//------------------------------// // 3 - Fragile Figures // Story: Retrograde // by RQK //------------------------------// Her feet ached from all of the running, though Wallflower Blush couldn’t stop running. Her lungs burned, and her eyes watered; she was not in the best shape, but she still ran. She hadn’t a clue where she was going, and had lost track of how long she had been moving. All she knew was that she had to get away from Canterlot High; away from her mistakes. What have I done? Those words echoed through Wallflower’s mind. The events of the past few months weighed heavier on her thoughts the further she distanced herself from the high school. Still, she couldn’t stop running. All she had wanted was for people to see Sunset the way she had been convinced Sunset was. Sunset Shimmer was a jerk and a bully; she was someone that you silently hated out of fear of what she’d do to you. Sunset had been like that for years, yet people just forgave her. As if nothing ever happened. Wallflower’s stomach churned at the thought. Of course, she felt that her hatred for Sunset Shimmer was totally justified. After all, there was a point in time that everyone hated Sunset Shimmer. Wallflower knew a lot of her own hatred was more as an observer, but she had plenty of reasons to doubt the girl’s sudden change of heart. Sunset had spent the bulk of her high school experience aggressively manipulating the school’s population to hate one another for her own amusement! Wallflower had seen it all happen first hand. So why do I feel so guilty right now? Of course, Wallflower knew the answer to that question. The moment that she had seen Sunset’s face after she had intercepted the blast from the Memory Stone warp in pain had burned itself into her memory. She had watched in horror as Sunset’s memories left her mind. She had heard the panic in her voice; the sheer amount of fear that left Sunset’s mouth as she writhed around, losing that which she held most dear. It had been terrifying, both because of the sight of how far she had gone in her fury, and the knowledge that she had sealed her own fate. There was also, of course, the small part of herself that loved watching Sunset suffer. And that part of her was probably the most scary thing about the whole experience. Her feet eventually stopped at the foot of her bed. She lurched forward slightly, her mind not quite catching up to where her feet had brought her. She didn’t bother trying to catch herself from falling, and opted instead to just collapse onto her bed. Her legs practically sighed in relief as her face made contact with the sheets. Why did any of this have to happen? I just... wanted people to see her how I see her... she thought to herself with a groan. She could feel the tears begin to leak from her eyes as she buried her face further into her sheets. I didn’t want things to end up like this! * * * Sunset Shimmer watched in silence. By now the sun had gone down and the only lights available to them were the few lamps still turned on. And if that wasn’t enough reason to climb up the stairs and fall into the bed, the ever slight feeling of fading consciousness was. The purple pajamas she now wore certainly helped that along. But she could be patient. Twilight Sparkle, who wore a pair of yellow pajamas much like hers, gave the creature in her hands a small scratch underneath the chin. Ray, the leopard gecko, lifted his chin in time with it, a blissful smile spreading across his face. Sunset felt her chest tighten with what she could only describe as guilt, if only a little, at the sight of Ray’s content grin. She still felt bad; she hated that she had forgotten the little guy. Finally, Twilight offered Ray to Sunset and she, in turn, held out her hand. Ray hopped into it and she lifted him up and over the side of his terrarium. Sunset gently deposited him on the branch she had first found him on. She could help but keep watching even as Ray found his position on the branch. He turned and looked back up at her with a smile on his face. Despite the guilty feeling still being there, Sunset felt warm, and she couldn’t help but smile back. He was like a little ray of sunshine. She pulled away from the terrarium. She then exchanged “Goodnight”s with Twilight and shuffled toward and then up the stairs leading up to the bed. She stopped at the top and watched as Twilight took a seat on the couch. Sunset leaned against the balcony railing, taking care not to lay her arms on the lights strung down the length of it. A lone book sat on the coffee table right in front of the couch. Twilight reached forward and picked it up, opened to the first page, and started reading. Sunset’s mouth twitched. She had skimmed a few pages of it herself but it had quite a bit of length to it. From what she had seen of it, it had to be a diary. It had to be her diary. It had a pattern similar to that of the journal she had used to communicate with Princess Celestia on its cover, albeit with a slightly different design. A faint sound pulled Sunset from that train of thought. She glanced down to the girl sitting on the couch, reading, and saw her quivering in the dull light of the lamp. The first thought that had come to Sunset’s mind was that of Twilight shuddering at the cool air of the apartment. This was a short-lived idea though, as Twilight was wrapped in the thick blanket that they had found for her not an hour ago. It was upon hearing the faint sound again that Sunset figured out what the noise was; Twilight was crying. The other girl’s breath seemed to quietly hitch, and it was clear that Twilight was trying her best to not weep into the open pages of the book on her lap. Sunset didn’t need to see the tears to know that the day’s events had probably caught up to her guest’s thoughts. Twilight was probably putting on a brave face, which had likely faltered in the relative silence of the night. She had apparently been one of Sunset’s closest friends; the loss of her memories was probably a huge blow. Sunset wanted to go down and hug the girl, but hesitated. She didn’t feel right trying to comfort someone who was effectively a stranger to her, regardless of their apparent history together. Still, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for Twilight, and wished she could remember her time with Twilight to help stop the girl’s quiet sobbing. Sadly, that likely wouldn’t happen; the universe was rarely that fair. Not knowing what else to do, Sunset flopped onto the bed. She briefly wondered if Twilight would find anything in the pages of her journal to help, but ended up shaking the thought away. If there was a solution in that book, they’d likely have already done something about her missing memories. Perhaps she would have to read it herself later. Maybe learn some things about the gap in her memory; about the memories that had been stolen from her by some magical rock. Maybe. * * * Moondancer’s head spun as she tried to regain her footing, still recovering from being tossed across the room by the portal behind her. Both Twilight and Starlight had warned her that there was a chance of this happening, and she wished she had brought a hoofball helmet with her through the portal. Alas, she didn’t have that kind of foresight; clairvoyance spells were impractical to set up. She heard the sound of, presumably, Starlight’s hoofs pad against the crystalline floor beside her. “You gonna be okay?” “Ugh... yeah, I think so...” Moondancer replied. “My head’s... blgh... still spinning a little.” “That doesn’t surprise me, since you did just fly into a bookshelf like a cannonball,” Starlight replied, wincing a little. “That happened to me the first time I came back too. I had a headache for a week.” Moondancer groaned, softly rubbing her temples with her hoofs. “Ech, seriously? A week?” “Unfortunately, though I did kind of hit my horn off of two shelves on the way down.” “Yeah... that would certainly do that,” Moondancer said, wincing at the thought. “Well, at least you didn’t get a concussion, right?” Starlight chuckled. “Mhmm! That would have been the worst. Trying to cast spells with a concussion is just asking for trouble.” “You sound like you have experience with that,” Moondancer remarked with a raised eyebrow. “Not personally, but back when I was a filly, one of the girls that I went to school with got one playing some sport. When she tried to levitate things, it ended up grabbing something nearby instead,” Starlight giggled. “If that’s what happens when you just try basic magic with a rattled brain, then I don’t even want to know what would happen if she tried something more complicated.” “That must have been quite the sight.” Starlight laughed. “It was pretty funny to see, even if the reason for it was probably pretty embarrassing.” “I’ll bet.” Moondancer giggled, only to have the throbbing of her headache make her wince. “Does Twilight have anything for headaches lying around?” “Yeah, she has some medicine for it in all of the bathrooms.” “Thank goodness...” Moondancer sighed, climbing to her feet. Thankfully, the dizziness had finally subsided. She began making her way to the large doors leading out of the library, stopping just shy of the sofa near them. “Uhh... you wouldn’t happen to know where I could find a bathroom, would you?” “Oh, that’s right, you aren’t familiar with the layout of the castle yet,” Starlight chuckled. “Yeah, there’s one just down the hall. It should be the third door on the left.” Moondancer opened the door with a nod. “Alright, thanks.” As soon as Moondancer left the room, Starlight took it upon herself to teleport to the kitchen to make some tea. It was relatively late, but she knew that she’d probably have a hard time sleeping without something to calm her nerves. She filled the kettle with water which she heated with a quick temperature control spell as she pulled two sleepytime tea bags out from the box on the counter. Placing the kettle, cups, and the containers for various condiments on a tray, Starlight teleported back to the library. Moondancer was there, at the table she and Twilight had been sitting at earlier today, pouring over some book. Beside her were two evenly stacked piles of books of varying thicknesses. She looked up for a moment to acknowledge Starlight’s return, before returning to the book she was reading. Placing the tray on the table, Starlight sat opposite Moondancer and prepared two cups of tea. “How do you take your tea again?” “Milk and sugar,” Moondancer replied. Starlight nodded and poured some milk and sugar into one of the tea cups. She placed it just left of the tome Moondancer was reading. “Thanks.” Starlight smiled, pouring some cream into her own tea cup. “No problem. What are you reading?” “‘A Guide to Memory Disorders,’” Moondancer replied. She sipped at her tea, and sighed contently. “I wanted to look into some of the more easily accessible books on the subject before Twilight got back.” “To help narrow down ways to help Sunset?” Starlight asked. Moondancer nodded. “That’s right. I doubt I’ll find anything on magically-caused retrograde amnesia in anything publically available though.” For the next few minutes, sans the occasional sound of sipping from their respective cups, the two mares sat in silence. The pair of unicorns seemed to be lost in thought; or in the case of Moondancer, lost in a dusty, likely very old book. After several minutes of this, the sound of a faint crying pulled Moondancer away from her book. Looking up, she found Starlight’s face accented by fresh tears. They slid down her muzzle, and some dripped into the tea that was hovering in front of her mouth. Starlight’s face was wearing an expression that Moondancer recognized all too well, since it wasn’t all that long ago that she had made that face. It was the face of someone feeling like they had lost a friend, and it was one that Moondancer was all to familiar with seeing. She had seen that expression in the mirror so many times in the past. She wanted to say something to try and help the poor mare, but the words wouldn’t leave her mouth. * * * Sunset’s body twisted and turned in ways that she knew weren’t natural. In fact, for a moment, she wasn’t sure if she had a physical body at all. If she did, it was likely in some form she wouldn’t have been comfortable with looking at. Everything eventually came back to as she wobbled her way onto a platform. She immediately looked down and saw her current body—her old body, her pony body. Relief immediately flooded through her. This was the body she remembered having less than a day ago. And her smile faded. That day ago had really been years ago. She currently stood on her hind legs and she let herself fall forward so that her forelegs also touched the floor. Now with solid footing, she glanced around. This library she now stood in had shelves that ringed around the room and the crystalline architecture glistened in the morning sunlight that made it through the windows. It was fairly obvious that she wasn’t in Canterlot, nor was it the castle she had once considered to be a second home. Sunset turned and looked up at the mirror. It looked exactly as she remembered it, although the machinery surrounding it was new. Her eyes wandered up to the book sitting in the niche above the mirror, noting how the book bore her cutie mark. That was probably the most recognizable thing here. And Sunset finally turned to look at Twilight. Twilight had wings and a horn and had this earthly energy about her. She had seen it before. Sunset narrowed her eyes. She had wanted it before. Twilight regarded her with a certain frown. “Welcome back to Equestria, Sunset.” Sunset snorted. “Where are we, exactly?” Twilight motioned toward the room around them. “This is my castle in Ponyville.” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Ponyville?” she tentatively asked. Twilight nodded. “Yes. Ponyville. This is the place I have called home for a few years now.” The tall double doors at the end of the room swung open and a pair of figures entered the room. Squinting allowed Sunset to recognize Moondancer (at least, she was pretty sure it was Moondancer), but the baby dragon caused Sunset to doubletake. His purple scales complimented Twilight’s colors but the green in his spine and in his eyes gave him his own identity. “Good morning, Moondancer, Spike,” Twilight said. “Welcome back Twilight,” Spike greeted, briefly hugging the mare. He looked up at Sunset and folded his claws together. “Sunset… Hi…” Sunset glanced at him for a moment longer and then nodded. “Hi.” Spike groaned. “You don’t remember me, do you?” After a pause, Sunset shook her head. “No. Sorry.” Twilight frowned and then turned to Moondancer. “So, where are we at?” Moondancer adjusted her glasses and cleared her throat. “Well, Starlight and I spent some time looking through the books here to see if we could find anything out. We found a couple”—she shrugged—“of candidates, maybe, but I don’t think they’re anything that will completely do it.” “I didn’t think so,” Twilight grimly said. “A lot of the books I have are more common than the ones in the restricted section. I probably should have brought a few back with me during my last visit to Canterlot.” “Uh, we also sent some letters to Princess Celestia. She says she’s going to call in a few others who she thinks will help,” Spike said. “I think that means she’s gonna see if the Pillars will be able to help.” Sunset raised an eyebrow. Princess Celestia? Pillars? “Oh, and she also says she’ll be over in a couple hours or so.” Now Sunset shuddered. Princess Celestia coming here? Her thoughts immediately turned back toward her last conversation with Celestia. She remembered the harsh and pointed words they had left each other on. Celestia’s sharp and piercing voice, one which she had never heard in full force before, lanced through her mind. “N-no,” she said with a quiver. Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Sunset?” “I-I don’t know if I can—” “Sunset…” Sunset looked over and sucked in a breath. “Sorry. It’s just… the last thing I remember about her, we had a huge falling out and… I don’t know… I don’t know if I could be in the same room as her.” Twilight sighed and nodded solemnly. “Well…” “Like… I don’t even know if she’d want to see me.” “But weren’t you all with each other here just a few days ago?” Moondancer asked. “Wouldn’t that mean that Sunset and Celestia are on good terms again?” Twilight nodded. “That’s right. Sunset… you more or less reconciled with her. You two made up.” Sunset flinched. She glanced between Twilight, Moondancer, and Spike. She studied their expressions, looking for cracks that she inwardly knew weren’t there. Her thoughts then traveled back to what she had heard last night. “I… did… didn’t I?” Twilight nodded. Sunset hung her head. “Right… So I guess I’m cool with Celestia. Even if I don’t remember making up with her…” “I’m sorry, Sunset.” Spike scratched his head and groaned. “Well, that sounds great. I even remember you talking about trying to make up with her even. Sounds like you’re not getting that back, huh?” After a moment, Twilight shook her head and whirled to face him. “No. We’re going to get that memory back. And all of her other memories too. Just you wait.” Spike narrowed his eyes and balled his claws into a fist. A fire appeared in his eyes. “Count me in!” Twilight grinned and then turned again as a couple more figures appeared in the doorway. The former, Starlight, walked side-by-side with a tall mare in a vest. This latter mare sported a scar across her right eye and had bright colors to her mane and tail. The two of them stopped just past the doorway as Starlight imparted some last-minute words, causing her companion’s frown to deepen. Twilight stood at her full height as the two mares now approached (the latter of whom turned her gaze fully onto Sunset). “Hello.” The vested mare bowed. “Hello, Twilight. I… wanted to update you on the financial situation and how those ledgers have come along.” Her expression hardened. “But I can see that some things have occurred.” Twilight sucked in a breath. “Yes. A big problem. Actually, I’m glad that you’re here. You might be able to help me out with this. Can we go someplace and talk?” The mare adjusted her vest with her magic and nodded. “Of course. Lead the way.” Twilight turned to Sunset and placed a hoof on her withers. “I’ll be right back,” she said before she led the vested mare toward the door and eventually out of the room. Starlight watched the two depart and then turned back to Sunset with a shrug. “Everything okay in the other world?” she asked. Sunset straightened up. “Uh, yeah. I guess. This is all really weird, though.” Starlight nodded. “I’ll bet. Losing your memory would probably make everything seem at least a little weird, huh?” “Heh, you don’t know the half of it. I’m still trying to process it all.” Sunset kicked at the floor. “I still don’t know if I really understand the place. It’s… weird.” Starlight giggled. “Hah. Yeah. You and me both.” “I hate to ask this… Starlight, but… when exactly did we meet?” Starlight paused as something flickered in her expression. She too kicked the floor now. “Well… it wasn’t too long ago. You… you came over here for a replacement journal once, I ended up going back with you to the human world. You showed me around, we had a good time. You were worried about magic in the other world.” She cracked a smile. “Well, and then we got caught up in some thing where this angry girl trapped your friends in a mirror and she trapped you in a mirror and I had to talk her down…” Moondancer raised an eyebrow. “Uh…” Sunset snickered. “Well… that sounds like a thing.” “Eh, I’ve been through way crazier things,” Starlight replied. “That mirror thing was probably the weirdest though.” Sunset sighed and scratched her head. “I just wish I could remember it…” Spike frowned and hung his head. “Yeah…” Starlight nodded solemnly and then stepped forward and put a hoof on Sunset’s withers. “Well… if you want me to, I can tell you all about it.” After a moment of silence, Sunset smiled. “Sure. Please?” Starlight’s muzzle curled into its own smile, and she nodded. “Alright, so it started a little before we met, when you and your friends got to be on the set of a Daring Do movie...” * * * The fireplace lit both Twilight’s face and the face of the mare sitting in the seat opposite her. It cracked as one of the logs within split down the middle and fell to the side. The mares themselves sat in silence, not even affording the fire a glance as it fell apart. “I see. So,” the vested mare said with a sigh, “you want my help.” “Crystal Faire… I need your help.” Crystal Faire adjusted her vest and sat back in her cushion. “Well… Twilight Sparkle…” she began as she folded her hooves together and narrowed her eyes. “While I want to… I don’t know if I can.” Twilight’s expression fell. “Why not?” “Well, I have my job at City Hall to worry about. That is not something that I can simply walk away from. Even now, I am on the clock.” Twilight groaned. “I would think that they would understand if I needed you for a while.” Crystal raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps. But this isn’t exactly the low profile I wanted.” “I know.” Twilight stood up and pointed to the door. “But you know more about the ins and outs of magic than most ponies. I can’t go to just anyone for that. That mare in there… she needs help, and there is nothing more that I want to do than to help her. She means a lot to me.” Crystal nodded. “Yes. I can see that.” Twilight swallowed. “So…?” Crystal sighed. “I happened to run into Starlight Glimmer on the way in. She told me that both Starswirl the Bearded and Sunburst of the Crystal Empire had agreed to come help you. I personally think they would be more capable of helping you than I am.” Twilight opened her mouth to speak but shut it just as quickly. She then stroked her chin. “Well… Sunburst has done some really nice things and I know he’s capable, and then of course Starswirl is Starswirl the Bearded.” She chuckled. “And, I mean, you can’t go wrong with Starswirl the Bearded! He’s the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era for Celestia’s sake! And he’s the Pillar of Sorcery!” Crystal pinched the bridge of her nose. “...Yes. I am aware. But their grasp of magical theory… truthfully… exceeds mine. And yours too, naturally.” Twilight let out a long exhale and turned her eyes back onto Crystal. “But, unlike them, you actually live here. And you’re available. I’m looking to get all the help that I can get. So please…” Crystal snorted and threw her hooves into the air. “Twilight Sparkle… Look. I want to help you. And I suppose that I can try… but that is not my issue. I do not think there is anything that I can do to help you.” After a few moments of silence, Twilight narrowed her eyes and trotted forward, closing the distance between the two. “Yes there is.” Crystal shook her head and looked away. “I know for a fact that you have seen a great many things. You’ve probably seen something like this before. Right?” At that, Crystal’s expression, which was already pale thanks to the very light fuschia that was her coat, turned even paler. “As a matter of fact… I have not.” Twilight could feel her breath leave her body. “And my expertise lies in preventing things from going wrong, not fixing things after they have gone wrong. If this could have been seen coming, that would have been one thing.” Twilight hung her head. “But still…” “Even from what you’ve described to me and from what I can glean… I don’t know what I can do about it.” At that, Crystal stood up. She closed the distance between the two of them so that she was nearly muzzle-to-muzzle with Twilight. And she said, with a voice at nearly a whisper, “But if I am to be perfectly honest… and I somewhat fear that these other ponies you want to bring in to help will say the same thing… but if this situation has indeed reached this point already… I think that you should be prepared for the worst possible outcome.” And Twilight had nothing to say. She stared into Crystal’s eyes while her own expression slowly started shaking more and more. And the mare across from her stared back with an unflinching frown. * * * Twilight trotted down the hall with purpose in her step. Princess Celestia walked right beside her with a thoughtful frown. She practically glided down the hall, in contrast with Twilight’s slightly stiff gait. Twilight spoke as she went, and Celestia occasionally nodded in return. “And that is about where we are now,” Twilight finished. Celestia nodded solemnly. “I see. This is… awful. I could not have even imagined this outcome.” She paused. “I would not have dreamed of it.” Twilight shook her head. “Me neither, Princess.” “I do not know how long I will be able to stay and help; not today, anyhow. But I will do what I can.” “Thank you, Princess.” The two reached the doorway which opened into the library. Moondancer sat alongside Crystal at one of the tables on one side of the room; Spike sat on the table itself, munching on a solitary sapphire. Sunset stood in the middle of the room with two cloaked stallions. The first, Sunburst, cut his magic, adjusted his glasses and then turned. The latter, Starswirl, pulled on his beard as he ran a magic cloud over Sunset’s body. Twilight and Celestia stood in the doorway. Celestia herself, on the sight of Sunset, looked whiter than she usually did and her features seemed to grow long. The two exchanged glances before entering the room themselves. As Twilight and Celestia, Starswirl too quit his spell and turned. “Twilight Sparkle, Celestia,” he said, bowing. Twilight watched his expression—it was hard to see past the grand white beard covering his muzzle—and shuddered. “Anything?” Sunburst frowned. “Nothing doing. I’m sorry, Twilight. We can’t readily fix this.” Twilight groaned. “Although it has given me some ideas that I would like to try,” Starswirl added. “And I might have one or two, loosely speaking,” Sunburst added. “Outside of a few ideas though, I’m not exactly sure if we can do anything about Sunset’s memory as is.” “Well, that’s good, at least. We can talk some more about everything that we want to do,” Twilight said. Celestia straightened up and now approached the mare in the middle of the gathering. Sunburst and Starswirl glanced at Sunset and then scooted backward. That left Sunset by herself where she met Celestia’s gaze and even shrank a little. After a moment, Celestia sighed. “I’m sorry,” she said at length. Sunset flinched. She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again; the words seemingly stuck in her throat. And then, with barely any strength in her voice, she managed to utter a single question: “What are you sorry for?” “Sunset Shimmer…” Celestia began as her frown deepened. “There are quite a few things, but… this happens to be one of them. I am sorry for you. I would have never wanted this. And I want you to know that I am here to help however I can.” Sunset sucked in a breath and eventually stood back to her full height. “Really?” Celestia cracked a smile. “Absolutely.” Sunset smiled and then said, “I just… there’s something I want to ask you. If it’s okay.” “Certainly.” Sunset kicked at the floor. “You’re… you’re not still mad at me, are you?” Celestia blinked. And then she trotted forward and wrapped a foreleg around Sunset, pulling her in close. “I never was.” The two remained in each other’s embrace for many long moments and, when they pulled away, they shared smiles. Starswirl, meanwhile, snorted and then trotted over to the table where Spike and the two mares sat at. A single plastic bag containing the remains of the Memory Stone. “Now now, let’s not dilly dally any longer. I want to start examining this much more closely,” he said as he picked it up with his magic and examined it. “Right.” Twilight turned. “Starswirl, Clover was your apprentice. Did he ever mention anything about that stone?” “On occasion. He never encountered the Memory Stone while he was my student, but he still visited often from time to time. We had many fruitful conversations about magic. In fact, I can recall that he came to me on a few occasions on dealing with that evil sorceress.” He lit his horn and levitated the various pieces out of the plastic bag. He held them all in front of his face, eyeing them closely. “He mostly came seeking advice.” Celestia chuckled. “Yes. Indeed.” “Did he ever say anything about coming up with something to counteract the Memory Stone?” Moondancer asked. Starswirl hummed. “On that order, I believe. He told me that he had been attempting to come up with some magic that would reverse the Memory Stone’s effects on its own, without having to interface with the stone. I even recall seeing some of his notes.” “But that method never came to fruition,” Crystal piped up. “He was unable to do it.” At once, the whole room fell silent. All eyes turned to face her. Moondancer, who sat right next to her, even scooted away. Sunburst frowned and adjusted his glasses. Starswirl finally turned to face her in full. “Yes,” he said at length, “that is right. How exactly did you know that?” “I have my ways.” After a few more moments of silence, Starswirl sighed. “Fascinating. Anyhow, that is correct. And in my conversations with him,” he said as he turned back to Twilight, “he mentioned that, at minimum, developing such magic would require an acute understanding of the Memory Stone itself. And with the Memory Stone now unwhole, even that avenue seems impossible.” “So…” Starlight began, standing up. “What you’re saying is our best shot is putting the Memory Stone back together.” “More or less,” Starswirl replied. “And even that task is not so simple. You are aware of this, are you not?” Twilight nodded solemnly. “Y-yes. I do. But everypony here is among the brightest and best that Equestria has to offer. I am sure that between all of us, we can figure this out.” Twilight looked at Sunset. “We must.” Sunset looked up, meeting eyes with Twilight. Her expression remained didn’t waver from the ever-present frown that she had been wearing. “It would seem then that we know what the task ahead is,” Celestia said. “So, let’s get started.”