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// Plans To Be Made 
// Story: Conclave of the Clairetti 
// by Talidin1337 
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Chapter 12: Plans To Be Made

Jyrial looked at the horizon, the gleam of the sun light bouncing off of his eyes, making them glow unusually bright. They had stopped once again, but to settle down and make a camp. Nearing the edge of the seashore, House Caranae is sure to run into something worse than those Covuses they had fought. Especially on the actual shore, who knows what might appear. A Hydra? A Sea Serpent? Whatever it was, House Caranae would have to eradicate it before permanently settling in their location of choice.
The other ponies had started up a fire, and were huddling around it to keep warm. They may be out of the arctic regions, but it was still got very cold during the night. Jyrial had planned on making it to the seashore, then migrate south until the weather was suitable. Luckily for them, the actual beach fronts didn't begin until far south. In their immediate region, the shore is dominated with cliff faces that drop into the sea, as if the land was cut in half, and separated across the globe. That theory is said to be true, considering that the next great continent across the sea has a cliff face almost parallel to the one on this continent.
When they made it to the sea, Jyrial also had planned that they would create their barracks in the cliff, hanging over the edge facing the sea. It will require the ability of flight to reach them, and luckily, that aided in their base's security. Of corse, one could repel down the cliff face and still reach it, but House Caranae would see them coming, and probably knock them into the water and the sharp rocks below, if that ever happened.

The sun fully set in the sky, leaving nothing but the stars and the moon bright and high in the sky. It was a calming sight, a peaceful essence that floated throughout the night and comforted all who would feel it. Jyrial let out a sigh, he hand't relaxed since the destruction of the Homeland. He was too busy watching over his House members, and keeping them safe, and alive. Jyrial was doing his duty as Head of House, and he was doing a good job. Ever since he joined the academy, Jyrial had grown a huge respect for the Heads who looked after their members, and didn't abuse their commanding powers to get control of more. There was some corruption in the Clairetti ranks, but not much. Though all corruption in the Clairetti ranks has been minor, and haven't permanently damaged the normal functions of things, all Clairetti are wary for what could happen if someone evil does come along, and try to change how the Clairetti have lived for centuries. Most wouldn't allow it, but it's always safe to be cautious. Jyrial, wanted to be a non-corruptible Head, and he only appointed himself as leader because he wanted to make sure that someone like him was in charge. He didn't take his position for granted, and worked very hard to make sure that everypony was safe and well.
Jyrial lazily walked over to the other ponies and layer beside them. Hiltwing fell asleep, Drapney and Remedy were talking, and Bagod was wide awake, keeping watch. Jyrial smiled, for he knew that their House, House Caranae, will be very strong, and very successful. They will rival the mighty Houses like Kilgrad, Tasland, and Clairetti, not out of pure military might, but out of individual strength. Each pony that lay in front of him had strong wills, because they escaped a spell; and with a strong will, one can do anything. Because they all had strong wills, they would give birth to children with strong wills, and their children's children, and create a whole House of incorruptible, mighty warriors.
Bagod came back to the group and sat next to Jyrial.
"So, you think you're up to the task as Head?" Bagod asked, "If you don't mind me asking."
Jyrial turned his head towards Bagod. He sensed that Bagod felt skeptical about him, which should be expected by at least one of his members. "I do. I believe that this House needs a good start, someone who is not only willing, but is able to lead them."
"And what makes you think you can lead us?"
Jyrial let out a small sigh. "I have trained over two hundred Clairetti, and have stopped three attempts of corrupt conduct, without recognition. I think that one should do the right thing because it is right, not because it will make them famous."
"You may say that now Jyrial, but what will you do when the House is threatened and we have a sure chance at dying. If we are offered life, but at the expense of doing something wrong, what will you do."
Jyrial quickly thought it over. If he said that he would defend their honor, Bagod would be suspicious that all he is trying to do is tell them what they want to hear. If he says that he would conform, then Bagod will know that he has a weak will, but Jyrial knew that he had anything but a weak will. So, Jyrial went with the most correct answer to the question. "I guess we'll find out when it happens."
Bagod huffed, and started to walk away, but turned around to speak to Jyrial for the last time that night. "I am concerned about the well-being of them three." He said pointing a hoof over at Hiltwing, Drapney, and Remedy. "If I find even one justifiable reason to remove you as Head, I will not hesitate to do so."
"Only if you promise" Jyrial replied, "The last thing I would want is to become corrupt, or unfit for duty. If that ever is the case, then please, overthrow me."
Bagod lowered his skepticism at the comment, and walked away thinking about what Jyrial said. Bagod would find out soon enough that Jyrial means to lead them, and lead them well, but he had to make sure first. Jyrial respected Bagod's concern, but knew that he wouldn't cause a problem for their House, and soon, Bagod will realize that.
Jyrial turned his attention back to his group in front of him while Bagod went back to patrolling. In the morning, they will make it to the shore, and will be able to begin truly building their House. Their home.



***


Luna walked through the halls of Canterlot. The majority of the city was a large castle, and secret passageways connected everywhere to everything, except for private homes and stores other ponies had built. Luna was trying to make it to the library before it was her time to watch over the kingdom. Celestia, her beloved sister, had been so kind as to allow her to still rule over the Night, and give her the same royal powers as she did. Luna counseled with Celestia that they should go back to their original castle, and bring all of the Lunar Republic citizens over to the Day, but Celestia spoke against it, saying that she didn't want to risk the fact that the Day Spell might not work in Night territory, and her and Luna would be subject to pain. Luna agreed to stay in the Day until they found a sure way to retrieve the Night Dwellers. Which is why she was heading to the library in the first place. Luna was going to conduct research to see if she could find a perfect way to convert the Night Dwellers into Day Dwellers, and will give the plan to Celestia as a gift on her birthday that was coming up soon.
Luna walked through a door that opened her up to the library, and she was overcome with the sight f hundreds of books. Celestia said that her faithful student used to spend a lot of time in here, and learned all she was seeking, so Luna was certain she would find something about the Day Spell, and make it stronger. Even though Celestia supported the existence of libraries, she didn't exactly spend time studying in them. Celestia was always either performing royal duties, or relaxing, and nothing else, so Luna decided she could de everything that Celestia wasn't doing.
Looking up and down the shelves, she found a book about the mind, and flipped it open. It contained content about brain waves, thinking types, and other stuff about the mind, like the book had said. Nothing was contained in it about the Day Spell, and Luna moved on to another book.
There were no records about the Day Spell, it being a project that was conducted and perfected by Celestia herself, and thus no records of it where made. Celestia would't allow any records of it to exist either, because she wouldn't want her precious ponies to know that they were being brainwashed, and that their curiosity would lead them to the Night, and then they would experience pain. So, Luna found nothing about the day spell.
Defeated in her quest, Luna reported back up to her and Celestia's chambers, where Celestia was waiting for her. Luna slowly opened the door, and Celestia was standing on the porch, gazing out into the distance, then through her telescope. "You can rest now my sister." Luna said as she moved closer towards Celestia, "I will guard the night."
"Thank you Luna" Celestia said, allowing Luna to walk past her, and take her place as guard of Equestria. "But I will not be resting tonight."
"Why do you do this sister, you haven't slept since I've returned."
"I have important matters to deal with, something has been bothering me."
"Well, I hope you solve whatever problems you come across sister."
Celestia smiled at Luna, "Thank you, I appreciate your concern."
"Always my sister" Luna said, smiling,
Celestia exited the room and headed down the hall way, closing the door behind her. Luna turned her attention back towards the land, and watched carefully as her subjects slept through the night, as they should. The Day is weaker during the Night, thanks to the moon, and the ponies needed to sleep through it so they could stay safe.
A series of dark clouds doted the sky, but not as many as the previous night.



***


Nightmare Moon decided to take a different approach in her spying tactics. She didn't want to risk moving in to close, but she had no choice, if she was to get the info she wanted. She formed herself into a dark mist, and spread herself thin enough to be invisible like she had so often in the past. Celestia might be able to sense her, but it was a risk she was willing to take. Nightmare decided to test her theory, and moved in next to Luna. If she was discovered, she would just summon the Elements and try to mold herself with Luna before things got out of hand, but if she wasn't caught, she would be able to move on with her mission of spying on Celestia.
Luckily, to Nightmare's joy, she floated right past Luna undetected, and floating into Celestia's chambers. It was a nice room, with furnishings, and color patterns that livened up the space and gave it character. Nightmare briefly looked back at Luna, and all she saw was a focused Alicorn starring out into the distance, like she used to do at their own castle.
The double doors to the Princess' chambers where not air tight, so Nightmare simply slipped in the crack between the two doors and into the hallway. Nightmare floated down the hallway and down the stairs to the main section of the castle. Multiple doors parted into multiple directions, and Nightmare separated herself into equally as many parts, and traveled through each door at the same time. The best way to look for Celestia was to go every which way.
I didn’t take too long, but one of Nightmare’s cloud parts found a light green, pink, and blue tail turn a corner, and the other invisible clouds rushed in that direction while the leading cloud ventured onward towards Celestia. The cloud was quickly met by the other clouds, and once again became a full Nightmare Moon, well, not really. She was still an invisible cloud. Nightmare floated around the corner and starred right into Celestia’s back. Celestia didn’t seem to notice she was there, so she approached closer, careful not to arise any suspicions. Celestia walked through a door, and Nightmare followed. When she made it to the other side, she saw a hollowed out room, a large rotunda that Nightmare remembered to be where Celestia and Luna used to practice spell casting. The sight of the designs carved into the walls and ceilings brought back memories, and Nightmare marveled that the room was still in the shape it was in. Nightmare only could guess what Celestia was planning in here.
Celestia sighed, and lit her horn with magic. She then started gathering an impressive amount of power in the tip of her horn, all until it started to glow a very bright whitish yellow. Celestia continued, and the amount of power she was creating formed into a small orb on her horn. The orb grew larger until it was too big for Celestia’s horn to carry, and she lifted the orb from her head, and levitated it in the middle of the room. Celestia kept feeding it power, making it grow larger and larger. Nightmare watched closely to see what would happen, keeping a close eye on Celestia. The orb kept getting bigger. It now was the size in diameter as Celestia is in length. It kept growing. Slowly, the orb continued its pursuit of size, and it looked like a small sun to Nightmare. A small sun.
Nightmare gasped at the realization that this spell is what Celetia used to trap the Day Dwellers, the spell that brainwashes them day by day. Did she have to make a new one every time just to keep the spell running? It mattered little, because whatever Celestia was doing, it was not for the sake of Good. The orb grew larger.
The mere size of the orb no was eight Celestias in diameter, and Celestia showed no sign of changing her pace on the orb. Eventually, the orb got so big, that no matter how far back Celestia paced backwards, the orb still was able to cover the tip of Celestia’s horn. She continued. Nightmare was now spread all over the walls, keeping as far away from the gigantic ball of light as possible. Did Celestia intent to engulf the entire room? That suspicious was confirmed when not even Nightmare could keep herself from touching the small sun in front of her, and she too was engulfed with the blinding light. Something pulsed in the small sun, and Celestia let down her horn, she now being inside the ball of blinding light. This must signify that Celestia was finished creating the small sun, and that the sun was now stable. Celestia was exhausted, but continued on with the second part of her spell. Nightmare floated inside of the orb, trapped in its light, but she was conscious, and so was Celestia, so it seemed that something like this wasn’t physically threatening… well, not to her at least.
Celestia walked to the center of the room and light her horn once again. Nightmare could barely see where she was in the light. It was too bright, and made it hard to use the sense of sight. Nightmare conformed to using her other senses to find Celestia, and discovered that she was in the center of the room. Celestia a spark fly through her horn, and another pulse went through the small sun, warping it like a ripple and going back to normal. Celestia then walked towards the edge of the sun, but continued walking onward to even outside of the orb. ‘Why didn’t she run into a wall?’ Nightmare thought, and tried to leave the orb of light. She left the orb just as easily as Celestia did, and she found herself in a vast valley, filled with green grass, blossoming trees, and floating clouds. It was supposed to be night time, but it was as bright as day. No sun could be seen in the sky, as well as no moon. The actual sky, which was supposed to be a light blue while in daylight, was a milky yellow. What was this place?
Celestia breathed in the fresh air, and her face looked as if she was enjoying it. Nightmare felt no bliss whatsoever, and wondered why Celestia seemed to be so happy. But then, Celestia laid onto the grass closed her eyes like she was trying to fall asleep. Nightmare floated high into the air, and looked out as far as she could see. Nothing but green valley stretched forever onward in all directions, as if no trees, or hills even existed. Nightmare turned around, and the glowing orb was still sitting there, completely still, an unmoved. Nightmare flew up into the air even higher, and tried to reach high enough into the sky that she would see the sky. She flew as fast as she possibly could while as an invisible mist, but after a long, long while, nothing seemed to happen. Nightmare floated back down to the floor, and when she was arrived, Celestia was gone.
Nightmare didn’t panic, because she knew Celestia had to be somewhere, the orb was still there. Looking over around the horizon, she found a lump in the distance, and flew towards it. It turned out that that orb was Celestia, as Nightmare guessed, but she was focusing on something with her eyes closed. Nightmare watched closely at Celestia, and waited for her to do something. Celestia then lit her horn with power, and opened her white glowing eyes, and started to make the ground shake. A bulge began to rise from the ground and grew to a descent size. The grass remained unbroken while she did this. When the now existing hill was large enough, Celestia let down her power, and moved on to another spot. Nightmare almost spat in disgust as she saw Celestia play god, creating a hill here, and hill there, and a grove of trees over somewhere else. What was this place supposed to be? A play pin for Celestia’s stress? Or was it meant for something even worse than that?
Nightmare Moon waited for Celestia to finish her project for that night and walk back for the glowing orb, and it seemed like it was taking forever. Eventually, Celestia did make her way back to the glowing orb, and started powering up her horn. Nightmare floated into it as well, and waited for Celestia to take them home. Celestia let out a spark of power that made the orb ripple like it was made of water, and started to dispel the giant orb of light. The orb condensed smaller and smaller back into Celestia’s horn until it once again didn’t exist, making the room feel comparatively dark. Celestia then let out a sigh and started walking for the door; Nightmare had already slipped through the cracks of the door and was long gone at that point, and Celestia never once thought that she might have been watched.

Nightmare quickly weaved around walls and into cracks, trying very stealthily to make it back outside and float away. Like she had planned, she made it outside, and floated off into the sky. It was still night time, but not for long. If Celestia abandoned her project, that must mean she was close to raising the sun. Nightmare, as soon as she was behind a cloud for cover, turned into a cloud like shape and floated away some distance so Luna wouldn’t spot movement. Like Nightmare predicted, the sun arose shortly after she turned into a cloud, and the weather unicorns had awaken to clear the sky of clouds.

Just like the previous day, Nightmare Moon was smuggled off to Cloudsdale and put into the processing conveyor belt. She escaped in a similar hole in the wall as before, and floated away into the distance. When She made it far enough, Nightmare materialized herself back into her full form and flew away. Tomorrow would be different, now that Nightmare knew what Celestia did during the night. With Celestia gone and Luna completely vaulnerable, she would be able to make her assault the following night. Nightmare grinned with pleasure. Soon, she would free Luna from Celestia, and she knew exactly how she was going to do it.