“Hello, Princess,” I said, bowing.
“Lance Corporal, I hear you have my sister here,” Celestia snapped. “I demand you move aside so I can see her.”
I obliged. Once Celestia was in, I heard Luna squeak in surprise. Celestia, still in a mood of ire, looked around.
“Who ordered her to be kept secret?” she demanded.
“Brighton,” Came the unanimous answer.
Since when did I become freshly washed laundry that needed to be hung out to dry. Celestia wheeled to me and I saw the fire in her eyes.
“I can explain,” I said.
“Let's hear it,” she said.
“I had found her on the moon and she was in a weakened state,” I explained. “I knew that she meant a lot to you, and to give you your weakened sister back disgusted me, so I took it upon myself to see her return to full health and to her former splendor.”
“And you did a great job,” Celestia said.
“Thank you,” I said.
“You were like a big brother to me,” Luna said.
That statement put the entire room in silence. To break the silence, Nightmare Moon walked in.
“It's good to see you two are reunited,” she said.
“I could say the same,” Luna said.
“Begging your pardon,” Tintin said. “But you three seem to be acting different.”
“We're sisters,” Luna said.
“How...wait....wha....?” was all that was heard.
Celestia explained that their mom and dad, the King and Queen of Equestria gave birth to four Alicorns who tended the farms and the guard forces. The farmers were Luna and Celestia while Nightmare Moon and an Alicorn named Solar Eclipse were in charge of the guard forces. When Dorset asked about Solar Eclipse, Celestia seemed to drop into a depression.
“During a freak storm, she was flung somewhere and hasn't been located since,” she said.
Call me a plot convenience here because I had a sinking, yet floating suspicion that something screwy was going on and we're miles from St. Louis. I asked if there was a photograph of Solar Eclipse.
Celestia said for me to wait and flashed out of the building. After thirty minutes, she returned with a small photo album and her mother. After I dismissed the others, except Nightmare Moon and my entry into Equestria episode gang. Skyla got permission to enlarge the photograph and did so, but something seemed off in it. There were more ponies than what Celestia let on. In front of her mother and father were eight ponies, not four and that four out of the eight were colts.
“Can somepony answer as to why there are eight ponies here?” I asked.
“Oh, those are our sons,” Nebula said. “But they left for Manehatten to make it big in the entertainment industry with Astronomous.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“Hmmmm...Now, my next question, about your sister, Solar Flare,” I said.
“Go ahead,” Nebula said.
“In regards to the storm,” I said. “When it came around, which way did the wind blow?”
“What does that have to do with her disappearance?” Celestia asked.
“What I'm thinking is...with her being an Alicorn, maybe her wings were spread out to fly one way and she was taken the other way,” I said. “It's happened once to a pet canary I had in the human world.”
“Oh,” Nightmare said.
I continued with my theory.
“If we can apply what happened to a small canary, and using my knowledge of powerful winds, it is likely a large gust caught her unaware. Winds, even controlled by pegasi can still be unpredictable at the best of times,” I said. “So using an example of Skyla, Tintin, and the Ponyville Weather team, say they create a ginormous gust if wind. Even if they were to stop instantly and Skyla was to use her magic, the winds would still act unpredictable.”
“Oh.”
“Yes, now with much more powerful Alicorns, like say, Queen Nebula, then yes, she could halt the wind,” I said. “But at the time of the event, there were many other events going on, so Queen Nebula and you three were busy with delegations and royal duties. So, it came as a shock to you.”
“True,” they said.
“However,” I said. “This is speculation. Not one hundred percent substantiated fact, so as of me saying this, it's a pure runaround.”
“Runaround?” Luna asked.
“Deceptive or delaying action,” Tintin said. “In other words, it's a pure detour of finding out where she could be.”
“Ah,” they said.
“Yes,” I said.
“So, with the news, we can organize search parties while the royal family spend some time together,” I said.
“Thank you,” Nightmare Moon said.
After they left, I talked with the others and made plans. Prepare for runaround.