//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: The Enigma of Indigo Moon // by IndigoMoon //------------------------------// Chapter 3 March 22nd, 1007 C.R. We walked down Main Street when I decided to ask Daring what she knew about Green Crab. “Well,” she began, “I don’t know much about his past as he never likes to talk about it, but from what I’ve heard, he’s the heir to a family fortune, but was disowned by his parents after he decided to pursue Magizoology and “liken himself to the filthy riff-raff, or even worse, a disgusting mud-pony” instead of becoming an “upstanding citizen” like his ancestors. Those are rumours I’ve heard from homeless ponies in Canterlot. “From what I’ve seen of him personally, he’s an agreeable pony, unless you mention his past, or you’re one of the social elite, or what he defines as prats. He’s got an accent though and says some weird phrases sometimes. I can’t think of any, but you’ll see what I mean when we get there.” We turned onto Bagel Street and continued down the road. We reached 221B a couple minutes later. 221B was tall, thin house with a grey exterior and a black door. It looked severely out of place amongst the light tan squat houses that made up most of the residences in Ponyville. I went to knock, Daring grabbed my arm, stopping me before I could. She turned to Gaia, who looked confused as to why Daring had kept me from knocking. “Gaia, you’re going to want to change shape. Green is a magical creature fanatic, and we don’t want him getting too excited when he sees you. We should probably wait until he’s used to you guys. I know it wears you out, but it’s for the best. Trust me.” Gaia sighed and nodded. “Sure thing. But for future reference, I’m not a changeling. I can’t just look like whatever I want whenever I want.” She closed her eyes, and in a flash of white, Gaia was gone, replaced by a pale blue unicorn mare, with a short orange mane. Her cutie mark remained the same. “I’ll still go by the same name,” said the blue mare with Gaia’s voice. “So we don’t confuse him too much.” Daring and I nodded, still recovering from how trippy it was having a completely normal looking mare have Gaia’s voice, after coming to associate it with Guardian’s odd natural appearance. I raised my hoof and knocked on the door three times. After a moment, the door opened to reveal a light purple unicorn mare with a scarlet mane tied up in a bun. She wore a simple black dress with a white apron. “Yes?” She asked, a soft accent touching her voice. “Hi,” I said. “My name is Indigo Moon, and these are my compatriots Silky Scarf and Gaia Tempera. Is Green Crab home?” The mare nodded. “Yes, sir. Please come in. My name is Feather Duster. I’m the maid here. Mister Green is just in the lounge. Please follow me.” Feather Duster admitted us inside and led us through the house. Daring elbowed me in the side. “Silky Scarf? Really?” She hissed. “Hey,” I whispered back. “You picked Scarf, and I was put on the spot. Besides, it sounded better than Golden Scarf.” Daring rolled her eyes. “I would have preferred that,” she grumbled. “Too late now,” I replied. A second later, we reached a dark brown door. The maid opened the door and let us in. The lounge had a large fireplace set in the middle of the far wall, with bookshelves lining the walls almost completely around the room, sparing only where the door and windows were. The room was brightly lit as windows admitted light into the room. There were two plush armchairs and a large couch around the empty fireplace. Sitting in the chair facing the door sat a tan Earth Pony stallion with sky blue eyes and a long brown mane the curled up slightly in the front. He wore a white shirt, a light brown vest with a blue bow tie and a green coat. True to his name, his cutie mark was that of a green crab. “Yes? How may I help you?” He asked in a noticeable accent, looking up from the book he was reading. Before I could introduce us, Feather Duster beat me to the punch. “This is Mister Indigo Moon, with his companions Miss Silky Scarf and Miss Gaia Tempera.” The stallion nodded. “Ah. Feather, dear, would you be so kind as to put the kettle on for us?” asked Green Crab, smiling at the maid. The maid smiled slightly and nodded. “Right away sir.” “Come. Sit,” said Green Crab, gesturing to the remaining chair and couch. I claimed the chair while Gaia and Daring sat on the couch. “Now, what can I do you for?” asked Green Crab. “Princess Celestia asked us to give you this,” I said. I dug into my saddlebag and pulled out the letter from the Princess. I handed it over to him. He opened the letter and began reading. After a moment, he set the letter down and looked at us. “Going on an adventure, eh?” he said with a smile. “And it seems I’m invited,” he said, waving a hoof at the letter. Feather Duster walked back into the room with a teacup and saucer in her magic. She handed it to Green Crab, who took it gently. “Would you like anything,” Green Crab asked. “I’d hate to be a terrible host.” I shook my head, signalling that I would pass. Daring asked for an iced tea and Gaia asked for a glass of water. When Feather Duster left, Green Crab immediately turned to Daring. “You can take off that disguise, Silk Scarf. Or should I say, Daring Do?” he said, grinning smugly. Daring’s jaw dropped. “How’d you know it was me?” she asked as she removed her hat and glasses. Green crab chuckled. “I’d recognize your voice anywhere, Daring. I did have to listen to it for a week, after all.” Daring sighed. “I suppose you right.” Green Crab’s grin widened. “Plus…,” he said. “It mentions you in the letter.” “What!?” Daring cried. I cracked a smile, while Gaia began giggling. “And you, Miss Gaia,” said Green Crab, “can also drop your disguise. The Princess said in her letter you two would be disguised, although she did say that you had “a rather unique image,” so I’m interested to see what she meant by that.” Gaia looked at me for reassurance. I nodded, letting her know it would be okay to drop the disguise. Feather Duster walked back into the room with the ice tea and water just then, halting Gaia before she could even start, much to her obvious annoyance. Green Crab noticed this, and said, “Feather, thank you dear, but I’m afraid that until this meeting is over, the lounge is now off limits, to respect the privacy of Miss Tempera. If it’s no trouble, I believe the guest rooms should need to be prepared.” Feather Duster nodded and bustled off, closing the door behind her. Green Crab waved a hoof towards Gaia, signalling that she may proceed. Gaia closed her eyes, and in a flash of light like the one where she changed the first time, Gaia was back to normal. Green’s eyes widened at Gaia. “Woah,” he said, awestruck. “I mean no offence, but what kind of pony are you?” he asked. “No offence taken,” Gaia replied. “I’m a 4th Dimensional being called a Guardian. We exist out of time, giving us exceptionally long lifespans. We have the ability to move through time, and each of us have abilities that are mostly unique to each particular Guardian.” Green Crab nodded. “Cool. Very cool. But before we depart on our adventure, I’m going to need my knapsack. That’s where I keep the creatures I study. But retrieving that might be an adventure of its own unless the watcher did as I asked and didn’t open it. But we can’t get it today, as the hour grows late, and Princess Luna’s time to reign approaches. We will have to retrieve it tomorrow.” My friends and I rose from our seats. “Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Mister Green.” “And to you too. But I get the feeling that you don’t have somewhere to stay the night?” “Oh, we were just going to stay at the Ponyville Inn,” I said. Green shook his head vigorously. “Oh, no. You can stay here! Between you and me, it’s much nicer. I’ve even got the guest bedrooms prepared. Gaia and Daring can share a room, and Indigo can have the other. And don’t worry about overstaying your welcome, or pushing my hospitality. It’s truly no trouble.” “If you insist,” I said. Green beamed. “Wonderful! I’ll have Feather show you to your rooms immediately.” He walked over to the door and pulled on a cord of rope that was attached to a bell that hung next to the door. He pulled the cord, causing the bell to ring. “Feather will be here momentarily. In the meantime, I bid you a good night,” said Green Crab. And with that, he walked out of the room. Daring pulled her hat and glasses back on. I looked over at Daring. “We can trust him, right?” I asked quietly. Daring nodded. “Yeah, we can trust him.” Gaia meanwhile, had transformed back into the blue mare with the same flash as before. A moment later, Feather Duster appeared in the doorway. “Please follow me to your rooms,” she said. We followed her upstairs to the second floor. It was a small hallway that led into three rooms. She pointed at one room that had to beds. “Miss Scarf, Miss Tempera, this will be your room. And Mister Indigo, this is your room.” She pointed at the room next door with only one bed. “There’s a door that connects the two rooms, and each room has its own bathroom,” Feather said. “Good night, everypony. Sleep well.” Feather turned and back down the stairs. I turned to walk into my room when Gaia spoke up. “Hey, Daring,” Gaia said. “Do you mind if I bunk with Indigo tonight?” I spun around to see what was going on, but I could only see Daring’s face and the back of Gaia’s head. “Yeah, sure. Why?” Gaia was silent for a moment before squeaking out, “No reason.” Daring met my gaze and smiled oddly, as if she had a secret or she knew something I didn’t. “Go right ahead,” Daring said. But before I could interject, Daring had already walked into the room with two beds and closed the door, locking it behind her. I sighed and walked into my room with Gaia trailing behind, wearing a silly grin. I walked into the bathroom to take off my clothes, but it also gave me an opportunity to think. ‘Why does Gaia want to share a room with me?’ I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew why, but quickly disregarded it as false. ‘I mean, there’s no way she has a crush on me, right?’ When I had finished, I found Gaia waiting for me in the main room, undressed as well. I just sighed and tried to not think about the possibility of Gaia having a crush on me as I clambered into the bed. Gaia climbed in next to and proceeded to wrap her legs around me and cuddle me like a doll. I sighed again and just decided to lay there and not bother trying to unlatch her. After a little while, Gaia began snoring softly, making soft squeaks. I couldn’t help but smile as I fell asleep right then and there.