"Home is a part of the Soul". This is written in Gold above Home for Wayward Youngsters; giving a temporary Home to two fillies, named Celestia and Luna, after The Sun has ... stopped.
"Home is a part of the Soul". This is written in Gold above Home for Wayward Youngsters; giving a temporary Home to two fillies, named Celestia and Luna, after The Sun has ... stopped.
Add in the unrest after the three tribes' war has ended, and threatens to start again at any moment...
"I think there's something wrong with this clock." Homeshine, Matron of the Home for Wayward Youngsters stared incredulously at the clock reading 10 PM in the middle of the day. "Lewis Carroll would be pleased."
"Who?" Pink Punch walked into the kitchen, currently the only other occupant of the Home.
"It's a poem: 'The sun was shining on the sea, /Shining with all his might ... And this was odd, because it was/ The middle of the night." Homeshine continued, "Maybe it needs to be rewound? I'll try to find the key. Of course, there also could be something wrong with the Limbo spell. I'll need to check with Princess Platinum before we do anything drastic to it. In the meantime, are you hungry? We have a full icebox again."
"No. I just wanted to find you. There are unicorns at the door who won't talk to an 'air-headed pegasus' ."
"Oh for- I thought we were over this by now; but then again, I still get weird looks whenever I go outside into Unicornia. Almost makes me want to go back to Pegasopolis. Hello, dearies. I'm mistress of this Home; what can I give you?"
"Oh!" The two unicorn guards looked surprised. "We were under orders to escort Mistress Homeshine to the palace for Princess Platinum. Can you prove you are she?"
She pointed to her cutie mark with one wing, turning sideways to flank the guards. "See? A sign pointing the way home, which gives off the shining light of Homeshine."
"But she could have made that up," responded one guard, facing the other.
Homeshine gave a deep sigh and stomped back through the open door, "Punch, can you go outside please? I'm told this will work even with ponies inside, but I don't want to chance it just yet."
Homeshine returned with what appeared to be a key held in one wing, but it wasn't a normal key. For one thing, it was comically oversized, with a ring the size of a baseball, and a brass replica of a unicorn horn sticking straight out from it as the key itself. Homeshine tapped it to the similarly-shaped keyhole that was obviously meant for it, but instead of locking as a normal door would...
the entire building disappeared.
Homeshine, Pink Punch, and two even further surprised unicorn guards were suddenly standing in a grassy clearing just off the marketplace square.
"I trust that is enough evidence. Shall we be trotting on now?"
* * *
"Homeshine!" Filly Celestia and Luna ran up to Homeshine and glomped her in a hug. "We missed you!" "did you get us anything?" "Did the spell work?" "Are you here to see Auntie Platinum?" "You brought Pink Punch!" "Are you settling in good, Punch?"
Regal Princess Platinum exquisitely descended the stairwell proper. "Girls, thank you. I have things to discuss with our guest here."
"Can we watch?" "Can we stay?" "We'll be quiet." "Very quiet."
"Of course, I want you to hear this; it involves the spell you two authored, after all. But first, does the Limbo spell still work on your Home? We tested it mightily, but..."
"Oh yes, as these two guards can attest, it works brilliantly; thank you, again! And thank Starswirl again for me. It's made The Mission a LOT easier! Whenever we hear about a child displaced from the war, we can pop over there immediately. Although the only one I've collected so far is Punch, though I'm sure there will be more to come."
"And us! Oops, we're supposed to be quiet!"
Princess Platinum smiled at that. "Well, isn't your home here now? It's quite exquisite?"
As the fillies looked down at the ground and shuffled a bit, Homeshine consoled them, "Of course, Home will also be a home for you as well; it always will be. It has that certain effect on everyone." Homeshine gave them a warm smile, which seemed to rekindle their spirits.
"I also want to thank you especially for taking care of my little darlings during the war, after what happened to their parents. I don't know what else we could have done."
"I want to thank you and Starswirl for the Limbo spell, putting Home outside of space; it allowed me to help so many. I don't know what else that we could have done. It's what I've always wanted to do."
"... But that's not why I called you here. We're having a bit of trouble with the spell that resets the cosmic clock. You may have noticed it by now. The Sun is sort of ... stuck.
"What do you mean?"
"You may have noticed, but it's further after ten at night right now and ... well... it's not, night that is. It's still day."
Celestia and Luna snickered at that, "Do you want us to help you?"
Princess Platinum smiled down at them, "If you could, please." Then she looked up at Homeshine. "We may have to pause the Limbo spell, in case it has something to do with this, somehow. Although I don't see how it would, we need to try. You can pop your Home down in the castle courtyard while Starswirl and I run some tests. Although you can stay in the palace proper for tonight, if you want."
Homeshine started to answer, "Well, I feel more comfortable in my-", before Pink Punch interrupted.
"Oh, can we?! I've always wanted to! Please?"
Homeshine grinned and backpedaled, "Very well. I guess we have no choice but to accept."
"Oh Good, I was wondering if I should insist. The castle chef is making us a wondrous dinner soiree celebrating the reuniting of the three tribes. I think you'll see a few friends there."
"Oh no, not Commander Hurricane."
"Oh, I thought you'd be pleased. But you are my guest at the occasion. For once, you will outrank him."
Oh. Oh. Oh, yes.
"Oh, that does please me." Homeshine rubbed her front hooves together, "That pleases me a great deal."
* * *
"Why does everyone think I'm a girl just because I'm pink?" Pink Punch refused a hair ribbon some troubadour was trying to stick in his hair.
"At least they realize you're a pegasus. They keep thinking I'm a unicorn. Princess Platinum kept trying to give me dresses that didn't have any wing slits. You need to realize that they mean well; they're simply trying to give us something because they like us. Take it as a compliment."
Punch huffed in a corner.
"You can go to bed, instead, if you want. I think it's finally nighttime outs-"
Pink Punch interrupted, "No! I want to stay here with you!"
Finally, a guard opened the double-doors to the great hall, "Mademoiselles, dinner is served."
Homeshine and Punch strolled in and sat next to Princess Platinum at the head of the table, across from Commander Hurricane and Chancellor Puddinghead.
Homeshine game them the biggest cheesy grin, "Why hello there. Fancy running into you again, Commander. I haven't seen you since the day you burned down my orphanage. How have you been since then?".
And she said it right into his big, surprised face.
"What are we going to do for Summer? For Fall? For Winter? Trees and animals need to hibernate in winter to stay alive. We can't just... leave time stopped this way!" While Princess Platinum was performing the more social tasks that she was so good at, the other leaders of Unicornia were discussing the topic at hoof around a different long table.
'Discussing' was a euphemism; most of it was shouting, "The first batch of unicorns burned out yesterday! Who knows when they'll be well enough to cast spells again? We'll run out of unicorns at this rate!"
Clover the Clever argued in a less abrasive tone, "But we can leave it stopped for now, and come up with a better solution later! Until then, we can use Celestia and Luna, as we did today."
"And that still doesn't solve the problem with seasons. Rain? Snow? Anything! How is the groundwater going to get replenished? How are crops going to grow?"
"And these are all problems with solutions, even if we don't see them right now. Let's simply take the problems as they come, and establish temporary solutions until we can solve them permanently. We can do the best we can, and for now that's good enough!"
* * *
"I had good and sufficient reason to set Home as a target." Commander Hurricane said.
"I didn't say you didn't," Homeshine replied.
"It saved many lives!"
"I'm sure it did."
"It was a sound strategic decision!"
"Note that you are the one making the arguments. This is YOUR guilty conscience talking. This is a forgiveness only you can grant yourself, once you feel you have made up for it in your own heart."
Commander Hurricane stopped and stared at his plate. "This is the first meal I've eaten in a week. We didn't tell anyone, but we were on our last legs."
He continued staring.
He stared for a long, long time.
He must have been famished, but he didn't eat yet.
He just stared.
"We all would have starved, even you; even my... daughter," his eyes teared up a bit at the end of that, and dripped a single drop into his precious food. "For what it's worth, the civilian leadership heard about it, too; I may lose my commission over it. Does that make you happy?"
Oh.
"No, it does not." She reached across, and rested one hoof on top of the Commander's. "For what it's worth, * I * forgive you. Let's eat. I'm sure you're as least as hungry as I am."
* * * ' To whom it may concern: As Matron at the (formerly) Pegasopolis Home for Wayward Youngsters, I feel duty-bound to commend Commander Hurricane for a sound strategic decision. Even though it did tremendous damage to a great deal of property, his very difficult decision allowed the war to finally come to its end. It was an action borne out of desperation, instead of malice. Even though it caused a not inconsiderable amount of consternation at the time, upon further reflection I believe he did the best he could under very difficult circumstances, which is all that we may ask of anyone, anywhere. '
"Whatcha doin'?"
"Writing a letter," Homeshine replied to Luna and Celestia peeking over the drawing table in a very cute manner. "it's for Commander Hurricane."
Celestia scrunched up her face, "Why?!"
Homeshine took a deep breath, in and out, before answering.
"Because it's important we forgive our enemies, especially in wartime. On both sides. It's important for you two to remember that. Always."
"Like when my sister and I make up when we fight," said Celestia.
"Exactly!" Homeshine agreed, and hurried off to give the Commander the letter, which might sway The Powers That Be, or at least, give them a nudge in his favor.
She still didn't believe she was doing this.
* * * ' To: The War Council cc: Homeshine, Matron of the Home for Wayward Youngsters,
To whom it may concern, In light of the strategic importance of the Home in the ending of the war, and the responsibility by ourselves that we must bear for its destruction: By the power vested in me over the military budget of Pegasopolis, I hereby request to grant the Matron UNLIMITED funding for the rebuilding process. Signed and seal laid,
"But it's so early!" a sleepy-eyed Celestia stepped onto the castle balcony.
"Because that's when the Sun comes up, isn't it? You girls had a late night!" Princess Platinum responded, brushing Luna's hair as Luna sat up and tumbled out of bed, rubbing her sleepy eyes with one hoof.
"Might as well get it over with," The two barely-awake fillies soon clapped their horns together and prepared to raise the Sun. It happened exactly as the lowering of it, and the raising of the Moon, had happened the previous... night, for lack of a better word.
"We set it to 8 o'clock," Celestia turned and faced Princess Platinum, "is that good? or should we set it to noon or something?"
"That should be good for now. Remember, this is temporary until we can fix the Sun and Moon."
"Can we go back to sleep?" Luna asked with a TUMPF as she hit the pillow again. "I'm tired."
"Unfortunately, no. If you sleep now, you won't be sleepy at bedtime, and then we'll have this whole problem over again. Early to bed and early to rise, and ... all that."
Celestia giggled, "Because you've forgotten the rest."
"Oh, silly," Princess platinum gave Celestia a tickle at that, playing all the part of a doting Aunt. "Unfortunately, even Pega-corns need to learn things, so I've set you up with Clover the Clever for the day, so be good and-"
"An' Earth Ponies!" Luna interrupted. "We're all three!"
"Yes, well, we'll need to find something to call you later, but until then-."
Celestia suggested, "How about 'All-icorns?' Because we're all three?"
"Yes, you are, and ... " She stopped, then started again, "You've given me a brilliant idea, so get to the books!"
* * *
Clover asked Princess Platinum as they walked down the castle promenade, "Do you really think the other two tribes will go for it?"
"Of course! They don't know that The Two Sisters are related to us. They're members of all three tribes, so it only makes sense to make them Queens. That way, none of the tribes will think we're showing favoritism. It's perfect!"
"But they're just children!"
"That's simply it! The other tribes will underestimate them. Both their intelligences far exceed their ages, anyway. Don't worry, I've done palace intrigue before; I know how it's done."
"If you say so. I prefer sticking to the books. Come in, children. Today, we're going to learn about history!"
* * *
"I can't see that the Limbo spell on your Home has done anything to the Sun." Princess Platinum said to Homeshine, her next stop on her eternally busy schedule.
"Well, you're the expert."
"Actually, * I * am the expert" Starswirl the Bearded interrupted. "But at any rate, no, the two instances of Limbo have nothing to do with one another. More's the pity; I thought there was a chance we might solve this easily before lunch, but it wasn't to be." He smiled at Homeshine. "Feel free to pack it up whenever you wish."
"Of course, it can stay here as long as you like. You are still our guests, after all. And the girls so look forward to-"
The ground shook with a mighty earthquake. Pots and pans clattered and fell to the ground. Then everything was still.
Princess Platinum began, looking over one shoulder, "That sounds as if it came from...
" ... the girls!" Starswirl finished for her, as all three of them trotted off in that basic general direction.
* * *
The big red metal door burst open with a CLANG with two unicorns, horns glowing at the ready, and a pegasus already in midair, in a battle dive formation; to see two ashen-faced fillies coughing in the smoky haze of what was very recently their classroom.
"I think we did it wrong." Celestia said to no one in particular.
Luna coughed in agreement.
"What in the name of King Cosmos happened here?!" Starswirl demanded.
Clover the Clever answered the demand, "Well, we were learning about a spell nexus, and Celestia said that she could use it to focus her Sun powers and then ... well I'm not entirely sure what."
Homeshine raised one hoof, "Could you translate that sentence for the pegasus?"
"We blew it up." Celestia deadpanned, as Homeshine came in for a landing. "We're okay; the room's not in such great shape, though," as they looked around at the still-settling bits of paper and other detritus of their (former) classroom.
"And I think for a brief moment I was a potted plant," Clover continued. "I'm not exactly sure. It was an incredible burst of spell energy, at any rate. I'm glad we were down here in the basement, where most of the explosion was muffled. Who knows what would have happened if we'd had the classroom elsewhere, closer to the outside."
"If you don't mind," Starswirl turned to Princess Platinum, "I'd like to make these two my personal protégés while they're here. They need to learn how to focus their magic, if it's going to be their special talents. Why, they might someday outshine even me."
"Not Homeshine? She was going to teach us to fly s'more!" Luna begged, grabbing one of Homeshine's hooves.
"I'm sure Starswirl is much more practiced in magic than I am. And that is what you need to learn more of, if we're ever going to figure a way out of... whatever this is."
"Actually," Clover suddenly jumped, as an idea struck her. "The Limbo Spell around your Home makes it the perfect place to practice oversized magic! No explosion can go beyond its pocket universe. We'll still be teaching it, of course."
Homeshine as far as, "I'm not sure that's a good idea-" before the little ones' pleading eyes overcame her resolve. Homeshine continued instead, "-but I suppose I could drop in, in the afternoons, for the Flying Lessons."
Clover piped up, turning to Princess Platinum, "See? Everything works itself out, if we deal with it one step at a time."
Princess Platinum laughed at that, "I see that you're right, deary. Well done! Come along, girls, I have two other ponies for you two girls to meet over lunch. Chancellor Puddinghead and Commander Hurricane, who is in a much better mood from yesterday." Princess Platinum stopped for a second, then turned, "but first; perhaps it would be better if you set the Sun to noon. It would seem weird having lunch on the veranda and having it still be the crack of dawn."
"Commander Hurricane, I can't accept this," Homeshine said as she read down the letter, "It will look like some sort of bribe."
"That's why I had it approved by the War Council as well. See? Their seal is on it, too." Hurricane started to point, and then faltered, returning both wings to holding his cap in front of him. Standing at attention, he made a perfect statue. "It's my way of saying thank you. You see, your letter is what swayed The Council; I finally got to keep my commission. And most importantly, it's a way of saying ... I'm sorry." The statue broke. His shoulders sagged. The cap dipped. He looked down and off to the left. "I'd thought of everything as part of the war. I was engaged in combat with an enemy. I'd never thought of it as... anything else."
The tenseness was suddenly broken by Chancellor Puddinghead trying to shove an entire cake in her mouth. At one time.
And what's more ... she was succeeding ... somehow. Finishing the strange procedure with, "You followed the reffffipe perfectly!" But how was she even talking? She took a mighty gulp and went to grab another, which hovered in the air under Princess Platinum's magic, deftly avoiding being Eaten In One Bite.
"We prefer to slice the cake first! It gives less of a ... mess ... for the staff to clean up. Girls!" Princess Platinum directed the last at Celesta and Luna trying to replicate the feat by gnawing on the sides of other cakes. They had almost succeeded by the time their cakes rose several inches as well, putting all the cakes out of range.
Hurricane piped up, "And I thought I was hungry. You must have been worse off than we suspected."
Princess Platinum continued her explanation as if nothing at happened, taking the Chancellor's bizarre behaviour in stride, talking while slicing "At any rate, that's what I called you here for luncheon about. I thought we could have an informal chat before the official meeting. I've had a delicious idea I want to share with you."
"I like delicious ideas. And delicious cake." Unperturbed by reality, Puddinghead's slice quickly met the same fate as the other cake, while Celestia and Luna stared, transfixed.
"How do you do that?"
"Do Whafff?"
"Eat that way."
"Wha' you meem?"
Hurricane crossed his front hooves in front of him and leaned back in his chair. He wasn't getting involved in this.
Celestia and Luna were enraptured.
Homeshine head-desked, mostly to hide her giggles.
Princess Platinum continued to plow on on as if this wasn't happening. "My delicious idea to discuss, and I wanted to see how you two would take it before I submitted it for approval, was to make these two girls the overseers of the reunion project. They are the only ones who are members of all three tribes, and so are the most likely to be accepted by all three tribes' memberships."
Commander Hurricane responded nonchalantly, "Well, that's a splendid idea, but the devil is in the details. If you want them to be more than a figurehead then they're going to need some sort of power, and you're going to need to convince the tribes to give them that power."
"Well, you see, they already have a power. Show them, please! And then we shall have cake!"
They needed no more prompting than that! and the girls dutifully set the sun to 'about 5 o'clock or so', as they put it.
This time it was Puddinghead's chance to comment, "We could lengthen the day and grow more food. Or... could we start summer right now, and enhance the growing season?"
"And what power will they charge for this ... help? I know the Pegasi are adept at controlling the weather, are you asking for a similar tribute to control the sky? What are the terms?"
"That's just it!" Princess Platinum continued, "Nothing need be surrendered. This way each of us three contributes something to the others; protects something for the others. The Pegasuses keep the weather in check, the Earth ponies the resultant irrigation, Unicorns magic, and the girls everything else. We each do our part and receive the other two parts in trade. We all benefit from their gifts and the gifts of the other two tribes."
"But there's a lot more work to keeping the weather in check: logistics, wing-power, troop movement. Who's going to do that?"
"And a lot more work to farming than irrigation. Not to mention the baking and preparation, food storage... even if we had help with the planting and harvest- which we don't need; thank you very much!"
"You can still do the logistics, but if you need a bonus, as you mentioned, you can ask the girls to provide it. As long as you provide what you've always provided, the girls will provide theirs. The cost is what you're already paying; you simply get more benefits."
Commander leaned back in his chair in thought, saying only, "Hmm."
"And they can be a neutral overseer for any future dispute that arises between the three tribes! Since they are members of all three! You will still be the heads of your internal affairs. And any rulings made against you would be more than made up for with the increased benefits of being part of the alliance. Imagine controlling time itself!"
finally, Commander Hurricane leaned forward. "It's tempting; I will say that. I will, of course, have to submit it to the War Council for their approval."
"Of course, of course, we still have our meetings and all that. I wanted to seed the idea, so to speak."
"And seed you have," Puddinghead agreed, taking the opportunity to make a great lunge for a cake, grasping it it all four hooves ...
and dangling underneath it like a pinata, "A little help here?"
"Well, it's time for the much balyhooed flying lessons!" Homeshine entered Home flapping furiously, carrying a cardboard box in two hooves, which she set down with a mighty THUNK!
Celestia and Luna looked up from their books mid-spell, which fizzled out on their horns with a crackle. "YAY!" "What are you going to teach us now?" "What's in the box?" "Is it food?" "is it magic?" "Is it heavy?" "It looks heavy." Celestia pulled out two iron barbell weights, each with a piece of rope tied around it.
Homeshine explained, "Today we're going to learn to glide and hover, two sides of the same coin. In hovering, one needs to flap at a constant rate, but not in any direction; the weights help with that so you won't nudge too far off course over time, but simply stay in place in the air. In glide, you're trading downward momentum for forward momentum; but you can't sheer to the left or right or it trades too fast, again the weight actually helps with that because it keeps you balanced under your centers of gravity. In hover, flap like crazy! More flap equals better! In glide, you know you're doing it perfectly if you never move at all. Most of my students immediately master one of the two on the first try, but have serious problems with the second. It depends on if one sees flying as mostly a glide or a hover. But in the end, they're really the same skill. A good flyer does both with equal measure."
Celestia tied the rope in a knot, anchoring her back-right hoof to the weight as she spoke, "I'm going to do glide first and get it out of the way, then I can spend the extra time on Hover. Hover sounds hard.
"Neuh-uh. I'm going to do hover first, flappity flappity," Luna repeated the tying motion on her back-left.
Celestia finished tying first and took off, right out the back door, "See? It's just a matter of staying balanced, with a little bit of right LEFT, RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT LEEEEEFT!" Flapping furiously, she at least managed to stay in one place.
Luna started out flapping and took off like a rocket right above her sister, soaring an ever-widening concentric circle three feet above the back yard, never moving once.
Celestia strained hard against her own wings, "I don't get it! I was always the studious one! Staying balanced, never moving. Brain over brawn. Smarter not harder. Why is this so hard?!"
Homeshine answered, "because you stay balanced though panic. You're always nervous, afraid you'll miss something. Perfectionist. You must achieve everything!"
"That's how you stay balanced! I protest!"
"No! It's how you stay in the air, true, but you wind up thrashing. It gives you better temporary control, but you wind up exhausting yourself. Let it go. Sometimes you will be slightly unbalanced, but you can't fix that by leaning too far the other direction. Trust yourself. You'll get it right, in time. Don't force it too early." Homeshine smiled and dashed over to Luna.
Luna complained over three laps, continuing as she approached her teacher and stopping as she glided away. "How do I ... stop with- ... -out crashing?"
Well, at least Homeshine didn't need to shout to be heard. There was no flapping at all here. "You're afraid to take any action in case it might be wrong. You're more afraid of crashing and disappointing me than actually getting anywhere. It's okay. I'm not disappointed. I'm not mad. I'm not angry. No one gets them both on the first try. The grass is nice and soft if you do crash; and no matter how many tries it takes, we'll still love you. We have all day. Try as many times as you want. Even if it takes a hundred tries and failures and crashes.
Celestia paused her flapping for a second to trace out her sister's path with her eyes, following along. On the next lap, Luna made eye contact with her sister and each saw the other's pleading look, Celestia as she swam through the air, frantically, desperately trying to stay aloft, Luna as she fought the air currents to stay balanced, unable to go in any direction.
They were doing it for each other, working hard to inspire the other, but they didn't need to, they both knew now.
Luna descended peacefully to a stop. Celestia gracefully pulled her counterweight over to where Luna had landed in a single arc. Perfectly.
Luna spoke first, looking up at Celestia "This flying ... it's more to do with the head muscles than the wing muscles, isn't it?"
