Chapter I

Luna gazed wistfully at the full moon outside her window in Canterlot Palace. Even after a thousand years, and with full understanding of the need for balance between Night and Day, Luna couldn’t help but wish that more ponies would see the beauty and splendour of the night, besides just her. Sighing, she decided to go for a walk. These walks, after everypony else had gone to bed, were becoming a regular habit. She always had been a night owl. “Go figure,” she said to herself, “the Princess of the Moon is a night owl.” Tonight, she decided to go outside, to the city’s curtain wall, to better see Equestria bathed in moonlight. Because even the stained glass in the hallways gets boring after the twelfth night in a row she thought. Walking through the quiet, empty streets, with dark, closed stores on either side of her, she felt terribly alone. Everypony else was curled up in bed, oblivious to the pale bluish glow the full moon bathed the world in tonight. The blue hue matched Luna’s mood. Nopony ever appreciated her work. With her head hung low, she climbed the narrow staircase to the top of the wall, prepared for another lonely night’s walk. Much to her surprise, somepony else was already at the top of the wall. “Ah, la nuit, c’est tres magnifique!” the stallion exclaimed. As Luna approached, she could see the horn protruding from his white shaggy mane. The rest of him, a deep blue, was almost lost in the darkness, only visible thanks to the light of the moon high overhead. “Excuse us for intruding,” probed Luna cautiously, “but we do not usually see anypony else out at night. Who are you, and what are you doing up so late?”
“I am Midnight Star, and I am an astronomer! A gazer of the stars. I’m always up at night, it’s so peaceful, so quiet. You wouldn’t have seen me before because I’m usually at my observatory in Cloudsdale. And you, Princess Luna, have you come simply to enjoy the moon that is your domain?”
“We have had enough first-hoof enjoyment of it over the past thousand years, we were just feeling restless, and decided to go for a walk. How is it that a unicorn can go to Cloudsdale, and why are you not at your observatory tonight?”
“I never heard you were so chatty, your highness.” Midnight Star quipped, “To answer your questions, I get to Cloudsdale by balloon, then I use an old, obscure spell that lets me walk on clouds. I’m not at the observatory now because full moons are poor nights to see the stars, because of the brightness of the moon.”
“We are not usually so inquisitive.” Said Luna nervously. It was true, she was better known for her shyness around new ponies, and difficulties opening up and making friends. “If you do not mind though, we do still have a couple questions”
“The night is young, and I would gladly spend it talking to a beautiful mare like you.”
Luna blushed, then asked “Why Cloudsdale? And what made you first decide to become an astronomer?”
“To answer your second question first, when I was a foal, my parents let me stay up one night, to see Hay Leaves’ Comet, a rare comet that only comes every 76 years. I was so awed and moved by it, that at first sight, I knew that studying the night sky was exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. That’s when I discovered my cutie mark.” Midnight Star gestured to his flank, where the image of a comet with a bright tail was emblazoned, “As to the first question, being in Cloudsdale lets me get above most of the clouds, and away from the lights on the ground, so I can see the stars better.”
“Can you tell me about the stars?” Luna asked
“You didn’t use the royal we that time, your highness.”
“I’m not asking as a princess, but as a pony, who wants to hear what you have to say, can you tell me about the stars?”
“That would be like telling a fire what ash is. All that I can see is simply the aftermath of your radiance.”
For the second time since she met this pony, Luna felt herself blushing. Trying to divert attention from this, she turned away and said “I think you misunderstand, my domain is only the moon, not the whole night sky. I do not know much at all about the stars.”
“My mistake your highness”
“Please, just call me Luna.”
“Alright, Luna.” Midnight Star smiled, “Let me point out a few of the major constellations to you. If you want to know more about them, you should come to my observatory on Cloudsdale one night. I have lots of star charts, and my telescopes are there.” Projecting a thin beam of light from the tip of his horn, Midnight star gestured to a large group of stars to the east; This is the constellation Pegasus. The ancients thought that was what it looked like, but I don’t really see it myself.” Luna giggled, agreeing with him “And over here, is the constellation Hayracles, named after a mythical ancient hero. This one’s a little more clear, you can see him rearing on his hind legs with his hooves out....”
And so it continued, until at last, dawn was starting to creep over the Eastern horizon. “It appears that my sister is waking up. Will you be here tomorrow night?” Luna asked
“Unfortunately, no. I only came to buy a new lens from a specialty glass store here in Canterlot, With the moon waning now, I need to get back to my observatory to fix my telescope. Tomorrow night, I’m going to be in Cloudsdale.”
Looking down sorrowfully at her hooves, Luna mumbled “Oh, of course. I understand.” Luna extended a hoof, expecting him to kiss it, as many subjects did to both princesses. Instead, much to her surprise, Midnight Star took her hoof in his, and leaned in, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. “Oh!” Luna exclaimed with surprise, then turned and quickly cantered off. Wistfully, Midnight Star turned, and went about his own day. After all, the telescope wasn’t going to build itself.

Chapter II

Midnight Star had just finished his new telescope. The new, larger lens had had gotten in Canterlot the week before should give him much greater clarity when he was looking at stars, planets and all the other wondrous mysteries space contained. With the moon a waning quarter, the night was perfect to test and calibrate the telescope. He would start with something easy, like looking at Mares and it’s two moons. If I can see the crater on Foalympus Mons, then I’ll call that good. Just as he set his telescope up, he heard a furtive, gentle knocking on his door. That must be Dusk Breeze. Why is he knocking so softly? Midnight Star usually worked alone, but Dusk Breeze, one of the pegasi, enjoyed the night as much as he did, and occasionally came to visit. Opening the door, however, he saw not Dusk Breeze, as he had expected, but Princess Luna, and had to stifle a gasp.
“Surprised to see me? You did invite me to come visit.” she said.
“I did, but I am surprised to see you. I thought that perhaps my informality at our last visit had frightened you off.”
“You caught me off-guard with your forwardness, that is why I ran off, but now I have been having even more trouble sleeping than I was before.”
“My apologies, your highness. I regretted my actions immediately afterwards, but you were gone before I could apologize.”
“Again, please, just call me Luna, and do not apologize, no stallion has ever approached me like that before. It was kind of...exhilirating.”
Midnight Star smiled. “I’m glad I didn’t frighten you off. I don’t meet many new ponies, since I’m usually alone. the only other pony I’m close with is my friend Dusk Breeze. That’s who I was expecting at the door when you knocked.”
“Am I interrupting any plans for the evening?”
“No, not really, Dusky just sort of drops by when he isn’t working.”
“Good, because I am holding you to the astronomy lesson you promised me in Canterlot.”
“Then let’s start. Come in, and we’ll get started. Pull up a patch of cloud with a good view of the ceiling.”
Looking confused, Luna did as she was asked, and when she was seated comfortably, Midnight Star began projecting the stars from his horn on to the slightly domed surface above them, including in his projection the lines connecting the stars, to make it easier to identify the constellations as he showed them.. “These are the constellations that we’ll see tonight. In the East, the constellation Taurus, the bull is right on the horizon. moving higher, just east of straight up, is Pegasus, which we saw last week.”
Luna laughed, stating “I still don’t see a pegasus, even with your lines to help point it out.”
“Neither do I, the only time I’ve ever seen a pegasus in that group of stars is when Dusk Breeze thought it would be funny to ambush me from their direction.”
Luna burst out laughing at this revelation. “so even astronomers are practical jokers?”
“It seems I’m on the receiving end more often than not, but I do get a few good pranks in here and there. Back to the lesson! North of Pegasus, is Cassiopony, recognizable by her W shape.” Midnight Star was brightening each constellation as he named it to highlight it against the other shapes in the sky. “To the west of Pegasus is Cygnus, the swan. Under it’s wings, you can see Lyra, the lyre, and south of them, Aquila, the eagle. The three brightest stars in each of them, Deneb, Vega, and Altair form the Summer Triangle.” Luna was staring, transfixed with the brilliant specks of light winking on the ceiling above. “To the west of these three, we have Hayracles again, reared on his hind legs, and striking to the north of him, at Draco, the Dragon, which winds between Ursa Minor, slightly to the north of directly overhead, and Ursa Major, just on the northern horizon.”
“What about other things in the sky? Like Comets?” Luna gestured to Midnight Star’s flank as she asked this.
“Comets and asteroids are too small and erratic to project like this, but I can show you the planets, if you want.”
“Can I see them through your telescope?”
“Yes! In fact, you’re just in time, I was about to take a look at Mares before you got here, so the telescope is already set up.”
proceeding together up the short flight of stairs at the back of the observatory, Luna and Midnight star emerged in to the cool night air of the patio where the telescope was set up. Midnight Star peered through it, making minute adjustments to follow the progression the planet had made since his evening began. There’s Foalympus Mons, and the crater at the top. Looks like everything’s in order with this telescope, thank Celestia. It would have been embarrassing if it didn’t work. Stepping aside, he gestured for Luna to look through as well.
“That’s extraordinary! I’ve never seen Mares so clearly!”
“Would you like to see more?”
“I would, but unfortunately I have official business I need to deal with before the night is over.” Luna said regretfully, as she headed towards the door to the observatory.
“Perhaps another night then?” Midnight Star asked hopefully, as he opened the door for Luna.
“Perhaps tomorrow night.” This time, it was Luna who surprised Midnight star by giving him a quick kiss on the lips before taking off in to the night.

Chapter III

Luna was all smiles at breakfast. Looking at her, her sister Princess Celestia asked “Not that I’m complaining to see a change in your demeanour, but what has you in such a good mood, and where have you been slipping off to at night?” Luna looked down at her bowl of oats, blushing from face to flank, and mumbled “Well, I met this astronomer, and I have been going to visit him in his observatory at night.”
“Oh? you’ve been calling on a gentlecolt? I would like to meet him, to make sure he’s good enough for my sister!” Luna turned an even deeper red, which mixed with her dark blue coat, made her look something like an eggplant with wings and a horn.
“He’s a very busy pony, and sleeps most of the day. His only time away from his work is during the full moon.”
“That’s in a few days, I will meet him then. Until then, please remain in the castle at night. I will send this Midnight Star a message, inviting him here for dinner on the eve of the full moon.”
“But Tia, I’ve never met anypony who loves the night as much as I do until I met him. Spending time with him has helped me adjust to being back in Equestria.”
“Then you may schedule time to speak with him at a reasonable hour. It is unbecoming for a princess to be flying off in the middle of the night. We both have standards we need to maintain; that much at least hasn’t changed in the past thousand years.”
‘But Tia-”
“This conversation is done, there is no more to discuss.” Celestia stated curtly, as she drank her tea.
In a huff, Luna left the dining room. Celestia didn’t even look at her, turning instead to one of her attendants, having him take a letter for her. Hoping that Tia was sending the invitation to Midnight Star, Luna hurried back to her room and scrawled a quick note for Midnight, rushing to the main entrance of the castle to intercept the messenger now on his way.
“Ensure that this note is delivered to the unicorn named Midnight Star.” she commanded
“Yes, your highness.” replied the messenger, before turning and leaving the castle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Midnight Star looked at the door, hoping somepony would knock. “Why do you keep looking at the door? Nopony’s up at night, besides us.” Dusk Breeze asked.
“Well, that’s not entirely true...”Midnight Star started.
“No, I guess Princess Luna would probably be up, but what are the chances she would come to see a couple common ponies like us?” Dusk Breeze replied, half sarcastically.
“Well...actually, she has been coming to see me...” Midnight Star replied.
“She’s been doing WHAT!?! Royalty, here? in this mess of an observatory? Oh, even if you have no shame, I have enough for both of us! Quick, we have to clean up! What if she comes tonight?”
“She’s usually here much earlier. I sure hope nothing’s wrong, she came every night before tonight for about a fortnight.”
“A what? Fortnight? Couldn’t you have just said two weeks?”
“Sorry,” Midnight Star responded bashfully, “I guess Lulu’s been rubbing off on me some.”
“Lulu? Just how much time have the two of you been spending together? Listen, I wouldn’t be too worried, if one of the princesses had been mortally wounded or fallen grievously ill, I’m sure all of Equestria would have heard of it. Unless Princess Celestia was behind it. Maybe Princess Luna’s in the moon again.”
“Thanks Dusky, you always seem to be able to look on the bright side of things,” Midnight star replied sarcastically, “With the full moon coming up in a couple nights, I think I’ll head down to Canterlot and try to get an audience with her. the sky’s too bright to see much anyways.”
“If Celestia’s sent her to the moon, you’ll have a long ways to go for an audience.” Dusk Breeze looked like he was going to make another joke, but decided against it when he saw the glare his friend was giving him. “I’m only kidding, I’m sure she’s fine.”
“I hope so.”
Just then, there came a firm knocking at the door. In his excitement to open it, Midnight Star accidentally used too much of his magical strength, and pulled the door right out of the frame. Standing there, hoof still raised to knock, was not Luna, as Midnight Star had hoped, but a pegasus from Celestia’s royal guard, looking rather terrified about having a door nearly explode in his face. “I bear a message from Her Highness, Princess Celestia, Regent of the Sun!” the pegasus declared, with as much command and decorum as he could muster in the split second he had. Midnight Star was unimpressed. “What message do you bear?” he asked, disappointed that Luna didn’t even send him a message as to why she didn’t come. “Her Highness requests the presence of Midnight Star, the astronomer Princess Luna speaks so highly of, at dinner on the eve of the full moon three days hence.” the guard said, handing him a sealed note
“If Luna speaks so highly of me, then why has she not come to see me tonight?”
“Her Highness the Princess Celestia has asked Her Highness the Princess Luna to remain in Canterlot until after the full moon.”
“Did Princess Luna have a message as well?”
“She gave me this note, to give to you. Princess Celestia requested that I obtain a response from you upon delivery of her message. Will you be attending the dinner?”
“Yeah..yeah, I’ll be there...”Midnight star answered distractedly, already more concerned with the note from Luna than with anything Princess Celestia may have had to say. The guard pegasus turned and left, leaving nothing but the cool night air blowing in through the open doorway. Examining the note, Midnight star went to his desk. “hey, an invitation to a private dinner with the princesses in Canterlot? that’s pretty awesome!” Dusk breeze exclaimed, “I don’t suppose there’s anything about bringing a guest?”
“I don’t know. You check the one from Celestia, if you want. The seal on Luna’s note was a crescent moon, just like her cutie mark. Delicately opening it, Midnight Star read the short note inside “My dear Midnight, my sister has decided that until she meets you, ‘it would be inappropriate for a Filly of the Court to be calling on stallions in the middle of the night.’ Please, come and see me, and try to make a good impression, because I want her to like you; I know I already do, and more. Luna.” Smiling to himself, Midnight Star resolved to dig up his best “Astronomer-y” cloak.
“Hey, this says you can bring one guest!” Dusk Breeze cut through Midnight Star’s thought “Do you mind if I come?”
“No, you’re welcome to be my guest, I would feel awkward if it was just me with the princesses anyways.”
“Awesome! then I’m going to get going, I’ll need to make sure I clear any deliveries I have waiting by then so I don’t fall behind. Later, Midnight!”
Reattaching the door to its frame behind his departing friend, Midnight Star turned to his own preparations.