II

by adcoon

II.15 - Ultimatum

Luna rose from her throne and watched as the guards led the two changelings out of the room in chains. Dash waited next to Twilight until the doors closed behind the guards, then turned as Luna walked down the few steps from the throne towards them.

“You two must go and do what you believe you must,” the princess said and looked at Twilight. “My guards will be there to protect you and to watch the changelings for any signs of treachery, but I can not go with you. I do not trust myself to deal with this rationally, and my presence would only complicate any dealings with Eden, if she deigns to show herself at all.”

Twilight glanced at the floor and bit her lip, then raised her head. “You can count on us, Princess.”

Luna nodded once. “Then go. There is precious little time, and you must learn all that you can.”

Twilight bowed and turned. Dash followed, glancing back at the princess. Luna stood in the middle of the throne room like a dark statue, icy blue eyes watching them as they left. She looked tense, full of carefully restrained anger. Dash was only thankful it wasn't directed at them, as she trotted a little faster to catch up with Twilight before the doors closed behind them.

The guards were standing at attention near the entrance to the castle, watching the two changelings with steely gazes. Twilight trotted up to them and gave the prisoners a stern look. “You—” She pointed a hoof at Flix. “Lead the way, and no tricks. I'm right behind you, and if I see anything I don't like I'll personally make sure you regret it.”

Flix's wing twitched nervously as she bowed. “Of course,” she said and turned, walking slowly ahead of the guards. Twilight rubbed her head and took a deep breath before following close behind. She was clearly drained and needed rest as soon as this was over, if not before.

Dash leaned against her slightly, offering her support as they walked. Concern gnawed away at her. Concern for Twilight, mostly, but for their friends too. The best she could do was stay by Twilight's side and support her whenever she needed somepony. Dash felt she could do that, at least. Twilight would find some way, Twilight always did, and Dash would be there to help her all the way.

***

The forest was musty and cold from a recent downpour as they wound their way through the labyrinth of dark trunks, old roots and thorny branches. Flix headed the procession with her brother close by and the guards carefully watching their every step. Twilight made up the rear, supported by Dash. Twilight walked carefully, her hooves dragging slightly.

“Do you want me to carry you?” Dash whispered in her ear.

Twilight shook her head and shot the two changelings a dark glance. “I don't want them to get any ideas if they see that I am weak,” she whispered back, very quietly. “I'll be fine,” she added and gave Dash a grateful rub.

Dash returned the rub and wrapped a wing around her back to keep out the cold and rain. The slow march progressed through the forest. The guards were silent and attentive, but the changelings walked obediently in front and showed no sign of having plans of escaping.

After almost an hour, Flix paused and pointed a hoof. “It is just up ahead,” she said. “We buried her where she died. Her possessions are still there as well.”

“Show us,” Twilight commanded. When they were moving again, she added, “I didn't know changelings buried their dead. It was my understanding that you eat them.”

There was a long silence, then Flix spoke. “Your understanding is largely correct. The young eat the old, that way the dead stay with the tribe, or so the words of our tradition would have it.” Dash felt sick at the thought and wondered if the shame in Flix's voice was earnest. She couldn't imagine eating any animal, much less a fellow pony. “I wanted to give her a proper burial … as a pony.”

“You consider yourself a pony?” Twilight continued her questioning as they stopped among a copse of trees and bramble bushes. Twilight was always eager to learn, but it was clear that she was hoping for more than just a fascinating tale of a foreign culture.

Flix looked up. “I try to be,” she said and pointed at where the ground had clearly been disturbed recently. A saddlebag had been thrown nearby. “It is there.”

Twilight nodded at a pair of guards. “Dig it up.” The two guards began digging up the grave, while the remaining guards led the two prisoners aside.

Twilight followed and stood next to Flix as she watched the digging. “If changelings honor their dead by consuming their bodies, isn't burying them a punishment for the deceased? That way they will forever be lost to the tribe, is that not true, Flix?”

Flix ruffled her wings and stared straight ahead. “I don't believe in our traditions, miss Twilight. A corpse is a corpse; whatever once animated it is gone and won't hang around because you eat it. At least ponies honor their dead with a memory carved in stone. Stones last, bodies don't.”

“Very insightful. I imagine other changelings don't see it that way, am I right?” Twilight turned a bit and looked at Blaze. “Does your brother agree with you too?”

The stallion had been staring silently at the grave where the two guards were quickly uncovering the remains of what certainly looked like a dead changeling. “I …” he muttered, then just nodded a bit flatly. Dash watched him carefully.

Twilight pressed on. “But certainly your tribe would not look kindly upon you for this if they found out?”

“I'm sure they wouldn't,” Flix said. She was looking uncomfortable now. Dash wondered how much Twilight was taking away from this that wasn't being said. “But we are no longer with the tribe. We follow our own Queen, one who isn't raving mad and lovesick.”

“I see,” Twilight said and turned back to watch the progress with the grave. She looked satisfied as the corpse was pulled up and laid next to the hole. She stood up and gave Flix a brief glance. “I notice you didn't give her a stone.”

“I was going to,” Flix responded.

Dash watched as the guards stepped aside to let Twilight examine the dead changeling and her muddied saddlebags. Twilight sat down and picked up a vial of some dark liquid. “Did you know her?” she asked idly over her shoulder.

“Vaguely,” Flix said.

Twilight was silent for a few minutes, then she stood back up and turned back to Flix and her brother. “It sure looks like she was on her way to Ponyville to finish off the rest of our friends,” she said. She looked uncertain to Dash, as if she was wondering if she should believe it.

Dash wasn't so sure herself. She looked up through a fresh curtain of rain and sighed at the cold drops hitting her face.

“We will take the body and poisons back to the castle for further examination,” Twilight's voice continued as she mulled over all that she had seen and heard.

“What will happen to her?” Flix sounded worried.

“She will be used for scientific study,” Twilight said. “To learn more about your kind … and your poisons. It's just a body, is it not? There's nothing sacred left inside. We will bury what remains and raise a stone after we have learned what we can, if that would make you happy.”

“It would,” Flix said quietly.

Dash closed her eyes and let the cold rain wash over her face, listening without much care. Twilight knew what she was doing. Dash was only there for support. She opened her eyes again and lowered her head tiredly, then blinked and felt a shiver run down her spine. “Twilight?”

Twilight looked around. “Yes?”

Dash pointed at where a green light flickered among the trees some distance away.

Twilight followed where Dash was pointing and briefly considered the strange light, then she turned to address the guards. “Pick up the corpse and gather her things.”

***

Dash wasn't sure if she really ought to find this as odd as she did. The light came from a small glade in the forest, but unlike the forest around it, which was dark and rainy and full of dead trees and overgrown bushes, this glade was beautiful, warm and inviting with colorful flowers and tall trees through whose crowns the moonlight shone. It was eerily beautiful and unearthly.

Twilight held up a hoof for everypony to stop. She trotted a few cautious steps around the small glade, then very carefully stuck a hoof into the rough circle of light. Nothing happened. “I'm going in,” she announced and looked around. “The rest of you stay here until I say.”

Dash fluttered up next to her. “I go with you.”

Twilight held out a hoof to stop her. “Dash—”

“No!”

Twilight looked at Dash, then sighed. “Alright, the rest of you stay here. Dash and I will go in there.” The guards nodded, and Twilight turned back to the small glade. “Alright …” she muttered and stepped onto the soft mossy ground. Dash followed close beside her, watching every shadow suspiciously.

Nothing happened. Nothing, except the rain stopped, the noise from outside was dampened, the air felt warmer, and the slight smell of flowers made Dash feel a little calmer. It was altogether a nice feeling and altogether a nice place, if it wasn't so strangely … out of place.

Dash was first to spot her. She was sitting on a pillow of moss between the roots of a young birch tree, her white coat blending in with the bark surprisingly well. Dash had at first taken her bright green eyes to be leaves. She smiled and moved slightly, and when she did it was like she was suddenly very visible despite being virtually gone from sight only a second ago.

“I thought you might find me,” she said and gestured at the ground. “Sit down, if you please.”

Neither of them felt much like doing so. Twilight gave the creature a scrutinizing look. “You are Eden Aspect?”

“Yes, but simply Eden will do. I am not one for great formalities, as you see. You are, of course, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash.”

Twilight looked around and, after a few seconds of hesitating, sat down. “Why that name? Why not Destiny? Is that not your particular duty?”

Dash sat down next to Twilight, wishing to feel like she was being supportive. She didn't want to say anything, she would probably just mess things up with something brash and poorly thought out.

Eden smiled. “I am so pleased that you should ask. Your name is Twilight Sparkle, magic fills your life, but you are not miss Magic, are you? Nor are you Element of Magic. You are Twilight Sparkle, a name that speaks volumes about you.” She leaned back against the tree and folded her paws over her knee. “And I am Eden Aspect, a modernization of the old Imperial Tongue.”

Twilight furrowed her brow in concentration, but it was Dash who spoke up first. “Aspicio, to look … towards paradise?” she said, scratching her head as she worked it out, feeling very rusty but suddenly proud that she had beat Twilight in a contest of learning. Even if it wasn't exactly a contest.

Eden's smile turned into a grin. “Indeed! The pegasi still teach their old tongue, don't they?”

“If you're unfortunate,” Dash muttered, remembering her time in school. Her parents had insisted she take classes in the proud old tongue, as utterly useless as it was. It was a matter of familial pride, the sort of thing every proper, high-born Cloudsdale pegasus did. Twilight was smiling proudly at her; perhaps all those boring lessons were worth something after all, Dash thought with a secret grin.

“Indeed, that is so,” Eden said. “I look ahead and dream of paradise, of the day when the world is in bloom and life flourishes in peace and harmony, the day when all chaos and disharmony is in the past. I look and work towards this vision, and that is my name and who I am. Destiny is such an unimaginative name that tells you so little about me, bless the pony who thought of it.”

“I had been wondering about that,” Twilight said.

“I bet a lot of ponies do, and few of them think to ask even when it's such a simple and natural thing to do,” Eden said. “I feel we're off to a good start, and you can make it an even better one by releasing your two prisoners. They have been wrongfully accused and pose no harm to you and yours. In return you may ask, and I may answer.”

“What if I do not wish to let them go?” Twilight didn't take her eyes off Eden. “I do not trust them.”

“Then I am afraid I must simply state my purpose and leave you without any answers, and should they escape later—purely by chance, you understand—I can not guarantee that no innocent guard is not hurt in the process. If you do let them go here and now, however, I give you my assurance that they will cause you and your friends no harm now or in the foreseeable future.”

“What of the two Shadowbolts they have been impersonating?”

“They are safe and have suffered no harm,” Eden said reassuringly. “They shall be allowed to leave, if they so choose, at an unspecified time and place within the next few days, on condition that Flix and Doodlebug go free now, of course. Otherwise we will keep them indefinitely.”

Dash could see Twilight's mind racing as she tried to process the whole thing and make a decision. Finally she turned and called to the guards standing at attention outside the glade. “Let the changelings go.” There was some hesitation from the guards before they cautiously unlocked the chains.

Flix and her brother looked at Eden, then set off and disappeared among the dense trees of the forests. As soon they were out of sight, Eden turned back to Twilight and Dash. “You have my thanks.”

“I don't want your thanks,” Twilight said fiercely. “I want your answers. You can start by telling me about this new moon.”

Eden leaned back against the tree again. “The dragons have found a moon prism of truly remarkable size deep within the mountains. They have long wanted to control part of the skies and have searched for centuries for a way. Since I already granted young Luna the night, they have found their own way. Or so they hope.”

“A moon prism?” Twilight looked incredulous. “There aren't any moon prisms that big in the whole world. They're all tiny, or hoof sized at best.”

Eden smiled. “Well, now there is one.”

Twilight scowled. “I'm sure you didn't have anything to do with that, did you?”

“I promised Luna the night, and I do not break promises.” Eden looked very serious, then shrugged. “But I never promised her that I wouldn't give some dragon a pretty bauble. It was a fair and simple wish, and the dragon asked politely, so I decided to grant it. Besides, I see you know about moon prisms. It's just a reflection, your princesses still control night and day as they always have. No, what is really important here is the message.”

“And what is that message?”

“Dragons are greedy creatures, Twilight. They want more power, more influence, and since no one wants to give it to them, including me, this is their way of saying that they're going to take it. This is a declaration of war, Twilight. That moon is just a cheap reflection, it means nothing, but its message couldn't be any clearer.”

Twilight looked up at the two moons through the sparse green leaves of the glade. “Alright, then. If the changeling who tried to kill us wasn't one of your servants, who then wants us dead, and why?”

“I certainly don't want you or your friends dead.” Eden looked mildly insulted. “I really don't. But you know the name of Chrysalis?”

“Yes,” Twilight muttered.

“She wants you dead. She wants you and the princesses and your brother dead, because she mistakenly thinks she can claim the Elements and Equestria and all the heavens for herself if you're all dead.”

“And why would she think that? Did you tell her?”

“Flix could tell you that she is utterly insane and completely blinded by an all-consuming lust for the power of love and friendship. This is her own demented idea, and hers alone, there is not a single trace of rhyme or reason to be found in it. I want no credit for that.“

Twilight looked down as she thought. “You did ensure that the Zebrica ambassador was visiting Canterlot today, in time to save me, didn't you?”

Eden nodded. “I suppose I did.”

“And—” Twilight's brow furrowed a little. “I assume it wasn't chance that Flix happened upon our would-be assassin either, was it?”

“I might have told her about some herbs that grow in only a few places, yes. Herbs to heal a broken leg. Her actions are her own, of course.” Eden smiled a little. “The fact is, I have been doing a lot to help you and your friends, including Rainbow Dash in particular.”

“Yes, I was wondering about that.” Twilight looked back up. “Rainbow Dash nearly dies, then suddenly there are two of her, and at the same time you and your servants just happen to show up too and all this talk of war and assassins. And now Flix says that the two can not be brought together or they will die. What is all this, and how much of it is your doing, I wonder?”

“I can not touch you or your friends, Twilight.” Eden's smile faded and she looked serious again. Both Dash and Twilight were watching her carefully, but Dash found her face seemed to reveal no signs of what she might be secretly thinking. If Twilight saw anything it wasn't obvious. “I noticed what was about to happen in time to have Flix and her brother swoop in to save her. It was a very close call. I did this for the same reason that I saved you from the assassin, the same reason I continue to stall the dragons, to mention but a few of the things I have done.”

“Do you begin to see?” Eden continued. “The dragons, the changelings, they all want you and the princesses dead because of the Elements, and others may soon join them. I have been doing what I can to stall them. At the same time, Rainbow Dash is split in two and will die soon. I have been doing what I can to stall that too, she would have died now if not for me. I alone can reunite her soul and body without both dying, except that the Elements you wield prevent me. I could stop this whole war too. As it is, the best I can do is stall it all for a few weeks at most.”

Silence fell over the glade, then Eden added. “And that is what I am here to give you, Twilight Sparkle, an ultimatum. A few weeks, a month at most, no more. Give back the Elements that you were unfairly burdened with, that were never for your princesses to give, and I promise it all ends peacefully. Refuse, and there is nothing in the world I can do to save your lives, or Equestria.”

Dash wrapped a wing around Twilight's back as Twilight looked down silently.

“You don't have to make the decision right here and now,” Eden said and stood up. “I give you a week at least, a month at most. Should you see reason, my name is all you need.”

Twilight looked up. “I do have one more question,” she said. “About the Elements.”

Eden nodded. “Of course.”

“Why are there two of each now?”

Eden smiled.

***

“She didn't know!” Twilight grinned as she collapsed on the bed. “Hah!”

Dash wondered if her friend had finally become delirious from exhaustion and the poison. She wrapped the blanket carefully around Twilight as the unicorn sighed and closed her eyes. It had been a very long and trying day. “Know what, Twilight?”

Twilight breathed in slowly and for a moment Dash thought she had fallen asleep. “The Elements … she didn't know there were two of each. She … she tried to hide it, but … Didn't you see? She was trying to decide if it was a trick question.” Twilight laughed and muttered half asleep. “She didn't know.”

Dash sat down and blinked. “Um, why is that so great?”

Silence fell over the room except for Twilight's slow breathing. Dash sighed and glanced out the window at the stars outside, then she crawled into bed and closed her eyes. After a while she edged up next to Twilight and wrapped a wing around her friend.

Comments

[Astarea]

Two moons = challenge from dragons
Two sets of elements = ???

Methinks Eden is mistaken about something... Celestia and Luna didn't give the elements
to Twilight & co. The elements chose the ponies themselves. So now the question is,
did the elements split so that one set can be given to Eden and the other keep balance
in Equestria?

[Mister Morden]

Why is that go great Dash? I would think it be obvious. It means Eden isn't omnipotent. Which means that you can plot without her knowing all the details...

It means you have a chance!

Good chapter!

[walkingpengy]

yep still loving this story and still dint find a better one yet :3 good job

[adcoon]

1790882

Luna didn't give them the Elements because she was locked up in the moon and all, but as she suggested at one point, Celestia did have a hoof in guiding Twilight and her friends to discover the Elements because she knew they had to pass on to another set of ponies. That's what Eden means, that Celestia had a big hoof in making sure that the Elements passed to the Mane 6 instead of to Eden, which is what would have happened if the Mane 6 hadn't been there to defeat NMM.

[Astarea]

1793107 As much as it was guided, the Elements chose the bearers by themselves...

[RetroDash]

Rainbow Dash this is Mr.A, your mission is clear: stop the war from breaking out. Move out on the double!

[jszellmer]

every proper, high-born Cloudsdale pegasus did

Nice little backstory tidbit there.