“Their reasoning is so stupid!”

Moony betrayed her parentage by laying dramatically on her back, one leg thrown over her face as she complained loudly about her predicament. Felix just looked down at where she’d thrown herself on her bed, unimpressed.

"You're not exactly inspiring confidence when you act like that, you know."

Moony stuck her tongue out at him. "I wasn't acting like this before they said no!" She threw her leg up and pointed at the ceiling. "It's only now, after my own parents' betrayal, that I let my true emotions show."

Felix sighed, and --with a sudden revelation on his face-- reached out to grab one of the pillows Moony was laying on.

Her eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare--"

He did.

With a "pomf!" he pulled the pillow out and slammed it into Moony's face. She spluttered, and tried to grab at it once he pulled back to hit her again. Alas, hooves hold no candle to the claws of an eagle, so it slipped through her grip and plompf-ed her in the face again.

"Oh, that's it!" Moony yelled, and jumped up. Gripping one of her pillows in her teeth, she lifted the other one between her hooves and threw it with all her might at Felix. He tried to duck, but his skills were unmatched by her aim and he was knocked to the floor. With a war-cry only slightly muffled by the pillow in her mouth, Moony leapt down after him.

The battle was fluffy, but in the end opposable thumbs and flight allowed Felix to reign victorious. He stood over his adversary, one claw on her stomach to pin her down while the other held the pillow up to strike the finishing blow.

"Any last words?" He asked. A courtesy really, one which she did not deserve after fighting so dishonorably --at one point she pretended to see her parents in the doorway-- but he was merciful.

Moonstone glared. "May the god of down strike you as his namesake."

"Very well!" Felix raised the pillow dramatically. And paused. To snort. "Wait, that's what you went with? It’s so bad!”

"It's not! See, it strikes you down, and it's the god of down, and whaaaat's in a pillow?"

He thumped her head. "That's so bad, Moony! Never try to joke like Twilight again!"

"My Mama Twi's jokes are great!"

"You're objectively wrong!" Felix laughed, and thumped her again for good measure.

They laughed, and Moony gathered up some pillows to flop down on. She sighed again. "I know it's not the end of the world, but I just wanted to be someplace new."

"I don't get it at all," Felix admitted. "New places are terrifying, Moony.”

"...you need to get out more. Let’s travel the country by train."

"It’s not a joke! I never know where I can go if something happens or- or I get hurt or something. And there's always new stuff I never know how it works --like, remember the windroads? And then when I mess up, people just stare at me and never help.” He snorted a proper horse snort in disgust. “New places and new people are always a gamble, and I always lose it.”

“I didn’t-- I’m sorry Felix, didn’t mean to make fun.” Moony put a hoof on his shoulder. “I thought we were still playing around”

“...I know. It’s okay.” He put a claw on her hoof. “We kinda were playing around. Just got a bit personal”

“Yeah.”

They both sighed. They often had to stop and backtrack as one teased the other too far, but by now they usually had it down to a pat. Didn’t make it any less awkward, but what are you gonna do?

“I still want to complain about my moms.” Moonstone decided. “They’re so stupidly overprotective!”

Felix tilted his head at her. “Do you want advice or just complaining?”

"I..." Moony sighed. "I don’t know. I'm just, urg, I'm just still so mad!"

Felix sighed too, and sat down beside her. "About what? You agreed with them in the end, didn't you?"

"Only because I know there's no point in continuing to argue when they're like that," Moony said, and stared stubbornly at the floor. "They're both completely convinced and convince each other all over again if I make an argument against it."

"It's just... they're not completely wrong, you know."

She glared at him. "Oh, don't you start now too."

"Sorry," Felix murmured. "I mean, don't agree with them -- they can't shelter you forever-- but maybe you..." He quieted down, but continued as Moony didn’t motion for him to stop. "You started too strong, Moony. They're not gonna let you go to a summer camp run by people they don't know, in a faraway place, with no one else going with you."

"Other ponies my age get to go," Moony insisted, and reached out to grab the pillow Felix still held. He just let her take it.

"Other ponies aren't..." He didn't actually need to say it, they were both already thinking it. "...a princess." But he still did, and winced once the words were out.

Moony looked away, not saying anything.

"You can still go camping with me and mum this summer," Felix offered, trying to cheer her up again. "Or we can see if there's any summer camps closer to home that would let guards check out the area now and again? Or, um..."

Moony blinked her suddenly burning eyes a few times. "I just... I just wanted to be somewhere where no one knew me. Where I could meet people who haven't seen me since I was a kid, and who don't know who or what my moms are." She hugged the pillow to her chest. "Is that too much to ask? To meet new people who doesn't already have an opinion on me?"

Felix hesitated. "No, that's... most people have that, it's not too much to want Moony. But..."

"But I can't. Not until I'm old enough to move far far away."

"...no."

They kept quiet after that; there really wasn't much else to say.

It was what it was.