Student of the Night

by Nadir


Betrayals Over Brunch

Over time, Twilight had gotten used to public speaking; she wasn’t the reclusive, socially-anxious mess that she’d started her journey as. She had learned to talk to strangers, from the the most common of ponies all the way up to the Goddesses. She had even gotten used to speaking in front of massive crowds when she spoke for and against bills. She wasn’t the best public speaker, but she was proud of how far she’d come. Today, however, she couldn’t help but feel like that shy filly once more.

Twilight stood in front of the nobles’ assembly, facing over two hundred titled ponies. It was more than Twilight had ever seen in this room. When she spoke in the past, the court had commenced with only around one hundred ponies. But today, every noble was in attendance. To make matters worse, the assembly was built like an amphitheatre; its tiered seats elevated everypony above Twilight, angling their gaze directly at her. It made her feel vulnerable, and her only lines of defence were a podium, a cloth-covered table to her side, and a simple, midnight-blue dress.

To calm herself, she tried to find familiar faces in the crowd. Off to her left, she saw Silverhorn and Cadance, with nobles from their faction clustered around them. Normally, Twilight could list off their names, but with her nerves so shot, she couldn’t remember a single one. Their reassuring eyes did help, however. She saw Fleur off to the right, Blueblood by her side. Twilight wanted to ignore the pink mare, but she couldn’t; this demonstration was really for her. On her far right side, she felt Lucretia’s and Lavia’s gazes. They stood by as support in case anything went wrong. And at the very top, in a box separated from everypony else, were Celestia and Luna. That helped most of all, knowing that her Queen was watching over here, quite literally.

As the final nobles began to take their seats, Twilight’s eyes caught Luna’s, and with a slight nod from the Student, the teacher stood and began. “Greetings, my loyal subjects,” she proclaimed, her voice magically bolstered. Because of her seat placement, everypony else had to turn to face her. “Thank you all for heeding my summons. Today, some miraculous news has come out of the castle. Everypony in the Empire will wish to hear this joyous decree, but first, we bring it before the nobility of the Empire. Without further ado, my Student of the Night, Twilight Sparkle, will tell you of what was recently discovered.”

Twilight nodded to her Queen. “Thank you, Your Majesty,” Twilight began, her voice also magically enhanced. There was no other way to be heard in such an auditorium. “Good morning, everypony. I know you all have very busy schedules, so I will be brief. I bring news from the team that has been working on containing the plague. They have been toiling tirelessly for months now, and there has finally been a breakthrough. After suffering for so long, we finally have a cure for the plague!”

Twilight paused for a reaction, but only mumbling could be heard. Eventually, Cadance began a stamping, which prompted her faction to join in, but the majority of nobles continued whispering. Disappointing, but not unexpected. Twilight had already planned for this eventuality during her practice speeches.

“I can see that many of you are skeptical, which is understandable. Up until last month, we couldn’t even contain the plague, and now we’ve jumped directly to a cure? It strains belief. But I assure you it’s true. I’ve seen it firsthoof, and to prove it,” Twilight’s horn lit up, removing the cloth that was covering the table to her side, revealing five vials. Two of them had a brown ooze in them, while the other three were filled a lilac liquid concocted by Lucretia and Lavia to approximate Twilight’s original cure. “I have prepared a demonstration.”

Once more, Twilight’s horn lit up as one of the two vials filled with brown sludge was magically lifted from the table. Floating it in front of her for the audience to see, Twilight continued. “This vial contains a concentrated sample of the plague.” Panic spread through the crowd. Some ponies even began to scramble to their hoofs. “Everypony, I assure you this demonstration is completely safe. I obtained permission from the Queen of the Night herself.” As the crowd turned to face the Queen, Luna nodded in assurance. The panic died down, and those who stood returned to their seats.

“As I was saying, these vials contain concentrated samples of the plague. Anypony unlucky enough to be exposed to this concoction will die within three hours without fail. Some things kill a pony faster, but none in such a horrid way.” Punctuating her point, Twilight uncorked the vial and tilted it towards her mouth. “Bottoms up.” On cue, Twilight poured the contents her throat before placing it back on the table. Gasps swept through the crowd. Good. The higher the suspense, the bigger the payoff. As the ooze slid down her throat, Twilight fought back the urge to retch. It tasted worse than she ever imagined, but she forced it down and steeled herself for the first symptoms. They came fast. In only moments, she started coughing. The crowd’s commotion grew louder.

After a few long moments, Twilight managed to stop her coughing fit and quiet the crowd with a hoof. “As you can see, the plague has already begun its assault on my body. In less than ten minutes, I will lose the ability to stand. In less than thirty, I will lose lost the ability to speak. Untreated, I will spend the last moments of my life in the greatest pain imaginable.”

As another coughing fit began, Twilight levitated one of the lilac vials off the table, its grip shaking as she did. She was feeling it faster than she thought. Hopefully nopony noticed. Glancing to her side, she saw Lucretia and Lavia’s worried look. They were ready to help if anything went wrong. But Twilight couldn’t afford any mistakes; this presentation had to be perfect.

After a few tense moments, she managed to secure her grip and float the cure in front of her. “Luckily, I have the cure,” she said before removing the cork and pouring the purple liquid down her muzzle. It tasted of cool, clean water, and just as fast as the symptoms had attacked, they were gone.

Savouring her breathes, Twilight regained her composure. “This potion immediately neutralizes the plague and magically banishes it from the body, curing me almost instantly. Because the cure works in this manner, even victims on death’s door can be saved. In addition,” Twilight levitated the other plague sample to her mouth, drank it, and returned the glass back to the table. “The cure also prevents a pony from contracting the plague again, at least for a time. We haven’t had extensive testing in this area, but it appears that the magic lingers, serving as a permanent defender against the plague.

“I’m sure you can all understand what a Goddess-send this cure is. Mere weeks ago, a cure seemed years away, and now, almost overnight, the medical team has found a way to banishes this scourge off the face of Equestria. Too many of the Empire’s subjects have died from this disease, and now that suffering has finally ended.” A light stamping broke out from Cadance’s section once more; this time, however, the entire hall joined it.

After it died down, Twilight continued. “This cure does come with a cost, however. To create even one dose requires huge amounts of magic power, ingredients, finesse, and time to complete. With the size of the team and their current resources, only around one hundred cures will be produced by the end of the year. That simply isn’t enough. They need more money to hire more unicorns, buy more ingredients, and create a distribution service to get these cures in the hooves of the ponies who need it the most.

“To this end, Queen Luna, Princess Celestia, a few nobles, and myself have pledged funds to help meet this need, but our efforts are not enough. As of now, we only have about half of the estimated funds for the project. We need more.

“So I am here to ask you, each and every one of you, to donate, to help further this noble cause. It wouldn’t require much of each of you. If everypony here donated now, we’d only need ten thousand bits per noble family. It’s not a negligible amount, I know, but it will make a huge difference in the lives of everypony. For just a small part of your vast fortunes, we can completely eradicate this plague from the Empire. Thank you. If there are any questions, I’ll be here to answer them,” she finished.

Twilight stood tall at the podium, a satisfied smile on her face. She searched for her Queen’s eyes, and upon finding them, Luna gave her Student a satisfied nod. Twilight smiled harder. The presentation was fantastic. She was glad the team had insisted she be the pony to give the presentation. She knew she did great, so great that Twilight secretly hoped nopony would stand against her.

That hope was short-lived, however. After a few murmur-filled moments, Fleur stood against her. Twilight wasn’t surprised, but seeing her former friend trying to thwart such an important cause because of personal issues still hurt.

Fleur waited until everypony turned to look at her before speaking. “I am sure I speak for everypony not only in this room, but in the entire Empire when I say this is wonderful news.” As if on cue, the crowd erupted in hoof stamping. Twilight nodded politely in response. “However, my question is this, why should the nobles be expected to pay this bill. The plague isn’t an issue that we’ve had to deal with directly, and if we were, it would be expected for every noble to pay for their own cure. So, why shouldn’t the common ponies be paying for it or raising the bits themselves? They won’t be able to afford what you are asking of us, of course, but with their numbers, surely they can cover the cost.”

Another round of stamping passed through the crowd. Twilight couldn’t help but notice Blueblood nodding in affirmation. The hardline nobles were of a like mind with their leader.

Fleur’s argument wasn’t unexpected; Twilight had learned how she processed the world. Taking a deep breath, she began her rehearsed response. “Your proposal was one we thought of when we tried to figure out how to finance this life-saving venture. After running the numbers, we came to the conclusion that it simply isn’t feasible. A common pony could only be expected to part with around ten bits, which means we would need two hundred thousand of their donations to match the amount we can raise here. To make matters worse, the only way to collect those donations would be through sustained fundraising efforts, which comes with its own cost. That would only inflating the amount of bits we need. On top of that, ten bits is not an insignificant amount to a common pony. That could be the difference between multiple meals or having to go hungry. On the other hoof, for a noble, ten thousands bits is the difference between having to wait a few more months before commissioning another self-portrait.”

Fleur sniffed at Twilight’s comment, but the Student pressed on. “We aren’t asking for you to just pay for the cures themselves. In order to eradicate the plague, we need to pay for an outreach program that will find the ponies who need the cure. For that, even if we rely entirely upon volunteers, we would still need to pay for the support system to train and aid them. Every volunteer would need a cure as well, which means even more need to be produced.

“That is why we turned to you, the nobles of Canterlot. We understand that we’re asking for a lot. But all we want is for you to pay your fair share. As nobles, you have a duty to the common ponies of the city. I hope that you can see it in your hearts to live up to your responsibilities.”

Fleur responded quickly. “Dear Student, I can assure you that every noble here knows their duty. That duty is why the nobles pay such ridiculous taxes.” Another stamping began to break out, but Fleur held her hoof up to silence the crowd. “And where is that money now? It was used to pay for the Griffon War. I am not here to debate the merits of the war, but it is clear that the government has wiped out its coffers financing it. And now you stand her and try to guilt the nobility into saving the government from its own foolish spending. To that, I can only say neigh!”

A loud stamping burst out throughout the auditorium with cheers joining. This time, however, Fleur did not stop the crowd. Instead, she stared directly at Twilight with a look in her eyes. She knew that was more than a glancing blow. She had gotten the upper hoof, and she was pleased with it. Her satisfaction was too much to bear. On top of that, she had attacked the Queen in a public forum and had ponies cheer her on. Twilight could feel her body begin to shake. She thought she could attack her beloved Queen? Fine. Twilight would respond in kind.

“You’re right, Fleur, we are not here to debate the value of the Griffon War,” Twilight agreed tensely. “We’re here to talk about funding the most important project in centuries. But, if you’re coffers can’t afford to part with a mere ten thousand bits, that is another matter. The production of the cure will require skilled unicorns, so hopefully, if you can’t meet the monetary amount, you’ll help in other ways.”

Twilight’s words hung in the air as the room fell silent. Even implying that a noble family was destitute was an affront of the highest order. It was certainly as direct an insult as Fleur had ever received. Fire danced in the noble’s eyes as she opened her mouth; however, it was Luna’s voice that rang out across the crowd. Wings spread wide, the Queen spoke. “We believe that is enough discourse for today. We urge all of you to consider our Student’s proposal and contribute to this noble cause. Those of you who do will have our deepest gratitude.”

Luna’s words brought the presentation to an end, and the assembly began to disperse. Fleur gave one last glare from across the auditorium before leading her faction away. Twilight caught a look from Luna and nodded nearly imperceptibly. No matter how the presentation went, they had a plan to meet up and discuss what to do moving forward. And from Luna’s nod, it was clear it was time to talk.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour after her presentation,  Twilight walked into one of Luna’s private receiving rooms. Crowded around the table was Celestia, Shining, Cadance, and the Queen herself, with two seats free. The only items on the table were a pitcher of water, a collection of glasses, and a tray of light snacks. Usually, they’d have parchment and quills, but they’d prefer to leave no evidence of their meeting behind, just in case the wrong pony managed to come across it.

As Twilight took a seat between her brother and Luna, light blue magic slide a glass of water in front of her. “Now that Twilight’s here, I believe we can begin,” Cadance started. “There are other things to talk about, but for now, we should probably focus on what happened today. When it came to the presentation itself, I think it went smashingly. I was in the crowd, and I could tell that the nobles understand the gravity of the situation.”

“That all went out the door with Fleur, however,” Twilight mumbled. She could appreciate what her friend was trying to do, but she couldn’t let her shame go unaddressed.

“Today was not the end of our efforts, Student Twilight,” Celestia assured. “Your exchange with Fleur could have gone better, yes, but your excellent presentation surely moved hearts and minds. Not to mention the fact we could only have this presentation because of the cure you discovered. You’ve done more to eradicate this plague than any pony here.”

“My sister speaks true, dearest Student. One set back does not negate how powerful your demonstration was,” Luna insisted. “And your argument was sound; even the most stubborn nobles will have a hard time refuting your points. You’re also fighting on multiple fronts. You have the public against you because of your association with me, the nobles against you because of Fleur, and Discord himself. I am amazed you’re doing so well against such overwhelming opposition.”

“Discord,” Cadance shivered. “I’ve heard their name, but I still not sure what they are. All I know is that they caused the plague, but what were they before that? And how exactly does a long-dead being cause such a terrible thing?”

Instead of the royals, however, Shining answered. “According to the documents provided to the council, Discord was a creature of Chaos. Some accounts say that he is the sole user of chaos magic, but that’s incorrect. Discord was the embodiment of Chaos itself. Nearly three thousand years ago, he terrified Equestria. He didn’t rule like some of the ancient tyrants; instead, he made every race his playthings, warping their reality, their emotions, and their sense of self. Worse of all, he was erratic. Some days, he’d just change the color of the sky. Other days, he’d drown entire villages in pudding. Nopony could predict his actions, and ponies lived their entire lives in a constant state of fear.

“His reign continued for over one hundred years before the twin Goddesses confronted him. With their combined might, both Luna and Celestia managed to defeat him, but they couldn’t kill him. He was Chaos itself. He could never be killed. Instead, they turned him to stone and imprisoned him deep in the ground. To celebrate their victory, the Goddesses built their castle at the site of their triumph, and around it arose Canterlot.

“Unfortunately, as time passed, his existence faded into myth before being forgotten entirely. Because of this, nopony knew that a sewer development would break into his containment sphere. Exposed to air and water for the first time in almost three millennia, his prison eventually degraded to the point that his Chaos began to seep into the water supply, causing the first outbreak of the plague. Did I miss anything, Your Majesty?” Shining asked.

“Fantastic summary, Shining Armor,” Luna praised. “And since we’re speaking of him, perhaps a report is in order. How are the containment efforts going? Have you managed to secure him in his prison once more?”

“As of now, a barrier is still being established. A group of earth pony builders have blocked off the water from that area, so hopefully the plague will stop seeping into the water supply. Discord himself is not fully back in his cage, however. We have an elite team of unicorns trying to seal away him away while trying to piece together a hypothesis on how his containment was broken.”

Celestia nodded. “Both my sister and I know first hoof how difficult that can be. I’m just surprised that our magic was disrupted. Is there any idea of how that happened, Shining Armor?”

“Our prevailing theory is that the construction process somehow awakened an ancient magic in the area, which then weakened your magic. At first, it held, but after years of exposure, the seal finally weakened to the point that his Chaos could touch the world once more. We aren’t completely certain of that theory, however, because of how slow our investigation has to go. Thanks to Twilight’s cure, the plague isn’t a concern, but there is just so much magic down there that even our most skilled unicorns can only perform a single test at a time. We’ll need to wait to know for certain.”

“Wasn’t that ancient magic already there?” Twilight asked. She had read the same reports and had a hard time believing the most popular theory. “If it was going to weaken the Goddesses’ seals, wouldn’t it have done it long before now? How could construction from earth ponies have had such a massive impact?”

“Well, the idea is that there was an equilibrium that was established, that even the slightest change would have disrupted. It just so happens that earth ponies were that disruption.” Shining took a sip of water before continuing. “There is another theory. It may sound outrageous, but one of the council members has suggested sabotage. The idea is that somepony managed to find Discord’s containment field. Upon finding it, they damaged the seal while replicating the signs of natural degradation. This theory is particularly popular with Charlemane, and he’s taken charge of that investigation.”

“What do you think, Shining?” Cadance asked, placing a gentle hoof on his.

“Personally, I think the theory is way out there. It assumes that somepony knew how to make the break seem natural. I don’t know how any pony could have known to do that, especially considering nopony alive knew where Discord was buried. They would have had to come upon him by accident, figure out what they had come across, and make an elaborate scheme that relied upon hiding their involvement. It sounds unbelievable. But I’m not going to stand against Charlemane’s quest. He’s working towards the same goal, just from a different angle.”

“Wise words, Shining Armor,” Celestia said, nodding gently.

“I would have to agree,” a voice called out from the door. Everypony turned to see Silverhorn walk in. His mane was a bit out of place, and he looked exhausted, but he took the open seat between Cadance and Celestia. “Sorry I’m late, everypony. I hope I didn’t keep you.”

“Now that Duke Silverhorn has joined us, we should focus on our finances,” Luna said. “Cadance, why don’t you begin. How are the fundraising efforts in the lower district?”

Cadance finished her glass of water, then started. “It’s slow going, I’m afraid. Before today, we couldn’t speak about the cure. When it came to soliciting donations, we could only talk about it in vague terms, and few ponies cared. After today that will hopefully change. Now that we have tangible results, I expect that donations will begin to pour in, even if it’s only a bit or two at a time.”


“Our efforts with the nobles do not look so bright, however,” Silverhorn began. “I’m sure you could tell from Fleur’s speech, but there is a strong block of nobles refusing to talk with our team about donations. Unfortunately, they are the families with the most bits. If I had to guess, a little over half of the remaining nobles will support us monetarily, although that number could plummet if Fleur and the hardliners decide to cause trouble. If that’s the case, we might only see a fourth of the families’ support. Cadance, our team, and I will continue our efforts to convince the noble families, but it’d be prudent to work on a contingency plan.”

For a while, nopony spoke. Twilight almost felt like crying. She had felt so proud of her presentation, but her outburst had undone all her efforts. The nobles had been her job, and she had failed.

Celestia broke her silence first. “Luna and I can devote a bit more; for a cause of such import, we’ll happily liquidate more of our assets. We can only sell so much land, since so much of it is tied up in other businesses, but we have more fine art and jewels than either of use could enjoy in a century.”

“I am happy to do the same, dear sister, but that will not be enough,” Luna cut in. “I think it’s time to start calling in favors. I believe that Baltimare and Fillydelphia are still indebted to you, and the mayor of Stalliongrad still owes me a favor for taking care of their dragon problem. I think it is high time that we went to see them personally.”

“Is that wise, your majesty?” Shining asked. “Your public image has improved tremendously, but it’s far from secure. And after asking for money, you’re in a vulnerable position with both the public and the nobles. Is now the right time to leave?”

“That is true, Shining,” Luna said. “It would be unwise to leave Canterlot unattended. That’s why I’m leaving the four of you to take care of things here while we’re fundraising. Nothing official, of course, but the four of you should be able to handle any problems that arise, no?”


Cadance nodded. “I should think so. Our rallies have been incredibly effective in the lower districts, so some tweaks should head off any criticism that comes from you leaving the city.”

“The nobles are a different story,” Silverhorn said, rubbing one of his temples. “Too many of them are against the Queen, and with her recent trouble, many have sided with Fleur’s faction. They will certainly jump at the chance to try to grab some power in her absence.”

Luna nodded gravely. “Yes, over the millenia, we’ve faced many such nobles. We can usually handle them, but if they somehow manage to grab power, it’ll be decades before we can get it back, if at all. What do you suggest, Duke Silverhorn?”

Silverhorn cleared his throat before speaking. “Well, as for the nobles in our faction, I doubt we need to worry about any insurrection. Charlemane is still here, which means none of his faction will act out either. Those who remain unaligned either have no interest in power or are probably still waiting for the right moment to strike. That leaves the hardliners. Nopony here can handle them. Only Fleur can. And while Fleur has been a thorn in most of our sides, Twilight once had a close friendship with the mare. With that in mind, perhaps Twilight can ask Fleur on our behalf.”

Everypony turned to face the Student. Twilight’s stomach dropped. Talking to Fleur? After everything that’s happened? She would do anything for her love, but doing that?

Swallowing hard, Twilight agreed. “I don’t see why I can’t give it a try. Our situation may be tense, but we were once friends. She may hold off the nobles if I ask politely. And perhaps I can gain her support when it’s just the two of us. If she supports our cause, the rest of the hardliners will as well.”

“Thank you, dear Student. I know you will accomplish this task, as you’ve accomplished so many others,” Luna almost whispered to her pupil. “With Twilight handling Fleur, we shall be able to travel without worry. We will set out at week’s end; if there are any more difficulties, send a messenger to Celestia, and she will reach out to me. For now, I will be spending my remaining free time with my Student,” she finished firmly.

A light blush colored Twilight’s cheeks, but she didn’t protest as Luna lead her out of the room. On their way out, Twilight almost thought she heard her brother whistle.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days after her presentation, but before Luna and Celestia left the city, Twilight reached out to Fleur. She received an immediate response, and the two planned to meet up at a small cafe in the upper levels. A new meeting spot for a renewed relationship. Hopefully neutral ground in a public place would keep tempers from flaring.

Twilight tried to arrive early, but her duties as the Student kept her behind. Instead, she arrived on time. Walking into the quaint cafe, she saw Fleur already seated with a pot of tea and two cups. A bad sign. Twilight knew how much Fleur liked being the first pony to a meeting. It made it look like Twilight was coming to her rather than an equal meeting. She knew this encounter had already begun.

Shedding her coat, Twilight smiled. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Fleur. I hope you didn’t get here too early.”

“Of course not, Twilight. Your just in time,” Fleur smiled back. “I’ve only come so early for the tea. It’s one of my favorite cups of Earl Grey in the city. I’m so glad you picked it.”

Shoot. Twilight hadn’t know about Fleur’s connection to this place. She should have done her research before suggesting it, but with such a short deadline, she just picked an unknown cafe.

Hiding her surprise, Twilight took her seat. “I hadn’t heard of it before. If it’s one of your favorites, it must be fantastic. I’ll have to order a cup myself.”

“I thought you’d might be interested, so I asked for a pot. Please, allow me,” Fleur said, magically pouring a cup of the Earl Grey before sliding it across the table.

Gritting her teeth, Twilight kept reminding herself that this injustice was part of the plan. Let Fleur think she was in complete control; she always responded better when she thought she had the upper hoof. It certainly helped that Fleur did have the upper hoof, but Twilight had to play into her weaknesses.

As Twilight drank, Fleur raised a hoof to summon the waitress to the table. “Hello, gentlemares, I’ll be serving you today. Have you decided on what to order?”

“Yes, I will have your cauliflower gratin with the side salad. What about you, Twilight? Or do you need a minute?”

“I’ll have the same as her, thank you,” Twilight said before facing Fleur. “If it’s good enough for you to order, I’m sure I’ll love it too.”

“Oh yes, it’s another favorite of mine. I often have somepony pick up an order when I can’t escape the court. Speaking of court, that was quite the demonstration the other day.”

“That is was,” Twilight said, trying to keep her frustration in check.

“When the meeting was called, there were already rumors surrounding the basement team, but I hadn’t expected to see you at the heart of it. I must say I’m impressed that you managed to find this cure single hoofedly.”

Twilight held her breath. That was a secret that less than ten ponies knew. Twilight personally discovering the cure was tied to information about Discord, which no pony could know. Both Luna and Celestia had been adamant about that. Who knew what a foreign nation would do with that information. The only ponies outside their group who knew were Lucretia and Lavia, and they were only told in order to make a version of the cure that didn’t reveal Discord’s involvement. Had somepony sold them out?

Twilight’s wasn’t hiding her reaction well. “Don’t worry, dear. Nopony told me anything,” Fleur assured. “I just reasoned it out. You return to the lab, and almost instantly, there are rumors of a cure? I would have to be foolish to not see your hoofprints all over it.”

Relaxing, Twilight began reciting the lie she’d practiced with Luna. “Truth be told, I may have had a key role in its creation, but only by pure chance. You see, when I rejoined the efforts, the team had already exhausted all traditional avenues. The funds we had raised allowed us to acquire all manner of exotic and rare herbs from across the world. But none of them worked.

“The team was at a loss, but in my other studies, I learned of a plant nopony had tried yet. While reading tales from the legendary sleeping Empire of the North, I came across a myth about a terrible magic plague eerily similar to our own. In the story, a young unicorn goes on a quest to acquire a flower called the Crystal Rose, which then cures the plague.

“When I first read about this flower, I assumed it was just another myth, but when I resumed work at the lab, I saw how pressed the team was to find new ingredients. The traditional solutions had all been exhausted, and I knew that something unconventional was needed. I did some more research into the plant and found only one mention of the Crystal Rose outside of myths. It was from a travel journal centuries old, and all it mentions is that it exists, it only grows in the frozen north, and it doesn’t travel well.

“That wasn’t much to go on, but I had a feeling that the Rose would show us the way. I talked to Lucretia about acquiring one, and, although it was a long shot, she immediately had one shipped into the city. When it arrived, I took charge of figuring out what medical benefits it might have. As I tested the sample, I discovered how the Rose works. Instead of fighting off illness like other herbs, the Rose nullifies harmful magic and banishes it from your body.”

“Perfect for a magical plague,” Fleur cut in.

“I had the same thought. After my discovery, Lucretia created a tincture with the Rose’s petals, and upon running the simulations, it worked. Even I was stunned. Normally, we’d run more tests, but with such promising results, Lucretia volunteered to be the first real-life test subject. She drank the plague sample, and after the symptoms appeared, she drank the potion and was cured. We conducted a few more tests to be sure, but every pony who drank the plague was cured by the potion. By then, we were sure we had a cure.”

Twilight paused to drink her tea, satisfied with her tale. It was the perfect deception. Anypony who looked at the requisition logs would see that the Crystal Rose had been delivered at the same time as Twilight said it was. They would also see a huge influx of shipments from the north, all of which were Crystal Roses. The plant didn’t have the miraculous healing powers Twilight claimed it did, but it wasn’t useless either. In the new formula Lucretia came up with, it helped cool down any remaining fever after the plague had been removed, speeding speed up the recover. It wasn’t as necessary, of course, but such an obscure plant severed as the perfect way to obscure the magic.

“What about the plague itself? Did you manage to find out where it was coming from,” Fleur asked.

“Unfortunately, no,” Twilight lied. “And now that the team is focused primarily on producing cures, it’ll be years before the causes can be investigated. Right now, they’re working on how to cut the cost of transporting such a rare flower from so far away. They’ve already reduced the cost, but the flower is just so expensive.”

“I see, that certainly explains the donations,” Fleur trailed off, finishing her tea before pouring another cup. The perfect time to push forward.

“Exactly!” Twilight exclaimed. “That’s the only reason we’re asking for so much money. It’s an enormous amount, but surely you can see why your contributions are so necessary.”

“I can,” Fleur said over her cup.

“Then will you support our proposition? With your help, we can get the full two million bits sooner rather than later,” Twilight pleaded.

Fleur took another sip from her cup before saying, “No.”

Crushed, Twilight fought to hold herself together. “Why?” she asked.

“Twilight, I understand that your request is pure. But you assume too much. For you, it may seem like ten thousand bits is not a lot for a noble, and for many of us, that is true. But just because a pony is noble doesn’t mean they can afford to shell out a fortune like that. Yes, the title comes with lands and estates, but not all lands produce enough income to make ten thousand bits a reasonable donation.”

“It’s only unreasonable if they continue to horde everything they have,” Twilight snapped back. “Nobles have so much land that selling half of it won’t make them destitute. Why not do that?”

“To whom? I would say that at least thirty percent of the noble families would have to sell their assets in order to pay ten thousand bits, and another fifty percent would only be able to barely afford it. So, with so many families selling and so little with extra bits, who buys the land? Best case scenario, a few of the well-off families would buy up the most valuable land, disrupting the power balance amongst the nobles. In that chaos, I could lose complete control to Blueblood, which would be disastrous not only to your Queen, but also the entire Empire. Worse case scenario, the market is flooded, and some foreign noble buys up the land at a pittance, automatically making them one of the most powerful ponies in the Empire, complicating the political landscape even more. That’s the risk that comes with requiring such large donations.”

“We didn’t require it,” Twilight argued. “Luna could have easily ordered the amount to be paid through taxes, but she didn’t. We’re trying to respect the autonomy of the nobles by asking for donations instead.”

Fleur shook her head. “Twilight, for a noble, asking for donations as publically as you did is essentially demanding them. Any family who can’t pay would be labeled destitute, which is the greatest shame a noble can endure. They’d rather lose everything they have than appear to not have enough. And Luna knows this; she’s been playing this game for longer than anypony else. She knew asking in the way you did would shame ponies to stretch far beyond their means. As their representative, I have to stand up for those ponies. Of course, anypony is free to donate, and I plan on ensuring that every noble pays an amount that is both comfortable and fair. But I won’t allowed anypony to be forced into giving beyond their means.

“I know that the cure is important, Twilight; I truly do,” Fleur put her hoof on Twilight’s. “I’ll even donate one hundred thousand bits myself. But I also know not to solve one problem by creating five others.”

“Your meal, gentlemares,” the waitress said as she appeared at the table. Fleur removed her hoof from Twilight’s to allow their food to magically slide in front of them. “Would you like another pot of tea?”

“We’re still working on this one, thank you,” Fleur politely responded.

“Great. If there’s anything you need, just call me over. Enjoy your meal,” the waitress finished with a short bow before leaving the pink and purple mares alone once more.

For a while, Twilight could only stare at her meal in frustration. Fleur was being reasonable. She was wrong about Luna, of course, but Twilight couldn’t argue against her other points. Loosening her clenched jaw, she looked up from her food. “I guess I still haven’t learned all the intricacies of nobility.”

Fleur laughed. “For a while now, your main access to noble life has been through the Queen, Princess Celestia, Cadance, and Silverhorn, and those four are not great representatives. Your only other noble acquaintance has been me. It is my fault you don’t understand all the nuances. My neglect has created this situation, and for that, I am sorry.

“I’m sorry about a lot of things, Twilight. I’m sorry I was so blunt with you in the garden. I’m sorry I let things to get so out of hoof. And I’m sorry I neglected our friendship to the degree I have. I still can’t afford to help you with Luna’s image, but I didn’t need to be so difficult about it. I should have tried harder to explain my side. Can you forgive me for being so foolish, Twilight?”

Twilight’s eyes went wide. That was the last thing she expected to hear at this lunch. She had been so sure that Fleur had come here to best Twilight. She hadn’t even considered that Fleur missed their friendship. Twilight missed it as well, but she needed to protect her Queen first.

“I can accept your apology, but can you promise me one thing?” Twilight inquired.

“What is it dear?” Fleur asked.

“The Queen and Princess will be out of the city for a time to raise money for the cure. They can only do this if they trust nothing will go awry in their absence. I’m not asking you to help contain every problem, but can you make sure nothing happens from your camp while their gone?”

Fleur took a thoughtful sip from her cup before answering. “For now, yes. I will call a ceasefire, so to speak. I’ll keep the hardliners at bay, at least while the sisters are collecting for the cause. I can’t promise beyond that, but for now, you have my word.”

Twilight sighed in relief. Fleur was many things, but she was also a mare of her word. “Thank you, Fleur. I wholeheartedly accept your apology.”

“Thank you, Twilight,” Fleur smiled warmly. “And now that we’ve figured that out, let’s start eating before the gratin gets cold.”