It was as if nopony wanted anypony else to sleep, in this abominable construction site. Goldleaf, known to others as the Lame, skulked about through the half-finished upper halls of Canterlot.

“Hurry up.” Ordered the midnight alicorn ahead of him. Not only did the construction keep him up, hie liege's little sister was intent to make his life terrible as well.

“Yes, Princess.” Sighed the unicorn, bowing his head and hobbling faster. You just had to start staying up all night... Her moon was long risen in the sky, being the slim crescent as it was, and most ponies were asleep by now.

“How is the land survey progressing?” Asked Luna.

“We are nearly complete, your highness.” Goldleaf said. “The architects have drawn up a variety of plans for defensive structures, in case the humans invade.”

“That is unlikely. But We believe it is a wise precaution, nonetheless. The earth ponies are certainly disgruntled, and the pegasi can hardly stop fighting each other.” The alicorn mused, almost to herself.

“Well, it is only natural the lesser ponies would be so blind to the larger picture, your highness.” Agreed Goldleaf. Luna stopped, and looked at him strangely.

“You speak as if you are one of Our kind.” She noted. Goldleaf swallowed nervously.

“Oh, no, no, I don't mean to- I dare not presume that such a wretched creature as myself would ever come close to your power and grace, your highness!” The unicorn quickly replied, bowing as best he could without putting weight on his bad leg.

“Of course.” Replied the alicorn, in a chilled voice. She turned, and walked forward again. The two went in silence, through great halls filled with scaffolding and construction tools for use during the day, and sometimes night. Either way, Goldleaf felt the effects of sleep deprivation setting in. It's either noise or Luna, he lamented. Soon, they came to a balcony that overlooked the entire valley below. The mountain Canterlot was built on made access hard, but it was a wonderful position to see everything that went on nearby. It also offered an unprecedented view of the sky, rivaled by few other locations outside pegasus lands. “Tell me, Goldleaf, what do you think of the night?” Asked the Princess, as their gazes were involuntarily drawn to the starlit abyss above.

“I feel as if I could fall into forever, your highness.” Said Goldleaf, half-consciously moving his hooves on the marble floor, seeking a better grip.

“An amusing sentiment, but We referred to the night in general.” Clarified Luna.

“Ah.” The unicorn squinted at the sky in thought. “Night is for sleeping, at least in decent places.” Luna frowned a little at this. “A time for rest and dreams. But, for those of us who must work for the realm, night is just another time for labor.”

“Is that really all?” She asked, sounding almost disappointed.

“Not quite. I met a human from Sarathûl, once. They have a saying there: Night is the time for questions that may not be asked by day.” Goldleaf said, wondering just what could be asked in darkness that would not be asked in light. “I don't know what it means, you'd have to ask them. But I wager that to the humans, night is something else entirely.”

“Fascinating.” Dryly commented the alicorn. “And Our sister would prefer that you call it Old Alicornia.” Goldleaf snorted, before he could stop himself.

“And Stratus Whitewind is still Queen of Highcrest.” He said in heavy sarcasm.

“Do you question the Regent of the Sun?” Asked Luna, looking at him with skepticism, and a little bit of surprise.

“No, forgive my outburst. But it has been one thousand, five hundred and four years since the humans arrived, and it's been one thousand, four hundred or so years since the last alicorns left. The land is Sarathûl, now. A human land with human things and human events, for generations. Old Alicornia has either been reduced to dust or completely built over.” Explained the unicorn. “Why call something by a name that hasn't applied to it since the dawn of history?”

“A sound point, Goldleaf.” Acknowledged the midnight alicorn. “If only Our sister was so moved by reason. Were that to be so, this entire situation could be averted.”

“You have doubts about this planned war?” Asked the unicorn.

“We're confident in our forces ability to win against the humans; magic overpowers their black powder any day. But the death and destruction that shall be caused... It would not be worth it, We think.” Luna admitted. Finally, some sanity! sighed Goldleaf to himself.

“I agree completely, my princess.” Said the unicorn.

“Of course you do.” Quickly replied the Regent of the Moon, giving him a dark look. “If it was your choice, there would never be any fighting.”

“And would an end to conflict be so bad, your highness?” Asked Goldleaf more harshly than he intended.

“No, it wouldn't.” Acknowledged the younger of the Royal sisters. “But sometimes, you must do things in order to survive. Even if it's something you never thought yourself capable of.” Big talk for a pony that could only bring herself to turn the Lord of Chaos to stone, Goldleaf wanted to say.

“Hmmph.” He snorted. “We'll see about that. I've never believed in violence before, I don't believe in it now. And I won't tomorrow.”

“Is that an excuse for cowardice?” Sharply questioned Luna.

“It's a philosophy, girl!” Goldleaf snapped. He covered his mouth with a hoof, after realizing what he had said. The unicorn immediately knelt. “Forgive this wretch your highness, he forgets himself.” Luna looked amused, of all things. She's not her sister, I'll give her that.

“You are a strange pony, Goldleaf the Lame.” She declared. “Full of fire one minute, then desperately stamping it out the next. Perhaps you're not as spineless as We thought. Tell me, what do you think of Us?”

“Uh....” The mahogany unicorn looked from side to sky to side and back to sky, searching for any clue of of what he was supposed to say. “Do you want the truth, your highness?”

“Naturally.”

“You try to act older than you are.” Goldleaf simply stated. This caught Luna by surprise, it seemed, as she dropped out of the Royal plural:

“I'm over one hundred and sixty years old!” Exclaimed the alicorn, formality falling away in an instant, replaced by an indignant foal's voice.

“You're thirteen to me, my princess. Physical age is nothing, it's the mind that counts. That's what we say back home.” Continued the unicorn. “But you insist on acting like you're your sister.”

“I- We're not Our sister, at all!” Luna protested, frowning.

“No, but you want to be her.” Said Goldleaf, almost feeling sad about the fact. One Celestia was enough. Stars know what the world would be like with two Celestia's running around. “Be your own pony, Princess Luna. That's all I dare say to you.”

“We... We shall think on this.” The midnight alicorn replied, looking concerned. She suddenly changed the subject. “Goldleaf, keep to a nocturnal schedule from henceforth. We will be doing most of our work at night anyways.”

“As you command, your highness.” I'm surrounded by strange ponies. What did I ever do to deserve such a fate?

Author's note: Lawd haf murrcay, it's been a busy week. Sorry about the extreme brevity of this chapter, I just didn't have time to get very far, but figured you needed something to read before I go on vacation again. This time, I'm bringing my computer so I might even get another chapter up while I'm abroad. Oh, I finished the map, and when I went to save it, Photoshop crashed. I ragequit and will try again next week. Forever bad luck, eh?

Since Luna is so hard to write for l be doing a lot of Equestria action from an ill-regarded side character’s perspective. What can I say? Us misfits gotta represent, brahs. Stay tuned for more Tempest /Turaz chapters, becaushit's about to get real in their story line.