The Frozen North.
Radiant shuddered as he got up. The biting cold had returned, and to make matters worse, it seemed to get through the igloo barrier that Dayspring had set up the day before. The little filly laying tightly next to him shivered as his body warmth left her. Her body noting his absence even in her sleep.
To help compensate, Radiant moved her closer to the fading ball of energy Dayspring had cast the night before to help keep them warm. When her body relaxed slightly he nodded and stood the rest of the way up. He looked out the igloo, the snowstorm had returned but even through it he could still make out the daylight that was doing its best to shine through the clouds.
Of Dayspring, Radiant saw no sign. Sighing, he tightened his coat and braced himself for what awaited him outside.
It was worse than he thought it would be. The moment Radiant stepped outside the wind pierced right through his coat, his fur, his skin, and his muscles. He felt it in his bones. Instantly his teeth started shaking as he walked through the snow buildup and out into what passed for daylight.
“You’re awake?”
Radiant looked around for the source of the voice. Had he not been half asleep he wouldn’t have bothered, the sound came from inside his head, an obvious indication that it was spoken but sent via magic. “Where are you?” he asked, his voice traveling about five feet before becoming lost in the snow.
“Behind you.”
Radiant turned around and rolled his eyes at what he saw. Dayspring was sitting on top of the igloo, a magical force bubble shining all around him. The stallion was relaxing with no coat on. Radiant huffed and made to join him.
On the second attempt to climb on top of the igloo Dayspring powered his horn and gave Radiant a magical assist, letting his back leg find purchase where there previously was none. Radiant huffed and climbed the rest of the way up the igloo and into the magical bubble.
He wasn’t surprised to find it at least sixty degrees warmer inside. Beyond the warmth though the most welcome relief was the lack of wind. “Enjoying yourself?” Radiant asked with a huff as he made to take off his coat.
“Being on watch doesn’t mean you have to suffer,” Dayspring replied matter-of-factly.
“I guess,” Radiant replied.
“Did you?”
“What?”
“You know, dream about her again?”
“Oh, that,” Radiant looked away.
“C’mon, even after everything we’ve talked about, you’re still shy about your feelings?”
Radiant turned back. “Look, talking about things like this… It’s not exactly…”
“You?”
“Yeah, I mean I’ll tell you, but that doesn’t mean it comes naturally.”
Dayspring chuckled. “I guess you can’t expect an old stallion to change his coat that easily.”
“It’s really not an issue for you, is it?”
“No,” Dayspring said with a shrug.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m me,” Dayspring replied.
“What does that mean?”
Dayspring tilted his head and took a deep breath. “I am who I am. I am my thoughts, my emotions, my actions, my deeds, my words, and my choices. All of these things make up the pony known as me, known as Dayspring Gleam. I am not ashamed of myself. I’m very proud of who I am, who I choose to be. I’m proud of the sum of my parts. So why would I be ashamed of the components of that sum?”
“That’s a cute saying and all, but it doesn’t change the reality, the judgment of others.”
“And there it is,” Dayspring said.
“What?”
“Judgment of others.”
“And? Everypony deals with that.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do you care?”
“Care about what?”
“What others think.”
“Because!” Radiant started to get frustrated again. “Dammit quit being so obtuse and make your point already!”
“An answer given is meaningless,” Dayspring replied almost automatically.
“I’m not your bucking student,” Radiant huffed.
“I’m your student,” Dayspring said.
“What?”
“I said I’m your student. You’re teaching me so much and you don’t even realize it.”
“Luna damn you, Dayspring.”
“It’s true.”
“How is it true?”
“Because it’s true for everyone. We all experience life differently, we all approach things in our own unique manner. If you pay attention, if you watch carefully, everypony has something to teach you. Even if it’s just what not to do.”
“You really are a pompous ass.”
“I thought we established that already.”
Radiant laid down, and then found himself doing the oddest thing, he started to chuckle. “You really don’t care if ponies think of you that way, do you?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m happy with who I am,” Dayspring said. “If someone thinks negatively of me, that doesn’t change who I am, it doesn’t change my own happiness.”
Radiant stared at Dayspring, half expecting him to say ‘gotcha’. When that didn’t happen he sighed heavily. “How do you do that?”
“Simple, be happy with yourself. Stop basing your self worth on the opinion of others, base it only on your opinion of yourself.”
“Simple, you say.”
“Well the concept is simple, in practice few could ever truly manage it.”
“Then why bring it up?”
“Because it’s the only thing I’ve seen that works,” Dayspring said.
“Seriously?”
“Yep. Take mother for instance, She has a very healthy self image, and she’s happy. Whereas Ataxia hates herself, I doubt many ponies would call her a happy mare.”
“I think Ataxia would disagree with that statement.”
“Of course she would. It’s an act to her, an appearance she works rather hard to maintain. Talk to her one day, get past the sexual innuendos and get her to let her guard down. You’ll see what I’m talking about.”
“I somehow don’t see her opening up to you.”
“Well, it took a lot of alcohol.”
“How much?”
“About… seven barrels.”
Had it been anypony else, Radiant wouldn’t have believed him. “How did that not kill you two?”
“Well… Ataxia is Ataxia,” Dayspring said.
Radiant shrugged in agreement.
“I’ll admit it took about… four uses of a blood purifying spell for me not to pass out.”
“Only four?”
“She drank most of it,” Dayspring replied with a chuckle.
“Okay, that makes sense, but… why? Why did you go through all that?”
“Shimmering Night asked me to.”
“Ahh, any way you’d tell me what she wanted?”
“Nope, that’s between her and I.”
“Must have been an interesting night.”
“Very, but we’re getting sidetracked. Did you dream about her again?”
Radiant huffed and rolled his eyes. I should have known I wouldn’t get him off it. “Dream? No, not really, not any more than usual anyway.”
“An interesting qualifier.”
“Huh?”
“You answered, but you answered in the context of a dream, you qualified your statement as to not lie to me. So what happened?”
“It wasn’t… I wasn’t dreaming.”
“Huh?”
“She came to me, but I was awake. It happened a few minutes before we switched off last night. She was just kinda… there?”
“Sounds like it might have been a waking dream,” Dayspring said.
“A what?”
“You see them from time to time as a teacher. When the brain is just about to fall asleep it can enter a dream-like state before the body actually falls asleep. It normally goes unnoticed as sleep follows shortly after.”
“Bored a lot of students to sleep?”
“Occupational hazard,” Dayspring replied with a chuckle.
“I don’t know if that was it. It wasn’t like I was tired, rather, she was just kinda… there. Like you are now.”
Dayspring nodded.
“She… she told me to stop hating myself. To forgive myself, and for the love of Luna stop nodding.”
“What can I say? It’s hard to disagree with a statement like that. I wonder who else told you something similar.”
“Yeah yeah, you were right. Shut up already.”
In reply Dayspring just grinned.
“Ugh, you’re insufferable some days.”
“That’s a big word for you.”
“I remember Shimmering Night using it about you.”
“That explains it.”
“Anyway, yes, you and Firestar were both right. I’m not done with this… pity party,” Radiant lowered his head at that.
“It’s not a pity party.”
“Yes it is.”
“No, stop calling it that. It’s your emotions, your feelings, it’s part of who you are, and it matters. It matters a lot. By dismissing it as just a ‘pity party’ you’re dismissing part of yourself, you’re saying that feelings are dumb, that you should just get over it in a snap. And need I remind you that it’s that very behaviour that got us in this situation.”
“Us?”
“I’m your friend, your brother, Radiant. What happens to you happens to me.”
“Sorry to be such a bother,” Radiant replied in a snippy tone that he didn’t truly feel, but also couldn’t entirely suppress.
“It’s been the greatest part of my life.”
“Seriously?”
“Would I lie about something like that?” Dayspring asked.
“You… well… no, I guess not. It’s just strange to hear. That taking care of me is the greatest part of your life?”
Dayspring sighed and then shook his head. “No, you still don’t get it.”
“Then explain it in a way where a dumbass like me would understand!”
There was a pregnant pause that lasted half a minute before either pony spoke. Dayspring stared at Radiant, holding his gaze until, at last, Radiant looked away. “Sorry,” Radiant spoke.
“It’s easy to be sorry, it’s much harder to accept your own apology,” Dayspring replied.
“I wasn’t apologizing to myself.”
“You should, you’re awfully mean to yourself.”
Radiant's anger faded at Dayspring’s words. “Firestar… she said something similar.”
“It’s easy to see why.”
“You know if we didn’t have seventy years of history between us I think I’d deck you and walk away.”
“Probably,” Dayspring replied with a chuckle. “But to answer your rather inappropriate question. Being friends with you has indeed been the greatest part of my life. We do have seventy years of history between us. But that’s seventy years of adventures, sleepovers, laughter, joy, and sorrow. That’s seventy years of knowing that I have someone to turn to for anything, and that someone values me enough to turn to me when they need something. It means always having someone in my corner, or to tell me when I’m being dumb. Do you even appreciate how valuable that is?”
“The son of the Princess of Friendship lecturing about the importance of friendship, how cliche,” Radiant replied with a smile on his face that spoke the exact opposite of his words.
“It’s true.”
“Yeah, I suppose it is.”
“I won’t press anymore about the personal stuff, not until you want to bring it up. But did she say anything about our mission?”
“Thank you. And yes, she said we’d be there today. That our destination is close. But that the pull was getting stronger, and that’s how she was able to come to me without me being asleep. In that, what did you call it… waking dream?”
“What about the deaging?”
“She said she doesn’t know what’s causing it. Neither does Eros for that matter. But they are sure that it’s linked to whatever is going on. Speaking of which, how old am I now?”
Dayspring took a second to scan Radiant. It only took a second as it was a process that was very familiar to him now. “You lost another year.”
“Just a year?”
“Yes, it seems to be stabilizing. Which Is good, I don’t need to be responsible for two foals on this journey.”
“Was that a worry?” Radiant asked, the thought just now clicking with him.
“That you’d de-age forever? Wait, that wasn’t something you’d considered before?”
“No…”
“For the love of Luna, Radiant…”
“Yeah yeah yeah,” Radiant said.
Dayspring facehoofed. But let it go, there were other more urgent matters that had to be discussed. “About that other thing.”
“Stop playing the pronoun game, what other thing?”
“Eros.”
“Oh, that other thing. Yeah, apparently Eros has been spending time with Firestar,” Radiant replied, then chuckled as he added, “They talk, even meet for tea among other things.”
“So Eros is aware of what’s happening.”
“Yep.”
“That’s interesting, but what’s her interest in Firestar?”
“Something about the bonds of love that connect us all together, she says that ours is stronger than most and she wanted to study it. She’s not sure if it’s due to my mom being her Avatar or the time we spent living above the Crystal Heart. Or at least that’s what she told Firestar.”
“I assume Firestar has another theory?”
“She says that Eros might feel guilty for what happened.”
“I’d say I was surprised by that but it makes sense that she might feel that way. She did have a front row seat after all.”
“Don’t remind me,” Radiant said with a sigh.
“Sorry.”
Radiant waved it off. “I need to face it, right? Make peace with my demons and all that?”
“Something like that.”
Radiant rolled his eyes. ‘Casual dismissal’ wasn’t the reaction he expected Dayspring to have to that. “Of course you’d be difficult, even with me agreeing with you.”
“Radiant, we’re talking about a decade of repressed feelings. Of hatred, anger, sadness, depression, loss, grief, and fear. There are no easy answers for any of it. You’ll never make peace with what happened, not fully, but you can accept it and move past it. Healing, true healing takes time. Far more than the two days we’ve spent together.”
“Still trying to get me to come back with you?”
“Just to get you to seriously consider it. Do something selfish for yourself, just this once.”
“You really think Starlight is ready to take my place?”
“Doesn’t matter what I think, what do you think?”
“Yeah… yeah I’d say she is. But do you think she’d want to?”
“Oh yes. I know for a fact that she’s rather… shall we say, bored.”
“She’d be more bored up north. Ruling isn’t exactly intellectually taxing.”
“Not if you’re doing it right anyway,” Dayspring agreed. “But she’d find things to keep her busy, and, more importantly, she can handle a crisis if it happens.”
“When, when it happen.”
Dayspring just nodded at that. “So will you consider it?”
“If I say I’ll consider it will you drop it?”
“Not forever,” Dayspring admitted.
“I guess that’s the best I can ask for.”
Before either pony could continue a loud shout came up from in the igloo. “It’s too cold!”
“Nightshade’s up,” Radiant said with a laugh.
“Just think, you could wake up to this and so much more every single day,” Dayspring replied as he powered his horn and opened a hole in the igloo. “You want to come join us?” he asked.
Nightshade was huddled around the warmth circle like she was a cat and it was her favorite ball of yarn. The mare looked up with a rather angry expression on her face. “It’s cold!” she shouted in anger.
Both Radiant and Dayspring looked down at the mare and then to each other. Nightshade turned her face up at the two of them, her ears were pressed back against her head and her eyes glared at them as if they were somehow responsible for the temperature. Neither said a word, but they both had the exact same thought, Her mad face is just adorable.
“Come on up here,” Dayspring said as he used his magic to reach down and scoop her up. Nightshade fretted as the magic forced her to let go of the rapidly fading warmth ball she had been death-gripped to.
Her demeanor did a one-eighty as soon as she was brought into the warmth of Dayspring’s shield spell. Nightshade practically jumped between Dayspring’s legs as she sought not only an even greater source of warmth, but to also show him thanks for the relief of the icebox below.
“You okay now, little one?” Radiant asked.
“Better now,” she said.
“Good, because we’re going to have to head out soon, after we eat of course.”
“Food does sound good,” Dayspring replied as he pulled out his sack and started to retrieve the rations he had there.
“Oh no need, I bought my own!” Nightshade exclaimed as, completely forgetting about the cold, she leapt back down into the igloo. “Ahh! Too cold!”
Dayspring laughed as he yanked her back out with his magic and generally placed her on top of the igloo. “Yeah, no. Stay here. Besides we’re not having the sweets you packed for breakfast.”
“Please Dayspring?” Nightshade replied in her sweetest, most innocent voice.
“No,” Dayspring replied with a little more scorn than Radiant expected.
“Meany,” Nightshade said in a pout.
To his credit, Dayspring simply ignored her as he went about preparing a more reasonable breakfast for the three of them to eat. Radiant sat back and watched Nightshade in fascination as, over the course of three minutes, she moved from pouty-mic-pout-pout, to curious, to helping.
“And that’s the proper way to prepare a sandwich in cold weather,” Dayspring replied as he put the finishing touches on a dafildeal sandwich and floated it over to Radiant.
“Ohhh, that makes sense,” Nightshade replied as she put the finishing touches on one of her own.
Radiant chuckled as she finished her first sandwich at the same time Dayspring finished his second. The part he found funny was that rather than eat their own, Nightshade insisted that Dayspring take hers and she take Dayspring’s. Her comment being that food prepared for someone else out of love always tastes nicer.
And Radiant was forced to admit as he finished the sandwich Dayspring had prepared for him, she kind of had a point. It was one thing to eat food prepared by a chef, and quite another to eat food prepared by someone that loves you.
He couldn’t stop himself, at that moment, at that time, an old memory came to the forefront, one he’d not thought about in a long, long time.
“I told you that you’d get icing everywhere,” Firestar said with a laugh as Radiant tried and failed to catch one of her cupcakes in his mouth on their latest late-night romp to the kitchen.
“Yeah, yeah, but I couldn’t help myself.” Radiant replied, chuckling.
“Because you’re my idiot?”
“I would say it was a measure of… tactical genius,” Radiant said as he eyed her and grinned.
“Oh, why’s that?” Firestar asked, the smile on her face lighting up the room.
“Because now you get to clean me off.”
Firestar’s grin went to one of seductresses as she moved up to Radiant. The unicorn smiled back as he lowered himself to give her the best possible angle to lick the icing off his face. Firestar slowly, seductively stuck her tongue out to lick his cheek free of the cream.
Only for a second cupcake to splatter right across Radiant’s other cheek.
“Clean yourself off,” Firestar said with a laugh.
Radiant grinned as he picked up three more cupcakes with his magic. “Oh, so it’s going to be like that?”
“Radiant, no, don’t you da—”
At that three cupcakes flew and splattered themselves across Firestar's muzzle, mane, and barrel.
“Oh you’re so going to get it now!” Firestar replied.
“Promises promises,” Radiant replied as he started to run behind the counter, ducking and weaving several tossed cupcakes as he did so.
“Uncle Radiant? Are you okay? Why are you crying?”
Radiant blinked, clearing his eyes of tears as he looked down at Nightshade. The filly was sitting directly in front of him, worry and concern written heavily on her face. “I… um… I…”
“He’ll be okay, Nightshade. Just some good memories,” Dayspring said as he lead her away from Radiant with a hoof.
“But why cry over good memories? Shouldn’t they make you happy?”
“They did,” Dayspring said as he gave Radiant time to collect himself. “Happy tears. We’ve talked about that before, no?”
“Oh,” Nightshade replied as she stared to help Dayspring pack up his supplies. “Like when Luna gave birth to Shining Night?”
“Yeah, just like that. Sometimes you can be so happy that you start to cry. Memories can cause that too. He’ll be alright, just give him some time.”
“Okay,” Nightshade replied.
In spite of his words, Dayspring looked back at Radiant, who did his best to clean the tears from his face while also trying to pretend, to someone, Dayspring wasn’t sure who, that he hadn’t been crying at all.
Radiant wasn’t sure how Dayspring knew what had occurred. He knew his friend better than to accuse him of somehow reading his mind, but that didn’t answer his question. It wasn’t until he realized that he was still smiling in spite of himself that he figured it out.
Thanks.
In reply to the unspoken word, Dayspring just nodded.
The group packed up quickly after that. Dayspring considered tearing down his igloo but in the end decided it wasn’t worth the effort and simply left it for the next traveler who found their way up north.
“So back on the old dusty trail?” Radiant asked.
“It’s not dusty, it’s snowy,” Nightshade replied. “And cold,” she added.
“It’s an expression,” Dayspring chimed in.
“No, expressions are on your face, everyone knows that,” Nightshade said with a chuckle.
“Expression is one of those words that can mean more than one thing,” Dayspring replied. “It’s all in the context, see—”
“Let’s save that for later,” Radiant broke in. “We’re heading that way,” he said, gesturing with a hoof to the star tracker Dayspring had made at the start of the journey.
“Yeah yeah,” Dayspring said as he examined the destination as best he could. “Based on what I can see there’s a glacier’s top that should work, as well as give us a better viewpoint of whatever’s beyond.”
“To the glacier’s top!” Nightshade exclaimed.
“Young lady, what do we say?”
“Please?” Nightshade replied with a little less enthusiasm.
“Much better,” Dayspring replied as he powered his horn and in a flash of magic the group disappeared.
The three ponies reappeared in a flash of light. The group immediately took notice of the ten degree drop in temperature as Radiant and Dayspring instantly started to check their surroundings for any possible physical threat.
“Clear,” Radiant replied as she finished checking the east.
“Clear,” Dayspring replied as he finished with the west.
“What’s that?” Nightshade said through shivering teeth as she pointed at something to the north.
Dayspring took note of that and poured more power into his heating spell. It was the only reason the group hadn’t frozen to death already but even still there was a limit to what it could do, especially when he was letting it operate passively.
“That is something that shouldn’t be here,” Radiant said as he took stalk of what Nightshade had found.
“What?” Dayspring asked as he finished increasing the temperature to something a bit more manageable. “Oh… that.”
“Yeah,” Radiant replied.
From their vantage point, the group was looking down at a structure about half a mile away. It was a complex of three different buildings, two of which looked like storage bunkers and the third appearing to be something along the lines of a research laboratory. Dayspring could tell as much based on the equipment sticking out of the sides and roof. His mind instantly recognizing the appendages of several pieces of equipment he was quite familiar with.
However much all of that was strange and unusual to see in such a place, the part that took him aback wasn’t the three buildings, the high-tech equipment, or even their location. It was the green grass that completely surrounded the buildings for approximately two hundred feet in every direction, and the fact that none of the buildings had even a small amount of snow on them. Now that he knew what to look for and could see it, Dayspring could sense that a high level enchantment protecting the complex, it completely blocked out the cold and snow with ease. An ease that made him a bit nervous about who could set up such a thing.
As unsettling as that was, what truly unsettled him was that he couldn't detect anything beyond the walls of the complex. Whatever was in there was passively blocking his magic. A feat that could only be achieved by three, possibly four, ponies he could think of.
“I think we know where we’re supposed to go,” Radiant said.
“Yeah, that’s pretty obvious,” Dayspring replied. “Although…”
“No, we’re going in,” Radiant protested, already knowing that Dayspring was having second thoughts.
“Radiant, you don’t understand. That enchantment protecting the complex is no joke. To top it off I cannot penetrate the building, I have no idea who is in there, how many, or even how powerful they might be.”
“You think I can’t tell that‽” Radiant said in protest. “I can sense that much just as well as you. But this is important, Dayspring. This is my mission, our mission. Firestar asked me to handle this. Not Twilight, not Shimmering Night, not Rainbow, and not you, she asked me, personally. I have to go.”
“And no one is arguing that you don’t, I’m only saying that we should have backup.”
“Then summon them when we know for sure they’re needed. We got this.”
Dayspring gestured to Nightshade. “Weren’t you the one saying we shouldn’t put her in unnecessary danger?”
“Weren't you the one who said that we wouldn’t? That we’d get out of here at the first sign of anything we can’t handle?”
“Ah-chew!”
Both turned to Nightshade who sat in the snow, shivering in spite of the warmth spell. Seeing her like that caused Dayspring to grown internally. “Fine, we’ll go in. But I’m keeping a message spell prepped.”
“Agreed.” Radiant capitulated and then added, “So what’s the play? Teleport directly into the building ready for a fight?” Radiant asked.
“That’d be rude. What if they’re having breakfast or something? We should knock and be invited in,” Nightshade replied.
Dayspring and Radiant looked at each other. The seriousness of the situation devolved into light chuckling and then full on laughter at her suggestion.
“What‽” Nightshade retorted with a sniffle.
“Nothing, that was just…”
“A perfect idea,” Dayspring finished.
“What?” Radiant asked.
“Hey, we’re not here for a fight, right? Let’s try it her way,” Dayspring replied.
“And people call me an idiot,” Radiant said in a huff.
“Your wife called you an idiot, and you deserved it,” Dayspring replied.
“No name calling!” Nightshade said in a retort.
“It was more a… term of affection,” Radiant said as he ducked low, giving Nightshade the right angle to climb up onto his back as the three made ready for another teleport.
“Calling you an idiot was being affectionate?” Nightshade asked.
“It’s a long story,” Radiant said.
“Not really, he tried to use his rank to control her actions, she broke up with him and did what she was going to do anyway. So afterwards he made her promise to always call him an idiot so he’d never do something like that again.”
“Okay, maybe it’s not that long of a story.”
“I’d have called you an idiot too, you can’t control the ones you love like that silly uncle, you have to let them be who they are, after all, isn’t who they are the reason you love them in the first place?”
“Out of the mouths of foals,” Dayspring said with a smile.
“Okay, this time I know I didn’t eat the wisdom of whatchamacallit!”
“Maybe you were just born full of wisdom?” Radiant asked.
“Oh, maybe?” Nightshade said as she pondered that possibility.
In a flash the group disappeared from the glacier top and reappeared someplace decidedly warmer.
Dayspring’s warmth spell was a marvel of spellcraft. It truly had kept the group alive in the cold climate they were traversing; however, even that had its limits. The spell managed to raise the temperature around the group by seventy degrees.
An impressive accomplishment, until the temperature had started falling into the negative double digits. At the top of the glacier Dayspring estimated that the temp was easily below negative one hundred degrees. There winter coats became even more necessary as they traveled.
But this complex, this zone, it was a spell unlike his. As the group appeared they instantly started to sweat. Nightshade was the first to squirm out of her jacket, an action that almost caused her to fall off Radiant and land right on her rump if not for a last minute save by Dayspring’s magic.
“It’s hot!” Nightshade protested as Dayspring helped her undress, her struggling only managing to make the task that much more difficult.
“She’s not wrong,” Radiant replied as he started undoing his own jacket. The stallion managed to undress himself at the same time Nightshade and Dayspring managed to get Nightshade’s jacket off her.
“And the Captain Obvious award goes to…” Dayspring mumbled as he finished getting Nightshade’s back hoof out of its jacket-prison.
“Free!” Nightshade exclaimed as she immediately took flight, her wings beating for all they were worth.
“Well, that’s one problem solved,” Dayspring said, and then looked down, surprised to see a magical aura helping to unlatch his coat. He looked up and nodded in thanks to Radiant.
“Don’t make it weird,” Radiant replied. “You’re starting to sweat.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Dayspring replied as he started to asset. Together the two took off his coat and then stashed all of their winter wear in their bags. When they finished Nightshade landed directly in front of them.
“See anything good?” Radiant asked.
“Science stuff and snow,” she said.
“What’s wrong?” Dayspring asked, her tone of voice and unusual attitude taking him aback.
“I… umm… this place feels weird, strange. I don’t like it.”
Dayspring took a look around with both his physical senses and magical ones. It didn’t come as a surprise when the latter was rejected from piercing the building, just as it was up on top of the glacier. “I know what you mean.”
“You want to go home?” Radiant asked surprising Dayspring.
Nightshade thought about it for longer than either one of them expected before shaking her head. “No, we came here to help uncle Radiant, so we should help him.”
“It could be tough,” Dayspring said.
“It could be dangerous,” Radiant added.
Nightshade grinned her normal grin and shouted. “For the Adorkable Horror? Nothing is too dangerous!”
“For the Adorkable Horror and her two uncles, you mean,” Radiant corrected.
“Yeah, that!”
“Why do I feel like that’s going to bite us in the flank before the day is over?” Dayspring said with a shake of his head.
“Oh relax,” Radiant said as he turned to the building. The center building of the complex, the science bay, it was a standard Quonset hut design, with a large metal grate that rose up to allow passage in and out. Radiant concentrated his magic and created a hammer of rudimentary design, hammers not being part of his normal reputar. “Knock knock.”
He pulled his blow seconds before it collided with Nightshade who flew between him and the grate. “Uncle Radiant, you knock nicely!” the filly protested.
“Luna, Nightshade. Don’t do that, you almost gave me a heart attack,” Radiant said after his heart started beating again.
“Nightshade, you don’t do things like that,” Dayspring chided.
“And you don’t go knocking random doors down all willy-nilly!”
“Fine-fine,” Radiant grumbled as he raised a hoof and banged it three times against the door. “There, happy?”
“Much,” Nightshade said in pride.
Dayspring just rolled his eyes at the two. A gesture that came to an end as, at that moment, the gate started to open all the way to the top. “We’ll, looks like we’re welcome inside.”
“See, told you,” Nightshade said.
“Okay, I get it,” Radiant grumbled as he lead the three inside.
Dayspring took a step inside and gasped at what he saw. The old stallion quickened his pace as he started to examine the hut’s contents. Everywhere he looked there were tables full of scientific equipment. Beakers, pipettes, Bunsen burners, magnifying glasses, funnels, crucibles, and burnets littered the large open area.
Radiant took a more practical approach and examined the room as a whole. Best he could tell this main area accounted for roughly half of the building’s total area. In the back, he could see several rooms that were segregated to stand alone. Including another large grate that lead to a side chamber whose purpose he could only guess at.
“Radiant, this is amazing, the level of detail here,” Dayspring started as he floated over several notepads for his examination and then ran to the blackboard nearby to examine the equation written in chalk upon it. “Do you know what this is‽”
Radiant rolled his eyes as he and Nightshade moved closer to the highly excited unicorn. “Do you think I know what this is?”
“This is Starswirl’s third law of magical exchange! And this…” Dayspring ran over to another blackboard. “This is… this is… I…”
“What?”
“I don’t know what this is…” Dayspring admitted. “It has elements of Starswirl’s hypothesis on magical energy binding, but this addition here… it’s… I’ve never seen it before.”
“Uncle Dayspring, you’re scaring me,” Nightshade said as she started to inch closer to Radiant.
“That makes two of us,” Radiant said.
“I’m sorry,” Dayspring replied as he, through extreme force of will, tore himself from the blackboard. “You’re right, both of you. This isn’t our priority right now. But it’s… I just need a few minutes to…”
“Dayspring!” Radiant yelled. “I get that your excited, but we have to figure out who is doing all this, you can play with the new toys later.”
“Toys‽ I…” Dayspring paused and took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay, you win.”
“Keep an eye on him,” Radiant whispered to Nightshade who simply nodded her head in agreement as the group joined back together and started to make their way deeper into the hut.
“This place is big!” Nightshade commented after thirty seconds of silence, a time that Dayspring couldn’t help but have his eyes wander from station to station.
“A bit too big,” Radiant replied with a snarl as he looked back at the distance they had traveled. A dark thought occurred to him, one he wanted to run past Dayspring. “Day, what do you think? Day? Dayspring‽”
“What?” Dayspring asked as he pulled his mind back to the present.
“Focus, Day, I’m serious,” Radiant glared at him. “It’s not funny anymore. We need you here, now.”
“Radiant you don’t understand, this is… ugh… fine, sorry, what did you say?”
“How is this place so big?” Radiant asked in clear terms, never breaking eye contact with Dayspring.
“Big?” Dayspring looked around. In spite of their initial glances, they’d only cleared about half the distance to the end of this room. Looking back, he saw that it wasn’t a case of them having not moved, but of the building simply being bigger than they expected, bigger than it should be, bigger than it could be. “Must be spell, something to increase the area inside the building while not affecting the area outside.”
“That sounds like big magic,” Radiant replied, keeping his eyes focused on Dayspring’s. “Think, who could do such a thing?”
“Gods, Twilight, Shimmering Night, and Ataxia on a good… great… okay, not Ataxia…”
“Who is likely to have done this?”
“Twilight,” Dayspring replied almost as if on instinct but he quickly caught himself. “But no… she wouldn’t have… I’d… I’d have known.”
“Who else has this level of scientific knowledge or even wherewithal? Beyond you, and I’m gambling on you not being responsible for this, other than Twilight?”
Taken aback, Dayspring found himself in an odd state of being, he found himself getting mad. “Are you really accusing mom of screwing around with your wife?”
“Who else‽” Radiant yelled. “Who else has the power, the knowledge, the expertise? Who else has any experience with life and death, or the afterlife in general‽ Who else could do all this‽” he gestured around to a million bits worth of lab equipment and scientific knowledge.
“I… I... “ Dayspring found himself in another odd state, he found himself at a loss for words.
“I think it’s time you sent that message. Tell Twilight we found her secret study and we want to speak to her.”
“I… I don’t think that’s grandma,” Nightshade said as she pointed at a figure at the end of the room.
Dayspring and Radiant’s head snapped in the direction Nightshade gestured. Four eyes immediately fell upon a tall unicorn mare with dark-blue coat and purple mane. They watched as she strolled out into the room and went straight to a workstation to check on something or another. Levitating behind her came several notepads, a quiver, a half eaten apple, and a tall glass of half drunk liquid.
“I don’t think she knows we’re here,” Radiant said in a whisper. His mood and demeanor changed to one of tactical prowess.
“Yes-yes-yes-yes-yes-no, no no no no, why did that happen? That wasn’t supposed to happen. What did I do wrong? No, yes, that… that’s it. Ah ha! I just need to adjust for the energy flow!”
“Who’s she talking to?” Nightshade in a low tone asked as the mare’s voice carried the hundred feet between them.
“Please, be quiet, just for now,” Dayspring whispered. “Radiant, do you know who that is?”
Radiant half shook his head. He didn’t, not truly, but that didn’t stop her from seeming very familiar to him. “I… I’m not sure.”
Dayspring just nodded. “She seems familiar to me too.”
“I’ve never seen her,” Nightshade replied.
“Oh, it’s the subversion ratio!” The mare exclaimed as she started to dart down the hut and to a blackboard on the other side of the room. Radiant and Dayspring prepped themselves for her path took her within ten feet of them. But if the mare noticed she gave no sign of them, the mare completely ignored them and rushed to another blackboard, she quickly started to erase several numbers there and scribbled the changes she was making to her equation.
“Yes, yes-yes-yes-yes! I can’t wait to try again tonight! The derivative qualifier is exactly what I was missing!”
Radiant turned to Dayspring and asked, “Did you get any of that?”
Dayspring shook his head no, “What she’s saying makes no sense, unless…”
“Unless what?”
“She’s working on three completely different equations at once.”
“Oh the quantum coefficient! I can augment the negative integers to better align the energy bindings! Yes, yes, yes this will work! Or will it? Why am I doing this again? This is wrong, I should stop… no, this will work, yes! The energy exponent, I can change that too!”
As the group watched her run to a completely different blackboard Dayspring added, “Make that four… five different equations.”
“Is she insane?” Radiant asked with wide eyes.
“I think that goes without saying. Still think Twilight is responsible?”
“She could be working for her.”
Dayspring glared at Radiant.
“What? To be honest she’s not acting that different to any of you when you get in a zone. Not to me anyway.”
“We… we should say hi,” Nightshade cut in.
Both stallions looked at her. They saw that she was afraid, scared, and yet… yet they could see a part of her truly did want to reach out to this mare, to show her that small act of kindness.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Radiant said as he eyed the mystery mare running across the room again.
“I… I think you should,” Dayspring said, his tone conveying the uncertainty of his thoughts.
“What? How could you possibly think that?” Radiant asked, eyeing his friend.
“Well… think about it like this, if you were so engrossed in your work that you didn’t even notice another nearby, how would you react if two grizzled old war veterans like us snapped you out of it?”
“I’m not comfortable putting her at risk like this.”
“I’d tend to agree, if not for two things.”
“There you go again playing your games. Just say it, don’t make me ask.”
“She’s got power, that much is obvious. The level of risk to Nightshade is great if we trigger the her ‘fight’ response of her fight and flight instinct. I’d argue it’s the greatest risk right now.”
“And the second?”
“Nightshade’s already over there,” Dayspring replied as he gestured across the room to the mare.
Radiant turned just in time to see Nightshade lightly poke the mare’s side with her hoof. “Excuse me, my name is Nightshade, what’s yours?”
The strange mare had just finished taking a bite of her apple as she felt the hoof poked her side. She paused, her drink, notes, and glass falling from her magic. Dayspring and Radiant tensed up ready to jump in a second as she slowly turned to the filly at her side.
Nightshade stared into deep red eyes as the mare looked at her, almost as if she was looking through her. “I… you’re… you’re not supposed to be here… Are you… are you real?”
Nightshade put on her best smile as she fought back her fear. “I’m real. You look lonely though. Are you here by yourself? Would you like to be friends?”
“Friends? I… no, no-no-no-no, no… I mean yes I’d love to be friends, but no, no this isn’t right, it isn’t ready. You shouldn’t be here, I should… I should go, I need to plan, to make notes. It’s not right, it’s not ready. I need time. I need… I’m failing, I should stop, I should go back, I need to… no, no I got it. I’m so close. I gotta… I gotta… I have to use the restroom. Excuse me.” At that the mare turned and galloped past Nightshade, Dayspring, and Radiant. As she ran past Dayspring and Radiant both heard her say, “Hi Dayspring, hi Radiant.”
The stallion’s jaws practically fell open. Dayspring at his name being called out. Radiant at what he saw. His mind didn’t recognize it the first time she went past him, but this second look left him no doubt.
“Ana, wait!” Radiant could never forget her hairbrush cutie mark, regardless of whatever other changes she went through.
She stopped before opening the door to the back room and simply froze.
“Ana?” Radiant asked in disbelief. “It… it is you, isn’t it?”
The mare tilted her head to look at them, a sad, lost expression on her face as she said, “Hi,” and then immediately disappeared through the door. Her absence left the room as silent as the grave.
It was Nightshade that broke it, “Was that… was that really Ana?”
“Yes,” Dayspring said. “She’s… she’s the one responsible for all this?”
“It would seem that way,” Radiant replied.
“Told you it wasn’t mom.”
Radiant went to argue, but conceded the point. There was no way Twilight would ever keep Ana secret from the rest of them, not with how long she’s been absent, or how much Ataxia would lose her shit if she ever found out.
Ataxia had, without a doubt, had been getting better over the years. Some might dare say that she’d matured with age. But Ataxia was still Ataxia, and woe be to he who forgot that little tidbit.
“We should go after her!” Nightshade yelled as she flew past the two and followed Ana into the next room.
“Wait!” Dayspring yelled, her sudden movement breaking his concentration on his message spell.
“Ahhhh!”
“No time!” Radiant shouted upon hearing Nightshade’s scream. The white unicorn galloped after Nightshade.
Dayspring huffed and followed. Only to miss running directly into Radiant’s flank by a millimeter. “Radiant, what the… what?” he stammered as his gaze took in the room they had just entered.
The room was just as large as the one they’d left, something only achievable by magic. However the size wasn’t what took Dayspring’s breath away, rather it was what was in the room. Jars upon jars, containers upon containers, and vats upon vats lined the center of the room and the edges. Each one contained biological matter floating suspended in amniotic fluid.
As Dayspring took in the scene, it reminded him of several books he’d both read and co-wrote with other authors. What was directly in front of him was a real timeline of the growth of cells. The first few containers contained two to three cells each, each container magically magnified to show their contents. He followed the progression of the containers, seeing cell Mitosis, division, and growth layed out in real time.
Skipping ahead he took in fetal remains at different stages of growth. There were at least a hundred such containers, each one seeming to capture forever a different stage of growth for each day a fetus would mature in a living body. As the remains got bigger, so did the container.
“What… what is this?” Nightshade asked, terrified.
“Dayspring?” Radiant chimed in as he held Nightshade back, protectively, and awaited his friend’s input.
Dayspring didn’t reply. He moved past them and down the room. Seeing the remains mature in real time. It was as if someone captured a time-lapsed remains of a single pony—as there was no longer any doubt as to what the remains were—throughout its entire maturation. Every container, every vat contained the remains of a pony at each day of its life, starting at conception.
It didn’t stop either. He watched as it moved past birth to foal hood. The pony was a female pegasus, that much he could see. The vats started to jump ahead after they pony in question would have turned three. Going from one a day to one a week, then once a month.
He paused dead when he got to the age where the pony achieved her cutie mark. “Radiant, you… you should see this.”
“Do I want to?” Radiant asked.
“No, but you should see this anyway.”
“Well, at least you’re honest,” Radiant replied and then gasped as he closed the distance and stared at what Dayspring saw. He had avoided the more… matured vats, them being in the back and behind all of the maturation ones Radiant had failed to notice them, or chose not to notice them, but now there could be no doubt. “I’ll kill her.”
“Radiant…”
Twenty blades materialized around Radiant, causing Nightshade to “Eeep” in fright on his back. “She’s dead, she’s bucking dead…”
The pony in question, the one who’s maturation was captured in painstaking detail in each of these vats, was, without a doubt, Firestar. The tain pegasus mare in front of them with the comet cutie-mark could be no other.
Ana had done this. Somehow, someway, she’d captured Firestar’s entire life, a day at a time, from conception in physical form for study and Luna knew what else.
“If you start breaking this all you’re going to do is create a mess,” Dayspring said.
Radiant’s form was the textbook definition of angry in Dayspring’s eyes. In truth he’d seen fighting cats that looked more approachable than Radiant at that moment. But the truth of his words, somehow, managed to reach him. One by one the swords faded into nothing as Radiant claimed himself.
For her part Nightshade lept from Radiant to Dayspring’s back. The mare was scared, but she was trying her absolute best not to get in her uncles’ way.
“Come, we need to find the point of all this.”
“I’m going to hurt her,” Radiant said, stewing.
Better than kill I suppose, Dayspring thought as the three wandered down the next line of vats. They followed Firestar’s growth through the years. Seeing her go from her pre-teens, to her twenties, thiritys, forties, fifties, sixties, fifties, and then forties.
As they reached the end of the vats, something only achievable by skipping several hundred rows, Dayspring appeared to be flabbergasted. “I… I don’t understand.”
“What?” Radiant asked. For his part he’d kept his head firmly looking at the floor, not wanting to look at whatever was going on, whatever expermanation was being done to his wife in fear he might just snap and start destroying everything.
“This last one… she’s forty again?”
“This is all bat-shit crazy, what’s that matter?”
“You don’t see the parallel do you? Think for a second, with what happened to you.”
“Huh?”
Dayspring huffed and started running back. “Look here, in these she’s a mare in her seventies, and then it starts to go backwards. Everything up to this point, everything that had been captured moved forward. This time we’re moving backwards in time. She’s getting younger.”
“What’s that matter?”
“You got younger. You moved from your seventies to your forties too.”
“Wait, you’re saying that this crazy is connected to me?” Radiant asked in disbelief.
“It’s not crazy, this is… well, it’s crazy, but it’s crazy in a genius sort of way.”
“Dayspring, choose your next words very carefully. I am not in the mood.”
Before he could reply, all three of them heard a voice coming down the vats. “Come, come, come, come, time for the next attempt, yes yes. I hope it works this time, it should work this time, I don’t know if it will work this time. It might, it should, yes yes yes… Wait… what was I doing again? Why… I don’t… I can’t… yes yes.”
“There she is,” Radiant all but growled as he pushed past Dayspring and made towards Ana.
“You hurt her and you know what Ataxia will do,” Dayspring said as he followed.
“I’ll deal with that later,” Radiant said.
“You’d risk the Crystal Empire like that?”
Radiant paused.
Dayspring released a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding. “It’s one thing to risk it all if someone is at risk, but that’s not the case here. I know this is a grave insult but it’s not worth it.”
“Worth it? Worth what?” Nightshade asked.
“I’m sorry little one, I cannot explain right now. We don’t have the time. Please keep quiet for the time being, I pinkie promise you that I’ll explain everything later.”
Nightshade nodded her head and hugged Dayspring’s frame a little tighter at that. The extra weight and force did wonders to ground Dayspring’s thoughts. “Can you be calm?”
Radiant shook his head. “No, but I can let you do the talking,” he managed.
“That’s about all I can ask,” Dayspring said as he took the lead and moved to find Ana again. Nightshade nestled into his back as Radiant brought up the rear.
When they rounded the corner Dayspring went to call out but stopped himself. The sight before them caused even his prodigious mind to blank. There were literally not the words to rationalize it.
Ana walked up to a steel door and, with a flick of her magic, raised it from closed to open. “Okay Firestar, come on out,” she said in a sing-song voice.
Directly behind the door, a tan pegasus took a step, and then another, as she walked out of the room behind the door. The blue of her eyes a stark contrast to the rest of the room.
Dayspring expected that to be the end, he expected, in spite of his warnings of future grave consequences, Radiant Star to snap and charge forward in an attempt to murder Ana. However, as the seconds past, that didn’t happen. Dayspring looked back at Radiant, expecting him to be angry, instead he saw a look of disgust on his old friend’s face.
“That’s not Firestar,” Radiant mumbled.
Dayspring looked back at Ana and this pony she was leading out. The mare looked like firestar, in her forties if he had to take a rough guess, but…
He saw it then. The mare had no life of her own. She walked, she breathed, but other than the involuntary actions, she took no voluntary actions, not on her own. Ana led her out of the room, Ana lead her across the way and to an examination table, Ana helped her sit down as she took samples for testing.
It was a walking, breathing version of Firestar. But that was it. There was no life there, only a puppet to command.
In many ways it reminded Dayspring of Ataxia’s sex puppet, Shimmering Cunt, who she’d affectionately nicknamed SC. Although unlike SC, Dayspring suspected that this Firestar clone wouldn’t simply disappear after a few hours.
“It’s time we get to the bottom of this,” Radiant said as he walked forward.
“I agree,” Dayspring replied as he followed.
“Ana!” Radiant shouted.
The mare at the microscope examining the latest samples she took from Firestar jumped out of her seat in total surprise at hearing her name called. Ana’s eyes shot up at the pair, her expression of bewilderment the exact same as it was when she’d first saw Nightshade in the other room.
She’s… she’s already forgotten that she just saw us. Dayspring thought.
“Ana, it’s time for you to explain yourself! What are you doing and why‽” Radiant shouted. His mind not putting together the pieces.
“I… no, no-no-no-no, no… I mean, but no, no this isn’t right, it isn’t ready. You shouldn’t be here, I should… I should go, I need to plan, to make notes. It’s not right, it’s not ready. I need time. I need… I’m failing, I should stop, I should go back, I need to… no, no I got it. I’m so close. I gotta… I gotta… Why are you here? How did you find me? Oh no, no, no-no-no-no-no…” Ana stammered as her eyes darted to and fro, looking for a place to run.
“No more running!” Radiant shouted as he conjured blades in each of her possible escape paths.
“Oh no,” Dayspring said as he watched Ana’s instincts move from ‘flight’ to ‘fight’. The mare’s horn glowed with a bright hue as she shot out a blast at Radiant.
Radiant placed two of his blades directly in front of him in a criss-cross formation to cut the magic in pieces before it reached him, Dayspring conjured three shields to protect his friend, and still the magic shot that Ana released broke through every defence they mustered and shot Radiant back ten yards.
“Radiant!” Dayspring yelled.
“Another?” Ana said as she went to attack Dayspring.
“No, please, don’t hurt them anymore.”
Ana turned her head in total surprise as Firestar spoke. The mare had, all on her own, turned her head and pleaded with Ana, a tear falling from her eyes.
“I… how… what… me… you… speak… it worked? How…”
As Dayspring ran to check up on his friend Nightshade jumped off his back and started to approach Ana and the Firstar clone. “That’s… that’s just how she sounded the other day.”
“The… other… day?” Ana asked as she turned to Nightshade.
“She came to me, when I was sleeping, she told me Radiant was sad—”
“Are you okay?” Dayspring asked as he reached Radiant.
“Yeah, cheap shot is all. I underestimated her and she took me by surprise. It won’t happen…” he paused as he overheard the conversation between Ana and Nightshade.
“Yeah, she came to me, did you send her? If you did, I just wanted to say thank you.”
“Thank… me?”
“Yes, she was really nice. And uncle Radiant loved her very much. Thank you for letting me meet her, and for letting Radiant spend more time with her.”
“I… I ummm…”
“It was your doing, wasn’t it?” Dayspring asked.
“I… I was just trying to… trying to… trying to… I…”
“You were trying to bring her back?” Dayspring asked as his mind connected several dots.
Ana just nodded her head in agreement.
“That’s… that’s...” Radiant found himself as lost for words as Ana was.
“Ana, that’s a wonderful kind thing you were trying to do,” Dayspring said, hoping to capitalize on the opening Nightshade had given them. “Thank you for that.”
“I was… I was… I was so mean, I wanted to do something so evil, I… I had to… I had to make it up to you. To all of you…”
“How are you able to do this, all of this?” Dayspring asked as he gestured around the room.
“Nightmare Moon. She awoke… she awoke… she awoke…”
“A power inside of you?” Radiant asked.
Ana just nodded in agreement.
“Why are you having trouble speaking?” Nightshade asked.
“You haven’t spoken to anyone in over a decade, have you?” Dayspring asked.
Again, Ana nodded.
“You’ve been all alone?” Nightshade said with tears in her eyes. “That’s horrible, no one should be alone,” the filly then flew over and hugged Ana for all her worth.
Ana started crying as she was hugged by Nightshade.
“Dayspring, what’s going on?” Radiant asked, he knew his friend long enough to recognize the sense of wonder on his face. It was the same look he got right before finishing a new spell or a new formula.
“I’ve long thought… no, I’ve long suspected that our family was special, but this… this is insane.”
“You can say that again,” Radiant added.
“No, you don’t understand. Not insane-insane, insanely powerful. We have the bloodline of gods in us, Radiant. Shimming Night is a literal Demigoddess, Twilight an incarnation.”
“You’re rambling,” Radiant said, not liking where this was going.
Dayspring found himself struggling to find the right words. “No, you don’t… ugh… okay let me put it this way, Shimming Night is the Demigoddess of Magic, right? She can command magic to do her bidding.”
Radiant nodded.
“But it’s hard, she has to know exactly what she wants magic to do, how things work if she wants magic to obey her wishes. She can’t just snap her hooves and create a clock, she has to know how the clock works, how its components are placed, what they’re made of.”
“Okay…”
“Think about what we’ve seen here. The study, the formulas, the tanks, and vats. She’s spent the last decade learning just that. Also consider what Firestar told you in your dreams.”
“I’m trying not to.”
“No, you… ugh…”
“Dayspring get to the point.”
“Ana is the Demigoddess of Life.”
“What‽”
“That’s what this is. Whatever Nightmare Moon awoke in her, it’s her power, her divine magic. She’s been spending the last decade learning how life works, how to create life, and… I think… how to return life,” the wonder in Dayspring’s voice sent shivers down Radiant’s spine.
Radiant turned from Dayspring to Ana, the mare was in a full on crying fit being held by a little filly who she had almost done unspeakable things to before she was even born. “You… you cannot be… you’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Ana… she might be the key to conquering death itself.”
“Do you know how crazy that is?” Radiant asked.
“Do you understand the possibility here? The implications? This is phenomenal!”
“What the hell are you talking about? It’s not like it even works!”
“But it is working,” Dayspring said, unsure exactly why Radiant couldn’t grasp what was happening. “Look for yourself!”
“That’s just a clone body!”
“Because her soul is going to you,” Dayspring replied. “You told me yourself, she’s being split. Most likely because that connection Eros told her about. Ana’s trying to restore her soul to that clone and her connection to you is causing it to be diverted. That’s probably why you were de-aged too. When Ana restores Firestar’s body to the age of forty it’s having the side effect of affecting yours too.”
“I… I… I cannot believe…. I…”
“Think about it, seriously, think.”
“Why do I feel like I’m the only one who is!”
“No, you… ugh…”
“Dayspring, consider what you’re saying.”
“No, you should! You could have her back, Radiant. If we stay and help I’m sure we could finish the process, we could restore her soul to her clone. You could have her back. And then… then we could refine the process. Whenever anyone dies we could bring them back! We could bring back everyone! Celestia, Icarus, Siros, Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, everyone who’s ever died!”
“I…”
Dayspring capitalized on the small opening he had made. “You could have her back. Her, Cadance, Shining Armor?”
There was a long pregnant pause as Radiant considered this development. Considered the fact they’d have to use a rather insane and insanely powerful mare to forever shatter the natural order.
“If I say no?”
“Why would you?”
“If I say no?”
Dayspring sighed. “If you say no, I’ll summon Twilight, we can destroy this place and take Ana home.”
“And if I say yes?”
“Then we’ll stay and finish this. Show mom and the rest what can be done. We’ll restore Firestar to life. You can go home with her again.”
“I…”
“Consider this, this might be the one chance we ever have! Don’t make this decision lightly. You want to be with her again, right?”
Radiant thought about it for a good ten minutes. He considered the options very carefully. The choice was his, Dayspring, that rat-bastard had maneuvered him into this situation. Whatever they did, it would be his decision. His mind fought with his heart. There was logic in what Dayspring said. The unicorn had a way with words, with knowing exactly what would tempt you into doing exactly what he wanted.
His eyes darted up to the Firestar clone. His heart almost skipped a beat in seeing her again, just like she had been, even if it was the equivalent of simply seeing a 3D painting of her. Could I really get her back? Is that…
He fought down that emotion. Whatever decision he made, he had to think, not to simply act. The cost, there’s always a cost.
He, without a doubt, wanted to say yes. But the way Dayspring was manivouring him into saying yes also bothered him.
While Radiant thought about it, and Dayspring pleaded with his friend to make the decision he wanted him to make, Ana and Nightshade held each other, Ana letting out ten years worth of grief and anxiety upon the little filly.
“Did… did… did… did you mean what you said?”
“What about?” Nightshade asked.
“That… that… that… we could be friends?”
“Of course,” Nightshade said with a smile, one that Ana returned.
Radiant watched their exchange, he took in the two starting to play. His eyes then darted to Firestar, to the clone that had, somehow, talked, that had prevented Ana from attacking them again. There’s something of you in there, isn’t there?
“I know what I want to do,” Radiant replied at last, there was no indecision on his face as he said those words.
Dayspring’s face lit up at that.
“I—”