Post Revolution

by SC_Orion

Chapter 8

Twilight watched Canterlot for a few more seconds before turning around and looking at Rainbow Dash. She looked over the tied up pegasus, who was watching her with wide eyes. "I am going to finish searching your mind." Twilight stated firmly, then stepped closer to Rainbow, who struggled against the ropes tying her up. As Twilight lowered her head and put her horn on Rainbow's head, Rainbow stopped struggling and fell unconscious as Twilight entered her mind, searching for the truth.

This time, Twilight was more forceful with her search. She peeled back memory after memory, searching for any lingering hint of magic, evidencing manipulation. No memory was safe, not personal nor forgotten. As Twilight dug through Rainbow's memories, she made sure to prevent the pegasus from remembering the memories she brought up and she was careful not to damage her mind. Even if Rainbow had betrayed her, she would not break her in such a way. She did not want ponies to fear her, with the exception of the Inquisitor and his soldiers. Rainbow had been one of his soldiers, but she had promised several times to help Twilight. Twilight also remembered her own promise to Rainbow, and while she would rather keep it, she would kill her if it proved necessary. She hoped it didn't, despite the betrayal she felt when thinking about the possibility that he had told the truth, and her betrayal three years ago.

Twilight started to examine her emotions, searching for any deception, all the while she still sorted through Rainbow's memories. At present, Rainbow was afraid, confused, and worried... For her. Twilight paused at that, briefly, and thought about it. Rainbow was still worried for her, despite her invading the pegasus's mind. She shifted her weight, then delved back into Rainbow's mind. Twilight started to shift her focus onto Rainbow's memories between three and six weeks ago. She felt each memory with her magic, checking it for signs of tampering. It wasn't long before she found the memory she was looking for.

The memory had been modified by magic, replaced and altered. She examined the alterations with her magic, searching for any further changes to Rainbow's mind coming from them. She frowned as she found no trace that the magic was manipulating her emotions. At least not by magical means. She refocused her effort, and attempted to pierce the veil of the magic altering her memory. The magic pushed back against her, and she stopped. Forcing her way in would damage the magic suppressing the memory, which wasn't in her best interest... She returned to examining the memory, and found a well hidden link to another memory. She followed the trail of magic, then found another suppressed memory. There were several traces of magic extending out from it, linking several more memories.

Twilight grimaced as she examined the network of modified memories. While the first one wasn't changing how she felt, the sheer number of altered memories could. There were only a handful of major alterations, but there were numerous smaller alterations, just barely hints that magic had touched those memories in passing. She could not tell their purpose without either damaging Rainbow's mind, or possibly causing a chain reaction resulting in all the alterations failing. That in itself could injure her. She physically grimaced and changed tactics. She determined that the magic altering the memories would last until removed. Which was a good thing, for her. There was no ticking time bomb in Rainbow's mind that would suddenly cause her to betray Twilight. However, discovering what lay beneath the replaced memories would not be possible if she wanted to keep Rainbow on her side... Which, despite the signs pointing the the Inquisitor telling the truth, she wanted. Twilight pursed her lips, wondering if the Inquisitor wanted her to kill Rainbow Dash... She decided it was something to keep in mind.

Twilight pulled her head back from Rainbow, and the pegasus jerked awake. She looked around frantically then met Twilight's eyes. Rainbow clenched her jaw and swallowed, she hoped for good news... But she didn't expect it. Twilight looked over Rainbow, then met her eyes. "Your mind has been heavily altered by magic, Rainbow Dash." she said.

Rainbow struggled against the ropes again. Twilight used her full name, rather than calling her by her first name, warning bells rang in Rainbow's mind. She swallowed. Twilight grasped the ropes binding Rainbow in her magic and cut them away. Rainbow shifted her weight and tentatively rose to her hooves, cautiously watching Twilight as she did so. The sight reminded Twilight of Fluttershy... "However, the alterations should stay in place, unless removed by an outside source. There is still the chance that it could wear off eventually, or that somepony could break the magic at a... Poor time." Rainbow swallowed, and was glad Twilight was taller so she couldn't see her swallowing. Twilight glanced over Rainbow, then turned around.

Rainbow thought about making a break for it, but forced the idea away. If Twilight was going to... She didn't want to be remembered as being afraid and running away from something. Twilight tilted her head back and looked at Rainbow. "You realize that sparing you could come back to bite me in the flank?" Rainbow nodded and Twilight sighed. "I will not kill you, at least right now. You are not a threat to me currently, and... I may need the help, if not in the near future, after I kill him it would prove useful to have you on my side."

Rainbow closed her eyes and exhaled. She felt like a weight had been lifted from her. She kept her eyes closed and went over what had happened today... If anything, she was more worried for Twilight than herself. She felt feathers wrap around her left wing, and opened her eyes as Twilight pulled her closer to herself. Rainbow didn't resist and then rested against Twilight. "Are you okay?" Rainbow asked.

"No. I'm not okay." Twilight answered quickly. "Considering that I want to drop a star on Canterlot, regardless of the fact that hundreds of thousands would die to kill him, even if it might not kill him..." Twilight bobbled her head. "I'm managing the urge, however."

Rainbow shifted her weight. That was a scary thought, and if Twilight really was that powerful... "How did you lose to him?" she asked.

Twilight lifted a hoof to her head. She was going to massage her temple, but decided against it as her hoof had blood on it. She glanced down and looked at her chest and arms. Her right arm had a long crimson streak running down it. She pursed her lips and powered up a healing spell, then cast it. A wave of warmth washed over her, and her wounds healed. She still looked terrible, however. "That is something I need to talk to both of you about..." Twilight glanced over to Zenith, who was still unconscious, lying against a tree. Twilight levitated the unicorn over to her, and set her down to her right, then draped a wing over her.

"How much do you think it would tick him off if I took control of the sun and moon?" Twilight asked with a slight smile.

Rainbow didn't even need to think about that question. "A lot." she answered. In fact, the Inquisitor would probably go ballistic if Twilight stole the sun from him... She had only seen Celestia raise the sun once before, so seeing Twilight move the sun would be cool. She had never seen Twilight move the sun or moon before and it was an exciting thought to see her friend do it.

Twilight smiled. "Maybe today won't be a total loss then..." Twilight channeled magic into her horn, which glowed with a bright lavender aura, then she reached out to the sun, and took hold of it. After a few seconds to remember how to do it, she coaxed the sun lower and lower in the sky until the sun was setting. Several hours before it should have. And much faster than it should have. Twilight felt a tingling sensation where her mane and tail where.

Rainbow watched Twilight in awe as she moved the sun. As the sun reached the horizon, her mane started to shift and flow. She could see specks of light sparkling in it, and the pink highlight started to twist around itself, into a spiral. Her navy blue mane and tail started to look more like Princess Luna's mane and tail, filled with sparkling lights which reminded her of stars. The navy blue color seemed to become deeper as Twilight noticed what had happened. "Twilight... Your mane... It's beautiful..."

Twilight smiled, and for a brief second, she felt like it was several years ago, before the Inquisitor showed up or was even known. "I wonder what Rarity would think..." She thought about it, but really couldn't picture it. It had been years since she had seen Rarity, though they had kept in touch... Sort of, at least. "She would probably say how I looked the part of Princess of Equestria now." Rainbow pulled away from Twilight ever so slightly and looked her over, also contemplating Rarity's response. Twilight looked down at her arm and frowned. "Then again, I need a bath." Twilight slowly stood up and folded her wings as she did so. She looked to Rainbow. "I will be back within an hour, take care of Zenith." she commanded.

"Okay." Rainbow said simply as Twilight stepped away then beat her wings and jumped into the air. Rainbow watched Twilight fly off, then looked over to Zenith. She laughed to herself when she pictured Zenith's surprise about waking up and it being dark, then finding out she wasn't out that long, but that she missed Twilight moving the sun. Zenith would love to see that.

---

Twilight landed a few minutes later at a nearby stream of clean water. As soon as she landed she looked around to make sure she was alone, then took a deep breath and exhaled. She walked over to the river, then tentatively put a hoof in it. She winced and pulled her hoof back, the water was quite cold. Which was unsurprising, considering it was on a mountain, and likely from melted snow. She powered up her horn, then created a barrier around a small section of the river, then started heating the water with her magic. It took a few minutes, but soon the water was a pleasant eighty degrees Fahrenheit.

She looked around again, the river was well hidden, and there were trees overhead, though the river cut a path through the forest leaving a winding trail visible. She pursed her lips but put the worry aside, she was safe where she was. She glanced to the sky once more, then channeled more magic into her horn and started the moon on it's journey as the sun sank further below the horizon, basking the world in twilight. She smiled then tentatively put a hoof into the section of the stream that she had heated and sighed contently.

She walked, then waded, allowing the warmth of the water to melt her stress away. She hesitated when her tail was about to touch the water, curious as to what would happen. She pursed her lips and stepped further into the pool of water, and her tail seemed to melt into the water, and spread out much like a normal mane or tail when underwater. She smiled, then made her way to the deeper section, all the while keeping a close eye on her tail and her surroundings.

Once she reached the deep section, she took a deep breath, then dunked her head under the water. For several seconds she kept her head below water and watched her mane as it flowed about, despite there being no current. Her mane sparkled and shimmered even more in the water as the sun passed the horizon. It really was beautiful, but she could not study it or enjoy it as much as she wanted to. At least not until a certain pony was dead. Feeling the need to breath, she lifted her head above the water, exhaled, and then breathed normally.

Twilight rubbed her hoof against her arm, cleaning off the blood stain, then used her magic to remove the blood from her body elsewhere where she could not easily reach. It only took her a few minutes to clean herself so that she didn't just feel renewed, but looked renewed also. She looked up at the night sky, and wondered what the Inquisitor was doing right now. She hoped he was having a bad day... Night...

Twilight shook her head, then created an orb of light, and shot it above the pool of water she was in. The glow from her horn, coupled with the glow from the light orb allowed her to see her reflection in the dark water. She looked over the face in the reflection, her face. Her muzzle had changed in the previous three years. Instead of being curved, it was now more flat, like the other princesses. And her mane had now changed. She looked at the reflection of her mane, which constantly shifted. She wondered if she had stopped physically growing and changing yet, but she did not know. She sighed, then shook her head.

She shivered as a cold breeze blew across her wet coat. She turned towards the direction the wind blew from and stared off into space. After a few seconds she shook her head and realized that the water was starting to grow cold once more. She grimaced, then started making her way towards the shore. Once the water was no longer up to her knees, she dispelled the barrier protecting the pool of water, it and started flowing downstream once more. It took only a few seconds for the cold water to hit her. She staggered, but forced herself to continue on out of the water, into the chilly night air of the mountains.

Once on the bank, she turned back to the light orb, and drew it closer to herself, then absorbed it back into her horn. She shivered again as another chilly breeze blew through the clearing. She shook her head and spread her wings, then jumped into the air, and flew higher until she passed the tree canopy, and then leveled off a little ways above it. The cold air bit into her wet coat, but she ignored it as she flew back to where Rainbow and Zenith were using her memory, then circled the clearing a few times before landing.

She welcomed folding her wings back to her body, even if they were cold, they would help trap heat in. She shouldn't have been affected by the cold as much as she was. They must have been higher up on the mountain than Canterlot was, despite it not looking like it. She shook her head and forced the thought aside, then powered up her horn and created another, larger orb of light above the clearing. "Rainbow Dash, I'm back." she called out as she launched the orb into the sky.

"Oh. I didn't see you come in..." Rainbow admitted, calling from a nearby tree. Twilight turned towards the source and saw Rainbow sitting beside Zenith. Rainbow had moved Zenith and herself back over to the tree while Twilight was away. Rainbow had been looking at Twilight, but then she averted her gaze and looked at the orb of light hovering above the clearing when Twilight turned to her. "What's that?" Rainbow asked.

"A light orb." Twilight answered simply as she made her way over to the pair. "She's still not awake?" Twilight asked as she sat down beside Zenith.

Rainbow shook her head. "No. Should she be?" she asked with worry.

Twilight shook her head. "Not really. I would have been surprised if she was already awake, but it would have been nice."

Rainbow jerked her head up. "Ah." she said.

The trio sat in silence for a few seconds, then Twilight spoke again. "Is it just me or is it a little colder here than where we camped last time?"

Rainbow frowned and thought about it for a second. "Maybe a little." she answered, then she looked at the stars. "But if you're cold, it would've helped if you would've dried off before going flying."

"Yes, but the air would dry me off as I flew, making drying myself off redundant." Twilight said. "Besides, I felt like I was pushing that hour, and I did not wish to leave you two alone for that long."

Rainbow turned to Twilight. "Well... Thanks." she said. Twilight nodded. After a few seconds Rainbow turned away and looked back into the night sky. "So it's yours now?" she asked.

Twilight nodded to herself. "Yes." she said simply, then added, "Though it was my inheritance from Luna as soon as she was murdered."

Rainbow did not want to talk about that, so she spent a few seconds searching for something else to talk about. "Do you miss them and us and... How things were before?" Rainbow asked as she looked at a particularly bright star. For some reason, when she looked at it, she couldn't help but be reminded of Princess Celestia. She had no idea why, but it was what came to mind.

Twilight sat back and nodded slowly. "I do... At times, yes." she admitted. "As much as I have grown to enjoy being alone... I do miss having company, and I have enjoyed having you two around." She looked down to the ground. "For what it's worth... I am sorry that I scare you. I do not wish to... And yet, at the same time, I do."

Rainbow shifted her weight. "Are you okay? Not two hours ago you wanted to kill me, and now you're saying you're sorry that you scare me and at the same time you're not sorry."

"The Inquisitor used an electro-maginetic pulse against me." Twilight stated flatly. Rainbow immediately winced. While pegasi were immune to them, and she had never known any unicorn hit by one, she had heard how painful and jarring they could be. "And hit me with a couple spells that seem to have disabled my accelerated healing. Who knows what else they did to me, perhaps the only reason you are alive is because those spells are affecting me in such a way as to make me want to keep you alive." Twilight mused. Rainbow laughed nervously. Twilight sighed and looked back to the sky. "I miss them, and... I will admit, I do want revenge for their deaths." She shook her head. "He killed my sister in law, my brother, and my niece, Rainbow. He took my friends, my mentor, and my home away from me. I have no idea what has happened to my parents..."

"You have usss..." Zenith groggily said as she tried to push herself up. Both Rainbow and Twilight immediately looked to her, both with expressions of relief. "Ooohhh.... I waz out that long?" she asked as she opened her eyes and raised her eyebrows as if trying to open her eyes further.

Rainbow lent Zenith a hoof and helped her sit up. "Twilight took control of the sun and moon." Rainbow stated.

At hearing that, Zenith put on a pouting face that was exaggerated, whether from intention or because of whatever spell she was hit with, Rainbow did not know. Twilight smiled at the sight. Zenith turned to Twilight and looked at her. After several seconds, her mind processed the change in her mane and tail, and her mouth formed a little 'o.' "Y-your mane..." Zenith said in awe. "It's... So beautiful, I've never seen anything like it..."

Twilight nodded. "One of these days maybe I'll understand it myself..." she mused as she glanced at her tail. For some reason she couldn't quite place, the pink swirl made her think of a galaxy. She shook the thought off, it was silly, like something Pinkie Pie would have said. ...If she knew anything about science... 'What happened to Pinkie...' Twilight wondered. Twilight hadn't heard anything about Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy since the night before the Inquisitor took over. She knew for a fact that neither Pinkie nor Fluttershy would support him after what happened that day, and so she found herself curious as to where they went. She frowned as she found herself wanting to find them... While they hadn't believed her either, she took pity on them.

"You mean you don't understand it?" Zenith asked.

Twilight shook her head. "No, I just got this an hour ago." she answered.

Zenith frowned. "Huh."

"As nice as your night is, Twilight," Rainbow paused, thinking over what she had just said. For some reason, she liked the way that sounded. Though it would be a little strange getting used to the night, and day, being hers. "I would prefer to have shelter instead of sleeping exposed." she finished.

Twilight stood up and nodded. "In a few months, the nights will return to being as warm as they were before." she stated. "Now that I have control of the sun and moon, maintaining the day and night cycle will be an easy task."

"I wonder what those unicorns who moved the sun and moon are doing now..." Zenith mused as she stood up.

"Starlight is in that group." Twilight stated. She looked pained for half a second, then shook her head and looked around. "Right... Shelter..." Twilight channeled magic into her horn, then reached into one of her pocket dimensions and withdrew a single large tent from it. The tent immediately materialized in the clearing. As soon as the tent materialized, Twilight started walking towards it, followed by Rainbow and Zenith. Twilight, horn still lit, opened the tent with her magic, then allowed the other two to enter the tent before entering herself, and closing the tent door behind her. The tent was lit only by the pale glow from Twilight's horn, she pursed her lips and then channeled her magic into a light orb, and positioned it towards the center of the tent, at the top.

Twilight had created the tent herself using only her magic to fabricate it last week, and she had it stored in one of her pocket dimensions while it was not in use. The fabric itself was highly resistant to being damaged by magic, and even an amplified unicorn would have trouble damaging it. Several gravity spells prevented the structure from being moved outside of using magic, and a few other spells prevented anypony except Twilight from moving it with her magic.

Twilight made her way over to her large sleeping bag. Large being a relative term, as all three sleeping bags were large enough for Twilight to sleep in comfortably, with room to spare. She could have made all of them beds, but she did not. Once the Inquisitor was dead, she would allow herself to sleep peacefully then, but not before. "I do have something I need to talk to both of you about, but that can wait until... After I raise the sun." Twilight stated. Twilight lifted the cover with her magic, then laid down in it.

"Yeah... I'm not tired." Zenith said. Both she and Rainbow were standing side by side across from Twilight, who was looking at them blankly. "And you're powerful enough that you shouldn't need to recover from fighting the Inquisitor. We need to talk."

Twilight nodded and lifted herself up from the bed. "I suppose we do." she stated. "Long story short, I lost to him because I underestimated him, held back, and he's Discord."

Zenith and Rainbow both looked confused at that. "Twilight... Are you sure you're not hurt more badly than you realize? Or maybe you really do need to recover, thinking that Discord's the Inquisitor..." Rainbow said slowly with concern.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "He used chaos magic, Rainbow. "After I was hit by that electro-maginetic pulse-" Zenith's face paled, "-he was fighting me with chaos magic."

Zenith frowned. "You were hit by that and you still held your own... Well, I guess you still lost..." Zenith trailed off, slightly disappointed.

Twilight's eyes narrowed. "He... Took me by surprise..." she said carefully as she thought back to her battle with him. Had she recognized what the device was sooner... But, she had never seen one in person. "Regardless, it will not happen again."

Rainbow shook her head. "Okay, Twilight, the Inquisitor can use chaos magic, which explains a few things... I guess? But that doesn't make him Discord!" she said quickly. One could easily hear the annoyance in her voice.

"Rainbow, nopony in history has ever used chaos magic. Not Starswirled the Bearded, not Princess Celestia, and not Lord Tirek when he had Discord's magic. Not even I can use chaos magic, Rainbow. Discord is the only being who has ever used chaos magic." Twilight chided firmly.

"But it doesn't make sense that Discord would want to make himself a pony and then take over Equestria!" Rainbow retorted.

Twilight nodded her head. "Perhaps, but I know he used chaos magic, and Discord is the only one capable of using chaos magic. Unless he has a special talent for... I have no idea what... He has to be Discord. It may not make sense, but it's Discord we're talking about. The Spirit of Chaos himself."

"I thought he had changed... No, I know he changed." Rainbow stated firmly. "I was closer to Discord than you, and... I have known the Inquisitor these past three years... They're not the same."

"Discord disappeared six years ago, Rainbow. Nopony has heard or seen him since. He showed up a year later." Twilight said. "Regardless, he will die. If he is Discord, that makes my job easier, because I know a spell to immediately teleport him to me. Unfortunately, said spell requires the Elements of Harmony." Rainbow swallowed a growing discomfort in her throat.

Zenith frowned. She remembered hearing a story about how Princess Celestia's star pupil defeated Discord... She remembered his brief reign of chaos, but only just. Twilight was Princess Celestia's star pupil. "Didn't you defeat Discord before though?" she asked.

Twilight nodded. "Yes." she stated. "Though that was years ago, and I had help from five mares who were once my friends." Rainbow shifted her weight as Twilight looked at her. "Friendship is what allowed us to use the Elements of Harmony, but that friendship has been..." Twilight looked off to the side, searching for the right word to describe what happened to it. "Betrayed." she said bitterly. She looked back to Rainbow Dash.

"Well... How are we going to beat him then?" Zenith asked.

"If. He is Discord." Rainbow added, looking firmly at Twilight.

Twilight nodded her head once. "In the morning, I need to send a letter to Princess Ember. The Inquisitor is planning to invade the Dragon Lands." Rainbow grimaced. "Any warning is better than none." Twilight stated. "So far as killing the Inquisitor... And I will kill him, even if he is Discord. I will work on a spell to teleport him to me, without using the Elements. However, the process will be sped up if I had the Elements, and the former bearers."

"Are you going to give them the same offer you gave me?" Rainbow asked. Twilight tilted her head to the side, but didn't answer.

"Are you sure we can trust them?" Zenith asked.

Twilight bobbled her head. "That does not matter. Rarity and Spike are in Manehatton. I have kept in touch with them, somewhat. Not directly. I believe Applejack should still be in Ponyville... I have no idea where Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are. Finding them may be difficult."

"Starlight might know where Fluttershy is." Rainbow said.

Twilight frowned. "I had not considered that..." She shook her head. "Unfortunately, we cannot return to Canterlot for the time being. It is too risky."

"So what's the plan?" Rainbow asked.

"I still need to recover from my battle with him, but tomorrow we will head for Ponyville and the Everfree forest." Twilight said.

"Which brings us to another problem, Twilight. Not once in the time I've been around you have you said you needed to recover from anything, or admitted to needing a break." Zenith stated.

Twilight eyed her carefully, then exhaled. "As I have said before, he somehow disabled my accelerated healing..." she said quickly, then slowed down. "A few... Other abilities of mine are tied into that... As to which abilities, I will not tell you." she said carefully.

Rainbow frowned. "You don't..." She was about to say 'trust us,' but she stopped, realizing that Twilight probably did not trust her.

Twilight looked at Rainbow and pursed her lips, looking for a way to explain it. "It is... Not so much a matter of trust, as it is a secret of my race..." She frowned, realizing that her answer probably only served to make them more curious. "Telling you would put all of us in danger." Both Rainbow and Zenith frowned at that.

"You're not in any danger of dying from that though right?" Zenith asked.

Twilight shook her head. "Not at present." she said. "It should wear off eventually, if it doesn't, then it could prove problematic." Rainbow grimaced, trying to imagine what Twilight meant by 'problematic.' Zenith frowned but nodded. "If that is all, I would like to rest. I have to get up in the morning to raise the sun, after all."

Zenith glanced to Rainbow, then looked back to Twilight. "You said he is going to invade the dragons?"

Twilight sighed. "Yes, he said the Dragon Lands would be his within a week."

Rainbow shook his head. "He always wanted to take over their land, they hold vast riches."

"Yes." Twilight agreed. "I have seen those riches in person. I was there for a while after all."

"Equestria would suffer innumerable losses during the opening invasion..." Zenith mused. She was no grand strategist, or general, but it didn't take a strategic genius to know that would be the case.

"That is probably why he has waited so long since the last war, to build up Equestria's military." Twilight said. "Since he failed to kill me, however, he may decide to wait, though I would not bet on it. The best course of action I can take is to kill him as soon as possible, though I need to recover and prepare first. Speaking of recovering and preparing, we can discuss this further in the morning." Twilight finished, then waited a second to see if any of them had any objections. Neither of them spoke up, and both of them lingered for a second before turning around and heading off to their sleeping bags.

As soon as they were settled in, Twilight pulled the light orb over to her and then absorbed it back into her horn, leaving them in darkness, the only light coming from her moon, as it's light seeped through the tent fabric.

Author's Note:

It took me five tries to come up with an opening to this chapter that I liked. But eventually I got it, though there are a few minor things that I dislike.

The plot thickens. Twilight be rocking the alicorn princess look now, now all we need is for her to hand the Inquisitor his flank on a star matter platter! I've been sitting on that joke for a week now...

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I know I did! Feel free to point out mistakes, errors, typos, etc, or just comment below! Did I handle the transition from last chapter to current chapter okay? That was one thing that bugged me, but I think I'm okay with how it turned out.

Comments

[ponybornhuman]

This has been an interesting read so far.While it has had a few plot holes and grammatical errors here and there it's a interesting story line. Also surprised it doesn't have many likes due to it being a pretty decent story and all. Chapter wait times are annoying but no one perfect and life gets in the way of all the good stuff these days.

[SC_Orion]

7419968

Sorry about the wait. I am having difficulty with writing chapter 9... It's coming along slowly, but it is coming along.