The past
My inbox was full of appeals against my sister's decisions. I looked through them, starting from the top.
Skyship dock. Budget reduction against previous year. Reason for change: adjustment to real expenditures. Reason for appeal: the budget won't suffice for normal operation after executive bonuses are paid. Oh, of course, special bonus for doing exactly what you're paid to do, right? Appeal rejected and let them only try to pay these bonuses, they will be in trouble!
Coffee importers association. Appeal against additional quality checks. Reason for checks: abysmal drop of coffee quality. Reason for appeal: they were never required to, also, coffee not meeting minimum standards will need to be destroyed instead of mixing it in with higher quality, which is a waste and loss of profit. Wait, so you got a ton of coffee moldy, so you mix it with ten tons of good coffee and the blend is no longer substandard? Oh, you! Appeal rejected.
Opera fan club. Budget reduction against previous year. Reason for reduction: wasteful spending. Reason for appeal: Continued operation of the subsidized club café serving sweets and drinks to the club members for free will necessitate more than halving the number of performances the club members will organize. Considering that about all of the club members are rich elite of Canterlot, there is really no reason for ponies to subsidize their cakes. Appeal rejected, and I suggested raising membership fees if the café is to remain free, which would keep hubbub from joining the club for free cupcakes.
Fillydelphia Water and Sewage Works. Massive budget reduction and group layoffs. Reason: reorganization of administration department. Reason for appeal: The new budget will prevent the institution from operating after all the severance packages are paid. I checked the list of laid off. Curiously, only two surnames on two pages filled with names, and all identical as the president and his son's wife. All in the institution's administration. All earning at least three times the technical crew salary. Now we can't pay them extra just to stop their wrongdoings, can we? Appeal accepted. Case of suspicion of nepotism filed with Fillydelphia court. Luna tried to show you the way, and you reject it? You will pay premium.
Miamare winter wrap up budget reduction. Ten thousand bits for team suits design, twenty thousand bits for modernizing shovel models, a million bits for snowplows? What happened to the ones purchased a year ago? Luna attached a note that an investigator is already working on the case, and that the town got all of two inches of snow this winter, and it all melted by now. Appeal rejected.
I accepted only two more appeals from a pile of about three hundred, and in both cases the court would have a closer look and likely get the appealers to pay fines far, far higher than their expected profits.
And there was a cherry on top, or in this case on the bottom of the inbox. Luna's project of a tax reduction act. With the new budget cuts not only all overdue projects got their funding, we could cut the taxes for all honestly working ponies. Just by one percent this year, but Luna expected next year the taxes could be reduced more.
For the first time in the past thousand years taxes would be reduced in Equestria. Wow. I had to hug Luna. I flew up to her tower, hoping I would not intrude on her and her man together... but no, as I knocked on the balcony door frame, she asked me to come.
She was apparently in bad mood. Worried. Light was there too, typing on a terminal by her desk. He greeted me, but he was just as worried, if not more. He paused his typing and observed.
“Sis, is something wrong?” I asked.
“Yes and no, sis. It's good you came, maybe you'll come up with something.” She led me to her desk. “Last year you approved Hippocampus Research to investigate acquiring magic from burning coal. They've been successful. Too successful.”
“What do you mean by 'too successful'”?
“Just look at this.” she gave me a big binder with a Hippocampus picture on the front page. “This is their report. Look at the possible applications.” she opened it at relevant page.
Instant light much brighter than candles. Faster-than-rainboom transport. Machinery. Appliances. Heating. Self-powered carts. The list ran on and on.
“That seems wonderful, sis! I don't know why you'd worry!”
“That was my reaction at first too. But it caused Light almost to panic.”
“Some external insights?”
“He asked me for estimates. Simulations. This is not sustainable. We'd run out of coal eventually and we'd be too dependent on it by then. The results could range from a deep crisis to a downfall of Equestria.”
“Oh! Are you sure?”
“I am not. Light is. And how would I even break this kind of news to enthusiastic researchers who put so much heart into making Equestria better?!”
“Northern Light?” I approached the human.
He bowed. He knelt. He wouldn't kneel in front of me for quite a long time already, but now...
He bowed his head to the ground.
“Princess Celestia, I beg you! Stop this disaster.”
“Luna, all these applications require spark energy, right? And that doesn't need to originate from coal, does it?”
“That's true, sis. A unicorn can propel them by passing energy directly from the horn.”
“So let's scrap the whole coal avenue and look for something sustainable that produces the same results. Solar energy maybe? Coal will be allowed only in experimental phase, no publicly available appliance can run on exhaustible resources.”
“I think I can agree to that.” Luna shrugged.
*glomp*
“Light!?” I peeled him off my neck. “There is really no need. It's nothing!”
“Oh, no, Princess! It's everything!”
“Now just don't start kissing my hooves.”
It seems I stopped him halfway from doing that...
“Come here.” Luna pulled him with her levitation, then held him with her wing. “Too close. Mine.”
“You're really too possessive, sis.” I grinned.
“Am I?” she directed the question at him.
He embraced her and shook his head. “I always lacked self-confidence, self-esteem. You can't imagine what ego boost it gives me when Luna gets this possessive!”
“Oh, concerning ego boost... Luna, I reviewed the appeals against your decisions. I rejected most of them.”
“Most?” she seemed concerned.
“Some ponies really don't know when to give up. They... I... I had a true lesson in value of mercy in Entwine. If they can't appreciate your mercy, they don't deserve it.”
“Sis?” Luna was surprised and worried.
“We'll talk about this sometime. For now, I just wanted to say... sis, I'm proud and happy. And I'd like to ask you to handle all budget issues from now on. You're way, way better at that than me.”
“Seriously?” she gasped in surprise. “I mean... it's just simple math! Some linear programming, some comparative statistics, a little differential calculus, optimization, nothing hard really!”
“You realize I have no clue what you're talking about?”
“You don't? Are you serious? What have you been doing at miss Acute's lessons?”
“Mostly staring at the blackboard... blankly... You realize I've been copying your homeworks and passed only thanks to Acute Angle's poor eyesight and notes written on my hooves?”
“You were cheating at the maths exam?” Luna appeared almost outraged.
“Luna, that was almost four thousand years ago!” I hunched my shoulders.
“And now four thousands years later you harvest the results! You accept any ridiculous budget they throw at you! Sis, I'm so disappointed in you! This cannot be. I'm going to teach you maths, starting now and that's final!”
My cheeks were burning. What did I do to deserve this?! Luna, have mercy!
But wait! I-dea! I have something to distract her!
“All right, sis, but first... I have a letter for you! Just a moment!” I teleported away to my room and began digging through papers I brought from Entwine. Here it is! A quick flash back to Luna's room and there I was, sheepishly passing the ornate scroll with a big, decorative seal. She took it tentatively. She peered at that seal.
“Is that me in that coat of arms?” she frowned.
“I don't know any other alicorns with moon for a cutie mark.” I smiled.
She broke the seal and opened the scroll. Her eyes grew bigger. “An invitation? A lecture? But what could I even talk about? They must be ahead of Canterlot Chair of Mathematics by strides!”
“They exchange mail with the University of Canterlot on regular basis, so no, there isn't all that much of a difference. And Professor... whatshisname... was very interested in your computational machine.”
“Oh, this! But it's flawed! It's full of my errors and Light's patches on them! How could I ever...”
“Luna, darling.” Light spoke, still embracing her. “What fun is there to hear of research that is final and complete. Give them something to work on. We can build model 2.0 together with them, not secretly and not on such an insane schedule. Better, faster and without old errors.”
“Light, why do I have a feeling you qualified the word “errors” with “old” for a reason?”
He grinned. “Because there will be new ones. There always are. Trust me on this.”
“Sis, this is such a wonderful news...” Luna smiled. “But unfortunately I cannot accept. I must stay and teach you maths.”
My wings drooped to the floor.
“Oh, Luna.” Light hugged her. “Cut your sister some slack. You don't need to teach her everything right away, and you don't have to be teaching her all the time!”
I nodded eagerly.
“I'm sure Twilight and I can be teaching Celestia whenever you can't!”
No! You traitorous human! Noooo!
* * *
“The Great and Powerful Trixie does not consent to being treated like this! This is an outrage!”
“Oh, just shut up. You're giving me a headache.”
I observed the two from behind a mirror. Sir Fancypanyts and Trixie weren't getting along very well. Two only somewhat likely suspects. Let's start with the obnoxious one. My voice changed through a special talisman requested her to move to adjacent interrogation room. She moved there, her pace filled with indignity. I cast the spell of truth seeing, and concentrated on reading it right, as I entered the room in company of Luna and Shining Armor.
“Please excuse us for the treatment,” I said. “This is a matter of national security.”
Presence of both of us set her a little aback, but she hid it and tried to appear indignant. “Do you require Trixie's help in this? Trixie thinks she can help... for a price.”
“What do you know about Starswirl's Evertorch?” Luna asked, ignoring the magician's offer.
“Information has its value too,” she replied, frowning. I had to put my hoof on Shining's shoulder as he was about to blurt something out. He calmed down.
“Can you make one?” Luna asked.
“That depends.” She replied. The spell tingled, convincing me she lied, but it never said how.
“What would you need?”
“No less than three... no, four hundred bits! And my magical toolbox!”
“Captain, please bring the items she requested.”
We waited as Shining left. Trixie fiddled on the hard chair under cool stare of Luna and me. She was sweating a little. She removed her hat and pushed it to her chest. She swallowed.
“Of course if it's a matter of national security, Trixie is willing to... offer some discount.”
“Money is of no merit,” Luna replied.
We sat in silence some more. Shining returned with a pouch of coins and a small chest with Trixie's cutie mark on the lid. She gulped, then she got to work. No notes, no introductory spells. There was a blank talisman in her box and she got to drafting runes around its edge. Soon I recognized it's not the evertorch she was making though. That was a normal candle talisman, with some runes that would allow it to draw from power of its creator. Sure it would work like the Evertorch as long as Trixie lives, then it would expire with her death.
“Note we are only interested in the genuine Starswirl's Evertorch, the one that can burn indefinitely by gathering its own charge from the aetherus portal on its reverse side. We are not interested in inferior substitutes of minor talismans of flame with their own pre-charge”, Luna commented.
Trixie swallowed a bit, then shook her head. “You are getting the one and only Evertorch, with Trixie's proprietary improvements, superior to the original in all respects!”
“Not the original?” I asked.
“Why would you ever want that? Here, just let me give it an initial charge...”
Trixie's horn shone and soon the talisman erupted with a small candle-like flame.
Luna smirked. “Now to replicate the conditions we require, I shall damage the limit ward. What will happen?”
“Don't!” Trixie waved her hooves. “It will... It will...”
I smirked. “How would you go about creating a permanent portal to Aetherus?”
“I would... I would first create a temporary portal and then use it to power itself up.”
Which was true, that's what she'd do if she had a clue how to create a temporary portal. And which was entirely wrong, the portal far too prone to closing itself spontaneously, needing far more complex solution. Trixie had no clue how to create the Evertorch. She had some talent but nowhere near enough for that task, and I could sense the truths and falsehoods from her too sharply to ever consider her trying to cloud my truth detection spell.
“You're free to go,” I said.
“Wait! Give Trixie a chance! I can do it! I'll just need...”
“You can keep the gold. And...” Luna rapidly smashed the talisman, startling the magician, “no need to drain your magic for the rest of your days for measly four hundred bits. How many such talismans are eating at you all around Equestria?”
Trixie looked at her, with surprising hardness in her eyes. “This does not need to concern the Princess. And as Princess is not satisfied, Trixie will not take the money.”
“Humor me, answer the question,” Luna insisted.
Trixie hesitated, but she wouldn't dare to refuse the answer. “Four. Two keeping hearts of old ponies beating, one is cleansing water for a far household, and one is keeping a young filly smiling, guarding her dreams. They are no burden for Trixie.”
“How much did you charge?”
“Two hundred bits for the water cleansing talisman.”
“And the other three?”
Trixie remained silent.
Luna smiled. “You're in debt, aren't you?”
Trixie wanted to refuse the answer again, but I saw how she rethinks that. “Yes.” she stated flatly.
“Keep the money,” Luna smiled, “Keep them as a reward for two talismans that keep hearts of ponies beating. And have a bit of your power back. I'll take care of the dreams of the filly from now on. You're free to go.”
“But if you ever fall on hard times,” I sent her a smile, “Report to me. Hippotigria needs unicorns skilled in healing. The pay would be moderate, but the gratitude of the healed immeasurable.”
Trixie bowed, gathered her chest and the pouch and headed to the exit. Meanwhile, Shining Armor went to bring sir Fancypants in.
I exchanged a glance with Luna. She frowned.
The two walked in. Fancypants looked me straight in the eyes. He took the seat as Shining returned to his place.
We sat in silence for a while.
Finally, he coughed quietly. “It doesn't look very good, does it?” he asked.
“You're the last remaining suspect,” I answered.
“I will understand if you lock me up, Princess. If a random pony approached me and asked me to create an evertorch, I wouldn't even blink. It would take me a week or two, and I'd charge several thousands bits for my time, but I wouldn't even ask what they need it for. Still, if that was the case I wouldn't hesitate a second to testify against them if they used the talisman for such nefarious purpose.”
“I want to believe you, Fancypants. I really do.”
“I understand. I know you can't risk being wrong about letting me go. Still, I bid you. Don't cease searching. I'm not the one. If you just lock me up, and stop there, the real culprit will go free.”
“Captain?” I turned my head to Twilight's brother.
“As long as we don't have direct proofs, you're merely under arrest. Still, would it be much of a problem if we announced to the public that the culprit was caught? This might encourage Xaroth to make a move.”
I saw pain in Fancypants' eyes. “My reputation, the estate, the foundations...” he sighed, then raised his head. “Do it. Truth will prevail.”
“It will, one way or another.” Shining nodded. “For now, please, follow me. I'll try to make your stay as tolerable as possible.”
* * *
Why is it that Tutor and Torture sound so much alike? At least I could now predict efficiencies accurately, and spot discrepancies between expectations and reality, to investigate possible fraud. One of many things I learned in recent months. I had to give it to Luna, she was a great teacher, though merciless. Miss Acute Angle would be satisfied if I knew half of the material. Luna required I repeat until I know it all, and would often go back to older subjects to check if I didn't forget.
Tiring.
Between politics, planning for the wedding and learning maths, my life wasn't leaving me much time. I'd exchange letters with Nadir daily, and after I'd excel in given test, Luna would reward me with a few days off, and I'd just fly to Nadir's secret cottage near Entwine and we'd spend a few days without distractions of the outside world.
And month by month, I was getting more plots drafted by Blueblood's crew on the Moon. New report just arrived, and Luna used the opportunity to drill some more of peak output estimating. So there I was in my room hunched over a parchment, drafting new columns of digits, a tiny computer - “calculator” provided by Luna mercifully for my aid on the side, and the previous reports stacked on the other side. I was running through a newly-learned method of prediction, with Luna monitoring my progress. I confirmed the expected peak output at 1050 plots per month, and somewhat surprised, I noticed the prospectors wouldn't approach that number, their last four reports consistently with 823, 825, 826, 826 plots. I scratched my head. Luna ran the calculations quickly, making only rudimentary notes.
“Celestia, just to make sure you got this task perfected, assume my great-grandson is slacking off and not doing his part.” she smiled. “It's going to be easier and you can reuse a good part of the prior calculation.”
I returned to the paper and tried again. Negative output? Oh, I forgot to switch the sign. I corrected the mistake and Luna smiled, approvingly. New factors. Series. Calculate the limit... 819 plots.
“So he's not doing entirely nothing. Just very little.” Luna grinned. “I think I'll pay him a visit...”
“That might be reasonable.” I nodded.
“Now there are three more budget reports I found dubious. Find the leaks and if you make no mistake, I can take over for you for this weekend.”
“Three?! I hoped there would be just one more!”
“Celestia,” Luna frowned. “You're getting between five and thirty of those every day. And if you don't believe me that you can get fluent at solving them, I can rewrite that as a task and you'll calculate your own peak output at calculating peak outputs.”
“Whole weekend?”
“Away friday afternoon, back monday morning.”
“Late monday morning?”
“Noon. But no later than that.”
I unrolled the parchment and began writing down the entries as input variables, then concentrated at picking the right method.
Luna frowned.
Oh. No nibbling on the pencil. That's un-princess-like.
Math is hard.
* * *
I finished re-reading my yesterday's notes and repeated the theorems from memory, as the expected knock on the door came.
“Come in, Luna.” I called out. Routine, hardships, effort of learning... but I was still looking forward to spending the hour with my sister.
Luna walked in. Dragging her legs, head low down, her mane and tail without their usual lightness, hanging down, trailing after her. Her eyes were reddened from tears.
“Sis?” I asked, worried.
“It's nothing. Just old memories.”
“Tell me, Luna.”
“No. You'll start blaming yourself, and I'll have to kick your flank for that...” she grinned sourly. “I'll cope with that myself. Let's get on with the lesson.”
“As you wish,” I sighed.
“So,” Luna sat on the opposite side of my desk and opened the textbook. “I've decided to skip a whole bunch of classic mathematical analysis, I'm well aware you're not able to appreciate its beauty so I'm not going to torment you with learning it, but you need to learn this well instead. It's a dirty shortcut, which was just a crude, mostly useless theory a year ago, but currently, with the computer, it allows you to skip all the convolutions and intricacies of finding exact solutions at cost of accuracy. Discretization is a method of transforming a continuous function into a set of points of data...”
...and suddenly, without any warning, Luna burst into tears.
I ran up to her and hugged her. At first she returned the hug...
“Tell me, Luna. I want to help you...”
“No!” she pulled herself free from my embrace. “You won't understand!”
She turned and ran, her steps heavy, echoing far in the corridors of the castle.
At first I wanted to run after her, but then I thought again. I gathered energy and teleported myself to the sea shores, then ran up the curving path to Light's hut. I burst in without knocking.
Light was busy preparing milk for Tempus. He greeted me with a respectful nod, but there was some hardness in his gaze.
“Light, what happened to Luna?” I gasped out.
“She went to the moon. She recalled it all.”
“What happened?”
“The elements of harmony made her forget. The banishment, the despair, her fall... that was just a dull echo, unimportant, painless. Now it all returned to her in full clarity. She remembers now. And...” his voice trailed off, and he hesitated.
“Light? Tell me!” I shouted, my voice on verge of tears.
“She's afraid of you.”
“Why?”
He turned his head to me, his stare cold like a snake, filled with hostility, but his voice still completely calm.
“Guess.”
I recalled our battle. Her anger, her pain, and then...
“We must help her!”
“How are you going to help her? By making her forget again?”
“If that's what it takes...”
“No, Celestia. She's right to be afraid of you. Leave her alone.”
“I don't want to lose her again!”
“She has friends now. She will be fine.”
“I'm her friend too! Light!”
C&L
S.B.F.F.
I cried.
* * *
It was like that two weeks ago. Currently, Luna simply avoided me. Twilight would still tutor me on maths once a week, but we both were doing it half-heartedly. Luna appeared during the Summer Sun Celebration, and she vanished halfway through the ceremony. There was over a hundred of zebra guests, they cheered, they applauded, but when the celebration ended, I was worried sick. I found Luna in Starswirl's restricted wing of the library, ears deep in books. When I asked her about that, she said it's her own thing, her alone, and that I should not be concerned. She wouldn't cry anymore, but she was brooding, throwing me fearful glances. Her step lost springiness. I recalled it: that was the heavy stride of Nightmare Moon.
I visited Light again, asking him if he found any way to help Luna. His reply made me more worried than before, and explained nothing. He greeted me in the door of the cottage, without letting me in. He didn't appear hostile to me. He appeared sympathetic.
“I'm always faithful to Luna. I'd never betray her trust. I tried to change her mind, but this is too important for her, so I'm with her on this, and I'm endlessly sorry...” he saddened. “You deserve better. But there's nothing I can do. If Luna is to live, to get better, this is the only way.”
“What is she up to?! Light, is she turning into Nightmare Moon again?”
“No. Equestria is safe. Hippotigria... is safe too. If all goes well, if you look back in a few centuries, you'll see she was right.”
“But you wanted to change her mind!”
“I... have a soft heart. A thousand years, Celestia! I can't refuse her. I'm sorry.”
He wanted to close the door, but I held it with my hoof.
“Wait! Light, I beg you! Is there anything I can do?!”
“When the time comes... forgive her.”
With these words he closed the cottage door in my face.
* * *
Nadir was gone.
No pony nor zebra knew what happened. One day he went to sleep to his quarters and another day he went missing.
Of course the newspapers wrote he fled the wedding. But no, no letter, no message, no hint.
The next day I asked Luna for help finding him. And next thing she was gone too.
No hints. No trace. No witnesses. Nothing.
I tried locating her. My spell was actively blocked.
I checked Light's cottage. It was empty. No Light, no Tempus.
At least Twilight was still at the library, but while she was eager to help, she knew nothing. Luna knew how close she was with me, and while she remained friendly towards her, she never let her on her plans. Anyway, I asked her to gather her friends and be ready for my call. Filled with dread, I was afraid the Elements of Harmony would become necessary...
I was back to the castle after checking every place I could think of.
Time for an important test.
I lowered the Sun, quickly, simply, almost rushing it.
And I waited.
I waited.
A sliver of the Moon appeared from behind the horizon.
I breathed in relief.
Luna gone or not, Equestria still needed me governing it. I went back to my desk, to deal with my job. Luna's lessons weren't useless. I didn't even need to check every proposed budget, ponies simply learned I know how to calculate them and began giving me correct ones after I sent a few faulty ones back for corrections...
Still, there was a dozen other problems where I could really use Luna's help. Alas, alone again.
Another monthly report from the Moon. I checked correctness of the attached ledger, really sick of the job. 819 plots, all correct. The prank ceased to be funny. I put the ledger next to the others, rolled the report, placed it next to the others and took another document. Fillydelphia water and sewage works nepotism case. They want to call my sister as a witness...
I looked at my maths notebook with a kind of sadness. The lessons with Luna stopped after her visit to the Moon. Light and Twilight would still teach me, but Luna...
With a feeling of nostalgia I opened the notebook, flipping the pages, recalling Luna badgering me over every line. I really missed that. Linear programming. Statistics, lots of statistic. Differential calculus. Sequences. Predictions. I was repeating the rules in my head with a fondness, but I felt a tear in my eye.
I flipped another page of calculations.
Peak output of the moon prospectors team. 1050. Next try, crossing Blueblood out, 819.
The result at the bottom of the page sent a jolt up my spine. I unrolled the reports.
823, 825, 826, 826, 819.
I slammed the notebook shut and stuffed the reports back on their place. Then I opened the balcony and soared towards the rising Moon.
* * *
I soared over the grey, dull surface littered with craters and rare trails of hoofprints. There were occasional poles marking corners of large plots of land, roads connecting them, room left for communal facilities. A lot of honest work was put into this ridiculous endeavor. Still, the trails crossing over and meeting, makeshift campsites, this wasn't getting me anywhere closer to the solution.
I cast a spell of life detection and extended my senses... nothing within my range. I settled on top of a mountain, looking around, thinking.
Where are they?
Then I recalled: They began marking the edge of Mare Imbrium in last report. I flew up and located the enormous desert... but only a small part of it bore hoofprints. And there was life on the edges of my perception. The plots drafted here were more straightforward, no more fantasy flair like in the early ones. More... streamlined. And then there was this shallow cave, just an overhanging rock, where two ponies lay on worn bedrolls next to rudimentary camping equipment, a supply of poles and ledgers. One pony was sleeping, the other was writing in a ledger by a weak light of an oil lamp.
I landed by them quietly.
Diamond Quill interrupted his writing. He stood up and knelt, his long, unkempt mane in the dust.
“Princess...” his voice was ragged and weak due to air talisman he was wearing on his chest.
Petunia Plot stired, woke up, and seconds later she was kneeling by her companion, equally ragged, dirty and tired-looking. They stood there without a word, without daring to look up at me. A sight so pitiful I felt like crying.
“Stand up, my little ponies. There is no need to grovel. I see you've been doing your work honestly and with dedication.”
“Will you forgive us, Princess?” Diamond Quill asked, without ever raising his head or shifting his pose. “Please, forgive us! Please free us of this...” he hesitated and I was sure he wanted to use a word like “torment” or “torture”, but he just finished “...this duty.”
“Why, your contract says you can pack up at any time, with a month of severance.”
Petunia looked at me with wild eyes.
“This is not what our contract says, Princess!”
“Can you show it to me?”
She retreated, without daring to turn her back to me. It was in her duffel bag and she brought it to me.
I opened the paper, and scanned the terms. They were mostly the same but some mismatched what I'd written. In particular, it put a minimum of three percent of the job to be completed before the contract could be reneged, it put big punitive charges to be paid through contract time extension for failure to deliver results, and it prevented any communication other than reports and ledgers, under a similar punitive clause.
And the signature on the bottom was fake. It resembled mine by looks, but it lacked my standard magical wards.
I recalled myself passing all three contracts to Blueblood. He gave me signed copies later that day. I never checked them.
“You are free of your obligations, and you will be rewarded for the job completed so far appropriately.”
“Oh, no, Princess! Just bring us back home! We don't want any rewards, just... take us back!”
“I will, in just a moment, but for now where is Prince Blooblood?”
“At the Forbidden Cave, I suppose” said Diamond Quill. “He used to spend most of his time there since the discovery.”
“Lead me there.”
“Yes, Princess.” the two stirred and began packing things.
“Why are you packing?”
“It's three days of travel away!”
“There is no need to pack. I'll take you there, just show me the way.”
I levitated the two ponies and took off to the dark sky. After their first wave of panic subsided, Petunia began giving me directions.
At last I saw countless tracks converge at an entrance to a narrow ravine, barely wide for one pony to fit.
I stopped. I thanked them. Then I sent them back to the Canterlot Castle, adding a letter to the chamberlain to give them a generous reception.
I still owed them an apology. They didn't deserve that.
But now first things first. I hoped the cave looming deeper down the ravine held some answers...
Forbidden? Why?
Just in case, I raised a few spells of protection and approached the entrance.
I sensed a ward and a talisman it was bound to. But before that, I saw a stone tablet placed at the entrance to the ravine. It was set in the wall, decorative and engraved with fancy letters.
Only these of royal blood may enter.
There, a few steps further, the walls of the ravine were covered with soot.
I could smell burnt fur and flesh.
I analyzed the talisman and the tablet.
The tablet was new. Crafted by a unicorn magic no more than five months ago. Of course.
Starswirl's evertorch, fairly new too, with limit ward conditioned by a binding to a presence ward. Step in, get burned. No, there was nothing to detect royal blood. Still, I wondered, who got burned. It's not like Blueblood would step into his own trap...
Now, now...
I disarmed the ward and removed the talisman, holding it with my magic at a safe distance. I placed it aside, where it wouldn't hurt anypony.
I passed the sooty walls and proceeded to the dark entrance of the cave at the end of the ravine.
* * *
...a thousand years!
Sis, why haven't you told me?
I passed a simple lair. Soft sand, milled with hooves into fine dust from hundreds of years of use. A wall of notches. One month, one notch. Twelve thousands of them.
I walked along the cave, narrow curving corridors pressing on my flanks from sides, and suddenly the rough walls ended. I walked into a tiny chamber, what seemed like a balcony - with ornate balcony door leading inside the building ahead of me. I pushed the door open and stepped forward.
I entered an exact copy of Luna’s study in Penumbra castle. Made in such a minute detail... Rock lace on rock pillows on rock bed with rock drapes. I couldn't begin to imagine the patience needed to create this. Most of equipment was functional, though books on the shelves were solid bricks, and the windows merely painted, only the door to the balcony real.
But the other door, the one leading to the castle was real too. I pushed them open and proceeded through all-too-familiar corridors...
Down the stairs and through other chambers of the castle, reproduced with less detail, but still very accurately, I passed a forge and armory, where there lay a few hundreds swords, deadly blades of starmetal. Disused, abandoned, more than nine hundred years old, a discarded idea.
I passed out of the castle into a network of wide artificial tunnels made to resemble streets of the city of Penumbra, with houses painted on the walls in painstaking detail. I could see foal scratches on the doors and lace of drapes in the windows. I could feel the texture of the ancient city streets under my hooves. I could see the starry sky drawn between the roofs overhanging the streets, rust on drain pipes, a cat looking down from the upper floor window... for a while it felt like I was walking the old streets of the abandoned city.
But then I reached a street corner and there was a branch which was not finished. A tunnel reaching halfway the length of the street it was to resemble, a discarded starmetal rock pick left at its end, where I could see only the beginning of a street drawn in the piece dug up already... but I could sense the continuation.
The house drawn on the wall by the end was crooked. Half-burnt. There was a dead skeleton of a pony drawn in the window adjacent to the raw wall.
I turned back, and followed another street. Another crossroads and another dead end, abandoned after the nice calm began turning into mayhem of death.
Another turn, and another... after a while, I walked the full circle, all far edges of the city consumed by flames and corruption.
I turned to the center, where the houses were most detailed, most pretty.
The town market, unlike the empty streets, was filled with figures of ponies. Frozen mid their daily work, made in incredible life-like detail, so life-like I had to use my magic to verify these are just sculptures and not real ponies turned to stone.
I approached the fountain gurgling in the middle. A big ornate fountain with stylized sculptures of us two on the top, water flowing down from under our hooves. No water talisman, just a simple magical pump to circulate the water.
There is no water on the Moon. How was this fountain filled?
I tried the clear, pure water with my tongue.
Salty.
Us, alicorns, can't get suffocated, starved, or dehydrated. Our innate magic will supply components our bodies need from nothing.
We can never run out of tears.
* * *
For a while I sat there. I added more to the fountain.
I made sure to verify with my magic. The whole network of caverns was empty. No Luna, no Blueblood.
I walked all the way back the streets to the old castle of Penumbra, up its steps and back to Luna's chamber, then out, through the simple sleeping niche, into the ravine and onto a moon plain. Then I spread my wings and took up, back towards Equestria. Towards the ruins of Penumbra in the deep of the Everfree Forest, where it all began, then ended, and began again.
I descended upon the world, locating the shape of Equestria, then the Everfree Forest, then the Everfree City area, finally closing in on Penumbra. I descended upon the ruins...
...or what I expected to be ruins.
The city was alive. Night life of Penumbra was unequalled in any part of the world. Restaurants, clubs, theaters, schools... The city slept during the day, starting in the afternoon and closing down past dawn, to celebrate my sister and welcome her.
And it was there, alive, bustling with life. At least that was the surface. Yes, there were ruins, bog and shrubbery but the ghostly - ghastly illusion covered it all. Ponies drinking fancy cocktails in restaurants, pairs in love whispering to each other, traders encouraging to buy their wares. Brightly lit streets, signs in magical shining colorful ink...
I stood in the damp moss between three trees dripping with damp overgrowth of Everfree, and simultaneously I could see the ghost forms of houses around me, the street under my hooves, a small market with a few stands, neon sign of a musical show house...
“Princess Celestia?” I heard voice of a foal. I turned. There was a wee earth pony filly with white coat and golden mane. She had a basket of white lilies. She smiled to me. “Please, take a flower. You are my favorite princess, so you can take as many as you like, for free!”
The memory stung. Yes, that filly was there on that night. And she said the same thing. And she didn't live to see another sunset... My eyes filled with tears.
“Why are you crying, Princess Celestia? Is it something I said?” she pouted.
“No, you just reminded me of somepony I knew a long time ago.”
“Come, take the flower, please! It will make you feel better.” she held it by the stalk.
I lowered my head and she stuck the stalk under my crown, by my ear.
...and then and there the ghostly unreality was gone. I could sense the city was real. It had solid foundations. The ponies were alive. Solid and true. The filly smiled to me. She was there, flesh and bones.
No, the city didn't suddenly become true. It was true to begin with. Its ghostly image projected upon the ruins in the Everfree Forest, but this was... a separate timeline. A separate place, a chunk of our word partially chipped off and left hanging between worlds, alive and locked to this very night.
The morning would bring doom upon it.
The magic of moonrise would restore it, turn time back, make the splint of reality to relive its last day once again.
That was my sister's doing. She could not save it, but she put it in this limbo of ever-repeating doom, until...
...until no morning would come.
Every evening my sister would rise the city from ashes.
Every morning I would bring doom upon it with sunrise.
I fought the cold shiver that ran down my spine.
I made my way to the castle. Not nearly as glorious as Canterlot, it bore beauty I could not replicate. Smaller, tighter, as if shy, with small turrets and bigger towers, tall stained glass windows, bridges and stairs, corners and angles mixing with waves and curves, many shades of blue, it was the essence of my Sister. When projecting Canterlot I copied a lot of Penumbra castle, but I aimed for more flair, more impressive, magical look, and in the process I lost some of the homely beauty and warmth the Penumbra castle held.
My hooves led me through the streets the same route they went so many times. I was always a welcome guest here, bringing new shipping routes, new spells, new deposits, new inventions, new lands. Luna would care for the city and I would travel and seek out opportunities for ponies.
Until, at last, one day I would dare to tap into the resources upon which the city was founded, endless source of magical energy, which Luna then used to power her time reversal loop...
I could perceive the crevice under my hooves, across the barrier separating this splint from the main world of Equestria. This is where I dug the day before the fateful disaster, where the evil damaged the barrier and I awakened it. It was already awake, there, below, lurking, waiting for the morning, to emerge and destroy...
I crossed over the last section of the road to the castle and entered it. The castle was bustling with life as usually. An old servant bowed to me in the door.
“Princess Luna is in her study, together with her two guests, awaiting your arrival.”
“Her two guests?” I frowned.
“A handsome blonde unicorn stallion, and a noble tall zebra with an air of darkness around him.”
I would have felt betrayed if not the overwhelming air of guilt. I knew the old servant would die in the morning at his post at the gate, overwhelmed by the first wave of evil from the crevice that would open several steps away.
I threaded my way up the corridors and stairs to Luna's study, a route I knew all too well...
I knocked on the door at the end of the curving stair to her tower.
The door swung open, pushed by my sister's magic. “Come, sis.”, I heard her voice.
I entered. She stood in front of a map of Equestria on a big table.
Suddenly, I felt a spike of pain in my shoulder. A wave of numbness spread through my body.
“That was unnecessary and unasked for, Lord Xaroth.”, she said.
“Allow me to judge what is necessary and what is not. Your holding back is your weakness.”
Stunned by the poison, I tried to fight it and keep it in check. Then I got kicked in the head and blacked out.
* * *
I was tied down, my wings bound to my sides, my hooves bound together tightly, though what should be a bump on my head was healed. A ring of magical blockade on my horn. Normally I could break it but my magic was stunted by some kind of poison.
“She's back.” I heard Blueblood.
“Sis?” I called out.
“I'm sorry, Tia. I'm sorry it's you they want and it's them who can give what I need.” Luna appeared within my field of view, sad, serious.
“Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell the city still exists?! Why didn't you ask me to save it? Together we would have saved it!”
“Celestia, don't you remember? I told you. I was pleading and begging. But you said it's my grief, it's illusion, it's ghosts. You told me to let it lie. To forget. To give up. You didn't believe. You said it's my insanity. And for a time I believed you. But then I visited the city at night and witnessed its doom in the morning again. And I realized that they are my own people I swore to protect, and to abandon them is to betray them... And there is only one price for betrayal” she rubbed her horse collar. “And I called upon all my power to keep the night.”
“And for that I banished you to the moon.” I felt tears in my eyes.
“You did right, sis. It was an insanity. There is a whole wide world that needs your Sun. I can't take it away from them. The Elements of Harmony set me free, made me forget and fooled the curse - you know it can't determine the truth, it only reacts to what we believe, and while I believed a lie, I was safe... But my time by your side let me put things in perspective, it let the logic dictate the course of action, not emotions. I can save the city through a powerful spell. I can keep the night over this part of the Everfree Forest for many centuries while the rest of the world goes by. The night will last long enough to let us develop a way to save them for real, build defenses, bring day back but hold destruction at bay.”
“But... why them?” I threw my glance to the unicorn and the zebra. “Why trapping me?”
“The spell requires a powerful component: a soul. Lord Xaroth agreed to trade his soul to me in exchange for... my aid. And Prince Blueblood... he wants the Moon. He realized your trick quite early on, but he used the time to develop a strategy and to gain an ally. And to learn an essential component of the spell I need. He destroyed the original. The only copy is in his head, and he agreed to share it for a title of the prince of the Moon.”
“And me? What is my role in this? And where is Nadir?”
“Prince Nadir is safe.” Xaroth entered my field of view. His face was badly burned, with blisters and blackened scars. “He's safe as long as I am safe, he dies the moment I die. So no tricks please. He will be set free in due time. There is no need for him to ever know - I can arrange it so that it will appear like you killed me while freeing him. This meeting will be our sweet little secret...”
I glared at him with hate. He continued, unfazed.
“I'm a realist, Princess. After the smear campaign you've organized in Entwine there is no future for me as the ruler of Hippotigria. But I don't need to be the ruler. I just need the royal bloodline of my family back on the throne. When my servant betrayed me, when he wrote me a farewell letter, as I read the words Zebra alicorn, I knew it!” his eyes gleamed, “It had to be my son! No need to destroy, no need to fight. One generation of usurpers is nothing. So, Celestia, you will give me a son. Nadir doesn't need to know anything. He will believe he's the father. You two will bring him up. You will give him the upbringing you think is right, I must admit the ways of my family might have been... lacking.” He sighed, licked his lips and continued. “You give me a son. I give you Nadir back, sound and safe. And I sacrifice my own soul for Luna to protect the city.”
I sighed. “And you, Nephew?”
“I admit I don't have such a strong leverage. Nothing but a contract that forces me to work my hooves off with no chance for reward within my lifetime. A thing your new brother-in-law would be surely interested in reading. I guess he will love to have a sister-in-law who can cheat ponies into slavery like that. I'm not asking much. Just what the contract says I'd receive upon completing its terms, and I'll be satisfied.”
“You passed fake documents, changed contracts to your two co-workers.”
“Them? They are irrelevant. It's between you, me and Zenith. The rest is moot. And think about it, by giving me this worthless piece of rock, you will aid your sister in saving so many lives!”
I closed my eyes to think.
My karma was catching up with me. All my past sins.
They were reasonable. Comparing to what they would give, comparing to what Luna would get... the price was right. I'd really, really hate to lie in the matter to Nadir, but... discounting my personal feelings, the price was more than right.
Exactly, discounting my personal feelings.
“I don't want him to touch me”, I threw a glare to Xaroth.
“Don't worry about that, sis. I know how touchy a subject this is for you. Do you remember that spell that let you heal Nadir? It's a variant of insemination spell I modified for that purpose. You won't feel a thing, not even a tingle. I can even shape it for you.”
“No deal,” Xaroth said. “I won't trust you with this. The conception must take place according to zebra ways. Otherwise I won't accept it.”
“Do you realize the most likely outcome will be a plain zony? No alicorn, no unicorn, not even pegasus, just a partially striped pony?” Blueblood asked.
“It still will be my son and successor to the throne.”
“Or daughter, equally probable. And quite possibly infertile.”
“I'll take the risk.”
“This is not what we agreed to!” Luna protested. “You have no idea what Celestia...”
Luna stared at a dart sticking out from her chest. Xaroth's speed was truly scary. She tried to fight the poison, but then he kicked her horn so hard he knocked her out. He threw a glare to Blueblood, who swallowed saliva, paralyzed by fear.
I could only observe Xaroth binding unconscious Luna, applying another poison that would keep her stunned and unable to fight efficiently, then he placed another ring of magical blockade on her horn.
“I'm considering doubling my chances for a son.” he pushed her tail, looking at her sex lecherously. “For the price she's asking, I should be able to renege. But for now the primary part of the contract.” he turned to me. I squirmed in my bonds, struggling to crawl away from him. He placed another dart in the blowpipe. “No panic. This is merely a potion of fertility, to assure conception will take place.”
A quick blow, a sting of pain, and I could feel warmth filling my womb. I tried to crawl away from him...
“I love the way you're squirming and struggling. We have a moment until the potion takes full hold. Let me help you out of these...” he removed my hoof-overs, one by one, using his mouth, inhaling the scent of my fetlocks deeply whenever he'd touch them.
“Your tiara, such a pretty thing.” he pulled it off my head with his hooves, easily avoiding my futile try to stab him. “So, that little gap is left after a trinket from Saint Vixor... I wonder if all the other gems are gifts from your other lovers. I guess I should...” he removed one of the black beads holding his long strands of mane together, and stuffed it into the gap left after Vixor's jade. “True obsidian, the foundation of my nation.” he smirked and placed the tiara on the table.
Then he approached me again, and reached for my horse collar.
“Now this piece of jewelry is truly interesting. I know it binds you to your people, gives you power over them. You've been sharing this with both usurpers, feeding them on its power.”
He pulled it off my neck, with a strong, violent tug.
“I wonder how it feels to be the designated ruler of the realm...”
“NO! Don't!” I shouted, my eyes widening in terror.
“Now I'm the Lord, and there is nothing you can do to stop me.” he grinned.
“NO! IT WILL KILL YOU!” I screamed.
“Little liar.” he chuckled quietly.
...and he put the collar on his neck.
The lightness didn't fill me with relief. It filled me with dread. I wanted to close my eyes. But I had to look, I had to see.
He fell to his knees. He raised his eyes to me, filled with pain and terror.
With last of his strength he pushed the collar off his neck, but the weight would not be gone until some other pony decides to carry it. I wanted to crawl to take it on, but the bonds were too strong... despite my lightness, I couldn't move.
...and all I could see was his scar-covered face twisted in pain, as he was losing the battle.
Then a quiet crack.
Death by broken neck is not neat. I know of fiction stories where quiet assassins snap the neck of a guard and lay the dead body, limp and silent. This is not the truth. The truth is that every single nerve in the whole body begins firing its signals at maximum speed. Every single muscle tenses and relaxes as fast as it can. The body enters a grotesque, horrible dance of spasms jerking it in all directions, stomach occasionally pushing its contents through the mouth, limbs kicking rapidly, chest writhing like a snake, thrashing in a self-destructive fandango.
And as the heart torn by spasms keeps pumping its blood in erratic pattern, as the chest squeezed by the twisting muscles still pumps air through lungs, the head remains alive for a time, and every single nerve in the snapped neck is sending signals of extreme pain to your brain...
I could see the eyes filled with terror. I could see the despair, as Xaroth understood he was dying and there was nothing that could save him.
And then his erratic spasms finished burning through readily available resources of the body. The shaking slowed down gradually, until it stopped completely.
Xaroth's terror-filled eyes glazed over.
The weight of my burden returned to my neck.
A small charm, a ward hidden in one of the beads in his mane went off with a quiet poof, sending its signal away. Signal of its owner's death.
I gave out a wail of despair. Shaking, writhing in my bonds, I cried, I wailed, I sobbed, I howled.
Nadir!!!
* * *
I lay, numb, sobbing quietly, oblivious to the rest of the world. The bonds were removed, but I could not force myself to open my eyes. Xaroth was not one to bluff.
I felt a gentle kiss on my cheek.
“Sis. There is still time.”
I forced my eyes to open a little.
“I know now that I betrayed you, you have no reason to trust me. My dreams went to hell. But we can still save yours.”
How? My dream was dead too.
“Nadir is still alive. We must find him before dawn.”
I jerked my eyes open. I forced my pained body to rise. I fought the numbness, struggling to attention.
“This splint of our world will remain separate until dawn. No magic ward will make itself known to the real Equestria until this world collapses under its curse. I've chosen this ghost city as the meeting place for a reason. If things go horribly wrong, I'd still have until morning to fix them.”
“Luna, how long is it until morning?”
“Two hours.”
“Can we find him in two hours?”
“No.”
“How long?”
“I don't know. A week? A month? It won't be easy. But we did it once. I know we can do it again.”
“Luna, I can't keep the whole world in darkness for a week, much less for a month.”
“Even if it means his death?”
A cold shiver ran through my body. I felt a drop of sweat forming on my forehead and it felt cold as ice.
“Yes, Luna. Even if it means his death.”
“We're much different, sis. I would.”
“I know. And I don't blame you. No, I envy you, I envy you that you would.”
The thought, that I would raise the Sun... and by doing that I would kill the one I love... I could not contain the pain as tears rolled down my cheeks.
*ahem*
We turned to Blueblood, who drawn our attention. The scoundrel...
“Auntie. Granny.” he spoke courtly. “I made many mistakes in my life. Some really fill me with shame. I keep up the bold face and make a blunder after another. I really, really wanted to prove myself as a wise, benevolent ruler. I really dreamed about a land to rule.”
“Cut it out, worthless spawn”, Luna hissed.
“No, Granny. I may as well be a worthless spawn. I probably am. But I know what defines a noblepony and I always dreamed about a day when I'd really earn that title. This is the day. I want the name Prince Blueblood to be uttered with respect. With a well-deserved respect. I know how to help you.”
“You worthless...” Luna began but I held my hoof to her chest.
“As I understand,” he continued unimpressed, “you both need to have this place kept in darkness for days, weeks, months, maybe years. I know the missing part of the spell. And despite what so many think, I do have a soul, and I’m willing to spare it for a case like this. Now I’m not as selfless as a true noble should be, but cut me some slack, I'm doing my best here.” he smiled sourly. “I'm sorry, granny, that I was such a disappointment. I'm not really cut out to be a true hero. I'm not asking much. Forgive me my faults and remember me fondly. That's all I want. That's a better price than what Xaroth asked, isn't it?”
“Are you serious? That's... You will die!” Luna gasped.
“But I will help saving so many others. Isn't that what being a noble is all about? Anyway, the ritual takes over an hour. We should start soon if we don't want the sunrise delayed.” He motioned Luna to go. She swallowed hard and followed.
“I had thought that seeing aunt Celestia humiliated would make me gloat,” he continued as they headed to the exit. “But it made me want to tear Xaroth's throat out instead. I really thought I would. The moment he would touch her, I would try. I'd die in the process but I would fight him to defend Celestia, even though I still don't like her the least bit. Tell me, granny, what's wrong with me?”
Luna stopped him and hugged him tightly.
“Don't call me granny. Call me mom if you want...son. You... you really have Prince Fir's blood in your veins.”
“I regret nothing. No, not that. I regret a whole lot. But to see you proud of me...”
The two left towards the ritual chamber, catching up on a lifetime of family relationships, leaving me alone and more confused than ever in my life.
I took my collar and hoof-overs on.
I raised my tiara from the table. I pried the obsidian bead loose. I smashed it under my hoof.
* * *
I lay by Nadir's side, on my back, gazing at the sky, resting. Sea of sand of the desert under our backs. Sea of stars above. His prison, a small cavern in a group of rocks loomed behind us, the only disturbance in the sea of sand in miles upon miles...
I was recalling the recent events.
It didn't take weeks, but it took more than a several hours. A small note from Tempus with approximated location helped immensely. “Mom, I'm sorry I couldn't set him free, but the place is ridden with wards and spells beyond my skill. You're way better with these than I am.” he added to the letter to Luna.
Yes, deconstructing the pile of spells was definitely a feat. It took us whole day, finishing well past sunset, and had the two of us covered in sweat by the end. Blueblood had to provide every faulty, corrupted, unstable talisman he'd ever made, and bound them in a ridiculous grid of multiple dependencies. Remove one, all others go off. We'd enchant new, harmless versions, and Luna would hold the magical threads binding one to the others while I'd replace it with a harmless one, then busy myself with disconnecting the removed one.
At last Nadir was free, and we could kiss and lay together, while Luna carried the remaining talismans to a safe distance...
“There.” Luna descended by us silently. She gave Nadir a small seal. “Do the honors, please.”
He snapped it, and the horizon exploded in color, jets of flame, clouds of smoke solidifying into towers, then broken apart by multiple blasts of something that kept exploding over and over, flashes of light that could burn through the ground, shaken by waves of sound so intense they were bending the air like waves on water. Then a blinding flash, a growing ball of fire slowly turning into an enormous mushroom cloud rising to the sky.
“He was really better than what we gave him credit for...” I muttered.
“Yes, a true hero.” Luna nodded with a sigh.
Not what I meant but I didn't press the issue. He was her own grandchild, I could only imagine how hard it was for her to finish the ritual.
“And Celestia...”she stood, with her head down. ”I’m... I’ll understand if you hate me forever. If you never trust me again. If you decide the moon is a better place for me after all... But if you do, please... save them.”
I couldn’t find words. My silly little sister. My eyes filled with tears.
Nadir stood up and walked up to Luna. He nuzzled her face gently.
“Half a year ago I’d be appaled. I’d be really angry at you. But Celestia taught me something. There are times... when you’ve got to do what needs to be done. I’d do this for my zebras. Celestia would do this for her ponies... actually, she did it in the past, at least twice. And I owe my life to you, twice now. So...”
“No, Nadir.” I stood up, shaking sand from my coat and walked up to Luna. “It’s not that. Luna, I didn’t listen when you begged me for help. I fought you when you tried to help them against my will. And now... now you didn’t even dare to approach me with it again. To trust me again. And rightly so, because I would not have believed you again. I failed you over and again, and you kept forgiving me, and you would not give up. You were right all along. So, here I am...”
I knelt before Luna, bowing my horn down to her hooves.
“Can you forgive me, Sister? Can you trust me ever again?”
She bowed to my ears. Her voice was filled with pain.
“Celestia, can you? Can you trust me fully?”
“I hope so.”
“Celestia... As I argued with you about the case of the buffalos, the orchards of Appleloosa...?”
“I’ll have Appleloosa razed to the ground if such is your wish.”
“Fillydelphia expanding over the Forest of Feymane?”
“They won’t cut another tree. They can dig down or build up or claim the sea bottom if they want, but the woods will remain sacred.”
“Unsealing the research on minor rapid time flow talismans for the public?”
“If you say it’s right, it’s right by me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Luna, I told you, I trust you fully!”
“But that was a horrible idea! You were right and as I rethought the consequences, I was shocked I ever thought to do it!”
“Did you?” I looked at her in confusion, standing up from my knees.
“Celestia, you must remain critical! You can’t accept everything I say! I make mistakes too!”
“But should Appleloosa still be razed?”
“No, not really. We got that resolved... by a miracle... But let’s not repeat it, that was a close call. Not one new apple tree on the Buffalo lands.”
“So will it be. And Fillydelphia?”
“I stand by my opinion. The forest is more important than new factories. It's home to many creatures and they will grow to hate and despise ponies if we keep taking their land.”
“And I stand by my word. Your forest is sacred.”
“Thank you, Celestia.” She approached me and hugged me gently with her neck. I returned the hug, and we held each other, happy to be truly together again.
Then I saw Nadir standing where he thought Luna would not see him. He shot a glance to me, to Luna, to me again, then moved his eyebrows in most suggestive manner. The rude ruffian! I tried to look daggers at him. He grinned innocently.
“Not without Light,” muttered Luna.