To Chase The Shadows of Redemption

"What do you mean Celestia isn't here?! I came all the way to Canterlot just to see her!"

The frazzled guard really hadn't been expecting the student of Princess Celestia to be taking out her frustrations on him.

"It means exactly what I just said. She's currently away, and we cannot tell you where she is."

Before Twilight go get back into him, another voice spoke up.

"Who isn't here?"

Both Twilight and the guard turned to see a white earth pony with a brownish mane approaching.

"Raven Inkwell! It's been a while since I've seen you, do you know where Celestia is?"

"I do. Walk with me."

They both started on a journey whose destination was unknown to Twilight.

"The princess has left to check on the progress of Equestria's newest city of "Oblatio", which she has named recently."

"It really came at the worst time, and I was really hoping to see her too after coming here..."

"Twilight, I think both of us know that perhaps she needs a little reprieve from all of the stress lately. A little leave from here will do her a lot of good. I even heard she's putting on a few touches of herself on the new city, how wonderful is that? Anything to get her mind off of things"

"Yeah, you're probably right. Do you have any idea how long it'll be until she gets back?"

"She did speak with me briefly before leaving. She said it was likely it'd be either later tomorrow or the morning after that."

Twilight stopped, so Raven followed suit.

"I still just can't... believe what I've heard about what happened with the griffins. It's just so surreal. I can't even imagine the chaos all the leadership here must be facing. What Celestia must be facing... she was the one who was targeted after all."

"Yes, everyone has been stunned as you say. The griffins have already declared war on us firstly, before we could. That hasn't gone public yet, but it will be soon. Celestia will be giving a speech on it soon that will be spread and relayed to the entire nation. So don't worry about it being some big secret."

"Wow... it's that bad. I heard of it in Ponyville and it still hasn't sunk in. There hasn't been war in centuries for goddess sake! This is beyond crazy!"

"You're telling me. We're all still desperate to figure out why they tried this after all. It doesn't make any sense. Did they get greedy when Celestia went alone? We know griffin's can be short-sighted but this is something else. They should've known better than to doubt the capabilities of an ageless alicorn, surprised or not."

"Is it... is it really true Celestia plans to lead our forces herself?"

"It is. I believe she strongly wants to end the conflict as swiftly as possible and with as few casualties as possible for both sides. Using the most of her power to overwhelm them into submission is almost certainly the best way of achieving that."

"But she's our princess! She's the last one who should be fighting, she's..."

"She's the one who makes the decision in the end, Twilight, she always has been. I'm sure several ministers tried that alley only to receive the slamming conviction of Celestia to finish something that started in a personal manner for her. That was enough to shut them up for good on that topic."

"Again, you're right." She sighed. "It's too much, everything that's been happening. I need to speak to her soon, make sure she's okay..."

"You will get your chance Twilight. Why don't you stay until tomorrow? This is obviously important enough to you. I'll have a room prepared."

"You know what, I'll have to take you up on that offer. Thanks, Raven. Really."

They both smiled.

"I'm sure Celestia will be beyond happy to see you when she returns."

In the deeper recess of the castle, in a room not recently receiving much attention, Rosebud sat in quiet contemplation by a bedside, like always with the chair pulled out.

A small rag was smeared with blood laying in her lap. It had dried several times, with the most recent batch soaking a portion of it.

Luna had started coughing up blood recently. Celestia had yet to know of this, and Rosebud, for once in her life, had actually hesitated on reporting something to her on her own accord. She knew how much pressure was on her mentally already. Would it really be right for her to add on to that? She would've reported it if Celestia had asked her directly, but she had not. It was truly a relief that she was so busy as to not do so.

Even if it meant that Celestia was eventually angry at her, she still believed this was the right way to handle things. Celestia needed to stay focused on saving Luna, worrying would only slow that down and lessen chances. Odds that they didn't have the leeway to allow to worsen.

Many hairs on Luna had grayed by this point, probably around thirty to fourty percent. It was a slow process, but it was agonizing for Rosebud to see it slowly creep up day by day attending to this pony. She was being forced to watch the worlds slowest funeral procession.

If one hadn't paid attention, you wouldn't notice that her breathing had gotten slightly more strained as well. Rosebud was not the kind of pony to miss those kinds of details, but sometimes she wished she was.

She was surprised that the researchers hadn't really come back much at all. No visits in the past two weeks now. Probably in shame at how futile their effort was, and she could relate with the pain and disappointment of coming up short. It was not something you actively wanted to think about.

She had originally been uncaring and apathetic about Luna when she had first been assigned this additional duty. She couldn't help it, she really had nothing other than her being Celestia's sister to care.

She would be lying if hearing the soft stories of the past from Celestia during the lost hours of the day hadn't changed the feeling in her heart. So few times did Celestia ever break character from the standard ruler picturesque, even around those she was closer to. Hearing her talk about the days of the past and sharing them with Luna had been the most sincere and emotional she had ever heard her speak in this room.

It was hard to spend this much time around a pony in clear decline and be so unable to do anything. Even a trained pony like Rosebud felt it. She never really showed it much, but it bothered her. She had grown attached to some degree.

Sighing, she made to go finish the rest of her duties before any pony started questioning why she was gone for so long. She may have intimidated the group of maids, but that didn't mean they didn't speak behind her back.