"And so I say unto thee, persevere my brothers and sisters! Do not lose hope. For this I have seen in the stars: The day is coming when two sisters shall be born. And they shall have the combined powers of the unicorn, the pegasus, and the earth pony. Their power shall be multiplied a thousand times a thousand fold. Then shall they do battle with he that causes chaos, and they shall strike him down. They shall render him powerless and they shall bind him in stone for an age. Then shall the two sisters take up the throne of Equestria and rule with peace, love, and wisdom. Power over the very forces that drive the Universe shall be theirs. Even the sun and moon shall bow before them. Keep watch, my fellow ponies! For our deliverance draws nigh."

— Excerpt from The Alicorn Prophecies as written by Star Swirl the Bearded in the year 36 BCL (Before Celestia and Luna)

The God Particle

Chapter 31: The Royal Council

James awoke early the next morning. At first, it took him a moment to get his bearings before remembering he was no longer in the Academy dorm, but rather, in the Council living quarters of the castle. He could still feel the gentle warmth of the binding spell inside of him. Again, he reached deep inside himself and touched the energy. He held onto it for a moment, feeling it move and flow through him. He jumped, startling himself and suddenly letting go of it … Had he actually manipulated it? Changed its shape? At least for a brief moment, he thought he had.

Before he had much time to ponder that, and what it might mean, the dream started to come back to him. Luna! He quickly got out of bed, put on his Council robe, and tied it with the gold and silver cord. At least there was one benefit of the Council robe over the Academy uniform: It was much faster to put on. He finished dressing, then quickly left his room, walked down the hall, and out the door of the Council living area. Then he made his way down the corridors, and up the stairs to the private living areas of the two princesses.

Arriving outside Luna's door—it was a midnight blue color with silver stars and a crescent moon engraved into it—he stopped and glanced at the two Lunar Guards standing on either side of it. After a few moments, the one on the right spoke.

"You are on the Royal Council now, James. You do not need permission or an appointment to see the princesses anymore. We will inform you if she has requested not to be disturbed. Even then, you may still see her anyway if you think it is important enough to disturb her. No guard will try to stop you. But any consequences of disturbing her when she has requested not to be disturbed will be on you. Not on the guards."

He nodded "Thank you … for letting me know." Then he raised his hand and knocked on the door. The edges of it glowed with a silver aura as it opened. He stepped inside and knelt before the Princess of the Night.

"James … You may stand. Your visit is … unexpected. What brings you to me?"

He stood up, clumsily almost tripping on the robe—he wasn't used to wearing such attire. He recovered quickly though. "I wanted to thank you, Your Majesty … for coming to me last night. But also, I wanted to make sure you were alright."

She had a brief look of surprise on her face … as if she were surprised he had come to check on her. But then she resumed a stoic expression. "I am doing fine, James. The aisling … probably will not trouble your dreams anymore. Now that it knows I am aware of when it is and can show up to confront it."

"If you can drive them off so easily, Your Majesty … than why is there concern about The Beyond?"

She shook her head slightly. "The aisling is only a servant, James. A relatively weak one at that. There are far more dangerous creatures to be found in The Beyond than aislings … You'd better go. You must have breakfast with my sister and the other Council members. You don't want to be late."

"Yes, Your Majesty. And thank you, again." He bowed before stepping back and turning, starting to leave her room.

"James?"

He stopped, turning to face her again. "Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Thank you … For stopping by to check on me." She gave him a small smile.

He bowed again. "It is my honor to serve, Your Majesty." Then he turned and left, making his way to the private dining area where he had been told Celestia and the Council ate breakfast every morning. He smiled slightly. Luna had thanked him. She rarely did that. In fact, she almost never did that. It seemed maybe the ice was finally melting. He hoped this time it would continue to melt, and that it would stay melted instead of refreezing again, like it seemed to have done so many times before when they had made a connection to each other.

Arriving in the dining room, he greeted his fellow Council members, the ones that had arrived anyway, then found a seat at the table. The table, once again, was round. The table always seemed to be round whenever the Council was involved. He looked around as more of the Council members began to trickle in. The far wall was dominated by a large stone hearth, although no fire burned in it right now. A large map of Equestria and the lands beyond its borders hung on the wall across from him. There were colored push pins stuck in it at various places. A green chalk board hung next to it. The dining room appeared to be set up so that important affairs could be discussed while eating.

He turned his attention back to the door as it opened again and Princess Celestia stepped through it. He bowed, along with all the other Council members. She took an empty spot at the table.

"Good morning. You may all be seated," she smiled.

As they were all taking their seats, a tuxedo wearing unicorn from the kitchen entered through another door and began to serve a before breakfast hot tea. Celestia didn't wait until he had left before beginning, apparently he was trusted enough that she didn't mind him listening in.

"First, I want to fill James in on the situation at the physics lab. He hasn't been told yet because I wanted to give him his three uninterrupted days to consider the Council invitation." She turned her head slightly to look at him now. "Two days ago, the lab was broken into. The object wasn't taken. But, I'm sorry to say, most of your research notes were."

"Your Majesty?" he raised an eyebrow. "How'd they get in, Your Majesty? There were magical wards on that lab, weren't there? And anti-teleportation spells?"

She nodded slightly. "Yes, there were. Only a master thief could have done it, very knowledgeable and talented in warding magic to remove them without tripping the alarm traps. Theory Point says she thinks you can reconstruct the notes. Can you?"

He nodded once. "Yes, Your Majesty. We should be able to reconstruct most of them."

"And what do you consider the risk to be if the notes were to fall into the wrong hooves?"

"Probably not very high, Your Majesty. There's probably little in the notes they didn't already know, And even for things they didn't know, it's unlikely to be of much use … My bigger concern, Your Majesty, is that the notes will let them know how much progress we have made on figuring out what the object is."

She nodded. "Well, there's nothing that can be done about that now. Perhaps though, the Unicorn Guards working the lab may find a signature in the residual magic," she said, her horn glowing lightly as she floated a tea cup up to her muzzle and sipped from it.

"A signature, Your Majesty?" he questioned.

"Each unicorn has a magical signature," she explained, setting the tea cup down again. "Even if two unicorns cast the exact same spell, the energy will be slightly different. No unicorn is one hundred percent efficient when casting. Not all of the energy they unleash actually goes into the spell. Some of the energy simply scatters in random directions. That scattered energy sometimes stays around for awhile after the spell has been cast, and it can sometimes be used to identify the unicorn who cast a certain spell."

So basically, like a magic fingerprint, "Thank you for explaining, Your Majesty."

She nodded and smiled briefly before continuing. "The problem is, exceptionally good magicians often are close enough to one hundred percent efficient, that the residual magic they leave behind is not enough to be detected. So the Unicorn Guard may find nothing. I fear that any magician talented enough to remove the wards without triggering their alarms is probably talented enough to make sure the spell they cast was efficient enough not to leave a detectable trace."

She paused again, taking another sip of tea, then continued. "That brings us to the issue of the other object. A second recovery attempt will be made today. Firewing assures me the dragon that attacked the last recovery mission is unlikely to pose a threat this time. However, I am still sending Unicorn Guards up there with the Pegasus Guards to ward the area and provide anti-flame shields if needed." She looked at him again. "Because of what happened last time, I will not be sending you or Theory Point along on this one. Please get with Captain Swordstorm and brief him on anything he needs to know about how to safely handle and move the object. The mission leaves in two hours, so make sure to give yourself enough time."

"Yes, Your Majesty," James responded after finishing a sip of his own tea.

"Good," she nodded, then looked at the rest of the Council again. "What news of the effort to find the weakened area of the barrier?"

The unicorn, Moon Song, spoke. "The Captain of Magical Defenses assures me he has every unicorn he can spare searching for the weak spot. But so far, they have found nothing, Your Majesty. It's a slow and tedious process as the only thing they can do is check every seal in the barrier."

"Report to me as soon as they find anything," she said.

"Of course, Your Majesty," Moon Song responded.

The tuxedo wearing unicorn returned with the main breakfast course and began to serve them, starting with Princess Celestia. There was little talk while they ate. When they had finished, other Council issues not related to the object or the weakening magical barrier were discussed. There was a request for funding from the City of Manehattan to help restore a historic old school, petitions from other towns and individuals for bits, seeking approval for various projects, and many other more mundane issues. It served as a stark reminder that despite the seemingly unfolding crisis, there was still a country that had to be run. And as the more mundane issues continued to be introduced and discussed, James began to become aware of just how much work was truly involved in running a country.

Finally, the rest of the business was finished, and Celestia dismissed the Council. All of the Council members bowed, then began to file out of the dining room.

"James," Celestia spoke, stopping him. "Please come see me after you have spoken with Captain Swordstorm. There is another issue I need to discuss with you."

"Yes, Your Majesty," he said, bowing again before stepping out of the room.

...

Once he had given Captain Swordstorm a crash course in radiation safety, and safe handling of nuclear materials, he returned to the castle. He entered the throne room, bowed, and was given permission to stand. Celestia hesitated only a moment before speaking.

"… There's another human involved in this, James."

His jaw dropped for a moment, but he quickly closed it again. "Your Majesty? How do you know this, if I may ask?"

"Firewing, the Elder Dragon Ambassador, saw him. He's not yet part of the pattern, but he is approaching it from a distance."

He considered for a moment. "With all due respect, Your Majesty, he must be mistaken. As you and your advisers stated yourself, the possibility of duplicating the exact conditions that brought me here are so astronomically small—"

"He isn't here yet, James. But Firewing was certain he will be involved."

"If I may ask, Your Majesty, when did you learn of this?"

"Shortly after giving you the Council invitation. I didn't tell you sooner because I'd promised you three full days of uninterrupted time to consider your decision."

He nodded slightly. "Is he coming here, Your Majesty?"

"I don't know. Neither does Firewing. All we know is that he will be involved. For our benefit or detriment, we do not yet know."

He said nothing in response, trying to take in what she had said. Could it be someone he knew? He didn't see how. Even if the exact conditions could be duplicated, he was almost certain the Tevatron had not survived the earthquake. Even if it were possible to use some other particle accelerator to achieve the same results, the conditions would no doubt have to be different to account for different locations. They'd probably even have to be different to account for different times. Celestia spoke again, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"James, I'll need you to tell me everything you know about the other humans you worked with. I can't be sure it's one of them that is involved, but if it is, I want to be prepared."

He nodded slightly. "Yes, Your Majesty … I can even get you pictures of some of them if there's any charge left on my iPhone after a pony I gave it to gets all the music off of it … I can probably go get it today actually. It's at Vinyl Scratch's music studio on the other side of the city."

She nodded. "You have my permission to go get it. But hurry back."

"Yes, Your Majesty," he said, backing up and bowing before leaving.

"Firewing must be mistaken," he said to himself again as he walked. There was no way he could think of that another human could come here. His mind scrambled over the possibilities … what if it was not random chance that he had been brought here? What if The Beyond had brought him here, and now that it had failed to convince him to serve it, it was trying again with another human? No … that didn't fit the time line. Firewing had already seen the other human before the last dream he had with the aisling. And the aisling still thought he might serve it.

He made his way to the music studio as quickly as he could, pushing the button next the door. The DJ pony answered shortly after.

"Hel—Whoa! James? You're on the Council now? Guess we won't be seeing you around the club anymore," she looked at the robe he was wearing.

"Hi, DJ. Yes, I'm on the Council. But I might still be able to stop by the club from time to time." He knew that probably wasn't true. Even if Celestia or Luna would give him permission to go to The Underhoof, it didn't seem to him like it would be an appropriate place for a Council member to hang out. He doubted he would even ask.

"Come on in, I got all the music off your iPhone thing. Didn't even have to use up your battery to do it. I figured out what the battery puts out, then just disconnected it and hooked up a power supply in its place."

"You did? That was clever of you. Thank you," he smiled.

"Would you mind if I sampled some of that music? Maybe used some of it in remixes?"

"I don't mind, I doubt the dead composers that wrote it will mind, and the orchestras that played it aren't around to complain. Knock yourself out. So how much I owe you for all this?"

"Since you're letting me use the music in my remixes, we'll just call it even."

"Really? Thanks, DJ. I really appreciate this."

"Don't worry about it. It's nothing," she said, her horn glowing as she magically floated the iPhone and two digital audio tapes over to him. "I made you two copies, since I know you said you wanted to give one to Octavia."

"Thanks again, DJ … Well, I'll see you around I guess?"

"Yeah. Hopefully you will." He got the impression she saw through what he had said about stopping by the club from time to time. That she knew as well as he did that he'd probably never be at the club again.

"May the light of Their Majesties' Sun and Moon guide you," he responded.

"Okay, you're weirdin' out on me now, James." She looked at him strangely.

"It's uh … the standard parting that the Council uses," he explained.

"Uh huh …" she responded, but seemed to let it go after that. "Well, hopefully, I'll see you around. Even if not at the club."

The two of them hugged briefly, then he turned and left, making his way back to the castle.

Back in front of the throne room, he almost stopped to ask the Celestial Guards at the door to see The Princess. Then he remembered what the Lunar Guards had told him when he visited Princess Luna earlier that morning. He knocked on the door himself instead, getting no reaction from the Celestial Guards on either side of the door. Once the guards inside had opened it, he entered, bowed and then began to show Celestia the photos on the iPhone.

In the back of his mind, he thought it was a little big brother like. Here he was, sharing everything he knew about his closest friends on Earth with a powerful ruler of another nation so that she could make decisions about what should be done with them if she ever encountered them. It's not like it really matters if I tell her I guess. None of them are going to show up here. The dragon must be mistaken, he told himself again.

Celestia seemed as fascinated by the pictures as Twilight and the others had been. Again, it was hard for him to look at some of them, and even harder to talk about them, remembering what they were like. He felt a sense of relief when he had reached the last picture.

"Of course, I can't even be sure it is someone you know," Celestia started. "But if it is, do you have any thoughts?"

He looked at the floor for a moment, consumed by his own thoughts before responding. "I don't think it's possible for any of them to come here, Your Majesty. But if any of them could figure it out, it would be Eric. Eric Thompson. If it can be done, he'd be the one that would figure out how to do it. He's extremely intelligent. He was also my most trusted friend. You'd have nothing to fear from him." He paused for a moment. It wasn't lost on him that he had spoken about Eric being his friend in past tense—almost as if he really didn't exist anymore. As if all of it were some previous life that didn't exist anymore, or had been some fantasy. Equestria was the only reality he knew now. Then he shook his head slightly. "But I don't even see why it would even cross his mind, Your Majesty. No doubt, they all think I am dead. The fact that they never found a body wouldn't mean very much. It's entirely possible I'd be buried under thousands of tons of concrete if the accelerator tunnel collapsed underneath the lab."

She nodded slightly. "This will, of course, be brought up at the next Council meeting. But I wanted to talk to you first so that I wasn't springing a total surprise on you."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I appreciate that."

"Thank you, James, for giving me all this information., I know it must have been hard for you to talk about." He only nodded slightly in response, and she continued. "You may go. Please get with Theory Point and see how many of those notes you can reconstruct. You may go to the Academy dorm, or the physics lab. Wherever you think you will be most likely to find her. And get with Captain Swordstorm as soon as he returns from up North."

"Yes, Your Majesty." He bowed before taking his leave.

As he passed through the main gate and left the castle courtyard, he took note of the fact that the guards did not stop him to question him. They hadn't questioned him when he left to go get his iPhone either—had not asked him to see any kind of proof he was authorized to leave the castle. Given the robe he was wearing, the guards would clearly know he was a Council member. And Council members were not allowed to leave the castle without permission from one of the princesses. But it seemed the only thing enforcing that restriction was trust—trust that the Council members were loyal enough that they would not leave without permission, even if there was physically nothing stopping them from doing so. He was glad to see the trust relationship between the princesses and the Council ran so deeply.

He made his way to the Academy faculty dorm now. He wasn't sure if Theory Point would be there, or at the lab. But the dorm seemed to be a safer bet, especially if the Unicorn Guards had not finished their work in the lab.

He went to her room and knocked on the door, waiting only a few seconds before she opened it.

"So my plans for going steady with you are out the window I see," she snickered, stepping aside to allow him in.

He rolled his eyes as he stepped in. "It's good to see you again too, Theory Point," he said flatly.

"I'm just kidding with you," she sounded slightly defensive now. "It's your life after all. Who am I to tell you what to do with it? Considering your young age though, it seems like a rather rash decision to make. Given you've committed yourself for the rest of your days to a hard way of life you can never leave."

"And if I had said no, the opportunity would never have been offered again," he pointed out.

"That's the only reason anypony says yes. Because she only makes the offer once. If she allowed you to say no, and then change your mind later, nopony would ever accept. The only reason they do is because they know if they pass it up now, it will never come again."

He sighed and frowned, throwing his hands in the air. "Do we really have to have this conversation, Theory? I knew what I was getting into when I accepted the invitation. She was completely up front about what it entailed. And it's not why I came over here."

"Fine. You're right. Lets just get down to reconstructing the notes. How much do you remember?"

"Almost everything."

She nodded and magically retrieved a notebook and quill from her desk. Then they started reconstructing the notes, mathematical equations and formulas, and diagrams from memory.

He thought about telling her that a second recovery effort for the new object was in progress as they spoke, but decided against it. At the first Council meeting, he had been told that nothing said in the Council meetings was to leave the meeting without permission from one of the princesses. Besides, she would find out soon enough, assuming Captain Swordstorm was successful at recovering the object this time.

He and Theory Point spent the next several hours rewriting notes from memory, occasionally getting into long discussions when one of them remembered something differently than the other. It was during these discussions, that he could sense a certain tension coming from her, as if she no longer fully accepted him because he was on the Royal Council. He hoped she would get over it, and he hoped the rest of his friends at the Academy didn't feel the same way she did. But then again, could he really blame her for not fully accepting him anymore? To most ponies, the Royal Council was something mysterious. Any number of rumors about the Council, many of them untrue, floated around the public. Could he really blame anypony for not feeling entirely comfortable around a Council member?

Eventually, he announced he had to leave. Dinner would be soon, and he didn't dare miss his first one with Princess Luna as a Council member.

"May the light of Their Majesties' Sun and Moon guide you," he gave Theory Point the traditional Council parting as he left, getting a small head shake from her and a sigh. Neither one of them pressed the issue though as she closed her door and he turned, walking down the hallway. As he walked back to the castle, he wondered how the recovery mission was going. He didn't think they would be back until tomorrow morning sometime … hopefully early enough for him to get together with Captain Swordstorm before the breakfast briefing so he would be able to share whatever he learned with the rest of the Council that morning.

Back at the castle, he rejoined the rest of the Council in the same room they had had breakfast in that morning. Dinner with Princess Luna seemed to be somewhat more laid back than breakfast with Princess Celestia had been. Most of the Council business had been taken care of that morning and there were only a few items that needed to be dealt with that night. When they had finished eating, Luna dismissed the Council, and they all returned to the Council living quarters.

That evening, Moon Song taught him how to play the game they'd been playing when he had visited them a few days prior. The game was heavily strategy and logic based. Although it was relatively complex, it didn't take him long to get the hang of it. Well, the basics of it anyway. There was a lot of strategy to learn. Becoming good at it, was a different story. But after about an hour of practice, he managed to start winning a round once in awhile, although he still lost far more often than he won. It was good mental exercise though, with the strategy and logic involved.

"Something's bothering, you James," Storm Runner said as Moon Song dealt the deck of cards for another round.

"Are my emotions really that obvious? Her Majesty can read me like that too," he responded.

"In this case, they are," The pegasus said. "We are your brothers and sisters. You can talk to us."

He hesitated for a few moments before nodding slightly a couple of times. "One of my best friends at the Academy. Well, now that I'm a Council member …" He tried to find the right word. It's not as if she seemed to dislike him. Or that they weren't friends anymore. But their relationship was … well much different than it had been.

"Standoffish? Less open to you then she used to be? A little stiff and focused only on the task at hoof?"

"Basically, yes … Yes, that's it exactly."

Storm Runner nodded understandingly as she raised a forehoof, putting it on his shoulder comfortingly. "Unfortunately, it happens with some ponies. They don't understand the Council or what it does. And they fear what they don't understand."

"It seems less like fear, and more like disgust with me."

"There are a lot of ponies who won't understand the decision you made, James. As Her Majesty no doubt told you, most ponies who are offered the chance to join The Council, decline the offer. But trust me, even if most ponies don't show it, there is an element of fear there as well."

"Why should they fear me? They know the Council exists to ensure the safety of Equestria. They know the Council members are oath bound to serve Their Majesties. I don't understand why they should fear me."

"The fact that you are oath bound to serve Their Majesties plays a role in it."

He raised an eyebrow. "They are afraid of Their Majesties?"

She shook her head. "No, but they fear how much influence you have on the decisions Their Majesties make. And … well, although they do not fear Princess Celestia, there are still a lot ponies who do fear Princess Luna because of the second Nightmare Moon incident. They know you are bound to Princess Luna as well as Princess Celestia."

He nodded understandingly. Despite the way Luna sometimes treated him, he truly felt for her. He knew a lot of ponies still didn't like her, and didn't trust her. It might even be safe to say that most ponies didn't like her, didn't trust her, and were afraid of her. Her dark, mysterious image didn't help matters any. She almost never appeared in public. In fact, she was almost never seen at all. The circle of ponies who had any contact with her at all was very small. What Storm Runner had said definitely made sense. The fact that ponies knew he was part of Princess Luna's inner circle now might play a role in why they wanted to avoid him and closed themselves off to him. He frowned at the thought, and his heart ached for Luna—even if she did bring much of it on herself if she treated other ponies the same way she sometimes treated him.

The pegasus patted his shoulder once reassuringly with her forehoof. "A lot of sacrifices must be made to be on the Council, James. Unfortunately, the trust of some former friends is sometimes one of them. But you must remember all of the good you do for Equestria, and be content with that knowledge as your reward. And always remember that every Council member is always here to support you like a brother. Because a brother to us is what you are now."

He smiled slightly now, her words lifting his spirits again. Then he picked up the cards he had been dealt. "Thank you … Alright, enough of me moping around. Lets get this game back underway."

Eventually, they wrapped up the game and all retired to bed. As he lay in bed, he paid attention to the strange warming feeling of the binding spell again. It was like a spring of clear, warm water welling up inside of him. Reaching deep inside of himself again, he found that he could touch it once more. The harder he concentrated on it, the more intense it seemed to become.

He pushed that to the back of his mind for now, and sighed slightly. He thought about Twilight Sparkle and felt a twinge of worry go through his bones. Now that Luna said the aisling would probably leave him alone, would it start going after Twilight instead? He wasn't sure if it even knew she was involved, and he wanted to keep it that way by drawing as little attention to her as possible. Still though, there was a conversation he would have to have with her that he was not looking forward to. Any thought of hiding the fact that he was on the Council from her by simply not ever letting her see him wear the robe had been rendered moot by his eyes … his eyes that now changed color between Celestia's magenta during the day, and Luna's deep blue at night. Sooner or later, that conversation would have to happen. A few months at the latest because he was certain to see her at the Autumn Moon Celebration.

Sleep gradually drifted over him. As Luna had promised, the aisling did not trouble his dreams, and he slept soundly and peacefully through the entire night.

...

He awoke before sunrise the next morning, quickly getting out of bed and leaving his room, making his way toward the shared bathroom facilities where he showered and dressed. He was up earlier than normal, and was the only one there right now. But it occurred to him for the first time that given the shared bathroom and shower facilities, he would have to get comfortable with the idea of ponies seeing him nude, as well as with the idea of showering with ponies. The thought made him slightly uncomfortable, although he figured once he had gotten through it the first time, it would be second nature after that.

When he had finished putting the robe on and tying it shut, he went down to the main level of the castle, going around to the back and stepping outside. Even though it was still dark, the warm humid summer air hit him like he had stepped into steamy rain forest. It felt like rain was coming, possibly even a storm. He'd have to check what the weather ponies had planned for later that day when he got back to the Council living area.

Looking further out into the darkness behind the Castle, he could see four chariots and a squadron of Pegasus Guards. They looked like they had just recently arrived. He recognized Captain Swordstorm and quickly descended the stairs, pacing over to him at a fast walk.

"Privy Councilor James," Captain Swordstorm acknowledged and nodded. "Congratulations on your acceptance to the Council."

"Thank you, Captain," he slowed down and looked at the chariots and the rest of the Royal Guards. All seemed to be in good shape as best he could tell in the predawn low light conditions. "No more trouble with dragons, I hope?"

The pegasus shook his head. "We didn't run into any dragons." He frowned then, a frown that James knew meant whatever was coming next was not what he wanted to hear. "Unfortunately, we didn't get the object either. There was nothing to get. We dug until we hit solid rock. We never encountered any radiation either. We brought back some samples from the crater for you though. We thought perhaps you might be able to analyze them and find traces of whatever it was."

James blinked. "There was nothing there? How is that possible? Did something beat us up there? and recover it before we did?"

Captain Swordstorm shook his head. "The wing of guards I left up there encountered nothing after the dragon."

Could somepony, or something else for that matter, have beaten them up there and removed the object even before the original guards that established the perimeter found it? That seemed unlikely. There hadn't been any evidence that anything had been there before those guards had gotten there. Nor had there been any evidence that any attempt had been made to dig something out of the crater. "Could it have been so hot it completely burned away?" he said more to himself than to anypony that might be listening. He thought for a few more moments, then turned his attention back to Captain Swordstorm. The pony had a look of disappointment on his muzzle. "You did everything you could, Captain. If it's not there now, it almost certainly wasn't there the first time we went up either. Thank you for your efforts in trying to recover it. And that was good thinking in bringing the samples back. Can you have them taken to the physics lab? I'll inform Her Majesty at the Council meeting."

The pegasus nodded. In addition to looking disappointed, James thought he looked exhausted, as did the rest of the Pegasus Guards. They had probably worked half the day yesterday and half the night trying to recover the object, then spent the rest of the night flying to get back here before sunrise. Only the Unicorn Guards didn't look tired. They had ridden in the chariots and hadn't had to do very much once arriving up North since no dragons came back.

"You and your guards should get some well deserved rest," he said.

"Thank you, Privy Councilor James," he responded, then turned and went back to the rest of his guards, gathering them together as new guards showed up to deal with taking the carriages and other equipment back to storage. Two of them briefly talked to Captain Swordstorm, then hooked up to one of the chariots and began to take it towards the Academy. James assumed it must contain the samples, as well as the monitoring equipment that had been taken from the Academy. He watched the Pegasus Guards march off towards the barracks for some much needed sleep, then turned and went back to the castle himself.

He arrived at the breakfast room and made smalltalk with a few of the other Council members until Celestia arrived, at which point they all bowed and took their seats while the morning tea was served. As was protocol, Celestia was the first to speak.

"Good morning. I hope you all had a good night last night. We may as well start with Captain Swordstorm's recovery efforts up North. I trust you have spoken with him this morning, James?"

"I have, Your Majesty. Unfortunately, they found nothing to recover. They dug until they hit solid rock looking for it, but no object was found. They did bring us back some samples from inside the crater that we can analyze to look for anything out of the ordinary. But that's all we have to go on right now, Your Majesty."

If she were surprised or dismayed by that, she didn't show it. Instead, she simply nodded once. "Do you think somepony or something else could have gotten up there and recovered it?"

"It's unlikely, Your Majesty. The Pegasus Guards that were left up there did not encounter anything after the dragon forced us to leave. And there was no evidence of any activity there before we arrived the first time. No evidence that any attempts had been made to remove something from the crater … My best guess, Your Majesty, is that there was never anything there to recover. Or at least there wasn't for very long after impact."

"And what do you think happened to it?" she asked.

"Anything I can say is really just a guess, Your Majesty. It's possible it burned. But if it did it was completely consumed. I have no doubt that it did survive re-entry and did impact the ground. The crater is too large to have been made by something that exploded in the air."

She nodded slightly. "It's unfortunate. But we did what we could. Would it be worth you or Theory Point going back up there to look at other possibilities?"

He hesitated before responding. He definitely was not looking forward to the possibility of going back up there. Not after what had happened the first time. But, he'd be lying if he said it wouldn't be worth it. If the object had burned, they may find traces of it on nearby objects, or evidence of burning in the crater itself—evidence that might require a trained scientific eye to find and that the guards might have overlooked. And despite the possibility of another dragon encounter, the strange object had definitely caught his interest—even more so now that it had seemingly just disappeared. But, first things first. Finally, he gave his answer.

"There definitely could be value in it, Your Majesty. But I would suggest that we analyze the samples Captain Swordstorm and his team brought back first before we make any decisions about going back up there."

She nodded. "Make it so."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

She turned her attention back to the table as a whole. "There is another issue. One that may or may not be related. Just yesterday, I received a report from one of the teams looking for the weakness in the barrier of griffins flying near the magical barrier in Everfree Forest. There's nothing for them to hunt along the barriers. And even griffins won't venture that deep into Everfree Forest lightly. At this point, we don't know what they were doing there. But I think we can safely assume they weren't just out on a leisurely sightseeing flight. As soon as I know anything more about the situation, you will all know as well."

Everfree Forest, James thought to himself. The feared, untamed forest the ponies didn't control. He'd only been in Everfree Forest once, when Twilight had taken him to see the ruins of the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. The magical barrier was much deeper into Everfree Forest than the ruined castle. It was in the skies above that castle, that the first battle of Nightmare Moon had been fought more than one thousand years ago. The backlash of the dark magic released on that day had permanently tainted the land of Everfree Forest, and all the creatures that lived there. The air itself was dangerous to flying creatures, and it was unlikely griffins would go there without good reason. Violent and rapid weather changes were common in Everfree. Sudden changes in wind direction and speed could send a pegasus, griffin, or even a dragon into a rapid stall, or throw them into an uncontrolled spin towards the ground. Unexpected severe turbulence strong enough to break wings could occur without warning. Dangerous creatures of myth and legend, tainted by the dark magic, roamed the woods. That taint had been passed down from generation to generation, like an ugly and twisted family heirloom. Creatures like manticores, with poisonous stingers the size of small swords on their scorpion like tails; three headed hydras, which could swallow you whole with one mouth, or tear you in half with two; the dreaded cockatrice, capable of turning you into stone if you looked at it. Most ponies—and most griffins and dragons for that matter—refused to even go near the edge of Everfree Forest, much less take one step inside of it, even though most ponies who had never been in Everfree didn't even believe that manticores, hydras, and cockatrices existed, instead believing them to be imaginary monsters in stories told to young colts and fillies to frighten them into behaving. But all three of those frightening creatures were very real. James had never seen any of them outside of the sketchings in some of Twilight's books. He hoped it would stay that way.

"Moving on to other things," Celestia said, turning her head and looking at Storm Runner, the pegasus now. "Storm Runner, I want you to mentor James today."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the pegasus responded.

"There is one more important issue," Celestia continued. "Although at this point, I am unsure of what it means. There is another human involved in this whole strange affair. He has been seen in the background of the pattern."

That drew looks of surprise from all of the Council members, along with an awkward pause. Finally, the earth pony, River Rock, spoke. "Is the other human coming here, Your Majesty?"

"At this point, I don't know. I don't even know who he is. But I have spoken to James about it and gathered as much information as possible about the people he knows. I will share that information with you at a later meeting. Before then, you are, of course, free to talk amongst yourselves with James about it. Right now, the other human is very far in the background. It will likely be awhile before he becomes a factor. But he definitely will become a factor. If it does turn out to be someone James knows, the information he has shared with us will be invaluable. But right now, I don't know anything else. As soon as I do, I will let you all know, and we will decide what to do then."

Breakfast was served shortly afterward. When they had finished eating, Celestia dismissed them. The Council rose, and in a flurry of bows, left the room.

He followed Storm Runner as she trotted down the hall and down a flight of stairs. She tuned her head over her whithers briefly to look at him, then back forward as she continued towards a nondescript door on the right side of the hall.

"One of the first things you'll find about the Council, James, is that you'll have to broaden your knowledge base quite a bit. There aren't a lot of us, so we have to strive to become experts in multiple fields. For example, you'll want to become an expert in more fields of science than just physics. But since physics is your specialty for now, I hope you like atmospheric thermodynamics."

"Atmospheric thermodynamics?" He raised his eyebrows as she hooked the latch on the door with her forehoof—all doors in Equestria used pull or push type latches, never doorknobs—pushing it down and then pushing the door open. She stepped inside, motioning him to follow with a nod of her head.

Inside, a large table dominated the floor of the room. Multiple maps and charts were spread out on it, in addition to several large aerial photographs of what looked like farm fields. Maps, charts, and graphs also covered almost every available square inch of space on the wall. It might as well have been wallpapered with them. He couldn't even see the stone wall behind it. Freestanding green chalkboards stood near the table and near the walls, each one covered with complex mathematical calculations. The charts on the wall and table, he recognized as climate data charts, tracking rainfall amounts, temperature, humidity, pressure, sunrise and sunset times, moon rise and moon set times, cloud cover, and many other weather and astronomical related variables.

"Welcome to Climate Central," Storm Runner said to him, looking back over her shoulder at him. He looked around, a look of confusion on his face before turning his head back to look at her, the look of questioning on his face apparently obvious as she spoke again. "What, you didn't think Their Majesties and the pegasus weather ponies just guess at it, did you?"

"I guess … I never really thought much about it at all," he said, a note of bewilderment in his voice.

"Most ponies don't. They'd rather not think about all the work that really goes into this," she nodded. "This is basically where we make the climate, and make small adjustments to it whenever needed. The weather pegasi send us data from all the different parts of Equestria regarding temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, soil conditions such as moisture content. You name it, and if it has to do with climate or growing food, it probably comes through this room. Then we crunch the numbers, and produce recommendations. Everything from when Her Majesty should raise and lower the sun each day and what angle the rays should strike the ground at, to how much rain the weather ponies should try to produce in Manehattan."

He continued to look around the room, still bewildered. He had known the pegasi controlled the weather—everypony in Equestria knew that. But until now, it had never occurred to him that it was such a major operation that was being scientifically directed from Canterlot. He had also finally come to accept that Princess Celestia really did control the movement of the sun, but it had never occurred to him that it was such a complex operation of determining exactly when it should rise, when it should set, even what angle the rays should strike the surface at, and various other aspects to achieve ideal climate conditions. Adviser to a princess? or adviser to a goddess? He looked back at the pegasus with him again, a sense of wonder still on his face.

"Of course," she began a bit sheepishly, "its not an exact science. Not yet anyway. We don't always get it right. But we get better at it all the time."

"At least it's probably a more exact science than trying to predict the weather where I am from," he said absentmindedly, joking to himself.

He spent the next several hours learning about the weather making process from Storm Runner, all the variables that went into deciding when it should rain in a given area, how much it should rain, how much sunlight a given area should get, and my another variables. Thanks to his physics background, a lot of it came relatively easy to him. He understood thermodynamics, and thus understanding atmospheric heat transfer was second nature to him, as were calculations regarding different types of terrain absorbing and reflecting heat at different rates. The entire operation fascinated him. On one hand, it was slightly frightening to comprehend: A world so … broken … for lack of a better term, that even weather patterns didn't work without ponies controlling them. But on the other hand, the fact that they did control the weather … He thought about how different things could be on his own planet if they had the ability to control the weather. How many global problems could be eliminated with the ability to do that? No more famine, no more hunger, no more devastating floods, no more hurricanes or tornadoes, no more deadly heat waves or destructive blizzards. The possibilities for solving world hunger, and other problems, seemed endless.

Of course, it wasn't quite that simple, as she explained to him. The pegasus weather ponies, after all, couldn't simply pull moisture out of dry air. They couldn't make it rain where there was no moisture to work with. And that's where the sun came in. The sun had to evaporate enough moisture from lakes, ponds, and streams to give the pegasi enough to work with. But evaporate too much, and you would dry out the ground, which had many undesirable effects. And that's what made the process so complicated, and yet so challenging and fascinating. So many intertwined variables went into achieving the desired outcome. And changing one of them often had a cascading effect that caused a lot of other ones to change, or required that they be adjusted. As in his own world, weather here wasn't an exact science that was fully understood. That meant sometimes the effects of changing one variable weren't fully predictable, or understood. Anytime the outcome they got wasn't the outcome they intended, they would try to analyze where their calculations and formulas were wrong, and try to update them to produce better and more accurate results. It was the kind of problem a super computer would have modeled on Earth. Except here, they didn't have super computers. What they did have, were some extremely intelligent Council members, of which he was now counted one of.

Of course, despite his new duties on the Council, there was still other work to be done, and the next morning found him back in the Academy physics lab with Theory Point. The wards that were supposed to prevent teleportation into or out of the lab had been recast. And now there would be guards posted inside the lab whenever he or Theory Point were not there.

The two of them said little to each other as they prepared some of the samples Swordstorm had brought back for analysis. When he tried to talk to her, the answers she gave were short, and strictly related to the project they were working on. There was none of the usual casual conversation, none of the occasional innocent flirting they had occasionally engaged in with each other, none of the back and forth good natured ribbing. She had definitely cooled towards him. He was sure of it now. Was she really that strongly opposed to him being on the Council?

He finished some analysis on one of the samples, and turned to look at her. "The hydrogen content of this sample is very high. Much higher than I would expect to see."

She simply nodded slightly in response. "And what do you think that means?" she said flatly.

He rubbed his forehead with thumb and forefinger for a moment. "That there was probably hydrogen in the object? But beyond that? I have no idea what it means. Other than the fact that the object probably contained a lot of hydrogen. For what purpose, I don't know. The hydrogen may have burned on impact, which would explain some of the extensive fire damage we saw up there. The concentration of hydrogen may have even been higher before that happened."

"The first object we found didn't have any hydrogen," she noted. "This one must be very different."

He paused for several seconds, rubbing his forehead in thought. "I don't know … it may mean nothing. I could have been mistaken that the object was launched by magic instead of a chemical fueled rocket. If it was a failed rocket, the hydrogen we are seeing could be from some kind of rocket fuel … There's probably nothing else to learn from these samples. I don't see anything else unusual."

"I guess all we can do is wait for the next clue to fall out of the sky then."

He nodded slightly, but sighed. "We've been lucky that they've screwed up enough to even give us the clues we already got. I'm not comfortable just sitting around waiting and hoping they will drop another one for us. Sooner or later, our luck's gonna run out."

He blinked as Theory Point simply closed up a notebook she had been writing in and started to leave the lab. "Where are you going?" he called out to her.

"Class. I'm teaching a summer course, and the summer session starts today," she responded without even looking back over her shoulder at him. Before he had time to say anything else, she had already closed the door behind her and was on her way up the stairs.

He frowned and shook his head. I hope Twilight and the others from Ponyville don't give me the same cold shoulder just because I'm on the Council … He repacked and re-secured the samples before leaving the lab, informing the guards outside the door that he would not be back for the rest of the day, and as far as he knew, Theory Point would not be coming back either. Then he left the building and made his way back to the castle …

...

The long, hot summer days continued to go by, but now there were the occasional tell-tail signs of change. A cool, crisp breeze from the North. The fact that Celestia was lowering the sun earlier in the day, and Luna was raising the moon earlier. The signs of approaching Autumn were becoming harder to ignore—much harder for James to ignore actually. In the three months he had been on the Council now, he had gained a reputation for being a natural at the Climate planning tasks. It was one of the duties he spent a lot of time working on and had learned a great deal about. The approaching autumn was one he had helped plan. Of course, as it got closer, they would make adjustments to the plan to correct for things that weren't going quite as they had predicted.

He had settled into Council life quite well. Even the restrictions regarding not leaving the castle grounds without permission were not nearly as bad as Theory Point had made them sound. For someone who was very spontaneous, he could see where they could be a problem. But being the careful analytical person that he was, he pretty much just planned his day as he normally would anyway, then got one of the princesses to approve it. Even Princess Luna had so far never denied any of his requests to leave the castle courtyard.

Sadly, his relationship with Theory Point remained cold. It was like a switch had been turned off as soon as he joined the Council, and had never been turned back on.

As days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, he found himself leaving the castle courtyard less and less. Even though neither princess had ever denied one of his requests to do so, he simply found himself making fewer requests. If his relationship with Theory Point had grown more distant, his relationship with the other Council members had definitely grown much closer. He lived as a crew on a space station might live: Relatively isolated from the outside, but doing literally everything together with the rest of his "crew". There were fourteen other Council members, besides himself. He had become incredibly close with them. He lived with them, ate with them, worked with them, even showered with them. If anything at all was bothering him, he knew he could talk to any of them, and they would listen and be supportive. And sometimes, he had been the same for one of them. He truly had come to think of each one of them as a brother or sister.

As Storm Runner had told him, there often wasn't much free time. The Council stayed very busy with all of the work required to keep Equestria running. Of course, some of the things, such as climate planning, had never even occurred to him until he was already on the Council. But the work was rewarding and enjoyable, made even more so by the close nature of the Council.

This particular day, however, there was no work. It was one of the free days Princess Celestia had scheduled for most of the castle staff, including the Council and many of the Royal Guards. Council members intermingled with Royal Guards. By now, all of them looked like a rather ragtag bunch, all of them having at least some bruises and soreness from the various physical games they had played, including a variation of rugby that James was certain he was going to regret participating in the next morning after about the fourth time of getting tackled to the ground by one of the Royal Guard stallions. Now, however, he stood facing Captain Swordstorm. In his hands, was a practice sword.

"You ever use one of these before?" the pegasus asked him, standing confidently with all four hooves braced on the ground. Even Swordstorm had taken a few hits during the rugby like game. So it wasn't as if he was in top condition right now either.

"I was in the fencing club in college," James said a little nervously. "But that was a long time ago." The practice sword he held was also nothing like a fencing sword. For one, it was much heavier, more like a traditional long sword than any of the three types of swords commonly used in fencing.

"It will come back to you," Captain Swordstorm assured him. "Although not in time to do you much good in this spar," he grinned, getting some chuckles from behind James.

He turned his head to look behind him. "I don't know how I let you talk me into this, Storm Runner … Sparing with the Captain of the Pegasus Guard. What was I thinking?" He shook his head.

"I'm just very persuasive like that," she grinned. "You're not thinking of backing out are you?"

"Actually, yes … I am," he responded flatly.

"Oh we can't have that," the unicorn, Moon Song said, shaking his head. "How to motivate him?" he asked, pausing for a few moments. Then he tapped his forehoof on the ground once. "I have just the thing. Perhaps Her Majesty would be willing to grant a kiss to the winner of the spar," he said, grinning and turning his head to look at Princess Celestia now, who was standing on the side. The other Council members and Royal Guards gathered around the area chuckled quietly and hid small smiles.

Celestia appeared to be lost in thought for a moment, although James thought it was mostly for show. "mmm … perhaps," she said smiling sweetly.

"It is settled then!" Moon Song called out, raising a forehoof into the air like a showman introducing a spectacle. "These two brave warriors will battle for the ultimate prize! A kiss from the beautiful Princess Celestia!"

Even Captain Swordstorm chuckled a bit at the Council unicorn's proclamation. James merely shook his head and tried to hide a blush.

"On the other hoof …" Celestia interrupted, all eyes going back to her now. "Perhaps I will give a kiss to the loser instead. As a consolation prize," she grinned, getting more chuckles and grins from the gathered Council members and Royal Guards. "Or perhaps," she started again, "If I am entertained by their performance, I will give them both a kiss." Even she couldn't suppress a small chuckle of her own now, getting more chuckles from the small crowd.

"So then!" Moon Song started again. "Who will get the kiss from the beautiful Princess Celestia? Will it be one of them? Both of them? Or neither of them? There's only one way to find out!"

James hesitated for a few more seconds, finally shaking his head slightly. "Alright, fine. I'll do it," he said, stepping forward a few more paces, holding the practice sword with uncertainty.

"That's the spirit!" Captain Swordstorm said. "I'll give you a warm up period. To get used to the feel of the sword."

"For all the good it will do me," he responded, swinging the sword, trying to get the feel of it, hoping the techniques he had learned in fencing would come back to him quickly, like getting back on a bicycle after having been off of one for several years. But even if they did come back, he was well aware that fencing with an opponent who walked on all fours, and fought with his hooves, would be far different than any spar he had ever had before.

"For all the good it will do you?" Captain Swordstorm raised an eyebrow and snorted, flicking his tail once. "With an attitude like that James, you've already lost. Think positive. You knew how to do this. It will come back to you."

He glanced sideways at the Captain, then nodded slightly. "Positive … right …" He tried to calm himself and tune out the rest of the environment, focusing only on the sword in his hand and the pegasus stallion standing across from him. He swung the sword through its range of motion a couple more times, getting a feel for the heft and balance of it. Then, he looked straight at the Captain, trying to project an image of confidence, although he was almost certain he was failing miserably at it. "Alright … I'm as ready as I'll ever be," he finally said.

"On your command, Your Majesty?" Captain Swordstorm said.

Celestia nodded, waiting until the two combatants were ready. "Begin," she said with a nod of her head.

Again, James tried to blot out everything except his sword and the pegasus across from him. Captain Swordstorm wore only his armor, having no weapons. But he knew from watching them battle the dragon that the Pegasus Guards were very skilled at hoof to hoof, or in this case, hoof to hand combat.

He took a quick jab, thrusting the practice blade straight forward, testing the pony's reflexes. He was not surprised to find they were very good. The pegasus darted sideways enough to avoid the jab. His extended arm left him open for a counterattack. He already knew he had made a mistake before he felt the pony's forehoof connect just below his ribs, not hard enough to do any real damage, but hard enough to make sure he felt it.

He jumped backwards, retracting his sword arm, wincing slightly. If the pony had been armed with a spear, sword, or any type of sharp weapon attached to his forehoof, it would have been a fatal hit, striking the vulnerable area below his ribcage, angled upward to pierce the heart and lung area.

He shook it off, refocusing his concentration and trying to will everything that he had learned in the fencing club to come back to him. This time, instead of a thrusting jab, he made a series of strikes from the side. But Swordstorm successfully blocked every one of them using the greaves on his forelegs. He heard Celestia call out:

"Your telegraphing your strikes, James," she said. "He knows what you're going to do before you do it."

He started to retreat backwards in frustration, but the pony took advantage of it to go on the attack. Now, James found himself on the defensive, using the flat edge of the practice blade to deflect the blows of Swordstorm's forehooves. Once he had been driven backwards, Swordstorm backed off and the two resumed their standoff.

"It's coming back to you," the Captain said. "You defend well for having been away from it for so many years. But we need to work on your attacks."

He nodded slightly, breathing a bit heavier from both the exertion of the spar and nervousness. He knew he was sparring with a pony far better trained in the art of combat than he was. All he had was a few years of fencing under his belt. Swordstorm had an entire career of combat training and experience.

He raised the practice sword again, moving back and swinging with a cross stroke that Swordstorm handily blocked with the greave on his right foreleg. He quickly recovered and tried a stroke from the side. Blocked again. A few more blocked exchanges.

He made another attempt, coming down from the top this time. Again, his blow was blocked, but this time, he felt Swordstorm's armored foreleg bend and hook under his sword arm. Quickly, his arm was wrenched forward, and without knowing exactly how, his sword had been wrenched free and was lying on the ground out of reach. While he was still stunned in surprise, trying to figure out how that had happened, he suddenly found himself falling, flat on his back now. He didn't even get a chance to try to recover before the pony was standing over his prone form, his forehoof resting lightly on his throat.

Nothing needed to be said, They both knew the spar was over. Even with no sharp weapons, it would have been a fatal blow. All the pegasus had to do was press his armored forehoof down, and James' throat would be crushed.

The pony removed his forehoof and stepped off of him, looking down at him. "You did well for having been away from it for so long. Your defensive tactics are good and solid. But your attacks need work. As Her Majesty said, you are telegraphing your strikes. And you are leaving yourself vulnerable after you make a strike. We'll work on that. And of course, more of it will come back to you naturally. But that down stroke you used?" The Captain's voice took on a commanding tone again, as if James were one of the Royal Guards serving under him. "I don't ever want to see you use that again. That might work with a saber against an unarmored opponent. But you aren't going to cut through plate armor with a longsword using that stroke. In a real fight, it will get you killed every time. It won't harm your opponent, and it will leave you exposed for them to bury their own blade deep in your unprotected gut."

He blinked and nodded. "Yes, sir," he responded. He wasn't under Captain Swordstorm's command. Nevertheless, the Captain's presence and powerful voice commanded a great deal of respect. And James felt compelled to call him "sir" whenever he took up that commanding tone with him.

"And now, the moment everypony has been waiting for …" Moon Song called out. "Which one of them, if any, will get the kiss. Or will it be both?" Moon Song said dramatically, again getting chuckles from the gathered crowd of Royal Guards and Council members who had watched the spar.

Still lying on his back, he turned his head to the right, hearing the sound of hoofsteps. Princess Celestia was walking towards the two of them now.

She stopped, standing next to James, then looked back and forth between him and Captain Swordstorm, The expression on her face revealed nothing as she good-naturedly drew out the suspense. After several long seconds she finally spoke:

"Captain Swordstorm won the spar, but James did put in an impressive effort for having been away from any sparring for so many years. I enjoyed watching the two of them spar. So both of them shall receive the prize."

She lowered her head toward the ground, her muzzle approaching James' cheek. Then she kissed him. He felt a shiver go through him. Although she had nuzzled his face multiple times before when comforting him or reassuring him, it was the first time he'd actually gotten a kiss from The Princess. He knew he must be blushing madly, if the chuckling reactions of the gathered crowd was any indication.

After she kissed him she moved to Captain Swordstorm, giving him a kiss on the muzzle as well. James was somewhat disappointed that the Captain didn't have the same reaction of blushing that he was certain was on his own face. After she had kissed him, she took a few steps backwards. Swordstorm looked down at James again.

"Are you alright? You look a little bewildered there." James could tell he was trying to suppress a snicker.

"A little sore. a little bruised. And I'm sure I'll feel it in the morning. But I'll be fine," James responded.

"I almost feel sorry for you. Beaten, sore, bruised, and blushing like a red rose in the Royal Gardens after that kiss." This time, he wasn't able to suppress a small snicker.

He was certain the comment had probably only made him blush worse. He glanced over at Celestia, then turned his eyes back to the Captain. "Worth it," he grinned. "Every last bruise was worth it."

The pegasus chuckled in response and offered a forehoof, which he gladly accepted with both hands. With one pull of his foreleg, the stallion helped him back to his feet.

Celestia spoke again. "I think a round of applause is in order for our two combatants."

The gathered ponies stomped their forehooves on the ground in approval—he had learned long ago that was how ponies offered applause—then started to disperse from the circle that had gathered around to watch the spar. The sky was starting to darken slightly as autumn dusk approached, the days much shorter now than they had been even a month ago. A chill gust of wind foretold the winter that would be here all too soon—his second Winter in Canterlot. It was hard to believe, he'd been in Equestria well over a year now. Approaching a year and a half actually. His thoughts were interrupted as Princess Celestia walked up in front of him again.

"I can do something about the bruises and the soreness," she said to him. "Hold still for a moment." Then she touched his forehead with the tip of her horn. He felt a warming sensation radiate through his body and was aware of the golden aura just above his eyes from the tip of her horn. He felt the soreness leave his body, as if it were simply being lifted away. When she took her horn away from his forehead, he looked down at his arms in wonder. The bruises, from some of hard hits he had taken during the rugby like game, were gone. He felt no soreness, and the fatigue of the day was gone. He felt as refreshed as if he had just woken up in the morning from a perfect night's sleep.

He looked at her in wonder, too overwhelmed with the fact that she had just instantly healed all his bruises and restored his stamina to even remember to thank her for doing so. She gave him a small grin.

"I'm afraid I can't do anything about the blush that's still painted all over your face though. That's just going to have to go away on its own." She gave a brief giggle, before turning and walking towards her other Council members and Royal Guards, doing the same healing magic for all of them, as all of them had sustained soreness and bruises in the various games of the day.

When she had finished healing them all, they all started to make their way back to the castle. Even Princess Celestia was milling around and chatting with him and the others in a very informal way, as if she were not even royalty. On this day, almost all formalities were forgotten for the sake of simply having a good time. He noticed, however, that she suddenly seemed very tired. Her normally vibrant tail and mane seemed to flow more slowly in their unseen breeze, and she walked as if she were sore herself.

He looked around, finding Moon Song, speeding up his walk for a moment to get close to the unicorn. Then he nodded his head towards The Princess. "She seems very tired … All of the sudden," he said looking at the Council unicorn.

Moon Song nodded slightly. "Even magic is subject to energy conservation. Even magic performed by Her Majesty."

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"Even Her Majesty can't just create energy out of nothing," the unicorn explained. "She can only concentrate it, gather it, channel it, transform it from one type to another, or transfer it from one place to another."

James raised his eyebrows. "Transfer it from one place to another? … You mean she restored our energy by giving us her own?"

"That's exactly what she did. She'll need to rest now. To recover her own strength and energy."

"Can't she just gather energy to herself and restore it that way?" he asked as they continued walking towards the castle.

The unicorn shook his head. "Life energy is a specific kind of energy. She could gather energy, but she'd have to transform it into life energy. And it takes energy to transform energy. So the net benefit to her would be nothing. It might even take more energy to transform it into life energy than she would get from doing it." He paused for a moment, then continued. "The only way she could gather life energy to herself without simply resting to let it replenish naturally would be to take it from another living creature. And although she is capable of doing that, she never will. She gives life energy to others. She never takes it for herself. Whether from a dangerous manticore, or a lowly field mouse, Her Majesty would never take life energy from another living creature. Only changelings steal life energy from other creatures to sustain themselves."

James said nothing in response as he continued walking back to the castle entrance next to Moon Song. He was too lost in contemplation of this latest information he had learned about Celestia. And once again, in awe of her generosity and altruism …

Back in the Council living quarters, he sat at his desk, considering. It had been about three months since he joined the Council, and everything was going well. Very well, actually. But there were four things that deeply concerned him.

The first, was that the Quest of the Mysterious Objects as he had taken to calling it, had gone silent. There had been no more happenings since the strange launch and impact event during the Summer Sun Celebration. it was possible that whoever was responsible for them had simply given up after what appeared to be a series of failures. Maybe they had finally decided that whatever it was they were trying to do wasn't scientifically feasible. That was one possibility. But it was one he doubted. Rather, he thought it more likely they were still busy analyzing their failure, trying to figure out what went wrong and fix it for their next attempt. He feared that attempt could come at any time. And if their next attempt was a success … well, who knows what that could mean for Equestria, given they didn't even know what it was they were trying to do yet.

His second big concern, was that the search for the weakness—and possibly weaknesses—in the magical barrier had so far, turned up nothing. Granted, there was still a lot of barrier to search, and a lot of seals to check. It was a slow and tedious process as every seal had to be checked individually. And from what little he understood about the process, the spells required to check the seals were difficult and time consuming to perform, as was analyzing what the results of those spells meant. He had asked Moon Song to explain the process to him. The explanation Moon Song gave him only confirmed that the processes was difficult and complicated—so much so that James found himself getting lost trying to understand it. He simply didn't have the necessary knowledge of complex magic. Moon Song clearly understood it, and he was certain Twilight Sparkle would have understood it if Moon Song had explained it to her. But not him. He resolved that he would learn a lot more about magical theory and practice, even though he could not perform magic himself.

A third concern also bothered him. There had been no satisfactory explanation for what the griffins were doing with their occasional flights along the magical barrier. Griffins were not magical. At least not in the same way that unicorns were. They probably didn't even know about the weaknesses in the barrier. And even if they did, they wouldn't have any idea how to find them or repair them. And as Celestia said, they certainly wouldn't be flying around in Everfree Forest just for sightseeing.

And finally, were these all linked together somehow? Or was it simply coincidence? It seemed unlikely all of them could be mere coincidence. The weaknesses in the barrier, and the griffins flying near the barrier, were probably related somehow. The strange objects could be entirely unrelated to the barrier or the griffins. But they might not be.

Oddly, he found himself almost wishing the nightmares with the aisling would come back The aisling had not troubled him since Luna had driven it away. Of course, he was glad to be sleeping without those nightmares, but the fact that no information was flowing at all now—not even nightmares—almost gave a too quiet feeling to things.

The sound of his door opening brought him out of his thoughts. One of the other Council members, he assumed, standing up from the desk. He turned around just in time to see a brightly glowing unicorn horn. A bolt of energy shot from it, traveling straight at him. Just as it was about to hit him, he saw a speckled gold and silver aura around himself. The bolt hit the aura, and fizzled out, the aura disappearing along with it. Complete confusion over what had just happened prevented him from responding. Had the Council robe somehow blocked the spell?

His mind quickly reminded him that he had bigger problems to worry about just now than how the spell was blocked—like the fact that a unicorn had just tried to attack him. Refocusing on his attacker, his jaw dropped and his eyes went wide. Standing just inside his door, was Twilight Sparkle. For a moment, she looked as confused as he did, seemingly wondering why her spell had failed to do whatever it had been intended to do to him. But she recovered quickly, charging at him and rearing up on her hind legs. Unfortunately, whatever had protected him from her spell did not protect him from her right forehoof cuffing the side of his face.

He stumbled backward slightly from the impact, tasting blood in his mouth. She reared up on her hind legs again. "How could you have been so stupid James!" She yelled at him as she started pounding her forehooves on his chest, seemingly more out of rage and frustration than any real attempt to do serious damage to him. "Without telling me! Without even talking to me first! Stupid! You are such an idiot! How could you have been that stupid!" she said, still pounding her forehooves on his chest repeatedly.

"Whoa! Twilight! Calm down!" he stammered, scrambling to grab her forelegs, eventually catching both of them and holding on, stopping her from striking him anymore. "I don't understand why you're … well, I do, but I didn't think you'd be this angry about it …"

She struggled to get her forelegs free from his grip, but he held them firmly. "Stupid! I thought you were a smart scientist! How could you have been such an idiot!" she yelled at him, again. She stopped trying to get her forelegs free now, and he chanced letting go of them. She went back down on all fours and didn't try to hit him again, but she was breathing heavily, and he could see tears forming in her eyes. "You joined the Council?" she yelled again between breaths. "Without even talking to me first? How could you have been so stupid!"

By now, there were several other Council members, including Storm Runner rushing through his door, ready to come to the aid of one of their own. He raised a hand to stop them. "It's okay. I know her," he said nervously, looking at them past Twilight. Storm Runner looked at him uncertainly for a moment, but then nodded. She turned around, motioning for the others to leave his room, closing the door behind her once they had all done so, leaving him alone with Twilight.

"No, it's not okay!" she yelled at him again. "Stupid, James! Stupid!" She raised a forehoof as if to strike him again, causing him to wince and raise his arm reflexively to protect his face. She lowered her forehoof again, seeming to get some semblance of control over herself now.

"Twilight, I don't understand—"

"The portal! I found a way to make it stable long enough!" she yelled out exasperatedly.

"The portal? What portal? Twilight what are you—"

"A gateway to your world, James! I found a way to send you home! …"