Luna bade Mac farewell and trotted down the dusty road that lead back to town, past the long rows of sweet, fragrant-scented trees laden with the fruit that had made the Apple family famous. She could barely restrain herself till she was out of earshot of the farm before she reared to her haunches and clopped her forehooves together in delight, loosing a loud “HUZZAH” of triumph!

Mac had said yes, he had said YES! She dropped back down to all fours, making no attempt to hide her broad, silly smile of delight. So it hadn’t gone exactly as she had hoped. She’d been rather hesitant at first, his poleaxed expression when he opened the door not exactly boding well for the outcome of the conversation.

Getting in the front door had been the first challenge, but in truth there had been little real fear that he would turn her away. The Princess of the Night asking to speak to him? Her title guaranteed that she would at least make it inside. The rest. though, had been far less certain and in truth their conversation had been somewhat stilted in places on both sides. No great surprise, perhaps.

In hindsight she should have probably let him relax a little. They could have spent a little more time with small talk, rather than simply proposing this liaison with him straight out, but then she doubted anything would have truly made McIntosh relax. Really, what did she know of small talk these days? McIntosh would likely have little interest in the latest tax legislation or trade agreements that were the stock in trade of life in the castle. She further doubted that he would have much interest in the gossip among the noble families, even if she did have some truly juicy morsels to share about what some of those ponies got up at night to when they thought no-one was watching...

No, this would take time, she knew. Time to make him see the mare behind the crown, time for them to grow easy with each other’s company, and that all started tonight. She bit her bottom lip as she picked up the pace a little, breaking into a trot as she headed back towards Ponyville… Only to come to an abrupt stop three steps later as the smile slid from her face and was replaced with a look of horror as one teeny, tiny, insignificant little problem suddenly reared its head.

She had promised the object of her affections a night to remember but there was just one issue with that – She had no idea what ponies did these days.

In her time there were tourneys and formal balls and rules for such things, but she doubted McIntosh would feel at home at the Gala, and while she was certain he would do well at a tourney it was hardly the sort of thing you attended on a first date, definitely fourth or fifth date material there at least.

What would she do? Her options were further limited by the necessity of keeping their courting low key for the moment, so that easily eliminated any of the diversions available in Canterlot; there were simply too many curious eyes there for them to take the chance, even with the assistance of her guard detail keeping ponies away.

There were some secluded places around Ponyville, to be sure, but simply taking him out for something as mundane as a picnic was simply not… impressive enough for her. No, she had to make her intentions plain, that she intended to not only woo this stallion, but win him too. But how? She needed help, advice, but who could she turn to? Certainly not Celestia; her Sister was not the sort of pony you turned to for advice on such things, and the thought of the teasing she would receive was enough to make her shudder. No, definitely not Celestia.

Perhaps Cadence? Of course! Cadence had known Shining Armour since the two of them were young, they had dated as they had grown up. She was likely the best candidate to instruct her on how one went about a modern courtship. But she did not know McIntosh, so any advice she could give would be generic at best. Cadence would be the best one to consult about the process as a whole, but she still required rather more specialised knowledge of what entertainments were on offer around Ponyville itself.

Picking up her hooves, Luna skipped once, twice, then leapt into the air with a strong sweep of her wings, skimming the orchard treetops as she lofted up and into the air towards Ponyville, a cloud of scattered leaves in her wake. It was hardly the most discreet of arrivals into this normally-quiet town, but time was against her! She had promised Mac a date this very evening so there was not a moment to waste.

She let the warm updrafts lift her higher, soaring into the cloud-speckled expanse. An alicorn’s broad wings were built for gliding, not the frantic sort of flying that pegasi practiced. She may not be as quick as someone like Rainbow Dash, but she would still be gliding serenely along long after Dash would have to stop to rest.

Closing her eyes for a moment she relaxed, breathing in the sweet scented air of the countryside, feeling her Sister’s sun bathing her face, letting the wind currents caress over her body and brush through her feathers like silken fingers. Gods, but it felt good to fly free like this, for once not surrounded by a team of guards, or forced to ride in a chariot for ‘her own protection’. Her captain of the guard would be furious that she had, once again, slipped the leash as it were. He would probably not realize till later on, when the time came for her to raise the moon and he came to escort her to the observatory she favoured when she performed the magic.

Of course what he had never quite grasped was that she did not need to be there to perform her duty, and tonight she had no intention of being home before her Sister retired. This was her night, hers and Mac’s. She looked forward to the day she could share this experience with him, already imagining the delight on his face as he took to the air. She wondered if he would let her carry him. He’d likely fuss, no doubt, complain that he was too heavy. Well, she would soon disabuse him of that particular notion though the thought of his strong, heavy body atop her own was enough to make her start to feel more than a little warm.

Noooo, she chided herself. Nope. It was far too early to be thinking such thoughts. She carefully put that thought into a mental box, then buried the box, then built a mental house on top of where she buried the box. It helped.

A little.

With a shake of her head and a wry smile she set her musings aside and swooped down to the town below. She passed beneath the Ponyville Weather team, hard at work clearing the sky of those last few lingering clouds. “Princess Luna!” one of them called out. “Is everything alright?”

She waved a hoof absently in response, not waiting for a reply as she swooped down towards the town, hearing a burst of confused conversation in her wake “Wonder what she’s doing here? Maybe something for Nightmare Night?”

Luna circled above the town, peering downwards and shading her eyes with one hoof as she searched for one particular place of business. Where was it? She had seen reference to it in the letters from her Sister’s student. Ah! There it was! Quills and Sofas, a singularly odd combination of businesses if you asked her, but who was she to judge?

Landing lightly outside, she swept the door open with a hoof. “Proprietor!” she thundered, the Royal Canterlot Voice making the windows shake and the beams rattle. “We require thy finest quill and parchment! Fetch them forthwith so we might complete our most important task!”

Davenport, the owner of the shop, was too busy clinging to the floor to answer as the sheer power of Luna’s voice all but forced him back up against the wall. When the alicorn paused for breath the beleaguered earth pony slowly raised his head, his voice trembling. “Quills we got, your Majesty, but I’m afraid we, uh, don’t actually stock parchment.”

“WHAT?” Luna bellowed, then coughed and lowered her voice a little as the poor stallion cowered on the floor once more and a few billowing clouds of dust were dislodged from the ceiling. “This establishment is called Quills and Sofas, is it not?”

“That it is, your, uh, Benevolence,” Davenport squeaked, “and that’s what we got in stock. Quills and sofas. We, uh, don’t deal in quill-related accessories.”

Luna opened her mouth, then closed it again, pursing her lips as she thought that statement through. It made, she supposed, perfect sense in an insanely specific way. “Did it not occur to thee that those who purchase quills might also require something on which to use them?”

“I don’t presume to assume what Your Grace or any of my other customers might want the quill for; it’s not for me to comment on what ponies do with my products,” Davenport responded with just a hint of indignation, suggesting this was a particular line of reasoning that he’d already heard many times before. He then blinked, seemed to remember just who it was he was speaking to and went on in a rather more respectful tone, “but if it’s parchment you want, the Ponyville mail office usually has plenty in stock.”

“And do they have quills there as well?”

“Well yes-“ Luna’s expression brightened but he wasn’t finished. “But not to buy.”

“What?” She deadpanned, the frown re-appearing.

“Well, p-ponies might need to write d-down addresses on their parcels or some such,” he stammered out. “So they have some chained to the counter.”

“So what thou art saying is that we must purchase our quills here, and then find this post office to purchase parchment?” Luna sighed, fighting the urge to slap her hoof against her face. This sort of thing would never happen in Canterlot but… When in Roam, do as the Roamans do. “Then we would purchase your finest quill, proprietor. Thou mayest bill Princess Celestia at Canterlot Castle.”

“Princess Celes-Right! Of course!” He darted up from the floor when Luna glared at him, her eyes flashing dangerously until he was out of sight. On her own for the moment she relaxed and snorted softly, already looking forward to the conversation she was going to have with Celestia when the bill arrived. She did so enjoy her little games with her sister, and she still owed her for that “timberwolf wax” nonsense. There would be repercussions, of course, but that was just the way the game was played. When you lived forever, you had to find ways to make your own fun.

“Here you are, your Worshipfulness. Finest phoenix feather, gold nib, inlaid with magical enhancements to protect against smearing, smudging or premature breakage.” He laid the box down reverently on the counter before tugging the lid open with a flourish to reveal the shimmering red quill, sparks of phoenix-fire still glittering around the edges.

Luna’s eyes widened and a soft, impressed “Oooooooo” escaped her lips as she admired the surprisingly beautiful writing implement. “And dare we ask how much the bill is for this thing of beauty, Proprietor?”

“That’ll be eight hundred bits, your Excellence. These don’t come along very often, in fact this is only the third one I’ve ever had the privilege of stocking and I’m right honoured you’d choose to buy the very best.”

Luna was rather proud that she managed to keep the look of shock from her face. Eight hundred? Even shops in Canterlot would be hard pressed to ask those sorts of prices, but then she supposed that he did have a point. Phoenix feather quills were a rarity indeed, due to their owner’s somewhat annoying habit of burning to ash when they died. She also made a mental note to keep her new quill away from Philomena, just in case her Sister’s mercurial pet decided that it once belonged to a relative of hers.

Davenport went on, “Now, would you like that gift-wrapped, Your Highness?”

“Nay, we shall be using it immediately.” Her magic wrapped around the quill and tucked it somewhere deep in the recesses of her mane. “You do your shop proud, proprietor. Perhaps thou should look into carrying stock of parchment as well, though.” Luna stepped back outside and paused for a moment to take her bearings. Now, she mused to herself, where would you find the Post Office?

“You!” She thrust an imperious hoof at a stallion with an hourglass cutie mark who had grovelled on the ground as she exited the shop. “Where might we find the Ponyville Post Office?”

He didn’t make eye contact, but did extend a trembling hoof to point down along the street. “Just a couple of m-minutes walk, your Highness!” he blurted out around his faceful of the floor.

“You have our thanks!” she bellowed, only then realising that she was slipping into old habits once again. “I mean, thank you.” she offered the poor stallion a soft smile and hurried off in the direction he had indicated.

Trotting cheerfully past the Town Hall, Luna was surprised to find her path blocked by a grey-haired mare, flanked on each side by somewhat dour-faced stallions carrying clipboards and quills. It took a moment for the correct name to come to her; the last time she’d seen Mayor Mare that grey mane had been hidden under a garish clown wig. Ah, that had been a fine Nightmare Night indeed. Such a pity she’d not been able to come the next year as she had promised, but then she had been tied up assisting Cadence with the Crystal Empire. Returning from a thousand year exile did generate quite a lot of paperwork, something she’d already had intimate experience of.

“Princess Luna, is something the matter?” The Mayor asked after she’d finished bowing, “We had no notification of your arrival or we would have ensured you were properly received.”

“No reception is necessary, Mayor,” Luna briskly assured her, hoping to keep the conversation brief, painfully aware of the slow but inexorable progress of her Sister’s sun overhead. It was a perplexing position to find herself in, she decided. Here she was, a creature that measured her life in millenia, and suddenly time seemed to be against her. “We are in Ponyville on business of a more personal nature, nothing that need concern thyself or thy staff. Now, if thou dost not mind, we must attend to the local Post Office.” She made to take a step forward, then stopped at the look of horror that had just crossed the mayor’s face.

“What did she do now?” the Mayor asked in the longest-suffering voice Luna had heard in many a year.

“What did who do?” Luna couldn’t help but ask. For such a small, ostensibly quiet town she did seem to spend a lot of her time here puzzling at the strange behaviour of Ponyville’s inhabitants.

“Ditzy Doo, known as Derpy to her friends, one of our Mailmares. Did she lose an important message for you, Princess?” the Mayor shuddered. “Was there property damage? Ponyville does have an emergency fund for Ditzy-Doo related incidents, I’m sure we can come to an arrangement that-”

“Mayor Mare?”

“-mean there was the incident with the town hall roof, and the problems during Winter Wrap-up but there’s no more dedicated-”

“Mayor?”

“-sure that whatever happened, she really didn’t mean it. There’s not a single hateful bone in her body. Please tell me you haven’t come here to relieve her of her position!”

“MAYOR!” Luna bellowed, the Canterlot Voice in full effect. “Our business here does not concern this mare or thyself! It is, as we said, a personal matter. We are not here to discharge any of our Royal duties. We just…” she sighed softly. “We just wish to be allowed to go about our business. Quietly.”

Mayor Mare blinked, adjusting her spectacles and clearing her throat self-consciously. “Well, of course. If that’s what you wish, Princess Luna, then we won’t detain you any longer.”

Luna could see the unspoken questions in her eyes, the curiosity that was eating at her, desperate to ask just what it was that had brought the Princess of the Night to her humble little town but decorum was an unforgiving Mistress and all the Mayor could do was step aside and allow Luna to continue down the street unimpeded.

“Oh WOW!”

Luna sighed inwardly, closing her eyes for a moment as she pursed her lips. Was the Universe out to mock her today? She was beginning to wonder how anyone in this town found time for more than the briefest of thoughts, it seemed they were always being interrupted! Now, she chided herself, that was just being unfair. Was it really that much better back at the palace where she had nobles and messengers and functionaries hounding her from dusk till dawn? Setting those thoughts aside she opened her eyes again to find a pink earth pony standing in front of her with a wide smile on her face.

“I was a chicken!”

Luna blinked, cocking her head slowly to one side as she attempted to parse this statement. Wait, of course. She was referring to their meeting on Nightmare Night. She winced a little internally at the memory of that particular night and her abortive attempts to endear herself to the population. If it hadn’t been for Twilight Sparkle and her friends that might indeed have been the last ever celebration of that holiday. “We do indeed recall thy costume, Pinkamena Pie. We also recall thine incitement of the children to run in terror from us and the many accusations of terrible acts that thou made against us that night.” It was childish, she knew, but she couldn’t resist letting her magic slip, just a little, her eyes glowing as her mane spread wide, wings flaring outwards as she loomed over the suddenly nervous Pinkie.

“Well, I mean, that is, we did, I didn’t mean…” Pinkie stammered helplessly, caught off guard by the sudden shift in the conversation. “Ah, er… We did bring you candy though, right? I mean it was all good! You gave us all a really good scare and you said you’d eat the candy instead of us!”

“Oh yes, so we did,” Luna noted, and let her magic recede, the glow fading from her eyes as she tucked her wings back against her flanks once more, once again a model of serenity. “Thine offering was sufficient so we shall refrain from gobbling thee up. Now, may we assist thee with something, Pinkamena?”

Looking back on it, Luna really wasn’t entirely sure what happened in the next few seconds. One moment Pinkie had been standing nervously over there, trying to decide if the Princess was serious about eating her and the next she had a pink foreleg draped over her shoulders and Pinkie’s cheek was pressed right up to hers as the earth pony whispered, “Didja tell him?”

Luna turned her head as best she could to fix one eye on the gleefully grinning pony, trying to fight the urge to back away. “Tell who?”

“Big Mac, of course!”

Luna blinked. She was aware of this particular pony’s supposed predilection for prophetic insight; she had seen it mentioned more than once in Twilight Sparkle’s letters, but had put little stock in it, assuming it to be mere coincidence. To have it demonstrated like this was more than a little uncanny. “And how dost thou know about this?”

“Oooooohhhhh don’t you worry your spangly star-filled head about that, Princess! We Pies have our ways and means.” Pinkie nodded sagely. “So. Did you ask him then? Is that why you’re in town? Are you looking for something to do with him where you won’t be bothered and asked lots of silly questions like ‘Who are you and what are you doing with McIntosh, you fiend?’ Wait. No, they probably wouldn’t ask you that, they know who you are! Oooohhhhh! I bet that’s it! They all know who you are so if you’re seen with Mac then people will ask lots of questions like, ‘Why Princess Luna, what are you doing with McIntosh, you fiend?’ So what ARE you going to be doing with McIntosh, you fi-Errr…Princess?”

Luna just stared slack-jawed at Pinkie for a few seconds longer as her brain attempted to process that stream of words into something approaching coherence. “We do not know,” she admitted at last, sighing quietly. “It has been many years since we last courted and we are unsure of what ponies do these days to impress those they favour.”

“Ooohhhhh. I gotcha. That’s a toughie, yepyepyep.” Pinkie tapped a hoof to her cheek, hmmming loudly. “Well there’s almost always something going on in Ponyville, but you’d need to know somepony who knows everypony and could tell you everything that’s going on. Wait! You do know somepony who knows everypony and could tell you everything that’s going on. You know ME!” Pinkie pulled away to bounce happy circles right around the Princess. “And I know eeeeeeverybody in Ponyville! Why today we’ve got Twilight giving a lecture at the school on ‘Thaumaturgical theory and its application in beginning unicorn magic’. I dunno what that is, but she seemed real excited about it!”

“I think, perhaps, a little dry and cerebral for a first date,” Luna deadpanned. “But we shall keep it in mind.”

“Okiedokielokie! What else is there? Uhmmm… Octavia Philharmonica is in town doing a recital this evening at Carousel Boutique. Ooooorrrrrrrr Applejack is doing a cider tasting of the latest batch from the farm but that might be too much like work for Mac. Ooo! I know! My friend Vinyl Scratch is in town! She was going to be doing a set tonight at Berry Punch’s bar! Do you like music? Have you ever heard of DJ-P0N3? She brings the wubs! Soooo many wubs! She’s got wubs you haven’t even dreamed of!”

Luna rubbed her forehead, already feeling a headache coming on from trying to keep up with Pinkie’s rambling discourse on the surprisingly rich nightlife of Ponyville. “What… What are these wubs you speak of? Is this something that McIntosh would enjoy, do you think?”

“I dunno! Maybe! Mac likes all kinds of music. I bet he’d like Vinyl’s beats! He’d be all over that like chocolate chips in a cupcake! Like apples in a pie! Mmm! Apples. Oh no! I haven’t had breakfast today! I need to go and eat something! Did you know I’ve got the oddest craving for apple pie right now, wonder why?”

“Wait, Pinkame—Pinkie,” Luna blurted, suddenly afraid that her strange adviser in social matters was about to bounce off in search of food, “we shall buy thee the biggest apple pie there is in Ponyville if thou wilst tell us more of this Vinyl Scratch and her wubs. Will there be many ponies there? It is important that we keep things discreet between us to begin with, so fewer would be better.”

“Oh no, there’ll be LOTS of ponies there! DJ-P0N3 brings them in from miles around!”

“Ah,” Luna sighed, imagining one of the balls from her younger days, so many ponies standing around, gossiping and talking, eyes always on those taking the floor, watching exactly who was dancing with whom, observing shifts in political allegiance and family relations played out in those measured steps. “Then this would, I fear, be less than suitable for us.”

“Oh no! It’d be perfect! You’ve never been to anything like this, I bet!” Pinkie resumed her bouncing, her smile getting wider still. “It’s all dark and the music’s thumping and the crowd’s moving and swaying and everypony’s just grooving and cheering and not really paying any attention at all to who might be right next to them! You’d be all but invisible! I can even tell Vinyl that you’ll be there so that she knows not to draw any attention to you, just to treat it like any other night. If I don’t tell her and she sees you, she might give you a shout out and that would be baaaaad!”

“A… shout out?” Luna could only ask weakly by this point, the beginnings of a throbbing headache creasing her forehead. “These wubs you speak of do not sound particularly romantic. It does not seem that we will have much chance to get to speak to one another at this event. Art thou certain Mac would enjoy an evening such as this?”

“Trust me, Princess. This is what ponies do these days! We go out, we go dancing and drinking and partying and singing! This’ll be a chance for you and Mac to relax and have some fun! Dance together! Drink together! I bet this won’t be anything he’ll be expecting; he’s probably worried you’re going to take him to some fancy restaurant or something where he’s going to feel really awkward and out of place! This way you’ll just be two ponies, just a mare and her coltfriend out for a good time. That’s what you want, right? You don’t wanna be all Princessy with him?”

“It is indeed, Pinkamena Pie. We will take thy suggestion and consider it most carefully before we decide. It seems that this may indeed be a good suggestion, something to allow us to let our manes down, as it were.”

“Exactamundo!” Pinkie bobbed her head manically. “Trust Auntie Pinkie. She knows how this sort of thing is done! That’s how Vinyl and I hooked up, actually. She was DJing at one of my parties in Canterlot and one thing just lead to another and by the end of the evening we were-Oops!” She clamped a hoof over her own mouth and pulled a face. “I’m not meant to tell people about that just yet. Ah-heh. Just forget I said anything.”

“Our lips are sealed, Pinkie Pie,” Luna assured her. “Thy advice is received most gratefully. Now, if you will, we must continue to the Ponyville Post Office. We have a letter we must send and apparently this is the only place in which we can find parchment.”

“Oh! You should totally go by the library then! Twilight usually has stacks of the stuff for all the friendship reports she sends to the Princess, the other Princess that is, and all her lists and checklists and checklist lists and lists of checklists! Then Spike could send the letter for you! Poof and it’s gone! It’s way faster than asking Derpy or one of the other Mailmares to deliver it.”

Luna nodded. Of course, Twilight did not use the normal postal service for her correspondence with Celestia, did she? She should have thought of that herself but then her mind was… Elsewhere at the moment. “A wise suggestion, Pinkie Pie. Thank you.”

“No problemo, Princess! Good luck with you-know-who at the you-know-what at the you-know-where!” and without a backward glance, Pinkie bounced off down the street.

At the last moment Luna urgently waved a wing at the earth pony. “Pinkie! Wait, we would beg another moment of thy time! There is—We have a further question we hope thou can answer.”

“Okiedokielokie, Princesspony!” Pinkie came to a halt, grinning at her little rhyme. “What else do you need to know? Somepony’s birthday? Their favourite colour? What the secret ingredient is in the special sauce?”

Luna shook her head, her ears splaying outward as she dipped her head down, gnawing fitfully at her bottom lip for a moment. Hah, for once Celestia wasn’t here to tell her off for that nervous tic she’d never been entirely able to defeat. “Mac. What do you know of him? The picture we have—that I have—is incomplete. We know much of his dreams, his hopes, but so little of what it is he enjoys in more mundane matters.”

“Well, like what?” Pinkie prompted, head tilting to one side like a playful puppy. “Name a thing!”

Luna pulled a face as she tried to think of something to ask, too many possibilities filling her head until, in the end, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “His favourite cake.”

“Oh come on, that’s easypeasy-lemonsqueezy! Gimme something tough! Double Death by Chocolate Muffin with extra sprinkles and a little drizzle of toffee sauce!” Pinkie smacked her lips and mmmmm’ed loudly. “He gets one once a week, his little treat to himself after he’s completed his chores.” She added a playful wink. “Just don’t let Applejack know!”

Luna near gagged at the thought of something that rich and sweet passing her lips, but then Mac was a big pony so she supposed perhaps his tolerance for such things was higher; unlike Celestia she’d never really developed much of a sweet tooth even in all their centuries of life. “His favourite…” she floundered for a second, trying to think of what to ask. Favourite food? Favourite music? Favourite author? “His favourite hobby! We know he spends much of his time working, but surely he cannot be all work and no play. Dost thou know what he does to entertain himself?”

“Oooo. Now that IS a good one. See, I know some of it,” she leaned in close, motioning Luna to step in closer too. “He goes,” she glanced warily around as if about to impart some dreadful secret, “FISHING.”

Luna’s eyebrows lifted. “Fishing?” she echoed. Well, of all the possible responses she might have got, that was definitely not one she expected. Too many ponies were simply too squeamish for such things, but then earth ponies, and farm ponies in particular, were made of sterner stuff.

Pinkie slowly nodded, “See, Fluttershy looks after a lot of animals that can’t live on hay or plants, she needs meat. She can’t go out and do it herself, she’s just too sweet and kind and lovely for that, but Mac knows that sometimes you just gotta go do a thing so he goes fishing and gives Fluttershy what he catches,” she hesitated a little before she went on. “AJ doesn’t know it, but he’s been adding all that money to the family accounts to help keep the farm afloat.”

“The Apple family is in financial trouble?” Luna frowned. “And yet their farm appears quite prosperous does it no?”

For the second time, Pinkie hesitated before she spoke, her floofy mane seeming to lose a little of its springiness. “At first glance, everything looks okay, but times are tough for them. They make enough to get by, with Mac’s help, but all it would take is one bad season and they’d be in real trouble.”

“A common story. As prosperous as Equestria is, there are always those who are less well-off than others,” Luna sighed. “There is only so much my sister and I can do.”

“And you guys do a great job!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I mean, y’know, other than the occasional invasion, rampaging gods of chaos, evil sorcerers...” Luna gave her an unamused look and Pinkie ahemed loudly. “Oh hey, is that the time?” she blurted out as she looked intently at a spot on her conspicuously bare leg, “I’m going to be late! Gotta go, Princess! Good luck with everything!” She bounded off once more and this time Luna did not try to stop her.

Now, hopefully, Luna thought, there would be no further interruptions. Even as the thought crossed her mind she glanced warily up at the sky, as if begging the Universe’s pardon for tempting it once again. Picking up her hooves once more, she trotted quickly to the library.

It seemed the Universe had accepted her apology as she reached her destination without further interruption. Upon arriving, her initial knock at the library door went unanswered, although she could hear motion inside and what sounded like raised voices. With a sinking feeling of dread she knocked again, harder this time. She could only imagine what might be waiting for her behind these doors. Parasprites, visitors from the future, mad science experiments or…

The door flew open and Spike stood before her with an irritable scowl on his face. “Yes?” he barked, then blinked as he looked first at Luna’s hooves, then slooooowly lifted his gaze upward, eyes widening all the while. “P-Princess Luna! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to… We’re just having a bit of a bad day is all. Please, come in. You want to speak to Twilight, right?”

“Actually, Spike, it is thyself we wish to converse with. We have a favour to ask.” She stepped into the library, glancing warily around as she noted books lying in piles all over the floor, a number of half-written scrolls scattered about the room and even… Was that Twilight’s crown laying on the table where anypony might simply take it? No wonder there had been that nonsense with the mirror. “Is this a bad time?”

“Huh? Oh, no. I mean, no worse than any other time, anyway,” Spike shrugged and waved a hand towards the bedroom upstairs, a vaguely exasperated look crossing his face once again. “Twilight’s just having one of her little episodes upstairs. Something about plots, I think. Maybe she’s worried about someone spoiling the end of the next Daring Do book. Anyway, what is it you needed, Princess?”

“We require thee to send a letter to Princess Cadence. Can this be done?”

“Oh sure, no problem at all!” Spike whipped out a quill and parchment and stood attentively, waiting for Luna to tell him what to write.

The midnight-blue alicorn shifted uncomfortably, unsure if she really wanted to share her predicament with the little dragon; too many ponies seemed to know about her burgeoning relationship with Mac as it was. “Must we dictate this to thee? Art thou still able to send the letter if we write it ourselves?”

“Sure, that works too,” Spike replied easily, offering the quill and parchment out to Luna. “Just write it out and tie it up and I’ll have it off to the Crystal Empire in a jiffy.”

“You have our thanks, young Spike.” She accepted both with her magic, holding the parchment before her as the quill went to work. Oh well, no point in using her shiny new one, she was sure she would have another chance in the future.

She mused over just what she should write, resisting the urge to chew on the tip of the quill as she considered. How much detail should she go into? Should she tell Cadence exactly who it was she was asking about? She hated writing these things; Celestia was so much better at putting her thoughts down in the written word than she had ever been. After long moments of deliberation, she decided to get to the point as quickly as possible, and setting quill to paper she wrote:

“Dear Princess Cadence,

A matter hath arisen that requires thy particular set of skills. We wish thy counsel regarding how one goes about the business of wooing a stallion in these modern times. Given thy own relationship with Shining Armour reaching a successful culmination, we feel thou’rt best placed to be able to advise us.

Awaiting thy swift reply we remain,

Princess Luna”

She neatly tied the scroll up with ribbon and passed it to Spike. One gust of green flame later and the letter was on its way to the Princess of Love. “Once again, Spike, you have our thanks.” Her magic flared once more, this time offering a small bag of bits out to the dragon. “As a token of our appreciation for thy time. We would ask one thing more of thee, however. We had promised Pinkie Pie that we would purchase an apple pie for her in thanks for her advice but she left before we could procure it. Can you ensure that you use some of these bits for her as well?”

“Can do, Princess! Is there anything else you need?”

“One thing more, yes. Couldst thou direct us to Berry Punch’s place of business?”

Author's Notes:

Sorry there was a bit of a wait for this one, guys. I hope the length makes up for it!

Longest-chapter-EVER! (So far, anyway.)