Leaf Fall 18th 3474 EE

Another harvest is in, and the wounds we suffered from this summer's war are starting to heal, both the physical ones, and the ones of the spirit. A memorial should be ready in time for Ancestor's Night, celebrating the courage, and honour, and all the things my people, pony or otherwise, showed. Not the glorious victory itself, glory comes with too much spilt blood to be celebrated.

We've normalised our forces, and the volunteers from Cloudsdale have gone back to their own cities, though I'm providing them with equipment from our manufactories to outfit permanent guard squadrons, in return for a commitment to act as our first response to any more border incursions. I check the line of the border daily, but so far it seems the griffons are still in a state of shock.

The king has also insisted that some of his Royal guard be outfitted and trained in the new aerial combat tactics, which I'm only too happy to do. Unlike the cloud cities, the Royal treasury is paying for their equipment, which is a relief as Maresia can do with the revenue. The only downside is that Horse is the best one to do said training, and I miss him, not just for the hole it puts in the guard, but personally as well.

Luna's battle turned into a horn-waving contest, as I'd hoped. Finding several thousand fully armed and armoured ponies waiting for them on their invasion route brought the Taurun tribes to a halt. They sent forward the usual challenges, and Luna took on one of them herself.

My little sister must have had fun. It was daytime, so I've watched the battle. There was Luna un-armoured, facing a massive bull twice her size, one of their chiefs, Thundering Bull. He sneers that he's going to flatten her, and she just stands there, with a look that says 'yeah, you and what planetary body?'

Thereafter follows one of the most glorious beat-downs I've ever seen. It's clear that my sister has been taking lessons from the Sergeant Major, or watching some of my old fights with her sight, because I recognised some of the moves. It ended up with someone on the floor all right, that not-so-poor bull. Of course, it was right in front of both armies, and our side was cheering wildly, hoof-claps shaking the earth.

Note to self: Figure out if earth tremors are related to Atlas fidgeting in his sleep. The answer could prove useful when the time comes to retrieve him.

I'm glad for Luna, I want her to feel loved and celebrated. I've managed to keep the blood off her horn that stains mine, and still have a chance to make a difference, and show the world what she can do. After the way she helped me through my darkest times, I am even more determined to avoid dumping more of the load on her.

There is one amusing upshot. She proved so impressive that a number of his herd came forth and swore allegiance to her. Combined with the Taurun cows we rescued from Griffindor, we now have our own heard in Maresia. We had intended to repatriate them, but they actually pleaded with me to allow them to stay.

It does mean that we now have the only supply of cows milk outside trading with the northern tribes, combined with cooling charms it's another export we can well use. The cost was minimal, some acres of grazing land north of Ponyville, some communal barns for them to live in, a one-time cost that wasn't great. I'd even felt we could offer them individual housing, but they _prefer_ being in larger groups, so we designed what they wanted, and let them be.

With matters of state dealt with, we could finally get back to our research. There must be a way to get the desired qualities in a ritual diagram, but I still haven't found it. I feel I'm ramming my horn into a brick wall. I may work on some other ideas, though I do intend to take time off and take part in the Running of the Leaves in Ponyville. Not win of course, that wouldn't be fair.

One of the ideas I had was based on the fact that it was an absolute pain not being able to show other ponies what was going on, even fairly close to us. I was wondering if there might be a way to make things appear closer without using magic.

I was preparing a healing potion for a sick foal (I was a pretty decent alchemist even before I got a horn, and like to help out where I can) and noticed how the bottom of the stick looked larger and bent beneath the water. I wonder if the effect could be applied elsewhere, and is it limited to water. Fortunately, when it comes to creating tight beams of light, I have something of an advantage.

Authors Notes: Sorry, once again that this took so long, but I had something of a hectic time recently. Hopefully my next part will be more timely.