As The Sun Sets

Dear Princess Cadance

I'm sorry if I'm not doing this right. I know your full title is a little longer than that, but Point Flare said the update letter was meant to be informal... except she also didn't give any real instructions, she seemed really grumpy and upset with you, did you two have a fight?

I haven't written a letter in a long time, no family to speak of-EXCEPT! I'm sure you heard that Rip accepted my proposal? Thank you for letting us go out to celebrate, I know we're all criminals, but between you and me, I never really cared for dangerous magic like the rest of my friends; even Kayfur, though he's adamant he's just around. Anyways, thank you for letting us go out, it meant so much to me, and Rip was totally flabbergasted (That's a word Quick Silver uses a lot), It's hard to surprise him, and his face was priceless.

First of all, it was not, and second, yes, thank you Princess.

I'm sure you can tell the difference between my mouth writing and Riptide's 'wind magic' writing, but me and him are writing this together. Point Flare asked us to.

On that note, now's a good time to explain 'wind' magic and why my penponyship is atrocious. Silver's been teaching Misty about emotion magic, Pointy is learning 'elementalism' and me and Kayfur are learning about World magic.

I tried to learn world magic with Rip and Kayfur, but it didn't click with me like it did them. Silver has me working the books side of Tack & Co. It's actually really interesting work. I've never seen the framework that Silver taught me, but it's almost cool how you can see all the numbers moving around when you have all the papers in front of you. Numbers being cool is strange, but Silver has a way of making it fun to learn.

So, my penponyship, Silver has me manipulating everything with my wings, and by wings I mean by magic. The same effect as unicorn telekinesis, but with wind. She gave me a special quill that's aerodynamic and sensitive to the magic; she said it was a training tool pegasi used to use.

World magic is all weird and stuff, but I think I have a pretty good way of explaining it. You're like a crystal conduit. Like how some unicorns store spells in enchanted gems, or how those magic torches stay lit all the time, magic is alive, and it wants to do stuff all the time, that's why when there's nopony to take care of the sky, wild weather starts to form. It's a build up of World magic, and when there's enough of it, we get wild storms and tornadoes and all of those kinds of things.

By being a conduit, you do things for the magic. It's how pegasi can make it rain; the magic in the clouds wants to rain, and that's why you need more magic to make a non-raincloud rain, and why you need more magic to make a cloud rain when it doesn't want to yet.

But all of that is instinct, that's what Silver said. Like how most unicorns can tell how to cast their first few spells, and spells related to their special talent, it's just something all ponies know how to do without words. Some pegasi are good with lightning, wind, water, snow, ect. Some earth ponies are good with trees, tiny plants, animals, wayfaring, etc. Silver says that World magic and Cutie Mark magic are very similar, which is why they overlap all the time; except she calls it 'Destiny' magic rather than Cutie Mark magic.

The best way I can explain doing it is kinda like convincing whatever magic you're trying to get a hold of that you'll do what it wants. When you stomp on a raincloud, it's instinctive pegasus magic. For something like manipulating wind, there's a lot of mental and wing exercises to get into the right frame of mind to know how to articulate my feathers to make the wind move the way I want it too. It's the same thing with snow, and with water, all of the magic gets a feel for you, and you get a feel for it.

Silver showed me how it works with a storm once, we took a trip out to a tiny pier town somewhere south. It was storming, and there wasn't anypony around, so Silver called out to the storm. I guess I've always known that the sky and the storms and everything are slightly alive. No two clouds feel the same, they all have their own attitudes, and sometimes a cloud will be flighty or lazy, but I've never seen something feel so alive. When she started working the storm, the winds and rain shifted around her like they were trying to fight each other and her.

She made lightning zap really particular spots, she made gusts of wind blow rain into balls of water that spun around in the air, and she made an invisible gusting tornado pick her up off the ground and fly her around without her wings flapping at all.

She said it takes three things. Surety of intention, strength of will, and depth in character. The storm wanted to consume her, but she knew exactly what she wanted, had a stronger will than the storm, and when the storm reached inside to see if she could handle its power, it found space to spare. Exactly like enchanted gems, they need to be able to hold all of the energy, the spell in them has to be precise, (or it won't work every time and it'll wear down) and the pony using the gem to cast the stored spell needs to know what they're doing, or it won't even start to work.

So I'm writing with wind, and it's really cool. I'm really glad you want us to teach at your school Princess Cadance, with everything we've learned from Silver, I feel like we could write whole books about dark magic.

And that's pretty much it. I asked Kayfur if he wanted to tell you about crystal magic, but he just shrugged and said you could ask him yourself, and I told him that you basically did, and he rolled his eyes and walked away. He's pretty grumpy, I'm sure you remember, but he's also really good at crystal magic. Silver doesn't even bother to teach him things unless she remembers stuff, all he's been doing for weeks is practicing, and making all the gems for Silver.

Thank you again Princess, I know I'm not learning any groundbreaking magic, but I know how I could have lost all of my friends, and never had the chance to propose to Riptide had you not sent us here instead of prison.

Hematite also wrote you a letter but... It's mostly chemistry jargon that I don't understand. I'm pretty sure she's been trying to discover a way to turn... spinny things into magic, but that's crazy, nonetheless, I put all the charts she gave me into the special envelope Silver gave us, so that's what those are.

Princess Luna's Perspective

One more paper to throw over into the bin.

It was maddening how much paper ponies used nowadays.

Back when Luna was on the fronts, when Equestria was still in its infancy, paper was a commodity more valuable than a good keg of wine. Of course, maybe not to the soldiers, but to her and the rest of the officers, a good map that wouldn't wear away, or papers to keep names and notes, not to mention keeping track of supplies. She knew a mare who never wrote anything down, and could always remembe-

I smeared ink all over that.

Luna frowned at the parchment covered in ink. She set the inkwell she knocked over in her daydreaming back upright, and turned the paper sideways in her telekinesis to try and figure out what was on it.

She shrugged, and with a flash of magic, the paper disappeared in a wave of heat.

It's not like it hadn't been to Celestia's desk already. Most of these papers had. The vast majority were second fires to Luna to hope she'd sign off on them.

Funny... You'd think a Diarchy would require both royal pony sister signatures, but no. Only one.

Luna hadn't been in her office for nearly a week, and she definitely didn't want to be there. She had no problems with her office, she just wanted to be somewhere else. That, and all of this paperwork felt demeaning; but it was work and she was a Princess, it was her responsibility, and she definitely was going to do it all and not go run off to the barracks to play cards until it was time for Luna to lower the moon.

She hadn't been thinking about that the whole time. She was paying attention to what she was signing and not signing.

Indeed

Luna snorted.

Then she sighed, after some time had passed.

After even longer, her head slammed down into the desk.

"uuuuuuuuuuuuuugh."

Give me a monster to fight. Please. Anything but this torture.

Almost as if on cue, Luna heard hoofsteps. She felt the teleportation into the hallway long before the noise actually reached her ears. It made her wonder why Celestia would bother teleporting several lengths from the door, rather than just teleporting straight into the office.

Probably another one of those 'unwritten rules' of the modern era I am unaware of.

At least it was something to focus on. She waited until Celestia daintily knocked on her door.

"Enter." Luna called out.

Celestia stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

Closed.

Luna wasn't sure exactly how many spells Celestia had cast to seal the room, but...

I'd be surprised if Discord could scry into here now.

Luna sat up, and furrowed her brow, Celestia had come in wielding nothing but an envelope and a parchment. Her face was as fake as it always was, except for the crease of concern running across her mouth, and the way her wings were imperceptibly about to unfold.

Celestia's voice rang out, the acoustics in Luna's office were perfect for a voice like hers. "Sister, you should really turn a light on in here. It's nearly pitch black."

"Both of us can see without any issue." Luna monotoned.

Celestia tried to fool Luna with a smile. "Yes, but what if somepony else needed to speak with you."

Luna rolled her eyes. "Right. Then I'd speak with them outside of my office." A beat passed, "Satisfied?"

"Is there a reason you're being so snippy?" Celestia joked.

Luna frowned and crossed her front hooves. "What did you need me for?"

"Can't we catch up for a moment?" She asked, "We don't have to get directly into business."

Luna didn't budge, both in pose and in tone. "I'd rather get all of this busy work done as quickly as possible."

"Right..." Celestia said slowly, "Right! How is your double life going?"

Luna narrowed her eyes. The question sounded innocent, like it was a genuine question. Except the word choice was so particular. Celestia repetitively used words in such orders to occasionally make jokes, since words would mean different things than Luna expected. It made it impossible to tell what she was saying half the time, and despite her encouragement and adamance that it was just to help Luna learn all of the most recent important lingo...

Luna just felt like she was the butt of the joke.

"Alright." Luna slowly answered after a moment. She wanted to say how much better it was than being a Princess, but she didn't. She was still trying to figure out what was going on, that, and she wasn't very interested in telling Celestia to begin with.

Celestia waited for Luna to continue.

When she didn't, she sighed and levitated the paper to the desk. Her tone lowered, like it always did when she was being serious. It's funny, her voice was pitched and had a kind of feminine timber to it in public. In the pony, Celestia could have been mistaken for a stallion, if not for the overt marish nature of herself. "Our... fraying relationship aside. Read this."

Luna took the paper in her own aura, and immediately recognized the horn writing and empiric seal. Luna didn't start reading, she looked over the letter at Celestia. "Cadance?"

Celestia's frown deepened, "Just read it. You'll see."

Luna did so.

Dear Princess Celestia.

As you well know, I have been ruling The Crystal Empire for a long time now. Since my stay here, I have noticed numerous things. Both benefits, bonuses, maluses, particulars. Everything. I've tried very hard to be a good Princess to these ponies, and majoritively?

I failed.

The crystal ponies themselves, the heart of the Empire, are fraying away. Did you know that there have been no new little crystal foals running around? We've been keeping track. The crystal ponies are terrified of the world, they're all waiting for everything to change again, and I waltzed in thinking that just because we defeated Sombra, everything would go back to normal. Largely, the only reason the Empire functioned at all was because of the strength of the crystal ponies. They put on a brave face, through trauma and pains and

They were slaves. Slaves, Celestia, less than two years ago. The entire world has changed. Most of them barely speak Ponish, and while the lessons worked for most ponies, there's still hooffulls who don't want to learn about the newer world.

All of that being said. I've made the decision to announce the Crystal Empire's sovereignty from the Equestrian Crown during the Crystal Solstice, this upcoming week. There'll be new immigration laws, of course, there will be tax changes, and we'll have to sort through a lot of legislation, but my team is already working the numbers, and I'll have something cohesive for your desk before I make the announcement. This is the only thing I can think of to turn the direction of the Empire back towards the heart of the problem. The Crystal Ponies need hope in a future that's theirs.

I was reminded, recently, by a friend, of something you told me once.

'Wisdom is oxymoronic. As one becomes wiser, you only simply realize that wisdom is for fools.'

This is happening. It's the right choice, and I'm asking you to trust me on this. I'm sorry I can't give you more warning, I'm sorry, I know it doesn't seem like there's justification for this, but I need you to trust me. I wish I had time to talk more to you about things that weren't... this... but duty calls.

Love,
Cadance

Luna set the paper down gently, with a thoughtful look.

That was only on the outside though. On the inside, Luna only had one smirking thought.

'Tis about time.

"It's clear to me..." Celestia started, "that this... experiment with Quick Silver has run its course, and this is the result."

Luna steepled her hooves. "I fail to see how those... how this has anything to do with that."

"Luna, please." Celestia took a few more steps towards the desk. Her wings ruffled. "You know how h- she weasels her way into your head. Plants ideas and makes things happen around you. Cadance would have never tried something like this without Silver, she definitely wouldn't've been so bold, and she absolutely wouldn't've thought I'd ever let something like this slide. It's Silver, she's done something, or gotten to Cadance, or something."

Luna tried to remain stoic, "And? What do you want me to do?"

"Put a stop to it." Celestia said, "It's clear Cadance can't handle Silver, so that's that. Experiment over. She can't be reformed, we need to catch her now and stop her before she damages more of the Empire or poisons Cadance any further."

"Poisons?" Luna responded incredulously, "What about this is bad? Exactly?"

"What about this is-!? Luna! Sovereignty from the Equestrian crown!? Do you know how much food we send them on the month? If we start having to tax those exports because it's a foreign power, that's international law, by the way, it'll cost the Empire so many bits, ponies will starve. Do you remember eight eighty seven? Do you want that?"

Luna leaned forwards and half stood, "Those situations are not the same. I can't believe you're not treating this with a level head, this could very easily be the boon the ponies there need to get back on their hooves."

"I don't understand how you're not freaking out over it!" Celestia spun around while waving a hoof, "Silver's hooves are all over this Luna, you know how she is, she'd burn Equestria down for a pun if she thought it was funny enough."

"Well I actually trust Silver-" Celestia opened her mouth, but Luna cut her off, "but far more importantly, I trust in Cadance's skill to deal with her." Despite the context, Cadance had fought monsters with Luna. They'd stood up to Tirek together, and more and more, Luna found herself drawn to Cadance's dreams if only so they could talk. Cadance was Luna's sister in arms, confidant, and friend.

She would be verbally defended, on Luna's honor.

"How can you say that when-" Celestia put her hoof down on the desk, displaying impossible speed to point at the paper that rest there. "Cadance is serving up the Empire on a platter of Order to the world? I've seen their economics, the-"

"I'm sorry, how? Exactly did you do that?"

Celestia stopped in confusion, "Do what?"

"The Empire's economics should be private information, even from you."

"..."

"Celestia."

Celestia shook her head, "Don't patronize me. I promised to go along with your little plan to release Dusk and pretend like I didn't know. You promised that you'd keep an eye on them, that we'd keep an eye on them. I haven't heard anything from you, so I've had to put forth the extra hoofwork."

"Espionage does not count as 'hoofwork'" Luna said with hoof based air quotes.

Celestia ran a hoof down her muzzle. "This isn't an argument Luna. Cadance has gone too far by the influence of Silver. This situation is untenable. Shut it down, or I will."

Luna knew Celestia could kill Silver. Demons, creatures, ponies and gods alike had tried to kill the mare. All had failed due to a pesky little curse made by Discord. Celestia knew how to break it, Silver had created the base, and Celestia had worked it out over a thousand years.

"So that's it then?" Luna snarked, "Is that how easy it was for you to cull the rest of the immortals?"

Celestia's right ear flicked, and her expression darkened.

"It was not easy."

Luna turned away from the hurt in her tone. The dual meaning of the statement was not lost on her. "You can't."

"If Silver proves, which she's done, that she isn't willing to be reformed. Then it's the spell." Celestia stated with more pressure. "There's no other option."

"We could wait."

"For the Empire to collapse? For ponies to starve? For Silver to find some way around it? For any horrible thing that could happen?" Celestia shook her head, "I don't think so. There has to be a line" Celestia tapped the paper again, "this is it."

Luna looked down at the letter.

I believe in you Cadance.

"No."

Celestia blinked.

"That is all." Luna stood. "You can take your ultimatums and aggression and violence to a mare who's as lost as you are. That is, you can take it to Discord. Maybe he'll have some advice for you. Cadance can do this, I don't understand how you could overlook that." Luna didn't give her sister the chance to respond. She teleported out into the gardens.

She took a deep breath, and fought a shiver of fear that ran down her spine.

That look.

Her sister had genuinely considered...

She...

Luna shook her head and lit her horn.

In the next couple of moments, Luna was gone.

Selene didn't have to worry about any of what just happened, she just had to worry about winning her bits back from Hallow before the moon went down.

Celestia's Perspective

Silence filled the ornate office as Luna teleported away.

Countless spells wove their way through Celestia's mind on instinct, desperately intending to stop her sister, but Celestia willed them all down. Her horn didn't spark, even consumed by hate as she was. To an outside observer, nothing happened, and Celestia smiled at the empty space. Fate itched at the back of her mind, calling for something she had yet to do.

"This plan of yours better work, Silver."