//------------------------------//
// Chapter 59 
// Story: Looking Glass 
// by Hiver 
//------------------------------//

The sound of the propellers hummed behind as I looked out over the planes below. At the horizon, in the light of my beloveds moon the ground was getting darker.

The plains were going over into thick shrubland and only a few kilometers after that... jungle.

Soon.

Hoofsteps against the upper deck behind me and I glanced back, "Up to get some air?" I asked Midnight as she walked up next to me, a pair of nightseeing goggles on her head.

"Gets hot beneath deck," she admitted, "Even with cooling spells it gets a bit stuffy. You can tell we're almost home."

"Mmm," I agreed and sighed softly, giving her a small smile, "Vacation over, back to work."

That drew a small grin from her, "Vacation, right. Speaking of vacation, I may ask Tempest to join me for one soon."

"That sounds like an excellent idea," I agreed, "I'm thinking somewhere snowy, a wooden cabin and a hot fireplace, a snowstorm howling outside, hot mugs of cocoa or wine sitting by the fire..."

I might detest cold, but Sparks liked snow and so did Sunset. I can handle a chill for their sake. And cuddling by the fireplace sounds nice. Maybe we could even get Luna in on it too.

…Celestia…

Midnight smiled, her wings shifting, "That sounds amazing," she said and then blushed, "But I was more thinking of an expensive manehattan hotel with room service."

"Ah yes, the kind where you go to your room and don't come out for two weeks, huh?" I teased with a grin.

She cleared her throat slightly and glanced away with a small blush.

Seems like I hit the nail on the head there. The idea was very tempting too, just close the doors of the so-called palace back home, tell everypony to buzz off and spend a couple of weeks with Luna, Sparks and Sunny and see how many neighbors we could make move away due to noise disturbances.

Too bad that'd never happen.

"What's that?" I asked with a small frown into the darkness as movement in the sky drew my attention.

"What's what?"

"Something is flying," I said with a frown, "A pair of dots."

Midnight glanced at me and then squinted behind her goggles, "I can't see anything. Pegasi?"

"I can't tell, it's too far away. But I don't think so," I said wearily, "But they look too big to be a pegasus."

"I'll alert the guard."

I stopped her with my wing, "No, wait," I said, "Hold on for a bit, not like we can't blast whatever it is from the sky if it starts to get belligerent."

Slowly the shapes started to grow and I caught small flashes of metal in the moonlight as they approached, slowly turning into a pair of sky chariots.

They were heading straight for us and I could see that instead of two pegasi pulling each, there were four and they were all wearing Nocturnis armor.

Circling around to line up beside us, they expertly avoided the turbulence of the propellers to set down on the upper deck behind us.

The pegasi were heaving for breath, not even looking at us as they sank down, first onto their knees and the to lay down, clearly completely exhausted.

"Good work, everypony," Moon Glow said and jumped off the first chariot, the pegasi, followed by a dozen guard ponies, five with her and six in the other chariot.

She trotted up to me, pushing a pair of nightseeing goggles down from her eyes to hang around her neck before she saluted, "Welcome back, your majesty," she said.

"Thank you, Glow," I said and then looked behind her as the guards that weren't laying on the deck formed up smartly at attention. A good portion of which were thestrals, but two of them were unicorns, "May I ask what's all this is about?"

"We departed as soon as we got word you were returning," she said seriously, "To ensure your safety during transit over the jungle. We don't want a repeat of the last time."

We were half way, which meant they would have needed to fly hard to reach us this quickly.

Which explained the exhausted pegasi.

"Thank you," I said quietly, "Let's hope things go a bit smoother than that however. I appreciate it, but you may stand down now and get some rest, you have had a hard journey to get here."

She saluted again and then glanced back, "Star Stripe, Star Strike, get the carriages strapped down! I need to go talk with the captain. Everypony else, get some rest."

The two unicorn twins saluted and moved to start strapping the carriages down and releasing the pegasi from the pulling harnesses.

I sighed softly, "Amber," I said and turned away to spot the changeling where she was standing behind me.

She blinked, "...How did you know I were here, sir?" she asked.

I smiled, "Because I know you," I said and gave her a quick hug, "Missed you, bug."

"Missed you too, sir," she said and hugged back.

"Go down say hi to Skitter, she and some more lings are along for the ride."

"No, sir. My task is to guard you."

I shook my head and gave her another quick hug with my wing before letting go and looking out over the approaching jungle before us.

Didn't even get back before pushed back into my role.

My bucking life, I swear.

Looking to the side, I spotted Midnight watching me. I raised one eyebrow at her.

She smiled softly and touched my shoulder with her hoof for a second before she turned around and walked back inside.

Turning around, I followed her inside.

Might as well get some writing done, needed to clear my head.