Trash of the Royal Castle

"Next time you're going to teleport us, at least give me a heads up..."

Walking down the streets of Canterlot, Prince Blueblood, now in his civilian disguise, told Princess Luna, in her own disguise, as his horn shone with blue light as he combed his hair, a brown leather jacket materializing over his torso as the two walked.

"How could we possibly teleport you? We are a mere Pegasus~" Princess Luna, now going by Lunar Scope, grinned at the steel-blue maned Unicorn that walked beside her. Her horn glowed as well underneath an illusion as a night-blue cardigan appeared over her own torso, a pair of holes in the back for her wings to fit through.

"Of course..." Kingfisher rolled his eyes as the duo of disguised royals made their way through the evening streets of Canterlot, heading in the direction of the commercial district, and the famous Restaurant Row.

Kingfisher watched Lunar Scope's eyes look all over the place, her face brightening up with a giddy smile as the ponies on the street walked past her, ignoring her presence, just like any other pedestrian.

"Is this what our subjects do every evening?" Lunar Scope asked as the duo turned the corner of a street, having to quickly move to the side to avoid a pony coming in from the other direction.

"Hey, Watch where you're going!" Kingfisher yelled at the pony, who quickly bowed in apology before hurrying away, letting the disguised prince return his focus to Luna, "And for your question, not really. Most ponies finish their work and head home for the day, walking around the street like this is for those who aren't busy with other things, like making food at home, for example," He told her, "It's because we're in Canterlot that we see so many people here on a workday, usually there'll be a lot more people here in the weekend,"

"So we should have waited for the weekend to do this?" Lunar Scope grinned before she pointed at a street sign ahead of her, "There, Let's go!"

"We're going, no need to hur-" Kingfisher found himself interrupted once again as Luna snaked her leg beneath his elbow and pulled him along towards Restaurant Row.

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"So many choices..." Luna's eyes roamed over the street, the many restaurants laid side by side, the warm light drifting through the glass windows where she could see ponies enjoying their dinner, "Let's go to that one!" She pointed at a random restaurant and dragged her fellow royal towards it.

"You do know you don't need to drag me with you, I can walk just fine by myself~" She felt her grin lighten as Blueblood's words entered her ears, and she decided to drag him along regardless.

She was the princess after all, with Celestia helping Cadance in the Crystal Empire, she was by default the mare in charge, meaning she could drag Blueblood anywhere she wanted to!

Just... Let's not let Blueblood hear those thoughts... He might get upset about not being an Alicorn again. Sure, he'll tell her he's fine with it, that since she's the one in charge she supposedly knows better than him, and therefore he wouldn't fight her decisions about anything, but she knows he'd be miffed.

"...I should tell him the plan..." She whispered to herself as she and Blueblood sat down at one of the empty tables of a restaurant called The Grilled Haystack.

"Did you say something?" Blueblood asked her from across the table, raising his hoof to call a waiter over so they could look over the menu.

"Nothing important, I'll tell you about it later," Luna told him before turning her eyes to look at the menu that was just levitated to them.

"Psst~" She whispered to Blueblood before showing him the menu, "What does this word mean?" she pointed at an option with her hoof.

"That's some type of Prench sauce..." Blueblood mumbled, his eyes barely leaving his own menu before he returned to picking what to eat.

"And what are these?" Luna pointed at another word.

"Sea grapes are a type of edible seaweed, they're much smaller than regular grapes so it's easier to compare them to fish eggs." Blueblood explained lazily before he put his menu down and looked into Luna's eyes, "Do you know what you wish to order?"

"Ehhh..." Luna took another look at the menu, her eyes glazing over the myriad of new words she never heard in her life before.

It seems the culinary arts have progressed far in the 1,000 years she was gone.

"Just order whatever you think sounds the best," Blueblood told her before he called a waiter over to give his order.

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Lunar Scope stumbled out of the third restaurant of the night, Kingfisher following behind her with a look of displeasure on his face, having found nearly the same type of cuisine in the third restaurant in a row.

"I just want a simple burger now..." He clicked his tongue in disappointment, only to once more have his elbow grabbed and dragged by Lunar Scope as the duo made their way out of restaurant row.

"The night's not over yet! We still have much to do!" Lunar Scope said loudly, ignoring the looks the very few pedestrians still outside gave her.

"It's Eleven-Fifteen, Most places are closed by now, what else do you have in mind to do?" Kingfisher pointed out, his head turning to look at the sky, watching the stars glittering high above.

"We're going to the park." Lunar Scope told Kingfisher as she kept dragging him down the street.

"You're walking south, the Canterlot Park is to the north." Kingfisher calmly told her, no longer complaining about being dragged by a secret Alicorn.

"We knew that!" Princess Luna said sheepishly, turning around and making her way in the right direction.

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Princess Luna's tongue moved about inside her mouth, her mind trying to think of how she should start the conversation she wanted to have with Blueblood.

The two of them were walking down the path inside Canterlot Park, a path that went around an artificial lake, the artificial island in the middle of the lake has become the nesting spot of the local swan population.

"You know..." Luna began, pausing shortly after to think of her next words.

"I know?" Blueblood repeated the words, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Luna from the corner of his eye.

"You..." Luna let out a sigh before she spotted walking, turned to look at the lake, and sat down in the grass.

Blueblood turned to look at her, watching the illusion she used to disguise herself peeling away to reveal her true form. His own disguise followed suit as he joined the Alicorn in the grass.

Luna let out a tired sigh as she stared across the lake, watching the sleeping swans near the edges of the island in the middle.

"We have something we need to tell you..." Luna decided to just wing it.

"...Okay," Blueblood said simply as he patiently waited for the Princess of the Night to find her words.

"We think it's crucial you know about it... Celestia asked of us not to tell anypony but-"

"Then don't." Blueblood interrupted her, his eyes staring at the calm waters of the lake, watching the starry night sky reflected on the water's clear surface.

"But this is important for you to know! Celestia-" Luna tried to explain, only to have Blueblood once again interrupt her.

"Did you ask Celestia for permission to tell me whatever this is?" He asked her.

"Yes, She said she didn't want any pony to know, including you or Cadance, but we-"

"Don't tell me then~" Blueblood said simply, his eyes still watching the water.

"Bu- But this is important for you to know!" Luna exclaimed loudly, swiftly rising back up to her hooves, only to have them tangle with each other, causing her to fall back down to the grass, "Oof..."

"Luna, Information is important, especially for a leader, if Celestia has deemed whatever you're thinking of telling us something that is only on a need-to-know basis, and has decided that I do not need to know, then do not tell me what it is." Blueblood explained to her, his eyes not leaving the surface of the lake, "If she believes that me, or Cadance as you said, having knowledge of whatever she's planning could in some way or another risk whatever operation she's planning, and has therefore decided not to tell us, then I am going to have to ask you to not tell me either. OPSEC is an important aspect of any major decision a government could make. If my knowing the information puts the security of the operation at risk, then do not even think of telling me before getting a clear green light from Celestia to do so."

"But-"

"No buts, Butts are something you sit on," Blueblood smirked, his eyes not once leaving the reflection of the night sky in the water.

"...Fine." Luna sighed, "We won't tell you..." She groaned as she closed her eyes, only to have her ears perk when she heard a sound coming from Blueblood's direction.

Luna opened one eye and peeked to check what the Prince was doing, only to find a clear glass floating down to land next to her, a yellow liquid filling it, pouring from a bottle that levitated in an aura of light-blue magic.

"Limoncello~" Blueblood said, raising his own glass close to his face, the bottle levitating beside him.

Luna blinked a few times before straightening her back, lifting the glass to her lips, and taking her first sip of the drink.

"Oh my..."

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"Lulu!" Princess Celestia was flying up the stairs to Luna's room, "Is everything alright?!" She shouted before she tackled the door open, "I heard a crashing sound and wondered... if you... oh my~"

Princess Celestia watched the sight in front of her with a tired smile on her face.

Her sister was sleeping on her bed, a puddle of drool leaking from her open mouth, her long legs wrapping around Prince Blueblood in a hug she could only assume would cause his back to ache once he woke up later that day.

"So cute..." she whispered to herself before a camera appeared beside her, taking a picture of the scene to keep for later, "Good night~" She told the two before she closed the door and returned to her own room, intent on going back to sleep, not bothering to wonder why the two were in the same room together.

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Luna smiled gently as she exited the castle, entering the gardens behind the palace, her face lighting up with joy as she watched all the ponies there already enjoying the nice spring day, crowding around tables of food and drinks, talking with each other, enjoying the weather.

She watched her Sister pause her conversation with Starswirl just to wave at her, causing the old wizard to notice her entrance and wave to her as well, a serene smile on his aging face.

She watched Rockhoof and Mage Meadowbrook converse with one another as they ate from one of the many tables of fruit and cake, Rockhoof dropping the plate he was holding as he raised his hoof to wave her a greeting, only to have the plate fall on top of his head, earning laughter from Meadowbrook and Flash Magnus.

She watched as Mistmane sat underneath a parasol, conversing with the captain of the guard.

She watched the sight before her eyes twist and turn, day changing into night, joy into fear, lively into empty.

Princess Luna let out a sigh as she focused on her magic.

"We want no more of this." She said out loud, her voice echoing in the confines of her own dream, calling forward the thing that was in charge of this nightmare.

A small blob of purple magic appeared before her, twisting in the air like a wisp of smoke, its purple form glimmering with countless ever-shifting dots, like stars in the night sky.

"We have decided that your work has come to an end." She told the blob of magic, "We wish to sleep a normal slumber, without being forced to see this nightmare, reminding us again and again of the pain we caused as Nightmare Moon."

The blob of purple magic shifted in the air, appearing to try and take the form of a filly, only to find itself once more returning to the shape of an ethereal blob of the night sky.

"Oh reminder of my guilt, Representation of my shame, we hereby declare an end to our punishment~" Luna's voice echoed around her, her horn glowing with powerful magic, "You shall haunt us no longer!"

With a bright explosion of dark blue magic, Luna caused the world around her to shift and twist.

It was a beautiful day outside, her Sister was there, and so were Prince Blueblood and Princess Cadance. She watched the Elements of Harmony cause a mess at the next table over, Pinkie Pie having thrown a cake at Rainbow Dash's face, causing the cream to splatter all over Rarity and Applejack in the process.

"You have done well, But we no longer wish for your purpose to continue," Luna told the floating blob of magic, watching it fade away before her eyes.

"So long, Tantabus." Luna said, the blob of magic twisting into itself as if being sucked down an imaginary drain before it disappeared from her sight.

With the blob of ethereal magic gone, Luna let out a sigh as she let go of the metaphorical wheel, letting the dream continue on as it should, without her interference.

And for the first time since she returned from the moon, Princess Luna had a dream that was not a nightmare.