"This is great!" I exclaimed with a grin as I dug into a plate of some dish I couldn't pronounce. Southern griffin tribe cuisine was like some sort of mixture between Hispanic and Asian food, but with twice the amount of peppers involved. There were literally tears of both pain and pleasure in my eyes as I ate.

"A-are you ok Sharky? You're crying!" Luna exclaimed worriedly.

It was true, there were almost streams of tears on my face. "Don't worry Luna, the tears mean I'm having a good time!" I assured her as I scarfed down more food, further increasing the intensity of the burning.

Luna chuckled a bit and began digging into her own food. Eventually she was crying right along with me! We looked up at each other every once in a while, causing us to giggle at the sight of each other's tear-covered faces. Before long, we were causing a few of the ponies at the tables around us to laugh nervously at the sight of a princess and a hero just completely losing their shit over a simple meal. Eventually we both managed to get a grip and regain our composure somewhat.

"S-so anyway Luna..." I choked out amidst the leftover giggles. "H-how's life at the castle treat you, anyway?"

"Oh, it's great Sharky." Luna started eagerly. "Servants 24/7 tending to your every need--"

"We didn't ask for a freakin' repeat of what we've already heard."

"Oh, you're right... I did mention that already..." Luna tapped her chin thoughtfully. I waited patiently for a bit of new information, not quite sure why she had changed sentences in the middle of her first sentence, but not questioning it either. "Well, what would you like to know about it?"

"Well I only really wanna know if you're happy there." I took another bite of my food and grimaced as the burn settled back in. "That's about it."

"Well of course I'm happy!" Luna laughed at the outrageous concept of not being happy while she was as pampered as she was.

I chuckled a little too, realizing how silly my question was. "Yeah, I guess it would be kinda hard to be unhappy when you have everything you could ever want."

"Well... the castle doesn't have quite everything I want..." Luna bit her lower lip nervously.

"Oh really? Well... What do you want? Can I help you get it? Good god he's dumb. Anyone wanna just smack this guy and explain it?" A few ponies at the tables around us randomly rose their hooves. I looked around a bit in pure confusion, then turned my attention back to Luna.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll be getting it in a few weeks." Luna giggled and winked at me. I blushed a little bit, not quite sure how to take that.

"Oh, that's the same time I'll be moving in, right? Will I get to see whatever this is?"

Luna stopped moving altogether and just stared at me for a bit. Then she burst out into laughter, even pounding the table with her hooves a few times in her outburst. "Oh, S-Sharky, you're t-too funny!" she managed to stammer out between her laughs.

"Uhhh... thanks?" I offered my thanks weakly, completely thrown off by Luna's behavior. She was serious about me moving, then suddenly all she was doing was laughing. Earlier today she wouldn't leave my side, and now she was here making light of my serious questions. I just couldn't wrap my head around it. Then again, it seemed that lately I couldn't wrap my head around almost anything other than monster slaying.

Luna wiped her eyes with the back of her hoof as her giggles died down. "'Twas nothing, Sharky. Just giving credit where credit is due." Luna's giggles picked up a little. "If you weren't such a good hunter, I might be tempted to hire you as a jester!"

I cracked a small smile at that and decided to just shrug off my confused thoughts for now. "Heh, good one Luna." I paused for a moment and looked past her and out the window. I decided to change the subject, for some reason her rampant compliments, excessive blinking, and the fact that she was leaning back in were all making me feel a little nervous. "So, it's quite a beautiful night out there. Would you like to go out and stargaze after this?"

"Normally I'd say that I would love to, but... it's too bright around here to stargaze, you can't really see the night properly." Luna pouted just a bit.

"Well we could always go away from here. Y'know, like out of Canterlot to some place more secluded. He uhhh... dude, he has no fucking clue what that invitation just sounded like..."

Luna bit her lower lip softly as a small smile formed on her face. "You... you want to go with me, way off to some area where nopony can find us right after we had a really nice date?" a blush spread across Luna's faces when she turned her head as if to contemplate my offer. I tilted my head at her curiously. It was just stargazing, it wasn't this big a deal to think about. "I think I'll accept that offer..."

I straightened my head and beamed at her eagerly. "Great! I'm sure we'll have lots of fun! Dammit! Why does nobody listen to Steven? He has no clue what this means."

"Oh hush Steven, I'm sure we both know exactly what Sharky's thinking..."

"Uhhhh..."

Man, I sure hope Fang kinda house broke himself... I mean, what if he's been pissing all over the house and Twilight just never told me? Wait, did Luna just say something to Steven?

"You know what? Yeah, he's thinking about exactly what you think Luna, you two have fun. Luna, you shouldn't talk to Steven! He's just going to try and upset you."

Luna gave me a huge smile and I heard a slight metal clinking sound. I determined that it was coming from under the table and I looked down to see one of Luna's hooves slowly trailing up the side of my leg. "Don't worry Sharky, I won't let him ruin this for us. Hurry now! I think they're about to close this place for the night!"

I looked around, temporarily having my attention taken away from Luna's hoof. Sure enough, all the tables around us were empty. The staff was beginning to take the tablecloths away, blow out candles, etc. I guessed they just hadn't said anything to us yet because we were.... well, us. "Wow, I didn't realize we'd been here so long!" a slight metal sound brought my attention back to Luna's hoof. "Oh, and Luna? I dunno if you know this, but your hoof is kinda on my leg..."

Luna giggled and gave me a funny look. "Oops..." she giggled gently again, but despite her 'oops', the clinking noise didn't stop. I shrugged. It was probably unintentional. I turned my attention back down to my plate and wolfed down the rest of my delicious, albeit slightly cold now, food. Luna followed suit, swallowing down her entire plate of food almost faster than I could consume mine. It was kinda cool.

"Alright Luna, let's go!" I stood up when I finished my food and placed a generous amount of bits on the table. I made sure to leave a large tips since they put up with us staying after close like that.

"Yes, let's~!" Luna agreed with an almost sing-song tone. She trotted away from the table with a silly smile on her face. I chuckled a little bit as I jogged just a bit to catch up with her. We waved polite goodbyes to the staff in the front of the building, then walked away for a bit until Luna piped up again. "So... Are we... ready to go?" Luna seemed almost nervous now, surprisingly. Moments before she had been all happy and now... She was confusing me again.

"Yeah, I'm ready for it. Why, do you not want to do this or something? You sound nervous."

"N-no!" Luna protested awfully vehemently. "I assure you I am quite positive I want to do this! I can hardly wait in fact!" Luna paused for just a moment, and seemed to be contemplating what she just said. "N-not that I'm o-overly eager... that would be improper. I just believe this will be nice..."

"Oh my gosh Luna, it's just stargazing. Calm down..." I patted her back comfortingly. Luna gave me a small, almost devious smile.

"Of course... just stargazing." Luna giggled again. She seemed to be just a tad less nervous, that had to be good. "I already know the perfect spot. Now just hold still for a moment, and I'll take us there."

I nodded and tried not to flinch as Luna's horn began to glow to cast the teleportation spell. In mere seconds, we vanished in a flash of black light.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We flashed into a large, open, grassy field. Not too far from where we arrived, there was a small hill, also covered in grass. The grass almost seemed to flow in gentle waves, moved by a gentle breeze. Out here, the night sky glowed brilliantly, lit by a massive, almost orange full moon. The stars surrounding it twinkled brightly, shimmering like gems scattered across the sky. Luna began to walk towards the hill, but looked back at me and smiled happily.

"Well, is this location suitable for our... stargazing?"

I nodded silently and followed her in an almost trance-like state, completely taken in by the beauty of the night sky. Luna beat me to the top of the hill by just a few seconds, and rolled over to lay down on her back. She looked up to me with a strange gleam in her eyes.

"I'm so glad you like it. Join me?"

I nodded distractedly and laid down in the grass next to her, gently bumping against her side as I settled in. "Wow..." I murmured breathlessly. I turned my head to look at Luna with a small smile plastered on my face. "The night is so beautiful."

Luna was already looking at me, and she blushed a little bit. "Awww, such a flatterer... There's really no need to compliment me further, you've already got me here with you... all alone... in the middle of nowhere."

"Well thanks for fucking pointing out where we are, I was confused. It's not flattery Luna, I'm just giving credit where credit is due. Really, the view is breathtaking."

Luna's blush deepened and sh began to lean her head in closer to mine. "Ooooh, come here you~." Luna's hooves began to reach over to me, as if to hug me. "I've been waiting for this..."

I tilted my head and gave her a confused look, but reached out to return the hug anyway. "You've been waiting for stargazing? Like... you knew this was gonna happen?"

Luna paused for a moment. "Well, not quite like this I did not know, but I had been hoping we would get to--"

*HAAAAAAALLELUJAH!!!*

Luna and I both whipped our heads around in confusion for a few seconds until I whipped out my phone. I looked up at Luna, still confused. "I thought only you could call me!"

*HAAAAAAALLELUJAH!!!*

"Well theoretically anyone that has scanned you and can cast the spell can call you... but who could this be?"

I quickly answered the call before it could ring again and Twilight's face popped up on the screen. "Oh, hi Twilight! What's up? Somebody better be dying! You were about to interrupt somethin' real important."

"Hey Sharky! I'm sorry to interrupt you, but it's getting really late and Unity refuses to go to bed unless you tuck him in."

"Wow, really?"

"Yeah, I tried to put him to bed anyway but... Well now I'm hanging from the ceiling in what appears to be a blanket cocoon."

"Oh geez, I'll be right there." I hung up the phone and turned to Luna, who suddenly appeared to be pouting. "Hey, I gotta--"

"I heard." she interrupted with a heavy sigh. "I guess we'll have to put this off until next time. You should get home to your son."

"Yeah, thanks for understanding. Cockblocked by the kid. Heh, get used to it."

"Don't worry, I'll have you back here soon to finish what we started. Farewell for now." Luna reluctantly rolled onto her hooves and her horn began to glow. Then I vanished in a familiar flash of black light.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I popped back in to the first floor of the library, and took a few seconds to look over the huge racks of books that I was now so attached to. This was kinda my home now. It would be odd to leave it for the castle here in a few weeks. Hell, just to leave it here in a day or so to Fluttershy's house would be a little weird for me. I shook my head clear of my distracting thoughts and ran upstairs to Unity and Twilight. Sure enough, there attached to the roof was a frantically wriggling cocoon presumably containing Twilight. Unity was on the floor, looking up at her and yawning lazily. I picked him up from behind and hugged him close.

"Hey there buddy. You getting sleepy?"

"Daddy!" he cooed happily even as his eyelids struggled to remain open. I tucked him into his little basket and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Goodnight little buddy. I love you."

"I wuv you..." he mumbled as he quickly drifted off to sleep. I turned away from him and held my arms out as I walked towards my bed. Twilight's cocoon suddenly unraveled.

"Eeep!" she squeaked gently as she fell from the ceiling and into my arms. Without batting an eyelash, I continued on my path to the beds. I tossed Twilight down into my bed, then flopped into bed next to her after stripping off my equipment. "Oh... nice catch Sharky..."

"Heh, it was nothing."

"So, what did Luna say? I was right, wasn't I?" Twilight had a smug grin plastered across her face. I returned an equally smug grin.

"Nope, she said I was her best friend and that's it. So ha, got you."

Twilight could not have looked more confused. "What? Really? Huh... well sorry, I guess I was wrong then."

"Heh, don't beat yourself up over it. Anyone could've made a mistake like that I suppose."

"I guess... are you about to go to sleep?"

"Well I am in bed so... yeah."

"You know there are other things we can do in bed besides sleep, right?" Twilight asked coyly.

"Oh... Got something in mind?"

"Well... maybe right here isn't the best spot, but if you'll head downstairs with me..." Twilight's horn glowed and the spot that concealed the safe in the wall began to pop out.

"Nothing would make me happier."

Twilight and I soon crept down stairs. About an hour or so later, I had covered myself back up and we were asleep in each others embrace on the main room's floor.