Seeking Power

by Forthwith16

Archmage Twilight Sparkle barely sleeps between her duties, her research, and raising Spike. Now she also has to deal with an evil goddess's return. It would have been nice if Celestia had mentioned this a year ago…

2. Chapter One - Archmage

"Where he failed, I will succeed! Mark this day, this hour, this minute, for it will echo in eternity!"

---

A small burst of green flame erupted from Spike along with a letter. A few nearby guards reflexively started running before realizing the wyrmling had his flame breath under control this time.

He had been planning to visit Aunt Cadance, but Spike figured it was getting late and he should probably deliver the letter. Twilight's bizarre sleep schedule should have her awake right now and at home.

After trekking through most of the castle, stopping briefly for a snack at the kitchens and for small talk with Flash Sentry, Spike came to the base of the massive staircase that lead up to his home. Twenty stories was a long climb, even longer for Spike who lacked long pony legs, and he never made it more than twice a day if he could avoid it.

Today seemed to be a bit different though and Spike was forced to wonder if he had taken a wrong turn towards some other massive staircase. A statue appeared to have been erected in the middle of the staircase today for no particular reason. It was made of a dark brown stone and depicted a fancy looking pony climbing the steps, frozen mid-step.

On second thought, that stone smelled an awful lot like–

Spike's world inverted briefly as the pull of a teleport brought him from the fourth flight all the way to the top into the vestibule of his home. Twilight was fuming in her own mostly controlled way in the next room, but Spike felt he should say something even if it upset her further.

"Mom," Spike began, earning a glare from Twilight. "Err, I know you're feeling a bit stressed–"

"A bit!" Twilight shouted.

"Okay, maybe really stressed. But you went overboard there."

"I'm fed up with those bucking nobles bothering me for favors. I took the bucking archmage position to help Celestia; not so I could help the rabble with their petty games."

Twilight was not even bothering to look at Spike anymore. She had returned to whatever research she had in front of her and flipping through pages of books at a speed that still disturbed Spike.

"So just teleport them away before they get here like usual. The poor stallion didn't deserve to be encased in solid chocolate and left in the there to melt."

Twilight took a deep breath and exhaled while rubbing her cheeks. She did not put down her work, but she at least seemed calmer to Spike.

"You're right, Spike. I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?" Spike asked. He was sure that her last field mission had tired Twilight mentally, if not magically or physically, but he never managed to get her to tell him what had happened.

"That's sweet, but I don't think a good mother should dump her problems on her son. It should be the other way around."

Spike noticed that Twilight never actually said no. It was the kind of detail you had to learn to spot with ponies like her raising you. Princess Celestia was even worse and Uncle Shining was simply terrible.

"Do you want to anyways?"

"Yes."

Spike sighed. He did not actually ask the right question.

"Are you going to?"

"No."

"Fine." Spike faceplamed, a habit he picked up from his mother. "Anyways, I have another letter for you."

Twilight's eye twitched, her attention now fully on Spike. "It's not… It's not from my parent's, is it?"

"Do you want me to just throw it in the fire?"

"No. I'll read it. But if it's more pressure to get married– I mean, they already have a grandfoal from both Shining and I."

Twilight levitated the letter away from Spike's grasp and opened it. Reading it with superpony speed nearly on par with Celestia, she burned it to ash within ten seconds, seven of those seconds being composed solely of combusting paper.

"You know what you need right now?" Spike said. From experience, he knew there were only a few things which would tear his mother away from her irritation completely, but there were some close substitutes.

"A few more chocolate covered nobles? They taste divine."

"No," Spike deadpanned. "You need to read a good story!"

"I take it you also think I would benefit from reading it aloud."

"Weeeeeell, it couldn't hurt."

Twilight sighed and acquiesced. Operation win-win was a success. "Alright, Spike. I'll read to you until your bed time. What book do you want? More dragon stories?"

"Nah. I found an interesting old book in the library earlier."

"Really? You're taking an interest in dusty old books now? I'd better watch out, the world is ending."

"It's not a dusty old book," Spike denied. Two small puffs of flame emerged from his nose. "It's just filled with old stories that have gone out of the culture."

"Oh? That does sound interesting."

Spike and Twilight walked up another set of stairs to the upper floor of the tower where the bedrooms were. Entering Spike's room, he fetched a large, and very obviously old, book from his desk and gave it to Twilight.

She opened the book and made a quick pass through it noting the various titles and glancing at each story with the regular inpony speed.

"Spike," Twilight started, sitting down with Spike on his bed, "first, are you sure you want to hear these stories? They're pretty far afield from your usual ones."

Spike nodded.

"Second – I suppose this should have come first – this book is in Middle Equestrian. Did you even understand it when you picked it up?"

Spike nodded again. "It's not that bad. Besides, you can translate it as you read."

"Well, I guess that's true," Twilight said, taking a second look at the text. "Third then. Where exactly did you get this book, when, and why did you pick it up?"

"Huh?"

"Please just tell me Spike. Don't worry, I'm sure you've done nothing wrong. And if you did, well, I could let it slide this time."

That was utterly shocking. Twilight did not have many rules for him, and far, far fewer than Aunt Cadance had for Star Charmer, but she was very strict in enforcing them. Spike could not really find cause to complain though. They mostly involved things like not burning down the castle.

Spike was curious about what could be so important that Twilight would slacken her discipline, but he already knew she wouldn't tell him. He would have plenty of time to think about it later.

"Well, like I said, it was in the library. I wanted something different tonight and that was stuffed in with all the other books. I'm sure you noticed that it's illustrated too."

"Yes I did. Do you know if this book was normally there? Or if it was shelved differently than usual?"

"Um, can you show me the spine?" Spike glanced at the listed code and thought for a moment. Spike had learned all of the pony-decimal system to help and impress Twilight a few years ago and had been given a jewel-encrusted jewel as a reward. "Yeah, now that I think about it. But not by much. Maybe a few shelves over."

"Thanks," Twilight said, rubbing Spike's head. "Now, which story do you want to hear first?"

"The one with the alicorns," Spike said, settling into Twilight's lap.

"Alright. Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters…"

---

Twilight closed the book and tucked Spike into bed. He only managed to get to the climactic battle between the sun and moon alicorns before he fell asleep.

Despite being a mere eight years younger than Twilight, Spike was barely an elementary schooler by pony standards. Long before Twilight took up responsibility for him, she had learned that dragons aged very slowly and there were still no confirmed dragon deaths at the hooves of old age.

It was somewhat of a mixed blessing for Twilight. On one hoof, she had the privilege to be Spike's real mother despite massive opposition from her own family, not just the one that hatched him. On the other hoof, she could easily stretch her lifespan into Spike's teenage years, but would only make it to his adulthood if she took drastic measures.

Of course, she had every intention of taking drastic measures, with or without Spike to justify them, but she had no idea if she would succeed.

Breaking her attention away from Spike, Twilight teleported into the library with the book she had just been reading from. Tonight, she had more important things to do than wallow in such concerns.

Inhaling deeply, the scent of paper and mystery greeted Twilight as she walked through the massive Canterlot Archives, her worries forgotten.

Ah, Spike was right. A good story laced with secrets was just what I needed. A legitimate reason to ignore my work and put the pieces of a puzzle together. I'm getting shivers just thinking about it. Still, this is probably the most heavy hoofed ancient puzzle I've ever seen. It'll probably only be good for tonight. I mean seriously, this is just lazy.

Twilight entered the history section and began tearing down the few books she knew about that covered the Discordian era. The restricted archives held more, but the time before and during Discord's reign might as well not exist with how little remained of it to study.

'Hey kids, let's hear a story about two alicorn sisters. One controls the moon and the other the sun. What's that? No, of course not. There's no way the sun alicorn is Celestia. What would even make you think that?'

Now in the section on legends and myths – disturbingly close to the history section – Twilight started collecting books dating before 300.

'A sister? Sure, why not? A prophecy saying the the moon alicorn will return in a thousand years? You want to know the year? Well it's 999. Yeah, the sun alicorn didn't want to forget.'

Taking nearly a hundred books with her, Twilight headed towards the restricted section to start reading.

Hmm… I wonder if I should just skip this step. Dealing with evil goddesses is usually a high urgency task and we only have a little more than three weeks before the solstice.

To Twilight, it did seem like she could just bring her concerns straight to Celestia and then start demanding answers. The story was outrageously filled with hints and clues just begging somepony to notice.

But Twilight could not help but think of when she had jumped to conclusions and accused Cadance of being a fake nine or so years ago. It turned out she had just desperately needed sleep and Cadance had been having a bad day and pre-wedding jitters. From that day on, Twilight never made any accusations without solid proof.

Heh, would I have egg on my face if I barged into Celestia's room and discovered this was just a foals's story. Even she would tease me about that forever.

But, I mean just look at this story. It's so manufactured. These older versions are obviously being steered towards the one I read to Spike.

Wow, this one even explicitly names the alicorns as Celestia and Nightmare Moon.

Oh, this one's interesting. Discord was defeated by Celestia and her sister Luna. With…the Elements of Harmony? That's a new one. How old is this?

No date, eh? Well that's fine. You know, now that I think of it, I always took it for granted that calling herself a diarch meant that the ponies were her coruler or something. I mean, she won't even stand to be addressed as a queen. The whole princess thing is just silly.

Well, anyways, I suppose that's enough information to turn my wild accusations into regular accusations.

Twilight glanced at a nearby clock in the windowless room. The sun would have set long ago and would not be up again for several hours, which meant Celestia was likely snoozing away to get up early to raise the sun.

Cursed short summer nights.

The fact that alicorns slept at all was intriguing, considering Twilight rarely did. Worse, even. Twilight had learned firsthoof that sleeping alicorns should be left as just that and that no amount of friendship or position or urgency would change it.

She only had one data point, but Twilight had assumed there was only one to be had. It had been a brute force proof that all alicorns should not be woken up early, but now there was a second data point to consider.

I suppose ending an evil moon goddess's banishment early counts as waking her up. That would also be bad.

Twilight paused to consider what she should do with the rest of the night. She probably should get back to her regular archmage work, but she had the opportunity to remain 'researching' a threat to Equestria if she could find anything related.

I think I remember a scroll or two by a Luna in Celestia's book hoard. What was it called again?

Twilight taxed her magically enhanced memory for the obscure book title. She kept telling herself to spend more time with Celestia's secret stash of books but never got around to it between Spike, her duties, and her research.

Oh, yes. It was Entering the Dream Realm. That sounds very, very sinister. I'll just have to give it a read to determine if it's relevant or not.

---

Twilight glanced up from Luna's book – surprisingly a book, not a scroll – and noticed the sun had somehow come while she was reading and was about to leave again.

Uttering a curse at herself, she placed a bookmark and deposited the book into her sub-dimensional storage, or simply her bag of holding as it was commonly known despite the lack of any kind of bag being involved in the process. Items simply appeared from and disappeared into empty space on demand.

Of course, Twilight did not need bookmarks, but she liked placing them all the same. There was something deeply satisfying when she looked at a stack of books and could see her progress in them all at once.

As for the book itself, Entering the Dream Realm was fascinating. Although she could imagine Luna's writing would usually be seen as beyond saving, Twilight felt a kindred spirit in how succinctly she phrased everything: instructional manuals should be as short as possible.

Unfortunately, that level of density required a lot more effort to understand and prevented Twilight from rocketing through the text as she normally would. She barely made it through the first three chapters in sixteen hours and there were five more ahead.

There was good news. Luna had placed all of the critical information at the front and left all of the applications for afterward. Apparently, everypony had their own special world they could enter from their dreams with enough practice. Twilight did not manage to get to why the world was so special, but it was obvious it was more than just a lucid dream.

It was obvious because entry was only permitted from a lucid dream. In fact, the entire second chapter was made up of tips and tricks for learning to lucid dream. All of which were small habits that made it easy to distinguish dreams from reality. Things Twilight could do, and planned to do, without comment.

About to teleport as near to Celestia's room as she could, Twilight suddenly remembered something important she had completely forgotten.

"Spike!"

Twilight altered the destination of her teleport to her tower and was immediately taken there. From the kitchen, she could hear Spike making supper. Based on the crackling noises, he was likely roasting something with his own fire despite Twilight explicitly telling him not to do that at least a hundred times.

Unless he was cooking at Prince Blueblood's. Then he was both permitted and should.

Heading into the kitchen, she came face to face with Spike holding and incriminatingly smoking meal on a stick. Spike glanced back and forth between Twilight and a pile of similarly smoking sticks with various foods skewered on them.

Hesitantly, Spike held forth the latest kebab and asked, "Hungry?"

Still feeling guilty about being gone all day without a word, Twilight took the offered meal and sampled it.

"This is pretty good" – Spike looked hopefully at Twilight – "but you're still in trouble." Twilight took a few more bites. She had skipped breakfast and lunch and the first bite had made her realize she was starving. "Now tell me why you're in trouble. Again."

"Ugh. Because even if the castle is fireproof, it's not dragonfireproof. But–"

"And how many walls had to be rebuilt the last time the castle caught fire?"

Spike mumbled something incoherently.

"I didn't hear you."

"Twenty-seven," Spike said meekly.

"And how many needed replacing anyway?"

"Ugh…" Spike rolled his eyes in a huff. "Negative three."

"Right. We had to build three new walls because somepony damaged the foundation. Now ask yourself what happens if this tower catches fire."

"It…falls down and sets everything else on fire…"

"Exactly. Try to remember that right away next time. And no that does not mean it's okay to roast food elsewhere in the castle."

Motioning for Spike to do the same, Twilight took a seat and finished off the kebab he had given her. She grabbed another and polished it off in the time it took Spike to get through one.

"So, I don't know what I'm going to do with you yet, but I have to eat and run to catch Celestia before she goes to bed. Do you need anything before I go?" Spike shook his head. "Alright, sorry I wasn't around at all today. I'll see you tomorrow."

After a quick hug, Twilight teleported to the base of her tower's staircase. It was a short walk from there to Celestia's room through several wards that prevented teleportation. Unlike Twilight's tower, where teleports were allowed if you knew the correct magical signature, Celestia's room was completely locked down.

Although, somehow Celestia managed to completely ignore the teleport blocks with a modified version of the spell. Twilight had no idea how it worked or how to cast it. All she knew was that it dissolved Celestia into light and her teacher always evaded giving an explanation.

The former was not particularly unusual; teleport signatures varied from pony to pony. Twilight's own signature had originally been purple and red colored sparkles, but she had eliminated those defects, along with a few others, long ago.

The latter, however, was highly irregular. There were only two other questions Celestia had refused to answer for Twilight. The first was reasonably understandable. With Twilight's parents more or less out of the picture during her early teenage years, she had walked right up to Celestia and asked for an explanation of sex.

Apparently, centuries of life do not dull a pony's sensitivity to the subject.

She had tried figuring out the answer on her own, but the Canterlot Archive librarians had been dead set on preventing Twilight from obtaining any relevant information.

The other question was 'why are you the only alicorn?' In hindsight, Twilight probably should have known that would be a bad question to ask for many, many reasons, and now she knew why.

The two royal guards posted outside Celestia's chambers saluted Twilight as she approached.

"Is Princess Celestia in?" Twilight inquired of the guards.

"Not at this time, Archmage Twilight Sparkle. She is currently indisposed but will return within a quarter hour."

"Very well, I shall wait inside then."

The grand double doors parted to let Twilight enter the room. The room was as sparse as usual reflecting how rarely Celestia used it for anything other than sleeping. A huge cloud bed easily capable of fitting four ponies Celestia's size lay in the center of the room.

A few other fixtures filled the room, mostly decorative. Most of Celestia's treasure hoard was stored in the doubly restricted section of the library, which only she and Twilight had access to; in the treasury; or held in her own bag of holding.

Passing on the relatively uncomfortable chairs, Twilight fell onto the bed which was somehow even softer than her own. Celestia had told Twilight on one of the many occasions they slept together when she was still a filly, that the cloud-walking spell could not do a cloud bed justice. Twilight was still very skeptical about that, especially considering how relaxed she was right now after spending all day sitting on a hard library chair.

It couldn't hurt to rest for a few minutes…

---

Twilight awoke from a weird nightmare, one more surreal than scary, to the gentle nuzzles of Celestia. The alicorn was curled up on the bed next to Twilight and presumably had been the one to place a blanket on her and a pillow under her head.

"Huh…" Twilight said, rubbing her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I think the same question could be asked of you. This is highly inappropriate. If you want to spend the night together, you should bring Spike with you."

A few sleep filled moments later, it hit Twilight that she had fallen asleep in Celestia's room.

"Oh. That's not why I'm here. I don't even remember falling asleep. It's only been" – Twilight pulled a clock from her bag of holding – "twenty-eight hours since I woke up last."

Celestia shook her head, obviously disappointed. "Such a shame. You are so cute when you sleep. And clingy."

Twilight facehoofed. She had tried to kick the habit several times, but it never went away. Even Spike had caught the infection.

"I'm not a filly anymore."

"You can say that when you get as big as I am."

"Fine. Look, I'm trying to build up a sort of righteous indignation here and you're giving me more of a petty indignation."

Head tilted to the side, Celestia gave Twilight a curious look. In response, the story book appeared and quite obviously surprised the alicorn.

"Let's start with why you never told me about your sister, Luna. A sister, I might add, that is due to return in about three weeks and in the best case just wants to kill you. Worst case she's totally insane from being banished to solitary confinement for a thousand years and wants to destroy the world.

"I reluctantly admit I do not know how long an alicorn can deal with being completely isolated, but I would be willing to bet the crazy sets in just as quickly as it does for any other pony."

Twilight raised a hoof to keep Celestia from interrupting. "After that we can discuss why you felt the need to get Spike to bring this book to my attention by misshelving it instead of just talking to me directly.

"And then we can move on to discussing what you plan to do about this, because I know every single magical artifact in the vault by heart, and we do not have these Elements of Harmony. And don't tell me you plan to fight her, because it seems an awful lot like she can kick you to the curb any day of the week.

"And especially don't tell me your plan is to let your archmage stumble onto this book, go on a random quest, and figure everything out herself, because you've had a thousand years to get on this."

Twilight finished her speech, satisfied with its level of indignity, but wished it had been less of a personal attack. Celestia had gone from smile to frown nearly instantly, but looked sad rather than angry.

The two mares lied down on the bed again at Celestia's advice that this would take a while.

"So, I think it will be easier to start with that book. I have not seen it or even thought about it in…at least a century now."

Twilight eyed her suspiciously. "It would be completely in character for you to plant such a zany scheme."

"I have laid other related plans that are, as you say, in character for me, but that book is not one of them. However it got to you, I was not involved beyond pushing the narrative in certain directions."

"Let's say I believe you. That just leaves me all the more concerned that you didn't feel the need to talk to me about this. I do like hearing you have plans though. Would you mind sharing?"

Celestia looked away. Biting her lip, she said something inaudible but Twilight could have sworn she heard the word 'power'.

"Please, oh please tell me you didn't just say 'transfer of power.'"

When no response came, Twilight shouted, "You're kidding me! You had a thousand years! A thousand! That wasn't long enough to think of something?"

"I– I just– There's nothing–" Celestia sniffed.

Celestia sniffed? Did– Did she really just do that?

Looking closely, Twilight could see her friend was holding back tears.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean– Well, I did, but that was unfair of me."

"It's okay, Twilight. I've been crying at night anyways."

Each gave a moment to let that awkward comment pass.

"Anyway, the best I came up with is to make the transition peaceful."

"Couldn't you just make yourself more powerful? Like what Luna did?"

Celestia shook her head. "I could have, but it would not have been likely for me to come out the other end sane. Even if I recovered, Eque–the world would have had to endure me for a long time."

"What about banishing her again? Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we know exactly when her banishment will end and where she will return? My understanding of the spell is that she'll be completely defenseless when she returns."

"That won't work either. The spell is resistible, at least with enough power. Without a boost from the elements it would fail and turn into a fight and I'd end up banished anyway."

Twilight really didn't like suggesting this, but it had to be said. "You could just…kill her. If she's really beyond saving that is," Twilight appended.

"Nay. Even if I had the ability to, I'm sure I would not at the moment of truth. I hope everyday that somehow she's gotten better, but as you said, her banishment…my banishing her has probably broken her in one way or another. I– I couldn't talk her down before. I tried. I tried so hard. But I couldn't–"

Celestia was actually crying now. It wasn't an open wail, but the tears were coming all the same.

"I'm a horrible big sister! It was all my fault! Luna would ha–"

A hug from Twilight cut off Celestia's self-destruction. The huge alicorn wept awkwardly on Twilight's shoulder like a fully grown pony seeking comfort from a foal.

"Just let it all out and then we can talk about what happened."

Shrinking herself down to a Twilight sized alicorn that fit much better in her forelegs. Her mane and tail transitioned from an ethereal rainbow pattern to a simple bright pink. The change surprised Twilight, but there was nothing unusual about shapeshifting so she let it pass unremarked.

After a few minutes of pouring her heart out, Celestia managed to recover to a mere runny nose but didn't change back to her normal form.

"So," Twilight started, "what is it that you're blaming yourself for?"

"How much do you know about Discord?"

"Um… God of chaos, defeated by you and Luna, in the gardens, looks weird. That's about it."

"And King Sombra?"

"No idea."

"Sigh… Discord has a nasty spell that changes a pony's personality. The elements are extremely effective against him, so we managed to win with little effort once we actually managed to pin him down. He was harder to catch than you were in that game of teleport tag we had, but not by much."

Twilight began to feel uneasy, not because of what had already happened, but by how quickly she was putting the pieces together herself. If an ambitious ancient king wanted to get two goddesses out of the way, what better way then to have them destroy each other?

It would have to be done slowly and subtly, or one or both of the sisters would notice. The younger sister would be easier to bring to ruin in a world that didn't appreciate the night.

That was exactly the kind of plan Twilight knew she would have used if she were in King Sombra's place.

"So then," Twilight began, "I take it King Sombra repurposed Discord's spell and hit Luna with it to get you two to kill each other."

"Yes, though the spell was as different from the original as a butterfly is from a caterpillar. King Sombra's version didn't change a pony's personality, but sort of implanted one that occasionally…thinks for you. What I mean is, it would give you a thought that you would think was your own.

"Sombra was willing to wait years for Luna and I to tear each other apart, but when we discovered the spell we overreacted – after removing it of course – and banished him and the entire Crystal Empire from the face of Equus."

Twilight raised an eyebrow and Celestia noticeably blushed.

"Ehem… While I am divulging information, I suppose I should mention both Sombra and his kingdom are due back in a few years. He's nothing you, or I, or Luna can't deal with, so don't worry about him. The crystal ponies should be…better off than Luna or Sombra. They have a weird sort of empathy thing that…sort of works like a hive mind but for emotions. Sort of. Anyway, that's not important.

"Unfortunately, Sombra's spell had done more damage than either of us realized. Luna became paranoid and spiraled out of control. It got worse as the years came and went with me being the center of politics.

"I'm sure you already understand the cultural differences back then. There were no night clubs, or late night parties, or astronomers, or anything of the sort. I was so busy I didn't even notice–" Celestia took a deep breath to calm herself again. "I did not notice Luna slowly descend into madness."

There was still one important question that needed answering. "What about the Elements of Harmony? How did they play into this?"

"Luna and I worked together to wield them. We each took three and although we could not summon their full strength, we used them effectively in many battles. I could regale you with some of the more peaceful uses we put them to, but that will have to be another time.

"At the end of my final fight with Luna, I took all of the elements to match her expanded power. One pony alone wasn't enough to properly use the elements. All I managed to do was banish her when I wanted to heal her madness."

"So what happened to the elements? I would be hard pressed to believe you lost them."

"They're in the old castle in the Everfree Forest and are heavily warded. I wanted to bring them here, but they…do not like me anymore and I did not want anypony else to know they actually exist after a few generations."

Twilight winced internally. Both she and Celestia kept secrets from each other, but it still hurt when Twilight discovered that Celestia did not want her to know something.

Celestia must have noticed Twilight's disappointment because she quickly amended her statement. "I didn't mean you too! I had a different reason entirely to avoid telling you. I didn't want my sister to feel the need to execute you for possessing Magic."

"What? You can't go around killing every unicorn for having magic. You'd have to kill all of them. And then why not the pegasii and earth ponies too?"

"No, no. Capital m. Bearing an element is a bit…personal. Luna and I ponified our elements. It's… It's just something we did. They're not actually alive or anything."

"But you say they don't like you anymore," Twilight commented, a bit confused.

"The elements are very personal. I mean… Oh, this is so hard to explain."

"Then don't bother. I don't think it's really relevant right now. You said you didn't want me possessing Magic. That means the elements are usable, right?"

"Only recently. The elements are a mystery in how they work, and until about two seasons ago they were just mostly inert lumps of stone after I used them against Luna. They were still active enough to– It's hard to describe really, but they more or less burned my magic when I tried to move them and resisted any means I personally tried to relocate them."

"So they are usable. In that case, why shouldn't I go pick them up right now?"

"Because…"

Celestia trailed off, seeming to play with different words, probably trying to pick a way to explain why Twilight was somehow a wrong choice for the elements.

"Just say it. I promise not to get mad."

"Okay. You are quite possibly the best pick for Magic I have ever met. The problem is, you are also the worst pick to bear an element I have ever met because you have no social skills."

"I get the first part. That makes sense on a very intuitive level. Almost all of my life has been related to magic in one way or another. But I don't get the second part at all. I have social skills. I am just very picky with friendships."

Celestia collapsed on the bed. "That is exactly what I mean. There are six elements, and to wield the elements at full strength, or any strength at all since they still need to be awakened, six ponies are needed that embody the particular element they would bear. Besides Magic, there's Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness, and Loyalty. The catch is, everypony needs to be friends."

"Is that all?"

Twilight received a look from her friend that seemed to say 'do you even listen to yourself.'

"Twilight, you are extraordinarily introverted and self-admittedly 'picky'. Ask yourself how many friends you have, right now after 22 years, outside your family."

"…I see your point. But there is surely somepony that would work."

"Yes. There are several choices. But I'd sooner trust them to…" Celestia seemed utterly defeated by her attempt at wordplay. "Now that I think of it, I don't think I would trust them to do anything at all. I would probably be in the sun and Luna locked up in the moon again if I gave any one of them the elements."

"You have to be exaggerating."

"I wish I were," Celestia spat as if the words were poison. "Something about the life of the powerful mage seems to be attractive only to hermits and ponies with an insatiable thirst for power."

Making a sucking sound, Twilight dramatically finished, "Aaaaah."

The jest managed to elicit a chuckle from Celestia. "You're a special case. Should you gain power equivalent to an alicorn, or even beyond, I would trust you with it."

Twilight should have had some elegant words of thanks for the flattery, but if she did then they were eluding her completely. Instead, she asked, "…Really?"

"…Yes…" Celestia said, obviously worried where this was going.

"Short temper and snap decisions included?"

"Twilight, I can't make you an alicorn. Spike… He's already asked me to. He wouldn't talk to me for for the longest time after that."

"That wasn't what I–" Twilight cut off when she finally processed what Celestia had said. "Did he ask you that on his birthday?" – Celestia nodded – "Excuse me!"

Twilight sprung to her hooves, but was pushed back down by Celestia's magic.

"If you are finally going to talk to Spike about it, do not do it in a rush of emotion."

Desperately trying to think of someway to escape Celestia's grasp, Twilight searched her memory for any useful spells. Quickly reaching the end of the list that wouldn't start a fight she knew she would lose, Twilight turned her attention to thinking of something to say that would hurt Celestia enough to surprise her into releasing her grip.

"Twilight! Listen!" Twilight's attention certainly was regained as she took a point blank hit from the Royal Canterlot Voice and Celestia's hooves forced her to look the alicorn in the face. "You are making a snap decision right now! Calm yourself."

Her own words thrown back in her face, Twilight shuddered.

"Better?" Celestia asked.

"Yeah… Mostly."

Celestia released Twilight. "Good. Spike is not going anywhere. Take your time. Now what was it you were going to ask?"

"Oh– Um– Well, I'd like you to explain how you manage to exist. You're too magically dense. You should explode and take out Canterlot with you."

"Oh," Celestia said flatly, "I do not know the answer to that."

"Remind me again, who was it that bore The Element of Honesty?"

"Now that is just a low blow. Besides I had Loyalty and Generosity. That's almost equivalent."

"Ugh. Fine. But at least give it some thought. I would really appreciate hints. But putting that aside, we should probably get back on topic. Actually, could you give me a while to think about what we've talked about?"

Getting a nod from Celestia, Twilight divided her thoughts into the usual three debaters.

So, Overseer said, Celestia has had a thousand years to come up with solutions. Any new ones we come up with either have to hinge on relatively recent information she would not have had time to dwell upon or have to depend on things we can change about ourself. I leave the floor to you two.

First, let's identify the worst case scenario, said Opposition.

Everypony dies.

Yes, that's really creative Advocate, now elaborate on that.

Okay. Luna breaks free. Banishes or kills Celestia. Kills us. Subjects Equus to eternal night. Freezes it. Everypony dies. Obviously we have to intervene before the 'kills us' portion of that.

What options do we have available?

The Elements of Harmony.

We're looking for alternative solutions here. If you're not going to offer meaningful solutions we'll replace you with a different personality.

Overseer stepped in, No personal attacks, Opposition. We're all the same pony here.

My point still stands.

Well – Advocate thought for a moment, deciding if she even wanted to share – we could always throw away our life ambition and use the power source to banish, or maybe even heal, Luna ourselves.

I fundamentally object to that unless we are, or are about to be, killed. Please come up with something we won't regret until the end of a short, miserable life.

Why couldn't we just redevelop the power source? Solidified magic can be manufactured.

Not at the rate we would need it to be. If we lived to three hundred and shifted the entire economy of Equestria over to producing solidified magic, we might have enough to shenanigan sufficient power if we had two alicorns helping and whatever boost the elements provide. Needless to say, that is a ridiculously bad plan.

Alright, point taken. The next option is we fight Luna ourselves.

That won't work either. Celestia is our combat senior by centuries, even with the Alicorn Accord barring her – and us now for some stupid reason – from taking the field. We can trust her when she says she couldn't win a fight which means we won't be able to either no matter how clever and tricky we think we are.

But we have a huge advantage, Opposition.

And that is?

The end of the banishment. Luna will be completely undefended. Surely we could work something out with that.

Then why wouldn't Celestia have thought of it?

Sisterly love maybe? She didn't want to kill Luna.

While true, she also implied that alicorns are indestructible.

When did she do that?

She said she didn't have the ability to kill her sister. I provide further evidence in the residual existence of Discord. There was no reason to leave him alive but he's in the gardens, sealed away in a statue. It would seem that their agelessness would be more appropriately referred to as immortality proper.

Alright, but we don't have to kill her. What if we just kept her asleep or otherwise occupied until we got the elements ready?

Now that is a good idea, Advocate. But there's a problem. If she's awake, Luna could brute force counter everything with enough time. If she's asleep, and by no means would we necessarily be able to get a sleep spell of any kind to work on her for the same reasoning, then we have another problem. She can walk into other ponies's dreams and sabotage us one way or another through others.

So what? It wouldn't be that hard to hide her away in a random location twenty kilometers underground.

Overseer banged an imaginary gavel and called the two to attention. You are getting more and more off topic. If this were an option, Celestia would have come up with it. Please stick to plans revolving around ourselves and recent information.

Overseer has a point, Advocate. What else do you have?

Well, we could minimize the damage of Luna taking over. If the world were plunged into a state that would kill us, we would have no choice but to banish Luna. We could tell her the backup plan. And of course mention that we have a convoluted system in place to make sure it happens if we are killed. That would keep eternal night away. We might even be able to reform her over a few years, or decades…or centuries…without the elements.

I see. That's not an optimal solution, but it would work as a backup. Other ideas?

I'm dry. Excepting getting the elements working. We could try being…friendly.

All three imaginary personalities and Twilight herself shuddered at once.

I hate you so much, Advocate. Is that really the only plan you can come up with to work on before Luna returns?

If I randomly think of any at some later point then I'll mention them, but for now, yes.

Sigh… Alright, let's work out the specifics.

I request more information.

Twilight broke out of her conversation with herself. Every time she merged back into one coherent pony, she always felt a profound sense of death and rebirth and this time was no exception. She stared confused at the world around her that she had completely forgotten as she imagined her three personas. It felt wrong, as if Twilight had awoken and found herself in a dream.

Not bothering to explore that feeling any longer, as always, Twilight shook it off and asked Celestia for more information about the elements.

"Anything in particular you need to know about them?" Celestia asked.

"Well, you said they run on friendship. That would be a good place to start."

"It is really as simple as that. The elements are more effective the deeper the bonds run between the bearers.

"They also work better the more bearers you have. When I used them myself, they barely worked. Luna and I together managed to make them work decently. From the poorly documented pre-Discordian era, I have found that there have been bearers before us and the records seem to support the 'more is better' idea."

"And how many would we need to sort out Luna?"

"All six. If you are wondering how I managed alone–"

"No, I got it. You're an alicorn. Basically, you cheated." Ignoring Celestia's look, Twilight continued, "You said that the elements needed to be awakened. What does that mean?"

"I am not terribly sure. My best guess is that when an element meets somepony it likes, it will retake its true form and bond normally with the pony."

"Does that mean they can't be traded or loaned?"

"More or less. An element can be lent to another pony at greatly reduced power. It certainly would not be enough to heal or banish Luna."

"Then how picky are the elements for finding a pony they like?"

"I have no idea. The requirement is that the bearer must embody their element."

"And that means…"

"Basically it is something they truly value. For example, the bearer of Honesty could lie often and may be very good at lying, but it would be very bothersome. The key point is a strongly internalized preference for honesty, not because it is the best choice or because it is the moral norm. That is about the best I can give you without beginning to speculate wildly."

"Alright, last question. Does it have to be friendship in the usual sense of the word, or would a rivalry, student-teacher relationship, romance, et cetera be sufficient?"

"I would imagine any kind of strong relation would work so long as the feelings were positive. So a friendly rivalry would be fine, but a bitter one would not be."

Twilight gave her thanks and returned to her world of thought.

So, it would seem that the other five elements are a non-issue compared to getting us to like them, said Advocate. Are we willing to try behavior altering spells?

No, both Opposition and Overseer said at the same time. Opposition then continued, Besides, that would almost certainly make the elements 'not like' us which would ruin the whole plan.

That's fair.

So the question is 'where can we make friends?' because it certainly isn't Canterlot.

Well, since we're going to cobble together a group of random ponies, and everypony has to like each other, it would be easiest to integrate into an already existing social…group…

Advocate facehoofed, or at least gave the impression she did, as the obvious group of five came to mind.

Shining, Cadance, Mom, Dad, and Spike are a solid set of five all already friendly with each other and myself. We even have an extra in Star Charmer.

That's brilliant! Opposition exclaimed, for once completely on board. Nonetheless, it was her job to poke holes in ideas. Why wouldn't Celestia have thought of that? No, that's not the right question. Of course she thought of that. Why does she think that won't work? Spike's not a pony, but again we have Star Charmer in the unlikely event that matters. We have six of us. I fulfill that pesky Magic role, and…oh.

You think our family isn't good enough for the elements? How could–

Overseer banged her imaginary gavel again. I said, no personal attacks. It's not productive.

Fine. But do explain yourself, Opposition.

Look, an element not liking somepony isn't necessarily a bad thing. For instance, too much generosity can lead a pony and everypony they love to ruin. As for our family specifically, we don't really have a case for them. Maybe loyalty for Spike with our recent…revelation, but I think we would all like to keep Spike out of this if we can.

A general feeling of assent came from the other two before Opposition continued. We might be able to make a case for Cadance with kindness or Shining for loyalty, but neither feels quite right. I think the former is more a function of her obsession with love. The latter is more directed towards his country and it's not the Element of Honorable Fealty. And before you start getting upset, all of the elements are generally positive character traits, but that doesn't mean a pony has to be defined by one or more to be good or interesting or whatever.

That's true. We might as well just trot around trying everypony and if an element awakens, proceed to acquire a friend.

So, putting the family circle on hold for now as a backup plan, where can we find a large group of ponies that we can pluck out five random element bearers and expect them to already be friends?

Are you really asking that, Opposition? If you phrase it like that then you should already know the answer.

The gavel came once again. I will not have you two squabbling like that or you'll drive us insane eventually. Advocate, it's your job to come up with the ideas so do it.

Advocate would have rolled her eyes if she had any. We go to a small town where everypony knows everypony. But large enough that introducing ourselves will be seen as positive. The closest town to the old castle would be…Appleloosa? No, Ponyville is closer on the other side of the Everfree. Problems?

Well, there would certainly be a different culture there than in Canterlot. We'd at least have a chance. But…farm ponies… I don't know if we could suffer five farm ponies.

Oh, be nice. Not every pony in Ponyville is a farm pony. And besides, we've never talked to one. We may even decide to give up everything and live on a farm.

Silence engulfed all three fragments of Twilight as the statement was processed. Then all at once, each one burst into laughter at the absurdity of Archmage Twilight Sparkle, greatest spellcaster since Star Swirl the Bearded, living the life of a farmhoof.

Okay, maybe we won't become a farmer. My point still stands though. And think about it. Do we really want to go to Appleloosa? Yanhoover? Et cetera.

No, not at all. Especially Appleloosa. I swear, if we have to 'round up' one more 'bandit' and throw them in the 'hoosegow', we're going to lose it.

Alright, so we're in agreement. The plan for now is to go socializing in Ponyville. As a bonus, we get to dump all of our responsibilities on Celestia.

Twilight recovered her sense of oneness, once more shaking off some esoteric emotions.

"Okay, we've–I've come to a conclusion. I really wish you would have brought this to my attention the moment the elements became usable. It would have been much easier to make friends in half a year than in three weeks."

"…Are you going to insist on this folly? You're walking to your doom instead of trying to help the world after I'm gone."

"Wow, you really have no confidence in me. Am I really that bad? No, you don't need to answer that. I'm going to try anyway, and I do have a bit of a backup plan that will keep me alive so you don't need to worry about that."

"A backup plan? Against Luna? What could you possibly–"

"Celestia, we both have our own secrets we would rather not share. There is a backup plan, and that's all I'm really willing to say.

"On a more cheerful note – for me – I'm going to dump all of my duties on you for the next three weeks while I take a vacation. Ponyville sounds pretty nice this time of year. Who knows, maybe I'll even make a friend or five."

Celestia shook with mirth at the sudden tone shift. "Alright, but if you are giving me that much work, you are going to take over the Summer Sun Celebration this year."

"That's a perfect cover! I can have a legitimate reason to be there. What do you think of using Index Code for a disguise?"

"She would be a good pick. Not too young or too old to alienate anypony and we've used her enough that she could reasonably be set up as the overseer. What's so funny?"

Twilight was giggling at the word overseer. "Nothing. Bit of an in-joke with me, myself, and I." Twilight was now rolling around with laughter. The red showing through her purple coat let Celestia know she was quickly losing her breath.

"Right… So, after this, I think we shall need to retire Index Code."

"Y–Yeah, s–s–sure. Oh– Oh, wow. That was good. I don't often set myself up for such quality jokes."

"When do you plan to leave and when is Index going to leave?" Celestia asked, completely ignoring Twilight's self-praise.

"I'll leave tomorrow, and Index will leave the day after. We'll have plenty of time to shuffle my work around."

Twilight was suddenly taken with an idea that was too good to pass up. "I think I have an idea for a replacement too. An old acquaintance that runs a Manehattan business very well."

"I can not believe my ears. Did you just suggest you have a friend I do not know about?"

"Oh, no need to tease. And no, not really. I have been meaning to try to make friends with her for a few years, but I keep running away right before I talk to her. Even I realize that I've been kind of creepy – borderline stalker – about the whole thing. This will be a good practice run for Ponyville."

"This isn't a potential lover, is it? The last thing you need before you try making friends is a romance or a heartbreak."

Twilight quickly, loudly, and vigorously denied any such intentions.

"It's okay you know. I never had a problem with any kind of love and gender is meaningless when you know the polymorph spell."

"I'm telling you, it's not like that at all."

"Luna once said there's no sex like shapeshifter sex."

"She's twenty-two years older than me!"

"So? We both know that with your magic you shall live to at least one and a half centuries, if not three. You shall have to date outside the usual pool eventually."

"I don't have to date ever. I'm not interested. And what happened to the ancient mare that was too embarrassed to even tell me how sex worked?"

"That was different."

"Ugh! I think I'm done here." Twilight made her way to the doors with indignant strides. "I'll bring her to you tomorrow if I can get her to agree to suffer my job."

Twilight opened the doors, shouted, "Good night!" in a huff, and slammed them behind her. The guards on duty hurriedly moved out of the archmage's way as she fumed off down the hall and teleported away at the edge of the wards.

---

Twilight appeared in the cool night sky above Manehattan. Although the strong winds did not blow her around, they did bite her and encouraged her to finish her string of teleports.

A pegasus's ability to tolerate high-altitude travel had always amazed Twilight, even if it was just their natural magic protecting them. It was such a hassle to set up similar protections, especially on short teleport trips, so they were usually forgone.

The building Twilight was looking for stood tall to her side, but by no means dominated the other surrounding skyscrapers. While she could have taken the effort to slip through the security wards, Twilight didn't feel like bothering so she teleported to the ground and entered the building the normal way.

Security made a fuss when Twilight tried to enter, but it did not take long before one of them recognized either the archmage herself or the torc of her office she wore. After that, she was practically waited on hoof, horn, and wing through the lobby to the elevator at which point Twilight grew tired of the attention and politely told them to buck off.

A very surprised and nervous lift pony asked Twilight which floor she desired and soon the steady hum of the thaumtech lift carried her to the twenty-eighth floor. After arriving, she gave the lift pony a generous tip along with instructions to inform security she would be teleporting out later.

The hallway Twilight stepped into was mildly lavish but tasteful. The carpeting was a cheaper, but still quality, imitation of the sort high ranking nobles were fond of. A few paintings lined the wall between doors leading to individual condominiums and the window at the end of the hall offered a stunning view of the night cityscape.

None of this was surprising. Twilight had tracked down her first mentor through semi-legal means long before being made archmage and had discovered she had done well for herself.

Twilight also had never worked up the courage to talk to her, but today was different. Twilight was a mare on a mission this time and would not be stopped by her own petty fears. At least that's what she thought before stopping just short of knocking.

Oh, come on, Twilight! You are pathetic! Even if she doesn't remember you, it's not like we can't be friends anyway. She won't slam the door in your face. Her dossier showed she hasn't changed much since you met her. She's nice. Realistically, the worst case is you pull rank to force her to talk to you and then she throws you out.

…

Okay, maybe I need to work on my pep talks.

A few more moments of self-deprecation passed before Twilight forced herself to knock so timidly on the door that even her magically enhanced hearing could not pick up the sound.

Disappointed in herself, Twilight let her head fall and accidentally hit the door with it. Startled by the accidental one, she promptly followed it with a normal series of raps.

Twilight waited, a nervous mess in the silence that followed. She was about to run out of times 'she must be asleep' would keep her from panicking, when she heard a small crash from inside. A female voice followed it and said, "Oh, horseapples! Could you get the door?"

The door soon opened and an earth pony stallion stood in the doorway. His dark blue coat complemented his orange mane and tail well and the yellow streaks blended in with the orange gave him a wild look for his age. His nebula cutie mark revealed him to be an avid star gazer as Twilight had been told.

"Hello. I don't believe we've met before," Astral Gust said.

"We haven't," Twilight deadpanned. "I need to talk to Daisy."

Astral Gust eyed Twilight suspiciously for a moment, but invited her inside. He led her through the foyer into the well furnished living room. He then left to fetch tea for both of them and an extra cup for his wife when she finished sorting out whatever it was Twilight had heard crashing earlier.

Until he returned, Twilight was left alone to investigate Daisy's personal life in more detail. There were plenty of photos on display detailing her past, but Twilight already knew most of it. What she wanted was current information, but very little seemed to be available. She found a few minor awards on display that hadn't appeared in the dossier, but the only really new thing she learned was Daisy's eldest foal had married recently.

Disappointed, Twilight sat down and waited for her host to return. He soon reappeared with the promised tea and took a seat across from Twilight.

"So, how do you know Daisy?"

"She gave me some good advice when I was younger."

A silence descended that was no doubt very awkward for Astral Gust but which left no impression on Twilight who was used to attempts at small talk fizzling around her. A few rounds of drinking passed before Astral Gaze broke the silence.

"Erm… Now that I think about it, you seem kind of familiar. I suppose I should have asked earlier, what is your name?"

"I usually go by Twilight."

"I'm Astral Gust, by the way. Daisy's husband. I'm sure you already knew that though."

Astral Gust stared into his tea and swirled it around. He mouthed the name 'Twilight' as if tasting it, and then he faced Twilight in sudden recognition.

"Twilight Sparkle the archmage? Dear Celestia, is there anything I can do for you? I– We don't have anything near what must be your standards. Is the tea okay? Oh, no! Daisy's not in trouble or danger, is she?"

Twilight sighed and took another sip of her tea. It was always annoying when ponies overreacted like this. Especially when she was trying to get a meal. Donut Joe was probably the only pony she would ever get to treat her as a regular customer when undisguised, and that stallion of mystery shouldn't really count considering the flirting.

"Calm down, Astral Gust. This is mostly a personal visit. Nopony's in any more danger or trouble than usual for Manehattan."

Visibly relieved, Astral Gust excused himself to see what was keeping Daisy. Twilight was perfectly content to wait, but he insisted. Behind several walls, Twilight could hear Daisy protesting being forced into formal attire but was meeting with little success against her husband's onslaught.

Soon, Daisy was pushed into the living room looking a bit out of place as the only pony wearing formal attire apart from the torc Twilight always wore. Astral Gust then excused himself to give the personal visit the privacy it deserved.

"You can drop all of the formal clothes if you want," Twilight said, and pointed to her ears. "I have exceptional hearing."

Daisy blushed a bit but accepted the offer and shed all of the extra clothes and jewelery that had been forced upon her. Once it was all discarded, she sat down next to Twilight far enough away to seem respectful but not so far as to seem disrespectful.

Twilight had hoped that Daisy would not be familiar with such courtly niceties, but what really put the nail in the coffin as when Daisy said, "What brings you here, Archmage Twilight Sparkle?"

This certainly wasn't the worst case scenario, realistic or otherwise, but Twilight was saddened with the formalism in Daisy's manner. Though she tried not to show it, Daisy must have seen through her poker face.

"Or just 'what brings you here, Twilight?' if you would prefer."

"I would. Very much so. Do– Do you, perchance, remember me?"

"Of course I do. I met a princesses and a goddess because of you. That's not a day a pony forgets without magic. Although, I must admit I mostly had forgotten you until the announcement was made that Equestria had an archmage for the first time in centuries. I was so excited when I realized who it was."

Twilight curled into a ball in embarrassment and sputtered completely nonsense for a while.

Celestia was completely right. I have no social skills. I can't even look her in the eyes anymore.

Daisy said something too good to be processed.

"What did you say?"

"I said, 'would you like to be friends?'"

"Yes! Yes! Oh, yes!" Twilight shouted pouncing on Daisy and delivering a huge hug to the flat-hoofed mare. The act almost knocked both of them off the couch and onto the floor but Twilight managed to save them at the last second.

Remembering she wasn't with Celestia or her family, Twilight released her grip and backed away from Daisy, hoping she wasn't upset. "I'm so sorry. I– My family has always been affectionate and Celestia is too so–"

"It's fine. I often wish my own foals were so cuddly."

"Oh, um…" Twilight didn't know what to say to that so she changed the topic. "How did you know I wanted to be friends?"

"My second filly, Crafted Pen, is shy too. Maybe not as shy as you seem to be, but I've learned to pick up on the signals you send. So I'd bet it'll be a bit embarrassing, but would you mind telling me how long it took you to come here?"

"Um… Since I learned where you were…about a decade…"

"…Wow," Daisy said, clearly impressed, if perhaps in a bad way. "You are a real problem foal."

"B–But I've been busy. I had magic to learn, a country to run, Spike to raise, and–"

"What was that last one?"

"Spike to raise?" Twilight was confused why that in particular would draw Daisy's attention. Raising colts was difficult, even if Twilight had a lot of help, as Daisy would well know from raising one and two fillies herself.

And then it occurred to Twilight that her new friend might not know Spike's origin story and she started rattling off the tale of her practical exam and her subsequent adoption of Spike years later.

"So, i–it's not like I went on a se–wild streak during my teens. I've never even– I mean–" Twilight ran out of breath and was finally forced to stop and refill her lungs, letting Daisy get a word in edgewise.

"That's certainly an impressive story. It certainly explains why Princess Celestia took you on as her personal student."

"I never would have gotten to where I am if I never met you when I was so young and impressionable. I don't really know how I can ever thank you."

"You're giving me way too much credit. I was just helping a lost filly. I don't really even remember what I said to you."

"No, really. I would have only learned a bunch of spells without direction. Instead I learned spell composition, analysis, and decomposition. I only managed to hatch Spike's egg because I knew how to pick spells apart.

"I even started research and development before then. I tore spells apart and repurposed them and made small changes and modifications and all that kind of stuff.

"Even now when I have a hoard of spells and the power to brute force almost anything, I still consider my primary talent creativity."

"Okay, fine. I was a big influence on your life, but only that, an influence. You still did all of the hard work."

"B–" Twilight stopped. What Daisy said was probably the best way to describe their relationship. "Okay. Still, I don't know how to thank you for it."

"Twilight, do you expect everypony that looks to you as inspiration to thank you if they live fantastic lives or curse you if they fail horribly?"

"Of course no– Oh."

"So you finally get my point. Good. Though I do appreciate the sentiment." Daisy paused for a moment, perhaps for dramatic effect. "Now, what is it that you've really come here for?"

Twilight already felt fairly guilty that she had come here to ask for a favor when she was known to do nasty things to nobles with the same intention. Having Daisy directly address it just after bonding with each other made Twilight feel so horrible that she wanted to teleport away and pretend she had never come. Of course, she knew she wouldn't be able to face Celestia tomorrow if she did.

"…How did you know?"

"Oh, please. You put this off for ten years. It's far more likely some other reason pressured you here than that you finally worked up the nerve to ask to be my friend."

"Right… You're smart. Sometimes I forget that other ponies can be smart. Sorry about that. As for why I'm here, I need to ask a favor of you. I'm going to be out of Canterlot for three weeks, and we're going to need Celestia to leave Canterlot often as well, so we need somepony to take my place for a while to keep things from falling apart. I'd like that pony to be you."

To say Daisy looked shocked would be accurate, but it would fail to describe just how mentally incompetent she had been rendered.

Twilight elaborated on the perks and difficulties the position would entail and emphasized that she would have the eternal gratitude of Celestia, but as far as she could tell, her words went in one ear and out the other.

About halfway through explaining what would be required of Daisy, she came back to life and said, "You want to make me, the barely exceptional mage Daisy Wishes, archmage of Equestria? PTA meetings are the closest thing I have to experience with government work."

"Those are both points in your favor actually."

"I can barely fight to save my life, let alone Equestria."

"I'm actually banned from taking the field by the Alicorn Accord. Don't ask."

"I already have a job."

"You own the company you work for. You can take three weeks off and leave Astral Gust or somepony else in charge. You'd also have the crown ready to send help if needed."

"I have no connections."

"Again, a point in your favor, though you will inherit mine."

"I don't speak any other languages."

"Okay, now you're reaching for excuses. If you don't want the job, just say so."

"I… I don't know. Maybe. Can I sleep on it?"

"We are in a bit of a time crunch, but one night wouldn't hurt. Can I tempt you with a cloud bed? I won't be sleeping for some time still."

"You have one? How does that work?"

"I wear a cloud walking bracelet to bed. Well, really it's one of many enchantments on my torc, so technically it's not a bracelet, but I have plenty of bracelet spares."

Plainly torn between the choices, Daisy suggested, "I would be a fool to refuse the bed, wouldn't I?"

"It is entirely the reason pegasii are considered the laziest of the ponies."

"Can Astral come too?"

"I have no objections so long as you don't ruin my bed."

"I'll go grab him."

---

Spike awoke shortly after dawn broke. If Twilight were on her regular schedule, she would be somewhere nearby to wish him a good morning. Spike figured she would still be on a research binge with that book he found, but it would not hurt to search the tower for her.

He started with the common room that Twilight dominated with her mess of books and spell diagrams, but she wasn't there today. She wasn't in the tower's small library, nor was she in the bathroom.

Spike checked the kitchen and unsurprisingly didn't find his mother there. She never cooked for herself and was absolutely terrible at it anyway. He couldn't really complain considering the best chefs in Equestria worked day and night just downstairs. They had no dragons on call though, so anything Spike ordered gem encrusted tasted second rate.

Grumbling about dragonfire roasted gems, Spike checked the last place he would expect to find Twilight. He opened the door to her bedroom and was surprised to find not one, but two ponies in bed.

Almost slamming the door shut, but stopping at the last second, Spike ran downstairs red ear to ear. Despite growing much slower than ponies, Twilight had not felt the need to keep the adult world a big mystery for him. But beyond the awkwardness of walking in on his mom with another pony, was confusion and worry.

Twilight had always been so academic and detached with Spike about the subject, he never imagined she'd actually find a very special somepony. He had heard stories from his friends in elementary school of their parents getting remarried and losing interest in them. Twilight was already busy enough, would she even remember he exists?

Then there were the ponies that were the youngest foal and had so much love and attention until a new one came. Spike just knew he would be completely abandoned if he did not break this up now before his mom started getting attached to whoever she brought home.

But how to do it? Spike's first instinct was to hatch some sort of cunning plan to drive the offender out, but he knew that would just make Twilight upset. In fact, any sort of scheme would probably just make Twilight angry; she much preferred forthrightness.

Spike made himself breakfast while he planned what to say, and when he heard hoofsteps coming downstairs, he moved to intercept them.

He saw a dark blue earth pony stallion walk by, not noticing Spike's approach. Spike thought it was odd that his mom would like an earth pony. He had always assumed that Twilight did not have much interest in things that were not magic or were not casting magic. But then again, he had also assumed Twilight was not interested in romance.

Latching onto the next pony that came down the stairs in a tight hug, Spike began pouring his heart out.

"Mom, don't fall in love or get married or have more foals or anything like that! You don't have enough time for me as it is and you barely sleep! Please! For me!"

The pony he was attached to started laughing in what was definitely not Twilight's voice. Spike opened his eyes to see the coat of the mare he was hugging.

"Mom, you're green? What happened?" Backing up to get a better view, Spike found that he was not talking to Twilight at all.

Probably.

She could be polymorphed.

"You must be Spike," the now obviously not Twilight mare said. "I can see why Twilight enjoyed raising you: you're so adorable."

Spike was almost as embarrassed now that he realized he said all that to not one but two random ponies as he had been that one time Star Charmer had kissed him.

Scooping Spike up into a very one-sided hug, the mare said, "Oh, you're just so cute. If only my own foals were still like this. Astral, can we keep him?"

The stallion, Astral apparently, said, "I don't see why not, so long as it's okay with Archmage Twilight."

"What?" Spike shouted.

"Oh, I'm just teasing you." Releasing Spike, the mare said, "I'm Daisy, a friend of your mother. She said I should ask you to take us to the castle kitchen and then to the council room."

"Um…yeah… I can do that. Just follow me…Daisy and Astral."

---

There are only two things a pony needs to know about the Royal Guard.

First, it is a great honor to join the guard. It has an impressive history of performing great deeds and completing noble quests. Only the best of the best can hope to join, and only merit can keep a pony there.

Second, it was very boring. All of that impressive history was just that. History. The Equestria Intelligence Service, or EIS, had largely supplanted most of the Royal Guard's field work over the past century and nopony was stupid enough to attack Princess Celestia.

There had been a brief and shining period where the guard had worked hard to keep a young Twilight Sparkle safe, but she grew strong enough to be as imposing as the princess and no longer required protection.

The last time they had seen action was during the latest Griffin attack, but it was also the 'war' that earned the archmage a mention in the Alicorn Accord. The entire fiasco was over within a week leaving little time for valor. For the time being, the international world was petrified of the 'peaceful' Equestria and wouldn't dare give the Royal Guard a chance to prove itself.

Shielded Strike sighed, drawing Flash Sentry's attention.

"Bored?" Flash asked.

"You can say that again. Some days I don't know why we're even here. I mean, the princess and the archmage could probably just magic up a replacement for us if they really needed it."

"Well, we do keep order just by being here. And we're also here for the other ponies in the castle, not just those two." Flash gave that a moment's thought before laughing a bit. "Well, you are anyways."

"Ugh. Are you still hung up on the archmage? Let her go man. The princess is the one that knows the name of each and every guard. The archmage probably doesn't even know you exist."

"Not at all. She clearly recognized me that last time she threw me out a window. I'm making progress."

"Dude, that is pathetic. How has Captain Armor not thrown you out by now?"

"Simple, Strike. Simple. I do my job well and that's all he cares about when it comes to the job. Privately, he's the most overprotective brother you can imagine, but he respects my love and realizes Twilight's old enough to have a romance. Though I did still get quite a few threats anyways for the usual stuff.

"Besides, he's probably secretly pushing for anypony, if not me specifically, with her being a single parent. It's no secret that the whole family was against that."

A shiver ran through Strike as the wyrmling in question came into view. "Speak of Tartarus, and he shall appear."

Flash knew Strike since the day he joined the guard, but Strike had been on duty far longer. Long enough to have been around in Spike's infancy when uncontrolled dragonfire caused more problems than there was grass in the gardens. From what Flash had heard, many of the older guards still had nightmares of the worse incidents and he was aware that Strike was among them.

Spike alone was nothing to be surprised at. The dragon has free run of the castle and wandered around often. Flash himself had seen him quite often and they even talked from time to time. However, behind Spike trailed a unicorn and an earth pony neither Flash nor Strike had seen before, nor did they possess visitor's passes.

It was standard operating procedure that anypony that a guard could not recognize and did not possess a pass was an intruder and should be arrested. But these two were with Spike, and the archmage was known to ignore procedure despite pleas from her brother.

Seeing Strike too concerned with bad memories, Flash took initiative.

"Err…halt?" Flash requested in what he thought was perhaps the worst example of taking initiative he had ever seen. "Identify yourself. Please."

Spike covered his mouth to keep himself from laughing. "Really, Flash? Halt please? Does it come with sprinkles on top?"

"Oh, har har."

"This is Daisy Wishes," Spike said, gesturing towards the unicorn. "And this is Astral Gust. They're mom's guests. I'm supposed to take them to the council room."

This was a perfect opportunity to talk to Twilight some more, so Flash said, "I'll go see if they're ready for you."

Walking towards the door, Flash was stopped by the spear Strike was carrying in his wing. "I'll go check," he said, looking between the door, Flash and Spike. "For many reasons."

Flash rolled his eyes but agreed to let his shell shocked friend run away from his fear.

"So, what do you two do that you've been invited into the privy council?" Flash asked.

Daisy Wishes replied, "I own a baking company. Pretty well known in Manehattan but not much elsewhere."

"I'm an astronomer," Astral Gust added.

"So pretty much nothing," Daisy Wishes finished. "Twilight wants me to take over her job for three weeks while she goes off to do something else."

"Wha–"

Strike came back through the doors leading to the council room, interrupting Flash.

"Her majesty, Princess Celestia, and her excellency, Archmage Twilight Sparkle, will see you now. The room you want is the third door on the left."

"Thanks," Spike said as he lead the group through the doors into the hall behind.

Once the doors had closed, Flash started complaining. "Strike, get this. My love is going to be gone for a whole three weeks."

---

The relatively small, but still big enough for a full sized Princess Celestia, and unadorned door opened to reveal the council room. Rather than the beautiful example of good taste mixed with wealth and important looking noble ponies going about affairs of state Daisy had expected, the room was small and under furnished with only a large round table and accompanying chairs. There were no windows and the only light was cast by oil lanterns.

Astral stumbled on entering and nearly fell over. Daisy herself felt as if some part of her had been wrenched away. Spike, who had entered first, seemed unaffected as did the other two ponies in the room.

Supporting Astral with her body, for her magic wasn't working, Daisy was wondering if it was safe for them to remain in the room when Twilight chastised Spike.

"Spike! You didn't warn them about the wards, did you?"

"Oh, I knew I was forgetting something." Turning to Daisy and Astral, Spike apologized, "It's a little late, but there's a lot of security wards here. I'm a dragon so I don't feel them much. Sorry for forgetting."

"No worries, Spike. We'll manage. You doing alright, Astral?"

"Yeah," Astral replied between deep breaths bordering on ragged. "I could really use a seat though."

Princess Celestia offered the pair their choice of seats and Daisy supported her wobbling husband to the nearest chair directly across from the princess, taking the adjacent one for herself.

Moaning a bit, Astral asked, "Why am I being hit so much worse?"

"Because you're an earth pony, dear. You've never had to walk before without your magic naturally increasing your strength an order of magnitude. Welcome to walking like a unicorn."

"You do this every day? That explains so much. I'm so sorry for complaining about–"

"It's alright, Astral. No apologies needed."

"But still, dear Celestia this is terr–I am so sorry, princess. I didn't mean–"

"It is okay. I am very used to ponies swearing by me both in and out of my presence. If you could keep it to a minimum, I should appreciate it."

"Of course, princess."

"So then," Princess Celestia turned her attention to Daisy, "you must be the archmage replacement Twilight was telling me about."

Daisy nodded, and said, "It is a very great pleasure to be in your presence again, your majesty."

"No need for the formalities," Celestia replied. "They are so very tiring and we are in private. Now, you said again. I can not quite seem to place it, but you are familiar… Can I get a hint, Twilight?"

"Graduation. Twenty…eight years ago."

"Hmm… Oh yes. That would make you Daisy Wishes, correct?"

"You are right, princess."

"Sorry for not recognizing you at first. Not to be rude, but you have grown a bit older."

"I don't mind at all, princess."

Celestia sighed. "You do not have to add 'princess' at the end of every sentence."

"Yes, princess," Daisy said, the message not quite sinking in yet. "Thank you princess." Twilight snickered and Daisy realized she was still doing it. "I mean, thank you."

"So, before we hear your answer to my request," Twilight started, "welcome to The Chambers of the Privy Council™ where practically everything political of interest is decided."

Daisy looked to Astral at the same time he looked to her, silently asking each other if that strange not-quite-sound they heard was real. Celestia had her face in her hooves, so Daisy decided something had happened.

"What…was that…thing?" asked Daisy.

"Ugh… Must you do this with every guest, Twilight?"

"Of course I must. It is the name of this room after all."

"To answer your question," Celestia said, ignoring Twilight for the moment, "What you heard was the result of a joke spell I created centuries ago. Twilight heard it once and begged for days for me to teach it to her. She put the enchantment on no less than four phrases before I told her to stop."

Daisy looked between Twilight who was looking both ashamed and proud and Princess Celestia who was just looking ashamed. "So you mean, anytime, anywhere, anypony says any specific sequence of words…"

"The phrase gets an inaudible trademark added to the end of it. It was my, and more recently Twilight's, first experience with global scale magic. My own casting of the spell was on the phrase The Hoarded Lore of Celestia Herself™. I was…a younger pony back then."

"Not that young," Twilight mumbled, just loud enough for everypony in the room to hear.

Princess Celestia casually pushed Twilight off balance with telekinesis, almost resulting in Twilight falling to the ground. Neither Daisy nor Astral could help but laugh at the pair's antics, even if they were laughing at the two most powerful ponies in Equestria, if not Equus. Naturally, Spike was laughing as well and was no doubt completely at home in the presence of the two.

"I'm still confused," Daisy said, letting her giggles die down. "I guess I can let the power concerns go as having 'deep wisdom' involved, but how is it working inside all of these wards?"

"You–You're interested in that?" Princess Celestia asked, eyes shining. Getting a nod from Daisy, Princess Celestia continued, "Twilight's too smart and keeps figuring things out herself. She never lets me be a proper teacher. So, the basic idea is–"

This time it was Twilight's turn to knock Princess Celestia off balance although the alicorn recovered much quicker with the aid of her wings.

"Later, Celestia. We have a lot to do immediately, and less to do in a week or so. Well, you do at least. My schedule is packed for the next three weeks."

"Alright, fine," Princess Celestia pouted in a very unregal manner. "Twilight has told me that you were undecided on taking the position. Is that still true?"

"Well, Astral and I discussed it, and I would be willing to try, although I don't know if I can actually do the job. It would be nice if I could get more details on exactly what I'd be doing before I committed one way or the other."

"That's no problem," Twilight said. "I don't leave until tomorrow officially, and until the day after unofficially – don't tell – so we can spend today together and have you just observe."

"And what if I decide not to take the job? Will you manage without a replacement?"

"That choice is entirely yours to make," Celestia answered. "We shall not force you in any way. The archmage position is, as Twilight would no doubt love regaling anypony at length describing, very stressful, difficult, magically and physically tiring, often boring, and typically annoying.

"Some of your choices would have far reaching consequences and although I would aid you when I can, you would need to make most decisions by yourself. If anything should get too out-of-hoof, I can step in and fix everything, but minor mistakes would be yours to correct.

"If you choose not to subject yourself to Twilight's work, I can manage it in addition to my own if we can not find another suitable replacement, difficult though it would be.

"However, now that I have sufficiently scared you, on a personal level, I am very eager to get to know the pony my little asocial archmage wants to be friends with."

"You're not really giving me a fair chance to say no, are you?"

"Now what makes you say that?" Celestia asked innocently, smiling widely and invitingly.

---

After she ferried Astral Gust home, Twilight spent the rest of the day with Daisy following her around. It had been pretty weird, and Daisy's endless questions while she was working had been grating, but it had been an interesting experience. Plus the shocked expressions the nobles gave her when chatting with Daisy were priceless.

Daisy had helped with some of the paperwork as a test run, so they managed to finish a little early. Just after sunset, Twilight teleported them up to her tower to relax.

Unused to the utter exhaustion she felt, Daisy flopped onto a couch in the common room, disregarding the mess of books strewn over it. On the other hoof, Twilight felt no such exhaustion and set about tidying up the common room by stacking books in corners. Today was a typical day for her and she used the usual magical tricks to keep herself going.

"So, what did you think of today?"

"That was, by far, the most walking I've ever done in a single day," Daisy complained. "How do you manage that day in and day out?"

"Magic. Okay, okay, don't get mad. I can give you a list of spells that would be useful to know. I fairly recently returned from a different foreign excursion so my work is a bit backed up. You'd think being out on official business would excuse me of regular business, but no. When I get this busy I usually teleport everywhere in the castle, but I felt you should have the full experience of what you would be getting into."

"Can't you just teach me to teleport? My hooves are killing me."

"Not in the time we have available. There are other problems, some practical and some political, you'd encounter as well. And there's a long safety lesson that every new teleporter has to go through. Teleporting is very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing."

"Fine. Point made. I tried floating earlier to rest, but I couldn't. I assume there's a ward interfering with my telekinesis. Could I get around that somehow?"

"I'd leave several of the ward spellkeys with the list of spells I'd give you. Along with details of how to add a mostly invisible spell signature to your magic if you don't already know. I'd also have a list of unicorns you shouldn't use them around because they'd be able to learn the spellkeys."

As an afterthought, Twilight added, "There are also some places where the wards are absolute, like the council room, Celestia's room, many of the wards in this tower, et cetera."

"Let me guess. By the time I learn how to bypass security, I'll already be going home."

"Does that mean you're accepting the job?"

"Yeah, I'll do it. I can't leave all that to Princess Celestia with a clear conscience. But, one question. Do you ever sleep?"

"Heh. Yeah, I do. Just much less than the average pony with a lot of magical assistance. You don't need to keep any similar schedule."

Daisy exhaled a sigh of relief.

"Speaking of sleep" – Twilight pulled a watch out of her bag of holding – "it's getting pretty late. Do you have any interesting stories to share?"

"Bedtime stories? At your age?"

"What? No," Twilight denied dramatically. Disappearing in a teleport, she returned with a confused Spike and set him in her lap. Somehow, Twilight was managing to make big, pleading, foallike eyes that were at once both hilarious and extremely convincing.

With a roll of her eyes, Daisy said, "Oh, all right. This is something that happened back when I was at Princess Celestia's school–"