//------------------------------// // Chapter 32 // Story: Complications // by Hiver //------------------------------// When I got back to the tower, the sun was already setting and the moon was rising. Luna was awake. Reaching the bedroom, I looked around, spotting her on the balcony, horn still lit with her power as she worked to raise the moon. Knowing better than to bother her when she played with her pet rock, I instead jumped onto the bed to wait for her to finish. I didn’t need to wait long. The light faded from her horn and she lowered her head for a second before returning inside. Smiling when she spotted me, she made her way over to jump onto the bed next to me, slipping her wing over my back as I leaned against her, giving her a soft nuzzle. “Good evening, wife.” “Good evening husband,” she giggled and nuzzle back before she sighed and rested her head against the top of my head, “...How did today go?” I sighed and told her what had happened. Luna nodded and nuzzled at my ear, “...I never wish to see war again,” she said softly, “I wish there was a way to avoid it, but the nobles will never accept it. Not when they were personally attacked.” That made more sense than I liked. War would be bad. Ponies and those monkey things would be hurt, killed. The ‘lings would be pulled into it too, maybe even the griffons if they wanted to be seen backing us. We would win, but at what cost? “...Do you think we could find him?” I asked Luna, “The Storm King, I mean? In the dream realm.” Luna thought about it for a moment, “Finding somepony who you don’t know, not even their real name is almost impossible.” “Almost. But if we can reach him, we could convince him to back down,” I suggested, “We should be able to narrow it down.” Luna looked thoughtful before she nodded, “...Let’s try.” Leaning against her side, I closed my eyes and slipped into the dream realm. Moments later Luna appeared next to me, looking down at me with a smile, “Any ideas on how to do this, my Page?” I nodded, “First we need to find the right species.” “There are some in Canterlot,” Luna said, “We could narrow it down that way… or we could just go there. I recognize the species.” “Oh. That saves time. Lead the way.” Luna shifted plane and I quickly followed her to the plane of the ape people. It was less populated than Ponies or Griffins, but still many, many thousands. A impulse from me sorted them by physical location. Luna looked around and shifted her wings, “Now is the difficult task of finding the right one.” I slowly began tapping my hoof against the not ground, half of them shifting away into a grouping to the side, “He is male, that removes half. From when I saw him in Fizzlepop Berrytwist's dream, he was fully adult,” I then added with another tap, “All males below that and the old go with them, leaving us with just under ten thousand.” Luna slowly nodded before shifting us to the gathering in their realm away from Canterlot, “He was not with the forces in Canterlot, we can disregard them.” Frowning to myself, I moved over and entered the closest dream, drifting some questions to the owner before exiting again, looking towards Luna, “He lives in a castle towards the south of the Kingdom. It has a small village by the base of it.” “A southern gathering of them,” Luna said and we shifted around again, “Down to a thousand.” I nodded and shifted the inhabitants of the village to the side too, “Three hundred.” Luna looked thoughtful, “He seems like he would have an ego about him. He wouldn’t live in the lower sections.” “Top tower,” I agreed, looking up towards the highest of the silvery portals before shifting it down to us before I turned to Luna, “...Let’s have a look?” She nodded once and entered it with me.