//------------------------------//
// 28: of Explanations and Leather Tomes 
// Story: One Way 
// by jroddie 
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Chapter 28

“What?” I asked incredulously. Luna looked up from her bowl of rice and her crossword puzzle. Her brow arched over her tiny half-moon glasses, and the hovering pencil next to her set itself down on one of the desks in her study.
“Which clause?” She asked. I gestured to the silly red book on the low desk that I was using.
“Forty-five! Seriously, how can they possibly think that that is an action that should be prevented!?” I shouted, exasperated by the sheer stupidity of the regulation. Luna got up from her desk and walked over to me. She sat down by my side, leaning over the desk to peer at the paragraph in question
“‘Clause forty-five; Immortals are barred from participating in, being an accessory to, or coordinating events that involve... Tap dancing?!’ That cannot possibly be right.” Luna remarked, looking at the old red book with doubt.
“It says it right there.” I reasoned. Luna harrumphed.
“Well, then. I don’t know about that one...” She trailed off, losing coherency in favor of her thoughts.
“Have you ever tried it? Tap dancing, that is?” I asked. Luna seemed stuck in her thoughts for a second, but finally snapped out of them to answer me.
“Tap dancing?” She inquired. I nodded. “I’ve never really wanted to, I’ve been too busy. Besides, I never did like wearing shoes.” She said. I smirked at her comment.
“What?” She said, noting my expression. I pointed to her set of glittery blue shoes in the corner, with her necklace and tiara on top of them.
“That doesn’t count. They’re for work.” She said. I laughed once, and then turned back to the book. Luna was about to go back to her rice and copy of the Canterlot Herald when I hooked her around the waist and pulled her back to me. She protested for a moment, then snuggled up to my side. She shivered lightly.
“It’s a little too cold for this time of year. I need to talk to Tia about that. How do you stay so warm?” She said, nuzzling up to my shoulder. It had been a little bit too cold for the past couple of days. I smiled, thinking of my reply.
“A little blue Alicorn tends to the fire in my heart.” I muttered loud enough for Luna to hear. She giggled and leaned against me a little more.
“Where you come up with those one-liners, I’ll never know. Turn the page.” She said, and I turned the yellowed sheaf over. The next clause on the list, number forty-six, was a little bit more interesting.
“Immortals are barred from... Conceiving?” I asked, slightly confused. The word must have fallen out of my lexicon when I died, because the meaning of the word escaped me. I had a faint whisper of definition attached to the word, so I associated it with that.
“Conceiving of what?” I asked again. Luna sighed.
“Foals.” She said, almost longingly. I looked down at her. She looked up at me to meet my gaze.
“We’re infertile, Edwin. We’re not sure which gender is to blame. It could be both, for all we know. But it was impossible for Immortals to beget offspring, even before the Ta’eik protocol. I’m not too sure why they put that in there...” She trailed off, looking away from me as she did so. I looked down at the book again, trying to move away from this sad subject. But, however I tried, however many more ridiculous or practical clauses that I read, I could never get anything more than a half-hearted reply from Luna. I finally had to broach the subject.
“Do you want a foal?” I asked. Luna was quiet for a long while. I thought that she didn’t hear me, and I read through three more pages of the yellowed book. She replied while I was in the middle of turning a page with magic.
“I do.” She whispered. I immediately stopped turning the page and looked straight ahead. I was staring at a photograph of a young Luna and Celestia. The Elder Princess had bubblegum pink hair. I found this interesting, but now was not the time to pursue the subject.
“We could adopt.” I suggested. Luna curled up slightly against my side, and lifted a wing to hold me closer. I felt the strong feathers pull me closer to Luna.
“I have. We have. Celestia and I both.” She said. I said nothing, but raised a hoof to place it on Luna’s shoulder opposite from me. 
“It’s so hard, Edwin. Their lives are so short. Fleeting. I can’t bear to watch another foal reach adulthood, have their own foals, then wither and die while I remain unchanging day after day. It’s... Heartbreaking, Edwin.” She said. She started to sob, and I turned away from the book so I could hold her. She trembled in my arms as I tried to help her calm down. I heard a knocking at the door.
“Go away!” I said as loudly as I could. The knocking stopped for a moment, but then continued again. I was extremely irritated, and stayed by Luna’s side. I sat with Luna for a long while until her sobs dissolved into soft whimpers. I was still loathe to let her go, but I was afraid that the pony would knock down the door. I got up and stepped over the desk to get to the door. I summoned my sword silently, not allowing it to hum. I was extremely angry at this pony on the other side of the door. I pushed the door open and pointed my sword in the face of the pony that was there. There was a sharp clatter as the tray that she was carrying with magic dropped. She was a unicorn, with a dark grey coat and electric blue eyes. She was wearing a silver helm, decorated with black stenciling. She wore a black scarf. She was obviously scared, she was shaking with my sword in front of her face.
“What do you want?” I asked as menacing as I possibly could. The mare gulped.
“C-Captain A-Antony wishes to see you.” She stuttered.
“No.” I replied calmly, removing my sword from the mare’s face. She relaxed visibly.
“B-But-”
“Tell him I’m busy. I have more important things to attend to.” I said, and turned away from the pony. 
“What shall I tell him you are busy doing?” She asked. I stopped walking back to Luna for a second, and thought. I half-turned to look at the mare.
“Whatever you think he will believe. I’m too busy right now to tend to my Captain duties.” I said while closing the door with magic, cutting off the protests of the mare. I turned to Luna, and saw that she was staring intently at the Ta’eik protocol. I walked up to her from the opposite side of the desk and leaned over to read one of the clauses.
“Fifty-nine is interesting.” Luna said. I looked at the clause.
“I’m sorry, Luna. I didn’t know that it was such a sensitive topic.” I apologized. Luna said nothing, so I left the subject for dead and read clause fifty-nine.

Clause 59 of the Ta’eik protocol.
-Immortals, through inaction, neglect, intentional or unintentional action, cannot 			
allow a member of a mortal race (earth, pegasus, unicorn, inclusive) to come to 
harm; or allow another Immortal not under the authority of the Protocol to injure or		
otherwise harm a member of an aforementioned mortal race.

I finished reading the clause. It was rather short, comparatively. Some of the other clauses took up an entire page or more. This seemed linguistically spartan. 
“Othello made up a name for that one when we got the rulebook.” Luna said. I raised my brows, and she looked up to me.
“He thought that it was so familiar to what he said to new Numbereds that he called it ‘The Numbered clause.’. It never really stuck, but I thought that it was funny.” Luna said. I could see the tracks of her earlier tears glistening on her now indifferent face. I felt a pang of sympathy, then an overwhelming difference of age between the two of us. But, maybe unsurprisingly, love did find a way.
“I love you, Luna.” I said. Luna smiled, and her eyes softened.
“I love you too, Ed.” She said, and then her stomach growled loudly. “Do you want to go get some breakfast?” She asked. I thought about this for a moment, but my stomach growled in agreement.
“Okay, but then I need to sleep. I haven’t slept in days.” I qualified. Luna smiled.
“You’re adorable when you sleep.” She said with a seductive air about her. I felt my ear-tips grow warm as Luna got up to walk out of the door. Her tail swished as she walked, suffusing the air with the faint scent of oranges. I began to salivate slightly.
“That’s not fair, Luna.” I commented.
“I know.” She replied, and walked out of the door.

“I really don’t want to go in there. Can you just grab me some peaches and-” I said, trying to get away from the gigantic wooden doors of the dining hall. Luna lifting me with magic and carrying me in made that task even harder to achieve. I tried to swim through the magic away from the door, but I might have well have been trying to tap dance for all the good it would do me.
“No. If you want peaches, you are going to have to go get them yourself.” she interrupted me before I could gain any logical leeway. I sighed and slumped in my magical prison of bluish magic. Luna carried me inside of the hall, and she was met by a wave of bowing. She paid them no mind, but continued to walk to the front of the hall. Practically all of the ponies did not pay me one single bit of attention, as if I was not there. I felt grateful. I would have died of embarrassment if somepony noticed me getting colthandled like this. Luna continued up the aisle with me in tow without incident, and she approached the table laden with food. A tan pony that I recognized from my last time in the Dining hall approached Luna. When he was within reasonable distance, he bowed.
“Princess! It is always an honor.” He said, getting up from his kneeling position.
“Likewise, Candide. What is the special for today?” She asked. Candide, as I now knew to be the tan colt, smiled.
“Ah, dandelion sandwiches with just a slight hint of mustard. I was out picking some of them in the fields myself earlier this morning, and I can assure you that they are delectable.” He said, his voice overflowing with enthusiasm. Luna seemed to appreciate what he said.
“My favorite. One each for Edwin and myself, please.” She leaned in, and gestured for the colt to do the same. “Three peaches, in addition. I would appreciate if you could send somepony to deliver them to my quarters. I have a guest that needs attending to.” She said. Candide nodded, and turned to walk off to one of the doors behind the table. Luna turned and walked down the hall. We were silent for a moment.
“I was unaware that we had a guest.” I said. Luna chuckled once.
“He isn’t one for appointments, to be sure. I only just now sensed him in our room.” She said, and I smiled. 
“Our room” I stated. Luna looked up at me, floating in the cloud of her magic.
“Yes, I like the sound of it, too. I thought that the Doctor would appreciate a peach, which is why I asked for three. He’s allergic to dandelions, however.” She said.
“Huh. Why is he in... Our room?” I said, still mulling over the unfamiliar usage of the word. I really did like it. 
“He and I spoke after you lost consciousness. We agreed that he should come over and answer any questions that you may have after you recovered.” She said. I wiggled.
“Can you let me down?” I asked.
“No.” 
“Why?”
“Because I rather like it. Being in control of such a powerful stallion...” She trailed off, listing to the left. I let her daydream, and watched her collide with a large maroon pony with a mouthful of sandwich. I laughed silently as they exchanged embarrassed apologies. Luna continued on to the end of the hall, stepping through the ornate entryway. She dropped me with her magic, and I walked a little bit shakily.
“I’m not all that I’m cracked up to be, you know.” I said, trying to figure out which hoof went where. I was not succeeding.
“I think that you are. Have you ever noticed how ponies react when they see you?”	
“No.”
“To turn a phrase, you make waves. Your presence does not go unnoticed. Ponies stop and stare when you enter a room, if even for just a moment.” Luna explained.
“What?” 
“The air around you smells like ozone.” She said. I sniffed, unable to smell anything. Luna made an amused harrumph. 
“Trust me.” She said. I did not reply, but contented myself with siding up beside of her and walking back to our room. 

I pushed open the door to our room, and was not the least bit surprised to see the Doctor sitting in front of his majestic blue box. He had an shiny silver pocketwatch open on the floor in front of him. He looked up at us when we entered. 
“It’s good to see you lot.” He said, motioning for us to sit down. I could not help but feel that this gesture had somewhat of a formal connotation to it. Luna and I did as instructed and walked up to the Doctor. When we finished, he reached out 	with a hoof to push the watch away from himself. It clattered as it crashed into the wall.
“The Angelics are becoming even more powerful, even more diverse. They have mastered forms of magic that should not even exist, let alone be used. I can understand if you would have any questions, and I am here to answer them. An informed decision is almost always the best one.” He said. Luna and I were silent for a moment, but then a question immediately sprang to mind.
“The claw.” I said. The Doctor nodded. 
“I was extremely surprised to see one intact in this dimension. They were Dalek machines from the Time War. I have absolutely no idea how the Angelics managed to get their grubby little hooves on one.” He said. I was slightly confused still.
“Why did you teleport into it, if you knew it was so dangerous?” Luna asked. The Doctor smiled.
“Therein lies the reason why the claw is so dangerous. It can actually intercept the course of a Tardis and compel it to land within reach of the claw. Edwin, the shoe moving was actually the herald to the Claw picking the tardis up.” The Doctor said. 
“Why did you push the Panic button?” I asked. 
“The Panic button’s purpose is exactly what the name implies: You only press it when you panic. The Tardis’ internal computer banks constantly monitor my actions and goes through logged past actions to determine the course of action that it would take, given the chance, in order to preserve the safety of the occupants and the safety of the vehicle itself. A very tricky piece of machinery. When the button is pushed, the tardis overrides the manual control surfaces and gives the main computing banks full reign of the Tardis. It is a rather risky thing to do, because the Tardis could do something that it deemed to be safe, but was in fact extremely risky and dangerous. I pushed the button because I was afraid.” The Doctor gulped, then continued to speak.
“I... I was scared for my life, Edwin. I didn’t want to die.” He whispered, his head hung low. I did not ask him another question, because I could see that he was distressed. Luna did the same, and the two of us waited for him to recover. When he did, Luna decided to ask the next question.
“The Angelic that was with me when Edwin found me... He was extremely skilled, mentally.” She stated.
“Yes.” The Doctor confirmed.
“Then why was he assigned to look after me? And how did the other Angelic find Edwin and I so quickly?” She inquired. The Doctor sighed, and raised a hoof to rub the space between his eyes.
“The Angelics have a very intriguing evolutionary mechanism which is a very recent development in the species, about three thousand years in the making. Evangeline saw a very primitive iteration of the trait. Angelics have the very strange inclination to be creatures of a ‘hive’, so to speak. They can share each other’s thoughts to a limited degree, and the Angelic watching you, Luna, was a sort of ‘hub’ for the local hivemind system. Due to his extremely sharp and clear mind, he was able to boost the range of the hivemind to a radius of nearly ten miles. When Edwin snapped his horn off, every Angelic within ten miles knew that something was happening. You two are lucky that it was only the one Angelic.” He explained. I could hear a knocking at the door. 
“Ah, that will be the waiter, I do think.” The Doctor said, getting up. Luna turned to get the door, but the Doctor got up to leave. He was halfway to the door of the tardis when I stopped him.
“Where are you going?” I asked, halting the Doctor as he placed his hoof on the door. He paused for a moment.
“I don’t know.” 
“What?” I asked.
“That’s the thing about adventures, Edwin. You never know where they end up.” He reasoned, walking into the tardis.