//------------------------------// // 4 - Sì // Story: Wànlǐ Chángchéng / A Great Wall // by Baal Bunny //------------------------------// It took Mèng Huàn more than a little effort not to leap to his hooves and shout, but having Twilight at the table beside him made him swallow his anger and say in what he felt was an entirely reasonable tone of voice under the circumstances, "And what exactly do you mean by that, brother?" To any other observer, Tiān Shàng at the head of the table undoubtedly would have looked as cool and collected as he always did. But in the early morning light drifting through the yellow silk curtains of the conference room and setting the armor of the guards at the door to glowing, Mèng Huàn could clearly see the raggedness at the edge of his brother's calm demeanor. "I mean that Tiāngǒu is correct: he and I did have an arrangement at one time." Yúhuī Yì Yào's smug expression across from Mèng Huàn and Twilight somehow got even smugger, and Tiāngǒu next to him smacked the table with a forepaw. "As I have been saying! And now that I've come, I'll be—" "Did have an arrangement." Tiān Shàng didn't speak any louder, but his words still filled the room. "An arrangement I canceled over four hundred years ago when you violated its terms." "Slander!" A twitch pinched the big black dog's face. "You dare imply that I was at fault?" "And you, Yúhuī." The edges of Tiān Shàng's smile seemed to get even more ragged. "The last time we spoke, you informed me that you would never again set hoof in Yuè Mǎ Jīng as long as my hypocritical sun shone above it." Tiān Shàng's scent, usually as fresh and bracing as a spring breeze across a ripening field of wheat, became slightly damp and regretful. "May I ask what changed your mind, Yào Yào?" While Yúhuī's eyes tightened, his smile widened. "I'm merely here as one interested in seeing justice done." He gestured to the dog still fuming on his left. "Of course, I informed my friend here that the rulers of this world wouldn't know justice if it lifted its leg in their direction and let loose a golden stream of—" "Treachery!" Tiāngǒu smacked the table again, but this time, the whole room shook. "Our agreement, Tiān Shàng, could only be canceled if very specific conditions were met! And those conditions—!" "I fulfilled." The force of Tiān Shàng's words again squeezed all other sounds away to nothing. "I sent the required copies of my declaration—" "Did you?" That Yúhuī was able to interrupt Tiān Shàng made Mèng Huàn's jaw tighten: the unicorn had been bragging all night about his magical prowess, but this was the first Mèng Huàn had actually seen of it. Yúhuī again gestured to Tiāngǒu. "For my friend here never received any such declaration." Once more, Mèng Huàn nearly leaped to his hooves with the demand that they not treat this threat to his realm, his sovereignty, and very possibly his life as a matter of misplaced paperwork. But a soft touch at his side shocked him into silence, Twilight stroking her wing against his as she stood. "Forgive me, gentlecolts," she said, her voice soft and sweet after all the barking—literal and figurative—of the last few moments, "but as an uninvolved party, I'll happily offer my services as a mediator." Yúhuī's gaze flickered over, his snout curling like he'd smelled something foul. "You? You were my replacement, Bómù! That hardly makes you uninvolved!" Twilight bowed her head. "Perhaps you'll recall the discussion we had about mirror magic last night? As I demonstrated then, I'm not Bómù, nor am I from this universe. So I would be able to bring an outsider's perspective to—" At the rude noise Yúhuī made with his lips, Mèng Huàn finally did leap to his hooves, but Twilight's touching his shoulder as lightly as a butterfly landing was more than enough to tangle his tongue. "I'm sorry, Yúhuī Yì Yào," Twilight said with a smile that could've held its own against the brightest summer day. "When I showed you Bómù's mirror and explained the spell, well, if you didn't understand it, you should've said something." "Understand?" Yúhuī's eyes widened for an instant, then his whole face clenched. "I have an understanding of magical processes second to nopony in the world! And I'll be happy to prove it by shoving you back through that looking glass if you don't learn to keep a civil tongue in your head, girl!" Again, it was only Twilight's presence that kept Mèng Huàn from vaulting the table, and while her smile wavered, it never dropped. "Well, then!" She clapped her hooves together. "Since you agree that I'm not from here, will you accept that I can be impartial in evaluating the facts of this case?" The continued wrinkling of Yúhuī's nose made Mèng Huàn certain the cretin was about to continue his objections, but then he cocked his head, his stormy expression clearing. "Very well," he said. "You may investigate our respective claims, Miss Sparkle." He stood and gave what could barely have been called a bow in Tiān Shàng's direction. "Tiāngǒu and I will be in the Mù Lán Shǔ Suite awaiting your apology—" He turned the non-bow toward Twilight "—your decision—" He didn't even pretend to dip his head when he came around to Mèng Huàn "—and your moon." With a tight smile, he made for the door, the big black dog padding along behind him. The guards followed them out, and as soon as the three of them were alone, Mèng Huàn glared past Twilight at Tiān Shàng. "So. You sold off my birthright while I was away." The sigh that Tiān Shàng heaved seemed to come all the way up from his hooves. "You know I wouldn't do that." "Do I?" Mèng Huàn hadn't meant to snap the words so harshly—or maybe he had just for the guiltily pleasant sight of Tiān Shàng's ears folding. The way his brother's eyes narrowed, however, was a great deal less pleasant. "Yes," Tiān Shàng more rumbled than said, waves of heat radiating from him that prickled Mèng Huàn's hide. "You do." Mèng Huàn bared his teeth—and Twilight sprang into the air, her wings slapping together to sweep a wind through the room. "That," she announced sharply, "is more than we need of that." Settling to the floor again, she looked back and forth between Mèng Huàn and Tiān Shàng, a fierceness in her expression that Mèng Huàn hadn't even imagined she was capable of. "I told you earlier that I'd traveled through mirrors before? Well, my first trip was because of a pony named Sunset Shimmer. She was Princess Celestia's student before me, and she used a mirror to leave Equestria when Celestia pointed out to her that having powerful magic didn't mean that she got to boss everypony else around." Her gaze settled on Tiān Shàng. "I'm guessing something like that happened between you and Yúhuī Yì Yào." For what seemed like a very long moment, Tiān Shàng didn't reply, but then he gave a single nod. "He was the greatest in a long list of my failures." The impulse arose almost instinctually in Mèng Huàn to tell his brother that he was most definitely not a failure, but Yúhuī and Tiāngǒu's claims coupled with Tiān Shàng's partial confirmation of those claims tightened the resentment in his throat and kept him silent.. But then Twilight turned to fix that gaze on him. "Sunset had an uncanny ability to turn friends into enemies even when they'd known each other for a long, long time." Twilight set one hoof gently on the table. "But I learned that talking things through and listening with an open mind could counteract all her efforts." His face heating up, Mèng Huàn opened his mouth to apologize, but Tiān Shàng was already muttering, "She's right, brother. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?" "Almost certainly." Mèng Huàn raised a hoof. "If you tell me what actually happened between you and these two—" He debated several possible ways to finish his statement before deciding to take the high road "—guests of ours." Twilight smiled at him. "I would've gone with 'jerkwads,' myself." Mèng Huàn had to laugh, and his mood lifted even further when he heard Tiān Shàng chuckle as well. "Well, with Yúhuī..." His brother sighed. "As Twilight has said, he was my student before Bómù came to my attention, and he did indeed abandon his studies—and all of Cōng Mǎ Guó—when I finally confronted him about his behavior toward, well, toward nearly every other pony in Yuè Mǎ Jīng." Tiān Shàng shook his head. "I'd fooled myself into thinking he was the key to bringing you back, Mèng Huàn, but—" His voice got quiet. "It turned out he had too much in common with the creature you became." That gave Mèng Huàn a chill. The escape and dissolution of the Yè Biān Zǐ had forced him for the first time to actually face the decisions he'd made a thousand years ago, and he'd only recently begun to confront the jealousy and rage that had led him down that path without fearing he would again fall into their clutches. But if this Yúhuī indeed harbored similar feelings— "And Tiāngǒu?" Twilight asked. Tiān Shàng closed his eyes. "Six hundred years ago, Tiāngǒu approached me with an offer to serve as warden and custodian of the moon the same way his cousin Dìyù Quǎn guards the entrance to our underworld prison, and in yet another moment of weakness, I agreed." He turned toward Mèng Huàn, but his gaze never left the floor. "You see, I could feel you, brother, could feel the burning hatred that poured from you every time I brought on the night, and after four centuries, I...I had grown slightly weary of it." Most of what Mèng Huàn recalled from his time on the moon merely flickered with the horrible haziness of a nightmare brought to mind the following morning. But the anger that had defined him for that entire millennium stood etched in his memory like an acid trail across a steel plate. Unable to speak, he reached out a hoof and set it atop his brother's. With a nod, Tiān Shàng continued: "For the first two years, Tiāngǒu performed his duties in an exemplary fashion. But then notes from the palace astronomers drew my attention to fluctuations in the moon's brightness, and I observed Tiāngǒu was growing stronger. It took me a great deal of effort to uncover his deception, but he was secretly drawing from your power, taking it into himself like food, and using it for his own advantage." Sparks flashed in Tiān Shàng's eyes, and he straightened, squared his shoulders, looked again like the warrior Mèng Huàn had grown up beside. "I sent him howling from these halls with his tail between his legs and dissolved our partnership in exactly the way the contract dictated." The smoothness of his tone convinced Mèng Huàn—all the card games he'd played with Tiān Shàng had taught him how his brother's voice roughened when he was bluffing. Taking a breath, he blew the remnants of his bad temper out and nodded to Tiān Shàng. "And you've had no dealings with him since?" "Not a whisper." A half smile pulled at Tiān Shàng's snout. "I did get an extra few licks to the face the next time I visited Dìyù Quǎn, but whether she was apologizing for her cousin's behavior or just feeling extra playful, well, she's not the most talkative of beings, is she?" Twilight cleared her throat gently. "Did you happen to keep copies of whatever cancellation notices you sent Tiāngǒu?" "Somewhere, I'm sure." Tiān Shàng's smile grew. "The palace archives are entirely at your disposal." He gestured toward the door. "I've also informed the staff that you're to be given every consideration while you're here with us, Princess." "Thank you." Standing, she grinned and wagged a schoolmarmish hoof at him before starting across the room. "But I'm pretty sure I've asked you to call me Twilight." That got a laugh from Tiān Shàng, and Mèng Huàn joined in. Each breath he took, Twilight's lovely lilac scent still floating around him, seemed to clear his mind further, and he found himself actually starting to think again. "A moment, Twilight." He rubbed his chin, turning his sudden idea over a few times. "Knowing what we know about those two—'jerkwads,' I believe, was the term you recommended? Might there be some advantage in making them think their ploy is succeeding? Turning her head, Twilight stopped. "Possibly. When Sunset was still acting villainously, each time she won something, she got bolder and bolder till she overreached so much, it just took one push to make all her schemes collapse around her." She cocked her head. "What've you got in mind?" "I'll offer them a larger target." Mèng Huàn looked at Tiān Shàng. "A partnership with me to overthrow you, brother. If they agree, there's a treason charge we can hang on them right there." Certain crackly parts of his mind wanted to dwell on how trying to take over the night wasn't a treasonable offense, but he pushed them aside fairly easily. "Or who knows? Perhaps I can manage to drive a wedge between them the way they wished to drive a wedge between us." Tiān Shàng stroked his beard, and for the briefest of instants, Mèng Huàn's crackly parts started pointing out how Tiān Shàng didn't trust him not to foment an actual rebellion. But Tiān Shàng's nod shut that line of thinking down. "Be careful, Mèng Huàn. This ploy of theirs is already aimed squarely at you, and were they somehow to take you from me again, I—" The corner of his eye twitched. "I wouldn't be responsible for my actions." Every bit of crackling vanished in Mèng Huàn's head, and he reached across the table to poke Tiān Shàng in the shoulder. "It'll be like old times: my voice to draw our enemies out, and your hoof to pound them into the ground." His brother's laugh this time was more of the rueful variety. "I've not done a great deal of pounding these past several centuries." Tiān Shàng shrugged and turned the movement into a warm-up stretch. "I may need a moment to recall the proper procedures." "Very well!" Mèng Huàn leaped across the table to land beside Twilight, her grin making him feel light all over. "I to my espionage, Twilight to her files, and you to your gymnasium!" He sent a pulse through his horn to throw the door open. "And may we all meet with our own sort of success!" Cantering out into the hallway, he took several breaths, let the simmering darkness of an oncoming thunderstorm come into the nebula of his mane and tail, and put a bit more of a stomp into his step. With the memory of Tiān Shàng and Twilight smiling to steel him, he slipped the horribly familiar mind-set of the petulant younger brother around his shoulders like a too itchy cloak, stormed into the palace's north wing, and shoved the door of the Mù Lán Shǔ Suite out of the way with a wretched excess of power. "Guards!" he shouted at the ponies in golden armor stationed on either side. "Leave us! My brother has need of your ministrations in the throne room!" To their credit, the guards didn't hesitate to bow and march off—Mèng Huàn had prepared quite a tantrum to throw had seemed reluctant to comply with his orders. He snorted anyway, stepped into the suite, and slammed the door behind himself. Tiāngǒu lay curled on the golden carpet before the empty fireplace to Mèng Huàn's right; the dog didn't raise his head or even open his eyes, but Mèng Huàn couldn't miss the way his ears perked. On the left side of the sitting room, Yúhuī Yì Yào reclined across one of the sofas surrounding a low table; he glanced up from the book he had floating in the pale fire of his magic, and the smile he gave seemed equal parts wary and pleased. "Your Highness," he said, setting the book down beside a bowl of fruit on the table and getting to his hooves. "What an unexpected honor." Which meant the varlet had been expecting him. Mèng Huàn tossed his head and didn't have much trouble putting an edge in his voice. "You're seeking to put me out of business, Yúhuī. Surely you don't expect me to go down without a fight." Yúhuī's eyebrows went up, but it was the growl from behind that claimed most of Mèng Huàn's attention. "Careful," Tiāngǒu said, and when Mèng Huàn glanced back, the dog was standing right behind him, those glowing red eyes almost on a level with Mèng Huàn's own. "Once I've had a taste of something, Moon Horse, I don't give up till I've had my fill." His nostrils flared, and he sucked a big breath through them. "And you, I could scarf all the way down to your fancy silver shoes." Mèng Huàn could only stare, something cold and sharp as a tempered blade shivering through him; it took a fair amount of effort to roll his eyes and pretend he hadn't felt it. "Please. You can't expect me to believe you'd be willing to settle for a snack when a full, five course meal is waiting for you?" Tiāngǒu blinked, and Mèng Huàn lowered his head and his voice. "My brother—" he began. But Yúhuī cut him off: "—is the ruler of all Cōng Mǎ Guó. And as much as one might wish otherwise, discussing in more than general terms how he might be dislodged from that spot could be considered a crime were one to take the current statutes at face value." He began walking toward them, this gaze, as far as Mèng Huàn could tell, fixed firmly on Tiāngǒu's. "And we're a great believer in taking statutes seriously, aren't we, Tiāngǒu? It's by statute, after all, that you're entitled to custodianship of His Highness's domain." Reaching Tiāngǒu's side, Yúhuī finally raised his eyes to meet Mèng Huàn's. "Since that domain had been abandoned and left bereft by its former custodian, that is." The mockery in Yúhuī's voice was quiet but definite, and Mèng Huàn didn't need to force the hair along his neck to bristle. "My exile—" And again, Yúhuī cut him off, his face suddenly very close to Mèng Huàn's: "—doesn't concern me in the slightest!" the unicorn hissed. "In point of fact, sir, the only pony I can think of who's a greater fool than you is your bloated toad of a brother, and to dispose of you both, I need only sit back, enjoy the fine figs grown in the palace gardens, and read a leisurely book or two!" The cold malice radiating from him filled Mèng Huàn even more than what he'd felt from Tiāngǒu, but then Yúhuī was turning away. "So thank you for stopping by, Your Highness. Since you showed yourself in, I believe you can show yourself out." Like everything else in Cōng Mǎ Guó—Twilight rolled the phrase around on her tongue several times till she felt she was getting closer to pronouncing the pitch accents correctly—the palace archive was just different enough to shudder her to a stop every once in a while. Not so much because of the architecture or the color scheme or the slight alteration in the filing system, but, well, the names of the Canterlot Tower castellans and administrators, ponies whose lives she'd written reports about during her years as Celestia's student, none of them were the same. None of them! And yes, she was expecting it. But each and every time she unrolled a scroll, her eyes jittered across the names like a poorly inked quill across parchment. She still managed to piece things together, of course. Even though the mares she remembered were all stallions here and vice versa, they all seemed to have done pretty much the same things, and she found her way eventually to the right room and the right section and the right shelves for official government contracts from six hundred years ago. Dusty didn't begin to describe the place, the only light creeping down from a window as narrow as a knife slit up near the ceiling. Using her own hornglow, she found the paperwork detailing Tiān Shàng's agreement with Tiāngǒu; she found the increasingly concerned notes from the palace astronomers; she found copies of the frosty correspondence Tiān Shàng had sent asking Tiāngǒu if all was well— And that was it. The files ended there without any of the notarized documents the contract said Tiān Shàng needed to cancel the contract, no required list of grievances, nothing! She even looked through the other sections on the surrounding shelves just in case the paperwork had gotten put away in the wrong place, but she didn't find any of the forms or letters she needed to find. Panic started tightening her stomach, but she forced it away, took a breath and a step back. A little thought brought her exactly the spell she needed, and closing her eyes, she cast it, let it expand out from her like fragrance from a flower. And when she opened her eyes, she could see the magical residue of every spell that had been cast here in the past five years, the stuff lumpy and glittery and clinging to the scrolls and the shelves. Or rather, she couldn't help noticing, clinging to the scrolls in one particular section of shelving: the section she'd been looking through that contained everything related to Tiāngǒu. The rest of the room didn't show any signs of activity either magical or otherwise, and that made suspicious little wheels start turning in Twilight's head. Leaving the archives, she let the motion of those wheels start other wheels, thoughts tumbling through her like a stream across a bed of stones. Unfortunately, the ideas that insisted on washing out the other end weren't any she much liked, so she kept turning and returning them, her steps carrying her out of the palace library and back upstairs to the lab where Bómù's mirror still stood embedded in the apparatus she'd built around it. Her reflection had bags under its eyes, and she realized that she hadn't really gotten a full night's sleep since arriving in this universe. Had that really only been two days ago? She reached out, touched the mirror's hard, cold surface, and couldn't help wondering if all this was happening in Equestria, too. Had some female sky dog shown up demanding to take control of Luna's moon? She'd certainly never heard of Celestia making a deal like Tiān Shàng had made with Tiāngǒu, but, well, even after all these years, Twilight seemed to learn new things every week or two about her former mentor and current friend.... Behind her, darkness flowed through the doorway, Mèng Huàn stepping into the room with a sinuous grace that made Twilight catch her breath. "Ah," he said with a sideways smile. "Looking for a way out?" Heart pounding—not because he was so attractive, she told herself, but because of the plan she'd been forming on her way up from the archives—she turned around and shook her head. "I don't leave problems unsolved," she said, a little surprised at how resolute she sounded. Mèng Huàn's ears perked, and his smile made Twilight do some inner chiding when the word 'adorable' appeared so quickly in her thoughts. "Good news, then?" Mèng Huàn asked. "Ah." Twilight cleared her throat and told him about the missing paperwork and the magical residue, his ears slowly wilting and his expression getting blanker and blanker. "So," he said when she'd finished. "Somepony stole the documents." Twilight held up a hoof. "Not just anypony. Yúhuī grew up here in the palace, so I'm sure he knows the layout; I'm sure he has the power to get in and out undetected; and after his break with Tiān Shàng, I'm definitely sure he would spend some time planning his revenge. Back home in the detective stories I've read, they call that 'motive, means, and opportunity.'" She couldn't keep her own ears up. "And since you're asking, I'm going to guess you weren't able to trick them into turning on each other?" "Alas." Mèng Huàn sat on the floor of the lab, his mane barely billowing around his shoulders. "This Yúhuī is annoyingly focused and determined." That smile pulled his muzzle again, his dark eyes growing warm. "As opposed to another pony of my recent acquaintance who is proving quite delightfully focused and determined." He nodded to her. "I'm assuming, therefore, that you have a plan." It took some effort for Twilight to pull her gaze away from his, but even more effort for her to look back up at him again. "I know I've got no right to ask this, not with the way we've only just met, but—" She took a breath and blew it out. "Do you trust me, Mèng Huàn?" "Unhesitatingly," he said so quickly, Twilight had to blink a few times before she could answer. "But—" And even though it would make her plan more difficult, she still had to say it: "I'm not Bómù!" He smirked. "Thank the midnight sky for that." She couldn't keep from giving a little stomp. "This is serious, Mèng Huàn!" "It is, yes." In the quiet, his voice seemed to deepen. "Bómù has saved my life, both literally and metaphorically, at least three times, and among all ponies, I love him second only to my brother. So, yes, you are not him, but I have seen and sensed your greatness and your gentleness, the qualities that earned Bómù my brother's love and earned him wings very similar to those you yourself wear so fetchingly. So, yes, Twilight Sparkle, I shall once again agree with you. You are not Bómù." The light in his eyes made Twilight never want to look away. "And I shall also say again: thank the midnight sky for that." Everything in her shaking and whirling, Twilight couldn't keep from blurting out, "'Cause you need to give the moon to Tiāngǒu!" "What?" The warm quiet shattered, Mèng Huàn actually leaping back from her. "You...you would have me abdicate?" With an almost physical wrench, Twilight forced her mind toward the plan she'd come up with. "Tiāngǒu will take your power, and knowing what I know about Sunset Shimmer, I'm absolutely certain that Yúhuī already has some spell set up to transfer that power to him. And once he's shown his true self, all monstrous and stuffed full of magic and malice, that's when we'll be able to stop him, strip him of that power, and return it to you." Mèng Huàn's jaw hung open, and the eyes that had shone so invitingly a few seconds ago were now staring at her like she'd suddenly sprouted scales. "That's madness!" he choked out. "It's balance." Still shivering, Twilight slipped into the relative comfort of her lecture voice. "My experiences have shown again and again that the power of Harmony ebbs and flows in direct proportion to the power of Disharmony rising up against it. Harmony is a reactive force, dormant when unopposed and only responding in equal measure when it's attacked." She couldn't stop a little grin. "My friend Pinkie Pie says, 'Never play an ace when a deuce'll do,' and that seems to be how Harmony handles things. Except, well, a lot of the time it won't do anything at all till that other ace gets slapped down on the table." The air didn't seem quite as close to shattering around them; at least Mèng Huàn was listening instead of galloping from the room. Twilight swallowed and presented her conclusion. "So I say we force the issue. Give Tiāngǒu what he wants, and when Yúhuī reveals his plan by betraying Tiāngǒu and trying to take over Cōng Mǎ Guó, we'll be able to summon up the local version of Rainbow Power and stop him." "'We?'" Mèng Huàn asked. Twilight blinked, the flaw in her plan suddenly jabbing her like a nutshell in her gums. Still, she went on: "Bómù's friends and I. I mean, they're practically the same as my friends back home, so we should certainly be able to...to..." Seeing his wide eyes, more than a little white around the rims, made her voice trail off; she swallowed, stepped closer, and touched his shoulder. "I can stall Yúhuī for a day, I'm pretty sure, but then I'll have to admit that the paperwork to prove that Tiān Shàng cancelled Tiāngǒu's contract just isn't here." The muscles under his velvety hide were tense, hard as granite against her hoof, in fact, and Twilight couldn't keep from rubbing his shoulder, wanting nothing more than to soothe him. "I'll make an excuse to head back to Ponyville today—I mean, back to Xiǎo Mǎ Chéng—and I'll talk to Bómù's friends. If we can't come up with a better plan, I'll bring them back with me tomorrow, and we'll do what we always do: get the bad guy." Mèng Huàn remained frozen; without even thinking, Twilight cast a warming spell over the hoof she was rubbing his shoulder with in the hope that it might help. His eyes rolled closed, though, and he shivered, something Twilight didn't know how to interpret. "In my head," he said quietly, "I have this voice. It's the voice that convinced me to embrace my jealousy and hatred a thousand years ago, the voice that convinced me to continue punishing myself with the Yè Biān Zǐ after my return." Not knowing what else to do, Twilight kept caressing his shoulder, but when his eyes opened, she almost froze herself, the expression she saw there harder by far than his tense muscles. "That voice right now, Twilight, is trying to convince me that it's no coincidence that you and Yúhuī and Tiāngǒu all appeared at exactly the same time. It wants me to think that the three of you are working together, that you conspired somehow to eliminate Bómù and are now bent on destroying me and usurping my domain." "You—" Twilight could barely get the words out. "You don't really believe that, do you?" For half an instant, she was sure he did, was sure he was going to do something rash and terrible and that she would have to do something just as terrible to defend herself from him. But then he drew in a great, shuddering breath, everything about him relaxing as he blew it back out. "I don't," he said, and the tiny curve of his smile made Twilight feel warm all over. "I've come to the opinion that this particular voice doesn't have my best interests at heart, and I'm vowing here and now that I will no longer heed its advice." His gaze darted over to where she was still rubbing his shoulder, and his smile grew. "Thank you for that, by the way." "Eeep!" Embarrassment flooding her, Twilight pulled her hoof away. "I'm so sorry, Mèng Huàn! I didn't mean to—!" "To comfort me?" The smile spread to his dark eyes, and the warmth around Twilight spread, too. "To reassure me? To help me through a rough patch as friends often do?" "Oh. Well. Yes." Twilight couldn't stop a giggle. "That. Those three things. That's exactly what I meant to do." "Then you succeeded." He reached out and touched her hoof so gently, it felt more like the flutter of a passing bird's wing. "Still, we'd best inform Tiān Shàng." Tiān Shàng was holding court, of course, something Twilight had watched Celestia do innumerable times. She'd even done it herself on a small scale, opening her palace in Ponyville for a few hours a couple afternoons a week so folks could stop by who might have questions or concerns about matters of friendship. But there seemed to be a good deal more pageantry involved here. Back in Canterlot, it was pretty much just Celestia or Luna with their respective chamberlain meeting whatever ponies had sought an audience atop the throne room dais, but peering in through the back doorway of the Yuè Mǎ Jīng throne room, Twilight saw unicorns with long trumpets floating in front of them, heralds in brightly colored tunics standing at the public entrance, scribes and scholars speaking quietly to each other or working at small desks spread around the base of the throne. "My brother," Mèng Huàn murmured behind her, a chuckle in his voice. "I can recall a time when he would've snorted roundly at such protocol." His sigh wafted across Twilight's neck and made the hair stir at the base of her mane. "At least my exile had one positive consequence." "More than one," Twilight said quickly, looking back and up at him. "I've been researching an article for several months now that I plan to submit to the Canterlot Historical Society about the way that modern Equestria largely owes its existence to the millennium our two princesses spent apart. If Bómù was working on a similar article—" She stopped, a thought wrinkling her brow. "Though if he's been developing mirror magic, he probably hasn't had much opportunity to do much else. Still, I can look through his files and—" "It's all right, Twilight." The twinkle in Mèng Huàn's eye got her feeling all warm again. "After we get the mirror working properly, you can send me a copy of your article once it's published." He squinted, and a bubble of light popped from the tip of his horn. "Let me get Tiān Shàng's attention, and we can begin putting your plan into action." Doubts about her plan started bubbling louder and faster in her brain—how it wasn't so much a plan as an extended bout of wishful thinking, for instance—but she pushed them all down to watch Mèng Huàn's bubble drift almost invisibly out into the throne room. It wafted to the top of the dais and popped beside Tiān Shàng's ear just as his most recent supplicant was turning away. Tiān Shàng's ears folded then, and he stood with a whisk of his sunrise colored tail. "Forgive me," he announced, all the courtiers' heads startling up from their work. "Some urgent business has just come to my attention, so court will stand in recess for one half of an hour." He bowed to the room, descended the steps with every bit as much elegance as Celestia, and moved in a stately fashion toward the doorway Twilight was peering through. Stepping back, she nodded to him as he came in, closing the door behind himself. "Your message said a half hour, brother." His smile had a few more teeth in it than Twilight had ever seen from Celestia. "Will routing these villains take so short a time?" "Not entirely, no." Mèng Huàn looked at Twilight. "Tell him what you didn't find." "Didn't?" Tiān Shàng's ears folded again, but then his expression darkened like a stormy afternoon. "Yúhuī's taken the paperwork, I assume?" Twilight kept her voice quiet. "The way magic loses the individual markers of the unicorn who cast it so quickly, there's no way to prove that the residue I found in the archives came from Yúhuī: it was just too old. But if I can make him think that I have a way of further testing it—" And as quickly as she could, she explained what she had in mind. "I don't like it," she finished. "But with Sunset Shimmer, we had to wait till she hit rock bottom and had actually transformed into a monster before we could show her how she was destroying herself." With a swallow, she looked up at Tiān Shàng. "So I'd be happy to hear any other idea. Any other idea at all." For a couple breaths, Tiān Shàng remained motionless and scowling; then he turned to Mèng Huàn. "Your thoughts, brother?" Almost hoping he would stomp in disgust and demand they come up with something better, Twilight shivered a little when Mèng Huàn just exhaled loudly through his nostrils. "I'm not fond of it either." Another of those partial smiles pulled his lips. "But I can think of no ponies into whose hoofs I would rather put my life than the two of you." "Very well!" Tiān Shàng's wings shot open, light filling Twilight's eyes. And when they cleared, the three of them were standing in a stretch of hallway outside an ornately carved and arched door, the guards on either side straightening to attention. "Tiāngǒu!" Tiān Shàng called. "Yúhuī Yì Yào! We come with information regarding the case you've brought before us! May we enter?" A moment of silence, then the door swung open, Tiāngǒu looming behind Yúhuī, the unicorn standing there with that smug look on his face. "Of course. I somehow suspect it'll be good news you've brought to my friend and myself." Just the tone of his voice made Twilight want to grind her teeth, but instead, she pasted as honest a smile as she could manage over her snout and followed Tiān Shàng inside, Mèng Huàn gliding quietly in behind her. "Actually," she said, "the news is that I'll need at least till tomorrow morning to complete my task." "What?" All Yúhuī's smugness tightened into anger. "All you had to do, girl, was look for some paperwork! Are you entirely incompetent?" Tightening her own smile just a bit, Twilight sparked her horn. "Not entirely," she said, and knowing he would recognize it, she began spinning the residue detection spell. "It's just that I found several things I wasn't expecting in the archives, and I'd like to analyze them a bit further." Yúhuī's brow had wrinkled at the first glimmer of Twilight's magic, but she was more than a little pleased to see his eyes go wide in what could only have been alarm as she continued demonstrating the spell. "Back home," she went on, "I have exactly the books I need in my library, so I'm hoping Bómù has similar books in his. And I'm sure you'll agree that it'd be quite a shame to taint my final decision by conducting an incomplete investigation." She looked from him to Tiāngǒu. "You've already had to go through so much to stake this claim, sir, I know you wouldn't want some last minute snag to make things even more difficult." Tiāngǒu snorted. "Do whatever you want, pony." And when he smiled, it was nasty and greasy and made Twilight want to head for the nearest bathtub. "I always find that obstacles of this sort stimulate the appetite." Again, she refused to show her reaction and turned her attention back to Yúhuī. His forehead was wrinkled, but Twilight could almost smell his mind spinning, trying to figure out if she really had a way of doing something as impossible as tracing old magical residue back to the spell's original caster. "Very well," he said slowly. "You may have till tomorrow's dawn, Miss Sparkle. As you say, we all want this to be done correctly. In fact—" A bit of his previous smugness returned. "Perhaps I should come with you and help you search for—" Tiān Shàng's snort cut him off, Twilight almost shying sideways at its vehemence. "With my brother's life at stake, perhaps I should call out every professor from my university to assist! Perhaps several squadrons of the royal guard would be useful as well!" "Or perhaps—" Mèng Huàn's silken voice drifted through the air as gentle as moonlight. "We should trust Princess Twilight to know what she's doing and how best to do it." His words took on a midnight coldness. "That is what we all agreed to in this case, is it not?" The uncertain silence that followed almost got Twilight's wings rustling, but then Yúhuī shrugged and waved toward an alcove lined with bookshelves. "The only things I miss about Yuè Mǎ Jīng are the libraries and the kitchens, and I have no objection to indulging myself in them till tomorrow morning." He gave Tiān Shàng a scowl. "And don't be melodramatic. Tiāngǒu taking control of the moon won't endanger Mèng Huàn's life any more than you controlling it during his exile did." Shaking his head, he turned for the alcove. "So send up a steward when you go, will you? I'd like to order lunch." A snickering drew Twilight's gaze back to Tiāngǒu. "Go on," the dog rumbled. "We'll be here when you get back." Too busy stewing over everything that could still go wrong, Twilight didn't even notice that neither of the two princes spoke till they'd all traveled several corridors from the Mù Lán Shǔ Suite. "So," Tiān Shàng said then, startling her out of her thoughts. "I've got to get back to court. You should get some rest, brother, and Twilight, I—" He swallowed. "I'll see you tomorrow." "You will," she said, trying to put some firmness in her voice. Nodding, he spread his wings; light swirled around him, and he was gone. She turned then to Mèng Huàn, and everything inside her tightened up, wanting so much to say something comforting. But— "I'll see you tomorrow, too," was all she could get out. "You will," he replied, a calmness around the big, dark stallion that she couldn't face. Spinning, Twilight flared her horn, teleported to a point just above the castle's highest tower, and began pumping her wings toward Xiǎo Mǎ Chéng. She would find a way to do this. She would. She would.