Chapter 6 - Tea and Moonlight
Princess Twilight Sparkle sat upon her throne poised and regal. All ponies would agree that she was the very image of beauty. Six months ago she had shed the remains of her mortal trappings and taken the final step towards ascending to a greater state of existence. No longer was she a simple unicorn; now she was an alicorn.
At least that was how most of Equestria understood things.
Her lavender wings fluttered behind her every so often. The tips of her feathers were tinted a dark shade of purple that matched her mane. The ponies of the court would whisper that their princess's mane seemed to be blowing in the wind even through the air in the room was still. Some even commented that her hair seemed to be taking on an ethereal flowing appearance, just like the mane of her mentor.
That day six months ago had marked a great transformation in Twilight Sparkle’s life. The fact that she now had wings was just the obvious part of the change.
When her wings had first burst from her body, they had been bloody little things. They had been the wings of a foal covered in down. The new appendages had fluttered back and forth seemingly with a will of their own. The guards who had rushed to her aid had been worried about the blood loss. However, before their eyes the skin had healed, meeting up with the wing. By the end of the hour, the only sign of the trauma she had undergone was her two new wings.
Of course, that had not meant the pain had faded as quickly.
Some of her doctors had predicted the physical details of how her wings would come in. A few had insisted that surgery would be necessary to free them from her body, but they had been in the minority. What no pony had predicted, however, was the surge in magical power that she had experienced just a week later. With her body now closer to matching her unity in spirit, her arcane energies had been able to proliferate. Twilight’s magic had continued to increase by leaps and bounds every day for an entire month. She had even grown a few more inches in height.
The sun now shone twice as brightly as it had half a year ago. It was still a pale shadow of her mentor’s sun, but the difference had been decreased to a point that when she was being fanciful Twilight could imagine that it was the sun of her youth.
Ponies were declaring it the new golden age of Equestria. Apple Seed was busy in Hoofingham assisting in planting a new Shade Apple orchard. The griffon raids had tapered down, at least for the time being. Even after the Witherton Massacre, moves were being made to repopulate the village. Equestria seemed to be experiencing prosperity in all corners. Their ruler was now a proper princess, and their sun now provided a greater degree of warmth. Most ponies were ecstatic.
They had not seen the same reports that Twilight had read. Of course, Twilight was the only pony in all of Equestria that had access to all of the information to connect the dots. She was the only pony who understood her sun. However, it would only be a matter of time before other ponies figured it out.
“Oh thank you, oh glorious Princess Of The Sun. All the packs shall not forget your generosity.” The Diamond Dogs bowed so low that Twilight was not sure he was not on his knees.
After her ascendancy, she had experienced a period of exponential magical power growth. However, it had leveled off to a linear rate of increase only slightly higher than before she gained her wings. She was still growing stronger, just nowhere near as quickly as she had a few months ago. For a time the new alicorn had hoped that her ponies were justified in their celebration. Then, the accursed study came across her desk. The sun was indeed brighter, but it was still not enough.
“It is least I can do for your people. You have been so patient with me over the years - waiting for me to be strong enough to fulfill your request. As I promised your uncle so long ago, now that I have the strength, I will give you what you desire.”
The sun was not bright enough and she would not be able to make it bright enough in time. In a way it was a relief. It meant that she could focus on other things. It was time to begin restoring the night.
“But it means so much Princess. The Moon Festival used to mean so much to our people. Even though we will have the moon for only one night of the year…” Twilight realized that he had broken down into sobs.
She did not tell the Diamond Dog Ambassador that the only reason she was granting his wish was that because of a simple report from Clousdale she had given up on saving Equestria in the short term.
“Please Ambassador. Really, it is nothing.”
The energy would be inconsequential over the span of centuries. Winter would last a bit longer for the expenditure and the approach of frost and cold would be accelerated by a few decades. The age of ice would be extended by even longer, but what was that in the grand scheme of things?
“But it is Princess, it is. I had no idea when you summoned me that you would have such joyous news.”
Twilight had spent so long thinking that the end of Equestria was only a few decades away. With the dying plants and increasing winters, it had seemed so obvious. Her sun needed to get hotter and as fast as possible. Frivolity could cost ponies their lives. Now she knew that it did not matter. At this point, using her magic to help make ponies happier would have no effect. It was freeing.
“Tell us, how can we repay you and Equestria?”
It was a great weight off of her shoulders.
“Please Ambassador, there is no need.”
Of course, it was possible it would never matter. Maybe Equestria would die before ever reaching the ice age. Maybe she would fail more spectacularly than anypony could imagine. She still remembered the dead ponies of Witherton.
“Still Princess, you do not understand how much this means to us. The generations born since the advent of the Empty Night will finally know of the Great Howling. As myself and the others who remember the old moon begin to age, we feared our ways and culture would be lost. The diamond dogs will be forever in your debt. I promise you that Equestria will have whatever aid we can provide.”
Twilight smiled as she finally managed to dismiss the still bowing canine. As he made his way out of the throne room, his tail wagged hard enough that it looked as if it would fly off. Watching him leave, she realized her smile was genuine. She was glad that she could save something, even if it was just the traditions of Equestria’s neighbors.
Many years ago when they had first approached her about bringing the moon back, she had been intrigued. Twilight had learned that the canines desired precious gems so greatly because of their ability to reflect moonlight into their caves, and that without the moon, the dogs had begun to covet gems simply for the sake of their value.
The princess could hear the discussion of the ponies in attendance to her court. She had not mentioned her plans to begin slowly restoring the night sky. Many of the younger ponies in the room had never even seen the moon before. They had been born after The Great Tragedy.
The new alicorn had put festivals and monuments into place. She had even created a ‘day of remembrance.’ It was a national holiday on which ponies would reflect over all those they had lost. However, she knew that one-day nopony but her would remember what tragedy the day was designed to commemorate. Nopony would remember that Equestria once had two princesses. Perhaps it would even be for the best.
She thought of the report on her desk. If nopony remembered a tragedy, did it even exist?
The overall mood of the room was excited. She was sure they were all taking this ‘Moon Festival’ as yet another aspect of Equestria’s golden age. Twilight wondered what they would think if they knew what was going through their Princess’s mind.
“Princess. Court has seen to all scheduled business for the morning. You have tea with Miss Applejack of the Council of Farms in an hour. It is scheduled in the tearoom, followed by a private meeting with the griffon Ambassador. Then you are taking lunch with representatives from the Equestria’s Orphan’s Foundation, and you will be seeing petitioners in the afternoon.”
“Thank you Clean Scroll. I think the Captain Commander wishes to speak with me, but then I will… I will be in the Sun Study.”
Clean Scroll was too young to know Celestia’s old bedroom as anything other than a strangely furnished study that his princess would use from time to time.
“Very good Princess.”
Normally Twilight would dismiss the court with a gentle smile and nod of her head. She would wait until all of the ponies in attendance had cleared out, or at least the ones who had not been planning to stay, and then leave herself through the grand archway until they would reconvene in the afternoon. However, today she wanted a chance to talk with Rainbow Dash in private.
“Court is dismissed. We will reconvene after lunch.”
After all of the ponies took the verbal dismissal as a queue to exit and filed out of the room. Rainbow Dash stepped forward from the entrance of the chambers where she had been tapping her hooves and gave a short bow.
“Princess.”
“Hi, Dash.”
“What’s this I hear about you bringing the moon back?”
“I’m not bringing it back.”
“Huh, I thought I heard-”
“It will be a moon, but not the moon. The old beacon of light in the night sky crumbled into dust at Luna’s death. I didn’t have the heart to tell the ambassador that it wasn’t going to be the moon of his ancestors. I was planning on telling him, but he was just so happy.”
“So what, you’re gathering all the dust into a big ball?”
Twilight laughed.
“Something like that. I can forge a facsimile from the remains, similar to how I ignited my own star. Some of the same material, but not the same moon.”
“Then you’re just going to let it fall apart after the festival?”
“Well…” Twilight looked around to make sure that nopony else was around. “I tried to tell him, but I don’t think anypony was listening. It’s not going to be a real moon at first.”
“Huh?”
“I’m mostly certain I know how to make a moon, but I’ve never done it before, and it’s going to take more research. I’m also still not all that great at controlling the sun. It would be exhausting to add constantly adjusting and controlling the moon’s orbit on top of that. If I mess up sunrise, ponies just sleep in fifteen minutes. If I messed up… moonrise I guess? If I mess up moonrise it might be tidal surges flooding ponies out of their homes. Honestly I need way more research.”
“I thought you said a moon could help balance out the sun?”
“It could. If, and this is a big if, if I did it right. If I messed it all up, it could make the whole thing more…” Twilight waved her hoof in the air looking for the right word. “Wobbly.”
“So you can’t just… I don’t know, let it do its own thing?”
Twilight’s eyes grew wide. “Do you have any idea how poorly disciplined my sun is? If I made a moon and just let it fly around… What do you think would happen if it crashed into Equestria?”
“Oh…”
“Yea, big oh. The fallout would be catastrophic.”
“Your sun misbehaves?”
“I guess I’m ponyfying it a bit. It’s more like… What happens if you don’t watch a storm cloud?”
“It will wander off and try to get the rain out of its system. Clouds don’t like to hold too much water and- ok, gotcha. The sun is like a cloud.”
Twilight chuckled. “Close enough.”
“So if it’s not the real moon, er, a real moon, what is it?”
She sighed a bit at the question. “A wide, very wide dispersal area light spell. I was trying to explain it, but the court mages were all out today recuperating from their casting circle, and I don’t think any pony understood.”
“So a big light spell?”
“More or less. I’m sure I’ll be exhausted by the end of the night, but for just one night it will be worth it to make ponies and diamond dogs alike happy.”
“Well if it’s just one night, what about letting the Council of Magi handle it. If it’s just a light spell, they should be able to do it, right? Or at least they can help you a bit to make it a bit easier.”
“Princess Celestia raised the sun and moon. As Princess of Equestria, it is my duty.”
“Twilight, you’re not Princess Celestia.”
“No, you’re right. But that just means that I need to try harder.”
“Why are you always so-”
“Besides there is another reason to not get them involved. After the Ambassador didn’t let me explain how I was planning on bringing the moon back, I had a thought. I’m thinking about inverting the spell weave to hide the magic and then slapping an illusion over the whole thing to make it look more like an actual moon, with craters and everything. I think ponies would be happier if they thought it were real.”
“They won’t be able to tell?”
“When I’m done with it, I don’t think even Princess Luna would have been able to tell.” Rainbow Dash laughed at that, and Twilight turned indignantly. “No I mean it. Assuming she wasn’t touching it with her magic or actively connected to it. I think I can pull of the illusion really tightly.”
“So you’re going to pull this over everypony then? Just tell them its real.”
Twilight shuffled her hooves and looked down at the ground.
“I was thinking about it. I wanted to ask you and Applejack for your opinions on keeping it a secret. I know I can trust you two.”
“You think AJ will be able to keep her big mouth shut?”
“She can keep a secret when it’s important.”
“Uh huh, sure.”
“I noticed you didn’t really say what you thought about the idea. I don’t think it hurts anypony, I mean… I couldn’t imagine how it could, and its not like any pony has used magic that draws power from the moon for hundreds of years, so its not like there would be any type of magic accidents. It will just be a little white lie, more of a lie of omission than anything else, and it will make everypony so happy. Just like Santahooves.”
“Sounds kinda like you are trying to convince yourself.”
“Maybe… Kinda… I don’t like the idea of lying to anypony about something that big. I mean you can’t get much bigger than the moon. Even if it is to make them happy.”
Dash was silent in thought for a moment before replying, “I say, ‘do it.’ Equestria deserves a win. You deserve a win. You’re right it’s not hurting anypony, and telling ponies will just ruin it. Lies aren’t always bad things. It’s hard to have a surprise party without a little deception.”
“No, Dash.”
“What?”
“You are not throwing me a surprise party this year. You did it five years ago and it was awful and I don’t want another one.”
“Who said you’re getting a surprise party?”
“I don’t want a surprise party.”
“I didn’t say you were going to have one.”
“Good, because I don’t want one.”
“Ok then.”
“Dash why are you smiling? Stop smiling. NO surprise party. I nearly let the sun go out last time. I’m serious. ”
“Fine, fine. I won’t throw you a surprise party. I promise.”
Twilight could not help but feel that there was some loophole in the promise, but she decided to drop it.
“I still want to get Applejack’s opinion about the moon. “
“I can already tell you what she is going to say.”
“It’s because she is the element of honesty that I want her opinion.”
“You going to ask Rares about it while you are at it?”
“Actually no. I mean I think she might have a really interesting perspective, focused so much on appearance and how things will appear to ponies, but she is really good friends with the Diamond Dogs. I don’t want her to feel like she is under obligation to keep something from them if I decided to invert the illusion’s weave and hide the fact that the moon isn’t real. It’s easier to just not tell her.”
“Can you do it every night? Make a fake moon I mean. It would really help us out on patrol. I can think of at least a dozen different types of creepy crawlies that wouldn’t show themselves even under the light of even a half full moon.”
Twilight sadly shook her head.
“Not really efficient. If I did my math right, which I did, it’s not a very efficient spell; the waste of energy would be enormous - incredibly impractical if used frequently. However, it’s the best approach to the issue if I only intended to have the moon be in the sky once a year.”
“Darn. I was kinda hoping…”
“Yea, I know... By the way, what had you wanted to talk about? I’m assuming you aren’t here just because you liked standing in the throne room doorway.”
“About the moon thing actually. You would not believe how fast the rumor mill around this place can work. Half of Canterlot probably knows by now that we are going to have a moon festival. I wanted to check with you because I was worried about how draining it might be for you. Before I knew it was just an illusion.”
Twilight did not mention the coming ice age or how inconsequential the energy drain would be in the long run. She trusted Dash, but needed more time to organize her thoughts on the issue. Twilight had only realized the full ramification of the report the other day.
“Ugh… If everypony is already talking about it, the it will be even harder if I decided to tell them all it won’t be real… Do you mind if we walk and talk, rather than just standing around here? I’ve got less than an hour until my next appointment and I would like to get some work done.”
“No problem. You’re next appointment? You mean tea with AJ? Mind if I crash? I have an inspection that, for a certain lieutenant’s sake, better go quickly and smoothly and so hopefully might have some free time.”
“We’d love to have you, but go easy on poor Steel Aegis. He’s hardly more than a colt.”
“I’ll go easy on him when he gets his act together. He’s got so much potential, but is wasting it. Absolutely no discipline. I swear that pony makes me want to scream…”
“But you know, I still remember getting reports about a certain undisciplined pegasus in my guard.”
“That’s exactly my point. If old Helm hadn’t smacked some sense into me, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Let me tell you, fifty laps around Canterlot gets old fast. Even for the fastest flyer in Equestria.” Rainbow paused at the intersection. “By the way which way we going?”
Twilight smiled at Rainbow Dash’s cocky grin. “To the Sun Study."
“Oh yea, forgot you mentioned that to Clean Scroll. Mind if we take the east breezeway?”
“Huh, isn’t that kinda out of the way.”
“Yea, but there’s a guard assigned there today who I think might be shirking her shifts. I haven’t gotten the drop on her yet, but today might be the day.”
“Yea,” Twilight laughed, “No problem.”
“So the Sun Study huh?”
“Yea… I’ve got a paper I need to think about.”
“You know… Maybe going there is making it harder for you to let go.”
“Maybe. But maybe I don’t want to let go. I know that… I know that someday I am going to lose you and my other friends, but I don’t want to live my life knowing that everypony I meet will some day just fade from my memory. If I don’t keep her alive, I think I will go insane.”
“You don’t have to forget her, just… Move on I guess.”
Twilight shook her head.
“Some ponies make such a strong impact on our lives that they become part of who we are. I can’t move on any more than I can stop being who I am. When she was alive… I sort of put her on a pedestal. Now that she is gone… I’ve made her into a symbol of who I want to be. I don’t want to move past that.”
“But I don’t know if it’s good for you.”
“Maybe not, but it is the way things are… Can we drop it?”
“Yea… So this paper you’re thinking about, anything important?”
Twilight appreciated her friend’s willingness to change the topic. “I haven’t decided yet.”
“I’ve noticed that you’ve been sneaking away there more often recently.” Rainbow Dash began waving a hoof in defense before Twilight had a chance to retort. “Not going to try to say you shouldn’t again, just is everything alright?”
Twilight sighed. “It’s just this whole alicorn thing. I thought it would be really awesome, and it is. I guess it’s just stirred up a lot of things that I didn’t even realize were there.”
“Well, just remember, if you ever need to talk…”
“I know.”
“But speaking of you transformation, how has your stomach been treating you?”
“I’m not throwing up anymore. Still getting queasy though.”
“Is it bad?”
“Nothing some tea can’t fix.”
“The doctors figure it out yet?”
Twilight nodded her head. “Yea, they found some old medical records from a couple hundred years ago when Celestia got a checkup. Luckily it was done with a magical imaging spell. Apparently alicorn organs are… different, and I’m not all the way done with my transformation. Even though outwardly I have the form of an alicorn, it seems my metamorphosis will take decades yet. I’m just happy that my wings are out of my body. Those things hurt. Growing new organs and having my old ones shift around is just unpleasant in comparison.”
“New organs?”
“Yea, like you know, the heart thing.”
Rainbow Dash screwed her lips tight and then burst out laughing. “I can’t believe how much AJ freaked out when she heard that second beat.”
“Well I was on the ground bleeding.”
“Yea, but… ‘The Princess’s foal is in distress. We need a doctor.’ She kept insisting you were pregnant.” Again another wave of laughter bellowed from the pegasus.
“Yea, I remember. The tabloids have only recently started to drop the issue of the ‘royal foal’ and speculating on the father. But, what else was she supposed to think when she heard two beats?”
Twilight thought back to the day she had gained her wings. It had been Applejack fretting over the “Princess Down” who noticed the double heartbeat of two organs working in tandem. Her memory of the entire incident was fuzzy. She supposed it was a way to cope with the pain. But from what she remembered, it was around that point that the earth pony had leapt to entirely the wrong conclusion. Twilight had no idea when the change had taken place and might never have noticed if it had not been drawn to her attention.
She wondered if she should be grateful for the gift of her new biology. She supposed that an immortal had to deal with more heartbreak than a mortal pony.
As they passed into the breezeway Dash held up a hoof making a shushing sound. Then a smile broke out on her face.
“I knew it. The recruits all think this is a joke post, but they do their job anyway if they know what’s good for them. But look at this. Not a guard to be found. I’m gonna have her hide.”
“You take way too much pleasure in your job.”
“And you don’t take enough. I only accept the best from myself, and I’m not going to let a single member of the Guard do anywise.”
“Oh, I’m not saying I don’t approve.”
They shared a laugh. Things had been more relaxed since her transformation. Twilight wondered how much of it was due to the fact that she was now a fellow winged pony versus those first few days leaving her bed ridden.
“So I know that the griffon Ambassador is meeting with you today. Whenever I’ve talked to him, he’s been weirdly evasive about what it’s about. Does the military council need to be planning for anything?”
“No, it’s nothing bad, or at least nothing worse than annoying. Our new trade and aid agreement seems to be keeping them pacified for now. But the Ambassador wants to address their diets. You know they don’t get as much nutrition out of fruits and vegetables as ponies.”
“Yea, I’d overheard some of his entourage talking. I’d never known that they weren’t always herbivores. They switched over their diets after the Break Wing Pact, right?”
“Yea. But it means our current setup is a bit inefficient. Grains are pretty good for their diet, but we really don’t grow a whole lot of them in Equestria anymore, because of how poorly they fair without as much sunlight. The Ambassador wants to talk about having some of our horticulture experts go to the Imperium and assist in cultivating strains of wheat that will do better in the current climate.”
“Why a private meeting then?”
“They can be a bit sensitive about their diets. I think on the one claw they worry that they are going to upset ponies if they remind us that they used to hunt and eat meat. On the other claw, I think it is a bit of a point of wounded pride that Celestia all but forced them into the Break Wing Pact.”
“Not like she was going to let them keep eating us. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be alive back then. Untamed wilderness- Twi?”
Twilight had stopped frozen in her place in the hallway.
“Why is there a mirror here?”
“Oh come on, you’re not that ugly…” Twilight did not respond “Not funny?” Dash cocked her head with the question.
“Not funny.”
“Sorry Princess. You don’t normally come by here and- I’ll get it taken care of.”
“Thank you.”
Twilight’s smile had vanished at the sight of her reflection in the mirror. They continued to walk on in silence with Rainbow Dash a little ahead. The pegasus kept trying to sneak looks back at her. Twilight knew that her friend was just concerned, but she found it annoying.
The day had been going so well, but it had all seemed to vanish when she saw the mirror. She had not seen her own reflection in the glass, but instead that of her former mentor.
Every time she looked into her reflection, she saw Princess Celestia. She saw her princess, and her hearts would break all over again. Seeing a form that looked so similar to her teacher was too hard to handle. For a brief moment she would imagine for a moment that the ancient alicorn had returned, but then she would notice all of the differences. She would realize the coat was far too dark, and the mane was missing so many colors of the rainbow. The eyes were the wrong shape - far to big in proportion. The spiral patterns on their horns were different as well. She knew every inch of her mentor’s face, and every detail was a difference that caused her pain.
She knew she had confused the palace staff with her more recent behavior. While everypony had been telling her how much more beautiful and graceful she had grown - not that she had not been beautiful before they would hurry to add - Twilight had decided to remove all the mirrors from her study and bedroom. A week later she had the mirrors removed from all the portions of the palace that she frequented.
Everytime she looked at her reflection, she would forget. Her emotions would flare up and it was as if Celestia was there in the here and now. A brief moment of perfection. Then immediately after it would come crashing down. She would notice all of those differences and it was like she had lost Celestia all over again. She would notice all of her own imperfections and flaws.
So she had decided not to look at her reflection anymore.
The servants could ensure that her mane was brushed and that her crown was not on crooked. Twilight was not even certain that they would need to keep her mane groomed for much longer. It seemed to be taking on a life of its own. She wondered how many decades it would take for her hair to complete its transformation.
Rainbow Dash seemed to understand in her own way. They had a “talk” when the first mirrors were removed from the palace. Twilight had done a poor job explaining herself, but her friend seemed to at least be willing to go along with the hallway mirror ban, even if she did not fully understand. Of course, it did not help that Twilight was not certain she understood it herself.
“Well, looks like we part ways here. I’ve got an inspection to run.”
“Don’t be too hard on Aegis now, ok?”
“We’ll see Princess. We’ll see.”
After a short bow, Rainbow Dash trotted down the hall leaving Twilight alone with her escort of guards in front of the sun carved doors. She stepped into the room and checked the golden antique clock hanging on the wall. She did not want to be late for tea.
Twilight glanced at the blanket and pillows on the bed and considered curling into them and just taking a nap. Her imaginary pillow-lestia was different than the mirrors. When she cuddled up with the blanket and filled her nostrils with Celestia’s scent, she would lose herself in her memories and not in the present. It was a comforting escape, but her heart always knew that Celestia was gone. She recognized it for what it was, a fantasy. There was no loss when she pulled away, just a return to a duller reality. An escape without the devastating crash was comforting.
The simple fact was that she still missed Celestia and her heart was still broken. Her hearts plural were still broken. She still needed to get used to that.
Unfortunately, she had come to the room to think, not to sleep. Twilight turned away from the bed to look at the desk. Last night she had left her work laid out on the surface.
She levitated two scrolls towards her. One was a dragonfire message from Spike. It had taken years and many burnt manes for the two of them to figure out exactly how the magic worked, and more infuriatingly, how Celestia had managed to send reply letters. It had been worth the work.
She had read the message the previous night and knew the contents. A method of communicating with the shade dragons remained elusive. They had enlisted the help of some researchers from further south, but Spike doubted there would be much success. He had found first edition Trotslosky in a rummage sale while replenishing their provisions in the nearest town and had picked it up for her. She was supposed to tell Moon Dreamer, “Hi.”
The other scroll was a status report. The preparations for her new lab were nearly complete. The only missing pieces were the two clocks still under construction. Twilight frowned at the price of retrofitting the formerly unoccupied tower. Technically she already had a lab she could have used, but she wanted a place free of any magical contamination from past experiments.
She rolled the report back up and proceeded to rhythmically bang the two scrolls against the edge of the desk as she thought. When the beat did not bring any answers to mind, she tucked the scrolls into a case set next to the desk, and in a burst of magic, sent them to the study adjacent to her bedroom.
The thick many paged report stapled in the upper corner was the important thing now.
Her magic rapidly leafed through the printed report, but she had already been through the thing a dozen times. The ink of her personal notes, annotations, and calculations coated every page in the margins and in between the lines. She closed it to the cover.
A global weather study and the lengths of winters.
Prof. Cold Ice, Cloudsdale University, Winter Weather Dept.
She flipped it back open to the abstract.
-period of cooling, beginning with the reign of current Princess Twilight Sparkle became noticeable in the tenth year – point of no return – opinion, caused by deficiencies in output of the current sun – despite the spike seen in year 24 of RPTS – uninhabitable levels in two to three centuries – recommend an immediate increases in solar intensity in excess of two orders of magnitude-
Twilight closed the report again.
Professor Cold Ice called it an “ice age” in the paper. Twilight had never met the pony and could not decided if it was an appropriate name or an attempt to appeal to his own ego. However, it did not matter what it was called, Equestria was going to be buried under tons of ice.
Her knee jerk reaction had been that the paper was wrong. Her sun was getting brighter and stronger and had been consistently doing so. Her primary concern was supposed to be about low crop yields due to low light, not temperature and ice. Part of her had been concerned about the increasing winters, but she had assumed it was just a matter of time until they returned to normal. In her mind, as long as she made her sun a little hotter over the next few decades, things would have been fine.
Unfortunately the premises in the paper were all sound and she could find no flaw in the math or data. The towering stack of papers next to the desk represented all of the historical weather data she could find. Everything added up.
Her sun had just been too cold. Each year, the planet was losing more heat than it was taking in and bleeding away millennia of stored warmth. To stop the processes that had been put into play would require far more magic than she had access to even in her current state. The winters would become harder and harder to wrap up, until eventually there would be no wrap up at all.
Sooner or later, the only weather Cloudsdale would be able to produce would be snowy days. The conditions just would not be right for any other types of clouds.
Luckily, this ‘ice age’ would not last forever. Eventually the planet would warm back up as her sun reached greater intensities. Unfortunately, the era of frost would last a very long time indeed.
There was one saving grace in the pages she read.
Twilight may have suspected that the climate was heading in such a direction, but her time frame had been completely off. Before reading the report her assumption was that weather problems were an issue for her to deal with or fail during the time of decades. The report indicated otherwise. Rather than fifty to a hundred years she might had expected Equestria to have left, it indicated that the cooling would happen over a time period of multiple centuries.
It was freeing to know that this threat was not one that would come crashing down in the next year or two. Even if her sun were to stagnate, the onset of the ice age would only be a few decades sooner. It had given her the room to refocus her efforts elsewhere, such as rebuilding the moon. It all seemed like such a long period of time.
Twilight was glad that nopony would ever notice.
It would be so gradual that each generation might suspect that things had been a little bit colder than when they had been a foal, but they would chalk it up to their imagination. By the time the long winter was upon them, summer would be just an old foal’s tale.
Her little ponies would never need to know what they had lost.
“Can I hide this? Do I want to hide this?”
Twilight had yet to decide if she wanted to suppress the report from Cloudsdale. She was decidedly uncomfortable with the idea. Knowledge deserved to be free and shared with everypony. The former librarian had always believed in that. However, burying the academic paper would be the only way to maintain the blissful ignorance of her ponies that would make Equestria’s decline bearable. In these recent months during which ponies where looking towards better things, the report would shatter their optimism. They would suffer in the knowledge they might partake.
“Is it right to hide this?”
Had Celestia ever secretly forbidden any books or texts? Twilight had found no evidence of such a deed, but her mentor had been capable enough to remove any such clues. The lavender alicorn would probably never know. There would be no guidance on the issue.
“Is this different than the moon?”
But then she thought about the secret she had found in Diary No. One Thirty Seven. Celestia had sealed Twilight’s magic and not said a word. However, on the other hoof, Celestia had planned to tell Twilight eventually, and some later entries even expressed misgivings about not telling her earlier. Ultimately, Celestia had done what was best for Twilight.
“And what should I do about the moon? I meant to tell him. I really did.”
No answers came from the pile of blankets on the bed that formed the imaginary Celestia. It was a problem she needed to solve on her own.
Was it right to do something for a pony that they would not want, even if it would be in their best interest? She had written a friendship report on that very question once. At the time Celestia had approved of Twilight’s letter.
Twilight had written that she could not force something on anypony, but through love and tolerance, she could lead them to what was best. Through the magic of friendship, a pony would eventually make the right choice. But this was different. Once a pony had read a report, they could not later choose to not read it. If she allowed the knowledge of the ice age to enter the public, she would forever be depriving the option of ‘not knowing’ from her ponies.
Either way, she was deciding what was best for her ponies. It was just a matter of choosing between not telling them something painful they could do nothing about, or informing them of the grim fate of future generations. She would decided later, but not too much later. If Twilight waited too long, the decision would be out of her hooves. Unless she took action, ponies would find out about it eventually.
Perhaps that would be for the best.
“Can hiding the truth be ok?”
But, she knew that whether it was wrong or not was not the question. No, Twilight was contemplating something else entirely. Was it OK to do the wrong thing for the right reason? Could she justify all her actions with her goal of preserving her beloved Equestria? She hoped not, otherwise she would be capable of anything.
But there was still hope. She still had the love and support of everypony. The power of friendship would guide her. There would always be hope.
Soon she would need to begin planning for this ‘ice age.’ She would do her best to prevent it, but she needed to be ready in case she failed. She always seemed to fail. Equestria could not die because she was too weak to stave of the cold and the night. If she was smart, some ponies would survive the ice age. If she planned well, Equestria would rebuild. Even though it was very far off, proper preparations could take up all the centuries until the ice age came.
She would need a checklist.
Perhaps there was nothing she could do to avert the ice, but she would do everything in her power to ensure that there was still an Equestria when it thawed. It was still strange to worry concretely about something so far away. Had Princess Celestia fret about events that had been eons in the future?
“Did she worry about the plight of ponies not even born?”
Twilight wanted to cry at the thought of all ponies that would suffer during the many centuries it would take for her plan to see Equestria to prosperity again. She needed to ignore that feeling. She needed to be strong.
Twilight needed to avert the ice age in the first place.
It was a vain and crazy hope. There was no way her sun would get warm enough in time. But there was a chance.
Moon Dreamer’s research was coming along nicely. Soon he might even begin construction of a prototype. All things considered his progress was phenomenal. The former unicorn had not expected her student to be as far along as he was for years. Despite the headway, she could not help but feel impatient. Her student could hold the keys to giving her the strength to relight Equestria. If Moon Dreamer failed there would be nothing she could do to stop the ice age.
And if her pupil did not succeed in creating his amplification matrix, Twilight would have to hope that decent planning would be enough to allow a handful of ponies to survive the long freeze.
She thought about the report again, about making a decision, but when she did she felt the doors to an old house opening in her mind. She remembered Witherton and felt her entire body tense.
I can’t keep doing this. It was seven months ago.
Twilight’s head jerked up when she heard a knock on the door.
“Princess Twilight. It is nearly time for you to be in the tea room to meet with Miss Applejack.”
Twilight’s wings fluttered in delight before she nearly groaned at the instinctive response. Even though she could count cards, she had never been good at poker. It had taken years before she was finally able to mask her emotions in court. However, once she had gotten her 'princess face' down she had been thrilled. Her wings unfortunately were not so easy to control. The alicorn hoped that nopony had yet realized that they could read their princess like an open book by watching her new appendages.
They were nearly grown enough that she could begin flying soon - perhaps another month or three. Once they were strong enough Rainbow Dash would begin giving her lessons. The feathered things on her back gave another happy flutter at the thought, and Twilight really did groan that time. Hopefully, learning how to use them would also give her some control over the emotions they displayed.
With as much grace as she could muster with her wings twitching on her back she rose from study and made her way to the tearoom. Her meeting with Applejack awaited her.
It was probably the best thing of all that had come from her wings growing in. Despite the boost in magical power, regenerative capability, and the need to sleep less, which had all coincided with her wings, the advent of her new appendages had taken a lot out of her physically. In the immediate aftermath she had felt awful and had been bed ridden.
She managed to keep it a secret from the public. Nopony had seen a reason to worry everypony over something that would pass. Was that any different than the ice age?
Her wings had only really hurt her for a few days after coming in, and most of the time it was more of a soreness than anything else. After those first days she was only trapped in her bed because her doctors did not want the new alicorn to overexert herself.
Applejack had insisted on personally taking over nursing the princess back to health. Almost nopony had seemed willing to defy the stern grandmare. The earth pony had dealt with her own fair share of sick foals and had decided that she was the only pony capable of keeping a stubborn alicorn from ignoring doctors’ orders. Of course, not quite everypony went along with Applejack’s self-appointed position.
At first Twilight had felt a warm sense of knowing that she was loved as the captain of her guard bickered with the farmer over her care. That feeling was gone by the time they had spilled their third bowl of soup on her while fighting over who would feed it to her. By the fourth bowl, it was not even funny. It had been Blueblood, of all ponies, being affronted at their behavior that finally knocked some sense into them.
Rainbow Dash had conceded that Applejack was the best pony for the job. The earth pony’s experience of dealing with generations of her stubborn descendants had left her well prepared to handle an annoyed princess. At times it was frustrating. She did not enjoy being pushed into bed whenever she tried to get up. However in the end, Twilight's friendship with Applejack had been renewed, something she would have let any number of bowls of soup spill on her to accomplish. Their letters were now more vibrant, and Twilight and Applejack had been trying to meet at least once a month.
On some of the visits she had also managed to see some of Applejack’s kin. The alicorn had realized that she simply did not have the time to keep track of everypony, but that did not mean she could not watch over some of her friend’s descendants. Young Apple Seed certainly did admire her, and every time he had met Twilight in the last six months he had been thrilled.
Twilight wondered if Applejack had brought her grandson with her today. The pony was probably busy in Hoofingham still. She also hoped that Dash’s inspection went quickly and that she would be able to join them. The whole incident with nursing Twilight back to ‘health’ had reignited something between the element of honesty and loyalty as well. The two ponies where even discussing running together in the next Running of the Leaves in Ponyville.
Approaching her mirror-less tearoom, the princess could smell a sweet fragrance. Her tea was waiting for her. The gift from the zebran diplomats had quickly been exhausted. It had worked as advertised, leaving her renewed and refreshed in the mornings. Twilight had requested that the palace’s quartermaster procure more of the tealeaves. She had been shocked at the cost, but felt it worth the expense. The lavender ruler had expected magistrate Blueblood to object to the purchase.
He had not, and she thought she knew why. The noble pony had accepted her apology for yelling at him in his typical infuriating way. The look on his face had made Twilight wonder why she had bothered worrying about his feelings in the first place. She just had to remind herself that she was a good pony. Good ponies apologized when they said something harsh to another. She had written a friendship report on that once. Even though he had accepted her apology, he had not brought up the clocks again.
Since the incident, he had been strangely subdued. The magistrate had objected to only a few of her suggested purchases. She wanted to talk to him about it, but did not know what she would say. Twilight knew what the problem was. He was afraid of her now.
Ponies had never feared Celestia.
The realization had upset her - not so much that there was a pony afraid of her, but that she did not mind being feared. In the case of Blueblood, it was almost useful. He was far less aggravating now than he had been. Was it OK to have a pony fear her if it made the job of protecting Equestria easier?
She did not think so.
But then why did she not try to say something more to the noble unicorn? Why did she not let him know that he had nothing to fear from her - that she was a good pony? She should go out of her way to try to mend things between them. That was a large part of the magic of friendship. So why was she letting things remain as they were?
Maybe it was because Blueblood was so annoying. Or maybe it was because sometimes she just wanted her bucking tea without having to argue with anypony over the cost.
Princess Twilight Sparkle entered her tearoom, all vestiges of her smile from the morning gone. Her wings were held tightly to her side, and her face was tight. She tried to push the thoughts aside, ushering them into the Everfree of her mind. The forest made an excellent dumping ground for her unwanted emotions. Unfortunately, they always came back.
Before the ruler of Equestria had even reached her seat, her friend was speaking, ignoring any greetings, “What’s wrong, suga’h cube?”
The alicorn plopped heavily down at the table while waving her hoof dismissively.
“Just thinking about things is all.”
A servant pony approached with a cup of warm tea. As Twilight sipped it, she felt herself relax. Her magic smoothed and evened out as it welled in response to the chemicals being added to her bloodstream. She had requested a month ago that a chemist from Canterlot University attempt to isolate the active ingredients in the tea. Perhaps they could brew something more potent. Applejack just smiled politely at the cup of green tea placed in front of her but pushed it away with her hoof. One day Twilight would find a type of tea that her friend would enjoy.
“Must be heavy things based on that frown of yours.”
“It’s nothing - just something stupid.”
Silence lingered between the two of them.
“Now Twi - what did I tell you ‘bout keepin things bottled up. Ya need to let them out.”
Twilight thought of the report in her room, and how easy it would be make it disappear. She thought of how Celestia had deceived her. Twilight thought about how Celestia all but lied about Nightmare Moon’s return through clever and manipulative phrasing. Celestia had always done what was right for Equestria. She wondered what was best for Equestria.
“I’m afraid.” Twilight paused for a moment startled by her own admission, “I’m worried I am losing myself.”
It was not until the words had left her mouth that Twilight realized that they were true. She wondered how long the feeling had been in her heart and more importantly if she was already lost. It was not the report or the moon. It was her.
“Go on sugah cube. A’hm listenin.”
“Well… You probably heard about Witherton right?”
Rainbow Dash never did finish with her inspection early, and in the conversation that followed, Twilight never did get a chance to ask Applejack’s opinion on the climate report or the moon.