King in the North

Chapter One: Emperor Boreal

Year 479 of the 3rd Age

In a vast domed room filled with stone columns, two stallions breathed heavily, eyes locked. A struggle was going on between them, but the battle was already decided. Both were exhausted, but the one on the floor was in far worse shape. Magical chains around his limbs and horn pulled him toward the ground, and circle of runes around his neck would keep him from uttering any more incantations. The battle of wills to seize his opponent’s mind was a last-ditch attempt. If he failed, it would all be over. He could feel the younger unicorn steadily pushing back his advance, until he had to break off the spell entirely or risk the enemy sorcerer seizing control of his mind. The chains pulled tighter, and the warlock Rap’stuk collapsed.

“Give it up, Rap’stuk. It’s over,” the younger unicorn said as he trotted toward his opponent.

Oh, how Rap’stuk hated this young upstart! He hated everything about him. He hated his shadowy gray coat that stood in contrast to the warlock’s own yellow coat. He hated the young stallion’s meticulously groomed mane of glossy black, swept back from his horn and cascading down his neck. He hated the sorcerer’s red eyes, for which he’d been ridiculed and shunned for and should have driven him to evil, to join with Rap’stuk instead of opposing him. He hated his snow-white robes that were still pristine, frivolously protected by enchantments, even after the charring battle that had raged here in the Crystal Castle’s throne room. He hated the seven-pointed star medallion that hung down on his opponent’s forehead from his horn, marking his devotion to the Church of One, a faith Rap’stuk had spurned long ago. Most of all, he hated that he’d been bested by the sorcerer Boreal.

“Don’t be so sure, colt,” Rap’stuk said disdainfully as he struggled upwards, straining against the chains.

He would not allow himself to be taken prisoner; not the great warlock Rap’stuk, conqueror and despot of the North. Nearly thirty years ago, he’d descended upon the Crystal City and slaughtered sorceresses and royalty alike. The “emperor” who’d ruled from this very throne room had stood no chance against the dark powers at Rap’stuk’s disposal. Even the Queens of Equestria, who’d ruled the southern realms for four and a half centuries, hadn’t possessed the courage to stand up to him. Instead, Boreal had bested him, as much as he hated to admit it. If he was taken prisoner, the ponies he’d oppressed for the last three decades would clamor for their revenge. For the first time in a long time, Rap’stuk felt fear. It disgusted him. He spat out blood, but most of it ended up in his tangled white beard.

“It is over,” Boreal said with finality, “I have freed the Crystal Heart from your dark grasp. Life is returning to the Crystal City and its environs. The North is free of your evil, and I have defeated you.”

“You’re so sure of yourself, aren’t you?” Rap’stuk cackled madly, “Look at you! A white knight! Well, you are still a foolish colt. Perhaps, when you’ve suffered a few more decades, you’ll figure out there’s no room for your kind in this world.”

“I beg to differ,” Boreal said, preparing to launch into a long speech, but Rap’stuk didn’t intend to let him.

“Oh, you’ll beg all right!” Rap’stuk said, “Daerin—”

He never got to finish the spell he’d been ready to cast at Boreal, as the runes around his throat suddenly struck out and decapitated him. His head rolled across the throne room floor, blood spreading quickly across the stone. Boreal released the magical chains that had been holding his opponent in place and abandoned the body where it fell. A short walk through the Crystal Castle brought him to a balcony overlooking the Crystal City. The dark clouds that had hung across the sky for three decades were beginning to dispel in all directions, proof that Rap’stuk’s hold over the realm had died with him. Boreal breathed a sigh of relief. After his fight with the warlock, he hadn’t the strength to undo any lasting enchantments placed on the city.

It wasn’t until several minutes had passed that Boreal noticed the crowd of ponies gathered in the streets below. With Rap’stuk’s defeat and the lifting of his curse over the Crystal City, the inhabitants were flooding from their homes into the streets to see if the nightmare was truly over. All looked up to the balcony to see who had emerged: the tyrant Rap’stuk or the unfamiliar unicorn some had glimpsed just before the fighting had started. Their voices were mostly lost to Boreal, due to distance and wind, but he could make out hopeful murmuring.

Boreal turned as he heard hoofsteps on the balcony behind him. The four ponies that had trotted onto the balcony stopped before cautiously advancing again. Their coats and manes were pallid, their faces sunken and hollow. Rags draped their forms, providing meagre protection against the wind and unnatural cold that had choked the Crystal City during Rap’stuk’s reign of terror. They looked terribly wretched, their appearance reflected in every subject who’d endured the warlock’s rule.

“We saw … the body,” a stallion with a tangled beard and a thin mane shuddered as he said, motioning back toward the throne room, “Is he … is he dead?”

“It is over,” Boreal said comfortingly, “The warlock Rap’stuk will terrorize you no more.”

Tears leached from the eyes of all four crystal ponies who’d joined Boreal on the balcony. To know that the nightmare was over at last was an ecstasy they’d never imagined.

“What is your name, stranger?” one of the mares asked when she’d managed to calm herself from shaking with relief.

“I am Boreal,” the sorcerer proclaimed.

“All hail Emperor Boreal!” the mare shouted, and the others joined in, “All hail Emperor Boreal! Long may he reign!”

Shocked, Boreal looked to the ponies proclaiming his name and gazing at him with adoration. The sorcerer had come here to right a wrong, to end the tyranny of the warlock Rap’stuk. He’d never expected that the grateful ponies he’d freed would declare him emperor. As the ponies on the balcony continued to chant his name and lowered themselves shakily into bows, he realized that the call was now jubilantly echoed up from those in the street.

“All hail Emperor Boreal! All hail Emperor Boreal! All hail Emperor Boreal! All hail Emperor Boreal! Long may he reign!”

***

Year 556 of the 3rd Age

The royal carriage bounced and jostled its occupants as it rolled through the mountain pass. There were no smooth roads through the Crystal Mountains, nor were there springs on the axles of the carriage (making it more of a wagon). This made it a bumpy ride, but it was still less strenuous than walking. There were many carriages in the royal procession passing through the mountains, carrying nobles of various rank; and even more ponies that pulled the carriages and supply wagons or trotted ahead, behind, and alongside as escorts. It wasn’t every day that the queens of Equestria sent an embassy to another realm—and even rarer that the two sorceresses would accompany it themselves—so the procession had to be grand and massive. All the lords and ladies of Equestria wanted to be a part of it.

“I’m surprised we haven’t made this trip before,” Queen Luna commented to her sister as the carriage bounced along, “Boreal has been emperor for seventy-seven years.”

“A long reign for a mortal ruler, to be sure, but it doesn’t hold a candle to ours, dear sister,” Celestia replied as she pulled aside a curtain to get a glimpse of the mountains drifting by and the soldiers marching alongside the carriage, “It should not surprise Boreal that we haven’t taken the time to visit a ruler with such a comparatively short reign, nor should it surprise you.” It should not surprise Boreal that we haven’t taken the time to visit a ruler with so comparatively short a reign, not should it surprise you.”

It was easy for anypony to recall how long the two alicorn sorceress-queens had ruled over Equestria, for it had marked the beginning of a new age. Five hundred and fifty-six years earlier, Celestia and Luna had defeated Discord; once the chaos magic had dispelled and the world had returned to normal, they had been proclaimed queens of Equestria. Since then, the two sisters had reigned from the Everfree Forest over the continent, or at least most of it. Their dominion stretched over the lands that had once been part of the united Equestrian nation formed after the Long Winter and preceding Discord’s reign. This realm did not include the lands beyond the Equestrian Divide in the south, or the Crystal Mountains in the north. Even during the 1st Age, when Equestria had been considered unified, the North had more often than not gone their own way, and they hadn’t been incorporated back into the Kingdom of Equestria once Celestia and Luna took the throne. Realms had risen and fallen in the North over the past five and a half centuries, so the Equestrian queens couldn’t be bothered to deal with a nation that might collapse in the next hundred years. Now, however, when Luna had proposed an embassy to the North, curious about its sorcerer-emperor whose ascension to the throne had seemed so like her and her sister’s own past, Celestia had agreed.

“Not much of an empire, is it?” Luna speculated as she examined a map of Equestria, “I suppose we shall have to see for ourselves what makes it so great.”

The Crystal Empire was small as far as empires went, but it also had some stiff competition compared to the other major empire of the day. After Discord’s fall, the Zebrikaanian Empire had spared no time in snatching up as much of the Eastern Continent as it could. The dread draconequus’ magic still lay heavily on much of the continent, especially the Chaos Lands—the name ponies had given a massive region where his power still held sway—and the rest of the pony kingdoms north of the Z’harra Desert were ill-prepared for invasion. There were still a few pony kingdoms that fought back against the empire (supported in their resistance by Equestria), but many had fallen and become incorporated into the Zebrikaanian state. The Crystal Empire had nowhere near the territory of the Zebrikaanian Empire; it was much smaller than Equestria, even. The difference was that the Kingdom of Equestria was wholly an Equestrian nation (as one would expect), and the Crystal Empire had territory on two continents.

“Boreal is only an emperor because the ‘Crystal Empire’ still holds onto some of its territory in Stygra, across the North Luna Ocean,” Celestia said, “Really, it’s no more than a few towns and beaches, but it’s enough to hold onto the title of empire.”

“The Agate Ocean,” Luna corrected her sister, “I refuse to call it the North Luna Ocean, and so does everypony else.”

Her elder sister had gotten it into her head that to maintain the alicorns’ majesty and legacy, she needed to start renaming things. However, nopony was going to stop calling the Agate and Blazing Oceans or the Shimmering Sea by the names they’d had since time immemorial and start calling them the North and South Luna Oceans or the Celestial Sea, even if Celestia told them to. She’d also been trying to get ponies to call the Three Palaces of the Two Queens the Castle of the Two Sisters instead—which, though only slightly less wordy, would never work when there really were three palaces: the Castle of Day and the Castle of Night, built alongside the Royal Court.

Celestia’s renaming project was only one of the disagreements that strained the relationship between the two queens, one that had once been so strong and harmonious. Though neither wanted to admit it, the two of them had grown apart over the centuries, even if the construction of separate castles seemed to shout it to the world. Even so, nopony had noticed the fracturing so far; if they had, they’d possessed the wisdom to remain silent about it. Sometimes Luna felt that Celestia herself had failed to notice, or perhaps she merely chose not to mention it. She had begun to suspect that Celestia was elevating herself while purposefully keeping her younger sister in her shadow. As each new year dawned, the summer solstice was celebrated in a great ceremony, but the winter solstice passed by with few noting it other than to breathe a sigh of relief that the darkest days were over. Ponies worked and reveled during Celestia’s day, but often abandoned Luna’s night. When Celestia held court during the day, she was flocked with petitioners praising her, but Luna often spent her nights in court alone. Surely her sister, who’d always been there for her since they were foals, wouldn’t snub Luna on purpose. Still, it was a possibility that troubled Luna at times.

“The North should be part of Equestria,” Celestia stated with a self-assured nod.

“You’re not planning to …” Luna said, looking out at the soldiers flanking the royal procession that suddenly took on an ominous meaning.

“Invade and conquer the Crystal Empire?” Celestia asked, “Of course not. Do I look like a Zebrikaanian padishah to you?”

Despite Celestia’s allusion to the Zebrikaanian Empire’s rapid and bloody expansion, Luna’s and Celestia’s hooves were not spotless. While they had been almost immediately proclaimed queens of Equestria after Discord’s fall, not everypony had willingly acknowledged their new sovereigns. Between wars with external powers and rebellions within, plenty of blood had been shed by the sorceress-queens during the last 556 years. Attacking a neighboring realm was not unheard of, though invading one where a fellow mage ruled would come with its own difficulties.

“Emperor Boreal is mortal—as a sorcerer he might live a couple centuries, but that’s all—and he has no heir to succeed him,” Celestia continued her thought, “It shouldn’t be too difficult to convince him to bequeath his lands and titles to us after his inevitable death.”

Celestia often spoke this way, as if she and Luna would never die. To be fair, as alicorns, it may have seemed that way sometimes. The two alicorns who’d preceded them, Yliiena the First and Nostracom the Wise, had lived many years longer than the sisters had so far, and they had not yet seen any signs that the end was near. Judging by those who had preceded them, there was a variability in how much one’s longevity was increased by becoming an alicorn. Either way, they still were likely to have many years ahead of them; they weren’t even halfway to 1158, the age Yliiena had been when she’d died, and even if they “only” lived to be as long as Nostracom, a couple centuries awaited them until they were 744. Even their lives would come to an end one day, but that was on neither’s mind right now.

At the moment, Celestia’s plan did seem wise to Luna. One of the reasons she’d proposed this embassy to the North had been to establish a good relationship with the Crystal Empire and Emperor Boreal. What relationship could be better than one that ended with a union between the two realms? The other reason she’d proposed this trip had been to lessen the tension with her sister. Even if Celestia didn’t seem to care enough to make the effort, Luna did. Away from the court in the Everfree, she hoped they’d have a chance to reconnect and renew their relationship. She could never have anticipated that this trip would set a chain of events in motion that would end with her own rebellion against her sister 44 years later.

***

After leaving behind the Crystal Mountains, a day’s journey still lay ahead of the royal procession across the fields that covered the Plains of Amon like a quilt. It was still early autumn, and a chill had already begun to pervade the air this far north, but the fields were just as fertile as those in the Equestry Valley. During the moments that Celestia and Luna stepped out of their carriage, the sorceresses could sense it in the soil beneath their hooves and in the air all around them. Magic pervaded this land, so subtle that likely only alicorns would be able to identify it as more than a passing fancy. Sorcery kept the crops and peasantry from freezing to death, but surely it couldn’t be the work of Emperor Borealis. He would have to have been an extraordinarily powerful sorcerer indeed to just maintain this spell on the path that Celestia and Luna would be traveling.

The Crystal City had been visible from a long way off as a twinkle on the horizon, but as the journey neared its conclusion, the capital of the Crystal Empire gradually came into view. The first thing visible was the Crystal Castle, a spire that rose high above the rest of the city. As they got closer, the foreign queens could see that there were actually five spires: a high central one flanked by four towers. It was difficult to see until they were inside the city, but the central pillar’s base did not touch the ground. Arches between the corner towers suspended the main structure of the castle off the ground, leaving a dome beneath the Crystal Castle that an adult dragon could comfortably pass under.

A smooth, perfectly circular wall surrounded the city, with six equally spaced gates providing entry and egress. Celestia and Luna spotted three of them before their carriage rumbled through the southern gate, the ride becoming perceptibly less bumpy as the surface beneath the carriage’s wheels transitioned from rough cobbles to smooth paving stones. The strangest thing about the city was that everything—castle, walls, paving stones, even the buildings—appeared to be made from crystal. Everything shone and sparkled as the light glanced off the innumerable smooth surfaces. Surely it had to be some kind of trick; there was no way that the Crystal City had truly been built of crystal.

Luna tied back the carriage’s curtains to get a better look at their destination, and the ponies lining the streets cheered. The queen started as she realized that the ponies too appeared crystalline. Coats and manes shone and sparkled, reflecting the light like gemstones. Both on the street and from upper-story windows, the crystal ponies cheerfully greeted the visiting monarchs. Trumpets sounded to announce their arrival and call others to the streets—trumpets blown by the natives, not by members of the royal procession. It was the most exuberant greeting that Luna had experienced in years, and this wasn’t even her own kingdom!

The procession pulled to a stop well short of the Crystal Castle, and Celestia and Luna peered out of their carriage, trying to ascertain why. They had reached a crossroads into which crystal ponies were pouring who wanted a glimpse of the alicorn queens of the south, but they weren’t obstructing the path. A guardstallion wearing blue-tinted armor was speaking to the lead elements of the royal procession and had apparently been the one to order the halt. Celestia spotted another procession (much smaller than the Equestrian one) approaching from the Crystal Castle, and she stepped out of the carriage, urging her sister to follow.

Celestia had correctly surmised that Emperor Boreal was coming to meet them here instead of at the castle, and she and Luna trotted to the front of the procession, the crystal ponies oohing and aahing all the way. Most of the adoration was due to their status as the only two living alicorns, but Celestia and Luna were also dressed to impress for their meeting with the emperor. Celestia’s gown was golden silk, with rubies stitched into it that seemed to blaze in the sunlight. Luna wore a dress of blue so dark that it appeared black until one took a closer look, with decorative rows of diamonds resembling the glimmering stars of the night sky. Both were wearing their royal crowns, a golden band for Celestia and a silver circlet for Luna (to complement their appearance and not to denote any difference in status), both topped with clusters of triple spires reminiscent of the horn and wings of an alicorn.

“Presenting Celestia, Queen of Equestria, Keeper of Day, and Guardian of the Sun; and her royal sister Luna, Queen of Equestria, Keeper of Night, and Guardian of the Moon ” the royal crier announced as soon as the emperor’s procession was within earshot. ” the royal crier announced as soon as the emperor’s procession was within earshot.

The crowd of crystal ponies was pressed in as near as they dared, but they’d left ample space between where the emperor’s procession came to a halt and where the Equestrian queens stood. Emperor Boreal motioned for his crier to announce him but didn’t stop as he advanced toward Celestia and Luna.

“Boreal, Emperor of the Crystal Empire, Prince of Vanhuv’r Laht, Lord-Protector of Srkeskia,” Boreal’s crier introduced him.

Surrounded by so many ponies that shone like crystals, it was a bit strange to see that Emperor Boreal was just a normal pony. Of course, he wasn’t just a normal pony. No monarch was, for good or ill, and that was especially true of those who were also mages. The emperor held himself as if he could change the world at a whim, which, as both ruler and sorcerer, he could. There was an earnestness to him as he approached Celestia and Luna, though, that spoke to the fact that, like them, he had been appointed as a ruler and not inherited his crown hereditarily.

His coat, hooves, and mane were well-groomed, though the mane had become tousled a bit in his eagerness to meet the queens of the south. When it came to his dress, the emperor was still in that transitioning period between sorcerer and ruler, as Celestia and Luna had been once upon a time, adopting the styles of both. His clothing was practical: black trousers, tunic, and vest with ample pouches for storing whatever his preferred aides were for working magic. Over this, he wore an ermine-lined cloak of snow white, which was the fashion among many rulers of the day, though the color choice was unusual. Atop his head sat the imperial crown, a silver band with a monstrous sapphire that was partially obscured by his horn. . When it came to his dress, the emperor was still in that transitioning period between sorcerer and ruler, as Celestia and Luna had been once upon a time, adopting the styles of both. His clothing was practical: black trousers, tunic, and vest with ample pouches for storing whatever his preferred aides were for working magic. Over this he wore an ermine-lined cloak of snow-white, which was the fashion among many rulers of the day, though the white color was unusual. Atop his head sat the imperial crown, a silver band with a monstrous sapphire that was partially obscured by his horn.

“Welcome to the Crystal Empire!” Boreal greeted Celestia and Luna warmly, “I am so pleased that you were able to make the journey. Apologies that I didn’t wait for you to arrive at the castle, but I couldn’t wait to meet the two of you.”

“My only regret is that we didn’t come sooner,” Celestia said with a smile.

“How could we resist seeing how your empire thrives for ourselves?” Luna asked as she gazed at the sights around her, the adoring faces of the crystal ponies and the buildings shining in the light, “Your capital is beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Boreal said graciously before trotting over to Luna’s side and guiding her and Celestia toward the castle, “I cannot take credit for the latter, however, not if I interpret your meaning correctly.”

Behind the trio of sorceresses, the various lords and ladies of Equestria and its northern neighbor began their own meet-and-greet, the criers from both realms struggling to announce the nobles quickly enough. The crystal ponies had closed in behind Emperor Boreal on his way to meet the queens and now hurried out of the way to make a path for them, some in the front rows bowing to the emperor so low that their chins touched the street.

“For the shining, crystalline edifices around us, and the dazzling appearance of my subjects, I must give thanks to the Crystal Heart,” Boreal said as he led the queens along between the rows of bowing ponies, “During the First Age, the Crystal City—it went by a different name then, of course—was repeatedly raided, conquered, and ransacked, and its inhabitants were badly in need of relief. Nostracom the Wise created and bestowed upon them the Crystal Heart, a magical relic that protects the Crystal City and all its possessions from harm. It also has the side effect of making everything in the city appear crystalline, including its inhabitants. The effect is renewed every year at the Crystal Faire and only persists for those who were born here. Still, it’s a charming trick, don’t you think? You’ll see the Crystal Heart when we reach the castle. There is a feast prepared there for tonight in your honor.”

“Must we go to the feast right away?” Luna asked, unknowingly interrupting and contradicting Celestia, who’d been about to suggest they go to the feast immediately, “I would love to see more of the city first.”

“Of course. I would be more than happy to show you around the empire in the coming days, but if you want a quick tour of the Crystal City now before we eat, that should not pose a problem.”

Emperor Boreal gleefully led the queens around the Crystal City, both he and Luna seemingly unaware that Celestia had no wish to take a tour. She would much rather be at the feast, speaking to lords and ladies of the Crystal Empire and gaining an understanding of the political situation in the realm. She was determined not to let this show and sour her relationship with their host, though. Emperor Borealis seemed so cheerful and overjoyed at having the queens of Equestria as his guests that he probably wouldn’t notice, but one never knew who might be hiding behind a friendly mask. Celestia did not want to jeopardize her chances of uniting Equestria and the Crystal Empire, and despite her talk about the alicorn perception of time differing from that of normal ponies with Luna, Celestia was not a patient creature. Emperor Boreal was a sorcerer, and a powerful one at that. He could easily live another century or more, and Celestia did not want to have to wait until his death before beginning negotiations to unify again.

Luna, for her part, was having a grand time both touring the Crystal City and later at the feast. After five and a half centuries as ruler of Equestria, she was delighted to experience a new place that was utterly different from what she was accustomed to. She also found herself enjoying the company of the emperor. It was surprising to her, because she’d half expected Emperor Boreal to be the same as other mages over the years who’d tried to follow the sisters' lead and create kingdoms for themselves. More often than not, they were brutal tyrants, like the warlock Rap’stuk that Boreal had replaced. He had to have been at least a hair better than Rap’stuk for the crystal ponies to have welcomed him, but even a moderate improvement still wouldn’t have made a very decent pony. Speaking to Boreal and seeing his empire thrive reminded her of the early days when she and Celestia had begun their reigns. She was the emperor’s near-constant conversation partner during the feast—something she didn’t even realize and something Celestia couldn’t fail to recognize or grow irritated about.

***

That night, Luna looked out over the city from one of the Crystal Castle’s balconies. It was not the main balcony near the throne room from which the emperor would make pronouncements to his subjects, but neither was it the balcony attached to Celestia and Luna’s rooms. The younger of the queens had left her sister sleeping in order to explore the castle on her own, greeting the night guards on their rounds who likely never saw a living pony during their shifts other than each other.

A glow came from many of the homes throughout the city, the crystal illuminated from within by candles or fires. Luna was surprised by how many ponies were still awake, judging by the lights, but it was a pleasant surprise. It also allowed her enough light to make out the streets of the Crystal City, spider-webbing out from the castle. Six main streets stretched away from the royal home to the six gates of the city wall, with branches at several points of the paths that made a map of the city look like a snowflake so long as you left out the twisting, winding, unplanned warrens that ran between the main thoroughfares.

“Enjoying the view?” Emperor Boreal asked from behind her.

Luna had heard him approach, his hooves ringing against the stone floor that looked like it had been carved from topaz. Still, she’d expected it was a guard about his rounds, not the emperor himself. She turned to face him, the stars in her mane drifting as she did. Boreal had removed his crown, though it was still possible to see the imprints in his mane from wearing it all day.

“Yes,” Luna replied, “Although, I am a bit disappointed there aren’t any aurorae out tonight. I’ve heard of them and was hoping to see some for myself.”

“Well, with a night sky as beautiful as the one tonight, I wouldn’t dream of covering it up with aurorae. My astronomers are very excited; they say there hasn’t been a sky so vivid in two centuries.”

Luna blushed as Boreal complimented her sky. Perhaps she had gone a bit overboard tonight, but the day had inspired her to give her best. Two centuries? Has it been that long since I’ve taken passion in designing the night sky, or just so long since I’ve considered the sky outside of Equestria? Luna had to admit that she rarely considered anymore how her sky would appear to those not within her own kingdom. Were there non-Equestrians who still looked with wonder up at the star-scape? It seemed to her that her own subjects shunned her night, disappearing into their homes as soon as Celestia’s sun set. When she looked out over the Crystal City, though, she’d seen signs that many were still awake. Were they awake to witness her night?

“Wait … you wouldn’t dream of covering up the night sky?” Luna asked as something else the emperor had said occurred to her, “You control the aurorae?”

“I create them, of course,” Emperor Boreal said, surprised that Luna had not known, “They are the aurorae borealis, after all.”

“Oh, I see,” Luna said, feeling foolish.

“If you would like to see some, I could oblige you,” Boreal offered.

“And what about covering up the night sky?” Luna asked.

“Hmm,” Boreal said as he trotted up to the edge of the balcony.

Luna joined him as he concentrated on the night sky, gazing up thoughtfully. She thought that perhaps he’d misunderstood her jab as being serious and wouldn’t be conjuring up any aurorae, until she sensed the beginning of a spell. He started small, wisps of glowing light appearing in the heavens, weaving around the swaths of stars that hovered above. Boreal kept things small at first, but quickly increased the complexity of the aurorae as he became more confident. The glowing banners of light he conjured in the sky did not obscure Luna’s stars, but rather complemented them. Gazing up, it was like seeing a dance in the heavens, Boreal’s aurorae flitting around Luna’s stars. From time to time, sounds of appreciation from below drifted up with the breeze, coming from lit and unlit buildings alike.

Luna watched Boreal as he drew a dazzling display in the heavens without breaking a sweat, attentive nevertheless that his own imprint on the sky would not outshine or overshadow Luna’s own handiwork. The Crystal Empire was magnificent to Luna, as was its emperor. A handsome sorcerer and respectable ruler who also appreciated Luna’s night as she had begun to fear that only she did anymore. She had begun to feel so alone, only to find that she wasn’t alone. Was it any wonder that she fell for him?