Clockwork Moon

Eye of the Storm (1)

There were some faint hoofsteps, but they stopped almost as soon as they became audible.

“Ah, here we are. My workshop.”

“…You do know the sign’s misspelled, right?”

“That’s on purpose!” The doorknob rattled, before the key clicked in the lock.

“Riiight. Whatever you say.” The door opened.

“No, really! It’s meant to look foreign and interesting! Intelligent! Catch the eye, you know?”

“It’s interesting, all right.” An Earth Pony Stallion stepped inside, his frame silhouetted in the doorway. “Oi! There’s no call for that! Wait… I didn’t turn the lights off…” He reached to the left of the door, into the shadows that permeated the inside of the building. His hoof glinted, a metal rod reflecting in the early morning sun. It was strapped to, and led down, his forehoof, leading down to a mechanical hand and back up to a metal box on his back. There was a click, and the inside of the warehouse was filled with light.

In the new light, his brown-coloured fur was revealed, as was a crop of messy orange hair. He entered, looking around with an air of confusion as the voice that he had been arguing with entered behind him. It belonged to a magenta Unicorn mare, whose hair was a similar shade with a pinkish stripe slicing through the center and down to the end. A small male baby Dragon rode on her back, excitedly looking around the warehouse. Finally, a deep-blue Alicorn mare followed them in, shutting the door behind them with a cerulean wave of magic.

“Nor did I close the door when I left. Maybe Niles did it…?”

“Is it always such a mess in here?”

“What… Are you always so critical? I’m busy, I don’t always have time to…to…” He trailed off, looking around the massive room once more, only now taking in the state of disarray it was in. It looked rather like a certain god of Chaos had been let loose.

“Huh… I mean, it’s a bit of a mess, but never… This bad!” To describe it as a shambles really wouldn’t do the mess justice. Just from a cursory glance, he could see that everything not nailed down had been stolen, and some things that had been nailed down were as well. Despite those having been most of the clutter originally, it was still a mess, as presumably that the same somepony who had taken it had scattered the contents of the file cabinets in the corner across the warehouse, creating a carpet of paper between the tables and workbenches. The papers themselves, he realized with a start, were his mail, his various documents, and what seemed to be any pieces of paper one could find in and around the warehouse. Thankfully, he didn’t see any of his blueprints in the piles.

The afore-mentioned file cabinets themselves had been overturned, seemingly just for the hay of it, as had several long workbenches. At the back, the firing range had been knocked over, the sheet-metal walls now resting on the floor as well as the bulls-eye. The blue Alicorn stood next to the Earth  Pony, concern in her eyes as his glazed over. “Tinkertoy? Art thou well?”

“I… My work… My life… I lived here, who would just…? Luna, all of my…my…Stuff, it’s just… Gone!” The Unicorn turned to the Dragon on her back. “Spike, dig through this, see if you can find anything important.” He had been sniffing the air, and only realized a second later she’d been talking to him. “Huh? Oh! Gotcha, Twilight.” He leapt off and began shuffling the piles about.

Tinkertoy seemed to snap out of his distraught trance, and leapt onto one of the tables, taking a much more thorough inventory. “Seriously? They took the RADIO? Who does that?!” Luna flapped her wings and landed next to him. “Thy culprits seem to have absconded with thy tools as well. Who hast done such a thing?”

“You… Really designed an electric pen?” They quickly descended into an argument, triggered by Twilight’s condescension, Tinkertoy’s defense of his life, and Luna trying to find some middle ground.

“Guys?”

Twilight pulled a book from the floor, a scrapbook of various inventions. Most of the latter half of the book seemed to be a picture taken every day of some form of Automobile. “Look at this! Who would want to ride in something this dangerous, or something that stupid-looking, for that matter?”

“How dare you! I’ll have you know that the Gasoline Automobile is perfectly safe, and the only reason it looks like that, for function, mind you, not for beauty, is because I haven’t built the outer skin for it!”

“I’m sure.”

“Guys? Hello?”

Luna began digging through a scattered pile of jars, which all seemed to have escaped unbroken. She pushed an empty one labeled “Clockwork Virus” out of the way, pulling out another that seemed to hold an organ of some sort, suspended in a clear liquid. Suddenly, a slit opened against the jar, facing her, revealing an orange, cat-like eye. Luna yelped before dropping the jar, only barely being able to catch it with her magic before it hit the floor.

“Luna! Is something wrong?” Instantly, Tinkertoy was by her, taking the jar with his metal hands. “Wait, is this… Ha! The fools left Sparky!”

“Sparky? Thou named this abomination Sparky?” Tinkertoy brought the jar to his snout, and began nuzzling it lovingly. “Yep. He was part of this idea I had this one time. It boiled down to organic engines, and Sparky was my first attempt.”

“Ah…”

“Backfired miserably. On the plus side, I got a pet-slash-friend that I only had to feed a minute amount of electricity. He’s incredibly adaptable, and he even shaped himself so that he could feed off-“

“GUYS!”

The shout instantly drew all attention to Spike. “Does anypony else smell Kerosene?” Twilight sniffed the air. “Now that you mention it… Yes, yes I do. How did you smell that?”

Spike looked flattered for a moment, before he began. “Well, you kinda get trained to notice flammable stuff when you can breathe fire…” He trailed off. “Why IS there Kerosene in here?”

“It’s not supposed to be. I don’t use Kerosene in my workshop, not even for lanterns. Too flammable.” Tinkertoy gently set the jar back down, and sniffed the floor. Behind him, Luna bent down for a closer look at the jar. A tentacle waved at her from inside the jar, seemingly happy.

Tinkertoy bent down, and pulled the paper below his hooves wide, exposing the bare floor. It was absolutely soaked in Kerosene, the stench of the flammable liquid wrinkling their noses in disgust.

“What…?” He was interrupted by the balcony door on the second floor opening wide. The sound of arguing entered first.

“See! Diamond dog tell you not on fire! Ignatious never lie, just forget!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…”

“It not Ignatious’s fault if partner is birdbrain! Literally! Damned Gryphon chase pigeon!”

“Hey.”

There was a long pause.

“…I caught that pigeon.” The Gryphon in question stepped through the door, his grimy grey feathers rustling in surprise. “Uh…”

“What, stupid bird?” A blue Diamond Dog entered after him, looking about in surprise as he remembered he’d shut the lights off. They both looked down, and saw four pairs of eyes (And one spare) were looking at them in surprise. Consisting of the owner of the warehouse, a famous Unicorn, her baby Dragon, and the Princess of the night herself. Tinkertoy reflected that he may have suddenly started meeting much more powerful ponies thus far, seemingly without reason and without much warning.

Behind the pair above, metaphorical bricks dropped. The Diamond Dog leaned over and hissed out of the corner of his mouth, “Does Jeff have plan?” The Gryphon leaned over as well. “That depends. Do you still have that Molotov?”

“Ignatious drink.”

“Then no.” His eyes darted downward, just as Luna shook off the initial surprise. “What right hast thou to cause such disarray!? I demand thou surrender thineselves-“ She was interrupted by the Gryphon reaching behind him and drawing a long, mechanical compound bow, which he speedily notched with an arrow.

Tinkertoy was between them and Luna before anypony could even blink, but the Gryphon had a different target. He pulled the string back, and loosed the arrow into the warehouse’s fusebox, which exploded in a brilliant shower of sparks, killing the lights as it did so. The shower of flash-melted metal reached the Kerosene below, and it snapped into flame in an instant, the sudden blaze spreading quickly across the Kerosene-soaked carpet of paper.

“OUTOUTOUT!” Yelled Twilight, yanking Spike back onto her back and disappearing in a bright snap of magical energy. The teleportation tore a sizable hole in the roof, presumably as Twilight moved faster than physically possible via magic. Bright sunlight from the hole quickly replaced the darkness of the workshop, which had only been illuminated by the flames. Tinkertoy pulled Luna away from the balcony, and out of the sunlight, as flames began to lick up the walls, and they both began running towards the door. They slammed it open, the bright sunlight replacing the fire-lit interior before they collapsed onto the sidewalk. Tinkertoy looked up just fast enough to catch Twilight snapping back into existence before she careened into a nearby wall, catapulting Spike off said wall, and back towards them. Twilight slowly took a few steps backward, eyes rolling in her head as she began trying to speak.

“Got out… Tried to teleport to police station… Forgot where police station was… Couldn’t teleport to the palace, too far… End up as a purple smear… Teleported back…” Her eyes righted themselves, and her horn glowed. “Can probably put it out myself… Maybe Clover the Clever’s Spring Shower? Or Stonehoof’s inland wave? Maybe- shut up, voices! That’s not helping right now! No, maybe an instant condensation spell?”

“But… my work… My life…” She turned, her eyes glowing with power. “You too! SHUT UP! I can hardly hear myself think!” Tinkertoy was instantly silenced. She wasn’t listening. Ah well. Really, it’s not like he had anything important. It’d all been taken already. What was left was hardly worth saving. Certainly nothing living-

“SPARKY!” He shouted, leaping back at the door. It had closed shut after them, and smoke was curling out from underneath it. He grabbed the handle, but was yanked away by a blue glow of magic. He instantly felt nauseous. He pulled the handle out with him, and the door opened into a gout of flame, which burst outward. Had Luna not grabbed him, he would have been roasted. She dropped him back on the ground, where Luna stood next to him, making sure he was okay. He was, but from his perspective, everything was sideways.

“Seriously? That abomination in the jar? You want to go back into that,” Twilight said, motioning her hoof at the steadily burning building. “To get a squid?”

“’Tis a living creature, Twilight Sparkle. Doth Sparky not have a right to live?” Luna pulled Tinkertoy back to his feet, but his knees buckled again. She caught him with her wing, and held him close with it to keep him standing.

“And… And he’s not an abomination… He’s a sentient being, just like you or I… Well, semi-sentient… Sort of… It’s complicated…”

Spike hopped off Twilight’s back, and walked up to Tinkertoy, whose head was still visibly sagging towards the ground. His eyes moved up to look at Spike at more-or-less the same height. “The thing in the jar, right? With the eye? I’ll get it.” He began to move towards the door, but Twilight stepped in front of him. “Spike, what in Tartarus do you think you’re doing? You’ll get burned!”

Spike just pushed past her hoof. “Relax, Twilight. Fireproof, remember? I’ll be right back.” He paused one last time at the door, after pushing it open. “It’s in the pile of jars next to that giant typewriter, isn’t it?” Tinkertoy nodded, and Spike turned before walking into the burning building with his distinct waddle. Twilight turned to Tinkertoy. “If he gets a single scorch…”

She was interrupted by the sound of rapid hoofsteps down the street, towards them. Above, a squadron of Pegasi blew overhead, circling back with a leftover raincloud. Two stayed to buck the cloud into releasing the water inside, while the rest scattered to get more. Back down on the street, a beet red Unicorn wearing a fireproof coat and a firepony’s hat came around the corner of a nearby warehouse, leading a small group of similarly-dressed Unicorns and Earth Ponies to the burning building. “Hey! What happened?”

The fact that he was asking Princess Luna never really registered. He had a job to do, and he listened intently. “’Twas started by saboteurs, arsonists, in order to cover the tracks of a royal assassination attempt. A Diamond Dog and a Gryphon. Thy names wert Ignatious and Jeff. Tell thy Pegasi to ‘Keep their eyes peeled’, as it were.” The Unicorn nodded, and an orange glow surrounded a communication crystal attached to the lapel of his coat.

“Waterhorn one to all Waterwings, be advised. Witnesses say Arson. Culprits are a Squawker and a Rockdog. They may be armed, so watch your plots.” Behind him, a cyan Earth Pony yelled “Bow-chicka-bow-wow!” “Can it, Hot!” The Firepony spat. He glanced back at the crystal. “Somepony else get a line out to the guard, tell them we have Luna and Arson out here.” He clicked it back off, and faint radio chatter along the lines of “Did he say Princess Luna?” could just barely be heard.

He turned back to the three, giving Tinkertoy an odd look. It was probably justified, as he was still being held up by Luna’s wing. “Now, I’m gonna need statements from all of-“

“OHCELESTIAGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFSWEETMERCIFUL-“ Spike burst out of the warehouse, his screams slightly muffled by a mass of tentacles wrapped around his head, tipped with small claws. The main part of it, or at least the center of mass, appeared to be attached to his left temple. A single, orange, catlike eye looked around wildly and settled on Tinkertoy. It pulled on the Dragon’s shoulder and started tugging him in their general direction.

“Spike?! Are you alright?! Is it hurting you?! Did you get burned?!” At Twilight’s last question, the eye moved up and down repeatedly. “Sparky!” Tinkertoy managed to find the strength to stand, and moved towards the two. “I’m so sorry, Sparky, I didn’t know they’d start the fire and-“

“GETITOFFYOUCRAZYBUCKER!!!” Spike was, of course, still underneath Sparky. “C’mere, Sparky! Come to Tinkertoy!” It chittered and began unwinding itself from Spike, before leaping off his head at Tinkertoy. As soon as it was clear, Twilight wrapped Spike in a hug, almost crushing him against the sidewalk. From underneath her, Spike’s eyes darted around until they locked back onto Sparky, who was now suckering itself onto Tinkertoy.

“That…Thing…Jumped out of nowhere at me! It clamped on and rode me back out of the warehouse!” He looked at his arm, which one of the tentacles had wrapped around for support. “I want to take a bath. For, like, a week. That just felt wrong…”

They all looked back at Tinkertoy, who had stopped listening and had begun nuzzling Sparky affectionately. It seemed the squid had settled, and Tinkertoy was now wearing him like a scarf made of tentacles, the suckers essentially gluing him into place for the moment. Most of the creature’s mass had settled in the crook between Tinkertoy’s neck and back, and the various tentacles had wrapped around his barrel and extremities to get a grip.

Tinkertoy was completely unaffected by this.

“Awww, who’s a good Sparky? You are! Because you’re the only Sparky! You’re irreplaceable, don’t you worry! Yes you are! Now, did somepony disconnect you while I was gone? Poor little squiddy, you must’ve been starved and I bet you couldn’t get past Spike’s scales! Go ahead, little guy, take all you need!” He nuzzled it again, and it chittered, extending two more tentacles. These were smaller and sharp at the ends, and the creature quickly and carefully poked them into Tinkertoy’s back, connecting into his spine. Tinkertoy jumped a little at the prick, but it only lasted a moment. The smaller tentacles glowed slightly as it began feeding, a barely-visible orange glow spreading across them.

“What,” Asked Twilight, coldly and carefully. “Is it doing?” Tinkertoy turned to her. Behind him, Luna leaned in closer to look at Sparky, a small smile betraying her interest. “HE is feeding off my body’s excess electricity. That’s how he gets nutrition, by drinking tap water, and then electrolyzing it into oxygen, hydrogen, and whatever else was in the tap water. Which, incidentally, is how he breathes. The hydrogen is released, and I was planning on jury-rigging my internal combustion engine to use it as a fuel. Hence why the fire freaked him out, and in his panic, attempted to… ‘couple’ with Spike there. He was beginning to run out of both.”

Spike blinked, before he shrank back towards Twilight. “C… Couple? …Ew…”

“Not like that! He’s a symbiotic creature! I feed him, and he helps me with my experiments. He has proven himself an able assistant, and I count him among my friends, if not one of my best.”

“Sounds more like a parasite. Any side effects? Should I be even more concerned for Spike?”

“Of course not. Had he succeeded, the only noticeable effects would be that both be quite a bit calmer. It seems, however, that Dragon scales are solid enough to resist Sparky’s plugs.” Luna gently poked one of Sparky’s loose tentacles with her hoof. It lifted, curled, and slowly extended towards her hoof. When she didn’t recoil instantly at the contact, it reached out again. Luna allowed it to probe along her forehoof, and she leaned in close. It followed her leg up to the shoulder, and continued to her muzzle. She let it feel along, memorizing her face, and exploring through the medium of touch.

She looked back at where it had injected Tinkertoy. “Doth… Doth that hurt?”

“Only at first, when he starts. He’d be a terrible symbiote if he caused constant pain. Instead, he creates and releases a chemical that dulls said pain, and coagulates the blood.”

“Curious…” The tentacles finished their investigation, and gently patted Luna’s head. “Good, Sparky. Nice and calm. Everything is fine. This is Luna. Luna, you’re in luck. He likes you!” Luna smiled, and reached her hoof back out, pausing just before she touched him. “Go ahead. He likes being petted.” Now with permission, Luna began petting Sparky, eliciting a gentle purr from whatever auditory organs the Squid possessed.

At some point, the Firepony had left, likely to direct the Pegasi. He returned now, with several guards, the Firepony chief, Captain Shining Armor, and Princess Celestia herself. The Chief spoke first.

“Chief Firebreak. What’s this about arson?” Celestia simply stepped over him, looking directly at Luna as the Chief scooted out from beneath her. “Luna. You have not been outside the palace for an hour, and yet I am receiving reports of arson, attempted murder, and potential biohazards. Explain yourself, Sister.” Her gaze shifted to Tinkertoy, and the Squid hooked into his spine. “Ah. That would be the biohazard, then. Hold still, Smith. I would not want to blast you as well.”

Instantly, Tinkertoy turned to protect Sparky, yelling “Don’t!: in the process. At the same time, Luna leapt in front of them both, blocking Celestia’s spell. “Tia! Hold thine fire!” A shimmer that had building at the tip of Celestia’s horn dissipated. “Luna. You are making this far more complicated than it needs to be. ‘Twas a mistake to let this pony drag you out on this fool’s errand.” She looked past all three of them, to Twilight. “Perhaps you can shed some light on current events, my student. Please, tell me what has happened here, and why they are protecting that Parasite.”

Twilight levitated Spike onto her back, and confidently strode alongside Celestia. She cleared her throat. “Ahem. We stopped by Mr. Smith’s workshop to search for clues, lock up properly, and locate ‘useful’ devices.” She wiggled her hooves as she said “Useful”.

“We found that it had been broken into, and we arrived just prior to them actually lighting the fire. An unlucky coincidence, nothing more. The Squid seems to be an artificially created pet.”

“And he doth be harmless!” Luna added to the end. Celestia gave her with a glare that could slag glass. It softened quickly, but not much. “Lulu. Please don’t interrupt. Twilight was speaking.”

“Actually, I was more-or-less-“

“But she was-“

“Luna. Like that.” She glared at her once more. Twilight’s eyes darted from one to another, before she started again. “Er…anyway… The Gryphon started the fire. The Diamond Dog called him Jeff, and himself Ignatious. That’s about it.”

In the background, the combined efforts of the Pegasi in the air and the Unicorns on the ground had finally put out the fire, only smoke guttering out of less-soaked piles of rubble. The largest remaining column of smoke curled into the sky, a black streak on a perfect blue painting. Captain Armor stepped into the ruin of the building, pushing the more obstructive piles of debris aside. The charred remains stained his fetlocks, turning his white legs grey. He walked through the skeleton of the building, dodging a support beam as it snapped off what was left of the rooftop. Finally he reached the back, and found the melted fusebox.

“You said it was here?” The shout came from the back of the warehouse. Tinkertoy turned. Shining Armor was inspecting the source of the fire, and the arrow sticking out of it. “Yeah, that’s it. Power shut off when it got hit, so you should be alright.” The white stallion nodded, and wrapped a levitation field around the arrow. It came loose with just a couple of yanks and a squeak of metal, and he inspected it as he walked towards them.

The fletching had burned, but the smell of scorched Gryphon had easily replaced it. Hoof… Claw-made, so no manufacturer. He flipped it ninety degrees. The tip had blunted from the impact, but appeared to have been a solid-body metal arrow with no arrowhead. About half-way down the shaft, he spied several multi-coloured bands encircling the arrow. H idly pondered their purpose as he stepped out  of the burnt-out building.

“Here’s the arrow. Typical Gryphon design. He made it himself, using his own feathers. Means he’s a competent flier, and confidant enough to use his own feathers to guide his shots. Doesn’t really narrow it down, though. Every Gryphon is proud of their work.”

“Now, the bands here are interesting. I’ve seen them before in the armory, but I never got to learn what they meant. They’re used for tracking their kills among Gryphon mercenaries. Every one is different. Somepony pulls one of these out of an enemy, the Gryphon who uses these colours gets paid a bonus.” He held it out, so anypony could take it to explain. A cerulean glow shimmered around it as Luna took it and held it to her eyes.

“’Tis been not long enough since I have seen such weapons. I still recall their meaning, however, and-“ She was interrupted as the arrow was yanked out of her ethereal grasp, now surrounded by a magenta glow. “I was reading a book about the Gryphon military last week. I got this.”

Luna gaped at her. “But… But I was going to…” Twilight shot a glare at her. “Luna. It had diagrams. I got this.” She took a deep breath as Luna looked around, sputtering, for support. All eyes were on Twilight, save Tinkertoy’s.

“Let’s see. Four rings. In order of back to front, species, family, personal colours, and who he works for. Species is white with brown spots, or Gryphon. We knew that, and I’m getting sick of saying it. Family, purple and yellow, don’t know, don’t care. Personal colours are brown, red, and purple. Company colours are green and yellow, so we should be on the lookout for companies with those colours. Obviously.”

Celestia nodded. “Impressive, Twilight. I shall assist. I do not know the Gryphon families, but I do know what the personal colours mean. Brown means ‘Expert in ground combat’, and it’s a light brown, so at range. Red means warrior. Light red, so maybe ten kills at most. Finally, purple means he’s a scholar, specifically a history major. Which is a bit odd. However, I  don’t recall the company colours either. We can narrow those down, however.”

Twilight nodded, and the arrow floated back to the captain, changing to his dark pink as it did so. “We’ll keep checking out our ‘Airship’ lead. See you at six, Shiny?”

“You bet. Mom and Dad are looking forward to seeing you again, Sis!”

“Me too! I’ve got so much to tell them!” Gently, the conversation faded into background noise. Both Luna and Tinkertoy had tuned them out. Luna was still standing there, her mouth agape.

Twilight’s opinion was more important than hers.

Her mind darted back to the last year and a half.

When she had learned her Lunar guards had all but disbanded.

When nopony would speak to her. They were afraid.

A stark inability to do anything about it, because she no longer held any authority.

She was denied her spot on the council.

Learning that over the millennia she had been gone, she had been replaced by a procession of students, which were nothing but glorified goldfish.

Learning that everypony she had ever known before her banishment, save her sister, was now dead.

Learning that the latest goldfish had replaced her in her sister’s mind.

Tinkertoy saw her eyes glaze over, and he stood next to her for support. “Luna? Are you okay?”

Her night court was a sham. Only a distraction so Celestia could say she had a duty.

That holiday, and it’s cannibalistic folklore. Not that she minded the actual holiday itself, but the intent behind it. She didn’t like scaring ponies, even if they wanted to be scared.

And the goldfish had tried to change her, to bend her to her will, just because… Because she no longer fit here. Tried to make her more likable… Because she no longer was.

In fact, only the reduction of the royal Canterlot voice had been useful, or had, in fact, stuck. That and the abolishment of the royal “We”. Not that the goldfish hadn’t reminded her every chance they met.

The only job that she was allowed to do, one of the few duties she enjoyed… Ponies seemed more scared when she showed up than before, no matter how awful the nightmare.

That duty was the small mercy that Celestia had given her. And nopony wanted it.

She… was useless.

No.

Worse than useless.

Extraneous.

Equestria already had one Princess. The shift to a diarchy was too much. Too sudden. They didn’t need another Princess.

She would always be overshadowed, compared to her sister, and she would always come in second. Dead last.

And she would always be a villain in their eyes.

Tinkertoy went from standing next to Luna to comfort her and keep her company, to holding her up as she slumped, sobbing. All eyes were instantly on them as she fell to the sidewalk. “Luna?! Are you alright?”

“T…T…Tinkertoy… We are useless! We hath been replaced!”

“Lulu? Stop this tomfoolery. Our subjects are watching.”

“Thine subjects are watching! Mine is holding me now! Nothing I do m….m…matters!” Twilight rolled her eyes. ”Jeez. She could give Rarity a run for her bits right about now.”

Captain Armor helped pull Luna up, settling her against Tinkertoy. He stared at Twilight while Luna clutched Tinkertoy like a drowning mare. “Twily? Are you feeling alright?”

“Perfectly fine. I’ve seen Rarity do this plenty of times. She starts feeling ignored, and gets all dramatic so everypony’ll pay attention to her again.”

Spike shifted on her back, and Twilight looked back at him. “But she’s crying…”

“So does Rarity. She’ll get over it.” Celestia tilted her head at all of them. “Lulu-“

“Doth not call us by that name! Not after the past 1015 years!” Celestia sighed, and her head sunk. “Luna. Nopony wants to see history repeat itself. Please, you need a rest. Smith, you seem to be helping, if only a miniscule amount. Can you watch over her?”

Tinkertoy nodded, and Celestia looked closely at Luna. “Please, Luna. Get your thoughts together. Go back to the palace. I shall meet you there later, and we shall have a good, long, talk. I foresee it being beneficial to us both.”

Luna stared back at her with hatred in her eyes. “The palace you built, adding our quarters as an afterthought? FINE! Goodbye Celestia! GOOD DAY!” She began moving on her own without warning, and Tinkertoy stumbled for a moment before catching up to her.

They disappeared around a corner, and Twilight looked back at Celestia. “I’ll keep searching. Can you send a royal guard down to meet me at Air Traffic control? I need to look at the manifest, and I doubt they’ll just let anypony look at it.”

“Indeed. In fact, Captain Armor?”

“Yes?”

“Are you busy?”

“Not at all.” He got her hint. “Come on, Twily. I’ll come with. Why don’t you tell me what you’ve been studying lately?” They trotted off, leaving Celestia behind. She gazed at the palace as she murmured to herself. “Lulu, what odd mood has taken you as of late? You have been acting so strange…” Her eyes drifted upwards as she looked over her sky, finally settling as she gazed straight into the sun. “But thank you for the compliment. ‘Tis a good day, indeed.”