//------------------------------//
// 47: Wings 
// Story: One Way 
// by jroddie 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 47

“The thing that I don’t understand is why we have to take a chariot down to Ponyville. It’s not like we can’t fly or anything.” I complained. Luna nodded.
“I know. But you don’t have wings. It would scare the townsfolk.” Luna reasoned. I sighed, annoyed. We were walking up to the surface level of the bunker, which was where the three exits were from the underground fortress. I had to agree with her logic as we neared a staircase. She gestured for me to go first, and I did. I tried to mull over an argument in my head as to why I should be able to fly where I wanted to. 
“But couldn’t I just fly over there at night?” I wondered. Luna made an amused humph.
“What do you think we’re doing?” She asked playfully. I pouted, and was silent for a while. We reached a landing in the staircase which led to another set of stairs going up. Luna rushed ahead of me before I could climb those stairs. I stopped in front of her.
“I’m worried about you, Ed. What’s going on with you?” She said, reaching up with one of her hooves to touch my shoulder. I inhaled, savoring the sweet orange scent of Luna. I instantly softened under her masseuses’ hooves. I immediately slumped.
“I’m tired of this, Luna. I’m so tired of all this deception, of all this killing. It isn’t me.” I explained with a tired expression. Luna smiled sweetly and looked at me with almost motherly love. She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.
“I love you, Ed.” She whispered in my ear. I shivered slightly when she said that, it was mostly the proximity between her and I. What with all of the killing and planning and subverting rightful authority that I’ve been doing lately, Luna and I haven’t really had time to ourselves. I finally understood that the weekend that Luna was taking me on was actually an attempt to pry back into my free time and keep me from forgetting what I had waiting for me at home. I smiled and closed my eyes.
“I love you back.” I whispered. Luna hummed happily,.
“You aren’t like the others, Ed. You don’t like to kill anything. The others, I never liked them. All they cared about was killing things. You’re the only one that doesn’t go on and on about it every day. You’re different.” She explained. I felt a little bit special when she said that. I reached up with my hooves and gave her a hug. 
“Thanks, Luna. What are we going to do this weekend?” I asked quietly, with my hooves still around her neck. She giggled a little bit.
“That would spoil the surprise a little bit, wouldn’t it?” She teased. I chortled and leaned into the hug. Luna’s pale blue mane tickled me a little bit. I pawed some of her mane with one of my hooves while a question came to mind.
“Hey Luna?” I ventured.
“Yes?”
“Why do you have hair?” I inquired bluntly. Luna laughed.
“What?!” She exclaimed, pulling me out of the hug so she could get a look at my face. She was extremely puzzled. I grinned awkwardly and tried to explain.
“You know how Celestia has the whole wavy energy thing going for her, right?”
“Uh huh.”
“And you two are sisters, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then why do you have plain old hair and Celestia has the wavy energy thing?” I finished. Luna smiled and kissed my nose.
“A good question if there ever was one.”
“Are you going to answer it?”
“No.” She said coyly. I felt cheated.
“Why not!?” I objected. Luna grinned, turned around and pranced up the stairs. She got to the next landing and looked back at me.
“If you play your cards right, you’ll find out when this weekend is over. But we have to go now if we actually want to get to Ponyville on time.” She said with a swish of her tail. I felt slightly dizzy for a moment, then skipped up after her. I followed her lead to one of the doors to the outside. Luna magicked it open and walked through into the brisk evening air. My teeth started to clatter as my eyes started to adjust to the dead of night. I could see four perfectly identical snow-white pegasi milling around a dimly glinting golden chariot. It took me a moment to recognize that they were guards, just with very sparse armor. I was perplexed by the sight of them being almost identical and in such complete ease around Luna and I. I had never seen a guard that was completely relaxed around me, except from before I was a captain. It confused me, but then Luna nudged me. I looked at her, and she leaned in to whisper. 
“Go talk to them while they get ready for the flight. I’ll be waiting on the chariot.” Luna whispered, going over to take her seat on the chariot. I rubbed my foreleg for a second and then walked over to the group of pegasi. They didn’t get up or even notice me that much when I approached. When I got close enough, one of them with a pale grey mane looked up at me. He smiled. 
“Hi, I’m-
“Captain Shell of the Forward guard. Your reputation precedes you, sir. Well, that, and your smell.” The guard admitted. I was perplexed.
“I can’t smell that bad, can I?” I asked, reaching up to sniff my hoof. The guard that spoke to me laughed, extremely carefree.
“No, no, it’s not that. Hasn’t anypony ever told you?” He asked, completely blunt and informal. I scratched my ear with my hoof.
“No...”  I said. All of the guards looked at each other and started mumbling. The one that was talking to me made a gesture for them all to hush. They did, and then he leaned in to explain.
“You smell like... Like a thunderstorm in the middle of a glade.”
“Sorry?”
“Have you ever been outside before a heavy storm, when the clouds are all orange? You can look the storm off in the distance, see the lightning but not quite hear it. Take a big whiff of the air, and it’s a dead ringer for our dear old Captain.” He explained, rising to his hooves. The others followed and looked like they were getting ready to leave.
“Are you guys ready to go?” I asked. The pony that I was talking to nodded, but did not speak. Another pony to the left of me explained by pointing out at the sky.
“See that cloud? I’ve been looking at it and I think that it’s caught in a patch of thin air. There’s a bunch of other clouds next to it that look exactly the same, so we’re leaving now to avoid running into that.” The guard explained in a husky, dry voice. I nodded, turning to meet Luna in the chariot. I stopped mid-stride and turned back to the pegasi, contemplative. I walked up to one of the guards 
“Do you mind if I ask you a question?” I asked.
“You just did.” The guard joked. I smiled, and he nodded yes.
“You’re all identical.”
“We sure are.”
“Why?”
“Oh. We’re the show guards.” He explained like it was extremely obvious. I was just even more confused. The guard noticed my confusion and tried to explain.
“You see, there are two different kinds of scenario when guards become necessary. One is where the Princesses are in an extremely dangerous place where an attempt on their lives may occur. That’s where guards like yours come in. Blend into the crowd, make an attempt look so much easier than it actually is. Then, there’s when the Princesses are in lower risk places, where they have a lot of exposure to the public. That’s where guards like me come in. The Equestrian populace sees Royal Guards as being just like me. Uniform, disciplined, identical. We’re dangerous, we’re efficient, and we’re identical. That’s what makes us feared. We complement each other, though. Normal guards and Show guards, that is. Normal guards are used in logically opposite situations than they should be because they make an assailant lax. A situation that would be impossible to accomplish with guards like me protecting the Princesses becomes oh so easy with guards like yours around. At least, that’s what they think. Which is why we’re used.” The guard finished. I was surprised. 
“Huh. I never even knew that there was a such thing.”
“There is. I’d be happy to tell you mo-” He started, but the pony that talked to me originally interrupted.
“Get over here! We’ve got a flight to make!” He shouted over a gust of wind. The pony looked at me apologetically and ran up to his position in line. I smiled and walked back to then end of the chariot that held Luna in it. I got in it and stood rather comfortably. I looked over at Luna, who was looking back at me. I was shocked. It was one of those perfect moments. The one where you’re tired, it’s been a long day, and you just want to sleep, but then she looks at you. It’s not intended to be sensual, it’s not intended to be provocative. But it reminds you of what she means to you. It reminds you about the first time you saw her and knew that this was it. I grabbed Luna’s face with my forehooves and pulled it to me so I could kiss it. It was long, tender, and not exactly careful. Luna was wide-eyed at first, but then she relaxed into it. It was a timeless, ever-stretching moment of Luna, me, and the chilly wind that made us scoot closer together. It was absolutely perfect. Her sweet orange smell seemingly stuck in my nose, her soft noises that she made, her shivering wings. It was all amazing. It streched on forever, and I could faintly remember the shudder of landing. I pulled away from Luna gently and opened my eyes. She was standing right there, so close to me. I watched her open those perfect teal eyes of hers, and felt extremely warm. There was so much to her, so much. There was too much for one lifetime. Which was perfect, because I had a few to spare. Luna exhaled, shuddering slightly.
“Oh my.” She whispered, breaking into a breathless laugh. I smiled and nuzzled her cheek. 	I held her for a moment, trying to warm her up a little.
“You okay?”	
“Pleasantly surprised.” She said, and I bumped her gently with my nose. 
“I like to keep ‘em guessing.” I said. Luna sighed.
“You have me guessing all the time, Ed.” She joked. I smiled and squeezed her. I glanced up at the pegasi, who were studiously avoiding looking at us. I turned back to Luna. She was shivering a little bit.
“Let’s head inside, Luna. You’re cold.”
“I’m n-n-not c-cold.” 
“You’re a terrible liar. Come on.” I said, pulling her out of the chariot. I looked around the main square. It was so hauntingly familiar, it barely changed. I could even see the apple cart, completely unchanged from my first disastrous day in Ponyville. I shuddered as I remembered the burning innocents. I looked around the square for a moment to try and get my bearings. I realized that I had absolutely no idea where I was supposed to go. I looked down at Luna. 
“It’s round.” She mumbled, trying not to clatter her teeth. I looked around, and I could simply not see it. I saw one building that looked like it was made entirely of gingerbread, but that was about it. I walked out of the square holding Luna and tried to find something that resembled her vague description. There wasn’t much, but I found something that might fit.
“It looks like a big carousel.” I said to myself. Luna nodded. 	
“Th-That’s it.” She said, shivering violently. I rushed her up to the door and knocked. 
“Who is it?” A voice answered very quickly.
“Um... Princess Luna and-” I started, but I was unable to finish because a door interrupted. I was almost knocked over. I was stumbling by the time that I noticed that I wasn’t holding Luna anymore. I recovered my bearings and looked at the door. It was ajar slightly, so I opened it and walked in. 
“Wo-ow.” I exclaimed, stretching the word into two syllables. The room I was in was insane. There were little pony mannequins all over, with various stages of clothing assembled on them. It was all shades of blue, and I managed to trip over an entire chair on my way in. I immediately became buried in fabric. I managed to poke my head out of the pile and look at my surroundings. Luna was sitting close to the fire, swaddled in an enormous quilt and levitating a cup of tea. There was a white pony with startlingly blue hair sitting across from her. Both of them were looking at me with varying looks of amusement. I blew a lock of hair out of my eyes and smiled. The white pony laughed.
“At least he’s funny, dear.” She said in a lilting accent. Luna grinned.
“That’s just one thing.”
“Oh, I’m quite sure of that. Now let’s get those off of you, shall we?” The white pony said, and the big pile of fabric was lifted off of me in a pale blue cloud of magic. I got up and sat next to the pair. The white pony looked at me strangely.
“I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure. My name is Rarity.” She said. I smiled politely.
“I’m Edwin. Nice to meet you.” I said back. Rarity smiled. She turned back to Luna.
“Is he the one?” Rarity asked Luna. Luna nodded wordlessly. Rarity looked back at me, scrutinizing my body. I felt slightly offended.
“Oh yes, He’ll do quite nicely.” Rarity commented, getting up to go look at a pile of fabric. She pulled out a swath, trotted back over to me, and held up a few patches to my shoulder. 
“When you sent me the letter, I instantly thought a nice grey suit would work nicely, make his eyes just pop out. I am personally stuck between tweed,” She said holding up a scratchy piece of a pale grey fabric, “and a nice silk blend.” She continued, holding up a flimsy piece of a shinier grey material, “I do loathe tweed, but I simply cannot deny how good it makes these pale stallions look. Which do you think, Princess?” She asked. Luna looked indecisive for a moment, taking a sip of tea. 
“The tweed does look good.” Luna admitted. 
“Very good.” Rarity agreed.
“But it definitely doesn’t feel the best. I’m planning on holding on to him as much as I can.
“Oh, but of course.”
“But the silk makes him look so gaudy.”
“Tweed is certainly the more masculine of the two.” Rarity digressed. Luna bit her lower lip for a moment, looking unusually torn.
“Let’s go with the grey tweed. It makes him look amazing.” Luna decided. Rarity actually squealed a little bit. 
“Oh, goody! I had absolutely no idea what I would have done if you picked the silk. It would have made him look like a hearthwarming eve ornament, to be honest. But it is perfect that you picked the tweed.”
“I actually like the silk.” I said. Rarity turned to me
“Oh, hush, dear. Now, I am going to need your measurements as soon as possible tomorrow morning so I can get started on it as soon as I can. Now, you two get on up to bed now. We have a big big day ahead of us tomorrow, and I need both of you to be awake!” She finished, shooing us away from the fireplace as quickly as she could do politely. I followed Luna down a hallway leading away from the room. The quilt that she was wrapped in was so big that it was actually dragging on the ground behind her for a few feet. I followed her to a door on the hall. She pushed it open to reveal a smallish room with a dresser and a bed. I nearly lost consciousness when I saw the bed. Luna walked up to the bed and jumped on. I blinked. She struck an improbable yet attractive pose on the bed.
“There is a bed in this room, Luna.”
“I’ve noticed.” She said in a low voice.
“I may not be able to stay up with you, Luna.” I said, walking over to the bed like a zombie. I was looking at the edge of the bed, trying to figure out how it worked.
“Edwin?”
“Luna?”
“I’m trying to seduce you, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“I’m too tired, Luna. Maybe tomorrow night.” I said, climbing onto the bed. Luna whined.
“Oh, come on! We have the whole weekend to ourselves!
“I’ve got a big day tomorrow with the seamstress.” I said, stealing some of the quilt from Luna. She pouted.
“You owe me, Ed.” She said, grabbing me with her hooves. She pulled me closer to her. 
“Yes I do.” I said, feeling her cold legs. I slowly drifted off to pictures of blue tweed and oranges.