“What’s going on?” Luna asked Celestia perhaps a bit more forcefully than she’d intended. Nova had just dropped out of the dream realm only a moment before.
“Nova was the one who knew about the amulet, warned us. Not only was her warning not taken seriously, but the information was also leaked, and they were going to try to plant evidence to make it look like she’d had it all along. At least our latest intruders are cooperating.”
“I doubt Moonie would let her get near the thing. Moonie knows everything I knew, and possibly everything the Nightmare knew. If there was one thing she and I were in agreement with it was regarding my two foals. As selfish as the Nightmare could be, my foals were precious to her. They were important to her, and I dare say she fretted over them more than I did. Yes, as my mind clears I am remembering things. Things that weren’t very obvious to me at the time. Those two foals may well have been intended for some grand scheme. What it was, I may never know.”
“Why didn’t Moonie go after these last two intruders?”
“It’s possible she didn’t recognize the threat. Perhaps the invisibility cloak interferes with her abilities. Which may be related to how they are getting into secure areas.”
“The spell they are using somehow confuses the magical sensors used by the various spell checkers.”
“One other possibility, and that is the possibility that Moonie is moonlighting. She’s autonomous to a point. She may be out looking for information herself.”
“That’s kind of a scary thought,” Celestia admitted. “You take care, and I think I’m going to talk to the investigators concerning the possibility of some raids. This whole situation just has me ready to boil. The perpetrators are doing it to get at me. They can’t really do anything to me directly, but they can hurt me by hurting the ponies I care about. Make sure you stay close to Nova and Scootaloo and keep your guard up.”
“I will. That’s not something you have to tell me twice.”
“Oh, I saw him,” Moonie offered a short time later. Mom had gotten the on-duty crew to help her rustle up some food for me and I was happily munching away.
“Why didn’t you do anything?” Mom asked.
“To me he was visible, and I was completely unaware of any subterfuge. Keep in mind that my eyes are just for show and that I’m not limited to what’s on the visual range. No one was reacting to the city guard, and he wasn’t exhibiting any hostile actions. “It was Nova’s response and actions that took me by surprise.”
“Alright,” mom replied thoughtfully. “You do realize that this is an issue.”
“I’m afraid it’s outside the parameters of my matrix,” Moonie offered as mom got out a piece of paper. Luna wrote a note, rolled it up, and then sent it via a spell.
“Moonie,” I began as I took a moment to catch my breath. After all, eating too fast is not good for me. “You can learn though, can’t you?”
“Yes, that is in my abilities.”
“In which case, sooner or later I’ll start calling you Selena,” I offered. “For now on, you need to evaluate everyone who approaches me, Scootaloo, Mom, or any other individual that we consider friend or family to determine if there is something out of place about the individual. A city guard should not have been in a secure hanger. Determining if they are actively using magic and considering deactivating any active spells should come next. Don’t deactivate cloud walking spells though.”
Moonie considered what I’d said, and smiled. I finished up what I had, and then looked around to see what I was supposed to do with the dish and flatware.
“I’ll take care of that for you,” Washboard offered. "I'm the pilot. Don't worry, Melody Pond is covering for me right now."
“Oh, thank you,” I offered. “Do we know how long it’ll be before we get to Cloudsdale?”
“Probably midnight,” Wash offered as he placed the dishes in a gray tub. I’d still my glass of milk so I finished it off quickly so he could take that too. “We were scheduled to depart right afternoon, and arrive in time for a big dinner.”
“Oh, I do so hate to miss out on big dinners,” I offered sarcastically. “Not sure if big dinners and cloud walking mix though. I can just see myself slowly sinking in.”
“I’m sure you’d be fine,” he offered, took the glass, placed that in the tub, and took it away. "The dinners are typically held in an all-access facility."
“You might as well go back to bed,” Mom prompted.
“Will you be going to bed?” I ask.
“To be honest, we’ll probably arrive a little after midnight, so there's not much point in my going to bed. And don’t you worry about it, you are light enough even I can carry you if I need to.”
“Alright, I’m off to bed then,” I get up, I go around the table to give mom a hug, and then head for the door. I stopped shortly after poking my head through. “Ah, which way?”
“Come on, I’ll help you find it,” Mom offered, and a short time later I was back in my bunk.
I must be a heavy sleeper because when next I awoke I was in a rather nice room. I’m not alone in my bed either and pull back the covers to discover Scootaloo curled up in a tight ball. It’s still dark so I decided to go back to sleep.
The next time I woke up it was because of the morning sun in my eyes streaming in through a Shōji screen. Only now do I realize we are sleeping on a futon and the floor is covered with tatami mats. The whole place had the look of a traditional Neighpon bedroom complete with a divided alcove, although in this case, one side had louvered folding doors. The open side had an Ikebana flower arrangement with a wall scroll painting behind it. The one actual window had a shelf slash writing desk right under the window.
This time Scootaloo and I were tangled together. I could just lay there, maybe get a little more sleep, but then again, nature was calling. I had to get up so I slowly extracted myself from Scootaloo, and then slowly dropped off the side of the bed rather than trying to climb all the way to the top of the covers. Now on the floor, I get to my hooves, my shoes are gone, but there are slippers, so I put on the slippers but can’t help but worry about what had become of my shoes.
Well it’s not a hotel, not a modern one, if it was there would be a bathroom attached to the room. I slowly turn the doorknob and have a look-see out into the hallway. Looks like some pony’s house. I step out into the hall closing the door behind me. I’m also just awake enough to summon Moonie.
“Moonie, a little help? Which way to the toilet?”
“Not going to go exploring?” Moonie asked from the ceiling.
“Toilet first, explore later, and I should preen my feathers too.”
“Suit yourself,” she replied and trotted down the hall while still on the ceiling.
“Not like you have to do biological things. All you have to worry about is whether you have enough magical energy to sustain proper functions,” I protested as I followed. She pointed at a door, I knocked lightly, opened the door, went in, locked it behind me, and went about taking care of my need followed by morning ablutions.
When I’d finished I opened the door to come face to face with an impossibly cute colt who looked like he likely matched my physical age. He was a pegasus, mostly silver with a white band across his face just below the eyes that reminded me of the eighties version of Adam Ant from the group Adam and the Ants. The top of his muzzle was a slightly darker gray than the silver and narrowed to a point at the edge of his mane. His main was short and messy grayish midnight blue with a shock of white on the right side.
“Hi,” I offered, and then he turned and ran.
“Mom! There’s a strange filly in the toilet room!”
Well, that happened, I say to myself and go back to my room. I’m closing my door around the same time the colt is headed back to the bathroom with a mare in tow.
“What’s the commotion out there?” Scootaloo asked from the bed.
“I think we are at some pony’s house and no pony told the colt who lives here that there would be fillies.”
“Ah.”
“He’s kind of excitable, and cute.”
“I thought you had a thing for Rumble?”
“He’s cute too,” I offer with a smile. “Any idea where we are?”
“Neighpon mission to Cloudsdale.”
“The Neighpon Mission?” I ask as I find myself a broad spot on the floor, lift one wing into the air and start preening.
“Last minute decision. I gather it’s the most secure place in Cloudsdale. It’s on a sky island. A great big hunk of land that floats about thanks to some sort of natural enchantment. The base is on one too, but they wanted to move us just in case.”
“I can kind of see that. What with ponies behaving so unlike ponies. And the worst part is the fact that it’s a petty vendetta against Princess Celestia.”
“That colts coming,” Moonie announced as Scootaloo was dragging herself out of her bed.
“He’s not coming in here is he?” Scootaloo asked.
“He’s trying all the doors, and he just went into Luna’s room.”
True to form we heard girlish screaming coming from out in the hall. Not from mom, the colt. Yes, I just had to look. So did Scootaloo, and we were both poking our heads out into the hallway a couple of minutes later with Scootaloo’s head stacked on mine. Mom was looking out her door, the colt was hugging a similarly colored mare, who was sitting on her haunches while looking at Luna with a half panicked expression, and Lofty was looking out another door.
“Your right, he does look kind of cute,” Scootaloo offered. “A little on the dumb side. Just the way you like your colts.”
I couldn't resist jabbing an elbow into Scootaloo’s side. We gave each other a big smile though.
“Did the Deputy Chief Consul not inform you that there would be guests?” Mom asked.
“Pr-pr-Princess Luna!” Gasped the mare.
“And Kitsumi-hime,” I offered, kindly enough making sure my smile is not too big and wide. “Is it customary to run away from a guest and then come back and do a room to room search?”
“I am so terribly sorry. We thought our guests were diplomats.” The mare offered.
“Some pony is trying their best to hurt Princess Celestia by hurting us,” Mom offered. “Coming here was a last-minute thing, in fact, few are those who know we came here. We pray that thou aren’t too inconvenienced and request you tell none of who thy guests are.”
“It’s perfectly all right, and Kenta knows better than to pester guests.” Offered the mare I assumed was his mother.
“I gather you don’t have many fillies as visitors,” I offered as I walked over to where they were. “Perhaps we will see you at breakfast?”
“Yes, I imagine we will,” offered Kenta’s mother.
“Good morning, allow me to introduce ourselves, I’m Lofty Clouds, the young miss is my ward Princess Kitsumi Nova,” Lofty offered as she stepped over to us. “And this is her mother Princess Luna Moon Athelas, and the other little filly is my niece Scootaloo.”
“Tsuki no Luna Hime,” Mom offered. She switched her attention momentarily to Lofty and added, “Names tend to get switched up a bit.”
“The banished princess?” Kenta said a-gasp.
“Technically, we were both banished,” I offered. “We were freed from the Yōkai who had attempted to possess mother on the Summer Solstice. I am to understand that at the time there was no other way.”
“Wow,” Kenta offered.
“I am Sakura Yuki,” Kenta’s mother offered.
“A pleasure to meet your acquaintance,” I offered as Scootaloo crept past and into the toilet locking the door behind her.
“Hey!” Kenta called realizing he was now locked out.
“You had your chance,” I say with a certain amount of satisfaction and then turn to Luna. “Mom, any chance you can help me with my preening?”
No, I didn’t really need it, it just felt nice when she did it. Mom said sure and then I followed her back into her room.
“Do you know what became of my shoes?” I asked once in her room.
“Not to worry, I held on to them. They offered to have them polished, but I cautioned that your shoes were far too priceless to risk it.”