Skyworks

Dear Diary,

It is such a relief to get back to you, diary, after the stressing events of today. As I have written before my sister, the Princess of the night, LuLu, has recently been returned from the moon’s prison and purged of the Nightmare Forces that had corrupted invaded her mind and body.

Because of this all of my dear sister’s court of that day have died, and although they each have a magnificent tomb, they are not here to help her. Now she we must rebuild her court, the court that shone like one of her shining stars. Like our shining star of that Golden Age.

The applicants for this job were few and far between, and the ponies who did apply were lacking in the skill required. Almost every job was open in my dear LuLu’s court, so you would think that at least one job would be filled by the end of the day, but none were! Here is one of the forms:

Name Open Aura

Age 37 Years

Race Unicorn

Gender Stallion

Job Applying for ______________________

Experience None

Referrals Nonexistent

Open Aura was a purple unicorn stallion, but, sadly, my sister and her court aren’t respected. As this Unicorn was only around 15. My dear sweet sister was outraged at this, I have told her over and over that people have forgotten who she was before her... Corruption. She had threatened to throw him in the dungeon for lack of respect before I told my dear sweet Luna that that was no longer an available punishment for minors. Her blue cheeks became the second brightest shade of red I’ve seen them..

My student Twilight was the one to save my sister. She and h

Knock

I paused here, you see everyone in the Castle had their own unique knock. Of course I don’t know all of them, just those who visit me regularly. It was a really handy trick, knowing who was coming into your room before they actually came in.

Now let’s see. One knock, short and quick. I sighed, I knew this was going to come, especially after today. I took three breaths and put a sympathetic smile on my face. LuLu was going to need all of the strength I could give her. “Come in LuLu,” I said, my golden aura slowly closing my diary. It then set inside the small top left drawer amidst the white velvet in my pristine white and glass dresser, next to it went my quill. All of this happened instantaneously with almost no effort. I only really felt it  if I concentrated on that specific item and spell I was using it with.

My diary itself was beautiful; It was a bound book with a strong spine and hard cover. The cover itself was sky-blue with my sun cutie mark emblazoned on it, and it was enchanted with a spell that made white clouds dance across the page.

LuLu had one too.

They had been a gift from our niece, our dear Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, though I believe that I am the only one who used theirs regularly.

Luna stepped into my shining white room, her dark hooves clopping on my marble floor. Once she reached my large circular bed she pulled back its sheer curtain and plopped her delicate hooves next to mine.

“My dear sister, about the interviews we had earlier… well… Oh Tia none of them felt any connection at all to my night! They just thought of it as something to sleep through, to ignore! Just, just like they all did, before!” My sister’s eyes were brightening by the second, and I, like her, began to think of the friends she had had before her sentencing. The sentence that I had given her one-thousand years ago

Oh LuLu my dear sweet LuLu, don’t cry.

“Oh LuLu, I’m sorry, but there is nothing I can do to bring back Steller Aurora, Dreamscape… all of them! But, LuLu, that was,” I paused thinking about those days, and gulped, then immediately regained my sympathetic smile, but it now had sympathy for me now too though, “That was the past. I lost those friends too, but I’ve found new friends. I’ll never forget Sunnystar, but I’ll keep going now, with Raven and you by my side. Promise me that you’ll do the same.” I looked at my sister intently, waiting for her response.

Her thin face took an intake of breath, her large eyes lost some of their unusual brightness, “I pr-”

“It’s time to raise the sun, Princess,” I turned my head to see a faithful guard standing outside my room, he was outside but the door was open, so it didn’t really matter. It was from this royal guard whom the voice had come from.

Oh, horse apples!

If only my guards had better timing, I thought, Well timing on my clock anyways because it is really the time to raise the sun.

I was so close to sighing, but I stopped myself in time. Instead I smiled at him, “Of course, thank you for bringing this to my attention.

He nodded and stepped out of the room, his uniform white hooves making loud noises on my floor.

As I had been watching my guard leave my sister had sat up, now that she was gone she was stretching. She looked me in my magenta eyes, her cyan eyes full of seriousness, “Tia, I Promise.”

“Good, now my dear LuLu, do you want to stay here as Philomena and I raise the sun?”

Luna looked at me in confusion, but my face and offer stayed the same.

“Okay?”

“Good, I would have made you stay either way.” I nuzzled her neck, then we both stepped out to the balcony.

Fire tinged the horizon, flinging itself of of my dear Philomena’s wings, her destination coming closer. As Philomena flew I pictured her slicing through the wind, heat coming off of her like a small sun. Philomena went closer to the sun, and my connection with her allowed me to connect to the sun.

I then felt it, the thick cord of the sun touching Philomena. I grabbed it and pulled, now… the sun rises.

…

“Okay, so we have sixteen billion nine hundred eighty-four million fifty-three thousand one hundred ninety-five Bits.”

16,984,053,195B

“Tia told me that the budget for this is...,” I checked the slip my sister had given me last night, on it was the amount her Treasurer suggested us to use for our trade routes.

“The budget is eighty million. So if we subtract those two numbers”

7.14

16,984,053,195B

• 80,000,000

16,904,053,195B

“Good that leaves a good amount of bit to leave in the bank, our investments should take care of rebuilding the amount that we are losing here. As well as what we are trading back.” I shook my blue muzzle, to clear my head.

“Aurora Wish?” I asked I called to a unicorn, a unicorn that Tia had given me from her own staff until I got my own. I hope today will be better than the last. I shook my head, Focus this needs to be done before anything else! … Except a pastry, pastry always comes first.

“Yes Princess?” She answered quickly, for you must always answer quickly to the royal Canterlot voice

“Would you mind going to the kitchen to get me a chocolate croissant and hot coffee, no creamer? I will work faster if I am not hungry.

“Wh-Why of course Princess,” There was a hint of confusion in her voice, but I chose to ignore it. Then she stepped out of my office, her light cream hooves leaving an echo.

Tip, tap, tip, tap, tip, tap

Back to work Luna!

“So, we need fifty replacement shields, made of copper.” My blue magic gripped the paper to the Gryphon Kingdoms. “Each copper shield is thirty-five bits. So…” My dark blue feather quill wrote down the numbers I knew we needed, then finished the math.

50

x35

250

+1500

1,750

“That’s one thousand seven hundred fifty for the shields, subtract that from eighty million.”

799999

80,000,000B

• 1,750

79,998,250B

“Next is the Ibex Empire,” My magic reached for the next paper on my stack, but I immediately knew it wasn’t from the Ibex.

I looked at the paper to our allies and I was not disappointed. The name was there, in the top right corner, Cervidas.

“I have your food, Princess Luna,” Aurora came into the room, the croissant and coffee floating in on the plate gripped in her purple magic.

“Yes, thank you Aurora,” I said, so focused on finding the Ibex’s paper that my voice didn’t  raise to The Royal Canterlot tone.

“Actually is there something else you could do for me, Miss Aurora?”

“Yes, Princess Luna.” Aurora’s voice snapped me back into the present.

“Have you seen the paper that is supposed to go to Cervidas, land of the Stags.

“N-No, Your Highness. I’m umm, n-not even sure where it would be, I normally work with Princess Celestia. Y-your sister’s office is much different than your’s, s-so I’m not s-sure where you keep your thi-things.” Oh! Of course, she’s been helping Tia for years!

“I am sorry, Miss Aurora Wish, but even if you don’t know where things are please help me look.”

“O-Okay Princess.” So we began. I prepared for what I thought was going to be a long search.

“Princess what color was the ribbon chosen for the note?” Aurora asked, her light green tail facing me.

“It was… uh,” I racked my brain it was, it was AH HA! “The color was yellow, chosen with my sister in mind.”

“Oh… then I found it Your Majesty!”

“WHAT!”

…

My sister’s blue figure sat on a silver throne, all shades blue fabric draped across the back of her chair. Silver, blue, and light green cushions covered the uncomfortable metal seat.

The room we sat in was in the shape of a half circle with a circular platform raised on the wall we were, this is where I sat. The walls were carved in the likeness of night, the moon, stars, auroras, and comets sailing across the rooms.

My dear sister sat in the center of the raised platform, and I sat on her right. The place I was filling will eventually be taken by a pony of my sister’s choice, but until her staff was chosen this is where I would sit during the Night Court. I was taking the place of her adviser.

Raven, my attendant, sat on the lower ground with a table stacked with few papers on it, her white coat blended with the marble floor, but her dark brown hair stood out greatly from the moon-inspired room.

Two unicorns in my sister’s guard stood by the large diamond shaped doors. Their expressions were blank, they were just standing there waiting for a command.

“Raven,” My sister’s voice spoke in the normal tone, as I had told her that The  Canterlot Royal Voice was no longer being used as everyone in Canterlot was supposed to be an equal, though I knew she sometimes forgot.

I could hear when she did.

“Yes, Your Majesty?” My attendant’s voice jolted me out of my reverie,and I was glad that I hadn’t missed anything. And even more glad my smile hadn’t faded.

“Please give me the paper from the first applicant so we can begin.”

“Of course Princess.” Raven’s pink magic lifted a paper off of the glass and silver table, then passed it to my sister. Her pink magic was replaced by the calm blue of my sister’s, who read the document then passed it to me.

Name Flim Skimm

Age 27

Race Unicorn

Gender Stallion

Job Applying For Treasurer

Experience Small Business Pony

Referrals Flam Skamm

I sighed, it looked like today was going to be a repeat of yesterday. My signature smile was still plastered across my face, but it was a lot less sincere.

“Princess Luna, Flim and Flam are world traveling brothers, they go from town to town. If one of the towns they show up in has an apple farm, most commonly owned by the the Apple Family, is there they try to gain control of their business.”

“And how would they go about doing that, sister?”

“Once they get to a city the brothers find a hole in the Apple Family’s plan, say running out of apples. Then they reveal themselves, but they have the item the Apples are missing. Once their business runs down a bit one of the brothers go over to the Apples and offer them a choice. They will help harvest apples during apple season, if that’s what they need, but the profits are split seventy-five percent to twenty-five percent. After a while the Apples don’t have enough money and are run out of that town, leaving Flim and Flam in charge.”

My sister sighed, a sweet delicate sound, “Even so, as I have told you before; I am not denying any entries. We will refuse them for the job they are applying for if it is necessary, but I will give them a chance. As you are for me.

“Guards! Open the doors!” The diamond shaped door was then gripped by blue magic, the magic of my sister’s guards, once they flew open a pony stepped into the court.

“Flim Skimm, at your service!”