Author's Notes:

Anyone who actually knows middle English, please forgive me for this.
Have a good read.

Edited for better understanding
For the sake of continuity of Luna's old way of speaking, pretend you're reading this in Middle-English.

A light broke in the night sky.

It was small, at first. It jumped and danced, forming shapes in the mind's eye, which were quickly forgotten by any onlooker. It bolted and swirled around, acting like a young foal, excited when her mother had come home from a boring day, ready to play. Then, the light held still, shining like the oversized star it was. It grew, bigger and bigger, until in broke into a dozen stars.

Each star drifted about, then snapped to an 'x' formation. They moved about in a fashion that resembled a gyroscope, moving quickly enough to leave a streak in the iris. They kept flowing about the sky, eventually breaking apart, throwing each of them into seemingly random directions. They all began to dance individually, with a distinct style for each. One simply beat against an invisible barrier, while another flew in corkscrews across the sky.

Luna didn't want to admit it, but she broke a sweat. It was difficult enough to keep track of twelve of them, but making sure each one was tossed about the sky in independent rhythms made it far more taxing. She kept it up for a few minutes, until her companion pointed out that she was slipping. Three -three!- of them were stuck together, dancing in a group.

“Do you need assistance?” A masculine, yet soft, voice said.

Luna ceased her magic, causing the stars to dissolve out of existence. She took a deep breath, and rested her head against the grass, getting all sorts of un-princess-like dirt and foliage in her mane. A chortle came from her side, making her open her eyes to the guard next to her.

“And what are you laughing at?” She said.

He made a cough, controlling his laughter. “You're really going to give up so quickly?” He asked. “It's a skill a mere mage can learn, yet the Princess of the Stars gives up in a fortnight's training?”

“Do you claim we've not other matters to worry about during said fortnight?” She countered. “The nobles' attempts to send forth a mate under the guise of love has been worrisome. Surely you understand that it should be criminal to let it pass unpunished?”

The stallion rolled his eyes. “And who's to judge, in a case made by the judge herself?”

“By my counterpart, of course.” She said.

“And does that not sound so biased?” He asked sincerely. At her small glare, he gave a friendly bump with his hoof on her shoulder. “I mean to say that your resolve cannot come objectively in this. It's a good fight, yeah, but it will end a pyrrhic victory.”

She gave a small huff. “And how do you come to such a conclusion?”

He rolled his eyes again. “With such vicious nobles in this age? They'll shout 'injustice', and demand reparations for inexperienced damage.”

“A paranoid thought, we think.” She said. She adjusted herself, leaning up, and began picking leaves from her mane. “Have you seen evidence?”

“Nay.” He said. “But a pocket full of suspicion keeps a healthy spine, I wager. It's better to leave any offense, and move on.”

She huffed again, not admitting defeat, but instead, saving the argument for another day. Luna rolled over onto her stomach, and stood up, stretching her legs. She looked at her friend, who stood by her side in the blink of an eye.

They walked, silently moving through the garden behind the castle. Luna picked and prodded at some of the fruit, wondering if it would ripen within the week. Eventually they came to a coconut tree, and she snatched one of the larger fruits from the top. She made sure not to smudge the rune that surrounded the tree as she stepped away, then looked down at the large fruit.

She spun it around with her magic, faster and faster, then sliced the equator with an invisible blade. It broke open, and she kept any spatter at bay with her aura. She balanced then halves so that they both held some of the milk inside, and offered one to the guard.

“Do you want some to drink?” She asked.

He turned around from whatever distraction had called him, and saw the offering before him. “If you allow it.” He said. He happily took the half-coconut, and drank with her, savoring the taste.

They continued walking, though without any real objective or destination. It was Sunday, which was more or less a day for most to rest. There wasn't any work for Luna to do as a head of the diarchy, so it was spent in a fair amount of idleness.

“Fire-Dancer.” She said, grabbing his attention. He looked up at her, matching her curious expression. “Why did you relieve the lesser guards and post yourself at my side this evening?”

He looked away for a moment, as if he was wondering why she had even asked. “Simply to talk to you, your majesty.” He said. “I feel that much of our time is spent together in prying eyes. I felt that we could find some quality companionship on this night.”

Luna knew something was amiss. Her friend only used 'you majesty' in public. He had an affection to calling her by her name, rather than by any title. In any case, she gave a nod, and slowly led him towards the back of the garden. “And, do you feel willing to tell us what you wished to speak of?”

He stammered. “I- I meant nothing specific, Luna.” He said. “I simply wished to hear from you as a friend.”

“A sentiment we'd believe on any other occasion.” She said, leading them just outside the garden, where the open canyon greeted them. She stopped near the edge, and sat on her haunches. “But, I was quite recently convinced of the fashion of owning suspicion for potential trickery.” She looked at him with an accusing smirk.

He evaded with his eyes, but when he looked at her again, he sighed, and gave in. “Very well.” He said. “If it is within my power, I would like to talk with you of an issue.”

“Oh?” She asked. “And what, pray tell, is it that you wish to speak of?”

He sat on his haunches next to her, setting his eyes away from her. “There is a mare.” He started. “She is a nice mare, but she has done me wrong.”

“A mare?” Luna asked. “What wrong has she done to you?”

He put a foreleg over his eyes, as if hiding some form of shame. “Alas! She has stolen something of mine! She has stolen a valuable piece of my life!”

Luna looked at him quizzically. “Do you know evidence of the theft?” She asked. “Then arrest her! Do not tarry, or the courts will be suspicious of hesitation!”

He shook his head. “Then they'll have me for a lifetime.” He said. “For she stole this piece years ago, yet I only realized my loss recently.”

“But how?” She asked. “What could be used or seen so rarely that years pass before it is noticed to be fled with, yet leave such heartbreak?”

“Luna, your words do sting, like a batch of hornets.” He said, looking at her with sad eyes. “It's my heart itself that was stolen from me.”

Luna opened her mouth, then closed it again for a moment, smiling. “You feel affection for a mare?” She asked. “Huzzah! I am gracious for you! You are to make an excellent...” She paused. “... but why are you saddened?”

“My love...” He said, looking away. “... she does not know of my love, and I fear she will shun it if she were to know of it.”

“Shun you?” She asked, confused. “You have a dozen mares in a month to beg at your hooves, why would she reject your own commitment?”

“For a great number of reasons.” He said solemnly. He looked up to the sky, like it was a good place to distract his sight. “She's the most beautiful mare I've ever met, with hope and youth that glisten in her eyes like the very stars in the sky! Her soul is as white as the moon, and her voice sings like an ocean robins and bluejays. And her wings! Her wings spread out wide, and give affectionate comfort to any that she wishes to take under them. Her body is firm in strength, yet moves with the grace of the wind itself.” He said, putting a hoof against his chest.

“She must have been made perfect in your eyes.” She said. “But we will support you. Have you come to ask help in confession of thy love?”

“I have.” He said, looking up to her. “I have a plan, a grand one, in my eyes.” He stood up, getting closer to her. “She has stolen my heart, and I wish to steal hers! A gift, one unlike any other! And kiss, and my confession!” His voice became quiet, like a mouse, and he pleaded. “Please, Luna, my dear friend. I know too well it is unconventional for a stallion to send himself for a mare, but I care not. What is it that mares desire? What can I send forth to prove my love?”

Luna stood rigid for a moment, not sure what to make of her friend's words. After some time, she slowly wrapped her friend in a hug, bringing his body against hers, stifling any worry he had. “Fire-Dancer, my dear friend, you are an enigma. Mares however, are not. It is said to be easy, to gain the affection of a mare. Speak to her. Breathe her name in greeting. Know her, so that she knows you. Perhaps it may be fit, to let her know you wish for another companion. Ask her for her time to be spent alongside yours.” She said, releasing him from the hug. “And, in every gift you do seal your love with, ensure that it comes true from the heart, and is sent true to hers. Leave no room for interpretation of intention.”

The stallion looked at her with such enthusiasm, smiling ear to ear. He gave her a tight hug, then released her, still smiling.

“If we may intrude, as a friend, of course... what is the name of your love?” Luna asked.

Fire-Dancer pursed his lips, still smiling. “You will hear the name on my own terms, and no sooner.” He said. At her furrowed eyebrows, he continued. “You will hear it soon, I think. It's a beautiful name, and you know it well.”

Luna gasped, and put a hoof over her mouth. “Have you fallen for Steel Shield?”

“Not in this lifetime.” He said, looking away in disgust.

“Perhaps one of the Stitch twins?”

“Not even if they were to offer dowry.”

She paused a moment. “Long Glide?” She asked.

“Never!”

The figure stroked his beard for a moment, wondering what to make of the scene before him.

As he looked through the telescope at the top of his own tower, he couldn't help but notice the playful banter that seemed to go on between the princess and the guard. With the exaggerated movements, and the friendly hugging and teasing that seemed to be going on, they just seemed to be the perfect companions.

He found it to be an excellent contrast to his own friendship with Celestia. Where Luna and Fire-Dancer were energetic and physical, Starswirl and Celestia were more calm, and intellectual with their emotions. That was not to say that either way was better than the other, but, he would take his current situation any day. Each one had a certain... duality... that just made so much sense. It wouldn't feel quite natural to shift how they interacted.

“They go well, I assume?” Celestia asked.

He leaned his head back, giving her a subtle smile, as if he knew she was watching him already. He gave a curt nod, and stepped aside, offering her a look. She took up the offer, and put her eye at the lens. After a small moment, she gave a warm smile, leaned her head back again, looking at him.

“Fire has such a cheekiness to him.” She said. She cleared her throat. “Digression takes hold of us. Are you certain of your discovery?”

“Verily. I've never a theory created without a reason to support it.” He said.

He turned around, and led her to two dozen flowers. Each flower was small, at only a few inches in height, with a two-sided flower on the head. One side was yellow, with a brown center, just like a sunflower, while the opposite side was a dark violet, and black center. For most, the dark side was facing straight towards the moon. On one row, each flower was set in a small pot, and shielded from the moon by a glass hemisphere covered in runes. Another row was simply shielded by a metal pot, blocking all light. A fourth row was of the flowers in a regular state, except for the fact that they were forced into such a position that prevented their own movement, forcing one side up at all times.

“These sky-twins here are the key to my discovery. As I've tested, they follow the sun and moon to an exact degree, keeping the yellow towards the sun, and violet to the moon.” He said. “Though they follow the light, it's not the light that gives them life. As you can see here under these shields, the flowers continue to live in relatively good health, though they may get stunted growth, given their lack of true direction of the solar bodies.”

He pointed to one of the flowers, showing Celestia which row he was referencing. “It'is the aura of the sun and moon that gives them life.” He walked around to the opposite side, gesturing to the row where the flowers were forced still. “As you may see here, there are symptoms to a lack of either magic. Those without solar-aura lose leaves, and cannot heal themselves. Those without lunar-aura wilt and dry. It's most interesting, however, that the excess of one magic is typically converted into another aura, and expended at a rate relative to the amount that needs expending.”

Celestia looked at him quizzically, then at the flowers. “If the excess is converted, then should both not contain both auras, and therefore the same symptoms?” She asked.

“A typical, yet unsteady, assumption.” He said. “Does water become truly pure without intervention, after having been hydrogen monoxide and oxygen kept separate?” He asked. “Conversion does not complete to an absolute, I should think, as can be expected in other sciences. It's the mixture that causes the symptoms, which points to a grisly reality.”

Celestia's smile dropped, leaving on her face a look of worry. “It's worse than a simple sickness among the flowers?” She asked. “A sickness that, when taken, drives the sane to wicked visions?”

“Aye.” He said, nodding. He gestured for her to follow him, which she did. They walked inside. “I've a worse theory yet; That the disease is benign. It grants no hostility to the body of any animal. It is, with no lack of understanding in the implications, merely a tool of the true cause of your plague.” He stopped at the edge of a heptagram, drawn in powdered charcoal on a marble floor. He pointed to the center. Celestia gasped.

Each line within the circle had a symbol attached, strengthening the rune drawn, but they glowed a blue aura, as if actively being fought against. Floating in the center, about four feet high, was a blob of yellow aura, so opaque it looked liquid. It splashed this way and that, constantly redirecting itself in every path but towards an equilibrium. It changed into a thin blade, slashing around aimlessly, then changed again into other shapes, keeping up the pattern of having no pattern at all. Celestia knew what it was.

Chaos magic.

It was unmistakeably raw chaos magic. Somehow, the sick flowers were actively producing chaotic aura. It wouldn't be a problem if it was just a few. It was a 'natural' aura, in a sense, as problematic as it was. The problem was that, in such large amounts that would be made during an epidemic, it could all easily be used for a more malevolent purpose.

“In what quantity does each flower excrete the magic?” She asked. She knew that he would have found everything he could under these conditions.

“As I've come to expect, each will produce up to eighteen hundred macuoles in a given hour, and maintain a rate of roughly forty percent expulsion per hour. At equilibrium, each will have twenty-seven hundred macuoles.”

Any student of magic knew that a 'macuole' was the standard for magical energy; It was the exact amount of energy it took to move a one gram object by one centimeter, if given no other influence. It was easy to calculate magic and physics on parallels in such a way, but the actual use is muddled in any other field of use. Starswirl was trying to find what actually happens to the mana in spells, at some point. At any rate, a few thousand macuoles was nothing, and posed no danger unless given extreme proximity to something vital. A unicorn could easily spend hundreds of thousands of macuoles on holding an object.

“Once the aura becomes ambient,” She started. “does it convert to arcane at the typical rates?”

“Yay.” He said. “But I fear it's not enough. The concentration of it will reinforce the state. It may take years, but without intervention, we may face the threat of total magical reconfiguration.”

Celestia stayed silent for a moment, taking it in. She looked aimlessly towards the blob, watching it dance around, as if taunting her. She became rigid. Starswirl knew well what she was doing. She was weighing out her options, one by one, checking over everything in her mind until there was nothing left to think. After a long moment, she opened her mouth. “I will make this known to the city at dawn.” She said. “We will start actively purging the sick ones, then. Now that our cause is known, we can protect ourselves.” She paused, looking at him sharply. “On behalf of Equestria, I, Princess Celestia, commend you for your efforts and subsequent discovery. I ask that you maintain persistence in this matter, as any further aid would be equally appreciated.”

Starswirl gave a friendly smile, and tilted his head slightly. “Celestia, it's almost offensive to speak so formally in private.”

“An offense you must forgive.” She said. “I wish your role in this not to be unknown.”

“Forgiven.” He said nonchalantly. “But, if my absence for a time brings no harm, I would like it to be. In truth, I studied the flowers for another matter entirely.”

“Truly?” She asked, still smiling that warm smile at him. “Pray tell.”

“A cousin of mine, whose practice in the arcane has fallen short, is to whom my efforts are sent.” He gestured towards the flowers out in the moonlight. “It was research to artificially improve the reception of mana from the world to one's own pool. You see, it's an underdeveloped horn that results in her shortages.”

“A shame.” Celestia said, sympathizing. “Though, I must suspect that it must mean a lack of capability to store the mana effectively as well.”

Starswirl gave a solemn nod. “It's something I intend to amend.” He said.

“Ah, well,” She started. She leaned down, giving a warm, friendly nuzzle. “I hope you are as successful in this end as you are in much else.” She added, just loud enough for Starswirl to hear. “It's a shame the body must recognize magic to use it. Else, such defects wouldn't be worth a thought.”

“It is.” He said. They walked out towards the balcony, and Celestia extended her wings, letting them beat once, then twice.

“I thank you for the help, Starswirl.” She said. “But I require some time to prepare the documents I will need in the morning.”

He looked at her oddly. “In truth, your persistence to commit to work at all hours still baffles me.” He said. “Luna spends her time as freely as she ought. Why must you live for the ink?”

Celestia giggled, a sight that was fairly rare. “If my sister wishes an eve of fun, it's not my place to object.” She said. “But I respect your thoughtfulness. Have a most productive eve of research.”

“And you an eve of writing.”

With that, Celestia swatted her wings down, throwing her up into the air, and gracefully dove off towards the castle.

Starswirl watched, giving one more glance at the beautiful mare for the night, before turning back. He walked towards the heptagram again, studying the blob as it thrashed about. He was looking over the thing, but in his mind he was actually mulling over the conversation, and wondering how to proceed with his research. After a moment, he put a hoof to his chin, and began stroking his beard. His slight smile turned into a half-smile, then a full one, as a certain thought began to take over his mind.

“By.... by the gods!” He exclaimed. “What if the body were to have no need to recognize aura?” He paused, looking up. “Celestia, you art of great assistance!” He looked on to the chaotic energy again. It had taken a slower speed, and simply flowed about in tight orbit, as if watching him. “And you,” He said.

“I shall best you yet.”