Chapter 7: Passing the time
9:00 A.M., Soluna Plantation, Enoch's bedroom
The cyan Pegasus crossed to the fireplace at the far end of the room and looked at the incomplete painting that hung above it, reflecting on his feelings when he painted it. The canvas depicted the sun and moon in perfect harmony and equilibrium, circling Equestria. He had painted this piece and two others identical to it several years ago. He possessed one, Princess Celestia had another hanging in her office in Canterlot, and the third one was missing. Shaking his head, he walked to his desk, snapped on the lamp, and sat down in the chair. He relased a gusty sigh, then picked up the letter from Princess Celestia, opened it and began to re-read it:
My dear Enoch,
I have kept a most careful watch on the movement of the heavens, as I am sure you have as well. You... have kept track of the stars through the years, have you not? I imagine you would. I should hope you know what year this is. In any case, I have decided where to hold the Summer Sun Celebration this year: Ponyville, in your current hometown. I am sending my faithful student, a lavender unicorn mare by the name of Twilight Sparkle, to Ponyville to oversee the preparations for the Celebration.
I believe you are familiar with Twilight? If memory serves, you were one of her professors at my school before I stole her away. Her favorite, actually, if I am any judge; whilst under my tutelage, she often referenced your published works, the notes she took in your classes, and your face-to-face conversations with her when she was your student. She's kept you informed of her progress, yes? She told me she did, by way of the dragon she is raising, Spike.
You needn't worry about finding room and board for yourself and your assistant; I will have rooms in the castle ready for you when you arrive, as I usually do; Twilight will be waiting for you at the train station. I will also have space cleared in the vaults underneath the castle for your device.
Twilight departs for Ponyville in three days. Could you possibly provide her and her dragon with room and board while they are in Ponyville?
We have much to talk about, Enoch, just you and I.
Warmest regards,
Celestia
P.S. I have enclosed two round-trip train tickets, and, as per your request in your previous letter, an import permit for your device, so you can bring it into Canterlot without undue hassle. At least, without hassle by the City Guard. The R.E.I.S., the Royal Equestrian Investigative Service, however is something else entirely. Even my control over them is limited, as I made sure when I created it. Be sure that you are the one to affix the import permit to the crate containing the device. Do not trust the train station to perform this task. Keep your most important papers with you in your carry-on. I tell you to take all these precautions for a reason: someone has been doing research on you. A file on you was stolen from the R.E.I.S. a few days ago, a classified file. Do not worry yourself about the stolen file; we quickly found the thief and recovered the file, completely intact. I immediately moved them all myself, and only I know where they are now, a secret I will share with you when we meet.
P.P.S. I don't suppose I can convince you to donate your formula, your arcanum, to the Archives. You have donated copies of almost all of your other scientific works to the Archives, but not that formula.
"No, Celestia, I will NOT donate that formula. The formula being in the hooves of ordinary ponies is simply far too dangerous for me to allow. Imagine what the military alone would do with it!"
He had accomplished everything that he wanted and needed to do this morning, and there was still another hour before he should wake Ditzy. At a bit of a loss for something to do, he pulled open a drawer in the desk, and took out a sheet of paper, a bottle of ink, and a quill, ignoring the ball-point pens. He intended to write a return letter, even though he wasn't going to mail it. He paused for a moment, then loaded the quill and laid down letters:
Dear Celestia,
I am indeed aware of what year it is; I too have kept track of the skies. It has been on my mind ever since last year's Summer Sun Celebration in New Horsleans. How could it not be? On a related note, I believe it will be a good thing for Ponyville to host this year's Celebration and party. For one thing, it will bring much publicity to this lovely little town.
And yes, I am familiar with Miss Twilight Sparkle, she was indeed one of my students before you found her. Did she really say I was her favorite teacher? Perhaps second-favorite, now she's your student, but the praise is still flattering. She certainly was among my top-favorite students; very few ponies, colts or fillies, ever took to my lessons or understood them as well as she did. Such an intelligent Unicorn. I was so very proud of her when she told me that you had taken her on as your personal student.
Twilight meeting us at the train station would be most satisfactory, and I would be more than willing to provide her with a place to stay while in Ponyville. She stays at the castle now, yes? On that subject, thank you very much for letting Ditzy and I stay at the castle ourselves, even though you know I maintain a house in Canterlot.
There are many more things that I would like to say in this letter, but I must save them for a face-to-face meeting. We have much to talk about, just you and I.
Respectfully,
Enoch A.L. Aurobolosai
P.S. Under no conditions could I allow my formula to be in the hooves of ordinary ponies. Think of what your military alone could do with it! Equestria's armed forces are already the strongest in the world, save for the Crystal Empire's, when it was still here. In my opinion, it does not need any more power or weapons.
P.P.S. Thank you for enclosing the train tickets.
P.P.P.S. New Horseleans, wow, what a party that was!
Finished with his letter, but still unsatisfied, he lay down his quill. He had decided he would mail it. It would take only a few minutes to send it along the direct link he had to Princess Celestia's inbox. But first, he needed to finish packing his carry-on. He would follow the Princess's advice and pack the most important papers in the carry-on, keeping them with him, as he intended to do in the first place. He also needed to pack the potion he took every night to ward off the nightmares he had every night.
It was really nothing more than a very powerful sedative that allowed the brain to enter a very deep, but relatively inactive REM sleep. The brain is usually much more active while you are sleeping than when you are awake. The potion merely prohibits the brain from this activity. In short, the main effect of this potion was that, except for when he forgot to take it, he did not dream. Another possible side-effect of taking it regularly is that a pony may...MAY... become dependent upon it. Enoch took it simply because it allowed him to sleep restfully. A kind of curse laid upon him prevented him from gaining restful sleep naturally, so he was really in kind of a bind. If he wanted to sleep restfully, he had to take it. There was no alternative.
Enoch sat up straight in his chair, rolled over to the table beside the bed, opened the drawer in it and rummaged in it for a moment, bringing up a blue, unmarked glass bottle, the same color as his and Rainbow Dash's fur, cyan. He really needed to put it in his carry-on if he wanted to survive his subconscious while in Canterlot...
9:40 A.M., Soluna Plantation, Ditzy Doo's bedroom
*Knock, knock, knock* "Miss Hooves? Are you awake? It is time to get ready to go. May I come in?"
A sleepy snort replied, along with what sounded like somepony falling out of bed. "Oof! Huh?" Um, yeah! Sure." Enoch turned the doorknob, careful to avert his eyes to avoid any awkward sightings of a nether-dressed mare. "I have a cup of tea for you. It is some invigorating stuff; it'll help you to wake up."
