The room itself seems to warm as Celestia stirs, the gloomy chill burning away like morning fog. “Thank you, my little human,” she whispers, nickering softly as the hand stroking her head teases at her ear. She certainly wouldn’t object if he stole a kiss, or more, yet settles for draping a wing around his shoulder when all he does is grin at his sunrise. “It is not often I am humbled by what I failed to consider.”

“Here’s the thing, though,” Applebaum starts, only making her argument once Celestia has recovered. Her ears perk up with a streak of defiance that her dam finds objectionable. “Even if Radiant Hope is tryin’ ta bring Sombra back - and she is - Ah don’t think we should stop her.”

“What?!” the three Elements exclaim, Rainbow Dash the loudest. Discord moans with pleasure in the background as he slaps at an oversized sausage with a long, hard stick.

“You weren’t there,” the pegasus protests, hovering above the young mare, “but Sombra is seriously bad news!” She lists off on her hooves, “He petrified and shattered his Princess, he mind controlled and enslaved his people, and threatened Equestria with invasion. Which of those would you like him to start with?”

“N-none of them,” Applebaum says with a worried glance at the two Princesses in the room. Twilight’s grim visage is a sharp contrast to Celestia’s neutral, almost pleasant, smile. “But Ah trust Radiant Hope.”

“Ah trust her as far as Ah can chuck her, workin’ with a fiend like that,” Applejack retorts. She snorts, turns to Discord, Lemon and Meringue, fuming. Her eyes narrow as he stops beating his meat, visibly keeping herself from commenting and instead asking, “Ah don’t suppose ya’d be a dear an’ summon her like ya summoned those two so Ah can see how far that is?”

“As much as I enjoy the notion of watching wayward unicorns soar through the air, doing so according to the laws of gravity just seems so… boring.” Discord gives her an apologetic grin about as real as the rainbow reindeer antlers sprouting from his head. “Besides, I’m all about ponies learning lessons these days.” He flicks a switch and the antlers blare neon blue, green, pink, and purple. “What kind of teacher would I be if I did all the work for you?”

“And speaking of not doing all the work.” Twilight aims an inquisitive eye at her once-mentor and teacher. Celestia is doing a fabulous job of keeping Doug occupied, his hands running along her back and rubbing into her withers. “You’re being uncharacteristically pensive. Or, some might say, passive.” She cocks her head curiously. “Why is that?”

Celestia gives a great sigh, pouting at Doug in a manner most adorable. “I’m not that transparent, am I?”

Doug shakes his head. “Only when I want to see…” He interrupts himself with a series of loud coughs and a quick glance at the young mares in the room. “No, honey, you’re...” He sighs heavily. “Worse. Clearer than a crystal pony.”

Twilight gasps, that Doug would be so brazenly blunt with the literal paragon of pony potential.

Celestia matches his heavy sigh, sinking into her stallion. “I suppose I should leave the slinking in the shadows to my Sister.”

“Don’t beat yourself up for being the white knight,” Doug reassures. His smile slowly fades. “Unless you’re just feigning being distraught and poor at manipulation in order to teach us a lesson.”

“Doug!” Applejack’s admonishment turns to disbelief as Celestia fails to contradict their stallion. She eyes the alicorn with a mix of suspicion and skepticism. “Would… would ya really do that?”

“It would appear,” Celestia evades with a playful poke at Doug’s side, “that I should send Rainbow Dash to distract you.”

Rainbow Dash swishes her tail back and forth, smirking. “I am a pretty awesome distraction.”

Twilight chews at her lip while Doug squirms, though it’s hard to tell if it is from the hoof in his ribs or Rainbow Dash’s alluring display. “You…” she starts reluctantly, wanting to focus on anything in the room besides her former mentor. Doubts creep into her mind: how many other times has Celestia set her up for success? “You want me to take the reins on this? On deciding what should be done about Radiant Hope and Sombra?”

Celestia asks with a hint of disappointment, much like when she thought Twilight did not wish to become an alicorn, “Do you not wish that responsibility?”

The question pierces Twilight’s flimsy confidence; she sinks to the table, ears folding back, glancing at her herdmates for support. “I...I’m not sure. I don’t feel ready.” She gulps. With her head on the table she can look down the bottom of her barrel to the shifting shape of her belly, if one knows to look for it. How many other things is she getting into that are completely overwhelming? She’s going to be a dam; not only that, to twins; and not only that, to the first alicorn foals Equestria has ever seen!

How can she possibly make a decision that, on one hoof, could spell the destruction of all they know and love, and on the other threaten the same thing by giving up those values?

Celestia’s advice comes to her mind: that by sharing her concerns and fears with her Friends, they will be able to help her through. That them remaining ignorant of the trials she faces, of what she is going through, will cripple their connection.

“It’s overwhelming.” Twilight struggles to lift her head, not wanting to see the reproving looks of her herdmates. “There are so many different ways that this crisis can go, to say nothing of all the other things the future has in store.”

“If it is too much,” Celestia advises, “break the task into manageable portions.”

“You got this, Twi,” Applejack reassures with a firm nod.

“When the snow hits the fan?” Rainbow Dash grins, swooping down to nudge Twilight’s head with her own. “You’ve always come through. And you always will!”

“Thanks, you guys.” Twilight’s confidence surges back, bringing with it a determination the others would find worrying if it wasn’t on their side. “I just need to make…”

“A list?” Lemon suggests with a broad smile. She holds up a notebook while Meringue fans out a number of colored pencils.

Twilight grabs the paper, but struggles when it comes to deciding among the pencils. No quills?

“Insufficient.”

“Indeed,” Twilight agrees, Meringue’s comment prompting her to push past her anxiety. “I can’t rely on my old ways of doing things. I can’t just write checklists, adding more and more items as new concerns crop up. That’s too simple, too linear; I need… I need multidimensional analysis that can adapt to changing circumstances! I need…”

“Schema?”

Twilight’s grin becomes maniacal. “Flowcharts.”

Doug stage whispers to Celestia, loudly enough for all to hear, “What have we done!?”

“At least she can’t become an alicorn a second time,” Rainbow Dash jokes, though her eyes slowly grow wide as her words sink in. “R-right?”

Doug remarks with a religious reverence, “...The legendary Überpferd...” before throwing in a short bow, hands above his head. To his chagrin, Celestia follows along.

“Quiet, you.” Twilight flicks a peanut at Doug, which explodes into a cloud of thick, black smoke. She arranges a few pieces of paper as he coughs and sputters. “What are the different ways Radiant Hope’s… attempt with Sombra can go?”

“It could work,” Applejack spits out.

Twilight writes that down on one sheet. “And that can branch to her reforming him, or him persuading her to support his conquests. What else?”

“It could… not work?” Rainbow Dash adds, confused. Twilight writes this down on a separate sheet. “What else is there?”

“Radiant Hope could take Sombra’s horn,” Doug suggests, “and graft it to Tempest Shadow’s broken one.”

For a moment, the room goes silent.

“That,” Twilight starts, squinting while rubbing at her forehead and horn. “That can’t happen.” Growing more and more worried, she glances at Celestia. “Can it?”

“I should formally introduce you to Chancellor Neighsay,” Celestia sidesteps, talking to Doug. “You two would get along marvelously.”

“As you wish,” Doug says, with the good sense to look at least a little worried at his suggestion.

Twilight grimaces while she adds ‘Graft’ to a third sheet. “And that could go any number of directions.” Spokes sprout off the central circle. “She could be thankful for her horn and become a model citizen. She could, effectively, disappear off the face of Equus. She could become corrupted by Sombra’s darkness and attempt a takeover of the Crystal Empire, Equestria, or someplace else.”

“That also sums up what could happen with Tempest Shadow regardless of Sombra, right?” Doug glances at the others in the room. “Or do we think she is equally, hmm, capable and committed to some sort of revenge against Equestria?”

“Seems ta me,” Applejack says, hard and unflinching, “that if’n we track ‘em down, we’ll be harvestin’ two trees with one buck.” She points a hoof at Twilight’s papers. “An’ we won’t have ta worry ‘bout none’a that happenin’.”

“That’s a good point, and what we’re trying to determine. Does the risk outweigh the benefit?” Twilight Sparkle looks over the room. In order of how much she listens to them: a fellow Princess, her stallion, two Elements of Harmony, a filly, two young mares, a young stallion, and the self-styled Lord of Chaos. “But before we decide that, we must weigh another, more difficult question. Should we be the ones deciding their fate?”

“If not us, then who?” Applejack follows Twilight’s gaze. “Spike? The rest of us would follow ya anywhere, Twi.”

“Possibly, but deeper than that.” Twilight takes a deep breath. “Can we decide Sombra is irredeemable? Irrevocably and unequivocally evil, never to reform?”

“It sure seems like it,” Rainbow Dash says, but her conviction wavers. “I mean, how much darker can you get?”

“Nightmare Moon.” Twilight’s mention of the name drives ears against skulls. Even Celestia bows her head, Doug’s consoling hand doing little to lift her spirits. “Discord.” The draconequus waves a ‘Go Canterhorn Miners!’ flag while wearing a hoofball cheerleader outfit, complete with pompoms, in an attempt to prove his loyalty. Twilight continues, “Grogar. Tirek, debatably.”

“All’a them got locked up for what they did,” Applejack argues. “Are ya sayin’ we shouldn’t be doin’ that?”

“A fair point,” Twilight concedes. “But it isn’t strictly applicable to this situation. What laws have Radiant Hope and Tempest Shadow broken? Trespassing and theft of an unmarked vault in the middle of nowhere? Conspiracy to commit resurrection?”

“You know what I say about resurrection?” Discord muses. He summons forth a line of miniature Sombras with their necks on blocks of wood. He wields a comically oversized executioner’s axe. “Do it once?” He lops off a head as casually as chopping wood, the body going limp. He stops the blood spurting out by reattaching the head, the body resuming its squirming. “That’s impressive. Twice?” He repeats the maneuver the exact same way. “Now it’s starting to get old. Three times?” He doesn’t bother chopping, just shrugging. “Death loses all meaning. Where’s the fun in that?”

“Ignorin’ that ya could stop death and end all suffering everywhere,” Applejack continues, her harshness bouncing off Discord’s scales like drops of rain.

“That was Grogar’s ideal,” Discord interrupts, gagging. “Not mine. Life would be so boring then!”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Applejack nearly shouts, apoplectic. “That’s an option? Then why the hay ain’t we helpin’ ‘em?!” She gallops to the window, looking out over the orchards. “My parents…”

Discord snorts, shaking his head disdainfully as he sighs at Celestia. “Do you want to tell her, or me?”

“Grogar and I…” Celestia joins Applejack at the window, though her focus is at the stars rather than the trees. “We have fundamentally different ideas as to what it means to live in Harmony. In fact, we have a fundamental disagreement about what it means to live at all.”

“So Ah wouldn’t see ‘em again.” Applejack closes her eyes, the top of her head thumping against the glass. “Ah… Ah guess Ah’ll have ta trust ya.” Twilight also joins Applejack, her focus on her Friend. She gives her a fond nuzzle, playing at the nape of her neck with her nostril. Applejack nickers in return. “Thanks. Ah’ll be okay.”

“I know you will.” Twilight swishes her head against Applejack one more time, then pulls back to address everypony. “But with regards to Radiant Hope and Tempest Shadow? We cannot judge them on what they might do, or we would also condemn Celestia for her potential. Neither must we hold their past actions against them, should they make an Honest effort to reform.”

Twilight finds her attention drawn to Discord, though she would rather have Luna in the room to make that point. The draconequus does seem contrite enough, at least at the moment.

“We must hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.” She grins, and perhaps it becomes a smirk. “In fact, I think everything’s going to be just fine.”

Next Chapter: Ch. 119 - From Dust, Part One Estimated time remaining: 13 Hours, 13 Minutes