I showed up not in Luna's room like I had expected, but in the royal gardens. Luna was standing a few feet in front of me.

"Hey Luna!" I greeted happily. "Hey, why am I here this time?"

"I... I just like this place." Luna answered. "It's special for us. Don't you remember?"

I looked around a bit and smiled as I saw a familiar turtle-shaped rosebush. "This is where I wandered off to the first day I spent I Canterlot Palace. Right after I fell through a wall I believe. I found you here and started teaching you to speak like the rest of the world."

Luna nodded happily. "That was the first time you were more than an employee to me." she trotted over to me and leaned against my side. "I guess you could say this was were we first really met. You got to see the real me, instead of the formidable Princess of the Night."

"Well, I guess we both liked what we saw that day." I stated blankly, as if I wasn't really considering what I was saying.

Luna blushed a little bit and bumped her hips against me. "Hee hee, I know I most certainly did." she walked forward a bit and sat down facing me. "So, what do you wish to partake in first? There's a play about a legendary warrior going on soon, a sort of carnival is in Canterlot at the moment, or we could just spend some quiet time together if you'd like that."

I raised my brow in interest when the words "legendary warrior" came up. "That play sounds interesting." I mused aloud. "Let's go see that!"

Luna tilted her head at me with a small frown. "Really? I was most certain you would wish to partake in the carnival. I didn't take you as the type to want to sit still and watch theater for hours..."

"Well that was your mistake, princess." I jeered with a smug smile. "I love movies and plays as much as I enjoy a good book or story by a campfire."

"You enjoy reading?" Luna asked confusedly. "I'd never have guessed! I mean, you're so... physical that it's hard to picture you as an intellectual."

"Well, I guess I see your point. I'm actually a huge intellectual though. I was... well I was considered pretty smart in my old world. A huge nerd, if you will."

"You?" Luna giggled. "I... I still can't see it. Well, back to the matter at hoof. The theater is in a very densely populated part of the city, so we will have to teleport directly into my viewing booth if we wish to remain unseen."

"Oh, alright. Out of curiosity, why is walking out of the question? Do you just never walk anywhere?"

"No, 'tis not that. I said if we wish to remain unseen we must teleport. Our... relationship... is still secret." Luna paused for an unusually long time around the word "relationship". If I didn't know better, I would have thought she was going to say something else.

"Well ok, if that's what you want." I muttered, a little upset that she still didn't want anyone to know about our friendship. It kind of annoyed me that she had to keep me some big secret. "So... why is it a secret again?"

"Well... it 'tis improper for somepony of my stature to be with a knight..." Luna mumbled shyly.

"So... I'm not good enough to be seen with, that's it?" I asked with more than a little sting in my words. I was surprisingly insulted by the idea that she didn't want to be seen with me.

"N-no! That is not what We meant at all! We would be happy to be seen with you!" she nearly shouted in an almost panicked fashion.

"... Now you fucked up." I just kind of glared at her for a little while. Luna appeared to be about to burst into tears before she finally realized why I was glaring at her and face-hooved.

"I meant to say 'I'. Sorry, I was emotional and got caught up in the moment." she finally corrected herself. I nodded approvingly.

"Good. Now if you really don't mind being seen with me, why do you keep saying how improper it would be, and why do you want to not be seen on the way to the theater?"

"Well... I just... At first I meant it, I was afraid of how society would view us." Luna inhaled shakily before continuing. "After a while though... I did want everypony to know, despite what anypony thought of us. However, I was convinced you didn't want it to be known..."

"What in Equestria gave you that idea?"

Luna shrugged. "I don't know... I guess I just assumed."

"Well, just so you know..." I walked over to Luna and hung one arm around her shoulders. "I'm totally ok with everypony knowing we hang out, ok?"

Luna smiled up at me with a light blush on her face. "R-really? It would mean a lot to me to be able to tell ponies how I feel about you."

How she really feels about me? That reminds me...

"Hey Luna, about that... Ah, nevermind. I'll ask you later. We just avoided an early death, sweet."

"Ask me what later?" Luna asked as she nuzzled my chest. I snickered a little. Then giggled. Then burst out into full-on laughter.

"L-Luna! Bwahahah! Stop! T-that tickles!" I began weakly pushing her head away from my chest to stop her from rubbing against me any longer. Normally I wasn't ticklish at all! I'd even stood Rarity constantly rubbing my chest before. Maybe it was because of her coat, all the tiny soft hairs had to be working the same way a feather would.

"You're ticklish?!" Luna exclaimed with glee, which I didn't take as a good sign.

"H-hey, wait just a m-moment!" I weakly protested as Luna pulled her head away from me and attacked my midsection with her hooves. Luckily her smooth hooves weren't capable of tickling me; it was only her coat that had gotten to me. As soon as I could regain my composure, I grabbed her hooves and stepped back. "Ha! Your hooves have no effect on me!"

"Awww! That's no... Wait! What're you--" Luna exclaimed as I suddenly dropped low and flipped her onto her back. I jumped onto her and began tickling her sides with a wicked grin on my face.

"S-Sharky I'm n-not..." *hee* "t-ticklish!" Luna tried to say as she suppressed a few giggles.

I grinned at her and kept up my attack mercilessly. "You're a bad liar." I told her as she finally burst into uproarious laughter. She flailed weakly, striking my arms in an attempt to stop me. I simply laughed along with her and kept tickling. "This is possibly the dumbest kind of fight I've ever seen."

"S-stop! Please!" Luna eventually managed to gasp in between laughs. I sighed and stepped off of her. Luna rolled back to her hooves quickly and smiled at me. "Wow, I can't remember the last time I did anything like that."

"Heh, me either. I thought I wasn't even ticklish anymore."

"I've always been very ticklish. 'Tia is too! When we were young we would ambush each other in the halls of the castle and just tickle each other until one of us couldn't breathe."

I thought for a brief moment to come up with a mental picture of that. "Dear god that's adorable." I shook my head clear of the image before it gave me a heart attack and cleared my throat. "So, we're heading to that play right? Shouldn't we get walking?"

Luna beamed at me. "Yes, I suppose we should."

We both stood up and began walking out of the gardens side-by-side. "Alright then, just lead the way, princess."

We walked for a bit before reaching the castle gate. "Greetings, Princess Luna!" one of the guards shouted. "Greetings... Sharky?"

"Open the gate, please!" Luna called back. The guard pulled a lever quickly and the gates slowly opened.

"Ummm... May I ask what buisness you have walking through the gates, Princess? I know very well you can just teleport or fly to wherever you want..."

"Luna felt like walking." I stated simply. "I'm escorting her. Got a problem with that, meat?"

"N-no no! Sorry for asking!"

I gave him a confused look and shrugged, but Luna just kept walking. I took a few rushed steps to catch up with her and we continued on our way. "So... are all the guards allowed to question your business?"

"He was just confused, I never go through the gate. Not since I've returned, and certainly not in his lifetime. I can forgive a nosy question or two when presented with such strange behavior."

"Wow, really? Why do you avoid walking so much?"

"It's not really that I avoid it, it's just easier to teleport where I want to go."

"I guess that makes sense, but then why did you make a fuss about us walking earlier?"

"Well in this case it's more of a publicity thing. I wanted to be seen with you, and I had assumed you didn't wish the same."

"Ah, I see. Well, we certainly seem to be attracting said publicity." I stated as I pointed out the small crowd already gawking at us. We had barely reached the first buildings past the castle and already ponies were noticing us.

"Hee hee, crowds will tend to gather when a hero and a princess are seen, let alone when they are seen together."

I nodded in agreement. One thing I noticed though was the slight difference in the normal crowds I attracted. Firstly, they all had elegant garments and jewelry on, indicating that we were in a very wealthy part of Canterlot. Two, they did not approach us. They maintained a healthy distance and whispered amongst themselves. "Is this what crowds are like for you? Mine are usually a bit more mob-ish."

Luna turned to look at me questioningly. "Mob-ish?"

"Well, you know. They surround me and pester me. This time though, they won't come near us."

"'Tis likely respect. I am royalty after all."

"I don't get why that stops them..."

Luna laughed once loudly before responding. "That's because you hold no respect for social norms. You've addressed me informally for almost as long as we've known each other. I guess that's one of the reasons I find your company so... refreshing."

A few cameras began flashing from the slowly growing mob of ponies around us. Luna smiled in their direction and even stopped to do a few regal poses, which got her some cheers from the crowd. I laughed a little and gave her bunny ears for a few of the pictures, which only gained me confused looks from the crowd. I frowned as I remembered that the bunny ears were a human thing and stopped. I did take a page from Luna's book and posed a bit for the photographers on my side of the mob, which earned a few cheers as well.

"Alright, we're here." Luna suddenly said. She stopped me in front of a huge stone building with the classic theater masks expressing joy and sorrow hanging over a large, thick-looking wooden door. The doors were pulled open for us by two unremarkable stallions wearing little red vests.

"Do you have any idea how many reports will be written on what we just did?" I asked with a little bit of laughter in my voice.

Luna giggled. "I imagine everypony that's anypony will know all about it by tomorrow morning, if not by tonight."

"Geez, that's what I need. More questions for reporters to heckle me about."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to inconvenience you..."

"Nah, it's no big deal. I'll just ignore them. Anyway, let's keep going." inside the theater was a small booth that had a little board that said "Tickets" over it. We approached it and the mare in the booth started shaking visibly.

"Uhhh... W-welcome, how can I help you today?" she asked with wide eyes. Luna stepped forward.

"Two tickets to "Lightning: Tales of the Eclipse" please.

"O-ok..." the mare stammered as she retrieved our tickets from somewhere in her booth. Luna levitated her a few coins I hadn't noticed she brought and we proceeded into the theater.

"Alright, follow me to my private viewing platform." Luna ordered. I nodded and followed behind her dutifully.

"So, what exactly is this about?" I inquired as we walked into the main viewing area. The stage was dark and the curtains were drawn at the moment. "I mean, you told me it was about a hero or something, right? What else?"

"Well, it's mostly about a stallion named Lightning Blade, the hero obviously. He works for a organization known as "The Eclipse". This is a performance of some of his missions as a legendary assassin."

"Wow, is this a true story?"

Luna shook her head. "No, it's based off of a novel written by a stallion named "Living Ink". He's a famous writer known for the Tales of the Eclipse. Lightning Blade is only one of the many outstanding heroes and heroines in his novels." Luna eventually led me to a door which led to a sectioned off viewing booth that was designed the same way as the Wonderbolts viewing platform RD and I had used.

"Really? His books are so popular they have theater acts based on them?"

"Yes. In fact I am surprised you haven't heard of him yourself."

This viewing area had luxurious looking sofas instead of thrones, likely since the length of a play demanded much more comfortable seats. Luna and I took our seats on her night themed sofa. After I settled in, Luna leaned against me and snuggled herself in next to me. "So when does it start? How long is it?"

"It should start in just a bit. If I remember correctly, this play is just over four hours long."

"Yikes, never sat in a theater that long before." I admitted. "I sure hope this is entertaining."

"It will be, I promise. This is one of the more popular shows in Equestria right now, so it must be good."

"Alright, I'll take your word for it. If this doesn't make me laugh at least once, heads will roll."

Luna and I sat in peaceful silence until finally the lights in the theater dimmed even further. Everypony in the area immediately quieted whatever noise they had been making and turned their attention to the stage. A single spotlight suddenly beamed down onto the stage, illuminating a familiar stallion.

"Holy cow, that's Spot Light!" I exclaimed softly when I realized who the stallion was. Luna gave me a strange look.

"Yes, that is a spot light. Very good Sharky." she added the last part with a teasing tone. I tossed her an irritated glare.

"No, that stallion is named Spot Light. He was one of the ponies that helped me in the Deadlands. I knew he was an actor, but I didn't expect to ever see him again!"

"Well shhh, he's trying to narrate the beginning of the play." Luna informed with a little bit of impatience in her tone. I guessed she was genuinely interested in the story.

"Sometimes, there are crimes so severe that they can change the nature of a kingdom." Spot Light started out somberly. "Sometimes, there are criminals so vile they can never be allowed to exist. There are times that a decision has to be made, early and decisively to preserve the peace. Decisions that even rulers cannot make in time. There are things even the sun and moon cannot see from their positions in the heavens." Spot light held still for a while, pausing for effect I assumed.

"For these times, these eclipses in which no light exists, heroes can come from the dark. They come in the dead of night, one with the shadows to do what must be done...

The Eclipse.

A legendary group of assassins so skilled, their existence is not even known. This is the tale of one such assassin, Lightning Blade. His speed is unrivaled even among the legendary Eclipse, and his accomplishments are vast and impressive--"

"Wait, Luna... if their existence isn't known, how was this play made?"

"It's a work of fiction Sharky. Obviously." she snipped. "Now shhh!"

"Jeez, calm the fuck down. It's just a stupid show..."

I listened to the rest of the intro a little peeved at Luna's snippyness, but eased up by the time the first scene started. It was an interesting tale right off the bat. It began with a stallion locked in a cell surrounded by dozens of unicorns with their horns all pointed at him. Another stallion trotted onstage very cockily and began monologuing to the stallion in the cage which he referred to as "Lightning Blade". He talked for a good, long while. Once he was done, the stallion in the cage got to his hooves shakily.

Even from the distance I was at, I saw the stallion, Lightning Blade, grin.

"Judgement has been passed. You die today." Lightning Blade said simply. What happened next had to require some sort of magical special effects. Lightning Blade vanished from his cage. Nearly too quickly for me to follow, he appeared by all of the unicorns and snapped their necks in a few fluid motions. The villain cowered when Lightning finally reached him. There was a flash of light as two bolt-shaped blades appeared along Lightning's legs.

What happened next made me leap to my feet in shock. Lightning Blade executed the villain as expected...

"Sharky? Is something wrong?" Luna asked as I rocketed to my feet. I shakily pointed to the wall over the villain.

Lightning Blade had painted a lightning bolt on the wall over the villain's head with the villian's blood.

Author's Notes:

Can't remember why that last part is shocking?
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/13024/134/my-better-life/pahoehoe
Re-read that chapter carefully.