The New Problem

Moonlight quietly entered the throne room of the castle. The purple and green dragon she had seen before was sitting in a chair next to the throne. He gave her a nod, "Twilight will be here after she gets done with a meeting. Is there anything I can do to help you?" he asked.

The mare didn't pay attention to the dragon, she walked up towards the throne and sat before it. Her pale yellow tail positioned itself in front of her as she calmly and quietly waited for the Princess to return. "Twilight's kind of busy, I could take a message for you if you want," Spike offered.

"I am not interested in her receiving a message, this is something that I need to talk with the Princess alone. I am here to request that audience. I apologize for my brusque mannerisms, but this is something of the utmost importance and I cannot risk her not receiving the full message," Moonlight retorted without even bothering to turn his way.

The dragon was surprised at the fact that the mare in front of him apologized despite everything else she had said being par for the course for her. She didn't seem like she was trying to be rude, despite her choice of words. Spike shrugged and continued looking towards the door. The investigator stretched out and rested her head on the floor. Her rest was quickly interrupted when the doors opened, getting her attention. She turned her head, hopeful that it was the Princess, but instead a griffon stood there.

The griffon's body tensed up upon seeing her, but the mare shook her head, "I am not here to fight you or the Princess. I have important business I have to discuss with her," she said in reassuring tone.

"I'm real sure you are," the griffon replied sarcastically.

"If I was here to attack the Princess, why would I have come here and not attacked her friend here to find out where she was or have tried to find out her exact location so I could fight her easier?" Moonlight asked with a smirk on her face.

She knew that the royal guardsgriffon was doing his job, but she had brought up a good point. The two of them locked eyes for a brief moment, both of their bodies tensed up as both of them prepared for the other to go on the offensive. Despite the tension between them, nothing happened. Neither of them were looking for a fight, Gallus was only doing his job of protecting the Princess and Moonlight was merely here to speak to her about the voice that kept calling out to her.

"Come find me in the Everfree Forest..." the voice rang out in her head.

She now knew where she would be able to find the voice, but her heart sank as memories of her almost perishing to those Timberwolves started to rush back. Her eyes widened, a fact that was not missed by the royal guard that was watching her like a hawk. He tensed up further as he prepared for some sort of aggressive move on Moonlight's part. But again, it never came. The mare shook her head to break free from the memories that were gripping her.

The two returned to staring at each other in silence. But a lavender alicorn stepped into the throne room. "When I left, I didn't expect to see you and Gallus here staring each other down, Moonlight," she said somewhat disappointed.

"She could still be a threat your highness," the griffon reported.

"Luster taught me how to use magic. If I had wanted to be a threat, I'd have cast a spell to get rid of you," Moonlight pointed out while tapping her horn with a hoof.

She was surprised at how sensitive it was, but the Princess of Equestria sighed at this, "Gallus is here to defend me, Moonlight. Pointing out how you could possibly be a threat to me or anyone else isn't a good way to earn friends, nor is it a good way to get the Captain of the Royal Guard to relax," the larger mare pointed out.

"I'm not surprised, but I don't really know of any other way to try. The reason I came here though is because I need to talk to you alone, or at least without that feathered brute here," the smaller mare replied.

Gallus was immediately angered by that comment, "Hey!" he yelled.

"Let it go, Gallus. I will hear her out, if she does anything aggressive, I will stop her and you can put her in the dungeon for a few days to cool her head," Twilight said calmly.

The griffon immediately smirked at the smaller mare and then saluted the Princess. He left the room and then Twilight looked at Spike who sighed, "I knew that I was going to have to leave the moment she told me that she wanted to speak to you alone," he said disappointed.

The dragon followed out of the room and the Princess assumed her throne. Moonlight stood up and there was an awkward silence between the two. The first time the two had met, the unicorn tried to attack the alicorn. The second time, she had bitten the Princess. The unicorn wasn't exactly the best example of someone that could be trusted to not be a danger to anyone.

"Come... find me..." the voice in her head said again.

Moonlight slammed her hoof into her head trying to shake the voice out, but all that did was cause her pain. She shook her head as she tried to regain her balance from the blow. This did not go unnoticed by Twilight who looked at the mare before her, worried, "Normally ponies don't hit themselves, what's wrong?"

The unicorn mare grit her teeth in anger, she was very distressed by the voice and the pain. "Someone familiar to me keeps trying to call to me, to try to get me to go see them. They mentioned that they're in the Everfree Forest. However, I know that it can't be them, because they didn't come to this world," Moonlight hissed.

"How do you know that he's not here?" responded the Princess with a question and an arched brow.

The unicorn mare fell silent, she turned away and started to walk away from the throne. She wasn't ready to talk about this, not yet. No one in Equestria except for one other person knew what had happened and he was the one she was trying to pursue. Her legs suddenly locked up, she expected some sort of spell was cast on them, "Remove this spell," she demanded.

"That's not me, that's you. Something inside of you won't let you leave, Moonlight. Tell me what's wrong," Twilight replied calmly, ignoring the demand.

"I want to be returned to my normal size, I feel like a child like this," the investigator requested.

"That potion you were given will wear off when you learn how to be grateful and not so aggressive towards my friends and the various creatures of Equestria. Tell me, what have you learned?" the Princess informed Moonlight, ending with a question.

The unicorn mare turned around, her pale yellow mane falling before her eyes, but a flick of her head placed it back behind her. "Can you please affix my mane into a ponytail, I much would rather have my mane bound in some way instead of having it flow freely?" she requested.

Twilight smiled and nodded at the politeness that the unicorn was showing, it was a pleasant change of pace from her usual standoffish attitude. She used her magic to grab a scrunchie and use it to fix Moonlight's mane into a ponytail. The unicorn nodded a little when she was done, "Thank you, Princess," she said.

The Princess watched as the smaller mare grew a little bit more, getting ever closer to her full height. "Are you willing to share what had happened to the person you keep hearing, why they cannot be here?", she asked quietly.

The investigator sighed, her shoulders sagged and she looked down so that the alicorn wouldn't be able to look into her eyes. It didn't stop the tears from hitting the ground. She opened her mouth to form words, but all that came out was a sob. She heard the Princess stand up from the throne and the clip-clop of her hooves as she walked over to her. "Don't touch me!" she warned.

A sigh left Twilight Sparkle's mouth, she wanted to comfort this pony who was obviously hurt. She wanted to bring her into an embrace. "Sunrise is nowhere near here. I've had scouts trying to find him ever since we met, Moonlight. He isn't within Canterlot and he isn't within Ponyville. The last known sighting of him was at the Peaks of Peril and that was a while ago. I know that you don't know where that is, but it's very far from here. Reports said that he was heading further away from Canterlot. It's okay, he can't hurt you and he won't be able to see me try to help you. You can let down your walls, you can let me in," she said in an attempt to calm the investigator down.

Moonlight trembled slightly, she didn't like the idea of being embraced by someone other than her father. But when the wing wrapped around her, she didn't resist it, much to her surprise. It felt warm and reminded her a little of her mother back when she was a child. She felt a feather brush beneath her eyes to wipe her tears. "There there, Moonlight. I know that you feel hurt deep down inside, but we can get through this together. I do have an answer to the one that's been calling you though," the Princess said to her calmly.

"W-what's that?" the investigator asked, a little afraid.

She felt herself being pressed closer to the Princess, much like her mother had did when she was a child. For the first time since she turned eighteen, Moonlight felt safe. She felt secure and protected. For the first time in a long time, she wasn't afraid of what might happen. She closed her eyes and just allowed the hug to continue, the tears continued to flow, but they too soon dried up.

"It's the Tree of Harmony, it's calling you. I don't know nor understand why it chose you specifically, but I believe it has sensed something within you that it can help you with," Twilight stated.

The investigator looked up at the alicorn, the two of them remained silent for a moment. It was the unicorn that broke the silence, "The last time I was in the Everfree Forest, I nearly perished at the claws of Timberwolves. If it wasn't for Zecora, I wouldn't be here right now," she pointed out.

"I can see that you're afraid to return there. Do not worry about anything, I can just teleport you there and when you're done, the Tree will show you a safe path through the forest," the Princess assured her.

Moonlight nodded slightly, she knew about teleportation and knew the theory behind the spells. She however had never seen it in practice, at least not successfully. The only attempts she has seen were of inanimate objects, but even then, they weren't able to be teleported. The best case scenario is that the magic had pushed the object ever so slightly in one direction. The usual scenario was that nothing happened. A few worst case scenarios resulted in a magical backlash which burnt the object to a crisp.

Twilight wrapped a hoof around Moonlight and lit up her horn. She concentrated on where the Tree of Harmony was and in a flash of light and magic, the two of them stood before it. She nudged the unicorn to walk up to the Tree itself. "This is something only you can do. I cannot accompany you any further, I'm sorry," she apologized.

Moonlight nodded as the Princess teleported back to Canterlot. She looked at the treehouse in the tree and sighed. She walked up the stairs and to the front door which opened for her. It was a surprise to be sure, but she had seen weirder since she got to Equestria. The door closed behind her as she walked in, which startled her. She started to look around, agitated by this. "Show yourself!" she demanded.

"As you wish," the voice replied.

Moonlight turned to see a figure step out of the shadows. The white skin and blue hair. The silver eyes stared at her. She knew exactly who this was. Her heart started to race, her body started to tremble as her mouth suddenly became dry. "How can this be? The reports said that you were lost to us... how can... how can you be here?"

The figure merely smiled in response.