* * *
Shining Armor ran through the halls, Revenant Wings in front of him and another guard following behind. That morning, when Revenant Wings had gone to give Lucas his morning dose of the supplement, he had come running back to Shining Armor in the breakfast hall saying that Lucas had disappeared; the door to his suite was open and Lucas was nowhere to be found in the castle. Shining Armor refused to believe it and went with the very fast-moving pegasus to where Lucas’ suite was.
But Revenant was telling the truth. The suite door was wide open and no one was inside. Furthermore, when Shining Armor went to the bedroom, it looked like a complete mess; clothes were all over the place, the drawers and the closet were in complete disarray, and a backpack that Lucas had taken to Ponyville with him was gone. When Shining Armor checked the drawers, five shirts, five pants, and a few pairs of socks and underwear were missing, in addition to all three sets of clothes that Rarity had given Lucas; the brown, the blue, and the black. Shining Armor turned to the two guards.
“Search every wing of the castle,” Shining Armor ordered. “We need to find Lucas and make sure he’s okay. Get some of the other guard to help you. Not a word to the other princesses; act like you’re making the rounds. No need to get them worked up when there’s nothing. Revenant: I need you to go and search the guard barracks. Meet me in the barracks with your information.”
Shining Armor called for two more guards and posted them at the entrance to Lucas’ suite, and galloped off for his barracks, where many more guards were now standing at attention. A few already had things to report: Lucas wasn’t seen anywhere in the gardens, the library, the dining hall, the observatory, or in Luna’s wing. A few minutes later, reports came back saying that Lucas wasn’t anywhere in Cadence’s wing or in Celestia’s wing, either; this meant no one had seen Lucas on the castle grounds.
“Begin a full-scale search of Canterlot,” Shining Armor said. “Find Lucas and report his position back to me. No need to bring him back, just so long as we know he’s okay. I’ll go alert the princesses if you have any information.”
Shining Armor took off at full gallop back across the barracks and towards the castle. Darting through the halls, he sent a message to Cadence, Celestia, and Luna that Lucas was no longer on the castle grounds and he wanted them to meet up to discuss the matter. The three alicorn princesses met with Shining near a balcony overlooking the whole of Canterlot as far as Ponyville a few minutes later, all with looks of worry on their faces.
“What’s the matter?” Princess Celestia said. “Rarely does Shining Armor, the Captain of the Guard, call me personally for important matters.”
“Lucas is gone!” Shining Armor said, panting slightly from running around the castle and the barracks.
The three alicorns gasped.
“What do you mean he’s gone?” Cadence said, eyes wide and pupils shrinking, now clearly panicked.
“He’s nowhere to be found in the castle,” Shining Armor explained. “I’ve had my guards check everywhere. They’re currently conducting a sweep of Canterlot to see where he could have gone to. Luna, you were with him last night. Do you know where Lucas was?”
“He came in with me and we cuddled as usual,” Luna said. “He seemed a little restless but eventually settled down to sleep with me. When I woke up this morning, he had left, his room door was open, and I had no idea where he had gone.”
“Are you sure everywhere has been checked?”
“Yes! Everyone had reported back…”
But the more Shining Armor thought about it, one hadn’t reported back.
“…where did Revenant Wings go?” Shining Armor shouted. “He hasn’t reported back yet!”
“Wait… what’s that?”
It was Cadence who had spoken up, and was pointing out the window. Cadence galloped over to the balcony outside the window and pointed off into the distance, just outside Canterlot’s walls. There, running down the hills and to the plains that separated Canterlot from Ponyville, was a little speck that appeared to be running on two legs and not four like other ponies. Shining Armor called for a guard to get a telescope and yanked it almost immediately from the guard’s magic with his own when he brought it.
“…that’s Lucas.”
“Running off towards Ponyville?” Cadence said. “What’s more, without a word to anyone as to where he was going?”
Celestia nodded. “I’m going to write a letter to Twilight Sparkle about this,” she said, and walked off. Shining Armor followed behind, leaving Cadence and Luna on the balcony.
At first, Cadence sympathized with Luna’s sadness, knowing how close she had been to Lucas during the past five weeks since the failed attempt at sending Lucas back home. But the longer Cadence looked at Luna she saw that, while she was sad, she was sad for a different reason, one that knew a little more than the others.
“You… you knew, didn’t you?”
Luna didn’t respond immediately. Eventually, she let out a long, slow nod.
“How long have you known!?”
“Since Wednesday of this last week. He was staring off towards Ponyville and the lands beyond and was wondering what was out there. He already was thinking about running off, already thinking about how he couldn’t stay here.”
Instead of being mad, Cadence was shocked. “He… hasn’t fully adjusted?”
“Things were going along so well,” Luna said mournfully. “Eventually, last night, he told me about his plans. He was going to leave for a short while for Ponyville, see if he couldn’t get another simpler set of clothes from Rarity after helping her in her shop as payment, then would head out. First south to Appaloosa, then to destinations unknown.”
“He’s… leaving?”
“Not entirely. He said he’d come back. He just… wasn’t sure when.”
Cadence looked out at Lucas running in the direction of Ponyville, thinking about what Luna had just said. But her train of thought was disrupted by the sound of two sets of hoofsteps at full gallop down the hall behind them, and the flapping of wings coming from the same direction.
“REVENANT WINGS!” Shining Armor roared. “GET BACK HERE NOW!”
But Revenant wasn’t slowing down. Matter of fact, the pegasus guard sped up, launching himself past Cadence and Luna that the shock from his flying by toppled the both of them over. When the two had steadied themselves again, they noticed that the white pegasus had his saddlebags on from the guard, likely filled with clothes and supplies. Shining Armor skidded to a halt on the balcony and Celestia followed suit right after him.
“Revenant Wings!” Shining Armor shouted again. “I order you to get back here!”
“Shining!” Cadence said. “Luna knew about Lucas leaving!”
Shining Armor and Princess Celestia looked over at Luna. After a while, Celestia smiled. “I thought I recognized that look in my sister’s eye was not that of trepidation at his disappearance, but mourning at his leaving. I suppose my suspicions are correct.”
Shining Armor whirled around to face Celestia. “You’re… amused by this!?”
“I knew he couldn’t stay put forever,” Celestia said. “It was simply a matter of time.”
Shining Armor stared with confusion. “You expected this to happen?”
“He never was comfortable with the thought of staying in Equestria,” Princess Celestia said, walking over to the balcony, “and I’m sure he harbors anger and betrayal at me for the actions I’ve committed. No matter how well I treat him, there’s a chance that he’ll never forgive me. But I’ve accepted that. Perhaps… perhaps what he needs is some time outside of the castle, away from me and away from what he already knows, to see Equestria and see how little difference there actually is between here and Earth.”
The three alicorns and Shining Armor watched as Revenant Wings’ form shrank into the distance and eventually caught up with the figure of Lucas. Lucas stopped for a little while, and the four watched as they talked for a time. Eventually, the human and the pegasus gave what could only be described as a hoofbump, then both started heading off in the direction of Ponyville, Revenant Wings flying alongside Lucas.
“Perhaps the kindred bond has been formed between them, as well,” Princess Celestia commented.
“But what could have caused it?” Cadence asked.
“They’ve come to know each other fairly well,” Celestia said. “Perhaps a spirit of adventure had been harbored within both. To be sure, we won’t know unless they tell us. But I do know this: whatever happens, Lucas will no longer be alone. He’s come to accept life in Equestria, but just has to find out where he belongs.”
“That could take a long time,” Luna mused. “Months, perhaps even years.”
“I’d call it time well spent,” Celestia chuckled.
“He’s still young,” Cadence said. “He has time.”
“Still,” Shining Armor said, “he at least could have told us.”
And so, as the day went on, the three alicorns and the unicorn continued to sit and watch as the pegasus and the human went on towards Ponyville…
“I’ll be watching you, Lucas…”
“I’ll promise you I’ll return Luna… someday…”
* * *
To be continued…