Twilight Sparkle: Do not confuse the hiragana れねわ めぬ ろる or katakana ソン ツシ with each other!

…never mind about that. Today was the Emperor’s Birthday, an official public holiday in Japan but one of lesser importance for the common ponies because of Hearth’s Warming. Nevertheless, the latter are allowed inside the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on this special day, where from a balcony the Emperor and his relatives encounter thousands of tiny waving Japanese flags.

Parcly Taxel: Because this is a public holiday, certain establishments (especially private clinics) were closed or ran reduced operating hours, which affected the places I could visit.

I had bought a large cheese tart the day before from Dōtonbori, which I paired with milk for breakfast. JR, like any public service, was fully functional and on Sunday schedule, but what arrived on the inner tracks at platform 1 was not the solid-coloured minimalist train my eyes were expecting. Instead, serene livery with a snow-capped volcano and flowers wrapped around otherwise drab windows and doors.

Most circular rails are not pure clockwise/counterclockwise affairs. Like the Circle in London and Line 2 in Seoul, some trains on the Osaka Loop veer off to Sakurajima (桜島), an active volcano connected to the mainland by its own lava flows and a beautiful sight in itself. I wasn’t going that far though, just to Osaka Central where I would finally engage with a private rail operator.

Spindle: If the competitors are following JR, they perform very well indeed. Transferring under splendid clear skies to Umeda, wellspring and terminus of the Hankyu (阪急) network, we took the Takarazuka Line (宝塚線) to Ikeda (池田).

Remember the instant noodles Parcly ate last night? That was a Cup Noodle from Nissin, and here stood their museum dedicated to their whole family of “ramen in a cup” products.

Parcly: There is nothing hidden from prying eyes. Absolutely every meal type, flavour, size and topping is catalogued on a wall of items stretching back sixty years or so, when Chicken Ramen debuted. Besides the usual fact-giving exhibits, there were two separate rooms offering the opportunity to draw on an empty cup and take it home – filled with noodles of course. Although I’ve done great drawings with both hoof and horn, I passed up the offer because I also know that instant meals usually aren’t very healthy.

Spindle: Ikeda is quite a historical part of Osaka, but due to the holiday everypony was staying home or wandering around without cause, leaving little temperament I could feed on. Thus we went back to Umeda for lunch within the Hankyu station, a winter-exclusive tempura set including monkfish, radishes, clams and assorted deep-fried vegetables alongside the usual shrimp. A perfect combination for fuelling the fire in Parcly’s heart, not to mention an unexpected cup of tea.

Parcly: I first found Lunala in Sapporo Station with her skeletal white torso and wings coloured as deep as my eyes. One year on, at the Daimaru beside Osaka Station City, she was a much changed creature. Her wings had been bleached blue like my coat, while a black mass consumed her centre.

Lunala: That’s because I had fused with Necrozma. In this new form I banished the up-and-coming Naganadel from his home realm for harassing the four island guardians of Alola. On the other hand, Parcly respected me because of her affinity with my Equestrian counterpart and the moon in general; we had an amicable conversation about everything and nothing that lasted three hours. I gave her a model of myself as a memento when she left.

Parcly: Then my mind locked up. Lunala, with her strangely bulky body and glowing bat wings, was somehow more alluring than Luna, but my master would force wishes upon me to exhaustion if she found out! I rocked my head, attempting to exorcise the lust, and teleported onto a futon in my rented house to rest.