"Hello, Celestia." the purveyor greeted her without turning towards her as she landed next to him. Far down in the pit, the purveyor's shadows continued to form the new city while he watched from above. For a moment, he allowed himself to admire his own work. It was one small step of many to come, but it was a step forward nonetheless.
Celestia hesitantly stepped up to his side, letting her gaze wander over the endless maze of buildings, bridges and roads that spiraled on downwards.
"What do you think?" he asked without looking up.
"I have never seen the likes of it..." Celestia whispered as she squinted her eyes in an attempt to see the bottom of the pit, "How deep does it go?"
"Deep enough..." he commented, "They will be able to use the magma running below for heat and resources, once they grasp the concept."
"Once?"
"What you see here, is merely a frame of a city. A bare skeleton waiting to be filled with life. It will provide them with shelter and resources, but that is all. The rest, they must figure out for themselves."
"Why not share your knowledge with them?" Celestia asked, "With your technology, they could become the most advanced race ever to walk on this world!"
"I know, but they will have to learn it by themselves nonetheless. Wisdom needs to be earned, respected and nourished. The old knowledge of my kind is simply too dangerous to just put it in the hands of children." he paused, "Also, I have no doubt that they will learn fast enough by themselves. I wish for them to be strong and independent. Uncorrupted by our past."
"There may be a small catch to your plans." Celestia commented with a worried face.
"What?"
Celestia sighed, "To cleanse a soul of its passed life is no simple task. Some things may remain; ideas, words spoken to others, old memories... For them these things of their past lives will appear like shrouded dreams, and even though most of them may not understand what they mean... some may be influenced by them."
The purveyor frowned behind his mask, "They would remember their old lives?"
"They would dream of them." Celestia replied, "It is difficult to tell how clear these dreams would be, I have no concept yet as of how the minds of your kind are structured. It is possible that they would completely forget their former selves. It may be unlikely, but no matter how precisely I work..."
"There would still be the chance for them to remember." he replied before looking at her, "I do not like this, Celestia. But I do not have any other options. Let them dream then... I am curious to see what it would bring forth should the event arise."
Should they actually remember things of their preceeding life, no matter how distorted? It could bring forth chaos, but it could also serve as an inspiration for them and spur their process considerably. They would still have to reach it by themselves though. So even while it wasn't quite as he had desired, it could serve to give them some sort of guidance.
Try as he might though, Zaeres couldn't help but worry about one thing... What if she remembered? What would she do? Most importantly, what would he do? He had intended for her to step into this world untainted and free of her past, but now... He pushed the thought aside, there were too many other things he had to concentrate on at this point. He would keep his eyes open, and pray that she would forget him when the time came for her to be reborn.
Celestia nodded, "Very well then. The council will be held in two days."
"Good. I will be able to finish my preparations by then." the two of them stood in silence for another moment, watching as the shadows continued to move beneath them relentlessly.
"I visited Discord's statue..." he spoke up, "It is good to see that he is still imprisoned. I had feared he could have broken free during my absence..."
"Still?" Celestia replied with surprise before sadness washed over her features, "You are wrong, I am afraid... Discord has been imprisoned, again."
Zaeres raised an eyebrow, "So he did break out while I was gone?"
Celestia shook her head with a sigh, "No. I released him."
For a moment, the purveyor simply stared at her without a word, shocked, bewildered and speechless. Even the shadows around him and the ones in the pit had come to a sudden halt.
"You... you what?!" his voice became cold and the shadows around his form started to twitch. Had Celestia lost her mind during his absence? What in the world could have caused her to take such a step?
"I set him free." Celestia repeated with another heavy sigh.
The purveyor's eyes narrowed, "Why?"
"Because I still had hope that he would return to us." she replied, "I believed, that if he could find a friend, even if it was only one... that he would return to his old self... and that all of us could be happy again."
He shook his head in disbelief, "I could have told you from the beginning that it was a futile attempt."
"Was it really wrong for me to hope that he could be cured?"
"He was never ill to begin with." the purveyor sneered, "His descent into madness was his own choice."
"And still, he did find a friend." Celestia said with a sad smile, "And even if it lasted only for a short time... we were happy."
The purveyor eyed Celestia's face for a second, trying to contemplate her words, "What happened?"
Celestia closed her eyes, the memories of the last two hundred years returning to her. When she opened her eyes again, she continued to look down into the pit as he listened to her words in silence.
"After your disappearance... I decided to give Discord another chance and sent him to Ponyville under the watch of the elements of harmony. It did not seem like it at first, but eventually... he found a friend in the element of kindness."
"Fluttershy..." the purveyor remembered the little pegasus.
She nodded, "Discord swore on that day to change his ways."
Zaeres scowled, "And you trusted him?"
"His intention was true... he really did want to change." she remained quiet for a moment, a single tear escaping her eye.
"But he couldn't, could he?"
"He tried so hard... fought every urge... but in the end, I fear he lost the fight with himself... and we had to stop him once more." Celestia hung her head, "It was a sad day for all of us..."
Celestia paused, a small, sad smile appearing on her lips, "But I still hope, and I still believe... that one day... he will return to us, and stay."
The purveyor watched her face for a lingering moment before sighing. He would never have expected Discord to be able to change if even only for a day, but it seemed he had been wrong. He could only imagine what it had meant to Celestia, and what it still did.
"It seems quite a few things have changed during my absence..." he shook his head with a soft smile, "But it is good to see, that you have not."
He would not tell Celestia what he intended to do if Discord would break free again. Not now, and not until there was nothing else he could do.