Day fourteen...
"My visit grows long, my little ponies," Princess Celestia said, standing before Gerardo, Amber and Shinespark. "I have been waiting in hopes of speaking in person with the friends of yours who are still at sea, but I have many duties to attend to elsewhere in my lands and will be able to wait only one more day. While this time may still be sufficient for us to meet, we will not be able to afford another week for you to deliberate on my offer. Have you been working towards a decision?"
Gerardo cleared his throat. "Before anything else, should we choose to leave, what would our deadline be?"
Celestia pursed her lips. "What would you request it to be?"
"That's... hard." Amber shuffled. "I think a lot of us are leaning towards going back north. Shinespark wants to, I'd like to see some friends I left there again, Gerardo was planning on adventuring anyway, Slipstream and Harshwater and Grenada are fine... but we also have Felicity, and she isn't in very... good condition. She could travel since the boat is safe and steady and has proper beds, but it could take weeks for us to reach Ironridge from here. If she needed a doctor during that time, it could be bad."
Celestia nodded sagely. "Your sarosian friend."
"With all due respect, Princess..." Shinespark met her eyes. "I was appraised on her condition yesterday, and she hasn't been doing better since we got here. Making an offer like yours is one thing when we can still recover and become fit for travel, but Felicity is... You're testing what we would do for each other as friends, but that test falls apart when you're asking us to endanger our weakest member."
Celestia's face softened in concern. "You make this sound more dire than I was aware of at our summit last week. What is the official diagnosis of her condition?"
"Well, she's worsened since then," Amber apologized. "I got a doctor to see her last night, and they checked her vitals and foal and did a blood draw. We haven't heard official results yet, but she lived with poisoned drinking water for a while two decades ago and has had low stamina and constitution ever since. I think she used to be stable, but now that she's pregnant, she's been slowly getting worse. And more quickly now that her foal is growing bigger."
"I must confess, I did not fully take this into consideration," Princess Celestia said. "What do you request, then? To stay until her foal is born? How much longer will this be?"
"Errr..." Amber bit her lip. "She's been pregnant for... We've been in Equestria for nearly two months, she was already... She's about five months in. So it'll be a while."
Celestia slowly nodded. "That would be a long time to wait, indeed. But your loyalties to her are strong? If you saw her fit to travel, do you believe she would follow you until the end?"
"...Yes. Absolutely." Amber nodded firmly. "She lost her old family for our sake, and stayed alive because of it. And she kept some of us alive when none of us trusted her and she had no reason to. We're her family now, and we're all she has. She would stay with us until the end."
"You have your existing Writs of Harmonic Sanction," Celestia pointed out. "If you truly desire to leave with proper attention to her safety, you could grant her one and allow her to remain here with Kinmari's doctors. I would assist you in reuniting whenever she desires, as well as provide a writ for her foal that would not count toward your total of six, but would still allow her to take them north across the border. Though I understand if this is not equitable, as she would be on her own without you for some of the more difficult months of her life."
Shinespark winced. "We were... already considering who we would use those two on. We also have children with us who don't deserve to grow up disconnected and in the sky."
Celestia bowed her head. "I see. And how does Felicity feel about this?"
Amber nodded. "She's sound in mind and bored of doing nothing, isn't happy with her body and isn't as concerned for herself as we are... or if she is, she's hiding it, but that doesn't seem very like her. Truthfully, I'm not sure she cares about herself enough to be upset at the future consequences of her condition, only the immediate ones like having trouble walking. All of us were messed up by the month we spent stranded, but she's had more trouble recovering than others."
"From everything I've seen," Gerardo murmured, "that's a very fair assessment."
Princess Celestia hesitated. "In a perfect world, what would her happily ever after look like?"
"Uhhh... heh heh..." Amber chuckled uncertainly. "You mean one that could technically maybe unrealistically but still maybe happen? She somehow hangs on until she has her foal, they're born happy and healthy, then someone like Garsheeva transfers her soul and memories to a new body that's not pregnant or crippled and is preferably younger than the one she already has, and while they're at it they also hunt down Crystal and get back her sisters and bring them back the same way we revived Valey, the three of them actually make up and then all of us live together happily ever after. And just between you and me, that last condition is the most impossible of the bunch."
"That is a lot indeed," Princess Celestia said.
"But does it lead to anything you can do?" Gerardo asked.
Celestia took a breath. "I will need to consider this. I wish to speak with Felicity myself. Would this be a suitable time?"
"She's probably laying down and lamenting her boredom, if I know her." Amber shrugged. "Feel free."
"Of course." Princess Celestia nodded, getting up and readying herself to leave.
"Whooo is it?" Felicity called, lounging boredly on the couch of Generosity Two and tracing patterns in her belly fur.
The front door opened to reveal Princess Celestia, with Shinespark and Amber and Gerardo standing behind.
"Hello, my little pony," the monarch said, bowing her head to enter. "I have been made aware your situation is far less fit than ideal for travel."
"What kind of travel?" Felicity drawled, lifting her wings. "If you mean these, I'm afraid they became mere ornaments weeks ago."
Celestia stepped forward. "There are concerns about allowing you to attempt a monthlong voyage via airship in your present state. Ones I do not wish to have interfering in the choice I presented all of you a week ago."
"What concerns are those?" Felicity shrugged. "Not being able to get around is hardly debilitating when there's nowhere to go. Give me a good bed, and I'll be perfect for tagging along."
Princess Celestia nodded. "And should you suffer an emergency and require medical attention during the voyage?"
Felicity frowned.
"Think of how Maple would feel," Amber quietly added from the backline.
"...No," Felicity sighed, deflating. "I suppose I'm not, am I? But what do you want me to do about it?" She gave Celestia an earnest look. "I'm rather helpless, if you haven't noticed. Blessed with friends who are happy to do the helping for me, but here I am watching day after day as they get stronger and happier after all our ordeals and my body seems determined to stop me from partaking in the fun. If you have any ideas on how I could help myself pull my weight, I'm all ears."
Celestia appraised her for a while. "Speaking for yourself alone, do you wish to accept my offer of Writs of Harmonic Sanction and remain here, or return to the north and continue seeking them on your own?"
"Honestly, it doesn't make that much of a difference," Felicity said with a shrug. "I am in a funk at present, so don't take my words too seriously, but neither way has a whole lot of living for me to do, you know? At least adventuring would let me watch the scenery."
"Hmm." Celestia nodded.
"Really," Felicity complained, "I don't think I'm asking for that much. Did you know we worked for the Night Mother for an extensive period of time, my sisters and I, because she promised us new bodies as a reward and that never panned out? If there's anything you can do with all your goddess alicorn powers to replicate the effect and give me just a little bit of room to work with myself, I'd practically swear myself to chastity and join your clergy in thanks."
Celestia shook her head. "This problem falls within the realm of doctors, not princesses. Your friends told me you were waiting on the results of some tests from yesterday? I would urge you to wait one day longer and see if there is something Equestrian medicine can do for your condition that northern cannot. In the meantime, I do not believe you are the only member of your crew who finds themselves flightless and weakened physically compared to their former strength." She glanced back at Shinespark. "While your situations are far from the same, it would be difficult not to draw comparison."
Shinespark folded her ears. "I'm not sure I'm the best pony for advice on how to get over this..."
Felicity shook her head. "With how many of us were bedridden by injuries in our first month here where I still was up and about, I'd wager half the crew could relate. And I do appreciate the company, but my real issue isn't loneliness. All of you have already been quite wonderful about that. It's the fact that I've been waking up day after day and needing just a little more energy to haul myself to my hooves, and I know that whether I decide it to be today or next month, there will come a point where I simply can't stand on my own at all. And this last week especially, now that I'm getting bigger faster, well... I simply can't stand feeling this way. I've probably got aches and pains I don't even remember I have, darling. I'm almost nostalgic for a few days ago when I could complain more about how I look than how I feel."
"You still do that," Amber pointed out.
"So?"
"...I will inquire at the hospital as to their opinions on your condition." Celestia straightened up. "And I will not require a decision on your future course of action while there are unknowns about this. I am sorry, my little ponies. I did not mean for this to be a factor in your decision at all."
"Princess..." Amber coughed. "When we met in the foothills and were talking about Valey, you told me the reason you couldn't help Valey was because moon glass rejected you, and the reason you wouldn't was because you drew a line at bringing ponies back from the dead. But Felicity is definitely alive, and not trapped in moon glass at all. And Garsheeva had a plan for how to transfer her to a new body that wouldn't be poisoned, and we know enough about how that works to guess at the process. Would there be any way you could do this for her yourself? Transferring her to a new body?"
Celestia closed her eyes, deep in thought. "I would not count on it, my little ponies. While I can speculate about the methods my contemporary used, at the end of the day you would still be physically leaving one body behind and inhabiting another, and a roadblock I cannot overcome would be the fate of her foal. All other obstacles could potentially be surpassed through magic and engineering, but new life is very delicate. Any such endeavor would have to wait until after her foal is viable on its own."
"I see." Felicity looked down.
"And if she did make it that long?" Amber looked up, a hoof against Felicity's shoulder. "How viable would everything else be?"
"Within the realm of things that should be impossible for mortals and could potentially be overcome by gods," Celestia replied. "I do not know everything that would need to be done to accomplish them, but you may be able to find some success in exchange for trying."
Shinespark blinked and narrowed her eyes. "We could find success for trying? But you said they should be impossible for mortals."
"Should be," Princess Celestia corrected. "I did not say are. After all, I have already heard much about what you have managed to achieve together, and you are considering a feat that would likely be much harder. Only Garsheeva and the church of Yakyakistan have ever amassed this many Writs of Harmonic Sanction at once in the north before, and it would hardly be fair to count them."
Amber bit her lip. "You want us to find a way to cure Felicity ourselves, on top of everything else we could do?"
Celestia shrugged. "Suppose you were to try. Tell me your thought process now on what you would do."
Shinespark frowned. "The three things we'd need are a new body, a way to transfer her cutie mark, and a way to transfer her memories. A body, I could make with a lot of time and resources, if she didn't mind being a machine... or we could go back to the Empire and try to hunt down someone else's empty body, but that has a lot of ethical questions involved."
"You would make a machine suitable as a body for a soul?" Celestia raised an eyebrow.
"I have done it before."
Celestia's brow creased, and her voice lowered. "You possess this technology, and your harmony extractors alike. This is an unsettling amount of knowledge of the technology that likely went into Aegis. But never mind that. Please, continue."
Shinespark took a breath. "Whatever we did, transferring her soul would be the easy part. We could extract her using moon glass, and then assemble her again the same way we did for Valey. I'd have to make another pendant, but that would be just a subset of the work required to rebuild a mechanical body. Transferring her memories would be the hard part. We don't know any tricks to work with there."
"...I see." Celestia nodded and rose to her hooves. "Then I will remind you again of a clause of my offer that I think bears repeating: even should you go, I will do what I can to aid you from Equestria. You would not be on your own in your quest for Writs of Harmonic Sanction. And yes, should any of you choose to use the writs you already have, you may do as you please with them up until the end, when I would ask that at least six of you still stand together."
Felicity folded her ears. "I did say I'm hardly lonely now, thanks to all your attention and care, but staying here on my own is quite another story entirely."
"We do have two writs," Gerardo pointed out.
"Yes, but one of them is..." Amber shuffled. "I think Maple was hoping for it. For... you know."
Shinespark glanced at Amber. "How would Maple feel about staying here with Felicity to keep her company?"
Amber winced. "Oh boy, that's a big one. I... really am not sure." She looked up at Celestia. "Is there any way we could borrow one, or... or just get one more? I'd volunteer to stay with Felicity until her foal was here, if only I could."
"...Your need is great," Princess Celestia eventually sighed. "I will think on this for a day more, and see if I can extend my stay until the doctors here have a greater opinion on her. And I may yet change my mind and redact my current offer of commerce with Ironridge so that you have no choice but to stay here and together, and find some other way of both testing you and helping you achieve your dream for Ironridge. But on all of that, we shall have to see."
"...Right." Shinespark nodded, and the princess walked away.