> Chase the Wind
>  by Witching Hour
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Pt. 1 - The Ordinary World of Witching Hour & Twilight Sparkle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Tricks! You need to just sit down, sweetie! Ponyville’s still ten minutes away!” Witch says with a touch of irritation. The train ride to Ponyville was only a half-hour from Canterlot, but Witch is convinced Rusty had slipped extra sugar into Tricks’ pancakes and juice because the colt had been virtually bouncing off the walls the entire trip. 

“Ponyville Station, five minutes!” the conductor calls out, making Tricks give his guardian a smug look.

“The conductor just said it was only five minutes, Witch Doctor!” he retorts as he hops up to the seat next to Witch only to jump back down and press his face to the window. Witch sighs, knocking her glasses askew as she presses her hooves to her face.

“Tricks… Please… Dancing about will not make the train arrive any sooner…” Witch replies, sighing heavily. “Why don’t you focus on practicing your levitation some more?”

“Can’t!” Tricks responds, bouncing up again, grinning. “Too excited! Can’t focus! Tell me about Princess Twilight’s friend again!”

Witch smiles slightly, resigning herself, again, to Tricks being overly rambunctious. “Well… The princess and I haven’t talked much about her, but I know that Miss Fluttershy is fond of animals, and she watches over some of their other friends’ younger sisters from time to time.”

“Do you think they’ll visit Miss Fluttershy while I’m there?” he asks eagerly, making Witch chuckle.

“I’m not sure, Tricks. That’s up to their sisters,” Witch answers, “but they’ll be in school with you, so you’ll be able to see them plenty during our stay.”

Tricks smiles happily and opens his mouth, no doubt to ask another question, when the train makes a slight lurch as the brakes are applied, starting to slow the locomotive. With a high pitched squeal of joy, Tricks immediately presses his face back to the window, looking at the passing buildings as he practically vibrates from excitement.

Witch chuckles slightly to herself as she puts the few books she’d carried on with her back in her bag. Tricks ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s over the different storefronts that come into view, practically bouncing when he sees one that looks as though the designer had a hankering for frosting at the time of making it. Monkey had been right when she said that if Tricks got excited enough, he might take flight.

Finally, the train stops, and Tricks immediately heads for the door. If he’d been a bit bigger, he might’ve knocked a few ponies over in his over-eager haste. Since moving in with her and Monkey, he’d hit a growth-spurt, his legs lengthening and his cheeks losing their youthful roundness. He’s easily the same size as Piano Treble now, though notably lacking the diminutive Sound Lab Director’s muscle tone and fierce persona.

“Tricks! Slow down!” Witch grabs their bags with her magic and chases after him, shooting apologetic glances at their fellow travelers. Finally through the crowd heading for the doors, Witch catches up with Tricks on the edge of the platform. The colt looks around, head whipping from side to side in hopes of sighting Princess Twilight and her friends. Chuckling, she perches his saddlebag atop his back, making him stop long enough to put it on properly. This respite gives Witch the time she needs to spot Twilight standing at the edge of the platform with a small yellow mare with her face half-hidden behind a pink mane. 

“Are they here yet? I can’t see!” Witch almost misses the high-pitched question in her correspondent’s direction over the noise of those either boarding or disembarking. Her brief wondering at who would’ve asked that is answered when, over the heads of the other ponies, a wobbling tower of foals peeks up. She couldn’t see more than the pink and lavender mane of a unicorn foal but, atop the unicorn, an orange pegasus filly half-hovers/half-stands, her hoof shading her eyes and pushing back her wild orchid-colored mane.

Witch can’t help smiling at the antics, and admittedly, she feels some relief that the foals Twilight had mentioned are there to meet them as well. While Tricks may still go a mile a minute the whole time, at least there would be foals to keep him occupied. “C’mon Tricks… They’re over here… Seems Princess Twilight brought along those foals she mentioned.” Before she gets the last three words out, Tricks is already running in the direction of the teetering tower of fillies, his suitcase forgotten beside Witch.

Shaking her head and smiling, Witch takes both the suitcases up in her magic and pulls them along with her as she winds her way through the milling crowd of ponies. Rearing to her hind legs briefly, Witch waves towards Twilight. “Incoming!” she calls out, and none too soon, as Tricks makes a small yelp of surprise and the pony tower suddenly collapses with feminine shouts of dismay. The pegasus manages to hover briefly before her laughing fit makes her fall atop what is undoubtedly a hidden pile of tangled foals.

Witch finally makes it out of the mass of ponies to see that her assumption is correct. The trio of fillies are certainly an odd mix, but she couldn’t really say anything about their choice in friends, as most of her own are her coworkers or patients.

“Witching Hour! I hope your trip didn’t have any problems!” Twilight greets enthusiastically, approaching her while the yellow mare - that Witch can now see she’s a very slight pegasus, even by pegasus standards - helps the foals right themselves.

“Aside from someone slipping my ward too much sugar at breakfast, everything’s gone as planned so far, your highness,” Witch replies, executing a quick bow. Rising, she raises an eyebrow at the awkward and shy expression this brings to Twilight’s face.

“Um… if you don’t mind? Just call me Twilight… It’s what everypony around here calls me… I’m not so much with the formalities…” she says, her eyes averted in a somewhat nervous expression. 

“Then I’ll tell you the same thing I told my landlord,” Witch concedes, smiling in an attempt to soothe her awkward friend.. “Call me Witch or Witchy… Or Doc, if you prefer…”

“Hey! You don’t have a cutie mark!”

Witch goes stock still and blanches as one of the fillies calls attention to one of the many things she’d worried about as regards Tricks’ reception amongst the foals here. He’d had enough trouble back in Canterlot… He didn’t need it here too! However, before she could open her mouth to intervene, the three all line up and proudly show that they, too, had no cutie marks. “We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” the small red-maned yellow earth pony filly announces before the trio form a pyramid with the orange pegasus filly back on top, breaking into a simultaneous cheer. 

Letting out a long, shaky breath, Witch relaxes as the yellow pegasus helps Tricks to his hooves. She and Twilight take the few steps to join the foals and the small mare that Witch assumes is the princess’ friend, Fluttershy. Tricks quickly attaches himself to Witch’s side, behaving oddly shy or scared of the girls’ antics. Smiling affectionately at her ward, Witch turns slightly so the colt would have to face their hostess. “Tricks, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle… She’s the friend I’ve been writing to about my research. Twilight, this is Trick Step, a royal ward that Princess Luna put in my care.”

Twilight gives Witch a sharp look, letting Witch know she had caught the meaning of being a royal ward, and also that she’d be getting asked a lot of questions about it before they could get to their research. Shaking her head, obviously filing that away for later, Twilight smiles brightly at Tricks. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Trick Step. You can call me Twilight like your guardian does…” she says. Witch feels more than sees Tricks relax enough to not be glued to her side as Twilight steps to stand next to her friend and the fillies. “This is my dear friend Fluttershy, and these three are sisters to three of my other friends; Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. You met Sweetie Belle’s sister, Rarity, at the Grand Galloping Ball.” Each of the fillies nod, smile or jump respectively as they’re named, making Witch cover her laughter.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” Witch says, smiling genially at the gathered ponies. The fillies all have face-splitting grins on, while a gentle murmur comes from the mare’s direction.

Twilight chuckles slightly at her friend’s shyness. “Fluttershy’s happy to meet you too. We should get going though! It’s not a short walk to Fluttershy’s cottage…”

“Can we take Trick Step to see our clubhouse?!” the unicorn filly, Sweetie Belle, asks Fluttershy as they step off the platform and start walking through the town.

“Let’s get him settled in first, shall we?” the shy pegasus replies, her voice barely audible from Witch and Twilight’s position at the back of the procession. “Then we’ll see if he wants to go play with you,” she adds, staving off the beginnings of disappointed pouting from the three fillies.

“He’ll be fine, Doctor,” Twilight says giving Witch a sidelong smile. “Fluttershy’ll keep the girls in line and Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom will no doubt keep him busy and having fun…” 

Witch sighs. “I’m too transparent for my own good, aren’t I?” she asks drily. The three girls walk around Tricks and Fluttershy, circling and talking excitedly about their club and everything they’d done recently in their joint efforts to get their cutie marks. Tricks still sticks close to Fluttershy, but Witch can see him smiling and laughing some at their stories.

“Not in a bad way… With a Royal Ward, there’s always something to be concerned about, I’m sure.” 

Twilight’s response makes Witch sigh, shaking her head with self-deprecating thoughts. “I’m just glad he’s starting to explore and find things that actually interest him instead of constantly trying to do things to win approval from… adult authority figures…”

“We can talk more about that later,” Twilight says firmly, but with an undercurrent of understanding, and Witch nods. When one anecdote of the filly trio drifts back to the bookish pair, she snorts in amusement and looks at Twilight.

“Do they ever do things that they’re actually interested in?” she asks quietly, covering her mouth with a hoof to smother her amusement.

“They came close once…” Twilight responds, grinning at Witch with violet eyes bright with mirth. “There was this talent show that the teacher was putting on…”





“Spike! I’m back!”

Entering the Golden Oak Library, Witch smiles at the aroma of home cooking filling the air, the contrast between fresh ingredients and books reminding her of times spent in her father’s workshop. Almost immediately, a small purple dragon with a green belly and spines wearing a chef’s hat comes into the main library area from a side door, the aroma intensifying with the open door to the kitchen.

“Hey Twilight!” the dragon greets cheerfully, turning his green eyes on Witch. “You must be Witching Hour! Nice to meet you! I’m Spike, Twilight’s faithful assistant!”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well,” Witch replies.

“Spike? Can you take Witchy’s suitcase up to the spare room while we get the research area set up?” Twilight requests as she starts up the stairs to a lofted area that’s in the same sort of chaotic order that Witch had seen in Vellum Trace’s office space. 

“Sure thing!” Spike turns back to Witch, and looks between her two suitcases and saddlebag with no small amount of confusion. Helpfully, Witch separates the suitcase that carried her research books and supplies, and levitates the other suitcase and her saddlebag over to the waiting dragonet. With one in each clawed hand, Spike scampers up the stairs, and goes to a door further up before disappearing through it.

Witch pulls her other suitcase with her up to the lofted study, watching in amusement as Twilight desperately tries to put things away and clean up. “Sorry about the mess. I was hoping to get a head-start on the research but nothing -”

“None of your books had anything substantial, or if they did, it was based on assumptions that were poorly founded?” Witch suggests, still smiling. Twilight stops mid-cleaning frenzy and stares at Witch in surprise before laughing sheepishly.

“I suppose you already ran into this problem, didn’t you?” she asks, gaining a sympathetic nod from Witch.

“Exactly. I brought all the books Princess Luna gave me, along with my notes on how to translate Arabic and Coptic without losing context,” Witch replies, opening her suitcase to reveal said books.

Twilight quickly levitates a pile of books off the desk to make room for the new additions, allowing Witch to place them all there. “How’d you learn to translate Coptic?” she asks eagerly.

“My brother and his marefriend are constantly roaming about in foreign countries, exploring and the like…” Witch smiles slightly, her eyes glittering with mirth. “You could say they’re what would happen if Daring Do had a partner with useful knowledge of plant life…”

Twilight’s violet eyes go wide with eager curiosity. “So they’re constantly in and out of tombs and such?”

“Pretty much… Leaf wouldn’t tell me a whole lot about what he does on his trips with Double Dee, but…” Witch trails off with a shrug. “Leaf taught me Arabic, and Dee helped with the Coptic…” The unicorn pulls a notebook from the pile and floats it over to Twilight, who takes it and rapturously starts reading. “There’s… one other thing I should let you know about…”

At Witch’s hesitant tone, Twilight looks up, worried. Instead of trying to explain, Witch pulls the pink crystal’s case from her luggage, holding it up for the princess to see with her hooves instead of magic. “This crystal was allowing pegasi to use magic… and for some reason, when it was out of this case, I wanted nothing more than to smash it to bits. Somehow, it’s connected to my bracelets, and to Equus.”

“Wait… Did they call themselves the Shadowbolts?” Twilight asks, pulling her gaze from the crystal to look at Witch.

“That’s what Princess Luna said… I didn’t hear it myself…” Witch responds tentatively.

Twilight presses her hoof to the bridge of her nose with a slight groan. “Looks like this project is getting more and more complex…” she replies, sighing. “Let’s eat dinner first and figure out what we both already know about the situation…”

“Sounds like a good plan…” Witch agrees.

“I’ll take notes,” they add in unison. Shocked, they stare at each other for a long moment before they laugh. 

“How about we add each other’s information into our own notes?” Twilight suggests, smiling broadly.

“Agreed.”

> Pt. 2 - A Doctor's Reluctance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Witch sighs heavily, looking up from the map to try focusing on where they were, her eyes greeted by a seemingly endless sea of sandy dunes. 

“I suppose asking if we’re there yet has just been answered…” Twilight comments drily beside her.

“At least we don’t have to try finding it from the ground like Leaf and Dee did…” Witch replies. “Wait… That’s the last way-station!” She points to a dune that seems like the rest but for the rising moon casting lengthy shadows, revealing the stone structure buried in sand. “Hang port seventy degrees. Shouldn’t be more than another two hours now!” she adds excitedly. 

With the end of their current trip in proverbial sight, both grin at each other as Twilight turns the mini-zeppelin to the left, marking the turn by the stars dotting the night sky. “I don’t know how your brother and his marefriend found this place by hoof… The daytime was terrible…” Twilight responds, locking the wheel in place before turning back to Witch.

Witch shrugs. “It is part of their job… Did you see how many places Dee noted on the map about possible tombs and places to come back to?” She holds up the map in further illustration of this. “I don’t even want to think about how long this trip would take if you hadn’t been able to get this airship from the Cloudsdale Air Guard…”

“I doubt I would’ve gotten it at all if you hadn’t known Lieutenant Rapidstrike through Monkey Wrench…” Twilight smiles sheepishly. “Besides, I’m still having trouble using these, to be honest…” she adds, her wings fluttering briefly against her back.

“And there’s no way I’d be able to come along unless we went by hoof ourselves…” Witch points out, smiling reassuringly. “And after what I heard from Leaf? We both wanna see this place…” Twilight smiles back at her, grateful for her companion’s understanding.

Sighing, Witch passes the map over to Twilight and pulls out her notebook, grateful for their insulated cabin aboard the Air Guard Ship Cirrus. Desert climes were known for their harsh temperature variations. During the day, the airship lost significant altitude, almost downing them before they figured out how to keep the air inside the balloon hotter than the sweltering heat outside.

Still, this whole matter of the prophecy bothers her. Flipping back several pages, she reads over the copy of the ancient engraving, and the translation she remembered Luna speaking. Sighing again, she flips to the next page, eyeing her written thoughts on the application of the words. Her understanding is hampered by the phrasing. If, in fact, she represents “Hope” as she and Princess Luna believe, then what or whom represented Life that she could’ve come from?

The ship rocks suddenly, sending their bags toppling towards the back of the cabin. “Whoa!” Twilight exclaims, staggering towards the controls as the ship seems to skip like a stone on water through the air. 

Witch shuts her notebook and pulls herself to her hooves despite the unsteady flooring. Looking out the window, she spies the dunes racing by them in a blur. “Caught a tailwind?” she suggests, moving over to check the speed. Eyeing the gauge, Witch’s jaw drops at how much the purposed tailwind has increased their flight.

“Uh… Witchy… And a downdraft…” Twilight responds, her voice shaking with barely suppressed fear as she prods at Witch’s shoulder. Witch glances at the princess only long enough to see her terrified expression directed forward before following Twilight’s gaze ahead; rocky hills loom larger and closer with each jolt.

“Oh shit…” Witch curses, looking frantically around for the altitude controls. Finding the lever, she pushes at it, fighting the wind shear to turn the control surfaces upward. The airship’s flight becomes rockier, forcing Twilight to constantly adjust their heading as the wind tosses their dirigible about.

“We can do this!” Twilight calls out encouragingly. “We’re climbing! Hold on, Witchy-yipe!!” she exclaims as the zeppelin lurches to starboard, sending her reeling backwards into the right-hoof control board.

“Cut the power to the engines!” Witch yells, focusing on keeping the wheel steady with her magic while putting her shoulder into pushing the flaps lever. “We’ll have to glide over!” 

The magenta glow around Twilight’s horn fades away, and howling wind replaces the muted hum of the engines. The Cirrus’ speed comes down slowly, finally dropping from 170 knots but not slowing to the comparatively sedate seventy knots they’d been cruising at; the airspeed indicator wobbles but never dips below 100. 

“We’re clear!” Twilight exclaims, relief clear in her voice as she stumbles back to the wheel. Sure enough, the ground below is now verdant with exotic growth.

Witch nods, relinquishing the steering to the princess. “Alright… Hold on!” she warns before pulling the lever all the way back, all while silently praying to any god listening that this plan would work. There’s an audible CLUNK as the control flaps switch positions. Her eyes glued to the airspeed dial, Witch smiles triumphantly as the arm plummets from over 100 to barely thirty-five knots. Her elation is short-lived though, as the Cirrus jolts one last time before turning downward into a freefall.

“Oh buck…”





Witch groans, waking with the soft, mossy ground under her cheek. She blinks rapidly, hoping to clear her vision, but it remains blurred. Overhead, she winces at the sight of the moon doubled, the light causing a lance of pain to spike through her head. 

“Twilight?” Witch grimaces as her mouth refuses to cooperate fully with her query, slurring the consonants and drawing out the vowels. Despite the incomprehensible noise she made, she hears a groaned response.

“Witchy… Can you get to me?” Twilight asks. “I can’t move. I think I’ve got a broken leg over here…”

“Hnnnggg…” Witch groans, and tries to get her hooves under her. “A’igh’...” she slurs an affirmative as she stands, swaying wildly as the world spins dangerously underhoof. She staggers the few steps to her companion before stumbling and falling to the ground next to Twilight. “Don’ thin’ I’ll be much help… Thin’ m’concussed…” Witch stutters, trying desperately to enunciate her words.

“It sounds like it…” Twilight responds as Witch lays her head back down on the ground. “Witchy… You know you can’t sleep if you’re concussed… C’mon…”

Witch moans in protest, but raises her head slightly to try focusing her gaze on Twilight. “Keep… me… talk…” Her tongue refuses to cooperate with her will, or her brain is unable to issue the orders properly; either way, the unicorn is decidedly frustrated with her inability to communicate coherently.

“Right! Well um… OH! Remember that dream you had? The one that told you to find the Cradle of Life? Tell me about it again…”

Witch grimaces, recalling it through the fog clouding her mind. “The… hawk-pony-thing… made of brown stone…” she recalls.

“The hippogryph construct,” Twilight corrects gently with a nod.

“Right… That… He? It… called itself… the Librarian… It was calling me… the princess… of hope… I told him… it… it was wrong… I’m not… a princess… Stupid hawk-pony thing… Some librarian… Doesn’t know… that princesses… aren’t unicorns…” Witch labors to get the words out. 

“Why’d it ask you to find its library?” Twilight prompts, again keeping her tone soft.

“Because… it serves… the princesses… Said the princess… of life… told him… it… ‘bou’ me… M’still not a princess…” Witch’s tone turns grumpy. “It said… the bracelets…” she trails off, her head nodding slowly downwards as her eyes droop closed.

“What’d it say about the bracelets, Witchy?” Twilight asks, an edge of panic creeping into her question as she raises her voice. She determines that keeping somepony talking was a lot harder than it seemed, especially since Twilight’s wary of touching Witch.

Witch’s head snaps back up, making her grimace. “The bracelets… accepted me… Said that… made me… the princess… of hope… But m’not a princess…” she explains, circling the same subject.

“Why do you think it kept calling you a princess?” Twilight queries, curiosity getting the better of her.

“Dunno…” Witch replies, her tone turning almost petulant. “M’not special… M’just… a doctor… M’no princess.”

Twilight opens her mouth to keep Witch talking but movement rustling the bushes surrounding their glade crash site stops her. Instead of speech, a high pitched squeak escapes her mouth as the moonlight illuminates the tip of a scorpion tail and tawny bat wings. Witch looks up from her mumbling, curious at first about Twilight’s sudden fearful noise and then anxious as the brush rattles more. Two sets of eyes go wide when a lion’s body pushes through the undergrowth, revealing an adult manticore male.

“Twily?” Witch whispers, her speech still inhibited enough that her friend’s full name is impossible. “Tell me... there’s only… one manticore... and m’just... seeing double?” she asks, her voice shaking.

“One’s bad enough…” Twilight responds, trembling, as the manticore’s golden eyes fall on the injured mares. It puffs up as it inhales and looses a deafening roar, drowning out the shrieks of terror that Twilight and Witch make. They recoil, flinging themselves backwards, winding up in a tangle of limbs, skidding backwards on their haunches across the mossy ground a foot or two. 






Art courtesy of the lovely and WONDERful Foxena


Long moments pass, but no strikes fall upon them. Warily, Witch looks up, blinking rapidly to try to focus her vision. Still at the edge of the clearing, the manticore simply sits, placidly watching the pair of ponies with its reflective eyes. 

“Don’ thin’ you need t’keep me talkin’... M’awake now…” Witch stammers, her speech no longer as slow or labored as it had been.

“Yeah…” Twilight agrees, hesitantly. “And I’m pretty sure it’s just a sprained wrist now…”

Shaking and scared silent, the pair keep their eyes on the normally violent creature even as it remains sitting there, patient as though waiting for something… or someone… to arrive. 

“M’beginnin’ t’thin’ dis wasn’ such a good idea…” Witch murmurs quietly, leaning towards Twilight before a wave of dizziness makes her tip and lay over Twilight’s forelegs. The alicorn makes a pained noise, wincing at Witch’s landing.

“To which idea do you refer, Princess of Hope? I would be greatly saddened if you meant coming to my sanctuary, for I am very glad you chose to answer my call.”

Both Twilight and Witch shriek again, tumbling sideways as they reel away from the new voice to their side. The pair land in another tangled heap, this time with Twilight pinning Witch across her back, her wing awkwardly caught on Witch’s horn.

“GAH! I’s tha’ hawk-pony thin’!” Witch exclaims, pointing with a wavering hoof at the spot about three feet to the hippogryph’s left, her inaccuracy not ascribable to the purple wing partially obscuring her range of sight. 

The hippogryph sighs, pinching the top of its beak with its talons in visible irritation despite its stone construction, muttering in a dialect neither mare could comprehend. “Given your obvious injuries, Your Loyalness, I shall not take offense at your crude descriptive skills,” it replies calmly before casting a silent glance to the manticore. To the mares’ surprised amazement, the beast simply nods, rises to its paws, turns and leaves the clearing the way it came.

The emerald green pendant on a gold chain around the construct’s neck glows intensely, and auras that match the gem’s verdant color surround Twilight and Witch, lifting them gently into the air as though carried on invisible stretchers. “I trust you and your friend will not object to waiting until your injuries have been treated before proper introductions and explanations are exchanged, but you may call me the Librarian,” it explains as it leads them through the forest.

Struck dumb, the bookish pair simply nod.





“Hey Witchy, wake up…”

Witch groans as her eyes crack open, light assaulting them. “Ow…” Witch puts her hooves under her and starts to force herself into a sitting position. Hooves keep her steady at her chest and back as she tilts to one side. 

“Easy, Witchy… The Librarian said you’ll need to take it easy because of the concussion, but you’ll be okay in a day or two…” Twilight explains gently, her hooves stabilizing Witch as she sits up.

“What about your leg? Are you okay?” Witch asks, turning her head slowly and grateful that her vision was no longer blurred and doubled. 

Twilight smiles brightly in response. “Oh! The Librarian fixed me up quickly enough after he made sure nothing would happen to his princess,” she responds with a wink and a teasing glint in her eyes. 

Witch groans again. “Twily… not you too… Please?” she whimpers. 

Twilight laughs. “Sorry… But he really considers you on par with a princess… It’s actually kind of strange to be treated… like being an alicorn is a disadvantage,” she replies, her expression turning puzzled.

“That would be because a god is inherently disconnected from ponykind, and bound by separate rules that have no meaning to mortals.” Witch makes a squeaking noise and nearly falls off her cot at the Librarian’s sudden appearance. Twilight saves her from that indignity by catching her and the Librarian has one corner of his beak turning upward in a nearly invisible sign of amusement. “I am very glad to see Your Loyalness awake. I trust you are feeling better this morning?” the Librarian queries as it approaches Witch and Twilight. 

Witch’s jaw works, opening and closing, but no sound escapes until Twilight gives her a gentle nudge. “Eep! I mean… Er… Yes… I am better. Thank you…” she squeaks.

“Your concussion was quite severe. Any lingering symptoms?” it asks further, its glowing eyes almost looking through her.

“Um… Light sensitivity… and a bit of a headache still…” Witch answers, all while trying to calm herself down.

“Duly noted,” it responds, and the pendant flashes with green light, bringing two vials of amber colored liquid into existence at Witch’s hooves. “These should ease those symptoms and ensure your recovery within the day.”

“What are they?” Witch immediately asks, curiosity getting the better of her. 

“They’re herbal tinctures that a previous Princess of Life discovered quite efficacious in treating concussions such as your own, Hope. If you should like, I would be happy to show you the gardens where I grow the plants necessary for such brews, as well as the notations for their creation.”

Witch’s eyes light up at the mention of medicinal practices before her brain catches what the hippogryph construct had called her. “Wait… Why’d you call me Hope? And Your Loyalness? And Princess for that matter?” Witch tenses as she delivers the barrage of questions, blue eyes narrowing behind her cobalt frames.

“That is why I requested that you come here,” the Librarian starts, seating himself before Witch and Twilight. “You embody Hope; therefore you are the Princess of Hope. It was tradition to call the Princesses of Order only by the aspect of Cosmic Harmony they embodied; Compassion, Love, Strength, Life, and Hope. They were the ruling council of the Empire of Equus, chosen by the Cosmos. I call you Your Loyalness because when the empire fell to Chaos, Hope was the only Princess who did not fall, loyal to the end despite the great suffering she experienced because of Chaos’ corruption.”

“But… How do you even know it’s me?” Witch asks, her tone pleading and desperate, while Twilight looks on with concern in her violet eyes. Despite the effects of the concussion, she knows that Witch had trouble accepting how extraordinary she is.

“You wear Hope’s bracelets, and only Hope may wear them,” the Librarian responds with a shrug as though that should explain everything. 

“But a princess is an alicorn!” Witch retorts vehemently, pointing to Twilight who blinks in surprise at the hoof suddenly near her face. 

The Librarian shrugs again. “In the days of Equus, Princesses were never alicorns… Alicorns were trusted advisors, as it would be foolish to ignore the wisdom of a god, but the last Council had two pegasi representing Compassion and Hope, two unicorn representing Love and Strength, and an earth pony representing Life. However, it seems the days have changed… In fact, three of the current Princesses are alicorns, representing Love, Strength and Life… I contacted Life and spoke to her at length about the new Princesses. You would know her as Celestia, I believe -”

Both Twilight’s and Witch’s eyes widen in shock. Witch is first to move after the Librarian’s name-drop. “No! You’re wrong! I’m not special! I don’t do anything anypony wouldn’t do!” she shouts in protest, standing on the cot. “I’M NOT A PRINCESS!!!” she exclaims at the top of her voice, ice blue magic sparking from her horn. With a loud pop, she vanishes from the bed, and reappears with another pop of displaced air near the door to the impromptu infirmary. Without a backward glance, she’s gone through them, the clatter of her hooves rapidly diminishing in volume.

Twilight sighs at her friends hasty departure, casting a sheepish glance to the Librarian. “We’d better just wait for her to come back… Witchy’s been tetchy about the whole thing since the Grand Galloping Ball…” 

The Librarian sighs, clearly disappointed as he pinches at the top of his beak with talons. “I find myself longing for the days when the Princesses were easily found, and grew up knowing of their duties to the Empire…” The emerald pendant flashes and the vials sprout ephemeral green wings, allowing them to flit after Witch. “Until she returns, I would like to become better acquainted with you, if you have no objections.”

“None at all.”
> Pt. 3 - A Princess' Sage Advice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	When she initially finds the Cirrus at the end of her blind flight from the ancient temple, Witch can tell it isn’t in terrible condition, easily salvageable as long as she can figure out how to repair the windows that she and Twilight had smashed through, reshape the rigid structure, and patch the torn envelope and gas bags. However, that’s all she manages to discern before the Librarian’s words catch up with her mind. In the small clearing, she sits and stares at the downed airship without actually seeing it, lost in her thoughts.

“I don’t do anything special… I just help…” Witch murmurs to no one but herself, trying to find reassurance in the solitude. 

Sighing, she lays down on the pungent moss carpeting the glade, closing her eyes as she forces herself to think of nothing beyond her immediate surroundings; the sound of exotic birds and insects wafting on a warm and moist breeze rich with smells from strange plants. She smiles slightly at the thought of how her brother probably reacted to this place; and thinking of her father’s potential reaction successfully distracts her for a few precious moments.

“Why me?” she asks silently, huffing irritably at a strand of moss tickling her nose.

Out of deeply ingrained habit, she starts building her comfort place in her mind; an expansive library, at least twice the size of the castle library in Canterlot, well lit by wall sconces and the full moon shining through the floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall windows spanning one long end of the room. A large fireplace is on the left end of the library, with two comfortable couches and a low mahogany table with a china tea service that glints in the flickering firelight from the hearth. Still in her mind, Witch goes to the pale blue couch and curls up on it, though the crushed velvet upholstery smells faintly of the moss from her physical location.

Time passes with no real meaning there, and her mind’s eye stays fixed on the deep indigo couch across from her, tracing the grain pattern in the ash wood accents until, finally, Luna arrives.

“Witching Hour,” Luna starts in greeting, “I’m surprised to find you here so early…” She pauses thoughtfully as she settles herself on the indigo couch that had held Witch’s attention. “You do know you needn’t to report to me every night, much as I was concerned at your absence last night…”

“I’m in Saddle Arabia… So it’s only just morning here…” Witch responds, blinking as her eyes refocus on her teacher. “The guardian at the library Leaf got the books from… He contacted me like you usually do while I was at Twilight’s, in my dreams two nights ago, and asked me to come. Leaf left the map in one of the books.”

Luna frowns. The information did not bring about her expression, but the manner in which her student relays it; in a tone that spoke of many thoughts occupying her mind. She usually only sees Witch in this state physically. It’s both concerning, and at the same time pleasantly surprising that Witch is able to dream lucidly in such a frame of mind.

“Twilight agreed with me, that we should go… But now I’m wishing I hadn’t…” Witch adds quickly, looking worried. The edges of the library fade, a sign of Witch’s rising panic. Luna quickly reinforces the dreaming, bringing the shadowed edges back into vibrancy, before addressing Witch.

“My dear Witch… Whyever would you regret following any lead in this task I gave you?” she asks, smiling gently at Witch, which brings a confused expression to the unicorn’s face.

“You were frowning when I told you where I was,” Witch replies, her voice trembling, “and the Librarian… the guardian here… he keeps treating me like he should be treating Twilight. He calls me Princess… Or Hope… Or ‘your loyalness’…”

Luna sighs, hearing something familiar in Witch’s words and tone, but nothing she could place with any certainty. “And this Librarian told you why he calls you these things?” Witch only nods, forcing Luna to prompt her further. “Witching Hour… It clearly bothers you… If you cannot talk to Princess Twilight, would you tell me at least?”

“I… It’d be easier to show you…”

Luna gives her student a sympathetic look. “If you think it will be easier for you, then by all means.” 

Witch sighs heavily, pushing herself up to a sitting position. Closing her eyes, her expression becomes one of intense concentration. The library setting around them flickers, showing glimpses of the relatively barren infirmary with only two cots showing recent use, Twilight Sparkle beside Witch, and the large hippogryph construct, but the scene never solidifies. It takes only a few moments of this for Luna to become more concerned than she already is. Rising from her couch, Luna steps lightly around the table and sits next to Witch to run a gentle hoof through Witch’s mane. “Witch… Stop… I don’t need to know so badly that you should hurt yourself.”

Released by her mentor’s gentle words, Witch slumps back down on her couch with a cringe and a whimper. “Sorry… I should’ve taken the medicine before I ran off…” she says, nearly groaning her apology. “Stupid concussion…” she mutters, putting a hoof to the side of her head.

“Witching Hour!” Luna exclaims, shocked. “You have a concussion?! How?”

Witch groans again. “Crashed the airship we borrowed from the Cloudsdale Air Guard…” she answers softly as she presses her muzzle into the cushions, as though she could bury her head in the couch through the plush material. 

Luna sighs and continues to gently run her hoof through Witch’s mane, understanding now her student’s inability to control her dreaming as she usually did. “I know it is not as easy as you would like… But would you please tell me why this Librarian’s words have upset you so much as to neglect your well-being?”

Witch responds with another whimper, before raising her head slightly and sniffing back the tears that had begun forming at the corners of her eyes. “He said that his people were ruled by princesses that embodied aspects of…” she trails off, furrowing her brow as she tries to remember the phrase he’d used. “I think he said Cosmic Harmony?” Witch sighs, frustrated with her uncertainty. “Hope was… Is? One of these aspects. He said that my bracelets could only be worn by Hope…”

“How appropriate for you to have them then,” Luna comments with a fond smile at Witch.

Witch jerks upright, looking mortified. “Luna! How can you say that?!” she demands, the tears reforming. “I may inspire hope, but I certainly don’t embody it! He also said that Celestia is Life, one of the other princesses! She’s the one who told him about me! I’m certainly not on the same level as your sister!”

Luna’s soft smile doesn’t falter at the outburst, and she gently brushes a blue lock of mane from Witch’s face. “Witching Hour… I want you to believe me when I say that I have known only one other pony who exemplified the idea of hope so much as you, and that was many years before my banishment…”

Witch leans into Luna’s touch, covering her teacher’s hoof at her cheek with her own to keep it there. “I’m scared, Luna… This feels like too much for me to bear…”

“My dear hopeful student,” Luna starts, her smile broadening to an affectionate grin. “You won’t bear it alone. If not for the ponies around me, yourself included, I would not have borne my sister’s absence so well… With them, I am able to shoulder the burdens placed on me… I’m sure Princess Twilight will tell you something similar, as her friends have been crucial to her successes.”

“But why me?” Witch queries plaintively, sniffling again in an attempt to stem her tears.

“Who can ever say for certain?” Luna replies softly, gently brushing her hoof under Witch’s teary eyes. “If such were within my power to tell you, I would… But that is beyond my ability, my dear Witch.”

Witch slides down from her couch to sit next to Luna. To the princess, Witch’s intentions are transparent, but Luna has no objections to obliging her and so allows Witch to slip under one arm. She adds her wing to the comforting embrace, holding her student close while resting her head atop Witch’s. “You may not believe that you, or what you do, are special, but I can think of several ponies, myself included, that would argue that you are…”

“You’re biased…” Witch’s tone is dry with humor, and her weak smile almost audible. “And Tricks doesn’t count… He’s just a foal.”

“Then what about Miss Monkey Wrench, who would not be flying if not for your research and magical talent? And Siren Bliss, who speaks nothing but praise for you? And Sound Chief Piano Treble, who sends me a recording of each new musical piece you arrange or compose with a note thanking me for sending you to the Wonderbolts? I’ve gotten around sixteen of them now…” Luna chuckles as Witch squirms, clearly uncomfortable with the praise. “Even though it simply seems natural for you to do as you have, even that small effort may make all the difference in the world to somepony, my hopeful student.”

Witch sighs, leaning her head against Luna’s shoulder. “I’ll try to remember that…”

Luna chuckles again, smiling down at Witch. “See that you do, my dear Witch… Now… I think you may have worried Princess Twilight long enough.” Feeling Witch flinch, Luna sighs herself. “Go sort things out with Princess Twilight and this Librarian. It’s clear he only desires to help you, and if he has been in contact with my sister, then you should trust him.” Luna leans down to lightly nuzzle at Witch’s mane. “Time to wake up, Witching Hour.”

When Witch opens her eyes again, the sun is beating down on her mercilessly, no longer hidden by the hills or foliage. She blinks as her vision comes back into focus and she feels small objects bumping repeatedly against her shoulder. Looking down, she spots the two vials the Librarian had given her earlier, now with glowing green wings attached to them. 

Sighing, she quickly grabs the tubes and downs their contents. As she’d expected of an herbal remedy, both taste bitter in her mouth. She notes the distinctive flavor of willow bark lingering on her tongue with a thoughtful nod, as that is a common ingredient her father used in his headache cures. Closing her eyes, she lays her head back down to wait for the potions to kick in, wishing that the sun weren’t so bright overhead.

The potions have more than just willow bark to them, and the headache which had returned full force due the bright sunlight ebbs away quickly; far quicker than Witch would’ve anticipated. Relieved of that pain, Witch stands and goes through the wreckage, finding her notebooks and Twilight’s satchel full of research supplies.

She straps the bags on and turns to start heading back the way she’d come, hoping that her blind panic had left enough of a disturbance for her to follow through the foliage, and then shrieks in surprise and fear she nearly runs into the large tawny manticore from the night before. The great beast merely looks down on her with curious golden eyes, cocking its head slightly to the right as though silently asking, 'what are you doing back here?'

As Witch realizes that the manticore is not about to attack, her paralyzing panic slowly fades and she coughs nervously. “Um… Nice, not-killing-me manticore…” she starts shakily, “Can you, um… take me back… to the library?”

To her surprise, the manticore’s eyes flash with an icy blue glow, stunning her momentarily with the similarity to her own magical aura, and then it nods before turning and heading back into the jungle. Before she loses sight of her newfound guide, Witch shakes her head and runs to catch up, falling in behind the manticore at an easy trot.

In the relative silence, Witch considers all the information she had already, and the questions she still needed answers for. Luna’s words had helped ease her mind, much as they always did. While it was not her mentor’s forte, Witch had learned a little from Luna about the ways of fate, and that destiny was not a thing that could be avoided. Sighing, she still feels inadequate to the task, like her actions did not merit such exultation.

Too soon for her liking, they enter what can best be described as a garden leading up to the main temple, with each plot of flowers, herbs, fruit shrubs or root vegetables neatly sectioned off with paving stones or rope, and organized with labels written in the same foreign lettering as the engraving on her bracelets. Pleasantly arranged throughout the area, fountains and benches are interspersed, and Witch can easily imagine how this might’ve looked before the empire’s fall; full of ponies reading or discussing their books with the gentle hum of the jungle wildlife and the soft splash of water surrounding them.

Witch halts in her tracks as the manticore stops and turns to face her. Wordlessly, it extends a paw to point out a set of wide doors with a verdant oak tree emblazoned across them at the far end of the garden.

“That’s where I need to go to get back to the Librarian?” Witch asks, silently hoping that the manticore would continue to understand her. Its eyes flash with that same blue aura, and it nods again before silently walking past her and back into the trees.

“Thank you!” she calls after it belatedly, waving before realizing it wouldn’t see the gesture. Puzzled, she wonders at the magic that had allowed the manticore to understand her. 

“I am glad Felynx was able to find you, my lady.”

Witch jumps at the Librarian’s sudden voice, shrieking as she twists midair to turn and face the construct. “Gah!” She presses a hoof to her chest over her pounding heart. “For being made of stone, you’re scary quiet!”

“My apologies, your loyalness… Perhaps you would like me to wear a bell?” the Librarian offers, a corner of his beak twisting up in a sardonic sort of smirk as he gestures for Witch accompany him inside. Witch chuckles sheepishly as they start towards the doors, and the Librarian simply shrugs. “Your alicorn friend grew quite concerned when you did not return after two hours, so while I sent the creatures here out to look, I suggested she peruse my collection.”

“You aren’t expecting her to leave willingly, are you?” Witch asks with an amused chortle.

“As the friend of Hope and one who helped you travel here with expediency, she is welcome to take any books she pleases with her when you both depart, and she may return at any time, should she so desire,” he responds in a matter-of-fact tone, pushing the doors open as if they were light as a feather.

Witch smiles broadly up at the hippogryph as they pass through the doors and start up the flight of stairs there. “I’m sure Twilight will appreciate that.”

“She did.” Witch can’t help but laugh at the succinct yet slightly exasperated quality to the Librarian’s voice. “I also took the liberty of gathering the medicinal journals you expressed interest in, as well as some books I think you will find helpful in learning your role in the Cosmos as Hope.”

Witch bites her tongue quickly and sighs. “Librarian? How were the princesses found before?” she asks as they enter the main library. She has to pry her eyes away with a shake of her head so she can pay attention to the construct’s reply.

“Typically, the princesses had students and peers with similar devotion to their aspect. Either they were sent out as emissaries corners of the empire, or learned statecraft at the side of their princess. When the Princess passed on, their students would gather in the capitol of their region and the relic of that aspect would choose the new princess…” the Librarian explains in such a way that held Witch enraptured.

“What were the other relics?” Witch queries, excited and curious.

“Love’s was a crystalline heart. Strength had a set of armor. Compassion’s primary relic was a book made of pulped crystal tree wood that the princess would record acts of compassion in, either witnessed or performed, and it was enchanted so that there would always be more pages. A secondary relic was a pendant which increased the princess’ magical power. Life bore an amulet, not unlike the one I wear now…” Witch hears the sadness and the far-away expression in the Librarian’s voice, being unable to form full expressions with his stone face. Before she can offer any sympathy though, he continues on. “Hope had bracelets, as you are aware, tying into your magic and amplifying all your spells, but healing magic in particular. At their full potential, they become bracers… I hope my collection may serve to help you in that regard.”

Witch flinches at the hippogryph’s choice of words, as hearing the phrase ‘full potential’ brought a flash of memory when Luna had said the same thing upon presenting her with the bracelets. “How will I know if I’m… if I’m doing what I’m supposed to?”

The Librarian smiles down on Witch, and she could swear she sees the same kindness in his glowing eyes as she had seen in Luna’s so often. “Your Loyalness, were you not doing as you should, you would not stand in this temple now, nor would Hope’s bracelets remain securely fastened above your hooves.”

“But I’m not doing anything special!” Witch persists. “I’m just doing what I normally do, what I’ve always done!”

“And that, young princess, is exactly why you are Hope.”

Witch blinks, stunned and embarrassed at the level of faith the construct placed in her. “Even the smallest effort…” she murmurs softly, recalling Luna’s recent words. 

Whether the Librarian doesn’t hear, or simply chooses to not respond, Witch would never figure out, as she hears the quick patter of hooves across the floor and the light fluttering of wings just before Twilight’s excited shout of “Witchy!” followed closely by being tackled into a hug from the side. “Oh thank Celestia, you brought my parchment and quills!”

“Time to get down to business, I guess…” Witch says with a chuckle as Twilight drags her off to a table in the expansive library that Twilight has apparently taken over, books piled high with several propped open. “You do know you don’t have to do all the research here, right?”





“How am I supposed to choose what to take with me?!” Twilight frets, surrounded by floating books as she looks frantically between them.

“Twilight… Really… You know how to get here now… You can come back any time! The Librarian’s never had a book go missing, so it’s not like they’re going anywhere,” Witch replies calmly as she organizes her own borrowed books by topic then title with care in a small padded trunk the size of her suitcase. Nodding in satisfaction, she closes the trunk and the stag it’s strapped to stands, giving Witch a silent nod of his own before heading towards the jungle and the Cirrus. “Thank you!” she calls after the stag, waving briefly. There’s a brief flash of blue around where his eyes are as he looks back with a nod, but he keeps plodding on, disappearing into jungle-like foliage.

“I know!” Twilight responds, a whining edge to her voice. “I don’t know how you picked your books so easily!”

Witch smiles slightly at the alicorn, chuckling a bit as well. “You don’t really think it was easy for me to trim down all those medicinal journals to just the three so I’d have room for the history books I needed, do you Twilight?” she retorts. “Just think of what’s important right now, and remind yourself that you can come back.”

Twilight looks up from the multiple books she was still trying to choose from, smiling sheepishly in return. “I guess I should be glad that you didn’t take all the ones the Librarian recommended for you on history…”

“And I’m glad you’re taking them for me,” Witch replies, her smile growing broad.

“Witch, why can’t I just live here?” Twilight asks, the whine creeping back into her tone. Witch sighs, though with her own amusement and sympathy mixed in.

“Twilight, really… We need to get back to Ponyville and figure out where to go next…”

“About that, your loyalness…”

The Librarian’s voice and sudden entrances no longer makes Witch shriek in surprise, but she does start and shift slightly away from the construct. “I should’ve taken you up on that offer about the bell,” she says, good-natured in her grousing and knowing full well that said offer was in jest. “Yes, Librarian?”

“Hope, I am not so vain as believe my library holds all the answers you need,” the construct states. “There is something I wish for you to see… If you wish your friend to join us, I will require your loyalness’ explicit consent to have her join us as this room is only for a Princess to enter without such consent.”

Witch blinks in astonishment at the prerequisite, and glances over at Twilight, who quickly stacks the books she’d been lusting after and looks at the hippogryph in eager curiosity. Turning back to the Librarian, she nods. “You have it. Twilight may join us in the room you refer to.”

Accepting her statement with a nod of his own, the Librarian turns and walks back into the temple, leading the mares through the library and up a long flight of stairs, to a large door at what had to be the top of the temple, emblazoned with the same oak tree that seemed to be the hallmark of the temple. The Librarian raises his claw to the top of the door, only to have a glacial blue light run right down the middle of the emblem, splitting the door in half with soft clicks of locks releasing. With no force seemingly applied, the doors swing wide into the room beyond with the barest hint of sound.

Shadows shroud the room for only a moment after the doors open before the same blue light flickers in long dead sconces along the walls, revealing a barren room but for a set of five mirrors at the center, arrayed around a peaked pedestal with a sheet draped over it. The Librarian looks back at Witch with a slight smirk that she doesn’t see, being too fascinated that her bracelets still glow with the same light that now bathed the room enough for her and Twilight to comfortably see.

“This is the Sanctum of Life, Princess,” the Librarian explains, entering the room with Witch and Twilight trailing behind him like baby ducklings following their mother. “Each mirror corresponds to a different princess…”

Life’s mirror is easily spotted, second from the right and with the same tree sigil at its crown. Next to it, glowing with the same pale blue light, is what Witch assumes must be the mirror for her as Hope, its device three small circles forming an open triangle and three rays going upward and slightly outward from that base.

The mirror to the left of Life’s is topped with a comparatively simple circular shield insignia, evenly quartered by by lines with beveled edges, reminiscent of blades, with stars in the border. The next mirror is clearly for Love, its seal a heart with eight rays radiating from it. Lastly, glowing with a faint orchid-colored aura, the mirror furthest to the left holds a six-rayed star, formed by two equilateral triangles interlocked with the lines of the two shapes passing over and under the others alternatingly, at its crown. 

Spying the halo surrounding the last mirror on the left, Witch looks over at the Librarian, an eyebrow raised in question. Worry begins nagging at her as she notices the Librarian cocking his head slightly to one side, obviously at as much of a loss as she was. A bright flash of magenta light and a surprised squeak from Twilight draws their attention behind them. Witch’s eyes widen slightly as she sees Twilight suddenly with her crown atop her head, looking as confused as Witch feels. The glow surrounding the last mirror intensifies, deepening in color to match the halo of magic still surrounding Twilight’s diadem. 

“I suspected as much,” the Librarian notes drily, “though not exactly as I expected, admittedly… But it is good to know all the Princesses of this era. Fascinating that a majority are now alicorns.”

Witch pales to an ashen gray, her legs wobbling unsteadily beneath her. With a sigh, sharply exhaling as though the wind had just been knocked from her, she sits as her mind reels. A majority? That meant at least three alicorns represent different aspects of the cosmos the Librarian had spoken of… And still… She… A simple unicorn doctor… 

She starts trembling where she sits, staring with wide yet glazed eyes at the Librarian and Twilight now speaking with unheard words. When they look over at her, she sinks slowly to lay on the floor and covers her head with her arms. Incomprehensible murmurings filter in distantly through her whirling thoughts moments before she feels a gentle wing rest across her back and shoulders.

“Witchy… Breathe… It’s okay…”

Witch lets out a long, shuddering breath, her body slowly relaxing and the shaking easing away, but her face remains hidden between the floor and her arms. “I can’t do this…” she mumbles, her breath starting to come in quick, quivering gasps. “I can’t… I’m not…”

“You can and you are, Witch… You’re afraid you won’t meet the expectations, that you’re out of your depth… I understand… But the thing that helps most is to not face things alone… I’m here Witchy… I’ll go with you wherever you need to go to figure everything out…” Twilight’s voice is soft and comforting, bringing the swirling reflections in Witch’s mind to a slow halt.

“I’m not on the same level as Celestia… Or you… I’m just a unicorn… A doctor…”

Twilight’s wing tightens around her shoulders in a comforting half-hug. “Those are just parts of you, Witchy,” she responds gently. “There’s so much more to you, and those things are much more important than what you are or what your profession is. You’re brilliant, caring and selfless… You’ve taken on everything thrown at you with determination, changing jobs and even turning your world upside-down to take in a royal ward. You made a spell to help your friend keep her wings, following theorems in a way I never would’ve thought of! Despite what you may think, it’s not just anypony that can take on all those things combined and remain as optimistic as you are…”

Releasing a long, shuddering sigh, Witch shifts and removes her arms from over her head, bringing the sight of the Librarian’s stone hooves and talons. Her blue eyes travel up the sandstone legs and chest to stare up at his eyes, and he stares down at her in turn, head cocked slightly to one side as though considering how to handle the situation at hoof/claw.

“My lady… I apologize for overwhelming you. I understand your concern about being set equal to gods, and frankly, that is why alicorns previously were not called upon by the Cosmos to rule Equus. It was thought that were an alicorn chosen, they would take over the Council and take sole rule. Since they are immortal, their reign would be eternal, which is another mark against such a selection, as one of the functions of the Princess Council was to change with the times, and it was feared that an alicorn would not do so. That there are now alicorn representatives of Cosmic Harmony is a matter of great concern, which is the reason I brought you here.”

Witch perks up a little at the new puzzle, remaining laying down while her head turns to follow the Librarian as he approaches the pedestal to remove the sheet. The fabric falls into a pool at the foot of the plinth, revealing a glowing cyan crystal eerily similar in size and shape to the pink crystal that the Shadowbolts had used. “In the days of Equus, there were two major mystical resources that were used extensively. The crystal trees of Equus were the prize of any garden, and their seeds had great magic reserves. This seed keeps the temple and its grounds in the temperate clime so different from its surroundings, and allows me to use these mirrors to contact the princesses without… a princess present.” Witch’s eyes dart away from the crystal to the construct, sensing the sad reason for the Librarian’s brief hesitation.

“That seems like too much for one seed…” Twilight comments, rising to her hooves and approaching the pedestal, though she remains a ‘safe’ distance from it.

“If it were the seed of the common crystal trees, I would agree… However, a myth tells that this seed, and the four that occupy the other temples, came from the legendary Tree of Harmony… Its location was never fixed, going where the Cosmos deemed it necessary as it was also said to hold six more seeds known as the Elements of Harmony -”

Witch and Twilight simultaneously jerk in response, their necks practically snapping as their heads whip around to look between the crystal and then back at each other. “Elements of Harmony?!” they exclaim in unison.

“You have heard of them?” the Librarian retorts, now matching his guests’ in surprise.

Allowing herself a small smirk at her companion, Witch responds, “You… you could… say that,” her sentence broken up by a few snorts and stifled giggles. When Twilight gives the construct a sheepish nod of confirmation, the ironic hilarity overwhelms her and Witch is back to laying on the floor, laughing loudly and gasping for breath.

“It’s a long story,” Twilight sighs, “But yes, we heard of them… They were the only way to defeat Night Mare Moon and redeem Princess Luna, a little over two year ago… My friends and I found them, and we each represent one of the Elements… Princess Celestia said we’re the only ones that can use them now…”

“Where were they found?” the hippogryph asks eagerly.

“Not far from my home, in the Everfree Forest…” Twilight replies, strangely off-balance.

“She lives in Ponyville, which is around 20 miles away from Equestria’s capitol of Canterlot,” Witch adds, elaborating helpfully, finally calming down from her fits of laughter.

The Librarian releases a grumpy huff of breath. “If I may make a request, I would like to be sent a map of Equestria at your earliest convenience…” he says with a small amount of irritation. “That aside, that means you have a two options for where to go next…” Both Twilight and Witch exchange a quick, confused glance at each other before returning their attention to the Librarian. “My first suggestion would be to go to the capitol of Hope’s region, Roan. Hope’s temple there might have information on the fall of the Empire…”

“Roan’s a cursed ruin…” Twilight interjects, shaking her head. “No one’s known why though… There were no survivors, and no pony’s been able to get close to it without dying.”

The construct’s glowing eyes widen at that information, and then he sighs heavily, shoulders slumping as though defeated. “Then my suggestion would be finding the Tree of Harmony. It should be near this Everfree Forest as well, as it is never far from the Elements themselves. Legend tells that these seeds allowed Tree to hold the cumulative experiences of the princesses… It is likely, if true, that you may be able discover the cause of the Chaos that overwhelmed Equus.”

“And you think that’ll help us figure out what the writing means? And how those pegasi are using magic?” Witch asks, her eyes on Twilight and silently asking her opinion.

“Even if it does not hold that specific knowledge, I believe it will give you useful information, and probably give you another direction to explore,” the hippogryph answers.

“We’ll be fighting the trade winds coming back… I’m not sure the Cirrus will get us very far…” Twilight adds, replying to Witch’s unspoken query.

Witch turns thoughtful as she ponders the problem at hoof. “Well… The map started the trail here at the port of Half-Flank… We could find a ship there to take us back, and I’ll be able to send a letter to Monkey like I promised. The ocean currents mean it should only take a week to get back to Equestria…”

“From what the young couple that came before led me to understand, the town is a few days by land… Your airship should be able to make the trip there in a few hours with the repairs you’ve managed,” the librarian comments.

Witch snorts in amusement at the Librarian’s description of her brother and Dee. “That sounds like Dee and Leaf… Glad to see my brother didn’t demolish your garden.”

“I believe he had greater concerns at the time…” the Librarian offers cryptically, garnering another snort of amusement from Witch.

“Sounds like we have a plan then,” Twilight says with a nod… And then she groans again before dashing back out of the room. “I still need to pick my books!”

> Pt. 4 - The Threshold of Memory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Witch listens to Twilight describing their sojourn to a local friend with half an ear through the throbbing haze fogging her mind as she devotes most of her focus to the strong brew wafting up from her tea cup.

“Thankfully, the HMS Nightstrider was in dock at Half-Flank and the captain was more than happy to take us and the airship back to Equestria since his last civilian transport somehow left port without notifying him, and we took the train here from San Fransiscolt, but there wasn’t really anything extraordinary about that part, other than helping the engineers repair the Cirrus.”

“That, Miss Twilight, is quite the adventure. I daresay even Yearling’s Daring Do would be envious!” her guest responds as he puts away his pen and notebook. Twilight smiles, quickly hiding her snicker behind her hoof as she looks over at Witch. 

“Excuse me one moment, Prose…” Twilight says, rising from her chair and crossing the floor to the small dining area she’d set up on the Golden Oak Library’s main floor. “Witchy? You okay?” she asks, her worry clear in her tone, eyes, and creased brow.

Witch winces, her friend’s voice nearly deafening to her ears, though she logically knows that Twilight never yells such questions. “Jus’ a headache, Twy…” she mutters, grimacing as the effort of swallowing a sip of tea causes another lance of pain to spike through her head.

“Witchy… didn’t the Librarian tell you to make sure you took that medicine every day so you wouldn’t get any headaches -”

“It doesn’ cure all headaches, Twy…” Witch snaps, looking up sharply and immediately regretting the motion as she sways unsteadily in her seat. She looks back down at her tea cup, but the damage is already done, and her headache is less a fog and now more a tempest between her ears.

“And that just means you forgot to take it when you got up today…” the princess retorts sharply. “Spike! I need a green vial from Witch’s room, now!”

Witch would’ve snapped at Twilight again, but all that comes out is an unintelligible groan as her vision grays and darkens. On the edge of her senses, she feels somepony holding her in her chair, and then cool glass presses against her lower lip. Her jaw goes slack at the pressure, and a bitter fluid floods her mouth. Swallowing on reflex, she vaguely remembers the astringent taste, and is mutely relieved as the flavor of butterbur and feverfew is closely associated with cessation of pain in the subconscious part of her brain.

Distantly, she feels herself being lifted and several jolts of movement, but the potency of the willow bark in the Librarian’s brew numbs her to the sensations. The jostling stops and she’s set down among soft blankets.

“Thank you so much for your help, Prose.” Twilight’s voice floats in through Witch’s ears as the world begins gradually brightening and bleeding color back in.

“It’s no trouble at all, Miss Twilight… I had no idea that concussions had such long-lasting effects…”

“I’ll make a list later, if you like…” Witch grumbles from the bed. She slowly cracks her eyes open and starts to push herself into a sitting position, but a gentle hoof at her shoulder stops her.

“How about you just take it easy for a moment and tell me?” suggests the stranger as he regards Witch with kindly and concerned blue eyes over the rims of his brown glasses. While she’d not paid close attention before due to the headache-induced fog, she thinks his voice is very suited to storytelling, and smiles slightly at the gray pegasus as she relaxes, gingerly shifting on the bed to get comfortable.

“Most symptoms fade over the course of one to six weeks. I’m sure you know the basic physical symptoms, but there’s also the potential for memory loss, difficulty concentrating, to say nothing of the emotional effects of any traumatic injury; depression, anxiety, mood-swings…” Witch explains calmly, her professional demeanor taking over. “Then there’s the potential for Post Concussive Syndrome, which means the headaches and mood-swings can persist, as well as a danger for fainting spells…”

“Which is why she needs to keep taking her medicine…” Twilight adds from the doorway, a steaming cup of tea floating before her. 

Witch flinches at the admonishment, smiling sheepishly. “The Librarian sped my recovery significantly using herbal potions, but he remained concerned about the severity and how my magic would react, so he sent me with all the vials he had made, along with the recipes for them. It won’t be difficult to make it, especially since my father is an apothecary in Canterlot, and my brother can get anything my dad can’t.”

Prose chuckles appreciatively. “No doubt he’d find a way to make an adventure of it… Of course, I expect Miss Yearling would be going with him…”

“After what I went through with them? She’d better be!” Witch replies without really thinking before her mind derails, suddenly catching all the meaning of his statement. “Wait… You know my brother?”

“Miss Yearling? You mean A.K. Yearling? As in the author of the Daring Do novels?! Your brother is friends with her?!” Twilight exclaims, practically leaping towards Witch. She gets her hooves on Witch’s shoulders before she realizes that shaking her friend would be a very bad idea. 

“Uh… Twy?” Witch hesitates briefly, smiling sheepishly. “Remember what I said about my brother’s marefriend? And how they’re like Daring Do traveling with an herbal specialist?”

“Your brother’s marefriend is A.K. Yearling?!” Twilight responds, her wings excitedly flapping of their own accord and sending her upwards. “Yipe!” she shouts, realizing how close her head had gotten to the ceiling, and slowly hovering back down.

“It took ‘em long enough too…” Prose adds, smirking. “They’d been dancing around each other since they started working together… Saddle Arabia was simply the last straw.”

“So wait… How’d you meet Leaf?” Witch asks.

“He comes in with Yearling every so often to spin me a yarn,” Prose responds, shrugging. “Don’t tell him, but I keep copies of his tales in a binder on my desk… They’re not really fit for publishing, but they make for an amusing read…”

Witch makes a slight huff of amusement. “Too much exaggeration, right?” she suggests, and Prose nods, smiling. “Unsurprising…”

“Mind… Blown…” Twilight stammers, sitting in the doorway. “A.K. Yearling is Daring Do, and dating my friend’s brother…”

“Twily… You need to get your mind not-blown so we can figure out where to go to find this Tree of Harmony…” Witch says, then sighs heavily. “And we need a good idea before we go in there if forgetting my medicine for a couple hours puts me in this state…”

“If I may?” Prose starts tentatively. “Miss Twilight, you said the Tree of Harmony is where the Elements of Harmony came from, yes?” Gaining a nod from the princess, the pegasus continues quickly. “It would stand to reason that this Tree would be near where you found the Elements in the first place… I believe you found the elements at the Castle of the Two Sisters, did you not?”

“True…” Twilight responds slowly, pensive as she moves to sit next to Prose. “There was an orrery that was clearly where they were stored after Celestia and Luna found them.”

“That… Actually makes sense… At the very least, the castle should have some sort of clue for where to look; records from before Luna was banished…” Witch comments thoughtfully, nodding. She turns a smile on Prose. “Thank you very much,” she adds.

“Oh, it was no trouble at all. I look forward to hearing the rest of this story,” Prose replies, waving his hoof dismissively. “I think my helpfulness may be at an end, so I’ll leave you two to your planning. Miss Twilight, Miss Witch.” He nods his head to both mares in turn before departing.

Witch makes to get out of her bed after Prose’s hoofsteps start down the stairs, immediately making Twilight press her back down with a hoof at her shoulder. “And just where do you think you’re going right now, missy?!” Twilight demands.

“Twily,” Witch groans, “I’m better now, promise!”

“Nope… Not buying it. We’re waiting until tomorrow.”

“I bet the Castle of the Two Sisters has a library full of books that haven’t been touched in a thousand years…” Witch taunts, and Twilight winces, her resolve weakening. 

The pair have a long staring match; Witch pleading with her eyes while Twilight glares at her, unwilling to give an inch. Finally, Twilight’s resolve breaks and she sighs gustily. “Fine. We’ll go… but only if I’m sure you’re feeling up to it, and after we get something more than tea in you.”

“Fair enough,” Witch concedes, trying and failing to keep the triumph out of her eyes.





“I don’t believe this…” Witch comments in quiet amazement, looking up from another book and setting it in a pile with three other tomes. This stack is set apart a little from the rest of the books she’s sorting through by subject. 

“Me neither… I found Luna and Celestia’s journal from when they were building this place,” Twilight agrees, looking up from her own book. “What don’t you believe, Witchy?”

“I’ve found four books with bookplates in them…” Grabbing the top book from the separated pile in her magic, she levitates it over to Twilight. “You’ll need to see it to believe it…”

Twilight easily takes over levitating the book, setting aside the Celestial Sisters’ journal for the moment to flip open the cover of Witch’s book. Etched in delicate old script on glittering silver, she reads aloud, “From the Library of Queen Amore… of the Crystal Empire?!” Her voice cracks on the upnote, eyes wide as saucers as she looks over at Witch who simply nods and levitates the three other books so Twilight could see them.

“Fourth one I’ve found,” Witch confirms. “That’s not even the craziest part. Take a look at the titles!” she adds, sending the books over to Twilight.

“Let’s see… ‘A Guide to the Care and Cultivation of Crystal Trees’? ‘Blessings of Order: The Gift of Life’? ‘Blessings of Order: Strength Through Adversity’? ‘Crystal Iron and Its Applications’? Good grief, are all of these relating to Equus?!” Twilight exclaims, looking over at Witch

“I took a look at the language too… It’s in some old version of Equestrian, but there are words in Equusese…” Witch responds, and Twilight flips a few pages into the book Witch had first sent over to her. 

Twilight makes a thoughtful noise as her eyes scan the pages open before her. “Crystal trees can… live well? Thrive, maybe? ‘Crystal Trees can thrive in any’... land weather? Probably means climate… ‘as long as proper attention is given.’ Context is officially our friend here, Witchy…” Twilight says, looking up at the last.

“I’m going to take the books about crystal iron and the crystal trees, and see if Luna will let me keep them. My brother might lose his mind over the crystal tree book…” Witch says, taking the four tomes back up in her magic and levitating them back to a neat pile next to her. “Have you seen any with the same book plate?” she asks.

Twilight laughs nervously, blushing in embarrassment. “Sorry… I got distracted reading the diary…”

Witch shrugs, waving a hoof at Twilight. “Don’t worry about it, Twy. It doesn’t really matter anyways… Those books came from the Crystal Empire, which means that should probably be our next trip… I’m sure Princess Cadance and your brother wouldn’t mind putting up with us,” she suggests, smiling at her friend.

“I’m sure they wouldn’t…” Twilight agrees before sighing and flipping the pages of the journal back to the front. “We need to find the Tree first, though… And if we don’t find something soon, we’re going back to the Library for the night.”

“But Twilight,” Witch protests, as she gets up to peruse the shelves once more. “I brought my medicine, and this is hardly less comfortable than the temple was!”

“And what did you plan to do about food?” Twilight asks, raising an eyebrow even though she doesn’t look up from the diary. 

As if on cue, a slight rumbling echoes through the dilapidated library, as though the castle itself were hungry at the mention of food. Twilight’s head snaps up at the sound, her eyes instantly fixing on Witch who had frozen in place, her magic surrounding three old books; one with a faded blue cover, the other a pale violet, and the last a dusty orchid. 

“Witchy?” Twilight queries, closing the diary and leaving it on the table to join her friend. “What did you do?”

“Twy… You need to see these titles…” Witch responds, not looking away nor even moving beyond speaking. Twilight comes up alongside Witch and then squints to read the titles. The violet book at one end is titled Blessings of Order: The Power of Love. In the middle, with the faded blue cover, the title reads Blessings of Order: Dauntless Hope. Lastly, the dusty orchid book’s title makes her jaw drop.

“Sweet… Celestia… ‘Blessings of Order: The Magic of Compassion’?!”

“Wait, Twilight!” Witch cries as Twilight’s magic pushes her own away from the last book and pulls the book down from the shelf. As soon as the book comes down, the castle rumbles again, stronger than before and toppling a few of their book piles. Witch flinches as dust and fine rubble falls from the ceiling, and Twilight hunches her shoulders, ducking her head. 

“Oops?” Twilight laughs sheepishly, blushing. 

Witch sighs, both relieved and resigned. She casts a quick glance back at her bags and the small pile of books she’d set aside. “Did the diary say if there were secret tunnels in this place?” she asks.

“There are… but they seemed to be mostly prankish in nature,” Twilight answers, a nervous tremor to her voice.

“Well… It seems rather suspicious that three books that are definitely from Equus relating to the Princesses are causing what seems to be a secret passage opening…” Witch says slowly. “We should gather up our things and be ready to go if it causes more instabilities in the structure…” she adds, her magic fading from around the two remaining books as she steps back slowly. 

“Not a bad plan,” Twilight agrees, nodding as she too retreats. After a brief scuffle of packing up their supplies, and taking the few books they’d already found that were of interest, they return to the shelf with the two books. 

Not bothering to discuss the situation more, Witch levitates the remaining Blessings of Order books from the shelf. A great shaking of the whole room follows quickly upon their removal, and the shelf swings back into a tunnelled stairway going down. Twilight and Witch share a hesitant look at each other before steeling themselves and heading down the stairs.

Their horns light their way as they descend into the depths of the castle, silence hanging heavy in the air. Even their hoofsteps seem muffled by the oppressive and ancient aura.

“How far down does this thing go?” Witch asks in quiet awe after they’d been heading downwards in the spiralling tunnel for what felt like several floors. 

“We should be below the castle by now…” Twilight responds, her tone equally hushed.

As the stairs begin heading in a straight line instead of a spiral, the stairs start leveling out as well, more like narrow terraces instead of stairs. “Well this is promising…” Witch comments with a wry glance to Twilight beside her. 

Twilight’s response, whatever it may have been, is forgotten as they come out into a large cave bathed in silvery light. Neither mare had seen a crystal tree beyond the smaller illustrations from the Life’s Temple library, and their jaws drop the grand scale of the crystal tree before them, with five primary branches forking from the central trunk, each with a flower trailing crystalline vines.

“It looks almost like a weeping willow…” Witch says in astonishment as they slowly approach the ancient tree.

A subtle rumble ripples through the cavern, and the vines shiver with the quaking. “Come closer, young Princesses of Hope… and Compassion. You have sought us out for answers. Answers we can give… If… you are ready for them.” The words reverberate through the cave, softly spoken in perfect unison by a large chorus of voices as though whispered near an ear. Jerking in surprise, Witch and Twilight look to each other, as though seeking confirmation that the other had heard as well.

As they near the crystal tree, images etched in the crystalline bark come into focus. On the trunk of the tree where all the branches fork is a large six-pointed star, reminiscent of Twilight’s cutie mark. Below the star is a sun with a spiral in its center circle, and below that, a crescent moon. Peering closer at the vines, Witch’s eyes widen as she sees the sigils of the five princesses on each leaf.

“What do you think, Witchy?” Twilight asks, a nervous tremor in her voice. Witch turns to look at her companion, uncertainty clear in her face and eyes.

“Fear not, young Hope, young Compassion. Your quest has taken you this far, long past the point of returning. Take heart, for the path ahead is clear, if you can find the courage to set your hooves upon it.” Again, the tree quivers as the disembodied words echo around them, the crystal leaves making a soft chiming as they rustle.

Witch looks back at the tree, and squares her shoulders. “The Tree, if that’s what’s speaking, is right… We’ve come too far to shy away now…” she says, and steps closer to the crystal tree. The bark reflects her face back at her, though she almost sees glimpses of other eyes, other ponies in the mirror-like surface. “C’mon Twy… I’m not doing this alone…” she adds, looking over her shoulder at the alicorn, still hesitating a few steps back. 

Sighing heavily, Twilight joins Witch at the tree. “On three then?” she suggests, raising a hoof and letting it hover inches from the polished surface.

Witch nods, and starts the count; “One…” She raises her hoof as well. “Two…” Twilight braces herself, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. “THREE!”

Their hooves connect with the crystal bark with a soft clink and… 





She looks around, smaller legs bearing the bracelets she knew well, as she enters a chamber with five thrones, only one of which was vacant. The four ponies occupying the thrones smile welcomingly at her. One, an earth pony, glows white, bright like the sun and giving her the feeling of a rich field ready for planting. Another earth pony, wearing heavy armor, glows green, radiating strength. An aged unicorn holding a book glows with indigo light, eyes partially magnified by thick glass lenses perched on her nose, warm kindness shining from her eyes. Lastly, a pegasus closer to her own age glows with a pale purple light that makes her feel loved despite being so far from the family she’d left behind.  

“Welcome, Princess of Hope.”


~~~<~~~<~~~<@***@>~~~>~~~>~~~


Looking at her fellow princess, Witch sees two ponies, one seemingly overlapping the other. Beneath the visage of Twilight Sparkle, Witch catches sight of a pale indigo coat, deep magenta and forest green mane, and pink eyes, more solid than Twilight’s image. She knows somehow that the old unicorn had passed, and that this new pegasus was her replacement. “Compassion!” she greets happily, extending a wing over her friend. “I just finished that book you loaned me! Want to talk about it over tea?”


~~~<~~~<~~~<@***@>~~~>~~~>~~~


Her steps feel heavy as she walks, partly from age, but mostly from the crippling weight of her burden. Alone… The last Princess, the only Princess to remain pure against the corruption of the Chaotic Vices… The last ruler of an empire that had fallen to ruin. She had been a Princess and only called Hope for so long, she’d forgotten the name her parents had given her.  She doesn’t even remember what they looked like, their names, her siblings or if she had any… Utterly and completely alone…

The pain of it threatens to overwhelm her, bringing her to her knees as she reaches the edge of a small village. She looks at it in confused amazement; the village bears no marks of the fall of the Equusese Virtues… Too far out, on the edge of the empire, to be noticed or affected by the corruption that had claimed the rest of the towns.

“Are you alright?” asks a small unicorn mare, barely more than a filly. Over the yellow coat, sky blue-streaked pale green mane, and adoring blue eyes, Witch sees a young version of Princess Cadence. She nods with a slight smile to the unicorn. Her attention is drawn by the hum she feels coming from the pack on her back. Her bracers glow with blue light, drawing the items from the bag. The book appears dormant, but the Crystal Heart glows with violet light that reaches out to the filly. Witch’s smile grows broader. 

“No… But I believe I shall be soon, little Love.”


~~~<~~~<~~~<@***@>~~~>~~~>~~~


“We don’t have to do this, Love… We can retreat back to the City. The Crystal Heart can maintain the protection-”

“No, Nana… We can’t… We need to face her now! If we don’t defeat her, then what about Fear, or Hate, or Death? What happens if any or all of them join Envy? Even the Crystal Sanctuary won’t hold against more than one of them!”

Witch’s heart feels heavy in her chest as the young Love, grown now to a young mare, argues in favor of confrontation. Her eyes flick away, towards an approaching aura of orange light. In the middle of it, she sees her old friend, Compassion… But no… she wasn’t Compassion anymore. She had fallen into Chaos and Vice like the other four Princesses. The mare that approaches her and ‘Love’ only wore her old friend’s body.

“Love… If you face her, you could fall to Chaos and become corrupted… or worse!” 

“I know…” Little Love gives her an encouraging smile, even as her whole body glows with determination. “But I have you with me, Nana Hope. I won’t fall.”


~~~<~~~<~~~<@***@>~~~>~~~>~~~


“We’re safe now, Little Love… We’re back at the palace,” she says, gently sliding her unicorn friend onto the floor and nearly collapsing herself from exhaustion. No! She mustn’t! Little Love needed her help. Straining, she turns her attention to the young mare, brutally beaten with many cuts and bruises marring her pale coat and her blood pouring from a deep wound at her ribs.

“Did… Did I do well, Nana Hope?” Love asks, her breathing labored and raspy. Witch cringes, touching Love’s cheek with her hoof gently as she tries to stop the bleeding.

“Yes, Little Love… You did so well…” she replies, her voice choked as she realizes there was nothing she could do to save her student and friend. “I’m so very proud of you…” she adds, tears beginning to fall down her face.

“Don’t ever give up… Nana…”

The blue eyes dim, life gone, and Witch releases a mournful wail of despair until she collapses next to her fallen companion, her sobs as quiet as her lament had been deafening.


~~~<~~~<~~~<@***@>~~~>~~~>~~~


She feels it in her bones, that age would no longer be beaten by the power of her virtue. She stares out the window at the thriving city outside the palace, crystalline homes and buildings glittering in the light of the setting sun. She looks down at her journal, rereading the last entry before she closes the book and leaves it on her desk. She crosses to the seat in the window, and from under the cushions, she retrieves a plain wooden box. Sitting wearily, she sets the box next to her on the seat padding. Gathering what remains of her strength, she casts one last glance out at the city she’d helped build with Little Love.

A single tear falls to the couch, and she sighs using her relic-granted magic for the last time to remove the bracers from her legs. Midair, they shrink to small cuff-like bracelets that fit neatly within the open box. 

Her vision dims and she uses her last moments to hide the box back in its secret compartment. “Little Love… At last, I see you again…”





As Witch returns to herself, she staggers away from the tree, blinking the tears from her eyes. She struggles to come to terms with the visions she’d seen of an entire lifetime not her own, and all the accompanying emotions.

“No!” Witch jumps at the loud denial, whirling to see Twilight in a state of high distress. Like Witch, she has streams of tears coursing down her face, but differed in that Twilight’s eyes flare with disbelief. Witch barely has time to take in the sight before Twilight turns and runs from the cave, the clatter of her hooves resounding through the cavernous space and sounding almost like a stampede instead of one alicorn.

Witch turns to follow, but finds the hoof that had been touching the tree trapped with a snare of crystalline vine. In vain, she struggles to free herself.

“Young Hope… We need to speak with you a moment longer…” Witch’s head snaps back to look at the tree, the rest of her body freezing. The moment she stops, ice blue light flares, illuminating the crescent moon etched into the trunk. The glow then blazes a line down the trunk to a root near Witch’s back hooves. She squints at the spot as the light coalesces and blooms into another flower. The petals quickly unfurl, peeling away from a gem radiating a soothing white-blue aura.

“To restore your domain, plant this seed at the Heart of Hope,” the Tree of Harmony says as the light from all but the seed fades back into the tree. The vine releases Witch’s hoof then, and the glacial blue halo of her magic surrounds her horn and bracelets before encompassing the seed, levitating the crystal into her bag.

Witch hesitates briefly, glancing anxiously back towards the tunnel, before returning her attention back to the Tree of Harmony. She makes a short, uncertain noise before she says, “Thank you,” and then takes off at a sprint after Twilight.
	
	

> Pt. 5 - A Royal Quandary
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The memories the Tree of Harmony gave her had made Twilight flee, as though putting distance between herself and where the visions had come from would distance them from her mind. Her hooves carry her swiftly up the stairs, back to the library, and through the castle and her wings take her over the Everfree Forest and back to Ponyville.

But no matter how far or how fast she goes, the memories circle in her mind… 





“Compassion!”

Twilight looks up to see two ponies, one seemingly overlapping the other. Beneath the visage of Witch, she catches sight of a pegasus with a pale sky-blue coat, silvery-blue and pale gold mane, and deep green eyes, more solid than Witch’s image. Without being told, Twilight knows that this pegasus is called ‘Hope’. 

Hope/Witch beams with happiness and extends a wing over Twilight. “I just finished that book you loaned me! Want to talk about it over tea?”


~~~<~~~<~~~<@***@>~~~>~~~>~~~


Ice seems to have replaced her blood as she looks out on her kingdom. Where she’d seen acts of friendship and harmony before, she saw only ponies helping themselves, or only assisting others in order to gain assistance in the future. 

“Compassion? What’s wrong?” Twilight turns to see Hope again, practically radiating concern.

“Can’t you see it?” she retorts harshly, causing Hope’s brows to furrow in greater worry. “Everypony,” she waves a hoof to gesture around her, “is only acting kindly to each other so they can call on those who owe them when they are in trouble… Saving up favors like a dragon hoards gold…” 

“Maybe they simply need to be shown the right way, Compassion,” Hope suggests. Twilight feels the sneer twist her face as an orange glow surrounds the amulet around her neck. Though she doesn’t care, she knows the aura is the wrong color, normally a pleasant indigo. “Compassion?!” Hope’s panicked voice barely penetrates the magic now swirling around her. “Compassion!”

“There is no Compassion.” The words echo through the swirling magic, turning Hope’s panic to outright terror. “I am Envy.”

Hope flies at her then, tackling her to the ground. The world tilts as her head cracks against the polished stone floor. Hope leaps off of her, darting to a shelf before vanishing in a flare of pale blue magic.

“HOPE!” she screams, not caring what was stolen, only that something rightfully hers had been taken. “YOU WILL KNOW PAIN WHEN I FIND YOU!!!”


~~~<~~~<~~~<@***@>~~~>~~~>~~~


She smiles as the orange magic sinks into the crystal tree, turning it black. The flowers drop orange crystals to the ground and she levitates them to the group of trusted followers she’d brought with her. They glow with a similar orange light, surrounding them and emanating from their eyes. 

“Go… Spread these seeds! Let Chaos reign!”


~~~<~~~<~~~<@***@>~~~>~~~>~~~


She had destroyed Roan itself to lure Hope out of hiding, but it had taken her years of razing each city in Hope’s lands to find where her nemesis had gone, but finally, she has. Hope had stolen something from her, and she would pay dearly for that. 

Three crystalline spires reach towards the sky, surrounded by homes that glitter in the sun. Directly in her path, a fair distance from the crystal city and standing at the gates to that realm, are two ponies. One is barely more than a filly, but she radiates violet light, identifying the pony as Love. The other makes her lips curl into a furious snarl; Hope. She’s older, but no less determined than her partner.

Orange light flares around her as the young mare places herself in front, amethyst light gathering around her and the crystal gates. She smiles coldly at the filly’s foolishness. 

With the battle joined, Twilight quickly gains the upper hoof against the filly’s magic, despite its amplified state from the city’s design, but her old friend would not falter, Hope’s pale blue light holding back the surge of her orange magic. Hope’s weakness becomes apparent as she throws herself in front of a strike aimed for Love. 

An evil smile on her face, she puts Love in her sights. As with Hope’s transparent visage of an elderly Witching Hour, Twilight’s mind overlays Cadance’s tri-toned mane and pink coat over the yellow unicorn filly with pink hooves, haunches, and muzzle, and sky-blue streaks in her pale green mane and tail.

She shapes the magic in her mind, honing it into a keen blade, and distracts Hope with a feint and an opening in her guard. As Hope rears back to attack, Twilight sends the blade flying towards Love/Cadance. Even as she falls to the ground, the sound of Hope’s despair wrests a gloating laugh from her with her dying breaths.

“Do you know pain now?” she asks, still cackling madly even as her life drains away. Through the edges of her dimming sight, she sees Hope/Witch looming over her, her expression hard and unforgiving, brows knit together.

“I’ve known pain since the day Compassion turned into you…” Hope replies, her voice hard as stone. With a quick yank, Hope pulls the amulet from around her neck and tosses it away, leaving Twilight’s world to fade into darkness.





Staggering into her room and locking the door behind her, Twilight weeps bitterly and throws herself onto her bed, burying her face in the pillows, despite hearing Spike’s concerned calls from without. 

She’s not sure how long she’s alone in her room with Spike trying desperately to find out what’s wrong, before Witch’s voice replaces Spike’s. Sniffling, she pushes herself up from her pillows, scowling down at the door from her lofted sleeping area.

“Go away Witch,” she snaps, and puts her head back down on her pillows.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Witch snaps, her voice ringing with reprimanding authority, loud even through the thick door, “I will be coming in there… I’m only giving you the choice of how!” Giving an irritated huff, Twilight only turns her back to the door, staring morosely out the window. 

Magic crackles in the book room below her sleeping area, followed by the pop of suddenly compressed air. Twilight twists in place to look down, scowling even before she sees Witch below. Witch returns the glare in full measure, her ice blue magic not fading from around her horn and bracelets, and in fact her eyes start glowing as well. “Don’t you think if we could hide from this, I would be hiding too?” 

Twilight flinches, turning away again and Witch can see her shuddering even from this distance. Witch sighs, her gaze softening, and the halo of magic retreats into her bracelets and horn as she ascends the stairs quickly to join Twilight. Her steps are slow and soft on the wooden floor as she comes to the side of the bed Twilight’s facing, and she feels a sympathetic pang when she spies the large wet stains on the pillows.

Putting a hoof at Twilight’s shoulder and gently rubbing her back, it’s no mystery to Witch what had Twilight so distraught, especially if Twilight had seen the same overlays that Witch had. “Twily… That wasn’t you… It was just a memory from somepony else…”

“It was so vivid…” Twilight forces out the words between sniffles and the occasional hiccup. “I could feel… her blood…” 

Witch pulls Twilight upright and clutches the alicorn tightly to her, making quiet soothing noises to calm and reassure her friend. “Shhh, Twilight…” she murmurs softly, stroking Twilight’s mane. “It wasn’t Cadance… It was just an overlay of her… Just like how I’m sure you saw me…”

Her statement wrings another sob from Twilight. “I wanted to hurt you!” she cries, putting her hooves at Witch’s shoulders and pushing her away to arm’s-length. Witch watches Twilight with concern as Twilight tries to force her breaths to even out. “I couldn’t tell… What was me… and what was her… It was all the same…”

The corners of Witch’s mouth turn upward, her gaze and smile sympathetic, and Witch gently coaxes Twilight back into a hug. “I know… But it was just memories… And not even our own… Those visions were somepony else’s life…” A thought pops unbidden into her head, and Witch can’t suppress the chuckle that follows it. “I mean… Really… Can you imagine me with wings?” she asks, snorting as she releases Twilight from her arms.

Twilight rubs at her face, a weak smile tugging at her lips with a huffed laugh. “You know Witchy… I used to think the same thing…” she retorts as her wings extend and flutter briefly.

Witch recoils, squawking a protest. “Gah! Twilight! Don’t even joke about that! I’m not like you… I’m not…” she stammers, averting her eyes.

Twilight sniffs one last time, her smile gaining strength as she chuckles slightly. “Witchy… You are a lot like me…” Witch opens her mouth to protest again, but Twilight cuts her off. “No, I’m serious… You’re different, but a lot is the same… We may have different specialities, but we’re both students to one of the Divine Sisters… And while we both didn’t understand what our teachers meant for us, we’re both devoted to it… So in my case, that’s friendship, and it’s healing for you…”

“That’s why I’m a doctor, Twily…” Witch replies sharply. “If every doctor could ascend, then we’d have a lot more-”

“But you’re not just any doctor, Witchy,” Twilight counters quickly. “How many ponies have you saved, not just from injury, but from losing themselves to despair?”

Witch’s eyes narrow, almost glaring but for the small smile pulling at her lips. “Which one of us needed cheering up again?”

Twilight laughs again. “Witchy… Look… You need to stop worrying about what’s coming, and deal with what’s in front of you…”

“And you need to not worry about those memories somehow changing who you are… Because they don’t,” Witch retorts firmly with a decisive nod and a solid poke at Twilight’s shoulder. 

“Point taken…” Twilight concedes, smiling at the gentle rebuke. “But Witchy…”

“Twilight,” Witch cuts her off, sighing, “I might be able to concede this whole… princess of order thing… but this… whole… equal-to-gods… craziness… No. I can’t see that… Not as I am… And I certainly don’t do anything worthy of ascension…”

Twilight sighs as well, resigned. “I guess we’ll just have to disagree then…” she responds with a slight shrug, a sly smile tugging one corner of her mouth upward. “I still don’t think Luna would’ve taken you as her personal student if you didn’t have the potential to be as great as any princess…”

Witch sighs again, frowning thoughtfully at Twilight’s words. There was that word again: ‘potential’. “Alright… But you have to write your brother and arrange our visit to the Crystal Empire…”

> Pt. 6 - Past and Present Family Reunion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight watches the countryside roll by outside the window as the train rattles along its tracks, the geography becoming more and more marked as they approach the Crystal Empire’s capitol.

“Thank goodness it’s still autumn… This trip a little later would’ve been as bad as our trip to Saddle Arabia,” Witch comments from the bench across from Twilight. The lavender alicorn smiles and turns to nod at her companion. “Going from one of the hottest deserts to the Frozen North in winter would likely make us sick.”

“True enough, Witchy,” Twilight agrees. “Though by ‘us’, you likely mean ‘just you’, oh concussed one.”

“Low blow, Twy!” Witch declares, feigning affront.

Twilight simply smiles in reply. “Do you think Cadance represents Love? I mean… She is the Princess of Love…”

“Well… Celestia’s not the Princess of Life, even if the sun is necessary to life,” Witch states with some hesitation. “And you’re not the Princess of Compassion, though friendship can be a form of it.”

“What about the memories though?” Twilight points out. “We both saw her as that young mare…”

Witch chews on her lower lip, recalling the foreign memories causing as much sadness as if they’re truly her own. “I did call her ‘Little Love’. That could’ve easily been a term of endearment… but that crystalline heart did react to her…”

“Was the Crystal Heart Love’s relic?” Twilight queries, leaning forward for the new information.

“Oh… Didn’t I tell you what the other relics were? The Librarian told me about all of them…” Witch says, smiling sheepishly. Twilight shakes her head vigorously, making Witch duck her head in shame. “Sorry… Yes. The Librarian told me that Love’s relic is a crystal in the shape of a heart, and given the memories I saw from Hope’s perspective, the simplest explanation is that Love’s relic and the Crystal Empire’s Crystal Heart are the same thing.”

“Oaken’s Razor,” Twilight adds with a nod of agreement. “The simplest explanation is often correct.”

“Exactly,” Witch agrees with her own nod.

“Well don’t leave me hanging here!” Twilight exclaims. “Tell me about the other relics! What do they look like? What do they do?!”

Witch laughs lightly at her friend. “Alright, alright! Relax there Twily! Strength had a set of armor, and Life’s was an amulet like the one the Librarian wore. These bracelets apparently turn into bracers at full power, and amplify all my magic, but healing in particular. Compassion had a book made with paper from crystal tree pulped wood meant for recording acts of compassion either witnessed, performed or heard about… It apparently had some significant enchantments because it never ran out of pages no matter how much the princess wrote in it. There was also an amulet to amplify the princess’ magic as well, but it was secondary to the book…”

“I think I… remember the amulet…” Twilight responds haltingly. “You… Or rather, Hope… pulled it from around my neck… At the end…”

Witch rises from her seat and moves to sit next to Twilight and put a comforting arm around the alicorn’s shoulders. “Those memories were hard to watch… No matter the perspective.”

Sighing, Twilight leans against Witch’s shoulder, her eyes staring unseeing at the landscape passing by the window. “Witchy? Do you think there’s a way for Cadance to experience some of the memories without going to the Tree?” she asks softly. “I only ask because it could really help her understand…”

Witch shrugs slightly. “It’s possible… The Librarian said the Tree was connected to the princesses through their relics… So maybe if Cadance tries to connect to the Crystal Heart with that intent…”

Twilight nods, blinking slowly to refocus her eyes on her current surroundings. “That makes sense… I just hope… she doesn’t…”

Witch cuts that train of thought off with a tightening of her arm before moving to sit in front of Twilight again. “Twily… I know it felt real… But it was not you… I’m sure Princess Cadance won’t think any differently of you if she sees what you’re thinking she’ll see…”

With a slight sniffle, Twilight nods again. “I hope you’re right…”

Witch smiles slightly, lightly jabbing Twilight’s shoulder with her hoof. “Hey… You and I are new friends, and I recognize it wasn’t you… With her being so much closer to you, I’m sure she’ll feel the same as I do.”

Twilight flinches, then smiles as she rubs at her shoulder. “I should really have you meet the rest of my Ponyville friends before you go back to Canterlot…” A playful grin crosses her face as a thought occurs to her, making her laugh. “Applejack’s already threatened by Rainbow Dash working to get stronger… I think both of them will feel like the world is coming to an end if they meet a unicorn strong enough to compete with them…”

Witch chuckles, blushing. “I’m not that strong… I’ve just been following the regimen my boss gave me, and not regularly at that,” she demurs, abashed. “And actually, I already met Rainbow Dash… Flash and I were the ones to pop her wings back in after the whole… post-Ball insanity…”

Twilight laughs, and seems about to say something more, but then the brakes make the train lurch slightly, making her smile sheepishly. “Guess we’re almost there…”

Witch smiles as well, moving back to her bench and packing up the books she’d used to occupy their trip northward while Twilight does the same. “How do you think the Royal Sisters got those two books?” Witch asks, her hoof brushing against several of the books from the old castle’s library.

“The Blessings of Order books?” Twilight clarifies. “Queen Amore must’ve given them the books… They were alive when Sombra took over the Empire.”

“But why would she have given them the books?” Witch persists curiously as she swings her saddle bag across her back. 

Twilight shrugs slightly, her magic levitating her bag to settle it on her back. “Maybe she knew about Equus and its fall, and wanted to make sure that other rulers knew of it?” she suggests as she moves to wait near the exit, Witch following close beside her.

“That would make sense… It just seems strange that history from barely more than a millennium before us has degraded so badly…” Witch comments with a sigh and the train lurches slightly as the train brakes more and slows to a crawl as they arrive at the platform.

“Oh… One thing about Cadance and Shining? They’re not like Princess Luna…” Twilight starts. Her thought derails as the doors slide open, so Witch is left wondering what her friend meant while Twilight leaps to the platform towards Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor. 

After giving her brother a quick hug, Twilight immediately moves to stand before Cadance and starts what appears to be a ritual dance and song.

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”

Witch, approaching slowly with confusion and no small amount of trepidation, bows to Prince Shining Armor while Cadance and Twilight were busy doing their greeting. “Well met, your highness.” She turns as the two princesses start laughing at the end of their rhyme and dance. “Do they always do that?” she asks, mostly to herself.

Shining Armor laughs, waving a hoof which she takes as an invitation to rise. “Yes, they always greet each other like that…” he chuckles, smiling affectionately at the two alicorn mares. “And please… Just call me Shining… I get enough of the royalty nonsense while on duty…”

Witch flinches slightly. “I’ll try…” she temporizes. “Should that be something I should keep in mind with Princess Cadance as well?” she asks quietly.

“Probably best to keep up the formality when there are others around…” he responds, smiling, “but you’re Twily’s friend, and Princess Luna’s student… I don’t imagine she’ll mind you just calling her by her name when it’s just me and Twily around.”

“Witching Hour!” Cadance starts in excited greeting as she approaches with Twilight beside her. “Twilight says you two have been on an adventure… I thought she’d only do that with her Ponyville friends!”

A light pink blush colors Twilight’s cheeks as she smiles sheepishly. “Well… Witch asked for my help with her assignment from Princess Luna, and there’s really quite a fascinating history involved… And translating Arabic and Coptic was very interesting!” she explains in her defense, making Shining laugh and put an arm around his sister’s shoulders.

“That’s our Twily…” Shining chuckles, ruffling Twilight’s mane with a hoof. “Always curious about something!”

“We should head to the sanctu- er… I mean palace… We can talk more about what we’ve found there…” Witch suggests, stammering as she slips up slightly, her mind crossing memories together. If the royal couple had any reaction to the misspoken word, neither give it away, instead turning with smiles to walk back to the center of the city, and the crystal-spired castle.

“I’m sorry if we’re a bit busy right now,” Cadance starts, turning her head to look back at the pair behind her and Shining. “A librarian found some old records in an even older dialect of Equestrian. It took some time to find someone who could translate it, but a historian living in Seaddle named Viridian Archives was around when the dialect was still in common use. He informed us that it was a detailed account of how the Crystal Empire was founded… It wasn’t created by Queen Amore like we thought! Who knew?”

Twilight and Witch share a silent exchange with their eyes, and Witch laughs nervously. “Um… We may have found some indications to that in our research…” she responds with a slight smile.

“You’ll have to tell me about that over dinner then,” Cadance replies, making a mental note to address the awkward silence that had fallen over her sister-in-law. “In any case, the Crystal Ponies wanted to celebrate their original founders, Queen Crystal Hope and Princess Little Love, so the preparations have been taking up a lot of our time, and the celebration is the day after tomorrow… Oh! Here!” The pink alicorn nods as they enter the palace courtyard, now dominated by a statue of a pair of mares. 

The larger mare is a pegasus with her wings fully extended and all four hooves planted firmly to the ‘ground’ in a defensive stance, with her mane and tail streaming behind her as though whipped up in a wind. The smaller mare, a unicorn only large enough to reach the top of the pegasus’ shoulder even rearing as she is, seems just as determined as the pegasus with a fierce expression expertly captured by the artist who had made the statue. Both have diadems with the symbol of their Aspect; the heart with eight rays for the unicorn, and the three-rayed open triangle for the pegasus. In addition to the crown, the pegasus’ legs have full bracers that cover from elbow or ankle to fetlock, a large cabochon jewel set in the center over the cannon bone.

On the edges of her thoughts, Witch dimly registers that Cadance is describing what’s known about the pair, and how an artist had found the fragments of the statue in the old sculpture garden and restored it. Twilight attempts to stifle a sob, her sniffling cutting through her haze of memories and subsequent thoughts like a knife into her mind. Turning, she sees Twilight in a high distress.

“Twy,” Witch says softly, reaching out a hoof to gently lay it on her friend’s shoulder. However, the moment she makes contact, whatever control Twilight had managed breaks and she flees into the castle, leaving her family baffled and Witch cursing softly under her breath.

“I’m almost afraid to ask what that was about…” Shining comments dryly, earning himself an exasperated look from his wife.

“Um… Well… Let’s just say it involves memories from somepony else’s life…” Witch responds with a sigh. “I’ll explain more after we find Twilight…” she adds in assurance at the confused looks her answer garnered.

“I think you’d better explain while we find Twilight…” Cadance counters with a skeptical expression leveled on Witch. 

Swallowing nervously, Witch nods. “Well… It has a fair amount to do with the kingdom that… Erm… Crystal Hope, you said? Where she came from, actually…” she explains haltingly. “She came from the Equusese Empire.”

“Equusese Empire?” Shining repeats, obviously baffled even as he and Cadance start towards the castle and hopefully in the direction Twilight had fled. “Never heard of it…”

“I’ll spare you how hard it was to find any reliable text short of going to Saddle Arabia,” Witch starts, following behind Shining and Cadance. “It was ruled by a council of five princesses, notably not alicorns, which represented the aspects of Cosmic Harmony; Compassion, Love, Strength, Life, and Hope. Hope was the only surviving ruler when the empire fell, and she retreated from her seat in Roan to try to salvage what she could, and tried to keep as much of the Council as possible in tact.”

Cadance looks back with an arched eyebrow. “Really? Crystal Hope came from Roan?”

“Presumably,” Witch responds. “It’s at least where she spent a majority of her life as a ruler… In any case, Twilight and I discovered that the Tree of Harmony, where the Elements of Harmony came from, is associated with Equus, and… Well… To put not too fine a point on it, we’re the current… incarnations, for lack of a better term, of Hope and Compassion… And that allowed us to access the memories of the last recognized aspect representatives through the Tree of Harmony.”

“The Tree of Harmony?” Shining repeats, apparently laboring to keep up with all of this new information.

“And didn’t you just say these princesses weren’t alicorns?” Cadance adds, better able to keep up with Witch’s narrative, but still confused. 

“It’s very complicated, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to explain it all without Twilight.” Witch sighs heavily, shaking her head. “The best I have is that the Tree of Harmony is tied to the relics of the Princesses of Equus, and therefore the princesses themselves. Crystal Hope’s bracers, that you saw on the statue? And my bracelets?” She holds up her hoof, the light glinting of the silver cuff and smooth blue jewel. “They’re the same thing; Hope’s relic… Just a difference in our respective mastery of them… As for why Twilight’s the new Compassion despite all previous princesses being non-alicorns, it’s still a mystery. Everything we’ve found says alicorns as these representatives shouldn’t happen, but it has… And there are strong indications that she’s not the only alicorn chosen to represent Cosmic Harmony.” Witch takes a deep breath in the silence her words cause. “We know that Celestia is the new Life… And we have reason to believe that you, Princess Cadance, are the new Love…”

Shining’s mouth works, opening and closing with no sound coming out, clearly gobsmacked, and Cadance seems to be working at digesting Witch’s information. Witch hunches her shoulders, ducking her head sheepishly. “I told you I needed Twilight to help me explain all this…” she mumbles, barely audible.

“Let’s find her then, and see if she can add any more information,” Cadance responds, offering a slightly reassuring smile to her guest.

“The last time she reacted like this, she went back to her room…” Witch supplies, hoping that it might help.

Cadance and Shining share a silent look before Cadance suggests, “Library?”

“Library,” Shining concurs with a firm nod, and they turn in the direction of their agreed destination. Witch trots quickly to catch up with their path change, struggling to keep up in her own fashion. In trying to explain things to Cadance and Shining Armor, Witch finds new connections she hadn’t initially made, even new information entirely that had been buried by the onslaught of memories; strong arms that held her while she grieved for the small unicorn called Little Love, a new student… A flash of a silvery-blue tail and a high-pitched giggle as the pony it belonged to kept running to hide from her...

The creak of opening doors pulls Witch from her thoughts, and she narrowly keeps her jaw from dropping at the sight of the huge library. She keeps up with the royal couple as they head deep into the shelves, and scrolls replace books as they go further into the recesses of the library, though her steps slow while she looks around with wide eyes. They stop at a dimly lit break in the shelves to either side, all looking in different directions for where Twilight might’ve gone. 

Shining tilts his head to one side, his ear perked in that direction. Witch and Cadance turn their attention that way, and almost too quietly to be heard, Witch catches the quietest whisper of a whimper. Without looking to the royals for confirmation, Witch takes off down the corridor between shelves, her horn lighting up briefly to cast a silence spell, so Twilight would not immediately run at hearing hoofbeats approach, though with the drawback of not hearing anything outside the muted bubble. Despite the lack of sound, Witch feels a draw in the correct direction, and doesn’t doubt that she’s heading towards Twilight.

A wall hung with old maps with foreign labels looms in front of her before long, and slowing, her eyes flit along the tables lining this edge of the library, finally falling on the magenta sparks flickering from behind two overturned tables in a corner forming a open box.

Slowly approaching, Witch cancels the silence spell on herself, allowing the sound of Cadance and Shining behind her and Twilight’s ragged sobs back into her ears. She keeps her steps as quiet as possible, even though she doubts Twilight could hear over her crying. 

Stooping down so she wouldn’t loom over the barricade, Witch positions herself on one side of Twilight’s hiding space and cautiously peeks over the edge of the overturned table. “Twy?” she queries, her voice barely more than a murmur. 

Though Witch is reasonably sure that her soft tone couldn’t be heard over Twilight’s weeping, Twilight sobbing gets louder and the young alicorn shifts just slightly further into the corner, remaining curled into a ball. Witch mutters an oath under her breath, glancing over her shoulder at Cadance and Shining Armor who stood hesitantly a few lengths back. Catching the princess’s violet eyes with her blue ones, she flicks her glance to the other table boxing the youngest princess into the corner.

Taking the silent cue from the unicorn, Cadance approaches with soft hooves, as though she were trodding on eggshells. Mimicking Witch’s position behind the other table, she rests her chin on the edge and looks down at her distraught friend. “Twily… Please, tell us what’s wrong,” Cadance coaxes softly with a soothing tone.

“Get away!” Twilight snaps and glares at the two mares, trying her best to look angry despite her puffy, bloodshot eyes and tear-stained cheeks. “I don’t want to hurt you…” she adds, burying her face back in her arms.

“Twily,” Cadance murmurs in soft protest.

“Twy… That’s not logical,” Witch responds, her voice firm despite its low volume. “Sending us away would hurt us…”

“But what if I turn into her?” Twilight insists, muffled by her arms.

“Twilight, be reasonable… You would never turn into Envy…” Witch retorts, resting her chin on the edge of the table.

“You don’t know that!” Twilight replies, her voice jagged from sobbing and sharp with anguish. “No pony can know that because we’re supposed to find out and we haven’t!”

“I know you won’t because you’re so heartbroken by even the thought of it happening,” Witch consoles, reaching a tentative hoof inside Twilight’s ‘box’ to try to touch her friend’s shoulder, hovering bare inches from its goal. “Twy, I need your help… Please. I know we’ve only gotten more questions than answers so far, but we need the answers to stop anything like that from happening again… And I need your help figuring everything out.” Witch sighs, hanging her head and her arm dropping to drape over the edge her table. “Please, I can’t do this alone, Twilight…”

“Twily…” Cadance chimes in, her voice as soft and pleading as Witch’s. “We know you would never intentionally do anything terrible…”

“And Princess Luna didn’t want eternal night when she became Nightmare Moon!” Twilight retorts hotly, turning and glaring with bloodshot eyes at the two mares.

“No, she didn’t,” Witch replies, keeping her voice even and soothing while silently praying that Twilight would calm down, “but you were the one that said that we could face everything if we did it together… With friends, remember?”

“All I could see in that statue was…” Twilight starts, trailing off as sobs threaten to overwhelm her again.

“I know, Twy…” Witch responds soothingly, reaching out again and this time actually putting her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “But that wasn’t us… You aren’t Envy. I’m not the old Hope, and Princess Cadance isn’t Little Love.”

Opening her mouth to speak, Cadance reaches out to place her hoof on Twilight’s other shoulder -





“It must’ve been difficult to fight somepony who’d been so close to you, Nana,” Cadance says softly and the old pegasus mare, almost fully obscured by the overlay of an elderly version of Witching Hour, sighs heavily.

“The friend… No, the sister I knew was gone, young Amore. I was fighting to save what remained of the Empire from somepony that merely wore my fellow Princess’s skin… As a ruler, thinking of the good of the many, how could I do anything else?” ‘Nana’ explains, her voice heavy with regret and responsibility.





Cadance jerks her hoof away and blinks, looking between Witch and Twilight in confusion. “What in Equestria was that?!” she exclaims, making Witch’s jaw drop.

“You saw it too?” the unicorn asks, eyes wide with surprise.

“What was it?!” Cadance demands, an edge of annoyance creeping into her voice.

Twilight and Witch exchange an anxious glance with each other. “Um… Well…” Witch starts hesitantly, “It was a memory… from the last Princess of Order that shares your aspect of Cosmic Harmony… Remember how I said we thought you might be the new representative of Love?”

When Cadance nods, recalling Witch’s explanation, Twilight rubs at her face, dashing away the remains of her crying fit. “She got a memory just from being around both of us? Maybe she’s more connected to Love’s relic than we are to ours?”

“It’s possible,” Witch replies, still clearly uncertain. “I mean… She is the the Princess of Love, and the restoration of Mir-er… the Crystal Empire… probably gave her a better connection to the Heart…”

“Wait wait wait…” Shining interjects then, stepping forward to stand next to Cadance. “You’re saying that the Crystal Heart is a relic that came from the empire you two have been trying to find information on?”

“Yes, that’s what they’re saying, dear,” Cadance quickly answers, turning her head to address him before returning her gaze to Witch. “But wait, what were you going to say before, Witching Hour? The restoration of the Crystal Empire… You almost said something else, like before when you called the castle ‘the sanctuary’... The restoration of what?”

Witch casts an uneasy glance at Twilight, who simply gives her a blank look and a quick shrug. “Places around here… I keep getting the names mixed up in my head because I saw this whole city get built up from a small village on the outskirts of Equus, the furthest flung town in Hope’s realm as Crystal Hope.” Witch sighs heavily before taking a deep breath to steady herself, as though expecting some sort of backlash. “The town was called Mirrormere.”





“Amore, mia cara, we’re here…” A gentle mare’s voice rouses Cadance from her sleep, and she quickly raises her head from the makeshift pillow made of blankets. All around her in the open wagon, busy ponies rush back and forth with construction materials or other supplies between tents and magical construction bubbles. Looming ahead of them as they make their way through the town, a large construction bubble dominates a central point, surrounded with banners displaying the eight-rayed heart of Love and the familiar sigil of Hope - the latter having dominated her old home in Roan.

“The militia are setting up tents for all Roanan refugees,” says a stallion wearing a tabard with Hope’s symbol on it, speaking to the stallion pulling the cart. “Welcome to Mirrormere.”





“Mirrormere…” Cadance repeats, her tone sounding distant as though she’s still lost in the memory, and then she shakes her head quickly, pushing it aside. “You said the relics were connected to both these Princesses and the Tree of Harmony? So how am I getting memories now? We’re not near the Crystal Heart, to say nothing of the Tree of Harmony!”

“Witch and I thought it’d be possible to access the memories of the previous princesses by using the relics to… draw the memories from the Tree,” Twilight replies, her usual certainty absent.

“You’ve already used the Heart to protect this city, and the city was designed to amplify its power to do so, which may have given you a better connection to the Heart, and through it, the Tree of Harmony,” Witch adds. “While I have Hope’s bracelets, I’m not fully connected to them. They become bracers once the connection is completely established, like I said before. And Twilight doesn’t even have the relics for Compassion. We have no idea where the book is, aside from that it was in Hope’s possession, and she’s better off without the amulet as I suspect it was corrupted beyond saving by its last user.”

Twilight cringes at the last comment, making Witch wince as well before continuing. “The memories we got were very emotional. We saw each other as ghost-images over the last princesses… And we saw an image of you over Little Love… Just a moment ago, right before this all came up, I saw you again, but you were also Queen Amore instead of Little Love…”

“I… Er… I mean the last Compassion,” Twilight stammers, correcting herself at Witch’s concerned look, “is the reason Little Love died… And… I watched what felt like myself murdering… well… you…”

Witch sighs, eying the expressions of horror and shock on Cadance and Shining’s faces. “Wanna come out of your bolt hole now, Twy? Because I think these two are about five seconds away from that sinking in and breaking the tables to hug you…”

With a noise that’s equal parts sob and laugh, Twilight nods and a quick flare of magic puts back the tables boxing the young princess in her corner. No sooner were the tables replaced than, as Witch had predicted, Shining and Cadance quickly scoop their sister into a group hug, and Witch rises to stand off to the side with a slight smile of satisfaction.

Looking up from the pile, Shining looks at Witch with an expression of astonishment on his face. “How did you do that? It used to take hours to pry her out of whatever hole she took cover in!” he asks, amazed, only to get a pair of elbows to his gut.

Witch quickly smothers a chuckle and hides her grin behind a hoof. “It helps when you’ve been on the receiving end,” Witch responds sheepishly. “Twilight could tell you all about the several times she had to talk me out of a corner…”

“Or up from curling in a ball on the floor?” Twilight adds with a weak laugh as Cadance and Shining finally release her.

“That too,” Witch agrees nodding. “We’re just about even now on that score too… All this Equus craziness has caused me three panic attacks and her two…”

“You can’t count the one from the ball, Witchy!” Twilight exclaims, almost chidingly.

“I can and I will,” Witch retorts firmly. “It’s all the same ‘on par with Goddesses’ insanity, which I still don’t buy for one second…”

“Girls,” Cadance cuts in, and though her tone is sharp enough to successfully silence the two younger mares, her expression (and Shining’s for that matter) is one of fond amusement, “I think you two are getting a little off topic here.”

“No kidding,” Shining adds as he presses a hoof to his ear, rubbing it as though it were sore from listening to the two younger mares’ quick verbal exchanges. “Seriously Twily… It’s bad enough there’s one of yo- OW!” He winces, nursing the new bumps on his head from both Cadance and Twilight giving him a firm smack to the back of his skull.

“Let’s move this somewhere more comfortable,” Cadance suggests, her tone inferring more of an order.





“Are you sure you don’t want me here?” Shining frets, dancing from hoof to hoof in the doorway to the open atrium at the foot of the castle. Cadance offers him a reassuring smile and nuzzles his cheek.

“I’ll be fine, dearest,” Cadance responds gently. “If I understand what the past holds, I will tell you at dinner.” Despite his obvious reluctance, Shining nods, pulling her back for a quick hug.

“We’ll see you soon, BBBFF,” Twilight promises, and Shining finally retreats inside.

“What’s BBBFF?” Witch asks as they turn to face the courtyard.

“It means big brother best friend forever.” Twilight explains with a slight blush on her cheeks and then chuckles at Witch’s raised eyebrow. “It’s something I called him when I was a filly and it just stuck.”

Approaching the Crystal Heart, Witch and Twilight stop a few lengths away and Cadance looks back once she realized they stopped.

“Cadance,” Witch begins evenly, “whatever you may see or hear, just remember that all of it happened in a different lifetime, just the memories of somepony else.”

“We’ll be here for you.” Twilight adds encouragingly, hoping she could at least be stronger for her sister-in-law than she had been for her own vision.

Cadance nods once before looking back to the Crystal Heart. Taking a deep breath, she pushes aside all her doubts and reaches out with her hoof, pausing an inch away from the Crystal Heart. With one last bout of resolve, she touches her hoof to it and - 





The sight of an old pegasus mare half-stumbling near her home at the outer fringe of her hometown of Mirrormere stops Cadance in her tracks. Partially obscured by the ghostly overlay of an elderly version of Witching Hour, her silver-blue and muted gold mane is matted and snarled, and her graying pale blue coat is marred by many scratches and bruises in various states of healing. 

Cadance gasps as the old mare/Witch sinks to her knees and she runs to her side. “Are you alright?” she asks anxiously, looking her over in concern.

She gives Cadance a weak smile and a slight nod before she gets distracted by something. The bracers on her legs radiate an icy blue light, and two objects rise from the satchels on her back. Cadance’s jaw drops at the sight of a pegasus easily using magic.

The old mare first eyes the book, a thick tome with somehow-glittering pages, before turning her attention to the crystal heart, which calls to something deep within Cadance. A violet glow expands from around the heart, overpowering the blue halo of magic, and tendrils of soft purple light seem to reach out to Cadance.

The mare’s smile grows broader, her face crinkling along the many lines there. “No… But I believe I shall be soon, little Love,” she says as the book floats back into her bag, and the heart hovers under its own power to Cadance.

“Who are you? What is this?” Cadance asks.

“I am Hope… And that, little Love, is the Crystal Heart, relic of the Princess of Love…”


~~~<~~~<~~~<@***@>~~~>~~~>~~~


Through the pain, Cadance feels herself being carried. There’s a slight jolt when her carrier stops and slides her as gently as possible to a cold smooth surface. 

“We’re safe now, Little Love… We’re back at the palace.” Hope/Witch says softly, and the pain spikes as pressure is applied to her wound.

“Did… Did I do well, Nana Hope?” Cadance asks, her breathing labored and raspy. Through the darkening haze, she feels Hope touching her cheek with her hoof gently.

“Yes, Little Love… You did so well…” Hope replies, her voice choked. “I’m so very proud of you…” she adds.

“Don’t ever give up… Nana…” Cadance says, straining to get the words out. She wanted to add more, tell her mentor that she would succeed in building a new Equus, but her breath runs out, and with a sigh, her eyes drift closed, embracing oblivion.


~~~<~~~<~~~<@***@>~~~>~~~>~~~


She waits in the long line to meet with Princess Crystal Hope, fidgeting anxiously as the day drags on. As pony after pony leaves, looking dejected, she begins to fret that she would not meet whatever the princess’ expectations were; or worse, that no pony would… 

“Amore.” 

Cadance jumps alert when the guard pony says her name, looking about and surprised to find herself at the front of the diminished line. Taking a shaky breath, she follows the armored stallion into the castle atrium. 

The windows surrounding the base of the castle, usually transparent to allow a clear view of the literal heart of the city, are opaque, leaving the area dimly lit from sconces and two points of light at the center. As she approaches the center, she makes out the shadowy figure of the princess, illuminated from glowing jewels on her bracers and the crystal heart hovering between a matched stalagmite and stalactite.

She had seen the Crystal Heart many times, but this time is different. She feels a pull at her heart, drawing her closer to the relic and Princess Crystal Hope. Are her eyes playing tricks on her? Or was the Crystal Heart glowing brighter now than it had been?

Cadance feels a hum go through her just as she steps into the circle around the Heart and the princess, making her stagger slightly before she can bow properly.

“Amore is your name, is it not?” Princess Crystal Hope asks softly, the raspiness of old age diminished but still audible.

“Yes, Your Loyalness… Amore Cristallo…” Cadance responds, rising from her bow.

“Your family… fled Roan, correct?” Cadance blinks in surprise at the question, to say nothing of the tone that echoes unshed tears. “Your name has a Roanan pattern to it…” Hope explains, eliciting a nervous laugh from her subject.

“We are, Your Loyalness… I was very young when we left, but I remember it fondly,” Cadance answers. Despite the perceived gap in rank, she wishes to bring comfort to the old mare, who cringes and sighs at Cadance’s reply.

“Perhaps we may then build on that,” Hope states cryptically, making Cadance blink in surprise again. Sensing the confusion, the pegasus princess smiles down at her. “You, Miss Amore Cristallo, are to be my protégé, and take my place when I am gone.” Stunned, Cadance only watches as Hope looks over her newly-chosen student’s shoulder to the guard. “Send the rest away. I’ve found whom I have been seeking.”

As the lights brighten in the area, and the windows return to transparency to allow the fading sunlight into the area, Cadance looks on curiously as Hope levitates a large tome with glittering edges into a satchel at her back.

“What is that?” she asks quickly, though she flinches the moment the words leave her mouth. “I mean… If you don’t mind my asking…”

“Oh, it’s nothing… Just something that belonged to an old friend…” Cadance wants to call her out on the lie about it being nothing of importance, but bites her tongue. She could always ask later, when it didn’t seem to make the princess so sad.


~~~<~~~<~~~<@***@>~~~>~~~>~~~


A queen she was on crystal throne
In many-pillared halls of stone
With golden roof and silver floor,
And runes of power upon the door.
The light of sun and star and moon
In shining lamps of crystal hewn
Undimmed by cloud or shade of night
There shone for ever, fair and bright.

The world is grey, the mountains old,
The haven’s hearth is ashen-cold;
No harp is wrung, no hammer falls:
The darkness dwells in crystal halls;
The shadow lies upon her tomb
In Tsuyouma, in Fillyon,
But still the sunken stars appear
In dark and friendless Mirrormere;
There lies her crown in water deep,
Until Hope wakes again from sleep.

As her sung eulogy fades away, and the doors close on the tomb beneath the Crystal Sanctuary, Cadance sighs heavily. A light nuzzle at her arm pulls her attention down to a young unicorn filly with green-gold eyes, pale violet coat and silvery white and blue mane.

“There there, Radiant…” Cadance says softly, pulling Hope’s daughter close for a hug. “You should go check on your father… I’m sure he needs you right now, darling.”

“Yes, Auntie Amore,” the little filly sniffles, clutching her tightly for a moment longer before scampering back into the castle. Cadance sighs again, watching her mentor’s foal until she disappeared inside.

She looks up as two wings - one the color of the midnight sky, the other the color of fresh-fallen snow - cover her shoulders and back from either side, and she offers the alicorn sisters a sad smile.

“We’re sorry for your loss, Amore,” Celestia says softly.

“Thank you Celestia… I was honored to be Crystal Hope’s successor.”

“We have not met anypony like her… The world would diminish should we not see her likes again.”

Amore does nothing to stop the tears that fall from her cheeks at the other alicorn’s words. “You are right. I should very much like to meet somepony like her again, Luna…”





Cadance staggers back a step and Twilight rushes to her side, supporting her sister-in-law with her shoulder. Despite her own initial hesitation, Witch takes Cadance’s other side just as the pink princess looks at her, violet eyes full to nearly bursting with emotion of all kinds.

Before any words can be exchanged, however, the Crystal Heart starts spinning in place, its glow matched in intensity by the blue gems on Witch’s bracers. A globe of pure white light begins to expand outward from both items, temporarily blinding all present for a few brief seconds before it condenses back around the Crystal Heart. In the next instant, a column of interlaced blue and violet light shoots skyward, exploding into a brilliant aurora of color across the sky once it reaches its peak. Twilight remembers when the Crystal Heart had banished Sombra for the second time, but something seems different about this event. The light from the Crystal Heart seems to be more… corporeal, to the point of being almost a physical force. There’s only a brief moment to reflect on this before the corona in the sky seems to snap back with a resolute and unhesitating crash back at its epicenter in the sky, having spread beyond the horizon moments before. The light swiftly descends back down to the Crystal Heart with another brilliant flash of blinding light, and the three mares are left to stare in awe at what the event has left behind.

Two brilliant diadems hover before Witch and Cadance, held midair in blue and purple auras respectively. The first of the two is a polished gold, and hovers before Cadence. Gems of the most vibrant violet the three have ever seen are set in the peaked brow, a heart with eight lines of deep amethysts radiating from it. Cadence cannot help but feel as if the crown before her was meant for her, even if it didn’t have the heart on it, and she reaches out with a hoof and gently takes it.

Meanwhile, Witch observes the one in front of her with no small amount of trepidation. Unlike Cadence’s, instead being a proper crown, it is more like a circlet formed by a pair of caducei that look like they’d rest upon Witch’s brow. A pristinely polished blue cabochon jewel is set in the center, held by the winged tops of the familiar medical symbol. Witch looks closer at the gem, and finds - much to her surprise - the sigil she’s come to associate with Hope inside the centerpiece, a natural part of the stone and not carved into it.

“What -” Witch starts, only to be interrupted as Shining Armor careening into the courtyard from the stairs.

“What in Celestia’s name was that?!” he shouts, alarmed and looking around wildly for any threats. With Twilight struck dumb and gaping at the two new crowns and Witch staring at her own as though the snakes on it would come alive and bite her, Cadance sighs resignedly as her husband joins them.

“I think we need to go back inside and talk…”

> Pt. 7 - The Crystal Archive of Hope
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Witch rubs furiously at her eyes, bringing the foreign words of the journal back into focus on the aged paper before her. Sighing heavily, she pushes the book away and rests her chin on the desk. Despite herself, she mutters an invective at the book, wishing that she’d thought to ask Luna to teach her how to read the dead language of Equus. Seeing the book last night had given her a sense of familiarity, but no matter how hard she tried to make heads or tails of it, all she’d gotten from the memories of Crystal Hope were impressions of mood while writing, sitting at this very desk.

Even the few translations in the margins in the old dialect of Equestrian were of no help in reading the entries, only giving a general and extremely vague idea of how the language had transitioned from Equusese to Equestrian. 

Heaving another sigh, Witch pulls over the notebook that had been completely blank at the start of her efforts but is now full of pages of individual characters with notes on the radicals used to hopefully give the words context, and untranslated passages of text with their translated counterparts in hopes of finding any grammatical correlation on top of which words were which.

Three quick taps on the door pull Witch from her flustered musings, and the door swings open quickly after the knocked warning, revealing Twilight. “Hey Witch… Are you ready to- Sweet Celestia have you even slept?”

“Tartarus… Is it morning already?” Witch asks, looking around and finally realizing how low the candles had burned and that the warm glow of the sunrise now supplements their meager light.

“Witch…” Twilight’s warning tone makes the unicorn flinch slightly.

“I know, I know… Go take my medicine and get breakfast…” Witch grumbles, closing her notebooks and then the journal to put them away. Her hoof lingers on the cover of the journal, tracing the gilded silver outline of the blue sigil of Hope. In the lower right corner is a smaller symbol of a large fluffy cloud with lines radiating from it as though a sun were hidden behind it, also in glimmering silver.

“Witch? What’s so important about that journal that you’re putting your health at risk, again, over it?” Twilight demands crossly, entering the room and joining Witch at the old desk.

Huffing with mild impatience, Witch puts the journal atop her own notebooks. “Twy… You know we’re supposed to find out how Equus fell, and what the words on my bracelets could mean. Both you and Cadance saw the fall yourselves, but neither of you know why, because you both saw it from the fallen princesses’ perspective. This would all be done now if I could get a clear recollection of what happened, but the memories are still all jumbled in my head and I don’t think they’ll get any clearer until I get a full grasp on these bracelets.” Frustrated, Witch puffs at a loose tress of her blue mane, blowing it out of her eyes as she puts the books in her spare bag.

“It won’t get any clearer if you get another headache,” Twilight warns, though she feels some sympathy for her unicorn friend. 

“I know, Twilight,” Witch retorts irritably, easily draping the bag on her back. “I just lost track of time. It’s not the first time I’ve pulled an all-nighter and I doubt it’ll be the last…”

“You don’t work at the hospital anymore, and you didn’t have a concussion then!” Twilight protests, following Witch out of the room and towards the guest quarters she and Twilight had been given for their stay.

“Yes, mother… Stop worrying. You can scold me more after I take my medicine and get some tea in me…”





The once great city of Roan, formerly the shining jewel in the crown of the Istallion Peninsula, lays quiet and abandoned. Its once beautiful streets and magnificent fountains, silenced now for more than a thousand years, lay choked with weeds and trees. The city’s most prominent feature, the Palace that generations of Hopes had once occupied, fares worst of all as it had been the object that was given the most attention by she who had destroyed the city. Its windows lay darkened and shattered, and its walls blackened by fires now long since gone. 

One window, however, glows with the dim, flickering light of a candle. 

The window in question is situated in the hallway leading to the throne room, a grand gallery that once held priceless works of art and breathtaking murals of stained glass. Now, all that remains are banners, untouched by time, flame, or the elements, hanging side by side as fresh and spotless as the day they had first adorned the wall. Each banner has the sigil of the Virtue of Hope upon it, with the cutie mark of the Virtue who had held that office beneath it. The latest of these banners has the image of a silhouette flying across a golden moon beneath the sigil, and it is this image that the candle floats before, its owner staring at the newest banner, and the empty place beside it.

“I just do not understand, Elpidios,” an echoing voice hisses. “Why should this banner appear, after all this time? Why, why does it not fill its proper place?” Pulling the candle back to levitate beside him, the owner of the voice is revealed to be a large snake, his body made out of banded green stone. Letting out a hissing sigh, the construct looks to one side at his lone companion in the hallway. “Well, what do you say, Elpidios? Do you have any ideas?”

Chirping, Elpidios, since he is in fact a phoenix, ruffles his feathers in a shrug and looks up at the construct as if to say ‘My guess is as good as yours.’ 

Shaking its head, the construct looks back to the banner before him. “Perhaps I should leave Roan,” it looks to Elpidios. “Seek out this new Hope?” The phoenix shakes his head, trilling in its musical voice for a few seconds before looking to the construct and gesturing with one blue wing and chirping. “Yes, yes I know, I was ordered by Hope to guard the city, and I must remain here until I am told otherwise, but I cannot continue to ignore this.” 

The candle beside the construct suddenly goes out, and causing the stone snake to growl and go to relight it with its magic. Before it can, however, a tendril of glowing golden magic reaches out and a flame springs into existence on the wick accompanied by a feminine giggle.

“Forgive me, Doctor, I did not think my arrival would do that,” an echoing voice speaks from behind Doctor. “We need to talk, though, so it can’t be helped.” 

Turning around quickly, the snake’s jaw drops as he beholds the ghostly figure behind him. She is a beautiful alicorn mare of pure white, with a mane and tale of many different colors that flutter in a spectral breeze. Her most striking feature, however, is the warm motherly smile she wears. 

Instantly, Doctor knows this to be Life. 

“What have we to speak on, Mother?” Doctor asks, looking up at the apparition with wonder. 

“She who that banner belongs to, dear child of mine,” the mare replies, her voice echoing throughout the gallery though she speaks in barely a whisper. “She is soon to open the tomb of the one you served before her, and uncover things that she will need help understanding.” She pauses, as if contemplating what to say next, before looking down at Doctor with a serious expression. “Her and Compassion both.” 

Grimacing, Doctor hisses at Life, shaking his head. “Why should I aid Compassion?! It is because of she that we are in this situation! I have been in exile because of her!” 

Life’s wings flare out as she suddenly glows brightly. “I expected better of you, my child! Pinning the guilt of those who came before upon the shoulders of those who exist now? Such is beneath you!” Her voice swells in volume, the ruins of the palace shaking around Doctor and Elpidios, the latter simply rolling his head from one side to the other as if to say ‘look what you did now!’. “Would you lay the attack of Fillyon upon my shoulders? The destruction of Tsuyoma upon my sister?”

“N-no, mother,” Doctor stammers, coiling in on himself slightly. “Simply, my memory is long. How do I know this Compassion is different?” 

“She is a former student of mine,” Life replies, her voice lowering back to its echoing almost-whisper. “She is faithful, and puts the needs of others before herself. Always.” She sighs, an echoing sound akin to a distant breeze. “But, you need not fear, you shall not be meeting her, not yet at least.” She looks up at one of the empty windows for a few moments, then looks at Doctor again. “You, my son, must abide here a while longer. But not too much longer, I suspect. Hope will need you soon, as there will be trials she will face that will require your guidance.”

Doctor looks at Life, his glowing eyes staring at her as if thinking deeply. Beside him, Elpidios trills, and looks up at Life expectantly.

“Fear not, my fiery friend, I have not forgotten you,” Life giggles. “For you, I have a task most important. Hope and Compassion are about to discover the tomb of her predecessor, the last Hope who reigned in Roan. You, my dear Elpidios, must go there, and be within the tomb when it opens. Hope will need you, just as much as she will need Doctor.” She looks to Doctor, who looks almost affronted. She raises a hoof to placate the stone snake, before continuing. “Elpidios can shed the taint of this place faster than you can, my son. And will need to do so, for Hope must come into her inheritance soon. The world may very well depend on her attaining more of her true power sooner, rather than later.” Elpidios trills again, preening under the praise.

“Oh, rub it in, why don’t you,” Doctor sighs, shaking his head at the phoenix beside him before looking back at Life. “If this is what you feel is best, then I shall abide by it.” 

“It is,” Life confirms, her smile once more warm and motherly. “And I shall abide here for a while myself, for I must speak of you more on Hope.” She then looks to Elpidios inclining her head. “But your companion here must depart now, if he is to make it to his destination in time.” The phoenix recoils slightly, a shocked look in his eyes, and then spreads his wings to leap airborne before vanishing in a burst of blue flame, Doctor and Life watching him as he goes. As the last motes of flame fade into ash, Life looks back to Doctor before turning and gesturing with a wing. “Come, my child, walk with me. It has been many an age since last I set hoof upon these stones. I would see what has become of this palace.” She pauses, allowing Doctor to fall in beside her, before she continues. “And, I wish to tell you about your new mistress. I believe you will like her.”

“Is that so, mother?” Doctor asks, looking up at Life as they walk.

“Yes, my son. Allow me to tell you of the doctor you now serve, and how her actions shall help shape the age that is to come…”





After breakfast, the three mares arrive in the courtyard under the palace, the crystal heart spinning idly in place. Immediately, Cadance heads to the north side of the courtyard, searching the tiles intently for any sign of the doors.

“I saw the doors open on her tomb around here…” Cadance comments, mostly to herself. “But I didn’t see how they - Ah-ha!” Cadance looks up, grinning triumphantly with her success. Twilight and Witch rush over and there, barely visible within a large triangle pointing towards the crystal mountains, is the outline of a tall trapezoid split down the middle along the ground.

“Well… There aren’t any visible handles. There has to be some mechanism for opening them,” Twilight replies, looking around at the plinths supporting the castle over the courtyard. “Hidden levers are usually something like torch sconces…”

“That doesn’t sound right…” Witch and Cadance mutter in unison, only barely loud enough to hear each other. Witch groans, pressing a hoof to the bridge of her nose. “That’s gonna get old really fast,” she adds on her own, garnering sympathetic smiles from her companions. 

“I think it’s near by…” Cadance adds, looking to either side for likely hiding places for the door’s mechanism.

“Let’s look around,” Twilight suggests. “We can cover more ground if we split up. We’ll meet back here in ten minutes if we don’t find anything.” 

“I’ll take the east side of the courtyard,” Cadance volunteers. 

“I’ll double-back and check the south courtyard,” Witch adds. “Just in case we missed something.”

“Good idea,” agrees Twilight. “I’ll check the west side of the courtyard, then.”

The three mares wander off to search for anything that might resemble a trigger mechanism, and Witch sighs softly as she rounds a corner, out of sight of the two princesses. While Witch had come to enjoy being around Twilight, somepony she didn’t have to water down her explanations for, this whole experience is getting to be too much for her. At every turn, it seems, there’s yet another clue indicating that a spotlight is shining directly on her, and that she had a power equal to goddesses… The journal had at least distracted her from those thoughts, allowing Witch to forget those troubling prospects, even if only for a little while… 

Witch dismisses the thoughts for now, attempting to refocus on the task at hoof. There would be time for worrying later. Right now, Witch has a job to do. The southern courtyard doesn’t really stand out from the surrounding area, and for a moment Witch is uncertain. She can see the rows and rows of houses beyond the courtyard, framed by well-tended crystal tiles and columns. Looking out at that, it seems impossible to imagine that not a single pony, even with the short amount of time the Crystal Empire had been back, could have missed such a trigger entirely. 

Witch glances downward as she sighs in frustration, hitting a nearby column with her hoof. She stops as she sees something scratched on the surface of the column, not unlike the graffiti she’d seen in downtown Canterlot. It’s small and well-worn, but the distinctive sigils are unmistakeable. A violet heart, with five matching lines extending from it, encircles a trio of pale blue circles in a triangular formation with three more blue lines extending out the top. To any other pony, it would be just random graffiti. To Witch, it is exactly what she is seeking. 

Peering with narrowed eyes at the combined sigils for Love and Hope, Witch reaches out to trace the raised etching… 





Tears burn at her eyes as she presses the topmost ray of the symbol, watching the doors close as though her dearest student and friend would not be truly gone until the tomb was closed.

The soft jingling of bells comes from behind her, and a hoof at her shoulder pulls her into the waiting arms of another pony as the tears start to fall… 





Witch presses her hoof to the ray extending straight up from the heart and triangle, and the edges of a button become visible as it sinks into the wall and a slight rumbling follows. Belatedly, she looks over her shoulder and calls out, “Clear the door!”

There is a loud groan as the ancient doors begin to move in a cloud of dust. Twilight and Cadance watch as the two halves of the door creak and rise from the ground, revealing steps leading into the dark tomb. Two by two, pairs of torches ignite on the wall, blue-white light crystals illuminating the stairs like miniature suns. 

“Well, at least we don't have to light our own way,” Cadance comments as Witch trots over to peer down the steps. The three look to each other and nod, before heading down the steps. The trip down the steps is mostly uneventful, just the crystal torches lighting up at least ten steps ahead of them.

All too soon, the steps stop and they come to a landing, where a pair of statues greet them. The three quickly recognize who the statues are of; Hope and Little Love. Hope is standing with all four hooves firmly on the ground and her head hanging and angled slightly towards the smaller statue of Love next to her, her wings spread out slightly to the sky. Little Love’s, however, is standing on one hoof, arms spread to her side as she looks up, almost gazing at the taller statue to her side, with a small heart shaped gem made of amethyst on her horn tip.

Beyond the statues is a large room, mostly lit by the torches on the walls. In the center of the room lies a pair of large caskets, one has Hope’s symbol on it the other has Love’s symbol. A door lies at the center of the farthest wall from them, with the familiar conjoined image of the heart with eight rays of light shining off it encompassing the door. Off in the far left corner of the room lies a spiral staircase that appears to lead down.

Cadance glances between the statues before looking at Twilight, who has her eyes focused on the statue of Hope.

“You’re not going to run off again, are you?” Cadance asks, getting a wince as a response as Twilight looks back at her with a frown.

“N-no. I’m mostly over that for now.” Twilight looks back at the statue for a moment longer before starting into the large room. “We found the tomb, so we should explore it.”

Witch nods quietly as she had also been focused on the statue of Hope. She heads off in one direction, as Cadance looks between the pair, sighs a little, and heads into the main area between the statues. Witch and Cadance trot up to the caskets and look them over, before glancing at each other and silently agreeing to not open them. 

Cadance looks over the caskets in greater detail, and she spots a closed trunk located at one end of the caskets as she makes her way around them. She sits and looks it over, making sure it’s not locked or booby trapped. She pokes at the locker first, and when nothing happens, she gently tries to open it, only able to raise the heavy lid a little bit before letting it fall back down. 

“Need a hoof with that?” Witch asks as she comes up the other side of the caskets and stops by Cadance who nods in response. The pair brace themselves and manage to get it open together. The hinges don't creak or groan as they open it, and after fully lifting the lid, they both peer inside and see a set of small mirrors inside. 

Witch grins softly as she floats one up in her magic, looking it over and seeing the image of a heart with eight rays on the back of it. She blinks and floats another up, glancing at its back to see Hope’s symbol on the back of that one. She floats up the third mirror and looks at its back to see a six-rayed star formed by two triangles overlapping each other on its back.

“What's that symbol?” Cadance asks as she glances over Witch’s shoulder at the back of the mirror. Witch grins as she sets the other two back in the chest and holds the last one closer to Cadance.

“It’s Compassion’s symbol,” Witch states as she starts to outline it with her hoof. “Almost like Twilight’s cutie mark, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is. We should show this to her,” Cadance responds, turning to where she last saw Twilight, who had been over by the door behind the caskets, only to see her tail vanish through the doorway. 

Sighing with a slight shrug, Witch puts the last mirror back into the chest. “I’m going to look for anything else interesting… Maybe you should go after Twilight? Just in case she’s having a hard time and putting us off again?”

Cadance nods. “I thought she seemed a bit off. Hopefully, it’s not too serious.” Witch smiles as she nods as well, turning as Cadance heads to the door behind them.

Witch heads towards the staircase and peers down, seeing the same light below as above, and from the angle she is at, she can spot a few books on shelves. She decides to head down, thinking that Twilight can join her after she explores up here. Upon stepping toward the area, an additional set of torches begins to ignite in sequence, forming a path for her to follow. 

“Well, that’s not suspicious at all…” Witch mutters dryly to herself as she hesitantly makes her way down the steps.The torches, that she notes are hanging from the ceiling, light up further down this little library. This library pales in comparison to others that she’s seen, most notably is Life’s library.

As she passes by the books, she notes that each are very well taken care of and don't seem to have aged too badly. As she nears the end of the little aisle of books and the center pathway, the torches turn off and light up a single book sitting on a pedestal. That small voice in the back of her head tells her what book this is as she nears it.

With the tome glimmering in the light of her magical aura, Witch opens the book, scanning through it until it falls open to a page marked by an indigo ribbon. The script, flowing and dark indigo ink against the shimmering pages, is still indecipherable Equusese but despite that, Witch smiles softly, feeling the gentle comfort of a companion radiating from the words. A popping noise draws her attention towards the binding and her smile vanishes in a flash as a miniature figure of Discord pries himself up from the page and out from under the ribbon bookmark.

"My, my… I think your sister-in-law is rubbing off on you. Delving into deep, dark tombs and unearthing things better left untouched," Discord chides teasingly, looking stern as he wags one claw up at her.

Witch huffs irritably, batting at him to remove him from the book. Mini-Discord catches himself mid-air, floating upside-down, and pops up to full size as Witch closes the book. "You're just grumpy because the Princesses of Order are coming back into their own,” she snaps. “What do you want?"

He clucks his tongue at her, shaking his head. “Such manners, little Miss Witch… Lulu would be disappointed… And you’re just being grumpy because you are one of those Princesses. Why… You even have the tiara already…” He pauses, snapping his fingers, and a cool weight settles on Witch’s brow. Whipping around, she catches a glimpse of herself in a reflective crystalline surface and her eyes widen at the sight of the new circlet resting on her head. “Little bit of time and you could get the wings too!” Another snap of his fingers and a pair of fake wings appear on Witch’s back. Even in the poor reflection, Witch has to concede that they’re extremely realistic, and if not for the fact that they immediately flop down, hanging limply to either side and dark blue tips brushing the floor.

A quick full body shake removes the wing props, and Witch turns back to glare at the draconequus. “That’s not funny, Discord!” she declares, her voice shaking.

"I’m sorry. Did I give you the impression I was trying to be funny, little Witch?” Discord retorts, almost laughing with his mismatched fists on his hips. “Face it, Witching Hour, you're not just some doctor who can fade into the background anymore.” The embodiment of Chaos snaps his fingers as he sneers tauntingly, and several bright white spotlights shine down on Witch as Discord continues, dressed as a Bridleway director. Witch looks in horror to find that the wings have returned, attached by an interlacing net of zip ties wrapped around her arms and legs in such a way that any movement animates them. “By some twist of fate far crueler than even I could contrive, you've become the embodiment of Hope. Deny it all you want, but no matter how hard you try, you'll be stuck with it. The sooner you accept it, the sooner you'll be able to weather the coming storm."

Witch’s eyes go wide as her legs give out, forcing her to sit as she trembles under the weight of Discord’s words. Reeling, Witch tries to form a coherent response with no success, words lost in the tumult of her thoughts. “I don’t… I don’t want more…” she stammers, her voice quaking as she slowly crouches, curling in on herself.

"Let me clue you in, little Witch…” Discord leans in, a slight sneer on his face as his outfit shifts from a Bridleway director to that of a clown in a plum-colored suit.  “Fate doesn't care one whit that you'd rather be working at the hospital, or raising that little orphan away from those who'd mock him." Discord pulls out a long balloon, and begins tying it in the shape of a pony before snapping his fingers. A flash of light blinds Witch briefly, and when her vision clears, a small plush figure of a very familiar colt sits where the balloon pony was. 

“Why won’t you save me, Witch Doctor?” Discord whines in a squeaky voice, moving the plush doll as though it were speaking. “Aren’t you my mommy now?”

Witch reacts as though slapped, her tremors stopping abruptly, and she narrows her eyes at her unwelcome visitor as she gets back on her hooves. “… How dare you…” she hisses, shaking with fury. 

“I’m sorry, but a thousand years as stone has done horrible things to my hearing,” Discord taunts, digging at his ear with one talon and pulling a bit-sized pebble out before flicking it away. “Would you mind speaking a little louder?”

“How dare you, you malformed piece of garbage!?” Witch screeches shrilly, firing multiple bolts of magic with each word, making Discord almost dance to avoid them. “What would you know about caring for others, or the sacrifice that entails?! All you want to do is cause as much confusion for unsuspecting ponies as possible and for what? A few laughs??? Some sort of sick joke?! I don’t care what the hay you say or what your precious Fate says! I will protect Tricks and everypony under my care with my last breath if I have to, and no misshapen excuse for a god is going to stand in my way!!!”

"There now, at least I've stoked the fire in your belly, little Witch.” Discord chuckles as he waves a few burnt matches. “Do remember what I've shown you here today, because you better be ready for Fate when it knocks… If not for your sake, then for your little dancing colt’s." He tosses the plush of Tricks into the air, and Witch instinctively catches it in her magic. She whips back around, intent on screaming more at the draconequus, only to find Discord gone, forcing her to swallow her anger and frustration.

Grumbling, Witch grabs the book in her magic again and heads back upstairs. At the foot of the steps, she glances up them just as she hears a scream. She dashes up the stairs with the book and stuffed toy in her magical grasp, and at the top, she looks around wild-eyed for the princesses. A bright gold flash erupts from the room that Twilight had gone into, giving Witch the information she needs.

Pausing only to set Compassion’s Archive and the Tricks doll atop the open chest with the mirrors, Witch runs over and looks in, just in time to see a statue of an alicorn made out of quartz kneel down towards a pile of ash. “Thank you, Elpidios. I’m sure Doctor was very grateful for your company.” The statue speaks in a timbre of voice that would make determining its gender difficult, the pitch being unusually high for a stallion or unusually low for a mare. 

Witch watches the statue for a moment before looking around, spotting the princesses pressed against one of the walls as they stare at the animated alicorn statue before them. Witch looks back to the statue just as it straightens back up, allowing her to see the faintly glowing necklace and its green eyes lock onto her. A grin sweeps across its features as she gasps softly.

“Ah, Lady Hope! I am glad to see you finally returned to us,” it exclaims before it bows towards her.

“I, er, yes?” Witch stammers for a moment. “And you are?”

“Oh, forgive me for not introducing myself. I am Partner, companion construct to the Virtue of Love, and this pile of ashes here is Elpidios.” It gestures to the ashes as it speaks. Witch walks over to the princesses, keeping her eyes on Partner as she moves. “And who are your companions?”

Despite her trepidation about the statue talking about a pile of ashes as though it were alive, Witch sweeps a hoof towards Twilight, almost hitting the mare with a fake wing. “This is Twilight Sparkle.” Scowling at the fake wings, Witch lowers her hoof and simply nods towards Cadance. “And this is Princess Cadance, Princess of Love and the Crystal Empire.”

At Cadance’s introduction, Partner’s eyes focus quickly on the Crystal Empire’s Princess, widening to the size of saucers. “Oh thank the Cosmos! You’ve returned!” it almost cries, rushing forward and quickly scooping Cadance up in its arms to hug her tightly.

Cadance glances around, grinning uncomfortably as she awkwardly pats the statue on its shoulder. Twilight remains frozen in complete and total shock, her right eye twitching slightly as she stares at the statue’s revelry and celebration. Witch, while slightly confused as well, is more composed than Twilight, simply waiting in silence for the construct to finish celebrating its reunion with its mistress. After a few moments, Partner seems to become aware of its surroundings, gently setting Cadance back down and clearing its throat.

“My apologies, Lady Amore,” Partner begins, shifting awkwardly. “It has been long enough that I was beginning to worry about you since you ordered me in here. Pray tell, how did your confrontation with Sombra the Great go?”

At this, Witch is forced to look away, unable to meet the construct’s eyes. Twilight snaps out of her shocked state to glance at her hooves guiltily. Cadance clears her throat awkwardly, scuffing the floor with one hoof. Partner’s hopeful expression fades in moments as he glances around at the three mares, and something seems to finally click into place as it glances back at Witch.

“… Wait a moment. Lady Hope, you addressed Lady Amore as ‘Cadance’?” Partner asks, as though not wanting to believe it.

“… Yes, I did,” Witch finally admits, looking away.

Partner glances downward, his expression unreadable. Finally, after several long and uncomfortable moments, it finds its voice, hollow and broken. “… How long?” it asks without looking up. 

“Please understand, this isn’t easy to-” Witch begins, attempting to soften the blow.

“How long?” the construct bellows, staring Witch down desperately, needing to hear the truth but fully aware of how unprepared it is to handle it.

“… It has been almost one thousand and six years since Queen Amore’s death at the hooves of Mad King Sombra,” Witch admits finally, her voice quiet as though volume alone would make the information painless.

Partner staggers, as though physically struck, reeling from the news. It falls to the floor, sitting in a fetal position with its head in its hooves. The three mares watch as the construct sits in complete silence, not even sobbing, for several long minutes. Finally, the construct breaks down into completely silent, body-shaking sobs. Cadance is the first to move toward the construct, placing a reassuring hoof on its shoulder.

“… I know that whatever I say now will seem hollow and insincere, but for whatever it’s worth, I am truly sorry for your loss,” Cadance begins. “I-”

“No, it is not hollow,” Partner interrupts, keeping its face hidden. “… Thank you. I… I think I needed to hear that, Lady Cadance.”

“Please, just call me ‘Cadance’,” Cadance reassures with a smile. “I’ve always hated titles and pompous-sounding names. Those sorts of things distance us from those that we care about most, and that’s the last thing that I want.”  

At this, Partner stands and embraces Cadance, the ghost of a smile on its face. “… Thank you, Cadance.”

“For a brief moment there, I thought you were going to kiss me,” Cadance observes.

“I did not wish to presume,” Partner explains. 

“Probably for the best, considering I’m married,” Cadance laughs.

At this, Partner’s demeanor changes entirely, lighting up like a foal on Hearth’s Warming Day. "You are married! I cannot wait to meet them! Is it a stallion? Or a mare?"

“Stallion,” Cadance replies. “He can be a bit of a dolt at times, but he’s my dolt, just as much as I’m his.”

Witch laughs lightly as she turns to glance back at the door. In doing so, her false wings nearly slap a still stunned Twilight in the face, causing the lavender mare to snap out of her stupor. 

Tilting her head in confusion, Twilight regards Witch with a raised eyebrow. "Witch… Why do you have your tiara now? And why do you-"

"Don’t ask…” Witch replies in almost a growl as her expression flattens to one of severe annoyance. “But… How in Equestria does Fluttershy tolerate that… That…"

"Discord?" Twilight supplies flatly, her own voice conveying some sympathetic irritation.

Witch can only utter a frustrated and quiet scream of aggravation in response to the name. “Just help me get these damned things off…”

Chuckling a little at her friend’s frustration, and empathizing entirely, Twilight sets to cutting away the bindings holding the fake wings on Witch. 

“I take it you aren’t in the mood to discuss what he did?” Twilight guesses, receiving another flustered growl in reply. “Honestly, he was even more unhelpful in the crisis following my ascension. Gave me a sceptre and a crown just to annoy me at one point. I really wouldn’t put too much stock in what Discord rambles about. Even though he’s reformed, he loves to cause as much trouble as he possibly can along the way.”

“And yet he still has delusions of actually being helpful?” Witch asks as she shakes the remnants of her fake wings free.

Twilight shrugs. “My best guess is he thinks he’s doing more good than bad overall, so he might as well have fun along the way.”

Witch growls in frustration and stomps over to scatter a nearby pile of ashes, but the pile gives a startled squeak as she approaches. A small blue and gold baby bird pokes its head out of the ash pile, blinking slowly at Witch before hopping on top of her head and staring at her with an upside-down quizzical gaze. 

“Yes, Elpidios… That is Lady Hope,” Partner states firmly, its androgynous voice laced with chiding mirth. “And you should not stare at her so. T’is rude, as you should well know.”

The phoenix-chick blinks then, before looking up and chirping at the quartz construct, the tone giving Witch at least the impression that the little bird is sticking his tongue out at Partner.

Witch inhales slowly through her nose, closing her eyes as the small phoenix makes himself at home in her mane, and then releases the breath as she counts internally. “Okay… I have filled my quota for weird shit for around the next month… I’m done down here,” she states firmly.

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have stayed awake all night trying to translate that journal,” Twilight chides.

“Oh, like you’d be any better after a visit from… from… Diet Chaos!” Witch retorts, nearly upsetting the small phoenix from his perch in her mane as she waves her hooves around wildly.

“Witching Hour… You really should rest if you’ve not slept,” Cadance adds gently, making Witch sigh.

“Fine,” she grumbles before turning her attention to Partner. “I assume those mirrors by the coffins are for us to use?”

Partner nods slightly before stopping itself. “Well… One is supposed to be for Lady Compassion…” it temporizes, hesitatingly.

“That’s Twilight’s then… Same with the book,” Witch comments, Partner’s glowing eyes going wide in an expression of surprise. “Y’know… Your face is much more expressive than the Librarian’s…” she adds, completely off-topic. “I’m taking my mirror and going to bed before my mane becomes this bird’s permanent residence…” she continues, now back on her original topic. “Someone check on me if I don’t come down for breakfast tomorrow…”

As Witch leaves, she hears Twilight mutter, “Like that wasn’t going to happen anyway,” but Witch just shakes her head and starts up the stairs to exit the tomb.

“So many shades of done with today…” she grouses under her breath.
> Pt. 8 - Home is Never the Same as When You Left
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Witch laughs heartily at the image of her friend reflected in the small mirror floating in her magic before her. “Sure… Your brother’s face when he met Partner was priceless, but I think the look on Rarity’s face was more hilarious.”

Twilight chuckles as well, recalling the initial reaction well. “She still hasn’t stopped flailing about ‘Viscountess Grey served me tea’. The only thing that changes is whether she’s panicked about having offended your mom somehow, or vibrating from ecstasy about a noble giving her tea.”

“She really shouldn’t worry too much about offending my mom… She serves anypony who comes into her tea room…” Witch explains with a sigh.

“Well you know how effective that explanation was… And you’re still going to relay her needless apology too,” Twilight responds teasingly.

Witch levels a playful scowl at the mirror’s image of Twilight. “You know… It’s really not fair that you know me this well already…”

Twilight simply shrugs, smiling. “Princess of Friendship; it comes with the territory… Same way you always know what to say-”

“Don’t even start on that!” Witch interrupts, no longer playful and now glaring with a furrowed brow at her mirror.

“Sorry, Witchy, but it’s just too easy to tease you because I was-”

“I know, I know! You were there yourself… Please stop reminding me?”

“Alright… I’ll stop… Just… Stop worrying so much about it, would you?” Twilight pleads. “You know it only causes panic attacks, and there’s no guarantee anything similar will happen to you.”

“Tell that to Diet Chaos…” Witch grumbles to herself, sighing. “Not thinking about it isn’t exactly easy when everypony likes reminding me about it every bucking day,” she states, louder and clearly for Twilight to hear.

“Well… If it helps, you’re twenty percent cooler just as you are…” Twilight replies, smiling with amethyst eyes sparkling mirthfully.

“Rainbow Dash got over that ‘not cool’ trick of mine pretty fast, didn’t she?” Witch concedes, unable to keep a small chuckle from escaping.

Twilight shrugs again, but still smiles. “Showing up in a Wonderbolt uniform will do that with her.”

Witch opens her mouth to reply, but the train brakes, making her lurch on her couch. A quick glance out the window of her private compartment shows the higher middle-class district, and lets Witch know that the station isn’t too far off. “I gotta go, Twy. We’re almost to the station now and I’m gonna be busy for a while… Thank Fluttershy again for the pictures for me? I’ll call you again later tonight if it’s not too late, all right?”

“Sure thing, Witchy. Take care!”

Witch smiles and waves briefly before the image of Twilight fades, replaced by her own reflection. Sighing, she slides the mirror into her saddlebag and pulls it over her shoulders. The mirror-call with Twilight had taken almost the entirety of the half-hour trip, so the mirror had been the only thing she’d pulled out. Smiling slightly as she levitates her suitcases and additional luggage gained on their travels, Witch recalls how ecstatic Cadance and Twilight had been when they discovered the mirrors’ purpose; instant communication for them was a luxury they’d missed in the years since Cadance was Twilight’s foal-sitter.

The train pulls to an easy stop and Witch leaves her compartment, joining the throng of ponies milling about the large train station and heading straight to a luggage counter to arrange to have most of her belongings sent back to her home. That convenience arranged, Witch makes her way out of the station lobby and onto the sunny streets of Canterlot. 

Closing her eyes and tilting her face up into the sunlight, Witch inhales deeply, a small smile tugging at her lips. While her time with Twilight had gotten much done with her assignment, she can’t help but be relieved at being home. After being to the other side of the globe and back, the familiar sights, sounds and smells are a balm to the doctor.

Her walk to the Compound is a leisurely twenty minute stroll. It probably takes her longer than it should’ve but the simple pleasure of walking amidst the bustle along usual streets slows her steps, and as the Castle bell tower chimes once for the hour, Witch pushes open the lobby doors. 

The routine comings and goings around the compound flow around Witch, a few greeting her in passing on their way to somewhere else, as she heads straight for the cafeteria. Though not hungry, she scans the tables, trying to find her coworkers. Raising an eyebrow as she spies not only her friends from medical, but also Treble and four strange and mismatched pegasi at the table with them, Witch threads and weaves her way through the throng of Wonderbolts to get to them. Predictably, Cinna is the first to spot her.

“WITCHY!!!” Cinna shouts, immediately getting up and charging towards her. Smiling with a hint of resignation her her friend’s exuberance, Witch braces herself just in time for the younger unicorn to tackle her into a hug. “Ohmigosh, you were gone for so long!!! How was your trip? Where did you go?!”

Witch chuckles as a green halo of magic surrounds the secretary and pulls her away to reveal Green Flash, standing near by. “Ease up on the coffee, Cinna or I’ll make Bliss change the Training Room’s pot to decaf…” Flash threatens even as she smiles at Witch. “Good to have you back, Witchy… Come on over and tell us everything, or Cinna will never calm down…”

“Can’t have that, can we?” Witch replies, returning the smile. Following Flash and Cinna to the table, Witch circles briefly only to discover that there are no free seats. Treble rises from her own seat as Witch passes, forcing Witch to stop.

“Here Witchy. I finished eating a while ago,” Treble says, offering Witch her seat across from Bliss and beside a thistle-colored pegasus mare with tri-toned mane dark and light blue with a streak of golden yellow. “See you Monday. Oh! And congratulations!”

“Wait- what?” Witch stammers but Treble’s already darting away with her empty tray floating in front of her.

Bliss chuckles, drawing Witch’s confused attention to her as Witch sits down. “Treble just had to beat me to the punch is all… I told her I was going to promote you to Senior Chief as soon as you got back so I could fill out the paperwork.”

Witch blinks as Cinna, again predictably, squeals happily. “What?” Witch repeats, stunned.

“Well, I couldn’t promote you while you were on leave, obviously… Besides… Why would I want to miss that stunned expression when I told you?” Bliss explains, a teasing smile on her face.

“You’re a little vicious when you’re rewarding somepony, m’dear,” says the dark-maned, brown pegasus stallion sitting at Bliss’ side as he takes her hoof in his, bringing it to his lips to place a quick kiss on it.

“You would know, wouldn’t you?” Bliss retorts, turning and smiling at him before lightly kissing his cheek. Witch’s eyes snag on the gold band that hadn’t been around Bliss’ hoof when she’d left.

“YOU WERE GETTING MARRIED AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME?!” Witch exclaims, both excited and happy for her friend, but also a little hurt that Bliss had gone and gotten married without so much as a word of warning. “Bliss!!! I could’ve put off my trip for a while if I’d known!!!”

“SEE!!!” Cinna crows triumphantly while Bliss smiles sheepishly at Witch, and the others at the table try to regain their hearing. “I told you she’d say tha-ah!” Flash cuts Cinna’s vindication short by reaching across the table and forcing Cinna face down into her salad. 

“One more time, Cinna… And I’ll have Bliss do it…” Flash sighs, holding Cinna’s head down a moment longer before letting the secretary up from her plate.

“I was going to tell you, but I already knew you had an important trip planned to do research for Princess Luna…” Bliss explains contritely. “You’re right, though. I should’ve told you. I’m sorry… Ugh… Now I feel bad for not telling you!”

“Oh no no no no no!” Witch says quickly, shaking her head. “No… You have to be happy. I refuse to allow any other feeling about your own wedding! You just have to accept my present late is all. Of course… I do have to track one down…”

“You might be able to dig up their registry at Crate & Barrel… If not, I still have the print out, and I was the last pony to buy anything… I know, because I bought it on the way to the wedding,” Flash offers helpfully as Bliss and the stallion blush and avert their eyes.

“I’ll deal with that later,” Witch responds, smiling to the green unicorn. “But first… Introduce me to the lucky stallion already!”

Laughing sheepishly, Bliss says, “Well, this is my husband, PlayBitz. He’s part of a new special squad here.”

Witch blinks, her mouth slightly ajar from being about to offer her congratulations again but her mind has snagged on the additional information. “Special Squad?” she queries, surprised.

“Well… Long story short, they’re being trained a specific way to combat the Shadowbolts,” Bliss elaborates. “Officially, they’re named Squad Zero.”

“Still think Zeroes to Heroes is a better name!” Fleetfoot adds in a singsong voice as she zips by, making Witch laugh.

“Nice to see you again too, Commander!” Witch calls after the retreating mare, receiving only a one-winged wave in response before she returns her attention to the table. “So… Can I presume that the rest of these new faces are other members of this special squad?”

“That we are,” pipes up the mare sitting to Witch’s left, smiling broadly. “I’m Shine Struck.”

No sooner does Shine Struck finish speaking than the dark blue stallion next to her nearly knock her out of her seat by leaning across her to get closer to Witch. “Hey there… Name’s Swift Justice… You free tonight?”

Witch blinks and leans slightly away from Swift. “Uh… Only if my roommate will foal sit for me…”

Swift recoils away as though slapped, making those immediately around them burst into laughter and giggles. An incongruous thud followed by a mumbled apology draws Witch’s attention towards the end of the table at the very large pale blue pegasus sitting on the far side of PlayBitz and Flash, across from Cinna.

“Wakey wakey, big guy,” Shine Struck says teasingly as the stallion brushes crumbs of his lunch off his face.

“I haven’t had tea in two days, alright?” the stallion grumbles sourly.

“Cinna? Is there anything left of my stash in-” Before Witch can finish asking the assistant if her personal tea supply is still left in the Trainer room, Cinna’s up from her seat and darting out of the mess hall. “Make sure it’s the house blend!” Witch calls after her, half-standing and shouting after the retreating unicorn.

The stallion skeptically eyes Witch as she sinks back into her seat. “And what is this ‘house blend’ exactly?”

“Black tea with bergamot, orange and chocolate,” Witch replies easily and his eyes widen in appreciation, and Witch watches in amusement as Flash has to duck as the blue stallion’s wings extend with a snap. The rest of the special squad laughs as he blushes brightly and averts his eyes, folding his wings back with a nervous cough.

“Oh sweet Celestia… Calm’s found someone who speaks his language… You’re doomed, buddy,” PlayBitz says, still laughing.

“What? Why would knowing about tea make him doomed?” Witch asks, blinking, and drawing disbelieving stares from all but the stallion in question.

“Oh, stars preserve us…” Flash groans, the first to speak into the silence as she presses a hoof to her face. Mercifully for the stallion, Cinna returns then with four items floating carefully before her in her umber magical aura. The first is a steaming mug with a small chain dangling over the lip, a silver teacup charm hanging from the end. The second and third are the small containers of cream and sugar from Medical’s own supply (something Witch had quickly instituted upon her arrival). The last, and possibly most important, is a violet paper bag with a grey label reading “Fine Brew House Blend” in swirling black script.

“Here you go, Calm Wind. Should be ready now,” Cinna says, gently placing the assorted tea supplies before the stallion as she slides into her seat across from him. 

With practiced motions, he stirs the mug’s contents with the tea-ball at the end of the chain before removing it and holding the mug under his nose to inhale the aroma wafting on the steam. Nodding in appreciation, he sets the mug back down long enough to add cream and sugar to the brew and give it another quick stir before bringing the mug to his lips and taking a careful sip. “Ooooh…” Calm sighs appreciatively, sagging back in his chair and clutching the mug close to his face.

“My mother owns a tea room not far from here. If there are any flavors you’d prefer, I can ask her to see what she can make up… She already gets tons of special orders from the other nobles anyways. One more won’t bother her,” Witch offers, glad to see him enjoying the tea.

“Wait… Witchy, are you flirting with him!?” Cinna asks, brown eyes wide as she stares down the table at Witch. “Call the press!”

“How was that flirting with him?” Witch retorts, baffled at how her friend had drawn that conclusion. “I was just telling him where he could get more tea, and that he wouldn’t need to be restricted to the blends my mother keeps on hoof.”

Flash groans again, nearly planting her face into her plate. “Witchy… Has anypony ever told you that you’re oblivious?”





“Yes Mahogany?” Bliss asks, making Witch turn to look at the yellow unicorn mare with auburn mane peering hesitantly around the door into Bliss’ office.

“Sorry to interrupt, but…” Mahogany starts hesitantly before the door is pushed further open by a stern-faced Silver Lining.

“Chief Hour, the Captain insists on your presence in her office,” the second captain says with a scowl at the subject of his address. Witch swallows nervously, forgetting for the moment that her job is secure because the Auxiliaries had their own chain of command that would require Wonderbolt Chief Breezy Strings to be in attendance, which the Second Captain had failed to mention.

“Just quick sign here, Witchy.” Bliss pushes a form across the desk to the doctor for Witch. “I can handle the rest of this. I’ll have the new rank insignia for you Monday morning.” Witch takes a pen in her magic and quickly signs the page before turning anxiously to the waiting Command Captain. 

Stonily silent, he turns, expecting Witch to follow, and she does. All she hears are their hoofsteps as she decides that the wordless trip out of Medical, up the stairs and into Spitfire’s office is more nerve-wracking than anything the last month had thrown at her.

When she follows Silver into Spitfire’s office, she barely manages to keep her calm intact upon seeing Fire Streak standing to the left of the Lead Captain’s desk, and Silver moving to stand mirror Fire Streak to the right side of Spitfire’s desk after closing the door behind them. Most worryingly of all is Spitfire, sitting stiffly at her desk, only glancing up briefly at their entrance before finishing with a folder that she then closes and sets to one side, fixing Witch with a flat gaze.

"Two weeks ago, a storm of unnatural strength nearly wiped out the flight academy. Your friend, Monkey Wrench, as well as your brother and their squad, were able to stop it. However, they discovered something within the storm, something that Monkey Wrench claims you have knowledge of. So, I ask you, Chief Petty Officer, what do you know about the crystals the Shadowbolts are using?" Spitfire’s tone is mostly level and outwardly calm, but even so, Witch can still hear the angry undercurrent beneath the professional coolness.

Facing the three stone-faced Command Captains, Witch clears her throat with an anxious cough. “I really don’t know much, ma’am. My magic reacts badly to them, and while I initially thought it might be because they’re unnatural, no other unicorn has reacted as I have to them. I spent my leave chasing down any rumors I could about them, but I didn’t find anything that made sense,” she explains cautiously, speaking slowly to keep her tone from reflecting her apprehension.

"And when, exactly, were you planning to inform us that you were studying them and have one in your possession?" Silver asks, a slight growl to his tone making his displeased ire obvious to all present.

Witch swallows around the fearful lump forming in her throat. “If I’d had more information when I started investigating for the princess, you would’ve known right away. But really, aside from how the crystals seem to drive me alone into a frenzy of ‘smash it with a hammer’, I don’t know any more than you do.”

“And this research trip? Did it reveal anything?” Fire asks, notably the calmest of the three.

Witch shakes her head. “Not about the crystals specifically… I know a little more about the magic involved and why I specifically have issues with it, but I don’t know where the crystals are coming from, or who could be creating them. It certainly doesn’t help that the crystal I had was destroyed when Princess Twilight and I crashed the CAGS Cirrus.”

“But you were, in fact, studying the crystal prior to your little ‘trip’,” Silver grumbles, giving a very pointed look toward Witch. 

“Yes sir, I -” Witch starts only to be cut off by the Second Captain breaking from his position to stomp towards her two steps.

“And you didn’t see fit to inform any of your Wonderbolt superiors about this little detail… why, exactly?” Silver growls harshly.

“It was an assignment from Princess Luna, sir. It was my understanding that she would report any new findings to you as I found them,” Witch responds, leaning backwards and away from the irate veteran but not taking even a half-step back.

Sighing heavily, Spitfire presses a hoof to the bridge of her nose. “Stand down, Silver,” she says, exasperated as only one whose hooves were tied could be, before leveling a stony expression at the unicorn.  "Chief Petty Officer Hour, when Luna asked me to add you into our ranks, I was not opposed to you joining us and was more than happy to take the Princess' student. This... whole matter is making me question that faith. Princess Luna assured me that you would be as devoted to your work here as you have been in your studies with her. However, when both require your attention on the same matter, it seems that is not the case. If I become aware of another such conflict of priorities, and it is not from your own report  before it becomes a problem, I will act to resolve it on my own. Am I clear?"

Nodding quickly, Witch manages to squeak, “Yes ma’am.”

“Very well then. Dismissed.”

At the Lead Captain’s release, Witch manages to make it out of the office, down the stairs and into the passage to the castle before her calm mask cracks, stopping her in the dimly lit hall and forcing her to sit. 

It had not been until Spitfire’s promise of removal that Witch had realized she no longer wants her assignment with the Wonderbolts to end. While she still misses her friends at Canterlot General, she knows now that she would miss working with the auxiliary corps just as much.

“Shit… What am I going to do?” she asks in the empty passage, getting only an echo of her own voice in reply.

It is in that thoughtful frame of mind that Witch arrives at the palace, eyes on her hooves with the occasional glance to the bracelets, the gems seeming to glint like eyes that know something she doesn’t.

“Dr. Hour?” The sudden query beside her makes Witch jump to the side, looking to the young lieutenant standing guard outside the audience chamber.

Taking a moment to calm herself down, Witch sighs. “Yes, Golden Compass?” 

“Her highness wants to see you immediately,” Golden Compass explains, before opening the throne room door and gesturing to the familiar antechamber. “Go right on in.”

Groaning, Witch makes her way over to the side room, desperately hoping to not have yet another task forced upon her as she had the last two times in the same chamber. The door swings open, and Witch stops in the door, blinking repeatedly and silently wishing that her stressed mind is simply playing a very mean trick on her.

“Ah… Witching Hour, we were hoping you would arrive before our guests needed to depart…” Luna’s greeting snaps Witch’s attention away from the other ponies gathered in the room. 

The scene laid out before her runs counter to everything Witch knew so far, making the mare look between her mentor and the pegasi in purple and black flight suits several times before she finally finds her voice. “What in Tartarus are they doing here?!” she demands, full of confusion and no small amount of anger.

“Hold, Rat,” the larger one says to the younger, causing the younger to relax his muscles and keep from leaping to attack. “Allow the Princess to explain to her pupil why we’re here and why she need not fear us.”

“Somepony had better!” Witch exclaims as she turns her gaze on Luna.

“Witching Hour… This is Descent, leader of the Renegades. They are not the same group that use the crystals you’ve been studying,” Luna states, her calm words oddly riling Witch’s nerves more.

“But they- and they’re- ow…” Witch holds her head, unable to coherently form words from a splitting headache setting in. “The academy? Did they-?”

“No, Miss Hour, we did not attack the academy,” Descent explains. “In fact, without the presence of my own former student, Rat, and his group, the academy would be in ruins right now.”

At the mention of his name, the younger dark grey stallion bows his head in acknowledgement. “I understand that you were the one who informed Miss Wrench about the nature of the crystals?”

Taking a deep breath and pressing her hoof to her chest, and then exhaling as she moves her hoof away as though to force the confusion away. “I just told her that pegasi used it for magic… and that she shouldn’t touch it,” Witch replies with a sigh.

The younger pegasus nods briefly. “Without that, I doubt my group would have been able to fight off the Shadowbolts and destroy the crystal before the storm hit the academy. For that, you have my thanks.” 

“Well at least I’m not in trouble here for that…” Witch grumbles.

“The Wonderbolt elites were inquiring about the crystals?” Descent frowns.

“Specifically, my knowledge of them, and why I’d not told them I was studying them for the last four months,” Witch elaborates, casting a half-sour glance to her mentor. “I told them the one I had got lost on my month-long trip… but I’m lucky they let me off as easily as they did. It was only the fact that I was under your orders, Princess Luna, that saved my hide.”

“This complicates matters, Descent,” Rat sighs as he looks to his mentor. “You remember what I postulated months ago about them and keeping them in the dark.”

“As I’m sure you remember my explanation of how that was not my choice, but the client’s request.” Descent frowns at his former student, glancing briefly at Luna. 

“I still say that we should have a few undercover Renegades at the Wonderbolt compound to keep an eye on their actions and to be ready should the worst happen,” Rat argues. “The few minutes they buy could-”

“Wait - Client, Luna?!?!” Witch nearly shrieks. Luna only sighs, gesturing to Descent to explain.

“Miss Hour, you are informed on the Shadowbolts and the nature of the organization before the incursion a few months ago?” Descent asks.

“Only what I overheard in the Compound,” Witch replies weakly. “Evil, crystal-using mercenaries was the favored description…”

“‘Evil’ is a bit much, and not all of us were crystal-users,” mutters Rat. “Besides, if fighting your fight is so distasteful that you have to pay someone else to fight it, why fight at all?”

Descent shoots Rat a look before resuming his explanation. “As you can tell, my former student has strong opinions on the subject, but the point is that we were mercenaries of the highest caliber. At least, we were before Kayn Ost became our sole client. So, after the confrontation between the Wonderbolts and Shadowbolts, the latter group was left in considerable disarray, especially with the desertion of myself and Starry Skies. The remnant that remained is still bound to complete the contract set out by Kayn Ost, but I have already managed to convince a significant number to leave. Luna was able to track my group down, and in exchange for combatting the Shadowbolts and keeping the Wonderbolts safe from the shadows, we would be pardoned for past actions.” 

Witch sighs heavily, rubbing at the temple of her right eye. “So… Let me just make sure I have this all straight,” she starts slowly. “I’m studying an artificial chaos-magic crystal, being used by a group of crazy pegasi under a contract from this ‘Kayn Ost’ pony, presumably to wipe out the Wonderbolts while capturing Commander Soarin… And now there’s a splinter group under the princess’s… employ?… that doesn’t use the crystals of Make Luna’s Student Go Bug-Nuts, that’s keeping the crazy pegasi off the Wonderbolts until… When exactly?”

“Whenever we’ve managed to stop the ‘crazy pegasi’ from completing their mission, by whatever means we can,” Rat interjects, frowning at the Witch’s choice of descriptive words.

“To be more accurate, we will leave whenever we’ve completed our contract to our client’s satisfaction,” Descent explains. “Our own personal goal is to reunite the Shadowbolts, but we are only under obligation to protect the Wonderbolts by contract.”

Witch turns her gaze expectantly to Luna. “So… when?” she reitterates.

“Until they’re ready,” the princess responds vaguely, making Witch groan again.

“Another secret I have to keep from them!?” Witch’s voice raises in her frustration. “Luna, please! I know you want me to expand my practice, but how long do you expect me to keep secrets from my superiors like this?”

Luna sighs heavily. “It was simply bad luck that Miss Wrench was caught in the middle of this and did not know to keep your knowledge of the crystals secret. We have every confidence in you to keep doing exemplary work for the Wonderbolts while-”

“While I lie to them!?” Witch interrupts crossly. “You realize this is a military organization that has punishments for this sort of thing, right?”

“We are well aware of the Wonderbolts’ purpose, Witching Hour,” Luna states sharply, making Witch flinch. “Tell them no more than what you have, and that your research has reached an impasse.” Turning her attention to the two pegasi, Luna nods to them both. “We thank you for your reports, Descent, Rat.”

Descent gives a respectful nod before departing via the balcony. Rat also nods once to the Princess in acknowledgement, but hesitates slightly. He looks over at Witch, and the expression on his face is one of distrust and disappointment. 

“We’re not all ‘crazy’, you know,” Rat states plainly, with only the slightest hint of contempt. “Most of us just never had the opportunity to be the Princess’s student, and so we found another place where we belonged. Your family was given to you. We found ours.”

And with that, the young pegasus doesn’t say another word. He takes off, not even waiting for Witch to respond and ignoring her wide, hurt eyes.

“I never asked for this,” she murmurs in the quiet room, her gaze fixed unseeing on the now closed door as the weight of everything forced upon her settles heavily on her mind and shoulders. “I don’t even understand what ‘this’ is!” she adds, raising her voice and turning to look at Luna.

Frustration overpowers the pain of Rat’s quip, and Witch paces back and forth in the small room. “We’ve got three alicorns representing aspects of Cosmic Harmony which should not be happening and I’m somehow equal to them without doing a gods-damned thing to merit it, artificial chaos magic running rampant in the hooves of murderous pegasi with a mercenary group that doesn’t use the damnable crystals trying to stop them from going after my coworkers, and my only clues for what makes the cursed things work are either jumbled memories I can’t make sense of or in a journal written in a language I can’t read while being taunted by a god whose goal in existence is either to drive me bat-shit crazy or piss me off… And in case this wasn’t enough of a mess already, let’s put some whipped cream and a fucking cherry on top called ‘I have to lie to my bosses at work about the side-projects I get from you’!!!” she rants, emphasizing the occasional word with a stomp of her hoof or over-dramatic sweep of an arm. Breathing hard, she turns on the Princess, almost glaring up at Luna.

“Witching Hour,” Luna starts, firmly enough to capture Witch’s attention and meeting her student’s gaze evenly. “Do you trust me?” she asks calmly.

The question brings Witch up short, her train of thought screeching to a halt. “Yes,” she responds, almost instinctively. “I mean… I do… But I don’t like having to lie to Bliss and Treble…”

“And if there were another way, I would not ask you to,” Luna agrees. Quickly, she holds up a hoof to stall Witch’s immediate reaction. “Would you rather risk putting the Wonderbolts in danger because we did not take every precaution to keep our knowledge of their crystals secure? Or because one of your coworkers became tempted by the crystal themselves?”

Sighing, Witch hangs her head. “No,” she admits softly. Luna smiles gently at her student, moving to sit beside the unicorn and extending her wing around Witch’s shoulders.

“I thank you for your faith in me, my hopeful student,” the princess says, her tone warm and comforting. “Now… What’s this about a journal you cannot read? I presume you found it in the Crystal Empire since you have not contacted me with your lucid dreaming since you arrived there.” 

Nodding, Witch pulls her saddlebags off and finds the old diary quickly. She grimaces as her hoof brushes against the circlet beside it before she levitates the book out and presents it to Luna. Luna’s magic displaces Witch’s quickly, and the princess scans through the pages as Witch watches her teacher’s face for any sign of comprehension.

“Do you have any idea what this is?” Luna asks, her voice giving no indication whatsoever to Witch.

“I know it was Crystal Hope’s journal… and I know the mood she was in when a few of the entries were written… But other than that? Nothing. Part of why I didn’t contact you is because I was spending so much time trying to translate it, I wound up falling dead asleep as soon as I crawled into bed. If not for Twilight, I likely would’ve just fallen asleep at a desk,” Witch explains, a small amount of her frustration leaking into her tone.

Without seeking her student’s permission, Luna magically pulls the rest of the satchel’s contents out, arraying the several tomes and the circlet in the air with the journal for her to peruse with a thoughtful expression.

“I was hoping I could keep the books about crystal iron and crystal trees, but Twilight and I found them in the Castle of the Two Sisters, so if you want them -” Witch starts, but Luna shakes her head with a smile.

“Given your work with crystal iron and your previous study of strange flora, I think it rather appropriate for you to have them, Witching Hour,” Luna replies as the two books in question return to the saddlebag. Eyeing the remaining books, Luna smiles slightly at the faded green and amber tomes. “I remember when Star Swirl brought us these,” she comments fondly. “He said Crystal Hope thought they would serve us better than they would her or Amore… It is rather amusing in hindsight, since we know now that my sister is the representative of Life.”

The two books float with Crystal Hope’s journal over to the table, stacked neatly while Luna’s attention falls on the last two items; the circlet and Blessings of Order: Dauntless Hope. 

“I found the book about Hope at the old castle as well… I’d like to keep that one too, since the Librarian was lamenting that the copy for Life’s Temple had been destroyed in the Fall of Equus, and Librarian said that it would help me understand these relics better,” Witch discloses, trying her best to ignore the silver diadem hovering beside the book in question as she raises a hoof to indicate the bracer just above her fetlock.

“Seems reasonable to me,” Luna ascents before turning with a knowing glint in her eyes to the circlet. “I presume this had something to do with the light display three days ago?” she queries as Witch squirms and fidgets uncomfortably, her tone making it more of a suggestion.

“That happened when I approached Cadance after she connected to the last Love’s memories through the Crystal Heart… Somehow, one for Cadance and… and that… were created by our presence together there,” Witch answers haltingly, her eyes firmly fixed on the floor.

“That seems rather fitting to me,” Luna comments, unable to keep her amusement from coloring her voice.

Witch looks up sharply. “Luna! Please don’t say that!” she protests.

“My dear hopeful student… Explain to me why I should not?” Before Witch can respond, Luna continues, “You have always prefered renown for your own actions over your connections or blood. This coronet symbolizes what you do and who you are, with no reference to your family or acquaintance. Does that not make it better than your mother’s tiara? Or the coronet your grandfather bears as Earl of House Grey?” Smiling reassuringly at Witch, Luna places the circlet back in Witch’s satchel and wraps a wing comfortingly around the unicorn. “I am not saying you must wear it… Merely consider that it better represents you than those titles granted by your birth, and that you may wish to get used to its presence rather than rejecting it simply for its symbolic representation of hereditary privilege.”

Witch sighs, her shoulders sagging. “I suppose…” she concedes reluctantly. “But… What about the journal?” she asks, casting a glance back at the table where Crystal Hope’s diary rests atop the two books from the old castle’s library.

“I think it might be best to give yourself some time away from your translation attempts. Go home and get some rest, Witching Hour. You have had a very long month and you deserve some respite before you go back to work,” Luna replies with a slight shake of her head.

Witch senses something off about her mentor’s reasons, like the alicorn is holding something back, but the thought of being at home appeals more than trying to push Luna. “You’re right, Luna… I’ll have a full report ready for you Sunday though, as usual.”

“Do not make me cancel our weekly meeting to ensure that you rest, little Witch,” Luna gently chides with a smile. “I am certain you have other, more important matters to attend to… Like a young colt who has missed his Witch Doctor.”

“Yes, Luna,” Witch says obediently, though it’s made less submissive by her responding grin.