//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17 
// Story: Welcome to the jungle 
// by Hiver 
//------------------------------//

The barge moved slowly along the surface of the river, propelled by a magically turning propeller at the rear. 

Unicorns OP. But so useful, it meant we didn’t need a steam engine to drive this thing, just something enchanted that somepony with a horn could repower from time to time. A couple of times a trip actually so not very practical or I bet the train would run on that instead of steam, but for this it was better than a steam engine.

Away from the forest around, everypony could relax some, even the guards, even if they did keep their weapons close for good reason. The sun shone down from above, glittering in the clean water and the sound was filled with nothing but the sounds of the jungle and the splashing of the river.

Luna's wing rested across my back as she smiled at me, "This is a beautiful place."

"Very," I agreed, "But not very pony friendly on the ground. There is a reason we went to the effort of building in the large trees. Sparks and Midnight has some ideas about how to make things safe lower down, but that's still in the prototype phase."

Luna nodded and then smiled, glancing at my ear, or rather the feather behind it, "Speaking of Twilight Sparkle..."

I smiled a bit, "Yeah. We’re doing our best."

Luna nodded and gave the ear with the feather a small kiss, "I approve. But there is something that has to change."

I looked at her a bit nervously, "Oh?"

She nodded and stretched one wing, turning her head. She nosed along her feathers for a second before tugging one free. Turning back to me, she nuzzled in at my mane, fitting it in beneath Twilights on the small braided lock of mane, "There."

"Great, now I'm even more nervous they'll fall out," I admitted and glanced upwards as if I could see them, "I need to figure out some way to keep them solidly in place. And to stop them from getting damaged."

"Pegasus feathers are fairly resilient," Luna reassured me, "And so are alicorn feathers. So don’t worry, the braid I showed you holds them nicely. Pegasi wore them like that for thousands of years."

"I guess," I agreed and then turned to give her a small kiss, "Thank you."

Luna kissed back and then stuck her tongue out at me, "I should have done that back when we met. Maybe you would have gotten the hint faster then."

"I'm not that dense!" I protested before I paused, "...I'm not always that dense," I corrected.

"No," Luna said teasingly, "I only had to pin you down for you to get it. Sunset and you flirted for well over a year and you have spent how long sleeping in the same bed as Twilight before you two figured it out?"

I glowered slightly at her before shifting my wings with a grumble. I'm not dense, damn it! I perfectly knew I loved Sparks, I was just afraid she would leave.

Luna laughed softly and kissed my cheek, "I missed you."

"I missed you too," I said and leaned softly against her.

"You should check on your guests though," she whispered into my ear.

"Don't want to," I answered just as quietly, "I want my Luna time.

"Go," she said and nosed at my ear with a small teasing smile, "I'll be here when you get back. And there will be plenty of 'Luna time' later."

I liked the sound of that. I liked the sound of that a lot.

Smiling at her, I ran my wing against hers before I pulled back and moved over towards Cadance and Shining Armor where they looked out over the river.

"Hey," I said, "I hope the train ride wasn't too long."

Cadance shot me a look, "Not talking to you right now," she said and headed off towards Sunburst and Flurry Heart.

I paused, flicking my ears to the side in surprise, blinking before I looked at Shining Armor, "...What did I do?"

He shook his head with a shrug, "Don't ask me, I have no idea. She's been annoyed ever since we arrived in Canterlot."

"I haven't even talked to her for six months!"

Shining Armor just shrugged again, "I asked, but she just kind of growled at me and then went to cuddle Flurry."

Now I was just even more confused.

Shining Armor sighed, "I'll try to find out," he said and headed towards her before he paused and smiled, "Good to see you again."

"You too, Shining," I agreed.

Wonder what the hell that was about. I shook my head and moved up next to Celestia, "What do you think, Sunshine?" I asked.

She turned her head and smiled at me, "It's beautiful," she admitted and then looked over towards the forest across the water again, "It's been a long time since I was somewhere like this."

I nodded and then looked around, "Where did Sparks and Sunny get to?"

"They teleported ahead," Celestia said, "Twilight wanted to wake Midnight before we arrived."

"Ah," I said and nodded, "Should have thought of that too."

Celestia smiled at me, "Sorry for arriving in the middle of the day," she said after a moment, "We had planned to arrive early last night, but there was some train trouble. I believe it was overheating."

"Don't worry about it,” I said, touching her side with my wing, “I’m just glad you’re here."

Something roared out in the forest and everybody on the barge startled slightly, looking in that direction. Well, everypony not local, that is.

My guards found that rather amusing and earned glares from Celestia's guards in turn.