Skycloud

He stood there, paralyzed.  She was...tall!  At most, he could reach the mid-joint on her front leg!  However, he was still young, and had some growing to do.  "I-I..." he couldn't find anything to say, and so instead he kneeled in a humble genuflect.

"I see that my sunsets do not go completely unnoticed by all of my subjects." she said softly. "Don't be afraid.  I come to this place often.  I don't usually have very many visitors when I do though." She walked forward calmly.  Thundermach stood up quickly, preparing himself to fly as fast as possible.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Your Majesty.  I didn't mean to, um, intrude.  My deepest apologies." he began to back up, ready to gallop for his life.

"Please," she said, "join me."  She motioned her head, her magnificent wavy mane flowing to the side.

Thundermach instantly obeyed, walking up to her side and avoiding any kind of direct eye-contact.

"Don't be frightened.  It's not a crime to be here, so I technically can't banish you." she joked.  It didn't help. "You know, I've almost always had a sort of admiration for ponies like you."

He was caught off guard by what she said.

"W-What do you mean?" he asked quietly.  She giggled.

"You're so free of burden." she spoke lovingly, "You are still very young. You have yet so many adventures to be had.  Actually, if I didn't know better, I might even say that I'm, well, a little bit envious." she winked.

Her? Princess Celestia, envious?

"But...why?" They were now sitting beside one another. "I'm nothing special. I'm a screw-up.  I barely even have any friends. How...how could YOU be envious of that?"

She took a moment before responding. A sudden ire crept into her eyes, her expression becoming stern.  After looking out to her sun setting on the horizon for a short time, she said something that Thundermach would never forget.

"Because you will die." She looked at him with tears in her eyes.

He had no idea how to respond. He was shocked, puzzled, and a little bit creeped out.

"What?"

"Because you will die." she repeated, looking back to the horizon, her tears gathering in her eyes.

"I-I don't understand.  W-Why would you--"

"Because you can know peace!" she suddenly shouted.  It startled him, causing him to jump slightly.  She looked at him with a gaze that, had he not been so on edge, would've made him cry.  Her eyes glistened with the burning resentment of her past.  "After your life has been lived, and you have had all of your adventures, you will pass on and be separated from the tragedy of this world!" she was crying now. "I do not have that luxury.  No, instead, I must watch as my friends, my family, all of those who I loved dearly besides my sister, leave me!  I must live forever with the mistakes I have made in my life!  Everyone I have ever held close to me is gone, and I will never see them again.  You have the only true, guaranteed promise in life: That one day you may see your loved ones again; that one day...you will die."

It was all starting to make sense to him.  She has no escape.  She's got to live with all of the memories of her friends who have had to leave, not for a long time, but forever.  She's alone.

"I'm sorry, Princess."

She stared at him for a moment, and then looked back.  Her face then settled into its tender, graceful posture once again.  She let out a heavy sigh, and giggled a little bit.

"Please," she said, wiping her tears, "it's not your fault.  I'm sorry about my sudden outburst.  Who am I to put such thoughts on a handsome, young colt like yourself?  Besides, it's through our mistakes that we learn the lessons that define how we live our lives." she continued to wipe her tears, eventually materializing a tissue to do the job.

"You're the Princess of the Sun.  I really don't mind." he replied.

She smiled at that.  "Thank you...um..."

"Thundermach," he said, "Thundermach Skycloud."  He extended a hoof in greeting.

"It's a pleasure making your aquaintance, Thundermach.  It has been far too long since I have confided in somepony as deeply as I have with you."  She reached out and shook the hoof gracefully.  "Oh, and one more thing..."

"Yes, Princess?" he inquired.

"Call me 'Tia'."

The next couple of hours were spent talking to the princess.  Celestia had been so in-depth in the conversation that the sun remained on the horizon line for much longer than it should have.  She told him story after story of her countless adventures with her friends throughout the ages, all the ponies she knew in her lifetime, and about her rule over the land.  In Thundermach's eyes, royal obligations seemed like a huge pain in the flank, rather than what the common misguided statements of regal jurisdiction held.  However, she would aslo tell him about her old friends and the lessons she learned through her friendships, and other such endeavors.  Thundermach just sat, amazed as she retold stories of her past, asking the occasional question here and there.

But if it wasn't enough that he was getting the chance of a lifetime by even talking to her, he was also getting to know her on a personal level...even more rare.

She asked him about his personal life as well.  When she would finish one of her many stories, she would stop and ask him a question that would lead him to delve deeper into his own personality and cause him to express himself in a much more passionate way. He talked about his school, his sister and the pranks, and, of course, about Wind. The only thing he left out was the previous night.

However, there was a point in the conversation when Princess Celestia mentioned something that Thundermach had never really taken serious thought to.  He politely stopped her.

“Um...your Highne--I mean, Tia?”

“Yes?”

“What was that thing you mentioned before?  Did you say ‘time-travel’?”

“Yes, what about it?” she said it as if it were nothing; some common aspect of life.

“Well...isn’t it supposed to be just...make believe?  You know, things that ponies use to stretch your imagination or have fun talks with each other?”

“The only thing stopping imagination from becoming reality is yourself.  It’s how all of Equestria’s greatest legends got their reputations, including myself.” she was looking deep into his eyes, giving him the same piece of advice she had probably given to countless others. “If you truly believe you can, then anything is possible.  It’s all up here,” she gently touched his head, “and most importantly, it’s in here,” she placed her hoof flat against his chest.

Celestia suddenly looked up, her ears perked.  It seemed she was listening for something.  She relaxed,  and looked behind them, Thundermach following her gaze.

“Thundermach?  Remember when I said that it’s not often that I have guests up here?  Well, I don’t, save for my sister.”  When she said this, he felt his heart sink.  They watched as a dark mare alicorn appeared from the path.  She quickly ran up to the Sun Princess as soon as she saw her.

"Sis!  What are you doing?  It’s been dusk for 3 hours!  We’re starting to get complaints, and everypony thinks something is wrong!  Do you need any help wit--woah!”  She seemed astonished at Thundermach’s presence.  Was it possible that they didn’t talk to mortals very often?

Celestia spoke with her soothing voice.  She was beginning to remind him of a female, brighter-colored Wind.

“Luna!” she said with a slight hint of surprise, looking at the sun again and lowering it.  “I’m sorry, I must’ve forgotten the time!  It really does tend to get away from me more nowadays.” Without delay, she stood up and greeted her younger sister.

Barely even noticing the welcoming embrace, the Princess of the Night’s eyes locked onto Thundermach’s, sending a jolt of fear throughout his body.  They reminded him of the cold frozen nights in Winter, or the icy frost that settled upon the grass and the trees in early Spring.  He shivered.

“Tia...who is this,” she began suspiciously, “and why is he here?”

“Oh, my apologies.  Luna.  This is Thundermach.  He comes from Cloudsdale, and is a 7th year student at the CFA.  You remember our opening speech for the Academy.”  Luna’s expression lightened up, yet her eyes remained on his, piercing his soul for what seemed like hours.

“Yes...” she said, her gaze still upon him, “I remember.”  She moved from Celestia’s side, approaching him slowly.

“We were just having quite the conversation.” Celestia said, “Interesting things, mostly.  Dragons, old myths, time-travel...” she gave Thundermach a wink, and Luna shot her a look.  She turned back around to the young, dark grey pegasus in front of her.

“How do you do?” her younger sister asked abruptly as she walked nearer.

“F-Fine, your Majesty.”  he said.  Fine?  Is that the best you could come up with?  Stupid, stupid...

“There is no need to fear me,” she said as she stood above him, a little bit shorter than her sister, but still much taller than him.  He instinctively bowed.  “I have had enough trouble with that recently than I have adjusting to the new ways of the land.  Much has changed, has it not?”

“Y-Yes, your Majesty.” Oh, for the love of!

“Thundermach, is it?” her voice was suddenly much more calm.  He looked up to see that she had extended her hoof in greeting.  He got up slowly, shaking it in the most regal manner he knew.

“Yes, your Highness.”

“Oh, please.  You’re obviously not a threat, and any friend of my sister’s is a friend of mine.”  She smiled lightly.  It was a smile, nonetheless.  “Call me ‘Luna’.”

As the hoofshake ended,  Celestia spoke with an aura of relief.  “It appears that you have made yet another friend, Luna.”

Friend?

“Yes, sister, it appears I have.” She looked to Thundermach.

“Thank you...Luna.” he humbly replied.

She nodded, and turned around.  “Well, I suppose that we should get to work.”  Her horn suddenly began to glow with a dark purple light.  She unfurled her magnificent wings, taking flight with little effort.  As she flew upwards, Thundermach noticed that the sky, on one end, was growing lighter than the other.  Although this light was more...ambient than the sun, and less bright.  It held a soft blue-ish and white tint to it.  It was the moon.  He had heard stories about this as a child, even watching quite a few moonrises himself.  But never like this.

She was graceful and elegant, and as the midnight alicorn rose higher, so did her moon.

“Beautiful, isn’t she?” Celestia said.  He hadn’t heard her walk up next to him, and was startled a little bit.

“Yes.  She is.” he agreed.

“I love her very much.  She’s my little sister, and she means the world to me.  I regret what I did all of those years ago.  I always have.”  She was getting to some kind of a point.  “Thundermach?” she asked.

“Yes, Princess.”

“Thank you.”

He nodded, and then turned back to watch Luna as she raised her glorious moon and stars.  “It’s an honor, Princess.”

“Oh, and one more thing,” she started, “As a favor to me, would it be alright if we kept our little chat earlier exclusively to us?”  Was she asking him to do her a favor?  He hoped that this was all real, and not a dream.

“Of course.  And thank you.” he said.

“Oh?  And what for?” she asked curiously.

He turned back to her.  “For calling me ‘friend’.”

“The pleasure is all mine.” she replied.

And they both turned their heads as Luna lit up the night with the most dazzling array of stars and moonlight that Thundermach had ever seen.

Thundermach’s “encounter” with the Princesses yesterday wasn’t an everyday occurrence, which left him thinking about it a lot.   He never expected that she would just...open up to him like she did.  Oh, well, I guess that’s what pent-up feelings do. he thought to himself.

In a way, he pitied her.  She was the ruler of Equestria.  She could have anything she wanted, with practically hundreds of ponies lining up to tend to her every whim, and yet she lacked the most ensured principle of life:  Death; mortality.  It was a strange concept to him.  Although he couldn’t exactly talk about it, especially since Princess Celestia had shared a very personal part of herself and her past with him.  Besides, death was a taboo topic of conversation.

She thinks of me as a friend, he thought, I have to honor her request.

“I’ll just keep it quiet.” he said aloud, “I’ll see her again sometime, and I won’t even mention it.”

“See who again?” asked Sunset.  She was standing in the doorway, a look of interest appearing on her face.

“Ugh!  Sunset!  I told you not to eavesdrop!”

She cocked her head.  “Aw, does Thundy have a fillyfriend?”

He got up to go and teach her a lesson, when she yelled for their mother.  He stopped, and when she answered, Sunset said, “Oh, nothing, nevermind!”

“One of these days...” he said.

“We’ll see,” she replied boldly.

He slammed the door.  He hated being teased about having a fillyfriend, mostly due to the fact that he had never really been able to get a fillyfriend in the first place, but also because of the fact that this “filly” was a mare, and not just any mare; the Mare of the Sun herself!  Not to mention her younger sister.

He was still amazed.  He, Thundermach, had just yesterday met the Princesses of Equestria.  For one, he was still dumbfounded.  A pony was lucky if they could even see one of the Princesses from a distance, and he had personally met both!

“Thunder!  Dinner is ready!” his mother called.

“Coming!” he answered back.

This was going to be occupying his thoughts for a while.