Chapter 4
“Princess Celestia?”
“Please, Twilight, we are in private, call me Celestia,” the tall white alicorn replied.
“Right. Sorry. I forget sometimes.” Twilight lifted her head as she walked beside Celestia through the royal gardens. “Celestia, Maeve needs to get out of the castle. It took some effort, but I got her to talk last night. She feels like a prisoner here.”
“But she has free run of the grounds…” Celestia shook her head and frowned. Her tail twitched in a most unusual way. “I do not understand.”
“She was a prisoner in another castle for almost a year. A slave. She feels trapped here.”
“But she is treated well… she is shown every kindness. Every need of hers is met… what else can I do?” Princess Celestia asked as she glanced down at her former pupil. “Surely you are not suggesting she goes to Ponyville again, not after what happened the last time.”
Cringing, Twilight Sparkle shook her head and tried not to think about what had happened last time. It reminded her of a time that seemed so long ago when Zecora could not come to town, only the reaction had been so much worse. Twilight Sparkle nibbled on her own lip as she thought about the problem.
“We have to keep her safe, Twilight. We are obligated to care for her and see that she is protected,” Celestia said as she rounded the corner. The rhododendrons were in full bloom and Celestia found the colours breathtaking.
“More than anything, she wants a chance to be a girl. She wants to run around barefooted. She wants to play. She says she wants to play in a creek and catch frogs, just so she can feel kind by letting them go. Before living in a castle, she lived in a big bustling city that she hated. It was a smelly, dirty place and she misses being in the quiet of the countryside.” Twilight halted to look at the rhododendrons for a moment, frozen in place by the riot of colour.
“How long will her private issue last? I know you told me, but I cannot remember,” Celestia asked in a low voice as she turned her head to look at Twilight, who was staring at the bushes.
“About a week or so. Unless something is wrong,” Twilight replied. She took off at a swift trot to catch up to Celestia. “I spoke with the royal seamstresses this morning. They’re, uh, working on a solution that will be hygienic and comfortable.”
“I have an idea, but I need to speak with Quickie Cob and his wife Rose Gold.” Celestia did not slow her stride as Twilight hurried to catch up with her. “Perhaps what Maeve needs is some time with some quiet, loving, peaceful earth ponies.”
A short distance away, a pegasus in golden armor landed upon the garden path. He approached, his head high, and when he was near Princess Celestia, he bowed his head. After his bow, he said, “Your Majesty… Sorceress Maeve has been injured yet again.”
Sighing, Princess Celestia pushed open the door to the infirmary. She was growing weary of the constant visits to this place. As she entered, a nurse bowed and then hurried out of her way. She rounded the corner and came into the infirmary proper. As she did so, she heard Twilight’s hooves clicking right behind her.
Maeve was sitting on an examination table, holding an ice pack to her face with her left hand. Doctor Greycrest was looking at a gash on Maeve’s right arm and frowning. Blood dribbled down Maeve’s arm and trickled over her hand. The front of her dress was torn near the bottom.
Standing there, and knowing that she looked quite cross, Princess Celestia took a deep breath and looked Maeve right in her right eye, the left eye was covered by the ice pack. “What did you do this time?”
“Sorceress Maeve has once again used the banister on the grand staircase as a slide. When she lept off near the bottom, she stepped upon the front of her dress, lost her balance, went stumbling through the room, took a tumble, and then smashed into the suits of armor that are on display in the entryway of the great hall,” Doctor Greycrest said to Princess Celestia.
“Princess Twilight Sparkle, if you are smiling or smirking right now behind me, so help me, I will send you to research mosquitos in the Froggy Bottom Bogg...”
Celestia heard the sounds of hooves clippity clopping on the tile as Twilight Sparkle took off running, fleeing the infirmary. There was laughter as Twilight Sparkle made her escape, and Maeve chuckled in full defiance of Princess Celestia’s heated irritation. Celestia could feel the corner of her eye twitching.
“The laceration looks worse than it really is. I don’t think it will need stitching and Sorceress Maeve has certainly done worse things to herself in the time that I have known her,” Doctor Greycrest said in a reassuring voice, trying prevent an outburst from Princess Celestia.
“It is not even nine o'clock in the morning yet.” Celestia had made a great deal of effort to say something; this is all that would come out, but it was like pulling a cork and she felt more words coming out, almost unbidden. “Do you plan to swing on the chandeliers by ten? Fetch a stick of butter to slick up the marble floors and go slip sliding all over by noon? What mayhem do you have planned and how much of my home do you plan to destroy? Will I still have a castle by teatime?” Celestia’s lips trembled as she shook her head. “Or will you hatch one of your more devious plans and commit to them, like farming spiders?”
“Look, nobody knows if you can farm things like spiders until you try it,” Maeve said after she pulled the ice pack away from her mouth. “It was Princess Luna that told me to try it when I told her the idea.”
A frustrated whinny escaped from Celestia and when she realised that her emotions were getting the best of her, Princess Celestia turned around and walked out of the infirmary, saying, “Please, excuse me, but I need time so that I might calm down.”
“I guess I stepped in the pony flops once more,” Maeve said as Princess Celestia stormed out of the room. “I’m sorry… I can’t help myself… I was just trying to have a little fun!”
Creeping down the hallway, Maeve tried not to make a sound as she went from place to place, looking for Princess Luna and trying to avoid Princess Celestia. She felt ashamed of herself, she had been a bad guest in somebody elses’ home.
She had a very childish thought about running away, but there was nowhere to go, at least not here in Equestria, and she had no desire to gamble about opening a door to another place. She had seen enough of other places, and while there were some problems here, Equestria was not a bad place.
It was the only place she knew of that had no human males, and that was a good thing.
There had been no sign of Princess Luna in her bedroom, which meant the Princess of the Night was awake once more during the day. Maeve shook her head, feeling sad, she and Princess Luna had so much in common, insomnia being one of many things they shared together.
She crossed though the entryway into the glassed in arboretum. The indoor gardens were one of Princess Luna’s places of refuge, and Maeve knew that the mare loved staring down into the reflection pools that could be found here, tucked away among the greenery. This was a place made for contemplation.
Moving around the indoor hedge, Maeve saw Luna. Luna was laying down in a bed of crocuses, her neck was bent and she was staring down into a pool of water. Tiptoeing, Maeve made her way to Luna’s side, sat down beside Luna, and place her hand upon Luna’s back.
“Hello Maeve,” Luna whispered in a low voice, a voice that was more like a breeze rustling through the greenery of the place they were in. “I’m glad you are here. I was missing you.”
Luna turned and looked at Maeve, noticing the black eye and the bandages. Luna sighed, shook her head, and then resumed looking down into the reflection pool. Looking up at her, she saw a terrible black version of herself with slitted eyes, hideous fangs, and a demented expression of hatred.
“I tripped over my dress again,” Maeve said, offering an explanation in reply for Luna’s unspoken question. “I picked a fight with a suit of armor. I lost. I’ll show them next time though… next time.”
A faint smile appeared upon Luna’s lips, but she did not laugh. She did however, shake her head. “Maeve, you are a silly creature. The suits of armor are merciless foes. You would do better taking on hedges once more, or perhaps trying to catch Philomena.”
“I’m going to catch that bird!” Maeve, sitting cross legged with her legs folded up inside of her now torn flowing skirts, crossed her arms over her chest.
“You will never catch that bird. Philomena is wily and has lived for almost as long as my sister and I.” Luna’s smile broadened. “Philomena has a great and powerful mind. Just because she doesn’t speak much of the language that we do does not mean she is a dumb beast.”
Upon hearing the words leaving her mouth, Luna felt a stabbing pain inside of herself and she thought about her own treatment at the hands of the fey. She had been a talking beast and they had done nothing to respect her body. Their cruelty was all the more biting because she had begged and pleaded with them, trying to end it, she had tried to protest it, she had tried to reason with them and had only provided them more amusement instead. Luna thought of Nilzebog, one of the goblins that been her caretaker. Maeve had cleaved him in twain, cutting him from shoulder to groin in one stroke.
“Luna, what do you see when you look into the reflection pool?” Maeve asked as she scratched Luna’s back, dragging her fingernails over Luna’s skin in a light touch.
The inky blue alicorn sighed. “I see nothingness,” she replied as she saw the horrendous nightmare version of herself staring up out of the pool as as Luna gazed in. “Just nothingness. An empty void. I have come to a terrible realisation, Maeve.”
Peering into the reflection pool, perhaps hoping to see what Luna saw, Maeve asked,” “And what have you realised?”
Reaching out her front hoof, Luna touched the surface of the water; she touched Nightmare Moon, their hooves touched together for a moment before the surface of the water broke and Luna’s hoof went in. The reflection pool rippled outwards from her hoof. “I am no better than your father or your captors. I committed unspeakable cruelty. I brought grievous harm to my subjects and to my sister. I am no better than the heartless monsters that ignored my own pleas for mercy as I was tortured and made to submit. I cast a moral judgment upon your father and I had no right to do so after what I had done. I am the worst of all things; a hypocrite.”
Squirming, Maeve did not know how to reply. She had not expected Luna to open up like this. She felt a terrible pain in her chest, a low thudding in her ribcage just behind her budding breasts, and she felt her stomach turn.
“I cannot condemn any of them of anything without also condemning myself of the same things. I was cruel, I was heartless, I gave no thought to how much it might hurt, I paid no heed to the damage I might cause, or how I might have killed almost all life on this planet had I banished the sun away and made it eternal night. I was blinded with hatred and consumed with need. I let my own selfish desires get the better of me.” Luna shook her head. “Maeve, I no longer know how to live with myself or what I have done.”
Scooting closer to Luna, Maeve wrapped her arms around Luna’s neck, taking Luna into a loose half-hug. She could feel Luna’s body hitching as the mare tried to hold back sobs.
A short distance away, Princess Celestia, who had overheard everything, stepped away and retreated upon silenced hooves, leaving the pair alone and hoping that there was some way they could help one another out of the darkness that plagued both of them.
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Don´t you DARE stop writing this !
Edit: That is...if you don´t mind...
Very good, like your other works it has made me enthralled and exhilarated.
With you till the story is complete, or I kick off and end in a cremation.
Maybe it is less appreciated than some ideas and deserves more attention than it's getting, but this is fascinating and well done. I'm enjoying the exploration of things going on. Luna turning around and staring down her own actions in a view she equates to Maeve's father is interesting, if kind of dark to consider.
See it through to the end, Kudzu. I think that even if it never gets too much attention, you'll come out that much better a writer for it.
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I have shied away from from humans in Equestria fics.
I have wrote a few, but they never felt quite right.
I dunno about this one, but this one almost feels like a natural extension, a part of a much larger universe. I don't know if it feels right per say, but it does feel plausible.
6034465 Oddly enough, that's something I'm trying for in my own major effort, at least for a given definition of plausible.
Existence is a massive, sprawling, crazy sort of thing with the potential to boggle our minds with just something happening next door or turning a corner from mundane events. When we look at the really wild potential events in our 'ordinary' universe, it's even wilder. Then we add in the ideas we can come up with for other potential realities, and somehow, it can seem like anything really could happen, under the right circumstances. I'm also quite certain I was trying to make a point in this paragraph, but I'm not sure where it went.
All other things considered, you've got something intriguing going on here. The fey are a frustrating set on their own. Luna's powers in dreams and the full reach of such magic is mysterious.
Keep playing the symphony. I'll be listening.
Of course we're still with you.
The slow pace is wonderful here, it helps to feel with the characters and gives us readers time to think about each chapter properly.
Wasn't it Dr Greycrest? Or did a second doctor enter?
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Stupid autocorrect.
In response to the author's note, I have to say that I expect this story to take time, detail is extremely important and I would much rather have a chapter detailing a few events than hastily written half assed actions without meaning.
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I second this assessment.
Old wounds were reopened as the fae made new ones. Or perhaps Luna had only repressed her guilt, never letting it heal.
In any case, Maeve seems caught in a catch-22. The castle is clearly not the place for her, but anywhere else and she's a terrifying monster the likes of which have never been seen by equine eyes. Hopefully spending time with Red Russet's family will help. Still, that doesn't address Luna's issues...
One word. Lyra. You should send her to ponyvile. Just imagine the mischief she and the cutie mark crusaders could get up to. Also this is one of the few hie fics I enjoy. Have a
This is wonderfully wonderful. I give like and fav.
Really like how this is going i really hope you continue
Kudzu, the sedate pace fits well.
Some stories are Allegro (fast, quick), like "BONK"
Some are Lagarto (long, expressive), like "The Chase"
This one is Andante (slow, feeling)
Luna needs a hug from her sister.
Here we are, I can honestly say, I liked this chapter. That's a relief.
6113867 did you actually define the terms? If one doesn't know those simple music terms, serves them damn right for being confused! Like saying pianisamo is quite and fortissimo is loud, know this stuff! (Last sentence was not at you but at all the uncultured swine that legitimatly don't know these terms)
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"I dunno about this one, but this one almost feels like a natural extension, a part of a much larger universe. I don't know if it feels right per say, but it does feel plausible."
It is needed. The talent to craft prose is meant to heal and comfort people as much as it can be to educate and enlighten.