“So, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash opened, taking a break from flying in loose circles around her less aerially-inclined friends to walk with them through the forest, “I know the Everfree is weird and wild and magic and all that, and that’s why the animals take care of themselves, and the weather doesn’t respond to us pegasi, all that stuff.” She looked straight up, frowning at the dark gaps in the canopy above them. “But what keeps it so dark all the time? I mean, I’d understand if the trees were blocking the light, or if the skies were cloudy, but I can see straight up to open sky, and it still looks like it’s after sunset, even though it was bright and sunny when we walked in here twenty minutes ago. What gives?” the cerulean mare asked expectantly, assuming that the resident expert on magic would have an answer to satisfy her boredom kindled curiosity.
“Magic, Dash. Really, terrifically powerful magic,” the unicorn replied, vaguely, uncomfortably.
“We all kinda figured that, sugarcube,” Applejack said with a chuckle, guessing that her friend was still a bit nervous of the forest. Running into a cockatrice would do that to a pony. “Ah think what Dash meant is, what kinda magic?”
Twilight stopped walking, looking to the sides of the dirt path at the strange, gnarled trees and unkempt vegetation. “The magic that ‘protects’ the Everfree is ancient, Applejack. Beyond ancient. There’s no written record of what caused it, what maintains it, anything. For all anypony knows, its naturally occurring. But it isn’t inviolate.” She glanced about at her friends, standing in the forest, staring at her as she explained. It didn’t look like she was going to get out of explaining what she knew, but she didn’t want to waste time standing around in the middle of the forest, so she began to walk again, speaking as she did. “The full explanation involves a good amount high-level magical theory, and we don’t really have time for that. And, no offense, but, well, none of you would understand it, just like I wouldn’t necessarily understand the nuisances of baking the perfect cake, or how the finer points of stitching together a dress in an obscure fashion popular three centuries ago.
“Now, here’s what I can explain, because this is how the Princess explained it to me. The Everfree isn’t an anti-magic zone, strictly speaking. If it were, then no magic would work in here, period. Not the Elements, not Nightmare Moon’s powers, not even the ley nexus under the castle. The flipside being that an anti-magic field, since it’s composed of magic in the first place, tears itself apart over time. After we rescue Princess Luna, while we were walking back to Ponyville to celebrate, Princess Celestia described it to me as a ‘Resilience Field,’ though she didn’t go into much more detail about what that meant, exactly. Basically, magic functions normally in the forest, and really powerful magic can override the effect temporarily, but the Resilience Field means that, eventually, the Everfree will always return to an ‘untouched’ state. It’s simply a matter of how long it takes for the forest to ‘consume’ the power of the spell.
“If, for instance, a normal unicorn tried to change something, the effect would decay almost immediately after they stopped maintaining the effect. Somepony really powerful, like…well, not to brag, but like me could cast a spell that might last a few minutes. Celestia said that, if she had a really pressing need, she could probably have a spell that would last a decade before it gave out, give or take a few months. But eventually, the Resilience Field will subsume any spell that tries to control the forest, or anything that’s spent enough time inside it. It also seems to do something to the animals, but the Princess didn’t really get into deta-”
“Hold up there a sec, Twi,” Applejack injected, noticing that her friend was about to go a bit off-topic. “That still doesn’t explain why it’s so dark in here all the time. Granny Smith’s told me ‘bout how the Everfree was back when she was my age, and she says it ain’t changed all that much. So unless the Princess has been doing somethin’ every ten years and not tellin’ anypony about it, there’s something you’re leavin’ out.”
Twilight stopped walking, and gave the orange mare a tired look. “Applejack…that isn’t entirely true. The forest has been changing, just not quickly enough for anypony to necessarily notice,” Twilight clarified, taking a moment to steady her voice. “It’s been getting steadily brighter for a little more than a thousand years, now.”
“A…thousand years, you say?” Fluttershy asked, more nervously than usual. “Then this has something to do with…”
“Nightmare Moon, yes,” Twilight responded, both completing and answering the pegasus’ unasked question. “The stories of the ‘Eternal Night’ incident that most ponies are familiar with is apparently a vastly simplified version of what happened. While moon was locked in place at its apex, it was a symbolic gesture. Since Princess Celestia still maintained control over the sun, nothing could stop her from raising it. At worst, the path of the moon could have been matched to that of the sun. The world would have faced an unending eclipse, but that would have been more ‘annoying’ than ‘catastrophic’ in the long term. Luna’s exact words were, ‘I was behaving like an angry little foal who hadn’t gotten her way, throwing a temper tantrum until somepony paid attention to me,’ when she told me her part of the story,” Twilight paused for breath, and to look at her friends. “By the way, just in case it wasn’t obvious, she’s still, well, embarrassed about the whole incident, so don’t ask her about this, okay?”
Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Well, duh, Twilight. Even Dash and me aren’t that cluelessly insensitive,” the pink mare assured with a laugh. Dash began to give her friend an annoyed glare, before she was forced to admit to herself that the party pony hadn’t said anything that wasn’t true. “But what happened next? Oh, did she funnel a bunch of magic into the moon, and then use it to blow up the sun?”
“Uh…no, Pinkie, she didn’t use the moon to destroy the sun,” Twilight assured her friend. She had to admit the notion had a certain deranged merit, and found herself wondering if either of the Princesses were able to control power of that magnitude. She shook her head; something to think about another time.
“She used an illusion spell, didn’t she?” All eyes turned to Rarity, shocked that the white mare had spoken up. “Really now, must everypony act so shocked? While I freely admit that Twilight is vastly my superior when it comes to spellcraft, I am still a unicorn, dears, and I’d appreciate it ever so much if everypony who doesn’t have a horn could remember that, and not behave as if I’ve grown a second head when I display some understanding of magic,” the fashionista protested politely. “Now then, Twilight, is my little guess close?” she asked, sweetly fluttering her eyelashes at an increasingly confused Twilight.
“Oh, uh, yeah, Rarity, you are,” the lavender unicorn confirmed, trying to recover her train of thought from the interruptions. “According to Luna, she was still in control of her own actions at that point, and had the whole thing planned out. Day and night were supposed to swap places for a week, maybe two, but everypony was supposed to follow the same schedule, so they’d be active during the night. They’d then come to appreciate the night and, by extension, Luna. Celestia…didn’t take the explanation well.” Twilight looked down, remembering the haunted look on her mentor’s face, tears in the corners of her eyes as she had retold the story of her sister’s fall to the young mare, so soon after her sister’s return. “Luna…didn’t handle her plan being rejected out of hoof all that well, and in her anger, she gave into…something. To this day, neither Princess is sure what it was, but there was some kind of…entity behind Luna’s corruption, some force that was twisting her feeling to its own ends, whispering dark suggestions in her mind, making her doubt her own worth, question how much her sister loved her. When Celestia demanded that Luna lower the moon, Luna accepted the entity’s offer of power, and...Nightmare Moon took over.” Twilight sighed, looking up sadly into the artificial night, hoping that neither Princess would be upset about what she’d just told her friends.
“That explains it, then,” Rarity said sadly as she stepped over to Twilight, giving her dejected-looking friend a reassuring nuzzle.
“Ah’m sorry, but how exactly does that explain anythin’?” Applejack questioned, looking back and forth between the two unicorns. “Explains about as much as Pinkie’s story ‘about how Equestria was made,” the earth pony grumbled, kicking at the path as they walked.
Rarity huffed dramatically as she looked over at the farmer. “Tell me, Applejack, have you ever bucked an apple tree whilst you’ve been particularly angry?” she asked briskly. The orange mare frowned, confused by the question, but nodded. “And was that particular kick stronger, perhaps, than you have been capable of if you were calmer?” A second, slower nod, though the point still eluded her. “Well, there you have it. Under normal circumstances, you’d limit how much force you used to kick a tree, knowing that if you strike too hard, you might injure yourself,” the pale unicorn explained, privately taking just a bit more pleasure than she really should have as she did. “That isn’t unique to earth ponies. I can’t count the number of times when I’ve tried to telekinetically lift something while upset, and instead crushed it outright. Or tried to push a needle through fabric, and ended up embedding it in the wall…of the next room,” she admitted, blushing slightly as she recalled that particular occasion. She never had gotten around to fixing the hole in the wall between her sewing room and kitchen.
“It’s also why unicorn foals need special care,” Twilight added, mostly recovered from the slip in her mood, though the memory of Princess Celestia on the brink of tears still left her with the urge to nuzzle her mentor. ‘Not that you need much of an excuse to want to do that, now do you?’ the voice inside her head mocked. She frowned, but ignored it; there was no point trying to argue with herself at the moment. “Unicorns acting without any check on their magic can be dangerous. They might teleport without any kind of control, or hurl objects around the room at dangerous speeds…or turn their parents into potted plants,” she added, eliciting a round of laughter from her friends. “Yes, yes, hilarious, I know,” she agreed. “But what if, instead of a scared little filly flailing blindly with her magic, it was an enraged goddess, her power amplified by some kind of monstrous entity, and in complete control of the application of her power,” Twilight pointed out, the laughter immediately replaced by shocked silence and a single squeak of fear, echoing among the darkened trees. “She cast an illusion over the entire world, hiding the sun from view without blocking its light and heat from reaching the surface. When Nightmare Moon was finally banished, Celestia dissipated the magic, returning the world to normal…except here, in the Everfree. That single spell, cast from the castle in the middle of the forest, was so powerful that even after more than a millennium, the nature of the Resilience effect still hasn’t cleared it.”
The six mares continued on it silence, five of them trying to comprehend how much power Nightmare Moon must have had at her peak, if the strange magic of the Everfree had made so little progress against it over the past thousand years.
Twilight, however, was kept silent by an entirely different thought. A thought that sent shivers along her spine. A thought she suddenly wasn’t entirely sure was her own.
‘A mean-spirited voice, whispering in the back of your mind, making you question your own self-worth?’ the strange voice posed, liltingly, clearly suppressing a desire to laugh. ‘I can’t even imagine what that must have been like for Luna…can you?’
****
The six mares carried in relative silence for half an hour, each lost in her own thoughts, attentive to any sign that the creatures of the forest meant them harm as Rainbow Dash flew overhead, watching for any of the larger monsters. Twilight’s mood was improved slightly by their quick pace; they had already crossed the river, putting them around twenty minutes ahead of her schedule. Rarity had been distressed that the sea serpent from their previous visit hadn’t been around, claiming that she’d hoped to see his “attractive moustache in all of its glory,” but otherwise nothing untoward had occurred. Unfortunately, that same stillness left her mind free to think about what she may or may not have said to herself. Was she just over-stressed, or was it possible that something else, something more sinister was at play. Celestia and Luna had both said, when she thought on it, that the force that had turned Luna into Nightmare Moon had been neutralized by the Elements. She hadn’t considered it before, but what if it was significant that they chose to say ‘neutralized,’ instead of ‘destroyed’ or ‘defeated.’ What if –
“Twilight? Is this a bad time? I can ask again later if you’re busy,” Fluttershy softly asked, snapping Twilight out of her introspective reverie. She noticed that the yellow mare was walking just to her side, her mane hanging forward, covering most of her face.
“Sorry, Fluttershy, I was…somewhere else, for a bit. What was the question?” She offered the shy mare an apologetic smile, receiving an honest one in return.
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I was just wondering, since you said the ritual only worked when the sun and moon were both in the sky, if being in the Everfree might be a problem.” She raised her head, indicating the sky. “I mean, since the sun doesn’t ever shine in the forest, I didn’t know if that would mean the spell wouldn’t work, or make it harder to perform, since you can’t see when it’s time to start,” the gentle pegasus continued softly, her eyes suddenly going wide in a panic. “Not that I’m saying that that you can’t perform hard spells, of course! I’m sorry if you thought I meant that! Oh, and I’m sorry for hitting you earlier, I’d mentioned that, right?”
Twilight gave her friend a soft, lop-sided grin. “Easy, Fluttershy. You should know by now that it takes more than that to offend me. And I already told you I forgive you for what happened earlier, and I meant it. It was actually really nice to see how far you’d go for one of us, if we were in danger,” she offered comfortingly, giving Fluttershy’s neck a quick nuzzle. “As for the ritual, I’ve got a signal stone in my bags that’ll flash when its time, so that’s not a problem, and the timing of the ritual is to take advantage of a surge in the ley nexus caused by the convergence of solar and lunar energies, not because we need the light of either of them as a component.”
“Oh.” A single, simple syllable, and the silence resumed, broken only by the sound of stepping hooves, flapping wings, and rustling leaves.
And, unheard by the ponies, soft breathing coming from either side of the path, and the gentle sound of padded paws.
****
“You know…I’m kinda disappointed that was so easy.” Rainbow Dash looked across the chasm, doing what could best be described as sulking. The entire journey had passed unremarkably, and their goal lay just across a rope bridge
“Well, ta be fair, Dash, we didn’t have an angry goddess tryin’ ta stop us this time around,” Applejack calmly reminded the pouting pegasus. “It also ain’t the season for timber wolves ta be huntin’, we steered clear of any caves that mighta had dragons in ‘em, and cockatrices tend not to attack groups a’ ponies.” Twilight quirked a quizzical eyebrow at the farmer, who shrugged. “What? You try livin’ yer life so close ta the Everfree and mindin’ a rambunctious little sister. You’d learn that kinda stuff, too.”
“I’m sorry, Dash. I hadn’t realized you wanted us to be attacked my something scary,” Fluttershy said, hanging her mane in front of her face dejectedly. “If I had, I wouldn’t have sent Miss Hummingbird ahead to ask Andrew and Yvonne if they could follow us and scare off anything that got too close.” That revelation was met by five quizzically quirked eyebrows.
“Andrew…and Yvonne?” Twilight asked, slowly. “As in, Andrew the manticore?”
“Oh, yes. Yvonne is his wife. She’s a bit less friendly than Andrew, but still very nice, once you get to know her,” Fluttershy confirmed, her head bobbing happily as she talked about the she-manticore.
“So…we had a pair of manticores following- no, stalking - us the entire time? And none of us saw or heard anything?” Another bob of the pale pink mane, and visions of a new topic of study began the cloud Twilight’s judgment, as possible paper titles bounced around her mind. ‘Manticores: Enormous yet Stealthy.’ ‘Manticores: Bitey, Winged, Poisonous…Invisible?’ “Manticores: Oh Sweet Celestia There’s One Behind You Right Now!’ She chuckled to herself at the last one, knowing full well no respectable journal would touch anything with a title like that. The chuckle quickly turned into a cough as she noticed the others staring at her. “Right…Fluttershy, remind me to ask you to formally introduce me to…Andrew, later. But for now, I’d like to go get started setting up the ritual. We should have plenty of time, but I’d rather be ready early and have time to kill later,” she said, reasserting control over the situation. The manticores would have to wait, especially since she’d need the Princess’s permission to undertake a proper study. She might even propose a joint study with her brother; a giant monster that could hide in plain sight would almost certainly be an enormous tactical advantage if it could be tamed. The opportunity to spend more time with Shining Armor, and Cadence if she came along, would simply be a happy coincidence.
A slight spring in her step, Twilight began to trot across the bridge. The construct swayed as she crossed, but she paid the movement no heed. The bridge was only a few months old, constructed at the Princesses’ command for just such an occasion. The solid oak planks and thick, hemp rope had been empowered by both of the royal alicorns to protect them from both natural and unnatural damage. The ropes were anchored in great granite pillars, the bases of which were sunk deep into the living rock in holes created with magic. The forest had long since dissipated that magic, but the plinths remained, fused with the bedrock itself. The result was a bridge that should, according to Luna, stand for centuries before it even began to show the first signs of deterioration.
Following Twilight’s lead, Pinkie began to bounce energetically across the bridge, followed by Applejack and then Rarity. Fluttershy turned back and gave a happy wave of thanks to the unseen manticores, then followed behind the white unicorn. Rainbow Dash flew along the side of the bridge, drawing abreast of Twilight and matching her pace, her strong wings slowly beating to keep her aloft. “Listen, Twilight,” she began softly, her voice barely audible to her friend, facing straight ahead in hopes that the other four wouldn’t realize she was talking to the unicorn, “do you think that I could talk to you about something kind of…personal, when we get back? Without the others, or Spike, or anypony else around?” The pegasus bit her lip, looking at the forward-facing unicorn out of the corner of her eye, trying to keep from blushing. “I’ve got some questions about a couple of…special spells I read about, and I was hoping you could help me out with them.” Twilight gave a shallow nod, barely discernible from the normal bobbing of her head as she walked. “Thanks, Twilight.” Dash picked up speed, flying quickly to the far end of the bridge, not bothering to look behind her to see the tell-tale twitch of Twilight’s eye.
Twilight stopped when she reached the far end of the bridge, stepping aside to let Pinkie bounce ahead and join Rainbow Dash, who had already flown into the castle. As Rarity stepped back to solid ground, Twilight stepped back over to the other unicorn, tilting her head to the side with a forced, nervous smile. “Applejack, I forgot to tell Rarity something about the ritual’s magic that might have a strange effect on her, as a unicorn,” she lied as the earth pony made to join them. “Could you do me a favor, and make sure that Dash understands that the Princesses probably won’t appreciate any Daring Do-inspired acts of archaeologically-motivated theft in their old castle?” The farmer nodded solemnly, and chased after Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. The purple mare held up a hoof, waiting until Fluttershy had finished her own crossing. “So, Rainbow just asked to talk to me, privately, about some ‘special magic’ when we get back,” she whispered solemnly, nodding as the two other mares frowned. “I’m open to suggestions, or to one or both of you faking an emergency when she gets to the library to talk.” Twilight tilted her head to the side, considering the options. “Come to think of it…let’s not rule out provoking an actual emergency,” she added, her voice and expression leaving her friends unsure if she was kidding. She looked back at the bridge and sighed. “Now I really wish the Princesses had made the bridge wide enough for two ponies to walk abreast.”
Rarity draped a foreleg over Twilight’s neck, frowning in sympathy. “Perhaps tomorrow morning I could suggest the idea of ‘Cutie Mark Crusader arsonists’ to Sweetie Belle?” she jokingly suggested, trying to lighten the lavender mare’s mood. She suppressed a flinch when Twilight instead nodded.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, Rarity.” She sighed again, and began walking towards the castle, Rarity and Fluttershy in tow. “Just…keep thinking, please. I can’t see any conclusion to that conversation that doesn’t end poorly for somepony.” The soft sound of grass bending underhoof gave way to the sharper sound of hooves on stone after a few dozen steps, and the trio found themselves within the castle proper. The cavernous entry hall echoed with twin gasps of surprise, and Twilight nodded, her melancholy diminishing as her friends gaped at the changes to the ancient structure.
On their previous visit, the castle had been a shambles, the walls collapsing, the pillars crumbling, large sections of the roof destroyed by the ravages of time and battle, the stones of the floor cracked or missing, allowing the plant life to grow in the structure. Now, the entry hall stood in glory, great blocks of smoothed granite and grey mortar framing the chamber, thirty feet wide and seventy long. Gleaming, grey marble pillars, carved in the same style as the ancient originals, joined with vaulted archways to support a roof forty feet high, made from the same granite as the walls. Glowstones, carved in the image of the sun and moon, cast their light from brackets on the pillars, the crystals native to the Everfree, and unaffected by its magic. The floor resembled a checkerboard, black marble titles engraved with Luna’s moon cutie mark next to white marble with Celestia’s sun, all polished to mirror sheen, set so masterfully as to appear seamless. Flanking the great, banded oak door at the far end of the hall stood two great statues of the Princesses, carved from the same marble as the floor, their cutie marks embellished in gold, silver, and diamond, their faces and manes life-like, instead of the traditional, stylized statues found in Canterlot Castle. The statues reared back on their hindlegs, the sisters embracing above the door, necks entwined, enormous diamond tears set into their faces, reunited after a millennium apart.
Applejack, Pinkie, and Dash stood in the center of the hall, transfixed by the statues, even the energetic pink pony left stunned by the sight. They barely acknowledged their friends as the other joined them, ten moist eyes locked on the tableau. Smiling to herself, the problems of her coming conversation forgotten for a moment, Twilight cleared her throat, breaking the trance-like effect the statues had on her friends, and titled her head to the side of the central path and inclined it slightly, drawing another round of gasps from her friends. Set so that they were visible between the archways on either side of the hall were six sets of matched stained glass windows, twenty feet tall and ten wide at the base, crowned by a pointed arch and framed from behind with glowstone to shine even in the constant night of the Everfree. Nearest the entrance, a red apple stood above a field of green and a yellow-maned, orange earth pony, standing in triumph, a pale purple leg gripped between her hooves and disappearing out of frame. Next, a pale yellow pegasus against a field of wavy crimson, her face obscured by her pink mane, a purple thorn held in her teeth, a pink and blue butterfly floating above. The third window showed a pink mare, head thrown back in laughter, against a background in shades of brown, resembling the gnarled bark of a tree, a blue balloon at the peak. An elongated, four sided diamond crowned the fourth window, as a purple-maned, white-coated unicorn stood against a river of pale blue and opaque white, a violet scale held in her mouth. Second to last, a cerulean pegasus swept through a purple sky, her seven-hued mane swept back in flight, a rope clutched in her mouth as a tricolored lightning bolt stood frozen above her. Finally, against a field the seven colors of the rainbow, a purple unicorn stood, eyes open wide and set with two pure white glowstones, a golden tiara atop her blue and pink mane, a stylized sun and moon, joined in balance, behind her head, and a pink, six-pointed star at the window’s peak.
“So…awesome,” Dash finally managed to choke out, unwittingly using the classic meaning of the term as she flew up to examine ‘her’ window.
Rarity sat on her haunches, transfixed by her own image wrought in glass, lead, and jewels. “When…how…where?”
Pinkie stared at each of the windows in turn in silence, already planning a ‘We have nifty windows of us’ party, trying to decide if it should precede, follow, or run alongside the ‘We have nifty new powers’ party she was already planning.
Applejack had joined Rarity in sitting, staring on in slack jawed amazement, though the impossibly rational part of her brain wondered why her hat was absent from the image.
Fluttershy, ducked her head down, let her mane fall forward to conceal her cheeks, blushing a brighter crimson than the background of her window, and her mouth, broken into a wide, happy smile.
Twilight chuckled at her friends reactions, remembering her own response to first seeing the statue. Celestia and Luna said it had taken them five minutes to revive her after she passed out, accompanied by dazed muttering that she wasn’t worthy. Stamping a foot gently against the tile floor, careful to use only enough force to get everypony’s attention without damaging the marble, she explained, “After we rescued her with the Elements, Luna was very weak. So much of her magic had been tainted by Nightmare Moon’s corruption, that when the taint was burnt away she was practically powerless, and physically weakened.” She paused, wondering how much of the truth to reveal to her friends. She quickly decided that, in this instance, the partial truth would be enough. “The Princesses both decided that it would be better if Luna didn’t stay in Canterlot, while she recovered from everything. And, since this castle is built over a ley nexus, she could regain her power more quickly by staying in proximity to it,” she continued, leaving out the fact that Luna, in her weakened state, hadn’t been able unable to maintain her immortality. The sisters had feared that, were she to go immediately to Canterlot and try to resume her duties, her very life would have been in danger from well-meaning nobles or ill-intentioned cultists, a risk neither alicorn had been willing to take. “While she was recovering, though…she got bored, and…‘homesick,’ I guess, for the time she’d left behind. So,” Twilight gestured around the chamber, “with Celestia’s help and the skills of the royal artisans, she started to rebuild the old castle. After she recovered enough, she took her place in Canterlot, but she kept coming back to work here, when she could find time.” She chuckled to herself, remembering a conversation with the Princess of the Night. “That was actually why she came to Ponyville for Nightmare Night, she told me; she had been overseeing the restoration of one of the towers, when one of the workponies mentioned it in passing. She was so excited that there was a festival in her honor, she rushed off with her guards without finding out the whole story, and then…well, you all remember what happened next.” The others nodded, remembering what was unanimously regarded as the best Nightmare Night Ponyville had ever had.
“That’s all very interesting, Twilight, and it certain explains why the castle is so much less…ruined than before,” Rarity observed, still unable to break her gaze away from the window representing the act that had proven her the bearer of Element of Generousity. “It still doesn’t entirely explain why there are giant windows of the six of us that, judging by the materials involved and the apparent skill that went into making them, are quite probably worth more than some ponies make in a lifetime. Each.”
Twilight chuckled again, nervously this time. “Ah, well, you have to remember, Luna comes from a different time, when ponies did things differently. Before she was banished, if a pony saved your life, it was tradition that you owed them your life, literally. So, since we saved her from being Nightmare Moon, Luna…kind of thinks she owes each of us a massive, massive debt,” the lavender unicorn offered, still embarrassed by the idea. “Celestia managed to talk her down from most of it, explaining that ponies didn’t really do that anymore, but she still wanted to honor us. Hence, the windows. And a few statues. And some paintings. And…a few other things best not mentioned right now,” she said hurriedly, a blush once more coloring her cheeks as she recalled some of the additional honors that she didn’t want her friends to be aware of just yet. “Personally, I’m just glad Celestia managed to handle it as well as she did. She said that Luna’s first inclination was to try to find a way to – get this – marry all of us.” Her blush deepened, accompanied by rising color on four other sets of cheeks. She frowned as she saw the contemplative look worn by a certain white unicorn. “Rarity, if you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, stop thinking it,” the purple mare demanded, the other unicorn wincing as she was caught. “We all know you prefer stallions, so don’t even jokingly suggest that Luna marry you just so you can be a princess,” she clarified, more exasperated than angry.
“Twilight, do you truly think so little of me?” the designer asked, a foreleg thrown across her head in a wounded gesture. “I would certainly never take advantage of anypony’s feeling of obligation for my own benefit in such a base manner for so shallow a prize,” she huffed, privately bemoaning the lack of cushioned surfaces to faux-faint upon. “Though, if Princess Luna were to offer her hoof to me, well…what kind of pony would I be if I broke her heart by saying no? Oh, such is my burden, that I would accept the life of a Princess-Consort, which I’m sure everypony would shorten to simply ‘Princess’ for convince, to an attractive goddess, putting her needs and desires above my own.”
“And tha Pony Award fer Best Actress in a Drama goes to…” Applejack deadpanned, sending the group into a fit of giggles. As the laughter subsided, Twilight beckoned them on towards the far doors, leading the group further into the partially restored castle and towards the secret chamber containing their goal.
Once the door was closed again, the walls to either side of it seemed to shimmer and bend, before the two unicorns released the Chameleon spells which had hidden them, a stallion and mare, both clad in the armor and visage of the Night Guard. The mare pointed at her companion, then jerked her head to the outer door. The stallion closed his eyes, his horn flaring to life and wrapping his body in a dull grey aura for a few seconds, before his form dissolved into mist. The mare, satisfied, restored the effect of her chameleon spell, glancing between her partner’s gaseous form and the door the six mares had recently passed through, silently questioning why the Elements of Harmony were in her mistress’ fortress, and what response her princess would require of her.
****
Luna peered over the balcony’s railing at the training chamber below, distractedly watching her guards train. Occasionally, upon completion of a drill, one of her soldiers would turn towards her perch and bow before the Princess, their golden eyes lighting up with glee when she inclined her head slightly, turned the corners of her mouth up almost imperceptibly, or, if she felt especially generous, raised her left forehoof from the midnight blue velvet of the pillow she sat upon and offered the pony a dignified wave. She rarely offered verbal praise, out of simple necessity; even the mildest compliment from the Lunar Princess had the tendency to leave the recipient as close to a foal having been congratulated by a demanding parent as military discipline would allow. And sometimes, even that discipline was not enough, she remembered with a smile, recalling the first time a grown stallion in full battle armor had leapt up and thrown his arms around her in strong hug, one which immediately tightened and was joined by a delightful choking sound as he realized what he was doing.
The choking had only become more pronounced when she had returned the hug, laughing boisterously as she promoted him for his nerve. She appreciated the affection, as a mother would from her child, basking in the approval of her guards in particular, and her subjects in general, and they, in turn, respected her for her openness. It seemed that, over time, her sister had become, if not less caring, less open in her displays of approval to their little ponies, and the presence of a royal goddess not bound up in a thousand years of ceremony and protocol was appealing to much of the population. The realization of her sister’s self-imposed loneliness during her banishment continued to aggrieve her, but each time she raised the prospect of the two of them spending more time among their subjects, the Solar Princess responded with a cryptic smile, and an equally cryptic promise of “soon,” leaving the younger goddess exasperated, a condition exacerbated by the recent emotional distance of a young, purple unicorn.
Luna looked up at the ceiling of the training chamber, obscuring any view of her mouth from below, and frowned, returning to the thoughts that left her distracted from the efforts of her guards. She counted Twilight Sparkle as one of only three true friends, and occasionally wondered she might have been cheating, counting her sister as a friend. But since the wedding, and the changelings, the mare had begun to grow steadily more distant from the Princesses, despite her more frequent visits to Canterlot. The Princess of the Night recalled the initial pain after realizing the unicorn was avoiding her, thinking that she had done something to offend the mare. In her grief, she had gone so far as to dispatch one of her guards, Breeze Touch, a pegasus mare particularly adept in silent flight, to follow Twilight after one of their truncated encounters. When the mare had returned to her princess with barely controlled tears, Luna had feared the worst; what she had received was more heartrending than she had feared.
“She was…crying, Princess” Breeze Touch had told her, the pegasus’s voice cracking as she gave her report. “Not just a little…full, body-wracking sobs, and she kept muttering to herself how awful she was, how she was…how she was being a terrible friend to you, my princess.” After Twilight’s next visit to Canterlot, the same report, and again, and again, to the point that Luna herself had begun to avoid the unicorn, to spare her any undue anguish. Then, Celestia had produced a letter from the mare, asking if she had offended Luna, asking the Solar Princess for help apologizing if she had, and it had been Luna’s turn to weep. She had sent a reply, assuring her sister’s student that she had caused no offense, and had met with Twilight, briefly, when next she arrived at the castle, confirming in the flesh that all was well between them. Yet Breeze Touch continued to report on the dark state of the unicorn’s mood until Celestia asked Luna to cease the surveillance. Forced to admit that having one of her best scouts shadow a unicorn of unimpeachable character, just to watch the mare cry, was no benefit to anypony, the younger alicorn had agreed, but she had argued that either or both of them should intervene directly, to learn what weighed so heavily on Twilight Sparkle. Celestia had shaken her head, a rare frown blemishing her features, and bade her sister let things run their course, and not interfere with her student’s use of the royal library and archives.
“The archives,” Luna whispered to herself, still staring at the ceiling. She had made good on her plan to look into whatever the young mare had been studying, what had sent her away from Canterlot so suddenly that day, when for months she had stayed until the small hours of the morning. Reasoning that Celestia had asked Luna not interfere with Twilight’s activities, she felt no compunction against speaking to the archivists, inquiring as to the unicorn’s studies. What she had discovered had disturbed her greatly.
Nothing. She had discovered nothing, at least nothing concrete. Nopony in the archives could tell her, with any certainty, what Twilight Sparkle had been working on for the past several months. She was easily led to stacks of texts in a language Luna herself had thought lost long ago, but none of the staff had any clue what, specifically, she had been working on.
None, at least, until one of the janitors recalled that he had seen the lavender unicorn handling an old scroll. An old scroll that nopony could locate for their princess, yet which, if part of the archives, could not be removed from the massive structure without setting off dozens of warnings, not even by a unicorn of Twilight’s abilities. Expected by her guards to preside over their training exercises, she had cursed the archivists, promising an accounting if they were unable to produce the scroll by the next time her moon set, and now she sat, as the stallions and mares in her service practiced and perfected the skills she expected of them, unable to focus on them, distracted by thoughts of ancient scrolls, dead languages, and an endlessly curious, impossibly powerful purple unicorn. Lost in thought, she absent-mindedly reached out, her horn flaring brilliantly, and set the moon upon its nightly course.
“Princess, forgive my intrusion, but there has been a…development,” a strangely ethereal voice spoke from beside her, snapping her from her reverie as the blue glow around her horn faded. She looked down in time to see a grey cloud coalesce into the translucent shape of one of her guards.
“You interrupt nothing, Strange Fate,” she assured him, recognizing him despite the effects of the glamour spell, even in his projected form. “Speak. Whatever had breached our castle must be dire indeed, for you to astral project to us without warning,” she commanded, drawing herself to her full seated height, before her lips curled into a predatory smirk. “Unless you hoped to ‘accidentally’ project into the royal bath? Again?” The stallion’s image flushed brilliant crimson at the alicorn’s teasing, briefly restoring Luna’s good spirits…until he composed himself enough to give his report.
“Princess Luna, approximately five minutes ago, the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony entered the castle proper, after an extended conversation in the entry hall. Per the orders issued jointly by both you and your sister, Shadow Pride and I made no effort to interfere with the passing of High Lady Sparkle or her compatriots,” the stallion reported, his voice distorted by the magic projecting his consciousness across many miles, scratchy and echoing. “However, we felt it wisest to report their presence in the structure, and ensure that one of the contingencies hadn’t been activa…Mistress? Are you alright?”
The Princess of the Night’s brow was furrowed, as she looked down at Strange Fate, shaking her head. “Sergeant Fate, listen very carefully. As soon as I finish speaking, end your projection spell. When you return to your physical form, you and Sergeant Pride are to exit the castle, and secure the area immediately outside. If nothing further has occurred one hour after moonrise, you may stand down and return to your standard duties. Do you understand?” Luna asked, her voice strained. The unicorn offered a single nod, and then dissipated into a quickly fading mist. Standing, the Princess flared her wings wide, and rapped her hooves against the stone balcony loudly, drawing the fully attention of her assembled guards. Visibly swallowing, she addressed them, using the full force of the Royal Voice. “My guards, your training this day is completed. Your Princesses require you to regroup in the Central Courtyard as swiftly as possible, along with any other members of the Lunar Guard currently in Canterlot that are not presently ill or on an active assignment,” she commanded, then spun on her hooves, not waiting to see the organized rush of ponies out of the chamber.
A dim aura enveloped her horn, sweeping through the castle in search of her sister, finding her already waiting in the Chamber of Dusk and Dawn. She shuddered at the name as her horn flared brightly to life, her magic enveloping her as the world swirled and contorted around her, and she teleported.
****
The chamber housing the ley nexus was, on the whole, unimpressive, especially compared to the rest of the rebuilt castle. The room was a simply cube, ten feet to a side; the walls were drab, rough-hewn granite blocks, streaked and spotted with imperfections, interrupted only by the door centered on one side. There were no furnishings to speak of, no carvings, not even any brackets for glowstones or torches. The only light in the room, as it happened, came from the only thing in the room that differentiated it from a particularly large dungeon, one feature that held the undivided attention of the five ponies standing by the sealed door, as Twilight Sparkle worked.
In the exact center of the room was, for lack of a more accurate term, a fountain. The primary difference was, the contents of a normal fountain tended to fall back towards the surface, while this ‘fountain’ conspicuously disregarded such mundane notions as gravity; fonts of pure magic tended to be funny like that. The pseudo-liquid of the ley nexus glowed a brilliant bluish-green and congealed in a sphere, two feet in diameter, the center of which floated exactly five feet from the center point of each wall, and provided the only light in the chamber. Twilight had been periodically dipping her hoof into the stream of magic that sustained the orb, the energy somehow maintaining physical cohesion enough for her to mark an elaborate pattern onto the floor, constantly referencing the translated scroll to ensure each line was perfectly placed.
Her saddle bags lay on the floor besides the door and her friends, safely out of the way, a small stone resting atop the enchanted containers, a stone which had just begun to glow a pale purple, nearly the same color as her coat. Luna must have just risen the moon, giving her a limited time to complete the preparations before Celestia lowered the sun beneath the horizon and the opportunity passed. She began to rush about the chamber on three legs, her fourth covered in magic as she hastily finished the ritual pattern, careful to avoid stepping on the lines, whorls, concentric circles, and geometric patterns that would channel and focus the power. Her friends watched in rapt silence as she completed the final portion of the design, six familiar symbols seeming to glow slightly brighter than the rest of the pattern.
Directly in front of the door, a single four-sided diamond; opposite it, a six-pointed star. To the right of the diamond, a stylized butterfly diagonally across the room, a lightning bolt divided into three segments. Completing the array, a balloon was drawn on the floor between the diamond and the bolt, and an apple was marked out between the star and the butterfly. The pulsing of the stone had grown more regular, and the orb of magic in the center of the chamber shone brighter as the confluence of celestial magic neared its peak. It was time.
“Girls, quick, stand on your corresponding symbol,” Twilight ordered as she took her own place, licking her hoof clean of the remaining liquid magic, smirking at the unsurprisingly familiar taste. Her friends hurried to their marks, each careful to step over, not on, the carefully drawn lines, and the unicorn focused on the pulsating source of concentrated magic before her, her horn shining brilliantly as she tapped into the primal magic the flowed through the planet, her body acting as a conduit for the power, directing it into the pattern she had painted onto the rough stone. The array flared to life with a jolt of raw power, the glow intensifying as the very air began to hum with power. Twilight Sparkle smiled, allowing herself a satisfied breath; she’d begun the process in time, and even if the sun set before she completed it, the surge of power would continue until she released it. Nothing could stop the ritual.
****
“Luna, what’s wrong?” Celestia asked, standing to meet her sister as Luna stepped quickly into the Chamber. “You look like the city is being attacked by changelings again.” The Princess of the Sun’s normally serene visage faded, her brow furrowed in concern, as she thought to add, “Is the city being attacked by changelings again?”
The darker alicorn shook her head, her ethereal mane cascading before her face in a nearly hypnotic display as she did. “Nay, sister, Canterlot stands at peace. It is my mind that is troubled, Tia.” The pearlescent alicorn quirked an eyebrow at her sister’s cryptic phrasing, gesturing with a forehoof for Luna to continue. “One of the guards left to stand watch over the old palace has contact me by astral projection, to inform me that Twilight Sparkle has arrived there, accompanied by the other Elements,” she explained, eyes focused on her elder sister, lips drawn tight against her teeth in concern.
Celestia merely blinked, the source of Luna’s concern still not apparent. “I’m still not sure I understand your agitation, Luna. While I obviously agree that the Everfree is a dangerous place to travel, regardless of the circumstances, I have absolute faith in my student’s ability to defend herself and her friends. And, as for their destination, perhaps our dear Twilight merely wants to show the other Bearers the renovations you have made to our ancient home,” Celestia suggested, adding, with a mischievous wink, “such as those lovely windows you designed for them?”
Luna felt the bright crimson bleeding through the midnight-blue of her cheeks, but pressed on. “No, sister, she…” she lowered her head and sighed. “Sister, after our last conversation, my…curiosity got the best of me, and I visited the archives to see what the precocious mare had been working on,” she explained, raising a hoof defensively as her sister rolled her eyes. “She was not there, sister, nor did I disturb the resources she had gathered, so you cannot accuse me of meddling. But, what I found…sister, she had gathered stack upon stacks of texts written in the ancient tongue, alongside newer translations. And one member of the staff recalled her examining a time-worn scroll. And now, she and her friends approach a source fount at the time of a surging…”
Celestia had walked slowly over to her agitated sister, and gently nuzzled the younger goddess, smiling softly as she did. For the thousand years of loneliness she had been forced to endure, that calm act of sisterly affection had been one of the things she missed most about her little sister, along with the Moon Goddess’ tendency to overreach to minor concerns, much like another powerful mare she could name. “Luna,” Celestia whispered softly, resting a hoof gently across her sister’s back, “I know what you’re getting at, but you need to relax. The last remaining copies of the texts with the underlying formulae are stored where only you or I can reach them, and warded so that only an alicorn can read them.” Celestia smiled into her sister’s mane, as she felt Luna start to relax, the nervous energy settling with each calming work. “Twilight Sparkle is certainly clever enough to be able to reproduce the work, if she had access to those books, but without them…well, much as I love my student, even I have to admit that she’d need the actual, original scroll to be able to replicate that ritual, if she wanted to perform it before she turned old and gray,” she continued, sharing a soft, good-natured laugh with her sister at the playful jab to the lavender unicorn. “And I know, much as it pained you, you destroyed that scroll, all those centuries ago.” And Celestia frowned, and stepped back, concern in her eyes as she felt Luna tense up beneath her foreleg, the elder goddess tilting her head to the side in confusion.
“S…sister…” Luna began, the color draining from her face, the stars in her mane dimming as she looked at her sister in alarm. “I…I did not destroy the scroll; I could not bring myself to. I gave it to you to destroy, don’t you remember?” she breathed, her voice a squeaky whisper. Before Celestia could respond, another sound echoed through the castle, a simple, five note progression, repeated twice. To almost any pony, those notes would mean nothing, would sound like a simple, calming melody. To the Royal Sisters, the divine rulers of Equestria, those notes were an alarm claxon which signaled one thing, and one thing alone.
The physical trappings of the Elements of Harmony had been teleported from their vault.
The physical trappings of the Elements of Harmony had been teleported from their vault, and the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony were at a ley nexus during twilight, when the magic would surge highest, just as a certain ritual, apparently far less destroyed than either princess had thought, demanded.
“Oh, buck me right in the face,” Celestia muttered sourly, as her face somehow became even whiter than normal.
“I have ordered the Lunar guard to muster in the courtyard, sister,” Luna offered, nervously. “Go, quickly. I shall rally them, and join you shortly.”
The words had barely even left her mouth when her older sister vanished in a nimbus of golden light, though Celestia had not teleported quickly enough to hide the tears welling in her eyes.
****
The array of liquid magic shone brighter and brighter with each passing moment, drawing more and more energy from the nexus with each passing instant. The sphere at the center of the chamber was less than half the size it had been when they’d arrived, and was growing small as the ritual spell consumed more and more power to sustain itself. And Twilight Sparkle stood, all of that energy focused through her, focused on her, a manic grin on her face as she tapped the pure source of magic and bent it to her ends. She could feel the furious pull of the magic, crashing against her like waves against stone, trying to break her, failing to break her. Slowly, as the energy flowed through her, the light began to change, the pale blue-green glow fading, replaced by her own deep red-violet energy, the sigils she and her friends stood on pulsing with a light all their own, matching the color of the gemstone representing each mare’s Element. The two pegasi and two earth ponies watched in awe, able to feel the power in the room; Rarity could actually see it, she the chaotic energy flowing into Twilight, the controlled power pouring out of her friend, power of a magnitude she could barely comprehend, let alone control.
The white unicorn was pulled from her wonder as a sudden rush of air and a nearly deafening thunder-like crack filled the room, and she felt something materialize around her neck. She glanced down to confirm, but knew what it was instinctively; the Amethyst Diamond, the representation of the Element of Generosity had appeared. A quick glance confirmed the presence of the full set, four other necklaces fastened around four other necks, the Tourmaline Star tiara sitting upon Twilight’s head, just behind her horn, her horn which was…
Rarity frowned, watching as two beams of energy sprang from Twilight’s horn, stretching across the room, striking Pinkie’s and Fluttershy’s necklaces, before another beam spread from them, the three ponies connected by a triangular link of light. The white unicorn cocked her head to the side, as the three linked mares were each surrounded by Twilight’s aura, before she winced, a sharp, tugging sensation growing at the base of her horn. Her confusion was replaced with fear as two pale blue streams of light shot out from her, her magic linking with the gemstones worn by Applejack and Rainbow Dash, surrounding them in her own aura field, despite her attempts to control the aura. “Twilight? Is…is this supposed to be happening, dear?” she called out, unable to keep the panic from her voice. Her eyes snapped forward, locked on her purple friend, the other mare’s head thrown back, her deep blue mane billowing around her head, moved by an unseen wind, arcs of violet lightning crackling along the strands. “Twilght? Twilight?!” Rarity called again, trying to snap the other unicorn out of her apparent trance. She tried to take a step forward, but her own magic bound her in place. Her head remained unrestrained, and a glance at the others confirmed they were in much the same predicament, at least to judge by the contorted looks of effort worn by Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Flutteshy’s head was hung low, her pale pink mane draped over her face as her body was wracked with quiet sobs of panic, while even Pinkie’s normal exuberance was sapped, replaced by a pained expression as, unbeknownst to Rarity, every muscle in the pink mare’s body tried to contort all at once; the doozy to end all doozies.
A burst of golden light shone from the corner of the room to Rarity’s left, each of the five mares still seemingly conscious of their surroundings looking in shock as Princess Celestia appeared in the chamber, taking in the sight with a strange, sad smile. “I’m sorry, my little ponies. I am so, so sorry,” the goddess said, her quiet voice echoing through the chamber. Before anypony could say another word, the orb in the center of the chamber collapsed completely, and the Bearers of the Elements knew only pure, unyielding whiteness.