//------------------------------//
// 35: of Foam and Baths 
// Story: One Way 
// by jroddie 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 35

I said nothing when Luna finished her story. I only squeezed her tighter, treasuring her for what she was to me. Everything. Life without Luna was a life not worth living, as I have experienced before. I could feel her warm body around my forelegs, gently rising and falling with her breaths. Her familiar orange scent assuaged my mind, washing away my troubles. I could feel Luna’s wing tighten around me, the extremely strong spines of her feathers grasping me like long fingers, and her down tickled me softly. It was wonderful, and for a moment, I felt completely enraptured for an amazing moment. The wings, the smell, and the feel of Luna was absolutely amazing, and she was truly a world unto herself. I could be with Luna for the next century and not know everything that I could about her, and that was the only way that I wanted it to be. I could finally let go of her after a moment of just holding her close. I pulled my hooves from around her, but one of them snagged on her collar-thing that she always wore when she had to do anything official, like walk or breathe. I fumbled, trying to keep from falling over because of my tangled hoof.
“I’m sorry Luna, I-” I said hurriedly, but she turned her face and kissed me. She pressed me closer to her with her wing as she kissed me. It was a long, drawn out, passionate thing. She was the aggressor, but I soon reciprocated in kind. We went on like that, with my hoof still snagged and her wing around me, when I heard a strange cough. I tried to extricate myself from the embrace, but Luna stretched her neck so that I had to pull away, gasping for breath. I could see Alucard in front of us, looking rather embarassed. I turned from him, to Luna with her now-purple cheeks, and then back to Luna.
“I love it when you blush.” Luna said, looking at me with a knowing stare. I could feel my ears tingle as she spoke. I reached up with my hoof to rub the blush out of my face. I could feel it work, but Luna started laughing.
“Ed,” She said between bouts of laughter “Look at your hooves!” She finished. I looked down at my hooves.
“Oh no.” I said. my hooves were pitch black from the strange sediment on the planet, and I just rubbed it all over my face. I looked over to Alucard, who looked very pitying. 
“I will summon the Doctor. You can go home for now, and I will send for you tomorrow.” Alucard said, closing his eyes. He rose to his full height, and held one of his enormous hands open with the palm facing upward. His brow wrinkled, and I could see some strange sparks over his upturned hand, sputtering and fizzing. I suddenly felt a debilitating, huge burst of magic. I felt my knees shake and wobble as I could see a shadowy form begin to take shape. It wavered and shook like a tuning fork would, the vibrating lines slowly converging and intersecting, their erethral planes and underlying geometry unifying into the same space. I watched in awe as Luna dried a tear from her eye, still laughing slightly. The lines and angles shivered once more before before suddenly snapping into linear time and geometric space. Alucard’s hand hid what he summoned at first, but it gently lowered to reveal the Tardis. I watched the blue box as Alucard gently picked it up with three fingers from his other hand and set it down on the ground.
“How did you do that, Teacher?” I wondered aloud, completely in awe.
“The Flow, or Aethr as it was taught ages ago, can connect Ghosts together across the most extreme distances. It is a simple matter to connect two places instead of two Ghosts, and bring something through the space.” Alucard backed away from us after that, turning to the panorama of the sky and the setting Soulanis and Culaan.
“You have twelve hours to do as you please. Your first lesson will begin shortly after, and I expect you to be rested, uninjured, and prepared.” he said, and spread his wings. The crinkly white skin spread across the frame of his bones, catching the air with the billowing membrane. He flapped once, and the air exploded, forcing wind under him with a deafening roar. He flapped once more, and he launched himself into the sky. I was staring at him, flying off into the distance, wondering where he could possibly go.
“Maybe he has a house.” I muttered to myself. Luna perked up from her after-laugh laziness and looked at me.
“What?” She asked, either not noticing or ignoring the tardis.
“I was thinking about Alucard.” I explained. Luna nodded, getting up from the ground.
“He probably has something out here. But I can’t imagine what, or even why he would need it. It’s not as if it would rain on him here.” She said, shivering a little bit. I walked closer to her, and she met me the rest of the way. I noticed the entire bottom half of her was covered in the black ash.
“You need a bath.” I said. She looked back at me with a smirk.
“I think that we need a bath, Ed.” She said playfully, and my ears started to tingle again.
“Um...”
“Oh, be quiet Edwin. It isn’t unheard of for couples in Equestria to take baths together.” She reasoned. I felt extremely embarrassed.
“Uh-” I said, but Luna started to walk up to the Tardis.
“Come on, Ed. We’ll go get something to eat, then you’re getting a bath.”
“I’m not too sure a-” I started to say, but her retort was the was the opening and closing of the tardis door. I sighed and walked up to the door, pushing it open with a sooty hoof. I was immediately treated to a wailing alarm and the Doctor holding a fire extinguisher with his mouth. There was a small fire on one of the console wedges, and he was waving the fire extinguisher around while it spewed white foam everywhere. I immediately rushed up to the Doctor, who looked like an epileptic rodent. I took the fire extinguisher from him with magic and aimed it expertly at the fire, squeezing the handle. It immediately sputtered and a whole lot of nothing came out of the end. I threw it aside, looking for another fire extinguisher. I turned to the Doctor, and he just looked around frantically. I stared at him incredulously as he searched.
“I only have the one!” He finally shouted from the inside of a pile of rubber flanges.
“What?! You have more wrenches than there are hooves in Equestria, but you only have one fire extinguisher?!” I shouted. The Doctor flung his back hooves around, trying to extricate himself from the pile
“Toggle the blue button on the furthest console wedge from the door!” The Doctor shouted, still trying to escape from his rubbery confines. I ran over to the side of the console that the Doctor indicated, and there were no less than nine blue buttons, all arranged haphazardly across the back-lit console.
“Which one?!” I screamed to the ceiling. The fire raged on, and the Doctor yelled wordlessly.
“I forget! Try them all!” He shouted after recovering from his frustration. I growled angrily and hopped up onto the ledge that bordered the console. I mashed my hooves into all the blue buttons, and they all did a very large amount of nothing at all. I finally came to one button, a small blue triangle, that would not press. I mashed my hooves harder, and it stubbornly would not cooperate. I turned away from it, trying to find something to force the button. I found Luna levitating a sledgehammer with a smile. I kissed her for being so brilliant, took the hammer away from her with magic, and swung it at the button. It made a satisfying click. I saw a small nozzle pop out of one of the round things on the walls, and it began to shoot out a yellow foam. It landed on the flaming console in question and expanded, consuming the flame. Needless to say, much of the foam landed on things that were not on fire, such as wrenches, the floor, and innocent bystanders. I turned to Luna as we were being covered in the sticky yellow foam, smiling at her.
“Hey Luna.” I asked.
“Yes, Ed?” She said
“I’ll take you up on that bath now.”

The Doctor dropped us off near the baths in the Palace, with much grumbling about all of the cleaning that he would have to do. The bad thing was that the foam started out sticky, but then it expanded and hardened, looking very silly. The Doctor laughed at us and called us ‘Slitheen’, which I could not get him to explain for the life of me. He stopped me as we were exiting the Tardis. Luna continued to the baths, not wanting to stop for anything.
“Edwin, here.” He said, proffering a small, dark purple bottle. I looked at it questioningly through my foam mask that I managed to poke eye holes through before it hardened completely.
“What is it?” I asked, picking it up with magic.
“Solvent. It should help to get rid of the foam.” He said uncertainly, and pushed me out of the Tardis. I turned back to look at him, but the door was already closed. I did not want to be noticed either, so I hurried as fast as I could to the door that Luna went through. Sadly, I did not reach my goal before I was caught.
“Captain Shell!” A voice shouted behind me. A small, ironic part of my brain wanted to congratulate the pony for recognizing me through my foam guise. I turned slowly to face the pony, cracking some of the foam around my neck. It was Lieutenant Pix, with her white and purple mane waving from underneath her silver helm. I smiled awkwardly, trying to figure out why she was approacing me.
“Captain, I would like to inform you that we have found Lieutenant Ryo.” She said. 
“You are very good at finding things. Where was he?” 
“Sleeping in his bed. It seems that the impostor gave him some sedative the night before. He could remember nothing.” Pix said. I thought of Sebastian, and I was all too sure that she was fully able to convince a colt to do something that she wanted him to. I felt slightly sorry for Ryo for being seduced against his will, but I didn’t want to linger on it for much longer.
“Ah. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go now.” I said, turning away from the dark pink pony.
“Captain?” She asked, and I turned back to her somewhat annoyed.
“Lieutenant?”
“Why are you going into the Mare’s baths?” She asked. I grimaced. It was a particularly hard question to answer truthfully without revealing the relationship between Luna and I, which I was almost certain was not public knowledge
“There is somepony waiting for me in there, and I do not wish to keep them waiting for very much longer.” I said, and turned away from Pix once again.
“Sir, forgive me for saying, but that is extremely improper!” She nearly shouted. I turned back to her again.
“What?” 
“If you are indeed doing what I think you are about to do, It is something done on the confines of ones’ private quarters, and certainly not something done with a subordinate!” She said. I smiled and watched her face turn even pinker.
“What makes you think that she is a subordinate?” I asked.
“You are in charge of everypony. There is no way that she cannot be.”
“I assure you that I am only going in there for a bath, and that the mare in question is not a subordinate.” I reasoned, extremely tired. Pix seemed to grow even more indignant.
“Bringing a private citizen into the Palace for anything other than official business is most certainly not allowed! Forgive me, Captain, but I must send word to one of the Princesses at once!” She said. I smiled, proud of her blind adherence to the rules but also because of the  humor of my next statement. I pushed open the door to the bath, smiling.
“Would you like to tell one of them yourself?” I asked playfully. I saw the angry blush fall out of the Lieutenant’s face.
“Who is it, Ed?” Luna asked loudly from inside of the room.
“Nothing, I’ll be back in a minute.” I said, closing the door. Lieutenant Pix seemed completely flabbergasted.
“You- Her- What-” She managed to say before I got over to her with my foam encrusted body to explain quietly.
“You of all ponies, Lieutenant, know the value of being able to keep a secret. I am quite sure you would not like to have your personal life hung up for all to see like so much laundry. I am the same way, and I would appreciate it if you could keep this between you and I.” I pleaded in a low voice. Pix just sputtered a little bit, trying to find something to say. I smiled as best as I could with my foamface while I waited for her to find her tongue
“Does Princess Celestia know?” She asked.
“Yes.” I replied. Pix seemed to relax, and she did not look as stressed as she did a moment before. She reached up with a hoof to her mouth and coughed.
“Well, Captain. I must go now. The forward Second requires my attentions.” Pix said, turning and trotting down the hall. I sighed. It had been a long day, and all I could think about now was sleep, Luna, and peaches. I opened the door and walked into the room, knowing that at least one of the three was within reach. I looked around the room. It wasn’t very large, but it would have been under the category of small swimming pool when I was a human. There were stained glass windows high up on the ceilings, depicting scenes from what I assumed to be Equestrian history, letting in a colored light. I looked at the pool. The water was steaming, but there was nothing in it. I turned my head to see Luna to the left of me. She took of her tiara, necklace, and shoes earlier, and they were in a little neat pile next to her.
“Why aren’t you in the pool?” I asked. She gestured to one of the foam blobs.
“They make you float.” She said grumpily. I smiled and floated the bottle of solvent that the Doctor gave me over to her. She picked it up with magic herself, looking at it questioningly.
“Rub it on the foam, it’s supposed to make it go away.” I said. Luna opened the bottle and drizzled some on the foam. It immediately started to fizzle and dissolve. She repeated this again on the other globs of foam, and soon she was completely foam-free. She gave the bottle to me and lowered herself carefully into the bath, moving from the shallow end to the deep end, with only her head above the water. I hurried to get rid of all the foam so that I could join her, then I tore off the armor that I had been wearing this whole time. I  cursed myself for forgetting the helm back in the Blue Alicorn. I joined her in the water. The pool was steamy, and it was also extremely warm. I grinned, eyes closed, as I slid into the hot water. I could feel all of my clenched muscles relax, with all of my stress seemingly flowing away. I sunk down lower and leaned back so that only my nose and eyes were above the water.
“This feels great.” I mumbled, paddling with my hooves to keep above the water. It worked surprisingly well, so I just contented myself with doing that for a while. I felt more relaxed than at any time ever during my life in Equestria. I sighed happily, deciding to set my hooves down in the shallows. I hunkered down, opened my eyes, and looked for Luna. It was a quick search, because I found her sitting on the edge of the pool preening a wing with her mouth.
“Hi Luna.” I said. Luna took a particularly bent feather out of her mouth to look at me. Her eyes were happy, which made me happy too.
“You look adorable when you’re wet.” She said, her voice seductive. I could see her cheeks turn purple.
“I look adorable doing everything, don’t I?” I asked. Luna giggled a little bit.
“Sometimes more than others.” She said, and I stood up, rising from the water. I cracked my neck, and was satisfied to feel several cracks and pops. I saw Luna cringe as this happened.
“Edwin, that’s terrible for your neck.” She admonished. I blushed a little bit, looking down at my hoof. The water made it wavy and distorted. “Come help me preen my wing and I’ll help you with your back. It must be killing you right now.” She said, and I looked up to her. She was holding her right wing out. I smiled and climbed out of the pool, walking up to the wing in question. I looked at it for a moment.
“What exactly do you want me to do?” I asked. 
“Take the bent feathers and straighten them out with your mouth.” She said. 
“Why don’t you just use magic?” I asked, taking one of the long flight feathers into my mouth. It tasted weird, like an old blanket, but it smelled great. Luna’s smell did not diminish when she was soaked.
“Because it is safer. I might do something wrong and rip out the feather instead of straighten it, which is rather painful.” She said, and returned to the feather in front of her. We worked together to straighten out the feathers, and I soon found out that Luna had ticklish wings. The feather I was preening along the spine of the wings was pulled out of my mouth as I grabbed it near the wing shoulder. I was slapped several times with it as Luna was laughing. I watched her fit, waiting for her to finish with a somewhat disgruntled look on my face. She finally stopped a minute or two later, and turned to me, still smiling. She sobered up a little when she saw the pale feather-shaped patterns on my face.
“Sorry.” She said, shrugging and smiling apologetically. 
“Can I have that wing back?” I asked. Luna had finished the other one long before, and I cited my lack of practice preening wings. I reached for the wing, Luna squealed happily and pulled the limb away from me.
“No, Ed! You’ll tickle me!” She said, and bounded away around the pool. I laughed and chased her. She soon started flapping her wings, those extremely soft wings, and seemingly floated into the air. I knew that she was flapping them, but they seemed to glide on the air. I floated up into the air a moment later. We chased each other around the pool a few times, laughing and squealing the whole while.
“I’m going to finish preening that wing and you’re going to love it!” I shouted playfully, and Luna squealed and flapped faster. I grinned and sped up, trying to catch her. I was so close to catching her when the door opened to the baths. I froze in midair, staring at the pony door. Luna, still laughing, completed her circuit around the pool and few right into me, knocking us both into the pool. She grabbed me, trying to kiss me, and I was just staring at the pony in the doorway. Luna noticed me, and stared at me, slightly shocked for a moment.
“What is it, Ed?” She whispered. I said nothing, but kept looking at the door. Luna hesitated, and then turned to face the pony in the door. The pony was not saying anything, but she was crying silently.
“Oh, Tia...” Luna said, getting out of the water. I just stayed there in the water, unsure about what I could do. Luna clumsily got out of the water, and Celestia ran out of the room, sobbing openly.
“Tia, No!” Luna shouted, trying to get to her sister. Her horn glowed for a moment, and she became immediately dry. She ran over to her shoes, trying to get them on.
“Luna, should I-” I started to say, but Luna started shaking her head immediately.
“This is between her and I. You can’t help.” She said. She kicked her shoes off to the side, angry that she could not get them on fast enough, and ran out of the room, shouting for her sister. I just floated there in the water, trying to understand what happened. Celestia was never too happy about Luna and I, but she was never really sad about it. I was actually very surprised at the elder Princess for this reaction. I kept floating for a moment, wanting to understand what was going on between the two of them. If only there was some way for me to know... 
The realization dawned on me. I was a Ghost. I could do anything that I wanted to do, and all I had to do was close my eyes. I immersed myself in the Flow. It’s thrumming power filled me, threatened to burst, but it obeyed my every command. I could feel reality bend slightly to my will, willing to do anything and everything that I ever wished of it. I smiled. I had never been this deep in the Flow before. It frightened me, but there was a perverse sort of excitement about being so close to something so dangerous. I delved deeper, feeling myself becoming one with the energy, until the barrier between Pony and Flow was blurred. I dived, pushing deeper. I suddenly opened my eyes with a gasp. 
I am the Flow.
The Flow is me.
I know all. Lieutenant Ryo was drinking green tea to get rid of a particularly bad hangover. Ensign Breckan of the forward Third was eating a pear. He didn’t like the flavor of it much, but he was hungry. Berry was with her family in Salt Lick City. Her mother was happy to see her. Twilight Sparkle was mixing chemicals in her laboratory. Antony was taking off his armor in the Armory. There was a sunflower in the third-tier courtyard that was being eaten by a particularly bored pony by the name of Mo. He was a green pony and he liked sunflowers. I floated across the scenery. I passed so many ponies, noticing so many things that they themselves would likely never know. One pony had a weak left ventricle. One pony had brittle bones. Yet another pony was pregnant. I smiled. I had never seen a newborn pony, and I would have liked to see one one of these days. I moved on, sliding up the Threads to the upper levels of the Palace, where I knew the Princesses to be. I could not hear them, I had to be close for that. I soon settled in the upper Observatory, in one of the towers. The Princesses were not too far below.
“Tia...” Luna said in a caring voice. I knew that she was stroking her neck, and that Celestia was lying on her favorite pillow because it smelled like Othello. She missed him dearly.
“I can’t help it, Lu-u-u-na!” She said, sobbing over the vowel in Luna’s name.
“I know you miss him, Tia. I do too. He was a gentlecolt, a very nice pony.”
“He was everything...” She said, sobbing. I felt intrigued. I sensed all of Equestria, every lake, stream, ocean, rock, turtle, bug, hose, house, and  everything else that I could possibly think of. My Flow-augmented consciousness could find Othello absolutely nowhere.
“Tia. You remember when You met Othello for the first time?” Luna asked. Celestia nodded.
“I was jealous. He liked you better than me. I was sad for the longest time, but not because I wanted him. I wanted what you had, Tia. I wanted somepony to hold me when the nights got cold. I wanted somepony to hug me when I was sad, love me when I was lonely, and take care of me when I was sick. A pony that I could stay with for the rest of my life. A pony that wouldn’t be afraid of my responsibilities, a pony that could stand his own on the field of Equestrian royalty. A pony strong, attractive, kind, and good at kissing.” Luna said. Celestia laughed a little at the last comment.
“And?” She asked a little bit sniffly after Luna did not respond for a while.
“I found him. Don’t be sad for what you don’t have. Be happy for those that have things. Just because I have Edwin doesn’t make you alone. I’m always here for you whenever you need me, Tia.” Luna said kindly.  Celestia sniffled.
“Really?” She said, turning her neck to look at Luna. She squeezed her pillow just a little bit tighter.
“Really.”
“I love you, Luna. 
“Love you too, Tia.”