Shattered Harmony

II

   It was mere days after the return of the elements of harmony to the Tree of Harmony and the three princesses were meeting for court in Canterlot. Twilight was in a private car on the night train with Spike going over a list of tasks to be completed upon arrival in Canterlot. The train moved quickly and the candle Twilight held aloft with her magic to read was flickering as small bouts of wind from the cracked window passed around it.

   “Alright,” Twilight began, “so first we need to go see the guard captain to make arrangements for an escort for the supply caravan to the northern settlements. Then we need to go to the jeweler’s meeting to see who we will commission for a crown. Then we must join Princess Celestia for a diplomatic meeting with the Gryphon Kingdom’s envoy, and after that we must attend a celebratory banquet for a soldier’s receiving of the cavalier’s signet for bravery before finally retiring to the castle to prepare for tomorrow’s charity ball for the foal’s home. We have quite the busy day ahead of us Spike.”

   “Sure do Twilight. We shouldn’t have any trouble though, unless you intend on spending hours deciding on what crown you think suits you better.” remarked Spike.

   “Oh please Spike, I’m not like Rarity, I’ll probably just pick a simplistic one if I know me.”

   “But you’re a princess; don’t you want to look as regal as possible wherever you go?”

   “You’ve been spending too much time with Rarity.” Twilight smirked at Spike and was quickly answered.

   “No such thing.” replied Spike, staring briefly into the eyes of an invisible pony that looked back affectionately only in his mind.

   “If you say so,” Twilight giggled, “but in all seriousness I don’t want to come off as being posh or snooty to my friends. I feel bad enough having to leave them in Ponyville every time I get called back to Canterlot.”

   “They understand Twilight, it’s not like they’re going to hate you over a jeweled crown, and a few missed lunches.”

   “But they will if I never see them because I’m too busy, or if I start acting like I’m too good for them just because I’m a princess!” Twilight’s volume and tempo increased characteristically of her spouting exposition.

   “Do you plan on acting too good for them?” Spike asked bluntly.

   “Well… no, but it could happen.” Twilight paused for a second, “I’m worrying too much again aren’t I?”

   “You’re worrying too much again; they’ll never hate you no matter how hard you try.” Spike and Twilight shared a good laugh before settling into the cushioned beds of the private car. “Well, we’d best get some rest, it’s going to be a long day tomorrow. Good night Twilight.”

   “Good night Spike.” Twilight chuckled softly at their prior joke, rolled over, and settled into her bed. Just as she got comfortable her right wing sprang up and tossed the blanket into the air, floating for a brief moment before settling back down. With an annoyed grunt Twilight retracted her wing and repositioned her blanket to return to the spot she had found before. Settling in, she fell asleep as the warmth of the blanket made her already tired body ready for sleep.

***

   The train ground to a halt as the sun’s light could be seen about to breach the horizon. The train’s screeching on the rail’s coupled with the sudden deadening of momentum brought Twilight awake gently, and tossed Spike out of bed where he skipped along the floor of the car once and landed face up. Barely opening his tired eyes with a displeased grunt, Spike made a quick observation of his circumstances.

   “Some wake-up call.” he moaned.

   “You always sleep too close to the edge of the bed, it’s no wonder it threw you off.” giggled Twilight.

   “I like my bed at home, nice little walls to keep me from falling out.” Twilight laughed again before rising to her hooves and picking up her little baby dragon and putting him on her back with her magic.

   “Go ahead and catch up on your sleep, I’ll take care of our morning tasks.”

   “Sounds good to me.” Spike yawned before almost immediately falling asleep on Twilight’s back. He would never admit it, but though slightly uncomfortable, it was his favorite place to rest.

   Twilight, with her dragon backpack, carried on with a yawn and few tired steps to the next car to exit. Ahead of her was a group of ponies unloading a series of large suitcases and chests, struggling to get them off the racks above.

   “Here,” said Twilight, “let me give you a hoof.” Twilight picked up their boxes and bags from the luggage racks setting them down. Much to her surprise, she wasn’t greeted with thanks all around, but rather on giving her thanks while one stared hatefully and the remaining two nervously shifted their faces away. “Okay then.”She thought to herself as the group of four shuffled off of the train toting their luggage. “Alright so, first thing is?” Twilight checked her list one more time, “The meeting with the guard captain, this shouldn’t be too hard. Ahead of her one of the four from the group earlier was talking with a guard for a brief period before two more guards came over and seized his suitcase and took him out of sight towards the train station guard post while the other three had shuffled away into the crowds.

   Twilight continued on to the castle so she could get an early start on her day, by now the morning sun had finally crested the horizon and was visible as an enormous red ball of heat and light half covered by the farthest visible lands, fighting to break free of its bonds with the horizon. The walk to the castle wasn’t difficult, the crowds abated in her presence and townsfolk bowed as she walked by, a sight she was still not used to seeing. The castle gates came into sight soon enough and the guards opened it before her before she needed to ask and greeted her “Princess Twilight” another thing she wasn’t used to. The castle barracks was on the other side of the great hall past the kitchen next to the detention block.

   The great hall was largely empty except for the cleaning staff, who were busy with their work and didn’t bother to greet the Princess as she walked by, which didn’t necessarily bother Twilight. She also noticed that there were fewer of them today than there were on any other given day. She assumed that they were working faster to compensate for the lack of staff, and didn’t have time to stop today, so she kept going. The kitchen doors were guarded, as always, by two royal guards who opened the door for her before she could ask and greeted her “Princess Twilight.”

   The kitchen in stark contrast to the great hall was bursting with activity. Today was a celebratory banquet, and tomorrow was a charity ball, so the staff was hard at work to fill their large orders in time. Bakers rushed between checking the ovens and rolling more dough. The doors flew open and three carts of fresh vegetables and fruits were hurriedly hauled in to ice rooms for cool storage. The ice sculptors were hard at work frantically carving out designs of all kinds with speed and precision. And the various support chefs were frosting cakes, chopping fruits, and arguing whether garnish is fiscally responsible in feasts of such size. A kitchen attendant was hobbling on his hind legs holding a bag of flour when he barreled into Twilight, knocking Spike off her back and tearing the bag wide open releasing a cloud of flour all over them and the neighboring staff, all of whom let out the exact same displeased grunt after being coated with flour. Spike tumbled to the floor and woke up coughing up flour dust, and Twilight simple stood there with her eyes closed for a moment as the attendant recovered from his fall.

   “Oh, uhm, I’m so sorry Princess Twilight, it’ll never happen again, I swear, please just let me clean this up, I’ll get right back to work I-” The nervousness in his voice was so heavy it practically a physical object. Before he could continue on his worried rant Twilight cut him off as Spike rose to his feet.

   “Don’t worry, things happen, there’s no need to be so upset. I’m fine, just help clean this up I must be going.” Twilight headed to the courtyard door while kitchen cleaning staff headed to the mess behind her where the clumsy kitchen attendant while he was being scalded by his superior, Spike was right behind her rubbing the sleep and flour from his eyes.

   “What a rude awakening, I think I’ll just stay up this time, I’m apparently not destined to nap today.” Spike trudged on shaking his limbs and patting his head trying to remove the flower that still clung to every crevice of his scales. “Maybe I’ll hop in the fountain before we leave.”

   “Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea.” giggled Twilight as she entered the courtyard. “I’ll just take a moment to dust off.” Twilight extended her wing and shook the flour from her body before looking at the fountain ahead of them and then back to spike with a sinister grin, “I think it’s time for a bath Spike.”

   “What?” before Spike got his answer he answered his own question when he saw the fountain he’d jokingly suggested taking a dip in prior. “Oh no, I was only joki-” before he could finish Twilight hoisted him aloft with her magic and threw him into the air towards the fountain as he screamed. Twilight took a running start and jumped using her wings for a burst of speed to meet Spike at the fountain. Moments before he would have hit, Twilight grabbed him again and slowly dipped him in the fountain. The cold waters shocked him awake and he assumed an indignant expression as he rose from the waters to Twilight’s giggling. “Not funny.” He said in an annoyed manner.

   “Oh the contrary, it’s quitehilarious.” Twilight laughed again and gave him the same look she did every time she did something similar, those same caring eyes with that same playful smile that could take him out of the worst of humors.

   “Well, at least I’m clean, can’t say as much about the fountain.” Turning to the waters there was not a glob of gelatinous mess with a thin coating of wet flour floating on the surface. The pair laughed for a short bit before turning simultaneously to see the castle groundskeeper staring at them. And from the look on his face, he was not amused in the slightest.

   “Ah, ha, we’ll just be going.” Twilight gave Spike a quick shake to get the water off and placed him on her back, nervously smiling as she walked by. Twilight hurried to the barracks entrance, and as before the two guards opened the door and greeted her with “Princess Twilight.” She scrambled inside and relaxed as the doors closed. “Well that was awkward. Alright then, excuse me, sir?” asked Twilight to a nearby guard, “Where exactly is the captain’s office?” The guard turned and directed her to follow him. The guards in the barracks either saluted or bowed as she passed, and she blushed with embarrassment nearly the entire time. Up the stairs into the second story and down a hallway that connected many different bunk rooms sat the captain’s office. Standing to the side the guard opened the door and bowed letting Twilight pass. Entering his office the guard captain looked up, rose to his hooves and gave a quick bow greeting her.

   “Princess Twilight, and to what do I owe this honor?” Guard captain Steel Hoof was a tall stallion, his purple and gold armor was the same as that worn by her brother when he presided over the Canterlot guard, but his silver coat did not compliment as well as the white of the former captain.

   “At ease captain, I’ve come to request an escort detail for a supply caravan to be heading northward this evening.” Twilight spoke kindly, but with authority just as Celestia had advised her, not that she needed to.

   “Alright then, how many guards for how long?” Steel Hoof was straight to the point, a quality Twilight liked, not being one for idle banter.

   “The caravan requires thirty guards for a period of one month in total, the guards will be back at the end of the month, and the caravan is willing to pay good bonuses for each guard who undertakes the route with them.” Twilight smiled brightly, making her offer as if she were about to ask ‘pretty please’ like a foal.

   “One month eh, that’s an awful long period of time for thirty guards to be gone.” Steelhoof raised a skeptical eyebrow to his princess’ proposition.

   “The caravan is also willing to send a return caravan with valuable supplies from northern adamantite mines.” Twilight felt this would convince the new captain.

    Steelhoof perked up in his chair “Well then, with that kind of return, we could outfit the royal guard elite with impenetrable armor. That should cover our time well enough. Alright then, they have their guards, where should I send them?”

   “The caravan leaves tonight from the valley side station one stop down the rails from Canterlot, have them there by sundown.”

   “Will do Princess, I’ll round up the volunteers shortly.” Steel Hoof bowed once again as Twilight left his office.

   “Pleasure doing business with you captain.” Twilight left the office and consulted Spike on their next task. “So what’s next Spike?”

   “The meeting with the jeweler’s about commissioning a crown, we’re to meet them in the banquet hall in an hour.” replied Spike looking over the list from Twilight’s saddle bag.

   “Well I guess that leaves us a short period of time to visit, let’s go hunt down Celestia to see how preparations for tonight’s banquet are going.” The pair set off once again, Spike walking next to Twilight thinking about how hungry he was having gone without breakfast.

   “Think we could go find something to eat? I’m starving.” Spike pleaded.

   “I think we could find something, let’s stop by the kitchen once again to see what we can find.” The pair exited the barracks and walked across the courtyard, awkwardly passing the groundskeeper skimming the bits of gooey flour out of the fountain and entering the door to the kitchen once again. The scene had not changed since they’d left, the floor still bustled with activity, the clumsy flour-covered attendant was sweeping flour from the floor, and the doors still flung open with carts of supplies being hauled in and out. Twilight took Spike onto her back to conserve space and began looking for the head chef. After a goose chase of hunting down where exactly the head chef had gotten off to they managed to find him instructing new hires on proper frosting mixing.

   “Uhm, excuse me,” began Twilight, “I hate to be a bother, but my assistant here is quite hungry, you wouldn’t happen to have any gemstones or fruits would you?” Twilight asked the gruff chef timidly.

   “Ah yes, Princess Twilight’s little pet dragon, we have quite the surprise for you, follow me please.” The chef told his employees to continue as he’d instructed and began off towards an ice box followed closely by Twilight toting a moderately upset Spike. He hated being called Twilight’s pet, it made him feel like an owned commodity, not a valuable assistant, and Twilight knew this.

   “He didn’t mean anything by it Spike, I’m sure the surprise they have for you is more than enough to make up for it.”

   “Better be.” grunted Spike. The pair followed the chef to an ice box in the back of the kitchen; he grabbed a large bowl and headed inside for a brief moment after telling Twilight and Spike to wait outside. Inside after a short period it sounded like someone was raking through piles of glass before he returned outside with a bowl full of gemstones and closing the door behind him, he put a lock on it.

   “Here you go little dragon.” his condescending tone did nothing to help Spike’s attitude towards him, but the bowl full of gems did.

   “Thanks!” shouted Spike as he hastily grabbed for the bowl. Upon taking it into his possession he greedily gorged himself on gemstones.

   “Thank you very much sir,” said Twilight, “We’ll be on our way now.” Twilight turned for the exit to the great hall and after looking at the clock realized that their hour had been consumed by chasing down the chef through the multiple kitchens and it was almost time to meet the jeweler’s so she set off to the banquet hall with her scaly companion consuming gemstones at an alarming rate on her back. The kitchen let out into the banquet hall on the far end of the kitchen adjacent to the one they were it, but rather than budging through the crowds of working staff, she would cut through the hallway where she would go without bumping into any pony.

   She proceeded out into the hallway and began making her way to the banquet hall. The only ponies to be seen here were a guard patrol and maid shuffling behind a food cart on her way from the kitchen to some room somewhere in the castle. Her trip was short and uneventful and when she made it to the hall there were four different jewelers had propped up small stands each with an example crown and a series of sketches on etch pads upon easels. Entering the room, the four ponies went from conversing with each other to fixing their attention on Twilight.

   “Good evening fillies and gentlecolts, and how is every pony this morning?” A blended series of simultaneous responses from the four ponies ended with them all casting brief unappreciative glares at one another before quickly turning back to Twilight with large fake smiles. “Where should I begin?” Twilight hummed to herself as the four jewelers once again simultaneously tried to talk, followed by them all stopping and once again scowling at one another. Twilight took the opportunity to decide for herself, “I’ll just begin on one end and work my way over.” Twilight smiled awkwardly and shuffled over to the jeweler on the far left.

   “Good morning princess I’m Flawless, owner of The Canterlot Galleria.” Flawless spoke with unneeded posh that almost made Twilight uncomfortable. Her design was anything but simple, the crown had six silver fleur di saints style points coming up from the central ring, each inlaid with rubies of the same cut centralized in each point, and a gold trim around the upper and lower edges of the ring, her sketches were equally elaborate and over the top with stars and points and crossed beams. Gems of every cut adorned every crown and each was more intricate and flashy as the last.

   “Alright then,” said Twilight, “onto the next one.” Twilight placed the etch pad back onto the easel next to Flawless’ stand and move onto the next jeweler.

   “Greetings princess.” said the stallion next to the second stand, “I’m Jet Set, owner of Trinkets and Treasures.” Twilight had recalled Jet Set from Rarity’s accounts and was determined not to give him her business based on how she’d heard about him. His designs were much like Flawless’ over the top and complex almost beyond measure. His example crown was gold with eight squared points that originated from the crown’s band at a corner, coming off the band, goring wider then coming to a point. Each point was linked to the one next to it with a small golden rod on the back of each point, each rod centered into the back of each point, forming a hexagon on the interior. The interior roof of the crown was padded with deep purple felt and lined around the edge with a fluffy white trim. The center of each point held a single amethyst star cut to the shape of Twilight’s cutie mark. It was plain to Twilight that he was egotistical enough to believe she would take his crown today. Twilight placed his crown back on his stand and proceeded to the next stand.

   “Good morning princess,” the pony bowed, “I’m Crystal Clear, and I’m the owner of Delicate Designs.” Crystal’s example crown was more what Twilight was looking for. The crown was silver with the band rising up in the middle to form a triangular crest with a simple octagonal amethyst in the middle. The band had two golden vines that originated on the back of the crown that weaved their ways up to the front where they furled out symmetrically on the crest of the crown. Her sketches were similarly elegant, but simple. Her choice was made, but she needed to continue onto the last one. She put the pad back onto the easel and thanked Crystal Clear before moving onto the next ponies stand.

   “Good morning Princess, my name is-” Twilight zoned out and nodded at appropriate times, from what she’d seen of her sketches and crown they were just like the first two, and she cared little for their designs. Twilight felt bad of course for not paying her any attention, but at the same time she was aware that her choice was made. The jeweler went through her greeting and bow and Twilight picked up the crown and faked looking at it, though she could see that it was just as over the top as the first two anyways. Twilight flipped through the sketches with feigned interest and placed them back on the easel before saying her farewell.

   “Well then, you all have wonderful designs, but I can only choose one of you. The chosen jeweler will receive a letter in the coming days informing them of their success. I bid you all a good day.” Twilight turned to exit the hall as the jeweler’s bowed and began packing their things back into cases for transport. “Alright then Spike, what time does the banquet begin tonight?”

   “Seven tonight, so we’ve an open few hours, good what should we go-” The memories blurred on Twilight and she could not remember the rest of what happened that day.

***

   From the Tower keep Twilight walked to the window to look down on the castle where her recollections were placing her. From her perch high above Canterlot she could make out the fountain that she and Spike had tainted with flour that day. Its condition was decrepit at best; the upper tiers of it had fallen into where the old pool was an empty stone basin that hadn’t seen water in centuries. “Spike.” said Twilight to get her companion’s attention, “I can’t recall anything until late that night, can you?” Twilight’s tone was almost worried.

   “I don’t believe I can either.” answered Spike. Twilight turned around and began walking towards the hearth once again.

   “Well then,” Twilight pressed on, “I guess we’ll just start after the banquet, I remember speaking to Celestia that night.” Twilight let out a pained sigh before continuing.

***

   It was late after the Banquet that night and Twilight was retiring to her chambers when she came upon Celestia lying on a balcony that protruded from the walkway between their towers.

   “Good evening Princess,” began Twilight as she walked to lie at Celestia’s side “what are you doing out here alone?” she asked.

   “Hello Twilight, I’m just thinking to myself beneath the moon, an old pastime of mine.” Celestia’s gaze did not break from the moon, “It’s been nice this past year not having to see my sister’s face every time I look at it.” Celestia smiled to herself before looking down to Twilight. “Twilight.”

   “Yes princess?”

   “Would you like to learn how to move the sun and the moon?” Celestia smiled.

   Twilight was practically stunned by the question “Would I? I would love to!” Twilight could barely contain her excitement. She had always loved magic lessons with Celestia but had never imagined learning something so grand.

   “Well, before we begin, a bit of a lesson. The sun and the moon do not need to be guided across the sky; they only need to be assisted over the horizon. The sun and moon work on a principle called the astral gyre. At each end of the astral gyre there are two equal clusters of planets and stars, each of which of equal mass to one another. In the middle of the gyre is the world we inhabit. Our world is much larger than all of the planets in both clusters, and these clusters revolve around us, never changing in orientation to each other. When the sun and moon reach the opposite side of the gyre they are slowed, and eventually stopped by the pull of the outlying clusters, held in between the clusters by the pull of each cluster and our own world. Thereby in order for the sun and moon to continue their cycle they must be set back upon the path. Once moved from the middle ground between each cluster, the sun and moon rotate along the gyre until they reach the other sides where they are stopped yet again. Canterlot was built on this mountain for the purpose that this mountain sits on the ground just ahead of the end of the second half end of the gyre, meaning that when the sun is about to rise, and when the darkness begins to overtake the light in the east it means that the celestial bodies have reached their stopping points.” Celestia paused for a moment looking back at Twilight who sat waiting with bated breath to hear how to move the celestial bodies.

   “I assume you want to learn how already?” Twilight nodded with the largest grin she could form on her face. Celestia gave a quick laugh and began to instruct Twilight. “Alright then my student, rise to your feet.” Celestia gave Twilight a moment before starting, “Although it’s not sunrise or sunset, the amount of magic required to move the bodies is the same at any time. In order to move them, you must attune yourself with them first. A task you might find difficult at first. In order to attune yourself, you must close your eyes and picture the gyre above us.” Twilight closed her eyes and began to try to see what Celestia was describing to her. “In the center lies our world, and outside are the sun and moon. Picture them in your mind on opposite ends of a circle. Now you must feel the movement of the world beneath you, realize your place in everything.”

   Twilight sat in quiet contemplation, placing together the image of the astral gyre as Celestia spoke to her, her world in the middle, and the sun and the moon chasing one another around it. At first her mind kept playing games on her, the moon and sun would collide like a model of energy transfer with one hitting the other sending it flying around to collide with the other. But eventually, she mastered her thoughts and the image began to take shape. “Picture the gyre in your mind,” Celestia continued, “see the bodies that glide along its invisible paths, feel the movement of the world beneath you. Now take a step away in your mind. Picture it as if it were a model in front of you; place yourself next to it in your mind.”

   Twilight almost broke her concentration when it happened. Twilight’s mind was tangible to her now, and she was standing in front of her mental model of the astral gyre. Everything else was black save for the small twinkling lights that could be seen in all directions, they appeared to be stars. She felt her body relax, her mind soothed, and all she could hear was a silence. Anything Celestia was saying was going completely unheard by Twilight, but she felt as if she knew what to do. The only thing in front of her was the model of the gyre. But it was not exactly as she had pictured it in her mind. Instead of the sun and moon being locked in one position, they were moving, ever so slowly on opposite sides of the world in the middle.

   “Welcome to the astral gyre Twilight, so glad you could make it.” Beside her in this mental plane stood Celestia, I must admit, even I had my doubts you would be able to attune so quickly, I am very impressed.”

   “Princess?” questioned Twilight.

   “Surprised to see me here I see. You are no longer within your mind my student, you are within the gyre, before you lies the key to day and night in our world.” Celestia walked over to the gyre and beckoned Twilight over. “Do not be afraid to fall Twilight, you will find solid footing with each step, the first step is the scariest though.” Twilight took a step forward and brought it down slowly until she hit a floor she could not see, giving her a shock similar to when one steps for the last step on the stairs only to find there are no more and that you’re already on the ground. After getting a feel for the elevation of the floor Twilight proceeded to Celestia’s side. “You see Twilight, the gyre is not a tangible thing, what you see around is a sort of… command center for it. We are currently given access to this view because we have become attuned to the gyre through our magic. The fact that you are here so quickly after finding out speaks volumes to your abilities Twilight. The gyre itself cannot be comprehended for manipulation in its true form, so instead we use this method. We become attuned with it, and then we transfer our understanding of it into a more palatable form we magically project when we wish to access it.”

   Twilight could not help but be held in awe by everything she was seeing, she was left absolutely speechless. “By using this method we are able to simplify and comprehend, and thereby control the forces around us.”

   “So what I’m seeing isn’t the gyre itself, but rather my understanding of it?” Twilight questioned.

   “Basically yes, you have become attuned with the gyre, meaning that you are able to comprehend the concept behind it, and manifest it in a tangible form. Being attuned with the gyre also means that you have become one with it through the use of magic, meaning that you are part of it and can manipulate it as long as you remain within it. This model in front of us is the tangible form of what you have projected the gyre to be, and from here you can manipulate the bodies it controls.” Celestia’s explanation was as confusing as it made sense.

   “So by becoming attuned, I am part of the gyre?”

   “Yet separate in that once you leave this manifestation of the gyre, you are breaking your attunement with it.”

   “And everything around me is what I can understand the gyre to be in a simplified form?”

   “Correct.”

   “Can I move the moon and sun from here?”

   “Go ahead my student, see for yourself.” Twilight reached her hoof out to the moon, its touch was cold, as she expected. Giving it a slight pull it began to move slightly. “Not too much now Twilight, we have to let the land rest, give it a nudge back to about where it was so we don’t upset things too much.” Twilight’s excitement was immense. She had just done what only two other ponies in Equestria had the power to do. Celestia bent her head down to nuzzle up against Twilight for a moment. “I couldn’t be more proud of you.” The two stood together for moment longer before Celestia released Twilight from her embrace. “I believe it’s time we should be going Twilight, in order to return just place your hoof on our world in the middle. I’ll see you back in Equestria Twilight.” Twilight turned away from Celestia and back to the gyre, reaching her hoof out to the planet in the middle she touched it and was shocked with sudden sensation. Opening her eyes again she was back on the balcony with Celestia, who was similarly returning from the gyre. “So Twilight, what did you think about one of the greatest secrets in our plane of existence?”

   “That was Amazing!” Twilight jumped up and hugged Celestia’s neck with her hooves, “Thank you so much!” looking to the sky Twilight could see that the moon was noticeably shifted from where it was when they’d began. “I can’t believe I just did that!”

   “You truly are the most amazing student I’ve ever had Twilight, I couldn’t be more happy than to of been graced with being your mentor these past years. You’ve done so much for me and my sister, and for Equestria as a whole, that I felt it was time for you to get something in return truly worth your contributions.” Celestia looked on with great pride at her student, having seen and guided her through her studies and now being able to join her in her first trip to the astral gyre, this was the proudest moment she could remember since guiding her sister there millennia ago. “But now I believe it is time for bed Twilight, I believe you may have even bought us a little more time to sleep.” Celestia laughed at her own little joke, even though the moon moved, time was a constant. “I will see you in the morning Twilight; we have a big day tomorrow.” Twilight released Celestia and backed away a step.

   “Thank you princess, thank you so much.” Twilight expressed her gratitude once again, “Good night princess.”

   “Good night Twilight.”

***

   Back in the tower Twilight had practically frozen. It had been ages since she’d been to the gyre, she’d long passed on its secret to another. As with many things, many generations had lived and died since she’d last gone. “You never did explain to me how the days and nights still cycled after she died.” said Spike, “I had always wondered.”

   “I don’t recall you ever asking about It.” replied Twilight soberly, “Yes, I felt that would be a good starting point to all this, the first of many secrets to be aired between one another. I only wish I could have done something different back then, you know, to stop it, to stop all of this from ever happening. But I’ve already tried my hooves at time travel, you only end up causing what you went back to stop.” Twilight grew quiet.

   “You and me both Twilight,” comforted Spike, “I would give anything to see this reality changed before it could become what it has. It’s unfortunate for us that it must be this way. I think however that no matter how much either of us try can never forget the next morning. My memory of it is still perfect unfortunately.”

   “I am similarly cursed. The dawn of the red sun, the death of the princess.”