Parcly Taxel: There appears to be an attitude of naivety towards foreigners and tourism in Bali, a belief that it can only benefit the future. The concomitant risks are high. Travellers and hosts alike have to play their part in maintaining the common harmony between them. Spindle and I know this well, having received a holistic education under Luna.
 
Princess Luna: Philosophy aside, you just want to have fun overseas, don’t you?
 
Parcly: Right, I shouldn’t be digressing. For most of the day, the airspace around Bali is swarming with noisy, packed airplanes. To avoid them, I woke up at five in the morning to little-known constellations. Parts of my body were still rearranging themselves at breakfast, a cherished feeling among genies because of its association with one-of-a-kind wishers and wishes.
 
Twilight was on the verge of breaking above when my wings spread, then thrusted down, across the uppermost balcony of Canterlot Castle I favoured as a terminus for flights. Owing to the short travel time of two and a half hours, I needed no consciousness tricks or simple pleasures to sustain myself throughout. Spindle remained possessing the eternal ice crystals around my heart, fanned by my magic and the cool air streaming around.
 
Spindle: As I lay dormant, I reminisced about tales that call genies “spirits of the air” or something similar, drawing a parallel with my own species, the spirits of winter. It is true that they all dissolve into a fine mist in their bottles, yet I find this appellation misleading – even in our own universe there are numerous genies who reach into domains other than the sky.
 
Arriving in Ngurah Rai at ten in the morning, there was an odd dearth of ponies. A look around revealed the reason: it was Ramadan and many were fasting in their homes. Not one to provoke them, we went off to the hotel we would be staying in, the J4 in Legian.
 
Parcly: Within a minute we met the great tangle of streets, stalls, signs, money changers and the like that characterise this place. Regarding currency, one rupiah is about ten times smaller than a won and about 100 times smaller than a yen, both of the latter small currencies I’ve handled before, so prices often run into the tens or hundreds of thousands.
 
For an hour I sat motionless on the hotel room’s mattress, struggling to comprehend the frenzied motions outside. Merely dodging the swarm of motorcycles along narrow streets without irritating anypony felt like an achievement in itself.
 
Spindle: By the time we had our first local lunch of mixed rice and ice lemon tea at Made’s Warung she was numbing again. The sheer chilli kicked her up, but in her eyes I made out a deeper longing, one for a little peace.
 
Ocean Flow: Indonesia contains a large part of the Malay Archipelago, the largest among all the seas. Bali lies in its south, east of Java (the most populous island in the world) and the capital Jakarta. Between island chains lie impressive jungles, mountains suiting my husband Sky Beak, coral reefs and of course the odd mix Parcly saw here.
 
Having received word from her mentor Luna, I swam up to Kuta, the most notable of Bali’s beaches. Instead of Mount Aris-like scenery I was greeted by waterfront stalls, leading me to discourage Parcly from swimming there for the moment. I did agree to transform her into a seapony soon.
 
Parcly: A gift indeed, Flow, considering that the close shaves I had on my initial exploration compelled me to nap until nightfall. Touters were heckling me to use their services, I spent more time walking between vehicles than waiting for them to pass and my hooves were waltzing around little boxes of flowers on the pavement.
 
Flow: So where did you go for dinner? You missed a beautiful sunset, dear…
 
Parcly: I know, but like Canterlot, Bali really lights up at night. A trek of 1.5 kilometres along Kuta Beach took us to Papa’s Limoncello, where I had a pizza roll, mixed fruit juice and tiramisu cake.
 
Flow: The establishments on the southern coast of Bali – the provincial capital Denpasar is nearby – are frequented by visitors from all over the world. There is a wall hiding the beach, but it is low enough to see over into the ocean from most spots. At night, the chaos overland settles down into a slow, soothing flow complete with powerful ocean breezes.
 
In my hippogriff form I chatted with a filled Parcly after her dinner, talking about my home in Seaquestria and its features. Marine engineering can take advantage of the supportive properties of water to realise structures even more grandiose than those on land.
 
Spindle: Neighbouring our hotel were a group of discothèques. As we walked (or floated) home they raved at maximum volume with live performances, sports telecasts and a royal wedding broadcast from the Griffish Isles, together hot enough to vibrate my translucent coat. Even I was full of emotion; beside Parcly as she lay on her bed, I faded away into her heart a happy windigo.