It was a frightening escape. How could it not be? But as Raven found herself floating in midair, suspended by Luna’s magic as below her, she realized it was a fairly quick thing. She was with sturdy company, a Royal Sister (Former Royal Sister?) and a dragon helped keep her safe.

Instead, she stared down at the pit, and her heart sank alongside a not-insignificant part of the castle. The cavern they found was not directly underneath the castle, at least, and so the damage was relegated to the castle entryway and the land leading up to the castle. The rope bridge that had long led to the castle, for all those years, was now at the bottom of the chasm it so recently was suspended above.

Another rumble came from below, and more of the castle collapsed underneath its weight, revealing a few shining crystal roots below it, which seemed to remain sturdy.

From far below, she could see a small blue figure at the entryway to the crystal treehouse, where a faint “what the hay?!” could be heard, the figure gesturing wildly at the hole that was nearly at the entryway to the treehouse.

Raven let out a sigh. At least the others were safe. She shook her head. It could have been worse. She turned her head to see the others were also intact. Luna was even looking at her. "I fear a mistake had been made." Luna lifted up with a powerful flap, bringing the others along. "We should—"

"Stop, don't say it. Don't say a word." Raven sighed deeply.

Luna's horn flickered slightly. "Your regret is very obvious. As is your loyalty." She focused on her flying a moment to get them closer to safe grounds. "We both erred.”

Raven looked to the ground as she was lowered. “But this is my responsibility, isn’t it? We were talking about how this was my call in the cavern specifically.”

Luna shook her head. “There was no way to know things would turn out this way, was there?”
Raven continued to look down, into the chasm. “The scroll was there this whole time, even. The caverns below must have been weakening this whole time, but the scroll kept it secure. This problem has been building, just waiting for the moment to strike.”

Brow furrowed, Luna sat down and allowed Raven to continue.

“I didn’t know this was coming, but it has been. It makes sense.” Raven laid herself down. “Putting all of my hopes on it going smoothly, having no problems… It’s the actions of a fool, isn’t it?”

Luna got back up, and held Raven under her wing. "No more so than being willing to look past one's own blindspot. You were willing to take this risk, and I encouraged it." She raised a hoof towards her chin. "We were accomplices in this foalish behavior. Perhaps, together, we may make our way out of it?"

Raven sniffed softly, before nodding slowly. "I should not have let this happen, but it has. It's happened." She pulled herself upright. "Yes. We shall proceed." She trotted toward the castle.

The dragon huffed softly. "It wasn't my fault." They gave quite the shrug. "Just so we're clear on that."

Raven monitored the damage as she headed back toward the castle. “I see the treehouse seems to be the limit of the damage. I’m not sure why that is, I will need to find a specialist on these kind of collapses, especially to be sure if there are more risks of collapse.”

“What will you do about the entryway?” Luna trotted behind her.

“I’m… not sure.” The collapse area did not look particularly safe, if it was stable at all. Rubble and earth and rocks all mixed randomly in the area. “There’s too much, probably, to fill with more earth or stone. Transporting all of that would be a major issue, and possibly be a problem with the kind of area around here.” She pursed her lips. “Replacing the ground in an area intended to be a historical preserve seems like a bad idea.”

She continued around, looking at the area. “No, the option here is that we probably should fence off this area, certainly until we are sure about its safety, then we probably go around this area for an entrance.”

Scoria looked down into the hole. “You sure it’s safe for ponies to be near a hole like this? I wouldn’t have a problem if I fell down it, but you all are squishy, right?”

“I suppose a… uh…” Raven searched. “A very significant fence, perhaps? A large wall surrounding the pit, so nopony can accidentally stumble into it.” She stared down at the pit herself. “I suppose a construction project going beyond restoration would significantly increase the cost of it, I would have to petition Princess Twili–” she stopped.

She had been sending reports to Princess Twilight Sparkle periodically. It is exactly what Twilight Sparkle would want, and Raven had no intention on disappointing. But this was… not something that a simple report would cover.

Luna nudged Raven slightly. “Twilight Sparkle will surely be understanding of this issue.”

“It’s not just that, Princess.” Raven did not meet Luna’s gaze. “So far all of the dangers have not caused any damage to the property or ponykind. In many ways, the danger was theoretical. But this was a much more significant danger and has caused property damage. We will have to be much more careful about the items now that the danger is real, and the reconstruction and renovation’s costs have just shot through the roof.”

“I’m sure that Twilight Sparkle will not give up on her goal of turning this into a public history. Twilight was not a mare to give up easily.”

“Well…” Raven bit her lip, and looked further away. “It wasn’t precisely Twilight Sparkle whose goal it was to allow for public access. She wanted someone to handle the property, to prepare it for longer-term safety and catalog the items. Some restoration.” She looked up into the sky. “It was my idea to prepare it for easy public visitation.”

Luna looked at the back of Raven.

Raven could feel the stare. "I, I thought it would be better. It would be easier, would attract less attention. After all, you can't have a bunch of ponies traipsing through an unstable ruin, now can you." She let out a little breath. "If you're going to restore an ancient ruin, what would the purpose be other than a museum to remember the past we no longer trot on?"

"Raven. It is alright." Luna reached out a wing but didn't quite touch Raven.

"But, but it is not, is it? I've been projecting onto it, hoping that I could gain something out of it. I've had my share of dealing with Twilight. And I failed, both her, and this project." She turned back to Luna. "Not very—"

Her words never finished, interrupted by Luna grabbing her in an almost smothering hug. In that moment, she was plunged into the night that was Luna's dark pelt. Her heart beat faster as she was pulled in against a surprisingly soft surface, and her eyes widened. She was certain Luna was about to say something, but she did not. She just held Raven there for a moment that felt like it went on forever.

Pulling her head back, Raven huffed heavy breaths. “I–” she began, her words hitching. She took a deep breath, then a few more. “I shouldn’t have. This was not my idea, it was not my duty to take it further. It should be about the project, not me.”

Luna smiled weakly. “We always want something from the things we do. Isn’t that just what people do? You can’t do the project without you, after all.”

“I just wanted… to show that I had more to give. That my expertise remained valuable and I could press a project like this onward…” She steaded herself, turning around. “That I could remain useful in the face of this.”

“You know that Twilight Sparkle would not discard you. Surely not after something like this, not under her control.”

“That’s what I tho–” Raven almost finished that statement. She looked up at Luna. Luna’s eyes were concerned, worried, a small smile of encouragement on her face. She was doing her best to comfort and encourage her.

Raven couldn’t possibly say what she had been thinking. It’s not something she should say to anyone, but this mare here… was possibly the worst mare to say this to in the entirety of Equestria. If Luna knew the terrible selfishness inside Raven’s thoughts… something so close… Something so unreasonable to feel.

Well, Luna wouldn’t be offering her compassion for that.

“You’re right,” Raven said, looking away from Luna.

Luna frowned.

“Let’s get going,” Raven turned to keep walking toward the castle. “There’s more to survey.”

“No, no,” Luna said, her voice sharper moving forward to block her off. “It’s been a dangerous day, it’s a fine time for a break.”

“There’s more work to do, there’s damage to track, there’s rubble to categorize, there’s areas to examine, there’s ponies and griffons and hippogryphs and dragons to inform, there is so much work, this is an emergency.”

“All of that can wait,” Luna resumed her softer tone. “We can talk to Twilight’s students, then we can come back to survey the data later, with an expert in tow.”

“... I have to be able to tell Princess Twilight something.” Raven’s uncertain eyes were replaced with something else.

There was a pause of Luna thinking. “There can be a preliminary report, but without an expert’s eyes would you be able to gather all of the information you need to tell her what you think with confidence.”

Raven looked down in thought. “No… I suppose not.” She looked back up. “Fine, I will talk with Twilight’s students. Get some basic information and a preliminary report. Come back with a specialist, give her a detailed report ASAP, so that we can convene later.”

Luna nodded. “Excellent.”

Raven was already trotting away toward the students, eager to get the taste of her own thoughts out of her mouth.

Luna sat by, watching her walk away.

“Well that was a helluva conversation,” Scoria piped in from behind. “Nobody yelled or anything but it was crazy tense. Is that how ponies have arguments?”

Luna turned to face the dragon, with a shake of her head. "Well, you could argue that it was merely a discussion."

"That's how discussions go?" Scoria narrowed her eyes. "Ponies are kinda odd." She spread her wings wide. "Well, if there's no treasure waiting for me, and nothing to dig, we're done, right?"

Luna nodded, with a soft smile. "Indeed, our mission is concluded. Your service was exemplary."

Scoria snorted. "Yeah, I guess so. Let me know when there's something exciting to do, huh?" And with a gust of air, the dragon took to the skies, in a somewhat hesitant flight, not sure what direction to head in, but quickly she disappeared.

Luna’s smile faded, a serious expression on her face instead. She saw Raven out ahead, holding a conversation with the griffon student. She was all business again, a consummate professional, even as Luna had cautioned rest. She would assuredly work herself too late on the paperwork they were talking about, burning the midnight oil.

Luna sighed herself, clearing her expression and following Raven.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay, but we're still going! Things could have gone better there.

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