Reluctant hero

by MidnightFMare

Pissy Pissy Princesses pilot part 5

"-So please explain why thou wouldst drag us away and allow her to keep the book!" Luna finishes her yelling, sweat dripping from her coat.

I shrug "Seemed like the right thing to do. As far as I know I'm a civilian who decided to accompany two princesses to stop Ms. Heartstrings from finding the book. Failing at that, I decided it might be better to get her to not release it until there was a way to allow the existence of humans to become a bit more well known as to not incite panic."

She stares at me for a few seconds and then throws her head back in a sigh "I... I can understand your reasoning... but you should have asked us before you did it. At least then we would have known what you were planning."

Tia groans "I don't care if he has sound reasoning, I'm going to send a contingent of the guard to take the book back and then I will put it in a secure location known only to myself."

I shake my head "No, I promised her that I wouldn't let her be hindered by anyone. If you wish to stop her, do it yourself, or is being a princess mean you can do whatever you want so long as the king and queen are unaware?"

Luna snorts "There are is no king or queen."

I shrug "Whatever, the one or ones in charge. That's beside the point, I will stop any advances to take the book from her."

Tia grins "I am the one in charge. How do you not know this?"

"Amnesia, we've covered this already Tia, keep up please." I say, scratching my neck.

She groans "My name is Celestia. I am the monarch of the day and you should speak to me with my full name and title."

I pull my hoof out of my ear, wiping the wax on my coat "Sorry, I tuned you out when you said how I should speak to you. Did I miss much Luna?"

Luna grins, a thin upturn of the mouth "Not of much import. But the bottom line is that you have committed an act of treason by defying our intentions."

I cock my head "If you do not make your intentions clear before I do something, you are at fault for not informing me. You said 'Obviously we would attempt to stop her from releasing a sealed being or a terrible curse.' You never said anything about stopping her from possessing the book. Therefore, I have done no wrong because the intention of the latter part of the mission was never disclosed... okay, I'm apparently talented in semantics and syntax."

Tia groans "Does it matter? She can't possess that book, it's a national secret."

"Why?"

We both look at Luna "What? Luna, why would you ask that?"

Luna frowns "I have noticed something, sister. When you want something done, you send somepony else to do it. I am involved in the execution of all of my ideas and yet you are not. You never give reasons until it is completed, and even then, they are crafted to hide any lack of forethought on your part. So why, why is that book a 'National secret'?"

Tia sighs "This isn't the time Luna..."

"I think it's the perfect time. The both of you are speaking your minds and I'm here as mediator because besides your names, I don't know jack diddly squat about you two."

Luna nods "Please speak sister."

Tia groans and sits in front of her, I follow suit and sit between them to the side.

"It is a secret because the information within is dangerous."

Luna rolls her eyes "They are probably rotting report and papers on humanity. What information could they hold that is so dangerous that you would dispatch a whole platoon of guards to retrieve?"

"The information could lead to a swell in doubt about the established history of Equestria! The tiny, insignificant grains of fact that slip through are okay because whoever deduces what they are is labeled a fool. But within that book are the collected papers of each anthropologist in our history, and that makes it too dangerous to leave in the care of an insane unicorn!"

Luna scoffs "She isn't insane. Everypony else thinks so, but what I saw in her eyes when Midnight talked about them, that was pure joy and hope. She found somepony who not only wanted to help her, but also believed her. She has been laughed at for her pursuit, and I don't think I can consider myself a half-decent pony, much less a princess, if I let her endure that because you're afraid. Midnight has a solid, long term plan to meet both goals of allowing her to be regarded as a pony who never gave up and minimize any panic. I don't think anypony knows how much she has suffered, fighting back that doubt, gathering 'Tiny, insignificant grains of fact' as you so ineloquently put it."

"You think that the benefit of one is worth more than the benefit of the whole?"

"Not at all. I believe that's your intention. I have done nothing but protect ponies, fought off the invading hordes of changelings underneath the castle by myself, guide ponies to blissful sleep and illuminate the sky with a gentle light. I am looking out for others before myself. That is what being a leader is about. While I agree that if the information was carelessly released to the masses would be catastrophic, withholding the entirety is not only going too far, but you crush the dreams and aspirations she has worked to validate for the majority of her life as I understand it." Luna retorts, her tail twitching angrily.

Tia snorts "I have been nothing but open about what has happened in the past, and if you knew of the invasion, why did you not alert me or assist me in combatting Chrysalis?"

"I DID!! You said that you could handle her alone and I should work to protect the castle and those within it! You were defeated while the guards you trained were blown away by their very presence! You never follow through with anything and I must clean up the mess! You may be a good orator and a symbol of hope, but you never plan! You never think ahead! You are looking out for yourself, to keep our subjects in the dark about the truth! Sister, I have been observing you since I returned and you have yet to do anything but delegate problems to Twilight! And with her ascension, I'm afraid that you're grooming her to be your replacement and... dear cosmos..." Luna's eyes widen in realization "That... that is what you are planning! You've been molding Twilight into your own image!"

Tia snorts, baring her teeth for a second "I have done no such thing. You said yourself that I don't plan, so I couldn't have a plan. Now the longer we sit here, the more time she can use to spread copies of that book by the cartload."

Luna shivers, a chuckle leaking into her voice "It... it all makes sense now... th-the wedding... it was to make a close member of her family royalty... and what are the odds that her old foalsitter would marry her brother who happened to be captain of the guard? Without somepony pulling strings that would be quite unlikely" she swallows "You've been manipulating everything ever since Rainbow Dash caused the Sonic Rainboom... how else would five out of six of the element bearers be in the same town, which is both atop a gate or Tartarus and bordering the Everfree forest, which holds our old castle where the elements lay dormant above the tree of harmony? You anonymously gifted the property for Rarity's boutique, the land for Fluttershy's wildlife domicile, Rainbow her position as head of the local weather team, paid Pinkie's family so that she could leave and go to live in Ponyville, and you're good friends with the Apple matriarch! And you raised Twilight as your student so that they would have a leader... I..." she shakes her head "If you did that so that I would be freed from the nightmare, I'm glad, but you never stopped. And you still haven't... you looked the other way when Tirek escaped, released Cerberus, and guided parasprites to Ponyville on the day before your visit..."

The hair on my body rises as the temperature in the room drops.

Luna grits her teeth, her teal eyes glowing white "YOU have been manipulating the lives of innocents!! Even my own! YOU were the one who invited the crusaders to the garden, ensuring that they would release Discord! YOU let Tirek roam free!! YOU weakened the seal on Sombra!! YOU ignored your student's suspicions and nearly lost the kingdom to an overgrown leech!! YOU... You... I can't even believe that the 'Good' princess is nothing more than a manipulating maniac... my own sister..."

I pat Luna's back "Hey... I think that you're the 'Good' princess. You've been nothing but generous, kind, and honest in the time I've known you. You gave a perfect stranger not only the chance to right a wrong, but also a name. You listened and befriended me. And you've always been honest in your answers and trusted my planning and judgment."

Tia growls "I had done all of that for the good of society! I have done nothing but look out for them!"

I grin, wiping away one of Luna's tears "So you admit that you've been manipulating? I do believe that's a confession!"

"I... I..." she bites her lip nervously "I..."

"'Aye'? Okay then... I suggest that we look into the records of your rule and then slowly release details to the public. I will obviously head this motion, being an amnesiac and therefore unbiased. Ms. Heartstrings might know a few details or locations and..." I turn to Luna "Would you like to help us?"

She looks up at me with tears in her eyes, but a burning passion within "Yes... I will bring the truth to light..."

"Well then, I guess that means that I've got a job now. 'Midnight Mare, searching for the truth' has a nice ring to it, yeah?."

Tia grits her teeth "No. I will not allow you to destroy everything I've worked so hard to build..."

Luna shakes her head, stepping between me and Tia "No. I will protect our subjects by showing them the truth. And I am your sister, so I have just as much pull as you do. If you want to stop me, just try it."

Tia stares at Luna, shocked "Why? Why are you so dead set on this? What has made you want to ruin all of the work that's kept the peace?"

Luna grits her teeth into a smile "I will, because you have lost your way, I am still on the path of truth and peace, but you have been walking the road of deceit and peace."

I shrug "Sounds like a plan to me Princess. So where do we start?"

Tia frowns "There is no 'We', you are going to be punished for treason."

"We've covered this Tia, I haven't disobeyed any laws or instructions because they were never explained or told to me."

Tia shakes her head "No, for attempting malicious harm to myself."

I stare at her "What in the name of chaos are you going on about?"

She grins as her horn glows, a yellow aura surrounding me for a second before disappearing "Soo... what was the point of that?"

She stares at me with disbelief "How did you avoid my spell? That can't be possible!"

I turn to Luna "Mind filling in what I obviously missed?"

"You somehow avoided being affected by my sister's spell. How, I do not know."

Tia's eyes glow white as her mane and tail erupts into blue flames "Fine... if a spell won 't work, I'll just say you provoked me into destroying you!"

I feel a rush like when I was dueling pass through my body, and I grin. I grin and laugh at her "You don't scare me Tia. Now please settle down before someone gets hurt. You're acting petulant."

She growls "I am over a thousand years old! I am not petulant! You have caused too much chaos and for that I will see you destroyed!"

I roll my eyes "I think it would benefit you to accept your loss. I won, you lost an ally, your sister, and the lock on your secrets. You've lost; and that's okay, you can live without the burden of your secrets now."

Her coat bursts into white tongues of fire, her eyes crackling with plasma "I do not lose! You will be burned to ashes you ignorant, foolish child!" her horn glows in a corona and I'm tossed out of the window in the blink of an eye.

I spread my wings and hover outside the window "Then stop posturing and get to it."

She roars and white-hot flames engulf me. I feel nothing but stifling heat as I sidestep the fire "It seems you missed."

Tia growls and another blaze of fire tries to consume me but I merely avoid it with a yawn "Missed~"

Her horn lights up at the tip, a small ball of white-hot fire and plasma sitting atop it "BEGONE!!"

The ball shoots towards me and I duck under it with ease "Missed me again!"

She fires several more balls at me, and I dodge them easily, weaving between them quickly "You know, you might want to learn to fight; because this is just embarrassing Tia."

Apparently this struck a nerve, she takes flight and another ball appears on her horn, but this one grows bigger than her body "THERE WON'T BE ASHES LEFT OF YOU HERETIC!!"

I gulp "That... is a big fireball..."

She grins "Yes. NOW DIE!!"

I try to avoid it but I'm not fast enough to avoid the massive object. It connects and everything turns white and hot... then dark and cold.

Author's Note:

Well... I guess I pissed of Tia too much... huh.

Comments

[MidnightFMare]

3808398 thanks, i just copy and pasted from translate and the only non-english language i know is a little german, and very little japanese