“And with this the prototype geothaumic converter is ready for its first field test. We’ll start with fifteen percent power and direct it through the combined cooling and motive coils under the water and into the thaumic deflector generator.”

“The what now?” The voice drew Twilight Sparkle’s gaze up to a nearby blue pegasus with frazzled rainbow mane, who looked around the small lake for a while before shrugging. “Where is Spike when we need him?”

“You know,” said Twilight, glaring at Rainbow Dash, “I can explain in simpler terms if you just ask.”

“Oh, why bother waiting for her to show that she can’t?” With a blatantly disguised wink towards Twilight, Discord threw a clawful of popcorn into his mouth, pointing to a silvery object that looked like half a train engine, set on the shore of the small lake, with the now empty claw as he munched and swallowed. “That thing draws magic from the earth. It will make the water splash like a fountain and create a force field. There, all better. When do the fireworks start?”

From behind Discord’s beach chair emerged the head of a yellow pegasus with long pink mane, her colors a stark contrast to the green of the forest behind her. Fluttershy hesitated for a few seconds before asking, “Uh, is it safe?”

“I concur, darling. You did say that it draws from the same magical energy that causes volcanoes and earthquakes,” added Rarity, putting a white hoof around Fluttershy’s slightly trembling shoulder.

“Of course it’s safe!” Twilight levitated a clipboard, the paper clipped to it filled to the brim with steps, three check marks besides each line. “The converter turns wild magic into coherent energy, and the thaumic deflector will keep all unconverted magical energy contained inside. Worst case, I have a runic circle —” she pointed at a series of black circular marks around the lake “— that will convert the escaping energy into a stasis field, allowing us to escape and plan how to deal with it; Princess Celestia  assured me that she can transmit the energy into the sun if we can’t find a way to dissipate it.”

“In other words,” sounded Discord’s playful voice, “it's all inside a shield, and if anything escapes those magic squibbles will freeze everything until Celesta comes dump you whole little experiment in the sun. Now can you get on with the show? It’s getting boring, and I have a bet to win.”

Twilight glared at the draconequus, opened her mouth to retort, and closed it with a grunt. There was no use in arguing, and she did have a schedule to keep. Closing her eyes, she started to pour the trickle of constant magical energy that would control the geothaumic converter, confident in her skill.

In a few moments the apparatus sprang to life, purring like a contented cat. The water started to churn, and then spray above like a fountain, glowing with a faint inner light; seeing the water harmlessly absorb all excess energy brought back a smile to Twilight’s lips. The force field began to grow from the small lake’s shore, its fluid border rising ever higher to meet high above the water, enveloping the converter in a half sphere with the double duty of protecting the experiment and preventing any risk to everypony— and every draconequus, thought Twilight with a twinge of irritation.

She didn’t even need her full concentration, so she clearly heard the almost shouted whisper when Pinkie Pie approached Discord.

“Oh, a bet? What is it?” The pink pony was jumping around Discord like an out of control jackalope.

“Well, Luna thinks this little experiment will be a boring success; I think you will need me to save your pretty flanks. Celestia didn’t want to bet, but she did try to convince Twilight to delay the experiment; I’m already ahead.”

“For your information, I’ve mastered the control spell, thank you very much.” Twilight scowled at Discord, a confident but irritated smile taking her lips. “I could keep casting it in my sleep. The only way this can go wrong is if someone disrupts my spell.”

“Thank you for your explanation, princess. It will make things much simpler for me.”

The new voice sounded like something out of a nightmare, making Twilight’s snap her head towards it; from the corner of her eyes she noticed Rainbow Dash and Applejack spreading, ready to rush the newcomer from multiple directions at a moment’s notice, while Pinkie Pie threw herself between Twilight and the newcomer.

At that moment Twilight heard the yelling from above; amid the last fading wisps of purplish blue teleportation magic Spike was falling, still clutching the telescope he would be using to monitor the experiment from the library. Twilight’s heart skipped a beat; she could spare the concentration, but she couldn’t stop the control spell for more than a moment without the experiment going out of control. But she couldn’t let Spike hit the ground…

A cerulean aura gently took Spike from the sky, Rarity sweating with the effort of breaking the little dragon’s fall. Her other friends, each and every of them racing towards Spike just a moment before, nodded among themselves and turned as one to the newcomer.

The voice had sounded female, though it was hard to tell from just looking at the stranger. She was clad in a simple, dark brown cloak, the hood pulled low atop her head, it’s shape giving away that she had a horn. She was taller than the other ponies present, though not as tall as Twilight. Her dark coat, of a color that reminded Twilight of a starless midnight sky, was barely visible, with only the tip of her muzzle and her hooves uncovered.

Twilight was already running numbers in her head, trying to figure how much time it would take to shut the experiment down safely, but she couldn’t avoid asking, “What did you do to Spike? Who are you?”

Slowly, but with a sense of finality, the black unicorn set into a lower posture, as if getting ready to charge or bracing for impact. “Why, always the wrong questions. I’m here for your little gadget, but we couldn’t have little Spike warning Celestia too soon, could we?”

That did it. Twilight started to shut down the experiment as fast as she could, sweat rolling down her brow, only to notice an orange hoof touching her shoulder, filling her with assurance.

“Don’t you worry, sugarcube. We will deal with that miscreant.” With a smile, and a nod to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, Applejack joined her friends in a charge.

Only to be stopped by a dark blue, transparent force field.

“Well, well, well.” Discord threw his empty popcorn packet into a trash can and stood up, trash can and beach chair disappearing in a flash. “Looks like I already won the bet. I can already see Luna’s face when I tell her…”

Discord snapped his fingers. Then he looked at his hand, shook it, and started snapping faster, a web of tiny cracks forming on the force field. “Don’t think you’ve won, missie. I will pop your little bubble before you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

At that the black unicorn touched her horn to her force field, a tiny magic bolt shooting forth. Discord stepped out of its way with a smile, redoubling his attacks against the shield.

The bolt passed harmlessly by Twilight, but she could tell something was wrong; it didn’t look like an attack, a bolt that size it wouldn’t even singe a foal. It touched the inner shield, the one around the converter.

And time for Twilight slowed to a crawl. It was a copy of her own control spell; she could feel, through her own spell, when the black unicorn’s made the inner force field drop and sent the magic energy surging outside. She started to shout as her stasis circle flared up, its color an angry red —

---

Hidden behind a bush, clamping her mouth shut to keep herself from screaming and desperately hoping her fellow crusaders were doing the same, Sweetie Belle watched as a red glow filled the force field. It dimmed after a few moments, leaving behind her sister and her sister’s friends still like statues; even Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, floating immobile like in a photography, and Discord, the supposedly all powerful spirit of chaos, arms outstretched and fingers curved, his face in a snarl.

The cloaked black unicorn looked around — Sweetie Belle feeling her friends cling tightly to her as the unicorn’s gaze passed over the bush — before letting out a shrill laugh; Sweetie Belle could only think of finding something sturdier, like a table, to hide under, almost missing the unicorn’s next words.

“With those meddlesome elements out of the way this power is as good as mine. In a few hours I will have that gizmo in my hooves, and then not even Celestia will be able to stop me!”

The black unicorn laughed again, louder, her gaze fixed on the paralyzed Discord and Twilight. Figuring that not even a buffalo running into the forest could be heard over that laughter, Sweetie Belle beckoned her fellow crusaders to follow deeper into the woods, until they were out of sight and earshot.

“So what do we do now?” Scootaloo asked, her trembling hoof propping her scooter.

“I don’t know!” Apple Bloom looked back at the path they came from, eyes still wide. “She won against Discord! How can anypony fight with her?”

“Well, technically it was Twilight that made all of them into statues. It’s that stasis thing she was talking about,” said Sweetie Belle, rubbing her neck.

“She still put that force field around them, didn’t she?” Scootaloo lifted her gaze to her companions. “The one Rainbow Dash and your sisters couldn’t break?”

Sweetie Belle grunted. “We shouldn’t have followed our sisters.”

“Well, on the positive side, at least somepony saw what happened and can help our sisters.” Apple Bloom lowered her head. “Even if we aren’t much help.”

“Wait, we can go back to Ponyville and get somepony to help!” Scootaloo turned her scooter around, pointing to the wagon behind. “I can get us back in a zip!”

The three fillies nodded, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle climbing the little red wagon. Apart from the sound of Scootaloo’s buzzing wings they rode in stunned silence, though Sweetie Belle was grateful for that; it gave her time to think, to plan how she could get everypony to follow her. Not that it should be difficult; Pinkie and Rarity did make sure everypony knew to keep away from the experiment, so if she told there was an emergency…”

“Hey, isn’t that Pinkie’s sister? The one from that picture in her bedroom?”

Looking at where Scootaloo was pointing, Sweetie Belle saw a gray pony with violet, straight mane. It had to be Maud; she hadn’t met her before, but Rarity had talked about her enough.

Especially about how Maud went through a huge falling boulder to save Pinkie Pie. And there was something else, when Maud was playing with Rainbow Dash…

Scootaloo skidded to a halt besides the gray pony. “Oi, Maud! Is it true you threw a rock the next hill over?”

“Yes.” Seeing Maud speak was unnerving, like watching a wax statue speak, her face keeping a completely neutral expression the whole time, her voice monotonic and emotionless. “What happened to Ponyville?”

No longer distracted by Maud appearing, the fillies looked towards Ponyville, from where Maud came. Though still far, they could already see a blue, translucent dome around it, similar to — but less transparent than — the one around Twilight and the others. All three grunted, Sweetie Belle feeling her heart sink; if that dome was as sturdy as the early one, now they couldn’t get any help from Ponyville.

“Is that a blue bubble?” Apple Bloom tilted her head. “Did you try to get in?”

“I threw a rock at it.”

Sweetie Belle gave a low whistle, glancing between Maud and the dome; from the corner of her eye she saw Scootaloo wincing. She wasn’t sure if she believed the story Rainbow Dash told about Maud’s rock throw, but the one Rarity told could be trusted; Rarity would never exaggerate about stones, unless they were precious and sparkling. If Maud’s rocks couldn’t get through the dome, the crusaders could never hope to do so.

But they did find a pony to help, one that was so strong it was scary, if they could convince her.

Sweetie Belle made her best concerned face — not at all hard, given how concerned she was for Rarity and the others — and turned to Maud. “We need to get help for Pinkie and her friends. A strange pony put a shield like this around them, and they are not moving.”

“Yeah,” added Scootaloo, “they are like a photo. We were going to get help in Ponyville —”

“Were?”

There was something different in Maud’s voice; not angry, per see, but perhaps it could be described as slightly irritated. Her eyebrows were angled a little different, though Sweetie wasn’t sure she could tell if she hadn’t seen Maud’s face before.

“That way,” said Apple Bloom. “It was a black pony wearin’ a cloak, and —”

Maud was already moving, as fast as Scootaloo’s scooter. With a pony that could crush rocks with her bare hooves perhaps this could work. Perhaps they wouldn’t need more help.


Sweetie Belle was sharing the wagon with Apple Bloom and Maud, while Scootaloo desperately pulled them, trying to avoid the rocks the strange unicorn was throwing back with her magic. At least she had far worse aim than Maud, no rock came even close.

“Sorry,” repeated Maud for the third time, her gaze fixed on the blue dome around her sister.

The dome wasn’t cracked anymore, and around it a series of strange, glowing magical symbols had been drawn. Sweetie Belle felt a shiver go down her spine when she first looked at the scene.

“It ain’t your fault,” said Apple Bloom.

“I know. I’m still sorry.” Maud glanced down, to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. “We need help. Where is the nearest town?”

Scootaloo stopped; the rocks weren’t falling for some time now. The three fillies looked from one to another, before Apple Bloom raised her head. “There ain’t one. There are only tiny villages around here, the closest town is Canterlot.”

“Then we go to Canterlot.”

Sweetie Belle looked at maud, her irises shrinking. “But that unicorn said she would attack Canterlot in a few hours. When we get there it will be too late!”

Maud looked back, saying with a flat voice, “What didn’t you tell me?”

“Well,” Scootaloo looked around, “it’s kind of a long story.”

They were interrupted by a chugging sound. Not just chugging, decided Sweetie Belle; it had something of a musical quality to it. Looking around, she found that she is not the only one looking down the path, imagining what is coming.

“Is that an ambulant pipe organ?” Sweetie Belle rubbed her eyes, but the sight remained the same; more pipes than she could count, all mounted atop some kind of large, mostly closed cart. There were also a number of tubes — drums, she decided — on the sides of the crazy machine, and something that looked like trombones at the tips of two sturdy hoses. And at the front, sitting on a couch…

“Aw, great. The Flim Flam Brothers,” grumbled Apple Bloom.

“Brother, aren’t those ponies?” said a lean cream-colored unicorn wearing a white and blue striped shirt, his red and white mane crowned by a boater hat.

“I’ll say more, they are a mare and three fillies. Perhaps they can tell us what is happening,” said a nearly identical unicorn, though his face sported a lush red mustache.

“Who are you guys?” asked Scootaloo, furrowing her brow.

The two unicorns looked at each other and jumped out of their vehicle, the mustached one giving it a discreet kick as he passed. The machine sprung to life, white smoke shooting out of the tubes and the hoses. After the first notes of what sounded like circus music, the two ponies reared, taking their hats in their hooves, and started singing in unison.

“Well, you —”

“No singing!” yelled Apple Bloom. “And no dancing. That one is Flim, this one is Flam. They are the ones that made a liar out of my sister, we don’t need their help.”

The two unicorns dropped back to the ground, looking at each other, and at the gray mare with an unamused expression in front of them.

“Actually, he’s Flim,” said the one with a mustache, pointing to the mustacheless one.

“And he’s Flam,” said the other one, pointing to the mustached unicorn.

“Whatever,” said Apple Bloom. “What are you two doing here anyway?”

“It seems we had a slight misunderstanding…” started Flim.

“A small mistake…” continued Flam.

“About our new show. We aren’t selling anything this time,” said Flim.

“We are working as entertainers,” said Flam, pointing to the strange vehicle.

“Now, would you mind telling us why there’s a force field around your pictorestic town of Ponyville?” asked Flim.

“Well,” started Scootaloo, the two brothers and Maud paying close attention.

Sweetie Belle didn’t stay to listen. Instead she followed Apple Bloom; she could tell where she was, and how irritated, just from the sound of her hooves stomping around. The two of them stopped just out of earshot, Apple Bloom looking at the dome around Ponyville, Sweetie Belle just sitting by her side, the silence only broken by Scootaloo’s occasional bursts of excitement.

“Ain’t you going to ask?” said Apple Bloom, sitting still.

“We read it in our sister’s journal. But we need help. Maybe they can help Maud, or go to some other village and bring help.”

Apple Bloom turned towards Sweetie Belle. “But they are liars! They fooled me like… like a kid!”

“But we are kids.”

“And they will try to fool me again, fool us! What if they —”

“This is highly irregular!” came Flam’s shout.

“Unacceptable!” blared Flim.

The two fillies raced back, finding Flim and Flam in a one-sided shouting match with Maud. They turned to Scootaloo, who was watching everything with concern in her face.

“What in tarnation is happening here?” asked Apple Bloom.

“It’s Maud. She is threatening to crush their cart if Flim and Flam don’t help save Pinkie Pie.”

“Wait, help how?” Sweetie Belle looked from Maud to the two brothers.

“She said that, if they can distract that unicorn, perhaps she could get close enough to beat her.”

Apple Bloom glared at the two brothers. “They are distracting, alright.” Inhaling deeply, she walked towards the middle of the shouting and raised her hooves to get attention; when that didn’t work, she kicked the two brothers.

“Ouch! What was that for?” they said together.

Ignoring the brothers, Apple Bloom turned to the gray mare. “Maud, ya can’t bluff like that.”

“I’m not —”

“And you two. I hate to admit, but we need help. And you are always using apples. How ‘bout I give you the harvest of our western orchard?”

The brothers whispered among themselves, and Flim looked towards Apple Bloom. “What about your family? Would they agree?”

“My sister is with Maud’s sister. I’m sure she will agree to pay some apples for her rescue.”

Flam scratched his chin. “We could, hypothetically, use our mechanical band to distract that unicorn you talked about.”

“Convert the trumpets to water cannons, maybe,” continued Flim.

“But —” they started together.

“We can repair your machine if it gets busted. Big Mac is very good with anything made of wood, and Twilight is teaching Scootaloo how to repair machines.”

“Would that Twilight you and your friend talked about, perchance, be Princess Twilight Sparkle?” asked Flam.

“Well, yeah?” said Apple Bloom.

“We accept your generous offer!” they said together, the accompanying fanfare from their machine earning another glare from Apple Bloom.

The two unicorns retreated to their machine, opening panels and tweaking valvules and buttons, while Scootaloo watched entranced. Apple Bloom entered the forest, grumbling something about the water for the cannon, after promising not to go far. Sweetie Belle remained in the middle of it all, by Maud’s side, unease at not having anything to do. After a while she turned to Maud.

“You were bluffing when you told you would crush their machine, weren't you?”

“No.”


The machine might not be made for war, but it certainly was louder than all the guards Sweetie Belle saw when she visited the Canterlot Gardens. And the ones she saw in the castle. It was a good thing, too, as it would make noticing Maud hard until she was on top of that unicorn.

Though it was strange marching into battle to the sound of circus music. Or not marching, as it was; Maud, Flim, and Flam all insisted that the three fillies stay as far as they could from the battle. Which they interpreted as “as far as they could and still see clearly,” but that was still far off.

Sweetie Belle looked from the approaching machine to her companions. Scootaloo had worry and fascination mixed in her eyes; while Sweetie Belle didn’t like those two brothers — perhaps Apple Bloom’s irritation was rubbing of — she had to admit they were mechanical geniuses, and when they let Scootaloo help with turning the trombones into water cannons, she even forgot for a while why she was concerned.

Apple Bloom… Sweetie looked more closely at her, trying to gauge how irritated she was, and was pleased with what she saw. She helped somehow with the water for the cannons, and was even polite, grudgingly apologising for her earlier shouting.

A loud clarion call made Sweetie Belle look to the dark blue dome, and the field of battle. The crazy contraption was blaring its circus music loud enough to be clearly heard from where the fillies were, the trumpets splashing water all around while the two brothers directed them. The cloaked unicorn deftly danced around the first splashes, not even bothering to use her magic — until the brothers started to use each other’s attacks to corner the cloaked unicorn, drenching her with their first coordinated attack. The following water jets were met with a magic shield, though the brothers seemed able to keep the cloaked unicorn at a distance.

Maud’s first boulder came before the fight’s first minute had passed, the whistling sound it made as it sailed through the air masked, the unicorn fixing her gaze on the musical machine. Flim and Flam fired their water cannons left and write, narrowly missing, leading the unicorn towards where the boulder would land.

And the unicorn vanished in a cloud of purplish blue mist, appearing again a dozen paces to the side.

The three fillies groaned; they had seen what the unicorn could do, and without a surprise hit she might be able to fight back. Still, she wasn’t firing back Maud’s rocks as quickly as before, and was being forced to dodge instead of picking them from the air like before. Sweetie Belle cheered as a rock landed next to the unicorn, while she was busy protecting herself from the water cannons; perhaps a lucky shot…

“Whoa, I get a scenic patrol for the first time in ages and find some strange fight. What is happening down there?”

The filies turned as one, gawking at the light blue stallion in a Wonderbolts uniform hovering behind them.

“Seriously, girls. I can tell that somepony there needs my help, but I don’t know any of them. What is happening?”

Scootaloo shook her head and looked up, stars in her eyes. “Soarin! that unicorn in a cloak did something to Rainbow Dash and the others. Maud and those strange brothers are trying to fight her, but I don’t know if they can win.”

“I bet they can, now that they have Wonderbolts help!” Leaving a contrail of sparkling clouds Soarin was out before the other two fillies could close their mouths.

Sweetie Belle could feel hope rising again. Atop their machine, the Flim Flam Brothers were pointing to the sky, shouting something, perhaps cheering; she could even imagine Maud giving a smile.

A sudden silence drew Sweetie Belle’s attention to the machine. she exhaled in relief when she saw the machine intact, one of its converted trombones still firing water. The other stood still, and Sweetie Belle could see one of the brothers by an open hatch, his magic flaring from inside the machine. Within moments the machine started a new music, this time a military march. It sounded like the Wonderbolts anthem...

And something clicked inside Sweetie Belle. She could feel the music inside her head — no, scratch that; inside her horn. She could tell that Soarin was humming the song, his wings like beating drums inside her horn as he climbed, his dives a clarion raising its pitch in a glissando. The two brothers were like the two hooves of an harpist, always harmonious, their attacks clear like plucked chords. Maud was dimmer, but the staccato of her stones still sounded clear. And, at the middle, the music.

But there was something lacking; nopony was conducting the song, and all the parts were fighting. It was not when she sang with her fellow crusaders, when each knew instinctively what the others would do. Soarin’s martial rhythm was clashing with the brothers’ more delicate melody, and Maud was only sounding in the largest pauses, as if she was afraid of any clash.

And, at the opposite side, a lone figure, a melody brought by a single pony, full of untapped potential. It was strange, powerful, but in some ways familiar, like something she saw in a dream.

Slowly, feeling as out of place as a cherry ribbon amid the cinnamon ones, Sweetie Belle reached out. She turned first towards Soarin and the two brothers, how their tempo didn’t match, the two brothers outpacing the wonderbolt, and matched them — only to quickly undo what she had done; their matched attacks were beauty in motion, but the unicorn easily saw through them all. Instead, she looked at the openings, at where she could nudge the two melodies together into something complex. As she filled the gaps she could see Soarin approaching the jets of water from the two brothers ever more, until he was flying through the small gaps between them, or even the small pauses in a single jet.

She then noticed that Maud had stopped; there was no space for her in the melody now. Gently now, Sweetie Belle started to make the space Maud needed, delaying Soarin at a moment, hurrying the two brothers in another. Now she had something that looked like a true melody; still less complex than the one from her opponent, but louder, perhaps loud enough to drown the opponent’s song.

As sharply as it began, it was over. She felt the opponent’s song disappearing before she saw the unicorn teleporting away, swearing vengeance. When the mechanical band stopped she couldn’t feel the four ponies that had helped them, and noticed she was swaying, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looking at her with concerned faces, their mouths moving without sound.

Sweetie Belle let herself slid down, laying where she once stood. She was so tired. A bright light shone through her half-closed eyelids, and she could see two small shapes — her friends? — racing towards a larger, white shape, one with wings and a large horn. She could see the large pony’s face approaching, shining like the sun, but she was so tired...

---

“For your selfless act of bravery, facing danger unknown and rescuing one of the princesses of Equestria, I present each of you with the Equestrian Star of Heroism.” Celestia turned to each of the four ponies in front of her, her smile softening the corners of her eyes. “Any final words?”

Soarin bowed with movements born of familiarity, Maud following his lead. Flim and Flam stood there, whispering among themselves and looking from Celestia to Twilight.

“Why this closed ceremony?” Flim looked at Flam, who nodded.”There is no public, no guards, no one except us four and the two of —” Flam nudged Flim with an elbow “— I mean, your highnesses.”

“You are right, this is unusual. But while Princess Twilight Sparkle insisted on awarding each of you, she also expressed her desire to keep the details around why your act of bravery was needed to as few ponies as possible.” Celestia turned her head to address all four ponies. “I ask you to not disclose the details with anypony else.”

“Understood,” said Maud and Soarin in unison, filling the air with the discordant contrast between military enthusiasm and lack of expression. Twilight muffled a giggle with her hoof, her cheeks slowly turning the color of cherries.

“How about our apples?” asked Flam.

“We got less than half as many apples as we should from that fruit bat-infested west orchard,” completed Flim.

“It is my understanding that Apple Bloom and her family helped you harvest that orchard, despite the bat infestation.”

“So they did,” said Flim.

“But still we were misled. We expected a full harvest, not that pittance we got,” completed Flam.

Celestia raised a hoof, silencing Twilight as she was opening her mouth. “Equestria can offer compensation for your lost profits. But,” Celestia’s tone drained the nascent smiles from the two brothers, “this brings to my attention an issue with the medals you two were just awarded. The Equestrian Star of Heroism is awarded only for selfless acts of bravery; if you were paid to perform those acts, they are not selfless.”

The two brothers whispered to one another for a few moments. Lifting his head, Flam said, his eyes not partaking his smile, “There was a misunderstanding, we don’t need any payment from the kingdom.”

“Still, you were paid in apples. I regret to say —”

“Wait,” said Twilight, interrupting Celestia, “would it be acceptable if they donated those apples to a worthy cause?”

“It would still be irregular,” said Celestia, a hoof to her chin, “but, with two princesses behind it, we could call for an exception. If you agree, of course. Flim? Flam?”

It took barely a glance before they spoke, “We agree.”

“Speak to my assistant Raven, then; she will tell you what to do. If no one desires to add anything, you are all dismissed.”

The two princesses watched as the other ponies left, Soarin throwing irritated glances at the two brothers. As soon as the doors closed, Twilight whispered, “Sorry.”

“What are you sorry for, Twilight?” asked Celestia with a motherly voice.

“For not listening to you. I knew that what I was doing was dangerous, but I planned safety measures for everything I could think. I just never thought anypony would want to…”

“To harm others on purpose?” Celestia embraced Twilight with a wing. “As a princess you need to always consider how to protect our subjects, even from one another. It is sometimes hard; for you, it must be painful to even consider that somepony would want to hurt others on purpose, that in the middle of the ponies you love there are some that will return that love with hate.”

“I understand.” Twilight lowered her head. ”I will stop my research on geothaumic energy.”

“Why not continue your research, but focus safeguards, on making sure nopony can turn geothaumic energy into a weapon?”

“I…” Twilight’s eyes lit like fireworks. “I think I can do that! If I can…”

Twilight started galloping towards the doors, not even bothering to open them; her call of “Thank you, Princess” was cut in the middle by her teleport.

Celestia giggled at her overenthusiastic former student; so much enthusiasm and potential, so much she could already do, but so much to learn…

With the smile that thought brought her, she lit her horn, the door and walls pulsing once, and looked at the ceiling. “Isn’t it time for our mysterious black unicorn to make her appearance?”

On cue a beam of moonlight shot from the ceiling, pulsing once before vanishing. At the spot the moonbeam hit, in the center of the room, now stood a dark, cloaked and hooded figure. The cloak was already turning into a deep blue mist; after a few moments a black unicorn stood there, fully revealed, a crescent moon cutie mark proudly displayed. With another flash, this time from the unicorn’s horn, she enlarged, her coat becoming lighter and wings appearing on her flank. In a smooth motion she magically detached one amulet and two horn rings, depositing them on the temporary throne Twilight vacated.

In her magical grip remained one item, a brush. One of those hard, wire ones. Celestia raised an eyebrow at it, asking, “Did everything go well?”

“If by that you mean nopony else got hurt, nopony figured what really happened, and I kept the experiment controlled and safe while pretending to be a dumb villain, then it did went well; that spell you taught me arrested control of Twilight’s machine flawlessly,” said Luna amid some scratching, her face and voice showing relief occasionally in time with the brush. “But you could have sent somepony that knew what was happening to fight me, instead of manipulating those four. Pinkie’s sister throws rocks harder than you could believe, and whatever was in that water itches like fleas from tartarus! I don’t know why I volunteered for this.”

Celestia flashed a whimsical smile. “Because your sister made sure the photos that paparazzi took will never be published? Truly, sister, what were you thinking, playing with socks on a balcony any passing pegasus could see?”

Luna’s cheeks reddened, her eyes shifting to the side. “In any case, why not just tell Twilight in the first place? Why resort to such masquerade?”

“I seem to recall a young princess playing with using color spells on the moon, despite her bearded mentor urging her to devise a way to undo those spells first. I believe the following months became known as the Green Nights.”

“That was different,” started Luna.

“I also remember a sun princess finding that the very ground in Equestria is magical, and trying to tame that wild magic, ignoring the protests of her advisors,” said Celestia, lowering her head. “It was alluring. Enough magical energy to shield all our cities, when the Stalliongrad peace treaty was on shaky ground and Equestria had lost its best tactician to the Nightmare. But there was a saboteur; in the spur of the moment I found how to channel raw wild magic into the sun, but if I hadn’t Manehattan would be a crater and… I shudder to think how many lives would have been lost. I fear Twilight is as enthusiastic as I was.”

“I… understand. I disagree, but I understand. Twilight will not hear of this from me.”  Luna turned to leave, stopping mid-stride. “Oh, there is something else you need to know. I believe I found somepony with a natural talent for songweaving.”

Celestia cringed. “Is it one of the brothers? With the scams they already run, I’m not comfortable with the thought of them having access to magical music.”

“No,” said Luna, her giggles sounding like crystal chimes. “It’s one of those fillies you invited to the castle as a reward, Sweetie Belle. I could feel her magic helping the four ponies I faced; if not for her inexperience I might have been forced to end the fight quickly, least somepony got seriously hurt.” Luna brought a hoof to her chin, her gaze drifting. “It’s a rare gift, I’m not aware of anypony else alive that has it.”

“Rare indeed. The last songweaver I knew was a Wonderbolts composer, a few centuries ago.” Celestia frowned in concentration. “That could explain why she fainted.”

“Curious that she didn’t get a cutie mark out of her ordeal,” said Luna. “That seems like an impressive talent.”

“It is, of course.” Celestia’s usual, inscrutable smile returned to her face. “But perhaps her real talent is something even more important.”