I was fantastically bored. Of course, I had anticipated being bored when I had agreed to be Luna’s partner to this formal event. What I hadn’t anticipated was being this agonizing variant of bored. In my experience, there are three types of boredom. The type that makes you feel lazy and slothful and not wanting to do anything, the type that makes you feel numb and yearning for something anything to happen, and finally the type where your mind is running a thousand miles an hour suggesting things you could be doing but instead you’re trapped doing the boring thing and you’re trying to focus but your brain just wouldn’t shut up.

I was currently suffering from the third type.

As if that weren’t bad enough, there was the gossip. Naturally, I was an oddity. I was clearly not a pony and I wasn’t any other species the natives of Equuis would be familiar with. I expected speculative whispers because heaven forbid anyone actually come up and ask. That being said, no matter how much I expected them, that didn’t mean I was completely unaffected by them.

On top of that, Luna was a rare enough sight at these events on her own that she was getting more than a few sideways glances. It was all I could do to keep from fidgeting.

Well, for all my complaining, it wasn’t all bad. The food was decent and my tuxedo was the most comfortable tuxedo I’d ever worn. I have had cause to wear a tux before, to school dances and work related functions. So I was surprised by how not awful this one felt. How much of that was down to Rarity’s skill and how much was down to the fact that the only tuxedo I’d ever worn before was a hand-me-down from my grandfather that had never been fit for me was anyone’s guess.

I wondered briefly if it was a blessing or a curse that everyone wanted to talk to Celestia. On the one hand, it meant Luna and I were left mostly alone. On the other hand it would have at least given us something to do. While I couldn’t tell what kind of boredom Luna was suffering from, I could tell from the ever so slightly glazed and passively pleasant look on her face that she was bored out of her skull.

As much as I could have come up with an excuse to get us out of the gathering, Celestia had made clear to Luna, who had then made clear to me that we were supposed to attend for the whole event. Why her attendance was mandatory was a matter of politics. The Minotaurs apparently wanted to petition Luna about something or other but they were taking their sweet time doing so.

As the evening wore on, the gathering began to disperse. It was only once just about everyone else was gone that the Minotaurs approached Luna. They asked her for a private audience, to which she obliged. It was understandable. She was one of the heads of state and I was a complete unknown.

Of course, this left me with even more nothing to do than the nothing to do I had had before. But everything changed when the Sun Princess approached.

“You seem to be having fun Ranma,” Celestia said by way of greeting.

“All the fun in the world, Princess,” I said dryly as she sat down next to me.

“Come now Ranma, you’re dating my sister. I think we can forego formalities,” Celestia chastised with a smile.

“Come now Celestia, I’m dating your sister. You can immolate me if you think I looked at her funny,” I replied, my voice even drier with a wiry grin. This elicited a chuckle from Celestia.

“Luna’s perfectly capable of atomizing you without her big sister looming over her shoulder,” Celestia joked back.

“One of the many perks of dating a goddess,” I drawled. I was so infinitely grateful to Celestia for letting me shoot my mouth off, for alleviating my boredom.

“Oh? And what are some of the others?” Celestia asked with faux curiosity.

“I’m afraid I’m under NDA. I can’t discuss those perks with outsiders,” I quipped.

“You know, as her older sister, I do have ways of making you talk,” Celestia smirked.

“You’ll never break me. The moon is superior,” I said with mock seriousness.

“That’s not what Agent Sweetie Drops tells me…” Celestia grinned a Cheshire grin.

“You are an evil, evil woman,” I deadpanned. Celestia tittered with amusement.

“Don’t feel too bad Ranma, very few can withstand torture without special training,” Celestia pat me on the head condescendingly.

“That makes me feel so much better,” I replied sarcastically.

“Sister, are you bullying Ranma?” When the world needed her most, Luna appeared!

“No-” Celestia tried to lie.

“Yes!” I protested.

“For shame Tia, bullying the weak and helpless,” BETRAYED! Luna smirked wickedly.

“So what did the Minotaurs want?” Celestia asked as she tried to contain her own grin. Luna groaned.

“They wanted to know if I’d extend the full moon for a few days for a festival. Why they couldn’t just make the request through normal channels…” Luna grumbled.

“Will you do it?” Celestia asked.

“I told them I’d think about it. I’d have to fill out the paperwork to let all the other foreign powers know what’s going on, I’d have to manually adjust the lunar cycle both to extend the full moon and to shift it back to its proper place, and there will be the inevitable complaints from the astronomy guild. That being said, it is, in part, a lunar festival and I don’t want to disappoint them,” Luna said.

“Well, I’m sorry they had me drag you out here over something so mundane,” Celestia apologized.

“Next time get their intentions before forcing me to sit through one of your boring ‘parties’,” Luna gave her a look.

“Boring?!” Celestia exclaimed.

“Not all of us are social butterflies, dear sister. Some of us would rather be curled up at home with a book and our herd mates,” Luna said dourly.

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry. You’re free to go home,” Celestia apologized again.

With the finish line crossed, I felt a wave of exhaustion. It was the typical aftermath of any social gathering for me. I was more than ready to get out of this penguin suit and go to bed. Maybe with a side order of Luna snuggling.

“Then we shall take our leave, Sister,” Luna said and took my hand before teleporting us back to my home.

Merry Christmas.

December has been wholly uneventful for me, which is good. However, it's been overcast and rainy all month, which has given me a pretty bad case of the winter blues. Oh well.