//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: The Eversleep 
// by Algorhythm 
//------------------------------//


-4-


The sun was peeking over the horizon when Luna rose from her sleeping bag. It was rare that she slept through her own creations passing, but she was overwhelmed by the situation she was in. The sound of breathing filled the tent, coming from her right. She looked down at the violet pony sleeping in relative peace. Twilight had no idea on what this place held, nor what it meant to her and Celestia. She needed time to clear her thoughts, so she walked out of the tent and into the cold morning air.
One of the first things she noticed was the sound of the ocean, which seemed to fill the whole city with tranquil sound, soft enough that it didn’t wake her. The back and forth of the tide hid the rising sun, which spread beautiful oranges and pinks across the sky. She watched the giant ball rise up over the waves, basking the city in light. It was too bright, however, and she raised her hooves to shield her eyes.
"Mmm... Luna?" came a voice from behind her.
Twilight was half out of the tent, with her mane sticking out in all directions. Luna snorted, and stuffed her hoof into her mouth. 
"What?" Twilight said groggily.
Luna pointed at Twilight's head. Twilight reacted by summoning a brush from inside and going over her hair several times, until it straightened out. 
"Better?" Twilight kept her facial features flat.
Luna giggled a bit, but nodded. 
Twilight grabbed what was left of the vegetables for breakfast, and split them between her and Luna. She didn't bother with the mind link with Rainbow Dash. Knowing that silly filly, she was still sleeping in whatever place she found.
“OK. Princess Celestia said that whatever answer we needed is in the city. But where do we start?” Twilight asked.
Luna floated up into the air to get a better look around. She didn’t know where exactly to start, but she had an idea. “If there’s anything left of the library we can start there. But it might take a couple of days to search the whole city.” Twilight raised an eyebrow at her. Luna continued regardless, “We’ll probably have an answer before we get to that point.”
“Where’s the library?”
“By the castle. It should be one of the marble buildings in front of the main gates.” Luna replied.
Twilight floated her saddlebags to her back, tightening them in one fluid motion. “Let’s go.”

It took an hour of walking for Twilight to get a feel for how massive the city actually was. By ancient standards she had read, this city was comparable to the size of Manehatten. Without running everywhere, it could take hours to go from one end of the city to the other. She was starting to realize that the path they took was really the long way around.
The buildings for the most part weren’t very tall, mainly keeping a one to two story height. Most of them were made from stone or brick, and many were a simple combination of the two. Some holes abounded in the ruined structures, likely for wood support beams. Unfortunately time had gotten the better of the average structure. Without support many of the buildings had fallen in on themselves or were plain ruins. 
The more disturbing structures were the ones with damage done to them. Some of the ruined buildings had huge holes through them with singe marks or discolorations from strain. Other structures were just completely absent. It was almost like someone laid the foundation for a new house and simply forgot to build it. There was one they passed where Twilight stopped to shuffle through the rubble and found part of a doll, made from some tattered cloth. Half of its face was missing or intentionally sewn that way. Its single eye seemed to look at an odd angle as it bulged from the cloth.
Twilight was starting to feel sick, but her curiosity got the better of her. She cleared a little more of the rubble away until she hit something metal. Her hooves dug around it slowly removing the rubble before her stomach pulled her to the side. There, under the rubble was a rusted crib and the... the...
Twilight lost whatever she had eaten for breakfast to the floor outside. Her sickness turned to grief, and confusion.
“Twilight! Are you alright?” Luna flew over to her. She glanced inside the building and looked at the doll on the floor.

“Look father, a present!”
A young filly carried a doll with half a unicorn as its body. Her eyes were big and red, with only slits for irises.
“No... She’s taken her too...”

Luna gripped her head as it swam with visions. Her head felt as though it was going to burst from sudden pain. She fell to her haunches and grabbed her head with both hooves.

	The door was ripped from its hinges as more dragon-eyed ponies brandished weapons or even kitchen pots and wooden spoons.
“The young one wishes another doll?” One of the ponies asked, turning to face the filly with his neck at an awkward angle.
“Mama Nightmare says I can have Daddy be just like this one.” She held up the doll in her hands.
The sound of distant screams and fire filled the air, joined shortly by those of her loving father being hacked apart.

Twilight was crying as Luna’s vision returned to the present. Her whole body shook as she rose clumsily to her feet. She put a wing around Twilight and nudged her back onto the road.
“Why? Why would a foal be here like that? I don’t understand!” She managed through her cries.
Luna calmed herself as best she could, “Its not something you want to know. Just try to calm down.” 
They walked on towards the library. Luna eventually soothed Twilight to the point that she could walk on her own again. But after the discovery of the doll, it was a bit different. Twilight never looked inside a single building as they passed.


--*--


“As requested, we have brought winter to a close today. The first official day of spring will occur tomorrow as scheduled. The fields are ready for training, however.”
Starfall poured tea for himself and Bastion. They were seated in one of the private halls in the castle. The room was plush with comfortable furniture ranging from the one pony seats they were in, to a beautiful red sofa with an engraving of the sun on each arm. There was a small table between the two of them made of hard wood that was clearly old and refurbished. The carvings running along the base were hand crafted and followed all the way down to the feet of the table. Several windows flooded the room with afternoon light.
Starfall yawned softly. Raising the sun for the council was difficult and downright exhausting when only half of the council was present. His only saving grace was his protege, Bastion Yorsets. When he headed Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, Bastion was his right hand stallion, and his partner in many of his research studies. It was good that the relationship traveled into politics.
“How would you like the forces to be set up?” Bastion asked, raising his teacup to his mouth.
Starfall lifted his own cup and drank some of its contents. The cup settled back in place, and he cleared his throat, “I would like to see the division along the lines of each type of pony. A ground unit of earth ponies, an air unit of pegasi, and a separate unit for unicorns. I would like the ground and air units to be trained in hand to hand and ranged combat. The unicorns however will be a division focused through a few select individuals. I’m thinking of applying our research on weaving spells to this division.”
Bastion raised an eyebrow, “The ritual for weaving is fairly simple, but with as much magic as you’re thinking of using it could become completely unstable.”
“That’s why I want you to head this division. You are the most experienced unicorn in the Republic besides myself on the ritual. I trust you above all else in this matter as well. Without fully understanding the others, I simply cannot trust them with possibly some of the most powerful magic in the world.”
Bastion’s eyes lit up with pride. His former teacher and respected leader was entrusting him with leading their army. “I accept. I am honored that you think of me so highly. I will make them the greatest force ever seen.” He stood, bowed, and trotted happily to the fields below.
Starfall stayed in the room for a while longer. The warm tea was good in the lingering cold weather. He walked to one of the windows and peered down below. The new army he had fashioned for his empire was starting their training. Soon they would be able to bring down the rebellion looking to keep Luna’s leadership.
But, still he worried. After the death of Remedy Rose, her followers in Paris were itching to get revenge. Stormbreaker witnessed it first hand and had swayed them to his cause. With his fellow ponies in Stalliongrad, he had thousands of hardened ponies ready to fight for his cause. 
He drank what was left of his tea and called for one of the maids to tidy up the chamber, before returning to the throne room, to plan his strategies.


--*--


The life of a politician was boring. There was no flying, no pranks, no excitement. Rainbow Dash wanted nothing but out of the politician’s seat. Plus, her parents had already moved out of Cloudsdale after she took the job on the weather patrol in Ponyville, so there was nothing really to do. Except get into trouble.
Trouble she seemed to narrowly avoid as the rest of the city was not focused on her antics, nor on other minor trouble making from some of the fillies in town. A huge storm was brewing beneath them, tended to day and night by almost anyone the city could spare. The weather factory had stopped delivering any new storms to Canterlot, or the surrounding cities and towns. They had allowed a bit of sympathy to her town by rangling wild storms over the Everfree Forest in Ponyville’s direction. With winter wrap-up underway, it was well needed rain that would be coming its way.
She was concerned that there were classes on fighting taking place. Pegasi carrying truckloads of armor and weapons had started to come in big time from Manehatten. Though she was curious why they only came in from along the tree-line.
Today, her only mischief was to find out exactly what was going on. To do that, she’d have to sneak into the important meeting with Stalliongrad’s diplomats, and more importantly, not get caught. The pegasi that came as diplomats were bulkier than Big Macintosh, and she did not want to be on their bad side.
Fortunately, one of Cloudsdale's diplomats found her poking outside the hall and dragged her inside the room for the meeting. She was a short pony, but boy was she witty. Not a single prank slipped by her, and Rainbow was becoming bored with trying. The mare was a lavender pegasus with a paper and ink quill on her flank. Her hair was a deep blue, but cropped short to her head.
Unfortunately she was stuck between Cloudsdale's worry-wart of a mayor, and the burly pegasi she didn't want to be near.
"Who is this?" one of the pegasi diplomats said. His accent was thick, and Rainbow fought the urge to giggle.
"Princess Luna's representative. She has direct contact with the princess," replied the mare who dragged her in. The two pegasi looked at Rainbow with awe.
That's what I thought, Rainbow mused.
"I am Peace Bloom, official representative of Cloudsdale. I'm pleased our invitation reached you so quickly," the mare continued. “As you can see we are building defences as best as we can. Though the storm is a big deterrent. We were wondering if you might be able to spare some forces to train our militia. We also have almost no weapons, save for what we can make.”
One of the representatives from Stalliongrad stepped forward, “I can try to get weapons for you, but we believe that Starfall is looking towards Manehatten as his first target.”
Peace Bloom shook her head. “We’re going to be starving his fields of the rain they need. Do you think someone who overthrew Princess Luna and took over Canterlot in a mere day would ignore such a threat to his nation? He’ll take this place without support!”
The representative who spoke looked at his companion who simply nodded once. He turned away from his comrade and sighed, “We will do our best to get something for you Miss Bloom. Troops or weapons or both - though the chances of the last occurring is very slim.”
Peace Bloom smiled. “We appreciate your support. If he turns to Manehatten, we will send troops to support you in kind, as well as some other... fun things.”
The burly ponies grinned. “Until next time, Peace Bloom. Miss Dash.” They bowed in respect to both Peace Bloom and Rainbow Dash before exiting the room.
Rainbow wasn’t quite sure what to make of the meeting. It was a shorter conversation than she had expected to happen. She looked to Peace Bloom for any explination.
“Well?” Peace Bloom said.
Rainbow looked at her quizzically, “What?”
“What does Princess Luna think of the discussion. You were filling her in, right?”
Rainbow Dash laughed nervously, “Of course I was! I wouldn’t forget something like that. She’s just a little busy where she is.” Her mind went to the necklace and she started to think... hard. TWILIGHT. DOES LUNA THINK THAT STARFALL WILL GO AFTER CLOUDS-
Rainbow! Don’t think that you’re screaming! Think that you’re talking normally! The response from the other end sounded pained and irritated.
Oops. My bad. Let me explain what happened in the meeting I’m at.


--*--


Luna and Twilight returned to the tent sometime after the moon rose over the horizon. This time, Twilight built the fire without Luna’s help, and threw the pot on to make more soup. Their supply of snow was dwindling, so she made a point to fill a water bottle with some melted snow after she cleaned the pot.
Twilight didn’t focus on the pot as much as she did on the tome they had found. Luna was reading the contents as quickly as possible, flipping the pages in almost a steady rhythm. She hadn’t forgotten how they found it, nor the magic that hid it.

Luna had sensed the magic as soon as they left the library. A warm breeze blew the strong scent of sunflowers across her path. They were her sister’s favorite. It was also the scent of her sister’s magic. She took off after the smell, barreling down the streets towards the castle.
“Luna! Wait for me!” Twilight tried her best to keep up with the princess, barely managing to keep her pace. 
They passed through what was left of the front gardens first. The plants here were overgrown, and had dug into the stone path, overgrowing much of the rubble it created. Vines stretched over many of the garden walls and paths, leading to the growth covering the main hall ahead of her. Luna slowed to a walk as she entered the hall before her. Twilight caught up to her and walked over to her side.
The central hall was filled with paintings all over the ceiling and the walls. What was left of the roof depicted what the city may have looked like in its glory days. Sprawling streets filled with carts of food and merchandise was very different from the buildings in Canterlot. Homes held lines hanging over the streets filled with clothes out to dry. Above the city, the trees produced all kinds of fruits, being carried by alicorn and pegasus alike. High in the center was the sun shining down on the city. Below it was a moon mosaic, followed by the floor designed as a nightly reflection of the the ceiling mural. The walls were of fights she had never heard of, and of coronations she had never seen.
Luna made a beeline for the moon in the center. She could feel the magic coming from the floor below her. Carefully she tapped the floor with her hoof, listening for the hollow response. It was there. Her horn lit up with magic and the magic below her responded immediately. 
Use this well, Luna. Her face lost some of its color. It was Celestia’s voice, but it sounded... young, pained, and inexperienced. How long had this been here?
Twilight backed up from the center. Luna rose into the air as the tiles spun around in a spiral pattern lifting gradually from its place. The moon was torn up by the magic and the tiles hovered around the Princess of the Moon. They began to snap back into place, forming a crescent moon, instead of a full moon like before. In the empty space, a small book lay in wait, filled with paper sticking out at odd angles. It was as if the book was used yesterday. 
Luna floated back down to the ground and hovered the book into her waiting jaws. They left the castle shortly after that.

The two of them ate the soup before any part of the book was discussed. Even so, they stayed silent around the campfire for a while after eating. The sound of the ocean echoed off of the cliff walls keeping the silence from truly intruding.
Luna began first, “This book contains research that was conducted by my sister, shortly after a plague hit our city. The research focusses solely on the plague for a while and is discontinued after a certain point. Around the same time, my sister began to study the Eversleep. 
“According to her notes, the Eversleep is a phenomenon only affecting alicorns,” Luna began. “It is a part of the life cycle of their immortality, just like a Phoenix. When the Phoenix bursts into flames, it rises immediately from the ashes to be reborn. When an alicorn enters the Eversleep, they “die” and rise again a thousand years later. It may happen many times during their lifetime, but each time their body is vulnerable. If their body is destroyed during the Eversleep, they cannot return after their sleep. But they can become something else.”
“Like what?” Twilight asked, trying to take in all the information at once.
“They can become the embodiment of their special talent and use it to serve the lands of Equestria. Remember the voices at the top of the cliff?”
Twilight nodded.
“Those were the combined voices of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Sky. They are the oldest known alicorns to have grown beyond their Eversleep. They embody the elements they are named after.”
Twilight nodded slowly. She understood that... sort of. “Why doesn’t anypony else know about them?”
“Nopony else can summon them. Only those of royal blood can. With Celestia asleep, I’m the only one left in all Equestria who can.”
Twilight was silent for a while. She was intrigued by all this information, but it didn’t make sense why Celestia had studied all of this. Maybe a school project? She stood up and sat down next to Luna. 
“So, was there anything in there about bringing someone back early from this... sleep?”
“Yes. Its simple, but difficult. It requires a lot of magic to perform and it will take some time to complete. More importantly, I’m the one who has to cast it.”
“Why is that a problem?”
“If Starfall catches up to me and stops the spell, we’d have to start all over again. Every day for a month, I must tie together the hours that everypony and every creature sleeps. Once I have enough sleep gathered, I can tie it to Celestia’s time asleep. It would be as if she had slept those hours herself. It could take a little longer or shorter to gather all the time needed to make that spell occur, but I can force the number of hours to multiply.”
“Well, great! I was about to say that one month was not nearly enough to make up for one thousand years of sleeping.”
“There is the possibility that I might die from the amount of magic required to power the spell.”
“Oh.”
Luna nodded, “Which is why there was one more thing that I wanted to ask you.”
“Anything you need, I’ll try to help.”