Chapter 33- One Last Thing

Agent Moonlight Shadow made her way through the castle. The same as she had done a thousand times before. She nodded and said greetings to the ponies she passed, all running errands and keeping the city safe for Theocracy. She finally finished ascending the long spiral staircase the led to the top of the castle, and Luna’s private quarters. Two Bat ponies stood guard on either side of the door to the outer chambers, the most elite members of Luna’s Night Watch.

“Agent Moonlight Shadow, reporting to Princess Luna, as requested.” She says by rote, to the senior of the two guards.

“Of course Agent Shadow. One moment please.” He says, before entering the chamber to inform the Princess.

Moonlight turns to face the other. “So Rising, did you pop the question yet?”

Rising Moon rubs the back of his head and blushes. “Gee Moonlight, I don’t know, are you SURE that now is really the right time?”

“Trust me on this Rising, in situations like this, it’s better to just take that chance. It’s better to be turned down, than to go your entire life wondering what could hav-”

“Princess Luna will see you now,” the other guard, Nighthawk, says.

“Y-es, of course,” Moonlight says, off put by the interruption, ans she makes her way inside.

As the door closes behind her she can here “...and don’t bring that up to Agent Shadow, word is she was du-” thankfully the door closed before she could hear any more.

Moonlight makes her way into the inner chambers, past Luna’s private quarters, all the way back to the Royal Bedroom. She enters without knocking to see Luna sprawled across the bed, eating chocolate covered cherries as if there was suddenly going to be a shortage.

“Oh for Celestia’s sake! Really?!?” Moonlight explodes in exasperation.

“Whah?” Luna says her mouth full of cherries. She takes a moment to swallow. “What?” It’s not like I’m going to get fat.” She says, before her figure blurs and transforms into that of a changeling.

“That’s not the point!” Moonlight says, before her form shimmers as well, before reverting to it’s natural state, that of the real Night Princess Luna. “The point is, you’ll give me a reputation as bad as that of my sister with her cake fetish. Not to mention your getting chocolate all over my favorite comforter!”

“Ugh, touchy! Sounds like SOMEpony has had a bad day. Is being Agent ‘Shadow’ starting to get you down? It’s not like you have to do it anymore, the Wendigo situation has been taken care of.” The changeling says, still continuing to eat cherries from the box.

“Perhaps you’re right,” Luna says, absently taking a cherry herself. “Still, it’s nice to have a chance to get out of the palace now and then. Maybe I’ll have ‘Moonlight’ take a short vacation. And while she’s gone perhaps Luna will go pay a visit to her sister. Take a holiday perhaps.”

“Now THAT sounds like an excellent idea. I’d like to have a chance to see Twenty-Four again, see how he’s doing as Celestia’s double.” The changeling says. “Ah, but in the meantime, maybe this will cheer you up. It’s a package from Ori. That secretary that used to work for you COLTfriend.” he says mischievously.

“He WASN’T my coltfriend.” Luna fires back. “Stupid Johnny. Doesn’t know how good he could have had it.”

“Yeah, that might’ve been part of it. Maybe you should have told him?”

“Perhaps. But I suppose we’ll never know. Anyway, lets see what she sent us.”

Luna cuts the twine and removes the outer wrapping. Inside there is a small packing crate with a letter on the outside. Luna opens it and begins to read.

“Dear Princess Luna,

I know this is the last person you expected to hear from, but I believe you will be interested in the contents of the enclosed crate.

It seems to me like forever ago when Johnny sent me to retrieve the contents of a certain safe deposit box.

The events that occurred afterwords completely put it from my mind until Sable Shade had me index all of Johnny’s old casework. Fortunately, this being his most recent, it was right on top. I’m sorry that it has taken me so long to put this in your hooves, especially since it was so easy to retrieve, but rest assure the crown will not be charged for any additional time that has elapsed since it’s retrieval. (See enclosed bill).

If you ever need our services again, please feel free to contact us at any time.

Sincerely,

Sable Shade Investigations.”

“Bill? Case? What in Equestria is Ori talking about? Wait, hold on, could it be? Did Johnny actually find...” Luna stops speaking and begins to frantically tear open the packaging.

“What did he find?” The changeling asks, “What is it?”

Luna lifts out the small statue-like object. “The stuff that dreams are made of.”

THE END

Author's Notes:

When I began writing this story, it was originally intended to be a one chapter one shot. However several of my fans at the time messaged me and wanted more, so I decided to try and make it into a full length novel. Only the second one I ever wrote. The moment I made that decision, I knew I was going to write the story of the song 'Moonlight Shadow' by Mike Oldfield. All of the lyrics to that song were awesome but the part

"Caught in the middle of a hundred and five
The night was heavy and the air was alive
But she couldn't find how to push through"

had stayed in my head for years, and I was looking for a story that would be a good fit. The very name Moonlight Shadow was a clue as to what was to come.
Throughout the story I've included many names, references, and themes to famous works of Noir. These include, but are not limited to 'Sin City', 'The Maltese Falcon', 'To Have and to Have Not', and the more obscure 'Diamond Jim' (technically not a noir film).
Readers will also recognize Twenty-One and Twenty-Four from 'The Thirteenth Changeling Invasion'. And Venture Brothers fans will recognize them as the Monarch's henchmen. (Which, of course, was the joke in the Thirteenth Changeling Invasion). So are both of these stories set in the same continuity? I don't see why not.