//------------------------------// // An Interlude: Reflections // Story: Eclipse Born // by Seeking Dusk //------------------------------// The party had been five days ago. Aside from trying to crush Cloud Kicker’s rumours, it had gone off pretty well. For the most part, those that showed up were those that were interested in meeting me or had neutral opinions. Only a few mutters reached me, which of course meant that about ten times as many were unheard, but it wasn’t universal hate and I didn’t manage to make a fool of myself, so that was a plus. I chewed on the end of my pen lightly, staring at the well-crafted notebook that rested on the desk before me. We hadn’t found any desks that could fit me comfortably in town, a; of them being too low for my legs to fit under or around with anything near comfort. I’d placed an order with the carpenter to have one made, but until that was ready I had been making do with putting a couple pieces of lumber under a regular one. It had been hardcover books first, but when Twilight found out… Anyway, it was lumber liberated from the structure of an empty crate I found in the basement. But on the matter at hand; I’d decided to start a journal. I would have much rather to have been typing it, but the solar charger could only provide so much juice to the laptop. I thought about it, shrugged and just started writing. Entry 1 Initial Musings As much as I’d rather this sound more professional, it’s not quite there yet. With practice it should improve though. I’m hoping to make this part personal reflections and part professional comments. Just because I was given my ‘job’ casually doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be doing it. It's been a few days since then, and I've been working on making sure I can pull it off. Part of the reason I suppose is that it's honestly boring just learning languages each day. The magic lessons are cool and all, but it's limited because I can't read any of the reference material, and since my 'Human' magic has been proving to work a bit differently from regular 'Unicorn' magic, I really need them. So working on my job and title give me something else to do. To that end, I’ve actually started reading my old text books from my geography classes. In order to save my back (and lessen the rest to my future self), and save a couple hundred dollars, I had gotten digital versions for as many class texts as I could have, and I wasn’t one to delete files often. Still arnt aren't. I pretty much had every power point, assignment and note document for my classes between my laptop and external. It's why I had and external. When Twilight found out I had actual books on them, educational ones and not just the novels I had originally mentioned, she dove at the laptop (and me, considering it was in my lap at the time), that I thought she would break it (and again; me). If it wasn’t for Lyra she might have. Thankfully she was able to hank me out of the way. Right; Lyra might be a musician, but she did some dabbling in cultures and mythology in school alongside her music. She was pretty interested in human culture and came to help with the research. She was a good source of information on the other races of Equis. Still, Twilight’s been gotten even more motivated to learn written English, and is already doing pretty well with it. It irks me, it does. I’m still only able to pick my way through paragraphs, often fallng back to using my translation keys when it came to Equish (I wrote up a quick thing a on a little flip book I made), and that’s just the common script. There are still the other two to learn. At least pegasus runes seem simple enough. It’s High Unicornian that’s I’m dreading. It’s one of those ‘characters represent syllables’ languages. Some 200 to learn. I’m not looking forward to it. Maybe there is a spell that I can cheat with… Still, I’ve been picking up faster than I thought I would, and even Twilight has been surprised. I’ve started reading Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone, the first in a series of books novels about a treasure hunter and explorer. I think she is something like akin to a local version of Indiana Jones. Considering I never got around to reading the former back home, it should be an interesting challenge and learning experience. Practice makes perfect, after all. On the topic of magic; I’m doing pretty well, actually. By which I mean I haven’t really done much more than make my hands and eyes glow. Speaking of eyes… mine changed. They used to be a brownish gold, weird but still normal looking. Now? There are a vivid gold gold. Somewhat like Lyra’s, actually. Twilight theorized that it’s because of my magic. She’d worked out a rough hypothesis about the connection between eyes and magic, but never got a chance to work on it, apparently. I planned to see if I could nudge her back to it, but long story short; she thinks that the non-standard eye colour was always because of my magic and magic potential, but without a magic rich environment, there wasn’t much for it to react to. Equestria was overflowing with magic though, so my eyes became brilliant as a result. It somewhat did explain the vibrant colours o Equestria. Hopefully my reaction was limited to only the eyes and didn’t expand to include things like hair and skin colour. There were only so many changes I could take… Though, if it means I can ditch the glasses, I wouldn’t mind that much. In regards to the Breach project: Not much has changed on that front. The research is slow and has mostly shifted into theoretical magic that far above my head. It is mainly motivation to learn the language more. I also plan to visit the site sometime in the near future. As new as I was to this whole magic thing, I needed as much tactile (that’s the right word, right? Gotta ask Twilight) exposure as I could get before I could understand it fully. It doesn't help that the whole 'different magic' thing makes it harder for her to explan it to me. Luna’s showed up in my dreams three times since the first time. I think she’s still somewhat reserrved towards me, but we are growing on each other. She’s somewhere between the senior who’s trying to help and the school prefect. Horrible analogies, but they work for me. It’s like she’s not that she’s not… commanding or regal or anything, it’s just that she started loosening up a bit. And I feel like it’s as if she thinks I might go wrong or something if I’m not carefully shepherded, like I'm a delinquent or something. It was sort of annoying the first night, but she did help me though the dream I was having. She got to meet my family, in a weird way since it was just my memories of them, and we had some more sweets before she left. We just talked the second time, exchanging facts about her world and mine for a few minutes before she had to move on to other dreams. Apparently walking in people's poniesy's dreams is part of her royal duties. ... I miss them. It’s not like I wasn’t thinking of moving out when I had save up enough money, or maybe if I got a better job, but moving out didn’t translate to skipping over to another reality. Right now all I had were the pic--- “Hey, Caleb,” Spike called from my door. I jumped a bit, having been taken up in my writing that I didn’t notice him in the area. “You okay, up here?” “Uh, yeah. I was just writing some thoughts down,” I said, looking over what I had written before turning in my chair. “So… sup?” “Sweetie Bell stopped by to say Rarity will be finished with your full order by this afternoon and you can stop by and pick them,” Spike said as he looked around the room. “What happened here?” I made a slight sound of confusion and looked around the room to see what had gotten his interest so. Several maps of the larger towns in Equestria, as well a large map showing all of Equestria, another one of the Crystal Empire and a less detailed one showing all of the neighbouring regions covered one wall. I’d purchased them the day before. Classroom worthy banners with the various characters and glyphs of the local written languages, as well as common words and simple phrases hung closer to the roof, and I had added their English counterparts to go with them. Those I got from the store that carried both toys and school supplies. Here and there simple anatomy charts, crudely relabelled, were present, as well as a poster showing the two Princess, another from the Crystal Empire and a few promoting the Royal Guard and the Wonderbolts, the foal’s books I’d taken up from downstairs scattered in untidy piles against the wall or on shelves. Over all, the room was a confusing mess. “Right, you haven’t been in here in a while,” I grinned at Spikes confused look. “I’ll trying to learn as much as I can, so I raided the Town Hall for what they had on Equestria in general, hit a few stores with Lyra’s help and got most of this.” “So why aren’t there any about dragons?” Spike asked grumpily, folding his arms on his chest. I couldn’t tell if he was pretending or serious. “I.. they didn’t have anything in the Town Hall. Someone, a er… Glossy Stroke said they had some posters from the Dragon Migration but they were sold out and haven’t restocked yet.” I shrugged. “I can get one when they do if it really bugs you.” “Nah, I was just messing with you,” Spike laughed. “Anyway, you want some lunch before you go? I made a salad I plan to take to the next picnic. There’s enough for you to have if you want.” I hesitated, looking back at my journal. The aborted thought completed itself. Right now, all I have are pictures and memories. Luna says that when it’s loved ones, sometimes that’s enough, but I still feel empty inside. Worried. “Sure, I could use a snack,” I said, closing the book, my eyes flicking up to the paragraphs above it that mused on the Breach. I could finish it later. I could work on it later. As we left the room, Spike nudged me. "Isn't that one Daring Do?" "Ugh... It's a long story...” I said, shaking my head slowly as I closed the door behind me. “We met Rainbow Dash when we were leaving the story with the Wonderbolt's poster..." “The Solar Court is now in recess!” the strong voice of the herald announced, carrying itself across the room and out into the halls were others had gathered, hoping to have a moment of their Princess’ time. Most of them were those who came to open court, those was scheduled times already taken in and dealt with. Celestia sat, waiting as her diligent staff ushered the grumbling representative of her most recent case out, watching and listening without fully paying attention to the acts that had long since become commonplace to her. It only took the slightest bit of focus to speak with her counselors and aids, hearing their words and responding with the expected replies as she made her way out of the Hall, the entourage shrinking until it was merely her aide Kibitz that remained walking down the corridor. “How does my schedule fair?” Celestia asked when they were finally alone. “Surprisingly clear, your majesty,” Kibitz responded promptly. “Your meeting with the weather council was postponed on account of, well, the weather.” “Really now?” Celestia asked, a slight smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, taking the time to nod at one of the guards stationed on their path. “The irony of that is quite amusing.” “It appears that due to an error at the weather factory, an unscheduled storm front was released and is heading to Northern Equestria. The council had to return to Cloudsdale to deal with the repercussions.” “As unfortunate as that accident is, I do believe that gives me an additional hour to myself,” Celestia commented. “It does, your majesty,” Kibitz confirmed. “Now, I had considered moving the review of the new legal propositions from the Manehattan-” “Nonsense, Kibitz,” Celestia said. “I know how much effort you put into keeping my schedule in order. Rather than forcing you to work around this cancellation, I will just have to find my own means to pass the time as I suffer though this sudden change.” “But, your majesty!” Kibitz called out to her as Celestia’s walk became a trot, leaving the stunned aide behind. “No need to fret, Kibitz!” she called back. “I will be easily found in the case of an emergency.” It wasn’t often that Celestia had that much time to herself in the day. She already knew how she was going to spend it too. The return of the Crystal Empire and its Library brought with it classic literature, some she hadn’t laid eyes on in over a thousand years, and others she never had a chance to read when they first emerged. There was still a large stack waiting for her. With a lovely pot of tea and some of those delightful donuts from Joe, the time would be gone far sooner than she would like, but it would be worth it. She didn’t expect to find Luna in the private kitchen at that hour. Yet, there she was, looking somewhat disheveled with her mane in less than perfect condition, her crown crocked. “Ah, good afternoon sister,” Luna yawned, her tone slightly irritable, a steaming mug held in her magic’s grasp as she sat at the small table. This wasn’t anything like the private dining room they hosted the human and Twilight in several days past, or anything like the Castle Kitchens. It was a simple room, no place to fix a full course dinner, but adequate for them to prepare a light snack or repast when they needed to, or even a small meal for themselves without calling down to the kitchen. Sparsely equipped, it was little more than a few cupboards, an ice box, a few kitchen essentials on the modest counter space and a small table with a dark green table cloth. “Luna, I didn’t expect to see you up this early,” Celestia said, warmly greeting her sister. A little bit of magic got the fixings for her tea from the cupboards. “In most cases, I would not be, not willing,” Luna grumbled. “There’s nothing better than a princess of the night unable to rest contently because of bad dreams.” Celestia paused in her work, teapot and tray hanging still in the air, and shot her sister a look. “Nightmares?” “Nightmares? Far from it,” Luna scoffed. She rolled her eyes. “The Dreamwalker having Nightmares of her own? The shame alone might be my downfall. There are merely troubled dreams.” “I see,” Celestia let the response hang in the air. A quick spell heated the water in the pot, sending wisps of steam curling away from it before she dropped the tea leaves in to soak. Her books and donuts forgotten, she looked at her sister as the silence stretched on. Luna held out for some time, tension building and the only sound being her periodic sips of her mug the soft murmur of the wind outside the window. After the first few minutes, the clinking of metal on ceramic joined the ambience as Celestia poured and mixed her tea. Luna narrowed her eyes at her sister and sighed. “You have plans to do that for a while, don’t you.” “I am free for another two hours, yes,” Celestia said implacably, inhaling the scent of her tea before taking the first sip, making soft sounds of appreciation. “If you like, I could stare at you in a mildly disconcerting and disapproving manner.” Celestia demonstrated, lowering the cup, giving Luna a slight frown, her eyes holding a trace of disappointment. Luna chuckled, some of the tension seeping out of her wings. Pleased that her sister was loosening up, Celestia pressed the point. “You can talk to me. Tell me what has been troubling your sleep.” Luna sighed again, this time in surrender rather than frustration. She dropped her head, resting her chin on the table. “To be honest, it’s Caleb.” “Luna, I thought we put that silly mistrust behind us!” Celestia scolded, actually scolded her sister and co-monarch. Luna lifted her head, taken aback at being scolded like a foal. “I have, sister. In fact, I have learnt much of his world and the life he left behind from visiting his dreams, and taught him a lot about ours. I can see that his arrival here was nothing more than chance and misfortune borne from his ignorance of his own abilities.” “You have been visiting his dreams?” Celestia asked, a small smile on her face. Luna snorted at her. “Despite what your student has been sending in her letters of how cheerful and adapting he seems, he misses his home and family far more than he admits to those around him, and that longing leaves him with painful dreams. I merely help ease the pain. “The turmoil in my own dreams… are bad memories,” Luna continued, changing the direction of the discussion from their unexpected visitor turned diplomat back to herself. “While I’ve accepted that Caleb’s arrival had nothing to do with my own fall, it still brought the memories back; fresh in my mind. They are what have been troubling my slumber.” “Luna… has this been happening since he first arrived?” Celestia asked, chiding herself inside for not seeing the signs of her sister’s distress before. As much as she hated to be reminded of it, the last time she overlooked Luna’s pain had been in the years leading to her becoming Nightmare Moon, the same event that was causing her current pain. “Ever since the Breach first formed when his magic bridged with ours,” Luna confirmed softly. “Seeing his world’s eclipse merely gave a face to the anxiety that had been building in the moments before it appeared.” “That… that is quite a lot to take in,” Celestria said, worry in her tone and her eyes flicking around the room as her thoughts sought an anchor. “You said his magic bridged with ours? I know I felt the foreign solar and lunar energies, but still…” “I had them confirm it, comparing the charts produced shortly after his arrival with those Twilight provided from his preliminary examination in Ponyville,” Luna said. She finally remembered the mug before her and took a sip from it, grimacing at the tepid temperature. A soft gold glow came over it, and soon it was sending steam into the air again. She nodded her thanks at her sister before continuing. “It was very faint, but it traces of his magic were mixed with the lunar and solar energies that first made the breach. It only makes sense. Willingly, knowingly or not; he was the trigger for whatever means brought him here,” Luna said, looking out the window vacantly. “I see,” Celestia remarked. “So, has he been made aware of his involvement in what brought him here?” “No, not yet,” Luna said. “Not officially. I believe he suspects, from the tones in his dreams, but he has not been told. It is in the reports, but was hidden in the jargon and formula. He’s grasp of our language is not that strong yet.” She took another sip before commenting in an almost offhanded manner. “I have been using dreams to teach him, but it is still slow going at the moment.” “You have?” Celestia smirked. Luna’s eyes widened when she realized what she said, but she shook off her sister’s remark with a toss of her mane. Celestia let it pass and moved on. “Still, I don’t see how that alone was enough to cause your distress. From what you have told me, you have seen there is nothing to fear from him, and have even been looking out for his well-being. The letters I have received from the Bearers have mentioned good things about him as well.” “Nor have any in Ponyville had reason to fear him in their sleep,” Luna nodded slowly. There were a few nightmares with him in involved, but those were born from the fear of the unknown, rather than the fear of him, personally. “Then why?” Celestia urged. Luna sighed. “Do you remember the morning… the morning I finally surrendered myself to the urgings of my darkness and became Nightmare Moon?” It was Celestia’s turn to grimace. “I do, sister.” “I admit to not having the clearest memories of the time immediately surrounding that time, but something about his arrival… I suppose nostalgia can be applied,” Luna said thoughtfully. “I don’t understand,” Celestia admitted. “Something about the magic in the air felt faintly familiar, and it has been what haunts my dreams, reminding me of my time as Nightmare Moon…” Celestia moved to offer physical comfort and support, but a hoof and sweep of wing from Luna warded her away. “No, I am the Princess of the Night. Among my duties are warding the dreams of our subjects from the beings that would prey on them and helping them overcome their fears. Something like this is a trial I will overcome as well.” “Luna, there is no need to be so… independent about this,” Celestia said slowly. “I can help you with this.” “There is also no need to cuddle me, sister,” Luna responded sharply, rising from the table. Her expression faded as she yawned, however. “Still, I think I’ll see if I can perhaps get a few more hours of rest before it’s time to rise the moon for the night. If you would excuse me, sister?” Celestia merely nodded as Luna took her mug and left, still yawning as she turned and disappeared around the corner. Celestia sighed. “Dear sister. I hope your stubbornness does not become your undoing.” Her former plans were long since forgotten by this point. Her books and donuts hardly qualifying for even a passing thought. Instead, they ran on her sister’s issues. Simply pressuring Luna would serve no purpose, not unless getting her angry was her goal. No, that would not do at all. What Luna needed was friends at the moment, ponies around her to give her support. But those close to her were all in Ponyville. Celestia smiled as an idea came to her. It was approaching a week since Caleb left Canterlot. She could use him as an excuse to invite the Bearers to visit the castle. A few hours might help calm Luna’s thoughts. Should it turn out that Luna overcame the issue on her own, she was still curious to hear from Caleb how things were going for him, in person rather than just from one of her student’s missives. Topping out her tea and taking the cup with her, she left to locate Kibitz and see about scheduling some time for this visit. Home was in sight, and Richard found his steps lagging. Not because he didn’t want to go home. It had been a long day and lounging in bed would be great. No, it was the first few moments of arrive home that would be the hard part. Two weeks had passed. The first week had been the hardest, each day longer than the one before, distracted with the constant hope that the next notification, the next call would be with the news they wanted, and fear that it would be the one they dreaded the most, only to force themselves into fitful sleep before repeating the cycle. The second week brought numbness to the situation and a sense of vacancy as the lack of news stretched on, and the fact, no matter how gently it was presented, that each day whittled away at the possibilities of hope and the joyous end they wanted. Worse were the interviews and questioning from the police. It was a necessary evil on one hand, a thoroughness that could only serve to help them, but it was like pressing the edge of a knife into the open wound each time. Necessity did not make it any easier to bear. The media was unbearable. Never before had he had such empathy for the families that requested privacy in their time of pain. The cameras aimed in their direction, flashes of light and microphones thrust at them did nothing for them. If the authorities were the doctors digging into a wound to see if it were infected and to treat it properly, the media were the torturers, forcing the wounds open and bearing their pain for the world to see. It didn’t matter to him that this was the most sensational case their region had seen; a young man vanishing without a trace, the room he was last known to be in looking like a small tornado tore through, hundreds of pounds worth of books and wood missing, the sky light shattered, a charred circle under it. All somehow accomplished within the less than five minute window it took the other employees to rush to the floor. He didn’t care about how amazing the story way. All he wanted was for them to leave, take their news vans and go and not come back. The novelty and hype of the situation had worn off for those outside the family and the interest in their conditions and states had died off with it, something Richard was grateful for. It was bad enough that they were going through it without it being constantly brought up by those around him and being probed for questions. The alarm system beeped thrice, announcing his presence as he opened the door. “I’m home.” The house dim, the curtains over the windows having not been opened and still drawn. The only sound the faint murmur of voices likely from the set running. He pulled his shoes and left the shoe rack, noting that his father’s set was absent. Shifting the rest of his bag on his shoulders, he trudged towards the family room. The sounds of the television grew more distinct as he drew closer, though the volume was low, making it hard to make out what was being said. Steeling himself, he ducked in. “Mom, you in here?” he asked, more from custom than necessity as he found her easily enough. Her hair was still combed and styled as it had been that morning, even though she had changed from her work outfit to something more casual. The prim style was at odds with the defeated and lost air that hovered over her, staring at the television though it was clear she wasn’t processing a word or flicker of it. A picture frame was held tight in her hands. He knew the one; the entire family smiling, he, his sister and Caleb laughing and giving each other rabbit ears. His mother looked up with surprise and managed a smile that didn’t quite break the weariness in her eyes. “Hello Richard. When did you get home?” “Just now, mom,” Richard said with a weak smile of his own. “How were your classes? Do you need dinner?” she said, rising from the couch, setting the picture frame beside her. “No, mom, I’m fine,” he said quickly. It was the coward’s way out, but he didn’t want to linger. Little things would set her off, crying silently again, and the awkwardness would leave him confused and lost. He tried to avoid it, retreating to his room and brooding on it on his own, even if the fact that he and Caleb shared that trait just made the grief harsher. “I had a late lunch. I’ll just go up and work on my assignments.” “Oh, okay then, it will be in the fridge for you then,” She said weakly. Richard hesitated, than gave her a hug before leaving. It left him feeling worse, but there was little more he could do than that. He booted up his computer and tried to loose himself in his work. An hour later there was a rap on his door. He forced himself from his fugue state and opened it to see who was there. “Hey, Dad.” “Schoolwork?” his father asked. Richard nodded. His father looked at him for a moment more. “How are you doing?” “Fine,” Richard said. “How was your day?” Is father closed his eyes. He had been scheduled for a meeting with the lead investigator that evening. “Still nothing.” A missing person case with no real leads at all. Even the security tapes had been a bust. The building had them for the entrance ways, predominantly. Aside from the static that mysteriously affected all the cameras for a few dozen seconds, nothing suspicious could be found. The security system logged the usage of the doors, and it lacked evidence as well. It was like he fell off the face of the planet. Richard looked away from his father. “All right then. I’m going back to work.” “I see,” his father responded. He’d taken the responsibility of dealing with it for the family. The few reporters who were still interested. The visits from and with the investigation teams. The mail and calls from curious people in the populace. Even the offers from sensational writers and tabloids. He stood between the family and those that still insisted on harassing them. Richard didn’t envy him at all. He made as to close the door, but his father stopped him. “Richard… if you need to talk…” Richard started before scowled slightly. His school’s counsellor had made the same offer a few times. Why did everyone think he needed to talk about it? His brother was missing. His sister hardly did much anymore aside from work, not even her regular parties. His mother was shell shocked and his father was trying to be the family hero. He narrowed his eyes. “No, I don’t.” He closed the door and got back to his assignments.