Chapter 3: A Little Patience
It took a long slow sip of its drink, eyes closed as it let the liquid sit in its mouth, before swallowing. It sighed in contentment, resting the ancient cup back on its saucer, the soft clatter of ceramics echoing away into the distance of the ether which surrounded them both. A vast emptiness lit and shaded by only itself.
It would not have to wait much longer, its patience paying out in full. It had been a long wait; many millennia had passed simply reaching this moment. It had been forced to play the long game, but soon its turn would begin.
All it took,
Was a little,
Patience.
Canterlot was quiet this morning, Twilight mused, as she stepped out of her parent’s house, taking a long breath of the fresh mountain air. It wasn’t very often she travelled to Canterlot, especially with a library of her own to take care of, but she always made sure to spend time with her parents before dealing with business.
Well, if time permitted.
This morning though, she had a mission from the princesses. Well, one facet of her mission was this morning. She just had to go to the train station to meet her friends, but it’s not like that wasn’t important!
After Discord’s chaotic rampage earlier that week; Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Pinkie Pie had returned to Ponyville to try and fix up some of the damage Discord had wrought on their home. Twilight stayed behind in Canterlot though, working with the Princesses to undo some of the damage in the city and to make sure her family was alright.
Her friends hadn’t been back in Ponyville for even two days before Twilight sent them letters asking them to come back to Canterlot on ‘Element business’. Their responses were quick, aside from Rainbow, and they had hopped on the first train to Canterlot earlier that morning. Spike decided to stay behind in Ponyville to, ‘hold down the fort’ as he put it.
He just relished a bit of alone time, Twilight had guessed, him and his comics.
Twilight smiled, walking quickly through the wide streets, a few business ponies giving her quick nods or tired smiles as she passed them by. It was early, even for Twilight, but she was in a good mood. Apparently, Celestia and Luna had made a discovery, one that they were keeping secret until they knew more. Twilight had guessed that it had something to do with Discord; so, when Celestia and Luna had exchanged glances, Twilight was cautiously happy to assume she was correct.
She was just giddy with excitement, and a little worry, after that little revelation, so much so that she’d been up later than she should have been, reading up on Chaos-Theory and Applications of Chaos Magic in the Royal Archives.
She had had every intention of staying through the night in the Library, so she could continue researching through the morning, but Luna had ushered her out, while not so subtly suggesting that Twilight go home and get some rest. After all, her friends would be in the city come morning. Twilight tried to argue, but had eventually relented against Luna’s sound reasoning, and went home for the evening.
It had been nice though, she decided. Nice to be home for a while, sleep in her old room, and see her parents’ tired faces after being awoken by their daughter’s early breakfast. They’d eaten together, Twilight talking about her time in Ponyville, her friends, though leaving out the Element’s recent showdown with Discord.
A rather nice morning, all things considered.
In the distance, the sun struggled to rise into view. Celestia had probably only been up a few minutes, judging by the lazy struggle the sun had with the horizon. She had a lot to do that morning, Celestia had told Twilight, before she could meet with the Elements to discuss why they were called back to Canterlot.
“This isn’t something they have to rush for, Twilight.” Celestia had said. “We’ll talk about this in the Crystal lounge after I’ve gone through the agenda for the morning.”
Twilight had, of course, urged her friends to hurry anyway. Can’t keep the princesses waiting, even if those same princesses ask you to slow down! Twilight was just too excited to go slowly! Well, excited might not have been the right feeling, trepidation mixed with excitement would work better to describe her mood.
She still wasn’t entirely used to being one of the fabled Elements, the ancient magic used to bring Harmony to the world and turn Discord to stone. Celestia herself had used the Elements, as had Luna! They’d been used on countless foes that threatened Equestria: Discord, Nightmare Moon, and even Lord Tirek!
It had been… oh, a year or so since Twilight and her friends had been given the mantle of Elements of Harmony, freeing Luna from Nightmare Moon in the process. Despite her time being the Element of Magic since then, she knew very little about what they did, where they came from, or even how they worked. She only knew that it was their bond of friendship that let them use their power.
But what about her unanswered questions? Where did they come from? How did they work? Who else had used them? Why were they so strong? Why six? Could one pony wield them? Could more than six wield them? Why did friendship bond them? How, why, when, who… too many questions!
Despite her attempts to find the answers to these questions, and many more, they continued to elude her. Still, it was ultimately a side project she could work on in between the various events that tended to crop up in Ponyville from time to time.
That and her lessons on magic and friendship, of course.
Speaking of which. Twilight thought, seeing the Friendship Express pull into the station up ahead. She sped up, trying to catch a glimpse of her friends as the regular commuters shuffled out of the train. It wasn’t long before she caught sight of Rainbow’s bright mane in the crowd.
“Rainbow! Over here!” She shouted, waving one of her hooves.
Rainbow’s head shot up, looking around for Twilight. After spotting her, Rainbow said something behind her before half-running, half-flying over to Twilight.
“What’s the sitch’, your letter said this was urgent!” Despite the bags under her eyes, she scanned the area around the two of them as the rest of their friends worked their way through the crowd to join them.
“The princesses are still keeping that a secret,” Twilight returned, pulling Rainbow into a hug, despite the mare’s protests. “we’ll be meeting with them later today to talk about it.”
Rainbow pushed herself out of the hug as the others approached the two of them. Twilight noted they looked tired, moreso than when they had left Canterlot earlier that week. Rainbow looked at Twilight, frowning.
“So, what you actually mean is we’re super early, and could have actually slept in?”
“Wait, what do you mean ‘early’?” Rarity said, stifling a yawn. “Twilight, please tell me you didn’t rush us up here this early for nothing. I missed at least four hours of sleep this morning, in fact we all did.” She pouted, leaning against her luggage, which was surprisingly minimal; only four cases.
Twilight smiled sheepishly, noting that only Pinkie was alert and smiling, shouting hello at all the too-tired ponies that passed by her; but, even she had bags under her eyes.
Applejack let out an exasperated sigh, sitting hard on the street. “At least tell me we can sleep at the castle. We’ve been fixin’ up the farm since Discord’s shenanigans, and I’m done tired.”
Twilight nodded, a pang of guilt hitting her as she realized her friends’ states. They all had bags under their eyes; Rainbow’s wings were unkempt, Applejack’s hat was backwards, Rarity’s hair looked like she had only spent an hour on it, Fluttershy was swaying on her hooves, and Pinkie wasn’t even hopping in place as she greeted the business ponies.
She really should have let them take the 9 o’clock train.
“I’m sorry,” She began, smiling apologetically. “I got a bit ahead of myself. The princesses wanted to let us in on something they’ve found.” She lowered her voice a bit, leaning towards her friends. “It involves the Elements, so it must be important!”
Rarity sighed away a yawn, while Fluttershy simply nodded and continued to blink tiredly.
Rainbow shrugged, yawning in unison with Rarity. “If there’s beds, I’ll be there.” The other Elements nodded in agreement, aside from Pinkie who was busy waving at passersby. Honestly, nothing could keep that mare down.
Twilight cleared her throat, looking up at the castle. “All right then, let’s get you all up to the castle, and off to bed then!” She really should have thought about her friends and listened to Celestia. She’d have to make it up to them, and that first step was to get them to bed!
First, she thought, pulling a leaf of paper from her saddlebags, she should make a note: this was, after all, another lesson in friendship. She scribbled quickly on the parchment as she began leading her friends through the early morning streets of Canterlot.
Be considerate of a friend’s sleep schedule…
Chief Diplomat Ruby walked stiffly down the hall of the Dogland Republic’s embassy, her face finely tuned to a passive glare, though her tail being ramrod straight betrayed her carefully maintained expression. She was angry.
First, she’d been turned away by the museum curator. The insufferable pony wouldn’t be high enough up the chain to tell her what she needed to know, though the blatant rejection had stung all the same.
Then, the Guards escorting the Human relics from the Equestrian Museum of Natural History to the Arcanum wouldn’t even look at her, despite her position.
And if that wasn’t enough, her formal request to meet with the Republic’s diplomatic liaison at the castle had been rejected within an hour of sending it out. She couldn’t even get near Canterlot Castle to barge into Crisp Paper’s office and demand the answers to her questions. She understood why she couldn’t do that, security was still on high alert from Discord’s return, but that didn’t sate her frustrated anger.
Why, after centuries of hording those relics to collect dust in some old museums and sit in admittedly well-maintained gardens, were the Equestrian Princesses moving them? She’d been requesting most of those artifacts, and other relics, since she’d been sent by Duke Tremolite to oversee the embassy. So far, she’d only managed to retrieve three minor trinkets in the 5 years she’d been stationed there: a paltry amount.
The ponies knew how much the Republic and the other Diamond Duchies revered those artifacts. Surely, they should tell the representatives of those concerned nations why the relics they hold so dear are being moved? And why, once again, they weren’t safe in the paws of good dogs that would take care of them?
Ruby swung the door to her office open, stepping inside and slamming the door closed with enough force enough to rattle the shelves of books, scrolls, and various ornaments. She stalked her way across the room to the low counter behind her desk. Fishing out a small cup and a bottle of rum, she quickly poured herself a glass and took a deep swig from the bottle.
“E-excuse me, Miss Ruby?”
Ruby choked on the rum, quickly corking the bottle and stuffing it back into the drawer it had come from before spinning around to the young pup she hadn’t noticed in the corner of her office. Her assistant, Garnet.
Garnet tugged at the collar of his shirt, looking uncomfortable. That was normal for him though, Ruby considered, taking the glass she had previously poured for herself and taking a seat at her desk. Ruby cleared her throat, waving garnet over.
Garnet took a quick breath before approaching her desk.
“I have those documents you wanted from Mr. Druzy, the ones about the artifacts the ponies had that y-you were looking into personally?” He cleared his throat, gingerly holding out a pawful of manila folders. Ruby snatched them from him, flicking them open.
“Thank you, Garnet. That will be all.” Ruby said, taking a sip of her rum as she flicked through the folders, scanning for any important relics that had been moved around in the past few days. Which was all of them, honestly, but there were some that she had had her eyes on for some time, so she wanted to keep track of as many as possible.
A lingering presence persisted in her office, and she slowly peered up from the documents to see Garnet standing in front of her desk, seemingly having an internal battle up and till she looked up.
Ruby sighed. “Was there something else, Garnet?” She offered, tapping one of her pads on the glass of rum.
Garnet nodded.
A moment passed.
“And… that would be?” Ruby offered impatiently.
He swallowed. “Ri-right. Sorry ma’am.”
Garnet pulled out a small piece of paper from his pocket, reading it as he spoke. “Chief Diplomat Ruby of the Dogland Republic, representative in standing for Duke Tremolite of the Dogland Republic, Second Seat on the Council of the Diamond Duchies. You are hereby cordially requested to a-attend a statement made by the Diarchs; Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, tomorrow evening at 6 PM. This will be regarding the state of affairs of Equestria and the current plans for recovery and perseverance in these trying times.”
Garnet’s paw clenched the paper as he looked back to Ruby. “A herald came while you were out, so I wrote it down for you, ma’am.” He gingerly placed the slightly crinkled piece of parchment on her desk, before taking an interest in the carpet.
Ruby nodded, rubbing her brow and thinking back to the rum sitting behind her in the drawer. Another press conference. Oh joy.
“Thank you, Garnet. Please send a message to Crisp Paper that I will be in attendance.” She said, before pausing. “Also add a note that I would like to talk with her about the current going-ons with the Human artifacts they’re moving.”
“O-of course ma’am. Right away!” Garnet gave a curt bow before shuffling his way out of her office to prepare the message. As soon as he had closed the door, Ruby downed the rum in her glass.
Garnet was a good dog; an exceptional clerk and one of the best assistants she’d ever had. He just happened to have the spine of a rubber chicken.
Picking up one of the folders Garnet had brought, Ruby leafed through it, her eyes lingering on various relics. The petrified remains of a Human throne, a near complete set of Human dice, several sculptures of Humans, among other items of rarity and value. Her eyes lingered briefly upon the Revered Orb, one of the artifacts most desired by the Dogland Republic, if not all of dog kind.
She flipped through a few more pages, a perplexed expression slowly growing on her face. She flipped through a few more pages in the other folders, searching for a particular artifact. She double and triple checked the papers. It wasn’t listed. Garnet was nothing if not thorough, so these documents had to contain the records of all the Human artifacts Equestria had their grubby little paws on.
Hooves, Ruby corrected. In their grubby little hooves.
Either way, one was missing. The most well-preserved statue of a Human, named Humanity. She scratched her head, pulling up the image of the statue in the garden in her mind. Why wasn’t it listed?
Ruby went for another swig of her rum, only to be met with her emptied glass. She grumbled under her breath, but her mood had turned. One missing document, the key to the answers she sought.
She smiled, sitting back in her chair. Now, she thought, where did you go?
Celestia absent mindedly stirred her coffee with her magic, her attention turned to a stack of documents that needed the attention more than the much-needed drink. It was her fourth cup of coffee that day, and she should probably be drinking it.
The clock on the wall ticked on, counting the seconds as they passed.
She continued to stare at the form, re-reading the same line for the umpteenth time in a row, before resigning defeat with a quiet sigh. She sat back in the heavily cushioned chair, levitating the spoon out of her coffee and setting it aside before she took a quick drink of the, apparently, now cold beverage.
She sighed again.
She took another sip, checking the clock. Quarter to two. She’d be meeting with the Elements within the next hour. Though she had intended to talk with them earlier in the morning, a certain student of hers hadn’t listened to reason and decided to get them on the train before the crack of dawn. It was quite the surprise to have Twilight deliver a friendship lesson letter in person though, despite the time her mistake cost them both.
The elements were asleep in their designated hall of the castle now, out like a light since they arrived much earlier that morning. Celestia had briefly admonished Twilight for not heeding her earlier warning, but what’s done is done and at least she learned something important from her mistake.
Celestia had sent her to bed as soon as she was sure Twilight had understood the lesson, with little argument from Twilight.
Unfortunately, for the Princess, this meant that she was drawn into a few extra hours of her royal duties as opposed to bringing the elements up to speed on what they had discovered just a few nights ago. Mostly confirming her speech for the morrow’s statement of current affairs, as well as confirming minor budgets going forward. Nothing interesting, and she had been having difficulty getting through the bland forms and documents since she’d begun working through them.
She also took the time to approve Gilded Hammer’s new sculpture, both to ease the poor stallion’s heart and replace the Human statue. It would be hard to keep a cover story once the Diamond Duchies, and the ever-persistent Dogland Republic, caught wind that the various Human artifacts Equestria had collected over the years were being moved.
Celestia took another sip of coffee.
Of course, there was still the relief efforts around Equestria; the damages caused by Discord’s escapades weren’t just going to disappear like his creations. From the rivers turned to sludge in Manehatten, to Elksberry’s numerous new sinkholes. He did a lot of damage all over Equestria in a short amount of time.
Though, it wasn’t as bad as the last time he was free… Celestia considered, taking another sip of coffee. She was right though; the damages were nothing compared to what Discord had done to the world during his first rampage.
An entire lake to the northwest, containing more freshwater than had ever been collected in one place, was thrown into space due to Discord’s lack of care towards gravity. The vast swaths of forest further west of Equestria turned into an only recently hospitable desert because Discord wanted a place to get a tan. Not to mention one of the planets in the sky vanishing without a trace because he didn’t like how it was looking at him.
An unvoluntary shiver ran along Celestia’s spine. Yes, he could have been much worse; it wasn’t a matter of worry at the moment though. He was contained, and their focus should be on recovery. Celestia took another sip of her cold coffee.
The clock on the wall chimed, and she glanced up at it. Two o’clock. Celestia blinked. She’d been spacing out, it seemed. She set her coffee down, neatly stacking the various documents and papers she’d been attempting to read into the ‘To Do’ bin. She would have to get to them later.
The Princess took a moment to collect herself, adjusting her posture and expression into the ever-present air of regal grace she had slowly honed over the past thousand years. It was important to keep face, even if she was merely moving about within the castle. It had become expected of her over the centuries to maintain such a composure of unwavering regality that she could almost do it without thinking.
Almost.
She opened the doors, acknowledging the bows of the Solar guards with a brief nod. She made her way down the hall, various castle staff stopping to bow, or bowing as quickly as possible. It all depended on how long they’d worked there, how important their tasks were, or just how much time they’d spent in her or Luna’s presence.
Celestia would have, long ago, requested that nopony bow to her, insisted that she did this for them, not the other way around, but over time she grew to learn how much fielty was too much for her, and how little her ponies expected to give to her. It was a wide margin, one too wide in the eyes of other rulers who often criticized her, but it was one that had worked well for her over the millennia.
It wasn’t a long walk to the Crystal Lounge, not even half the length of the castle, but it did allow Celestia to wake up a little bit. She didn’t need the six in there to worry about her, after all.
The guards at the door bowed before opening the doors to the lounge itself, Celestia stepping inside. Already inside were the elements; Twilight was going through the notes she must have made last night in the Royal Archives, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were enjoying some treats from the kitchen, Applejack and Fluttershy were eating an actual lunch, while Rarity was adjusting herself in a mirror with a brush and comb.
Celestia smiled kindly as they noticed her enter the room. “I’m glad to see you’re all rested, I hope your rooms were comfortable.”
Pinkie was the first to speak, holding a cupcake out to Celestia and proceeding to bounce in place.
“Oh, it was FANTASTIC! The bed was so comfy, and so big, it was like sleeping on a cloud! Well maybe not a cloud, those are wet, and I can’t do that. At least not without Twilight’s help, but even then, the bed I had was SOOOOOO much more comfortable, so I think I really get the expression now even though clouds aren’t very comfy, well they are, but the bed was MORE comfortable than any-“
“I am glad you enjoyed your room Pinkie,” Celestia interrupted, accepting the cupcake from the energetic mare and sitting at the small table in the room. “I thought you might enjoy the bed.” Pinkie’s mouth clamped shut and she nodded vigorously, still smiling. The girls and Celestia chuckled before Rarity spoke up.
“The rooms are fantastic; I think we can agree on that.” She nodded, the others giving quick affirmatives and nodding. “But Twilight said this was important-”
“Super important,” Dash interrupted. “enough to get us out of bed and on a train at three in the morning to get here at five in the morning!” She cast a leery glance at Twilight, who rubbed her foreleg bashfully.
Dash gave a long sigh, reeling in her attitude somewhat. “Alright, I got to sleep on the super-bed, so I guess we’re fine.” Twilight stepped over and gave Dash a quick hug. Dash smirked, returning the hug. “Yeah yeah, just know I’ll still be getting back at you for this.”
The two of them separated, Twilight returning Dash’s leery gaze. “Wait, I thought you said we were fine?”
Applajack cleared her throat, looking at the princess and pulling Rainbow and Twilight back on track. “So, uh, anyway. You called us here on ‘Element Business’, sooo…” She trailed off as the others waited for her to finish. “What do ya need us for?” She finished.
The Princess nodded, taking a bite of the cupcake she had been given. She really needed the sugar after all.
“Firstly,” Celestia said after the bite. “how much do all of you know about Humans?”
Twilight flicked through her notes, muttering to herself about studying the wrong thing. Rarity and Rainbow simply shrugged. Surprisingly, Fluttershy was the first to speak.
“Well, they were around along time ago, but aren’t anymore. Right?” She said, barely meeting Celestia’s gaze as she finished. Celestia nodded and Fluttershy let out a small breath she’d been holding.
“They disappeared long before Luna or I were born. In fact, they were gone before even the Elks came and went, some ten thousand years ago.” She took another bit of cupcake, levitating herself some tea from the cart. “They’re one of our world’s greatest mysteries. We have a scattering of artifacts left over from their era, but nothing substantial.”
Twilight raised her hoof, so Celestia paused to let her student speak.
“Right, Starswirl mentioned them in his eleventh thesis. He mentioned that they were creatures of such high magical prowess that even their most simple spells would be impossible for anypony today to cast. He also theorized that they had transcended physical reality using their most powerful spells, leaving the world to us.”
Celestia nodded, sipping her tea. Much better than cold coffee. “That is what Starswirld wrote, but even back when he wrote about them, nopony knew much. Most of his theories are based on conjecture and old stories told around fires. We know very little about them, aside from how they looked.”
Celestia waited, taking another bite of pastry. Applejack took the opportunity to say something.
“Accordin’ to some stories, they near destroyed the world too.” She scratched under her hat with a hoof. “They don’t sound like good folk to me, if that’s true.”
Celestia nodded. “There are legends of them as destroyers of the world, sealed away by the ancient Elks. Other myths tell how they were masters of the world, ruling with an iron hoof over the globe. Others say they were aliens that visited us long before written history.” She set down her teacup. “But there is simply no way to know for certain, beyond any reasonable doubt anyway.”
Twilight was staring at her, Celestia noted. She had certainly caught on to what she had been saying, as had Rarity and Fluttershy. She smiled, no small amount of pride filling her grin.
“At least, not until a few nights ago, that is.” She finished, deciding to take a somewhat dramatic sip of her tea.
“You’re kidding? Right? You’re serious!” Twilight said, already pulling out a parchment and scratching furiously at it with a feather pen. Her friends leaned back slightly, aside from Pinkie, who took a large bite of popcorn she had procured from somewhere.
“It has to be something huge, right? Is it a way to translate what letters we’ve found on some of the artifacts in the Museum of Natural History? Oooh, did we finally find some ruins? Or maybe a firsthand account! Did you finally let Airtrap explore that lump of copper at the bottom of the Manehatten bay? Or maybe this has to do with that recent archeological survey near Appleloosa” She squeaked, shocking her out of her spree of excitement, sheepishly shrinking back into her seat.
“Sorry… this is exciting…” She trailed off, writing her thoughts onto the parchment instead. Celestia chuckled at her student’s outburst; it was very much like Twilight to get excited over the possibility of knowing brand new things.
So, Celestia raised a hoof to Twilight. “No need to apologize, my student. It is an exciting prospect.” She gave the rest of them a small smile. “Of course, this matter is more than an academic curiosity. Allow me to fill you in on what has happened.”
She filled them in on what happened the night Gilded Hammer discovered, quite accidentally, the Human locked inside the statue. There were mixed reactions from the six ponies. Applejack and Rainbow Dash seemed curious, but ultimately more caught up with Twilight’s glee at the news. Fluttershy looked sad, muttering under her breath small ‘ooh’s and ‘poor guy’s to hearing that the Human had been trapped in stone this whole time. Rarity looked concerned, clearly trying to think ahead to where Celestia was going with this information.
Pinkie Pie had “borrowed” one of Twilight’s pieces of paper and an extra quill and was currently writing an exhaustive list. Celestia could guess as to what it was about, but she left Pinkie Pie to her machinations.
Twilight was still talking, however.
“I’ve seen that statue, in the garden, to think that there was a living, breathing, well not so much breathing as much as suspended, but either way, a living, suspended Human right there, under my nose all that time, we wouldn’t have ever known about him if..” She continued her run-on sentence, much to Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s continued amusement.
Rarity cleared her throat, Twilight once again sinking into her chair as she became aware that she was rambling. Rarity gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry dear, but we were called here on ‘Element Business’.” She smiled at Celestia, again apologetically. “So, Princess, why do you need us here exactly?”
Celestia smiled in return. “An excellent point, Rarity.” Rarity blushed, and Celestia smiled inwardly. “It is mine and Luna’s understanding that when we release this Human from his binds, there could be a powerful implosion of Chaos Magic. Only the Elements could be able to contain such a burst.” She finished.
“Wait,” Started Twilight, again. “You’re going to release it?”
Celestia simply nodded. “Luna and I discussed this at length and have decided that to leave this creature suspended would be far too cruel. That only leaves the option of freeing him,” She paused, taking a sip of tea before finishing. “safely, of course.”
Crescent Moon, Luna’s secondary Night Mage, flattened out a roll of parchment, setting a weight at the corner as he began studying the magic circle Luna had devised. At his side was Misty Glen, Celestia’s primary Solar Mage. She had already rolled out the other three scrolls, each with another level of the magic circle they would need to inscribe within the Canterlot Arcanum’s main channeling chamber.
“The Solar guards are unloading the silver wire now,” Misty chimed. “and will be back with the copper by the time we’re ready to begin the second layer.” She looked at the design for the foundation layer Crescent was studying. “We should be ready to inscribe the third layer’s gold by tomorrow afternoon, if you’ll be awake that is.” She added, poking him in the ribs.
His eye twitched slightly, and he gave her a sideways glance. “Are you accounting for your antics, or will we be working on the base layer for the next two days?”
Misty snorted, walking over to the window overlooking the channeling room. A dark basalt chamber, with small pink crystals embedded into the walls for light. The basalt would be able to absorb any access energies from the circle, and the crystal lights wouldn’t interfere with the casting. There was a similar, if smaller, chamber on the other side of the Arcanum, following the same design, though it sat unused currently.
Down below, in the chamber, three Solar Guards were finishing up with their task of unloading the last boxes of silver wire the mages would need for the foundation of Luna’s circle. The silver would need to be slowly secured to the floor with fusion spells into the shape required for the spell. If they worked at a good pace, the binding spell would leave the silver in position even after the spell had faded.
Crescent grumbled under his breath, leaning over the blueprints as he stared at another part of the detailing. Misty returned to the table; eyebrow raised in a silent question. Crescent glanced at her before answering her. “I was wondering when our third would be arriving. She’s already late as it is, and we only have the three of us available to work on this.”
Misty shrugged. “She’ll get here when she gets here.” Misty dismissed, smirking. “Are you upset that you were pulled from the relief effort?”
The stallion gave her a long, dry look, clearly tired of being awake, and maybe of her attempts to raise his spirits. “I had almost left for Fillydelphia when I was pulled back to the throne room for this project. You were halfway to Manehatten, right? I’m more upset over not sleeping than not travelling.”
Misty snickered, patting him on the back. “I’ll ask one of the guards to get you some coffee.”
He looked at her a moment, before nodded and holding his head in his hooves. “Yes, that would be nice. Thank you.”
Misty smiled, though he wasn’t looking, and stepped out of the room, leaving Crescent alone with the diagrams. It was a huge circle, one that would normally be undertaken by a full team of ponies that were currently out and around Equestria trying to undo the damage Discord’s antics had wrought: fields of wheat left in a disarray of chocolate mush, pockets of land left empty as Discord’s creations vanished, an entire block of Fillydelphia simply missing. So many problems, and now they were shorthooved here at the Arcanum for this side project.
He was the last remaining expert on magic circles in Canterlot, so he had been pulled out of his assignment to Fillydelphia, as he was leaving, to work on this. He would have been alone if Celestia hadn’t pulled Misty Glen from the train she had been on, half-way to Manehatten.
Misty was a rather well-rounded mage, well suited for her role as head of the Solar Mages. She’d been trying to keep his spirits up since they had received the blueprints from Luna, but even her boundless kindness couldn’t convince him that they’d be able to complete even the base layer by tomorrow afternoon.
It was feasible, at least, to finish within the week. Their third, Moonstone, was apparently one of the best magic circle crafters before retiring from the Lunar Mages to teach at the Arcanum several years ago, and the fact that she was brought in on this project would go a long way, if she was as good as Princess Celestia said she was.
Misty returned with three mugs held in her magic, moving one over to sit in front of Crescent’s dead stare. Blinking, he accepted the coffee.
“Thank you.” He said, moving a magnifying glass over to get a closer look at the second layer’s copper attunement circles. The base layer was there to channel the magic power between the copper circles and the third layer’s golden rune arrays. The attunement circles would be where the Elements of Harmony would be channeled into the spell and, hopefully, absorb whatever Chaos Magic came from the Human.
Misty approached the table once again, sipping at her coffee. “So,” She started. “how well designed are Luna’s circles?” She flattened out the third layer’s designs, giving them a curious glance as Crescent took a quick drink of coffee.
“Well, they’re ridiculously elegant in their aesthetics, and functionally this will be one of the finest magic circles I’ve had the privilege of working with.” He pointed to a section of the second layer with his magnifying glass, one of the attunement circles. “These alone will take a several hours each since they’re designed to work directly with the Elements of Harmony. They are very intricate.” He sighed, setting down the magnifier and rubbing the tiredness from his eyes.
“The golden runes will take the longest by far, each part of the silver ring will have to be inscribed with the right spells, and the copper circles will need their own separate set of runes inlaid as well. Then the top layer’s lapis dust will need to be imbued into the entirety of the circle, to keep the magic from overflowing into the air and detonating when the spell actualizes.” He took another long sip of coffee before finishing his statement.
“With the three of us, I’d estimate that we’ll be done in a week.”
Misty frowned, looking at the fourth diagram. “Certainly, with Moonstone’s help we could finish in under half the time.” She raised a brow at Crescent. “Celestia holds her in high regard, as do I.”
Crescent shrugged. “A well-made circle takes time, Misty. If we each work perfectly, we could maybe finish a few hours early, but we can’t expect-”
The door to the observation room opened before he finished, two ponies stepping in, laughing at something said in the hall. One was an older mare, dark gray fur and a bright yellow mane informing Crescent that this pony must be Moonstone. The other was a younger mare, with purple fur, and a purple mane with pink highlights. He blinked in recognition. That was Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic.
They were still laughing when Misty stepped up to Moonstone, and surprised Moonstone with a hug. Moonstone’s surprise quickly turned to laughter and she returned the embrace.
“Oh it is good to see you, dear!” Moonstone said, stepping away from the embrace.
“Its great to see you as well, Mrs. Moonstone!” Misty leaned in, whispering loudly. “We could really use your help.”
The two of them chuckled, Crescent raising a brow, sipping at his coffee. They apparently knew each other, so that explained why Misty was so keen to think she’d be instrumental to their project.
Moonstone gestured to Twilight Sparkle. “This is Twilight, she volunteered to help us out with this little circle.”
While Misty and Twilight exchanged pleasantries, Crescent was violently coughing up his coffee, quickly turning away from the diagrams to keep them safe from the spraying coffee.
Little?!
One of the most advanced magic circles designed in the modern age, by Princess Luna herself, and Moonstone would call it little? He was still having a coughing fit when Misty came up beside him, patting him on the back.
“You alright there Crescent? Did the diagrams startle you or something?”
Crescent glared up at her through teary eyes as he heard the other two mares in the room giggle. “No.” He managed. “I’m-” He had another surge of coughs, forcing him to stop talking for a moment.
“I’m fine.” He said, clearing his throat as he stood up straight. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Moonstone, but did you call this project little?”
Moonstone nodded. “You must be Crescent Moon, it’s a pleasure to meet such a talented Lunar Mage.” She gave a small smile. “Indigo is in good hands with a pony like you as his second.”
Crescent closed his mouth. Indigo was, of course, the primary Lunar Mage under Princess Luna. But Moonstone had changed the subject. “I’m sure he is pleased with my work thus far, but-”
“Then we are in good hooves.” She interjected with a smile. Crescent forced a small smile, recognizing that the older mage wasn’t about to let him question her opinion on the circle. She continued with a knowing nod, gesturing to the Element of Magic. “This is Twilight Sparkle, one of my pupils from a few years back. She has volunteered to help us out with this project since we are so shorthooved.”
Crescent nodded, noting that she hadn’t called the project little. Small victories. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Twilight Sparkle. I look forward to working with the Element of Magic herself.” He gave her a quick bow of his head.
Twilight giggled sheepishly. “Its nothing really, happy to help.” Her attention was quickly drawn to the table with the diagrams laid out. She perked up, making her way over to the parchment. “Oh! Are these Princess Luna’s circles?”
Misty and Moonstone followed her to the table, Crescent simply turned back to the diagrams, letting them take a look.
Moonstone lifted one of the parchments, letting out a low whistle. “Princess Luna has outdone herself; these are beautiful!” Twilight merely nodded, taking the magnifying glass from the table and taking a closer look at the intricacies of the magic circle’s layers.
Crescent cleared his throat, pointing at the foundation of the magic circle. “This is where we will begin.” Twilight took a moment to finish looking at the third layer, before turning her attention to Crescent. Moonstone and Misty waited did so as well, letting Crescent take the lead.
“So,” He said. “we’ll want to begin binding the silver within the hour, so we’ll divide it into sections, so the binding spell creates the bonds properly…”
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This dead?
11337389
Nah, just not writing much mlp these days. It'll continue eventually.
11340307
Oh, I was asking because this is an interesting premise ^^