To Chase The Shadows of Redemption

Word had spread around Canterlot quickly of the impending visit of the emperor from the griffin kingdom, and Canterlot was abuzz with it all around. Celestia's invite had inspired much curiosity.

As much to have had dominated the larger part of tonight's dinner at the private little soiree at the Rosy Iris, one of the premier restaurants for the aristocracy of Canterlot.

Maverick, and a hodgepodge of other ministers along with other officials and business ponies were attending. It was a common thing now, and allowed for incredibly flexible open communication that you wouldn't normally get through normal channels. If you had said that the entirety of Equestrian planning had spawned from a single gathering at some quaint restaurant, most would've laughed. Maverick would not, even if it was not entirely true. It never would be as long as a white alicorn never knew or attended. Or maybe she did know, but chose to ignore it anyway.

"I must say! It is as if she feels like she has something to prove lately. Are you sure we aren't all missing some big event that sparked this?"

"My my, why must everything always have such a concrete answer? I personally have experienced such fluctuations in motivation and inspiration many times now. One could even say it's a regular part of being an innovator of business. Not so different for a ruler, I assume."

Straight Side and Flawless Venture had always seemed to find a way to be at the forefront of conversations at these little arrangements. Maverick didn't mind it at all. In fact, Flawless in particular often had very interesting outside angles to view politics from, so Maverick had always tried to pay attention when he was in a giving mood.

"Why must we complain? I for one welcome her newfound inspiration. If anything, it gives all of us something to finally prove ourselves beyond the normal measures. Our jobs may be hard, but everything becomes routine at some point. I'm glad for things to be changing. When she allowed us to vote on issues to settle them while she was away was so fascinating compared to her usual deciding hoof. Even if she ended up changing most of it later on her return."

"Must you remind us of that after we embarrassed ourselves questioning her latest judgment? Although I must say even now I do feel a little uneasy about it..."

Maverick had to speak up at that.

"It'll be fine. Celestia has never steered us in the wrong direction. Venture here is going to take a large gist of the burden, do you see him complaining? Besides the normal amount I mean." Several chuckles followed. "But here we all are to discuss what opportunities he's going to gain from this new city. He'll be one of the first to get open access information to begin planning for anything he may be able to use in the future. And we all know how far seeing this auspicious fellow is."

"Yes speaking of this new city, has Celestia named it yet?"

"No, I do believe she has not. It'll probably come up at our next meeting."

"I see. Well I believe it'll be fitting as always."

Her hoof ran through Luna's mane softly for the umpteenth time. It had grown on Celestia to do this. It relaxed her. Made her feel like she could dote on her sister without a care in the world.

Her mane may have lost the magic that once ran through it, but it was still as silky smooth as she remembered it to have been. It was almost greedy, to be able to play with such a suave and perfect thing for so long.

A frown crossed her lips when she noticed that a few of the hairs had started to grey a little. It was only a scant few, and one would only notice if they had looked very carefully. Celestia had, and it wasn't a great feeling at all to have found them.

"Do not worry little sister, I have everything figured out. It is not long now until the griffin emperor arrives and I secure everything I need to help you."

"..."

She sighed.

"Princess?"

Celestia finally turned away from Luna for the first time in twenty minutes. Rosebud had come from the rounds. She came all the way up to the bed and sat next to Celestia.

"She's still beautiful, even after everything I mean."

"... You should've seen her when she was still in her prime. Not this fading version of her."

"Are you—"

"I'm fine, Rose. I've had enough time to get used to seeing her like this."

Celestia turned to look straight at her.

"I have told you about my meeting with Cyrel, right?"

"Yes. Although I have not heard all of the details."

"I'm going to take him to the woodshed my little pony. He won't know what slithered by him. I will provide him with a fair return for it, but he will not know the significance. It shall seem like generosity."

"And what if he is surprisingly protective of his families heritage?"

"And why would he? I have dealt with their kind for a long time now. The chances of him not jumping at this chance to help his kingdom are close to zero. I may not know him very well, but some things never change."

"If it is so. I just wanted to make sure you are ready for anything, princess."

There was a knock on the door. Who could it possibly be at this hour?

"I'll get that."

Celestia paid it little mind despite her curiosity.

Slowly, two pairs of hoofsteps approached and the two figures sat down beside her once again, with a chair being pulled up for Twilight.

"She still looks so peaceful. It's hard to believe there's much wrong at all at times."

"Yes, well, sometimes the surface can be such a shallow thing Twilight..."

They both allowed the quiet to resume.

"I've heard her mumble and shift around earlier while she was here, and even her waking. It is a shame that instead of somepony as attached as you that I got to see her in such vulnerable and precious moments of life" said Rosebud.

"You'll even get to see her laughing, smiling, playing, telling stories, and taking command of life again, I assure you this." Celestia had allowed her expression to strengthen, even if it remained focused solely on her sister.

"As much as I appreciate you coming here unexpected Twilight, I must ask why? You've already done so much for me, but I have already explained to you this recent breakthrough with the griffins. I am absolutely certain I will attain it. My memory has never failed me before. They have it."

"It's not that, princess. We've gone over so much, but I wanted to go over the most personable magic that you've yet to show me."

"And that is?"

"The actual spells you'll be using to revive Luna, I know that you had still been deciding on the specific process."

"Ah." She finally turned to Twilight. "That is no problem. What I am currently spending significant time working on researching and using is one of the magical condensation spells, which will be focused to funnel life energy into the Sanctuary for storage. Think of it like a giant summoning circle with the amethyst at the centre as the point of accumulation. I will have to carve out the markings, but that should be quick with these," she flexed her wings. "That can be done multiple ways. Unfortunately, I will have to destroy a lot of wildlife to accumulate enough energy inside, but I am not taking any risks on not having enough."

"That... makes sense. How will you follow it up?"

"The spell that I've finalized it down to is the Life Convergence spell. It improves self-healing the of the soul and provides with with an overflow of life energy that will be provided by the sanctuary until it is satiated. It basically forces the soul into a regenerative state with unlimited stamina to rebuild its frame and become whole again."

"What if she is unable to switch into that state? Is that even possible princess? I hate to even consider it but we need to cover all the bases."

"Your concern is valid. I had originally envisioned using the spell of divine rebirth. Which is technically the safest and more sure fire way. The problem is that it would take far too long to gather enough energy to even get close to saving her. While it would all but guarantee success, it is all for naught if the timing is impossible. Starswirl only put out the framework, and as far as I know it has never been cast before. A purely hypothetical thing. But it follows a logical line of spell formulation, it is simply the apex which has never been attained."

"When you say rebirth... you don't mean...?"

"Of course not Twilight. It is simply the name. It will not cause Luna to be reset or anything you're probably imagining. It is a truly miraculous and god like spell if I say so myself. In theory the way it simply does an absolute and instantaneous reconstruction of any being, back into prime state is nothing short of divine, just like the namesake says. The method skips so many things we take for granted that it requires something we could never acquire normally, enormous and near unlimited energy that you could only get from masses of advanced life.

"The life I plan on using to save Luna is of low density, but it exists in massive quantities. I will clear a forest to the south, of which the energy of the vegetation isn't dense at all compared to living beings but there is so much of it anyway. Where there is little civilization, and then construct the means of which to absorb all of it in one fell swoop. We can work to bring back the forest later. I will make sure of that. If I feel like it is not enough, I will go to another. There is also another potential step, but I'm unsure if it will be needed, so I will not discuss it right now."

"That's... simply amazing princess. It really is coming all together. I'd love for you to go over the specific designs later if you could."

"Of course we can Twilight." Her smile was soft.

"I'm just glad we finally can see the light at the end of this princess. I know how much it's hurt you to see her like this."

She went to hug her side. Celestia opened her wing and let her in. It was warm. Comforting. What she needed.

"Yes... it's all coming to a head now. Not much longer. I will meet with the griffin's emperor here in Canterlot in two days and that will be that. One last hurdle."