Fire Opals

Silence clouded the room.

Rarity fiddled with the wool threading as she looked back and forth between the solemn-faced princess sisters, and it was all she could do to keep from letting herself nervously undo the golden cord she had spent three and a half hours so carefully braiding together.

After what seemed like an eternity, however, Luna finally let out a long breath that seemed to take all the tension in the room with it. “I see,” she said quietly. “I...cannot say I’m happy that you waited so long to tell me-”

“Luna-”

“-but I understand why you did so,” Luna finished, holding up a hoof to stop her sister. “And I am glad you told me now.”

Rarity hated to interrupt, but she tentatively raised a hoof. “Does this mean you’ll be able to help draw off some of the energy before the storm can burst?”

“Unfortunately not,” Luna said with a sigh. “As the realm of dreams is solely mine, so there are properties of certain heavenly bodies that fall only to Celestia. I can raise and lower the sun in a pinch, though it is sorely taxing, but this level of power manipulation, or shielding the world from it, is beyond my ken. However, any support power I can lend,” she added, leaning forward to tap the tip of Celestia's horn with her own, “-I will give.”

Celestia’s relieved smile was so bright it almost hurt to look at. “And will be most welcomed, sister. As is any input you may have in this project.”

“Agreed,” Rarity said brightly. Normally having somepony looking over her shoulder would have gotten her artist’s hackles up, but for a commission this vital, she was willing to let her pride take the blow for once. Especially when that somepony was a pony as knowledgeable in old magic as Princess Luna was bound to be.

She still had a lot of questions if she was going to make this perfect.

===

By nightfall, her stomach finally forced her to trade out the coffee for black tea. Thankfully, the seemingly never-sleeping Toffee Chip had proven to be quite helpful on that front as well, and the brown sugar sweetcake-flavored blend the kitchen mare had sent up with the last tray was quite delightful. Even so, Rarity was yawning a bit as she finished the last stitches on the under-leathers and got up to answer a knock at the door.

“Ah- your highness, do come in,” she said, trying not to squint sleepily when she found Princess Luna waiting on the other side.

From the alicorn’s faint grin, she’d been caught anyway. “I will not keep you up long,” Luna promised as she entered. “I just wanted to get a better look at what you have so far, since there was no chance to do so before normal duties interrupted our last meeting.”

“Oh, of course.” A quick shuffle rearranged her notes, sketches, and lists back into the order she’d had them in to show to Celestia, and she settled the finished leathers onto a makeshift ponyform she’d made to work with for the time being. “I should be able to begin the metals stage in the morning.”

“You do your own metalworking?” Luna asked, sounding impressed.

“Only a little,” Rarity said with a blush. “I do a bit of embellishment; I’m not a smith by a long shot. But I really only need basic shapes out of the forge, after that, it will all be magic-worked.”

“Hm, still rather remarkable. And are these runes going to be etched or painted?”

“Actually, I have a question for you about that.” Luna looked over the sketch at her with a raised eyebrow, and Rarity coughed politely before continuing. “Well, see, I happened to catch a glimpse of the Pantheons when they visited, and it has me wondering. I realize that both you and your sister are very busy, but why exactly would you need special dyes to help make the aurorae? Aren’t they just a light show?”

“Ah.” The princess laid the sketch down, but rather than chiding her for her question, Luna merely took a seat on a cushion and indicated for Rarity to do the same. Once Rarity had made herself comfortable, the alicorn folded her hooves on the table, resting her chin on them. “That is a story older than our reign.”

“You see, in between the times of Clover the Clever and Starswirl, there was short reign by a unicorn queen named Sunsparkle, who was, as they were, known as a great scholar of the heavens. And it was she who first learned that stars such as the Sun could be as much threat as they were life-giving.”

“Like the storm we’re facing now.”

“Exactly. Sunsparkle found that the best way to protect the world from such random events in space was to create a shield that drew life from the world itself. But ponies could not create it on their own. Unicorn magic was not powerful enough, nor was it the correct type of magic. So Sunsparkle sought the aid of the Pantheons to the north and the Zebras to the south, convincing them that all had to work together in the interest of all.”

“And the aurorae are that shield. I get it now. But then why do only you and the Pantheons maintain it now? Surely the Zebras would still-”

“They would if they could.” Luna sighed and straightened up. “For a time after Celestia and I came to rule, they did, and the shield was at its strongest. Then the Inkanyamba, the serpent who destroys all, attacked, and all the records on the spells the shamans had drawn up with Sunsparkle were lost.”

Drat. That cut off a promising shielding spell… But she did still have the one opening. “The Pantheon dyes… Do they only come in the colors of the aurorae, or could you possibly get them in any tint? Say a yellow or gold?”

Luna looked at her, a glint of challenge in her eye. “I believe I could find out.”

===

Rarity made a miserable little whine as her back protested even the tiniest little stretch when she collapsed onto her bed. Even with her magic to aid her, shearing and beating the sheets of enhanced gold into the shapes she needed had taken much more strength than her muscles wanted to give, and everything hurt.

Blowing out an exhausted sigh and wiping her mussed, sweaty mane out of her face, she rested her head on her forelegs and closed her eyes, not even bothering to pull over a pillow. Just a little nap, then she would-

Something bumped her horn, and she jumped with a squeak, nearly rolling off the edge of the bed. A floating pillow wrapped in a golden aura caught her, and she looked up sheepishly to find a concerned Princess Celestia. “Oh- my apologies, your highness. I didn’t hear you come in.”

“It’s quite alright,” Celestia said, gently settling her back on the bed. “Luna told me you were going to be going to the forges this morning, and since I managed to finagle a few minutes before dinner, I wanted to come see if you were okay.”

Touched by the princess’ worry, Rarity managed a tired smile. “Nothing a little rest and a long bath before I get back to work won’t fix,” she said a little more airily than she actually felt, but couldn’t keep in a small wince when she tried to follow up with a sweeping hoof motion.

“So I see,” Celestia said, amused, then set down the small bag that she had bumped Rarity with when she came in. “In any case, I have something for you that may help with that.”

“Oh?” Rarity lifted out the package inside and made a noise of surprised delight when she saw the familiar emblem of Wheat Grass and Flax Seed’s little cosmetics company blazoned on it. “Oh!”

“Consider it a little thank you for convincing me to pull Luna into the project. The entire castle feels lighter without that secrecy between us.”

Rarity laid the package back in the bag. “I didn’t mean to tell you how to be a big sister or anything…”

“I meant it when I said you had made a good point then. I may have been a big sister for a very long time, but a different perspective on the matter does me good every now and then,” Celestia replied, pulling over a cushion to take a seat. “The length of one’s experience doesn’t always mean one has all the answers, as you saw.”

“I suppose so.” Feeling her weariness beginning to come back, Rarity laid her head back down. “Speaking of sisters, I wonder what Sweetie Belle’s been up to while I’ve been here. I’ve been able to send a few small report notes to Applejack, but nothing that would warrant any reply.” She swallowed a yawn, eyelids heavy. “I suspect she’s been splitting her time between gallivanting with the Crusaders and grouching about me not telling her why I’m away.”

She could have sworn she felt a hoof soothingly brush over her mane. “Would you like Luna to check up on her?”

Already slipping off to sleep, even with the princess still in attendance, Rarity made a faint hum of agreement. “That would be lovely,” she murmured, before she dozed off entirely.

===

When she cracked an eye open again, it was dark out and Celestia was gone. A pot of tea and a clean cup had been left on the bedside table, but when she painfully scooted over to investigate it, she found it had long gone cold.

She must have been sleeping a good several hours at least, then.

Very slowly, one hoof after another, she eased herself down off the bed and popped all of the kinks that had formed in her back, then took hold of the bag the princess had given her, heading for the bathroom to open her present.

Celestia must have made a mention whom the gift would be for, Rarity noted when she looked at the little bottles. Everything was in the pear blossom and honey mix she always ordered. A little giddy, she filled the tub with water as hot as she could stand it and climbed in, every muscle seeming to twinge gratefully at the relaxing heat as she sank in to the tip of her nose.

===

Clean and refreshed, Rarity floated the teapot ahead of her as she trotted to the kitchen. She hated to waste the tea, but as old as it was, there was really no saving the flavor. She was just going to have to ask Toffee Chip for a refill, if the mare was on duty.

And indeed she was, Rarity found when she pushed the kitchen door open. And Princess Luna had already arrived, having settled herself on a stool to sample a couple of sweets. The alicorn noticed her and waved her over, pushing a plate with a stack of tempting-looking sugared scones in front of her when she came to the counter.

“Cherry and chocolate chip with spiced sugar glaze,” Luna said, then leaned down and held up a conspiratorial hoof. “I would be most grateful if you refrain from telling Kibitz. He always gets in a fluff about my sugar intake.”

Rarity covered a giggle as she set down her teapot and took a seat. “My lips are sealed, your highness.”

“Excellent.” Luna took another bite before continuing. “I met with Sweetie Belle in her dreams tonight as Celestia requested. You will be happy to know she is enjoying herself with the farmers.”

“I feel there’s a ‘but’ in there.”

“She does miss you, and she does somewhat resent the secrecy of your assignment… Which I understand entirely, given my own feelings on the matter when Celestia was hiding it from me. I did my best to impart the importance of your work-” Luna quickly held up a hoof when Rarity’s ears pricked forward in panic, “while using the abstract nature of dreams to keep the true danger hidden.”

Rarity let out a sigh, jangled nerves calming. “And you think that did the trick?”

“She seems to be soothed, for now. I will keep looking in on her.”

“Thank you, that’s very kind of you.”

“Well, if the big sisters are going to continue to band together, it only seems fair that the little sisters do the same,” Luna teased, surprising a laugh out of her. As Rarity got herself back under control, she saw Toffee Chip steal up out of the corner of her eye and whisk her pot away. “Back to more serious matters,” the princess said. “I have acquired your dye.”

“Already? That was remarkably fast.”

“Pantheons may not be masters of politics, but they are masters of their craft. I will have the jars delivered to your room. Is there anything else you’ll be requiring?”

Rarity picked up a scone and took a bite, absently chewing as she focused fully on work. “For now, no. I don’t want to get my workspace too cluttered, as I still need to finish the metalworking, and get the armor and the leathers sealed together. I’ll confer with Kibitz when I’m ready to move to the next stage.”

“Fair enough,” Luna said, magicking over a clean plate and piling on a few scones. “Take a few of these with you, though. It is almost time for the sun to rise, and you have more than earned some sweets for breakfast.”

Rarity looked up and found her teapot had been returned with fresh tea while she wasn’t paying attention, and smiled as she accepted.

Time to get back to work.

===

Squinting in concentration, Rarity slowly manipulated the metal centimeter by frustrating centimeter. Rolling the sharp edges around themselves, raising the scrollwork, dimpling in the divots where the centerpiece stones would be set.

Her head was pounding so much by the time she finished the cuirass that she thought she might throw up. Panting, she released the magic and let the piece drop to the cushion below it, sitting heavily on the floor herself just a moment later.

Maybe learning some advanced smithing wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all, she decided as she squeezed her eyes shut against the pain. Surely the physical strain she’d felt earlier wasn’t as terrible as this.

A soft clink made her open her eyes to find Kibitz setting a medication bottle next to her teacup. “For the magic stress,” he informed her kindly.

“Oh, bless you,” she mumbled, slowly hauling herself to her feet to stumble over to the table. The first swig of the liquid tasted foul enough to make her shudder, though it was quickly chased away by the sweet tea, but she could feel the effects almost instantly. “Bless you indeed.”

The older unicorn chuckled and bowed, leaving her another bottle of the stuff before he made his exit, and she took a deep breath, then magicked up the cuisses.

===

Another week down.

A week and a half left before the deadline was up, and Rarity stood before the ponyform looking at her progress. The under-leathers and outer armor were finished, attached to each other, and grooved and coated with the powdered Jackalope-Horn Glue in preparation for the gems. Arming doublets were stitched and in place, the attachment straps had been stitched on…

All that was left was to prep the gems and get them on.

All right.

She could do this.

Kibitz, as always, had retrieved the necessary tools with preternatural speed, and she looked them over as she instinctively sorted the gems Celestia had left to her use by color and size. The tiny diamond-tipped drill didn’t bother her too much, but it was hard to make herself look at the rock hammer.

To have to destroy so many rare gems…

When they had been gifts to the Princess…

All that hard work by so many mages...

But all of the research books had been very specific. Black lightning opals worked better as mosaic pieces, not as whole gems.

Finally, she sighed and picked up the hammer. Swallowing thickly, she squeezed her eyes shut, braced herself, and approached the pile.

*CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK*

Rarity tentatively opened one eye, then blew out her breath at the pile of shimmering black chips of wildly varying sizes before her. Okay, as far as she was concerned, the worst of it was over. Tossing the hammer back into the toolbox, she went to the pile of clear opals next.

These would require a much finer touch, but be much easier on her nerves, she was sure. From the toolbox, she called the drill, a jeweller’s magnifying glass, and a tiny syringe, and from her work table, she summoned the jars of pantheon dye and her notes on shielding runes.

She could do this, she kept telling herself as she carefully shaved each opal perfectly circular and then etched the tiny runes deep, deep into the center before injecting the magic dye into them.

One.

By one.

By one.

When she finally looked up from her finished work, eyes itching and aching enough that she was considering amending her former opinion that breaking the black gems had been the worst task, night had fallen once again.

And the back of her neck was prickling.

“No peeking!” she shouted with all the instincts of a big sister, and was rewarded with a laugh and a half-disappointed “Aww,” from that same panel that Luna had appeared from once before the prickling feeling went away.

She went to bed tired, but with an odd feeling of satisfaction.

===

With three days left to her deadline, her mane a mess, and her right eye itching again, she called both princesses just after the sun had been lowered and the moon had been raised.

“The piece is complete.”