Cry for Eternity

by asylum1388


Chapter 22

Forty-two months since the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“That. Is. My. Nose. Let go!” Luna squealed as she tried to pull away from the unicorn colt on the bed. She pulled upwards as he hung off of her snout for a second or two before dropping to the comforter with a soft ‘plop’. She gave the foal a vexed smile, rubbing her muzzle gingerly. “Your nephew is too adorable for his own good, Twilight.”

“I know, isn’t he!” Twilight gushed, cuddling Dusk Shine to her chest. She leaned down and blew a raspberry into his belly, causing him to screech with laughter.

“I am rather surprised that Cadence and Shining Armor would ask you to foalsit though. Planning for Hearth’s Warming doesn’t leave either of us with much time for ourselves, let alone for a foal. We haven’t had the chance to dine out in well over a month and I miss watching the stars with you,” Luna mused, gently stroking Twilight’s hoof. “As much as I enjoy having him around, I miss our alone time.”

“Well, they didn’t really ask,” Twilight snickered with a slight blush. “It was closer to me begging. And how could I not? He’s so cute!” She gave him a quick squeeze before giving Luna an apologetic glance. “Though for what it’s worth, I’m sorry that I took away our evenings. I should’ve asked first.”

“I don’t mind so much. We don’t get to see them, and thus Dusk Shine, as often as we used to. It’s nice to be able to bond with him like this, with you,” Luna smiled. “Besides, the only time I ever get to interact with foals is to kiss them for cameras. This is far more preferable.”

“I can understand that,” Twilight chuckled, glancing back down at her nephew with a grin. With a mischievous smirk, Luna, leaned in, nipping the corner of Twilight’s jaw with her lips. “Luna... Not now!”

“Oh, relax, love. It’s nothing he has not seen his parents do before,” Luna snickered, working her way down Twilight’s jawline towards her lips when a frantic knocking at the door caused the pair to jump. They exchanged a pair of confused glances and Luna grumbled, “One week. Is one. Single. Week of having our evenings go uninterrupted too much to ask?”

“Apparently,” Twilight muttered before calling out. “It’s unlocked, come in.”

A Unicorn burst through the door with a massive grin on his face, “Princess Twilight, we did it!” He stopped dead when he saw Dusk Shine and began to blush. “A-am I interrupting something?”

“Well, sort of, but that goes along with being a Princess,” Twilight said, awkwardly shifting herself away from Luna awkwardly. She pointed at a nearby spot on the floor, “Calm down, have a seat, and tell me what’s going on. Who are you, and what exactly have you ‘done?’”

He stared at the spot she pointed at incredulously for a moment, but sat down anyway. “Sorry, Your Highness. I am an assistant for Professor Plowshare. He’s—”

“One of the scientists I have working on the apple project,” Twilight nodded unenthusiastically. “I just spoke to him just last week and he said he had nothing substantial on any of his projects.”

“Well, at the time, he didn’t but the we ran some tests that produced some astounding results a few hours ago and just finished crunching the numbers. He didn’t say anything because this project was just a shot in the dark. We didn’t expect to get results at all, let alone good ones,” the assistant explained with a guilty frown.

Intrigued, she turned her body to face him, gently shifting Dusk Shine to a more comfortable position. “Tell me everything.”

”It’s actually pretty simple,” he shrugged. “We created a... I suppose ‘cover crop’ would be the most accurate term for it, but it’s really a type of grass designed to be planted in orchards. Actually, that’s not accurate, it’s two types of grass that, when permanently planted in the same area, would increase output by at least 10%.”

“So this would work for all orchards, not just apples?” Luna asked tentatively.

“Yes, Your Highness, though it’s optimized for apples,” he said with a nod.

“Would it work as a normal cover crop?” Twilight asked. “If we were to plant it over, say, a carrot field and then just plow it into the soil when it’s time for planting.”

“No. It takes too long to achieve its desired effect. Though we could use some of the data to improve on other cover crops though.”

Satisfied, Twilight gave a quick nod and continued her questioning, “So, what do these grasses do?”

“Well, the first one has a very thick root system that hinders water evaporation to counter Equestria’s new weather patterns,” he explained. “The second we magically crossbred with a type of clover; it self-fertilizes the soil and—”

“Stop. Right. There,” Twilight growled. “You magically crossbred two types of plants? That’s illlegal! There’s thirty-seven different regulations against that and I could have you all arrested for any single one of them.”

“Please don’t! We were careful, I promise,” he pleaded. “We went over each regulation and stayed within their bounds. We may not have followed the spirit of the law, but we followed the letter!”

“That’s not the point! Using magic to manipulate living things like that can be very dangerous!” she snarled. “You could’ve put all of Equestria in danger by being so reckless. What if—”

“Twilight, these are practiced and esteemed scientists, whom you hoof-picked for this project,” Luna interrupted calmly, gently stroking Twilight’s shoulder. “Not some random unicorns trying to beat their neighbors in a gardening contest. I have no doubt that they knew what they were doing and considered all the risks before proceeding.”

Twilight glared between the two of them for a moment before sighing. “Fine... but I’m going to be personally checking over your work and I’m going to do some tests of my own on the finished product. I’ll also be speaking to Plowshare about hoofing the line so blatantly.”

Luna placed a hoof on one of Twilight’s with a stern glare “May we continue? I still have questions I’d like to ask, and an assistant shouldn’t be made to answer for his boss’ crimes.”

Twilight flinched guiltily and nodded. “Errr... yes. Sorry.”

Luna fixed her gaze back on the assistant. “Adverse effects. Surely, such a change to an organism cannot be without some. What are they?”

“Well, they’re not toxic, but they are indigestible; you’d get quite a stomachache. That could have an effect on rabbits and such in the area it’s planted in, but I doubt they’d eat much of it anyway; it tastes disgusting. Luckily it doesn’t spread easily; it mostly just stays where it was planted.”

Luna nodded. “Good to know. Anything else?”

“Well, it’s not really an adverse effect, but it’s not cheap. One hundred fifty bits per acre,” he muttered. “After it’s planted though, it seems to take care of itself.”

Twilight gave a low whistle. “Not cheap is right... I’d like to know more about how this stuff ‘self-fertilizes’ the soil.”

”Well, ummm, as you know, there are certain plants that take nitrogen from the air and turn it into fertilizer. We crossbred grass with a few of those plants, then made the process more efficient so that it produces so much that it has to release some into the soil, instead of just using it for itself. It also helps to balance the acidity of the soil it’s planted in; with some more work we could create different breeds of grass to match different breeds of apples,” he explained. “I-if you allow us to continue, that is.”

“I might consider it. Anything else?” Twilight asked firmly.

“Nothing specific.”

“Now, I have some instructions for you, and I want them followed to the letter. Got it?” Twilight said firmly. “First things first, go back to Plowshare, have him collect all of the relevant research material and make one copy of each and every piece of it. One and only one. I want him to keep the copies under lock-and-key and send all of the original pieces directly to me, and I want it done immediately. Understood?”

“Yes’m,” he replied nervously. “Originals to you, copies locked up.”

“Next, I want him to write up a brief summary of what you created. No specifics, and absolutely no mention of magical manipulation. I want a copy of the summary written for the Minister of Agriculture, one written for the Minister of the Interior, and one written for the Deputy Prime Minister. I also want these sent to me,” Twilight continued. “I’ll take care of things from there, and under no circumstances is anypony outside of the project to find out about any of this; not until I’ve made sure that I’ve taken care of all the legal stuff.”

He stood up and bowed to her. “Anything else, Princess?”

“No, not at the moment,” Twilight sighed. He bowed again, turned around and left. Twilight magically locked the door behind him and turned to Luna. “How are we going to fund this? Even if it passes every test I throw at it, next year’s budget is already finalized, our stipends won’t cover it, and there’s absolutely no chance that anypony in the apple industry could afford it.”

“Well, I have an idea,” Luna muttered, “but you’re not going to like it.”

“You know how much I hate it when you say that,” Twilight whined. “Just tell me what you’re thinking, I’m not in the mood for games tonight.”

“We could issue bonds—” Luna began.

“No!” Twilight snarled. “Every time we ask to borrow money, it comes with strings attached. The nobles always end up demanding something we’re not willing to give them.”

“There are ways around the noble blockade, Twilight. We could, for instance, issue personal bonds,” Luna replied with a smug smirk.

“Personal bonds? As in you and I issue bonds ourselves?” Twilight asked. “Are we even allowed to do that?”

“We are. There is a little-known law that allows both you and I to issue bonds to fund personal projects,” Luna explained. “If the two of us each issued a few million bits worth, it would go a long way to covering what the apple farmers themselves are unable to.”

Twilight stared at her for a moment, going over the numbers in her head before giving a frustrated sigh. “But how do we pay the bonds back? Even if we issue twenty-year bonds our stipends won’t completely cover it.”

“Creative legislation,” Luna replied. “The tax cut you secured for the apple industry expires at the end next year, and if your scientists have indeed been successful, then there will be no need to extend it for any longer than a couple more years.”

She stood up and stretched out. “So here’s what we do: rather than just give the apple farmers the money, we offer it to them in the form of minimal interest loans. Loans that we will fund by selling said bonds.”

“Okay... I’m with you so far,” Twilight muttered.

“At the same time, we get the council to pass a tax credit covering the money they repay us equal to the amount that their taxes would have gone up at the end of the exemption, and set their repayments equal to the amount of the tax credit,” Luna grinned. “We then save the repayments and use the money to buy back the bonds. The apple farmers would essentially pay the same amount in taxes that they have been for the past few years, but with higher production. And the bonds would be covered!”

“And if the council refuses to pass the tax credit?” Twilight asked unenthusiastically. “Like I said before, they’re not just going to give us money because we ask.”

“They will have no choice. As royalty, out debts are covered by the faith of the treasury. If we were to default on the bonds, the treasury would be forced to pick up the bill and likely just recover the funds from any future payments to the two of us,” Luna said with a mischievous grin. “In the end, it would be far cheaper to just do as we ask than it would be to refuse us.”

“Luna... That’s a very bad plan that will make a lot of ponies very angry,” Twilight snarled. “You’re asking me to practically spit in the faces of ponies who can make everything we try to do extremely difficult.”

Luna frowned at her indignantly. “I must say, I am rather disappointed in you, Twilight.”

“W-what? What’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight squeaked angrily.

“Since when have you been concerned with things being ‘extremely difficult?” Luna scolded. “We have a solution in front of us, and though not ideal, you refuse to take hold of it, simply because it’s too hard.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it! You—” she screeched back, only to stop herself when Dusk Shine let out a frightened yelp. She snuggled him closer and continued more quietly. “You come up with one idea. One bad idea, and expect me to just go with it?”

“Come up with? Twilight, do you seriously think that this is a brand new idea? This exact political maneuver is something Celestia came up with centuries ago, and is based heavily off of an entirely different maneuver that I, myself, invented and successfully implemented many, many times before my banishment,” Luna explained calmly with a roll of her eyes. “And do you know why ‘Tia and I used it so frequently? Because it works.”

“And how frequently did it cause you problems with angry nobles?” Twilight hissed defiantly.

“Every single time; but as you, yourself, have said before, it is our job to take the nobles’ abuse so that the rest of Equestria does not have to. All we receive in return is the satisfaction of knowing we did the right thing.”

“But—”

“No ‘buts’, Twilight. You know as well as I do that the nobles are angered by nearly everything we do and nothing will change that. However, if you have an idea for obtaining funds without arousing their ire, please tell,” Luna replied sarcastically with a hint of annoyance. “I would love to hear it.”

Twilight frowned at her for a moment, then hung her head.

“As I thought,” Luna snorted. “Now, I am going to the library. I am going to go prepare the paperwork we will need to issue the bonds and research the legal measures needed to enact our repayment plan.”

“Fine,” Twilight grunted, giving Luna a glare.

Luna moved in for a kiss and Twilight turned her cheek. “Well, if that’s the way you wish to be,” Luna glowered. “Dusk Shine will at least give me a kiss, won’t you?” She knelt down and nuzzled the giggling colt and gave him a peck on the cheek. She turned around and trotted to the door before stopping to look towards Twilight.

“It will work, Twilight, one way or another. Worst comes to worst, we will go without our stipends for a decade or two. But we will have our apple industry back, I swear it.”