//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 - The Veteran's Game 
// Story: Balance 
// by TheAceofClubs 
//------------------------------//

Everfree City was completely drowned under a torrent of rainwater. Puddles littered the paved roads filled with ponies rushing hurriedly through the monsoon to cover, water splashing in every direction soaking everything in sight. Thankfully the commotion drew attention away from the cloaked alicorns wandering the streets. Neither was communicating, instead following the direction their horns were telling them without a word. Their heads were ducked so that they could see where they were going without being seen themselves; they had to trust in one another that they were still close together. Quickly they darted up and down streets and passages until they finally came across one large cottage in the middle of a somewhat deserted avenue. A large field of grass surrounded the cottage with a thin paved pathway leading up to the door. Finally risking a look both princesses looked up; they had found their destination. They trotted quickly up the pathway and knocked on the door. A few seconds passed before a response came; a familiar, soothing yet muffled voice. The oak door finally opened and their beloved mother stood before them. 
“Hello?” She asked, lowering her head to get a better look at the ponies underneath the hoods. She beamed when they raised their heads, each keeping a hoof by their heads to keep the cover up. 
“Hello mother.” Luna said quietly with a smile. “May we come in?” Princess Sola chuckled at the question. 
“My beloved foals, you are always welcome here.” She stepped to the side and waved a hoof for them to enter. “In fact, you’re expected.” As they walked in Celestia looked up and then out at the rain again. 
“Mother, was that you?” She asked even quieter. Sola closed the door after them and nodded, nuzzling both daughters gently as she did so. 
“Wet protesters are reluctant; most went home after the wind and rain started.” She said softly. “We didn’t want you to encounter any more trouble than you had to.” Sola turned and led them into their living room where Prince Orion sat in wait. 
“Father!” Luna cried out as she saw her reserved parent, taking a running leap and embracing him tightly. It wasn’t often that they got to see their parents anymore; they had decided to give them their children space to learn by experience. 
“Good day my young mares.” Orion said, embracing both his daughters with one mighty reach of his forelegs. “We’ve been expecting you.” 
“You knew we’d come?” Celestia asked curiously. “For the library?” Both mother and father nodded in acknowledgement. 
“The weather was just to disperse the upstarts around the castle.” Sola started. 
“But when your mother got home I reminded her that you would probably find assistance in our library.” Orion finished. “Chopper went out for the day, so we didn’t send anything straight to the palace. We knew that you’d come otherwise, so we increased the weather severity a bit.” Celestia remembered Chopper; their mother and father had hatched a young dragon a few years before and had trained him to send messages and the like to and from the palace. 
“So you don’t mind if we use it?” Luna asked them to confirm. 
“Of course.” They said in unison. Sola indicated to the door once more. 
“If you’d like to follow me.” She said as she walked out to the hallway. Both Celestia and Luna did as they were told, magically unfastening their cloaks and hanging them carefully over the coat hanger. Celestia stopped for a few seconds and pulled her mane out of the bun it had been tied into; her salmon pink hair fell to her side before drifting out beside her. Continuing after their mother the two princesses trotted down the nearby staircase to the cottage. The oak basement underneath was just as basements would normally be, except for the large wooden door ordained with golden patterning and a large lock of the same sort. Sola approached and bowed her head, poking her horn into the padlock. In seconds it began to glow as sounds of gears shifting were heard echoing around the small room. The lock suddenly vanished and Princesses Celestia and Luna jumped back a few feet as not just the door but the entire wall opened up, revealing a huge room more than twice the size of the entire cottage. Princess Sola stepped inside and onto the balcony, looking down over the hundreds of columns of bookcases. Celestia and Luna followed timidly and looked down with their mother and their eyes went wide. 
“Welcome, my daughters, to the ancient library of the alicorns!” She announced as enchanted blue candles lit all the way down the middle column casting a ghostly glow down every passageway. 
“This is amazing!” Luna murmured, her eyes wondering back and forth over the collection of books. 
“Not even the Everfree library is this huge!” Celestia gasped in amazement. Sola laughed and patted their heads. 
“Do not forget the purpose of which you are here my young princesses.” She reminded them calmly. Luna nodded, remembering their objective. 
“You’re right; we have a duty to uphold.” She turned and trotted down the staircase beside them and started her way down the columns looking for a book to start her research. 
“I suppose I should get started,” Celestia said almost reluctantly. “But I would so like to come here again, but in light heart.” Sola chuckled and nuzzled Celestia gently, stroking her mane with a hoof. 
“My dear Celestia, our home is your home.” She assured her daughter. “When this is all over you may come back at any time and read to your heart’s content.” Celestia smiled back and nodded before turning to follow her sister, looking up and down bookcases as she went. 
~*~
 Celestia and Luna sat close to one another, sat upon comfortable pillows with stacks upon stacks of books resting on every side, with their heads buried in their current tomes. Celestia’s eyes scanned back and forth over the pages of A History and Theory of Alicorn Blessings, learning of what exactly was gifted to Equestria and by which monarch as well as basic principles of how they cast the blessing. It was close, but not what they were looking for; after all, their original spell had been shrugged off by the magical force field. Luna had on the other hand engrossed herself in a copy of Advanced Telekinetic Spellcraft. 
“Have you found anything yet?” Celestia asked her younger sister. Luna shook her head without looking up from the book. 
“Vacuum waves, remote explosions and high velocity mental transportation doesn’t even come close.” She sighed, closing the book and tossing it over her shoulder, her horn flashing as the tome landed neatly on top of a large tower of books that had also failed at supplying relevant information. “How about you?” 
“Nothing either; it feels like we could go on searching for a millennia and still not find anything useful.” Celestia said with an exasperated shake of the head. The two ponies had been sat in the library for hours and had dug into the contents of books varying from The Anatomy and Magical Theory of Alicorns to Blessings of False Royalty. Nothing useful had come their way at all. Luna sat up on her haunches and scratched her stomach lazily. 
“I don’t get it ‘Tia, is it something exclusive to us? ‘Cos any situation like ours is sure to be important enough to get mentioned somewhere.” Luna quizzed herself in a rather disgruntled tone. “Maybe we just made a stupid mistake.” 
“No, we can’t have!” Celestia argued with a worried edge to her voice. “We’re our parents’ daughters, right! So this must be a test!” It seemed almost impossible to try and convince herself otherwise. 
“Then it’s one hay of a test.” Luna’s horn flashed again as the pile of books went hurtling roughly back up at the bookcase, landing heavily and causing the entire thing to shake slightly. Celestia got to her hooves quickly and used her own magic to steady the bookcase before shooting a disapproving look at Luna who had opened her mouth to respond but was cut short when a large book toppled off the top shelf and landed on her head. 
“Luna?!” Celestia cried out before rushing over to see if she was alright. “Are you okay?” 
“This day keeps getting worse and worse.” Luna groaned as she lifted herself back up to a sitting position, blinking off the dizziness that had overcome her from the sudden collision. She looked up and smiled at Celestia before looking back down at the book that had hit her. 
“A Veteran’s Account of the Evershroud War.” Luna narrated before looking back up at Luna. “As vindictive as I feel towards the blasted thing, do you want to quickly take a look through it?” Celestia bit her lip thoughtfully, staring down at the battered black tome. 
“I think we could do with a break.” She finally murmured, giving in to the temptation and sitting beside Luna who moved up so that they could share the cushion. Celestia’s horn flickered and the dusty old cover opened with a clicking from the binder. Turning to the first proper page she read the words aloud. 
“’November, the reign of Queen Europa of Everfree. Our forces met by ‘accident’ outside the city of Manehatten. Battle ensued and hundreds of casualties were counted, mostly the fragile ponies of the opposing army. It was fun rounding up the wounded that hadn’t died after and challenging them to games that would offer them a life under my reign or instant death. Most went braindead before I had a proper chance to decide; shame, I wanted to toy with them some more. It’s surprisingly delightful when you see one pony forced to rip apart another with only their hooves.” Celestia stopped reading and was shaking slightly; what had she started? Luna looked just as shocked but not as shaken. 
“’Tia?” She asked her older sister quietly, nuzzling her gently. “I don’t think it’s a good idea if we keep reading this.” Luna reached over and slid the book shut. 
“W-We should get back to work.” Celestia whispered, standing up shakily, but Luna shook her head and with a flick of her horn the books surrounding them flew up, ordered themselves and took their places back on the shelf, including the grisly black war tome. 
“No, I think we’ve done enough for today.” Luna insisted, shoving Celestia out of the aisles and toward the exit. 
“B-But we’ve found so little...” 
“And we’ll do even less if we don’t give ourselves time to rest up.” Celestia reluctantly gave in and followed her sister out of the library, watching the blue candles flicker out behind them. As they stepped out the door the wall that opened up to allow access closed automatically and returned to how it had looked before they had entered. Although this made the young sisters jump the distraction soon disappeared and they continued up from the basement. 
~*~
 Because it was so late when the princesses departed the library there was no surprise to find that preparations had been made for them to rest. The living room had been transformed into a bedroom and in the middle were two glorious beds, one white and yellow and the other black and blue, probably created through magical means. Upon one of the beds rested a scroll addressed to them and when opened they found that it was a letter from Rightheart responding to a letter likely sent from their parents to confirm their overnight stay; they would have to thank everypony and Chopper the next morning for their hospitality. Upon closing the door of the makeshift bedroom both Celestia and Luna silently removed their tiaras (which had been the only pieces of jewellery that they had brought with them) and sat on their individual beds. Luna laid back and rested her head on the pillow; it felt weird knowing that she’d be sleeping through the night instead of the day, but it couldn’t be helped. Celestia sat rigidly on her haunches looking down at the creases she had made in the duvet from sitting on it. The words she had read before haunted her still and had all but replaced the previous haunting thoughts that had clung to her mind all day. 
“’Tia, are you sure you’re okay?” Luna asked her in a whisper. Celestia looked up and made a jerk that was supposed to be a nod. 
“Yes Luna, I’m fine.” She pulled a fake smile. “I’m just a little tired.” Luna didn’t look convinced but decided not to pursue the question. 
“You know, when I’ve had a rough night I usually end it with a bath.” Luna whispered cheerily. “It seems to wash away troubles and helps me relax before bed. Maybe you should give it a try.” Celestia raised her head with a now vacant expression and shook her head. 
“I’ll wake up mother and father.” Celestia used as a bad excuse. 
“They won’t mind.” 
“I’ll wake up Chopper.” 
“No you won’t, he’s a dragon. He can sleep through anything.” Celestia found that she didn’t have an excuse to lean on and instead just sighed and nodded before sliding off the bed and trotting towards the door and slipping through a small gap in the doorway. After watching her older sibling leave Luna leant back again and stared up at the ceiling. 
‘Hay knows whether we’ll find anything useful to help us tomorrow, let alone in time to avoid the unmentionable.’ Luna thought to herself before closing her eyes. 
~*~
 Celestia opened her eyes at last after feeling the jet of water stream down her face and along her body and mane. Luna had been right; it did make her feel a bit better. But not entirely; the fatigue had dissolved but the stresses weighing on her mind were still completely present. Her thoughts revolved around all the problems that suddenly been thrust upon them while being illustrated by the imagery of the wartime journal entry. 
“It’s not fair.” She whispered to herself, her voice was clearly wavering for the third time that day. “Why did this happen? What did I do to deserve all of this? Did I make a mistake somewhere along the line?” Celestia clapped her hooves to her face and suppressed a frustrated scream, tears rolling from her eyes under the camouflage of the water. It hadn’t really occurred to her before then that being a leader could be so difficult. As she ran through the images in her head once more she squirmed when she recalled the image of pony ravaging pony that her mind had generated. 
‘The book said that the battle at Manehatten occurred during Queen Europa’s reign, so surely...she must’ve felt the same pressure,’ Celestia told herself. ‘If not more.’ She ran a hoof through her soaked pink mane and sighed. ‘And that war was the Evershroud War...’ Celestia stopped her massaging of her hair and looked down at the floor, but not focussing on anything in particular. 
‘Mother and father were king and queen when that war ended.’ She closed her eyes as she suddenly remembered what Sola had told her that morning. 
‘Shall I tell you a story? When your father and I were fairly new to the throne we lost half of the Everfree district to Lord Discord without making a single move. Lives were lost and others were destroyed beyond repair. Both I and your father were shamed by our lack of initiative; we nearly abdicated there and then, but a great friend of ours reminded us that we could still make a difference. What we did lost many more lives, but we still fought on to a victory that led onto peace far greater than even that which was before.’ 
It dawned upon Celestia that every king or queen would encounter such titanic stresses no matter how well they made their choices. She didn’t have a choice in the matter; she was born an heir to the throne so she was doomed to feel the unfair stress that she would inevitably be supplied. However, Celestia didn’t feel hard done by; she was an older sister. Luna had been born with the same birthright to the throne. She hadn’t had a choice in her fate either. With this in mind Celestia almost felt selfish having thought such self-obsessed thoughts. Expanding on that guilt she was reminded of the trouble that she had helped cause for Equestria. With one side of the sky covered in the night governed by the Orion and the other being constantly lit by the Sola. If they didn’t find a way to undo the danger they had created then thousands of ponies’ lives would be at risk. Celestia finally realised the irony of her previous words. 
“’It’s unfair.’” She repeated under her breath. ‘No, what I have done is unfair. I drew the short straw and there’s nothing I can do about that. I, as princess, hold the fates of every pony in Equestria and that is my charge.’ Celestia sighed and reached up with a hoof and turned the showerhead off before turning and stepping out of the shower and levitating a towel over and drying her mane. After a few minutes of magical grooming she deemed herself dry and tied her mane back before leaving the bathroom. Stepping outside she was about to head off towards the makeshift bedroom but hesitated. 
‘I did draw the short straw, but I still have some rights beside my obligations.’ Celestia thought as she edged towards her parents’ room. Pushing the door open she slipped her head inside to look around; her mother was fast asleep but her father was nowhere to be seen. Celestia didn’t worry about where he could be as it was during the night, his element. She took a few more steps forward and came to the side of the bed. Princess Sola‘s forelegs were stretched out in front of her and they looked incredibly inviting to Celestia. 
‘I may be the ruler of Equestria, but I think I can be forgiven for wanting to be here.’ She took a step upwards and laid on the bed too before turning and sliding into her mother’s unconscious embrace. Celestia felt Sola’s forelegs close slightly as if she was being hugged and she closed her eyes. A small smile popped onto her face as she was reminded of the words that she had used to inspire confidence into Luna’s actions as well as the words that their mother had told her that morning. With those words comforting and reassuring her, Celestia quickly fell into a deep, relaxed sleep. 
‘The moral is, Celestia, that things may look daunting beforehand, but once you begin you’ll find the strength to finish your problems.’

~*~
 Not long after Celestia had left had Luna returned back to the library figuring and proving that she could open it with her own horn. She watched again as the blue candles relit as she strode down the aisles. When she came to the aisle that they had previously been sat in she reached out with her horn and grabbed the dusty old black war tome that they had previously read and levitated it into the main aisle and onto a reading desk. Sitting at the desk, Luna flipped open the cover and opened to halfway through the book. 
“’July, late Queen Europa’s reign.’” She read aloud, slightly annoyed at the lack of an exact date, but continued regardless. “’These games really are too satisfying. For four months I have played dead so as to let the world ‘recover’. Queen Europa seems to have finally let her guard down; the perfect time to reappear. But for now I will send a warning; chocolate milk rain is probably bad in every way except for taste, but it will sweeten the game that extra little bit. They’d better not hold their tongues out for too long lest their taste buds be burned by tomorrow’s acidic monsoon.  That’s the best part of being the supreme ruler of Equestria; I get to pull the strings to my heart’s content.’” Luna frowned down at the extract. Who was this 'veteran' of the war? He had referred to himself as being the supreme ruler of Equestria, but Luna had been taught that before her parents there had never been a monarch for a united Equestria. She held a hoof on the page and closed the book on it to check for an author’s name; nothing. Luna opened the book up again and flicked back a page to see an earlier extract. 
“’March, Queen Europa’s reign.
The biggest encounter of the entire conflict finally took place today. Some hundred thousand oblivious ponies gave their lives fighting an equally large but disposable force of my creation by the city of Canterlot. I got the opportunity to watch pony tear apart pony once more before I finally took to the field. I didn’t have time for the fragile equine and therefore chose not to let a single one even come close; they weren’t my target after all. When I finally found Queen Europa she tried to slay me on sight. I underestimated her power, but that isn’t to say that she was anywhere near as powerful as I. I managed to bring her to her last leg without much trouble and then cast the curse that will play such an important role later on. The task was complete and I could begin my next little game.  According to the opposing side I have died on that day. I hope that they savour the taste of victory while they still can for it has a particularly bitter following.’” 
“’The curse’?” Luna whispered under her breath; it couldn’t have been vaguer. She flicked back through the pages and skimmed through the older extracts in hope of enlightenment but found none. The author clearly hadn’t been very skilled in literacy and may have been referring to something that had only been mentioned in his own mind. 
“’Cast the curse that will play such an important role later on.’” Luna reread from the passage and set about looking through later extracts for a recollection of when the curse actually came into effect but stopped when she noticed an illustration at the bottom of one of the pages. She smiled slightly at the pleasant, yet cruelly drawn picture of a mother and two foals. It took her a second to realise just who they were. 
“...Mother.” Luna murmured in realisation of the picture being that of Queen Europa and her own mother as a filly, but she couldn’t quite decide who the other filly was. Hastily she looked up at the short extract above but found herself somewhat dismayed. 
‘I had been fully aware of Queen Europa’s pregnancy but even I was taken by surprise when she bore not just a single foal but twins. It is unexpected but changes nothing; it just sweetens the deal a bit.’ Luna almost seemed to panic at the extract and hurriedly turned the page over, almost ripping it from the seams in the process. She gasped as she saw the solitary phrase on the paper. 
‘One down.’ Luna slumped as she read the words and looked down to see the same picture again but with only one foal. But then the full force of the phrase hit her; his wording indicated that he wasn’t done. She turned the page once more and her eyes went wide. At the bottom of the page sat a lonely filly with no sibling or parent to comfort it. Almost reluctantly she looked up at the accompanying extract. 
‘November, the end of Queen Europa’s reign. 
The Queen was finally taken by madness after the epidemic of illness killed not only thousands of her subjects but also one of her daughters. In her sadness she almost killed the other, Princess Sola. As much as I wanted to watch the tragic story unfold some more I knew that the games must go on. I awoke the dormant curse that I had laid on her and watched as she left her castle and travelled to the nearby city of Everfree to end the lives of innumerable of ‘her little ponies’. She finally fell to the attack of her own royal guard and with that Europa’s reign ended.’ 
SLAM 
Before she had realised what she was doing Luna tore the first picture from the book and slammed the tome shut. She stared hatefully down at the black and gold cover and felt herself shaking all over. She slowly looked down at the picture of the happy family that she had parted from the hellish tome and felt a pang of remorse from having defiled a book of the ancient library. 
“No!” She growled at herself, scolding her previous emotions of regret. “This abomination deserves no place in any library.” With an undignified movement she bit into the book and threw it at one of the magical blue candles nearby, watching it fly through and hit the floor on the other side. Without checking to see the damage Luna folded the picture up and pushed it behind her ear before stamping from the archives, not even looking back to watch the wall close up behind her. She quickly ran all the way up the stairs and back to the prepared bedroom and threw herself onto her bed. She didn’t even notice Celestia’s absence as she curled up and clenched her eyes shut and cried herself to sleep, doing her very best to cast the twisted words from her mind. 
~*~
 When Luna awoke the next morning she finally noticed that Celestia was nowhere to be seen. Her disturbed thoughts had left her and she rather dozily ran a brush through her messy bedmane before leaving the room. 
“Luna!” Came the high-pitched voice of Celestia. Luna turned her head to see her sister sat in their parents’ dining room hovering both a book and a piece of toast in front of her. Her mane had been tied back so that she didn’t have to brush it as much and on her nose rested a pair of reading spectacles that seemed impossibly good-looking on her. As usual Celestia looked radiant; which was more than could be said about Luna. 
“Did you sleep well?” Luna shot her sister a grouchy look. 
“Does it look like I slept well?” She trotted into the dining room and sat on a pillow beside the table and levitated a croissant from the platter that Sola had prepared for them onto a nearby plate before biting a chunk out of it bluntly. Celestia took no notice of Luna’s ill mannerisms; she was a terrible morning pony. 
“I’m sorry for not returning to bed last night.” Celestia apologized. 
“Eh.” Luna grunted. She hadn’t noticed and frankly she didn’t really care either. 
“But I did get up early this morning and look around for a helpful book.” She said cheerily. Luna glanced up at the book that Celestia was talking about. 
“Dismissal and Distortions of Alicorn Magic?” She asked with a mouth full of toast. 
“That’s right.” Celestia nodded. “I think I may have found something useful.” Luna swallowed her food and looked curiously at her sister. 
“Really?” She asked shortly, her interest piqued. 
“Yes...” Celestia said before flashing her horn and levitating an old black book up. “But I also found this on the floor. Do you have anything to do with this?” Luna scowled at the terrible tome. 
“It should’ve burned like it was supposed to!” Luna growled at it. Celestia raised her eyebrows; it was amazing just how much hatred Luna was expressing towards the book. 
“How did you get into the library again?” 
“I do have a horn too.” Luna spat in distaste as Celestia lowered the book again. 
“Luna, why did you go back for it?” Celestia asked softly, leaning over to be slightly closer to her sister but Luna simply moved up as well. 
“You know me,” Luna muttered quietly. “I can never resist the urge to investigate the unknown.” 
“But you know this book is bad to the bone.” Celestia reminded her. “Plus, we can’t take anything like this to be true. There’s no proof.” Luna couldn’t help but scowl at Celestia. 
“Listen, I know.” She hissed angrily. “Can you just tell me what it is that you’ve learnt?” Celestia was taken aback slightly by the hostile tone in Luna’s voice. 
“Alright...” Celestia murmured before flicking back through the pages of her first book and levitating it over to Luna to let her see. 
“’The Arcane Lance’?” Luna read aloud, her harsher tone vanishing again. Celestia nodded in confirmation. 
“That’s right; it’s the strongest counterspell in the book.” Celestia elaborated. “It bypasses magical barriers and shatters them from within.” She stopped and waited for Luna to finish skim-reading the page. 
“Isn’t that a bit advanced for us?” Luna pointed out. “Neither of us has the power to cast such a spell individually nor combined.” Celestia bit her lip in thought as she usually did when thinking. 
“But it’s still our best bet.” Celestia stated confidently. Luna frowned again; could that really be their best chance? They had only been checking for a day and she had her doubts that out of the millions of books and spells in the library they had already found the most proficient spell for their situation. 
“Don’t you think there may be something better?” 
“Maybe, but we don’t have time to keep searching aimlessly.” 
“Equestria won’t be too affected by a few days without proper light.” 
“Well, don’t forget that if we barely have enough power to power this spell than what use is there in looking for an even more powerful spell?” This time Celestia had won the argument; the spell at hand seemed powerful enough and if they would struggle with the complexity of that spell then what hope was there for anything better? Luna scowled in defeat. 
“I just think that we’re rushing things a bit.” She admitted quietly. Celestia tilted her head. 
“Actions speak better than thoughts Luna.” She almost sang. “As you said, Equestria can go a few days without proper light, so if this fails, which I don’t believe it will, we’ll have time to return and research and find some better solutions.” Luna hummed in frustrated thought for a second before being interrupted. 
“I think you should do it.” Came the calm gentle voice of their mother. Luna snapped her head around to see Sola glide calmly into the dining room. “It can’t hurt to take a chance.” Luna didn’t look any more convinced by this. 
“But it feels like something is missing, like there’s something we’re missing.” Both Sola and Celestia gave her confused looks. “I just can’t quite place it yet.” 
“Well, either way, even if we are missing something it can’t hurt to take a chance.” Celestia continued. “If the populace see the effects of the spell they may realise that we’re actually trying to do something about it.” Luna shook her head in disagreement. 
“No, if they see us cast that spell and fail then they’ll see us as incompetent.” Luna argued adamantly. 
“Don’t be so judgemental of the citizenry Luna,” Sola stated softly as she lifted the platter of now devoured food from the table. 
“...Fine.” Luna’s tone was almost sulky. “I guess it won’t cause any harm to try.” Celestia broke out in another smile. 
“Alright then, we’ll depart for the palace at once and if a problem arises we can come back to address it.” Celestia chirped peacefully, standing and stretching her legs before levitating her own plate from the table to tip away the discarded toast crust before slipping away to collect her cloak and tiara with the copy of Dismissal and Distortions of Alicorn Magic trailing behind her. Luna sighed exasperatedly before rubbing a hoof through her untidy mane and following likewise. When Sola turned to see that they had left the room she smiled softly. As she crossed the room to the door she halted on the spot. On the floor was a creased folded square piece of paper. Levitating it up she saw the edge of a thin black drawing and decided to unfold it. After unfolding it entirely she sat on a nearby cushion by the table and stared at the scrap of ripped paper. It was an image of an alicorn with two little foals. She wondered whether Luna or Celestia had drawn it, who it was of exactly and why it had been dropped. Slowly she managed to pull her eyes from the image and turn the scrap over. She seemed to freeze as she saw the two words at the top of it. 
‘One down.’ 
Sola frowned at the words before turning the scrap back over, taking a quick glance at the picture again and then folding it up and pushing it behind her ear. 
~*~
 Sola had made sure to keep the rain falling all through the night and into the morning so as to ensure ease of movement to her daughters upon their return. They had bid their temporary farewells and made their way back down the same route they had taken previously. Before long they had arrived back at the palace walls and they took their nimble leaps back into friendly territory. They stopped only to let Sir Rightheart know that they had returned before travelling again to the highest point of the castle where they had previously attempted their amends. Staring out at the open world in front of them, Luna opened the spellbook back to the Arcane Lance and began rereading it. Celestia pulled down her rain-sodden hood and stared up at the shimmering silhouettes of both the Sola and the Orion hidden behind the rainclouds yet still managing to stay completely visible, feeling almost like a reminder to the princesses of how dire their situation was. Celestia turned her head back to face Luna who was still reading some of the magical theory. 
“Luna?” She asked, addressing her sister. Luna responded with a simple grunt of acknowledgement. “Do you have confidence in this spell?” 
“No.” Luna said simply without looking up from the text. “I already told you that.” 
“Why not?” Celestia pursued. 
“I already told you that too.” Luna said curtly. Celestia shook her head in disagreement. 
“No, you told me that you felt like something was missing, but you never said what?” Luna scowled and shut the book before looking back up at her sister. 
“I can’t elaborate on what I don’t fully understand Celestia.” She stated. “Honestly, after feeling the power of that barrier before I don’t believe there is a spell that we can cast to make a difference.” Celestia thought to herself before deciding her next words. 
“And why don’t you think that we can make a difference?” She continued, gently shepherding Luna’s responses as she expected them. Luna growled in frustration from her sisters’ tedious questions. 
“Because nothing we’ve done so far has parted us from the starting line!” She shouted before turning to the open sky. “Are we going to cast this spell or not?” Celestia thought it was a shame that Luna would also have to be reminded of the advice that had been given to her only a couple of days before. 
“Promise to give it your all.” Celestia said quietly as she took a ready stance. Luna rolled her eyes but nodded regardless. 
“Ready?” 
“Ready!” Luna focussed on the spell and shut her eyes to block out all distractions. At the centre point between the sisters’ horns formed a glowing sphere of magic as the spell took form as the fruit of their efforts. Celestia continued channelling her magic alongside Luna’s and steadily the orb of magic illuminated even more and covered the entire spire in alabaster light. Feeling the immense flow of power, Luna could feel her focus starting to slip and she levitated the orb higher up, aiming it in-between the Orion and the Sola. 
“Celestia! On the count of three, I want you to release your grip on the spell!” 
“Okay!” Celestia felt beads of sweat roll down her hide as the effort to hold onto their spell amplified. 
“One!” Luna dug her hooves into the stone floor. 
“Two!” Both alicorns ducked their heads, the muscles in their necks writhing through exhaustion. 
“Three! Now!” In unison Celestia and Luna released their hold on the spell and it went hurtling like a cannonball up into the sky. It kept on flying and flying until it was entirely out of sight. Celestia frowned and gritted her teeth in anticipation. 
BOOM 
A flash of light spread across the sky and Celestia beamed, laughing at their success. Luna’s serious expression vanished as she squinted up at the glare. “We did it!” Celestia cried out joyfully. 
“Look Luna, we did it!” Luna was about to laugh too, finally ready to accept that they had found the solution but the feeling was short lived. Before she could say a word an arrow of light flew back from the direction that they had thrown their spell and collided with the spire. Within seconds the top of the castle disintegrated and Luna could feel herself being tossed around through the air, unable to regain control of her movements; the glare finally vanished and was instead replaced by darkness as she fell into unconsciousness.