//------------------------------// // Chapter 27 // Story: Luna's Lacunae // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// Stealing one last glance at her husband and her sister in law, Cadance hoped that Shining Armor would be able to make Twilight calm down. Luna had gone silent and stony, never a good sign as far as Cadance was concerned. Taking long, confident strides, Cadance departed from those she loved and went off in search of Maeve. Sorceress Maeve was a girl that had endured having her love and trust injured in the worst way possible. It had sickened Cadance to find out what had happened, leaving her in a state of physical illness, depressed, and horrified. Her hooves clicked over the floor as she trotted, moving about the castle. Her target was on the move. Cadance stopped, her ears perking forward, and she tried to focus upon the painful ache of a broken, injured heart with her magic. This was no easy task. Cadance, a natural empath, had an idea of how to help Maeve, but she wasn’t certain if a connection between the equine mind and an alien mind was possible. Her idea was bold, maybe even reckless, but then again, Cadance wasn’t like Celestia or Luna. She did impetuous things on occasion. Celestia and Luna tended to go with sure bets, careful gambits, and calculated ventures. Cadance tended to go on gut instinct, her own natural empathy, and on hunches that she somehow knew would turn out okay… most of the time. She had a good track record for having things turn out mostly alright. It was good that Twilight was in the throes of first love, and it pleased Cadance that Luna was the target of Twilight’s affections. Luna, perhaps more than anypony, needed love. Luna had been suffering a worrisome level of depression as of late, ever since her return home after being held prisoner by the fae. Having a lock on her target, Cadance teleported. “Just… stay away from me!” Cadance, her own heart aching, looked into Maeve’s green eyes, regretting what it was that she was about to do. It was like making a foal take their medicine; it was an unpleasant task that had to be done for the good of the foal. It would, however, make the foal angry and leave them unsettled for a while. “Sorceress Maeve, please, just let me near you so we can talk.” And let me touch you so I can work my magic upon you. Cadance took a cautious step forwards. She had once dumped a whole bottle of worming medicine down Twilight’s gullet and Twilight had stayed angry for weeks, but Twilight had forgiven her. Cadance’s slender, graceful form took another step forwards, and she felt keen disappointment as Maeve backed away. “I know that you’re upset, and I guess in the time and place you come from, you’ve never seen two females kissing like that. It’s okay to be confused.” Cadance paused and she took another step forwards, thinking about the few words that Maeve had said so far. “Let me help you… you’ve had something terrible done to you. I want to help you. Please? I think I know of a way to help.” “Leave me be!” Turning on her heel, Maeve stomped off. “Fine… we do this the hard way,” Cadance said in a voice filled with weary resignation. Horn glowing, Cadance grabbed Maeve, taking the direct approach. Cadance, having once been a pegasus, liked taking the direct approach. The direct approach got results. Cadance’s ears pinned back as Maeve howled. The cotton candy pink alicorn felt a weak telekinetic slap, but she ignored it. Maeve just needed to feel loved. To be overwhelmed with love. It would make things better. Love made everything better. Cadance extended her wings, ready to pull Maeve into a full body hug. Cadance’s body glowed with a brilliant, warm, pink light. She pulled Maeve closer, ignoring Maeve’s whimpering cries of protest. Much to Cadance’s surprise, Maeve still had some fight left in her. She saw Maeve’s wooden hand swinging forwards, fingers extended, and then the wooden hand was wrapped around Cadance’s horn. Cadance felt a weird sensation, the world around her grew blurry, and then, everything went pink. Cadance found herself in a very different place. She stood in a long hallway that seemed to stretch on for an absurd length. It was some place old, like some place out of time. There were gas lamps on the wall that provided flickering, feeble, yellow light. In front of her there was a girl. A very tiny girl. Cadance had no reference for age or state of growth, but the little girl was little. She had frizzy orange hair, freckles, and chubby cheeks. She was a wild looking little thing, with nervous, twitchy, fearful eyes and long pointed ears. Ears perking, Cadance heard the sounds of sobbing. It was coming from all around her. She turned about, having a look around, and found a door just behind her that had the word ‘exit.’ Cadance hit the latch, expecting it to open, but the door seemed locked. “Maeve?” Cadance said as she looked down at the little girl. The little girl nodded, her frizzy hair swaying, and then stuck her finger into her ear to have herself a dig. “Get help.” “Get help?” Cadance asked, the slow realisation that she was in over her head now creeping up on her. Was this a dream? Cadance didn’t even know where she was. Cadance had only intended to create an empathic link into Maeve’s mind to allow Maeve to feel pure, unpolluted love. Wholesome love. It had been Cadance’s intention to flood Maeve with all the pure, positive, healing love that could be mustered. But something had gone very, very wrong. “Find Luna,” the little girl said to Cadance. “Find Luna?” Cadance shook her head. Find Luna in this place? Or… Cadance, feeling rather stupid, realised that she had better ways of finding Luna. She extended her empathic link to her fellow alicorns and called for help. The little girl began humming to herself and then started to pick her nose with her pinkie finger, her face contorting as she mined for nose gold. She blinked when she saw Cadance’s disgusted expression and then, the little girl gave Cadance a troubling smile. There was a faint crackling sound and then Luna appeared, looking startled. A moment later, Twilight Sparkle materialised, and then, with a painful to the ears pop, a bewildered looking Shining Armor appeared. “What the…” Twilight fell silent and went to work studying her surroundings, taking note of everything, counting doors, lamps, and observing every detail that she could, knowing that all of it might be important, even if she didn’t know what was going on. Her face held an expression of confused sadness. Shining Armor, spying the little girl that was picking her nose, laughed and then looked a little embarrassed when the three mares present all gave him The Look. He cleared his throat and did his best to look serious. “This… this is the place I could never reach in Maeve,” Luna said as she looked around. “This place remained out of my reach. How did you get here?” Luna smiled down at Maeve’s inner child. “Please, be a dear and pull your finger out of your nose.” The little girl did as she was asked, pulling out her finger. She extended her arm, holding her finger and her found treasure out to Luna. “Want boogey?” Shuddering, Luna shook her head. “No thank you, dear.” Shrugging, the child stuck her finger into her mouth, much to the disgust and horror of everypony present, except for Shining Armor, who laughed again. Seeing The Look once more, Shining Armor fell silent. The little girl toddled off, heading for a nearby door. She stopped, touched the door, and then looked at the four ponies in the hallway. “Find Maeve.” “But you’re Maeve,” Cadance said, now confused. “No Cadance, this is a manifestation of Maeve’s innermost child.” Luna gave the little girl a sweet, loving smile. The night blue alicorn stepped forwards. “Cadance, you never did tell me how you got here.” “Sorceress Maeve… I… she… I tried to give her a hug. I was going to make her feel loved. She grabbed my horn with her hand,” Cadance replied. “Oh.” That was all Luna said. No further elaboration, no comment, no speculation, just a simple, single word of acknowledgement. Luna pushed open the door that the little girl had touched, and it swung wide with a creak. Luna was surprised by what she found inside. Through the door was a little girl’s bedroom. For Luna, it was a familiar bedroom. She saw the closet door where she had entered and found Maeve pinned under her father. Her eyes lingered upon the bed. Luna heard a whimper and a cry; these were echoes, memories, and they pained her. In the corner of the room there was a pile of stuffed animals that Luna did not remember. “Find Maeve,” the little girl repeated as she scratched her armpit. “Maeve is somewhere in this room.” Luna glanced at her companions. “At least, part of her is in this room. She might be difficult to find. Spread out and examine everything. Look at the dolls, there are a number of them. And perhaps the stuffed animals as well.” “This room reminds me of the Era of Steam,” Twilight said as she began to study her surroundings. “Take note of the gas lamps and the decor. If Maeve’s society parallels our own, and others, and I suspect that it does, at least in some ways, then Maeve’s world was undergoing rapid industrialisation and transitioning from an agrarian society, with all of the troubles that come from rapid urbanisation, probably bringing with it wars, territorial conflicts, and disputes over available, easily consumed resources. Under these conditions, it was unlikely that a sexual revolution had happened yet, as parity between the sexes probably didn’t exist.” Sighing, Luna shook her head. “Egghead.” Cheeks red, eyes wide, Twilight stood there with her mouth open. “Only my sister could determine the state of society by examining the interior design.” Shining Armor, who stood near a shelf that had dolls on display, snorted and shook his head. “I’ve been reading books from the human world,” Twilight said in a low voice. “Their history… I was hoping to understand them so I could help Maeve. The world where Sunset went… they had something called ‘the enlightenment.’ They had revolutions of all kinds. Women did not have suffrage and had to fight for the right to vote. For a long time, women were treated as property. Maeve grew up during a very bad time of human society, at least, I think.” Cadance began to dig through the pile of stuffed animals on the floor. Stuffed dogs, stuffed cats, stuffed ponies, and she found something curious that didn’t seem like it belonged there. She lifted it up, touching it with her magic made her feel very confused. She held it out and said, “Luna, look.” Turning about, Luna looked, and there was a night blue alicorn with shiny button eyes in Cadance’s telekinesis. Luna realised that she was looking at herself. She took it from Cadance and felt a weird tingle. Disturbed, but unable to say why, Luna set the stuffy down upon the bed. She recalled that she had been a stuffed animal during one of her visits to Maeve, and the memory disturbed her. It seemed that a part of her had been left behind inside of Maeve’s mind. Luna had appeared as a tiny stuffed doll just before the end, when she had given instructions to Maeve to draw an outline around the door with chalk. Cadance continued to dig through the stuffed animals. She had found the disturbing Luna doll in the pile, so perhaps Maeve was hiding in there as well. She had no idea what she was looking for, but the Luna doll had given her a weird feeling, so she kept digging through the pile, hoping for another object that was strange to touch. “These dolls… the eyes… I don’t like them,” Twilight said, backing away from the dolls on the shelf. “I can’t explain it, but every one of these dolls… the eyes… it’s like looking into Fluttershy’s eyes after something scares her.” “Every one of these dolls has borne silent witness to the horrors of what took place and what was done to Maeve.” Luna moved beside Twilight, placed a wing over Twilight’s back, and then moved closer, until the pair of them were touching, standing side by side. “They’re not dolls. They’re a part of Maeve’s mind.” “I don’t like this place.” Twilight leaned up against Luna, shivering, and closed her eyes, unable to bear looking any longer. “Before this is over, all of us might see things that we do not wish to see,” Luna warned. Against her side, Twilight trembled, and Luna was overcome with a need to protect her, a feeling that was similar to Luna’s need to protect Maeve. “Any luck, Cadance?” Shining Armor asked as he glanced at the little girl watching him. Cadance, lifting up a stuffed toy, clucked her tongue. “Yes, actually.” She held aloft a small brown stuffed rabbit with long, floppy ears. It was unremarkable, had black button eyes, and pink velvet lined the inside of its ears. It did not give off a creepy feeling, but there was one thing that set the rabbit apart from the other toys. It was breathing.