Blinkie wandered through the swathe of marshland that represented Hayseed Swamp. It was as if the entire region had been condensed into twenty or so acres of land. There were ferns that went up to her chest, and she kept her head down to avoid the vines that hung from the twisted, gloomy trees. Dragonflies danced with will-o'-the-wisps. Bullfrogs sat like kings atop mossy boulders and croaked a cappella in time with the belches of the fire-breathing salamanders. It was beautiful, in its way, but the shadows that moved beneath the lily pads seemed to be following her.
There was a dirt path with lecterns, for lack of a better term, and informational plaques about the local flora and fauna, but visitors were encouraged to diverge from it. She would have done so anyway.
The others had cut across to the White Tail Woods biome, where they waited for Celestia to join them.
She looked at her pamphlet. She had wanted to see the San Palomino Desert biome, but to do that, she had to pass through Hayseed Swamp and the Badlands. It promised an unsurpassed view of Western Equestria, including such sights as Appleloosa, the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest, Ponyville, and through the mists of Cloudsdale, Galloping Gorge and the rock farm.
She'd always known that the world was bigger than the farm, and she'd wanted to see it for herself while there was still time.
She passed into the Badlands, and the heat and the blazing sun greeted her like a wall. Her eyes ached as she tried to take in the new scene. A blasted wasteland of orange crags stretched out as far as her eyes could see, which wasn't far. Distant objects were hazy at best. At worst, they swayed as if the landscape itself was drunk. There was no water. The only shadows came from the birds of prey circling far overhead. She couldn't imagine what this biome contributed to the whole.
Even San Palomino Desert was more savanna than desert, with hallucinating toads and foxes and meerkats. She really wanted to see the meerkats. They sounded fascinating. If she strained her eyes, she could make out snakes, lizards, and other reptiles basking in the sun. Unlike her, they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
However far it extended, she knew she'd collapse before she made it to the other side. The project took advantage of a new development in magical theory made possible through collaboration with Discord. It allowed for localized spatial anomalies, such as making the botanical gardens much, much bigger on the inside. They promised to be a real tourist attraction once they were open to the public.
The hard part was apparently bringing in the wildlife. The elemental ice creatures that haunted the winds of the Frozen North, for instance, were an indispensable part of the topmost biome's ecosystem, somehow, but they had a tendency to disintegrate if they strayed too far from their habitat.
She took another look at her pamphlet. The glossy paper was almost impossible to read with the glaring sun reflecting off it, but she could just make out the name of the biome central to the honeycomb pattern: Hollow Shades.
It wasn't where she'd set out to go, but she had to admit, it sounded enticing. For one thing, it was a lot closer. For another, the promise of shade was right there in the name. Were she able to read the rest of the description, which spoke of tree frogs, fireflies, muted streams, and a canopy that warded off the day, she'd have realized that she'd feel more at home there than she ever had on the rock farm.
It was just as well, though; she found out soon enough.
Cool air washed over her as soon as she stepped into the shadow of the forest. She breathed a sigh of relief. In the distance, the sound of rushing water promised to quench her thirst. Making her way toward it, she read the rest of the description. When she finished, she found herself smiling. When she reached the stream, she lay on the grassy bank, closed her eyes, and dipped her head. The water kissed her muzzle.
Though she heard nothing and saw nothing―her eyes were still closed, and the water blocked out all noise but the sporadic chirping of the tree frogs―she became aware of a presence in the forest. It wasn't malevolent, but it was watching her. Studying her. That would be enough to make anypony feel uncomfortable. It made Blinkie feel naked.
She opened her eyes.
Wide cyan eyes looked back at her from across the river, apparently as surprised by her as she was by them.
Blinkie saw the image she was supposed to see, of a beautiful mare with midnight blue fur and a mane like a nebula. It was the image her retinas transmitted to her brain, but beneath it, she caught glimpses of another image. This other image had fur as black as the interstellar vacuum and pupils like a bat pony's.
Luna blinked.
Blinkie relaxed, if only slightly. The trance was broken, but she was still in the presence of the immortal princess of the night, whom she now knew to have been a draconequus in a past life. She barely knew how to act in the company of normal ponies; royalty was right out. Yet the mare before her was familiar―more so than she should have been.
Luna seemed to be in a similar predicament. Her wings ruffled, and she didn't seem to know what to do with her hooves. She felt she should be able to dispense with the usual formalities and speak casually of what had caught her attention about the mare, but the thinly veiled disapproval of generations of unicorn nobles was ingrained into her subconscious.
The water and the silence stretched out between them. Even the tree frogs had ceased their chirping.
Blinkie realized what was so familiar about the mare, not counting the obvious. She smiled. It wasn't much of a smile, but it was enough. She pulled her forelegs under her, adopting a position rather like a house cat, and said, "I've seen you in my dreams."
Intrigued, Luna half-stepped, half-glided across the stream and sat beside her. She could be more sure of herself now; it didn't happen often, but it was always awkward when she was more familiar with a pony than the pony was with her.
She was about to respond when Blinkie spoke again, "The pamphlet said the Canterlot Botanical Gardens was a collaboration between you and Discord."
"It's funny that you should mention that, considering where we are," Luna said. She told her how she'd spent the first year after her return getting acquainted with the new Equestria. In cognito, of course. She'd only revealed her true identity in the bat pony town in the treetops of Hollow Shades, where she'd known she'd be remembered kindly. She'd felt their yellow eyes upon her every night for a thousand years.
She'd heard them plead with the stars to aid in her escape.
"Our apologies, Blinkie," she said. "We've been known to digress." She was pleasantly surprised to find that Blinkie was listening with genuine interest.
It was as unusual for her as being noticed was for Blinkie. Normal ponies were afraid of her, and the nobles that flocked to her whenever she left the castle would feign interest in even the most banal things she had to say.
Meanwhile, the tree frogs had resumed their former conversations.
Luna continued her story. When she'd returned to Canterlot and entered the study that had been laid out for her, she'd had an idea.
The idea had been to take seven of the most iconic biomes in Equestria, excluding the Everfree Forest, and turn them into a conglomerate ecosystem that doubled as a park. Ponies who didn't have the chance to travel outside the city would be able to go there for a breath of fresh air. She had proposed the idea to her sister as a testament to the unity of Equestria and the power of harmony, but really, her thought process had been that if she had to live on a mountainside, she wanted to liven the place up a bit.
The idea hadn't actually come to fruition until Discord's reformation. Collaborating with him had presented her with a unique opportunity both to get to know the mind of her old nemesis and to help him make a meaningful contribution to pony society.
As she listened, Blinkie took the opportunity to get a better look at her.
Luna had looked imposing while she stood over her, and indeed, she had a much larger frame than any normal pony. That air had been lost when she sat down, though. She was much smaller than her sister, and unlike her sister, who attended to the cohesion of the whole, she sought to know each and every one of her little ponies personally. Celestia protected them from external threats; Luna protected them from internal ones.
Few were conscious of her presence in their dreams. They were the ones who knew their unconscious minds, to the extent that such knowledge was possible. They were often the ones who most needed her help, and she was happy to give it.
The conversation would have to come back around to that, though. She let her eyes wander around the forest while she waited for Blinkie to process all her exposition. The trees were so wide and so tall as to make even her feel small in their midst. Each one could house a small family without detriment to the tree itself.
Far above them, sunlight did pierce the canopy, but it did so in small patches that could be traced all the way back to their source by the way they illuminated the pollen that hung in the air. The beautiful silk webs crafted by the giant spiders that lived among the branches positively glittered when the light struck them. It lent an air of enchantment to what would otherwise just be a rather gloomy forest.
The spiders fed on the birds that weren't smart enough to avoid the webs or strong enough to tear themselves free. It was a grisly thing, but it was true to the realities of Hollow Shades, where even the ponies were carnivorous. Discord had insisted on it.
She got up and began walking along the length of the stream. She didn't look back; she knew Blinkie had gotten up to follow her. She took Blinkie's taking an interest in the mushrooms they passed as her cue to continue. She asked, "If we might ask, what compelled you to break away from your group, and what drew you to the Hollow Shades biome?"
She'd assumed the answer would have to do with Blinkie's lineage, which she could see in Blinkie's eyes―bronze wasn't such a rare eye color among bat ponies.
Blinkie explained how she'd happened across it by chance, how she'd really been meaning to get to the San Palomino Desert biome, and she explained why. Remembering the first part of the question, she simply said that she'd wanted to be alone with her thoughts.
Luna needed no elaboration.
The wolf, in its last moments before Blinkie had taken its head in her hooves and gave it a sharp twist, had haunted her dreams every night since.
Luna stopped walking, and when Blinkie turned to face her, she draped her downy wing around her and looked into her eyes.
The words weren't spoken, but the message was clear.
Blinkie looked up to meet her eyes and blushed. She could feel the warmth of Luna's breath on her face, and the featherlight caress of Luna's wing sent sparks up her spine. From some neglected recess of her mind, a voice screamed at her to lean in and kiss her, but she knew that wasn't Luna's intent.
Luna had wanted to get her full attention, and she had succeeded.
No pony who knew what those eyes had seen could look away. They had seen the primordial chaos, the birth of ponykind, and everything that had followed. So had Celestia's and Discord's, but no other eyes had stood alone beneath the night sky and attempted to fathom the vast emptiness between the stars. No other eyes had beheld the secrets that lay beyond the edge of the universe. The madness was gone, though, and what remained was a mind that knew no equal anywhere in Equestria.
And Blinkie knew.
When the princess of the night spoke, she addressed a mortal filly, "Blinkie, you must understand that killing takes many forms, not all of them evil. Indeed, no act is intrinsically good or evil. You understood that when you took that wolf's life into your own hooves. It was only later that you began to doubt yourself, but you know as well as I do that you would never commit such an act without just cause.
"The ability to kill without remorse, when necessary, is a dark but powerful gift. Those who wield it don't work in the light of day, but they have a key role to play in defending Equestria from threats both from within and from without. My Night Guard has saved as many lives through strategic assassinations as my sister's Day Guard ever has through open conflict, but nopony but my sister and I know of their deeds."
The princess of the night closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they were no longer as cold and infinite as outer space. They were old, yes, but they were also young and friendly and playful again. They were Luna's.
She continued, "Or, if you prefer a less dangerous lifestyle, you could study at Canterlot Academy to be a psychoanalyst. If you dedicated yourself to that path, I believe you could help such lost causes as Discord and perhaps even Sombra. It takes one who's seen the darkness to guide others out of it. The choice is yours. Your options aren't limited to those I've presented, but it's something to think about."
Blinkie had noticed the change in Luna's demeanor. She'd felt paralyzed, but the message had definitely been received.
Joining the Night Guard wasn't anything she'd have considered doing, but now she couldn't help entertaining the possibility. With her natural talents, which she now suspected were partly the touch of draconequus magic, she could be an assassin without equal. What skills she didn't already have she could easily learn.
Or she could treat those who did what was necessary but weren't able to rationalize it the way she could. She would have to reach them on their own terms, which would mean experiencing things from their perspective. That could be a fascinating journey in itself.
Before she could even try to answer, she heard her name echoing through the trees up ahead in high-pitched, drawn-out tones.
Luna heard it too; she retracted her wing and looked down the path just as a pink, pony-shaped blur bounced into view.
It turned out to be Pinkie, who said, "Come on, come on! It's starting!"
***
Celestia strode through the castle and asked each guard and servant mare she saw if he or she had seen Discord, who had a peculiar knack for showing up when she least wanted him around but being nowhere to be found when she was actually looking for him. She knew beyond any doubt that it was intentional.
She'd had to wrap up her business in court early. The nobles hadn't been pleased, and she hadn't had the patience to deal with their egoistic indignation. She had a feeling she'd be hearing about it later, but that was the least of her worries. An hour ago, her guards had informed her that an Element bearer had arrived at the city gates leading an unknown draconequus, a unicorn pony, and three, maybe four earth ponies―the witnesses' accounts had conflicted on that point―and requested an audience.
She hadn't wanted to cause a panic, so she'd instructed one guard to escort them to the botanical gardens and the other to wake her sister and have her keep an eye on them.
The bits and pieces she'd picked up from her staff had lead her to the bathhouse. She flung the door open, and steam billowed out.
It cleared to reveal Discord lounging in a great big tub and whistling a show tune that didn't originate in their universe. The shower head wasn't connected to any of the plumbing, but nopony had had the courtesy to tell it. It filled the tub to the point of overflowing with pink, sudsy water. He wore a hairnet with holes for his mismatched horns, and because there were certain conventions, a rubber duck bobbed beside him.
He was aware of those conventions, but as he saw that they didn't seem to serve much purpose, he'd given the duck a helmet, a toy harpoon gun, and a mortal enemy in a plastic whale that would breach and dive, breach and dive, without apparent intelligence, all around the tub. Because nothing was worse than being bested by someone too idiotic to realize there was a competition.
Giving him another chance had been Luna's idea. Celestia still held that he was beyond redemption, not for anything he had done, per se, but for the very fact of his nature. Many a psychologist had had to undergo therapy himself after trying to help him reenvision his purpose in the world. The lucky ones were able to return to their practices.
"Discord," Celestia said. "I require your assistance." She hoped she hadn't made it sound urgent. It was urgent, but letting him know that was the surest way to make sure she'd be there until sundown, when she'd have to rest.
He'd done it before; it was infuriating.
Discord offered an exaggerated yawn and deigned to open his eyes. "And what, pray tell, is so urgent that you felt the need to interrupt my hourly bath? "
Damn it all.
Celestia lit her horn. There was a flash, and the tub and the water disappeared.
Discord fell on his rump, assuming he had one―his body was more reptile than mammal. He frowned and crossed his arms. The rubber duck hung in the air. He snapped his fingers, and it too disappeared. "Well?"
Celestia sighed. She would have preferred not to let him in on the matter until they'd gotten past the hordes of excitable ponies that stood between them and the botanical gardens, but she didn't have a choice. "Pinkie arrived at the city gates an hour ago. There was a draconequus with her."
Discord stood and cast aside his hairnet. It turned into steam before it hit the ground.
"Impossible," he said. "I haven't left the castle all day. I have alibis. Just ask your network of informants. I know you have one."
"Another draconequus," Celestia elaborated.
Discord waved his paw. "This is your idea of a practical joke, is it?"
"Do I look like I'm joking?"
Discord shrugged and walked by her, out the door, and down the long hall. He allowed himself a smug little grin as she was forced to follow. "How should I know? You're always so contemptibly serious. I know you have a sense of humor, Celestia. Why don't you ever share it with me? I think a little levity would do wonders for our relationship."
"I think you have more than enough levity for the both of us," Celestia said. She stopped, though he kept walking. "If you have more pressing business, that's fine. I thought you might like to meet her, though. I understand she's rather young and attractive."
Discord stopped and half-turned to cast a suspicious look over his shoulder, but there was curiosity hiding beneath the surface. "Younger than us? That seems unlikely."
Celestia smiled the smile of the victor who took no pleasure in her conquest. "Do you remember the draconequus cult?"
Though Discord had been encased in stone at the time, he must have been involved somehow. The cult had stolen a history book; it wouldn't have had spells in it.
He said he didn't remember, but Celestia did.
She remembered staying up well into the night until the captain of her guard, Valiant Stand, had returned for debriefing, badly burned. His state had reinforced her belief that the whole thing had been a trap to draw her out while she was weak with grief. Then he'd told her what had happened, how the cultists had apparently decided they'd rather die by their own hooves than be taken into custody and destroyed all their work in a magical fire that would not go out. He'd told her how he'd tried, and failed, to save them. Even as the fire peeled the skin from his body, Granite had refused to be saved.
It had hurt to think that her ponies were so fearful of her wrath. To be fair, she didn't know what she'd have done had they been tried and found guilty. They had sought to strike at her when she was weakest, when she was the only thing holding Equestria together. That was unforgivable, but after enough time had passed without her hearing anything more of the cultists, she'd assumed they'd all died in the fire and dropped the matter.
Only now it seemed at least one pony had escaped the blaze and the search parties.
A thousand years later, in one of the White Tail Woods biome's idyllic glades, that pony's descendents stood before her and Discord.
Mother and Father stood off to the side; Inkie stood with the draconequus, born of the Everfree Forest's wild magic, who was meant to usurp her and bring about a new age of chaos in Equestria; and Pinkie and Skyline filled Celestia in on all they'd learned.
Eris didn't look like a usurper. She looked rather uncomfortable about the whole thing and eager to wash her hands of it.
Though Father refused to look at Celestia, he looked too old, and Mother looked too tired, to be a revolutionary.
Luna and Blinkie entered the glade and went to stand with their respective groups.
Blinkie had heard it all before, and since she had little interest in taking part in the discussion that would ensue, she let her eyes wander.
The trees were nothing like the giants of Hollow Shades or the primordial-looking things that apparently populated San Palomino Desert, but their normalcy had its own appeal. It spoke of a place where ponies could feel safe. One or two had an audience of white mushrooms around its base. Mice scurried between her hooves, too preoccupied to worry about being trampled; a hare watched the group from within its burrow; and fat songbirds flew overhead, tweet-tweeting merrily. The interplay of sunlight and shade, clouds and clear sky, was perfect. By night, there would probably be a chorus of crickets. Lovers would probably come here to lay in the grass and gaze at the stars. It was that kind of forest.
A butterfly with pastel blue-and-yellow wings lead her eyes back to the group just as Celestia seemed to come to a conclusion.
Celestia began by addressing Eris, "It seems to me that without your magic, the rock farm's newly discovered resource will be depleted within the decade."
She shifted her gaze to Skyline. "You will, of course, receive credit for the discovery, along with all that that usually entails. Be proud; the extent of your contribution to the advancement of modern magic has yet to be defined. Should you or your colleagues discover a way to create these crystals without the aid of a draconequus, you will go down in history as the pony who revived the field of enchantment magic."
Discord took notice. Ponies who were interested in that kind of immortality could often be tempted with the more literal sort. Most of his past experiments had gone insane, but that hadn't stopped him from trying.
Then Skyline ruined it when he bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Highness, but I could never have done it without the help of my companions, Pinkie, Inkie, and Blinkie."
He looked back to see Inkie smiling at him, and his heart soared.
Discord deflated.
Celestia nodded her approval.
Discord whispered something in her ear.
Celestia thought it over, then turned to Mother and Father. "As the only ponies in physical condition to do the work are adamant that they want no more part in it, I would be willing to buy the land, employ the Miner's Guild to do the work, and once it's done, develop the land into something else, that its past might be forgotten."
Mother, her business senses screaming, whispered to Father, "With that kind of money, we could buy a home and carve out a new life. Isn't that what you wanted?"
It was, but Father was dubious. Deigning to meet Celestia's eyes and seeing in them nothing but compassion, as if she actually knew what he'd sacrificed, actually knew the toll it had taken on him and his family, he spoke, "Our acceptance is contingent on one condition: our past is not to be forgotten. Let what happened there be known to anypony who cares to listen, and let them draw their own conclusions."
"If that is what you wish," Celestia said.
"It is," Father said.
Luna looked at him curiously, as if to ask what he sought to prove. She said nothing to that effect, however. Instead, she said, "We have nothing but sympathy for you and the weight your connection to the draconequus cult has forced your family to bear, though we understand why your daughters might not see it that way. We promise to be reasonable, but our discussion of the details will have to wait."
"Indeed, there remains a more pressing concern," Celestia said, addressing the new draconequus, whose name she still hadn't learned.
"Eris," the draconequus supplied. Her scarlet eyes flickered to Discord, challenging him to make something of it.
Discord raised a bushy eyebrow but said nothing. The name had been taken by some mythic figure or other in some long-forgotten pony pantheon, he knew, but he conceded that it was rather suitable. Discord and Eris, he found himself thinking. The first and last of their kind. He grinned. There would be so much to show her. How much she could get away with, for starters. She didn't look like she'd be too inclined to listen, but he knew that was a front. No draconequus who ever lived lacked a taste for mischief. It came with being immortal; you had to do something to pass the millennia.
Luna could see what he was thinking, but she didn't see it as a bad thing. Eris did have a lot of value, not least in giving him someone with whom he could talk as an equal. "Had you arrived on our doorstep a year ago, we wouldn't have been inclined to be so lenient, but as Discord himself has taken steps toward becoming a contributing member of Equestrian society, and by his very nature, has a lot to offer us, so too may you. If you so choose, we'll welcome you into our home. If you refuse, however, neither Celestia nor I can guarantee your safety anywhere within Equestria's borders."
The air grew cold, but only Blinkie knew why. She'd noted the particular choice of words and been reminded that Luna commanded a legion of covert operatives. If Eris refused, she would likely find herself the victim of a tragic accident, probably involving a bad heart and the lingering smell of almonds. Immortal meant undying; it didn't mean unkillable. If it came to that, she had a feeling Discord wouldn't be so cooperative anymore.
The birds huddled in the trees.
Inkie caught the shift in Blinkie's demeanor and adopted surer footing. Her loyalty lay with her family, and she'd come to consider Eris family. If it came to that, she had no qualms about bucking a goddess. That bravado would serve her well in her next adventure.
Celestia had a hard time figuring out what Luna was playing at. She knew how Discord would respond to such an ultimatum, and she also knew there would be Tartarus to pay if they dangled the prospect of companionship in front of him just to take it away. The Elements of Harmony might not be enough to stop him. She chanced a glance in his direction.
Discord stood with a casual, impassive air, but his eyes were alert. The claws of his eagle's talon were poised to snap, ready to teleport himself and Eris somewhere far away.
It didn't come to that.
Eris acquiesced, defying Celestia's every expectation of draconequus nature.
The birds rejoiced, and everypony breathed a sigh of relief. Everypony but Luna, who knew Eris was nothing like the draconequuses of old. She was something new. It could be that she was born from pony minds or that she was raised by pony hearts; it could be her longstanding relationship with Pinkie.
Whatever it was, Luna looked forward to finding out.
"Splendid!" Discord said, clapping his hands. He strode across the unspoken line that had divided the two groups, put his lion's arm around Eris, and lead her away.
Eris tensed, but she didn't resist. The inclination was there to lay her head against his shoulder, like they were already an old married couple, but she refrained. There'd be time enough for that later. She spared a glance back at Pinkie.
Pinkie's smile seemed to say, "We'll be fine; you two have fun."
Eris smiled back.
Discord's resonant voice trailed off into the woods, "Maybe you can help us. Eris, was it? Beautiful name, by the way. Mythic. I've been thinking: what this place really needs is a little slice of the Everfree Forest. We'll spare no details. Timber wolves, poison joke, maybe even a cockatrice or two. I should think you're something of an expert, having been..."
Celestia watched them go. She thanked Pinkie for bringing the matter to her attention and informed her that her friends would be arriving by train shortly. Then she and Luna walked off with Mother and Father to discuss their terms.
Skyline excused himself to deal with some university business but promised he'd be back in no time, leaving Pinkie, Inkie, and Blinkie alone in the glade.
For awhile, none of them said anything. Then one of them cracked a grin, and the others followed. They all started talking at once.
***
Inkie accompanied her sisters to the entrance to the botanical gardens, where they parted ways. Blinkie left with Luna, who had rejoined them as they passed through Hollow Shades, and Pinkie left with her friends, who were waiting for her by the entrance and eager to hear where she'd been the past few months.
Pinkie had pledged to write to her every day, or at least every week, and Blinkie had pledged to keep in touch no matter where her new life took her.
Inkie had pledged all the same, and she was happy for her sisters. They were going places. The trouble was that she wasn't. She had no idea where she'd go from there. She knew she wanted nothing to do with her parents, and while she'd have loved to run away with Skyline, for all her romanticism, she knew better than to let that be her only option lest she find that he didn't feel the same after all.
She looked out at the bustling streets of outer-city Canterlot and wrinkled her nose. She certainly wouldn't be finding her fortune there.
Pinkie had offered her a place to stay while she figured things out. It wasn't too late to catch up with her and take her up on that. It might not be so bad. There was a certain appeal to the idea of walking the earth, doing odd jobs, always keeping her ears perked lest she miss the next call to adventure.
She began walking, if only for the feel of the thing. She came upon a mother, her crying foal, and the creature that had set it off: a white-coated, bipedal canine with apelike arms, ruby eyes, and a heavily embroidered three-piece suit. He towered over the pair and gestured emphatically as he tried to explain how he wasn't to blame. There was a lot of prejudice against non-unicorn ponies in Canterlot, probably a lot more against non-ponies. He could have been an ambassador, or perhaps a traveling merchant. Perhaps he needed protection. That was a ridiculous thought, she realized, and walked on.
It still went to show that she wouldn't be waiting very long, given that the earth she'd be walking was Equestrian soil. She had just finished the thought when she caught sight of Skyline trotting toward her, weaving between carts and ignoring the irate ponies he cut off. He had a triumphant grin on his face and a paper in his mouth.
He'd clearly ripped it off a bulletin board somewhere. He said something unintelligible and glanced meaningfully at the paper.
Inkie gave him a look, looked around for a place to sit, and found herself standing in front of a doughnut shop. She lead him inside, and he spat the paper on a table by the window. She ignored the pony behind the counter as she skimmed the paper, picking out what seemed to be the most important bits.
Skyline ordered doughnuts and coffee for two.
The pony behind the counter―a barrel-chested stallion with tan fur, a shaggy brown mane, and a cutie mark of a frosted doughnut like the one in the shop's logo―hoof-picked doughnuts from the rack and operated the espresso machine with his magic.
The paper was a flier, a recruitment call for ponies of all races with a wide range of skills sets for an expedition into Zebrica, where some ruins had been unearthed. The academy was covering all expenses, and the pay was respectable for what it was. Inquiries were directed to the office of somepony or other in the Department of Magic History. It sounded perfect. Then she got to the part about a relevant degree being mandatory.
Skyline waved his hoof and said, "That's just the academy's meddling. I know the pony spearheading the expedition. He's a scholar in non-unicorn magical traditions. I collaborated with him on my thesis. Point is, I could practically guarantee spots for the both of us. If you're interested, I mean."
The stallion, whom Skyline had addressed as Pony Joe, brought them their food and drinks, and Skyline thanked him.
"What's this?" Inkie asked. Before her sat one of Pony Joe's signature lattes, a favorite of college ponies all over Canterlot. It had sprinkles on it.
"It's coffee," Skyline said. He took a sip from his. "If you've never had coffee, I'm deeply sorry for your misfortune."
Inkie hadn't, in fact. Her parents hadn't approved of coffee. It was hot, almost too hot, but Pony Joe had had the courtesy to give her one of the stripey straws he usually reserved for milkshakes. She might not have liked coffee had she tried it somewhere else, but nopony disliked Pony Joe's coffee. She didn't see what the fuss was about at first, but the effect crept up on her over the next few minutes. Before she knew it, her cup was half empty.
"Weren't you going to get Granny―Eris, I mean―to help you with some project that was going to revolutionize the field of enchantment magic?" she asked. She didn't feel hungry, but she got the sense that that wasn't the point of a doughnut.
Skyline answered, drawing her eyes back up to his, "Yeah, that was the plan. I still haven't gotten an answer from her. I've always preferred field work anyway. It's the thrill of the discovery. You can get that in a lab, but it's not the same. There's gotta be something more. My colleagues will research that crystal stuff inside and out, I'm sure of it, but the zebras are the ones who invented enchantment magic. Their methods were a bit... different, but the core practice was the same. What I'm saying is that I'd much rather do this with you, and why are you looking at me like that?"
Inkie leaned across the table and kissed him. His lips tasted like frosting. It made up for the coffee breath. Her heart thundered in her chest and her ears, but she could still hear the chorus of "ooh's" from the other college ponies.
She didn't care.
Pony Joe smiled to himself as he wiped a milkshake glass.
Then the moment was over as swiftly as it had begun. Inkie sat back on her bar stool and realized she was blushing.
So was Skyline. Breathless, he asked, "Shall I take that as a 'yes,' then?"