//------------------------------// // A Rot That Slowly Consumed Equestria (XVII) // Story: Synthetic Bottled Sunlight // by NorrisThePony //------------------------------// i Dusk Ruby was watching. She was perched high above the Hollow Shades, laying on her back on a branch at the topmost canopy of the Farseeing Cypress. The tree was old--far older than she was. Far older than any of the other thestral elders, too. Some claimed they were older than the Sun Goddess herself, but Dusk Ruby had always found that to be a ridiculous idea. After all, if a tree could outlive a goddess, why would they fall so easily to the machines of mortal ponies? The Farseeing Cypress was one of the last of the Eternal Cypress still standing. The others, located closer to the East, where the Shades bordered the farmlands outside of Fillydelphia, had been the first to fall to the wrathful machines. And why wouldn’t they be? They towered far above the others… even from the grasslands outside the Hollow Shades, one could see them looming above the rest of the forest canopy. Monoliths of nature, the product of growth and age. So similar and so different from the towers Ruby had heard tell of, in the cities far away. When the ponies of the cities had come, they had seen beyond the centuries of legacy the old cypress possessed. It didn’t matter as much as the hardwood they’d been made from, and so, they’d been chopped down. Hauled into the angry machines and devoured. Turned to sawdust before Ruby’s tribe’s horrified eyes. Dusk Ruby had been young when they’d been taken, but not too young as to not remember. It existed in the same dreadful yellow haze that the Sun Goddess’s death existed. She remembered the confusion and panic in her people’s faces, but not the details of why. She remembered the fear, without all of the facts. Into the ensuing years, the damage continued. Ruby grew older. The forest grew smaller, and her people grew closer together. It wasn't as though they had much of a choice. Once they’d been segmented into different tribes--alike, but apart. Friends and not family. But as the forest shrunk, it pushed them closer together. When the machines came again, they would have to be ready; there wasn’t enough to ignore anymore. And every forgotten acre of the Hollow Shades was one sacrificed to the angry maws of destruction, spewing their filthy refuse into the sky. And so, age gave Ruby purpose. Purpose gave her a spear perched on her back, and the Hollow Shades sprawled out around her to watch over. It gave her endless afternoons of sprawling wastelands where the Hollow Shades ended, scarred and tattooed with the treadmarks of machines long passed. Grasslands turned to dirt where trees had once been, so that the natural prairie bled away, like a tree decaying with rot. There were more like her, perched on the other tall cypress trees lining the threshold of forest and field, and when the smoke of the encroaching devices loomed over the distant horizon, they would be ready. And they would fight, for all the nothing it was worth, to slow their arrival. And perhaps they might save the acres of forest that would have been lost to inaction and passivity. A losing battle, Dusk Ruby knew. They’d lost so much, and it seemed like hope was the only thing the machines had yet to devour. And even it sometimes felt as though it was looming in their all too eager maws. She settled back, her head propped up by the base of the tree. Her spear was folded over her hindlegs, a membranous wing outstretched to catch the breeze. It was blowing towards her, the tops of the cypress waving flags pointing the way back to the village. The rivers of grass dancing in weaving streaks, tracing the route from the earth pony village at the edge of the grasslands, where they sometimes visited to talk and trade and enjoy the occasional barn dance. The rain was falling gently from the early morning sky, and it felt nice on her unkempt mane and outstretched wing. Her ears perked upwards, for they’d always done her kind better than their eyes ever could. Though, surprisingly, it was her snout that helped her more. The smell of smoke, carried across on the breeze, reached her, and she quickly straightened herself up. The spear was returned to its holster on her back, and she trotted someways down the branch of the tree. Eyes strained, and she could see the plumes of smoke rising across the mid-afternoon sky. Far, further than the earth pony village, but the wind was strong enough to carry an early warning. They were coming. Her wings spread. She kicked off the Farseeing Cypress, entering a nosedive to gain speed before clipping her wings and flapping them. She tore across the sky in a blur, clicking her tongue as she did--calling to any who would listen, that the time had come to defend their forest once again. One of the others must have seen Ruby spring to action--or more likely, they heard her call them--because soon enough there was another set of leathery wings beating the heavy sky. “Malinalxochitl.” A stallion called He Who Sees A Thousand Miles flew close to Ruby, giving her a nod and speaking her full Thestralian name via a few quickly punctuated clicks. “You see them?” She shook her head. “Smell. The winds carried their engines to me. I cannot see them yet, but I can see their smoke. A forest fire, perhaps.” “But not likely. It is the rain season.” “It is always the rain season these days.” Ruby rolled her eyes. “Have you not noticed?” He Who Sees A Thousand Miles chuckled. “The elders warned of your tongue when they asked me to join you for the afternoon watch. I’ve learned it’s not a warning unfounded.” Ruby laughed back. She liked Sees. She knew he liked her back, or perhaps the many hours spent perched atop the cypress together chatting meant nothing beyond the idle murder of endless dull time. “Go to the village and let them know that they approach,” Ruby said. “They are far, and will likely stop at Hayseed. I will stay, and fly over.” Sees nodded. “Good luck, Malina. Luna guide you.” “Luna guide you.” Ruby returned, and Sees changed his trajectory to head back towards the Hollow Shades. Ruby had already left it behind, unsullied plains below her wings now. The rain made it hard to see, and her eyes were not the greatest in the first place. And so, it was with surprise that the sound of voices filled her ears the further into the fields she flew. She stopped her forward flight, hovering for a moment and perking an ear to listen closer. Yes, there were certainly voices from somewhere in the plains. Female, both of them. One quick and restrained, the other patiently authoritative. She flew in their direction as quickly as her wings could take her. And, even with her pathetic eyesight, she eventually made out the distinct parting of the long grasses, tracing the way back to Hayseed where the two mares had undoubtedly come. Ruby brought her flightpath over top of them, and when she did she made out the distinct colours of purple and white jutting from the beiges and muted yellows of the grassfield. A tall mare, and a shorter one. And when she landed, it was with awe that she did so. She was scarred, and her mane was shorter, but there was no mistaking the regal stance and casual beauty of the Sun Goddess herself. Ruby descended in a bow immediately. And the Sun Goddess spoke, in Ruby’s own native tongue. Or, she tried. And that, at least, was more than the machines ever did. ii After the sun was cast on its course into the morning sky, Celestia vanished into the trees. Not any manner of mysterious disappearance, rather she cheerily trotted back into the woods with a little ruffle of her wings and a mighty yawn. Twilight found her in a nearby clearing, plucking a few wild flowers and dandelions in her telekinesis. Catching Twilight’s glance, she looked over her shoulder with a smile and levitated some over to Twilight with a sheepish grin. “Breakfast, Twilight,” Celestia said simply. “There’s more to a pony’s diet than instant noodles and takeout.” Twilight blinked, accepting the flora in her own magic but not quite knowing what to do with them. Celestia, however, began munching down on the flowers. “I feel well rested enough to teleport us back to Old Canterlot, if you’d like. It’d be prudent to be home soon so we don’t miss Professor Fluttershy’s call.” Twilight tentatively took a bite of a dandelion herself. It was surprisingly tasty. “She probably won’t have those results until late this afternoon. Was there anything you wanted to do in the meantime?” Celestia frowned thoughtfully. “Well. There was what Nightmare Moon mentioned.” “About dream magic?” Celestia nodded. “About the thestrals, in general, as well. I haven’t yet interacted with them since my return, but given the state of deforestation around the Whitetail Woods, I imagine presenting myself as an ally to them might be wise.” “They’re pretty isolated, right? Mostly live on their own, in forest villages. I don’t really see much of them around Old Canterlot.” “It couldn’t be a more different living environment from what they’re no doubt used to. Imagine living amongst this…” Celestia waves a hoof at the tall trees around them, and down at the sparking layer of gossamer coating the damp morning grasses at their hooves. “And giving it up to live from the heat of barrel fires and whatever rays of sunlight are brave enough to penetrate the smog.” “About twenty percent of Equestrian forests.” Twilight recited. “That’s how much have been clear cut entirely. They’re probably scared to death.” “But it is not too late to help. It is not too late to let them know that they can ally themselves with me and reverse the destruction plaguing them.” Celestia finished up her wildflower breakfast, freeing her snout of stray bits of stems and petals with a hoof. “And we can do this, while also asking about the possibility of your learning dream magic.” “...If… if I do, Celestia. And that’s a big if, but if I do…” “I would want you to help me.” Celestia nodded, reading the unspoken question from Twilight’s wary face with ease. “I’m ready to try and find peace. I don’t wish to stay in the pit that the Industry dug for me any longer.” “We can get you out of it together. After you take your throne back, I won’t be going anywhere.” “I know, Twilight.” Celestia smiled warmly. Her horn lit. “Shall we head back to the library? Wait for Fluttershy’s call and begin making preparations to travel?” “Wonder if maybe it’d be a good idea to move our, ah. Base of operations... outta my library. Get you some place more like home?” “Its felt quite like a home to me. Truth be told, living in an old library has felt quite enchanting. If anything, perhaps we can move my operations into there.” Twilight chuckled, blushing a little at the ‘home’ remark. “Well, if you’re sure.” Celestia smiled. “To Canterlot, then?” “Let’s go.” In a flash, they were suddenly thrust back into the musty smell of old rotten books and blizzards of dust swirling about from the sudden disruption in air pressure Celestia’s teleportation had caused. It was darker in Old Canterlot than it had been in the Whitetail Woods, and the lack of electric lighting in the library only contributed to the crypt-like darkness of the dusty main reading hall. Twilight shrugged out of her saddlebags, depositing them on a long table in the large reading room. She frowned, noticing a conspicuous paper envelope that had been deposited through the slit on the bottom of the locked double doors that lead to the streets of Old Canterlot. A letter. She levitated it over curiously. Beside her, Celestia peered over as well. "They really did address it as 'Condemned Library.'" Celestia observed. "How cheeky of them." "Betcha a million bits it's a court summons." Celestia didn't refute it, and it turned out to be a good call, because as Twilight read the contents, she exhaled deeply. "Yup. I've gotta show later this month." "Honestly, it might work out to out benefit, if it is done with the same intentions of publicity as their hearing with me was." Celestia offered. "Besides, I'll be there. It will be fine." "I hope so." Twilight exhaled, starting towards the staff lounge of the library with a yawn. “Pot of coffee, Celly?” “Tea if you have it, dear. Coffee is fine otherwise.” Twilight filled up a kettle and flared her magic around it, yawning again as she willed heat energy onto the underside of the kettle. No electricity meant magical alternatives, and Twilight had plenty of those in store. She had her coffee press percolating in a few minutes, and she carried it out with her to the reading hall once again. There, Celestia was peering thoughtfully at the telephone, as though expecting it to ring at any moment. “Your telephone is blinking red, dear,” Celestia said, as she heard Twilight approach. “Is it quite alright?” Twilight frowned. Indeed, a small gemstone she had fitted onto the telephone’s electronic panel was glowing red, fading, and glowing red again, in a steady rhythm. “O-oh, that. That’s my alert system. It… lets me know if I got any unwelcome calls while I was gone. Took me forever to set that up. But it works wonders for screening calls.” “‘Unwelcome calls.’” Celestia repeated. “Such as?” “Oh, y’know. The Industry’s taxation departments. New Canterlot Retailers wanting to send me the latest edition of their catalogue. My brother. Stuff like that.” Celestia narrowed her eyes. “One of those things is not like the other, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight sighed heavily. “I know. But he’s just so nosy all the time!” “Because he cares about you.” “I never asked him to do that, though! I can take care of myself! I’m--” “Twilight,” Celestia said it with distinct firmness. “Please, call him. Make sure everything is alright. Your older brother has the right to be concerned about you.” Twilight sighed again, but nodded, spitefully grabbing the receiver and working the dial with a glare, as though her brother’s phone number were offensive to her. “Fine. Fine, I will.” It took Shining Armor a few rings before he picked up, and Twilight could hear the freshly-interrupted sleep in her brother’s voice. “H-hello?” “Did you try calling me, Shining?” Twilight didn’t bother wasting time with pleasantries. “Twily? Y-yes! I did! Where the hell… you got home okay?” “Celestia and I took a bit of a field trip. I’ve been away from my line until, like, ten minutes ago.” “Uh huh, well. I just wanted to make sure the two of you got back in one piece.” “Er… is everything okay, Shining?” “Well. Can we maybe meet up? There’s something I need to give you and I think it’d probably be safer if you had it. Make sure the Princess comes, too.” “Safer?” Twilight repeated, her telekinetic grip on the phone tightening. Beside her, Celestia peered over curiously, an ear perked to try and hear Shining’s side of things. “You’re kinda freaking me out, Shining.” “Yeah, well, my place was ransacked. Found out as soon as I went home and got done sorting out your release. So maybe ‘freaked out’ is a valid state of affairs for us right about now.” “Gods above.” Twilight grimaced. “Alright, w-well. Stay safe. Where do you want to meet?” “Come to my place. I’ll be waiting. Celestia knows the way. Now, I’m not sure how private our phone lines are, so…” Twilight took that as a cue to hang up, which she did without ceremony, thrusting the receiver back down onto the cradle and sinking her head in her hooves. “That sounded dire.” Celestia was beside her in a moment. “Is your brother alright?” “I… I don’t know. It… could be a trap. Sounded kinda sketchy.” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Twilight dear. It’s your brother. He cares deeply about you. He’s part of the reason you’re not still back in prison right now.” Twilight sighed. “I know, I know. But I don’t entirely think he sees my affiliation with you as a safe place. ‘Caring deeply for me’ might not be on our side the way you think it is.” “We don’t know that for certain, Twi. Let’s try trusting him and work our way back from there, yes? If I can put my sibling squabbles aside for the purpose of progression, perhaps it’s time we start working your own.” Twilight exhaled, finally bringing her head up from the safety of her hooves. “What if Flutters calls while we’re gone?” Celestia frowned, and pointed at the telephone. “I will remain. If she calls, I will answer it. You go fetch your brother and find out what he wants.” Twilight sighed, nodding her head a few times slowly. “Fine. Just let me grab a travel mug for my coffee. Got a feeling I’m gonna be needing it.” iii Shining’s apartment was a dump. Twilight figured it was perhaps a little hypocritical to think so given her own living conditions, but it was simply factual. There was trash in the halls and the elevator was out of order, which meant Twilight had to lug herself up six flights of stairs and was completely out of breath by time she reached the top of them. The paint job on the walls was likely older than Twilight was, chipping away in places and covered in spidery cracks. The smell of rot and dust hung over everything. She caught her breath at the top of the steps, and when she turned into the main hall she saw that her brother was already waiting for her. “Heard you coming up the stairs.” Shining was standing in front of an open door, and he trotted over to Twilight with a small smile. “Where’s the Princess? Didn’t wanna come?” “She’s waiting at home. Got some business to take care of there. Now what do you want, Shining?” Shining sighed. “Geez, Twi. I’m not trying to inconvenience you by asking you to come here, y’know.” Twilight brought a hoof to the bridge of her snout, nodding her head. “I know, I know. What can I do to help?” Shining’s horn lit, and he closed and locked the door to his place behind him. “I’ve got some things I need to hand over to you. Documents and the like, that I’ve been collecting for the past few weeks. Since Celestia’s escape, actually.” Twilight blinked. “You...you what. They didn’t… that’s not why they…” Shining motioned back towards his apartment and nodded. “Wasn’t dumb enough to keep them there, if that’s what you’re wondering. But I… well, I think it’s good stuff, Twi. Stuff that you’d like to have. Wanna go take a look?” Twilight nodded rapidly. He might as well have asked her if she wanted to go to a bookstore with him. Shining snickered. “Figured. Though, it’s… a lot to take in. So consider this your warning.” “Uh huh. Just get me back in time for lunch and I’m sure I’ll cope.” Shining shrugged. “If you say so, sis. Come on, then. We’d best not waste time.” Twilight valiantly suppressed the urge to complain the entire way back down the stairs again, her legs already sore from all the walking she’d done yesterday in the Whitetail Woods, now forced to endure even more physical activity. They exited into the muted haze of early morning Old Canterlot, and Shining Armor wordlessly led the way down a series of backstreets with the same purpose to his step normally reserved to his on-duty behaviours. “So. Field trip with Celestia, hrm?” he asked, glancing back at her. “How’d that go?” “Pretty well. We, ah. Continued the research I was trying to do when the Industry arrested me. Celestia is waiting at home to get the results from our contact.” “Gotcha. I’m sure that’ll be quite the revelation.” “Where are we going, Shining?” “Aura Gleam. Colleague of mine. Now shush, you’re going to spoil the surprise.” Twilight looked away, a slight pouting expression on her face, though she didn’t protest. They walked on in silence, for another couple minutes, before Shining stopped before a narrow duplex house. He tapped the button on the intercom, and after a few seconds a mare’s voice rang out. Young, and with a vaguely Trottish accent. “That you, boss?” “It’s me, Aura. Bad time?” “When was the last time it was a ‘good time?’” came the smarmy response. Twilight could practically hear the eyeroll in the mare’s voice. The door let out a little buzz as soon as she finished speaking. “Door’s unlocked. Flatmates are out, so you’re good to come up. You’re alone?” “Got my sis in tow. The Princess’s assistant. The journalist. See you soon.” Shining led the way up the stairs, towards the second floor of the duplex. A unicorn was waiting for them at the top of the stairwell, a small smile on her face. She was dressed partially in the old Royal Guard uniform, the armour sagging on one side where she hadn’t yet fastened the ties, and her manetailed mane unimpeded by the generic golden helmet Twilight had seen them all wear. A member of Shining’s old guard. Twilight’s age, though even partially in the armour she looked so much older. “Hello! Your broth--er, the Captain--talks about you alot. It’s a pleasure to meet you. “Thanks.” Twilight nodded, unsure quite how to react. “I’m Aura Gleam. Please, come in.” The unicorn led the way into her home. It was tidy, organized, and very minimally furnished. Shining navigated over to a little sofa, and motioned for Twi to do the same. Aura Gleam, meanwhile, trotted over to the kitchen and dining area, her horn aglow as she opened a top cupboard. A few pots and saucepans hovered out, the unicorn delicately putting them down on the countertop. Then, from deeper in the cupboard, she withdrew something else. A faux-leather briefcase, which she drew out and started back towards Twilight and Shining carrying. “Private Solar Wind came by two days ago to drop it off,” Aura Gleam said, levitating it over to the coffee table and putting it down, still closed, on top. “Was going to be sending it over to Private Shallow if you didn’t show today. Like you asked. Take turns protecting it.” Shining nodded. “It’s going to be in Twi’s care, now. This is what we’ve all been working for. Go ahead, Twily. Check it out.” Twilight’s hooves had started to wobble a little, but she drew the briefcase a little closer all the same. It was heavy, and the contents within shifted as Twilight held it. Aura scooted the coffee table a little closer, offering the surface for Twilight to expel the briefcase’s contents on. Twilight opened it with a hoof, and within there were a half-dozen envelopes of varying sizes. They were labelled in shorthoof that Twi couldn’t read, so she grabbed the largest looking one she could see and emptied it out onto the coffee table. There was a small clattering sound as nearly a dozen analog audio cassettes sprawled out. They were all labelled with a strip of tape and permanent marker; Orderly 3. Guard 1. EMT. Anonymous employee #12. “Interview tapes, Twilight.” Shining piped up. “We’ve been collecting them since Celestia escaped. Testimonies from the ponies who helped imprison her.” “There’s photographs in here, too.” Aura Gleam levitated another parcel onto the table. “Of the facility, inside and outside. Hell, if you want, we can take you there so you can take some yourself.” “Y-you’ve b-been…” Twilight blinked, peering into the second parcel as quickly as it had been set down. “B-but how did you…! It woulda been off limits!” “Not to the ponies they trusted on cleanup duty.” Shining grinned. “Loyalty misplaced. As they’ll soon find out. They thought I’d sell Celly down the river for chump change? This is what happens to them.” Twilight gawked, turning the photographs over and over. Celestia may have been silent about her imprisonment, but the stories the photographs told were far less ambiguous. The ‘bedroom’, if it could be called that, was a claustraphobe’s nightmare--too bright, too sterile. Cold concrete walls on all sides and impersonal, featureless furniture. The only thing that didn’t look like it had been stolen from a prison dormitory was an oak desk and a grandfather clock tucked away in one corner of the tiny concrete room. And the further Twilight went into the photographs, the worse they got. An operating table with restraints clearly made large enough to accommodate an alicorn. Horn inhibitors and shotguns lining one wall that was likely an armory. Photographs of syringes and sedative drugs taken in a small looking laboratory. “W-w-why me?” Twilight said, finally. “Why show me this stuff? Equestria needs to see it, not me.” “Why you.” Shining Armor grinned, shuffling a little closer. “I’m just a guard, Twi. A grunt. I’m no good at that sorta stuff. But you’ve been doing this your whole life. This is what you know best. And this time, you’ve got testimonies from those who did it.” He pointed at the tapes. “They’re thorough confessions. They don’t mince words. They tell what the Industry won’t and Celestia can’t. And if anypony knows how to tell Equestria what they contain and what it all means, it’s you.” “N-no, I get all of that. B-but why me?” Twilight looked down. “I dunno if you’ve noticed, but we haven’t exactly been on the same sides, Shining. ‘Turn my own life into hell’, right? That’s what you said, about what I do?” “Twily, don’t be like that. It was an interrogation room, they were watching. I couldn’t risk them getting wind of what I was doing. Epona only knows what they’d do to keep the folks in those tapes silent.” “That isn’t it, though. Even before all of this. You thought I was a big joke, same as everypony else. Fighting for something that’s some impossible dream.” Twilight looked away. It wasn’t spoken as an accusation, and she hoped Shining wouldn’t take it as such, but her tone made him shuffle a little further, back where he’d been before he tried to get closer to her. “What did I do differently that suddenly makes me worthy of your respect, Shining? Tell me, because I need to be sure where we’re going.” “You didn’t change, Twilight.” Shining shook his head. “I-I guess maybe I did. I’d sworn my life to protect a pony who… lost. I swore to protect Cadance, and she died. Then, Celestia followed. I didn’t give up on you, Twilight, I gave up on the world. I realized that none of us could change things, not really. But you didn’t give up on that, you kept fighting after everypony else had stopped, and I… guess I wasn’t brave enough to admit that my own little sister had a hundred times more courage than a Royal Guard Captain ever would.” “When Celestia escaped, we had something to fight for again.” Aura Gleam said softly. She’d been quietly watching, letting the two siblings have their moment, but she piped up finally, her register low and subtle. “Something real to protect. Sounds kinda stupid to say a ‘purpose’, but we kinda did regain that almost overnight. I think a lot of ponies could’ve regained that earlier if they’d listened to you when they did. Maybe this whole mess could have been solved earlier.” The unicorn pointed a hoof at the tapes and photographs. “Maybe we wouldn’t have twelve years worth of this crap if somepony had stepped in and done something about it.” Beside her, Twilight saw Shining shift a little, a long breath leaving his snout. “Apathy is a sickness, Twi. When Celestia died, it sometimes feels like we all got it. I don’t expect you to forgive me for trying to change who you are, sis. I was wrong, and I deserve any distrust you might have. I just want you to use what we found to help get the Princess where she belongs.” Twilight didn’t answer with words. She squeezed her eyes shut--they’d started to water, and she’d be damned if she was letting Shining see it. She hugged him without ceremony, and she felt her brother tense up significantly from the sudden movement, before he realized what she was doing. She broke the embrace suddenly, remembering that Aura Gleam was still watching. “Thank you, Shining,” Twilight said, and her horn lit, gathering the various affairs and carefully tucking them back into their folders. “I’m sorry about… everything, I guess. Between us. I could’ve tried harder to be there for you. I… know what it’s like to feel like everything is hopeless.” “But it isn’t, Twi. Moving on isn’t easy, but it’s worth trying. I see that now.” Twilight managed a strained chuckle. “Better late than never, right?” “I love you, Twilight. I hope you know that.” “I do. I have.” She exhaled, and gave her brother a small and warm smile. “Let’s not be strangers anymore.” “I’d like that.” iv While Twilight was gone, Celestia turned to the radio for distraction, bringing the little handheld device to the telephone and settling down with her coffee. The mechanical device spewed out upbeat swing music and weather reports, while Celestia listened thoughtfully. All she was missing, she thought to herself, was a pair of knitting needles, and it would have been a rather relaxing morning. The phone didn’t ring until a few minutes shy of noon, but when it did Celestia quickly sprung to life, grasping the receiver in her magic and turning the radio down low. “Hello? Celestia speaking.” “Princess? Um, it’s… Professor Fluttershy, from the Ponyville University Science Department. We worked together yesterday?” “Indeed! Have you finished running the samples?” “W-well. Y-yes. I have. And that’s kinda why I’m calling you so early. Can you and Twilight Sparkle come by sometime this week? Or… I can come up there, if it’s simpler.” “Absolutely we can meet. Is there something I should be concerned over?” “W-well, as the future leader of Equestria, I’d say so, yes. Twilight’s suspicions of soil erosion were… valid. I contrasted them with healthy samples and the results are unsubtle. B-but more than that, there’s some evidence of chemical pollution, which… is concerning, given that the nearest chemical refuse plant is a good two dozen kilometers away.” “Meaning… a long period of chemical flow.” “And, meaning that the pollutants are going to be even more potent nearer to the facility. Nearer to… to Ponyville. So, ah. I... want to… um, test more. Because I’m worried it might be even more of a concern than what Twilight and I feared.” “I am sure that she will be quite eager to rejoin you for continuing research,” Celestia said. “We’re in Old Canterlot right now. We were planning on taking a trip to the Hollow Shades over the weekend, but we can always waylay that to--” “No, no, it actually works out nicely. I’m marking my student’s finals for the next few days. I… may get in trouble from Professor Hemlock if he, um. Catches wind that I’m…” Fluttershy cleared her throat. “A-anyways! Later works fine. I’m quite happy to have a research partner. Besides my own marefriend, that is.” “I will keep you in my thoughts, Professor Fluttershy. Please take care until we meet again.” “Good luck in the Hollow Shades, Your Majesty! I just know you’ll do good for the ponies there. You and Twilight both.” Celestia hung up. She sipped her coffee. Outside, it started to rain. She could see it streaking down the skylight, in some places falling through holes in the ceiling to patter on the old marble floor of the reading room. She watched it fall, and turned the radio back on while she waited for Twilight’s return. And the entire time she waited, she continued to wonder--as she had been for weeks now, but more so in the past three days then ever before--how she could possibly let the little unicorn know how she truly felt about her. Like any thought that crossed Celestia’s mind now, it was a conflicted one. A thought teetering on a scale between self-doubt and optimism. A patient assurance that honesty was more valuable to the both of them then irrational worry. A harsher reminder that she’d been without love for too long. She hadn’t fully convinced herself she was even capable anymore. She wasn’t even certain she wouldn’t drive Twilight away, before everything was over. In her mind’s eye, she could see the scene clearly. It wasn’t a dramatic one, there were no shouted words or hurled lampshades or anything quite so cliche. Just the gradual feeling of glacial drift, two mares too afraid of each other to ever be in love. One convinced she was unworthy of love, and the other convinced she was unworthy of the mare offering it to her. She exhaled--she hadn’t even realized she’d started pacing around the library in her reverie, but she made her way over to the study to sit upon the raggedy couch that had replaced her throne. Just tell her, you old fool. She’s wise, and mature, and she’ll understand. Celestia squeezed her eyes shut. “I should. I should just tell her.” She didn’t, though. Twilight had looked considerably shaken when she reappeared in the library an hour or so later. And she didn’t waste time letting Celestia know why. Though, she still preluded it by trotting up to Celestia and nuzzling her neck against the tall alicorn’s. Hardly wasted time, as far as Celestia was concerned. “M-might want to sit back down, Celestia.” Twilight said, taking a step back. In her magic, she was carrying a manilla envelope. She’d wrapped it in newspapers to save it from the rain, and she gingerly tore them off the envelope and put them aside for later reading, trotting over to her writing desk with the envelope in telekinetic tow. “Shiny… kinda dropped a bombshell on me.” “Oh?” Celestia tilted her head curiously. “H-he didn’t tell me, but apparently he’s been meeting with the employees from the facility that imprisoned you. He was trusted with covering the whole incident up for the State, but he did the opposite. He’s got… a novella of confessions towards your treatment. Towards what they did to you. How the Industry made them terrified for the lives of their families if they disclosed any of this while you were imprisoned… it’s all…” “Damning,” Celestia said softly. “It… goes beyond anything I said in public. It paints a pattern of behaviour that’s consistent for twelve years. As I figured it would, if the ponies ever came forth. Not that I ever thought they would.” “And it doesn’t come from you. Which is… w-what you were afraid of, right? Looking like you were fishing for sympathy?” Celestia exhaled, nodding her head. “That was the fear I had, yes. This is… a development, to say the least.” “A good one?” Twilight frowned. “I know you’re worried about how they’ll take this, but it’s not just your word against theirs anymore. And I’ll be the one publicizing it. So I can… I can make sure your voice gets heard with it.” “I will think about this, Twilight Sparkle. And while we are on the subject… Professor Fluttershy returned news of our results.” “Oh! R-really? That was fast!” “Indeed. She thought they were urgent. She wants to test more, with our assistance. She fears for the safety of much of Ponyville’s immediate waterways.” “G-gods above. That’s… that’s unbelievable…” Twilight gawked. “I mean, it’s terrible. But we caught it. And that Type-A we talked to on the radio went on and on about how totally safe and properly tested it was by the State and she was wrong and we can prove it with the testimony of a published professional and…” “And it was your hunch that brought it to our attention.” Celestia beamed at Twilight’s enthusiasm. “Yours and yours alone. Your victory, as it will be if you end up publicizing what your brother found.” “Nightmare Moon helped.” Twilight rubbed an ear, blushing slightly. “But why not use both? A sort of, ah. What do they call it in the military? A fork attack?” “A two pronged assault, dear. But yes. That would be a good move. One we will have to coordinate better, of course, but I daresay I’m optimistic about the prospect.” Twilight nuzzled Celestia again, and then carefully tucked the folder into a messenger bag she’d had hanging from a coatrack. “Wanna go get some lunch? To celebrate?” “We could do that, yes. Or we could get lunch aboard the dining car. And make our way to Hollow Shades. See if our string of good luck doesn’t carry us even further, hrm?” Twilight thought it was a great idea. v Twilight and Celestia traveled as far as the rails could take them. Again. This time, the train ride wasn’t as long as it had been on the route to the uninhabited wilderness of the Eastern Coast of Equestria, where Celestia’s old beach home had been. When the Old Canterlot Line emerged from the tunnel weaving its way through Canterlot Mountain, it emerged into the grasslands and farmlands on its North side. The flatlands stretched for long distances into where the horizon rendered them a blurred haze. It was infinitely less demoralizing to travel along a train line that didn’t offer a front-row seat to the horrors of deforestation, Twilight thought, though perhaps her recent activities had rendered her a bit more critical of the sight. Seven hours and six hundred kilometers later brought them to a small farming town that a sign on the way in called ‘Hayseed’. On the way in, they could see another train that had been lying in wait on another rail to the side of the main line leading the way into town. A long, flat-bed style train, and on top of it, bound down by wires and straps, were countless heavy machines, long necks like dragons resolving in sharp claws and buckets. “Logging machines,” Twilight said softly. Celestia had been dozing off beside her, her head resting on Twilight’s shoulder, but she perked up to peer out the window. Celestia didn’t answer, but her expression spoke what words had no reason to. It was dark and cold and Twilight and Celestia shared a room in a bed and breakfast that was more than enthused to play host to a Princess and her assistant. They even called them such. No more ‘Miss’ Celestia. Twilight had seen it at the university, and now here it was again. The Princess, slowly but surely clawing her way back into the public psyche. Carefully and calmly shaking off the shame that the Industry had made synonymous with the title. Her whole life, Twilight had been dreaming of the sort of revolution she read about in history books. What she was seeing was something far different. It was as though Equestria had been in a trance for twelve years. And she was watching them as they were gradually coming back to life. It would be a cruel awakening when they learned what Twilight already knew, of course. But it would be the hard push towards salvation they needed. Celestia and Twilight both woke for the sunrise. They once more did it together… Twilight was skeptical of her own contributions, but Celestia assured her she was learning, and that was what counted. The contrast between Nightmare Moon’s tutelage and Celestia’s was almost humorous to Twilight. The black alicorn herself hadn’t been around for some time. Twilight had expected her when she rose the Moon, but she hadn’t come. Nor did she when they brought the moon back down again for the dawn. They checked out early, and departed the farming town when the smell of morning was still fresh and most of the lights in the sleeping houses remained extinguished. Their hooves left packed dirt and cobblestone and crossed over onto grass, which, besides the occasional grain silo, stretched unimpeded towards the sprawling grey sky. Distant thunder rolls. The sound of Celestia and Twilight’s hooves swishing through the grass. Ahead, the Hollow Shades were like a mighty city built out of nowhere in the midst of grass. It was still many kilometers out, but even from a distance, without anything else sullying the horizon, they could see it stretching into the sky before them. Immense cypress, stabbing into the rainy morning sky. Like tendrils grasping at the clouds, arching into many beautiful branches dozens of meters up. These cypress were a rarity, however, and the rest of the Hollow Shades seemed to exist below them--a canopy only broken in several places, so that the entire treeline looked like masts protruding from the deck of a sailing ship. The treeline began without a prelude, but as they got closer, Twilight slowly realized why. Perhaps it hadn’t one day. Ahead, the closer they got, she could see that the grasslands they were walking were old, but further on, they turned to dirt. The stubs of tree trunks had largely been bulldozed away, but some still remained--little memorials to the bits of the Hollow Shades that had been sacrificed away. “Incredible, isn’t it?” Celestia said beside her. “I haven’t been to the Hollow Shades since… oh, it must be thirty years, now. Those cypresses you see… I remember when they were half that height.” “Musta been nearly a hundred years ago…” Celestia chuckled. “Try a thousand. There’s much history in this forest. I think that’s why my sister liked it so much.” Twilight tilted her head. “Luna? What’s her story with this place, anyways? Nightmare Moon told me a little bit about it, but…” “Well….” Celestia rustled her wings a little, pausing for a moment as she considered how best to recount the ancient history. “I do believe she felt somewhat isolated from much of the work I was doing to unify the pony tribes. Ignored, largely, while I was listened to. The thestrals… pegasi, at the time, were a small group that were similarly discontent with my decisions to favour the earthponies jurisdiction over the farmlands of the budding Equestria. Claimed that I was exploiting their weather talents.” “H-huh. That… must have been a mess.” “Indeed. The worse part of those days was having to understand that all of the tribes were right. All were valid in their frustrations with the others. All of their demands for justice and compensation deserved my ear, and I did what I could do. Luna was… less patient. So, a splinter group of pegasi quickly captured her interest. Truthfully, it was partly my suggestion.” “W-wait, but didn’t they turn away from you? Didn’t you say they were fed up with listening to you?” “Yes, but that did not mean I was fed up with them, nor did it mean I didn’t remain concerned when a group of ponies who I wanted to see thrive instead turned and departed for a strange and dangerous forest on their lonesome. So, I sent Luna to try and befriend them. Form a link, and she succeeded. The thestrals adored her. She was a symbol to them, evidence that rejects and ignored ponies had a second chance with the trust of the darker, fairer sister.” “And… and after she…” Twilight gulped. “W-went away?” Celestia gave Twilight a bittersweet smile. “After I banished my sister, they were… quite upset. I visited, I explained why, and they… largely understood. They’d seen the turn my sister had been taking… things she expressed to those she trusted more than the ponies back home. They did not trust me the way they trusted Luna, but the hatred had faded over the centuries. They respected me enough to trust me when I promised them they were as much Equestrians as anypony under my rule. I ordered the Hollow Shades to be a nature preserve so as to guarantee it did not face destruction from the earth pony farmers, I let them have reign over it under a list of loose guidelines, and our relationship since then has largely been a positive one. During particularly cold winters, I would send them supplies or offer them shelter, and I periodically would have ponies from my governing body check on them to ensure all is well.” Twilight nodded. “So it’s pretty much exactly like I read about them, then. Er, minus the extra context about Princess Luna. Most of that stuff kinda begins with ‘mysterious isolated tribes’.” Celestia chuckled, nodding. “Luna liked the trust and respect they gave her. Coming from me, it was simply sisterly love. An obligation on my part, as she saw it. But from them, it felt like something she had earned, and I know she enjoyed that.” If Celestia had more to say, she quickly abandoned it when the sound of beating wings resolved itself from the wind and gentle rain. Twilight tensed, and beside her, Celestia did, too. She’d been flying against the backdrop of clouds, her dark shaded coat blending with the tapestry of nimbus-greys. She flew overhead, peering down at Celestia and Twilight, before clipping her wings towards the sky and descending in a gradual spiral, settling down some ways ahead of them. She was young, female, and was wearing a spear decorated with twine on her back. Her ears resolved in tufts of fluff at their tips, her wings leathery and without feathers. She tilted her head, regarding Celestia and Twilight with calm curiosity. Then, Celestia clicked her tongue several times, her horn aglow as she did so. The thestral mare tilted her head, returning with a few quick chirps of her own. “What?” Twilight blinked. “Thestralian, Twilight. They communicate through a sort of conlang based on variations of pitch and intensity that their sensitive hearing allows them to pick up on. Simple words with simple meanings, but it’s efficient for--” “Your highness…” The thestral descended in a courteous bow, the spear rattling a little on her back as she did. “I appreciate the gesture, but I can speak Equestrian with you, if it’s easier.” “O-oh!” Celestia gave a sheepish chuckle. “Wonderful! Were you, ahem…. expecting us?” The mare shook her head. “No, Your Highness. I am merely posted outside the Shades to watch for intruders.” “I earnestly hope we are not that.” She shook her head quickly. “Your Highness, you are always welcome. You and your friend both.” “Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight nodded at her. “Celestia’s assistant, and I’m a journalist by trade.” “I know of you. And I am called Malinalxochitl--it means ‘With Eyes Like Moonlit Rubies’. But my Equestrian name is Dusk Ruby, so you may call me that instead.” Ruby puffed her chest out proudly as she spoke. “I presume you wish to go to the village, yes? They’re… a bit afraid of outsiders, but I’m sure they’ll make an exception for, well…” Celestia chuckled. “As long as it isn’t a bother, dear. I’m just here to give my friend company, but if my presence is a distraction, I can…” “No, no. I think they would be eager to see you, Sun Princess.” Dusk Ruby shook her head. She led the way towards the threshold of trees ahead. They walked in silence for much of the five or so minutes it took for them to reach the dense foliage of the Hollow Shades. As soon as they entered them, Twilight very quickly realized just how fortunate they were to have run into the thestral guide now eagerly leading the way forwards--the Shades were far denser than the Whitetail Woods had been. The foliage was thick enough that even a creature ten feet away would be obscured completely, and Twilight had little doubt in her mind that she and Celestia would've gotten lost after about five minutes. It was the first exposure Twilight had ever had to a rainforest, and it certainly lived up to its title. Her mane and coat were soaked with the morning dew of a thousand fronds, which rubbed against her back almost perpetually as she followed Dusk Ruby. Every fern and tree looked like some sort of comedically enlarged version of the ones Twilight had seen in nature gardens around New Canterlot, and she stumbled often as the ground took some getting used to after travelling across grassland and pavement for practically her whole life. A hundred birds conversed above, a dawn chorus with hints of surprise as they undoubtedly caught quick glimpses of the foreign visitors from far above. “They’ve been wondering if you would come,” Ruby piped up, about ten minutes into the walk through the foliage. She could've been shy, or perhaps simply had nothing to say, but she had been largely silent up to then. As she talked, she glanced back at Twilight and Celestia, hardly paying attention as she weaved through the thick branches and thickets, moving them aside with a wing as though second nature. “We sent some of the village chiefs in to speak with the earth ponies in the town closest.” “Hayseed.” Celestia said softly. “The small farming town, yes? Population of about four hundred?” Ruby nodded. “Bigger than our village, and they have phones there. Ways of talking to the city. It’s a long flight for some of the older thestrals, and the chiefs warn that it’s dangerous outside the village now.” “Is that so? Animals?” Dusk Ruby nodded. “From the Everfree, they say. They’ve been moved around, same as we have, and now we’re all fighting for a place to live in what’s left.” Celestia scowls. “What happened to your designated land?” Ruby tilted her head. “...Um…” “When I was still ruler.” Celestia elaborated. Ruby seemed genuinely confused, and Twilight figured she likely didn’t recall much of life during those times. She didn’t seem a day older than twenty, which would’ve meant she’d been a filly when Celestia had fallen. "During my rule, the forest around the Hollow Shades formally belonged to the thestral tribes except where specifically noted.” “It all belongs to the machines now, Sun Princess.” Celestia exhaled. “How many times? Do they at least give you time, before ejecting you from your homes?” Ruby laughed. “They tell us we should move closer to Hayseed. Join the town there. But we’ve never harmed them from the Shades, we visit and trade often and enjoy our separate sisterhood with Equestria. We didn’t harm anypony, why should we have to leave the homes we’ve built generations ago?” Celestia scowled. “I will see how I may remedy that. It does not seem fair to me.” “Its been happening for years.” Twilight cut in. “There’s a few thestrals in Old Canterlot who left ‘cause of it. Literally bulldozing their homes down.” “Barbaric.” Celestia grits her teeth. “I will do what I can to protect you from them.” As Celestia and Twilight spoke, Dusk Ruby ’s focus seemed to grow more and more distant, until she was simply nodding along to show she was still listening while perking another ear to catch the sounds of the forest as she did so. Eventually, she paused, and called out in a language completely foreign to Twilight. It was high-pitched, with plenty of clicks as punctuation. It sounded somewhat like the recordings of dolphin-song Twilight had heard listening to the New Canterlot Public Radio’s late-night Science and Technologies broadcasts. From further in the forest came a similar response of clicks and calls. Twilight could see that Celestia herself had perked an ear, a small frown on her face. Twilight could distinctly make out the Princess’s own lips moving slightly, as though internally she were running through the words herself and trying to relearn their meanings. Eventually, there came another rustling in the trees. Twilight recognized the beating of wings over the shuffling forest canopy, and soon enough two figures of blurred movement poked from deeper amongst the thick foliage. Dusk Ruby greeted the other two ponies that had arrived with more of the clicking language, which they reciprocated somewhat reluctantly. One was eying Celestia, another Twilight, and both had wooden spears tucked into intricate twine sheaths on their backs. One of them jabbed a hoof in Celestia’s direction, which Dusk Ruby responded to with a series of quick nods. “They’re asking you to please come with us to our village.” The other pony, the one that had been more focused on Twilight, tilted their head. “The newspaperist, yes?” Twilight brought a hoof to her chest. “M-me? I… uh, I guess so.” “You’re here to tell about us?” “We’re here for a number of reasons, and that is amongst them.” Celestia spoke up. “Twilight Sparkle herself wishes to speak to the chiefs themselves about a type of magic she believes you may be able to help with.” There was more chatter amongst them at this, and it seemed Dusk Ruby was just as surprised by the revelation. Nonetheless, their excitement seemed to be of the positive sort to Twilight--their postures relaxed and far from defensive and their eyes alight with curiosity. “Please follow.” The thestral with the brown mane said, and Dusk Ruby nodded, leading the way eagerly deeper into the forest. “You said you’re here to learn about magic?” Twilight jumped a little--Dusk Ruby seemed to have snuck up directly beside her as she’d been examining the other thestrals. “Y-yeah, u-uh. Related to dreams, actually. I heard from a trusted source that you might be able to help with that.” “I am training a replacement for many duties, you see.” Celestia piped up. “And we both feel that if she is to be representing the nation’s various ponies as a student of magic, she should be familiar with their own particular skills and talents.” Dusk Ruby ’s eyes grew wide, and she bit her lip. “Oh. Dream magic, you say? Outsiders don’t often ask about that.” “I figured it’s somewhat private knowledge.” Twilight said, her head sinking. “And I’m… worried I might be overstepping my boundaries prying.” “I am not the pony to say so,” Dusk Ruby said. “I am just one of the village’s lookouts. I escort visitors into the village so they don’t get lost, or I try to scare away the machines long enough for my friends to help.” “Is that, um. Successful?” Twilight didn’t want to be offensive, but she couldn’t help herself. Ruby gave a little exhale. “The Tree Eaters don’t have souls to scare. They’re only made to destroy, and that’s what they do. If we work together, we can usually slow them, but they’ll be back the next week, made stronger each time. We’re… losing. I wish I could say otherwise, but I don’t believe lying will make that any different.” “You didn’t have me before.” Celestia said it with enough restraint and softness that it betrayed the intensity of her words. “You were left to fend for yourselves. But not anymore. I have taken the frontlines during wartime before. If need be, I will do it again to protect what’s right.” “P-Princess… are you… are you certain?” Twilight piped up, scratching an ear nervously. “You… your strength. You need to stay safe, too…” “Twilight, dear. This is worth being unsafe over. This is the duty I took as a Princess of Equestria. And it transcends Equestria’s title for me now.” “My tribe doesn’t care about Equestria’s title for you.” Dusk Ruby smiled. “You’re our Sun Princess still. And we will gladly accept your aid.” Celestia smiled back. "I want the whole of Equestria to see what Princess Celestia and her Crown Minister stand for, and against. They've been kept in the dark for far too long."