"And then he teleported through you?"
"Yes."
"Through your shield as well?"
"Yes!"
"Not past? Not above or around?"
"I meant what I said, 'Tia. I have recounted my experience in full, and if you doubt my words, you're free to find him yourself and ask him to repeat what he did with you."
Celestia groaned, though in more of a quiet, tired kind of fashion. The last few minutes had been rather loud and metaphorically explosive. Her doors were proven to be useless at keeping ponies out, as Luna had just 'ported herself right onto her bed and began to shake her frantically in an effort to rouse her from her sleep as fast as she could. So far, this was the fourth recap, and the story had a lot of gaps in it.
Well, from Luna, at least. All the guards seemed to have their own personal idea of what happened, why it happened, and how it happened, and all felt the need to explain everything in as much detail as possible. Efforts to find the maid who had originally been in the room when everything began were fruitless, as most of the staff had either been in entirely different areas, were sleeping on the job, or were clueless as to what was going on.
It was shaping up to be a bad night, despite nothing really bad happening. Yet. The recap continued.
"And, immediately after that, he jumped out the window, smacked into the cliffside, rolled down the mountain, and then got up and walked away without a scratch?"
"As far as I could see through the binoculars I was given, yes, but I cannot guarantee how accurate all of that is. I saw what I saw from a distance and nothing more."
Another exasperated sound left Celestia in that moment. This time it was a sigh, low and resigned.
"Is there a search ongoing yet?"
This question was new.
"I directed available guards to their respective positions in the event of an emergency search and rescue, though this would be more of a search and less rescue. Still, few reported in, and those who did were either sleeping beforehoof or recalled from ongoing assignments, so..."
"Uhg...Call them back. This can wait until morning. Whoever it was will either have turned up, caused an easily trackable ruckus, or disappeared into the blue by then."
Little else was said of the matter as everyone settled down. Most who were sleeping simply went back to sleeping, some stayed up for an additional shift (solely for security reasons, even though there was little need for it), and Luna went back to trying to enjoy the rest of her night.
She couldn't.
Curiosity and concern had gotten the better of her, and she decided to do something investigative-ish. It was night, so, she figured whoever had manifested and promptly disappeared (out the window) would, probably, sleep at some point. Trailing along that line of thought, if the window-breaking mountain-roller slept, then she could easily find him within the dream realm! Or...whatever it was she was calling it. She had never really settled on an exact name for the shifting, warping, bendy land that was everybodies' conscious minds venting. It was a weird place, and she couldn't quite remember what she had called it last. Whatever the case, surely one who could teleport vast distances, and carried the height of an alicorn, would have peculiar dreams. Finding him would be easy! Maybe. Hopefully. All she wanted to do was ask a few questions.
-~elsewhere~-
The Guardian had meandered aimlessly for a while, as he usually did when not doing anything particularly important, and had found himself a nice little cave in the side of a hill. The forest outside, interesting as it was, was getting chilly, and he didn't feel like burning a tree just to keep himself cozy. Besides, he had felt a lot worse than only uncomfortably cold. It was hard to forget clawing through collapsed Martian ice caps with compromised environmental protection. That was...unpleasant.
Tucked beneath his oversized cloak (which had somehow avoided conforming to the reality boopage and stayed regular size as opposed to conforming to his new bodily standards) and excess fluff. A little fire fueled by twigs and Hive guts burned in front of him, providing both Guardian and Ghost with a little bit of light and warmth not otherwise given by their own inherent energy. The box Ghost had managed to keep inventoried was nestled close to The Guardian's side.
As previously stated a few chapters ago, it contained a few mementos and farewell gifts from a few friends. The cookies, still unfinished, were out and being tentatively nibbled on by the Guardian as the duo stared at the fire. The very flammable Hive innards were so conveniently gifted by Wu Ming, also known to most as just "The Drifter". The Guardian liked Wei Ming better. It was a reminder that even the nameless had names.
Well, except for him. He still didn't have a name yet. Sadly, he didn't think he would ever have one. His role in the universe seemed to fit the bill. He was simply THE Guardian, and his Ghost THE Ghost of THE Guardian. It was a little depressing at times, just being known by titles and deeds. Hive Bane. Young Wolf. Wayfarer. Shadow. Reckoner. The Unbroken. Etc.
Lots of titles, not a lot of personality behind them. Any Guardian could have done what he did. He just...happened to be the one who did them.
Regardless, he munched another cookie, savoring the sweetness and near perfect composition. He didn't want to guess who made any of them. The fact that his friend(s), mentors, and supporters had gone and done something for him for once was enough to keep him happy. He...never really got much from anyone. Not like this, anyway. It was always just Ghost and him unless someone either needed him or wanted him to partake in the current festivities.
After some fiddling with his hooves (he was really missing fingers) he managed to close the cookie box and slip it back into the little box of other goodies. He'd further dig through them later when he was in a more secure and less vulnerable position, both literally and emotionally. Opening that box and...seeing everything inside was like, well, opening an emotional box and feeling everything that that entailed. He wasn't ready for that, so, closed it stayed unless he needed something out of it. At some point in his fire-staring, Ghost wisped back into The Guardian's head (or whatever he does when he disappears, no one really knows exactly what's going on, and the Traveler isn't the type for a Q&A). The twigs and sticks had long since burned out, but the gooey chunk of preserved alien crustacean/insect/worm/thingy was still smoldering nicely. Sure, the fire was turning green, but who didn't love a little ominous coloring every now and then? That thought reminded the Guardian of the moon and he immediately regretted using a chitinous chunk of Hive for a fire.
Eventually, literally everything in his life, ever, began to catch up with him and he finally felt a little drowsy. Maybe it was the fact he wasn't being shot at, or maybe it was the fact he was in an entirely different universe, but his body finally got the signal that physical rest was something he could do safely. Consciously, he just stopped thinking and lowered his head into his folded forehooves, curling up around the box and tugging his cloak over him while the fire sizzled and popped. He wasn't sure if it was supposed to sizzle or not, but it was swiftly drowned out by the endless droning of crickets, frogs, and other nightlife fauna. All of which pointedly avoided the unnatural green flames, by the way. Flaming Hive guts. Fire starter and wildlife repellent.
One fade to black later, and Luna was flying about in the ethereal expanse of the dream realm(s?), going in what seemed to be the general direction the teleporting shenaniganizer rolled off to. Physically, as we can all pretty much assume, Luna was back in her room, sitting on her bed and looking like she was in the Avatar state. Or something.
Back in sleepy land, Luna was busying herself with looking for anything unusual. She was sweeping back and forth, going to far as the outskirts of Ponyville and the Everfree forest each time before turning back. She went on with this for what felt like a few hours, but was actually around two seconds for how hard it was (meaning it wasn't that hard). Her patience with the search eventually bore fruit, and she had hovered across a dream so chaotic centered around something so entirely calm that it couldn't possibly be anyone from the surrounding area. From her experience, most dreams of those in the Ponyville-Canterlot range were chaotic in the center with a calm realization waiting to be made. Though, what she was seeing had to be...something. Something was better than nothing, so, without too much more thought, she focused and went in.