And the sun shined down, immobile

[letteropener]

Who: Princess Celestia and OPEN
What: Celestia being fine... well, more than her sister.
Where: Ponyville, the library
When: Afternoon.
Warnings: None?



In the library, a hundred books danced and circled, each one wrapped in a warm summer glow. In the center of the circle their pattern formed, smiling wistfully, sat Princess Celestia. Even to a passerby outside, the magical manipulation shone out clearly through the windows.

Twilight Sparkle used to make the books dance like this... or at least she certainly had back in Canterlot, what seemed like a lifetime ago. She'd never seen it, but Celestia had no doubt that Twilight had set the books into motion like this, in this very room in the waking world, dozens of times.

If anypony asked, she would say this exercise had a purely practical purpose: she was searching for the Elements of Harmony. Twilight loved books, after all, and she had of course heard secondhoof of Rainbow Dash's discovered love of adventure stories. Of course, Celestia didn't truly believe that either of those could be considered where their hearts truly were, as the clue has indicated. But it didn't hurt to check.

Well. Perhaps checking hurt her heart just a little bit, even as it filled her with nostalgic memory.

Comments

[wavesinherheart]

The mention of the Fires of Friendship doesn't really mean much of anything to Aqua, but she can understand a magic that is deeper than spells, and older too. It's not quite the same with the Keyblade or Kingdom Hearts, but those are old enough to be legend and if the same can be said of the Elements of Harmony then their dealing with powerful forces indeed.

"Ah, that's good to know but it's probably going to be hard enough to find any one of them. We shouldn't ask people for more than that."

[letteropener]

Celestia shook her head. "They go together. And even if they did not, I believe the note implied very strongly that we would need all six. I also believe they will not be found in any physical location, but rather, will appear when the element they represent is embodied in the hearts of people here."

[wavesinherheart]

"Yes, but if we can find six people isn't that better than asking some people to take more than one?"

Especially if most of the people who might end up finding them aren't from a world where such things are even really common and thus might not be terribly used to using them. But if someone happens to find multiples... well, there's nothing saying that they can't, and she isn't going to insist that things go one way or another.

[letteropener]

"Ah, you meant asking people to find one individually, not one Element in general. I'm sorry, I misunderstood." The alicorn bowed her head slightly, with an apologetic smile. "It would indeed be best if all six Elements had a different bearer. When my sister and I used them, and when I used them alone, it was because we had no choice."

[wavesinherheart]

"No, it's not your fault. I should have been more clear."

It may have made sense to her, but that's no excuse for not being clear. Not when there are such important matters at hand. Especially when she has a sneaking suspicion that things aren't going to be easy.

[letteropener]

Celestia still felt responsible for the misunderstanding, but arguing over which of them should shoulder the blame was possibly the least counterproductive thing ever.

"Now that I give it consideration, I don't believe the Elements could be distributed unevenly. One could wield six, two could wield three, three could wield two, or six could wield one each. All of them have happened but the third. But friends share friendship equally."

[wavesinherheart]

"It makes sense," Aqua answered with a nod. "And you're right. So really, if the Elements are aligned with friendship than it would only be right for them to work that way."

It still meant having to find a person or people to bear them, but that could be dealt with soon enough, or so Aqua was hoping, if nothing else.

[letteropener]

"And I have no doubt they will find new bearers here. Not when friendship binds us all, and so many here embrace it so deeply." She smiled at Aqua in sad sympathy, remembering too well the woman's grief from weeks ago, when they had first spoken. Loyalty would not go amiss for Aqua. Nor would Kindness, she though.

[wavesinherheart]

"Mmm. I agree."

There was the matter of getting the right people to try the right things, but Aqua has faith that it'll work itself out. They just have to give it time, and perhaps a little bit of nudging if things seem to need, but that is for later. Right now she has at least a general idea of what the Elements are, and given that's more than she'd had before, it's good enough for now.