Twilight was unceremoniously dumped on the ground, and she quickly jumped to her hooves once she realised that it was wet. Feeling grass beneath her hooves, she took the time to look around. Luna had deposited them both in a forest clearing, the sounds of nature reaching her ears.
Looking further she easily spotted Mt Canterhorn, the city of Canterlot perched on the side, which allowed her to work out they had teleported south, at least two hours journey as the pegasi flies.
Her mental maths done, she finally looked over at Luna. She was rummaging through one of the two sets of saddlebags that had been teleported to her, humming to herself. Twilight walked over, and levitated the other set up and onto her back, securing the straps around her barrel.
“Ah ha, the map had been found.” Luna explained, holding the folded paper in the air like she had just won a glorious battle. Stifling a giggle, Twilight joined her as she smoothed the map open on a large flat boulder, and the blue alicorn traced lines with her hoof. “I do believe,” she waved a foreleg roughly south by southeast, “that we need to go that way.”
Within seconds, Luna had her bags attached and she had taken flight, hovering in mid air waiting for the newer princess. “Come now young Twilight, we have many days of flight ahead of us, and as they say, ‘daylight is burning’.” A mighty flap threw her higher into the air, Twilight having to take a running leap just to catch up with her.
They flew just above the clouds, the higher altitudes providing both better thermal currents, and reduced air resistance. Twilight had to concede that the view was stunning, having never been up this high for any real duration of time.
She was broken from her admiration as the lunar princess cleared her throat. “Twilight, tell me, how much do you know about the Changelings?”
Humming in thought, the smaller alicorn tried to collect her thoughts and memories “To be honest, not much,” her answer made Luna frown. “Up until the ‘wedding’, there hadn’t been a confirmed sighting for almost five hundred years, and they had all but been relegated to an urban legend.”
Luna’s frown had turned into a scowl. “So what do you actually know?”
Recoiling slightly from the look she had been given, Twilight quickly gave a run down. “We know they are Equine in appearance, and covered in black chitin. They have the ability to shape-shift, as well as use magic and fly. Their whole society seems based on a sort of hive mind, at the top of which sits their queen, Chrysalis. We know they need to feed on love, but we don’t know why, whether as a primary food source, or another part of their natural digestion.”
Her answer had seemed to appease her elder, but, Luna’s lips were still far from looking happy. “While you have some good facts, and some better theories, there is still far more you do not know, and it concerns me. Did my sister never tell you about them?”
Sheepishly, Twilight looked back. “No…”
Thud - hoof met face. “Of course she didn’t, stupid nag.” A sharp intake of breath from her companion derailed any more verbal barbs, and Luna slowed down so that she was flying level with her. “Forgive me, I did not mean to speak ill of your…” She chewed on the word for a second, “marefriend. But for someone so wise, she often forgets more than she remembers, or otherwise chooses to forget.”
“I don’t quite understand.” The purple mare’s face mirrored her words, confusion written across it.
“She should know as much about changelings as I do, I told her most of what I learnt firsthoof. Chances are she was too busy pulling pranks with Discord to really pay attention back then.”
“What?!”
“Oh right; please don’t worry, nothing happened between them, I assure you,” Luna tittered slightly, “Though not for lack of him trying.”
“No, not that.”
It was Luna’s turn to be confused. “Then what?”
Twilight stuck her foreleg out towards her accusingly. “You said you learnt it all first hoof. That means you met them; When? How? And more - why haven’t you said anything about them since if you now so much?”
Luna blinked rapidly, her eyes going distant, and her flight dipped before she caught herself. “I guess Tia isn’t the only one capable of forgetting things.”
“Wait, that isn’t…”
Luna cut Twilight off with a swipe of a wing in front of her. “We will speak more on this at another time. As it is, I have been awake for almost twenty four hours in order to adjust my schedule, and I am beginning to feel tired. Help me find a spot to set up came for the night.”
Twilight let out a grunt, and her tone annoyed. “Fine. But we’re not finished with this.”
The pair split up, circling the local area until Twilight heard Luna call for her. “Twilight,” she called. “Come hither, I have found what looks to be an adequate spot.”
A quick flap later, Twilight was gliding towards a low rise, the light of Luna’s horn guiding her down. On touch down, she spotted what Luna had found - a small cave with boulders half obscuring the entrance. Slightly impressed, Twilight cantered over, admitting to herself that she was also tired, and wished to rest her wings.
Slipping into the cave behind Luna, Twilight cast a series of protection and detection spells on the entrance, and dropped her saddlebags on the floor, soon joining them as a pile of floppy limbs.
Hearing a snort, she cast her gaze towards Luna. “Comfy?” The blue mare asked. A cheeky smile across her face, Twilight nodded her head. “I’ll deal with food, if you can find it in you to assemble the sleeping sacks.”
“You mean sleeping bags?” Twilight asked in response to Luna’s odd terminology.
“I never understood why they are called bags.” Luna retorted absentmindedly as she rummaged through her bags for some food.
The younger mare rolled her eyes, rather than argue the point any further, and slowly rose to her hooves. “Either way, yes, I’ll deal with them, if you deal with food.
Without any further conversation, they went about their tasks. By the time Twilight had set out the sleeping bags, and secured an awning above to catch any water, she could already smell something that made her nose happy.
“Whatever that is, it smells great. I didn’t know you could cook so well, Luna.”
A smirk graced Luna’s face. “I’ll take that as a compliment. You forget that I used to be known as Equestria’s Warrior Princess, so I’ve spent a lot of time using field kitchens.” She levitated a bowl out towards her.
Taking a bite of the offered food, Twilight hummed in delight, as she levitated the bowl in front of herself, and proceeded to wolf it down, much to Luna’s amusement. Soon suffering from a food-coma, it fell to the more senior princess to carry her to bed, slipping her into one of the sleeping bags.
Giving her future sister-in-law one last wistful gaze, Luna shuffled herself in her own bag, and stared at the ceiling of the cave, her mind mulling over the journey’s objective and what she hoped to gain personally. I wonder if she’d even take me back?