Fun in the Evening
Wilder laid on his back, on the rooftop of the palace, which had become his favorite spot. He sat up and played with the stars that started to appear on the sky above him.
Night had begun to settle upon the sky only a few minutes ago, but there were already plenty of beautiful, shining stars that Wilder entertained himself with by shaping into different forms, like he had done with the clouds when he met Celestia.
He connected some glowing dots and formed new alignments, then set them in motion. He smirked when he glanced aside and noticed some ordered and organized constellations that the Night Princess had already made.
Young as Luna was, he had to hand it to the filly, she was a great artist. Most of her skillful constellations were already up on the sky for everypony to view and enjoy. However, marvelous as the little forms were, the art style was much too rigid for his taste.
He lifted his eagle claw as he rested his head on his lion arm, then snapped his fingers and made some of Luna's constellations change forms and move against one another. He chuckled, already imagining how flustered the dutiful princess filly would get when she saw what had become of her rigid artwork.
He made a ship out of the aligned stars and controlled it as it sailed through the sky. "Hah... Much better, look at that..."
The sisters had chosen to eat out in the palace gardens. After dinner, Celestia had to work hard at calming Luna down. Her little sister fumed with rage once they noticed that the constellations that she had created the night before took strange forms and moved on their own.
"Luna, calm down, they still look great. Very lively, might I-"
Luna tried to break free from the hold of her sister's magic. "That rude creature, he has no right to alter our beautiful work! Sister! What he does ist intolerable! Maketh him stop, Celestia, please! It ist not fair! We worked hard at those forms! If thou wilt not stop him, We wilt!"
Wilder held in his laughter, then let it out loudly as he heard Luna's complaining.
Celestia sighed as Luna gave her a demanding look. "Very well, alright, Luna, I will take care of it. Just calm down, okay? He will fix things in a second, you know he does not mean any harm." She stood up after she managed to make Luna calm down.
I am sure that fixing things will not be a problem, she thought as she headed where Wilder laid to relax.
"Wilder, what are you doing? You do know you are unnecessarily upsetting Luna, right? There is no need to ruin her work, You both can shape stars, apparently, and there is plenty of space to do so."
Wilder sighed after she spoke to him. He snapped his fingers and the stars stopped moving. "There they are, back to their boring order. Just the way she likes it."
Luna called out to him from the ground. "Wilder, do not lie! They art not the way We left them!"
"Oh, don't be such a perfectionist, Luna. They're fine and adorable the way they are and that's how they're going to stay!" He snapped his fingers to enchant the stars into remaining in their crooked constellations permanently, for good measure. He then snickered as Luna nearly threw an angry tantrum, had it not been for her 'royal manners'.
"Oh, dear..." Celestia held a hoof on her head. Then her ears twitched when Wilder called her name. "Hm?"
Her attention was caught again as Wilder made his own stars change colors and glow brightly in the sky.
"Oh..." She would not say it out loud, to spare Luna's feelings, but the lively glowing stars were among the most beautiful things that she had ever seen.
Their glow was so bright that they reflected off the land that they set alight, and she could sense already that their beauty made Luna somewhat jealous.
She was relieved to know that her sister had a much better, more diligent nature, though. She would learn from the display in no time. With that thought in mind, she could concentrate on the beauty of the glowing colors on the sky without guilt. "Those stars... They are..."
"You like them, Celestia?" Wilder chuckled. "They're not stars, though."
She looked at him curiously. "Oh? Then what are they?"
"I call them 'fireworks'. You hear the crackling and popping noise before they go out? That's the fire in 'em, I guess. Then again, I don't think too much about what I create. Ruins the magic." He shrugged as he looked up at the sky.
"I see... Nice..." Celestia muttered her appraise without much intent, for her attention was captured by what she had managed to hear were called 'fireworks', whatever his reasons were to call them that.
A pink glowing ray flew quickly into the air, then exploded into many dots of expanding golden light.
She gasped excitedly and pointed at it with her hoof. "Look at that one, Wilder! It is so like... like...!"
He nodded at her before looking back at the sky. "Like the sun, a bit."
She blushed slightly as she stared at him with a smile. Yes... Like the sun... Like...
Luna sat on the rooftop with the other two as she watched the fireworks. "We have never been able to make something like that... How dost thou make them?" She spoke with sincere curiosity and humility, and hardly made an effort to hide her curiosity and amazement.
Wilder smiled and patted her head. "I'm not even sure myself. I think it has to do with something more than just stars, though. I'll wrap my head around it and tell you some other day, Luna."
Luna sighed and looked up at the warped constellations that Wilder had enchanted. She could not help but smile a little to herself at how funny they looked now.
"Your... fireworks... They are wonderful. It is as though... As though the sun and the moon blended together, to create such astonishingly glowing stars. I like them." Celestia smiled as she looked at Wilder, who had picked up his moving constellations to play with them again.
Wilder saw her smile from the corner of his eyes. He smiled himself without turning to face her. He lost concentration, though, so the stars fell on his head like tiny diamonds. "Ow, oww, ouch!" He blushed a bit and gave the stars a look before he disorganized and flicked them back on the sky.
Luna looked at him and raised an eyebrow as the stars disappeared once they fell on him.
Celestia laughed a bit and quickly covered her mouth with her hoof. "Are you alright? I did not know stars could do that. I bet Luna would be interested in learning that. The moving constellations, I mean."
Luna blushed slightly as she gave her a bit of an indignant look. "Sister, We already know how to do that."
"Oh, really? Then you should do it more often, Luna. Why do you not?" Celestia smiled as she gave her a curious look when Luna turned away.
"We just... We choose to leave them in their place, so that our subjects may appreciate them better, that is why. But We certainly know how to make them move, We learned that a while ago."
Wilder smirked and looked up at the sky as the fireworks faded away. "With me around, girls, there'll be so much to find out!"
Luna looked down at some of the servants that gathered outside to watch the display. "Oh... Now we have to take care of the subjects that have been distracted from their work. Great, well done, Wilder."
"Why, thank you!"
"Rrrgh... Sister, We do not understand why he must stay..." She continued to grumble as she flew down to meet with the servants.
Wilder held in a snicker, then circled around Celestia. "How about I show you another trick? You'll enjoy this one for sure, I know it."
She shifted on her hooves a bit as he continued to float around her. "Heh. Sure, go ahead."
"Great! I was just waiting for your answer anyway."
A giant, bright yellow slide appeared before them. It ran down from the roof to a multi-colored pool that floated right above the slide's other end, full of chocolate milk. The pool floated upside down, but the milk remained inside the container without falling.
She laughed a bit at the display of gravity defiance that her certainly-odd friend put on for her. She was about to compliment him on it, but he grabbed her close to him, making her blush slightly again.
"Hold on." He slid down with her a few seconds later.
"But Wilder, you don't expect to-" She gasped, then screamed a bit as they went down.
Wilder laughed excitedly with her as they slid down at high speed. As they flew from the tip and headed to the pool, they landed and splashed a great part of the garden area of the palace grounds.
He pulled his head out of the milk and grinned at Celestia. "Well, that was fun!"
Celestia let out a sigh after she finished laughing. She looked down at the milk as she tasted it. "I really do wonder how you do all these things."
Luna shook herself dry and gave them both a deadpan look. "What art thou doing? Thou soaked nearly the whole palace grounds!"
Celestia walked out of the pool and approached Luna. "Wilder just showed me another trick, Luna. Some more of the things he can do, which are quite fascinating, as you just saw." She pointed at the pool with a bright smile. "We slid down-"
Wilder smiled at her. "Up."
"Yes, up. Up to this pool at top speed, you should try it! It was very fun."
Luna blinked and looked at the upside-down pool before it disappeared. "Hm... Was it really?" She frowned a bit in confusion as she looked back at the other two.
Celestia smiled and nodded. "It is nice to play a game once in awhile. And that was a lot of fun, I should mention again, Wilder." She shook the chocolate milk out of her wings and mane.
Wilder twisted his body like a towel, wringing the chocolate milk off. "And I have plenty more ideas. Would you like to see some more of them?" He looked at Celestia as he stretched his claw over to her.
Celestia nodded excitedly, walking a bit closer to him before she looked at Luna. "Sure. How about you, Luna? Do you want to come along?"
Luna looked back at the palace, then at them. She raised an eyebrow as she gave a few tentative steps towards them. "We can... We can play along for a bit, We suppose. It ist not like We would have another choice, with him as the director..."
She sighed as she stepped before them, trying to ignore their satisfied smiles. "Oh, stop that. Both of thee."
Wilder blinked and held his paw to his forehead in a dramatic fashion. "My! Did I hear right? No, this must be a dream. All-serious little Princess Luna finally decided to honor us with her presence in amusement and entertainment?! Surely you jest, Luna-it's got to be my playful mind doing its tricks on me! Oh, I've got to pinch myself!" He exclaimed with mocking surprise, then grinned at her once he finished.
Luna gave him an annoyed look. "Wouldst thou liketh us to comply...?"
Wilder gave her an exaggerated sigh as he proceeded to mock her further by 'explaining' his little act. "Thanks, Luna, but I was being sarcastic. You see, it works just like-"
Luna folded her front legs. "Hmph! Like We do not know what 'sarcasm' ist!"
"Very fun, isn't it?" Wilder taunted, ruffling her mane as he smirked.
Celestia shook her head. "Stop it, you two." She cleared her throat to get Wilder's attention as he grabbed Luna and subjected her to a noogie, despite her protests. "So, what else can you do, Wilder?"
Wilder let Luna go and floated above her to avoid her hoof. "My, you're a wild one. Aren't you, little princess?"
He cleared his throat and brushed his mane back with his lion paw as he looked over at Celestia. "Heh, heh. What else can I do? Well, why don't you tell me what you two think, after I show you this?" He raised his eagle claw and snapped his fingers.
In an instant, Celestia's head was over Luna's body. Luna's was over Wilder's body, and Wilder had Celestia's body.
"How's this for a trade of roles?" He laughed as he raised his gold-plated white front hooves.
Luna gasped and panicked a little. "What didst thou do?! Wilder, change us back! Now!" She nearly fell as she tried to manipulate Wilder's large and long body.
Celestia giggled as she looked at Luna. "Do lighten up a bit, little sister. This is only temporary."
"Temporary or not, We do not enjoy it! Thou said it would be fun! This ist NOT amusing at all!"
"I never thought any of this magic was possible. It is..." Celestia shook her head as she looked at her smaller, dark sapphire blue body. "You certainly have great powers over reality and space, Wilder. It is truly quite impressive. None of the unicorns we have met, including ourselves or our masters, can any of this."
"Yes. It is rather impressive, isn't it?" Wilder smirked cockily as he opened the white alicorn wings that he now possessed. "I was in fact working on another thing. Just for you, Celestia. Care to see it?"
He arranged their bodies back to their normal forms and looked at Celestia with curiosity.
Celestia blinked and blushed again as he leaned closer to them. "Oh... Really? Just for me?"
"Yep! It'll be a nice show for you, but if Luna wishes to see, she's welcome to come along! The more, the better. So what do you two say?" He tapped his fingers together as he gave them an eager smile.
Celestia smiled again and stepped closer to him."I am ready to see it, Wilder."
Luna nodded, but kept a cautious distance from him. "We will watch."
"Let's be on our way, then!" Wilder extended his claws and teleported the three away.
They appeared within a large room in the palace, their bodies bright blue and transparent.
A tall, white stallion anxiously paced around the throne room where they all stood.
Wilder looked around, then leaned down to whisper to the princesses. "Alrighty, we're here."
The princesses immediately noticed that the alicorn king wore armor and crown that belonged to the design of the earlier royal generation.
Wilder smirked and stood behind the two sisters as they stared at the king with shock. "Look familiar?"
The royal stallion looked up as a guard approached him. He greeted the saluting guard, then spoke with a worried, yet serious tone. "Hath it arrived?"
"Not yet, Thy Grace."
Luna stared at the king as he spoke. Her eyes widened with surprise. "That ist...!"
"That is Father... Our father!" Celestia gave Wilder a surprised look. "What is this, Wilder?" She quickly turned back to the Sun King, feeling quite a bit of nostalgia as she watched her father eagerly await something from another locked, heavily guarded room down the hall.
Wilder chuckled as he watched the princesses. "Oh, just a small thing. I reached into your mind, Celestia. I pulled the happiest memory you held, then brought it to life for a moment. I got this part of the memory-how it happened-with a little improvised tweaking. Isn't it neat?"
A nurse mare walked out of the guarded infirmary and joined the Sun King in the throne room. She had a kind, calm smile on her face.
The king immediately turn to look at her. "Do go on, informeth us!"
The nurse nodded and bowed her head respectfully. "Thy foal ist here, my King. It ist a beautiful, healthy filly. She now rests with Her Grace."
The king smiled joyously and rushed into the infirmary room.
"You..." Celestia did not even finish what she muttered to Wilder, for the room where they stood suddenly changed into a different one.
They had moved on to the infirmary where the Queen rested, surrounded by attentive nurses and doctors. The three youngsters stared right into the happiness of a new birth in the Royal Family.
Luna looked at Celestia and whispered excitedly to her. "This ist thy birth, Sister! How remarkable that he was able to reach back this far!"
Celestia smiled as she looked at Luna, who now spoke to Wilder.
"But thou obviously didst not know our sister from then. It hath only been but a few days since we met thee. How ist it possible that thou reached so far, even with thy magic?"
"Pretty sharp, aren't you, little Luna?" Wilder looked at the scene in front of them with a cocky expression on his face. "Reaching others' memories seems like such a simple task to me. I can do it at any time. Well, at least with some of them memories. Some others are harder to reach..."
"Well, that ist what We mean, because-" Luna blinked when Wilder smiled and covered her mouth with a finger of his lion paw.
"However, you're also wrong, you know. This isn't Celestia's birth. There's no way I could've reached that memory neither from her, nor from you. Waaaay too early a memory for me to get to. Plus, I have nopony of trust to get it from." He winked and smirked slightly at them. Unfortunately... Heh, heh.
The king nuzzled with the dark sapphire blue mare that was the queen. He looked at the newborn filly that she held and smiled proud and happily.
A slightly older alicorn filly entered the room. She had a white coat like her father's, large, curious violet eyes, a short, pink mane, and a blank flank. She shyly walked in, quietly tiptoeing past the guards.
"Father?" Young Celestia directed herself to the royal couple.
"It's yours," Wilder whispered to Luna, just as the small, dark-blue filly lifted her head from her bundled blanket and opened her two moderate cyan dot-eyes before she yawned.
Luna looked at the newborn foal, then at the older filly that approached her parents. She smiled a little despite her surprise. "Oh. Ours...?"
The older Celestia nodded with a smile. "That is a very happy memory for all of us, after all." She smiled as she looked at the filly Luna. "Oh, you looked just adorable..."
Luna looked at her. This ist thy happiest memory, sister? That ist...
Celestia looked at Wilder again and chuckled. "Well, you will get to see me as a filly, too. I am a bit embarrassed, I must say. I was quite active at that young age."
"Is that-" Wilder was cut off by little Celestia, who had quickly overcome her initial shyness and was nearly bounced around her parents.
Her voice was childish, hyperactive, and eager. "Oh! Ist she here already, Father? Huh? Huh? Ooooh, she ist, she ist! What ist her name?"
The King looked at the little Celestia and patted her head. "Her name ist Luna, Celes-"
"Luna? Ooh, it ist perfect! We love Luna! Luna it shalt be! 'Welcome, Sister Luna!' It sounds splendid! A very good choice." She looked at the newborn filly again. "She ist okay, right? Like, no problems? If something wast wrong, that would be quite bad! She ist only a newborn, and newborns art supposed to be fine, otherwise they might grow up with more problems later on-"
She gasped for air, then quickly continued her eager speech. "Oh, oh, oh she ist so little and blue! She ist cute, We really like her! Mother, Father, doth thou liketh her? Methinks she shalt be a great partner to play with! We shalt teach her many things! Oh, Mother, she looks just like thee!"
The Queen laughed a bit, then smiled at her eldest daughter.
The King patted Celestia to stop her hyperactive rambling. "Easy, Celestia. Calm down. Thou surely dost not want to wake thy new sister."
Celestia gasped and nodded as she covered her mouth with her hooves for a second. "Right! Okay, We shalt be quiet!" She leaned closer to her mother to get a better look at Luna.
Celestia sighed and blushed a bit. "Yep. There I am..." She covered her face with her hoof as Luna chuckled only slightly.
Wilder laughed quietly and nudged Celestia. "Oh, what are you talking about? I think it's adorable."
He snapped his fingers and returned them to the present. "So tell me, how'd you like your gift? It's actually the first time I've used that power. Pretty cool, huh?"
Celestia smiled thankfully at him. "It was very nice of you to show us that. Thank you."
"Glad you liked it~! In that case, why don't we continue enjoying the evening? There's so many different things to do and games to play! I've got plenty!"
Celestia laughed. "Oh, Wilder..."
Wilder stretched his arms out as he talked. "It'll be fun! That's what you all need here. Isn't that right, Luna?" He looked at the youngest sister, then snickered when she gave him another look.
"Huh? But-" Luna stammered before Wilder picked her up. "Hey! Wilder, put us down!"
Wilder floated forward as he bounced Luna a bit before he set her down. "C'mon. You all need to enjoy yourselves! And I know how to do just that. Allow the master to show you and give you a good time!" He then began to appear all sorts of things for their entertainment.
Eventually, both of the sisters laughed and truly enjoyed the variating playtime, much to Wilder's amusement and delight.
Luna laughed as she never had before, hardly able to keep her regal manners present. She forgot about her obligations, duties, and seriousness completely as they played. Even her ever-present worries and fears drifted away.
Before she knew it, she warmed up to Wilder as he continued to give them the good time that they-Luna in particular-needed so much.
We have not felt this good in a while... We did not think it would be possible to laugh like this ever again... To feel this happy. And all because... All because of Wilder.
Wilder smirked as he pulled a few cotton candy clouds out of Luna's reach so she would chase after them. "C'mon, almost there! You got it!"
Luna crouched, then jumped into the air to finally catch a small cloud. She giggled when it squirted her with her sister's odd favorite beverage. "Hm... 'Lemonade', she said this was..."
She licked her lips once she tried it. Oh, it ist so good! No wonder she liked it. Sweet, yet sour and... Just so delicious... She looked up at the other clouds, then flew after them, determined to see what kind of drink they held inside the candy.
Celestia smiled as she watched Luna. She stretched her wings a bit after she finished the hide and seek game that she had played with Wilder, upon his request.
Luna covered her mouth with her hooves so she would not let out her giggles. She watched Wilder as he appeared behind Celestia to startle her.
"Wilder, you are such a tease!" Celestia laughed again and raised her wing to shield herself from rainbow-colored bubbles that burst into light and glitter when they popped. "Hey..."
Luna then suddenly remembered everything that needed to be done and supervised for that night. But, instead of tending to those duties, they had spent most of the evening having fun with Wilder. Not that she actually complained, she absolutely enjoyed every minute of it.
"Oh. We did not even realize..." She looked up at the sky and nervously shifted in her hooves when she noticed how dark it had gotten. "We had forgotten..." She quickly turned to look at Celestia. "Sister, it ist almost time for the annual ball!"
"Goodness, that's right... We cannot miss it or be late for it, we are the hostesses!" She looked at the palace, which had already begun to receive some guests.
"A ball? You mean a party?! SWEET! I'm totally going! Oh, I gotta find something to wear!" Wilder glowed white and vanished in light. He reappeared wearing a white buttoned shirt, a red tie, and a black jacket, along with a monocle and a fancy black cane.
"Dressed... fancy enough for the occasion, would you say?" He smiled and slicked his mane back before turning to the princesses.
They laughed as they stared at him and his dramatic poses.
"You look perfect, Wilder. Luna and I still have to get dressed, so we will head to our rooms. I think some music pieces have already started, though, so you may wait for us downstairs."
Luna smiled a little at Wilder as she turned around to follow Celestia. "We wilt not be long. Try not to overwhelm the guests with thy magic in the meantime, our friend."
She was actually rather glad that she and Wilder had finally broken the awkward ice between them to get along better. He proved to be quite a good friend and a very entertaining creature, when given the chance to get past his cocky, teasing attitude.
He was also very kind and equally friendly to both Celestia and her. He even went out of his way to make sure that he pleased and entertained both of them. She liked that very much.
Wilder was stunned for a moment as he saw the princesses walk away towards the palace. "Friends...? Wow... I really... like the sound of that..."
He smirked and headed off to the ball. "Alright, then. Let's go show those ponies what real fun is all about!"
Whee! I'm done with another chapter! And with the edit, too! In here, let's see... It's just fun with the princesses and Wilder. He shows off his magic to the princesses, winning their friendship and trust. Him showing them the scene of Luna's birth was absolutely adorable, of course it had to melt even Luna's chilly and distant seriousness! Adorable filly Celestia is adorable, even with her archaic speech.
Well, I think Wilder is rather satisfied with the results of his amusing efforts. I love the interaction between Luna and Wilder! It's a win. I love the brilliant idea of the loopy constellations and the fireworks, too. It spontaneously came to me as I edited the chapter. I'm satisfied with myself for having come up with it. Another thing Wilder introduced to the early Equestria; fireworks!
Oh, wow, Wilder, you're so lucky! You got the privilege to be invited to the ball personally by the princesses. Ahh, I like the archaic speech, but it's a bit hard to place it right. I have the feeling I'm not getting it right. Little Celestia using archaic speech and the royal we is so cute! So hyper and all, but still proper.