One More Round


“So, as you can see, Your Highness, without an increase of two to three degrees in average temperature, orange and other citrus crops in the area will have a much tougher time surviving the coldest parts of the Winter season, which are obviously…”

The pony at the front of the petition line was still talking. He had been rambling on for nearly ten minutes now, though Celestia had stopped actively listening about seven minutes ago. “...Of course, I don’t doubt for a minute that Her Grace is already aware of this, but as a representative of the Tailahassee Farmer’s Association, I would be remiss in my duties…”

[i]’Wow, he’s really turning on the charm this time around.’[/i] Celestia mused as she continued to display nothing but her full and rapt attention to the pale yellow stallion before her. Lime Twist was almost a regular fixture in the Day Court from the end of Summer to the first day of Winter, and every year, he made the same requests for warmer temperatures and more sunlight over the southern regions of Equestria.

Celestia feigned ignorance of it, but she was well aware that some among the palace staff had started an annual betting pool to guess how many times Lime would be seen in the petitioner’s queue that year. She never played, of course, as gambling would be seen as an unseemly activity for the crown to participate in. But nopony would bat an eye if her seneschal got in on the fun. [i]’Note to self, give Evernote ten bits and ask her to bet on six appearances this year.’[/i]

At the edge of her hearing, she caught Lime Twist segue into the last part of his well-worn speech. Celestia could almost recite the entire thing by now - including the parts that he always conveniently left out; the financial impact to ski and sled resorts further North, or the all but guaranteed flooding that would occur in rival citrus growing regions further upriver from Tailahassee if she blindly accelerated the snow melt as he was requesting.

“And that, Your Majesty, concludes my humble request on this day.” Lime Twist swept into a low bow as he spoke. “I am most grateful for this time to speak before you, Princess, and I look forward to your response to this most important of matters.”

“Thank you, Lime Twist, for bringing your request to me, and I do indeed recognize its importance to you and the other farmers in your region.” Celestia’s poker face was in full effect, though in her mind, she may as well have been reading from a set of cue cards. “I will discuss the matter with my weather experts here in Canterlot, as well as the Weather Chief in Cloudsdale, but rest assured that we will do what we can to boost your crops’ health during the Winter months ahead. You should be hearing from us within the month.”

Lime Twist bowed with such flair, he nearly tipped himself over his muzzle. “A thousand thanks, Your Majesty! We are blessed by your attention to our pli-”

“No need for all of that, Mister Twist,” she cut him off a bit to hurry him along. “Thank you again for coming.” Thankfully, he got the hint and shuffled off to the exit on the left side of the throne room, and Celestia quietly sighed in relief when the heavy twin doors closed behind him. 

She was about to call for the next petitioner when she felt a slight buzz in the base of her horn. Seconds later, a small scroll popped into existence in front of her. A golden glow wrapped around it immediately, and Celestia looked the scroll over. [i]’Hmm, Twilight usually doesn’t send reports until later in the da-’[/i] Her thoughts trailed off when she noticed the seal affixed to the scroll. A shimmering, iridescent ribbon wrapped around the scroll before coming to a perfect bow shaped tie at the exact edge of the parchment. Celestia already knew what this was, and where it had originated from. But there was a protocol to follow, and she had to be sure.

Celestia looked out to the throne room, where about a half-dozen ponies still remained in the petitioners’ queue. “Excuse me, everypony, this will just take a moment.” She paid no attention to the quiet chatter that sprung up to fill the momentary pause, focusing all of her attention on the scroll that hovered in front of her. 

As she expected, a silver wax seal adorned the top of the colorful ribbon, marked with an intricate depiction of a pocket watch. A small burst of magic lifted the wax seal and unrolled the scroll, the inside of which appeared to be completely blank. Celestia closed her eyes, took a calming breath, and quietly called upon a spell that she had only used twice before in her entire existence.

“Nulla tempus non revelaret secreta.”

A faint yellow glow enveloped the scroll, and the familiar shape of the pocket watch emerged like a watermark from within the parchment. The glow changed from yellow to blue before tracing a single line of text into the parchment: [i]‘Closing time at sundown. Don’t be late.’[/i]

[i]’So it is time once again...’[/i] Celestia re-sealed the scroll and tucked it under her wing before standing to face the small crowd still in the throne room. “My ponies, I am sorry, but I must end court early today, as a rather pressing matter needs to be attended to. See Evernote if you’d like to be placed at the front of tomorrow’s list, or you can always bring your petitions to my dear Sister when she opens the Night Court in a few hours.”

The gathered ponies hastily bowed as Celestia descended her throne and headed directly towards the small but comfortably-appointed office that was attached to the throne room. The door had barely closed behind her before she began casting the required teleportation spell.

[hr]

A burst of golden light appeared over the landscape and rather unceremoniously dumped the princess out onto her rump. “Again?! Ugh, I don’t think I’ll ever manage to land that one on my hooves.”

Some more muttered curses accompanied her rather un Princess-like attempt to stand and re-adjust her regalia. Her appearance restored, she surveyed her surroundings - or the complete lack thereof.

Everything around her was bright white; so white, that even Celestia’s eyes had to squint a bit to compensate. It was impossible to tell ground from sky, or even find a horizon line. She took a few steps on what she assumed was passing for the ground at the moment, though on previous trips, she had made similar assumptions, only to discover that the ground was actually the ceiling, or a wall, or really nothing at all.

She spread her wings and took to the air, rising what she felt was twenty or so lengths into the air. [i]’Well, I’m still right-side up, so at least I won’t have to fly upside-down this time.’[/i] she thought as she lowered herself to the ground. The place she was looking for would not be far, that much she knew. Celestia had been here thrice before, and each time, it was in a different place than the last. [i]’If place and direction even mean anything here.’[/i]

As if on cue, the ground shifted beneath Celestia’s hooves. “Ah! What the blazes?” she tried to jump in the air again, but found herself unable to move. The ground shifted again, reversing directions beneath her wide-eyed stare. The ground rippled as it accelerated faster and faster, turning into a blur of motion that sent Celestia’s ethereal mane billowing behind her head.

She looked up from the ground to ward off a sense of dizziness when she spotted a dark dot in the distance. The ground continued to rush around her, and the dot quickly began to take on the outline of a solid structure. Celestia knew then where she was being led to, and she muttered another small curse into the void. “For buck’s sake, I’m not even close to running late…”

Moments later, the ground slowed its frantic motion, and the structure came into full view mere feet in front of her. The wooden building was plain on the outside, with two dusty windows framing a plain brown door. Two wooden steps led up to a small front porch, where a pair of rickety-looking rocking chairs swayed in a breeze that she could not feel. It reminded Celestia of the old saloons she had seen when she last visited Appaloosa.

A small sign hanging from the underside of the awning swung lazily, despite the lack of wind at that moment. Celestia looked up to the sign as she ascended to the porch and chuckled. “Last Call Saloon? Good to see they haven’t lost their sense of humor.” The door opened with a wave of her magic, and Celestia stepped off of a dusty porch… And into a smoky lounge.

“Wow, they really fixed this place up…” Celestia said as she surveyed the room. Instead of creaky tables and crooked chandeliers, she gazed out across dozens of plush booths and linen-covered tables, and brass light fixtures that glowed as much from the light gems inside of them as the mirror shine on their faces. Not far from her, a gleaming black piano played a tune on its own, as if an invisible pony sat at its keys.

Marble tiles carved a path between sections of dark blue carpet towards a massive mahogany bar, behind which was the pony she was there to see. [i]’Should be a pony, anyway… Assuming he’s not masquerading as one of those weird bipeds again.’[/i] she added in her mind. Celestia took a deep breath and let it out slowly, silently thanking Princess Cadance for showing her that trick years ago.

The figure behind the bar called to her as she approached. “You know, for a being that controls the sun, you sure do cut it close on deadlines.”

“I prefer to think of it as being punctual.” Celestia returned the little barb with a smile as she slid into one of the chairs near the middle of the bar. “The better question though, Chronos, is why they let you serve the drinks again. I think we both remember what happened when you made your ‘Wibbly Wobbly Punch’.”

Chronos just smiled as he grabbed a glass in his bright yellow magic and began polishing it with a small white cloth. With a blue coat that was darker than Luna’s and a flowing black mane, the god of time cut an imposing presence behind the bar. Celestia had seen him countless times over the eons, yet she couldn’t help but spend an extra moment looking into his eyes, where a maelstrom of colors swirled like water in a creek.

After examining the glass up close, he levitated it to a nearby shelf before finally turning his attention back to Celestia. “That again? Come on, Tia, it was a great time, and it’s not like anything was harmed! Sure, I bumped Andromeda a bit, but she won’t even notice anything for another four billion years or so!” 

He sidled over a few feet and leaned over the bar towards Celestia. “But I suppose this is a somewhat serious occasion, so no universe-altering punch this time. Still, meetings like this don’t happen often, so let me get you a drink. What’ll it be?”

“Just some tea will be fine. Earl Grey if you have it.”

Chronos stuck his tongue out a bit. “Oh, you’re just no fun today. Perhaps that Discord fellow is right; you just don’t know how to cut loose and have some fun.”

“Perhaps,” Celestia replied as she accepted a steaming cup of tea from him, “or maybe I’m just not a big fan of Discord’s idea of ‘fun’.”

“I don’t know, it seemed pretty interesting to me, at least the way he described it when I ran into him between dimensions a while back.” Chronos spoke over his shoulder while he uncorked a decanter and poured himself a glass of what looked to Celestia to be whiskey. “I mean, chocolate rain? Who wouldn’t like that?”

Celestia stared over the edge of her teacup as she took a dainty sip, taking a brief glance at one of the shelves behind Chronos. “Yes, it was a glorious time, trust me. Now, we both know why I’m here, so let’s get down to business, hmm?”

The smile faded from Chronos’ chiseled face at her change in tone. “Straight to business it is then.” He took a long sip from his glass before putting it down next to her teacup. “Well, I talked it over with the bosses, and we really feel like it’s time to close up shop here and move on.” Celestia grimaced at the implication of his words.

“Look, you gave it your all here, and really, this was by far the best you and Luna have ever done… But I think you’ve finally hit a wall.” Celestia sipped her tea again, but said nothing. “I mean, you two have poured everything into this, this ‘Equestria’. Heck, you even gave up your own sister for a millenium just to keep things from falling apart. But how much more can you do? What more do you have to give?”

Celestia opened her mouth to respond, but Chronos spoke over her first. “Case in point, that Limey character that you were just speaking to in that little castle of yours.” He ignored Celestia’s unamused gaze at the slight against the home she shared with her sister. 

“You preach friendship, compassion, and honesty day and night, yet this pony comes back year after year with the same under-hoofed request. Sure, you stop him from ruining other ponies in his wake, but he never seems to get the real lesson. I see it happen all over your quaint world. Some ponies get it, certainly, but so many others just haven’t gotten the message.”

Chronos took another sip from his glass before frowning a bit. “You’ve been at this for millennia, Celestia, and they just can’t do it. Better to start fresh and try again.”

Celestia took another sip from her tea as she considered his words. “His name’s Lime Twist, by the way. But, you’re right about one thing Chronos; they’ll never get it. Luna and I could be at this for another three millennia, and there will always be a pony that won’t embrace friendship, kindness, and all of the other virtues that we try to instill in them.” 

She looked to Chronos with a steely gaze. “But should our failure to reach one pony doom an entire nation? What kind of gods are we to damn an entire world for the sins of a few?”

“It’s not that simple, and you know it,” Chronos huffed. “And remember, miss [i]demigod[/i], we gods are not as callous as you might think. Frankly, Palutena and Selene were ready to write this one off a long time ago, but I convinced them to give you two rookies a chance.”

Celestia halted a bit at that bit of news, but filed it away for later discussion. “Thank you for that, then. But that only makes my point stronger. We need more time. There is much that Luna and I can still accomplish, and now we have a new partner in our struggle to reach true harmony.”

“Ah, you must be referring to the newest member of [i]club alicorn[/i], one Twilight Sparkle,” Chronos replied with a grin. “I’ll admit, she impressed me with her completion of Starswirl’s old spell, but is she [i]really[/i] that good?”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “To call her ‘good’ is nearly an insult. Twilight is the most powerful mage I have seen since Starswirl, and in some ways, she may even be his better. She has achieved things that even I thought were impossible, and all the while she has brought ponies closer together with her every action.”

Chronos looked to the side for a moment, as if lost in thought. “Yes, yes, I read the highlights. She saved Luna, corralled Discord, banished that Bug Queen, and topped it all off by sending Tirek back to Tartarus. Great track record, sure.” He turned back to Celestia. “But she’s just one pony, and one that barely knows how to use the powers that she just received. I’ve seen ones like her before, in this world and dozens of others; great potential, awesome powers, but they always fall short.”

“I’m willing to try,” Celestia countered. “Twilight has brought ponies together - and solved problems - in situations that would tax Luna and I to the limit. And I’m not too proud to admit that she has succeeded when my sister and I have failed to do what was right.” She leaned up from her chair and looked deep into Chronos’s eyes. “And if anypony can create full harmony, if anypony can change the mind of one like Lime Twist, Twilight Sparkle [b]is[/b] that pony.”

She continued to stare at him as she poured every ounce of conviction into her voice that she could. “She can do it, Chronos. We’ve all seen the prophecies, and she’s fulfilled all of the signs so far. She’s the one… I can feel it in my bones. All I ask is for you to give this ‘rookie’ the same time that you gave to us.”

The goddess of the sun and the god of time stared at each other, seemingly lost in a silent battle of wills. Finally, Chronos leaned back from the bar and downed the rest of his whiskey in one gulp. “Alright, but don’t make me regret this, got it?”

Celestia slumped back into her chair in relief. “Thank you, Chronos, though I doubt you’ll be disappointed in Twilight as time goes on. Speaking of which…” she looked past him again to the top shelf of the bar, where a nearly empty hourglass sat alone. “Time for another round?”

Chronos grabbed the hourglass in his magic, smoothly flipped it over, and set it back down. “One more round it is.”