Faster Than You Know

“It is my belief that not only did we lose our Princess after the Great Gryphon War, but we also lost our sense of Harmony as citizens of Equestria.” Chance cleared his throat and used a hoof to push his glasses up from where they’d slid down to the edge of his muzzle. He wanted to look professional when presenting his dissertation to the Council of the Moon, at the very least. “We no longer mingle the way we used to. Earth ponies keep their hooves on the soil of the land in which they were born. Pegasi live and die without ever leaving the clouds. The capitol,” he glanced up from the pages of the podium situated in the center of the council room, daringly meeting the eyes of as many delegates as he could, “As well as the majority of the cities have more than double the concentration of unicorns as they do pegasi and earth pony put together.”

True to his statement, Chance noted that out of the two dozen representatives judging him from their seats above, 3/4ths of them were unicorns. His gaze briefly rested on a fluff of white feathers, an attentive pegasus in the front row to his right leaning a little too far over the balcony for such a usually formal affair. But she definitely wasn’t a stranger to the council, he could see that in the way she presented herself, wearing the latest of Canterlot’s elite fashion and her pink main and tail curled up into tight buns with blue ribbons so as not to get in the way. Chance nodded at her in acknowledgement and turned back to his dissertation. “Once, the most powerful magic of all was considered to be Friendship, a unity and Harmony of ponies of all types and walks of life. Princess Twilight set an example of that, the seats around her table occupied by unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies alike. My fell ponies, when those thrones became empty, we lost the Elements along with them.”

He cleared his throat again, flipping a page with his mouth. “We lost the value of Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Laughter, and Honesty. The books say that these elements are carried within the hearts of every pony, but I have seen no such proof. If we had truly preserved the lessons Princess Twilight Sparkle had taught us, the castle in Ponyville would still have open doors. Now, it merely sits in dark silence, a crypt to the real magic we all have lost. My goal in speaking with you today was not to be granted permission to look for the Princess. Many have tried, and all have failed. Instead, I implore you to grant me the right to attempt to access the Castle of Friendship. Perhaps by reigniting the Elements within all our souls, and in finding new ponies to take places around the Crystal Table, we could entice our beloved, absent Princess to return on her own. We all know the stories, and how without the other five, the element of Magic loses its power. Not because it is somehow incompetent, or its bearer a poor spell caster, but because it represents the Magic we’ve lost. The Magic of Friendship, of Harmony.”

Straightening his stack of papers atop the podium, Chance dropped to all fours to trot around the inner ring of the council room. “Without Harmony, we will eventually lose what little we have left. Without Harmony, ponies have lost the power to become alicorns. Without Harmony, we face new and greater threats every day that we struggle to fight against because we are no longer a kingdom united. If I can be given access to the castle, I believe that Harmony has a chance of being restored, and with it our lost Princess returning to the country that loved her and loves her still.”

He stopped pacing, legs suddenly locking up as every gathered council member started whispering among themselves. Now and again their eyes would dart to him, questions in their gazes they had yet to find the courage to speak aloud. Chance waited, head held high to meet any such looks with fierce determination. This was the moment he’d studied for his whole life, the moment he won by earning his Master’s degree in history, and being the top of his class. He doubted the council would have allowed this meeting otherwise, and as it was, trying to get access just to be heard was difficult enough just by being an earth pony.

Finally, one unicorn turned her attention to the broad-shouldered stallion patiently waiting below. “I think the question many of us have is why you are so convinced that Princess Twilight is even alive.”

Chance had prepared for that question, and he turned to face the unicorn who spoke it with a determined smirk. “The other Princesses know when one of their own has died. Or so we’ve been told. The magical waves of power released upon an alicorn’s death are hard to miss, even for mortal ponies. None of us remember of course, it’s been more than a thousand years. But we have to Princesses who do remember, who felt the earth shake with grief and overflowing magic when Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence were killed in the war. Posing that question is the same as posing it to Princess Luna. Do you really doubt the words of your own leader so, councilmare?”

The unicorn pursed her mouth, glaring at Chance before turning to whisper to the pony beside her. Again, Chance waited while the murmurs swelled and died down low enough to hear a discernable question amongst the seats. “You said that the Elements exist in the hearts of everypony.” It was the white-coated pegasus, still leaning a ways over the railing with her wings flared at her sides. “If we go into the castle, are you expecting every mare, stallion, and foal to gather around the crystal table just to summon the lost Princess back?”

“Hardly,” Chance replied with utmost patience. “I believe that the table will have the power to choose the successors to the thrones around it on its own. We have stories of how it was used to summon the Element bearers across Equestria in times of great need. For all we know, it could still be summoning them, new guardians, old guardians, waiting for the thrones to be filled again by those deemed worthy.”

The pegasus mare tilted her head slightly. “Deemed worthy? If Harmony exists in the hearts of everypony, or so you say, how can there be some who can be declared more worthy of one of the thrones than their fellows.”

“Because the Harmony in our hearts is weak,” Chance said lowly. “It has diminished and dimmed until it’s almost unrecognizable. I can count on my hooves the number of ponies who would go out of their way to help somepony else if there was no reward in it for themselves. That’s not Generosity. And I’ve yet to see a council member here not spit out at least one lie through their teeth, even if its lily-whitest lie you’ve ever heard. That’s not Honesty. To even get here I had to read my dissertation to much lower class ponies first, when a unicorn could have done half, no, even a forth the work I did in order to be allowed to stand before you. That’s not Kindness. You share secrets and gossip with your fellow council ponies rather than good news and smiles. That’s not Laughter. And worst of all,” he turned to direct his words at the unicorn who’d questioned him first, “You dare to challenge our Princesses’ words. That is not Loyalty.”

The pegasus’s feathered ruffled involuntarily at his words, and she quickly pulled her wings in tight against her sides. A common sign of submission and wariness with her kind. “Thank you, Chance,” she said slowly, the words hitting Chance’s brain like the drum beats of a funeral march. “You have spoken, and the council has listened. We will bring your case before Princess Luna this evening, and consider what you’ve asked for.”

Though she didn’t finish the little formal speech with an order to leave, Chance heard it well enough in her tone. He grabbed his dissertation off the podium and held it between his teeth, careful to keep his head held high and his steps steady as he trotted confidently out of the room. Such an act deflated almost as soon as the broad golden doors swung shut behind him, and he hitched out a sigh.

If his proposal was turned down, Chance wasn’t quite sure what he’d do with his life from here on out. His cutie mark was four green hearts in the shape of a clover, a sign of his good fortune that in reality was just deductive reasoning that lead him to being in the right places at the right times. He had a Masters in History from Canterlot’s college, but without a grant, he couldn’t use all his stored knowledge to do any good. He supposed he could become a history professor himself, but shook that thought away with a flick of his turquoise mane fairly quickly. What good would that do? It would only teach more ponies about a history so far removed from their everyday lives that they would continue on in their content complacency without much thought at all. Chance had seen it among his classmates as a colt, and sometimes even saw it at the college as a fully grown stallion. History was something to be read about according to most, not something to be studied, or explored.

As his thoughts ran wild, Chance began to pace. A bad habit of his whenever he started thinking too hard. The carpet of his foalhood room had a permanent worn away line between the east and west walls. If he didn’t get the grant, Chance supposed he could try traveling to the Crystal Empire to appeal to Equestria’s only other reigning Princess, but the thought alone made his hooves tremble a bit. It was one thing to present his dissertation to Princess Luna’s council, it would be another entirely to present the same paper to Princess Flurry Heart’s. He stopped pacing for a moment to suck in a deep breath and slow his heart rate again. No, that wasn’t an option. Permission to further his research would have to come from Princess Luna alone.

He was on his twenty-seventh lap between the two columns bordering the door to the council chambers when it creaked open. Chance froze in place, one hoof still raised as a tall shadow crept through the opening and fell over him. For a heartbeat, Chance didn’t move, other than to drop his jaw a bit in shock. He had expected one of the council heads to tell him their verdict, perhaps that inquisitive pegasus mare even, but in his wildest dreams he never thought he’d find himself looking up into the curious eyes of Princess Luna herself.

Chance practically tripped over his own hooves as he stumbled to face her and dip into a bow, muzzle nearly touching the ruby-red rug they stood upon. His ears flicked to the side as he heard a snicker, and he peeked open one eye to see the white pegasus from before covering her mouth with a hoof. Eyes closing in respect again, he spoke, “Princess. My apologies for my informality. I’m just a simple earth pony from Ponyville.”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing as a ‘Simple’ pony from Ponyville,” Luna’s voice was deep and calm, almost languidly slow, as if it were capable of lulling one to sleep with words alone. Chance raised his head slightly, once more meeting the Princess’s curious gaze. She was inquisitive, he realized with a hammering heart. About him! About his work! “And from what I’ve heard,” Luna continued, “Your mind is as far from simple as I would expect a child of Ponyville’s to be. Rise, Chance of Ponyville, I speak to you as an equal.”

Feeling a bit punch drunk with a mixture of confusion and pride swelling in his chest, Chance straightened up as best as he could. As tall and broad shouldered as he was for a stallion, he still didn’t compare to the Princess’s towering, regal form. Every inch of her radiated royalty, the constellations swirling endlessly in her ever flowing tail and mane. Still though, he was quite nearly tall enough to look her in the eye. Well, almost. She was still a head taller, but he doubted there were any other ponies who could boast such a feat.

“My student,” Luna began with a gesture towards the white pegasus mare, “has told me about your research.” To Chance’s surprise, the pegasus’s feathers fluffed up at the attention, and she ducked her face and bubblegum-pink mane behind one wing. Luna was either used to this behavior, or didn’t notice. “You’re seeking permission to open the Castle of Friendship, correct?”

Chance met the Princess’s eyes as best he could. “Yes, your highness. I fear that Equestria will someday be in need of its contents, and I would like to try and restore them.”

Luna tilted her head, a lazy smile in the corners of her mouth, “By contents you mean the Elements of Harmony. But with your education, I assume you’re  aware that they are no longer physical objects. How do you plan to restore something that can’t be held in your hooves?”

Swallowing, Chance said, “I believe that there is something in the castle that may guide me to finding the Elements. Not as stones, mind you,” he said before Luna could ask, “but rather in the same way the Lost Princess collected them. Within the hearts of other ponies. And perhaps when all the Thrones of Harmony are filled again . . .” He drew off, unsure how rude it would be to suggest what he hoped to accomplish to the Princess’s face.

“You think the magic gathered from new bearers of the Elements seated on their proper thrones could lure Twilight Sparkle home,” Luna finished for him. Chance noted the lack of title on the Lost Princess’s name, the casual, almost intimate sound of it. “And what evidence do you have for this?”

Chance could practically feel his tongue twisting into knots in his mouth as he struggled to find an appropriate answer. “Well, Alicorns have been proven to, uh, be more finely tuned when it comes to sensing powerful magic,” he stuttered out, “Perhaps if the thrones are filled and the Magic of Harmony and Friendship restored to the castle, Princess Twilight might feel it, regardless of how far away she might be.”

Luna lifted her chin, studying the earth stallion as he scratched the rug with a forehoof nervously. “And if she feels it but chooses not to return?”

Chance frowned, perishing the thought, “Then perhaps it’s time we start looking for a new bearer of Magic. But I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” he added when Luna’s eyes widened. “Princess Twilight Sparkle abandoned Equestria when the Thrones of Harmony were all empty. I believe that by filling them once more with worthy ponies, it’ll be like a beacon to her own Element, the Magic of Friendship she still holds in her heart.”

His eyes flicked to the pegasus mare again as Princess Luna continued to study him in silence. Odd that a pegasus would be the Princess’s personal student, he thought to himself, especially in a town filled with the unicorn elite. Not that it mattered much, there hadn’t been a successful student to either Princess since Twilight Sparkle herself. They came and went just like every other pony. Mortally. This one though must be fairly new, as he recalled seeing a glassy-eyed elderly unicorn at the Princess’s side once as a colt. Chance recalled he’d had a rather clichéd name for the position, Midnight Sky or something of the sort. For the life of him though he could not recall the name of the pegasus who now stood at the Princess’s side.

“Are you aware only the bearer of an Element can open the door to Twilight’s Castle?” Luna spoke finally, jolting Chance out of his train of thought.

“I had suspected, yes,” he said, “but could find no direct reference to that being the case in any book. Foals in Ponyville used to dare each other to run up and touch the door at moonhigh, believing as foals do that the castle was haunted. I remember that there was no lock on it, no sealing spell. It was an ordinary door.”

Luna glanced at her student, then back to Chance. “And did you ever partake in this foalhood game?”

Chance bit down hard on his tongue for a moment, hesitating to answer. It might come off as pretentious if said wrong, or even worse land him in prison for tresspassing. “I-I did,” he admitted softly. Luna cocked her head, the question in her gaze compelling the words to continue to slip from his mouth. “And it opened. Just a crack, I swear. I got so scared I ran back to my friends and told them I’d seen the castle’s ghost, and the next morning when I passed it on the way to the schoolhouse it was closed again. I don’t know whether it was just coincidence or even my own imagination, I haven’t tried it since.” He pursed his lips shut, inhaling deeply through his nose and holding the breath steady in his chest for a second. “But I’d like to, Princess,” he dipped his head, “If there’s any possibility that I can help return the Lost Princess to her throne, I would do so gladly.”

To his shock, Luna looked pleased with this response. She nodded once to him, and once to her student who had crept a few steps closer while Chance was speaking, her round blue eyes alight in the wake of his words. “White Heart,” she said to the pegasus, who jumped a little at being addressed directly. “Write up a letter of permission in my name for Chance to take with him on the train back to Ponyville tomorrow. Let it be known that he is to be researching and traveling under Princess Luna’s permission and watchful eye, and that he be allowed access to anywhere and anything he needs in order to further his studies. If any payments need to be made, make sure everypony knows that his work is paid for by the funds of Canterlot, and all inquiries about such be sent to our talented bankers.”

White Heart had already procured a scroll and quill from Celestia knows where and was scribbling away before Luna finished speaking. Chance glanced between them, a dizzy sort of giddiness welling up within him with every new beat of his heart. “I won’t let you down,” he said swiftly, least there be any concern. “I will restore the Elements and I will find Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Luna glanced at him out of the corners of her eyes, her gaze fond, almost familiar. “I know you won’t,” she said softly. “Feel free to ask for additional aide from me at any time, Chance of Ponyville.” She levitated the scroll away from White Heart as the last few words were penned, and with a flash duplicated it, the original rolling up and returning to the flustered pegasus, and the other wrapping itself in a ribbon and moving to hover just below Chance’s nose.

He took it in his mouth without further instruction. “Thank you,” he mumbled more or less coherently around the scroll. “I’ll do my best.”

“I know,” the Princess repeated, and with a motion of her wing guided her student and herself back within the council chamber, doors clicking shut behind them. Chance stared for awhile, stunned at all that had occurred in a matter of minutes, scroll still held carefully in his teeth.