A draft sailed through the air, batting at the violet curtains that blocked the sun's light. The golden trimming whipped in the wind, drawing the attention of a unicorn. The stallion, growing old in his age, cursed the little things about his spire. It was always the erratic wind, or the random glasses of milk that keep appearing everywhere, or the Komaredo dragons acting up again.

If only the Komaredo dragons weren't lactose intolerant, then two of those problems would be solved.

The stallion begrudgingly snapped the windows shut, causing the dry room to become more stifling. He turned his attention back to the his task. A rat laid before him, comatose from the sudden change in its body.

When he had applied the mark, the rat screamed and squealed. It sang with the voice of a banshee as he seared the mark on. Not literally, of course; he'd never actually burn a mark onto an animal, it was far too cruel to do that. The rat did suffer pain, though, to his surprise. He previously thought the spell would be painless, but he was making second thoughts on his assumption.

No matter. A numbing spell could be thrown into the mix, if needed. If anything, he was certainly glad he went to testing a rat before a pony!

He prodded at the body gently with his hoof, making sure she really was slumbering. He magicked her up and into a nearby cage, full of food and water. He placed her on a small section of cloth and closed up the cage. Once he did, a set of runes surrounding the cage lit up, making an invisible shield around it, but with a large space between the border and the cage. A small fence made up the physical barrier, just tall enough to stop a rat from scurrying away. A small piece of cheese was placed on a red 'X' outside the cage.

With the test set up, he took a step back, looking it over. The stallion snatched a nearby stone, which was tied onto a string, and hung it around his neck.

He gave a light sigh, looking over the experiment again. As much as he'd have loved to wait and watch, there was far too much time that might be wasted by the waiting. He had other things to do, even if many of them are chores. A good wizard never runs out of things to do! … or, at least, a good wizard that doesn't have a lackey or two.

Curse Flare and his uncanny charisma with students looking for a teacher.

Ah, well, maybe the orphanage will turn up a child that wants to learn under me one of these days.

He shrugged off the wistful thinking, and made a path towards the door. He magicked open the wooden barrier, and stepped through, greeting the top of a spiraling flight of stone steps. He took a step down, already cursing over how many stair there were. He kept moving, however, certain in the idea that he wasn't that old. No; Starswirl the Bearded did not consider himself old by a long shot.

“Locke!” He called out again.

Still, there was no answer.

Where is that blasted goat?

Starswirl batted at the invasive sellers, each one trying harder than the last to grab his attention. The sun beat down on him, making his coat fill with sweat, and he dared to take off his hat for a short moment to wipe away the liquid. He magicked a few ponies in his way towards the side, eliciting some frustrated yelling.

“You better not drop me on my food!” One mare yelled.

“Is it the first already?” Another asked.

He shoved them all aside, ignoring the complaints that he'd built a resilience to. He continued to scour the area, trying to pick out the elusive goat from a sea of ponies. It should have been easy, considering goats tend to be the only naked ones these days. Very practical, he'd admit; it's a shame that it hadn't caught on to ponies, yet. Some of these commoners could easily use that money elsewhere.

“Locke!” He called, snapping his eyes to a gray goat sitting alone at a bench.

Locke, with a pale beard and eyebrows, looked over to the wizard with a face that one could almost see as indifference. He munched away at some sandwich, maintaining only moderate eye contact to the wizard.

“Starswirl.” The ram said, having swallowed his food.

“Locke, I've been looking for you.” The wizard looked over Locke, as if making sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. “Have you spoken with those diamond dogs, yet? I know you're quite busy, but research is on the line here.”

Locke spoke with utmost apathy. “I told you before: I'm not going to ask for materials from them on credit.” He paused. “You know they'll gouge me for all I'm worth.”

Starswirl winced inwardly. He knew very well how much the dogs charged for dealing with things they didn't like. Not getting paid immediately was one of them. Another was dealing with ponies at all, which is what brought Starswirl to Locke in the first place; goats tended to have a great relationship with other races, making them good mediators.

“What happened to your sponsor, anyways?” Locke asked.

The wizard came out of his thoughts, and focused back on the conversation. “Ah. Shoehorn pulled his funding after I published an article over the dangers of having too much sugar.”

“Hmm.” Locke snorted. “Sounds like you should have spent more of the money before you published.”

“Could have, should have, would have, Locke.” He replied. He stopped for a second, realizing that their conversation got off track. He immediately shifted back to his intended path. “So, you can't get me just a little bit of lead?” He asked. The billy stared at him for a small moment. “I can pay you back, you know. I just need to wait for the royal funds to kick in once I get this epidemic solved.” Still, the goat looked on at him, silently chewing his food. “It's for a good cause, I can promise.”

Locke swallowed, and gave an exhausted huff. “You know, Starswirl, you really are too expectant of me.”

Starswirl looked on with some worry. “Is that a yes...?”

“No.” The goat looked him over. “I'm sorry, but I can't just dump bits towards you every time you wave the 'good cause' card. I'm sure Celestia would be fine to set up a loan for you.”

“She might.” He said. “But there isn't a living soul in the noble houses that would be accepting of it.”

“With good reason.” He said. “But, truly, just find another sponsor, or take out a private loan if it's that important to get some lead.”

Starswirl huffed. “Very well.” He said, turning his body away somewhat. “I'll find you again in a few days, then. Gods know the lenders love to pick me apart on these things.”

The goat just waved him off, and the stallion moved on, heading through the crowd again. He brushed by one commoner after another, not really bothering to acknowledge when one of them bumped into him.... or whacked one of his bells for the fun of it.

Darn children.

He kept working his way through the masses, heading back toward the tower. He opened his satchel and-

SMACK

He snatched the artifact hanging from his neck, watching it fling around in one random direction after another. He rubbed his lip from the pain of its sudden contact, and looked at the stone.

The rat!

He stole a glance towards his spire, making a light jog towards it already. His robe kicked up as he went, gathering the attention of a few onlookers, but he went on. A few ponies hopped out of his way, some of them still angry from his previous meeting with them.

I cant believe it worked so quickly! He thought. I thought it might have taken a few days, or at least through the afternoon, but this is great! If a rat can use magic this way, just think of all the possibilities! No more need for heavy rocks to act as runes. No more unicorns that can't use magic like one. Earth ponies and pegasai will be able to perform feats of magic as well! It will all just be-

“Wonderful!”

The stallion let out his excitement, turning the handle to a wooden door. His smile was instantly dampened when a cool breeze blew across him, whipping his robe around and threatening to tear away his hat. He kept his belongings from flying off, and the wind died quickly, coming at him in only small bursts now.

His eyes turned to the curtains again, watching them toss and turn like they had before. He made his way to the window, with lips frowned and eyebrows furrowed. He sighed inwardly, wondering if he should expect to find that it was the wind that knocked the cheese around, rather than the mouse eating it.

He shut the window, curious about how it opened, but not enough to investigate. He already had his suspicions. On his way back to the table, he eyed the floating blob of aura near the wall. It slowly whirled around into random shapes, breaking apart and pooling again every few seconds.

He huffed, turning to the experiment, before his jaw dropped in surprise.

In the cage was, er.... part of the rat he had put in there; half, roughly. The back legs and tail laid helpless in the bed of hay, with blood seeping into and gore falling onto the hay. He looked towards the cheese to see a similar situation to the front half of the rat. With nothing to soak up the blood, it pooled out and ran off the table. The cheese had chunks missing and was dotted with bite marks, almost making it seem as if the rat didn't mind being severed.

He should have realized this was a possibility. He should have known a rat would just.... but, he didn't. A waste. He thought. He sighed, picking up the rat's remains with his magic. As he tossed them into a bin labeled 'bio', he supposed that these things happened, sometimes. It was a part of science, why testing was even needed at all: To find out what works, and what doesn't.

No matter. Mistakes are made, and from there he improves.

He disposed of the blood as well, wiping off the table and cage with a lemon and alcohol mixture to disinfect the area. Once he was done, he walked to the other side of the room, where a much larger cage had a place against the wall. He opened the top, listening to the countless squeaks that called out to him, before he grabbed a rat. He closed it up again, and let this one ride on hi head for a moment.

He went back to the smaller cages, and placed the little ball of white fur on the table. He pumped his magic for a second, putting the rat to sleep, before he concentrated on the tail. He imagined all the twists and turns of runic magic carving into the skin. He opened his eyes to see a different mark than the one before. It was more full of detail, more precise.

It wouldn't make the same mistake as before.

He straightened up the cheese, making sure it was in plain view from the cage, and took his leave. As he managed to get to the door, a chill went up his spine.

Odd. It wasn't cold in the room by any means.

He shrugged it off, and opened the door, exiting the room, albeit with a little more hope than the last time.

…

What he didn't notice, however, was the sound of the window creaking open ever so slowly.

What he also didn't notice was the cracks along the runes under the glowing aura.

What he most certainly didn't notice was the aura stretching out just enough to send out a sprinkle of its glow, some of it all around..... and some of it straight for him.

Fire-Dancer took a deep breath. In his magical grasp he held a bouquet of the most delicious flowers he had ever known. They were a rare breed of Chiltern Gentian, with some more common flowers to fill between, like Primrose, and Water-Violet. Also in his grasp was a box. It was small, smaller than the width of his hoof, even. The black box wasn't decorated, unless one counted the blood-red ribbon that secured the top. With a smile on his face, he held up a hoof.

There was no knock, however. His mind went over every which way the night could go. She could calmly accept his love, letting him slip into her life as easily as she slipped into his. She may be much more excited, hopping in joy at his wish to be at her side for the remainder of his life. His mind turned to other possibilities, though. What if she was just surprised? Surely she wouldn't see this coming. No, she couldn't know. She'd take it it, slowly, perhaps. Oh, the waiting would kill him if she did. He just couldn't wait long if she just says she doesn't know what she thinks.

Every heartbeat seemed to get louder in his ear than the last. He pulled his hoof away a few inches; then, he put his hoof down on the stone ground. His eyes fell to the dark, empty expanse of the hall, then to the ground, then to anywhere he wanted, except for the door.

What if she said no? What if she didn't want to try a relationship with him? It would be well-founded, after all. She was just too perfect. She might want to keep that image of perfection rather than muddle it with the proposition of one day having children.

What if she laughed in his face?

No, no... that wouldn't happen... would it? No, she wouldn't laugh. Not at him, no. She wasn't like that. She wouldn't do that.... that he knew, at least.

Oh, this was just terrible! Why did he come out here, anyways? To profess his love? What a mindless effort. There are a hundred of suitors that have been denied; many of whom were better than him. Why would she accept his over-

CREEEEEEAAAAAK

The creak of a door down the hall grabbed his attention, and his head snapped to face it. He instantly put the flowers and box at his side, opposite of the source of the noise. The soft glow of the hall's crystals revealed that Princess Luna herself had entered.

Oh gods. He thought. Sh-she's not in her room? Oh no no nononononono she's coming this way. What do I do? What do I say? 'Hey there, ignore me, I'm just trying to get over how hot it is in here, because yep, that's the reason I'm so sweaty.' Oh gods. I'm going to die....

He offered a strained smile, only worsened by the fact that his mane was matting down with his sweat.

Luna beside him, just far away enough to not see the objects he was holding his grasp. She looked at him with curious eyes. “Hello, Fire-Dancer. Are you needing anything?”

“W-well, no, I j-just...” He fidgeted, not knowing what to do.

This whole thing is a mistake. She'll be appalled at me for asking her hoof in romance in the midst of all the nobles harassing her for the same.

“Are you feeling well?”

“I'm fine.” He whispered.

No I'm not. I'm anything BUT fine. I'm so confused! What in the gods' names do I do?! I can't just.... NO. No, I did not get up to this point just to turn back. I am NOT going to whither under the pressure.

Fire-Dancer straightened himself. He puffed up his chest and tossed away the forced smile. He faced his body towards her highness completely, exposing the gifts he had. Her eyes wandered to the gifts, but she only looked confused for a moment, then surprised.

“Dancer, what-” She started, but was cut off. The stallion wrapped his forelegs around her and pulled her into a kiss. It was a long, slow kiss, one where his lips moved against hers passionately. She hesitated, but then fell into it, responding with a kiss of her own.

They drew it out, perhaps longer than was needed, but they enjoyed it all the same. When they finally broke, their eyes met in an unshakable, comforting silence. The happiness in Luna's eyes spoke far more than any words could do. Fire-Dancer, with tears in his eyes that were once of fear, but now joy, leaned back, and landed on his hooves. He levitated a small box to Luna, gesturing towards it.

She looked at it, unraveling the ribbon like the mysteries of the universe, and pulled the top off ever so slowly. She gasped, seeing a simple black band with a white crescent moon on the front. She looked at him with a smile and he smiled even wider, happy that she's happy. She lifted the ring up and slid it down her horn, securing it at the base. It was a perfect fit.

“Princess Luna.” He said. “I know this may seem sudden, but I want to be your stallion.”

“I know I bear no royal ancestors, or even noble ancestors. I know that the moment I take off my helmet I'm just another commoner. I know that there have been a hundred others that have asked to be at your side, and you denied them, in spite of so many having a higher station in life than I. But, Luna, before I ever joined the military ranks, before I even knew what my cutiemark looked like, I spent every night watching the stars, looking at them glisten in the sky. I loved every meteor shower you made for us, and every portrait you painted with the sky. When I was in elementary school, you visited us, and you hugged all the boys and girls who asked, and I couldn't help but ask again and again.”

Luna put a hoof over her mouth, a tear or two in her eye. “You were the little colt that kept telling me how pretty I was?”

He nodded. “I joined the army hoping I could one day impress you, but I never found an opportunity. Through merit alone I climbed the ranks, but it wasn't until I managed to get to lieutenant that I even got a chance to talk to you.” He paused, looking at her with a thankful smile. “By then, I was sure you had forgotten about me. I'm glad how wrong I was.”

She opened her forelegs wide, and wrapped him in a tight hug, which he returned, nestling his head into her neck. “It wasn't until now that I worked up the courage to ask....and, I know the nobles would be in arms if you romanced a commoner, but....” He broke the hug, but kept his hooves on her, as if scared she'd move away. “Luna, even if we must keep it a secret, would you give me the pleasure of being your stallion?”

“Yes!” Luna pulled him into a hug, this one a little more bone-crushing than the last. He returned the embrace.

“Luna, you have no idea how happy I am.” He said, resting his head against hers. His worried mind was put at ease, and he was finally calm enough to make a clear thought, though he was still rather excited.

“I'm sure I don't.” She said. She moved her head around, nuzzling him. “But I think there's one thing I can do to make you happier.”

Fire-Dancer furrowed his eyebrows, a little confused, until the moment he heard a click from the door. He looked at it to see that she opened it wide. They released eachother, and she gestured to the door.

“Stallions first?”

He walked in, excitement bubbling up in all forms, with her in tow.

Luna grabbed the flowers and placed them somewhere inside the room, before she closed the door.