//------------------------------//
// 3 - A Review of Current Affairs 
// Story: The Seed of Hope 
// by Meadow_Dawn 
//------------------------------//

"Ah, I am glad that is over." Dusk said, sighing as she flopped onto the small couch and smiled at her mother as she entered
 
"I feel the same." Celestia smiled, moving to the couch meant for her own size to relax comfortably, scaled up from a regular pony furniture’s dimensions. "How is Luminosia doing?"
 
"Oh you know, hustling and bustling. Lots of people debating ideas, the rivalries between schools and universities… that’s not even counting the ones they have with the universities outside the city."
 
"I'm still so proud of what you’ve done there." Celestia said with a smile, speaking gently like when she wanted to show her approval, "and what about you? How are you? Did you enjoy your tour?"
 
"Oh yes. Zebrica is oh so lovely this time of year, and working alongside the hunting parties as we cull the Zenita Beasts is always so refreshing."
 
"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." Celestia said, "Did you learn any new techniques like you hoped?"
 
"Yes, this time I took only the Poloi knife." She said, smiling. "It’s what we'd call a medium dagger."
 
"Ahh." Celestia said. She was never one for combat, even if she was trained with a spear a long time ago and trained in it only to keep in practice. Even so, she knew her daughter had a love for the physical arts and skills and made no effort to curb what she loved.
 
"Yeah, seems it has been nearly 250 years since someone took down one of the beasts with it, due to their thick hide." She said, smirking. "I got three before one got a hold of my wing. Luckily, Zenidu was there to bail my flanks out and managed to get a makeshift stretcher put together to get back to the village.”
 
"I'm glad you made it back," Celestia said with worry. "I'd hate to think what I’d do if I lost my little sunset."
 
"Oh Mother, come now. It’s me." She said chuckling.
 
"And what did I teach you about overconfidence?"
 
"Yes I know, but I had three other experienced hunters with me, plus our natural healing factored in." She said.
 
Celestia stayed quiet. It was always difficult for her to let her daughter go into danger. She couldn't help but want to do all she could to protect them, yet knew all she could do was encourage their development and prepare them for whatever path they chose.
 
"And she had me." a cheerful voice chimed in, the little voice of a foalhood friend that now lived with Dusk Star, their fates tied together since that fateful day. They gave the appearance of walking in around the corner, their light blue-furred form being half transparent like a ghost as she walked up to Dusk.
 
"That too. You know Starry would never let anything happen to me."
 
"You gave me a bucking run for my bits though." Starry laughed, "I was almost running out of magic stamina by that point!"
 
"Hey, I knew you could handle it." She said.
 
"I can't grow stronger with you if we don’t push every now and then." Starry nodded, laying next to Dusk happily.
 
"Exactly, plus this impressed the village and I am sure it will reach the Ceasar about my prowess with such a weapon. No one ever killed more than two with it, and that was nearly a thousand years ago." She said, smirking.
 
"And it will greatly strengthen our ties with them." Celestia acknowledged. "Hard to call us soft after that."
 
Dusk smirked at her mother in response, as if she could possibly be anything but soft.
 
Celestia smiled at them, "I am very proud of you, even if I do worry like all mothers do."
 
Dusk’s smirk turned into a smile at that news. Celestia resisted the urge to get up and hug her daughter, nearly smothering them like she used to every time in their first few decades.
 
"So what about you, mother? What has been happening while I was away?"
 
"Other than the newcomer, it’s been relatively quiet. Haven’t had issues from the griffon kingdoms in a while either."
 
"Aww darn. Here I was hoping for a reason to bring the ruckus." Dusk said, but smiled to make it clear she was joking… mostly.
 
"I think we'll probably be seeing more ruckus soon enough." Celestia chuckled.
 
"Oh?"
 
"Nothing concrete, just a feeling."
 
"Hmm… let’s hope it’s just a feeling."
 
"Agreed." Celestia nodded.
 
"So, what all have you been up to then if it’s been so quiet?"
 
"Not much, the nobles are still vying among each other for position and power, the council is keeping them in check, thankfully."
 
Dusk nodded. "Anything personal?"
 
"My attempts to cook anything other than sweets are still as successful as ever." She blushed faintly.
 
"Yeah… have to admit, that is honestly very strange. But then again, I never thought anyone could burn shredded wheat either…"
 
"It... it was just that one time!" she protested.
 
"And one wall… the countertop… a bowl… the cutting board…" Dusk listed off with an amused voice.
 
"Enough, enough! You made your point." Celestia said, her voice in mock-indignation.
 
Dusk laughed. Celestia pouted, then laughed with her daughter, unable to fake it much longer.
 
"So,” Dusk said as the laughter faded, “What do you really make of these two?"
 
"I think there must be a reason for their presence here in Equestria, we just don't know what yet." Celestia said, "I don't expect to find anything of harmful intent from what we’ve found so far, but you've caught a few plots by being cautious, so we will continue to use the methods you have set for our nation, just in case."
 
She nodded. "Honestly, I tentatively have to agree. If it was just one of them, I’d not think anything of it. But two of them in such a short amount of time? Something is in motion."
 
"And neither of them being able to return?" Celestia chuckled. "No, I don't see how Luna says it is just coincidence, except perhaps..."
 
She got a look on her face, the one she often had shown when she had regretted sealing her sister away. Hundreds of scenarios played out in her head over the millennia they had been gone, and despite her settling the issue for a long time, old wounds reopened at Luna's return less than a few years ago.
 
Dusk’s face grew serious as she recognized that face. She silently got up and walked over to her mother’s couch, climbing in to embrace them and give her support. Celestia seemed to snap out of the look at being touched and pulled Dusk close with a leg and a wing.
 
"Thank you… I know I am being silly about this.” She said quietly.
 
"You never are… I don’t even know what it’s like to have to do something like that.” Dusk said, her throat feeling constricted as she said, “I don’t know what I’d do if I ever had to do that to you…"
 
"I hope you never have to." She said softly. "So… back to the two 'guests.' Anything about them that interests you that we haven't discussed yet?"
 
"Besides one of them undoing my lock without any training?" Dusk asked with a raised brow.
 
"Why do you think we have the guard to watch her?" Celestia smirked.
 
"True.” Dusk said, settling into her mother’s side, “I am somewhat worried that she could be a master thief playing dumb."
 
"Always possible… We will find out." Celestia said.
 
"Yes… What of the other one?"
 
"He is much harder to figure out." She said more seriously, "He seems genuine like her, and was less trusting of us, though Keepers often are out of survival needs…"
 
"Yeah, an unexpected side effect of their duties."
 
"If anything, I'd trust him more at the moment, but we'll keep an eye on both of them. Perhaps we can get Stalwart to explore Dawn's ready acceptance tactfully."
 
"I’m just concerned he might do a different sort of exploring." She hinted.
 
"What is it you fear from him then?" Celestia asked, always eager to consider what her daughter thought, though having a good guess at what it was.
 
"I know how guards can be, and Dawn is an attractive mare who, if she is telling the truth, is lost and alone," Dusk said. "There is temptation."
 
"Many a guard would simply wish to help her out, though I can see those inclined wishing to woo her as well. We know ponies who are thrust into a new situation can be broken into liking whoever ‘rescues’ them into stability once again." Celestia sighed, "Sadly there aren't much better options. I could also assign a unicorn mare to her, but we then run into the issue regarding the observation skills needed in this situation."
 
"What do you mean?"
 
"Like we mentioned in the discussion room, no other pony on the guard route noticed her."
 
"Did you ask if Dawn saw any guards?” Dusk asked. “I still have yet to interview her about that."
 
"Fair point." She paused, considering and remembering her answer prior.
 
"It’s why I want to speak to her and see if there are holes in the patrol routes."
 
"Then if you feel you must, you have my permission." Celestia nodded.
 
Dusk nodded back. "I’ll most likely do it after we finish talking.”
 
"All right. If you feel Stalwart isn't up to the task, you have my permission to reassign him." Celestia said, then frowned at herself, "I suppose I was too hasty in assigning him in that event. I was so certain he’d be the right pick though…"
 
"We will see."
 
"Yes, we will."
 
Dusk nuzzled her mother’s neck, and felt Celestia hug them close, wing stretching over them fully in a blanket of comfort she knew quite well. "So how has Twilight been?"
 
"She has been well, she's taken to being a princess as well as expected." Celestia said, "I knew she was destined for something special, though I hadn’t expected the number of times she saved Equestria with her friends."
 
"Oh? Really mother? You not having a plan for it?" Dusk asked with a raised brow.
 
"I may have given her nudges every now and then. You two can be quite similar in some ways."
 
"What. How am I in any way similar to her? We have nothing in common."
 
"You're both perfectionists, and fear a lot from failure," Celestia answered, "just as two examples."
 
"I don’t fear failure." Dusk protested, sounding almost offended at the idea, but also tired, as if they had this argument far too often.
 
Celestia let it go. She was positive they did, just by how they reacted to the mere idea of it.
 
"Anyways what of the other elements? Anything of note?"
 
"No, they’re all enjoying their daily lives now that things seem to be settling down."
 
"Ah, I see… so nothing of note happened while I was away?"
 
"Nothing beyond her visiting her friends on the other side of that school mirror." Celestia said.
 
"School… mirror?" She asked
 
"That place she visited about a year ago, she went back again to check on her friends there."
 
"Wait, what?! I told her not to do that, that it was a bad idea, and just asking for trouble!"
 
"She still wanted to go and sent her report. Nothing bad happened from her visiting, though the sirens we banished there apparently caused some trouble before she arrived."
 
"Sirens… Wait, we banished them there!? How is that not trouble?!" Dusk protested.
 
"Well, there was no magic native to that world. They had a tiny bit of latent magic that stuck with them and they were able to gradually regain power despite our best efforts. Apparently, they transferred to Sunset Shimmer’s school, tried to stir up trouble by taking the school over, only to be thwarted by Shimmer and the rest of Twilight’s counterparts. It was all settled without any need for action on our part." Celestia said with a grin.
 
"The Exile? Last I heard she was on the wrong side… Hm. Guess Twilight’s assessment wasn’t wrong."
 
"Yes, from what Twilight tells me, she has grown into a good pony while over there since her defeat." Celestia smiled.
 
"I’m surprised..." Dusk blinked.
 
"I'm surprised as well. She’s become humble and has been helping atone for her mistakes while over there. We may need a trial to reconsider her return if this continues." Celestia noted.
 
"That…” Dusk blinked again at what her mother was proposing. “Has an Exile ever been allowed to return?"
 
"No, but no exile has had a change of heart with demonstrable results."
 
Dusk thought about that, seeing her point. "Do we even have laws for this?"
 
"No." Celestia admitted.
 
"Huh. Well, this got complicated."
 
"You're telling me." Celestia sighed. "She was brilliant in her own way, but too ambitious. I'd almost have selected her to look after Dawn if that event didn’t happen… But still, there's no point in wishing for what we cannot have."
 
"I know." Dusk agreed, hugging her mother again in support. Her mother never liked not giving a second chance to those who sought it. She suspected it was Celestia’s way of atoning for her own sin against her sister.
 
Celestia hugged her daughter, happy she could spend another moment like this with them and Dusk nuzzled back, always happy to visit her mother and comfort them.
 
Celestia waited a while, then said, "As much as I hate for us to part and I always love holding my little foal, I believe you have a guest you wanted to visit."
 
"Yes… I suppose I should." She said with a sigh. "See you later mother."
 
Dusk nuzzled Celestia affectionately and headed for the door. As soon as the door opened, it was as if a switch was flipped. Her chipper demeanor was replaced by one of impassive stoicism.
 
"You're still welcome to spend the night in my room if you wish." Celestia reminded her as she walked away.
 
The castle's corridors were second nature after having spent a few decades in them, and the guards informed her where the two guests were being kept when she asked. Dusk could probably navigate them with her eyes closed if she wanted to, but she made her way to her target’s room and knocked.

-----

Dawn was walked to her room, separating fairly quickly from Nightfall, much to her disappointment. She was curious about the other guest from another world, to see if it was at all like her own, or maybe even her own, but she didn’t want to cause any trouble by stepping out of line.
 
She didn’t realize she had fallen asleep on the bed when there was a knock and the door opened.
 
“Hello? Meadow?” a warm voice called.
 
Dawn grunted a reply and started to get up from the bed, “Sorry, didn’t realize I fell asleep.”
 
“Hey, it’s no problem. Someone said a guard was needed to run some food for a guest, figured I could do it.” The pony said. His white fur was standard fare for the guards, but he had no helmet on and his two-toned blue mane with purple accent laid behind his head. “You look familiar.”
 
“Oh, thanks for the food, but I don’t know how I’d be familiar. I only just got here yesterday.” Dawn said, blinking away her sleep and rubbing her eyes with a hoof.
 
“Oh, that’s where!” he said, making a kind of snapping-clopping sound as his hoof hit the floor. “I thought I saw you then during a patrol. What brought you to Canterlot?”
 
“Pure accident really.” Dawn said, remembering the warning she had been given by the princesses before. “Bought a relic from a garage sale without realizing what it was, and suddenly landed in a side room here in the castle. It’s sorta the reason why I’m still being watched by the guards out there, or at least, I think they’re still out there. They’re probably worried it’s a dangerous security breach.”
 
“Heh, yeah, they’re still out there.” He confirmed, mildly entertained at how truthful they were while still hiding they were from another world. “I’m Staff Sergeant Stalwart Shield. What’s your name?”
 
“Meadow Dawn.” Dawn said after a slight pause to remember it, “I think I’ll prefer to be called Dawn.”
 
“You think?” He asked, intrigued.
 
“Went through a name change recently. Still settling into the new name.” Dawn said, trying to dodge where the conversation was going.
 
“Ahh.” He hummed, giving her a nod. “It’s my day off today, and I don’t have a whole lot going on right now. Would you like some company while you’re waiting on the princesses to let you go?”
 
“Definitely. The few books that are in here aren’t my preference and I feel like I’m going insane from boredom.” Dawn said sarcastically.
 
“So you didn’t find the board game in the desk?” He asked, pulling out a drawer and showing a chess set. “Then again, I guess it would be hard to play by yourself. Are you familiar with chess?”
 
“I haven’t played in a while, but won’t it be hard to move pieces around with hooves?” Dawn asked, intrigued.
 
Stalwart chuckled and proceeded to lift the box out with a single hoof, “I don’t see why not.”
 
Dawn hummed, watching with interest and then chuckled to cover for her misunderstanding, “I’ve been a bit of a klutz, but hopefully we can get through a game if you like. I’m up for regular conversation too.”
 
“That sounds like a good idea.” Stalwart smiled.
 
Dawn smiled and moved over on the bed, letting them set everything up on a nightstand sitting by it.
 
“So, bought a magic relic huh?” Stalwart asked as he set his pieces, watching Dawn with curiosity.
 
Dawn struggled to hold the pieces properly with her hooves, then felt her horn grow slightly warm and saw the piece grabbed like her hand intended. She moved her hoof and piece like she still had a hand and lowered her pieces into place.
 
“Yeah, someone had a garage sale. Spent some time polishing it up and then poof!” She said with an awkward chuckle.
 
“Ahh, yeah, that’s not what I would expect either.” He chuckled. “Any family or friends you need to notify?”
 
“Well, I probably should let my landlord know, or their office. My apartment is paid up for the next few weeks till next month… oh right. Work is going to think I up and left.”
 
“Maybe you can get a message sent by mail? Strange things happen and I’m sure we can get a seal from the castle proving it.” Stalwart offered.
 
“Hm… not a bad idea. Not sure if they’d believe it, but there are other technical issues preventing that.” Dawn frowned. At best she could throw a letter through the mirror, but that’d just land in the room, and with no one in the room to deliver it, it just wouldn’t matter other than to be consistent with her cover story.
 
“So what kind of work did you do?” Stalwart asked.
 
“I managed people’s insurance policies for their homes and property.” Dawn explained and made her first move. “Focused on the military and their families.”
 
“Oh cool. Did you like it?”
 
“You bet your tail I did.” She said, grinning both at her job and the sudden rather fitting substitute. She had no idea if ‘ass’ would mean their backs or an actual animal and cause offense, but that seemed to get the gist across. “Much better than the average person. Great to work with, great to work for, and a lot less bite back when a policy prevents us from helping them out.”
 
“Is that so?” he smirked. “Hard to picture someone biting back at you unless you bit first.”
 
“To be fair,” Starlight started to say while fading into view from out of sight, “We did have a rather sarcastic streak and a dry sense of humor.”
 
“We?” Stalwart asked, turning to face the newcomer and feigning ignorance, “Excuse me, who are you? I didn’t hear you come in.”
 
“That’s because I was here all along.” Starlight smirked, stepping closer and offering his transparent hoof, “Starlight Dusk, Dawn’s other-self. Nice to meet you.”
 
“I… nice to meet you too.” He said, blinking again and taking the hoof for a brief shake, “What’s an other-self?”
 
“It’s not a term we’re familiar with either, but that’s what I was called.” Starlight said, hopping up onto the bed.
 
“From what I’ve pieced together,” Dawn started to explain as Stalwart made his first move on the board and made her response fairly quickly, “I think it’s something special that only happens to a few people. I wasn’t born a mare. I was a stallion before I came here, and Starlight is like an echo or a shadow or something of what I had been. Not sure why we separated, and I certainly wasn’t two people before, but until I accept him or something, I can’t go back the way I came.”
 
“Hm… that’s rough.” Stalwart said, thinking as he looked over the board and moved his knight. “Most ponies would freak out over that kind of change. Why not you?”
 
“Honestly?” She asked before looking away briefly, “I wasn’t exactly attached to how I was before or what had happened. My past is… there’s a lot of issues. Some were caused by me, others by my family. Adjusting to the way I am now, well, I’ve had dreams where half the time I was on two legs, half on four, sometimes mare, sometimes stallion, sometimes a mare, and was comfortable regardless. I know it’s not quite the same as having it really happen, so I’m still nervous, but better to try and keep moving forward than freak out and want the past, especially if you can’t get it back. Besides, this isn’t so bad, just a bit more permanent than a dream.”
 
“That’s really mature of you.” He nodded, looking at her in a new light. Despite having been a different creature before, a biped according to Celestia, they really didn’t seem to be suffering outwardly, though the ready comment of bipedal dreams didn’t really match their cover story so far. He made a mental note to keep an eye out for lingering mental or behavioral issues specifically, especially since she showed signs of bottling it up. “So, any particular goals now that you’re a mare?”
 
“Not that I’m aware of… Definitely glad I don’t have to worry about taking medications to adjust.” Dawn chuckled, moving a pawn forward to bait him to weaken a part of his formation.
 
“Probably just enjoy the differences, see what good mare or stallion drops by, get-” Starlight started to tease before getting a leg through his head. “What? I’m just horsing around.”
 
“I’m not ready for kids. You know how much that idea scares me.” Dawn said bluntly. “That pun was bad and you should feel bad.”
 
Stalwart chuckled, feeling mildly startled at her sudden punch to the shadowy form, but he had to admit, he liked the pair. This was going to be a very interesting assignment. The mention of medications was going to be something he’d have to dig for later. If she was playing master thief playing dumb, getting ‘distracted’ to change the subject was a skillful move. Still, she should have said foals, not ‘kids.’ She wasn’t a goat.
 
They played for a little longer before a knock came to the door.
 
"Huh? Come in!" Dawn called, unsure who to expect.
 
The door opened and Dusk stood in the doorway, observing Dawn on the bed, half laying down, and Stalwart sitting across from the nightstand with the chessboard looking almost evenly matched.
 
"Oh! Princess!" Stalwart said with surprise, shuffling to get up.
 
Dusk entered. "Hello Sergeant. Would you mind leaving us?"
 
"Yes, of course." Stalwart said with a bow.
 
Dawn swallowed nervously and watched as her prospective new friend started to leave the room and the door closed behind him.
 
"Now then, I want you to tell me your exact route." Dusk said as she approached.
 
"My… route?" Dawn asked, blinking in transparent confusion.
 
"From the mirror till you were found by Mother."
 
"Oh! I think I can still show you if you can show me where I started." She offered willingly.
 
"Hm. Very well." Dusk accepted, turning to the door and walking back to it without another word. “Staff Sergeant, standby here until we return.”
 
“Yes, Princess.” He saluted and then took up a post by the door with the other guard still there.
 
Dawn blinked at their behavior, chalking it up to how royalty acts in front of others, and shuffled off the bed. She clumsily caught herself and then tried to push to catch up in the hallways, then eventually stopped where Dusk did.
 
"So do you need just the route I took when I arrived?" Dawn confirmed.
 
"Yes. The exact one." Dusk nodded, watching impassively.
 
"I’ll give it as well as I can remember…" Dawn said.
 
She explained what she did, strongly suspecting they were looking for more than just the route, and decided adding other details would only help her case if they were suspecting her of anything more. She retraced her steps, commenting quietly about what she was thinking as she walked by the first time.
 
 She paused at a point before the crossways and explained that she could hear a guard coming and had slowed her pace. She explained how she worried about interrupting if they were doing something important and simply walked on more slowly till he passed. She continued until the second guard encounter, where she expressed similar worries about interruption but a growing urge to ask for directions rather than being thought of as an intruder.
 
Dusk stayed silent throughout, noting multiple points where today, like yesterday, there were several guards at certain hallway ends or posts and were in plain view of those posts.
 
Eventually, Dawn stopped by the stained glass windows and finished recounting her meeting up to when Celestia spoke up. She could feel Dusk evaluating her, despite nothing changing about the expression as best she could tell. She shuffled timidly in place, hoping she did the right thing.
 
"Okay, how many guards did you see exactly?" She asked
 
"I saw the two, maybe heard two others?"
 
"Hm.” Dusk paused, thinking for a few seconds, then nodded, “Okay. Thank you."
 
Dusk said nothing more, beginning to walk toward the halls and leading the way back to Dawn’s room. Dawn frowned, and understood the unspoken order to follow, doing so to avoid trouble.
 
Dusk said nothing and didn’t even look behind her. She acted like she knew Dawn would follow, and ponies like her always did. Upon reaching their room, she addressed Stalwart. "Apologies for interrupting you, Sergeant. You may resume your guidance." She said to Stalwart before beginning to leave.
 
Dawn blinked at their leaving without another word, looking between Dusk and Stalwart with confusion.
 
“What was that about?” Dawn asked quietly when they were out of earshot, hoping not to offend.
 
“It’s how Princess Dusk is. Really stiff and stuff to outsiders, but rumor has it she can laugh and relax when around her mother.” Stalwart explained. “Come on, we’ve got a game to finish.”
 
“Sounds good to me.” Dawn smiled slightly as she began to relax again, leading the way to the room.
 
‘This mare really needs to learn how to use her tail for a bit of modesty or so help me resisting her is going to be much harder!’ Stalwart thought as he followed and closed the door behind them.
 
==========
 
Celestia was still in her study, looking over some reports when there was a knock on her door.
 
"Come." Celestia said, setting the reports down.
 
The door opened and revealed Dusk, who entered and closed the door behind her. "Well, finished my interview with the guest."
 
"Oh? How'd that go?"
 
"She saw only two guards on her entire route from a short distance and thinks she may have heard one or two." Dusk reported.
 
"Interesting… I had about five walking in those corridors alone, not counting the guards stationed at specific points that should have seen her walk by… And yet only the one reported her though." Celestia hummed.
 
"Right… it seems there will need to be a complete overhaul of the locations as there are clearly gaps."
 
"Or need full retraining." Celestia sighed, starting to frown since the system had worked flawlessly and surely not all of her guards in those areas had slacked off… "Perhaps some kind of admission ribbon system or something else as well... what a nightmare. And what were your impressions of her telling the truth?"
 
"She seemed genuine to me. So she’s either one of the greatest actors who ever lived, or is telling the truth."
 
"I see… well, I'm glad you agreed with my assessment." Celestia smirked. "So, do you feel it necessary to have her under a unicorn's watch?"
 
"Hmm.” Dusk thought, looking at the desk closely as a focal point for her thoughts before shaking her head. “Not at this time, the Sergeant should be fine."
 
"I'm glad you think so." Celestia smiled. "So, I forgot to ask, how goes the electricity development?"
 
"It goes… I have to admit, it’s an interesting idea, but I’m not sure if we can really harness the power of lightning like they say. Still, I’m providing funding, as they’ve come up with a theory to try and use the river to generate power. I look forward to their proof of concept they said they should have in a couple of weeks."
 
"Hm… I wonder if either of our newcomers are familiar with the concept. Perhaps we can ask them what they know and see if any of their concepts work here." Celestia suggested, "Like Dawn's 'phone' thing."
 
"Right… that sounded very weird.” Dusk admitted with a doubtful frown, “Nearly impossible without dragonfire. Honestly, I wonder if they were joking or not. What’s next, she’d claim to have left the planet like some of those books Twilight is obsessed with talk about?" She said chuckling as she shook her head.
 
"Well, maybe we can ask." Celestia said seriously.
 
"Ask what? If they literally entered the void?" Dusk asked flatly.
 
"Or at least ask if they know about electricity and go from there." Celestia offered. "For all we know, they’re at the same level as us, or could be more or less advanced. Won’t know until we ask.”
 
"True… It’s worth an ask." Dusk reluctantly agreed with a shrug.
 
"Exactly." Celestia smiled. "So, what would you do if they had gone up to the void, or other ponies from their world have?"
 
Dusk snorted. "Mother, how would that be possible? You know what happens to pegasi when they fly too high. How could they when from what Nightfall said, they don’t have wings and are clearly Equus bound."
 
"Don't ask me, ask them." Celestia laughed, "I'm just saying. You've gotten me curious enough I'd almost want to ask myself!"
 
Dusk rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I'll ask about the electricity thing and see if they have a clue."
 
"Good mare." Celestia smiled
 
Dusk rolled her eyes at that. "What am I a dog?" She asked with a smile.
 
"Nope, you’re my little sunset, and that’s miles better." Celestia said before she pulled them into a hug.
 
Dusk smiled and hugged her mother back while nuzzling their neck, receiving firm hugs. Neither of them wanted the moment to end. Dusk held her, head resting against her taller mother’s neck with her eyes closed for several minutes, enjoying the moment.
 


A faint voice far away chuckled and wrote on some parchment, “And the next thing they knew, it was a thousand years later and they’d been hugging that long, oblivious to the world around them.”
 
Another faint voice called out a short time later, “DAMMIT JERON!”


 
"So, plans for the day Mother?" Dusk asked when the time came they finally had to part.
 
"None come to mind." She shook her head, "preparing for another inane request from the nobles, a 'public' pool that only rich ponies can use, Blueblood put out two of his own proposals, surprisingly enough. He wants to petition increased coal production and lessen the penalties and restrictions for adopting an exotic pet."
 
"Hmm… interesting."
 
"I suspect he has his eyes on something, especially since seeing Philomena with me at a day court." Celestia commented.
 
"Well, she is one of the more exotic." Twilight chuckled. "How is she doing by the way?"
 
"She's doing well." Celestia smiled. "Spent a few months on her little vacation before coming back. I dare say she is very pleased with her little camping trip."
 
Dusk chuckled. "You do know you can say she flew East to mate and came back, right Mother? I’m not a little filly anymore."
 
"I know, but she didn’t lay any eggs, at least so far." Celestia smiled, "still, as long as she's happy.”
 
Dusk nodded. "So where is she right now?"
 
"Resting after her long flight." Celestia said, "I’ve made sure her usual spot is unaffected and has plenty of food and water. A cooling spell will keep her comfortable too. Thinking of which, how goes your attempts to find a non-magical cooling system?"
 
"So far not good… Someone had an idea to use water to cool air but not sure how well that would work as water heats up."
 
"Hm…" Celestia nodded before summoning her scroll and began writing down the things she wanted to ask Dawn about in the event that they knew about those things, then put the scroll to the side.
 
"I'm looking into a few other ideas now since opening up more jobs for non-unicorns would be good, despite what the opposition says."
 
"Fully agreed. There's too many good, hard-working pegasi who are being kicked out of jobs because a spell is faster, easier, and cheaper. Perhaps assigning unicorns to more safety measures would be a good compromise."
 
"Perhaps. Granted, I do have to agree when they point out there are jobs heavily dominated by pegasi such as weather teams… not sure how to fix that one." Dusk said.
 
"We can take some small steps. It is hardest to avoid claims of unicorn discrimination, especially with the rising cost of magic education."
 
"Yeah." Dusk signed. "Oh the woes of leadership…"
 
"Are one of the few joys I have since ponies still keep surprising me on occasion." Celestia chuckled.
 
"True… I’m surprised you’ve done this for centuries without a vacation."
 
"I probably should have one sometime, but it's these sorts of things that keep me going. Because our culture changes over time, it means my job is rarely dull. Even the arguments change sometimes." Celestia said proudly.
 
"I suppose so… though it could be amusing to take a century or two off and come back to see what happened… Well, you. Not me. I’m too young for a vacation."
 
"Right." Celestia snorted, "We'd have to come up with a new form of government to operate in my and Luna's absence, and who knows how well that'll be received!"
 
"I mean there’s me and Twilight." Dusk said.
 
"True..." Celestia hummed, "And just what plans are you going to implement while I'm gone, hmmm?"
 
"Huh? Oh no, no, no. I didn’t mean it like that." She said waving a hoof. "I just meant you’ve been at this for over a millennia non-stop… and Aunt Luna, while I know she likes being back, you two haven’t gotten to really connect with each other or spend significant time together and work things out."
 
"Hm… perhaps that would be good." Celestia considered, thinking, "Come up with some ideas on how you'd run things, and I’ll see how long we could pull this off if we chose to."
 
"Oh… okay." Dusk nodded.
 
"Don't be too disappointed," Celestia said with a mischievous smile "If I just handed over the keys to the kingdom, I dare say ponies like Blueblood would ask why they couldn't have that chance as well."
 
"But I’d be sure to turn out the lights before I left." Dusk protested.
 
"I'm sure you would." Celestia chuckled, "Probably would get all the guards even further trained than you already have too. I still remember your reaction to the threats from the Griffin Kingdom a while back."
 
"Oh yes, that was fun." Dusk said smiling. "And we got Crater Lake out of it."
 
"Yeah…" Celestia said dryly, without any amusement. "At least we didn’t go to war."
 
"Oh come on. Don’t tell me you’ve never wanted to cut loose like that and show your power?"
 
"I find that very dangerous…" Celestia warned her daughter. On seeing her daughter’s frown she gave a gentle sigh, repeating a simple lesson on her power, “Look, I worry about the damage my power can do. The sun can cause so many good things. Life can grow, we have warm summer days, sometimes too warm, but-"
 
Dusk sighed. "Yes, yes. With great power comes great responsibility. I know Mother; however which is better? To have the power to stop needless bloodshed and do nothing, or to use that power to stop it? I am not saying cutting loose all the time is a good idea, but acting like our own power is some sort of monster just waiting to devour us if we blink is just… stupid."
 
"Perhaps." She said, getting a faraway look to it. "Perhaps I simply am the one who is most afraid of it. I had seen what had happened in using it many years ago against our early enemies… It would seem I have some lessons I have to redo."
 
Dusk put a hoof on her shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?"
 
"I… don't know. One day." Celestia said, much as she had before. Dusk sighed and hugged her mother, and Celestia hugged her back, "I'm sorry my little Dusklight… some wounds are better off not being reopen-… no… maybe I should share."
 
"It is your choice mother." Dusk said quietly, holding her.
 
Celestia nodded, "I… I should… when we have a few days together. I can't believe I nearly said that some wounds never should be reopened… that's not like me, especially after how many ponies I’ve said needed to open them to give them proper closure."
 
Dusk nuzzled her mother, and Celestia enjoyed her time together with them for as long as the rest of that day would allow, knowing her child would take the two visitors and Stalwart with her to Luminosia.
 
Dusk hugged her mother before departing with an “I love you,” and headed for the door, stepping out of the room. Once again, the switch was flipped and Dusk became how the public saw her, cold and stoic as she departed for the train station
 
"I love you too." She could hear in her ears as she departed, sung quietly almost as if it were a lullaby and a promise of another time of hearing it. Despite seeing no reaction from Dusk, Celestia knew her daughter was smiling on the inside and likely would all the way to the train station.