The master and the windigo

by stupidswampdragon

35 - Haunted

While technically a monarchy, Equestria was a surprisingly laid-back place. The Princess - and later, Princesses - never really interfered with their subjects' lives too much. A few laws were blocked, a few others sneaked through byzantine maze of bureaucracy... but Celestia made a point to keeping out of her kingdom's everyday life.

Going down that path was the wisest decision of her life. She was surrounded by advisors who, as a team, were more knowledgeable than her; she could usually just parrot their findings and be in the right. The lower tiers of the government, the governors and the mayors, were much more involved with the local topics than she ever could be. Even if she was an immortal with thousands' of years of experience, she was just a single mind, after all; she couldn't possibly be as smart as thousands of ponies combined.

It was a gradual shift, of course; one that had occurred without her noticing at first. It simply took more and more advisors to answer all the questions thrown at her, more and more bureaucracy to handle the fiddly issues of state management... and before long, she had found herself largely irrelevant. She could have placed anypony else in her stead on the throne, and Equestria would have kept on going all the same.

If only that were a real possibility.

She had often dreamed of doing just that. It would have been nice, being free of all the empty nonsense her life had become.

No more daily meetings where all her purpose was doing the opening and ending ceremonies, with the occasional nods thrown in-between.
No more visits from commoners, who only came so they could bask in the proximity of Sun Princesses... as if the fact granted them some importance.
No more nobles pestering her about pointless grievances - squabbles she didn't have the willingness nor the patience to partake in.

Oddly enough, the fact she hadn't done anything for the last few centuries had never stopped anypony from coming to her and rambling away anyway.

"I wonder if I have an advisor for cleaning up all those silly issues," Celestia hummed and rolled around. The tall grass felt nice. Unkempt and wild, the meadow may have lacked the elegance of the carefully trimmed fields of the Palace Garden - but as far as the Princess cared, being in the middle of nowhere was a huge advantage in itself.

"It would make sense for me to have hired a pony to deal with all the complaints flowing in," she pointed a hoof at the sky, blotting the obnoxious yellow spot out. She did not enjoy being blinded by the sunlight. "Though if that happened, then all those complaining ponies would be in the right to see me. Ugh..."

Sighing in utter dejection, Celestia dropped her legs back on the grass. Only her body had managed to escape from Canterlot this time, as it seemed. Her thoughts remained in that gold-laced, white marble cage of hers.

"A victim of my own success, am I not?" she groaned with her eyes closed. "Haaa, gloomy thoughts. This vacation is nothing short of a disaster. I even forgot to bring the letters with me! I really promised that I would catch up with my backlog when I had time-"

Lying limp in her bed of green grass, Celestia found something rather strange about that promise of hers. She couldn't for the love of her life recall just what kind of letters she had been thinking about. She was certain there were heaps of opened but barely-skimmed-through letters in her room, but she had absolutely no clue just what they were about. Which was funny, as there weren't many ponies she had such long-winded mail exchange with.

"The last time I got this many letters... was when I ordered my student to send them," Celestia held a hoof to her temple. The hoof smelled of freshly crushed grass, but the scent failed to cast her troubling thoughts away. Her student, the pony who had written her so many reports...

She flinched and hopped back onto her hooves, her care-free mood all but gone. Even after so many years, merely remembering Sunset Shimmer was like twisting a dagger in her heart.

Slowly pacing ahead and profusely shaking her head, Celestia tried her best to get that failure out of her mind. The feat didn't come easily. Nopony had ever placed the blame on her, but the story of Sunset had still weighed heavily on her. It was such a tragedy that it made her mend her ways, swearing off from keeping students. That's why she had been alone for the last two decades-

-only, who the heck wrote me all those letters then?

Stopping at a stream, Celestia leaned forward and stared down, watching her own frowning expression reflect in the clear water.

Haah-haa... I have really gone and done it this time. Seems like I have to abandon my vacation and go back to Canterlot now... or else this matter will bug me the whole time. Meh. Why can the Great Almighty Sun Princess of Everything That Is Holy just never catch a break?! Just once? Just for a little while? Is that really too much to ask for?

"MORNING!"

Juxtaposed to the quiet chirping of birds, the loud shout was like a cannon going off next to her ears. Celestia wasn't sure how the next few seconds played out; she simply found herself sitting in the stream, panting and glaring at her own sister.

"What." Luna blinked. She was taken aback by the reaction; she cocked her head to the side and repeated the same question again. "What?"

Though it wasn't Celestia's head that had been submerged in the stream, the cold water did wonders. She felt her anger rapidly evaporating, leaving only the cold ashes of calm resignation behind.

"So there was no vacation in the first place," she sighed.

"Really? This sure looks like one to us," Luna sat down and glanced around. "Unless you came to an uninhabited forest just to study the ecology of wild animals."

A groan rang out beneath the lush tree canopies. Celestia shook her head and rubbed the side of her head with a hoof. This move, in turn, made her mane all wet; her leg, along with the lower half of her body, was soaked from the cold stream.

"I mean, this is definitely not real." She stared at the dripping hoof. Even with all the years behind her, lucid dreams had remained desperately confusing.

"Well... it obviously is not." Luna raised her eyebrow. "How could we be here otherwise?"

Obviously, Celestia echoed that carelessly offensive word in her head. Well yeah, obviously. Duh. I should have been suspicious that I managed to get a proper vacation in the first place!

She stood back up and promptly shuddered. The air, so comfortably warm mere minutes ago, now felt chilly. It was strange though, thinking about her situation. She felt cold and wet, all while knowing that she was sleeping sound in her bed - warm, snug and... and dry, most importantly.

She couldn't do anything but smile wryly at such degree of self-delusion.

The mind is rather easily fooled, is it not?

"Anyway, it is morning now!" Luna pointed a hoof at the clear sky. "...or is going to be, once a certain pony remembers to bring the sun up. So wakey-wakey, sister."

---

A wild shove of her leg, and the white blanket flew off the bed, landing straight on the floor. Then some careful rubbing around the eyes, followed by a yawn as big as her jaws were capable of. All done in accordance of the thousands' year old checklist; and once all were complete, a grumbling, drowsy Celestia began to waddle off her bed.

It was ridiculous, but the mornings of the Sun Princess were hard. Those which began before ten o'clock, anyway.

...which, given Celestia's duties regarding the sun, meant all of them.

Even if I can not get a student, I should absolutely find a replacement! she groaned as she gave her burning eyes another rub.

"You know, I seem to recall you singing an aria during this scene... once."

Snorting and twisting her around in a calculatedly slow fashion, Celestia moved her magenta eyes to the white lion lying on the top of her baldachin.

There was only one instance of her ever having done that. And it was in the middle of the day, too; a staged performance, just so one of her underlings could record it onto tape. It was one of the most embarrassing part of her life, and certainly not something she wanted to be reminded of.

"Pfft. As if I could do that with my morning mood," she forced a very misshapen grin. "All I can offer you is a song about how much I long for my morning coffee. It would be a pretty short one, too."

"Oh-hoho! Somepony's moody again!" the lion broke into a cackle, his white mane obscuring his sapphire-blue eyes. "Want me to fix that? A healthy dose of determination, that's what you need! What you say, honey? One jolly morning, huh?"

Celestia eyed the white lion with deep suspicion. It was a matter of principle; she couldn't trust anyone who was upbeat in the morning. Ever. Also, such jokes were a lot less amusing when coming from the servant who could freely mess with anypony's feelings.

"Thanks, Lust... but I would rather have coffee adjust my mood." She turned away, toward the huge windows with the night sky beyond.

"Eh, you're just being picky again. Both are artificial anyway! But... a no is a no. Whatever!" Lust dropped his head back onto his paws with a low, almost cat-like purr. "Just shout if you change your mind."

"Always so eager. Seriously..." Celestia mumbled, cutting her own complaints short to place a yawn in the middle of her sentence. There was no point in starting her day with a tirade. She channelled her energies into something more useful instead, and began her morning routine.

The morning routine was the second in the long line of things that made her mornings so miserable. Her long, flowing mane looked absolutely gorgeous during the day, but it was a real nightmare after waking up. It would always wind up tangled in ways she had never considered possible. No shampoo seemed to cure that ailment; only her trusted comb, some vigorous application of force and a healthy dose of pain.

Frowning in anticipation, Celestia bumbled to her drawer. She yanked the top shelf open and pulled the gold-lined comb out. She then raised the tool to her head, grit her teeth - and then hesitated, blinking aloofly.

There were dozens of scrolls on the drawer's top. They didn't seem like official business; they lacked the seal and bore no title outside, a serious violation of the formal code. They could have been diplomatic texts, but Celestia immediately rejected that possibility. She couldn't have left a single one of those sitting around unanswered for too long, let alone dozens. Had she been that careless, she would have been spending her nights on never-ending meetings with ambassadors instead of sleeping.

No, those had to be personal letters.

A lot of personal letters, going by the sheer amount of scrolls piled on the drawer.

Putting the comb away for the moment, Celestia mused on that fact. The last time she had that many letters... when was it?

The question proved to be a tricky one; she had to work her mind for a while.

It was probably when I fell for that sham of a warlord.

The memory brought a chuckle out of her. What a funny romance, that one was! ...but it took place a few thousand years ago. She didn't have a single letter from that era. Neither wood, nor skin based papers could last that long sadly.

Shaking her head a little, Celestia had no choice but to go with the alternate explanation. Those letters were from her student.

Former student, she corrected herself.

That theory didn't make much sense either, though. She had all of Sunset Shimmer's letters sealed away in the depths of the Palace Archives. Why would they reappear on her desk all of a sudden?

"Lust!" she yelled without looking back, her eyes stuck on the hastily rolled up scrolls. "You know anything about these letters?"

"Nope." The white lion rumbled in a low tone. "I've been staring at them since midnight, wondering where they came from all of a sudden. Maybe they were here and I just didn't pay attention to them... I guess? Anyway, I was kinda stumped about them myself. I did want to ask you later, but I figured that I could wait until you woke up proper. You're really grumpy until your ceremonial coffee, hon'."

"Quaint," Celestia hummed. She reached to the nearest scrolls and unfurled it. It was a letter - a shortly-worded one, too.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I have learnt-

Dropping the open scroll back onto the drawer, Celestia gave her eyes a strong rub. This letter was from a student, there was no doubt about it. But that writing...

She could easily recognize all of her students' writing, and that one certainly didn't belong to Sunset.

What the heck is going on here, she wondered as she grabbed the comb. No matter; whatever mystery this was, it had to wait. Princess Celestia's schedule didn't allow for the occasional oddity, no matter how badly she craved a change from the usual. She had to bring the sun up and appear at the morning breakfast proper; everything else could only happen after those events had taken place.

---

As usual, the table was covered by a sparkling white cloth. Thick cotton fabric, with no extra decoration; the same way it had been for the last two hundred years, the last time Her Highness had ordered a change in the breakfast etiquette.

The rest of the objects laid out were bristling with excess gold, however. Celestia eyed one teacup in particular, its handle made out of solid gold, shaped in the form of a twining branch. Narrowing her eyes to get a better focus, Celestia could even make out the smaller details, such as the surface of the branch peeling in places. An absolutely crazy level of detail - and absolutely pointless, too.

It was just a teacup, after all.

Why does it even HAVE a handle? Celestia groaned and rested her head on her hoof. To her best knowledge, only gryphons and the more sophisticated dragonkin used handles. To a pony with unicorn magic, hot porcelain posed no issues.

The more she thought about it, the only possible reason she could see for the handle was giving the craftspony more surface to show off.

Coincidentally, that was probably the sole reason she didn't break the thing right away. Anything she did carried weight, and she didn't want to cause the craftspony any trouble. She simply made a mental note to have somepony put that particular cup away, into the ever-growing collection of overdecorated dishes.

She gave a slight nod. A waitress appeared next to her right away, pouring some hot coffee into the cup and vanishing the next moment. Celestia watched the murky brown liquid; it smelled like it was the perfect blend. Mild Arabica coffee with three sugar cubes and a hint of cinnamon.

She had enjoyed the same coffee for however long she could care to remember. Probably everypony in the kitchen had known that; her staff knew her preferences inside out. She wouldn't have been surprised to come across a manual at some point... something like a Quick How-To Into Preparing Meals for Princess Celestia.

Chuckling to herself, she tried to imagine what she would find in such a book.

Since a lot of her meals were served on protocol events, she had no choice but to endure the same kind of dishes over and over and over. It was dull; so dull that she could have started eating cotton and not notice the difference. So, to preserve her sanity - and her willingness to taste - she invented her own little system for spicing up her personal meals.

The first step was to take a random piece of food from the table. The possibilities were wide; she counted no less than twenty different kinds of dishes in front of her. She wanted to give all of them a fair chance, though. She took the spoon from her coffee, rolled it on the plate - and then grabbed whatever it wound up pointing at.

And so, honey flavoured bread it was. She took four slices.

The next step was repeating the same gamble, this time to pick the topping. It turned out to be potato salad with mayonnaise.

Using her magic to scoop a whole bunch of the white-coloured salad, Celestia glanced to her side. There were always some members of the Guard standing at the door. They called themselves Palace Guards, but they were quite like the regular troopers. They wore golden armour and bore that stoic, I-swear-I-am-not-thinking-about-anything face all the time.

Celestia was thankful for that weird stoicism. It was the centrepiece to ensuring that she could mix up new flavours all the time.

Humming a tune, she picked the next topping. There was no more spoon-spinning involved; this is where the challenge began. She had to make those two colts make faces with as few choices as possible. As long as they were able to maintain that indifferent look, her meal wasn't exquisite enough.

Picking some pickled cucumbers from yellow porcelain dish, she surpassed a giggle. The colt on the left was already staring wide-eyed.

Already? Ah, a new recruit I guess. Celestia noted with a dry chuckle, then turned her attention to the older stallion on the right. You, on the other hoof! You look like you have seen things. All right! Let's see if I can whip up something even you have not seen yet!

---

"Mmmm," Celestia purred as she crashed onto her bed, the force of the impact catapulting the white pillows in the air. "This was a REALLY good breakfast today! I should get the name of that Guard. He could really help me out when I feel low on inspiration."

"Yeah, well, I think he won't be available for a while..." Lust rolled his eyes as he hopped back to his place, on the top of the baldachin. "His therapist will probably bless your name for the guaranteed monthly income, though."

"Pfft, please." Celestia waved a hoof in utter dismissal. She was quite certain the white lion couldn't see her through the baldachin's thick top, but it was the thought that counted. "He should be grateful to me! He and his commanding officer as well. Seriously, how could these colts be fit for service if my breakfast is enough to break them?"

"You make a fair point there, dear." Lust sighed from above. "But then again, sweet mustard on strawberry pie. Let me reiterate: sweet mustard. On STRAWBERRY PIE."

"Hush. You are being too loud!" Celestia groaned and covered her face with her hooves. "What if Chrysalis hears of our big weakness? Or Discord - oh my Gods, Discord! Or Sombra! Imagine the horror if any of those knew of this gaping hole in our defences!"

The noise of a lion snickering was the answer, and that was enough for Celestia. She was grinning in earnest already. She did enjoy making fun of the Guard every now and then. It was only fair, for their incompetence was one of the prime reasons why she was never allowed to retire.

No sooner than finishing that thought did she start feeling guilty about it.

It wasn't really incompetence per se. The troopers weren't at fault; they had taken their jobs quite seriously. They were simply unsuited for actual combat. They didn't know how to make a stand. It wasn't really their fault, though. They had grown up in a soft world, one without any major conflicts or threats. What could have tempered their resolve?

Perhaps if I had let a few villains run amok... then I would have a proper army, too. Celestia sighed sourly, her eyebrows wrinkling at the idea. But then again, I could never face myself in the mirror had I done that. For all those years, I did nothing but dream of a world without sorrow... surely I can't change my mind now that it is here.

There was no choice but to lock all those villains away. If this taught Equestria that they only needed Princess Celestia as their saviour... then she had no choice but accept the task and rise to the demand. Even if it chained her to a position she had grown so tired of.

A victim of my own success... indeed.

Squeezing her eyelids and breathing in loudly, Celestia moved her leg a little, gently rubbing her forehead. Her own success... that didn't sound right. She recalled the way she had battled Chrysalis, Discord, Sombra... and even her own sister. But all of those battles had taken place centuries ago. As far as any mortal could have cared, they were ancient history; the stuff of legends, even.

Huh?

Something felt off about that string of victories.

Lifting the hooves from her head and staring at the golden horseshoes, Celestia was pretty sure that the last challenges were much more recent. Luna had returned a mere few years ago. Discord had broken free last year!

The golden, sun-adorned horseshoes filling her view, Celestia was absolutely sure that she had not dirtied her own hooves at those encounters. She would have remembered had she had done so.

Rolling around and pushing herself up, she gave the side of her head a scratch.

Just who the heck fought for Equestria this time, then?

She bit onto her lip. This wasn't one of those funny short-circuits in her memory, but an alarming gap instead. These were recent events - and very important ones too. Forgetting about a pony who could stand up to Luna, or about one who had managed to put Discord back into his place...

Such remarkable deeds could not be forgotten about. Those ponies either needed statues in the hall of greatest heroes, or entries in the book of greatest threats.

They needed to be accounted for, one way or another.

"There is no way I would be this scatterbrained." Celestia mumbled, her hoof pressing so hard against her temple that she almost knocked her own crown off. "There has to be an explanation...!"

"Thinking about the letters again?"

Yanking her head up, Celestia gasped. Lust had completely misread her aloof musing, but the old coot made a great point nevertheless. All those letters, coming from a student she couldn't recognize... all these milestone events she couldn't attribute to anypony...

Celestia sprang up from her bed and rushed to the drawer, even using her wings to propel herself faster.

There was no mistake. All these strange events were related.

They have to be!

Opening half a dozen scrolls at the same time, she only prayed that she would be quick enough to realize where the error lay.

---

"Hon', this is way too much bother," Lust frowned. His face was distorted as he was pressing against the wall, slowly sliding to the floor. "I say we name her the Elusive Penpal and be done with it."

Crumpled and intact scrolls surrounding her in all directions, Celestia did not take the remark well.

"I knew her well... no, this was beyond that! She was important... that is still not right. We were important to each other... gah!" she yelled and flung a scroll at the white lion. The scroll didn't bounce back, of course; it simply flew through the ghostly creature, cracking loudly once it reached the marble wall behind. "Look at these! ALL OF THESE! Forty letters! I exchanged almost forty letters with her!"

"Which lets us know that... she liked writing very much?" Lust grimaced, holding his paw vertical next to his head. "I bet she liked listening to her own voice, too."

Celestia wasn't really impressed by the joke. She briefly considered throwing another scroll to get her point across, but she didn't want to break anything in her private chamber. It's not like Lust was any good at reading such subtle signals anyway. Not once his mind was made up.

She needed a better demonstration than an angry tirade; so she lifted another scroll and held it in the air. She needed that little help. Three dozen scrolls were a little too many to memorize after a single read.

"This was far from simply killing time, Lust. I actually sent her on errands... no, these are more like trials. Look at this one!" she yanked on the scroll, the bottom weight rocking around to the motion. "This pony faced Luna, apparently! ...and then I made her the Element of Magic. Instead of, you know, thanking her by giving her some title and piece of a land. And then just asking her to live peacefully, staying away from foreboding ruins."

Lust put a paw to the wall and pushed himself upright, his face taking a more serious expression.

"Oh, the thing with Luna... uh. That... that was one complicated incident, honey. Let's not poke it too much, okay? In the end, six nice ponies went in, and then six nice ponies and a nice princess came out. Everything went well, so let's not waste- uh, wait. Six...?" he rumbled and then bit onto his tongue, his sapphire irises shrinking to two small dots.

Celestia understood the reason behind that shocked expression. She could have bet anything that she and her servant had the exact same thoughts going through their minds.

"There are six Elements, indeed. But... you can only remember five bearers, right?" she asked with a wry grin on her face. "Still saying that I am blowing the matter out of proportion?"

"This isn't right." Lust scratched the thick white mane on the bottom of his neck. He hummed to himself for a while, then turned his blue eyes back to his master. "Eh, details. This isn't really about the Elements anyway, is it now?"

Celestia furled the scroll up and tossed it back onto the drawer, doing her best to ignore the edge of her servant's words.

"Bwahah! Of course it is not!" she cackled with terribly feigned happiness. "I mean, come on Lust! When did we need those Elements? Apart from every single time a major threat appeared?!"

That was an unsightly outburst, and Celestia made a mental note to avoid any more in the future. She found herself staring at her servant, panting and her wings spread wide. For a Princess, such display of raw emotions was strictly forbidden. What could she expect of her subjects if she were this unrestrained?

She cleared her throat and quickly folded her wings.

"Hon'... you wore the six Elements for almost a thousand years, all on your own. Surely you can do so again, should the need arise. I'm sure that determination wouldn't be a problem," Lust threw a sly wink at her. "I may be rusty from disuse, but I'm pretty sure I could still make anypony fierce... or fiercely loyal."

Celestia noted the offer with a bittersweet smile.

"Thanks... I'll keep it in mind," she mumbled under her breath, her gaze already back to the scrolls on the drawer.

There was something vexing about them, but she couldn't really put a hoof on the feeling. The suspicious lack of a particular name, perhaps. Why would that pony - whoever she had been - write all these mails, yet never once scribble her name there? Why would the other five Elements be also so careful to never mention her?

None of that made any sense.

Could have somepony edited these scrolls? Celestia mused. She could feel her head pull as she pushed her mind, trying to envision all the possible scenarios. But for somepony to sneak into her room and edit all those scrolls without fail...

No, that's impossible.

"You're not worried about the Elements. Not right now." Lust's booming voice interrupted her musing, forcing her attention to return to the white lion. "You're worried about this disappearing pony, aren't you."

Celestia snorted and gave the white lion a momentary, but very angered glare.

"I know way too well, honey. You're worried that she was a student of yours."

That was the right button to push, and Celestia only realized that a little too late.

"No I am not!" she boomed, her point underscored by the loud stomp her hoof made on the floor. "Absolutely NOT! Sunset was the last student I ever had! I never hired anypony else specifically because of that debacle! Because if I were to- if I were to..."

She faltered and turned away. She couldn't finish that sentence; something deep inside her had put a lock on her mouth.

"Don't worry, I get you! You didn't want to break anypony else." Lust reared back, holding both his paws in front of him. "...and your own heart either, of course."

Celestia relaxed, almost collapsing onto the drawer as the strength disappeared from her limbs. She had been so focused on uncovering the identity of the mysterious penpal that she didn't have the mind to think about the other issues.

No, I simply didn't want to think about them, she ceded to herself.

"But that's not like you, hon'." Lust carried on, his voice both aloof and berating at the same time. "You're not the kind who just gives up like that. Not that abruptly. Not without agonizing over the what-ifs for a few centuries."

Clenching her teeth, Celestia found no way to argue against that point. It was as if her plans to obtain a new student had simply vanished after the betrayal of Sunset Shimmer. This despite her reasons for wanting a student in the first place - her own stagnation, the worry that she couldn't rise to the future challenges.

That she might see her precious Equestria destroyed by a force she couldn't defend against.

But even so...

"Then why is there absolutely no sign left of this student?!" she snorted and pounded her hoof on the drawer, overturning a quill and sending scrolls rolling all over the place. "I could understand me, knowing there are other servants out there! But what of you, Lust? Why do YOU fail to remember this pony? Are you servants not immune to this kind of tomfoolery?!"

That was a sound argument, as evidenced by Lust's inability to come up with any reply. He hummed and rubbed his chin, only stopping when loud knocks started coming from the door.

"The Princess is busy!" Celestia yelled almost instantly, not even giving her visitor the chance to begin explaining. "Unless the world is on fire, you will have to come back later!"

Much to her surprise, the handle clicked and turned, shortly followed by the door creaking. And much to her absolute astonishment, none other than Luna walked in.

"This Princess is also busy, and the world is kind of burning right now." Luna said without any hint of humour in her voice.

Rubbing the ridge of her nose, Celestia was now sure that this was one of those days - when she needed a whole pot of coffee just to get through the morning.

---

"AND JUST WHEN WERE YOU PLANNING TO TELL ME?!"

Though it was because of her ageless body, it still had to be stressed: despite her age, Luna still possessed extraordinary reflexes. She dodged both scrolls as if they were nothing, flicking her head to the right and then to the left in the exact right moments.

Speeding past their intended target, both scrolls crashed against the white wall of the room. Two loud cracks and they were both no more, leaving nothing but shattered wood and torn paper behind.

"It is as we have just explained. Discord is gone - and by all accounts, he must have been released last night." Luna reiterated. Her calm voice, while normally great for curbing emotional outbursts, had only served to further enrage Celestia this time though.

"WHY WAS I NEVER TOLD?!" she shrieked and slammed her rear hoof into the drawer. The old wooden panels creaked and groaned - but held together by some miracle. "This-! This is-!"

Luna wasn't in one of her panicky moods. She simply raised her eyebrow, watching her sister freak out the same way a scientist studies an interesting, previously unknown kind of butterfly.

"We believed there was no point in bothering our beloved sister before breakfast. Discord has been on the loose for hours already. Were he up to something, he would have made his move already." She explained her rationale in her annoyingly calm manner. "You are free to join the investigation of course, should you feel like it."

Celestia couldn't bring herself to answer. She was piecing it all together, and every puzzling oddity seemed to gain a new, foreboding dimension she hadn't previously thought of. The odd, obviously manipulated scrolls and the pony who she couldn't recall, the missing sixth Element...

"The Element!" she gasped and snapped her head to Luna. "We need all six Elements to seal Discord! We need to-!"

A metallic clatter was the answer. Luna produced a ruby-like gem from thin air, then unceremoniously dropped it to Celestia's hoof.

"The Element of Magic," Lust whispered in the background, his voice accurately mirroring the same befuddlement Celestia felt. "But how...?"

"We found it in the Garden, near where the Discord-statue used to be." Luna explained, then rolled her head around. It was the first time Celestia could notice, but her sister looked tired. About as tired as anypony would have been after a long night spent investigating.

"Well I'll be darned."

The short - and little bit vulgar - response was from Lust, but it still could have passed for Celestia's own thoughts.

It may have been conjecture, but the proof seemed pretty damning on first sight.

Whoever wielded the Element released Discord, Celestia reached to the ruby gem, her whole body trembling as she breathed. It seemed so logical in hindsight; no ordinary magic could break the binds which the Elements had created. And since only one of the six bearers had disappeared...

Holding the ruby so close that her hot breath fogged up the shiny surface, Celestia was confident that she had cracked this puzzle.

Discord could easily account for all the oddities regarding scrolls and memories. Well, aside from the fact that such surgical operations were never his style. Chaos or not, even he was a creature of habit - and his habit was grandeur. He would have sooner brought the sky down - literally - than fiddle around with minuscule details such as an individual pony.

"Is there a problem?" Luna shifted around, eyeing her sister with a hint of bemusement. "You were screaming a moment ago... but fell silent as soon as we presented you the Element."

Celestia didn't bother to answer. She absent-mindedly triggered the Element, turning the fancy artefact into the necklace it truly was; then she measured the object with utmost care, trying to imagine the pony who had worn it the last time.

"Uh..." Luna tried to interject, but the uncharacteristically meek intermission bore no fruit.

"Honey believes her student had released Discord," Lust answered in his master's stead, with a hint of tenseness in his otherwise amused tone.

Snapping her head to the white lion, Luna finally let some emotion slip onto her face.

"Say what? The student of our dearest sister?! But...!" she gasped, her gaze wandering around as she rummaged inside her head. "But she never had a student since- we mean- she never had a student ever since we returned!"

Staring at the glowing necklace, Celestia gave that remark a sombre chuckle.

"I think that is precisely what Discord wants us all to believe."

---

"There was a bit of commotion, but I have informed everypony that all your scheduled appointments have been cancelled, Highness." Kibitz took a respectful bow. He then cleared his throat and straightened back up. "But there are some guests you will have to meet, I'm afraid. The envoys from Saddle-Arabia insisted on meeting you after their long journey; it didn't seem wise to turn them down. They might take it as a rude gesture. The most I could do was give them a room and tell them that you will be available in a few days - as your new schedule permits, of course."

Nodding absent-mindedly, all Celestia had understood was that she had a few days free of the usual obligations.

To think it was as simple as asking.

"Splendid job, Kibitz." She gave the old unicorn a tired, but thoroughly honest smile. "Be sure to remind me to give you a few days off... uh, sometime. Some less crazy time."

"I am flattered, Highness." Kibitz nodded with a badly suppressed grin, then took his watch out of his red garment. "But there is really no need for you to be concerned. Should I need a break, I can assure you: it will be properly scheduled well in advance."

Taking the token bow, Kibitz turned around and headed out of the room. Celestia couldn't help but admire the clockwork precision that pony operated with. For so many years, it seemed like Kibitz was the only one who could cope with the never-ending chaos of Canterlot's bureaucracy. Indeed, there had been considerably fewer lost cases since he had began his job as an organiser-advisor.

I am really going to miss him, Celestia mused sourly, giving the departing figure a long stare. Kibitz wasn't exactly a young pony, after all. Judging by her experience, Celestia gave him twenty more years or so. Were that anypony else, they would have retired already; but to Kibitz, the busy castle seemed like the natural plane of existence. He would never admit, but he was only at home when he was bringing order to that special brand of madness.

It promised to be some really difficult years, the ones following his... departure. On that thought, Celestia put a hoof on her forehead and let go of a trembling sigh.

It didn't seem right, having all those wonderful ponies around her - and then have them leave her on her own all the time. It was a fact of her life, but it was also a fact she could never get fully used to.

"Well... that went easy!" Lust interrupted her gloomy thoughts. The white lion hopped down from the baldachin and giggled loudly, landing on the floor just as the door shut. "Or rather, he makes it look easy, hehe! The old coot is a born organiser, isn't he? I still remember when my honey tried revamping every schedule... the disaster of 446. Ah, good ol' times!"

Grunting as she got off from the floor, Celestia rolled her eyes at the mere mention. A lot of things happened in 446 - but she knew what her servant had been referring to. It was the last time she had tried to lead Equestria solely on her own. It was a pretty frustrating experience, one that nicely highlighted her limits in coping with copious amounts of printed documents.

It took ten Guards to dig her out when the largest pile collapsed on her. Sure, she could have teleported out... but she welcomed the break, taking a nap under the sea of papers.

Good old times, indeed.

It was a lot harder to sneak a nap into her schedule nowadays. Kibitz made sure of that.

"So... what are we going to today, hon'?" Lust rolled his head around, also stretching his paws during the process. "The same thing we do every day?"

"Not this time." Celestia chuckled. She yanked the Element of Magic out of a drawer and clasped it onto her neck, careful that the gold ornament didn't tear her mane in the process. "We are going out today. There is work to do."

"The investigation?" Lust motioned at the window with his nose, then squinted at the white alicorn. "I thought Luna was taking care of that already."

Her head slowly turning to the window as her eyes scanned the gardens below, Celestia bit onto her lower lip... then touched the amulet on her neck, and shook her head.

"This was my student..." she muttered as an uncomfortable shiver ran down her spine. "This is my responsibility."

Why did I even think that it was a good idea? Was Sunset not a lesson good enough?

"It's precisely because of that fact you shouldn't go," Lust moaned, his paw dug deep into his thick white mane. By the small stroking motions, he was scratching the back of his neck. "Do pardon me for saying this, but your relationship with your students isn't very healthy of late."

A loud snort echoed in the royal chamber.

"Healthy!" Celestia snickered and rubbed her forehead, still facing the window. "Funny you would say that, when they always end up dying."

"Hon'... allow me to break the sad news to you. The mortality ratio of mortal ponies is still at a steady one hundred percent." Lust moaned. "Your students were crafty little ponies from first to last, but I don't think they were special enough to... well, you know. To live forever."

"Quite the lazy excuse for me rushing the best towards an early grave," Celestia rumbled and leaned forward, her head bumping against the window. A loud clang assaulted her ears; the tip of her crown had scratched against the smooth glass. Celestia clenched her teeth for a moment, then silenced the noise by keeping her head in place.

"They knew what they were getting into. You can't exactly make a worthy student just by stuffing their heads full of books, can you now?" Lust spoke, calmly and with a bit of chiding in his tone. He may have been getting tired of the discussion, and nopony could have faulted him for that; he and his master had gone over this topic more times than either of them cared to count. "Only pressure can make diamonds."

Celestia watched the white face in the window make a grimace.

"And was it really necessary?" she lamented as a thousand years' of memories twisted her features. "Putting all those poor devils through all those trials, preparing them to rise to the occasion in case I could not..."

Her teeth bumped as she cut her musing short. There was no need to spell it out. Lust understood the issue the same well as she did, after all.

During all those years, she had never failed. Not a single time. She had veered close to the edge sometimes - but came out on top anyway. Which, while a wonderful exhibit of her tenacity and determination, had also rendered those students largely redundant.

All those lives spent in her service - all wasted for an eventuality that, in the end, never came.

It seemed wasteful. Irrecoverably and sinfully wasteful.

"You're simply an immortal, hon'. Don't act as if you were supposed to be infallible all as well." Lust grumbled, audibly irritated by the tenacious pessimism of his master. "You were simply looking out for your kingdom. It would be kinda' late to look for a backup pony after you were beaten by a villain, right?"

Celestia sighed loudly. That was true. So true that she had even used that excuse many times, in fact.

Excuses would never excuse the poor decisions I have made, though... she mused as her mirror image disappeared behind the thin layer of mist.

"Besides, it's not like you asked unreasonable things of them." Lust continued. "This whole story would sound a lot different if you made them fight your battles... but you never did that."

"What about this one, then?" Celestia giggled in a low tone, her hoof poking the amulet on her neck. "This story with Discord."

"Keh! I doubt you would willingly send anypony to face Discord!" Lust snorted loudly. "If you ask me? He simply broke free on his own, and your student tried to stop him. Wrong place in the wrong time and all that."

Celestia hummed faintly, going over that idea multiple times. She finally turned around and faced her servant, her mouth curling to a warm smile.

"Thanks, Lust. This... means a lot to me," she mumbled and felt all kinds of stupid. That lion sure knew how to poke at her heartstrings! She was feeling like a stupid little filly again, so unabashedly thankful.

In truth, she didn't really mind. That warm feeling in her chest - it had been so long since she had been placated.

I really need a break from this place, she scratched the side of her head, then broke into an awkward giggle.

Too bad the feeling didn't last long. Loud knocks rang out from the door, plunging the white alicorn back to the mundane matters of reality.

"Who is that?" she yelled, hastily rubbing her mane. She had no idea how she looked, but she had to be somewhat proper in case anypony barged in. "I believe I have been clear: no visitors today!"

"Bunch of useless gits, that Guard..." Lust groaned and pushed his back against the wall. "They have the worst sense of timing, too."

"Sorry your Highness, but this is important!" came the voice from the other side of the door. "This pony came to the castle a short while ago and claims to know you."

Celestia and Luna glanced at each other, exchanging a few disbelieving blinks.

"Is there anypony in Equestria who would fail to know me?" Celestia finally blurted out.

"I... uh..."

The Guard on the other side of the door fell silent. He was obviously unprepared for that comeback - Celestia could almost see him fiddling around in discomfort.

"Well... I mean... your Highness, I meant it kinda' differently. This pony claims to know you personally," the poor trooper tried for a second time. "I mean... I can't really recall seeing her before, but... this pony claims she's your student. Should I-"

The mouth of the trooper was still open when the door was thrown aside, the wooden pane moving so fast that the breeze ruffled the young colt's mane. It was hardly a proper thing to do, scaring the Palace Guard like that - but Celestia simply couldn't bring herself to care about the soldier in that precise moment.

The unicorn at the soldier's side took all her attention. A blue unicorn with azure mane, wearing the most stereotypical pointy wizard hat that ever could have existed.

"Greetings, master!" the little unicorn burst into a loud cheer. "Your most devoted student, the best magician in all Equestria, Trixie Lulamoon has returned!"