that she was a she, so Luna imagined that they would find out soon. The demands to meet this Pony who had been raised without notice from nothing to the top of noble society were loud and growing louder, and dismissing them out of hoof anymore would surely be harmful to Bookish’s future interactions.

Luna had only been isolating her from the nobility because she was trying to protect Bookish from the countiless suitors and sycophants she’d no doubt accumulate, but it was becoming clear that the time she would have to teach her to protect herself from such types was rapidly vanishing. Her poor filly was barely even acclimated to Equestria enough to be able attend a school, and soon she herself would be forced to throw her into the deep end of the country’s political movings.

Luna scowled. Pegasus guards be damned, she needed to clear her mind tonight before dreamwalking.

With a beat of her powerful wings, she leapt from the balcony, vanishing into the night.

Author's Note

Well, here we go! If you’re a new reader, and wondering what exactly is going on, I’d recommend reading the prequel to this, which can be found here! (I hear the writer is a bit of a weirdo tho )

For my retuning readers: thank you for sticking with me on this wild journey, and I wanted to let you know that this story will update weekly on a Tuesday, just like always, but remind you that I’m still on hiatus for another week.

Most importantly, I’d like to give a huge thanks to Rocinante, Star Sparkle, Silver Lockes, and 0_0. Without them, this fic might not have happened, or at the very least would not be at the same level of quality.

Gosh, that was a lot... I hope you enjoy this little teaser of what’s to come, and remember that it’s okay to take breaks if you need to. Have a wonderful week!