//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Felix Draconis: Lux et Tenebrae 
// by xanshriekal 
//------------------------------//


Lux and Luna sat before a modest table set with a large amount of food, all vegetarian. Lux had to explain that he had an unfortunate allergy to flowers when Luna ordered them both a large daisy and posy salad. The butler expressed his sympathies and offered the young stallion a charming plate of celery, carrots, and beans to which Lux agreed. In the meantime, the staff brought out several fruits and a basket of rolls as appetizers. They made small talk until the staff finally finished and they could resume real conversation.
“Humans are allergic to flowers?”
“No,” he said, cutting up a pineapple, “but we don't find them tasty and I suspect we can't really digest them anyways.” He paused a moment to really think about it. “I think I've seen some really fancy restaurants use them, but we have to be careful what we eat. As omnivores we can eat a wide variety of things, but we are more restricted with plants than ponies would be.”
“Hast thou ever tried a flower?” Luna levitated a crisp rose over to him.
Daniel took it and looked at it blankly. “I suppose not.”
“And why not?”
He thought about this one. “Well, I suppose part of it is because there are many plants and flowers that are poisonous. Most humans have lived in cities or on farms for the past several centuries. All the food we get is grown for us to eat, so we don't forage around for edibles much. If it's good and we can eat it, we start growing it.”
“But there are many flowers that are not poisonous!”
“This may be true, but we already have plenty of crops that provide better yield than flowers: corn, wheat, soy, carrots, etc. And flowers go bad more easily than most of those.”
“So because thou art comfortable with one thing, thou hast never tried a flower?”
Daniel nodded. “Oh, and there's the fact that we treat many of our crops, including flowers, with pesticides and preservatives. Most of them are fine, but since we don't grow flowers as an edible crop, I wouldn't be surprised if the chemicals we used on them were toxic.”
Luna didn't look very impressed. “Thy world is a strange place. Tell us more of it, what are these chemicals you speak of? We are familiar with alchemy and the study of strange substances, but what are pesticides and fungicides?”
Daniel smiled and set the rose down, about to start when the rose levitated itself back in front of his mouth. 
“Please, thou should try new things in a new world.”
“When in Rome...” he sighed and plucked a few petals, trying them. As expected, they were papery and felt like velvet. There was a mild taste there, aside from the clearly vegetable one, but it was new and he couldn't place it. It wasn't bad, but he doubted he'd make a habit of it. Luna looked expectant, though, and he tilted his head thoughtfully. “Well, it's no carrot, but it's much better than broccoli.”
Luna humphed and levitated the rose back. “I suppose there's no accounting for taste.”
He smiled and continued with his pineapple. “Perhaps not. Now, where should I begin?”
“Pesticides and fungicides. What are they?”
“They are poisons that we spray on our crops. They are designed to be harmful to fungi which would blight the crop or harmful to insects which would devour it. Some of them can be harmful to us but as I understand it we usually use very small amounts and thoroughly wash our food before eating it.”
Luna looked horrified. “You...you humans poison your own food just to protect it from the rest of nature? How can that be acceptable to the people of your world?”
“It increases the yield dramatically. There are 6-or-7 billion humans on Earth and that number is increasing. We need to be able to feed everyone, even if they don't really think about it. But not everyone is satisfied with the way things are done. There is a movement, fairly sizable, which calls for people to eat only foods that have been 'grown naturally', without the use of fungicides, pesticides, and other things. They call it organic food. The problem with it is that most organic crops have lower yields, smaller fruits, and cost more. Some people address this by growing their own vegetables in gardens, others start a “buy local” movement to get support for local farmers.”
“That still seems a strange way of doing things, though we admit that it must be a challenge to feed so many. There are more people in thy world than stars in our sky.”
“Surely there are billions of stars, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, perhaps,” she waved a hoof dismissively. “We only worry about the few hundred major ones. The rest are, we must admit, generic and placed without thought. A clump here and there makes it look purposeful and only the astronomers would noticed anyways. But enough about that, tell us more of thy world and civilization.”
“Well,” he began slowly, unsure how to condense several thousands of years of history down into half-an-hour for dinner. Fortunately the staff returned at that moment with the main course and refills of their wine, though Daniel opted for tea. “My, what a charming array. My compliments to the palace staff.” Luna agreed and they began their courses eagerly. The vegetables were very crisp and the fruit nice and large. Daniel added a bit of salt to his beans and waited for the staff to finish before he continued. 
“As I was saying, Your Majesty, I'll begin with a brief description of civilization. I already told you there are billions of people on the planet. About half of them live in cities, some large enough to hold millions of residents. To accommodate everyone, we have large buildings made of steel and glass in the hearts of the cities. Older buildings are still stone, but the modern ones are steel. Most of the residents live a good distance from the city's center in homes similar to yours, though our construction methods are different. In particular we got rid of thatched roofing over a century ago and replaced it with various metals and ceramics.”
“And how dost thou produce so much? Surely tremendous resources must be needed.”
“About 150 years ago we developed mechanical power from steam and gears. Fifty years after that we harnessed the power of lightning: electricity. With those two we were able to build bigger mines and refineries and could refine more ores than before. We also invented a material called plastic, an easily shaped and molded material made from chemicals. And to top it all off in the last 20 years we've developed new methods of recycling old materials so that we can reuse it and cut down on waste.”
“It certainly sounds very advanced, but what is the catch? From what I remember, humans were rather unscrupulous, despite your resourcefulness.”
“The catch is that we tear up the land. Our cities generate small mountains of waste that we simply pile on the land side. Our production centers and refineries and power stations generate pollution: chemicals which cause harm to the environment. The same people who put forward the idea of eating organic food are trying to reduce the harm caused by this production, but it has not been very successful and only the worst toxins are eliminated.”
Luna closed her eyes in sorrow. “Such a high cost.”
Daniel nodded. “The introduction of magic would help people handle a lot of that, but human society has been so focused on science for the past 600 years ever since the Renaissance.”
“The Renaissance?”
“It was a renewal of art and culture after a long time of agrarian living in the continent of Europe.” Already Daniel could see this was going to take a long time. “Perhaps I should start with an overview of the planet. History makes more sense with geography.” He focused the light from several of the torches nearby to make an illusion of the globe. It wasn't perfect, Savannah would have done a much better job, but it would do. The sudden blast of fatigue, though, reminded him that it was way past his usual bedtime. “Ah, before we begin, Your Majesty, perhaps we could get some dessert and maybe a coffee?”

*	*	*

Lunch concluded a little bit later than usual. Daniel had managed to give the princess a very brief overview of European and American history from the Roman Empire to current times. He had glossed over the rest of the world, as most people from the Western Hemisphere did. It wasn't very fair, but it did explain modern technology and culture. There was still much more to discuss and Luna seemed very disturbed by the wars he had mentioned, but there were other matters to attend to. Luna had policy decisions to review and she informed Daniel that he, as Lux, would be free to peruse the library until dinner. Lux thanked her very graciously and let the night guard escort him to the library. 
It was quite large, as one would expect of the royal library. He didn't know exactly how it compared to the one back home, but he knew Kathryn would be very jealous of this one. He browsed about, picking a few general books here and there. Titles such as The Three Tribes, A Foal's Guide to Equestrian History, Geography for Eggheads, and Mythical Beastes: ye olde Reference Guyde piled on a table by the fireplace. At least the place was bright and Daniel finally felt comfortable. He could recharge a bit away from the strange darkness of the night. He hadn't been outside yet, but even walking through the open air corridors it felt like he was walking through a fog. Obviously he could see alright, but it still slowed him down a bit. Here, though, the night was banished to a few thin wisps coming in from the window, and the fire did wonders to keep him warm. 
As he sat, taking a sip of the ever-present tea that always accompanies late-night readers in libraries, he considered pulling out one of his auxiliary gems to charge. Savannah had brought several small storage gems with them so they would have a reserve of power and access to other elements if needed. The gems were hard to recharge, though, so they were generally used for emergencies only. Obviously once emptied they could be filled by one's own element or generic magic, but that almost defeated the purpose. There were other ways to recharge the gems with elemental magic, placing a gem in a hot fire would give it some Fire magic, for example, but it was never as efficient as just getting them refilled. They had used some of them in their travels already and Daniel thought he might be able to get some Fire magic from the fireplace here, but the princesses had already taken their main gems and probably didn't know about these. He needed to keep them a secret for now in case there really was an emergency of some sort, so he put them out his mind and began reading.
The planet was round, though a lot smaller than Earth. It actually looked much closer in size to Mars if he had to guess. Equestria was the larger continent and there was smaller one like Australia on the other side. The country of Equestria took up a large portion of the continent and was situated toward the center. The only ports were on the rivers, which did lead to the ocean, but it meant that most trade was probably by land or air. North of Equestria was marked as dragon territory while griffons had a small holding to the southwest. Aside from that it didn't seem like there were many other nations around and there was no record of circumnavigation that he could find, making him doubt the accuracy of the maps. 
Where the geography was simple enough, the history was a much more convoluted manner. The proper history accounts only began less than a thousand years prior. They discussed relatively boring things and throughout all of it Princess Celestia had reigned. Apparently Princess Luna was fairly new, only appearing a year or so ago and there was no mention of where she had come from. The only things Daniel could learn about earlier history came from various legends and tales thrown in here and there. One explained how the three tribes of ponies came out of the northern lands in response to a terrible winter. The tale wrapped up by revealing that the winter was caused by legendary creatures which fed off of distrust and feat and were defeated by the tribes becoming friends. It was clearly a foal's tale, but it appeared often enough in the history books that Daniel figured some truth had to be there. 
Another common myth told of how the princesses came to Equestria bringing the Elements of Harmony and defeating a creature known as Discord. A third legend spoke of an evil pony banished to the moon for a thousand years known as Nightmare Moon. Strangely that tale was dated well enough for Daniel to figured that it came from about a thousand years earlier. Still, it seemed that nopony had ever properly chronicled ancient history and they hadn't figured out much archeology yet (the only real references being to a series of adventure novels).
With history a dud, that just left basic information about the abilities of and differences between the unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. Getting basic information was easy enough, it was in the foal's section of course, but from there it went straight into the technical details. It seemed there was no hitchhiker's guide to Equestria. Nonetheless he learned that most weather was managed and manipulated by the pegasi and that the earth ponies handled the majority of the farming. The unicorns helped out where they could, but it seemed they were responsible for the arts, sciences, magic, and culture rather than anything else. It made sense: those who didn't have to work for a living had time to expand their minds and learning. It also meant that the majority of the nobility were unicorns.
Daniel yawned as he set down The Three Tribes, suddenly realizing just how much time had passed. It had been a few hours and he was beginning to grow hungry again. He still hadn't read over the various flora and fauna or become acquainted with their magic, but he knew enough of their culture to gain a footing. From the pictures it looked like Equestria was mostly influenced by European culture. They had fine arts and music (some type of classical it seemed). The only thing out of place was Canterlot Castle, which looked as if it had been inspired by Byzantine architecture but built by a whimsical 8-year old who didn't know anything about castles other than walls and towers. It was also obvious that Equestria relied mostly on magic and had made little technological progress. Daniel guessed that made the place pre-Renaissance, but it wasn't like he had a reference guide of European history to check. He made a note to check with Savannah later, assuming he even got a chance to see her. He wasn't sure the princesses would be too keen on that.
At any rate, he stood and stretched out with a yawn. He was glad of the library time, since the exhaustion of staying up all night was finally catching up to him and he was at that strange intersection of being tired and hungry. Hopefully dinner was soon, else he was going to start becoming irritable, as would anyone else. Belatedly he wondered what would've happened had he tried to take a nap, but he reluctantly pushed the idea away. Even if he had been allowed to sleep, it would've made sleeping through the day that much harder and tomorrow night wouldn't really be any better. At least it was still warm in the library. The air from the windows far above looked pretty chilly and the night looked thicker than earlier. 
He sighed and began stretching out, warming up his muscles and getting some energy flowing again. The tea was still around, but it wouldn't help at this point. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door and Princess Luna entered. “Have thine studies been fruitful?”
“Except for history, quite,” he countered, wondering if he'd get anything from her on that subject. 
“Excellent. It is nearly time for dinner, Lux. Perhaps thou can tell us what thou hast learned about the magic of friendship?”
“Huh? Magic of friendship?”
Luna laughed. “Nevermind, it is my sister's little thing.” She led the way back toward the dining hall, the night guard in tow. “She has a student who is studying the magic of friendship. My sister is always looking forward to her reports so as to keep an eye on Twilight's adventures.”
“Well, I cannot speak for friendship, but Rincewind's treatise on unicorn magic was quite interesting. Obviously it's an older work,” he said quickly before she could tease him, “but sometimes it's necessary to go back and review the fundamentals before one can solve a problem: in this case, a method of trapping and empowering light into a tight beam.”
Luna nodded, playing along. “And how did Equestrian history fit in with that, dear Lux?” 
“Ponies have known about the refraction and reflection of light through lenses and mirrors for a long time.” He had seen enough pictures of ponies with glasses to guess at that. “I was wondering when lenses first took off. The history was meant to provide me with a range of dates to search. Whoever the pony was the first made lenses ought to have some interesting texts on focusing light.”
Again Luna nodded and the guards took no notice. It was common for unicorns to babble about their research. Daniel went on about a few technical details, seeing as he was very familiar with light of all sorts and how lasers worked. Finally they arrived at dinner and Luna was quite relieved when the babbling stopped. She dismissed the guards and they ordered dinner, Daniel asking for pasta this time around. There was some more small talk until they were alone again. “Princess, the night is nearly over,” he said.
“Indeed. It is a rather late dinner tonight. In an hour or two we will lower the moon to make way for our sister.”
“Will I be allowed to speak with Savannah?”
Luna said nothing at the direct question, sipping on her tea. “It is a most interesting time, twilight. It comes twice a day, once at dawn and once at dusk.”
“Will I be allowed to speak with Savannah?”
“It is the only time of day that Celestia and I are both normally awake,” Luna continued, ignoring the question.”Obviously, we will awaken Savannah early so that she can see the sunrise and stay in the care of my sister for the day. Thou will not quite be abed yet, though, sunrise is a very nice sight.”
“But will I be allowed to speak with Savannah?”
“You know,” she paused and stared into his eyes, night into day as it were, “many ponies have wondered what would happen if we didn't fulfill our royal duties. The topic of eternal night has come up before, and the idea of eternal day has been thought about a few times as well. Many of the brightest minds have put out theories as to what would happen, predictions based on extending the constant increase or decrease in temperature.”
Daniel said nothing, looking at her gaze stoically.
“The big mystery then, is what would happen if we left it right in the middle like that, leaving the world to twilight as it were. The sun and moon would be below the horizon, the sky at that perfect stage in between night and day. Both of our powers equal and neither one really present. What would happen?”
Daniel was silent and ate a pear as he waited. He knew this tactic; she wouldn't answer until she had made whatever point she wanted to make. And when she got there, it would certainly be a doozy. Sharon did this all the time back home.
“The trick of course, is that we are so perfect that there is only the briefest of moments between lowering the moon and raising the sun. No pony knows what its like exactly, except us.”
Stoic silence.
“You aren't curious? It is, after all, the boundary between light and dark.”
“Will we be all-” he began, but Luna held up a hoof to silence him.
“Thou will learn when the time arrives. Until then, eat. Thou art tired and thou needs thy strength for tomorrow night.” Daniel narrowed his eyes at her in frustration, but she had a point: he was tired and it was making him crabby. The food arrived at that point and the two spent their dinner in silence. The food was as good as before, though Daniel missed the taste of meat in the sauce. Still, he felt better as he ate, feeling more able to push the frustration aside a little. The downside to eating was that he felt much more tired than before. He was glad this night would be over. There seemed to be a good chance that he would be allowed to speak with Savannah for a time, especially if the princesses really were as busy as it sounded. If nothing else they should still have mind-speech, but he wasn't completely sure. The real problem with that was that it was right where the princesses wanted them. So far there was still no way out, which meant more waiting.

*	*	*

Dawn. 
Canterlot castle had the best view of it in all of Equestria. Sure Manehattan had their big fancy statue, and Las Pegasus and Cloudsdale had aerial views, but Canterlot castle had a grandeur that couldn't be denied or copied. Along with Princess Luna, Daniel now stood on a great stone plinth. It jutted out from the castle over the valley below. There were all sorts of stories about this place, how it was ancient and powerful. Most importantly, it overlooked all of Equestria. From here a pony could see to the farthest mountains of the land and even a little beyond, if their eyes were good. From here a pony could watch the sun rise and the moon fall and maybe catch a glimpse of the in-between time, if they were keen enough.
On this ancient plinth, inscribed with a magic circle and many old runes, stood the alicorn princesses: one of day and one of night. Normally there was no need for the ritual, but today was different because today they had guests. The humans, no illusions now (for no illusion could last on the sacred outcropping of oldest stone) stood by the princesses in stark contrast, black with white and white with black. To one side was the moon, already half-way below the horizon. On the other side the light of the sun could be seen, making the sky turn from blue to pink. The princesses' horns began to glow and the final approach began.
“THIS IS THE HOUR OF TWILIGHT.” The daytime ruler spoke in an old, powerful voice that pierced their way through rock and flesh. “In this hour, you may see each other.” 
“THIS IS THE HOUR OF DAWN.” Now the princess of the night spoke, her tones more dulcet and yet flowed through the world as if it were mist. “When the sun is risen, we will part.”
The humans nodded and ran toward each other, meeting in the central circle. They embraced tightly. “You're so tired,” she said. 
He nodded and said, “Yeah, I'm just glad to see you safe.”
“Celestia told me about the arrangements. I guess this is the only time we can see each other.”
“Yeah,” he smiled and brushed a hair from her face. “Sorry, but I'm not staying up.”
“I know. You need to rest. You have a long night ahead of you.”
“And you have a long day. A bright day.”
“It'll be ok. I'm awake most days anyway.” She stuck her tongue out.
“Maybe, but it's different here. The Day and Night are the same as the Light and Darkness. It drains you, that's why the princesses take turns.”
“Ok, so it'll be a bad day. We've had worse.”
“I hope that's all it is.”
Savannah smiled and leaned up to kiss him softly. “I'll be fine. Promise you'll get some sleep?”
He smiled. “I promise.”
“Good.” She wrapped an arm around his waist and they turned to look at the world. On either side the princesses stood as if carved from the stone they stood on. The only signs of life were their horns and their eyes, both of which glowed with power. Power which was much stronger than before. It shone like a beacon across the planet, warning any foes watching what might come. “Our hosts are certainly impressive, if a bit dramatic.”
Daniel nodded. Already a few more minutes had gone and they watched the moon sink. It was a quarter of the way down now. “Then we shouldn't prolong things.”
“What do I need to know?”
“Well, for starters you might want to brush up on your history. I don't know what Luna is telling her sister, but Celestia will probably ask you about it. Come on, we've got a little while, let's have a seat.” He pulled her down and they sat on the sacred stone, feeling it humming with power. They sat across from each other, hands intertwined and heads bowed against the other. No time, or need for words, they began speaking mind-speech. It was faster and more intimate. Daniel told her everything he learned about the court, the geography, history, and culture. He showed her what he knew about the taste of the night and the magic that pervaded the air. He told her where he had left off, what he hadn't learned, and who he was insofar as the court was concerned. 
As the moon set and the light on the horizon grew, the wind above the plinth grew stronger as well. It whipped and whirled around the princesses, sending even their royal hair askew. In the center sat two humans, right in the middle of things and hardly even noticing. Below, the sigil on the stone began to glow and the princesses' eyes widened in surprise. The stone had never done this, but now it was glowing in yellow and blue, little whisps and auroras sparking up from the sigil. 
The humans never once broke their contact, but just as the moon set, and just before the sun rose, they stopped and the sky was gray. The wind was gone and time slowed. For one brief instant the world stopped.
A chime.
The wind howled and the sun rose. The glowing on the stone began to fade, yellow winning the battle over blue. For one instant there had been twilight and then it was gone. The golden light of the sun spilled over the land and the night faded in the west. The humans sat through it all, unmoved and silent, there was much to share. The princesses watched the humans as the sun rose. Finally, they lifted their heads and embraced again.
“I will see you tonight,” she said, giving him a soft kiss. “Rest well.”
“Be safe. We still have a trip to finish.” They smiled and the sun reached the half-way mark above the horizon.
“THE DAY HAS COME.” Luna's voice rang out as a soft bell across the land, washing away their sleep.
“THE HOUR IS ENDED.” Celestia's voice set the hearts of every pony afire, readying them for the day.
The humans returned to their respective guardians and Luna and Daniel left first, ready for a long day's sleep. Celestia and Savannah followed, walking toward breakfast eagerly. The stone remained as it had always been, quiet and powerful as the sun shone down a new day. All across Equestria, ponies felt something new, something that they hadn't felt in a long time. They were ready to go, even the most reluctant teens were up and willing to face the day, or at least tolerate it. Some ponies felt excited; a few felt nervous, but every pony was on fire to get a heard start that day.