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 Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 6:45 pm
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Luna was in the bedroom she shared with the Faun Adviser Stallion Justmo, one hand gently gripping the ledge of the window as she peered out at the night sky. It had been about four days now that Justmo had been gone. She had found the note he left for her in his office that he had official business to take care of and not to be alarmed. While she could safely say she wasn't alarmed, missing him was an entirely different matter. Since engagement there wasn't a day that went by that he wasn't by her side or on her mind, save for the trip she had to make with her Sister and Princess Cadence. Being apart from him now felt exactly as it did back then.
So much had happened that caused her to be a bundle of nerves and it seemed only Stallion Justmo could sooth her as of late. What with the meeting with Rais having ended feeling rather poorly and not as successful as she would have liked. Her dearest sister's love locked in the dungeons below. Twinkletoes was still out of sorts and being unable to comfort her own child well enough ate away at Luna's mental state. She had told herself she would be fine with Justmo being gone for a few days time to sort out whatever it was that required his attention.... but she was wrong. Not even the stars held their usual splendor with her tonight.
When the words "My Moon?" hit her ears it took all Luna had not to spring from the room and tackle the Faun Adviser in a very...well... un princess like fashion. "Stallion Justmo!" she beamed, tearing her gaze away from the window and rushed to the door to meet him. At seeing him, an unexplained and mixed bundle of emotions leaped to her throat. "Oh...my love....You look so tired." she cooed softly, reaching a hand up to gently stroke the side of his face. She could see just how worn out he felt, how his eyes drooped, his shoulders slumped. She leaned forward to press her lips delicately against his before pulling back, still softly stroking his cheek with her fingers. She wanted to stay in his arms all night and spill to him her worries as she had done already many times. She wanted to know where it was he had been and what he was up to. To selfishly keep him to herself and deny him anymore moments alone. But she couldn't ignore his current physical state either.
"You must sleep. she said, no, almost demanded.
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 7:52 pm
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The dark princess about melted into the hug, a soft smile spreading across her lips as she nuzzled into his chest. The first words he spoke to her were already well assumed. His body reflected the amount of travelling required and also suggested little sleep. His promise of sleeping well tonight brought a soft laugh to the surface as well as a silent match to it. With him home she'd sleep better than she had previously.
It was his next words that brought her out of her happy musings. She pulled herself from his chest to peer at him, a questioning look in her eyes. "Is it... about your travels?" she naturally assumed, curiosity biting her more fiercely than a cat. She watched him closely, only shutting her eyes a moment as he kissed her forehead before pulling away and requesting tea. She couldn't help but feel slightly concerned with what he had yet to reveal to her, though she couldn't exactly place why.
Instead she nodded, one hand reaching out to give his a gentle squeeze before retreating to the kitchen where she went to work, filling the tea kettle with water and prepping it to make tea. "Justmo..." she began, her focus still at fixing up a cup of tea for him. "What you have to tell me... A- Are you alright?" she asked, turning to look at him. She didn't necessarily mean to inquire if he was injured, she could see he had no alarming injuries. Instead she meant about....well... his job. His position... even his relationship with the Chief.
This hadn't been some task that cost him his status...had it?! Oh by the Moon she'd never forgive herself if it was!
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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 8:23 pm
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To her first query, he had a simple answer. "Yes." He seemed to trail off a bit.
It was her next query that threw him in a new emotional loop.
Was he alright?
Well.... that was a loaded question, if he ever heard one.
Worried, scared, concerned.... Happy, jubilant, thrilled... Anything and everything all at once. He honestly didn't know where to start. If Luna watched him, she'd see him float through the various emotions, his mouth opening and shutting, forming the start to so many things and then dying off before a sound could be made.
He eventually sighed deeply and pinched the bridge above his nose. How would he tell his love that his mission was to discover if she spoke the truth about leaving the tree to find another based on a letter.
Well... here goes.
"Luna," he started. "Rais --..." Now how to put this without making Rais look like a bad guy here. >/ Damn brain. Work!
"Rais wanted to see what you, Celestia and Cadence had seen. He wanted to verify your words with something tangible. Something he could put his own concerns to rest. Because of that, he asked me to go with him." he started then eyed Luna up and down a moment. He watched her reaction, took in any sort of emotion he could pull off of her before he continued. "And... we found it..." he cracked a small smile.
He stood and walked closer, taking her hands into his a moment. "He wants me to go and oversee the tree. Be his eyes and ears and so on..." Now came the part he dreaded. Would she hate him for this? Or would she understand and... "... and I want you to come with me."
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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 7:48 pm
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Her ears pricked to his answer of yes, and while she believed him it seemed also...distant? Picking up the cup of tea she had freshly poured for him, Luna turned to face Justmo in time to see his face shuffle through various different emotions before he eventually pinched the bridge of his nose and chose one.
Rais...
Yes, she had assumed much would have to do with the Chief, those two seemed close even outside of their work relationships. But what came next took Luna several moments to process. She was both relieved and yet a tad....angry? Was that the right word? No, no that was too strong a word. Betrayed? Confused? Baffled?
So the two had found the tree She, her sister and Cadence had spoken about to the Chief. The one his very mother had revealed to them, though at the time of the meeting the Chief seemed to doubt their words very much so. Even going as far as to question if they were spreading lies for the sake of power.
But they had found it.
"So....then he sees we were not spinning tales..." she said softly, gently setting the cup down on the counter. Her gaze shifted down to her hands as she slowly pressed them together and collected her thoughts more. "It is now without doubt that he has seen the child of Laisidhiel. And......he wishes for you..... to lead it?" she asked calmly, looking back up at him. Her expression showed the dark princess was still processing all she had just heard, more specifically the last part.
"... and I want you to come with me."
Just repeating the words over in her head made her heart skip a beat. She recalled to memory the radiance of the tree. How she shone so brilliantly in the moonlight as if she were a fragment of the very moon herself. Luna's mouth opened quickly but she bit back the yes that wanted to burst it's way out. Justmo had mentioned....just her. "I would follow you to the ends of the earth my Stallion.....but I am troubled." she paused, bringing a hand up to rest her fingers gently against her lips in brief thought. "What...of my sister? Of Cadence? We learned of the tree together....." surely they were to come as well? It was only fair? ..... wasn't it? And most importantly... "Justmo.....what of our children?"
Yes they were grown, one with a family of his own now but....they were still her babies. Their babies.
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Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 9:36 pm
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Nothing Justmo said after his first statement mattered.
Everything came to a screeching halt. Coupled with the fact that he spoke about it so nonchalantly almost sent Luna into a fit of angry Royal Canterlot.
"You mean to tell me....." she began slowly, a boiling look in her eyes despite her otherwise calm tone. "That my sister..... is being watched at all times.... via order of the Chief." she eyed him sternly, pressing her fingers together roughly. "And just assume... I KNEW!?!" she slammed her hand down on the counter before folding both her hands into fists. "ON what reason?!What has my sister done to deserve THIS?" she glared, taking a step closer, trying her best to keep herself calm.
It wasn't working too well.
Taking a deep breath, Luna pressed her fingers to her temples and rubbed them roughly. She loved him and it tore her up to feel so angry with him. But he spoke almost so... just so normal about this. "Why? Was it because of our meeting? Did he find disfavor with her? Tell me WHAT she has done because I fail to see why this is warranted!! she demanded....and then paused, taking a step back. Her gaze lowered to the floor, eyes shutting slowly as she took in another deep breath. "If so, it should have been me. I was the one who pressed for the meeting with the Chief." she sighed, resting a hand on the counter to steady herself.
Why just her sister and not herself? Was it because she was engaged to the Faun Adviser and Celestia had chosen a simple faun who had disobeyed orders and gotten himself sentenced to the roots? " Is it because of Faroth? Because she fell in love with...with...." she stopped, unable to finish the sentence as she choked back angry tears.
She had been focused solely on the news about her sister that she almost forgot the rest of his news. Primarily of her one daughter, Twinkletoes. Though given the previous enlightenment she felt it hard to be fully...happy? "What......does he wish of our daughter." she tried to question in a straight tone, though her voice held hints of pain.
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 12:47 pm
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Well.......
............. s**t.......
There was a moment of relapse as Mo began to run all previous conversations with Rais through his brain. He couldn't recall a request to keep this in the inner circle, that no one should know of this, but at the same time the inner circle seemed to talk about it between them so freely that he hadn't realized that it was to remain a covert operation. There were many other things involved with this, he was sure... But somehow, in this moment, Mo was desperately back-paddling with a fork.
He'd seen Luna's fury once before. Mmmmaybe twice? However, both times they were directed at other things. Things in which Mo had a similar reaction to pair with hers. This time, though.....
This time, that anger was directed at him. A moment in which he now he resolved to never... EVER piss off his Moon again. He was even very sure that this wasn't even her final form of pure anger....
She was still beautiful and mesmerizing, but add that twinge of anger, the rising volume of her voice, the rage in her figure and the fire boiling deep in her eyes... Well, it was safe to say that Mo was mere seconds away from peeing himself.
He was very glad he didn't!
He coiled visibly as she berated him before he could collect himself. He then forced himself to straighten up to answer as calmly as he could.
"Luna..." he nearly squeaked, then cleared his throat to continue. "First, let me apologize. I was unaware that you were not in the know." There was truth in his words. He hadn't really realized that she wasn't allowed to know such things. He always told her many things that went on, generally small tidbits of things happening within the tree and the Faun that were involved... Executive decisions made by the Inner Circle were often the exclusions to this, but he was quickly realizing that he had spent less and less time with the locals and more time with the Circle lately... perhaps that was why he didn't realize the fubar he just thrust himself into... Laisidhiel help him....
He quickly gathered his thoughts and weighed his options. He could lie to her, but at this point, why would he? He failed at lying. And the moment she found out, he'd be in deeper waters than he was in now.
He took a deep breath and stabilized himself.
"The judgement was passed because of your meeting with Rais, yes." he started then quickly held up a finger. "But! It was of no fault of yours to wish that kind of judgement on yourself. Celestia challenged his authority in that meeting. Rais considered that along with her previous actions and associations with the Blood Pae in her past. He feared she would do something rash, impulsive, or just as reckless that could potentially result to further consequences. Even if they are accidental. Just as Faroth had."
He set his tea down, internally marveling at himself for not dropping it earlier when Luna turned vicious before. "He honestly doesn't believe either of them mean harm or would purposefully betray the children of Laisidhiel. Faroth tends to act first, think later, and gets in a lot of crazy situations that way. Given her past here on Telrunya, Celestia seems to exhibit much the same traits. Even if by accident, when we need to be so careful now, there can't be an individual taking off and making careless actions.
"Rais was making an example of Faroth because of his tendency to break rules rather than actually believing he's a traitor. The children of Laisidhiel are all becoming more and more reckless and ignoring rules. Faroth was just unfortunate and became the one Rais used to set an example. Same thing with Celestia."
"Given your own history with being a leader, I would hope you understand the need of setting a precedent for laws regardless of rank or social status." Case and point. No one is exempt from the rules. Not even himself! He only hoped he did nearly as good a job in explaining this as he had hoped.
He hoped the dust had settled enough when he continued about the query of Twinkletoes. "Well. Rais believes he understands her situation enough to give her a job. He didn't tell me any of the juicy details, but I'm more than certain she'll tell us once he has a talk with her about it. He firmly believes she's capable of the task." there was a brief pause where he looked at his hands, picking at his nails in minor frustration. "I wish I knew more, but I know Rais won't force her into doing it if she says no.... I feel she's fully capable of making decisions on her own. She's an adult now, after all..."
He nearly choked up at that last bit. It was still hard to believe his babies were all grown up. Even fully knowing that one of them had kids of his own.
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 1:51 pm
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The more and more Justmo spoke to correct himself, the more Luna found it did not ease the situation. Not in the slightest. Because now not only did she know her sister was now considered suspicious and being followed, she could only assume this was now a painful burden she had to bear in secrecy. "From the way you speak of this Justmo, it sounds as if I was NOT supposed to know......and yet now I do." she stared at him hard, though she knew she couldn't fully blame him. It wasn't his decision after all, it was Rais's choice. Justmo just....failed to realize where the boundaries were and crossed the borders unintentionally so to speak.
"All these 'crazy actions' you speak of my sister doing, I..." Luna paused and bit her bottom lip. She couldn't think of her sister that way....or more like she didn't want to think of her that way. Things had changed when they came to the tree. Their lives changed, hell even their magics changed. Equestria this was not. And it was through a series of strange events that Celestia found herself betrothed to a Blood pae, she couldn't fully blame her....even if she had kept it a secret for a long while. But now here was Luna with a secret to keep. How the tides had turned. "I am... to assume... I shant speak of this to anyone." she stated rather than asked, trying to stay as calm as she could.
But could he even begin to imagine the pain of it all? Maybe. But the dark princess leaned more so on maybe not.
Groaning, Luna grabbed the sides of her head and pressed hard, trying to rub out the frustration. What had started as such a happy moment of her beloved's return was quickly turning sour. "It hurts to know my insisting on speaking to Rais caused such things." Indeed she would have preferred not to have known at all. To live blindly, to assume otherwise. To think Celestia would remain at the tree simply for her children and her love. Not because she was bound by judgement.
Shaking her head, Luna attempted to back track to all Justmo had said before. About Cadence, Shining Armor. Her children. Her grandchildren. "I am happy....and proud... at least, for Twinkle. Even though I know not yet what it is he wishes her to do. I will try....to remain positive." she sighed, thinking about her sensitive little girl. The silly little filly who thought shouting boo at book cases would grant her cookies. How fragile her hearing seemed to be. All the headaches she nursed when Twinkle felt ill from too much noise. And here all of her children were grown and blossoming in their own ways. Such little did she see of them anymore it felt like. "As for the others...." she paused, drawing herself out of her reminiscing. " I would wish to leave the choices to them if able. Though Wild Moon....the grandchildren... it may yet be wise for the kids and Sweetie to at least remain here." she spoke more softly, unable to yet look Justmo in the eyes. Her gaze had turned down towards the counter where she drummed her fingers lightly, thoughts still swirling in her head.
This was not at all how she pictured the night going.
Not in the slightest.
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Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 6:34 pm
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Luna took in a very long deep breath....and let it out equally as long.
When Justmo placed his hand upon her shoulder, she turned her head in that direction ever so slightly but her gaze remained away. She knew he was tired, he was exhausted and he was probably aching. And as upset as she was she had to keep telling herself it wasn't his fault. It's not like he ordered her sister to be watched. But she knew her sister meant no ill towards the tree....and yet she couldn't exactly just barge into eh Chief's office again and tell him so.
Instead the dark princess reigned in her emotions to focus back on the task at hand. Moving to the new tree... "If not our children, Cadence or Shining..... who else will accompany us?" she asked, this time finally managing to bring her gaze back up to the Stallion she did love with all her heart, even in the worst of times. "Not Rais as I understand he is sending you to be his eyes...." but anyone else? Would he really send just the two of them if the others as-fore-mentioned stayed here? And how long would they be over there? Could she even ask that?
Shaking her head, trying her best to keep previous emotions now bottled inside, Luna stepped forward. Glancing down again, she wiped a tear from her eye and stopped just short of Mo. Slowly she glanced up at him, hands wringing together. "How would you propose we bring it up to the children?"
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