The months passed even more quickly than before. Lemon got his position, through hard work and a passion for the respect given to words. He was a low ranking scribe but still paid well enough to live in an apartment in the city, and to support his partner's eccentric budget in which silk often ranked above food.
Vivid freed up just enough time for the new Primrose Program, and would many days alternate education standards and military reports on her desk, sorting which ones needed Luna's eyes immediately.
It was when the Griffin forces broke through the Southern border and took the buffalo lands, that she finally gave away control over the project to educators, and had more time to focus on military subjects, and on Luna.
After a grim meeting with a Pegasus General, in which the number of dead was mentioned far too few times, and the number of enemy troops far too many, Vivid strode out of the castle in a daze, before coming to a stop on a grassy space that overlooked the courtyard, and beyond, the city.
The edge of the sky in the far distance was brilliant pink over the far off hills of Eastern Equestria, beyond which the sea was hidden.
She closed her eyes, they ached terribly, and as tears started slipping down her cheeks, she could hear Luna approaching.
There was no fanfare or change in tone, Luna simply say down next to her and draped a limp wing over her back.
They were spent. Luna gave the slowly rising sun a baleful unimpressed look before lighting her horn, and seizing control of it, along with the moon. With a sharpness in the motion she wrenched her moon out of the sky and let the blazing sun rise above the horizon. She then let her horn fade out, and hung her head.
"I'm forty," Vivid said, simply.
Luna did some math in her head before nodding. "And you have been for three months."
"I'm under the age limit for the draft."
Luna slowly rose her head and looked at Vivid with a bit of anger in her frown. "Are you trying to say something? Castle staff are exempt."
"I'm the most skilled unicorn combatant that you've ever seen. I could pass off the Archway to Deep Sheen. Fine Line is too old to be drafted but she's a fine Castilian, and could take some of my duties up. Add in two young staff to help you, and I could go to the front. I could turn the tide."
Luna withdrew her wing.
"And you would leave me here alone," she said bitterly.
"Apologies but three hundred, Luna?!" Vivid shouted, turning on her. "Three hundred Pegusi. Just the Pegusi! In a week's time, we've lost three hundred of them, I feel like I'm going mad because they only mentioned the number once and everypony else just moved along!"
"I did not just move along, Vivid!" Luna roared in return, facing her with a scowl. "This is not my first war, and will not be my last."
"Well maybe that is your problem," Vivid retorted, tone sharp and suddenly low. "You don't see the horror in front of you, and I do. I'm willing to sacrifice myself to stop it. But before I go, I want to construct an insurance policy. A way to keep you from falling to shreds when I'm gone. Whether from old age or war. To do this though, I need a powerful artifact to put my magic into. So find one, give it to me, and I'll be off to fight this battle."
Luna, confused and hurt, stared her down despite tears pouring down her cheeks.
"I'll go to war as well, then," Luna whispered.
"Fine, but let me do this magic first. Defy death so that you'll not favor me in battle."
"There's always a steadier path. A better path than to run into the dark, to head off an enemy that stands at the gate," Luna insisted, but Vivid had seen the reports, and could hear the desperation in Luna's voice.
"Perhaps. But we aren't finding it, and hundreds are dying, and we aren't making progress," Vivid said bitterly. "What artifacts do you have access to?"
Luna hung hear head, and gritted her teeth.
"There are a few dozen. The Amulet of Alicorn metal. Starswirl's hourglass, and cloak. The Tome of Ambition. The Dewar of Duplicity. Mage Meadowbrook's eight tools of healing. The Elements of Harmony. Those are the most potent of all I could locate if so motivated."
"And which do you feel would be most exactly a match to my spirit?"
Luna's tears began again.
"Do not make me participate in this, Vivid. I beg you," Luna whispered.
But Vivid just watched her, and eventually she broke.
"The Elements of Harmony," Luna whispered. "The Element of Loyalty or Bravery, to be exact."
Vivid nodded, and looked down at the grass. "It's late," she said softly as the sunlight poured over her shoulders. "When we wake, I'll start working on the spell."
"Immortality has never been achieved, I don't see what you will gain from this," Luna mumbled.
"In no way will this be immortality," Vivid said firmly. "It will be a preservation of my magical signature and brain in a static form, able to be powered as needed, and animated for the sole purpose of providing you with solace. I have no allusions of grandure. I will not live, in this. But just persist. For you. Because I love you, and that love matters to me. Deeply."
Luna nodded, but didn't look up.
With a sigh, Vivid stepped over and lit her horn, wrapping Luna's middle in magic and lifting her off the ground.
"I could obliterate you," Luna said, so weakly that it didn't even slow Vivid down as she carried the princess through the hallways, to their bedroom.
Finally, once Luna had her crown, torc, and boots removed she was laid into their bed.
Vivid crawled in with her, and Luna pulled her close.
They both cried silently, shuddering as Luna lit her horn and Drew the curtains to darken the room, so they could sleep.
When they woke up, the sunlight was low, but still bright enough to etch the outlines of each peice of furniture and every painting on the wall.
Vivid didn't move. The fire was drained out of her, and every extra moment that she could steal from the night was a relief from the sudden detour in her life.
She turned slightly in Luna's grasp, tucking her nose under Luna's leg, and sighed a little as she closed her eyes.
Luna gently pulled her closer, and for a while they laid there as the sun got lower and lower in the sky behind the heavy curtains.
Finally, Luna sighed and gently separated herself from Vivid before striding to the balcony door.
She opened it, and Vivid pressed her magical vision for every detail.
The vast webs of power Luna was seizing. The way dried tears had left tracks on her cheeks. Her mussed coat along her side where she'd been laying.
Vivid had to appreciate her, with so little time left.
But she knew Luna would go on. The moon would rise each night. The sun would set. She would continue, and in Vivid's mind she imagined the second's tick of a clock becoming a day. Each moment another rising of the moon, stretching out into the future. A month passed before Luna closed the balcony doors. A season before she returned to bed and pulled her closer, and Vivid forgave Luna just a little in that reflection.
"You have a meeting in only minutes," Vivid reminded Luna in a whisper. "Up while it's light out still, just for that..."
Luna nodded, and kissed Vivid on the back of her neck, before laying her horn against Vivid's shoulder so she could rest her nose against her back.
They were silent and still for a bit.
"I was so frightened by losing Primrose. So I shut out love for so long. If I'd tried, if I'd allowed it, there could have been a dozen. But... I couldn't. I couldn't take the pain I knew I would feel."
Vivid turned her head just a little and kissed Luna's horn. She knew there wouldn't be any sensation, but it was the most available part of her.
"If I do well, this failsafe will only occur when I pass of old age," Vivid said with thin hope.
Luna pulled her tighter still, as though she could keep her safe by wrapping her up.
There was a knock on the door.
"Coming," Luna called, before climbing out of bed, brushing her coat smooth, and dressing with crown and boots.
"Where can I find the Element?" Vivid asked, sitting up in bed.
"Go back to the castle, take three guards and teleport to the exact same spot I did," Luna said as she applied a light dusting of eyeshadow. "Wait ten seconds before proceeding into the castle, and take the same path, but open the vault door to the right instead of the left. The key is in the pocket of my old torc," she gestured at her closet, and then stopped halfway to the door.
"Come back whole, Vivid Colour. I'm not ready to lose you yet."
Then she was gone, and Vivid slumped in the vast bed, neutral expression fading into sorrow.
After a few minutes, Vivid got out of bed. She had things to do, and she couldn't let the emotions of it all drag her down.
She readied herself and made sure she looked as she always did in the morning, silver cloak and circlet all in place along with her mane and tail pulled straight and tight to keep them out of the way.
She then found the hidden key in the old oxidized silver-black torc, and set out to locate the guard that had gone with them the night before.
"A mare about this tall," Vivid said as she held a hoof just over her head. "Pale blue mane, grey coat, yellow eyes?"
The two guards she was talking to exchanged a glance before looking back to her.
"Ma'am, we all look like that as long as we wear this armor. Um... Let's go check with the captain to see who was on duty past night, find her that way."
Vivid sighed but nodded, and followed them deeper into the castle, to the guards barracks.
The guard captain was actually a general, but was serving in the post since nearly every qualified guard had been deployed. She was an Earth pony with enough muscle to prove to most that she was a soldier, just by looking at her.
But she was sitting behind a desk and a mountain of paperwork, and giving every approaching pony a scowl that made clear just how she felt about being stuck in the castle, looking after the royal guards.
"General Flame, Ma'am, Lady Colour is looking for which guard went on the trip with the Princess Yesternight," the escorting guard explained.
The general gave Vivid an annoyed look before turning her focus to a schedule board on the wall behind her and examining it.
"Lieutenant Ever Shade. She's currently on detail on the roof. If you need her I'll have to cover her position."
Vivid stepped forward. "I'll need her and two others, General. I'm returning to the same place that Luna took us to yesternight but without the princess there she advised me to bring additional guards along."
"And the purpose of this trip?" the general asked, raising a brow and tilting her nose into the air as she judged Vivid's request, despite Vivid technically having the rank of general as well.
After all the Unicorn Offensive Division, or UOD, was a separate military group from the Honor Guard, which General Flame was in control of.
"Magical research," Vivid said with a soft sigh. "The Elements of Harmony are a set of ancient artifacts which have not been properly researched, and my goal is to examine one of the set's pieces and cast some experimental spells on it."
"And you want Ever on this?"
"She was with us, so even if the other two are unicorns, I trust her readiness," Vivid nodded.
General Flame hummed softly, before turning back to the schedule board, shifting a few things around before dispatching an assistant to gather and rearrange the guards as needed.
"You'll have Ever, and two unicorns that I trust to at least be able to relay what you do. In case something goes wrong and we need to know why," she said briskly.
"Of course," Vivid said with a thin smile. "I'll be happy to have them along."
Only an hour later, they were walking out into the gardens, Vivid focusing on the coordinates for the destination, and planning out the best location to teleport from, she barely noticed the looks that passing maids gave her, until Ever spoke up.
"Ma'am, are you well?"
"Hmm?" Vivid hummed, looking up as she stopped her rapid stride.
"You're crying."
Vivid blinked rapidly as she recognized the sensation of wetness of her cheeks, and quickly scrubbed them dry, trying not to see the concerned expressions all around.
"Are you well?"
Vivid sighed and resumed her walk, finally locating the stone circle she was looking for. Flat, open, and without anything breakable. Her teleport was not as elegant as Luna's and could cause collateral damage when used to move multiple ponies.
"I'm well enough," Vivid said sharply. "This is more than just a magical research mission, this is a mission relevant to Luna's long term needs from me. I may be emotional during the mission. Gather close please."
The three guards arranged themselves so two of them were flanking Vivid and one was directly in front of her, turned sideways so that they formed the tightest possible formation around Vivid's horn. She charged the spell, mentally checked her math yet again, and released the spell.
In an explosion of light which lit up the dark courtyard and forest beyond, they appeared in the Everfree Castle.
The grasses and shrubs all around smoked, and the stones directly beneath her front hooves were charred black. Vivid took a deep breath and consciously relaxed her jaw, tense from the sheer effort.
The guards silently spread out in formation around her, and Vivid waited ten seconds exactly before proceeding into the castle and into the depths below.
Vivid got to the antechamber, and looked at the door that went to Primrose's resting place, wondering briefly if she'd be buried there as well, before turning to the second door.
Opening it with the key she'd taken from Luna's old armor, she was faced with a long hallway ending in a wall of gears and stone, briefly disorienting her. But upon examination she found that the circular room contained a pedestal with arms poking out from it, arranged so that gears could lift the whole arrangement without the arms hitting the sides of the square opening above.
But on the ends of those arms, hovering silently, were gemstones unlike anything Vivid had ever sensed with her magic.
The moment she brushed her magic against one, she felt every ounce of her strength leave her, like she'd tried to lift a mountain with her magic. It was beyond her, in every way, and the moment of weakness made her feel very very small.
"Ma'am?"
"Stay in the hallway," Vivid barked. "These are extremely powerful, I don't need any interference."
She listened as their hoofsteps retreated, and then reached out with only her hooves, gripping the jewel and pulling it off the arm it had been sitting on. Then she paused, she had no way of telling which of these gems was the element she'd been told to use. Bravery.
With a soft sigh, she lit her horn again, but this time only enough to touch the gem as though she was picking it up, instead of using her magical vision. As soon as she picked it up, she could perceive it a small amount. The shape, same as the others. But also a feeling. An odd feeling of discomfort. This wasn't her element. She couldn't explain why, but it just wasn't.
She put it back on the pedestal arm, and felt her way around the room to the next one.
When she touched it, she knew.
Tears came to her eyes again and she could feel it work it's way into her heart immediately. Bravery. She was throwing herself into the darkness every time that it was presented, wasn't she? She was taking every risk, so someone else didn't have to. She was willing to tear her soul, if she had a soul, into pieces so that Luna could have a talking gemstone to keep her company.
She sobbed quietly, body shaking as she held the gemstone tight. Her life was too full of pain for her admission to be comfortable, for her acceptance by this vast artifact to feel normal.
The image of a crowd of griffins came to mind, and in that crowd a single face, tears in her eyes. A single face mouthing "I'm sorry" even though Vivid should have been sorry. Even though that poor griffin hadn't done anything to deserve her fate.
A river of blood, surrounding her in that sharp memory, but she hadn't run. The element reminded her, as cold but firm as an eternal law. She hadn't run, she'd done the horribly brave thing and buried her victims. She'd waited there, hoping to starve to death, until the ponies had found her. She'd gone to trial, and she'd accepted damnation no matter how unearned.
The element of Bravery pulled no punches in it's cold examination of her life and her pains, but that wasn't it. It demanded. It knew she would not lay there and give up, and it wouldn't let her waste time pretending like she would.
She took as many deep breaths as she needed and stood on shaking hooves, before setting the gemstone down in front of her, stone wall on one side and machinery on the other, it was cramped and claustrophobic by the feeling of her sides bumping into things. She stood and left, walking past the guards with the element floating in her magic, then turning to the other door.
Locked, but Ever opened it wordlessly and Vivid walked in before pulling the door closed behind her. The guards didn't object. She must have frightened them.
In the tomb, she set down the element and lit up the whole place in her magic to make it easier to move around. Then, she began performing magic that the Archway mages had outlawed and forbid the study of long ago. The study of the soul.
She'd dabbled, after the Alicorn metal Amulet, and she'd come to the conclusion that there was something there, something in her which created her consciousness. But it was not unique or powerful. It was more like a cloud of desperate magical energies tangled together. But the numbing of it reliably produced a coma in test subjects, and the empowering of it enhanced the subject's personalities and memories. So that part of her became her focus.
First, she formed a magical net around the Element of Bravery, to capture a small amount of it's energy. Then, she enchanted it to be able to generate illusions, sound, and to edit a large buffer of text so that the trapped spirit could store information in an internal form. Finally, she cast the spell which had never been tested or written down. She cast the spell to rip her soul from her body, copy it, link the two copies, and place one into each vessel, her body and the element.
The pain was enormous, and as she screamed she lost the ability to perceive her surroundings, and then even her ability to think.