Pericynthion

by Skystrider

Memory

From: phwestfall@ColMin.gov
To: MinCol@ColMin.gov
Subj: Breakthrough

Minister Graff,

        I know you were expecting a report on what the team has found, but the bottom line is that you’re going to need to see this for yourself. You won’t believe a single word I say otherwise.

Dr. Westfall

From: MinCol@ColMin.gov
To: phwestfall@ColMin.gov
Subj: Re: Breakthrough

Dr. Westfall,

        After these past few months, you’d be surprised what I’ll believe. I am concluding my business landside and will be on my way shortly.

Graff

☽

        Though he spent the majority of his time in space, Hyrum Graff rarely had the opportunity to simply sit back and stare into its depths. Military vessels eschewed windows, and the precious few viewing ports found in Battle School were always occupied by students. It would have compromised Graff’s image to be seen there, staring out at the stars or down at Earth. While he certainly could afford to have a lavish office constructed for him as the Minister of Colonization, Hyrum was never that kind of bureaucrat. The resources needed to install hull-rated transparent silicon could pay for an entire shuttle on a colony ship, or even a long-range probe.

        The builders of this ship, however, had no such problems spending money on luxuries. The Azure Dawn had started its life as a pleasure vessel, an orbital cruise ship that was the crown jewel of a post-war space tourism industry. Now that the International Fleet did not require the use of every orbital shipyard surrounding Earth, venture capitalists had moved in to fill the gap.

        To say that they were not happy when Graff seized their ship for his project would be a massive understatement.

        Unfortunately, the Azure Dawn’s powerful entertainment computers and numerous living accommodations made it the perfect candidate for a dedicated research vessel. As all the nearby IF warships were being retrofitted as colony ships, and all of the Colonization Ministry’s shipyards were dedicated to building the same, the former colonel had no other choice but to commandeer the pleasure cruiser. Besides, Graff had reassured the fuming entrepreneurs, when they got their ship back, they could use all of ColMin’s modifications to venture into the long-neglected market of orbital research.

        That did not seem to placate them, but Graff didn’t have to care. They were lucky he consented to return the ship at all.

        Using the Azure Dawn as his primary research vessel did provide one very nice fringe benefit: Hyrum now had a glorious view of space from its luxurious observation lounge. Though the all-important ansible necessitated that he maintain his offices aboard the Argyris, Graff made it a point to visit the newly-minted research vessel whenever he could.

        The massive encasement of hull glass, impressive before his scientists repurposed it, was now nothing short of mesmerizing. The researchers had applied control lattices across most of the surface, allowing them to use it as a workspace while directly observing what they had dubbed the Anomaly. Green holo-displays echoed across the length of the lounge as scientists compared what seemed to be direct readings of the Anomaly at one end against simulations being run at the other.

        In the center, right above the head of Dr. Westfall himself, was an artificially rendered and highly magnified depiction of the Anomaly with lines pointing to where it was located in real space. Minister Graff could not help but notice the very large and exponentially-notated number next to the line marked “magnification.”

        “...which is why we never would have found it without the perseverance of Lt. Martin,” Westfall finished. Graff’s lead researcher had begun by explaining exactly how a highly-educated team of scientists with the IF’s best equipment had failed to notice the Anomaly, even after searching for the better part of a year. For all her faults, Martin had been right: the Anomaly was exactly where Ender’s escape pod had vanished, but at the point relative to the moon instead of to the sun, which was the default reference point for the standard spatial coordinate system. Knowing where to look did not completely solve the problem, though. The Anomaly was so very small that the team had only detected it by accident, and several advances in radiation emission were necessary to even confirm its existence. It was then that Graff’s team really shined; he hadn’t assembled the IF’s best minds for nothing.

        “That’s well and good, doctor,” Graff began, “but I’d like to know what the Anomaly is. Are we looking at a wormhole?”

        Westfall shook his head.

        “To call this a wormhole would be a grave insult to Schwarzschild, Einstein, and the rest. We’re simply not seeing any of the elements we should be seeing, especially the gravitic effects.” The scientist sighed. “Honestly, sir, I don’t know what this is, and with what little direct evidence we have, the best my team has is mere speculation. I hardly want to give you anything I can’t pro-”

        “I’m an administrator, Philip,” Graff interrupted, “not a peer looking to tear apart your work. I’ll take whatever you can give me, so speculate.”

        The older man furrowed his brow as he turned towards the observation window. Overhead, the moon dominated the vista, bathing the otherwise dark observation lounge with its pale light. From Battle School, the moon seemed scarcely larger than it did from Earth. Out here, Graff found the cratered and starkly contrasted landscape strangely unnerving.

        “I have no proof, but to me, it looks less like a wormhole, and more like a window. Granted, a window that’s only a few hundred picometers wide, but a window nevertheless.” He turned back towards Graff. “One of the other physicists here has a theory. I’m very hesitant to mention it, sir, but you wanted speculation.”

        The minister nodded.

        “I said before that we only found it because it emitted a small amount of radiation that was different from the ambient. Likewise, we were able to confirm the Anomaly’s existence and size by shooting it with radiation and seeing what came out on the other side. Sure enough, anything that goes through the square you see on the glass is absorbed and goes… elsewhere.” He indicated the artificial depiction of the Anomaly.

        Westfall turned back to the glass and waved his arm, raising a set of controls. Touching a few keys, he brought up two displays showing similar but slightly different waveforms.

        “At the top is the background radiation surrounding the Anomaly when we found it. It’s solar wind, to put it in layman’s terms. Below is the radiation we detected coming out of the Anomaly.”

        Graff nodded, showing that he was following. “They’re close. Is the difference a result of the Anomaly?”

        The scientist shook his head. “We thought so too, but we found that any radiation we sent through either vanished or was absorbed by the Anomaly. So no, this radiation exited the Anomaly. The question was: from where did it come?”

        Dr. Westfall tapped a few keys and the two waveforms merged. Another few taps highlighted the differences between the two in red and amber.

        He continued. “This is not my field of expertise, but my specialists have found that not only is the second wave also solar wind, but solar radiation that has passed through an identical path of magnetic and atmospheric distortion as the one created by the Earth and the moon. The variations exist because of slight differences between our sun and the source star for the Anomaly’s radiation.”

        Hyrum tried to wrap his head around the implications of what Dr. Westfall was saying. “So the Anomaly is a gateway to an nearly identical solar system, at least concerning those three bodies?”

        Westfall indicated one of the readouts on the right side of the glass. “We’ve been running calculations since the discovery, but with our knowledge of the Formic systems and even considering the immense size of the universe, the odds of such exact similarity are… forgive the pun, astronomically low.”

        The minister felt the first ticklings of impatience. “Then where do you think it goes, Doctor, if not to a highly-improbable corner of our universe?”

        The doctor grimaced. It was clear that he didn’t put much stock in what he was about to say. “A… member of the team has suggested a few of the multiple universe theories.” He held up a hand, forestalling an interruption from the minister. “These are the hypothesis of theoretical physicists, used to describe the morphology of the universe as a whole - thought experiments really. There has never been a way to prove or disprove them. That being said, we could be looking at a gateway to our own solar system, just in a different universe; one where the sun’s composition is slightly different from our own, but the rest of the solar system is the same.”

        Graff blinked. That certainly wasn’t something he expected. Dr. Westfall looked pensive, uncomfortable with having to offer such an explanation. The minister, however, appreciated his candor and thanked him.

        “I asked for speculation, doctor, and at this point, I’ll take any explanation that fits. Regardless of what’s on the other side, your priority now is to find a way through the Anomaly, or at least a means of sending a message to the other side. Until we know otherwise, I am operating under the assumption that Ender is alive and well over there, and I intend to bring him back. If there is anything you need in terms of resources, do not hesitate to ask.”

        The scientist nodded and turned back towards his colleagues. Before Graff could even turn his eyes back to the observation window, a sharp voice drew his attention.

“Sir, there’s something else you need to see.”

         Hyrum didn’t even need to turn his head; the slight Australian accent identified the speaker.

        “Yes, Lieutenant Martin?” He looked back to regard the lithe young officer.

        She shook her head, short blonde hair following the motion. “Not here.” Without another word, she turned and left down a corridor.

        Had it been anyone else, Graff would have bristled at lack of courtesy, but Martin was Martin, and she had proved invaluable in this endeavor. He hurried after her.

☽

        A sense of displacement overtook Ender the second he opened his eyes. While it felt as if he had only blinked from the time he fell asleep until now, the bright light in the room indicated it was morning. That, however, was not causing his confusion. The ceiling had changed and he felt a familiar weight on his forehead. Gently moving Luna’s horn and raising his head, the boy saw the other bed across the room and confirmed that yes, he had been moved sometime during the night.

        “Good morning.” Luna’s voice drifted from his left.

        Ender let his head fall back as he exhaled. “I take it the observation did not go well?”

        “Your thrashing sent not only all four of your pillows to the floor but your entire quilt as well.”

        The boy groaned. “So no room of my own?”

        “Not until I fix what is wrong with your subconscious and you can get a decent night’s sleep on your own.”

        Ender was in no shape to argue, as his brain was still trying to fully wake after such a deep sleep. He rolled over and tried to swing his legs over the side of the bed, only to discover that he was nowhere near the edge. Simultaneously admiring and cursing the prodigious size of Luna’s mattress, the boy semi-consciously flopped and rolled until he was able to find the floor. Unfortunately, the tangled bedclothes made sure he found it face-first.

        Luna sat up, alarmed. “Are you alright?!”

        “Peachy,” Ender groaned.

☽

        The lieutenant did not pause or offer any sort of greeting as she entered a small side office. Locking the door behind Graff, she pulled up a holographic projection over her desk and launched right into what she wanted to say.

        “That thing is what seized my tug.” Sarah Martin pointed vehemently towards a vector arrow pointing away from a digital representation of her old ship.

        “Beg pardon?” Graff was completely lost. He may have been able to follow the doctor’s line of reasoning, no matter how fantastic, but the lieutenant had obviously skipped a few steps.

        Martin exhaled sharply, more frustrated with herself than the older man’s inability to understand. “The telemetry from my tug’s flight recorder - up until now, the experts could not explain how or why the readings show what they do. The official evaluation still cites ‘navigation computer malfunction’ and an ‘uncommanded thruster engagement’ as the reason why we went from mid-v to full stop in the blink of an eye, even though there was no physical evidence of a burn hard or long enough to cause it.”

        “...and you have a better explanation?” Hyrum prompted.

        The young officer’s hands fluttered across the desk’s interface as numbers whirled up to surround the three dimensional image of her ship. “I had the computers here model what kind of force, an external force mind you, would be required to cause the changes in our flight path and the abrupt change in our energy state. I couldn’t feel it at the time because everything was shaking to hell and gone, but when I looked at the simulation data afterwards, it seemed as if the whole damned ship was being grabbed by a giant fist.”

An animation played, showing the tug’s flight path followed by its sudden stop. Hard as it was for him to believe, Graff saw what the young woman described. The tug even moved in a small tangential arc after the event, as if it had been snared by an invisible lasso.

        “And when I had the computers extrapolate a vector for the unexplained force, guess what it pointed to?” The display panned along a green line towards a spot near the moon.

        “The Anomaly,” Graff finished. His blood ran cold.

        Martin stared at him intently. “Sir, I know it’s not ‘official,’ but every Battle Schooler worth their salt knows we’ve been doing things with gravity that aren’t supposed to be possible, and I’m pretty sure that we didn’t invent that technology, otherwise the rest of the world would at least know about it, if not be using it.”

        “You’re asking if the Formics are really dead.”

        She looked at him intently. “Among other things.”

        Graff kept his voice even. It was a reasonable question, given what she knew. “Lieutenant Martin, believe me when I say this: I would not have allowed the IF to remove me from my position if I had any reason to think that our enemy hadn’t been completely destroyed.” He paused, gauging her reaction to the statement. “Moreover, while we can do some new and unique things with gravity, there is nothing we have that could act at such a distance. Needless to say this is classified, but the extent of our abilities can be found on Eros, in the Battle Room, and on our ships. If we had technology like this, you can be sure we would have weaponized it and used it against the Formics.”

        She seemed to believe him, and relaxed visibly. Pondering for a moment, Martin looked up and asked, “if you’re sure it wasn’t the Buggers, and if it wasn’t us… then who?”

        “That,” Graff replied, “is a very good question.”

☽

        Ender emerged from the bathroom feeling far better than when he entered it. Luna’s shower had been just as invigorating as her bath, and much easier to operate. Contrary to his expectations, the boy had found simple faucets to control the water flow and the temperature instead of whatever magic operated the tub.

        Before he could greet his host, the boy noticed Dusty and another pony waiting for him at the far end of the massive bedchamber. Behind them, two unicorns were levitating the temporary bed and moving it towards the main double doors. Unlike Dusty during their last encounter, the newcomer strode up to Ender confidently and introduced himself.

        “Mr. Wiggin, good morning. I am Dr. Serpent Staff, Royal Physician here at the castle. Might I have a look at your dressings to check on your progress?”

        Ender fought to suppress a smile. The gray unicorn had, of all things, a pronounced black moustache that utterly dominated his features. While its styling suggested careful cultivation on the part of the doctor, the boy found the sight of a horse with facial hair to be utterly absurd. The last thing he wanted to do was insult the physician who was about to poke and prod him.

        “Of course… doctor,” he managed with barely a snigger. The unicorn looked at him curiously. “Would you like to accompany me to the bathroom so that I can undress?”

        “No need!” Luna chimed in as she walked through the open balcony doors. As Ender looked up, he saw her magical aura envelop a dressing divider and extend it in front of one of the bedroom’s many settees. “You can conduct your examination there, doctor. Dusty, will you set the table by my desk? I would like to eat inside this morning.”

        “At once, ma’am!” The maid froze for a moment, wide-eyed, then scurried towards her food trolley. She started dragging it into the room as Ender moved towards the settee with Dr. Staff in tow.

        Now that he wasn’t looking directly at the unicorn’s mustache, the boy found it easier to keep his composure. “I’ve been meaning to thank you, doctor. Your staff did an excellent job patching me up.”

        The pony coughed politely as they rounded the divider and Ender began to undress. “It was nothing, sir, most of the hard work had already been done by the time Princess Luna summoned us. The worst of your injuries were already cleaned, stitched and bound. All that remained for us was a thorough examination and an application of healing magic. It looked like earth pony or pegasus work, but it was knowledgeably done.”

        Ender stopped short of fully removing his undershirt. “Earth pony work?” He eyed the doctor quizzically.

        Serpent Staff blinked, unsure of what drew the boy’s attention. “Er… yes. They don’t have magic like we do,” he tapped his horn with a foreleg, “so they have to do everything manually. Oh! Do not worry, though - there is nothing wrong with your stitches,” the unicorn said reassuringly, “I inspected them myself. They are quite sound.”

        Ender shook his head. “No, I was just curious about the term; I don’t think I’ve heard it before. This translation… spell… that the princess performed isn’t always perfect.”

        The unicorn looked thoughtful. “I was curious about your ability to speak our language. But ‘earth pony,’ it refers to their abilities with the earth... the soil. They are good at - how to put it - making plants grow.”

        Another question to ask, Ender thought as he struggled to pull the undershirt over his head without aggravating his sore shoulder muscles.

        “Oh! Let me handle that,” Dr. Staff interjected, stepping towards Ender. His horn flared, and the soldier found his arms raising on their own as his t-shirt lifted itself off his body. The feel of the magic was incredibly strange to the boy; it was both there and not-there simultaneously. His eyes registered the bright green aura, but while Ender could feel its effects, he could barely feel the glow itself. The closest sensation that came to mind was that of dry air right before a static discharge.

        That feeling enveloped him completely as Ender found himself suddenly drifting from the floor, as if gravity had stopped affecting him. The boy had to quash the impulse to grab at his belt as he felt it start to unfurl. Unnerving as it might be, undressing others was probably normal for doctors such as this one. In fact, Ender saw as he looked over at the unicorn, Serpent Staff wasn’t even paying attention as he used his magic to remove Ender’s fatigues. The unicorn was instead reading a medical chart that was also suspended in mid-air by his magic.

        “That’s incredible… how many things can you move at once?” Ender inquired.

        Serpent Staff turned back to look at Ender, blinking in confusion. “Oh, this?” he asked after a moment’s thought, tapping his still glowing horn with a foreleg.

        Ender nodded as the emerald glow left his body, setting him back on the cold slate floor.

        “It really depends upon the pony,” the unicorn answered, motioning Ender towards the settee. Standing aside so the boy could sit down, Serpent Staff continued. “Usually, young unicorns are only able to lift one item at a time. Some grow up to be,” he paused, thinking, “strong. Yes, that would be the best term for the uninitiated. They can only manipulate one or two objects, but size and weight mean almost nothing to them.” The gray pony circled around Ender, magically lifting bandages and examining the injuries underneath. “Others are more dexterous; they can move many small objects with a great deal of precision, but nothing of any significant mass. Lie down please so I can examine the gash in your leg.”

        “So which are you? I’m not exactly small, and you seemed to be able to move me and my clothing separately without much effort,” Ender observed as he swung his legs up and leaned back.

        Serpent Staff chuckled. “I was always more dexterous than I was strong, but I’ve also had many, many years of practice.” He paused as he examined Ender’s stitches. “This is looking good. I’ll change out your wrappings, but otherwise, you don’t need anything from me.”

        The boy’s breath caught involuntarily as he felt himself lifted in the air again. He watched, wide-eyed as all his bandages simultaneously unwound, only to be replaced immediately by fresh ones that snaked around him and secured themselves within seconds. His clothing floated over, and in less than a minute, Ender found himself fully dressed. The soldier stood and flexed his wrapped appendages experimentally. “You are nothing if not efficient. Thank you, doctor.”

        The unicorn inclined his head gracefully. “You’re more than welcome, Mr. Wiggin.” Serpent Staff’s mustache twitched as a small smile flitted across his face. For some reason, Ender now found the facial hair to be strangely distinguishing.

        Following the doctor around the dressing divider, the boy looked on as Dr. Staff bowed to Luna.

        “Do you require anything else of me, Highness?”

        “No, doctor. Thank you for your help.” The princess smiled graciously from behind a plate well-laden with breakfast pastries. Serpent Staff bowed again before turning to leave.

        Luna levitated a chair away from the table and waggled it back and forth, motioning for Ender to sit. As he complied, the boy couldn’t help but be amazed by Dusty’s work. The maid, who was now changing the linens on Luna’s bed, had turned the otherwise nondescript round table into a work of art. A square white lace tablecloth quartered the dark mahogany and boasted platter upon platter of donuts, fruit, tortes, toast, muffins and eggs. Crystal pitchers formed a rainbow of differently-colored juices set between plain white jugs of milk and what Ender could only assume was cream. Pouring himself a glass of orange juice, Ender found his eyes drawn again to the mountain of food in front of the princess.

 Raising her chin defiantly, Luna preempted any comment. “Stabilizing your subconscious mind has been a drain on even my reserves. I am positively famished,” she said, taking a large bite out of a blueberry muffin.

        “I didn’t say anything,” Ender replied, holding up his hands defensively. The princess only raised an eyebrow in response, chewing through another mouthful of muffin. “And while we’re on the subject, I’ve been meaning to ask you about this… problem.” Seeing that his tone of disbelief elicited a narrow-eyed stare from the princess, Ender immediately changed to a softer approach. “Look,” he said earnestly, “I’m extremely grateful, especially considering the amount of effort you’re making on my behalf.” He waved a hand towards the rapidly shrinking pile of goodies in front of the princess. “But where I come from, bad dreams just aren’t considered an issue. At most, a doctor might prescribe a sleep aid -” he paused, a quizzical glance from the alicorn indicated she didn’t understand something. Was the translation spell not working? With Luna’s mouth full of danish, and no sign of her slowing down, the boy decided to try and elaborate instead of waiting for her to ask the question. “Er… a sleeping drug… medicine?” he tried. That worked; the alicorn nodded her understanding and motioned with a silver-shod hoof for him to continue.

        “My point is, I’ve had nightmares before, and while they’re not pleasant, they’ve never really affected my health. Again, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I think I’ll be fine on my own.” And frankly, I’m not entirely comfortable with the concept of anyone messing around inside my head, especially when I’m not aware of it, he added silently.

        Ender waited through a few moments of silence as Luna swallowed and took a long draught from a glass of milk, nearly emptying it. After daintily wiping her mouth with a silk napkin, she finally responded.

“Please forgive me, I did not realize how very hungry I was until I started.” A light blush touched her ears as she set down the napkin. “As for your concerns…” she trailed off as her eyes unfocused for a few moments while she considered her words, “are you sure that your condition is considered normal? You were comatose when I first brought you here and the reason had nothing to do with your physical health. When I entered your mind, what I saw was no mere nightmare but rather a… a…” she looked down again, trying to put words to her thoughts. “It was like a storm; like your subconscious was trying to tear itself apart.”

        The soldier tried to imagine what Luna described, but found it impossible. He shook his head. “I’m afraid I have no way of answering that,” he told her. “We can’t do what you can. ‘Entering someone’s mind’ is a foreign concept to any human except a few deluded mystics and frauds.” When she gave no response, Ender continued. “All I can say is that, yes, I’ve been having nightmares for over a year now, but they haven’t hurt me so far. Maybe what happened a few days ago was a fluke - I did nearly die, after all.”

        The way Luna described his subconscious triggered a memory that gave Ender pause. While his nightmares had found a sort of consistency after the end of the war, a function of the stress he endured in the last months the conflict, according to the IF shrinks, they hadn’t started then. No, now that he thought of it, hadn’t the worst of the dreams happened right before the war’s end? Then it certainly felt as if his mind was trying to destroy itself. Maybe there was something to what the princess was saying. Ender hesitated to voice these thoughts, though - while he trusted her, he still didn’t want the intrusion into his inmost self.

        “Well,” Luna answered, a look of concern evident on her face, “it goes against my better judgment, but I will respect your wishes. Please promise me, though, that should you regress, you will allow me to do what I can for you.”

        “Of course.” He nodded. “Though maybe you could arrange something other than an endless field of grass? I can only handle so much frolicking in one night,” he added with a smirk.

        Ender narrowly avoided the muffin thrown at him. It bounced off the dressing screen, causing Dusty to squeak and dash after it as it rolled across the bedroom.

        “You hardly frolic, and you should be glad I can muster any kind of dream after what it takes to settle that… malestrom you call a normal subconscious.”

        “Oh?” Ender was genuinely curious. “What do I do, then? Humans don’t always remember their dreams clearly.”

        Luna seemed distant for a moment. “You just sort of sit there, staring into the distance. It is kind of sad actually, most ponies would frolic,” she said quietly.

        A moment passed uncomfortably. What exactly are you supposed to say to that? Ender wondered.

        Clearing his throat, the soldier opted to change the subject. “You know, we never got back to the griffon story yesterday.”

        The princess’ face brightened, both out of relief and genuine curiosity. “Oh! That’s right. You were going to tell me how you drove it away.”

        Ender began to describe his sidearm and flare gun, but when the alicorn’s expression signaled that very few of his words were being properly translated, he went over to his PAC to retrieve them. It was only after he had searched through half its contents that the soldier smacked his forehead.

        “I wanted to show them to you, but I completely forgot,” he said as Luna drew up behind him, “they were knocked away while I was fighting that… what did you call it?”

        “The beast that stung you? A manticore.” She was silent for a moment. “These weapons you lost - how dangerous are they?”

        Ender turned to look up at her. “One wasn’t a weapon. It was a signalling device that will be quite safe without these.” He held up a belt of gyrojet flares. Almost instantly, Luna’s glow enveloped the flares and they floated out of his hand.

        “What are they?” she asked, staring intently at the thin cylinders.

        “Careful!” Ender snatched the belt back, earning a shocked and mildly indignant glance from the princess. The soldier stared back, unflinching. “I don’t know what your magic will do to them, and they burn very, very hot.”

        Luna was abashed. “I am sorry,” she said. Almost instantly, an expression of intense curiosity reasserted itself. “Could you show me?”

        “Not without the flare gun, unless…” he trailed off, glancing around the room. Settling his gaze on Dusty, who was clearing away Luna’s used dishes, he called out to the mare. “Dusty, would you happen to have an ice pick on that trolley of yours?”

        “U-um… of course! I mean, yes. One moment, sir!” Trotting over to her cart, the maid lifted the cloth covering the lower shelves and rummaged around inside. After a moment, she withdrew her head and turned towards Luna and Ender, clenching the utensil in her teeth.

        After taking the ice pick and thanking the maid, Ender withdrew a set of thick work gloves from the PAC and started towards the balcony door. The princess and her maid followed, curious.

        Peering over the side, Ender found a suitably rocky expanse below where the risk of fire would be minimal. Holding the gyrojet loosely in his gloved fist, he positioned the ice pick behind the priming pin. The soldier raised both arms well above his head, checked that both the exhaust and launch path were clear, then turned his head completely away from the flare.

        He jabbed the ice pick into the priming pin. With a whoompf, the flare shot out of the cylinder. Turning back towards the balcony, Ender watched as the magnesium caught and the flare burned brightly, even in the strong light of mid-morning.

        Dusty’s jaw hung loose. “Amazing… it’s like a little firework.”

        “That’s exactly right. It’s just a firework designed to attract attention by burning as brightly as possible,” he replied, causing the gray mare to smile with satisfaction.

        “May I try?” Luna asked. Ender was about to remind her about the unknown effects of her magic when an idea came to him. Instead, he showed her the priming pin on another flare and had her levitate the ice pick into position. The group fired off three more flares with Ender holding the cylinder and Luna and Dusty alternately using the impromptu firing pin to the delight of both ponies.

        The princess’ demeanor grew more somber as the trio re-entered her bedchambers. “While that was enjoyable, Ender, I still need to ask: how dangerous is the other weapon you dropped?”

        The soldier nodded. “I hadn’t forgotten, Lu-your highness,” he added for Dusty’s benefit. “Put simply, it’s very dangerous, especially if handled by someone who doesn’t know what it is or how to operate it. But there’s more to it: I had a second one of these,” Ender motioned towards the silver canister, “and a second sidearm when I first arrived. That one was was knocked out of my hand while fighting the griffon. As best I could tell, it went into the ravine.”

        The dark alicorn looked thoughtful, her eyebrows furrowed. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped abruptly, turning to face her maid.

        “Dusty, please summon Captain Chaser for me.”

        “Y-Yes ma’am!” The gray maid scurried from the room.

        “Comet Chaser is the captain of my guard,” Luna said by way of explanation, turning back to Ender. “I would like for you explain what these weapons look like, and, to the best of your ability, where you dropped them. I will send a team of my guards to retrieve them so no ponies accidentally come to harm.”

        “I can do better than that,” the boy replied, turning towards his PAC. The alicorn looked on curiously as he withdrew his desk and set it on the partially-cleared table. Curiosity turned to amazement with a small gasp as Ender turned on the data assistant and pulled up a schematic of the standard IF sidearm on the holographic display. Wide-eyed, the princess started to ask a question, but quickly composed herself as Comet Chaser entered the room, trailed by Dusty.

        The Night Guard captain was dressed similarly to the armored ponies Ender had seen outside Luna’s door with the noticeable addition of a crested helmet featuring a tall blue fringe of whisked hair, similar to what a Roman Centurion might wear. The pegasus removed his helmet as he approached Luna, bowing low.

        “How may I serve, princess?”

        Over the next half-hour, Ender explained the purpose and function of his sidearms, and the details of the fights where he lost them. At Comet Chaser’s request, the guard ponies outside Luna’s chambers retrieved scrolls of intricately detailed maps and spread them across the table as it was cleared by Dusty. After Luna identified the location of Ender’s pod, and the direction of the gouge it left in the earth, Ender was able to roughly estimate where the first sidearm went into the gorge. The second was far easier to identify, as the main path into and out of the Everfree was well known.

        Gazing at the location Ender indicated by the San Palomino Desert, Captain Chaser shook his head. “If it went into the gorge, Your Highness, it was probably swept downstream and could be caught anywhere from here,” he indicated the bend in the terrain where Ender fought the griffon, “to here,” he finished, pointing at Froggy Bottom Bog. “We’ll look, but saying this is a needle in a haystack would be generous.”

        “I have full faith and confidence in you and your stallions, Captain Chaser,” the princess replied. “Even so, I would suggest bringing a few unicorns from Celestia’s guard. A spell to locate metal would be helpful in this endeavor.”

        The pegasus nodded. “Of course, Your Highness. I did have one other question, though.” He looked up at Ender. “That… signaling device, isn’t there another one out there? Should we look for it as well?”

The soldier shook his head. “I put it back into the other PAC, and kept the gyrojets from it in that one.” He pointed towards the canister across the room. “I don’t think anyone will find the PAC, and even if they did, I don’t think a pony could open it.”

        Luna looked at him curiously. “Why not, and what happened to the other one?”

        As Ender described how it had saved him from the jaws of the massive snake-like beast, the guard captain’s eyes grew wide. “A Quarray Eel? You, sir, are incredibly lucky.”

        “Is that what it was? Honestly, the only decent view I got was from inside its mouth, and I wasn’t intent on staying there very long.”

        Luna laughed softly, then levitated the PAC over to the table. Waving her hoof over it as she had seen Ender do, she asked, “So is this what you meant by a pony not being able to open it?

        “I think so,” he replied, noting the device’s lack of response. Reaching over, he trailed his hand behind the princess’ hoof, causing the display to activate instantly. “I’m not familiar with its design, but I’m pretty sure it's a capacitive sensor similar to the one in my desk. It’ll only detect an object similar to a hand.” The ponies watched as the display showed no reaction to Luna’s foreleg and winked out after a few seconds of non-activity.

        “I think it will be safe to leave it then,” Luna concluded. “Either there is an eel out there with a horrible case of indigestion, or he spit it out, and it will be somewhere along the river. Captain, retrieve it if possible, but do not worry if it does not turn up.”

“We’ll begin at once.” Comet Chaser bowed again and turned, replacing his helmet as he trotted out. His subordinates quickly retrieved their maps and followed in his wake. In moments, Luna and Ender were alone in the room.

        “It must be nice being royalty,” Ender began, only to turn and find his companion uncomfortably close, staring at him with piercing green eyes. “...er, yes?”

        “What. Is. That?” Luna looked back excitedly at the desk’s holographic display.

        Not quite sure how to interpret her enthusiasm, Ender carefully stepped back and around the table to sit in front of the data tablet. Luna followed close behind, watching intently over his shoulder.

        “It’s called a desk, though I think the term came from what it replaced. How to best describe it… does the word ‘computer’ translate?” The boy looked over at Luna.

        The alicorn wasn’t even looking at him. Wavy starlit hair obscured her face from view as she leaned over his shoulder to peer closely at the device.

        “In a way. I heard the term we use for ethereally powered devices that measure electricity, magical output, or perform basic calculations.” The princess’ horn moved as she cocked her head to the side and looked at the desk from a different angle.

        Ender nodded. “Well, that’s a good start. Desks are powered by electricity, and they perform a number of different functions. Their application is almost limitless, within the bounds of what they can be programmed to do. Primarily though, they’re used to access information from the Grid, and act as control interfaces with other computer systems. For example, when I crashed on your moon, I used this desk to access the escape pod’s systems.”

        “The grid?”

        “It’s a… wow, that’s not a simple concept to explain.” Ender paused for a moment to think. “It’s a means of sharing information universally. I can’t explain how it works, but it lets devices like this communicate with each other, and more importantly, it lets the people operating them do the same. You can share almost anything through it.”

        “Can you show me?” The princess turned back, looking hopeful.

        The soldier shook his head. “I’m afraid not. I haven’t had any kind of connection since arriving here.” He chuckled to himself, “I would have called for help a long time ago if I did.”

        Luna sat back, visibly abashed. “I am sorry - I was not even thinking of-”

        Ender waved a hand in dismissal. “It’s OK, really. As your captain pointed out, I’m lucky to just be standing here - everything else is a bonus.”

        Seeing that his words did little to affect the princess’ expression, Ender turned back to the desk, deftly manipulating the controls.

        “I don’t have much I can show you. I don’t personalize my machine like some people; I rely on access to the Grid instead of storing things locally. However,” he keyed in a final command as the display changed from the pistol schematic to a vibrant landscape, “I do have this. Recognize it?” Ender turned back to watch the alicorn’s reaction.

        A look of wonder returned as Luna gazed into the display. “That’s… that’s your dream! Can this machine enter dreams too? I thought you said your people had no magic.”

        The soldier smiled wryly. “It’s a game, specifically the Fantasy Game or the Mind Game, depending on who you ask. It was the inspiration for the dream you saw.”

        “That was a game?! The snakes and everything?”

        Ender started moving his character through the landscape. “Yes, though you saw only a small part of it. I’d show you more, but without connection to the Batt - well, the rest of the Grid, this local copy will only have the environment, not the other characters or the games themselves.”

        Luna watched as the boy showed her the Giant’s Table, the well, the End of the World, and the castle tower where they had eventually defeated Nightmare Moon and escaped from the dream. She started to ask another question when there was a sharp knock at the door.

        “Come in!” the princess called.

        The broad double doors swung open to admit Dusty, who bowed briefly and trotted over to the table. “Here are the scrolls you requested, Your Highness,” she said as she withdrew a set of parchments from a saddlebag stretched across the back of her frock.

As Luna enveloped the scrolls with her magic and moved to the other side of the table to stretch them out, Ender shut down the desk, grateful for the opportunity to do so without having to explain the International Fleet insignia that popped up right before the display went dark. Powering up from sleep mode had skipped that step when he first retrieved the device to explain his pistol, but there was no avoiding it on shutdown.

        I’ll have to do a little reprogramming when I get the chance. Making a mental note, Ender replaced the desk in his PAC and hefted the canister back to its place on the far side of the room. By the time he returned to the table, Luna had unrolled and arranged several large scrolls across the now bare mahogany.

        “Thank you Dusty, I had completely forgotten with all the excitement this morning. I am going to need some coffee if you would, and perhaps a headache draught later.”

        “A headache, Your Highness? Should I summon Dr. Staff again?” Dusty asked, flabbergasted. Apparently, it was highly unusual for the princess to be unwell.

        “It was a joke, Dusty.” Luna sighed. “Just the coffee, please.”

        “A-at once, ma’am!” The maid tripped over her hooves as she scrambled out of the room.

        Ender watched the pony go in amusement. Turning back to the table, he asked, “What’s all this?”

        Luna didn’t look up from scanning the documents as she replied, “My sister was generous in taking on my workload while you recovered, but there are some burdens I simply do not want to leave to her.” She paused, noticing something that caused her to rearrange the order of two documents. “She carried the entire burden of running Equestria while I was… away, and it is not fair for her to continue to do so while I am here.”

        As the boy rounded the table to peer over the Princess’ shoulders, Luna continued. “Celestia’s techniques when it comes to settling inter-pony conflict are generally hooves-off. Coming from her, a simple reminder about what is truly important in life is enough to nudge even the most obstinate pony towards reconciliation. This problem, however, has proven quite intractable.” The Night Princess gestured to the array of unwound scrolls which now covered the table. “These are a series of complaints that the towns of Appleloosa and Dodge City lodged with the Royal Court. Ever since their founding, the towns have been linked; Appleloosa produces raw goods such as apples and barley, and Dodge City refines, packs and ships those goods to the rest of Equestria. The relationship has been beneficial for both communities; each has supported the other in times of hardship and profited from the other in times of prosperity.”

        “It sounds perfect,” Ender observed. “So what caused all this?” He gestured at the table.

        Luna shook her head. “I don’t know, and strangely enough, neither does my sister. At the beginning of this year, it started with small complaints over seemingly trivial issues like the train schedule between the two towns,” the princess replied as she pointed towards the scrolls at the top-left of the table. Luna moved her hoof to the right and down as she continued to illustrate the conflict. “These complaints escalated to accusations of price fixing and then to outright boycotts of each town’s respective businesses. That is to say nothing of a myriad of  additional complaints concerning issues other than commerce. Celestia has responded with everything from gentle reminders about the principles of kindness and generosity to veiled threats of royal sanction, but nothing has deterred the ponies of these two towns from their bickering. The problem has developed to the point where the rest of Equestria is now suffering from the lack of trade and prices on certain commodities have risen because of it. I offered to take the issue off my sister’s hooves when it began to significantly draw her attention away from the rest of Equestria.”

        Ender sat down next to Luna. “Well, that was certainly kind of you. Have you made any decisions so far?”

        The alicorn sighed. “No, not yet. I took over this problem on the same day my sister received Twilight’s letter about you.” She raised a hoof as Ender began to speak. “Do not even think about apologizing. These stubborn mules brought this situation on their own heads; if they must wait a few days for a royal decree, so be it. Celestia was going to give them a week to think things over before responding anyway.”

        Ender couldn’t help but be intrigued. This seemed like a textbook situation from the courses he had taken immediately prior to his fateful voyage to Earth. The boy had never thought that colonial governorship would come to him as naturally or easily as military leadership had, but the problem-solving aspect was equally stimulating, if not more complex. The problem intrigued him; it had been far too long since he’d used his mind for anything other than pure survival.

“Fair enough. Would you mind if I looked over these with you? I may not be royalty, but I spent a number of months preparing to become a leader of a settlement just like these.”

        Luna waved her hoof dismissively towards the expanse of paper. “Be my guest. Perhaps you can see something my sister and I have missed.” The Night Princess paused. “Although I am curious… are problems like these common among your people?”

        Ender laughed softly, partly at the naivete of the question and partly to give himself time to consider a response. The fact that a ‘reminder about kindness and generosity’ was even considered a state response spoke volumes about the level of conflict normal to Luna and her people, or ponies as it were. Simplicity would be the best way to proceed and avoid difficult topics; the boy did not want to portray himself or his species as monsters.

        “Yes. We have a tendency to first look out for our own interests and the interests of family and close friends. This tribal mindset inevitably leads to disagreement and confrontation with other groups. Collectively, we have a great deal of experience dealing with these problems.”

        To say nothing of how we deal with them, he thought. Ender deflected further questions by pressing ahead.

        “Usually there is some common thread involved in problems like this, some underlying grievance that may go unspoken, but is understood by everyone involved. Tell me, Luna, is there a disagreement between these towns that has gone unresolved? Perhaps there is a old insult, or a even a new one, felt by one side that has never been addressed? The other side may not even be aware of it.”

        The alicorn looked thoughtful. “I cannot think of one, but perhaps it can be found within these documents, or even between the lines.” Luna smiled at the boy. “That is, after all, why I wanted them here. I hoped that by examining the entirety of the problem, a pattern would emerge.”

        After pausing to modify her translation spell so it would allow Ender to read the scrolls, the pair spent many hours pouring over the various grievances leveled by the ponies of Appleloosa and Dodge City at one another. Retrieving his desk, Ender assembled a timeline of the continuing disagreement and added notes and markers when he saw similar issues or themes between incidents. Before long, the points of light denoting incidents began to resemble a long strand of pearls hovering in the air over Luna’s table.

The soldier indulged in the mental stimulation, and he made sure to glean what he could about pony society from Luna’s explanations. Ender was both relieved and troubled to find that his previous intuitions were correct. This was a society almost wholly removed from the day-to-day strifes he considered normal. While interpersonal conflict in Equestria was nearly identical to what he knew of Earth, the socially acceptable responses to these problems were vastly different. Actual violence was abhorred to the extent of not even being considered in normal conversation. Luna’s description of a fight using baked goods was laced with such vehement disapproval that he wasn’t sure she could even comprehend the concept of a real war.

        Intuition, and his natural inclination to privacy had driven Ender to conceal his past before. Now he knew he would never be able to explain it to his hosts. Judging by what he saw, the boy doubted they could even understand the nature of the war that had shaped his life, much less the justification behind it. Hell, even Ender himself still harbored doubts.

        The pair were nearly finished with the massive assortment of scrolls when the sound of flapping wings drew their attention to Luna’s balcony. Silhouetted by the low sunlight, Celestia’s white coat glowed in hues of orange and gold.

        “Good evening, sister. I see you have been busy today.” She stepped forward and nuzzled Luna as the Night Princess rose to greet her. “Any progress?”

        The smaller alicorn turned back to look at him. “Nothing definite yet,” she replied, “but Ender has been an immense help.”

        Celestia smiled at the boy. “Sometimes a fresh perspective can make all the difference.” Looking at Luna, the Sun Princess continued, “Anyhow, I heard you’ve been at it all day and came to see if you’d like to join me for sunset. A break for some fresh air and perhaps a hot meal might help even more than a fresh perspective.”

        At the mention of food, Ender suddenly realized how long it had been since breakfast and his stomach grumbled accordingly. Both royal sisters laughed, though Luna admonished, “If you were hungry, you should have said something! I completely forgot to stop for lunch…”

        “And not for the first time,” Celestia interjected pointedly.

        Luna rolled her eyes and was about to reply when Ender spoke up. “I routinely do the same… it’s the sign of an active mind, right?” He smiled encouragingly as he stood up to stretch. “I could definitely do with a bit of a break - sunset sounds great, especially with the view you have from this tower.”

        The dark alicorn stretched both her wings and neck as she followed her elder sister to the balcony. “It’s a functional design as much as it is an aesthetic one. Powerful as we are, my sister and I prefer a clear view of the sky when performing our primary duties.”

        The perfunctory tone to Luna’s voice piqued Ender’s curiosity. He didn’t think the alicorn was talking about ruling Equestria.

        “Primary duties…?” The boy’s voice trailed off.

        Celestia looked back over her shoulder and smiled. “I raise and lower the sun.” She kept her eyes on his, gauging his reaction.

        “That shouldn’t be possible,” Ender deadpanned.

        The white alicorn took to the air with a laugh. A soft red-orange glow emanated from her horn and spread across her body in a fiery wave as she hovered in the air with her wings outstretched, fully encompassing the distant sun between them. As Celestia drifted, her hair forming a prismatic fan behind her, the orange disk slid smoothly below the horizon. Gracefully, she alighted on the balcony and looked down on the boy with a wicked grin.

        “That should not have been possible,” Ender maintained. His voice was evenly measured, hiding his disbelief.

        Luna, for her part, held a look of genuine curiosity. “Why not?”

        Ender’s eyebrows furrowed as he nodded his head towards the quickly darkening horizon. “Even if your star is substantially different from my own, it has to be more massive than this planet by many orders of magnitude for fusion to take place. There is no way you should be able to move it relative to this planet, magic or not.”

        Neither alicorn made any reply, though Celestia’s grin vanished as she fixed the boy with an inscrutable expression. A moment of uncomfortable silence was broken by Luna’s rich, melodic laughter.

        “Well, Tia, you did say that you’d rather not have him bending and scraping to you like everypony else.”

        The white alicorn rolled her eyes. “That’s true, but I do like the mystique.” She huffed with an air of indignation.

        Looking back and forth between the two sisters, Ender did not quite know what to make of their exchange. “Forgive me, I meant no disrespect… I simply can’t reconcile what I just saw to what I understand of orbital mechanics. Perhaps if you were to explain…?”

        Turning back towards Ender, Luna’s emerald eyes flashed in the gathering dark. “For most ponies, it is enough to say that my sister moves the sun. Few even think to question the notion, and even fewer truly understand the reality of my sister’s job. This world is… oh, which words fit best, sister?”

        “Wave-still?” offered Celestia. Ender shook his head and tapped at his ear, indicating the translation didn’t quite come through. “Ocean-locked?” she tried again.

        “Oh!” Luna exclaimed, drawing the boy’s attention. “Tidally locked. Did that make sense?”

        “Ah,” Ender got it at once. If left to its natural state, one side of Equestria would always face the local star, leaving it to burn while the other side froze.  “You give the planet a push… you keep its rotation going relative to the sun.”

        Celestia’s face brightened instantly. “Exactly! You really do understand. Actually, it’s more of a twist… I anchor my magic to the sun and,” the alicorn made a gesture with two hooves as words failed her, “like so.” She looked over at her sister then back again at Ender. “That was… incredibly fast. It took me nearly a day to explain it to Starswirl, and Twilight refused to believe it until she could confirm everything with her telescope. Do your people do the same thing to your planet?”

        The boy shook his head. “Actually, no… we don’t. I’m surprised you need to.” He looked down, straining to recall a particular memory from his frantic escape to this world. “I’ll admit - I wasn’t playing close attention before I crashed here, but it seemed to me as if your planet orbits at a nearly identical distance to the sun as my own. It shouldn’t be very susceptible to tidal locking.”

        Luna glanced at her sister before speaking up. They shared a meaningful look before the dark alicorn responded. “It used to, but a calamity changed that a long time ago. Perhaps it is a tale for another time; there were other consequences besides Equestria’s day and night cycle.” With that, she turned towards the opposite side of the circular balcony. Ender and Celestia followed in silence and watched the dark alicorn ascend as her sister had done. Silver light swirled from Luna’s horn and spread across her outstretched wings. The world came alive in tones of blue and black as the full moon emerged from the other side of the horizon and completely enveloped the Night Princess’ silhouette within its pale face.

        Instead of returning to the balcony as Celestia had, Luna hovered for a moment before turning to face Ender. “I must alternately speed and slow the moon in its path, else it would crash into us or fly forever into the night. It too was destabilized long ago, and Ponykind has been responsible for it ever since.”

        “I don’t know what to say,” Ender replied honestly. “I can’t fathom the amount of power it takes to spin and move planets.” It was all the boy could do to keep his mouth from hanging open. Ever curious, he wondered aloud, “How long have you been doing this?”

        Each sister gave the other a wan smile. “Long enough,” Celestia replied tiredly.

☽

Dinner was a mercifully casual affair in Celestia’s private dining room. After such a long day dealing with the Appleloosa/Dodge City problem, Luna had no desire to put on the airs required for formal dining in the castle. Celestia had engaged the castle cooks to prepare a wide assortment of dishes for Ender to try in an apparent effort to establish the bounds of his diet, and she doggedly insisted that he sample each one. Luna briefly considered rescuing the boy from his plight, but a full mouth forestalled any questions, and she was still not certain how to explain Discord. While her knowledge of Ender was limited, the Night Princess had seen enough to know that he had an inquisitive mind. To broach one subject was to invite inquiry on any related topic, and she wasn’t sure she knew how to explain her past to one so different.

        And do I even want to? Luna asked herself.

        It was an interesting question, one the princess pondered as she watched the boy grimace his way through one plate after another. At first he kept his expressions muted, but after a while, he couldn’t hide his disgust at some of the stranger recipes. Judging by the look on her sister’s face, there was the distinct possibility that she had allowed a few ridiculous entrees for no other reason than entertainment. Luna made a mental note to inquire about that later.

        The only other pony who knew the entirety of her past was Celestia. Not even Twilight had heard the full story, and it was by no accident that the oldest histories of her people had been allowed to decay into dust. It was a painful subject for the alicorns, and they didn’t want the details taught to schoolfillies for generations.

        It would be nice to share the story with someone who wasn’t her sister. Ender was certainly capable of understanding, and really, what did she have to lose? He would ask eventually; his expression on the balcony when she revealed the effects of Discord’s work said everything. It would be easier to simply tell the truth than it would be to deflect his curiosity or attempt to deceive him.

        “Your Highness,” Ender began rather forcefully, “while I… appreciate your efforts on my behalf, and commend your cooks on their, their… creativity, I can not possibly eat another bite.”

        Celestia’s face drew into a look of disappointment as she replied, but the crinkles around her eyes told Luna a different story.

        Honestly, Tia… you get to step out of your ruler’s shoes for one moment and you turn into a filly playing pranks, the Night Princess groaned inwardly as she watched the exchange between the two. Luna rolled her eyes and resolved to accost her sister later. Oh, Celestia would deny it and play the innocent, but Luna hoped she could at least guilt her into making it up to Ender at some point, and perhaps put a stop to this foalishness.

        Foalishness… the thought made Luna stop short, as the party pushed back their chairs and stood to leave the table. Celestia wasn’t acting like this just to be difficult… she had worn her queenly mask ever since they were foals. The alicorns had been each other’s only outlet when it came to just being themselves for as long as she could remember. A sudden clarity washed over her as she understood her sister’s actions and came to a decision regarding what she should share with this strange newcomer.

        “Ender, would you care to join me for a walk in the sculpture garden? An entire day spent inside has left me with a strong desire for fresh air.” While directing the question to the boy, Luna made sure to catch her sister’s gaze. After a meaningful glance, Celestia nodded subtly, though she wore a concerned expression.

The human did not respond immediately and judging by his grip on his chair’s back and a hand hovering over his stomach, it was all he could do to keep from being sick. Though the dining room was pleasantly cool, a sheen of sweat had erupted on his forehead.

“Fresh air would be wonderful right about now. Thank you, princess. Urgh.” He immediately brought a hand up to silence what would have been an inglorious belch.

        Celestia’s tinkling laugh attended her departure as the golden aura from her horn encompassed the far doors leading to her quarters. “Good night, you two.” She fixed Luna with an intent stare over her shoulder that undermined her flippant tone. “Have a pleasant walk.”

        As they left through the opposite set of doors, Luna used a stomach calming spell on Ender to alleviate his indigestion. The relief must have been palpable, because the boy stood taller and sighed heavily as the magic took effect.

        “Ugh, thank you. I was almost to the point where I would have welcomed the food poisoning from my days in the forest. At least that clears itself out of your body quickly…”

        Luna would have apologized immediately for her sister’s sense of humor, but she didn’t want to endanger his trust on the off chance the boy had not realized what Celestia had done. Instead, she said simply, “I will take charge of the menu in the future; I feel I have a strong grasp on your preferences.”

        “Thanks.”

        The pair walked in silence down a short corridor and through an archway into the palace gardens. The full moon drifted halfway up the horizon, bathing the otherwise cheerful gardens in a somber palette. The air was comfortably cool, with the barest hint of a breeze.

        Before she began to speak, Luna took a brief moment to consider her words. How does one broach a subject unspoken for centuries?

        “I am sure you are curious about the nature of our world, and why it is… different,” she began.”

        Perhaps it would be best to let him frame the questions.

        The boy nodded. “You seemed reluctant to expand on what you said earlier - I didn’t want to push the subject because it seemed to be very important to you.”

        Luna smiled. “I did not expect the need to do so. Nearly every time my sister and I have had to demonstrate our abilities, the audience has taken it at face value. They are usually too impressed to ask anything.”

        “It must make for a powerful opening to negotiations.” He stopped, suddenly thoughtful. “Are there other nations besides this one?”

        “There are.” Luna stopped to look at him, curious to see how he would take this information.

        “Other pony nations?”

        “No,” the alicorn shook her head. “All ponies are citizens of Equestria; the other nations represent their respective species.”

        “Having one country literally control the ‘sun’ and the moon must make for an interesting power balance,” he noted. Luna did not miss the human’s intonation when he mentioned the sun.

        “It is one that my sister creates very carefully. The illusion of equality is important when it comes to maintaining peaceful relations.”

        The boy looked thoughtful for a moment, then continued along the garden path, scarcely glancing at the statues of ponies on either side of the walkway. “Interesting. Not many would take that approach where I come from.”

        Luna was curious about that and wanted Ender to explain, but she held her tongue, sensing other questions on the way.

        “What I’d really like to know, however, is what caused your world to be like this in the first place. I’ve been thinking about it all through dinner, and the only answers that come to mind would have ended life here quite thoroughly.”

        “You’re not wrong; life almost did come to an end.” She strode ahead of the human, cutting a path through the meandering walkways straight to the center of the garden. “Follow me,” she called over her shoulder.

        After a minute’s walk, Discord’s familiar disjointed shape revealed itself under the moonlight. Illuminated from below by the violet light of newly-installed warding stones, the draconequus’ visage was positively demonic.

        Steady footfalls informed Luna that the human had caught up. Where most ponies would have gasped or commented on what they saw, he merely waited.

        “Nopony has ever questioned the need for ponies to move the sun and the moon - to them it is simply the only reality they have ever known. Even the select few we have informed otherwise have only heard part of the truth. To tell the full story of Discord,” she motioned towards the statue, “is to tell our story, that is, Celestia’s and mine, and it is not a happy one.”

        “Then why tell me?”

        The bluntness of the question took Luna by surprise. She looked back, expecting… what? Some form of challenge? Of antagonism? The alicorn did not know what to expect - nopony would ever say such a thing to a princess.

        But that was the point, was it not? Ender was different - an outsider. Turning back she saw genuine curiosity in his eyes. His was a neutral expression, one that denoted neither contempt nor eagerness. He simply sought to understand.

        Yes… my sister was right.

        “Every living thing on this world owes its existence to my sister and I. Accordingly, we are seen as guardians, guides, and shepherds, but never truly as friends. Over the years, some have ascended and become closer to us, but they have never become like us. Nopony can, because nopony was here before…” Luna trailed off as she looked up at Discord.

        Ender waited quietly.

        “Tia relaxes around you because she innately sees you as something different. You are different because you are not here as a direct result of what she and I created. I don’t think even she understands this, because otherwise she would have said something, but I also believe she is right. We have only been able to truly relate with one another for time immemorial; it is well past time we included someone else, even if it is for a short while.”

        The alicorn took a breath and turned back towards Discord. It would be hard enough to talk about a subject usually buried under millennia of memory; she did not want to have to do so while constantly gauging his reactions.

        “My earliest memories are from The Fall. Only Tia truly remembers what it was like before. In a way, I think I have the easier burden - there is nopony left with whom she can commiserate over what was lost.” Luna’s voice wavered almost imperceptibly as she brought long-neglected thoughts to voice. “Before Discord, the being you see before you, the race of alicorns lived in peace and perfect Harmony for a time longer than even our recorded history. What we have created in Equestria cannot begin to compare with what our forebearers built.”

        She paused, and began to walk in a slow circuit around the statue before continuing. “When I was younger, I often asked my sister to describe it. It was only after I learned how painful it was for her to do so that I stopped. As best as Celestia can remember, the time before was a golden age where every alicorn achieved balance within and without. Lifespans were dictated by an individual’s experience and willingness to move on. Resources were managed to a point where limitations became meaningless. There was no want, no sorrow, no regret… only happiness and enlightenment. Joy was the goal of all, and everypony celebrated its achievement each day.”

        “It sounds like a dream,” Ender said softly.

        Luna resisted the urge to look back at him - she had to press on before she lost her momentum. “It was, and like all dreams, it had to end.”

        The Night Princess steeled herself before continuing. “Even Celestia does not know from where Discord came, and he has never told us. Some of the oldest tomes, before we let them disintegrate, spoke of a grand debate between the masters of the Alicorn Forum. Some believed that for true balance to be achieved, a counterpoint to order must exist. They maintained that it was the struggle for perfection that mattered, not perfection itself. We can only surmise that their side won out, and they either created Discord or welcomed him from wherever he came. We may never know for sure.”

        The alicorn was surprised at how quickly the words came to her, now that she actually thought of those many youthful discussions with her sister. It felt surprisingly good to open up to someone, even if he didn’t have the context to understand everything she said.

        “This was all before I was born, mind you. Celestia says that at first, everything was fine. Discord, a spirit of chaos, began to break up the perfect harmony of our society. The ponies of the time had to work harder to maintain what they had built and consequently, they appreciated it all the more. For the moment, Discord’s existence was an improvement.”

        Luna paused as she reached the other side of the statue. Now Ender was completely hidden from view, and she could look up without the risk of meeting his gaze.

        “But Discord was, and is, insatiable. A little chaos is never enough; he always needs more. He may not have been able to overpower the collective will of the alicorns of old, but he did not have to. Suspicion, jealousy, resentment - these are all the tools of chaos. All he needed was for one alicorn to succumb to his influence. After that, he had the power to start a chain reaction across the whole of pony society. Before long, small differences turned into major disputes, and for the first time in recorded history, the alicorns went to war.”

        Hanging her head, Luna continued her circuit of the statue. “You said you were in awe of our power. Consider this: Celestia and I were never even trained in its proper use. Can you imagine what proficient alicorns could do to one another, and to this world itself?”

        Ender didn’t need to respond. She could hear his sharp intake of breath.

        “The first few centuries after I was born were violent and bloody. My first memories were of Celestia taking me and fleeing as far away from the others as possible. In the end, that is what saved both our lives. When Discord came for us, we knew there were no others left. Rather than fight him directly, and risking him turning us against each other, Celestia flew as far and as fast as she could. I was a mere babe and she was scarcely older than I am now. What hope did we have? Instead, she sought to use the one thing more powerful than either Discord or us.”

        Luna pointed to six runes inscribed around the base of Discord’s statue.

        “Harmony. The single greatest accomplishment of our race. I don’t know the words to even begin to describe it to you, even with the translation spell. Think of… think of virtue made manifest. A physical embodiment of kindness, generosity, loyalty, laughter, honesty, and magic. It was the cornerstone of our society’s perfection and it was immensely powerful. Because it was immune to chaos’s power, and protected anypony nearby, the Capital was one of the first places targeted by Discord. After he caused everypony to flee, he erected a massive magical barrier around the city that prevented their return.”

        Memories flashed through the alicorn’s mind as she continued her walk back towards Ender.

        “Celestia may not have been trained, but she has always been incredibly strong, even for an alicorn. I vividly remember clinging to her back as she forced our way through Discord’s barrier. He may have been howling at us and nipping at our hooves as we broke through the Forum’s ceiling, but Harmony kept him at bay once we crashed into the stone floor. Tia was all but unconscious, but we were safe.”

Luna looked around, but she did not see the sculpture garden. Instead, she stood upon the cracked alabaster stone of the Alicorn Forum and gazed up at the hovering golden artifact that was Harmony. Behind her, Celestia’s ragged breaths reassured the filly that her big sister was still alive. Thunderclaps raged around her as the dome above was torn apart brick by brick. Discord’s slavering teeth flashed between the holes as he snarled in frustration.

        Running back to big sister, Luna took Tia’s pink tail in her muzzle and pulled. “Tia, Tia! He’s coming! You have to wake up,” she cried.

        The gangly white alicorn groaned and slowly pushed Luna away with nose, but the filly was undeterred. “Celestia!!”

        The adolescent groaned again and shakily rolled upright, still not able to get her hooves underneath her. Coughing, she looked up at Luna.

        “It’s… OK… safe here, must...” She sputtered and let her head drop with a sigh.

        With a shriek, Luna turned and dashed madly back toward the central pedestal, hooves scrabbling for purchase the entire way. Almost sliding into the altar, the midnight blue filly made a cursory bow as she gazed up at the spinning golden shape.

        “Please… please save my sister,” she cried. “Please send Discord away, please bring back Mommy and Daddy,” Luna gasped, looked up through tear-stained eyes, “please just MAKE THIS END!”

        Nothing happened. Sharp cracks echoed across the chamber as the beast outside continued to tear away the stones overhead.

        With a cry of frustration, the filly let her head fall. As her tiny horn touched the podium, a blinding white light erupted from the artifact, enveloping both alicorns.

        Luna opened her eyes when the brightness died down enough for her to stand it. She and Celestia were floating on either sides of the pedestal. Their wounds had healed, and all traces of strain and fatigue were gone from big sister. Before their eyes, Harmony shifted and divided, leaving six gray spheres where once there was one glowing rune. Three drifted towards big sister, and three drifted towards her.

        Outside, Discord howled in frustration and redoubled his efforts. Looking back, Luna saw big sister gazing at her, and she knew what it was they had to do. She didn’t know how she knew, but suddenly, it was as if filly had always understood how to use Harmony as a weapon. Both alicorns flared their wings and ascended, turning towards Discord and summoning the power of their fallen race.

        A hand on her shoulder snapped Luna out of her reverie.

        “I..what… oh!” She blinked and looked down at Ender with startled eyes.

        “It’s alright,” he said reassuringly. “I saw it… that’s some trick you have. It’s more powerful than any dream I’ve had - even the one you created when we were running from Nightmare Moon.”

        “That is because it was a memory.” She breathed deeply to let her racing heart slow down. “I did not mean to do that… I just could not help it. I have not spoken of this in - in a very long time.”

        The pair stood in silence for a few minutes. Luna wanted to continue, but she did not know how to start. Fortunately, Ender took the lead.

        “So it was the conflict between the alicorns that upset your world’s rotation and the orbit of your moon?” he prompted.

        “Among other things,” Luna acknowledged. “After it was over, Celestia and I were able to fix much of the damage that had been done, but some of it could not be fixed… it could only be maintained. The sun and the moon were simply the largest of the problems, and it was through working on them that my sister and I got our cutie marks,” she said, looking back at her own flank.

        “I’ve been meaning to ask about that. I thought it was a tattoo or some kind of decoration.”

        The princess chuckled wearily. “One question at a time - that is a whole other topic. I should have thought before mentioning it.”

        Luna continued walking back to where she started in an effort to clear her mind. The boy fell into step beside her.

        “There were other minor issues that needed to be maintained: things like the weather patterns and crop growth were irreversibly damaged. We have since delegated that to the other pony races, but in the beginning we had to do everything.”

        “Where were the other ponies in all this? I can’t imagine them faring well in a war between alicorns,” Ender wondered aloud.

        “I’m getting to that. After defeating Discord, Celestia and I were the only beings left on our world. Fixing everything occupied our attention for centuries, but after a while we began to grow lonely. Creating life was always something theoretically possible for our ancestors - Tia even said that many spoke of it as a next major step for our race. Nopony had ever attempted it though.”

        “So what did you do? It obviously worked.” Ender gestured to the palace and city around them.

        “We left it up to Harmony, or what had become the Elements of Harmony. We prayed for a living world to replace our dead one, and we focused all of our power into the Elements, hoping for them to guide the form and nature of our magic.”

        She paused, the memory of the exertion overwhelming her. “It took far more power than we could have ever imagined. The Elements just kept pulling and pulling - we were so drained by the end of the ordeal that we collapsed into a sleep that lasted for thousands of years.”

        Ender stopped short, surprised. “And everything,” he gestured at the earth below and glanced at the moon above, “kept going while you were comatose?”

        “We were terrified about that as we slipped into unconsciousness. We feared that we would awake to another dead world, or worse, that we would not awake at all. The Elements did not fail us, though. Of the three pony races they created, the unicorns were able to collectively maintain Equestria’s rotation and the moon’s orbit. The pegasi could handle the weather, and the earth ponies could help crops grow and shepherd all the new animals in their annual cycles. Harmony had seen to the balance, though it chose not to create a perfect world as was before. With multiple races and species, there is always conflict and discontent, but my sister and I have worked hard to promote the concepts of Harmony to all. For the most part it has worked. True violence has not been practiced since The Fall and disagreements have been kept to a minimum. That is one reason I find this situation between Appleloosa and Dodge City to be so disconcerting.”

        As she reached the front of Discord’s statue and completed her circuit, Luna looked up and smiled. “It may not be the world into which Celestia and I were born, but it is the one we have made. Maybe our ancestors were right after all, in spite of all the pain brought by chaos. In the end, perhaps striving for perfection is better than achieving it.”

        It hadn’t been an easy subject to broach, but Luna had to admit that she felt better now. Lighter… cleaner, even. The alicorn breathed easier as she turned back towards the castle door. “That may have been more than you expected, but do you now understand why I could not provide a simple explanation?”

        “I do, and I’m honored that you chose to share your story with me.” Ender’s voice sounded distant, causing Luna to slow her pace so that he might catch up. “I just had one more question, if that’s alright.” Turning back, Luna saw that the human hadn’t moved from Discord’s statue, and was instead looking up at the draconequus contemplatively.

        “Of course.” The princess stood still, waiting for her companion.

        Remaining where he was, the human turned and regarded her shrewdly. “The way you looked at this statue… it’s more than just a representation, isn’t it?” By his tone, it wasn’t really a question.

        “You are correct, the Elements of Harmony sealed Discord in stone,” Luna replied.

“Is he alive?” Ender seemed confused. She nodded, not understand the boy’s line of thinking.

        The human looked incredulous. “Why didn’t you destroy him? If he is as powerful as you say, he might escape, and tear apart everything you have created.”

        “Destroy?!” The shock washed over her like a wave. It was the last thing she expected to hear. “I-I-Even if we wanted to, destruction is simply not in the Elements’ nature. How could you even-” She blinked, the concept racing through her mind like an electric shock. On one level, everything about Ender’s words repulsed her. How could she destroy anything, even a creature like Discord? It was simply not the pony way. But on another level it made a perverse sort of sense. When she separated her thought process from the iron-clad prohibition against killing, she saw that it was - logically - the best possible choice. Leaving any avenue for Discord to return was to invite danger back into their world. After all, hadn’t she and her sister just learned that lesson?

        Again, a hand on her shoulder brought Luna back to the here and now. Looking up, she saw an intense look of concern on the human’s face.

“I’m sorry,” he began gravely, “I should have known better than to ask that. From what you just told me, I could have guessed at how your kind perceives life. I was only curious as to how you reconciled the risk of Discord’s return against your values. Please forgive me - I didn’t mean to cause that level of reaction.”

        “It is - no, you are right, actually. He did break free, and for a brief and terrifying period of time, Discord brought chaos back to Equestria.”

        Ender’s eyes widened. Apparently, he hadn’t expected that. “Really?”

        “Yes, the Elements’ new bearers were able to seal him again, but it was a dangerous time, and they nearly failed,” Luna admitted.

        “Even so, your choice to uphold integrity over safety is commendable, and for what it’s worth, I think it was the right one. If you were to kill him, you would invalidate everything your ancestors stood for and undermine everything you have created here.”

        Now it was Luna’s turn to eye him shrewdly. “Then why did you inquire otherwise?”

        “Because I was curious and that can make me an insensitive ass sometimes. I’m sorry.”

        Luna felt it was time to move past apologies, especially when she wasn’t convinced that one was warranted. “Asses in Equestria are known for being stubborn but not insensitive.”

        The boy smiled. “Then I’m glad your spell translated what I said, but not what I meant.”

        This time, Ender followed as she turned towards the castle doors. A comfortable silence surrounded the two until they were nearly out of the garden.

        “Luna,” he began, “out of curiosity, when did Discord escape?”

        “Only a few months ago… why?”

        “Did he, by chance, create rainstorms of chocolate milk?”

        The Night Princess had to think hard to remember the multitude of damage reports that had come in from across Equestria after Twilight and her friends defeated Discord. “Yes, I believe that he did. Oh!” It suddenly occurred to her that Ender was still lost in the Everfree when Discord went on his rampage. Had he been affected?

        Unbelievably, the human started laughing. After registering Luna’s quizzical stare, he got himself under control and said, “Well, you can at least thank Discord for one thing.”

        The alicorn had a hard time imagining herself ever doing so. “...and what is that?”

        “He saved my life.”

☽

        Fatigue caught up with Ender just as he started turning down the quilt on the bed in his new room. Though small, the stone chamber was comfortably appointed with a thickly-stuffed featherbed as well as a dresser, nightstand, and small writing desk. To the left of a tiny hearth, a low door led to a simple washroom. His host had apologized for the pony-sized furniture, and promised replacements in the near future.

        “All I really need is the bed,” Ender had protested, “and it fits me just fine.” But Luna wouldn’t hear of it, and quickly bade him good night.

        She was probably embarrassed about forgetting our discussion from earlier, the boy mused as he settled under the warm bedding and let the heat from the fire wash over him. During their return from the garden, Ender had told the alicorn all he could remember from his time spent lying feverish in the forest she called ‘The Everfree.’ Luna had queried him on a number of details, but afterwards she arrived at the same conclusion: Discord’s chaos had the fortunate side effect of keeping him alive.

        “At least something good came of that nightmare,” she had said as she stepped through her chambers, shrugging off her raiment and levitating it into the waiting hooves of her chambermaid. It was then that the youth had politely enquired about new accommodations.

The alicorn was so surprised that she dropped her tiara, causing poor Dusty to dive after it. The maid was surprisingly nimble; she managed to catch it before it hit the hard floor. To her credit, Luna otherwise maintained her composure. “Of course,” she had replied stiffly, “one moment please.”

The princess had exited swifty, trailed by a bewildered Dusty. The second the doors had closed behind the pair, Ender could hear frantic but unintelligible whispering between Luna, her guards, and the maid. After only a few minutes, Luna had returned alone to escort him to a small door between the entrance to her chambers and the stairway landing.

        It’s probably Dusty’s room, he thought, raising his head momentarily to look at his surroundings. All the furniture was the earth pony’s height, and a room this close to a royal bedchamber should either belong to a servant or else be a lavish guest room. His new quarters’ size and simplicity suggested the former. I wonder where Luna sent her.

        He felt bad for the maid, and resolved to apologize for the inconvenience the next morning. Perhaps he could find a way to work out a more permanent arrangement without calling attention to Luna’s mistake.

        Nothing more came to mind as fatigue overtook him and Ender slipped into oblivion.

☽

        The planet was nothing new. He had seen it countless times in his mind’s eye. Sometimes it held the simulator’s green wireframe outline over the brown smudge of the camera’s static image. Sometimes it appeared in crystal clarity, as if he were drifting in low orbit and looking upon it with his own eyes. Occasionally, Ender even stood on the surface, looking up at the sky as if it were a perverse two-way mirror through the ansible. On the other side, he would always make out his own shadowy reflection.

        Grinning. His face was always grinning.

        And more often than not, there would be a snake’s tail clenched between his teeth.

        Tonight though, was different. Ender knew he was dreaming, and that hadn’t happened since Eros. This time, as he looked down upon the world, there was no bubbling, no plume of debris hurtling out into the void as there had been in every dream before. This time, the world simply fractured and cracked, leaving a spiderweb of bright orange lava etched across its surface. Suddenly, the boy could feel the heat from the rock below and felt pulled towards it. No longer drifting in orbit, Ender felt himself rush impossibly straight down, the rapidly disintegrating atmosphere tearing at his flesh all the way. Through the pain, the boy felt himself gain speed as he was drawn inexorably downward. He couldn’t blink, he couldn’t look away - the surface now occupied his entire field of view as he watched flames dance across it, scorching the land black.

        Magma ripped through the earth in the shape of a skull, and Ender felt his skin burn as it opened its mouth. Between the red-hot teeth was a hollow black chasm that led all the way to the center of the collapsing world.

        If I know I’m dreaming, I should be able to wake up. I always have. He could feel his body lying on the mattress, but to Ender, that was the dream and this was reality. His heart was pounding… painfully so. Was it normal for his pulse to be so fast while asleep?

        The soldier began to feel light-headed as his body continued to heat up.

        Falling even faster, Ender realized he was screaming.

        Why can’t I wake up. I’m screaming here and in real life, why aren’t I awake? The boy felt himself start to slip away as his body plummeted towards the skull’s gaping maw.

        An onyx shape streaked in from the far left of his view. Before he could blink, a set of black wings unfurled and engulfed the boy as he lost consciousness.

☽

        Luna collapsed. Even in the dreamscape, she was breathing heavily. Nothing but darkness surrounded her. In the distance, the vortex of Ender’s subconscious revolved. Its dark green currents were the only feature in this void.

        Never again, she resolved, he stays under the horn until I fix this. I was almost too late.

        “Too late for what?” a voice asked.

        “His mind almost tore itself apart! If I-” The Night Princess cut herself off as a chill ran down her spine. She sprang to her hooves, whirling to face the newcomer.

        “You!! You’re the one responsible for this!” She charged her horn, ready to attack.

        Nightmare Moon’s form wavered in the half-light as she stepped from the gloom.

        “Careful now,” she scoffed, snorting derisively at the smaller alicorn, “you wouldn’t want to hurt your little pet… or yourself.”

        “The only one I’m going to hurt is you.” The void seemed to grow even darker as Luna gathered her strength. She kept her eyes trained on her adversary as she side-stepped slowly and lowered her horn.

        “How? Celestia’s little brats already did away with me.” The flickering visage cast its head to the side and laughed bitterly. “What was that you said? ‘Destruction is simply not in the Elements’ nature?’ I might beg to differ, child.”

        Luna released her power, stunned. The thought that Nightmare Moon had been killed had never occurred to her. She blinked, trying to muster some kind of response.

        “Then how am I talking to you now?”

        Nightmare Moon only laughed. This time it was throaty and mocking.

        “You’re not talking to me. You’re talking to yourself, you little foal.”

        Luna snarled. “You are nothing like me.”

        “Oh, is that so?” She looked down at the smaller alicorn. “You created me after all, didn’t you? How could I have ever been more than the sum of your parts.”

        The Night Princess had no answer for that.

        “No clever response? I should have expected as much. After all, I wouldn’t be here if you could figure it out on your own.”

        “Figure what out?” Luna replied indignantly.

        Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes and strode towards the vortex in the distance. Without much of a choice, the smaller alicorn turned to follow.

        Luna’s mind worked frantically as she traversed Ender’s dreamscape. As the two ponies approached the maelstrom, the tumblers began to click in her mind.

        Inspiration often strikes the sleeping mind. I should know - I have helped countless ponies solve problems in their dreams. Could this be my subconscious speaking?

        Wind tugged at her mane as she drew closer to the base of the whirlwind. Gritting her teeth, Luna pressed ahead, struggling to keep up with the ethereal alicorn in front of her. Despite her larger size, Nightmare Moon didn’t seem to be affected in the slightest. When they reached the epicenter, the black alicorn looked back and shouted over the wind to be heard.

        “Your pet comes from a non-magical race. Why are you having such a difficult time controlling his dreams? It should be effortless for you.” She sneered.

        Some help she is. The young alicorn had no idea; she had been wrestling with that very question for the past two days. “I don’t know!” Luna yelled back, the vortex ripping the words away from her. “The doctors found him resistant to all forms of magic. Perhaps my difficulties are a function of-”

        “Oh please!” Nightmare cut her off. “You have more power in your left hooves than every unicorn in the realm combined. A little ‘magic resistance’ doesn’t mean anything. Think, filly.”

        Luna did her best not to bristle at Nightmare’s - or was it her own? - tone. An idea tugged at the back of her mind. Experimentally, the Night Princess pushed against the vortex with her magic.

        Something about it felt very familiar. The idea began sparking with life.

        “The only pony as powerful as I am with dream magic…” Luna’s eyes widened. “Is me.”

        With a triumphant toss of her head, Nightmare Moon reared up and plunged her front hooves into the floor of the dreamscape. It shattered like black glass and revealed a glowing cobalt mass of stone directly below the vortex.

        The young alicorn was dumbfounded. “How is that possible?”

        “How?” Nightmare responded. “How else could a portion of your power have become embedded in another mind?”

        Luna’s voice came in a whisper as realization dawned. “I put it there. It must have happened when I split the dream back then, back when I was running from…” she trailed off, looking up.

        “...you.”

        But Nightmare Moon was gone.

        Had she ever been there?

        Luna turned back towards the glowing mass and, with a sinking heart, began to understand the full extent of the problem. Snippets of her conversations with Ender slid through her mind, and suddenly all the pieces fell together.

        He said he had been having nightmares for quite some time, but that they were never this bad. It is no wonder: whatever had been troubling his subconscious became inestimably stronger after I supplied it with even a portion of my power over dreams. It must have lay dormant since then, otherwise I doubt he would have survived all those months… but why has it flared up now?

        The answer hit her even as she considered the question.

        My magic… first when I teleported him, then even more so when I infused the translation spell. I may have well given his inner mind a roadmap for how to use my power… and now it is wreaking havoc upon itself.

        But why? That was a question Luna could not answer. Never before had she seen a psyche so self-destructive. Maybe it was just a characteristic of his race?

        No matter. Luna leaned down and touched her horn to the cobalt stone, preparing a spell to to re-absorb her magic and put an end to this once and for all. But, instead of feeling an influx of power, the Night Princess felt the entire dreamscape shudder around her as she attempted the retrieval.

        The alicorn’s eyes flew open. This was not right… why was her magic not returning? Heedless of the vortex swirling above, she dropped down to the stone below to get a closer look. As she neared the edges of the mass, the problem revealed itself to her. Black tendrils snaked around and through the stone, firmly anchoring it to the dreamscape.

        His psyche has grown into it somehow… maybe a defensive reaction? Luna was treading unknown ground here. Were this a pony mind, her power would have sat untouched until she saw fit to retrieve it, but the human’s brain was something else entirely.

        Pacing across the glowing expanse, the alicorn’s mind raced. She needed to do something, lest the problem worsen from her inaction.

        What if I tried a slower process - drawing it out a bit at a time instead of trying to reclaim all my power at once?

        Luna’s horn flared as she readied herself for this second approach. This time as she touched her horn to the luminescent rock, she felt a small but steady influx of magic.

        Yes! Relief flooded over her… at least there was a workable solution.

        Four hours later, the alicorn was not nearly so happy with the process. It was like trying to pull the ocean through a straw, and every time she tried to increase the flow beyond a certain point, she felt the same strong pull against her. Luna had made progress, though, and now the vortex above her was noticeably weaker.

        Exhausted, the Night Princess sat back and prepared to exit the dreamscape. It would take quite a while to reclaim all that she had left inside Ender, but at least she had a path forward.

        Now she just had to figure out a way to explain it to the him...

☽

        When he finally awoke, Luna saw that the human was visibly shaken. Silent, save a muttered ‘good morning,’ Ender never even commented about being moved. It wasn’t until breakfast, another in-room affair meticulously set by Dusty, that he broached the subject.

        “What’s wrong with me?” His flat face was etched with a harrowed look as he clutched a mug of coffee.

        The Night Princess took a deep breath. She was not looking forward to his reaction.

        It took her quite a while to explain. Where he had before casually accepted the effects of magic, Ender was now keenly interested in its inner workings. Luna was unsurprised, given the circumstances. The problem was that while he had a quick mind, and seemed to pick up new concepts at an startling rate, the vocabulary of his language simply did not cover what she needed to tell him. On this subject, her translation spell was barely functional. The alicorn had to make do with the broadest of terms, and even then she had to frequently resort to directly projecting mental images to the human.

        In the end, they reached a tolerable understanding. Ender was not happy about the process, but comprehended more or less why it needed to be done. Luna wished she could answer his most pressing question of how long it would take, but the truth was that she didn’t know. The magic she left inside him may have been unnoticable to her, but even that small amount of her total power was immense, and could take weeks to retrieve at the rate to which she was limited.

        Dusty’s arrival with the Appleloosa/Dodge City scrolls provided a welcome distraction. Ender offered to help again, and with the aid of his ingenious little device, it took only minutes to pick up from where they left off the previous day. After a couple hours, the events of the previous night were all but forgotten as Ender and Luna stared up at a constellation of points hovering in the air.

        “So this is everything?” Ender asked, rotating the display to and fro, examining it from all angles. One axis represented time, another severity. Two bands of incidents drifted side-by-side: one represented reports from Appleloosa, and the other from Dodge City.

        Luna glanced down momentarily at the table. “That was the last scroll… unless something new shows up in the post today.” The princess glanced at the door, wondering if she was tempting fate.

        The human waved his hand, and lines of text appeared next to each dot. That had been a problem all of its own. While it was relatively easy for Luna to modify the translation spell to allow Ender to read Equine, the reverse turned out to be far more difficult, much to the alicorn’s annoyance. Even now, she had to strain to understand what she was reading.

        “I’ve looked at it every way I can, Luna… and I just don’t see a pattern.” Another wave of his hand color-coded various lines of text, indicating where different factors such as land, trade practices, prices, and even personal relationships contributed to a particular grievance. “If it was one or two groups of ponies that kept cropping up, or a common issue like transportation, we would have something to go on. When you first described the situation yesterday, I had my money on… well, money. But even though most of these complaints are trade-related,” he gestured, removing all the points but the ones with green tags, “there is no common industry or related political issue to connect them.”

        Luna found the human’s color choice for the money issues interesting; she would have chosen gold. The alicorn made a mental note to ask Ender how trade worked for his people.

“There’s also the possibility that the reason we’re seeing so many trade disputes is that it’s easier for them to be elevated to your royal court.” Another wave brought back the other colors and took away the green. “There might be more of these problems that we don’t see because they were kept at the mayor’s level or…” he trailed off. “Do you have another level of government above that?”

The Night Princess shook her head as she stepped forward to gaze into the display, hoping that somewhere a pattern would emerge. She had to give the human credit - this method was an excellent way to analyze a systemic problem. With a little work, Luna was confident she could duplicate the process with her magic.

        Maybe Tia would find this useful.

        “Are you sure that your peo - rather, ponies don’t have feuds,” Ender asked, interrupting her reverie. “That is still the only thing I can think of which would create all this.”

        “Not in the way that you described. Ponies would never harbor that kind of resentment for one year, much less a hundred.” The term, as the human meant it, had not even translated properly the first time and had required extra explanation. “Besides, the… disagreements you described occurred between two families.” Luna pointed with a hoof towards the red text denoting relationships. “There are no consistent ties here.”

        Ender opened his mouth to speak, but stopped suddenly. The princess looked on curiously as he seemed to carefully consider his words.

        “What about a rivalry?” He paused to make sure she understood the term. “It’s not unknown among my kind for two nearby cities to have a simultaneously competitive and contentious relationship.” The boy pointed at a map of Equestria resting not far from his device. “Has this happened before between other communities?”

        Luna shook her head again. “There are many kinds of rivalries across Equestria, and they are merely harmless fun. This is antagonistic, and dare I say… vindictive.”

        Ender had nothing to say to that. They both turned back towards the display, looking at it quietly for a few moments.

        “Then the only conclusion I can make,” the boy started, turning towards Luna, “is that we don’t have enough information.”

        She nodded. “I agree. I also think you were right regarding the types of issues that rise to our level. They mayors of both towns have been summoned to the castle multiple times because of this ongoing problem - I do not think they will be any more forthcoming with the details we need. Perhaps it is time to send an investigator on behalf of the court.”

        The human remained silent, but something about his expression told Luna that he didn’t quite agree.

        “What is it?” she asked.

        “Were I in your shoes, princess, I would go myself, rather than send a proxy. No matter how objective someone else may think they are, they will always filter information according to their own biases and perception. In the worst case, you might send someone… er, somepony looking to advance their own career. If somepony only tells you what they think you want to hear, that might be worse than if you hadn’t sent any...pony at all.”

        Luna almost laughed at his continual struggle with pronouns, even as she considered his words. It was endearing that he tried to adopt her own convention over his, even though he consistently failed at it.

        Could I really go? Ender has a point, but he does not understand how I am perceived. What would the poor townsfolk do if I just showed up one day and started asking questions? What would Celestia do in my place?

        Of course, Celestia would tell her to go, but not for the purpose of actually solving the problem. Her elder sister still wanted Luna to try mingling with the populace again after the debacle that was Nightmare Night in Ponyville.

        She looked down at Ender. There was merit to the idea; what better way to get information than to go to its source? It was worth further consideration.

        “My sister and I do not normally make a habit of dropping into communities for anything other than major holidays or pre-announced state visits, but I like the idea. I shall have to give it some thought.”

        The human genuinely smiled for the first time that day. “Well, if that’s all we can do for the moment, I would love to get outside for a while.” He looked around her bedchamber. “As lovely as this room is, it feels as if I’ve been stuck in here forever.”

☽

        Crisp air wiped away what little traces of open-sky vertigo Ender felt as he walked along the rooftop terrace. To his left sprawled a wider version of the breathtaking vista seen from Luna’s balcony. Now that nothing blocked his view to the north, Ender spied a staggering set of mountains that rose sharply from an otherwise unremarkable plain. Luna informed him that they were called the “Crystal Mountains,” and that they shouldered high glaciers locked in a perpetual winter. Impressive as they were, what truly amazed the soldier was the impossible formation of clouds hovering high over the plain.

        “It looks… I know this sounds crazy, but it looks like a city,” he said, looking back at his host.

        “It is. That is Cloudsdale, home of the pegasi.”

        He remembered the bat-like wings on the guards outside Luna’s door, and the feathery wings of Celestia’s soldiers. Looking back, he thought he could see black specks flickering around the massive cloud formation.

        “So they live up there? Don’t their wings ever get tired?”

        The princess looked confused for a moment until her face lit up in understanding. “I could explain, but I think it would just be easier to show you.”

        With that, the alicorn spread her wings and surged into the air, buffeting Ender briefly with the force of her departure. He watched, intrigued, as she sped towards a nearby cloud and pushed it back towards the terrace. Instead of landing, she settled onto the cloud as it neared the boy.

        At first, the soldier didn’t quite understand what he was seeing, but it clicked into place when he realized that Luna was not using her magic or her wings to stay aloft. “You can sit on clouds!” he observed. It was just like the cloud that always caught him at the End of the World.

        She smiled. “Or stand. Pegasi can also move them, shape them, and create weather with them.” She tapped the cloud, causing a little bit of rain to fall onto the marble walkway.

        “Pegasi and alicorns.” Ender raised an eyebrow.

        “Alicorns as well, naturally.” The princess rolled her eyes as she hopped off the cloud, pushing it towards Ender in the process. It passed around him, dampening his clothes and matting his hair. His brow furrowed as he gave her a look.

        Luna couldn’t help but laugh. “Sorry! I thought it would bounce off you like a pillow. That is the way I shaped it…”

        Wiping his eyes, the boy replied, “Well, it felt pretty much like any cloud where I come from - just a bunch of water vapor.”

        “Here, let me get that.” She enveloped him in a drying aura and within seconds had evaporated most of the excess moisture. “Sorry - I forgot that magic does not always work with you in the way that it should.”

        Ender remembered their conversation from earlier regarding his dreams. “Any further thoughts as to why that is?”

        “No,” Luna replied, “though I do have an idea. There is one pony I could task who excels in magical research. If anyone can find the answer, she can.”

        The pair spent the rest of the afternoon traversing the castle’s rooftop walkways. Ender found the palace gardens to be exceptionally beautiful. When he asked if they could go down to see the animals more closely, Luna responded with a sad smile and a shake of her head.

        “I’m sorry, Ender, but my sister does not think the time is right to expose you to the populace at large. At least… not to the general public that is present right now. The castle is mostly open to the city on a day-to-day basis. That is why I only brought you to the statue garden at night. I could,” she added upon seeing his expression, “close the gardens to the public for today so we could admire them unmolested.”

        He shook his head and laughed softly. “No, it’s alright. That’s generous of you, but I can always come back later. I wouldn’t want the children to be deprived of their field trip.” He nodded towards a group of young ponies entering below with a bedraggled teacher trying to keep them in order.

        As the sun dipped low in the sky, Luna led Ender back towards the main halls of the castle. They came upon a massive glass-enclosed hall which opened into a formal courtyard. The Night Princess seemed surprised to see her sister standing on the roof of the hall, looking over the wall at the ponies below.

        “Good evening, sister,” Luna said formally, “did you come here to lower the sun?”

        Holding a hoof up to her lips, Celestia motioned for quiet and gestured below. Peering over the edge, Ender could see a wide array of ponies, mostly unicorns, wearing fancy clothing and talking quietly in groups. Over the breeze drifted melodic classical music played by a string quartet on the far side of the courtyard. To the right, a group of stallions played croquet.

        It was the most ridiculous thing he had ever witnessed, but Ender controlled his laughter.

        Luna, apparently, was not impressed. She huffed in exasperation. “Tia, is there a reason why you are spying on the Canterlot Garden Party? Shouldn’t you be down there, I don’t know… mingling?”

        The Sun Princess only grinned and motioned behind her. Turning around, Ender peered through the angled glass roof of an immense banquet hall. Below, in a space designed for hundreds, six ponies were clustered around what looked like a fondue pot, dipping all sorts of goodies in the liquid chocolate. The regally-appointed ballroom had been strewn with confetti, present wrappers, a broken pinata, and… was that cake smeared all over the floor? It looked like a six-year-old’s birthday party run rampant.

        A strange feeling washed over the boy as he realized that his sixth birthday party was the last he had ever celebrated. Had there been a party? Now that he thought of it, Ender could barely remember anything outside of Valentine’s cake. It had been a disaster - no one knew how to cook anymore, let alone bake - but he had treasured it all the same. It may have fallen in the oven and burnt a tiny bit, but it was from his sister. That’s what had mattered.

        He was pulled back to the present by fierce whispering between the royal sisters.

        “...give me that look,” Luna was saying, “it’s creepy. Why are you not with them? This is Twilight’s birthday party after all.”

        “She’ll be having a private celebration with her family later. I plan to make an appearance there,” Celestia chided. “Besides, watch.” The older alicorn pointed down through the glass.

        Following her hoof, Ender saw a unicorn he knew. Though the wide-brimmed hat made her difficult to recognize from above, the violet mane and tail, followed later by the voice drifting up through the glass, clearly marked her as Rarity. As he watched from above, the fashion designer quickly dashed through the doors, only to reappear outside in the courtyard with the other unicorns. After a minute or two, she would create a distraction, then sprint back inside to rejoin the other party.

        “What’s going on?” asked Luna suspiciously.

        Celestia gave a cryptic smile. “I think she’s learning a valuable lesson about friendship.”

        The boy didn’t quite know what to make of the exchange, but he looked on as the unicorn madly tried to go back and forth between the two events. Before long, her friends seemed to catch on and decided to join the larger party with her.

        Though he was still grasping the basics of pony body language, Rarity’s reaction was crystal clear. She tiptoed out into the larger group, subtly distancing herself from the other five ponies. Within moments, Ender saw why. Each proceeded to disrupt the quiet affair. Though they weren’t malicious, it was clear that none of them had ever been around the pony version of high society. The boy even had to duck as a violently thrown croquet mallet nearly took off his head; only Celestia’s magic kept it from breaking the glass ceiling behind him.

        Things changed as a stallion started speaking to one of Rarity’s friends. The white unicorn dashed to his side, attempting to divert his attention. It didn’t work, and while Ender couldn’t hear the words being said, he could see that the situation was coming to a head as the refined unicorns started gathering on one side while leaving the smaller party on the other. Rarity was caught in between.

        Status or loyalty? He wasn’t sure that was the choice presented, but it certainly looked that way. Had Celestia engineered these events?

        A gasp of shock erupted from the unicorns as Rarity walked towards her friends. The stallion began to speak, his voice overriding the murmurs of the crowd as he stepped towards the smaller group. Though he never accosted the rest, at least it didn’t look that way to Ender, it seemed as if he was shaming them for their derision of the others.

        Suddenly, Ender understood how the relatively minor problems of the Appleloosa/Dodge City conflict could seem so important to the princesses. At first he had passed the notion off as the rose-colored perspective of royalty, but this really was a society that strove towards interpersonal harmony.

        “Your work, sister?” asked Luna.

        “I may have had a hoof in it, but Rarity and her friends made the right choices when it mattered.” Celestia smiled. Turning towards Ender, she asked, “Did you still want to meet the pony who rescued you?”

        He nodded.

        “I’ll see what I can arrange. Would your quarters suffice, Luna? I believe that crowd will be around for quite some time.”

        “Of course, sister,” the Night Princess said absentmindedly as she continued to watch the party below.

☽

        Dusty had arranged a light dinner by the time Ender and Luna got back to the room. She looked up anxiously as they entered and scurried to greet the princess.

        “Good evening, Your Highness!” She bowed respectfully as the alicorn passed.

        “Good evening, Dusty. Would you set out four extra places at the table? We may have guests.”

        “At once, ma’am!”

        Luna turned to Ender, inclining her head slightly. “Please excuse me, I must attend to the moon.”

        The boy nodded. “Of course.”

        As the princess departed through the balcony door, Ender moved towards Dusty’s trolley. He had been meaning to speak with her all day, and Luna’s absence gave him the perfect opportunity.

        The maid squeaked in surprise as he leaned down to help her set the table, but otherwise gave no protest. He mimicked her actions to ensure that his place settings were correct - it wouldn’t do if she was reprimanded for his mistakes.

        “I’ve been meaning to thank you, Dusty,” he began as she put the finishing touches on the last pieces of silverware.

        The mare’s eyes widened as she looked up at him. “F-for what, sir?”

        Ender smiled, doing his best to put her at ease, though he strongly suspected that nothing truly relaxed the maid. “For giving up your room for me last night. It must have been such a sudden inconvenience.”

        Dusty panicked, her mouth opening and closing rapidly as she glanced towards the balcony door. “Uhh… er… that is…”

        She was probably told not to reveal what happened, he thought.

        The boy winked. “It’s OK, the princess doesn’t have to know that I know. I just wanted to say I appreciated it - it was very kind of you.”

        The earth pony lowered her head shyly and blushed. “T-thank you. Did… did you sleep alright? I saw you were back in here this morning. My bed wasn’t too small, w-was it?” She looked him up and down, as if only just realizing how tall he was in comparison.

        Ender laughed softly. “Your bed was perfect, thank you. The problem is with my dreams. That’s why the princess has been attending to me.”

        Dusty grinned brightly. “Well, you couldn’t be in better hooves… Princess Luna is the-”

        She was cut off by a swell of voices coming from the stairs. Though the door to Luna’s bedchambers was thick, the amplifying effects of the stone stairwell seemed to carry the conversation through the wood as if it wasn’t there.

        “I don’t understand,” a brassy voice began, “why do we have to come up here on our own? Why were Twilight and Rarity sent away?”

        “They weren’t sent away, silly! Rarity wanted to go write a letter to the Princess!” answered another pony in a high lilt.

        “...and Twilight had to go to her family’s private party. I wouldn’t want her to miss that…” Ender could barely hear the next voice.

        “But the guards said said this was important, a summons by the princess herself! When do we ever do anything important without Twilight?!” the first pony practically shouted.

        “Will you pipe down Rainbow?” a fourth voice cut in. Ender barely registered the name as he was still trying to make sure he heard properly. The translation spell was excellent at injecting tone and dialect into the words he heard, but this was the first time he had detected an accent. The decidedly Southern voice continued, “Can’t you see we’re in the residential wing of the palace, and I don’t think we’re going to Princess Celestia’s room.”

        Gasps followed the proclamation along with what sounded like a squeak.

        One of the ponies swallowed hard. “I think you’re right AJ. Those are night guards… you think we’re in trouble?”

        “Girls, they’rerightthereIthinktheycanhearyou…” the quiet pony muttered.

        There were a few moments of silence. Ender looked at Dusty. The maid only shrugged in return.

        Suddenly, the high voice piped up, louder than the rest. “Well, what are you scaredy-ponies waiting for?!” The doors banged opened as a bright pink earth pony charged in, making Dusty jump and stumble into her service trolley. “HI PRINCESS LUNA!” she called, “How have you been?! Did you eat all your Nightmare Night candy yet? Weren’t those Fizzleby Firepops just the greatest? I bought them fr-”

        An orange blur shot from the door and tackled the earth pony. When the bodies came to a rest by Ender’s feet, he could make out another earth pony firmly clamping a cowboy hat over the mouth of the first. “Darn it, Pinkie! Ya can’t just barge into the princess’ room like that,” drawled the Southern voice, apparently belonging to the orange pony. “Yer lucky that them guards didn’t grab you first!”

        Ender glanced up at Luna’s door guards. He guessed that they had been warned about these ponies; the two hadn’t moved a muscle.

        A pegasus entered from behind the other two. Judging by her mane, this had to be Rainbow. As she hovered in mid-air, her violet eyes scanned the room in a matter of seconds, widening as they fell on Ender.

        “Oh, it’s the creature! Uh… wow… you’re so much taller when you’re not all injured and stuff. Umm…” She looked around, suddenly unsure. “Can you even understand me?” She swooped closer, stopping in mid-air right in front of the boy as she looked him up one side and down the other. Ender stayed still and silent, curious to see what would happen. The pegasus looked directly at him and started speaking with exaggerated slowness. “Heeelllloooo, mmmyyyyyyy naaaaaaammmmmme iiiiiis Raaaaaaaiiiinbooooowww Daaaaaash.” She pointed dramatically to herself.

        Ender smiled. “I can understand you just fine.”

        The pegasus shot backwards in a flash. “Then why didn’t you just say so! You made me look like an idiot!” she said accusingly.

        “He don’t need to do anything for that, Rainbow.” The orange pony drew up next to him, hat now squarely back on her head. “Hi there! Name’s Applejack… sorry about her,” she jerked her head towards the blue pegasus who stuck her tongue out in return, “but she ain’t exactly Miss Manners.” Suddenly, the mare’s eyes widened as she glimpsed something behind Ender. “PINKIE! Get out of there! Those belong to the princess!”

        Turning around, Ender saw the pink pony removing pastries from the service trolley. Dusty was frantically trying to take them back, but the thief was just too quick. As soon as the maid reached for one, Pinkie would toss it into the air and snatch it with her mouth, wolfing the goodie down in one bite. She stopped, pouting at her friend’s rebuke. “Awww, you’re no fun! I bet the princess wouldn’t mind if we had some - they’re so good!” She tried to reach for another dessert, but Dusty smacked her hoof away.

        “I would not mind at all, Pinkie Pie,” Luna’s voice carried from the balcony door, “in fact, I wanted to invite you all to eat with us.” Ender turned to see his host closing the door with her magic as she stepped inside.

        Looking back, he saw all three newcomers bowing low to the princess.

        “Please, rise my friends. There is no need to do that here.”

        Striding towards them, Luna inclined her head to each in turn. “Ender, may I introduce Applejack,” the orange earth pony nodded, tipping her hat with a hoof, “Rainbow Dash,” the blue pegasus grinned and waved, “and Pinkie Pie.”

        “Hi!” the other earth pony said as she bounced toward him. She continued bouncing, adding a few new words each time she came up to eye level. “It’s… nice… to meet… you!... I… couldn’t… say… hi… the last time… ‘cause… you were… asleep… so... hi!”

        The bouncing suddenly stopped as both Rainbow and Applejack dragged her away before she collided with him. Turning back to Luna, Ender noticed her looking toward the door.

        “And the pegasus over there is the one who saved you. Ender, I would like you to meet Fluttershy.”

        At first, he couldn’t see her, but then the pony moved, separating herself from the silhouette of a vase against the wall. Ender saw that she had a yellow coat and an extraordinarily long pink mane that hid much of her face as she walked slowly toward him. She came to a stop some distance away and glanced up at him through her mane with a single visible blue eye.

        The pegasus muttered something and looked away quickly, hiding behind her mane.

        Fluttershy, well… she’s aptly named, Ender thought. Battle Schoolers were notoriously Type-A personalities, so he didn’t have that much experience with shyness, but he resolved to try. From what Luna and the doctors told him, he owed everything to this little pony.

        The soldier knelt down, making himself as small as possible. He smiled broadly, and held out a hand to the pegasus.

        “Hello Fluttershy, I’m Ender. It’s nice to finally meet you… they tell me it was you who pulled me out of the woods,” he offered.

        She looked up, then down, surprised to see that he had moved down to her level. Tentatively, she extended a foreleg to his hand and let him grasp it.

        “I… I found you by the stream… you came out of the woods on your own,” she replied softly.

        Well, at least that’s something. “And I was very lucky that I stumbled upon your cottage; I couldn’t have gone another step, and if you weren’t there to nurse me back to health, well… that would have been it for me.”

        The pegasus beamed and blushed, clearly not accustomed to direct praise.

        “So thank you, and if there’s ever anything I can do for you, please… let me know.” He released her hoof and stood, stepping back to get out of her personal space as quickly as possible. To Ender’s surprise, Fluttershy stepped forward, then pushed off the ground to hover in front of him.

        “So… um… are you feeling better?” she asked, looking him up one side and down the other. “You were so still after we patched you up… I wasn’t sure if you would make it.”

        The boy smiled softly, a little surprised by her quick change in demeanor. “I’m feeling just fine.” He lifted his fatigues, showing the bandages. “The palace’s top doctor himself said he could not have done a better job.” Ender didn’t think it prudent to mention the rest of his health issues.

        The display drew the attention of the other pegasus in the room. Joining her comrade, Rainbow Dash asked, “So you really went one-on-one with a manticore? You must either be really crazy or really tough, mister.”

        Ender laughed. “Considering your friend had to put me back together, it’s probably Option A. Besides, I’ve been called crazy a few times in my life.”

        Luna took the opportunity to herd the group towards the table. “Crazy or not, I’m sure Ender is starving… we haven’t eaten since early this morning. I won’t have all of Miss Fluttershy’s hard work going to waste just because I can’t keep him fed.” She winked at the pegasus, who blushed and smiled shyly in return.

        At the mention of food, both Applejack and Rainbow Dash turned a little green.

        “Uhh, beggin pardon, Your Highness… we really don’t want to be rude, but we just ate a whole lot of cake, fondue, and other stuff at Twi’s birthday party. I don’t know if we could handle dinner right now,” the orange pony said, glancing off to the side.

        “Speak for yourself!” Pinkie’s voice was muffled by a mouthful of cake as she sat munching on a slice while Dusty looked on in horror. Somehow, she had managed to seat herself inside the lower compartment of the maid’s trolley… how, Ender couldn’t begin to guess.

        Fluttershy gave the pink pony a look that apparently meant business, because she quickly vacated her perch, leaving a trail of frosting in her wake. Dusty sank to her knees as she watched it smear across the previously pristine bedchamber.

        The Night Princess merely shook her head. “That is quite alright, Miss Applejack. Perhaps we could host you for brunch tomorrow morning? That way, the rest of your friends could join us before you return home.”

        Applejack grinned broadly. “That’s a great idea, Your Highness! We’d be honored, right girls?”

        “Right!” the pegasi agreed. Dash glanced furtively over her shoulder. “Um… I think we’d better catch up with Pinkie before she manages to steal Princess Celestia’s cake too.”

        Considering how both of the other ponies paled at the thought, Ender surmised that it was a distinct possibility. Luna seemed to give it serious thought. “My sister does have quite the sweet tooth, and I do know she is not happy when she is deprived of her desserts. I think that would be wise, Miss Dash.”

        The ponies glanced at each other momentarily, then took off. Only Fluttershy paused and turned back before leaving. “Goodbye Princess Luna… and goodbye Mr. Ali - I mean, Ender. It was nice meeting you, and I’m glad you’re feeling better!” With with a small wave, she was gone.

        Ender and Luna glanced at Dusty before turning and looking at each other.

        “Ahem,” the alicorn cleared her throat. “Dusty, would you care for some help?

☽

        Luna gazed about Ender’s dreamscape as she took a short break from reclaiming her magic. Thankfully, the human had been easy to put to sleep this time, allowing her to start work almost immediately. Three hours of maintaining a single incantation was taxing, but it did have one benefit. The long-term spellcasting kept her mind clear and enabled the alicorn to examine the problem from different angles. Now, she thought she had a better solution.

        I will still have to remove my magic, but perhaps I can stop his nightmares first.

        Bad dreams always had some kind of underlying cause, be it current anxiety or past experiences. When the alicorn first entered Ender’s mind after his return, she could barely even stabilize his dream state. Now that she had removed some her power, the maelstrom of the human’s subconscious was noticeably calmer. Luna believed that with enough effort, she could enter it and hopefully address the root of the problem.

        Even so, a tiny bit of doubt lingered at the back of her mind. The idea of delving into an alien consciousness was risky, but at the same time held the allure of exploration. Besides, she told herself, you’ve already entered one of his natural dreams. The underlying subconscious should not be much more difficult.

        Still, Luna lingered, hovering alongside the rushing green storm. The massive funnel cloud twisted all the way from the remnants of her magic below to as far up as she could see.

        With a shake of her head, the alicorn plunged inside.

        She regretted her action almost immediately. All around her, the wind howled, its pitch like a blade between the ears. Luna felt it tear at her very form. While the outside may have looked calmer, the inside of the storm still raged as strongly as ever.

        Focusing all her power into her horn, the Night Princess pushed a shielding bubble outwards. Effectively working against herself, it was a difficult spell to maintain, but she was able to create one just large enough to cover her entire body.

        Now that Luna could see, she cast about, looking inside the storm for what powered it. In ponies, memories were like little windows through which she could watch the events of their lives. Anxieties usually manifested themselves as antagonists in dreams.

        For Ender, however, memories seemed to be like pearls suspended in space. At the center of the vortex was a still area where they merely drifted. Given what she saw, Luna had no idea what might represent the human’s emotions.

        The storm itself? she wondered. No, he seems quite calm and level-headed. I don’t think that’s correct. The storm is the manifestation of whatever is trying to tear him apart.

        The alicorn descended through the vortex’s smoother center, looking for the driving force behind the storm. As she approached the floating pearls, they expanded. Instead of the windows of a pony’s mind, this was like looking through a crystal ball. Luna saw other humans, and heard distant voices, but she was moving too quickly to comprehend them.

        There! At the bottom were a set of five pearls. Angry and red, four spun about one in the center. The moving memories seemed to be connected to the vortex; lighter lines of green radiated upwards from each one, creating a spiral pattern through the storm.

        Weary of the constant buffeting, Luna pushed her horn towards the pearl in the center, wanting to put an end to this as quickly as possible. Before she could reach it, though, one of the moving memories spun into contact with her.

        Suddenly the Night Princess was inside the memory. Her momentum made her stumble momentarily, but Luna soon regained her bearings. She stood on a carefully manicured lawn outside of a long, low white building. The late afternoon sunlight cast long shadows behind a group of children waiting near steps that led up to the entrance. They all turned in unison towards the door as it opened and a small figure emerged. It was Ender.

        This must be an old memory. He’s barely a foot shorter than me now, but here he looks positively tiny.

        Luna watched as the other children blocked his path. Though she was too far away to make out their words, the tone of their voices was easy enough to understand… taunting and ridicule. It was a scenario she had seen plenty of times, especially in the dreams of smaller fillies.

        What followed, however, was nothing the Night Princess would have ever expected. Luna’s heart went to her throat when the other children grabbed the boy, but then, when she witnessed his reaction, her eyes widened in shock.

        She could not look away. She wanted to look away, but the horror paralyzed her.

        The alicorn felt sick. The ground caved underneath her and she fell, fell, fell out of the memory, through the vortex, and out of Ender’s mind entirely.

        She awoke, shaking. A cold sheen of sweat clung to her body. Looking down she saw that the same was true for Ender.

        His face brought the memory back to her mind, vivid as ever.

        Luna bolted in blind panic.