A Bluebird's Song

by Ardensfax

Perfect Recall

A Bluebird’s Song

~~~
Make our escape
You’re my own Papillion
The world turns too fast
Feel love before it’s gone
~~~

Perfect Recall

“There, you nearly had it that time.”

The sea-green unicorn filly sighed with frustration, stomping her rear hoof almost inaudibly against the chequerboard marble floor. She threw the stubbornly-unlit candle on the table in front of her a baleful glance.

“I can’t get it, I’ve been trying for weeks!”

Princess Celestia smiled. She occasionally took time out to give one-to-one tuition to foals at her school in Canterlot. She had always found teaching to be enjoyable, almost therapeutic. The company of the foals themselves tended to improve her mood; after all, they rarely seemed to feel the need to maintain the reverential, slightly fearful manner that adult ponies tended to adopt around her. She leaned forwards conspiratorially. “Melody, did the book tell you to imagine the candle going from unlit to lit, then to channel that with your horn?”

The filly called Melody nodded, mutely.

“Well,” Celestia continued, “that works alright, but it’s not the best way. Watch this.” Her horn suddenly flared to life, a crackling golden field arcing from the base to the tip, casting a dim, flickering light across the walls of the empty classroom. Melody looked suitably impressed. “Can you see what it’s doing?”

Melody looked around the room, noticing a conspicuous absence of any magical phenomena. “Not really,” she admitted.

“Exactly,” the Princess nodded. “It’s not doing anything yet. You see, it’s best to get the magic flowing before you try to do anything with it. You really should have the clay before you try to shape it. The hardest part is getting the magic going in the first place, but once you’ve got it, it’s really quite easy.” With a flick of the horn that sent a couple of sparks in the direction of the wooden table, she transformed the candle into a cactus. Melody giggled.

“Now,” Celestia’s horn faded, and the cactus was once more a candle, “you try to light it. Remember, you need all of your concentration to get the magic going, so concentrate on that before you think about what you’re going to use it for.”

Melody gulped in apprehension. “Okay, I’ll try, Princess.” She screwed her eyes shut, and concentrated hard. A couple of sparks trickled from the end of her stubby horn.

“There you go, now try and build it into a field instead of just sparks.”

Gradually, the flow of sparks increased, then smoothed itself out into a flat surface, the individual sprays of magic becoming indistinguishable from the general aura.

“Excellent! See how much easier it when you’re not trying to do anything specific with it yet?”

Melody nodded, her eyes still hard closed.

“Now, try to light the candle.”

There were a few moments in which Melody visibly concentrated. With some difficulty, she propagated the lime-green field outwards, a much more effective feat now that she had more than a couple of individual sparks to work with. A wavering tendril came into contact with the wick of the candle. The next few seconds were, for both parties, quite tense. The wick smoked, the thin grey column shaking and sputtering, then, quite without warning, the flame caught.

“Well done!” Celestia exclaimed. Melody’s teacher had told her earlier that the filly had a particular problem with pyrokinesis, and that it could well be a problem in her exams this year. She had requested to be able to offer a helping hoof, and it was always a very satisfying experience to be able to assist in this way.

Excitedly, Melody opened her eyes and caught sight of her handiwork. “Yay!” she cried out, jumping a few inches off the ground in her excitement. “Thanks, Princess!”

Celestia smiled fondly at the filly. She often thought to herself that were she not bundled with the many and varied responsibilities of leadership, she would have very much liked to devote herself entirely from teaching. Now of all times, at least it could be a welcome distraction to her. “There you go, you’d better get back to your friends now.”

“Is it okay if I take the candle with me? I’d like to show them,” Melody asked, suddenly a little shy.

“Of course, just don’t go burning the place down,” Celestia joked. She felt relatively safe joking about something like that without tempting fate, as the entirety of the school was thoroughly enchanted against most forms of magical damage. Given the large volume of young unicorns in the same building, this was certainly necessary. She watched with a pleasant sense of a job well done as the filly grabbed her satchel and candle, and left with a grateful smile.

Are you pretending?

The thought caught her by surprise.

Are you doing this because you want to help? Or is this about redemption?

She shook her head, turning from the closed classroom door and staring at the blank, unmarked blackboard. I’m too old to believe in redemption.

But clearly not too old to seek it. How long’s it going to be before you can close your eyes without seeing Dusk’s face?

As long as it took to stop seeing Evergreen, or Elixir, or any of the others. It’s why I have Twilight. It’s why I had them. Sometimes... I need my heart mending.

Behind her, the door creaked, and she turned her head, the weariness in her eyes for a moment undisguised.

“They told me you were down here.” It was Luna. She had obviously been looking quite hard for Celestia; she did not usually come down to the school. Some of the fillies were still a little nervous around her, and even now it grated with her. “Are you alright, ‘Tia?”

Celestia shook her head. “I don’t know Something’s been nagging me all day. I feel like I’ve missed something.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. Celestia had told her everything about Sunset, right down to Dusk’s interrogation. “Well, he is still in the dungeons. By this stage, I doubt you’d need to do much more than simply ask again.”

“That’s not what I meant. I know he’ll answer my questions, but that doesn’t mean he’ll volunteer anything I don’t ask him about. It feels like there’s a piece of the puzzle that I’ve missed.”

“Come on,” said Luna, gently. “This is your school. Perhaps it’s best not to bring matters of that kind into this place.”

“You’re right,” agreed Celestia, and the two of them left the classroom together, walking back in the direction of the entrance hall. The corridor was pleasantly decorated, if a little sparse, designed like the rest of the school in the Royal Canterlot style. From place to place along the walls hung portraits of prior attendees of the school who had gone on to great achievements. The section they were passing through was the Elixir Goldmane wing. This area of the school was named after the great potioneer who had been, for many years, Celestia’s own protégé. It was largely devoted to alchemy, potion-making, and other kinds of chemistry of a less exotic nature.

“In all honesty, though,” Luna said, thoughtfully. “Sunset are all in cells by now. What danger could they pose?”

“They’re in cells right now because Dusk Tempest wants them to be,” Celestia replied in a voice of quiet frustration. “He doesn’t care about Sunset, he was never really one of them. He was just using them.”

“Obviously he wasn’t as clever as he thought,” noted Luna, dryly. Celestia winced, almost imperceptibly. She did not always quite see eye to eye with her sister’s sense of humour.

“Even so, I can’t help thinking that something’s wrong. There was something Dusk said; something he told me.”

“What?”

“He told me that it was all for nothing. Everything I’d done to him. He said that in the end it wouldn’t make any difference. At the time I dismissed it as a throwaway taunt, designed to make me angry. Maybe it meant something. There was something else, too. It might have been my imagination, but it seemed to me that his eyes were strangely glazed over.”

Luna shrugged, unconvinced. "Probably a fear reaction. Nopony could blame him."

Both princesses momentarily stopped talking, as a couple of older students walked past, deep in discussion about some slightly anachronistic aspect of magical study.

“The point is,” she continued, the moment the two students had rounded the corner behind them and were out of earshot, “I’m not risking Rainbow Dash’s safety again. I realize I may be clutching at straws, but if there’s something I’ve missed, then I refuse to rest until I’ve found it.”

They had reached the entrance hall now, and passed out through the main doors into the sunlit courtyard.

“I’m worried about you at the moment, ‘Tia,” admitted Luna.

“I’ll be fine,” replied Celestia, reassuringly. “As soon as this record attempt’s over.” She sighed, in concern for the future. “I just want to know I’ve not let anypony down.”

*

“I can’t find anything!” Twilight’s irritated voice bounced off the library walls, echoing from behind the stack of books and newspapers on the table in front of her.

“What’s the matter?” Spike’s head appeared above the book-pile.

“I’m looking for any mention of Rainbow Shine in the news, or in any of these journals.”

Spike vaulted over the pile, landing beside her. “Dash’s mom? Why her?”

“Because Dash’s looking for her.” Twilight shook her head in frustration. “She told you about her half-sister, right?”

Spike nodded, sadly. “Yeah. Poor mare doesn’t get many breaks, does she?”

“You can say that again,” Twilight sighed. “Anyway, Dash wants to track her mom down, and she thinks the only way to do it is to go marching into Canterlot dungeon, on the day before the record attempt, and talk to her sister about it.” She gestured hopelessly around at the piles of papers and books. “Problem is, at the moment it looks like she’s right. But I don’t want her stressing herself out just before the record. I’d bet anything that Cloudshine won’t be in a very helpful mood. She might not even know who Dash is, and even if she does, she’s not going to want to help a pegasus.”

“Bunch of nutters,” Spike shook his head, disdainfully. “What kind of book do you think she might turn up in?”

“Well, Dash mentioned her mom had a permanent cloud-walking spell cast on her at Canterlot University. I thought maybe it would’ve been recorded in a scientific journal, after all, it’s quite impressive magic.”

“Any luck?” enquired the diminutive dragon, picking up one of the books and glancing at the spine, seeing that it was a magical research journal from some thirty years ago.

“Too much,” groaned Twilight. “Turns out they weren’t alone. Permanent cloud-walking apparently used to be a pretty common request for non-winged ponies back in those days. It’s died off now, but it got common enough that they stopped recording individual cases. She’s not done anything newsworthy either, as best I can tell, and even if she had it probably wouldn’t say where she’s living.”

“No chance of changing Dash’s mind, then? Won’t she wait until after the record?”

“I don’t hold out much hope. Canterlot’s within easy flying distance of Cloudsdale, and we’ll be spending a couple of days with the pegasi before the record. I expect she’s planning on heading down to Canterlot the day before the attempt.”

“And they’ll just let her in as a visitor?”

Twilight nodded. “She’s family. They can’t stop her.”

There was a click, as the front door swung open behind them, and Rainbow Dash entered the library, still carrying the newspaper under her wing.

“Hey, Twi’. Get that re-shelving done alright?”

Twilight nodded. “More or less.” She motioned towards the newspaper. “Anypony we know seen that yet?”

“I just showed it to ‘Shy, but apart from her, I don’t think so,” shrugged Dash, trotting over to plant a light kiss on Twilight’s cheek, which she returned with a smile. “Another of the pegasus fillies from the school asked me to sign their bag on the way back,” she added, happily.

“And it wasn’t Scootaloo this time?” chipped in Spike.

“Nope,” laughed Dash. For the first time, it seemed she noticed the pile of books on the table in front of Twilight. “Uh, Twi’? Why the book castle?”

Twilight put down the newspaper she was skimming through, with a serious look. “To be honest, I’m trying to find some clue about where we can find your mother.”

Dash sighed. “Look, Twi’. I know what I’m gonna do about this.”

“But I don’t want you stressing yourself out so soon before the record!” Twilight exclaimed. “Do you even think your sister’s going to tell you anything? You’re a pegasus, for goodness’ sake.”

“Maybe not,” Dash shrugged, “but I’ve got to at least try.” She sat down beside Twilight. “Here’s the thing,” she said, reassuringly. “I’m not going for this record so I can be better than anypony else. I’m doin’ it to prove to myself that I don’t need revenge to drive me, that I don’t need a reason to do great things. I’ve already put Dad to rest. This sister doesn’t matter to me; I’ve never heard of her before. Far as I’m concerned, she’s nopony. The only reason she’s important is because of how badly she was damaged by my mother. Mom’s the last piece of this whole problem, and I just need to speak to her, to tie this thing up. I’m not interested in making her apologize any more; I don’t need her apologies. I just want her to look me in the eye and try to rationalize what she’s done.”

Her eyes were shining a little by the end of the last sentence, and Spike half-turned away in embarrassment. Comfortingly, Twilight covered Dash’s hoof with her own. “But why would Cloudshine tell you where your mother’s living?” she asked, gently.

“She might not,” admitted Dash. “But I’ll never sleep easy if I know that I didn’t try. Besides, if anypony can get through to her, surely it’s me.”

Twilight nodded, gently. “Okay, then. You do what’s best for you. Just promise me you won’t let this distract you on the day of the attempt. Even if she doesn’t tell you, don’t let it put you off.”

“I promise,” Dash replied, smiling weakly and hugging the unicorn tightly. “It’s nice to know somepony’s bothered about me.”

Twilight closed her eyes contentedly, leaning into the hug and nuzzling Dash’s neck. As always, she felt that she was home.

*

In the end, it won’t make any difference.

Celestia could not get Dusk’s words from out of her head, try as she might. She was back in her chambers in Canterlot Castle, with nothing to distract her. Absently, she flipped the hourglass on her bedside table, watching distractedly as the sand began to flow inexorably into the lower glass teardrop.

As she watched, she was running through the facts in her head. Perhaps if she catalogued what she knew, she might be able to pin down exactly what was eluding her.

Sunset thought they were in control, but they were wrong. We have the leaders, the underlings, even the hirelings, all thanks to Dusk. The question is, what did they have planned for the record attempt?

There was, of course, a lot more information that she could have extracted from Dusk by force, but she had made it clear to herself from the start that if she was going to extract information by those means, she would extract only the bare minimum that she needed. Any information gained by those means, she felt, was tainted, and she wanted as little to do with it as possible. Once Sunset were safely in jail, she had no further desire to visit any more harm on Dusk. If she wanted any more information, she would rely on traditional means.

What’s the missing piece? I thought of something in the school today… What was it?

She had been in the Elixir Goldmane wing. The school of potions.

At that moment, she realized what was wrong. What was missing. When the guards had raided Sunset’s headquarters, they had found a fairly major haul of equipment, except for the one thing that they should have expected. Sunset had employed the potioneer, Root Blacksap. He must have had a job of some kind, but they had not found a single potion or concoction in the entire place. Not one phial.

But Dusk told me that he had fulfilled his purpose, that he had given them what they wanted.

The sand continued its sluggish, inexorable passage through the hourglass as Celestia watched, lost in thought.

Am I being blind? What might Blacksap have supplied them with?

She knew that Blacksap was the inventor of the Draught of Foolishness, but was that the only thing he might have supplied? She had seen his name attached to a great many potions, not many of them entirely wholesome. He could practically fill journals on his own.

…It seemed to me that his eyes were strangely glazed over…

Suddenly, everything clicked into place. Suddenly, the reality of the situation was horribly clear.

“Oh no,” muttered Celestia, turning in a rush to leave her chambers, overtaken by a flash of unpleasant inspiration. The door swung shut behind her, leaving the grains of sand running, unseen and alone, in the hourglass.

*

“Captain Gladius!”

The door to the guardhouse above the dungeons swung suddenly ajar, revealing the Princess in a state of some distress. The captain leapt to his feet, saluting hastily. “Your highness?”

“I need to enter the dungeons straight away. I must talk with Dusk Tempest, then with the potioneer.”

“Very well, your highness.” She had to hand it to him, Gladius did a very good job at keeping his surprise from registering on his face. Calmly, he retrieved the keys, and began leading her down the stairs that led to the main dungeon door.

“Root Blacksap,” muttered Celestia, as she followed. “Inventor of the Draught of Foolishness. More importantly, however, was his work on perfecting the Potion of Forgetfulness.”

“Your highness?” enquired Captain Gladius, interested.

“A selective memory modifier. Wipes out particular memories at the drinker’s discretion, but leaves them a little vague and glassy-eyed for a few days.”

“You think he supplied them to Sunset?”

Celestia nodded. “I believe so, but their supply was clearly used, hence the lack of potion supplies at their base of operations. It’s the ultimate method of resisting interrogation. You can’t tell somepony information that you can’t remember.”

They had reached the door to the dungeon. “What does this mean?” enquired Gladius, expertly unlocking the heavy door. “I need to inform my men if the situation has changed.”

“The situation has certainly changed,” muttered Celestia. “I was a fool to not realize this earlier. I was too preoccupied with their leaders, I assumed the potioneer was simply a pawn.”

“Why do you think Dusk did not simply wipe his entire time with Sunset?”

“Because, before his arrest, he saw them too regularly. He couldn’t possibly keep wiping his own memory like this. But now I think back, it’s obvious that he was under the effects of that potion. I’ve seen it before… As I say, I should have recognized it then. He must have used it to wipe out a single, important event. He’s trying to protect something, or somepony.”

“So what do you intend to do?”

Celestia snorted, grimly. “You can’t erase a memory,” she stated, flatly. “You can only bury it.” She began to walk down into the dungeon once again, her eyes flashing dangerously in the darkness. “Let’s see how deep I have to dig.”

Gladius nodded, and saluted, closing the door behind the Princess.

Celestia shivered slightly as she once more made the descent into the dark row of cells. It had nothing to do with the cold, the memories alone were more than sufficient. As before, Dusk’s cell was the only one that was occupied. For some reason, she felt her heart-rate increasing, as if some sixth sense was telling her that all was not well.

The sense of foreboding increased as she walked further down the aisle. Perhaps it was the strange, oppressive silence that filled her ears. Whatever the cause, she did not need to look inside the cell to know that everything had gone horribly wrong.

Comments

[Ardensfax]

Have a chapter! For the record, these are legitimately the last few chapters before the trip to Cloudsdale now. The record attempt it coming, and it's coming soon, I just need to tie up a few of the Sunset arcs. (Sunset might get their own short story at some point in the future, I'd like to give Dusk Tempest his own prequel.)

[The Grey Pegasus]

As much as I want to read the Cloudsdale trip, the slow build up with these chapters is a lot better I think. Makes for a deeper story, with lot's of suspense.

[LonelyChild]

Hating on Pegasi!
27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzfyurGDAG1r3856io1_500.gif

[Therizzen]

Okay still have the thought that her mom's dead, but now she is likely in on the conspiracy as well.

My two new cents

Also: Do you think Dusk could be the father...?

Maybe...

[Reader Wolf]

I know you said castle, but:
th03.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2011/255/7/3/book_fort_twilight_by_dreatos-d49p4jw.png
BOOK FORT!!

[DjPonpheonix]

omg I love that image! haha good times....good times....

[Drakshaa]

Wow, Celestia is going all zero light 30 on this case.

Edit:
Actually zero dark pony might sound better.

[Dragon of Shadows]

SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!