>About an hour later you've gotten to know some of the councilors rather well. They seem like good enough people but you get the feeling something is amiss.
>Granite keeps checking his pocketwatch furtively and some of the stallions seem to be nursing their drinks more than they were earlier.
>Your suspicions are confirmed when you hear the doors open and a posse of ponies swagger in. >Heading up the pack, with that smug grin and bourgeois attitude is--
>”Your Highness!” Granite calls out, waving Blueblood over. The Chairpony turns to you as you feel your heart sink. “Anon, have you met His Highness Prince Blueblood?”
>The Prince looks surprised to see you sitting at the table.
>”We're acquainted. Aren't we, Anonynous?” He sends his entourage off to another table as he walks up to you.
>You grit your teeth.
Sure ah, yuh Highness.
>Blueblood takes a seat next to you, motioning the councilor who was sitting there aside.
>Granite seems happy to see the Prince. You narrow your eyes and think.
>”This is a surprise, Granite. I wasn't expecting to see a junior council member here,” the Prince says, emphasizing the 'junior' and casting a sidelong glare in your direction.
>He turns to you and motions to your drink. “Enjoying yourself, Anonymous? I wouldn't think you normally partake in the benefits of high society.”
Only when Huh Majesty invites me.
>You take a long sip from your glass as Blueblood hides his seething. The councilors look at one another uncomfortably.
>You lean forward and point around the table.
Hey, keep ya minds outta thuh guttah. She appoin'ed me ta thuh Council. A' caws she's gonna wanna know what's up.
>Granite glances between you and the Prince with knotted brow.
1/
 
>Before the Chairpony can say a word you change the subject.
So, Highness, to what do we owe thuh pleashah?
>Blueblood waves the bartender over curtly.
>”We--”
>”I called him here,” Granite cuts in. Blueblood watches him carefully. “His Highness is a good friend of much of the Council and I thought it would be a good idea for the two of you to meet. Isn't that right, Your Highness?”
>The Prince clears his throat. “O-of course, Granite. After all, it's clear to me that Councilor Anonymous is going places. It's important to build up one's...connections in this game.”
>You don't like the look he shoots you as he speaks, but you keep your mouth shut nonetheless.
 
>Conversation carries on for another hour amongst the councilponies. Blueblood maintains a domineering air of fake congeniality over the whole course of the evening, questioning you on elements of your past and doing his best to parade his station in front of you.
>By the time you finally manage to excuse yourself, you're trying to hold back the urge to glass him. Granite escorts you out the door.
>”I'm sorry to see you going so soon, Anon. Is something wrong?”
Nuthin' ya needa worry about. Just don't like getting interrogated ovah beeahs is awl.
>”I hardly think His Highness was interrogating you, Anon. He just wants to know--”
He knows enuf about me frum ah past encounnahs. Only thing he wants outta that convuhsation is me.
>You do your best to keep your anger down.
Thanks fuh the drinks. I'll see ya tuhmorruh.
>Granite sighs and looks back at the door. “Alright, Anonymous. Take care.”
2/
 
>After checking your watch you decide that going home now would just be depressing. You put your hands in your pockets and go down the hill towards Clover's pub.
>The old stallion's place is crowded when you walk in. You weave through the noisy maze of tables and worm your way up to the bar.
>Clover looks up from pouring drinks and flashes a jovial smile when he sees you.
>”Anon! There you are! Celestia, I thought ya weren't coming tonight!”
Yeah, it's been a long one, Clov.
>”Well pull up a stool, kiddo.” He waves at a couple of drunk stallions. “Hey! Make some room if you're not gonna buy anything else!”
>One of them flops off his stool in surprise, leaving his friend to clumsily carry him out the door. You take the seat.
 
>You stay at the bar talking to Clover and a few stallions until eleven thirty. By now the pub is starting to clear out, leaving your little group room to talk more freely.
>”So Anon, somep0ny here told me they saw you heading up to the Hen's Roost earlier tonight. You trotting with the big-wigs now?” Clover jabs a hoof at you, grinning.
>His smile fades and he knots his brow when you don't laugh with him. “Something up?”
Ah, 's nuthin. Jus' don' like havin' 'a schmooze, know what I mean?
>”Sure do,” one of the stallions next to you says. “Don't like the game, but you gotta play it, right?”
Fakkin' a, right.
>You stare into your drink hoping you're doing the right thing with this situation.
3/
 
>Clover closes up the pub around midnight. You take to the now quiet streets and head towards Canterlot Castle.
>The chill night air reminds you of home as it blows through back alleys and between buildings.
>With gas lamps providing light to the city, the stars above Canterlot are free to shine uninhibited. No doubt the Princess of the Night had her hoof in that.
>You approach the large main stair leading up to the Castle doors and are suddenly struck with the feeling that you're being watched.
>Upon turning, you see nothing but the light cobblestones that pave the walkway.
>”Out late again, Anonymous?”
>You jump in surprise as Luna descends from the ramparts.
Jesus, Lu, ya scayah'd the hell outta m--
>She circles around you, wings flared out authoritatively.
>”Walk wit' me,” she cuts in, leading you to the open gardens outside the castle.
>You follow after the Princess hesitantly. From hearing her tone you can tell she has something on her mind.
Theah summin' goin on, Lu? Last time I heard yuh talkin' nawmal you wuh chewin' me out ovah Cell--
>”Whaddaya doin?” She turns and points a hoof at you accusingly.
I- what do you mean?
>”With Celly, stupid. Whaddaya doin diggin' inno ahr pasts? What business 's it a' yoahs?”
Pretty shuah Bos'n's my city too, Princess. Not like I'm questionin' Celly 'bout it. Jus' comes up.
>You knot your brow.
Lotta stuff comes up.
>Luna looks at you askance. “Whaddaya talkin' about?”
Nothin' really, just nevah woulda took yuh fer a Tory.
>The Princess seems to go pale for a moment before her face begins to contort with anger.
4/
 
>You put your hands up quickly.
Hey, now don't get mad wit' ME, Princess, and don't blame Celly. I figured that shit out on my damn own.
>”How much did she yell yis?”
She said enuf. Mostly 'bout how she was in Bos'n around the Revolution and how that was around the time you got sen' away. I just put two an' two tuhgethah.
>Luna's wings sag and she lowers her head slightly.
>”It was...a mistake...I was young...”
>She looks up at the moon wistfully, her anger dissipating and giving way to an air of shame.
Ya sided wit th' King a' England 'cause you wuh young?
>”That was a different situation altogethah. I was talking about my own rebellion here...”
Ah. Right.
>You put your hands in your pockets and look down at the ground.
>”Look, I know we don' see eyeda eye a lotta th' time, Anon, but please...lemme tell ya what happened.”
>You look at the starry-maned Princess and cant help but cave to her earnestness.
Aight, Lu, but can we go inside fuh this? I've got a feelin' it's gona be a long stahry.
>”I wouldn' cawll it long, but inside's prolly a good cawll,” she says, looking at the tall watchtower she no doubt flew down from. “Might wanna hold on.”
Why'd I wanna--aaauuuugggghhhhh!
>You let out a long yell as Luna flips you onto her back and takes off towards the tower.
5/
 
>”...so we took the throne of Equestria together aftah defeatin' Discoahd. Celly took ta movin' the Sun an' I took th' Moon. It was good fer a while, y'know? Bouncin' between Equestria an' New Yoahk; I had a nice prinnin' business on the South Side with a guy who ran the fron' end a' things. Anyway, befaw long I started noticin' that the ponies just weren't recognizin' the work I was doin'. They'd sleep through the night an' a lotta the time if they stayed up they'd be scared or drunk.”
>Luna's horn lights up with an intense blue shimmer and a painting on the wall flips around to reveal a large assortment of liquors. “Drink? I know I'm havin' one.”
Yeah, whatevah yuh havin's fine.
>”Hope ya like gin, then.” She pours two large servings out over ice and floats one over to you.
Just uh...straight gin?
>”I said I'm havin' a drink, not a cocktail.”
>You cock an eyebrow looking at your glass. Luna sighs at your reaction.
>”Fine, ya want I should put some tonic in widdit?”
Nah, just keep goin' wit' yuh story.
>”Ahright. So after a few yeahs the lack a' reckignition really started to get to me. At first it was just a matter of powerin' through and keepin' with my duties, but Celly started ta get a big head about the whole deal on toppa that. Now I could live with bein' unner Celly's shadow. I'd been in her shadow since we were fillies, what with bein' the younger daughter 'n' all, but then somethin' happened.”
>She pauses and takes a long drink.
...Well?
>”The Minutemen took Boston.”
6/
 
That's it?
>You look at the Princess, confused.
>”That's it? Celly and I'd been butting heads ovah the rebellion on and off since she got caught up in the hooplah around the Boston Massacre. It wasn't anythin' crazy then, mostly just an ideological thing, an' it stayed mostly friendly fer th' first few yeahs, but then Boston fell to the so-called 'patriots' and Celly suddenly felt like her side had a real chance. She started ta really rally behind the cause an' it got harder and harder ta tawk to 'er without it turnin' into a huge ahgument.”
>Luna looks out the window for a moment before continuing.
>”I was gettin' nowhere at home, eithah. By the time all that was happenin' on Earth it'd got to th' point where I was raisin' the moon and not a soul'd be out ta even see it. Meanwhile Celly was gettin' all the praise and adulation durin' the day an' makin' no effit ta make ponies wanna praise the moon once in a while. When Boston fell ta the rebels she got all high 'n' mighty about it, an' that...”
>She stares at the floor. “It was the las' straw. She went to Earth one day an' when she came back ta raise the sun I just...said...'no.' At first she yelled at me for acting so childish...” she trails off.
>”...But it turned to pleading before long. Of course I ignored it, or took it as insult. I don't remember which, but the more she begged the angrier I got until finally Luna just disappeared and that...thing took her place.”
>The Princess gets up for another drink. You sit with your glass in silence, watching her as she goes to the bar and pours another, regret in her eyes.
7/
 
>”I don' actually remember much of what I did as Nightmare Moon. It comes in flashes, like fragments uvah dream. I was sent away to my lunar prison and hist'ry forgot me, except fuh legend.”
>She walks back over to you, swirling her drink in the glass.
>” It took a few years, a lot of lonliness, and a good amount a' will, but I finally broke outta Nightmare Moon's grasp and came to my senses. Then I got a Gate workin' and spent a great deal of my exile on Earth, just...living.”
Yuh just opened a Gate ta Earth from th' Moon? Why didn't yuh just go back home?
>”I couldn't. When I was banished somethin' happened that cut me off frum Equestria entirely. I think that was part of how I was able to shake Nightmare Moon at all.”
How d'ya mean?
>”You remember hearin' the old prophecy about me, right? The one about 'the stars aidin' in my return' or somethin' along those lines?”
Yeah.
>”After my time in exile was up, the connection between myself and Equestria was mended. I felt it all the way down on Earth in the middle of a Yankees game. I went back to the Moon to see what was goin' on an' the second I stepped through the Gate, she was back in my head. She took over again and used the opportunity to come back and try to exact her revenge like no time had passed at all. I was lucky she didn't do any real damage befaw gettin' stopped.”
>Luna sets her glass, now empty, down on the window sill.
>”So that's it, the sad, sad story of Luna. Thought you should hear it 'fore ya jump ta' any conclusions with what...limited infuhmation you've got.”
8/
 
>The two of you sit in silence for some time before you look up from your glass.
Guess ah...guess an apology's in awdah, huh? Thoguht yuh just had it out fuh me. Didn' realize...Sorry, Lu.
>”It's alright, Anon. We haven' been up-front with ya, so this was bound ta happen, I guess. You can go now, if ya want,” the Princess says softly before turning towards the large telescope on the balcony. “I should get back ta keepin' watch.”
>You start to head out the door and down to the castle, but stop when you hear her speak up again.
>”Oh, and Anon?”
>You turn to face her.
Yeah?
>”Keep her outuv it.”
What?
>”You know what I'm talkin' about. You CAN handle it, right?”
>You realize what Luna's talking about and give a half-hearted smirk.
What kinda man'd I be if I couldn't?
9/9