//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Professor Charles Hoofington and the Temple of the Moon Queen 
// by ProfCharles 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 2
 
Princess Luna, goddess of the moon and one of the two rulers of Equestria, paced up and down in her study, agitated by the pile of newspapers on her desk, the topmost reading: 
 
"Luna- fit to lead after 1000 years absence?"
 
That one was the kindest one she had read.
 
"I just have to get out of this horrid city." she commented to one of her hoofmaidens, more to vocalise her thoughts than to initiate a conversation. "Celestia may like it here, but she was always the more popular one. Even after Twilight Sparkle's help, I still struggle to fit in here, surrounded by nobles who mutter pleasantries one moment and mocking jokes the next and the media, who only report the worst possible news in order to sell their horrid opinions to the masses! Why, before my banishment, we didn't even have journalists!"
 
During this tirade she had somehow, without realising, gotten her hooves upon an old abacus and began clicking the beads back and forth. At this behaviour, one of the hoofmaidens, a mare with a white coat and a yellow mane, coughed gently. Luna looked down at the abacus, blushed and sheepishly put it away under the desk.
 
"Of course that’s what this whole meeting is about, isn't it? To move back to back to my old palace, near my friends in Ponyville." the princess’s monologue continued.  "But where is that damned inventor anyway? This meeting was supposed to start- "she glanced at the clock on the wall "- in five minutes time" she said blushing again.
 
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, startling the princess, causing her tiara to fall off. One of the hoofmaidens rushed to pick it up, whilst another saw to the door.
 
"Um, Professor Charles is here to see you, your highness” the hoofmaiden at the door called out. Luna waved away the mare fussing with her hair before nodding.
 
"Right send him in" she ordered, putting on an air of respectable royalty. He's early, she thought, interesting. Most of her visitors turned up as late as they could get away with.
 
The hoofmaiden opened the door wider to admit the brown coated stallion, who bowed deeply before the princess. "Professor Charles Hoofington, at your service, your highness" he spoke, rising out of the bow as the hoofmaidens filed out.
 
"That is quite an unusual name you have there, professor" remarked the princess. "I remember Charles as being a common name among a long extinct species and isn't Hoofington a town near Manehatten?"
 
"Ah, yes, I suppose my name is a bit... Peculiar. My mother, an avid archaeologist, chose my first name after finding a stunningly preserved stone tablet from the paleopony period addressed to somepony- or something, the scroll wasn't that clear, by the name of Charles, whilst my last name is in remembrance of my ancestor, silver hooves, who was the first mayor of the town and changed his name to Hoofington as part of an attempt to buy the land the town was on from Princess Celestia. A week after he bought the land the Hoofington silver mines opened."
 
Charles blushed and lowered his head as he realised he was speaking with pride about a pony that had conned one princess in front of the other. Luna merely raised an eyebrow at the story and decided to mentally file it away for later.
 
"Enough of that, onto business. I have a very important task for you, professor. Your credentials seem to match up for the task at hand- you are an explorer and inventor by both trade and heritage, you have an acute understanding of architecture, modern and ancient and most importantly, despite being minor nobility, you stay clear of politics and have no clear alliance to any political group."
 
"Well, I try my best to stay out of politics, your highness; we just don't seem to get on very well. Accidentally setting prince Blueblood on fire didn't help." Charles chucked to himself, before remembering who he was speaking to. "Ah, but what do you need a pony like me for anyway, your highness?"
 
"I need you to travel to the Everfree forest and the palace of the royal pony sisters to establish whether or not it can be made habitable or not. You may have noticed, but the papers" Luna swung a hoof over to the desk "are less than happy with my presence here and as such, I have decided to move the moon court away from Canterlot."
 
To his credit, Charles managed to keep his jaw from dropping at this news, but he was still visibly shocked by it. "Move the night court away from Canterlot? But where ... Oh, i see, you want to back to the old castle. And you need somepony who can be discreet and ignored by the press don't you?"
 
"Simply put, yes. Are you up to the task?"
 
"You can count on me, your highness. I can leave first thing in the morning if you wish it."
 
"Excellent. However, before you go to the castle, i need you to meet up with somepony. My sisters prized student, Twilight Sparkle. You may have heard of her."
 
Charles' eyes boggled. "Twilight Sparkle? The bearer of the element of magic? The most powerful spell caster outside of yourself and your sister? The mare that defeated Discord?"
 
"So you have heard of her!" Luna laughed. "you can find her at the Library at Ponyville, I’ll send a letter informing her of your arrival. She is quite knowledgeable of both the area and the history of the castle. You may also find her outlook on life useful. I know I did."
 
Charles just stood there, letting it all sink in. A mission from the princess, an abandoned ruin and the element of magic herself. It sounded like the start of a cheesy adventure novel. All we need now, he thought, is a villain trying to take over the world.