The first thing I became aware of was that I was really, really comfortable. Everything smelled familiar.
I was home in bed and the warmth I was feeling was Luna against my side, her wing across my back.
Hmm? What time is it?
Yawning, I raised my head and looked around until I located the clock. Mostly that was here for me; Luna could tell the time by her moon.
Holy... it was almost time for Luna to get up! I'd overslept by eight hours!
...Eh, whatever. Yawning I settled down again. We didn't actually get to sleep until ten in the morning. I could keep to Luna's schedule for a couple of days. Spend some extra time with her.
A thought entered my head though.
Skitter was usually waiting outside the door for when I got up. I was eight hours late to that normal time. Even more if she was following the normal day times we kept while away from Canterlot.
I better not have kept her waiting for twelve hours and I just knew that if she showed up in the morning, she would have simply sat there looking at the door all day until I opened it.
I really, really wanted to stay in bed and wake Luna up properly in thirty minutes or so, but in good conscience I couldn't. I had to at least check if Skitter was there.
Slowly shifting beneath Luna's wing, I slid towards the edge of the bed until I was out from beneath her wing and climbed off the bed before sneaking until I exited out from the bubble of silence around the bed.
As soon as I got out of it, I yawned and stretched, cracking my neck before heading to the main room, closing the bedroom door behind me again before pausing.
On the small table by the couch, there was a tray with sandwiches and a steaming hot kettle of tea. I just stared at the food.
How in the world...
Seriously, the maid staff here deserve some kind of medal. Because I think they might be actually breaking causality right now.
How in the hell do they even do that? Whenever I exited the bedroom, there were a pile of sandwiches ready and the tea hot and ready to drink.
And I never saw a single maid unless they were attending to Luna when she needed special assistance with a dress. I never even saw them cleaning. Oh, out in the castle, but not in the private chambers. Not once.
Seriously, gorram ninjas the lot of them.
Grabbing a sandwich on the way past, I headed to peek out the door. Just like I expected, Skitter was by the table, comfortably laying on the soft seating pillow, facing the door. What I didn't expect however was that she had company and was talking to a pony.
“Moon Dancer.” I exclaimed in surprise with a smile, “Good morning.. ehm... Evening both of you. Skitter, I hope I didn't make you wait long.”
Skitter shook her head, “It's fine, sir. I should have expected it.”
Moon Dancer got up as well, adjusting her glasses before doing a small bow, “Good Evening, Lord Page.”
I must say, she looked better since I saw her last. Her mane was no longer in a silly bunch sticking straight up but brushed back and she had dropped the turtleneck. She still had glasses, but they were no longer black and heavy rimmed, instead being framed by thin silver.
“None of that, Moon Dancer.” I sighed, “I get enough of the entire Lord thing from other ponies and official functions. It's mostly Celestia messing with me anyway. Come in, come in.”
Moving back and to the side, I let both of them inside before allowing the door to close as I headed back towards the table, “Please, help yourselves.” before taking a bite of my own sandwich. Mmm. Cheese, bell peppers and daffodils. Nice combo!
“No thank you, I'm fine.” Moon Dancer said and stopped close by the table, looking around a bit.
Sigh.
“Relax, have a seat.” I said and jumped onto the couch, laying down as I poured us each a cup of tea. I didn't even bother to ask Skitter, by now I knew that she would simply decline. She was also missing.
Like usual when other people stopped by, she stayed out of sight. Considering the very limited hiding places here, she was likely on the balcony. Or possibly beneath the couch.
“Uhm... yes. Thank you.” Moon Dancer said and jumped up to sit down on the comfy chair Skitter usually occupied, automatically taking the cup and saucer as I passed it to her.
“So what bring you to our door?”
“I finished a research project for Princess Luna and I'm ready to present the results. I may be a hour or so early for our meeting, though,” Moon Dancer explained, seemingly starting to relax slightly, “I'm not sure how interested you would be in the general effects upon the Equestrian farming practices by new farming methods spreading from the Minotaur Republic.”
I shook my head, “I can't say it's a subject that I am well versed in. Farming is not exactly something I know about, it's actually for the best if I'm normally not allowed to keep houseplants. But I'm sure it's an important subject. Luna should be up soon.”
Nodding, Moon Dancer sipped at her tea before shifting to finally putting her bag down next to the chair, “It was rather facilitating researching the differences in methods and yields. For some crops it is actually superior to the traditional method, but for others it gives much lower quality.”
“I see. So how have you been, Moon Dancer? I have not seen you in ages.”
“...Busy. My new job keeps me really busy, but it's fascinating. Varied subjects. Access to the Royal Archives and labs. Resources for research projects and experiments.” Moon Dancer answered with a smile, “I love it.”
“So I can see.” I said with a smile of my own, “I'm glad it's working out for you.”
“What about you? How were your travels?”
“Well, first we headed to Balitmare. There was a bit of a complication on the train station there where we ran into this Griffin that's...”
Hiver you tease!!! Also, First!!!
First you cut to the waking up part, then you stop
Once it was starting to get rolling.
Just for that, I'm gonna....
do nothing and wait patiently for the next chapter...sigh we both no I can't stay away.
Hiver used cliffhanger no jutsu! It was super effective!
Also another nice little heart warming chapter keep up the good work.
Read ya later-BFBL
Wait just a moment. You established that his timberpup is both pet and houseplant, now you established that he's very bad at keeping houseplants...
Poor Timbers we hardly knew ye.
That or he can dump it on moon dancer to figure out how to grow/raise a timberpup
Seriously, gorram ninjas I see what you did there XD
I wouldn't be terribly surprised, what with an entire wing of starswirl spells.
7305546
What are you talking about? It is only a cliffhanger if it actually gets finished and we all know that Hiver has no intention of actually telling us that story. It will get tossed out like all the other most interesting bits... he is clearly aiming to keep the story SoL by simply skipping anything interesting or exciting. Frankly I'm shocked we got the brief scuffle with the Timberwolves. Remember, SoL also stands for 'Shit outta Luck'!
I love baltimare. Best pkace to find devils
I've seen a couple stories where the castle maids are also a spec ops unit, so you never know...
9086855
That was what I was thinking!!! If they so sneaky, train them to be deadly!!!
reminds me of the "ninja restaurant" in the online comic Freefall...the customers never see the waiters.
Awww I'm intrigued about the Griffin now
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Probably because he and Luna got into an argument about getting the timberwolf pup potty trained
Timber Puppy... The best thing to guard your room from stalkers and thiefs
10956489
With the exception of our favorite cuddlebug of corse…
Griffon? The Gilda episode?
11586508
Agreed! Snuggelbugs can smell trouble coming. Unless trouble is everywhere cooking already...
YES, a Firefly reference!!!!
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i.pinimg.com/736x/34/90/14/3490147a76fab68118bb867e1592e464--herd-betrayal.jpg
Just when I thought I couldn't love this story more.
Page is bad with room plants? Good the puppy can whine...
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Luna was likely feeding the pup some nobles under the table.
Page: "Luna, you hypocrite! You jumped my shit just for testing out a dark magic spell, then I find out you've been feeding Fern ponies!? That's dark as fuck!"
Luna: "They were nobles, Page. Not dark at all. Look how nicer Canterlot has become."
Celestia: "Well.... while both of you may have good arguments, you certainly can't argue about the results."
Page: "...This is true."
Luna: "I just wish I had started with Neighsay.... "