//------------------------------//
// Chapter two 
// Story: The Gift of a Brooch 
// by Truerandom 
//------------------------------//

Luna pressed her body against the wall of the quarter deck, trying to preserve the warmth her thick pegasus coat gave. Over her, multicolored flags flapped in the wind, occasionally breaking the silence.
Everypony except the night crew was sleeping.

There had been a time for celebration, for life to print itself on the hours of the day, and like a memory its ghost floated into the wind of the night. She sighed, and took some comfort in what remained of those happy memories.  
But now gone were the music, laughters and lights of the evening: the ship was deserted, painted in a intimidating duality of black and white by the light of the moon, unnerving to all but Luna.
This was her domain.  

She was alone on the deck and that was just what she needed to clear her head. Like an anchor to reality, she could feel the airship tremble against the force of the wind, its body of steel pushed at great speed by its engines, cutting through the night like an arrow. 
It was now two in the morning and the air was beyond just cold. The Golden Hind had left the warm currents of Saddle Arabia and dived into the icy belly of the Great Sea, at the center of which violent, frigid winds rising from the south formed an eternal storm.
It was partially at fault as to why air travel had been so difficult to develop, and sailing boats always came back either victorious or did not come back at all. No ponies could cross the Great Sea without a good crew of pegasus fliers or magic, but now that new ways had been invented the cultural and commercial possibilities were numerous and exhaling. 
Still, the Golden Hind, in all of its steam powered glory, would be taking a bell shaped course around the storms. 

Luna's eyes studied the horizon. Over her head, the sky was clear and her moon had risen since the evening at the party, but at the horizon she could see lightnings cutting though the darkness, illuminating dark and dangerous masses of clouds huddled together above the sea. Nature hated emptiness so the perpetual depression over the Great Sea always produced the most instable, humid bodies of air, nourished by the warm waters of the continent. That was the scientific explanation, but she knew better as to what resided at the eye of the storms. It had been such a long time, and while distance could heal wounds Luna still refused to call it who.

Despite her warm coat, she shuddered in the wind. Her body might not appreciate the silence that her mind craved, yet she did feel at peace here. She needed some calm to reflect on the events of the night and plan her next move. 
Luna hadn't thought about making her big move against her target so early in the trip, as the crossing of the sea took four days and one night, but she had wanted to confirm the piece of intel her bat ponies had gave her back in her cabin. Her failure that night meant nothing in the big scheme of things, however for Luna it had been upsetting. 

“Not everything was a failure though”, she mused, and despite her tired mind her heart was giddy with excitement and her cheeks flushed red. 

It had been a while since she amused herself so much, so caught up she was in her problems, and it felt good to just let her guard down for once. 
With her identity hidden by the glamor she had felt safe to do what she wanted, her confidence boosted by the anonymity of the disguise and by the general feeling of casualness from the party goers. 

Then she had understood that somehow, the matter of stealing the artifact would be far more bothersome than she anticipated, for her target seemed like the type to play games with those below her, throwing her political status around. Her absence at the party had been, for all to see, a political message. Equestria's best was not exceptional for her country, nothing worth to celebrate.  
After the realization that nothing to further her goal would be accomplished that night, disappointed that she couldn't find what she had hunted for so long, she had been ready to leave. Except that at the last minute, she had been approached by somepony. 

Twilight Sparkle seemed like a good mare, and she had been incredibly cute with her bow tie and her fumbling words. Luna was used to attract the attention of ponies, she was a beautiful mare and a princess after all, but it had been so long since she had a genuine and friendly chat with somepony, to the exception of her sister. Relieved of the royal persona, she had thought that, just for this night, she could pretend she was somepony else and forgot about her problems. 
But now, all alone with her thoughts, Luna could only feel so much. In a way, she hated herself for playing with Twilight's feeling like that even if it was just for some harmless fun, but she knew she couldn't give chase to whatever had transpired. Her situation was too complicated, too dangerous for somepony so removed from the evils of life, and while ponies were soundly sleeping in their bed Luna was fighting for her survival. Alone.

It had been six years since she came back, but the fight had started a thousand year before. She was tired, her powers were declining more and more every year and the sickness that lived off her mind was now a constant presence. It had a mind of its own, the poison that pulsed in her veins.
It did not speak nor appeared to her, unlike an hallucination, but its actions were as frightening. Since it did not have the means to overpower her yet it stayed there, at the edge of her mind and like all those years before it worked to change her. Pieces by pieces, like somepony reconstructing a toy, it corrupted her memories, tainted her mind with absurd notions, and dragged her to her own folly. When the fever run high Luna was not sure who was who anymore.  

She could not deny she was afraid, for she had already fallen to it once and the consequences had been traumatic. She had lost herself that night, engulfed in the alien feeling of the monster taking her place, her body, her face. 
It was true she had regretted it and it had been painful, but it had been the climax of a long battle and she had expected the pain, in her own twisted reasoning. 
And thus what had Luna so scared of the Nightmare was not the monster itself, but the circumstances of its creation: the sickness that was slowly killing her was a magical construct of her doing. She was responsible for all the destruction and pain she had brought to her loved ones by succumbing to the Nightmare, she was the monster, she should have...

“Stop!” Luna screwed her eyes shut, she did not want to cry. She would not give it the satisfaction.

She stayed there, rigid as a statue, trying to reign on her terrified heart. She was breathing too fast, she hadn't even be aware of her panic! Taking big gasps of air, her face crunched in concentration, she managed to calm herself down. She counted the minutes in her head as her breathing slowed.
It wasn't the first time she was the subject of similar attacks and it would not be the last. Those usually took place during the night, when her connection to her domain – the night, was the most powerful, not unlike now. Only the fact that her power also picked during that time gave her the edge over the Nightmare.

Recently the frequency of those attacks had doubled, giving her great concerns. She blamed it on her mental state: the constant watch against the Nightmare was taxing, and doing that in the back of her sister while searching for a cure had depleted her forces. Those past years, while Luna had searched for a miracle and found nothing, she had let herself be consumed by her stress and her despair, willing her mind to only think about her fight and to never falter, lest she lose her sanity along the way.
She knew only that she could not give up. She craved for a release from this hell every night, but her superior mind would not let her concede to her own defeat. Luna was a fighter, it was in her quick temper, her will to master everything that made her existence bearable, and she was determined to win this war against herself. 
And so she had, for the last year, hunted any knowledge of an old artifact she thought could help her in her quest for betterment. The artifact was dark magic, dangerous and unstable, but Luna was desperate. With that in mind when she had arrived on the EES Golden Hind she had been miles away from any kind of distractions the ship offered, and it would have never come to her to drink champagne, play games and dance. 

The sound of a patrolling guard tore Luna out of her contemplation. She lit her horn and blended in the shadows under the stairs, not wanting to be seen. 

“Who's here?” The guard shouted, taking a suspicious stance at the flash of light, pulling his sword as he eyed the deserted deck. Luna held her breath as the guard craned his neck, inspecting every nook and cranny, grumbling. Only the wind howled in response. Nothing was here, he was alone, cold and sleepy.

“Surely a reflection of the moon or something.” He concluded, and let out a yawn. Patrol could be so boring. 

As the guard departed, Luna shook her disguise away. She could use some sleep too, even with the nightmares. Tomorrow she would study the plans of the airship and come up with a way to locate the artifact in a more precise manner. 



*****************



Twilight took a bite of her buttered toast, hiding behind the newspaper of the day she held in her magic. As her eyes roamed over the paper, she took a sip of her coffee. The rousing from her bed had been difficult as she had had an excellent sleep for once, but the sunny morning and the hurly-burly of the waiters dressing up tables on the deck, in the manner of a café, had drawn her attention. She couldn't say no to a breakfast outside,  not with this weather. She sighed pleasantly as she felt the sun warming her back and the sea air chasing the last traces of sleep from her mind. 

There was an interesting coverage of a debate about the introduction of basic courses in zebrican shaman magic  to the main curriculum of the Canterlot School of Magic, the public equivalent of princess Celestia's School for gifted Unicorns. It made sense, as most of the future diplomats, unicorns or otherwise, took extra classes there, and this could be a chance to broaden their sensitivities to non-ponies magic.
However some professors from the older generation, usually those whose parents had participated in the old war against the zebras, did not like this new perspective on “alternate” magic. 
She sighed, recognizing some of the names cited at the end of the articles. “There will always be a spirit of adversity in the old and nobles ponies of Hight Canterlot it seems, just not for the right reasons.”

Twilight put the newspaper down, suddenly frustrated by the vapid turn the debate took as the words of national purity and equestrian uniqueness were mentioned. She wasn't an example of friendship, she knew, but her heart couldn't go with the more chauvinist ideals of her colleagues. She was not a fighter and in her mind co-operation would always result in better resolutions. 

With nothing to occupy her mind, Twilight took a glance around her. She had arrived to the tables early, and they were now almost all occupied. Families, friends and couples conversed, argued, and ate in the sunny morning, a light breeze ruffling the tablecloths and napkins. There was a joy and energy buzzing around, everypony was relaxed and cheerful. 
Twilight was again surprised by the organization required to feed so much ponies, and the number of waiters going around tables, refilling glasses and hushing the foals out of the path. There was a stand next to the doors for ponies wanting to buy newspapers and cigarettes, and a line was already forming. 
She thought she saw one of the stallion she had talked to yesterday, with his wife, waiting for his turn  and then a flash a blue in the crowd. Twilight's heart leaped at the familiar color, alas it was not  the mare her mind desired. Ah yesterday, it had been such a day! It had almost sounded like a dream to her as she woke up earlier this morning, but she had made such an incredible encounter. 
She smiled as she recalled her bravado, and the fun she had. She could not yet believe she had been in her right mind when she had approached the mare, Woona, as Twilight had always been kind of a nervous pony. It must have been the alcohol because she wasn't sure she could pull this off again, not with somepony like that mare. Her smile faltered. 
Inevitably, she also recalled the conclusion to her reasoning of the night before. A chill run down her back and she nervously peered around, but Woona was not here. 
How was she going to approach her now? A direct confrontation was not favored and she still had a bit of pride in her not to go running around the airship in the hope of finding the mare. She wasn't even sure Woona wanted to see her, or talk to her...

Twilight's brow furrowed. “I need information. It's time to pay a visit to this ship library.” Without looking back, she trotted away from the tables and took the direction of the information desk.



*****************



The library was almost deserted as Twilight barged in, her outburst attracting the annoyed glare of the only pony in the whole room, the librarian. She smiled anxiously, offering a muttered apology. 

The room was small, with only a dozen of shelves tucked away in a corner and a large space reserved for an exposition of airships models. The floor was of a muted blue carpet, and even with a partial glass ceiling the sun could not quite reach the room. Cushions were discarded here and there, and in the far right corner there was a foal-area, cushioned with bright pink foam, but even then the library smelled of dust and it was apparent it was not attracting the interest of many ponies. 
Twilight hurried to the shelves, relieved to see nopony around. She liked to be alone when she researched something. 

Walking through the shelves, she eyed the little stickers disclosing which area was reserved for which subject, but of course the library of  the Golden Hind would be mainly furnished with books belonging to the matching subjects of navigation and airship construction. She rolled her eyes and silently reminded herself to have hope. Finally, her optimism was rewarded as she neared the block reserved for Equestrian History and Geography.

She didn't know what exactly she was looking for, only that her knowledge of the splitting of the Diarchy, an event old of one thousand year, was not as ample as she liked to think. To her merit history was not her passion nor the subject of her studies, yet she did pass her classes with high grades back at the School for gifted Unicorns, mainly to please the princess.
With such an important figure as a mentor it had seemed ungrateful to dedicate time to the study of one of her only faux pas recorded in equestrian history, as the issue was still tender in the mind of the princess. This was in fact why the subject was so well regulated and it was difficult to find books that expressed an opinion diverging from the official view of the solar court. 

Unfortunately, Twilight's main source of information was at the time the Canterlot Archives, which did fall under the scrutiny of the court, except maybe for the restricted section she never had access to. Hence why, by rummaging through the airship's library, she thought she could bypass the censorship around the Diarchy, since airship libraries were some times furnished with books from the different countries they sailed to, bought or donated. 
With this reasoning in mind, Twilight stopped in front of the Past-Unification History section, pleased to see the library was not as bare as she imagined, and started her hunt for the perfect book. It took her half an hour, but she did find a couple of books on the subject, one being a dusty tome, first of a string of essays written by an historian from the Deer Confederation. 

“Exactly what I am looking for!” She smiled with glee, jumping around in an impromptu victory dance.

The clock in the library indicated ten in the morning, and she was sure she could find some information on what she was looking for before lunch. Still smiling, Twilight made her way to the nearest cushion and collapsed there, her mind already absorbed by the book.
She somewhat had acquired the reputation of a bookworm at the university, which was saying a lot as it was a place dedicated to learning, and Twilight possessed terrifying reading skills which she put to good use as the read though the old volume, looking for key words. The writing style was a bit weird and there was no apparent time line to follow though the essay, it was only a collection of events arranged around a main theme. This complicated her research and Twilight did not see the passing of  time.
She was already two hours past the lunching time before she found a paragraph that picked her interest: 

“On the hidden war that took place between the Growing of Leaves and the Eve of the Sun, four moon circles passed and the armies of Celestia the Sun and her sister Luna of the Moon brought killing and skirmishes in the forests around the Everfree castle. The castle was not the center of the assault but it remained in the sun's dominion for the duration of the war, except for the battle in which the possession of the kingdom and the celestial beings were fought, which took place in the last day and for the time of the Eve of the Sun. The Lunars and their Princess surprisingly remained in the castle before that day, in spite of the distrust of the populace.

Events goes as following, from mouth to mouth accounts collected at the time by my ancestors peers Whitewood the Wise and his assistant Bush Ankles, from soldiers of the solar forces. I cannot recommend how light those tales must be taken, coming from the solar guard, as they were partly formed with members of the Fanatics, an extremist religious cell birthed from the ashes of the Sun Cultists. Evidently, their loyalty to Celestia the sun muddled their tongues. 
Luna attacked Celestia her sister in a fit of rage, while in the throne room. She is referred as the Demoness from now on by the soldiers, as they believed she transformed in a black daemon and laughed at her sister with a mouth full of fangs. The thought that Luna of the Moon was a daemon from birth is not to be given too much resources, records does indicate she was born a pony. There are some tales of the Demoness performing various profanations by rousing the dead and eating ponies alive, but evidences from the study of the Everfree Castle's magic imprint after the war show that her ire was only directed at her sister. 
For the duration of the day, there was no day and only the moon remained in the sky. Luna of the Moon attacked her sister alone and was quickly defeated by an unknown force, and disappeared. The sun and the moon fell in the power of Celestia of the Sun, who founded a new capital and abandoned the Everfree Castle the month after the Eve of the Sun. From her mouth, her sister was not killed, merely send to the moon, but for what purpose, we do not know.” 

Twilight lowered the book. Nothing, in all that she had read and listened to in her whole life mentioned that there had been a secret war, that Princess Luna had attacked her sister, that she was a demon and that the reason why she had disappeared for so long was that she was send to the moon. It was delusional, it was prosperous! The account was obviously biased, fonded on myths and legends. What was she thinking by picking up such an old book so randomly? 

She let the book fall on the floor as she grew red in the face, understandably angry at what she had read. Her mentor, Princess Celestia, would not have acted that way, encouraging a war with her sister and then imprisoning her for a thousand year, and Princess Luna did not transform into a demon...she certainly did not dance with such creature yesterday. 

“I would have known, but then maybe I am wrong in my assumption that Luna is hiding her identity.” She thought, her brows wrinkled, her eyes fixed on her hooves as her brain fumed.“Maybe I am the crazy one!”

She took the old volume back to its rightful place on the shelf and grabbed without a thought the next one. Just to have something to hold in her magic, a habit she picked up as a young unicorn with a tendency to let her magic wander under the effect of her anger. Pacing around in the aisle, her head down, she felt more angry at herself than at the book, but still too caught up in her feelings to notice the new pony that was making her way to the same shelf.

“Eh you, could you tell me where to find  Recorded History of Malicious Entities by Cure Feather? I was directed to this...library.” A bored voice sounded right next to her. 

Twilight jumped. The voice came from an Arabian mare, taller than her and slender like her peers, with a sandy coat and a blue opal mane of curly hairs expertly groomed in a semi-chignon, her eyes telling of a great arrogance. The bracelets and necklaces she wore proved she was of noble origins, but still Twilight was angry and she didn't care. 

“Do I look like a librarian to you?” She barked, annoyed at the impolite mare. She wasn't taking any of this today. To her credit, the mare didn't flinch, only throwing her head into the air in a similar fashion to the Canterlot nobles that roamed the castle. 

“I wouldn't know how to describe you my dear.” She said flatly in passing, making a show of looking at the shelves behind Twilight before coming back around. “Whatever, I'll just have a copy delivered to my room by flight.” 

She smirked and it was evident that whatever she had came here to find wasn't on her mind anymore. But rather than just leaving her alone, the mare came back toward her trying to intimidate her.

“Nice meeting you rhamja.” The mare sneered, as she brushed close to Twilight, pushing her against the shelves.

Twilight gritted her teeth, and let the childish insult slide, staring at the insolent mare as she disappeared around a shelf. She was used to being bullied ever since kindergarten and so she had developed a sixth sense when it came to judge difficult ponies. She was sure whoever that one was, she wasn't easy to handle. 

“Well...” She sighed and fell on her haunches, her spirit dulled. First there was this nonsense about her teacher, and the thought that she might be wrong about Woona, and now this. She was starting to feel insecure about her research and the reasons behind them...
She took a look at  the book she had taken from the shelf earlier, a smile made its way on her face. In her magic floated the only copy of Recorded History of Malicious Entities of the entire airship. 

“Maybe this day is not as bad as I thought.” Twilight realized, she might actually keep it now.

A new spring in her step, she took the book to the librarian's desk, wrote her address in the Borrowed Books Register and went to find something to eat. 



*****************



Luna bit her lip, hard at work over the many maps of the EES Golden Hind her bat ponies had acquired for her. She stood hunched over the little desk in her cabin, the table disappearing under the papers, dust particles dancing in the lone beam of sunlight pouring from the porthole. 
She had been at it for an hour now, since painfully waking to the light of her sister's sun. It had been so long since Luna had maintained a correct sleep schedule it was a miracle she could still function, and it was all thanks to that new dark beverage her secretary back at the castle had introduced to her. She had had a pitcher of it brought to her this morning, and it was now almost empty. 

“Dammit!” She swore, rubbing her eyes with a hoof. She had never been good with two dimensions maps, or planning for that matter. She was a mare of action, preferring to get her bearings on the field, so she had always let her sister tend the scheming and organizing. And it did not help that her thoughts kept wandering back to the party. Twilight Sparkle had been an interesting mare, but she had her priorities. She needed to concentrate on her mission and get out of here with the artifact as soon as possible, so why did she kept coming back to her? 
She could still feel Twilight's scent on her, or the way her warm body had fitted so well against her as they danced through the night...she could not help herself, it just made her happy.

“Do not get too eager, you still have a job to do!” She groaned, and willed herself to look at the maps again. The one she had before her eyes was a blueprint of the diplomat quarters. 

It dated from way before the construction of the airship, so she was unsure if it still matched with the current layout, but it was the best she had. The security was tight around the building of airships as they represented a valuable asset in military tactics, so she hadn't been able to put her hoof on more recent maps. She leaned over the blueprints, committed to memorizing every inch of the plan. Her target would be living in one of the extravagant suites which divided the right part of the floor, built around a hall, with little spaces between each chambers for room service. This was what interested her the most, along with the position of the windows. Unfortunately, the diplomat floor was just over the main line of shield generators of the airship, which meant that some of the enchantments from the generators would overlap with those put over the windows, complicating the act of dispelling them quickly and without alerting the soldiers. 

This was of course a wanted outcome from the airship designers, as the most important passengers, crew members or merchandises were always placed in a fortified floor between the shield generators, where they would be the last to fall in case of an attack. If the attack came from outside. That left her with either a direct approach, through the front doors, or through the stairs reserved to the staff. 

Luna was an expert in stealth, this mission wouldn't be a problem to her as she had already accomplished far more dangerous tasks, but she needed to be cautious: the current owner of the artifact was an important guest of Equestria, a member of royalty and a diplomat traveling from her home to complete a peace treaty between the two countries. If only just a whisper of a rumor liking Luna and the future heist together surfaced, there could be dire consequences. 
For now, her vague status of ruler of Equestria was still being contested by the surrounding countries and she had had to face diplomats dismissing her authority as a farce. As if being an alicorn with the control over the moon and the stars was not enough for them, she thought bitterly, a spike of anger piercing her mood.
Beside, the floor was heavily guarded and she was sure such rare artifact would not be left without protection. It would be staying in a special chest to hid it from prying eyes and to protect the world against it, as this might as well be the most evil piece of dark magic currently in circulation. 

Her eyes stung from the lack of sleep, her back had started to hurt and so Luna decided she needed some air. She tried to arrange the maps on the desk before giving up with a sigh and moving to stand in the middle of the room, her horn sparkling as she put on her disguise. The alicorn disappeared in a flash, taking the form of her pegasus counterpart, and looked at her reflection in the mirror of the bathroom, hastily brushing through her mane. She wanted to be presentable for even in a disguise she was still Luna.
Satisfied, she was out of her cabin quickly enough and walked briskly to her destination: she learned yesterday from over-hearing an enthusiastic passerby that the library presented an exposition of the models from the construction planning of the airship. Those might not be as accurate as the maps but they would be easier on her eyes. 

The indications were clear, so she easily located the library on the fifth floor, the most direct path to the building being through the shopping mall, a broad hallway of shops and restaurants organized there for the pleasures of the passengers. It was not a hard place to find, and Luna progressively slowed down as she approached the hallway, taken aback by what she saw. 

The mall was vast and loud, crowded with ponies and a multitude of little shops with overly bright lights, flashing in all colors to capture your attention, begging for your time. 
The shops were positively crammed with ponies, inspecting clothes, products, arguing with the vendors, cheering loudly, while sale ponies shouted over the mess slogans about perfumes and soaps, tax-free zones, discounts of fifty percent for the third article purchased, and the whole world seemed to blend into a mess, disappearing in a mass of colors and shapes. Overwhelmed, Luna froze, transfixed by the display of extravagance and suddenly wary of crossing the mall. She was not familiar with such places, being mostly confined to the castle, and everything seemed over-saturated, everywhere her eyes turned there was distraction, noises, lights, scents...

Luna could not remember in her memories of thousands of years, not in her whole experience as a head of state and war-wagging alicorn a more confusing place that this. The world had changed, or she was not the same pony, she could not tell. For a lone minute, Luna felt almost displaced from her reality. Everything numbed around her, losing its appeal as she remained there, inert in a crowd of moving beings, and her heart clenched in her chest as she observed the cacophony around her, lost in the frightening prospect that she was not a part of that world anymore, too old and forgotten in the clutches of time. She was so focused on her goal, she never took the time to see the world around her, so sure that she would be welcomed there. 
For who did she fight like that, if not for her only family, her sister? But even Celestia was not as close as she used to be, there was always the strain of the past between them, an putrid wound that poisoned their relation. She could not find solace in her sister, even better, she was a dead weight to her. Luna was the pony keeping her sister from her happiness, surely she would have to let her go too...

Some pony bumped against her and this jolted Luna out of her confusion. She tensed, her reason coming back to her with force.

“What was that?” She exclaimed, her heart wildly beating  and suddenly very angry at herself. She understood now: had let her guard down! Now full of resentment for her weakness, she berated herself with shame. “I cannot not think like that, I am my own and the Nightmare will not have it!” 

She had business to do, and so she hurried herself away from the madness, moving with a renewed purpose through the crowd of ponies clustered around the shops. It didn't take her long to find the doors of the library, as it was hidden away in the corner of a deserted hall, the comforting noise of the airship's engines now clear again in the blissful silence. 
She stopped before the doors, taking a minute to calm herself and clear her mind.

“I must not get lost this way again, time is precious if I want to get the artifact before the airship enter equestrian space.” She resolved, fixing her hooves with a hard stare. 

Confident in her abilities again, Luna opened the doors with great care, intending on staying hidden from whoever was inside. She checked the room but she could not see anypony at the exposition and so she trotted there, staying close to the wall. There, in the middle of the room was a long table with a dozen of wooden models of airships, with descriptions. Some were cut to show the inside of the airship, others were only part of various mechanics, all properly explained on little cards in an effort to promote this new technology to the public. From the left to the right, there was a general sense of a time line, the first models being smaller and older than the last. Luna eyed one of the last model, a complete vertical cut of the Golden Hind, albeit a bit crude. 

She could see the diplomat quarters and the stairs and room reserved for the staff underneath, with what could only be described as narrow tunnels connecting the stairs to the kitchens, laundry room, infirmary and others parts of the airship. In the room, the wealthy occupants could call for any services with the flick of a magically enhanced bell at any time. 
Impersonating a servant could be one way to get in, but she would have to somewhat gain access to the staff room from which every tunnels came from, and not get recognized. She made no assumption when thinking the task arduous, as the Golden Hind was a long distance airship - not coming back on land for sometimes a whole month, so the staff was hand picked and the position was usually for life. You started working there, you gained a home and a family, and with such  spirit of cohesion between the crew members she would be hard pressed to make a good impersonation. The idea was romantic and appealing to her desire for action, thrills and danger but in her weakening condition infiltrating the servants in the middle of a trip was not worth the effort. 

Considering her options, she turned her thoughts to the front doors of the diplomat quarters. As she recalled the blueprints in her mind she was pleased to see that not so much had changed. On the right side of the floor there were the heavy double doors and after that an antechamber acting as a control room, and the only way forward to the main hall of the diplomat quarters. Clearly the quarters would be guarded by the airship's own soldiers and the outside of the room by the personal guards of her target. There would be anti-teleportation wards, and maybe even anti-flying wards and alarms. 
She reasoned that if she waited late in the night, some hours after the second night guards took their places but before the freshened day guards took over, a direct approach could work. She had done that before, she had been there countless of times: in an age long gone she had struck at the heart of their enemies while her sister busied herself with their armies. In her situation the best would be to stay concealed, she concluded, her thoughts turning cynical.

In fact, the worst scenario in her mind would be to be forced into a fight. She was not that mare anymore, she remembered with a pang of sadness, she was only a shadow of her former glory and she worried that in the heat of a fight she would lose her mind to the Nightmare and commit the unthinkable. Perhaps the Luna from a thousand year ago could have talked herself into killing innocent guards, feeding her mind with ideals of peace and justice, but after all that she had been through she now felt repulsed by the idea of killing. 
None of this mattered anymore, only that she would have to find a way to probe the quarters for its defenses herself since her bat ponies were technically not allowed on the airship. 

Luna hummed a song, completely absorbed in her task as she calculated the time she would need to cross the different rooms of the floor. Her back was to the doors of the library and so she didn't notice the new pony coming into the room before she heard her conversation with the librarian, yet her heart jumped as she recognized the voice. 
Slowly, she turned her head, glancing at the stranger who was unpleasantly barking at the poor librarian. It could not have been a coincidence that her target chose now of all time to show herself. Keeping her cool, she fluttered closer, busying herself with a pamphlet on the equestrian air force.  

Pretending to read the pamphlet, Luna eyed the mare. She was the diplomat of the Saddle Arabian Kingdom, the last one in a line of increasingly important ponies who worked on the peace treaty between the two nations. The kingdoms were not at war, nor enemies, but no peace had been officially forged between the rulers and with the growing importance of trade in the state of international affairs, there was a future possibility of conflict over resources like minerals, oil and water. Thus Celestia had been courting the Arabians for quite sometimes now, starting an exchange of artists, personalities and diplomats to which the Arabians participated. Creating the illusion of common values and goals was as important as drafting the treaty itself, and now all that hard work was finally paying off. 

The mare, named Noura bint Sahira Al-Khahilt, was the third daughter of a sisterhood of four of the Khahilt family. A mare in her late twenty, she was a narcissist with a tendency to throw her weight around, but she was intelligent and good at charming those who catered to her cause. She accorded a lot of importance to her work, and thus must have been elated to be chosen to represent her family in the matter of the treaty. 
While on a trip to a distant city in the northern desert of Saddle Arabia, two month ago, she had somehow bought or stole an artifact of legends, and was sighted with the item a short while before boarding the airship. Luna was sure she had somehow took it on board, through a special package meant to cheat the security, since no object with such amount of concentrated dark magic would have been accepted on the airship. Why would she need to take the artifact with her, the alicorn could only wonder. 

Right now, she was busy scaring the librarian for her own amusement. The poor stallion was sweating, frozen in fear as the Arabian mare ranted about his “incompetence” and “joke of a library”, and Luna felt the need to intervene, but the stallion managed to vaguely indicate which part of the library contained whatever the mare was here for, and then promptly disappeared under his desk. 

Her curiosity picked, Luna tried to apply a quick hiding spell to herself, grimacing in pain as her magic refused to cooperate. She should have rested yesterday, as every time she grew tired and weak she lost control her magic. She had been reckless, but she did not regret that evening at the party.

“I have no time to lose!” she grunted in her head and forced what little magic she could find into the spell, not missing a beat as she shimmered out of view and run to the next shelves. 

Peering between the books, Luna was surprised as she saw no other than Twilight Sparkle sitting there, clutching the book she was reading as if it was the most precious thing in the universe. Her pain forgotten, she felt a wave of happiness and relief at the view of the unicorn.

She seemed much more real in the light of the day, settled against a cushion, her brow furrowed. She wasn't wearing any clothes this time and Luna couldn't help herself but admire her figure, tracing those shapely curves and her cute muzzle all wrinkled up as she made a face of discontent. Her heart thundered as she pondered what had her so preoccupied. If she could, she would make those worries disappear, Luna thought, happy to be able to see her again, albeit a bit self-conscious of her position as she was now spying on the studious mare. She promised herself she wouldn't have any flight of fancy, but it didn't hurt to just look.
Twilight put the book she was reading down, and Luna watched as her face made all kind of expressions, so absorbed she was by some inner conflict. It was a bit silly, watching her pace around, but for Luna it was endearing. A smile crept on her face. This surely was a fun mare to be around.

She heard her target come into the aisle before she saw her, and her mission came back to the front of her mind. 
With displeasure, she forced herself out of her bizarre trance, watching with a growing annoyance as the Arabian noble made her way to Twilight. If that mare made any kind of move against her, Luna would be sure to teach the noble a lesson. 
She prowled around, her body tense as the mare addressed Twilight in her annoying aloof voice, apparently searching for a specific book and looking for some pony to find it in her stead, but felt a strange sense of pride as her friend confronted her aggressor. She would have jumped into action to defend Twilight if the mare hadn't already have a temper of her own. 
However, the title of the book,  Recorded History of Malicious Entities, made her flinch. Was her target not aware of what she had into her hooves? Or was she trying to find information on how to use the artifact for her own purpose?  Luna could only watch, and be surprised by the unexpected turn the situation took.

Twilight Sparkle held her ground, and the Arabian could only flee as she recognized her caprice would not be tolerated. Luna watched in silence as the lavender mare suddenly brought a book from behind her, and understood that it was actually the one the mare was looking for. 
Soon after, she left the library, leaving Luna alone with her mind ablaze. 

“The danger is more present than I thought if that mare is willing to use the artifact.” She thought. 

Luna now had a mission to stop her from whatever she had planned, as she was sure it had to do with the peace treaty last round of negotiations. They would take place at the castle, as soon as the Golden Hind docked, and she had a hunch it would not be beneficial to Equestria. But Luna doubted she could do that on her own, not with the Nightmare poisoning her mind and eating her magic away. She needed the help of an agent who could work from the inside, and every bit of information that could give her an advantage. 

“I need that book, and I need to talk to Twilight Sparkle.” She decided, dropping her spell and trotting to the librarian's desk. With only a passing glance at the register, the learned what she needed and went to prepare herself. 

Twilight Sparkle, fourth floor, cabin 412.