//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18 - Too many questions, too few answers. 
// Story: Reborn 
// by Pensive 
//------------------------------//

POV: Mark

I find myself walking through a dense crowd. To my right were Star and Redheart. The sky was a nice shade of orange, yellow, and red. Looking closer at Star, she looked like she is going to fall asleep on the spot.

We had been going around the city for about an hour and a half. At that time, Star seemed to get sleepier and sleepier.'Jeez, and I thought I was the sleepy one.'

Though it was odd considering how excited she was a few hours ago to out. 'Oh, the irony.'

I decided to ignore my sister to focus on the nearly finished giant caramel apple in front of me. Really, Luna should have planned for us to buy all the junk food. ' And the best part? Our shadow guards can't do anything while Redheart is here without getting exposed. At least, I think that's why they haven't done anything.'

"Don't you think you've had a little too much sugar?"

Oh right, I forgot about Redheart, "Eh, probably."

I took another bite. Well, I tried too, at least. I Redheart grab the sugary goodness out of my magic and toss to towards a trashcan nearby.

"Hey!"

My pout was interrupted by Star when she giggled. Looking at Star and Redheart's expression, I knew I'd lost. So instead of throwing a fit, I groaned and sighed, thinking about the loss of a delicious caramel apple.

Now with nothing to do, I looked up at the skies once again. The tall buildings could not block out the lovely shades of a sunset... Actually...

"Hey Star, shouldn't we be heading back soon before it gets dark?"

Star looked up at the sky as well and thought for a bit before she replied, "I suppose so... Sorry, Redheart, I guess  this is where we split, but thank you for accompanying us today."

Redheart looked at Star's slightly somber expression and shook her head, "Nonsense, I can at least take you two home. Besides, I've actually been curious about meeting your parents."

"Erm, I don't think that would be a good idea," I spoke, "I mean, your welcome to try, but..."

Redheart gave a slightly concerned expression, and I gave up finishing my sentence.

"Well... As Mark said, you can try, but I don't know," Star finished.

"And what do you mean?" she asked.

"It's complicated."

Redheart didn't seem to like the answer Star gave, but she still nodded and followed Star and me as we thought back on retracing our path back to the ship. Luckily, our shopping spree seems to have left us nearby the ship, so it wasn't long before we were approaching the harbor.

Ahead, I saw the rectangular office-like building at the edge of the harbor. 'Baltimare Harbor,' it said. The ship was out of sight around the corner where last I saw was busy with ponies moving around. The day had been quite exhausting, and it would be nice to lay down. 

'Besides being exhausting, it was... a bit frightening. I mean, sure, I had been able to read some books regarding Equestria and the world around, but no amount of reading can prepare you to just waltz into a new society and culture. Hmm, I only now realize I'm monologuing to myself. Mayhaps I should get my hands... hooves? Magic? Ugh, this is awkward. Mayhaps I should get myself a journal or something.'

My internal thoughts broke off when I saw a pony from the building approach us. Soon, we were stopped by a pony who's vest proudly displaced, 'Baltimare Gaurd.'

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but the harbor has been lockdown. All ships, going in and out of the harbor."

The guard didn't even bother to glance at Star and me. I felt slightly angry that the guard would ignore us, but there wasn't much to be angry about considering we probably look like a family and Redheart our mother. I looked back at Redheart, looking quite confused as she was put on the spot.

I decided to explain the situation before something happened, "We were with the two ships that came in earlier today. We've just been out, and Redheart here is a friend who's tagging along."

The guard finally decided to look at us, giving us some thought.

"Look, kid, this is a matter that you can't just waltz into."

What... Okay, now I was pissed that he would just blatantly dismiss my explanation.

"I'm sorry, but whatever business you had is now on hold."

"Star, Mark, maybe we should just go. Besides, if the harbor is on lockdown, then your parents had probably left the harbor."

I ignored Redheart walking straight up to this ponies face, "And who are you to so readily dismiss us?"

The guard was a little surprised but retaliated, "The head of the Baltimare Guards. Kid, just stop and run-a-long. This is not a matter for- Hey! You can't-"

The Gaurd and Redheart's attention soon caught onto Star, who, against the guard's orders, waltzed past while their attention. Redheart's expression was a flurry as she didn't even know what was going on. The Gaurd acted first, turning around to go after Star. He never made it far as I leaned out a hoof, which he oh-so gracefully tripped on.



POV: Starla

This guard is irritating. I'm tired, and I am feeling petty right now. I know that are hundreds of better ways to go about this, but this guard needs some attitude adjustment.

I silently slipped off, ignoring the conversation going to the side, and started walking to the side of the harbor office building that blocked the view of the ship and sea.

The distance really wasn't long, and if worse came to worse, I could just give I'm impossible information that I possibly couldn't know unless I was on one of the ships.

"Hey! You can't-"

I looked back and began to giggle at the sight of the guard tripping over Mark's hoof as he casually whistled. Redheart looked like she was about to start yelling, so I sped up to a trot covering a few yards of distance in seconds as I came around the corner to the back of Moonlight Shine. 

It took a moment to remember she was the guard assigned to me on the ship, but I did not think on the thought long as the Gaurd behind me was catching up.

"Hey! Moonshine, it's me, Star," Moonshine looked back in surprise from whatever she was doing as I pointed at the Guard behind me, "this guy isn't letting Mark and me through."

Blinking twice, Moonshine took a second to look at me, comparing my pegasus from the alicorn one she remembered. She raised a brow before she came to me and poked her head out the corner. And the timing was perfect as when the Gaurd saw Moonshine; he slid to a stop.

"What's going on?" she asked.

The Gaurd looked extremely nervous and a bit fearful as he came closer, "I'm sorry, Lunar Gaurdsmare, but some unruly little foals are giving me some trouble; I don't suppose you could help me turn them around?"

Moonshine rose an eye brown frowning as she walked around the corner, "And why would I do that?"

I smirked in satisfaction as Moonshine came to a stop in front of a now sweating, nervous, and confused Guard.

"Uhm, because the harbor is on lockdown and nopony without authorization is allowed in...?"

"And who's to say they don't have authorization?" Moonshine now patronizing tone made my satisfaction all the better.

"Their... foals...?" The Gaurd meekly answered.

Mark and Redheart were catching up slowly as Mark frowned. Behind the Guard, out of hearing distance, Redheart just scolded him. 'Poor Mark, scolded for no reason. Though, I've had my fair share of that with unreasonable people.'

"I'm so sorry-" Moonshine cut off Redheart as she raised a hoof turning back to the Gaurd.

"Just... Just go back to your post. I'll handle the situation."

The Gaurd nodded and went back and Moonshine to sigh before she took the chance to give an apologetic look back and Star and Mark.

"I'm sorry about him; I'll talk with my superiors later," she spoke softly, "but first, might I who you are?"

I answered for Redheart, "She's a friend tagging along. She wanted to speak with our... family."

I emphasize parents, as even though technically Luna, our mother, aunt, or relative, Moonshine should be able to connect the dots. I didn't want to break the illusion Redheart has of us as I wanted to ask Luna.

"Oh..." Moonshine plainly said before she turned to Redheart, "well, I don't know if that's... Please, come with me, Redheart. I'll need to ask a superior. Star, Mark, you too are free to go back or stick along if you want."

Redheart finally managed to get ahold of her emotion and spoke out, "If I may ask, what's going on and why there are so many guards? Lunar Guards at that?"

Moonshine looked at me, surprised. She didn't know what to say, she knew we're were technically a secret, but in this situation, she had no context and could say something wrong.

"It's complicated," I answered for her, "Redheart, Mark, and I are going to go speak with our mother. Just stick with Moonshine for a while. We'll come back with somepony who can answer all your questions.

In reality, we're going to Luna to ask what to do, whether to keep our origin secret or to keep up the lie.

"I... Wha...?"

I giggled and yawned at Redhearts's expression, "Don't worry, just stay with Moonshine. We'll find you."

Before Mark and I left, I went up and whispered to Moonshine, "Just take Redheart to our room. Do you know where Luna is?"

Moonshine nodded before she whispered back, "Luna returned a while ago and is in her own room. You know where that is?"

I nodded and thanked Moonshine before leaving. Mark was already far ahead. 'Wait, did he just leave me here in the middle of a conversation!?'

I rolled my eyes and caught up to him with a small smack to the should.

"What was that for?" he asked questioningly.

"For rudely leaving in the middle of a conversation."

"What? But you had it all already cover. What reason would I have to stand around?"

"Uh, I don't know, maybe the fact that Im your sister!?" I slightly scolded.

He just ignored me.





I found myself knocking on Luna's door. Guards were in every hallway and were always in sight. I guess they could spare more now that we're not at sea. I didn't particularly care about that as I set my focus on my current task.

"Luna, It's me, Star... and Mark."

The door opened inward as we came in. Luna was moving papers all around her desk into different stacks and folders in the corner of the room. When she looked up to us, she put most, the papers down. I wasn't able to see any of them, nor did I mind.

"Ah, I'm sorry I wasn't able to be with you earlier. I trust you and your guards had no trouble?" she said.

Mark got comfortable, and I prepared my salvos of questioning comments.

"Actually, we did have some problems."

"Oh, really? What happened?"

I had my thoughts ready but wasn't sure what to start with. I decided to go with the bits.

"Well... First off, why did you give us a bag of Platinum Bits."

Luna seemed a bit surprised at the bit of venom in my voice, "I'm sorry? Is something wrong with that? Tia gave it to me and said it was my 'allowance.' I've had stuffed it in my room for a while. To be honest, I'm not sure why I need those. The royal treasury already takes care of all our needs."

I responded with a questioning expression of my own before replying, "Uh, Luna, you are aware of the worth of Platnum bits, yes? I don't mean to insult your knowledge, but..."

The answer was one I didn't expect as she tilted her head, "Well, no, not really. I just toss it all to a dark corner of my closet. Is there something I should be aware of?"

I looked at Mark, who was yawning and was slightly leaning on me. He wasn't the only one tired, but there, unfortunately, was work to do, so I gave a tiny shake to him before I looked back to Luna.

"Well, Luna, compared to the currency we're used to, this is more than some made annually if it was converted."

"What." said Luna, in a dead voice as her eyebrow twitched, "it seems I need to speak to my sister about the royal budget."

Luna... Seemed quite pissed. 'Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that first. In that case, I think I'll skip to the more pressing matter of Redheart.'

"Um, anyway, that's not all. Anyway, earlier today, we met another pony, Redheart. Long story short, she is visiting Baltimare and is going to back to Ponyvile soon. She ended up accompanying us most of the day after tending to a small injury Mark got when he tripped. She wanted to meet our, ahem parents. After some failed loose attempts to dissuade her, she ended coming here. We had some trouble with a Gaurd, and I'd think she extremely confused."

Luna looked at me and raised an eyebrow to continue, I was sure I implied we didn't know what to do, but she seemed to have missed it, so I said it directly, "and well... We don't really know what to do, and we're out of ideas since we... You know, I made most of it up before we left the ship. Moonshine took her to our room and... Well yeah, we don't know what to do."

Luna sighed, rubbing her temples with a hoof, "I'll take care of it. I already have something else I have to take note of."

"Out of curiosity, what do you plan to do?"

Luna looked at me before she looked up in thought, "Well... If I were to go in under illusion, I would need to know everything you said to her, not contradict anything. That takes time. And taking too much time can start to become suspicious. So considering all that, I just plan to go in and explain everything to her. Of course, everything still very hush-hush, so no classified information such as there being two new alicorns."

I blinked at the explanation. It did make sense, and it would mean that we wouldn't be stuck doing other things with the exhausting day we've had. Before I could nod, Mark spoke up.

"Well, she's been suspicious with us all day, I mean, it was just so plainly obvious I almost purely on reflex called out such an attempt thinking it to be a joke, but no, she was actually serious." Mark had our attention now. Luna took moments rolling the new information around her head. As for me, well, I already had a response in mind.

"Really? On reflex? Sure, it was kinda obvious, but she wasn't as obvious for you to actually almost accidentally call out on reflex, right?" I half asked.

"Oh, no, I was serious. I almost called her out," he replied.

"Hmm..." Luna said before she returned to some of the work on her desk for a few seconds, "well, we could debate that, but that doesn't change the situation. I'll speak to her in a bit. I need to finish this up first. But first, Star, your quite skilled in deception, aren't you? One of your guards came to me as soon as you got within visual range of the harbor."

I slightly blushed, unsure if that was a compliment or not, "Well, I mean, to be honest, they were treating us like we were going to our first day of school. And if I'm honest, I felt a little insulted they would treat us like that."

"Same here," Mark lazily through his hoof up, "sure it was a little degrading, but if anything, it made it easier to cover up our past and family, which Redheart seemed quite keened on knowing."

Luna looked at us with a blank expression, what she was thinking of unknown as she stared before replying.

"How... mature of you to use it to your advantage, even if you didn't like it..."

"Mature," I subconsciously answered, "How old do you think we are?"

"Maybe, 9? 10?"

"WHAT!?" Luna got an earful of both Mark and I screeching as she covered her ears.

A few moments later, she opened an eye and slowly lowered her hooves, "Well, it seems I appear to be incorrect. How old you the two of you?"

"Fourteen," both Mark and I replied.

It was our turn to jump back as Luna yelp out a confusing question.

"B-but, how?! You two can both easily fit on a flying pegasus or thestral!"

"We really look that young?" I slowly asked.

Luna froze, put a hoof to her chest, and took a deep breath. Promptly before her head fell and smack into her desk. A moment later, she looked up, ignore our surprised faces, "I need more coffee."

Mark and I just stared, at Luna, unsure of what to do and a little frightened.

"This Redheart is at your room, correct?" we nodded, "good, I will go speak with her. Feel free to roam around the ship. Tomorrow we will take a pegasus flown carriage all the way to Canterlot since it faster than the train. And the sooner, the better. I'm getting tired of this mystery."

Luna teleport after finishing her sentence. Mark and I dared not move for a few seconds before we looked at each other. I thought on... Well, everything. I turned around to the door and back to our room before Mark spoke.

"This world kinda sucks."

I turned my neck, nearly all the way around to Mark, "Agreed."

I turned back to the door and began walking again as Mark also followed. We reached the door. I paused once more, taking the bag of bits out of my saddlebag. We had managed to exchange a platinum coin earlier, which made buying things much easier. I left it on Luna's desk, but not before I saw a folder that had the big enormous words 'CLASSIFIED' right smack down on it. There was a paper nearby that had obviously slid out.

"Technically, it's not in the classified folder, so it is classified," Mark said aloud. He must have seen what I was looking at. I instantly appalled, forgetting the awkward mood from what he said. 

"Mark! It clearly was accidental was meant to be in that folder!" I had harshly half-whispered.

"Butt! Even so, we're not going through a 'Classified' folder, but just a random document that was on the desk."

"I'm pretty she that still breaking several laws. Not only that, Luna's a princess."

Mark gave a very vexing smile, " And you've to know Luna about a week or so longer than I have since I was either injured or sleeping. Tell me, does she seem the type that would... What's the word, that would... Ugh, the type that would punish us harshly?"

Instead of responding, I grabbed his ear with my magic and forcefully dragged him out of the room, all the while he painfully resisted.



POV: Luna

I sighed, walking down the hall. After giving that poor mare a heart attack, I gave her the barest of information and sent her off. True, I could have teleported back to my room, but since the twins... since their dreams, whenever I think of them or talk with them, they're like an Enigma wrapped in another Enigma, which is an Enigma itself.

So lost in concentration, I nearly tripped over the twins as they walked down the hall.

"Luna? You're done already?" I put up a false smile Tia uses oh so much.

"Ah, yes, she just left. Apologies, I neglected to think that you would want to see her off as I was in a hurry."

Star looked a bit curious but did not act on it before speaking, "Oh, no, it's fine, Luna. We're quite tired after today. After being stuck on a ship, we went all out and perhaps indulged in too many sweets."

Sweats... The thoughts lead me back to Tia. Thinking of her leading me to think of the report I was making for her. Thinking of the report made me think of the two ponies currently in front of me. And the two in front gave me a headache. I've had enough enigma from these two. But even so, I must carry on. Besides, as long as I don't think too hard, they're fun to be around.

I smiled, thinking back of sister dearest, "You should see Tia, mine sister thinks she's clever, but we managed to get pictures of her eating an entire cake... For breakfast... and dinner another time she thought was alone."

"Really?" Both asked, Mark finally deciding to join the conversation.

"Truly, but my self could hardly blame her. The cake is simply delightful."

Star giggled, Mark chuckled a bit. They're more interested in the story.

"That seems like a story I want to hear, but I suppose you have duties to get to, so we won't hold you up longer."

"Are you sure? I may have been in a rush with the Redheart, but your companies ease me. Few look at me as a friend, as do you two."

It took the two a bit to process that before they started to blush a bit, "Oh... Um, well, I think I speak for both of us when I say we're grateful that you think that, but I'm sorry, we're still tired from going out today. Perhaps tomorrow, once this long journey is over and we reach Canterlot, we could spend the day with you. Err, without you getting caught up in something."

"That'd be fun," agreed Mark, "and maybe get answers answered? On all sides."

My heart skipped a beat. Mark said to answer questions. 'On all sides. Have I been letting on more than even I should? No... I didn't. I was curious when they both casually talked about Redheart being obvious for staying with them, but I didn't think much about it as I didn't have much context.'

' But have they seen through me? I haven't finished the report from the guards that had trailed them all day, but from what I got was, Star was extremely clever and able to deceive and possibly manipulate others easily. But... '

I stopped my mental rant. 'No, whatever the case, I must be careful.'

"Y- Yes... that would be... beneficial."

I mentally slapped myself for letting even the tinest of stuttering in my speech. Luckily, no response came from them indicating they heard it, but I mustn't assume they didn't.

"I suppose that you two are going to go rest, yes?" I asked cautiously, playing it off as questioningly as possible.

Mark yawned, "Yes, I suppose, have a good night Luna."

"Good night to you two," I replied before heading off.

Soon I came round the corner, and while I may have looked calm, I was mentally panicking. 'Are they just extremely perspective? Or am I just losing touch? No, it can't be me, right? I've been able to lie my flank of to Tia about my hidden porn stash, convincing her it was just some personal items I had retrieved from the old castle when in reality I threw those items in the castle vault as they were dangerous.'

I teleported straight to my room and looked down at my desk. The report on the twins I had been keeping for Tia was slightly exposed to the folder. That fact was something I did not remain on as I grabbed it and continued it with information still fresh in my mind.

The report on today's activities that I had been using to further my report was left forgotten on the stacks of paper. After all, I could reread it. 'Sure, I'm unlikely to forget what information I've just got from the twins, but it's better than panicking. Ugh, I need coffee.'

With a goal set in me, I quickly wrote down the situation to the smallest detail of how long each breath was. Tia would have called the amount of details overkill, but every little thing could be used.





The Twins

"Did Luna seem a bit... panicked for the latter half of that conversation to you?" asked Mark.

"I dunno, should I be the one asking? I don't know pony expressions, your the one who has been a bookworm," replied Star.

"Reading or not, I could only read so much, and what I could even read was also limited. The library today was the first time I've been exposed to such a wide amount of subjects. Besides, I shouldn't have to read a book, you the social one here, and their expressions are so human-like, you know?"

"Mark, we're in a different world where magic is a real thing. The very fabric of reality could seem the same but be different. Do you expect me just because Im the social one to know everything there is to know about expressions and how other people react? Just like I wouldn't expect you to know something that you haven't been taught or learned."

...

"But, you did just expect me to know how pony expressions work because I read a book not even two minutes ago..."

...

...

...

"Touchè..."