Video

[distantfuture]

From: Hecate
Date: Jan 23rd

-----

[The camera turns on to show what appears to be a rather large home (the upper half it) on top of a not at all matching yard. Hope's voice is heard from behind the camera.]

Is this normal for a temple? It's my yard from when I lived on Palumpolom, before Cocoon's fall. The house is not mine, but Lightning's. A friend of mine. However, even stranger still is this.

[He walks up the steps and opens the door, showing a matching hallway that leads into a kitchen and living space not at all the same architecture as what was on the outside. It was cleaner and more pristine than he remembered it.]

This is from Vanille and Fang's home, down in Gran Pulse. But back down the hallway behind me, is my room from my Palumpolom home once more. [He's back down the hallway to show the room that doesn't match the architecture on what was outside.]

I understand this place is to be my home as well as my temple. But for it to be some sort of mixture of my old home and my friends' home from the past... it doesn't sit well with me.

[It feels like trespassing. He almost wanted this to be some elaborate joke. But it clearly was not. He sighed heavily and turned the camera back around to show his conflicted face. He doesn't want to live there, he's not sure he can. It was a reminder of what he didn't have, of what was supposed to have happened when they reached the New World. He bites his lip and shuts off the camera.]

Comments

[distantfuture]

[The terms "anypony" and "alicorn" do throw him off a bit, but he is quick to register them nonetheless. Alicorn must be what she was.

He and his shinki stepped inside, but as he takes in the vast castle, his gaze turns to her and he sees her injuries. He looks to her.]

Are you alright?

[He can't help but study them a bit. Burn injuries? They seemed to well on their way to healing, so he's not sure his magic could do much at this stage.]

[letteropener]

I was burned recently, but I received some very good help. Now it's just a matter of healing. [She says this all so serenely and patiently, offering no clue to how frustrated and upset she is at herself and everything that had happened. She really should have done better, but that certainly isn't something she should push on anypony else.]

You missed quite a spectacle just before you got here. No doubt you saw some of the aftermath.

[distantfuture]

Uh, yes, I did. That the volcano had erupted sometime before my arrival.

[A harrowing experience, to be sure. Still, if she's okay now, then he won't press about healing. Instead, he looked around again and murmured.]

You lived here in your world? It's beautiful.

[letteropener]

This isn't a perfect replication, but it's very closer. It's actually a little smaller than the true Canterlot palace... but still, quite large enough that I really expect to see guards and courtiers and staff and so forth all the time. I suppose I can understand how you feel, because there's always that quiet little element of 'wrongness' about it.

[But Celestia relays all this quite casually, pacing for the large staircase that leads up.]

[distantfuture]

[The casualness sort of gets to Hope, mainly because it was how he acted while in the Ark. It wasn't necessarily setting off red flags though, perhaps this was her way of dealing with the loneliness. She reminded him of Lightning.]

That's a fairly apt description. But about right when I was in that house, er, my temple, I guess.

[letteropener]

[Celestia is just masterful at underplaying things. After all, she didn't invite Hope here to lay her worries upon him or use him to solve her problems; she is offering help.]

Well, I certainly have plenty of space. Would you mind a pair of suites? The only other people here are Philomena and Maris, and Maris is still recovering from her injuries, so she will not be in your way.

[distantfuture]

I. Er, sure. That should be fine.

[He looked to Genevieve who only nodded in response.]

Will she be okay?

[letteropener]

She will. I am afraid I had to cut the blight from her, but she survived that process and the naming. [Celestia had... not enjoyed doing that, not in the slightest.]

[distantfuture]

[He wanted to ask more about that, but it was clear now was not the time. So, he moved on from the subject.]

I'm glad to hear it. Thank you, again.

[letteropener]

That's quite all right. You're doing me a favor, honestly. Company is in short supply, so having a little of it for a short time is welcome indeed.