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// Chapter 13 
// Story: Life and Death 
// by Timstro59 
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	As they got to Luna’s Private study, the Pegasus guard opened the door and motioned for Dashing to go in, he did and found that the room was empty. “Where is she?” he asked. “She’ll get to you at her earliest convenience. Until then, why don’t you study up on proper wing care?” Dashing then looked at his wings and saw they were a bit of a mess. “Does Princess Luna have any books on said care?” The guard replied, “I’ll send for one from the archive.” Dashing responded “Thank you.” The guard let out a small smile and left him to himself. “I guess I do have a talent for making others smile. Wait that was a talent of mine even before I was brought here. So that’s just Dashing being Dashing. Ugh, that sounds horrible. It sounds like I’m full of myself when I say it like that.” He let himself chuckle at the thought of what Pinkie would say. “Well I’d say that sounds totally awesome.” Dashing nearly jumped out of his fur at the voice, and then he noticed who it came from. “Pinkie? How….What….HUH?” His brain grinding gears as it struggled to process information. “I’ll tell you in a few days.” She looked at a watch on her foreleg, “Oh, gotta go. Bye” She climbed into a trash can. Dashing stumbled over to the trash can and looked in. “Empty?” At that moment his brain ceased logical and rational thought processing.
When the guard returned from the archive to deliver to book on wing care to Dashing, He opened the door to find Dashing in a corner, laughing to himself. “uh, Are you okay?” not really knowing how to deal with a situation like this, he figured the best way to fix the laughing idiot in front of him was to hit him in the head and hope for the best, it works with Cirrus Firestorm why not with this one. So the Guard gave Dashing a hard smack in the side of his head. Dashings eyes went derpy for a minute before going back to normal. He rubbed his head were the guard smacked him, “What was that for?” He then realized what happen, “Oh, forget I asked.” He then noticed the book being held by the wing of the Pegasus guard in front of him. “I take it that’s the book.” The guard nodded his head. “Thank you for getting the book for me.” The guard replied, “It wasn’t a problem. Later, If you want, I can get my marefriend to give you some pointers on getting your feathers to really shine.” Dashing replied, “She must really know her stuff.” The guard replied, “She certainly does. I honestly don’t know what she sees in me. I neglect my wings, and she gives me an earful about it every day.” Dashing responded, “I just met you, but I can already tell that you’re a dedicated stallion. Am I right?” the guard replied “Yes, I’m very dedicated. I take my job and her very seriously.” Dashing replied “And that’s why she stays with you. You’re a dedicated worker and a loving partner.” The guard thought about for a second before saying, “You’re right. How could I have missed something so obvious?” Dashing spoke “It’s the things that are most obvious that are easiest to miss.”
The guard, who had revealed his name to be Cloud Striker, and Dashing spoke for a few more minutes before Cloud had to excuse himself to get back to his post. Dashing read up on proper wing care and maintenance while waiting for Princess Luna. ‘Preening is essential to the health of the feathers of a Pegasus or an Alicorn, as failure to do so will result in the feathers losing their full magical potential and resulting in a much lower wing power.’ The book continues in the finer points of preening, including psychological benefits, health benefits and how healthy wings in a Pegasus can result in a healthier coat. Dashing decided to perform some basic wing care while waiting for Luna. He opened up his left wing to its full extent, a wingspan of about a meter and half. Quite small for an Alicorn, but Dashing isn’t a regular Alicorn. Which allows him to easily pass as a normal Pegasus when needed. He began to look over his wing for any debris, he started by pulling out a few tufts of cloud that had gotten stuck during his wayward journey on a stray. He then started with the actual Preening on his Left wing, his tongue cleaning and polishing the sides of his feathers covered up by the down on his wings. Moving up his wing he began to feel a weird tingling and then thought “I really hope she doesn’t show up now.” He then realized his mistake and his eyes darted towards the door and he tensed his entire body. He stayed staring at the door for a few moments before relaxing. “Oh.” He said before sighing, finishing his left wing. Then he extended his right wing, looked it over for debris, and then noticed a small metal rod lodged in a group of feathers. The metal rod wasn’t very big, about half a centimeter wide and 2 and a half long. “How did that get in there.” He asked himself before pulling it out with his magic. He looked it over for a few moments before deciding that it’s just a random piece of metal.
He was about half finished preening his right wing when the Princess walked into her study. He didn’t notice her entrance and kept on preening. A blush came to Lunas face when she realized what he was doing; she spoke up and asked “Am I interrupting anything?” He looked up at her, “Not really, why are you blushing?” She replied “Preening can be quite the ‘experience’ and is usually considered a thing to do in private.” He responded “Really? The book didn’t mention that part.” She looked confused, and then remembered. “Your first preening?” He nodded then said “I’m almost finished here.” Luna blushed again, “Would you like some privacy?” He replied “It’s been a fascinating experience, but honestly it really doesn’t feel like something I would need privacy for. Also, what’s this tingling?” Lunas face turned into one of confusion, “Tingling?” Dashing replied “It started when I started the actual preening process.” Luna responded, “I believe that’s your mind trying to adjust to the new sensation.  Dashing thought for a second “Makes sense to me. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to finish this up.” Dashing went back to cleaning his feathers, Lunas blush deepened. Dashing had just finished when he heard a loud POMPF!!! He looked over the see that Lunas wings had extended to their full length. “Whoa calm down Princess. I’m not your type.” She looked up at him before turning her gaze to her wings, her entire face turned red as her embarrassment set it.  “Heh, sorry.”
After taking a few moments to calm Luna down, and once her wings were back under her control, Dashing asked “Why did you send for me?” She replied “I did some research into the glowing being you mentioned. I believe they are called ‘The Celestial Guardians” Dashing responded, “ooh. I’m sorry, but really? They couldn’t have chosen a better name.” Luna spoke up “’tis more of a description than a name, even then I could only find them mentioned once and only one sentence was written about them.” Dashing spoke up “So a group of powerful, mysterious and possibly omnipotent entities brought me here for an unknown purpose, for an unknown plan, and absolutely nothing is known about them other than one obscure reference to their description. Did I miss anything Princess?” She replied “That about sums it up, and when we are alone, please call me Luna.”