The Minuet

by Noble Phantasm

Little Foal Blue

Chapter 9: Little Foal Blue

Time and Space Await…

-Remember all of the lights? Never have the stars of night looked so dim nor have they failed to dazzle me so as in the face of these. I loved all of those lights…and they loved me back.

In hindsight, it had been a terrible idea to accept Sombra’s challenge for even a mock-duel. Colgate had accepted a real one and even though through her reeling headache Ruya assured her Sombra had used some of his more flashy, less potent spells, she knew he had gone easy on her. Her own effort didn’t help. She was fairly certain her over zealous desire to put up even half a fight against a mage like Sombra played at least a little part getting her into the half conscious stupor she stumbled out of the arena in. Her vision whirled into triples when Sombra finally called it quits. Maybe it was good for her, for Sombra to push her limits, letting her try whatever occurred to her crazy mind that was desperate for some kind of concrete foothold on her magic. Projection might not have been the best place to start. At one point, Colgate had covered Sombra in so much floss that it swallowed him in a blanket of white along with half the arena. It was one of her more desperate moves and Sombra had evaporated all of it with a spell that fizzled it away like soda bubbles. He hadn’t burned it; that was what she had thought at first. Rather, it seemed like he had used some kind of spell that had reversed her own. She had felt her own power shoot back at her; Sombra manipulating the lingering energy with an accurate precision.

Other than that, all of his spells had only been a blur of red lights and flying rubble. What a flop. Ruya did her best to play nurse placing a wet cloth on Colgate’s head as she lay on her back on a sofa that was in a room adjacent from what Colgate was fairly sure had been Sombra’s study. It didn’t matter. She faded in and out for a while, vaguely remembering Ruya asking if she wanted any soup. Whether or not she said yes, she had no idea. She was so drained that she slept hard enough that something could have exploded in the room and she would have only been mildly stirred.

When she woke up, the room was silent. She sat up, horrible cricks in some of her joints. Maybe she had slept wrong. She stretched out on the couch her neck cracking as she tilted it to each side. The popping must have sounded awful, but to her it was a welcome feeling relieving her bones of the stress. A cloth fell from her forehead as she rolled off of the sofa. She caught it with a hoof before it met the stone floor, eyeing it. It was dry she realized, a brown rag crusted into a U shape from air drying on her head. How long had she been asleep? She set the rag down on a short little table that was in front of her. The room was small, a quaint one, small chimney with a fireplace on the wall opposite her, its coals a mere smolder an empty kettle hanging over them. There was a wooden door to the right of the sofa, just behind her, closed. There was a single window in the room a foggy arch of glass built into the stone work and supported with wooden bars crossing through its surface. It was small, but enough to see out of and at eye level. Colgate walked over to it to take a look outside.

It was always difficult to tell when she slept, just how long she had slept for and looking outside never really helped. Discord didn’t care about a concept like time, he just switched things from day to night or both as he felt like it. The gleaming pinkish light outside didn’t really tell her anything. She turned around, perhaps to go look for someone, only to be met with a sight she didn’t want to see. Was it bad that it didn’t shock her like it should have? That she was used to it? Discord was now lounging on the couch that she had been sleeping on picking at his teeth, a habit Colgate was glad ponies couldn’t develop. She glared at him wordlessly, still holding a slight grudge for when he had made her look stupid in front of everypony. But now, Colgate realized, she was alone. There was no one that was going to judge her for talking to something that apparently either wasn’t there or that only she could see.

“You…” Colgate half whispered still slightly self-conscious. “Why do you keep showing up?” Discord flicked something away with a disinterested look.

“Why must you always be so sour?” He asked. Colgate took a step towards him.

“Tell me,” She demanded. “Why is it that the others can’t see you? Why am I the only one?” Discord rose into the air with a sly look, his face brightening with satisfaction.

“Where’s the fun in telling you? Wouldn’t it be more fulfilling if you figured it out on your own?”

“No.”

“Oh. Well, I’m sorry you feel that way. But you’re a smart pony right? You can work it out.” Colgate grumbled at which Discord threw up his hands and lowered himself as if he were suddenly threatened. “Oh my. Perhaps I should go. I wouldn’t want you to hurt me.” Colgate scowled. On a mere whim, she dashed forward at him and hopping up onto the table in the room attempted to shove him with her hoof. It went straight into him like he were only half there, only a ghost through which anything physical phased through. Discord looked down at her hoof passing through his body in surprise.

“Oh dear,” He hunched over in an over dramatic manner. “It appears you’ve gotten me. Impossible! I was…going to rule…forever.” He flopped to the foot of the table like a dead snake faking his death by letting his tongue hang to the floor. Colgate lowered her hoof and frowned, knowing he was only making fun of her. But she had done this to test something. If she had simply gone straight through him, how could she even be sure he was actually there? It would explain why the others couldn’t see him. Discord abruptly vanished and reappeared behind her with a pop like a firework specifically designed to be loud. Colgate jumped. One of her hooves missing the edge of the table caused her to lose her balance and she tumbled off of it, getting stuck between it and the couch in an awkward U shape as she hit her head against it.

“Ahahahaha!” Colgate winced as Discord let out a bout of laughter apparently proud of what he had done. “You took that well.” Colgate wriggled her way back to a standing position rubbing the back of her head after she had regained her balance.

“Why are you here?” She reiterated angrily.

“You sure are difficult to make friends with,” Discord smirked.

“Only when it’s you.” Why was Discord talking about being friends in the first place anyway, Colgate thought? Shouldn’t he be bragging about wreaking havoc, or was that Screwball’s job?

“Oh and here I was hoping I could get a little inside help.” Colgate narrowed her eyes at him. Why would he even ask?

“Not a chance,” She said.

“Well,” He shrugged. “Perhaps I should ask your other friends.” Maybe he didn’t know everything. Colgate doubted he could even get to Luna or Celestia. Even if he could get here, he could never get to where everypony other than the alicorns had been unable to enter and unlike her, Sombra would know what to do if Discord got anywhere near him.

“They’d never listen to you,” Colgate told him.

“Who was that one?” He ignored her. “That crystal pony. Maybe she would be a little friendlier than you.”

“You leave her alone,” Colgate nearly hissed.

“Oo!” Discord clapped. “I found a button.”

“Shut up!” A light flashed from Colgate’s horn, a bolt of blue zipping across the room aimed for Discord. The only thing it found was the rock of the wall behind him. After the flash Discord was gone and Colgate was left alone again. She glanced around, still on edge, but Discord didn’t come back, even as she held her ground for several minutes. She turned her head to the door. She couldn’t wait here forever, not after what Discord had said.

“Sombra!” She called. He was the only other one here that she knew would know what to do. She pushed open the door and was met with the sight of Sombra’s study. She recalled vaguely being led past it and it turned out her blurry memory had actually been right. “Sombra!” She didn’t know why she yelled again, he clearly wasn’t in the room. Perhaps it was only her apprehension. She walked around a bit hopping maybe there was a spot in the room she couldn’t see that he would just pop out of. There wasn’t and Colgate found herself awkwardly standing next to Sombra’s desk wondering where to go next. If he wasn’t in his study, where would he be? Colgate looked at the papers strewn about one front and center catching her eye. It wasn’t as dusty as the others and the writing at the bottom looked like it had been made recently. The once empty inkwell was filled and a quill sat next to it. Wherever Sombra was, he had certainly been here at one point.

Colgate eyed the wording at the top of the page in front of her. The text was elegant, certainly better than anything she could have done. A sort of headline read: End notes on the noble phantasm of Discord. Colgate recognized the term. Sombra had explained it to her briefly before. These were notes on Discord’s magic, Colgate realized, at least some of them…the end ones. She shook her head, but was unable to pry her eyes from the page out of curiosity. The next line read: The Grand Kaleidoscope. Was that its name? That was elaborate. She read on.

This particular magic is different than anything we’ve seen before and there‘s nothing to really compare it to. It’s method seems to be distortion. At it’s core, Discord’s noble phantasm is a magic that manipulates reality, modifying, eliminating, and replacing common and physical laws with its own indistinct properties. Essentially it scrambles everything. I have yet to develop any kind of counter spell. Nothing in the crystal empire seems to hold any merit, seeing as the crystal heart is ineffective against it. There is obviously something here in the Everfree that is acting as a deterrent against it, but the aura of magic here is so intrinsically complex that any of my attempt to emulate it have proved useless. I have pinpointed its source within Canterlot, and after digging to a cavern that is the source, no one was able to enter it. I pray that if Luna and Celestia do not return, I can find a solution to this. Ponies are losing hope.

This was an old note. Luna and Celestia were back, and were going to find whatever the note was talking about. But who had written this? It was written to somepony, seemingly Sombra seeing as he had it, but who sent it? There wasn’t a name and the new ink past the space on the paper was only two words, one of which Colgate could barely read. Not because it was bad handwriting, but the word itself was one she had never seen before.

Antikythera Mechanism.

Colgate squinted at the page, trying to sound out the word probably looking like an idiot as she did so. Suddenly she head a door open and jumped away from the page, tripping over her own hooves as she did so. She flopped to floor as someone entered, closing the door behind themselves as she scrambled to her feet.

“Minuette?” It was Sombra. “What are you doing?”

“I uh-” She glanced around. “Nothing.”

“I see you’re awake. You slept for quite a while.”

“How long exactly?” Colgate shifted nervously. She had gotten so wrapped up in the note that she had forgotten what she had meant to do.

“I’ve been in and out of here, but you’ve been out for almost half the day.” That wasn’t what she wanted to hear; it was far too much wasted time.

“Have Luna and Celestia come back?” Sombra’s looked a bit worried for a moment.

“Oddly enough, no. I don’t know what’s down there, but I’m sure they’ll be back soon… I hope.” He tagged the last part on after a pause. She couldn’t worry about this though, she thought. There was nothing she could do for Luna or Celestia that they couldn’t do themselves.

“Where’s Ruya?” Colgate finally asked.

“She was waiting near the entrance to the cave,” Sombra replied. “She was sad that you didn’t eat her soup.”

“I barely remember that,” Colgate put a hoof to her head the memory a bit hazy.

“I didn’t expect you to exert yourself as much as you did. It was a good effort, but you shouldn’t do things like that. That’s why I had you stop. You would have gone until you blacked out.”

“Sorry.”

“I know you rested for quite some time, but I won’t subject you to anything just yet. You should go outside and get some air.”

“Right,” It was all Colgate needed. If Sombra had tried to wrap her up in another lesson, she didn’t know what she would have done. She had to find Ruya and so Colgate took Sombra’s suggestion without resistance.

“I’ll be around if you need anything,” He said as she opened the door. She nodded and stepped outside, closing the door as she went. Now, she thought, where was-

“Hi!”

“Agh!” Colgate jumped, nearly tripping again. She had no idea why she was so jumpy, but Ruya really had popped out of nowhere. She had apparently been waiting right outside the door and had sprung a greeting on Colgate as soon as the door had shut behind her. Ruya giggled at her surprise as Colgate breathed a sigh of relief after seeing it was only her.

“It’s only me dentist pony,” Ruya said.

“I,” Colgate breathed. “I see that.”

“You were out for a long time sleepy nose,” Ruya puffed her cheeks.

“Yeah…”

“And you didn’t even eat any of the stuff I made…” Ruya looked away with an upset face.

“Uh,” Colgate panicked. “No it’s not- I was-”

She grinned looking back up at her. “Apple?” Ruya held up a ripe red fruit with a hoof. How could she say no? It was the least she could do after not eating what the filly seemed to have made almost only for her.

“Thanks,” Colgate said as she took the apple, taking a bite out of it.

“It’s okay. It was almost like you were drunk.” Ruya laughed.

“What?” Colgate managed through a mouthful of fruit.

“Oo!” Ruya’s eyes lit up. “There’s something else too! This way.” Suddenly Ruya skipped off down the stone street and Colgate was left to try to follow her.

“Hey wait!” She called after her as she did her best to scarf down the apple so she could run better. She didn’t want to lose sight of Ruya now that she had found her. What Discord had said made her uncomfortable and she knew that for whatever reason she could see him. If he tried anything with Ruya, she had to make sure she was there for it. Sombra would probably be better for this, Colgate thought, but there was no guarantee he would believe her if she told him. They hadn’t believed her the last time, so it was up to her to keep Discord away from Ruya as long as Celestia and Luna were gone. She hoped it wasn’t long. There was no way she could consistently match the sporadic energy of a child, especially one like Ruya nor the power of someone like Discord.

The little filly seemed determined to drag her all over Canterlot in a running tour of every single street and stone archway that could be traversed. She wasn’t being led in a circle, that much she could tell, but it took a bit of chasing for Ruya to finally come to a halt with Colgate panting as she caught up wondering why Ruya had to bring her here. It was a rather lonely section of the castle and it didn’t look like it had seen much use in awhile. It must have been in the opposite side from Sombra’s study as another corner in the walls surrounding the place stood a single lonely tower, tall and resolute among the bleakness around it. It was untouched by plant life unlike many of the other structures and it showed no signs of any weakness compared to the stone arches that had led to it, some of which had fallen into piles of rubble. Many of the stones were piled to the side against a wall forming a large mound of jagged rocks that led halfway up it.

“Do you know what this is?” Ruya asked, seemingly to test Colgate’s knowledge.

“How would I?” She replied. It was true that she was from the future, but this place was entirely foreign to her. She had never seen it in her time, but of course she didn’t have many reasons to go walking around in the Everfree either.

“This is the tower,” Ruya said. “This is where Luna and Celestia grew up. Where the sun and moon were born.” This last part took Colgate a little off guard, but the strangeness of Ruya knowing things she wasn’t supposed to was starting to wear off. For a moment though, Colgate wondered just what their childhood had been like. Who were their parents, what did they do for fun, how did they become alicorns or were they always that way? The Celestia and Luna she had met in this time, still seemed a little bit like kids, yet the state of this place suggested it was much older than even they were.

“Hey,” Ruya interrupted her. “Over here.” Ruya hopped her way behind the side of one of the stone archways and stuck her head out on the other side. Colgate walked over to her, finding herself sucked into a strange game of peekaboo as every time Colgate tried to look to Ruya’s side of the structure she would move to the other. When their faces finally met as Colgate managed to flip flop sides Ruya gave her a smile while she frowned.

“What do you wanna play?” She asked. Colgate raised an eyebrow, confused. Play? She brought her all the way over here to play?

“Um…” Colgate thought for a moment. “ What are my-” Before she could finish Ruya trotted up to her and gave her a light shove and then proceeded to scamper away from her.

“Tag!” She exclaimed. “You’re it.” Colgate realized what was happening and part of her didn’t want to do it. It seemed tedious, but maybe she was just being picky. Ruya was genuinely trying to have fun with her, maybe it was best to just play along. Perhaps she would have fun too.

“Oh… I dunno,” Colgate hesitated, rolling her eyes and suppressing a smile. Ruya lowered her ears.

“But…” She walked back up to Colgate with a sad face. “Why not?” As she stopped in front of her Colgate quickly tapped her side with her hoof.

“Got you,” Colgate boasted with a smirk. Ruya looked baffled for a moment and as she realized what Colgate had done, her face turned red and she stomped in place indignantly.

“Hey! No fair you trickster!” She complained. “Myeh!” Ruya tilted back onto two hooves with a grunt that was closer to a squeak and kicked playfully at Colgate, brushing her side. She proceeded to dash away again, this time turning and sticking out her tongue. “Now I’ll have to make it extra hard for you to catch me.”

“Try me,” Colgate said challengingly with a grin lowering herself like a lion about to pounce on its prey.

“Ack!” The filly dashed behind another pillar as Colgate leapt into a gallop after her. She was surprisingly agile Colgate found despite her size or perhaps as a result of it. All of the ruins around them didn’t really help her either and Ruya stopped to giggle every time Colgate almost tripped or did trip on a rock and fall on her face. She kept chasing her though around in circles even though she was sure she would never catch her. Ruya seemed to enjoy it though, trying to trick her at every corner, succeeding a couple times, randomly running right past Colgate as she switched directions behind a wall. Eventually she found her way around to the large pile of spare stones by the outside wall and using her small state to her advantage, hopped up them like stepping stones until she stood at the top, triumphantly looking down at Colgate with the sun reflecting off her crystal pelt. Colgate put a hoof to the foot of the pile, tentatively trying to get a good balance on it before she committed to working her way up it. To her, it seem terribly unstable yet Ruya had climbed it like it was all sealed and built firmly together like the rest of the castle. It made her nervous. Colgate knew well enough that kids could sometimes be completely oblivious to danger when they played.

“Er…I don’t know about this Ruya,” She called up to her. “Maybe you should come down. I don’t like the look of this.”

“Nonsense,” Ruya stuck her tongue out again to taunt her. “Ruya is fine, we won’t fall for that again. Besides the game has changed now.”

“Changed?”

“Yes,” Ruya nodded proudly as she prepared to reveal her idea. “Now I’m the dreaded pony Screwface and I’m here to take over Canterlot with my evilness! Who will stop me?” Colgate couldn’t help but laugh at this. She sounded like she was talking about some kind of pirate and her childish language made it seem ridiculous.

“I will!” Colgate shouted back up to her.

“Aha, its that little blue foal! You can’t stop me like you did before!”

“I don’t have to! You’ll never have Canterlot!”

“You think this will be easy!?” Ruya shook a hoof in the air as villainously as a crystal pony filly probably could. She proceeded to kick a few pebbles from the top of the mound down at Colgate. She hopped out of the way looking back up at Ruya with her best heroic face.

“You’ll have to do better than that!” Colgate said. She set her hooves to the pile of rocks and felt them abruptly shift as she did so. Just her luck. The pile loosed and Ruya looked to her hooves as it lowered a few inches.

“Uh-oh…” She took a step. Colgate swiftly slid out of the way as the whole pile surged forward in a rockslide carrying Ruya with across the barren street. Colgate’s expression turned to a horrified one as she watched it swallow her up as it collapsed to a flatter state across the ground stirring up columns of dust and loose dirt. She closed her eyes as it blew past her sending her into a fit of coughing as they rest of the rocks quickly found a new place to settle.

It was quiet after that, the only remaining sound a few pebbles clinking in the aftermath and Colgate’s hacking from all of the dust. She opened her eyes to a cloud of it, fluffing back her mane to try to keep all of it out. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when she didn’t hear or see Ruya. She stepped up onto the rocks and there was no sign of her. Colgate knew this hadn’t been safe, why had she let her go through with it? She had only been trying to have fun though.

“Ruya!” Colgate called. She looked around in the rocks frantically, throwing some from the pile to try to dig the filly out, but she was nowhere to be found. What if she was buried under all of them? What would she tell Sombra? Colgate turned in a circle, looking in all directions for the pony like a lost dog trying to find its owner. Suddenly she heard the rocks shift again and she was yanked backwards by her tail.

“Haha!” Came a shout. “I’m not done yet!”

“Gah!” Colgate nearly yelped as a rock did the courtesy of stabbing her in the flank as she was pulled back. She jumped and turned around and found Ruya covered in dust only visible against her black mane but indistinguishable on her gray fur. Recovering from her pain, Colgate pretended to karate chop Ruya’s forehead.

“Hiya!” She exclaimed.

“Nooo!” Ruya pretended to faint. “Beaten by the blue pony again!” She collapsed in a giggle against the rocks, which made Colgate cringe a little but Ruya didn’t seem to express any pain. Colgate laughed along with her, perhaps a bit out of nervousness from what had just happened.

“Sheesh,” She let out a sigh. “You scared me half to death there kid.”

“I scared me half to death,” She smiled excitedly. “All the rocks just started moving and they tried to eat me, but I didn’t let em!”

“You’re one little trooper,” Colgate returned her smile, brushing the filly’s mane mostly to get the dust out even as Ruya seemed especially tickled by the gesture.

“Hehe,” she pushed her head into it like a cat. She gave a “Oo!” a sound Colgate learned to fear in a way as it meant the mare was getting another crazy idea. “Let’s play again!”

“How about without the rocks,” Colgate suggested.

“Of course silly,” Ruya laughed at her. “You can’t make them fall twice. It would take forever to put them all back.” Colgate frowned inwardly, but kept a bright face. It wasn’t that it would take forever, but that it was dangerous. Yet, whatever Ruya’s motivations were for not falling into an avalanche again were okay with her.

“This time you be the villain,” Ruya proposed. “You should pick a cool name. Oo! You know like Frostmane. You know cause your mane looks like minty paste.” That was actually kind of clever, Colgate admitted, but she shied away from the idea. How was she supposed to top Ruya’s performance? It wouldn’t be as good with her the second time around.

“I don’t know…” Colgate brushed her mane with a hoof looking away from Ruya.

“Yes,” Ruya said, happy with her idea. “Now stand there and give me your best bad guy act.” Ruya hopped off the rocks and stood a few feet away in anticipation of Colgate’s challenge in her new villain role. She couldn’t think of any one liners to start out though. She had managed the hero part because she was only reacting to Ruya’s absurdity. She couldn’t act that weird. It was…weird.

“Ohhhh,” Ruya gave a puppy eyed look. “C’mon. Not even a scary face?”

“I can’t be a bad guy…” Colgate replied. Her introversion wouldn’t let her do it. She just didn’t know how to act the part.

“Please?” It was nearly impossible to say no to the look Ruya was giving her, but even more impossible for her to think of anything on the spot. She had been doing so well before and now her mind was at a loss for an idea.

“I…” Colgate paused. “I don’t…mmmm…” She tried her hardest but nothing came to mind.

“Oh alright,” Ruya huffed. “But how can you be a good hero if you don’t know how to be a villain?”

“Uhhh…” Colgate was at a loss for an answer. Sometimes, she thought, she swore Ruya didn’t realize what she was saying. There was a certain amount of depth to what the filly had just said, but it was far too much for someone like her to delve into. Maybe if Sombra had heard it, he might offer his critique on the sentence, but she had none. Of course you could still be a hero if you weren’t a villain, Colgate told herself. Maybe she was misunderstanding the phrase.

“That’s okay,” Ruya said. “Let’s go up there!” Ruya pointed to the tower that she had said Celestia and Luna had grown up in.

“Are…are you sure we should…” Colgate hesitated at the idea. To her the area seemed sacred in light of what it was, but Ruya didn’t seem to mind and Colgate’s curiosity got the better of her.

“Don’t worry,” Ruya beamed. “It’s got the best view ever.” Ruya wrapped her two front hooves around one of Colgate’s and tugged at her.

“Alright alright,” Colgate agreed.

“Yay,” Ruya trotted up to the door and eagerly waited for Colgate her tail almost wagging as Colgate caught up with her. She opened the door and let Colgate in first, skipping ahead of her once they were inside. The tower was one huge spiral staircase on the inside leading up farther than Colgate could tell from the bottom. There was too much gray to tell all the stone apart from all the stone. They proceeded upwards through a staircase perhaps only wide enough for two ponies of her size to fit side by side. The stairs periodically leveled off and came to doors that led into the center before they continued their upward ascent.

“What’s in these rooms?” Colgate asked as they seemed to skip by everyone they passed.

“They’re not important,” Ruya said. “We’re going to the top.” She should have known. Ruya had said something about a great view which would obviously mean the top floor. Still, Colgate was curious. Luna and Celestia had lived here and she could only wonder what the rooms guarded by the plain wooden doors had been for as she passed each one. Which room did they used to play in, eat in, take baths in? Thinking about it brought back memories of her own childhood. She remembered her own mother and Berry Punch’s making them take baths together before. She remembered Berry Punch had always hated it because she liked to put her head half under the water and blow bubbles only for Colgate to reward her with a splash in the face. But this was only another reminder that she wasn’t where she was supposed to be. In way, she felt like an intruder peeping in on someone’s memories; a spy only in it for the nostalgia, not because the place meant anything to her. What could she do though? Ruya was determined to take her to the very top of the place and Colgate didn’t want her to go by herself. Discord’s threat still loomed in the back of her mind.

The stairs finally came to an end, opening up into a large circular room as they reached the top of the tower. It was a lonely looking room, bare, nothing but a bed and a nightstand with a couple drawers. Somepony had called this home before, but it didn’t seem like it anymore. There was a singular and small window letting in what light it could and Ruya scampered over to it enthusiastically pointing with hoof at whatever she wanted Colgate to see.

“Lookie look it!” She smiled.

Colgate walked up to the window and peered out. She took a step back instinctly her breath nearly taken away. Even if this tower had been this dingy when Celestia and Luna had lived in it, the view made up for anything that the room lacked. It overlooked a huge expanse of the Everfree, gazing across a gorge with mists rising from its depths bouncing the pink light around through droplets of water. The trees arched over and across it leading off into the mountains in the hazy distance. They must have been so far away, Colgate thought. To think she might actually be seeing all the way to artic north from here, in a lonely tower in the Everfree. The crystal empire was out there somewhere too and maybe even the spot Ponyville was supposed to be. It was quiet, the wind a low soothing presence, Discord’s chaos irrelevant to this little window. Even as storms, blizzards, and any myriad of catastrophes involving anything from the checkerboard ground to the chocolate rain raged around it, this forest was still peaceful; a final beacon of order in a world broken by anarchy. The slight breeze brushed Colgate’s mane and she stood speechless. Even the scent of the air was different from up here. It was the aroma of grass just after a rainfall mixed with the smell of dusty stone, a scent oozing with so much of nature that it made it seem like the castle had only grown out of the forest on its own. It touched her tongue as she breathed the air in tasting brisk and plantlike like filtered spring water.

She realized why Ruya had wanted her to see this. It was so unbelievably unique that Colgate could have convinced herself she had once again gone back in time, back before Discord when nature was just nature. If Ruya hadn’t been there, she might have stared out the window for hours and still not have been able to take all of it in. A rummaging sound broke Colgate from her reverie and peeling her eyes from the view of practically all of Equestria in one window frame, found Ruya standing next to her, looking up with eyes glowing in the light, holding a glittering gold object in her mouth. It was a necklace, Colgate realized, a necklace just like the one’s Twilight’s friends had been wearing when they had fought Discord. The only difference was that it was missing the gem that had been in the middle of all of them. It was just a plain gold necklace. Ruya was holding it up, giving it a light shake as if presenting it to her. Colgate’s eyes switched from it to Ruya several times, uncertain.

“mmmtmmtmm,” Ruya managed through a mouthful of the jewelry.

“What?” Colgate glanced to the side, unsure of what Ruya wanted her to do.

“Mmmtmmtmm!” She repeated more forcefully, shaking the object at her.

“For…me?” Colgate hesitated.

“Mmhm!” Ruya nodded with vigor. Colgate slowly raised a hoof taking the object with a measure of caution that probably wasn’t necessary.

“Blech,” Ruya clicked her tongue a couple times after Colgate took the object out of her mouth. She found herself wondering what gold even tasted like, but decided it was better not to know at the moment. “I made it myself,” Ruya beamed.

“Really?” Colgate asked as she held the object. It was quite shiny even a little more where a bit of Ruya’s slobber had managed to linger. It seemed a bit gross, yet strangely affectionate seeing as she hadn’t meant to do it.

“Well,” Ruya crossed her hooves bashfully. “Celestia maybe might have helped…a little.” Colgate smiled at her. “Okay a lot,” she admitted. “Put it on! Put it on!” The filly trotted in place eagerly waiting for Colgate to enjoy her gift.

“I…” She was slightly reluctant to take it. She had no idea what she had done to deserve any gift.

“Oh! Right.” Without any prompting Ruya skipped around her and jumped up on her back, bringing her hooves around either side of Colgate’s neck and taking the necklace and strapping it around and attaching it with a click. “There.” She hopped down and walked back around in front of Colgate examining her handiwork with satisfaction. Colgate looked down at it, unsure what to think or really what to do.

“It looks pretty on you,” Ruya smiled. “It even matches.”

Well…” Colgate shifted. “Gold goes with everything…”

“So? Now we’re best pals!” Ruya skipped forward and gave Colgate an enveloping and snug embrace.

“I uh… er… heh…umm…” Colgate awkwardly returned the hug with half of one with one of her hooves. Ruya held her there for several moments, then stepping back with a kind of snarky expression on her face.

“You can do better than that.” Colgate only managed a nervous laugh with Ruya looking at her apparently having expected a better return hug. She was to her relief though, quickly spared the awkward the moment as the sky suddenly shifted shaded as the sun abruptly fell straight out of sight like Discord had gotten tired of it for the moment. Ruya’s gaze shifted to the window as the sky faded from its fuchsia to a glittered dark blue full of stars.

“Oh wow!” Ruya exclaimed as she propped herself up onto the base of the window with her two front hooves. Colgate looked out on the scene from behind the filly, the stars scattered like pebbles in no particular pattern and moving sometimes with little regard for continuity. It was like watching a chaotic meteor shower that fell in both directions none of the falling matter ever burning away despite it constantly appearing as though it were on fire cutting through the atmosphere.

“You know,” Ruya said staring up at the firework like display. “All of us, we’re a lot like stars…”

“What?” Colgate wasn’t surprised to hear her break the silence, but found her speaking in riddles again, a habit that seemed almost dangerous for her.

“Everypony glows so brightly at their best and as hard as all of us are to miss, nopony will ever see all there is or be able to finish counting. And you know…even after we’re gone, our light still shines for a long time, our memory preserved for future generations to learn from and love. Isn’t that something? Doesn’t it make you less afraid?”

“Ruya?” Colgate gave the mare an unsure expression as she continued looking on. It was one of her strange and unpredictable fits of reverie and Colgate had no idea what triggered them. Maybe it was her magic, maybe Discord’s, maybe something else. Ruya didn’t respond to her at first. Her gaze was stuck hypnotically on the lights spinning around above her, thei subtle changes reflecting off her silvery crystal pelt like a polygonal mirror.

“Ruya?” Colgate repeated tapping her on the side. Ruya turned to her and tilted her head as if she hadn’t said anything at all.

“Oh,” She said. “We should head back.” She brought her hooves down from the window and turned past Colgate and went to leave down a darkened stone stairway.

“Wait…” Colgate said after her. She meant to tell her to stop at first not wanting her to travel down the passage alone, but found herself asking something she hadn’t expected. As Ruya’s eyes met hers when she turned a sense of guilt seemed to sneak up on her.

“Are…” Colgate started. “Are you sure you want me to have this?” She tapped the jewelry at her neck.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Ruya asked.

“It’s just. I don’t feel like I deserve it. I never did anything for you.” Ruya smiled back at her from the shadows.

“That’s not how that works silly.”

“Then…why?”

“It means we’re friends. Pals right? That’s why. Besides, you’ve done plenty.”

“I-” Colgate stopped. “Don’t go down alone. I’ll try a light spell.” She let the conversation go.

“Good idea,” Ruya agreed. “Practice for you too. Always practice.” Colgate followed behind Ruya and they made their way down the tower in silence. It was like something had suddenly stilled the vibrant air that had been around them. Ruya had turned the mood with only a single sentence, somehow managing to be playful and somber at the same time. But it was good, Colgate supposed. She had done what she had meant to. Discord still hadn’t shown his face and she hoped it would stay that way. Interestingly enough, by the time they reached the bottom of the tower, Ruya was nodding her head, her eyes droopy with sleep. Much longer and Colgate thought the crystal pony would simply fall asleep standing up. Perhaps she had just run out energy. She was still, even despite how mysterious she could be, just a kid. It was a wonder she managed to find her way anywhere near Sombra’s study. Luckily, they met him halfway there as Ruya nearly tripped over her own hooves, shaking herself awake only for her head to sink back down.

“I’ve been looking for you,” Sombra greeted them.

“Uncle?” Ruya said half awake. Sombra gave a slight chuckle after seeing the state she was in, hardly able to stand straight without falling over.

“And where were you?”

“Me and dentist pony played games. She’s a funny pony. And I,” Ruya opened her mouth and let out a huge yawn hardly remembering where to come back in her sentence. “My present. I think she likes it.”

“I’m sure it was fine.” Sombra lifted Ruya toward him with his magic and moved to place her on his back. “You look like you’re about to-” Before he could even finish or put her down, she was already out. He placed her on his back with a chuckle. “Ha… that.”

“I guess she tired herself out,” Colgate said smiling softly at her.

“Don’t worry. It’s good for her.” Sombra paused, looking at Ruya and then switched back to Colgate. “It’s strange. Before she was talking about you like she had already known you before you got here for quite awhile. Like you were just old friends.” That was odd, but it was nothing Colgate was ever going to make sense of in Ruya.

“At any rate,” Sombra continued. “I do hope Luna and Celestia make it back soon. Ponies are already starting to talk about what might happen if they don’t. I don’t like such talk. All we can do is wait though I suppose. Perhaps in the meantime, you’d be up for another lesson? Something milder.”

“What’s mild?” Colgate asked, afraid of his perception of the term.

“I promise I won’t challenge you to a duel.”

“Good enough, I guess.” It was all she could really ask for. After that beating, anything less would seem mild, so he probably wasn’t lying.

“Let’s go to my study.” Colgate nodded and followed as Sombra turned, Ruya in tow. She slept soundly, even as they walked and the sun rocketed back into the sky like a apocalyptic meteor. It scared Colgate a bit, but mostly just hurt her eyes. She squinted and as her eyes adjusted, they caught the shimmer of the necklace Ruya had just given to her. An odd gesture, one Colgate didn’t get. It meant they were friends? Of course they were. Ruya didn’t have to give her a medal to tell her that. But what seemed to haunt her thoughts wasn’t that Ruya had given her the necklace, but that when Colgate had said that she didn’t deserve it, Ruya didn’t refute her. She hadn’t said that she knew so, but gave her the item in spite of that. She rather, gave it to her saying she had deserved it in some way and that she had done plenty. The door to Sombra’s study creaked open, the yellow glow of the magic lanterns lighting the room. Colgate walked in and watching Sombra walk into the room Colgate had slept in before wondered; just how she deserved this? What was it that she had done?