Spike was focusing his flame while at the same time keeping it fairly weak, a difficult task. Too little force and it would sputter and die, too much and he would be setting fire to the tar. The tar was supposed to be just warm enough to be rubbed into the ski Vigg was working on.
"Keep it steady - that's great!" said the reindeer. "You can stop there!"
While Vigg bit into the shaft of a crude brush and started rubbing in the tar, Spike sat down and breathed deeply of the cool winter air tinged with tar. While he was used to keeping a flame going by breathing in through his nostrils, he wasn’t used to do it this long. He looked around the old storage shed they were working in. It was filled with ackjas and sleds, with some skis here and there. While he wasn't Twilight Sparkle, living and working in a library had affected Spike at a fundamental level. He felt a deep urge to get up and start sorting them. Maybe alphabetically, maybe categorically, but in any case they really ought to be properly stacked or leaned against each other. As it was he estimated half was warped by age or mistreatment.
You really ought to do some weeding as well, making firewood of some of the older sleds...
"You really ought to use the heat of the sun, you know?" said Vigg during one of those free breathing pauses you take when you are a sentient ungulate working with your mouth. "But dragonfire seems just as good."
"Sun?" said Spike, dragged out of his musings.
"Yeah, you start spreading the tar, then you let it warm, then you rub it in, then you scrape off the surplus," said Vigg.
Spike nodded. He remained silent for a while as the reindeer rubbed vigorously, then coughed and spoke up.
"Much as I like hanging out a bit, especially since Twilight is getting more skittish every day, what's gotten into you?" he said. "Why are we preparing stuff you won't use?"
Vigg sighed.
"I've been a bit... skittish myself," he confessed. "It's all this waiting. And mom isn't making it easier."
"Your mom?" said Spike. "What's her problem?"
"Well, ever since I... and Saga... you know..." Vigg started.
"Ever since you came home with a doefriend," said Spike. "Go on."
"Well, she tried to admonish me with a little speech the morning after she met Saga," he said. "I... got mad, and then she admonished me again for 'becoming upset'. I wasn't upset, I was freezing furious. And that second lecture made me even angrier, because she sounded as if it would be perfectly OK for me to mess up the succession and the family tradition and the royal duties, as long as I didn't raise my voice while doing it." Vigg snorted.
"Is this because Saga isn't like a princess?" said Spike.
"Well, not at first," said Vigg. "It was more that she looked like a bad girl who would get me in trouble."
"I keep forgetting your mother is psychic," quipped Spike.
"Aw, shut up!" laughed Vigg. "I told her she had not only a job but a sacred job, but working in the temple of Hrimfaxi didn't make Saga look more suitable to mom."
"Look, I'm a friend of Luna's and I can understand why your mom's worried," said Spike.
"Yeah... y'know the worst thing when adults try to order you around is when you feel they might even be right..." Vigg sighed and scraped off superfluous tar from his ski. "And then, this morning, she stops trying to be sensible, y’know, just not in the way you want, and does this stupid thing..."
"What?" said Spike.
"I'll show you," said Vigg, putting down the scraper and going to his saddlebags. He pulled out a flat brown book and gave it to Spike. "She gave me this. Take a look."
Spike opened the book and started to leaf through it. It seemed to be a photo album or maybe a scrapbook. It was filled with mostly formal pictures of mostly very nervous vajas. Now and then there was a newspaper clipping, and it was subdivided by long strips of parchment full of neat angular mouthwriting. Since he knew neither Poatsi nor reindeer runes he had no idea what they said.
"What's this?" Spike said.
"Eligible vajas," Vigg sighed. "Suitable for the crown prince of Tarandroland."
Spike gaped.
"They're mostly the daughters of various herd chiefs. I remember pulling their tails as a kid at big moots," Vigg explained. "But in the back are some Caribou princesses from northern Equestria."
"They look... nice," Spike said lamely. "She wants you to choose one? Are you going to be, what's it called, 'betrothed'?"
Vigg sighed again.
"No, nothing so direct. She just wanted me to look through them and 'think about it'. She never even talked about this before! Never ever!"
A bright flash of violet magic interrupted Spike's answer.
"Good news, Spike!" cried a frazzled but grinning Twilight Sparkle. "I’ve got the letter!"
"Letter?" said Spike. "Oooh, the letter!"
"Hello, Lady Sparkle," said Vigg. "What letter?"
"Jarl Aht.. hello, Your Highness," Twilight corrected herself. "My contact's letter. I meet him the day after tomorrow."
"Oh, that kind of contact!" Vigg brightened. "Does that mean you’ll be done soon?"
"I - I must act upon the information he gives me, Your Highness," Twilight said. "I don't know how long that will take."
"And we cannot help you 'act'?" Vigg said.
"I'm sorry, but no," Twilight said. "I’ve already been given help by your grandfather."
Vigg swore under his breath.
"Adult help," Twilight said. "I am sorry. I can't involve you in this. I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you, Prince Vigg."
Vigg's heart chose to interpret it a little differently from how Twilight meant it and how his brain heard it, so he blushed deeply.
Twilight didn't notice, but turned to Spike again.
"I just have to figure out where we are supposed to meet," she said. "Oh, I knew I should have studied Sarvvik better!"
"Twilight, you can just look that up!" said Spike with irritation.
"Prince Vigg, do you know where a 'Klubb Niffelhel' is?" Twilight said.
"No, not really," said Vigg. "I only dance when forced to and I’m too young and smart to drink, so I don't really go to clubs." At least until now... he added mentally.
"What's a 'niffelhel'?" asked Spike.
"That's what reindeer call Tartarus, Spike," said Twilight.
"So, 'Club Tartarus'," said Spike. "Really the kind of name that makes you wanna go there."
"Y'know, if that's a real nightclub it will be in the business directory," said Vigg who had gotten a strange gleam in his eye. "Just look it up."
Twilight looked at him.
"I'm pretty certain your contact wants to meet you at a public place, so the club is probably legal, and if the club is legal it’s in the directory," Vigg continued. "There should be a copy of it in like every building within the Castle walls. The servants couldn't do their chores without one. Just ask any maid and they’ll help you!"
"Thanks, Vigg," Twilight said. "Come on, Spike! We’ve only two days to prepare!" She lifted Spike onto her back. "Bye bye, Your Highness"
"Bye Vigg," said Spike. "Hang out later, OK?"
"Sure," said Vigg and waved a hoof. "Stay safe!"
When they were gone in a flash of magic, Vigg very carefully yet very hurriedly cleaned up in the sleigh-shed and galloped downtown towards the Temple of Hrimfaxi. He was pretty out of breath when he reached it and stood panting a little while on the stairs to become able to speak again before trotting in. He found Saga tying bundles of antlers together.
"Hi," she said. "I thought you would be busy today."
"Something came up," he said and tried to smile nonchalantly. "What - what are you doing?"
"Our Lady of the Moon has ordered her sacrifices to be shipped to her earthly home in Canterlot," said Saga.
"Oh," he said. "Why?"
"Something Gramma told her," Saga said as she finished with her knots. "They’re brewing something up, I can tell. Now, what came up?"
"Well, first, Lady Sparkle has to meet someone the day after tomorrow," he said. "Which means we can get going soon after that."
"Oooh!" she beamed. "That's great. I'm... I'm sometimes afraid I'm losing the tug..." She lost some of her smile.
"Is it disappearing?" Vigg asked anxiously.
"Sometimes it feels like it isn't there when I try to feel it... but then it suddenly appears again," she said. "It's like... like the shadow of a pendulum thing."
"Don't worry, we'll be getting into action soon!" Vigg reassured her. She hugged him. "Oh, and another thing..."
"Yeah?" said Saga.
"Speaking of the day after tomorrow, I heard something really cool was going down at a place called 'Klubb Niffelhel'. Could we go there on that... outing?" he said to her back, since they were still hugging.
"Klubb Niffelhel? Wow! That's the freakiest place in town, sure!" Saga said enthusiastically. "Where did you hear about that?"
"There are people in the castle that go clubbing more often than me," he said. "You think we can get in?"
"I think you have to be twenty to get in by the Rules, or just eighteen if you’re a doe," Saga frowned. "But some of my friends say they’ve been there anyway. I'm sure I can get us in."
"Great," said Vigg. "That’ll be great."
Princess Luna had yet again raised the Moon from the roof of the temple of Hrimfaxi. The process might not take long, but it was precise and demanding and it was vital that it was performed on schedule. It was something that actually made her a little bit exhausted. Hence, she liked to relax for a bit afterwards. Currently, she was relaxing in the dark emptied temple hall by moving motes of multi-coloured light over illusory maps in the air. She turned away from her amusements when she heard Eira cough behind her.
“My Goddess,” said the priestess, “there is a pony here to see you.”
“No doubt somepony from the delegation,” said Luna, a mite irritated to be disturbed but at the same time a bit curious. The ponies of the Equestrian delegation didn’t go out and mix with the reindeer much. It was even rarer that they would dare Sarvvik’s slum for a temple that went against their tender sensibilities, when they were closer to Luna most of every day. “Did they say what their name was? I have no appointments for the rest of the night.”
“Sunny Side Up,” Eira said, reading nearsightedly from a card. “Her cutiewhatsit is an egg...”
Luna froze for a moment. “Her? I didn’t know she was in Tarandroland,” she said. “Show her in, My Priestess, and leave us alone.”
The reindeer curtseyed and left. Shortly after a white unicorn trotted into the temple. She had a light yellow mane and as mentioned a cracked egg on her haunch.
“Unicorn this time, sister?” said Luna.
The unicorn laughed. “Harder to be without magic than to be without wings, Lulu.” She grew and stretched, shining with an eerie light, and Princess Celestia, ruler of the Day Court, took the unicorn’s place.
“And really, ‘Sunny Side Up’? What kind of impenetrable alias is that?” said Luna.
The Sun Princess laughed. “Who would believe I’d use such a name? It would have been more suspicious if I had called myself Shadowdark Nightmurk.”
“Tia, dear, you really should leave the cloak-and-dagger to me,” Luna admonished. “It is hard to be magically incognito in Sarvvik.”
“Oh, don’t underestimate me,” said Celestia and nuzzled her. “I had to pick up some tricks during the years.”
“You are sure nodeer saw you and realized your true nature?” Luna said as she nuzzled her back.
“I can’t guarantee they won’t notice me when I am here, but I am banking on everydeer in Sarvvik knowing there is a ‘divine’ presence in the temple already,” Celestia said. “I am pretty sure they didn’t see me for who I am. I took mortal shape before I teleported here, and doubt they can see through it. I’ve had some experience with clairvoyant species during the years.”
“Reindeer?” said Luna.
“And some other kinds of deer, and other beings. Giraffes, for instance, are great seers,” said Celestia.
“You’ve had to move incognito among giraffes often?” said Luna and raised a delicate eyebrow.
Celestia laughed.
“No, just once, and that was centuries ago, during my wandering period,” she explained. “I was visiting our uncle, and didn’t want to make a fuss. He helped me a bit.”
“Ah,” said Luna. “You told me about that when we were catching up... how you left the empire to your mules and geldings and roamed the world.” She frowned with slight disapproval.
Celestia shrugged. “It seemed a good idea at the time. To not let them start dynasties,” she said.
“I meant the roaming, not choice of stewards,” Luna said.
Celestia smiled ruefully. “I was younger, more foolish and lonely,” she said.
It was Luna’s turn to shrug.
“Not that I mind seeing you, but why did you come here?” Luna asked.
“I had information, I wanted to ask questions, and it felt wrong that it was always you who had to teleport over,” Celestia said. “You gave me the coordinates to your temple. Oh, and I had a bunch of letters for Twilight and Spike from their friends. I had hoped to meet them here.”
“Sorry, but they aren’t here. Twilight Sparkle is staking out a ‘nightclub’,” Luna said and spent some thought and energy to keep her lights and map stable.
“What?” said Celestia.
“It is apparently vital to catch some miscreant partially responsible for this mess,” Luna said. “I don’t question her judgement, just marvel at it sometimes.”
“And here I hoped she was going there for fun,” Celestia said and smiled. “Well, I hope you can give them the letters.”
“Of course. What was the news?” said Luna.
“That if we want, we can now get as many volunteers from the yeomanry and the knightly orders as we can bother to ship over,” Celestia said. “Support for the Tarandroland cause is very high in Equestria, and is unlikely to get better.”
“Excellent,” Luna said. “We can use them if we need to build that wall Twilight Sparkle suggested.”
“You mean as building material or as laborers?” Celestia laughed.
“I was thinking the latter, but why not the former,” Luna said and stuck out her tongue. “As has been pointed out to me, despite some Everfree skirmishes they are woefully unequipped to fight anypony in general or huge monsters in particular, but I am sure they can give civilian help to the reindeer.”
“Any particular ideas?” said Celestia.
“The big, big issue is that the Enemy isn’t gathered in one point,” Luna said. “The grazers have a pretty good idea of where nidhoggs are moving, but the news travels too slow. Pegasus couriers can help with that. Likewise, while it might seem boring to them, earth pony agriculturalists can help the reindeer salvage their forests once we are through with this. Even at the best estimates, the damage to the ecosystem will be immense. It is actually a greater danger than the monsters attacking ungulates.”
“But you don’t think they can fight Winter?” said Celestia.
“Some of them might,” Luna said. “And I will rejoice in each unicorn mage that has a talent for spells of fire or water. Those are the best ways to fight winter beings, and offensive reindeer magics are pitiful at best.”
Celestia nodded. “Then they will do some good.”
“What about the Guard?” said Luna.
“Oh, I’m sending all of mine,” said Celestia and smiled. “They need something more than crowd control to occupy their time.”
“That will be very useful,” said Luna, “but are you sure you want to send them all?”
“Oh, I’m not worried,” Celestia said and waved her hoof. “I will manage in some way!”
Luna looked a bit skeptical. “Sister, I know we don’t literally need them against physical threats, but...”
“Hush now, Lulu!” Celestia said. “I said I’ll manage.”
“They are yours to command,” Luna shrugged.
There was a somewhat awkward pause.
“What is the situation over here?” asked Celestia.
Luna sighed.
“The war has started already,” she said. “I have reports from several grazer herds and logging camps of a frightening amount of nidhogg attacks. The ice-wyrms have already caused irreparable damage to the vulnerable birch forests closest to the tundra. Several reindeer have been killed in the logging camps because the wyrms are attracted to the timber. The only reason the logging industry can get workers anymore is because the recession. Reindeer are desperate for work.”
“It is curious that they are Auntie’s children of sorts,” said Celestia quietly.
Luna frowned. “I’d rather say ‘Auntie’s lice’ or ‘Auntie’s tapeworms’,” she said. “She didn’t create them on purpose, like the reindeer and moose. They are nothing more than animals, neither good nor bad really. It is just that there are so many of them now.”
“Any good news?” said Celestia.
“The Urox and the Russ are fully behind us,” Luna said. “Twilight is making inroads with the moose. I have an interesting plot brewing concerning the reindeer commoners, who I think will be very supportive. The ruling classes is another thing but King Ukko and his cronies are still following my lead. It was no temporary whim, though a lot of his... their trust is directed at Twilight Sparkle, not me nor Equestria.”
“Oh yes,” said Celestia and frowned, “Twilight Sparkle’s ‘heroic deeds’ and less than heroic appearance. And to think some ponies think I am manipulative.”
“Oh hush now Tia, you have nothing on me,” Luna chuckled. “That little game might win us this war. Though I must admit it is less because Twilight Sparkle is a good liar and more because the ones she are trying to fool are rather foolish to begin with.”
“Speaking of games,” said Celestia, “is that some kind of wargame you’re playing up there?”
“Wargame?” said Luna. “Oh, it started as a typical strategical simulation of our situation here, but since we lack so much information, I got tired and just put up something else for my amusement.”
“So it is a wargame,” said Celestia and smiled. “While you were... gone, such simulations became not just used for military planning and education, but also for amusement, just as you do now. Except ponies use paper maps and little figurines to do it.”
“Really?” said Luna. Celestia nodded.
“It is a common pastime among the young cadets of the Guard,” she said. “The griffon wars and the ancient Three Tribes wars are the most popular, for some reason. What is your scenario up there? We are being attacked from four directions? How are we doing?” She peered curiously at the aetheric map of Equestria.
“Well, buffalo infantry with thunderbird support has leveled Manehatten,” Luna said casually. “The zebra landing party is shelling Canterlot with alchemical mortars. We have sunk the reindeer fleet, but that bought time for the ki-rin to land most of their infantry and send airstrikes into Trottingham and further north.”
“What,” said Celestia, “on earth are you talking about?”
Luna grinned.
“During our quarrel the first night, King Ukko made a caustic remark where he mentioned a ludicrous alliance to make a political joke at our expense,” she explained. “I am testing how valid that alliance would be.”
Celestia shook her head.
“I did say it was for my amusement, not for strategic planning,” Luna said and grinned some more. “See, the fact that they come from four different continents gives them a disadvantage, but it also means that we cannot really strike back at their homelands.”
“And what am I doing during this?” Celestia said.
“The same I am doing: not much,” Luna said. “We could make a greater effort and risk awakening greater things and causing an even bigger mess, but I would be wary of that in real life, so I follow suit here as well. For the sake of realism, you know?”
Celestia nodded grimly. “Are you sure we shouldn’t do that in real life - making a greater personal effort, I mean?”
Luna nodded. “Yes I am sure, if you don’t want to wake up Auntie,” she said. “But don’t you worry, Tia. We shall go far even without that as soon as the real fighting starts. Both to harm our foes and help our friends.”
“After all, the two of us are the most powerful unicorn wizards, fastest pegasus flyers and strongest, toughest earth pony warriors in existence,” she said. “We embody all the virtues of our little ponies.” Celestia smiled and nodded.
“And I guess I cannot keep you out of this either,” Luna continued. “That’s why you’re bringing your Guard; you are coming too.”
Celestia smiled and nodded again. “I’ll help our friends and you’ll harm our foes, just as in the old days,” she said.
“Just as in the old days,” said Luna, and they sealed their unspoken promise with a dainty yet cordial hug.
The usual thanks to my proofreaders!