Emerald Alembic hung his head as he carried the frozen body of Princess Luna through the darkness of the garden. He had no idea how he would face the Princess of the Day, what he would say to justify his weakness. Certainly he would be removed from the palace, probably banished from Canterlot, possibly exiled from Equestria itself. And, perhaps worse than anything, he would deserve it.
He didn’t call for help: at that moment he mistrusted every member of the Princess’s Guard. He passed along the way the two guards who had been hit by sealing spells at the start of Spade’s attack. They were still alive, still yelping with pain, and a part of him pitied them. He knew he could save their lives by completing the seal. Yet such bitterness had blossomed in his heart that he walked passed them without a second glance, drowning out their agonized screams.
The palace gates looked less inviting the nearer he drew to the ornate palisade. The guards on duty rushed toward Emerald when they saw the incapacitated Princess draped over his back like a Herati rug. They pulled the Princess off Emerald’s back, questioned him fiercely, provoked and threatened him, and all the while Emerald stared vacantly at the marble pavement of the courtyard and made no reply.
The guards took hold of him when they became tired of his reticence. Emerald let them drag him through the palace gates, while an entire entourage rushed past in the opposite direction to retrieve the petrified princess. This latter group caught up with Emerald and his captors soon afterward, with the Princess of the Night uplifted on the backs of three servants, walking so closely that their flanks rubbed together with each step.
The guards led Emerald to the throne, where the Princess of the Day was pacing violently. A nervous tic absorbed every muscle in her face. She had been woken up and made aware of the incident the moment Emerald arrived.
Emerald and his two guards halted at the base of the platform before the throne, and Princess Celestia looked down at them coldly. The resentment in her eyes was unmistakable, the rage unmitigated, the sadness unrestrained. Emerald tried to hold back his tears.
“How did this happen, Emerald Alembic?” the Princess said. Her voice broke like that of a sobbing child.
Emerald bit his tongue.
“Answer me, Emerald!”
A guard rushed into the palace unannounced: it was hardly a time to adhere to formalities.
“We count seven of the Royal Guard dead in the garden, Your Highness. All of them were sergeants, except for one lieutenant, Adri Whitesnout.”
The Princess inhaled through her teeth.
“Lieutenant Whitesnout was my personal bodyguard,” she said. “What do you have to say for yourself, Master Alembic?”
“I should say…” Emerald began. “I should say you ought to choose your guards more wisely.”
“You will not toy with me, Emerald Alembic, and you will not disrespect my sister with your aloof remarks! Tell me what happened in the garden tonight.”
“We were attacked,” he said, “by Stowaway Spade.”
“You would say that!” the Princess scoffed. “What really happened? Did you lure my sister into the garden and attack her? Did you kill the guards when they tried to stop you? Why did you do it?”
“For pity’s sake, Princess, I don’t have time for your melodrama.”
“Excuse me?” Celestia shrieked. “I believe a little drama is called for when a princess is faced with her little sister’s murderer.”
The palace by then was buzzing with the ambient noise of ponies gossiping over this royal exchange. The roar was like a wall of sound. Emerald and the Princess would have needed to raise their voices even if they had been on good terms.
“She’s not dead,” Emerald hollered over the chatter. “She’s been sealed.”
“For how long?” the Princess called back.
“It’s hard to say!”
The Princess threw her head back in frustration.
“Silence!” she roared with the indubitable authority of the Royal Canterlot Voice. Like spears the sound entered ponies’ hearts and shattered the resolve of the most hardened palace guards. Everything went silent.
“Princess,” Emerald said respectfully, “there’s no way to determine how long Luna will be sealed like this. In the end, it depends upon the strength of the caster—a weak unicorn means a short duration. But there is a way to break the seal.”
“Do it,” she commanded.
“I should have said, I’m convinced there is a way.”
“Then you don’t know how?”
“I’m sorry.”
“You test my patience, Emerald Alembic. I am still not even convinced of your innocence.”
“Innocence!” Emerald shrieked. “Do you see my tears? These are the tears of guilt. Your guards are highly skilled; they are fast learners; they are made for combat, and it was seven of them against me and your sister. But that is no excuse, and I would gladly do my penance, if I were not convinced that I could better atone for my sin by repairing the damage I could not prevent.”
“You are saying my guards attacked her?” Celestia said skeptically.
“I am saying it was through her that Spade wished to avenge himself on me. That’s what he said. He wished me dead. Somehow he made your guards obey him, and they attacked. He would have had Whitesnout accuse me of sealing the Princess, and justified my murder as self-defense.”
“You speak of Whitesnout as if of a villain!” said the exasperated Princess.
“I am sorry, Your Highness, but that is the only way I knew him. It is difficult, I know, to doubt the honor of a stallion you trust. That’s how I know it’s so much easier to blame me, whom you never trusted.”
“It is difficult to blame you, Emerald Alembic,” said the Princess through clenched teeth, “precisely because I trusted you. I let my sister befriend you, and I said nothing, because I believed you cared for her.”
“I have not cared for anyone so much since you were a young mare,” Emerald said.
“Just tell me how long I have to wait to see my sister again.”
“Your guards are strong,” said Emerald, “so the caster probably managed the spell at full strength. I’m sorry.”
“How long?”
“Two thousand years. One thousand if the caster was weaker than I expect.”
“I will not lose my sister for another thousand years!” shouted the Princess. Her eyes were swollen from crying.
“I can figure out how to undo the spell, Princess, I just need time. The Double Harvest is coming up and—”
“Then do it,” said the Princess. “And do not presume to show your face to me until it is done. The details of tonight’s events will be reported to Twilight Sparkle, and will reach me through her. Do you understand?”
“Your Highness,” Emerald said softly, “I would gladly have died tonight, if it would have meant Luna’s safety.”
The Princess wiped her eyes with her wrists.
“Me too,” she said.
* * *
Emerald did not sleep at all that night. He doubted whether anyone else had managed a wink either. He imagined Celestia in her bed, a wreck of shivers and sobs, and a tightness in his chest was an intimation that he was not far off the truth.
The likeness of Luna in the stained glass window stared back at him. The resemblance was now more remarkable than ever, and every glint in the glass seemed a word from her lips, every contour was her gentle laugh. Every moment that he watched it he felt her meet his gaze, accusing him, blaming him.
He was exhausted in the morning when Twilight knocked at his chamber door and let herself in. He was still lying in his canopy bed, staring at the ceiling.
“Are you okay, Emerald?” she ventured to say softly.
Emerald made no reply.
“Princess Celestia told me about last night. I know how you must be feeling. Princess Luna means a lot to all of us.”
Emerald sighed.
“What happened last night? What really happened?”
“I wish I could go back, Twilight,” Emerald said, ignoring her.
“Go back to last night, you mean?”
“No,” Emerald shook his head, “back to the beginning, before I began this stupid feud. Do you know what I would do differently? I’d drop it. I’d let it be. I’d forgive Spade and be an ordinary stallion. Even the non-violent course of my life, to pioneer, to invent, to be extraordinary—it’s hell. Normality is a pony’s greatest gift.”
“You’re wrong,” said Twilight. “To be ordinary may be a pony’s greatest comfort, but it’s mediocrity that is a curse, one that each pony must lift for herself. Why do you think our culture is centered around finding our special talents? Nopony who knows her aptitude and is encouraged to pursue it can avoid becoming great. Only those who do not know their talent are mediocre, and only they are unhappy.”
“I am unhappy,” Emerald asserted. He still lay on his bed, letting himself be lectured by his student.
“No, you’re upset. There’s a difference, and dwelling on the past isn’t helping. You can’t change the past, Emerald, but it’s never too late to end this feud. It’s never too late to forgive him.”
“You’re right, Twilight. I can’t change the past. That’s exactly why neither of us will ever forgive the other.”
“Why can’t you let it go?” Twilight said. “You’re hurting the ponies you love, for what? So you can play cat and mouse with someone who wronged you two thousand years ago?”
“You didn’t know River Rose!” Emerald snapped. “Everyone who knew her would have led a crusade to save her life, or avenge her death. Even the great Star Swirl the Bearded created time travel spells in secret, just for her. But time vortices are unstable. The universe knows when you’re in a time or place you don’t belong, and it doesn’t take long to find you and send you back. Star Swirl realized this, so he hid his spells away so he wouldn’t give other unicorns false hope.
“Don’t you think I’ve tried to go back? I’ve tried preventing the attack, I’ve tried healing her, I’ve even tried bringing her back with me. Yet each time I went to see her, she remembered it as a dream. The timeline healed itself, treating me like an illusion. Stowaway Spade killed my wife, and there will be no peace until I stop him permanently. Nothing in Equestria will stand in my way.”
“I don’t want to stand in your way, Emerald,” said Twilight. “I want to help. You can start by telling me what happened in the garden last night.”
Emerald sat up on the bed and told Twilight to take a seat. He related to her the details of Spade’s attack, and when he was done he collapsed back onto his bed like before.
“But why would a lieutenant of the Royal Guard help attack the Princess?” Twilight said when he was quiet.
“Not just any lieutenant,” said Emerald. “One of Celestia’s personal bodyguards, the elite that are trusted to protect the Princesses from domestic threats, should the occasion arise.”
“That’s all the more reason why would he wouldn’t join Spade.”
“Unless,” said Emerald, “it were the perfect incentive.”
“What does that mean?”
“He was the second-highest ranking officer in the palace. He had a good income, respect, and all the perquisites that come with palace work. Imagine yourself in that position. The one thing you would be most afraid of is losing that position, that honor, those privileges. What happens if a stallion comes along capable of taking it all away?”
“Someone like Spade,” said Twilight.
“With the right leverage, you can bribe or blackmail a stallion into anything. With Whitesnout, I’m guessing blackmail. Whatever he had to hide, it must have been bad.”
“Actually,” Twilight said, her eyes glowing suspiciously, “I remember Whitesnout from the Changeling Invasion. He was just a sergeant then. It was only after that he was promoted to a lieutenant. I’m obligated to attend all official ceremonies, so I remember it well.”
“Do you remember why he was promoted?”
“They say he risked his life to save his subordinates. They were trapped in a building that was devastated by changeling attack. He only had time to drag one of his soldiers to safety, and it turned out to be a changeling. The changeling attacked him and hurt him very badly. He was in a wheelchair during his promotion ceremony. He got a purple heart, too.”
“When Spade attacked me, he said Whitesnout was promoted for sacrifice in the line of duty. He said it like a joke. He said Whitesnout sacrificed his own soldiers.”
“I don’t buy it,” said Twilight, firmly. “His story holds up. He was rescued from the changeling before they were expelled, by a soldier who witnessed the attack. It’s hard to believe they conspired.”
“Yet the truth may have nothing to do with it,” said Emerald. “What matters here is what Whitesnout believed about himself. If Whitesnout blamed himself for the deaths of his soldiers, if he both feared retribution and longed for it, he would have been very easy to manipulate.”
“You’re saying Whitesnout’s story was true, and he still thought he killed them?”
“Guilt is a terrible thing. It starts with blaming yourself for letting them die, and after a while you start to tell yourself you killed them. I should know, that’s what I went through with River Rose.”
“I hope you aren’t doing the same over Princess Luna,” said Twilight.
“I learn from my mistakes,” said Emerald. “Besides, I’m going to save her.”
“How?”
“Even the Elements of Harmony,” said Emerald, standing up and beginning to pace; “even the Elements are not powerful enough to break a time-locked seal without the energy of the Double Harvest Moon. I’ve worked so hard to get here before this year’s Double Harvest. I can’t stand to think I’ll miss it now that it’s so important.”
“Wait,” Twilight said. “There is a Double Harvest this year?”
“The first full moon of the Harvest falls on the first of September, and the second full moon, the Blue Harvest Moon, falls on the thirtieth. It’s extremely rare: it only happens every two hundred years or so. And if we can use the Elements during the Double Harvest, I’m convinced I’ll be able to break the seal and rescue Luna.”
“But Celestia forbade you to handle the Elements. And, call me crazy, but I think she trusts you even less now.”
“Don’t worry,” said Emerald. “I finished replicating the Elements of Harmony almost a week ago. Six alchemic seals that perform the same function as the Elements themselves. I’ve even tested them already.”
“Really?” Twilight exclaimed. “That’s wonderful!”
“Yes,” Emerald frowned, “but only four of them are responding to me.”
“Which four?”
“I was born with an aptitude for the Element of Magic; it seems being unable to keep my secret has activated Honesty; it’s because of Luna that Laughter has opened itself to me—or I to it; and Loyalty. Now more than ever, the Element of Loyalty has burned in my heart.”
“I would imagine,” Twilight smiled, “it’s because you would never abandon Princess Luna. But that leaves Generosity and Kindness.”
“I admit, in all my life I have found myself neither generous nor kind.”
“That’s ridiculous. You spent thousands of years healing sick and injured ponies. Did you ever ask for a reward, or even gratitude? You’re the most generous stallion I’ve ever met.”
Emerald cracked a sardonic smile.
“I met a wise stallion once,” he said, “who told me that Nature holds us to higher standards with our gifts than with our weaknesses. A true artist is mediocre unless he is Great, and a truly kind pony will be seen as wicked until he is kind even to his enemies. Or generous to a villain.”
“You don’t mean…” Twilight began.
“In all likelihood, the Elements will never respond to me until I manage both Generosity and Kindness toward Stowaway Spade. It’s hopeless.”
“Can’t my friends and I use the Elements to free her? There must be some way.”
“For this to work, you have to have mastered time alchemy. You’re good, Twilight, but even if you could master time alchemy by the Harvest Moon, what about your friends? I can’t even grasp how Spade managed it at all, let alone how long it must have taken him. It could have taken years.
“You are more talented than I am, but the other bearers count among them two Earth ponies and two pegasi. How will they learn advanced time magic by then?”
“Then what can we do?”
“I will save Luna,” Emerald said, gritting his teeth. “Whatever it takes, I will free her during the Double Harvest. If I have to conquer my spirit and shatter my soul to bring myself to forgive Stowaway Spade, I would do it for her.”
At that moment, a soldier of the Royal Guard burst into Emerald Alembic’s bedchamber. He was wearing a lieutenant’s pendant and the signature crested legionary helmet with his turquoise mane tucked up through the crest, standing stiffly upright. His pupils were contracted with panicked intent.
“Your Eminence,” he gasped, “come quickly! The Elements of Harmony have been stolen!”