Anything for My Princess

"And this is the Lunar Wing," smiled Cheerilee. "As you may notice, it's not as heavily decorated. Can anypony tell me why that is?"

Pipsqueak's hoof immediately shot up, followed by a few others.

Cheerilee looked around. "Featherweight?"

"Because she doesn't like company?"

"No, but good guess."

"She doesn't have friends to bring her stuff?" suggested Rumble.

"Not quite."

Trapper took a deep breath. "Because she operates in the dark, and all of the decorations would cause her to trip and stumble around, and she'd need a candle to see, so she keeps the walls barren so the candle doesn't catch a tapestry and burn down the whole castle?"

Cheerilee shook her head. By now, Pip was waving his hoof wildly. "Pipsqueak?"

"These pots are empty because they take out the wilted flowers every morning and put in fresh ones every evening. And there's supposed to be a tapestry on this wall, but it's in the wash. It hangs from those six hooks, and it depicts a condensed version of the fall of the Crystal Empire. There's one more around that corner that shows--"

Cheerilee interrupted him with her hoof. "We'll come to that soon, Pip. But yes, the point I was making here was that this hallway is more decorated at night." She hadn't known about why the tapestry had been moved, but she had been informed that it had been temporarily taken down.

Pip had seen the aftermath of the event that caused the tapestry to be soiled. Luna hadn't come to pick him up personally that day, and had sent a guard to do so, and as they were walking up the hallway, a screaming mare kicked a cart that one of the maids was working from, knocking a splash of undiluted bleach onto the tapestry. The maids brought it down right away, but there was some damage that had to be repaired. Apparently, her husband was thinking about leaving her for another mare, and Luna had told her in her dream to mend their relationship, or she would lose him. Based on the behaviour Pip had seen, he would be better off without her.

As they rounded the corner, Pip smiled. "Hi, Rod!"

One of the guards smiled and nodded at him. "Hey, there, Pip."

"Quiet, please," insisted Cheerilee. "Now, who can tell me about this tapestry?"

Pip's hoof shot up again.

"Strike?"

"Victory?"

"Sort of," answered Cheerilee. "Venator?"

"Isn't that "Fallen Nightmare?" It was the cover art for the album "Black Imaginings.""

"That's right, but can you tell me what it depicts?"

Pip was waving his hoof again. "I know what it is!"

Cheerilee sighed. "Pip?"

"This is the fall of Nightmare Moon. You can see the six Elements of Harmony blasting away the evil that is Nightmare Moon, leaving Princess Luna unharmed."

"Thank you, Pip," nodded Cheerilee. "Now, moving right along..."

They visited six other tapestries, two stained glass windows, four statues and a decorative fountain. Pip knew them all, because he'd been up and down this hallway scores of times. He knew about half of the guards by name, but didn't greet them all. He had a special relationship with Rod. Rod had taken a liking to Pip, as they'd spent several nights together.

It wasn't long before they rounded a corner and found Princess Luna herself, talking with one of the serving staff who'd recently joined. When she saw the class, she smiled.

Cheerilee bowed, as did a few members of the class. Pip was one of the last to bow, because he was excited to see her and had to keep from running forward and hugging her.

"Good day, children," bowed Luna in response, letting them stand up. "How are we today?"

"Most of them have been good," answered Cheerilee. "Two of them had a fight on the train, but otherwise, all good behaviour."

"He hit me first!" shouted Windbag, pointing at Venator.

"He said my dad was an abomination against nature!" shouted Venator back.

"And you both have detention," barked Cheerilee.

Luna smiled. "Glad to hear it. We shall be out of your way in a moment. If you'll excuse us, we must be going into another room to finish our discussion."

Luna was slow in passing by the students, as she opted to shake the hooves of each of them in turn. She didn't shake Pip's hoof, as when she extended hers, he leaped up and gave her a hug. She couldn't resist returning the favour, even if it did leave the others feeling a bit left out. If anything, this would help her image with the kids, making her seem more friendly and approachable.

"I shall see you tomorrow night, Pip," she promised. "Be good for Miss Cheerilee."

"I will. Bye, Princess Luna!"

As they rounded the corner, the server looked up at Luna. "Do you know that colt?"

"We're the very best of friends," answered Luna. "He'll be here this weekend for his training. He's attracted special attention from me, and as such, I am personally overseeing the growth of his abilities from the safety of my care. You may end up acquainted with him, yourself, as a result."

"He seemed nice. What are you training him to do?"

"He's very good at walking through ponies' dreams. I'm teaching him how to control that, rather than letting it control him. That way, he can enjoy his dreams."

"That sounds like quite the power he has."

"It certainly is. If misused, he could potentially become a menace to society, but with good training, he can be much more beneficial; a beacon to which others can aspire."

"Can you teach me?"

Luna shook her head. "I could, but I won't. The fewer ponies we have trying to manipulate dreams, the better. I'm teaching him because he already had the ability to dreamwalk, but not the ability to control himself. He is unique."

"Sounds like you have a fondness for him."

"Indeed. We're very good friends, he and I."

"Right." The server took a deep breath. "So, about the issue I was having with the chef. I brought back a black bean burger he served, with the complaint that Prince Blueblood ordered a red bean burger. And he told me I was at fault because the other server had already complained about the wrong bean burger going to the wrong room. But I think he just mislabeled everything."