//------------------------------// // Chapter 12. Recovery // Story: Learning to see Luna, the story of Vivid Colour. // by Hope //------------------------------// When Vivid woke up, it was to the sound of quiet talking in the distance, and even further away a fountain trickling. After listening for a moment, she realized she was so tired that she didn't even want to move, much less cast a spell. So she continued listening, laying on her side in a curled position with a pillow between each of her legs and under her head for maximum comfort, as her ears twitched back and forth, taking everything in. She was in a fairly large room with hard walls and at least one open window. She could hear breathing from nearby, at least two sleeping ponies. The bed sheets she was on were extremely clean, leading her to believe that she was in an infirmary or something similar. Now why would she be in such a place? The last thing she remembered was feeling dizzy as she entered Shade's home... she must have been assaulted by that same mare, it was the first thought to spring to her mind. Then the guards must have rescued her, and brought her back here. It was a logical enough deduction. "Vivid?" She turned her ears towards the voice. Posey, such a soft and nervous pony. Nearly delicate in her behavior. "Mmm?" Vivid replied, feeling almost too tired to speak. "Oh good, you're awake... I should get Sheen... Oh, I should tell the princess..." Vivid sighed and shifted slightly, finding a deep ache in her muscles before she stopped trying to move. "No... Tell me," Vivid whispered. "What happened." "Oh... I shouldn't... Too many things have happened, it'd be better if--" Vivid growled a little as she lifted one hoof. "In front of me Posey, please, and tell me." With a whimper, Posey did as she was told. "Well... Clover stole the stone you found and ran away." "What? Wait, I'm... Start at the beginning! I don't even know how I was knocked out, or why I feel so terrible!" Vivid groaned angrily. "I'm sorry," Posey sniffled. Vivid went limp and sighed again. "Please... Please do not apologize, Posey. You... You have been through a great deal. But please tell me what happened to me, from the start." "Okay... So, the rock you dug up, and all it's particles had a negative thaumic draw," Posey explained, implying to a knowledgeable mage that it did not just take in magic when exposed to it, but would take in a theoretically infinite amount of energy. "So I was being drained completely," Vivid whispered in horror. "I could have died! The guards, they--" "They recovered more quickly than you," Posey said quickly as she put a hoof to Vivid's side to calm her. "They didn't... Grab it with their magic, and they didn't dig it up by hoof... They're already home with their families." Vivid relaxed and huffed angrily. "Good. I don't want to be the cause of a guard's death." "So, um... Once you fell into a coma, Princess Luna flew down to find you, because she... She said she felt you fall asleep? Anyway, she found you and the guards, and brought you all back here. To investigate what had happened, the Princess sent Wishing Star, Sunlight, and Clover down to the little farming town." "Then Clover... She did what?" Vivid asked incredulously. "Well I don't really understand," Posey admitted. "Why or what happened, but... They were cutting samples off the rock and testing them, and then she was gone and so was the rock. Noone really knows where they went, but Star was injured when she tried to search for Clover..." Vivid remained quiet, frowning as she thought about the situation. But Posey wasn't finished. "They came back after they cleaned up the remains of the stone, and they determined that the stone had caused the blight on the fields. If you hadn't gone down there, Vivid, a lot of ponies would have started dying of magical depletion." "I just did as I was told, Posey," Vivid mumbled as she struggled to sit up. But Posey gently pushed her back into the bed. "I need to get Princess Luna," Posey insisted. "She said to come get her when you woke up, but you need to rest, okay?" Vivid groaned, but considering how much her muscles hurt from being drained completely of magical energy, she didn't really much want to object. "Okay, I'll be back soon." Vivid could hear Posey leave, but she still heard a second pony breathing, no longer asleep. "Is that you, Sheen?" Vivid whispered. "Yeah," the young colt's voice replied, dejected and barely audible. "You okay? Did you get hurt?" Vivid asked. "No..." "Did... You got pretty close to Clover, didn't you? As a good friend," Vivid concluded, searching for a reason for the hurt and anguish in his voice. "Yeah..." Vivid sighed again, she felt like it was all she was doing tonight, sighing. But despite the world going crazy, she had to take care of those she cared about. "Come here, Sheen. Lay behind me, so you can feel. I'm still here. Luna will be here soon, and she'll take care of you as much as she'll take care of me." After some shuffling, the weight of the colt was added to her bed, and his back rested against hers, as he sniffled. Only a few minutes later, Vivid could hear Luna striding into the room, with Posey walking behind her. She could tell it was Luna because of the long strides, the elegance and strength in her steps despite the metal shoes adding weight and slowing her down. Vivid felt almost embarrassed by how much safer and happier she felt in just hearing Luna approach, and she nearly gasped for joy as Luna's hoof softly brushed across her cheek. She felt a bit silly, but she was happy to be helpless enough for once to just let it happen. "Vivid, Posey tells me that you know what happened," Luna started softly, leaning low to kiss Vivid as her hoof moved to reassure Sheen as well, resting on his shoulder. Vivid felt a pang of jealousy until she felt Luna's lip brush her cheek. No pony else could have that except for Vivid. "I don't understand what happened with Clover," Vivid admitted, shifting a little to get more comfortable. "Well," Luna hummed a little, and Vivid could imagine she was conflicted or maybe even openly frowning. "Clover... seems to have been some other pony in disguise, though I know not who. They have been quite genuinely content to carry on research and cooperate with us all, until they found the properties of the stone you found. They then wished to take it for themself, and attacked Wishing Star to do so. Guards are combing the area but I am not hopeful for their search. Clover is an extremely skilled mage." Vivid sighed, and shook her head a little. "I don't understand... what about this stone could be worth what she's done?" "It can drain magic from its surroundings, and store it," Luna said simply. "Theoretically, that stored energy could be retrieved." Vivid gasped as she realized the potential. Spells could be cast without a horn. A unicorn could cast with the power of an alicorn. An earth pony could force entire fields to grow a hundred times faster. It was a wondrous but terrifying thing. "If she hadn't taken it, there's so much that could have been done," Vivid groaned, all that lost potential evaporating before her. "We have a thin sliver of it, broken off by Wish when testing it. Also some powder, we can at least study it," Luna reminded her as she put a hoof onto Vivid's side to calm her back down. "We simply will have to be prepared to defend ourselves against whatever use Clover may put the rest of it to." Vivid nodded in agreement, as she steadied her breathing and let the warmth of Luna's hoof ease her side. As a mage she was quite aware that ponies carried magic, and generated more when in close proximity or in acts of friendship. But it was still surprising to feel Luna's presence rapidly soothing aching muscles and clearing her foggy head. “Shade Blossom’s name has been cleared?” Luna chuckled a little. “Indeed, and with her help and our funding we have cleansed those fields of the dust left by that material. We will also be sending guards down there once a month to check for signs of similar materials being unearthed. For a unicorn without magic, Ms. Blossom was quite knowledgeable about it. Oh!” Luna lit her horn and cast a spell, and Vivid smiled as the room flowed into view to her, Luna’s magic substituting her own in being able to etch her surroundings in magic. She shifted a little to face Luna and reached up weakly to gesture her closer, before gently kissing her. “Thank you. I am pleased that it has all ended well. Is Wishing Star going to recover?” “Noone could prevent her from returning to the Archway,” Luna said proudly. “But I am certain she will be happy to hear that you are recovering.” The door opened quickly and Sunlight Sol Howl rushed inside and up to the bed. “Vivid, you’ve recovered, thank the sun!” Vivid smiled a little wider, appreciating the sentiment more than she had in the past. “Not quite recovered yet, Princess Howl,” she sighed. “But I need to speak with you about a church.” “Aaaah yes,” Luna chuckled a little nervously. “I will need to provide you both with the old books and records I had hidden away.” “Wh… What?!” Sunlight said as she looked between Luna and Vivid. “Church? Books and records? What are you talking about?” "Sunlight, you know I grew up in Bitain, right?" Vivid began. "Of course I do. Your accent stands out quite a bit," Sunlight nodded. "But I don't see what that has to do with a church." "In Bitain, the legends of the Solar court and Luna's sister were never hidden. In fact, there are still churches to her there. As I've struggled recently, Luna thought it might help me to be able to practice that belief again." "Daybreaker," Sunlight said breathlessly. "Her name was Celestia," Luna corrected. "Daybreaker was... an identity which she took up briefly and in rage. I'd prefer those names be separate." "So you will finally allow the mortal court to call itself the day court again?" Sunlight asked boldly. Luna just shook her head. "Until my sister returns to fill that throne, it shall remain the mortal court, and your family shall care for it. The legends and records will provide a greater history. I will return with them," Luna said as she turned and left. Vivid frowned. She felt like she'd rather have Luna there by her side at the moment, but Sunlight's pointed questions had clearly made Luna uncomfortable, and Vivid couldn't command her love to return. At least she had said she would come back. "This is a wonderful opportunity," Sunlight said eagerly. "I can compare the records with my family's own, verify their contents, and bring the glory of the sun back to the ponies of Equestria!" Vivid groaned. "This isn't a political tool, Sunlight! This is a meaningful and religiously important moment but I do not think that it should be seen as a way to reverse the effect that Luna's rule on Equestria has had! Those effects are not detrimental either, they are largely passive. The church we form should not confront them or decry them. We can still worship the sun during Dusk and Dawn before the moon rises, without trying to make our congregation go back to the ancient diurnal sleep cycle." "You're barely a worshipper of the sun," Sunlight scoffed. "Now that you are in love with Princess Luna, you seem to bow to the moon." "We've never even spoken of religion before this night!" Vivid groaned. "Why are you now so determined that there is only one way to worship, and mine must be wrong?! Be reasonable, Sunlight." Sunlight scoffed and turned away, stomping her hooves like a bratty child. "Reasonable! My family's ancient lineage to Daybreaker herself is being ignored and you tell me to be reasonable!" "Yes! Of course I do, because you're being quite emotional and unreasonable!" Vivid said as Sunlight stormed out of the room. Vivid sighed and slumped against her pillows. "That was dramatic." Vivid squeaked in surprise and almost failed off the bed as Sheen spoke, right next to her ear. After a second she calmed down and laughed a little. "I forgot you were there," Vivid admitted. "Good job at being quiet." "I can be a sneaky mouse," Sheen said, with a little bit of pride. "Yeah..." Vivid sighed. She'd managed to be at odds with the princess of the mortal court, who would be her greatest ally in forming a church of the sun. Instead, she might have to fight her so that she did not turn the whole religion into a political pawn. The doors opened again, and Luna's long stride approached, before stopping short of the bed. "Did Sunlight have somewhere else to be?" "She became upset with me when I refused to agree with using the recovered records as a political tool," Vivid muttered. "Hopefully she will get over herself." "Oh, that is all?" Luna sighed as she put a large ornate wooden box on the floor next to the bed. "I would have thought you'd be upset," Vivid admitted, relaxing a little. "Well I'm disappointed in her. I'll have to have a talk with her mother. But overall that's a minor setback. Sunlight has always been brash and almost spiteful of me and my rule. I wouldn't be surprised if she was on her way back to have a secret meeting with the other court nobles, to talk about how these documents will vindicate them." Luna sighed again but shook her head before opening the wooden box and taking out something that caught Vivid's magic like a prism and reflected it in beams around the room. She perked up a bit and Luna laughed, almost a giggle really as it was so light and soft. "I thought that might catch your attention." "What is it?" Vivid pressed as she tried to focus her magical sight on it, but having trouble doing so. "A lense carved into the shape of the sun. If you held it in sunlight, it would scorch the paper or wood below it in that symbol. A seal, of sorts." "A dangerous seal if it can focus light so precisely," Vivid pondered while Luna brought the lense closer and laid it in Vivid's hooves to examine in more detail. "Indeed, it certainly can be. There is a cloth cover for it so that it would not accidentally start fires," Luna said while looking through the box. "I will have to assign somepony to you, to read these. Doing so with your magic might damage them. They are quite old." "What is on them?" Vivid asked curiously. "Well, a book of commandments, of sorts. They are scrolls that detail the religious laws that my sister held dear. Most of them still remain in pony society in some form, but there are a few that have aged poorly and should not be enforced." “Like what?” Vivid mumbled as she squirmed to sit up a little bit, the pain in her muscles making it difficult, but ever easier the longer and closer Luna was to her. She admitted, as she settled onto her haunches, that having Sheen nearby likely helped as well. Proximity of anyone with good intentions was known to improve magical fatigue. It had to do with the radiative energies given off by each sympathetic magical field that surrounded the pony, and was accelerating her recovery considerably. “Well,” Luna sounded nervous as she gently unrolled the scrolls and laid them flat on a nearby table to read them. “This one here that I’d thought of right away is a good example.” She cleared her throat, before pitching her voice a bit higher, and putting on an accent that made her sound more like Vivid than she normally did. “Wherever dost the toilers of the fields reside, nought but the toilers and below shall find bed. Slumber those twixt toil and royalty only below beam borne clay, wood, or slate, never thatch.” Vivid tilted her head a bit to the side as she tried to figure out what had been said, and then squinted as she tried to interpret it in her own words. “So… From an age when a caste system was still in effect, the casts above farmers weren’t allowed to sleep under thatched roofs?” she asked, looking back to Luna, who nodded as she rolled the scrolls back up. “Indeed. Thought the law also gave permission for those below the farming caste, the untouched and unclean, to reside in similar places and structures as farmers. Believe it or not, this was once a step towards kindness to those poor ponies. It also, despite isolating those of the lower castes, prevented the higher from demanding lodging.” Vivid huffed, shaking her head. “I see what you mean. Some things will not… Should not be applied to modern ponies.” “Well, not to say that modern law would fare much better given five hundred years,” Luna sighed while packing things back into the chest. “I can already tell you that given time, perhaps a dozen years, we will find that the public will not suffer any other pony to be homeless, and our entire concept of housing will need restructuring…” Luna had noticed Vivid looking at her strangely, and she paused, sitting a little taller. “Is something wrong?” “No, no,” Vivid said quickly, frowning a little. “I just… hadn’t thought of the reality… That you would have to plan for laws decades or even centuries away… Entire social movements, and changes in morality… It isn’t something I truly grasped. How different were you, six hundred years ago?” Luna smiled just a little, and sighed as she closed the chest and looked up at the ceiling and her moon beyond. “Well… Quite different I’d think. Very… new to the idea of being responsible for others. New to the idea of inner strength, though I thought I was oh so strong.” “I can’t imagine you not being responsible,” Vivid scoffer, though she shared a bit of the smile. Reminiscing was something she hadn’t seen Luna do much. “The princess of all of Equestria, not doing her duty?” “No, far too busy laying on cushions and pouting,” Luna said as her grin grew wider. “Throwing myself about a half empty castle while crying out to any who would listen, ‘Woe is the princess of the night! Alone and ignored by her ponies!’ Now I just wish my ponies could survive a week without me,” she laughed. “It would be wonderful to know I wasn’t holding it all up from falling apart.” “What would you do with that week?” Vivid asked, smirking a little. “Lay about on cushions and pout?” “No, no, that wouldn’t do at all,” Luna said as she stepped closer, coming nose to nose with Vivid. “I’d take you somewhere… There are islands that have been seen by no eyes but my own, beauties I would show you, oh Vivid…” “I’m still here!” A young male voice squeaked from behind Vivid, startling Luna and Vivid almost to the point of jumping as their cheeks burned and they looked away with a bit of humiliation. “Ah! Sheen, yes, well…” Luna mumbled. “We were just talking,” Vivid protested feebly. “I’m nineteen, I know what you were just talking yourselves towards! I’ll see myself out!” Sheen squeaked as he hopped off the bed, clearly embarrassed. “Your Highness, Vivid,” he bowed slightly before scampering away. They were silent for a moment, before Luna snuck a kiss on Vivid’s lips, now that they were alone. “There. Got what I wanted,” she mumbled, cheeks still hot, as Vivid grinned.