Fellowship is Madness

by Imperator Chiashi Zane

Midsummer's Nightmare, Part 4

Nightmare Moon’s armor fell off in a flash of light as she shrank to barely taller than Kajiik, shorter than Iron Hoof by a few hairs, and the six ponies around her fell back on their haunches, staring at the mare before them. Clearly an Alicorn, like Princess Celestia. She coughed a couple of times, and Kajiik rolled forward, scratching a piece of chalk on his hoof as he held it out to her, “Drink. It’s just water.”

“What are you doing?” The Thestral growled at him, but was stopped by Iron Hoof.

“Trust him. If anything goes wrong, he’s still standing inside an enchanting circle.”

Kajiik smiled as the Alicorn sipped water that magically portalled into the frog of his hoof, “Lunari Nocture Invictus, welcome back.”

The others stared at him. All six of them. The Alicorn spoke up first, “How do you know my name, Zebra?”

Kajiik smiled, “I can read. I wondered why it was called the Castle of Two Sisters, so I did some research. Nothing explained why you had suddenly disappeared, but I worked it out.”

She stared at him, eyes unfocused, “But…Zebras can’t do magic…Only artifice.”

He smiled, “We figured that out a century ago. I am your dear sister’s prized student now.”

The lunar princess leaned towards him, lips against his ear, “I know that pattern in your fur. I knew your ancestors. They helped me become what I was.”

He leaned in to her ear, “And I helped bring you back. Back to Celestia. Where is she?”

“I sent her to the sun. Didn’t think it was fair…” she coughed into his shoulder, “…that I face her fully charged, while she was weak.”

A flash of light appeared behind him, and he heard another choked sob from the fallen princess before a familiar, soothing voice cut through the gloomy air, “Sister. It has been far too long.”

Kajiik moved back, breaking the circle to allow the Alicorn to pass. The two princesses embraced, necks pressed together as they breathed on each-other’s wing-roots, “Can you forgive me for what I’ve done?”

“Luna, you never need to ask that. Remember our oath?”

The nightly blue Alicorn nodded gently against her sister’s coat, “I’m so tired. Can we go home now?”

Celestia stood up, nodding to her sister, towering over everypony, “I must raise the sun over the chilled land.”
__
Kajiik looked at the pair of mattresses on the floor on one side of the tree-house, “Whose place was this before?”

“Well, the deed says Star-Swirl the Bearded. I think it was his laboratory.”

“Great. I’ll make sure not to blow anything up then. Goodnight,” he flopped down on one mattress, muttering, “I can’t believe the Elements bought my gibberish,” not even bothering to remove his clothing first, and slipped into unconsciousness, quickly followed by his Guard. Nopony overheard him, and if he had his way, they would never know just how scared he was of his plan not working.

Iron hoof sighed, and began the laborious processes of removing his armor and hanging it on a rack.
__
Blueberry Jam sighed as she slipped into her room and looked over at the other bed in her room. Her little sister’s bed. Right now, the maroon filly was at some pre-season school event that one of the teachers had thought up to keep the foals from interrupting the older ponies. Now, that was a saving grace, as she flopped onto her bed and blacked out.
__
Barkskin slipped into the hut she had built on the edge of the Everfree Forest. It was perfect for keeping an eye on the wild weather there, as well as convenient when somepony wanted a tour of the woods. But right now, it was just perfectly placed for her to stumble into and drop off on her couch.
__
Fleethoof made it halfway up the stairs of her cloud bedroom, permanently parked atop Sugarcube Corner and anchored in place by clever use of rope and cloud-pillars. Cup Cake and her husband carried the slumbering Pegasus the rest of the way and set her on her bed, tucking her in gently.
__
Hammer Soot looked at her forge, then at the heavy cart holding her Carillon, then decide she could get the instrument tomorrow. It wasn’t like anypony but Macintosh Apple could move it anyway. Her bed smelled of ash and soot, with an undercurrent of meat from the Jerky she stashed in her heavy-duty pillow-case for night-time snacking. She was too tired for that though, and dropped unceremoniously into the embrace of sleep without even pulling out her hearing aids to recharge the crystals.
__
Dear Princess Celestia,
This is my first report on the magic of Fellowship, so I will attempt to keep it brief. I will probably fail at that, but here goes.
This week, I learned a great many things about Fellowship. The first thing I learned is that random happenstance can bring together a group, but it’s what that group does that binds it together. I believe that myself and my newfound friends may be together for the rest of our lives.

The second thing I learned is that water and crushed marble tile makes an excellent bonding paste for bandages. Barkskin had to patch up my ribs before she would let me go home. I swear, she's more motherly than my own mother.

That segues into the third point. I learned that when a Unicorn Mare tells you to not move, she means it. Barkskin cast a paralytic spell on me when I tried to leave without getting bandaged up. Do you know any counterspells for that?

The fourth thing was that no two fellowships start the same, nor do they remain the same. Five examples of that showed up in the discovery of the Elements of Harmony, just to me. It turns out that Fleethoof knew Hammer Soot back in flight school, when Hammer still had all four limbs. She was the main reason Hammer Soot is still alive after the accident, which she still won’t tell me about. And that damned giggling of hers...

That’s the fifth thing I learned, that Fellowship sometimes means trusting the other party even when they have secrets, because they probably have a good reason. She said she would tell me later. I might not be ready to hear it.

Your loyal student, Kajiik.

PS: Please let Princess Lunari know that I wish her the best of health and a speedy recovery from her ordeal. I would like to offer my aid in any way I can.