“Why did you pick me?”

It’s odd. These serious conversations always happen snuggled up in bed. Tonight she decided to lay on top of me like an overgrown cat, forelegs curled up underneath herself. She has a knack for placing her head right where it belongs on my chest. We lay there, holding each other close after another long day's work finished.

Running my finger across her cheek she opened her eyes and languidly replied, “Maybe it was that day you almost hopped the counter when the store clerk said no pets allowed in the store.”

I laughed, “I still remember the look on his face. looked like he was going to shit his pants when you grabbed me by the shirt and told me, no. ”

We both had those stupid smiles. The type of smile that shines in the eyes.

“Why did you, not say anything?”, she said with joking indignance.

I don’t have a good answer for that. I could make a lot of excuses, royalty, species, circumstance. What I ended up with was, “I don’t know. It just felt wrong at the time.”

Lifting her head, she placed her hoof on my hand, “We can make a list.”

“All that time with Twilight must be rubbing off on you.”

“It’s better than when you were working with my sister and called me Lulu.”

“Hey! That was one time.”, I half-heartedly argued.

Her muzzle scrunched, “Yeah, and now you do it when I’m already annoyed.”

“Ok, Lulu.”

She pushed up the bed, the covers shifting above us. The slow rocking of the bed pushed her fluffy barrel against my chest with every step. I couldn’t fight off the giggles, with a pull we were nose to nose.

With a seductive look and quick realization, Luna carefully spoke, “This could go somewhere you know?”

I’ll admit it was tempting, a quiet hotel room in the middle of nowhere with no one to interrupt.

“I–with all this shit going on, I’m not sure I could even make it work.” I gestured down and sighed, “We’ll have our day when this is all over.”

With a pout, she deflated, “Was it not you who said ‘screw the royalty’?”

I could feel the disappointment but, there was no way I was going to let that stand. “If I remember correctly that was followed by ‘I’m so over their bullshit’.”

Luna recoiled with an obvious frown even in the dim light. I held my breath, not sure where the line was. Did I step in it, did I not?

A combined, “I’m sorry.”, cleared any confusion I had.

I kissed her, the tension evaporating. A comforting silence fell over the room Just our breathing and the occasional sound of cars passing by outside.

She clicked her tongue, “When do you think our day will be?”

“I don’t know, maybe after the U.S. government unpauses imploding. Ya know, maybe Equestria just popping into existence might hold the union together.”

She laughed, “I don’t think any amount of magic could fix that mess.”

I joked, “Hey I like that place, let me believe there’s a chance.”

“Like there’s a chance you sprout wings.”

“I think the odds might be a little better than that, but you’re probably right.”

She stopped smiling, looking more serious, “Do you think the Chinese will get over me calling Taiwan, ‘Taiwan’?”

“I thought you said ‘no work talk’ in the elevator on the way up.”

She flopped off of me exasperated, “Fine, I guess we should probably actually sleep.”

I was awoken by a cadence of thumps at the door, “Luna, I need to speak with you!”

My pillow started to squirm, the night owl fighting the morning light. She spoke, “Cadance, I’ll be right there give me a moment!”

I chucked, “I guess that means I have to get up too, huh.”

“What?” Luna rattled, not quite awake.

Slipping off the bed, I quipped, “Coherent to confused, you need to stop drinking so much.”

Sitting up with a yawn Luna muttered at me, “Foust damned, morning ponies.”

The room was quiet other than the shuffling of clothes and the air conditioner blasting in the August heat. Luna watched as I got dressed, a contented smile soft on her lips. Collecting the last of my things I started my walk to the door with a joke on my lips, “Ya know, if you want to keep ogling you’re going to need to follow me down to get coffee.”

Luna hauled herself off the bed, she stretched suggestively, her back arched high. Shuffling to my side she bumped hips with me.

The door rattled again with a little more oomph, “Come on guys this is important I have news for you!”

Luna pushed me with a wing, “You heard the young lady let's get going.”

Ignoring her I replied through the door, “We’re working on it, give us a minute we have not had any go juice yet.”

Luna popped open the door revealing Cadance and Chrysalis looking antsy.

“To what do we owe the pleasure?”, Luna asked politely, clearly off put by Chrysalis.

I gestured down the hallway, quickly cutting in before they could respond, “Let’s walk and talk, it’s early, and a good discussion is had after coffee.” The walk was fairly long with plenty of time to chat on the way down.

Cadance piped up, “We were wondering if you two would help us work out the details on the laws surrounding changeling transformation?” She paused for a moment, then continued sounding exasperated, “Every nation here is so focused on their transformation magic when with the right combination of spells any unicorn can do the same thing.”

I posed the question, “Is it not like the difference between an earth pony using their innate magic and a unicorn using a spell to augment their strength? The time it can last is the differentiation between the two, no?”

Chrysalis answered me gruffly, “That’s not how I would have put it, but in short that is most of the differences. There are a few minute details of note but that's not here nor there right now. But enough work talk that can be had later, how did you two become a couple?”, she nervously laughed, “I wasn’t around to catch up because you know… the statue thing.”

I laughed, “Now that is a long story, I guess it’s a good thing the agenda for today is fuck all, but before we get to that what is the news?”

Cadance paused for a moment mid-stride, quietly whispering to Chrysalis.

“Gah! Why are you making me tell them!?” Chrysalis said, poking Cadance in the side.

Cadance just laughed at Chrysalis's misfortune.

Chrysalis walked stiffly, looking nervous, “Cadance, Shining, and I are forming a herd.”

I smiled at Luna, “I told you so! Anyway, let's get going, I can tell you the story of how me and Luna got together over breakfast.”

Author's Note

And thus begins a long-form story I actually have a plan for. Chapters of this should come out every week or two depending on IRL happenings.