My Little Pony: Forever Stranger

It was summer, so the moon was still up when the sun rose.

The gold orb was busy as it climbed, snipping away tufts of the night's cloud thicket. It hid a diverse garden of landscapes: hills, which rolled without bothering the streams, which ran free and cool between the patchwork quilt of farmlands and forests. In the shaded center of the cloud cover sat a solitary, snow-capped mountain. And hugged against its rocky cheek was Canterlot, fast asleep.

At hazy twilight, the city was an album of lilac polaroids: marblestone streets, crystal windows under velvet awnings, ivory towers with pointed domes. Whether they sweat and binged hay fries or wore big hats and drank tea at noon, not one inhabitant could deny Equestria's capital its claim to majesty. Against all reason, wind never bothered the mountain city. Its caresses instead suggested that either the weather teams kept unfathomable hours, or the city was favored by whatever magical creatures galloped on the breezes and storms.

That particular trivia had idly occupied Princess Celestia, as she strolled through the castle corridors with a wilting Luna. The sisters were about to pass a gold window, its edges glowing hotly. The Princess of the Night yawned before she pouted, then lifted a wing to shield her eyes.

"Never again shall you drag me out of bed like this without due cause."

"Hm? I thought you liked the day, Sister."

The bags in Luna's eyes throbbed as she let her wing drop, and unwittingly went blind at the next window. "I do not consider this appalling hour part of the day! Certainly not part of mine!"

The Princess smiled and closed her eyes. "I told you this would happen! If you had simply waited another day, you wouldn't have spent all that time rushing to and from Ponyville."

"And miss the pink pony's party of foam? Unthinkable!"

"Just don't be surprised when Kibitz wakes you up."

Luna's next sentence spilled out, "Then I shall take that as proof..." Yawn. "...he finally wishes to eat his pocket watch."

The hallway ended in a tall pair of blue doors. With a wave of her horn, Princess Celestia pulled the handles, and she and Luna stepped into the study. On the other end of the room, old flames of the brick fireplace hummed to themselves. Words of open books upon lecterns danced in the orange light of the flame and the violet outside. It was a much more gracious place to receive Kibitz's reports than the throne room. Not that it made much difference to dear little Luna.

The two sisters sank into velvet chairs that circled a wooden table in the center. Surrounded by quiet bookshelves and tissue-thin maps, it was seconds before Luna slumped in her seat and begin snoring- in a volume quite inappropriate, even for her size.

Though tempted, Celestia had chosen to wander the study, like a filly. She squinted at dusty volumes, fiddled with compasses and astrolabes, spun a rusty telescope. After some minutes like that, she smiled. The tall clock in the corner was ten seconds away from seven, and Kibitz ten seconds away from opening the double doors. His steps were clinking away on the tile outside. She took a deep breath and turned to face the window. The last thing she would see in her solitude would be the sun rising to balance on a pair of peaks she knew well. There was much to do today: royal summit preparations, disputes between Manehattan traders, and weather hiccups in Cloudsdale.

The clock struck seven. Kibitz was through the door, mouth already open to say something. The fireplace spasmed, then burst into smoke. All at once, Luna started awake in her chair as the stone in the walls ground against each other like teeth, and the clock blared its brass alarm. The rafters overhead groaned as the shelves lost balance and threw their books to the floor. Celestia looked to her sister and assistant. Their faces reflected hers, wide-eyed and thin-lipped as chaos reigned over the room. A brown, translucent aura swallowed everything, spitting white sparks onto the floor. Quills rose from drawers and wrote on the walls, an invisible nail gnawed at the table, and ashes from the fireplace spilled onto the tile. In the ten seconds it took for the clock to finish and the aura to fade, jagged phrases had plastered the room from floor to ceiling:

Nothing has changed.

I still wait.

In the stone heart beyond the sea.

Nopony spoke, not even Kibitz. The scribe's mouth was unhinged. Celestia stared at the scattered words. Some in ink; others soot, and all scribbled like the ravings of a maniac. For a half-minute, all was silent except a choking hiss from the fire, and an occasional pop of warping wood. The sun, once gently glowing, burned outside the filth-covered windows. A flurry of dust and ash flaked off of them, showering Celestia's coat. She closed her eyes.

"Kibitz...please make a record of all of this. Then clean it up," she muttered.

"Yes, Your Highness." He left and the door swung shut. Hard, quick hoofsteps started to echo through the wood.

Celestia pursed her lips. "Luna?"

"I have no idea," her sister said, shaking her head.

"Then let's have some help. I'll send a letter to Twilight."

"I will start my search here, with Kibitz." Luna stared at the fireplace. "This can only be bad."

The fact that the magic was Equestrian agreed. Celestia frowned as the circular door handles took on her golden grip. As she stepped out, Kibitz was rounding the corner of the hallway she and Luna had walked not ten minutes ago. A blizzard of dust motes hung in scorching spotlight, cast by the windows on either side. Together they formed a jagged, white path of solid glare. It covered the rug, and her hooves, in light as blinding as snow.