Oponi

A Princess's Blight

"What is the rush?" Asked Celestia, flying overhead of Ammy and Waka.

"Amaterasu smells Blight, and that is very very bad."

"Blight? A disease?"

"Sort of, it's comlicated. The important thing is finding him before he settles-in, otherwise the city could be at risk."

"Him? I thought it was a disease?"

"Complicated, Celestia. Either-way, we have to find him before he finds someone to roost in, if he hasn't already."

Ammy took a sharp turn in the road, now heading towards the edge of the residential part of the town. They continued running for several minutes before they reached the walls of the castle. They all ran in, following after Amaterasu.

She darted through hallways, dodging past servants and guardsmen alike. The guards that tried to stop her were quickly quelled by Celestia's appearance. The trail led them up a long set of stairs, up one of the castle's many towers.

Celestia wasn't sure what part of the castle they were in, she had been focusing on both following the wolf and getting the guards to stop following her. She tried looking around for the decorations. Most people thought the princesses had simply memorized the layout of the castle, not so. They had just hid subtle hints in the various tapestries and artwork around the castle.

"Let's see... the art is red so... we are in the north-east section. The style is... semi-archaic pottery... personal chambers... and..." Celestia began rushing up the rest of the stairs, over Ammy and Waka, each having a bit of trouble with the stairs and their respective paws and shoes. Moons.

Sure-enough, they reached top of the stairs, stopping at the large ebony door that led to princess Luna's chambers. The two lunar-guardsmen staring at them with raised eyebrows.

Waka spoke-up after reaching the top of the stairs. "Celestia, why have I not been introduced to your sister yet?"

"She has been... sick for a few days."

"How many days?"

"Maybe half-a-week."

"How many days exactly?"

"Four... I think."

"We have to get those guards away from that room right now, it's dangerous."

"I doubt they will leave, they don't report to me. The guard is rather... divided."

Waka walked towards the guardponies, giving them a wave. "Hello there, privates. I'm here because we think your princess is in danger, and if we are right, you could both be in quite alot of danger when we open that big door behind you."

The guard closest to Waka responded. "Are you telling me that our princess is in trouble and you expect us to leave?! Are you insane, or just dumb-enough to not know how a guard works?"

Waka just stared at the guard. "Fine, Celestia, open the door."

"Are you sure?" He didn't try very hard to convince the guards.

"Open it, they won't move. Everything that may happen afterwards is not my fault."

With minor hesitation, Celestia inserted her horn into the door's lock, releasing a small amount of magic to undo the mechanism. "Waah!" She yelled as she was pushed to the ground by Ammy, refusing to let her up.

As soon as the door began to open, a foul green cloud of fog erupted from the room, blasting into the hallway. The guards weren't prepared, and began convulsing immediately after breathing-in some of the haze. Waka had wrapped one of the feathery sheets that hung on his helmet around his face, tucking the end into the opposite side of the helmet, limiting his gas-ingestion. "Amaterasu, there is too much of his fog. Get rid of some of it, just make-sure to not get any into the castle."

A large gust of wind erupted from the flight of stairs, blowing the fog out of the large window at the end of the hallway. The room was now only partially filled with a thin mist.

"It should be safe for a little-while. Try to open any windows you see, it will buy us some time."

"What about the guards?"

"They only got one big dose, they'll feel awful for a while, but they aren't in danger."

They quickly opened all of the available windows and balconies, most of the locks being undone at once with Celestia's magic. They rushed towards Luna's bed, the night princess was asleep, fidgeting slightly but relatively unharmed. Waka propped her up while Ammy investigated her body extremly thoroughly.

"This doesn't seem right." Muttered Waka to himself.

"Is something wrong with Luna?" Celestia asked, a little more wound-up than she would have liked.

"Blight either infects by entering the host's body or by making a cut from his sword. From what we see, he didn't do either."

"So then why is everything all foggy still?"

Amaterasu started to growl into the hall, bearing her fangs at the doorway.

Waka stared at her behavior for a few seconds before having the little lightbulb finally switch to "on" in his head. "Celestia! Teleport yourself and Luna away from this tower as soon as possible!"

She didn't bother to ask why, she would just ask why later, that and it sounded a bit too urgent for questions. She disappeared with her sister in a flash, leaving the two behind alone.

Mostly.

"That was put-together rather well, wolf." Said a voice from the hallway, raspy and aged.

"I'm more than a little ashamed I didn't figure it out first," commented Waka. "from what I've seen, you're normally not too hard to pin-down, Blight."

"Heh... heh..." Rasped the voice from the hall. "Couldn't even find me when I set-up in your own damn city, needed the wolf for that too. You aren't much of a warrior or a detective, especially if the wildlife is beating you at both."

"Show yourself, Blight. I know you aren't the type to favor talking."

"Heh... think you know everything, just because you're old. I don't need to show you anything, nobody takes orders from the Moon-Tribe... well, except maybe the celestials, but you probably know how that went."

"Show yourself! You can't expect to keep us talking until your poison works, not unless you have a few hours."

"True, true. There isn't much value in conversing with a mutt and a tribal." The fog that remained in the room and hall slowly gathered together, forming into a hazy sillouette of a samurai.

"Where's Goldnail? I hardly expect you to have come here without your sword, not if you planned on infecting people."

"I'm around." He responded casually. "Great thing about swords, we're easy to move, or was that too much for you to handle aswell?" He taunted, gesturing toward Waka's broken sword, thin whisps of smoke dropping off his extended finger. "Tell you what, I'll give you a hint, but only if you can guess a question correctly."

"Tell us the question." Demanded Waka, one hand still on his flute, Blight's story about hiding his sword could have been a ruse.

"Okay. Let's see if the tribal and his mutt can put their heads-together for this one." He finished gathering his smoke together, now a mostly opaque cut-out of a warrior.

"Who," he began. "did I come here with?"