Luminous Atonement

by Metool Bard

Pariah Panic

Luminous Atonement Chapter 3:
Pariah Panic

When Fluttershy opened her eyes, she found that she wasn't at the Gates of Tartarus anymore. Instead, she was lying on a bed in Canterlot Castle, with Princess Luna watching over her. Outside, she thought she could hear ponies shouting.

"Are you alright?" the Princess of the Night asked.

"I-I think so," said Fluttershy, rubbing her eyes. "Where am I?"

"Why, you're at Canterlot Castle, my dear," said Discord, appearing out of nowhere.

"Canterlot Castle?" asked Fluttershy. Her eyes suddenly grew wide with panic. "Oh my goodness! Cerberus and Philomena! I should be watching them! I..."

"It's alright," Luna interrupted, raising her hoof. "Cerberus isn't planning to wander off anytime soon. As for Philomena..."

She then gave a whistle, and sure enough, the radiant phoenix swooped in, perching herself next to Fluttershy and nuzzling her with her beak. Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, that's nice to know," she said. "Oh, and Angel?"

"Relax, relax," Discord assured her, holding up the little bunny with his snake tail as he flailed in the draconequus's grip. "I've got your cranky little friend right here, safe and sound."

He then tossed Angel over to Fluttershy, who caught him in her hooves.

"Well, I'm glad we're all safe," Fluttershy said. "But, what are we doing back here? What's going on?"

"Well, it's like this," said Discord. "Apparently, Lunatic here cannot end her night. Dawn should've broken hours ago and, well, I don't think I need to tell you what's wrong with this picture."

He snapped his fingers and a window wrenched itself from the wall and hovered before Fluttershy's eyes, carrying the view with it. Sure enough, the moon was still shining brightly in the sky, and the sun was nowhere in sight.

"Oh my," gasped Fluttershy, placing a hoof to her mouth. "What could've done this?"

"That's the million bit question right now," said Discord. "But as you can probably hear, everypony else thinks they have the answer."

Fluttershy perked up her ears, listening to the shouts from outside.

"This is an omen! Nightmare Moon has returned!"

"It's Discord's fault! He has corrupted her, just like he corrupted the Element Bearers!"

"Your Highness, you cannot simply ignore this! Those two must be punished!"

Fluttershy couldn't believe her ears. She turned to Princess Luna, whose expression drooped.

"Tia has been out there for hours trying to keep order," she said with a sigh. "After Discord tried to fix the problem, rumors quickly spread. Now everypony thinks that I'm Nightmare Moon again, and that Discord has corrupted me somehow."

Fluttershy shook her head. "Not everypony thinks that, Your Highness," she corrected. "I trust you and Discord, and I'm sure my friends do as well."

Angel folded his arms and gave Discord the evil eye.

"Well, most of my friends, anyway," Fluttershy added hastily.

Just then, Celestia walked in, her head hanging low.

"It didn't go too well, I take it," said Luna.

Celestia shook her head. "My subjects want answers when I have none to give them. They still think you and Discord should be held responsible for this."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised," said Discord, crossing his mismatched arms. "It seems that even in your world of order, ponies tend to behave irrationally, Princess."

Celestia raised her head and gave Discord a deadpan look. "You just can't resist the opportunity to take me down a peg, can you?"

"Hey, if I have to suffer, so should you," Discord replied, sticking out his forked tongue at Celestia. "Getting blamed for something I didn't do is fine, but blaming me when I tried to fix the problem? I have to say, I'm a bit insulted."

Luna stared at the ground and flattened her ears. "I must confess, Sis. I'm more scared than I am insulted. It was difficult to get ponies to accept me again, and now..."

She trailed off, tears in her eyes. Celestia walked over to her younger sister, draping one of her large, white wings over her back.

"It'll be alright, Luna," she said softly. "We'll find a way to fix this, I promise."

"Yeah, I don't want to ruin the moment or anything, but how do you propose to do that?" Discord inquired. "We don't even know what's going on. All we know is that Lunatic can't lower the moon, and that it hurts her when she tries. Well, that and Fluttershy's little expedition into Tartarus."

Celestia looked over at Fluttershy, confusion in her eyes. "What? Fluttershy, what's this about you going into Tartarus?"

Fluttershy curled into a little ball on the bed, shivering with fright.

"I-I don't know," she whimpered, her voice barely above a whisper as she avoided the princess' gaze. "I-I don't remember anything. P-please don't be mad at me..."

Angel pantomimed everything for the two princesses of Equestria. Luna raised an eyebrow.

"An old pegasus mare with bat wings?" she asked. "I'm not sure there's anypony in the Night Guard like that."

Angel folded his arms and tapped his foot, giving Discord a sideways glance.

"Look, if I told you once, I told you a thousand times!" Discord snarled in annoyance, his face changing to a shade of blue on its own accord. "None of this was my fault! I wouldn't dare do that to the first friend I ever had!"

"Besides which, I'm not sure how this is connected," Celestia mused. "Just because Fluttershy went into Tartarus doesn't mean she did anything while she was in there."

Angel stroked his chin for a moment, as if pondering the princess's words. Philomena squawked and cawed, and Fluttershy's face turned red.

"I-I was really doing that?" she said meekly. "Oh, I feel so stupid. Imagine me, going into the only place scarier than the Everfree Forest just to rescue an animal that wasn't even there."

Philomena patted the pegasus with her wing to try and comfort her, while Angel simply cast his gaze out the window and shrugged.

"Hmm. Something's fishy about this," said Discord skeptically. "Hang on a minute, I'll be right back."

He snapped his fingers and disappeared. In a few short seconds, he returned.

"Alright, everypony. Good news bad news time," he announced. "The bad news is that Orthrus is not where he's supposed to be."

Celestia's eyes went wide for a moment. Fluttershy yelped and hid under the covers, trembling in fear. Luna cast her eyes downward and bit her lip.

"I thought as much," the younger princess muttered darkly.

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked.

"Before I could cast my spell, I heard this sinister howl," Luna explained. "I knew I heard it somewhere before, but up until now, I didn't know where. As much as I hate to admit it, there's no other explanation. Orthrus has broken out of Tartarus, and has cursed me to prevent the dawn from breaking."

"B-but I didn't let him out," Fluttershy insisted, her speech muffled by the covers. "I couldn't have. I don't even..."

"Calm down, Fluttershy. That's the good news," said Discord. "Cerberus is not blaming you for anything. Or me, for that matter."

Everypony gave the Master of Chaos a blank stare.

"What? It sounded like good news to me," he said with a shrug.

"Right, now that we've gotten that sorted out, what are we going to do about this?" asked Celestia.

Fluttershy tentatively poked her head out from under the covers, feeling a bit more relaxed. "Well, maybe Discord could help," she suggested. "He could use his magic to send Orthrus back to Tartarus."

"Okay, two problems with that," said Discord. "One, there's no fun in it. Two, that's just a conspiracy theory waiting to happen, and while I like the chaos and paranoia that comes with conspiracy theories, that sort of theory is going to lead to me being turned to stone again. And while I can't speak for anypony else, I certainly don't want that."

Luna stared down at the ground and pondered for a moment. When she looked up, a burning fire of determination could be seen in her teal eyes. "There's only one thing for it, then."

"Which is?" asked Celestia.

"I have to go confront Orthrus and set things right."

Celestia gave her sister a concerned look. "Are you sure you want to do this, Sister? I could always send..."

"Don't try to talk me out of it, Celie," said Luna, cutting across her sister. "Orthrus has placed this curse upon me. Not Equestria, not you, me. And if you cannot clear my name with your words, then I must do so with my actions."

"How very noble of you, Lunatic," said Discord, summoning a trio of suitcases. "So, when are we going?"

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Well, I have a bone to pick with your mangy mutt, too," said Discord. "I'm curious as to how he's countering my magic."

"You just said you didn't want to spark controversy," said Luna.

"Oh, right. And you going out in public to embark on this quest is just the thing to calm down those paranoid fools," Discord countered.

Luna tried to respond, but found that the draconequus was right. "Ugh, fine," she said begrudgingly. "But please try to behave yourself."

"No promises," said Discord slyly.

As the two talked, Angel hopped over to his owner and nudged her.

"Hmm?" Fluttershy asked. "What is it, Angel?"

Angel gestured with his little arms.

"Oh, me? No, I couldn't. I'd probably just get in the way."

Angel gestured again.

"You really think I could help?"

Angel nodded.

"Well, I don't know. It sounds pretty scary..."

Angel palmed his face. For Fluttershy, this was nothing new. He then hopped on over to Luna and tapped her foreleg with his foot.

"Hmm?" Luna asked, looking down. "What do you want, little one?"

Angel pointed over to Fluttershy.

"She wants to help as well, you say?" said Luna, stroking her chin with her hoof. "Well, I don't know..."

"Oh, come on, Lunatic," said Discord, nudging the starry-maned mare with his lion's elbow. "The more the merrier, as they say. I think Fluttershy here deserves to find the truth as much as we do, don't you?"

"And what of my sister?" said Luna, raising an eyebrow. "Does she not deserve to know?"

"Well, uh, she already has her hooves full trying to maintain order among the panicked masses," said Discord sheepishly. "Isn't that right, Princess?"

"Maybe so," Celestia admitted. "However, I'm still worried about you, Sister. There's no telling what you might face out there, especially with nearly everypony against you. Which is why I'm sending Philomena to keep an eye on you. Is that alright with you, Philomena?"

Philomena squawked and nodded, flying from Fluttershy's side and perching herself on Luna's back. Luna scowled.

"Tia, I do not need a foalsitter," the lunar princess growled. "I can take care of myself."

"I promise you, Luna. She won't get in the way," said Celestia. "Just think of her as another companion."

Luna sighed. "You're not going to budge on this, are you?"

Celestia gave her sister a knowing smirk. Luna sighed again.

"Alright, fine," said she. "And I suppose you can come with me too, Fluttershy. If anything, you can keep Discord here under control."

"You do realize I'm standing right here, don't you?" said Discord. He then flew over to Fluttershy. "Come on, Fluttershy. It'll be fun."

Fluttershy looked up at Discord, a curious look on her face. "Fun?"

"Well, maybe not your exact definition of the word," Discord conceded. "But I think Lunatic may have a point. I'll probably need somepony to keep me from getting bored. You know what tends to happen when I get bored, after all." He then winked and nudged the timid pegasus with his elbow.

Fluttershy paused to ponder for a moment. "Well, when you put it that way, I suppose I could help out. I mean, if that's okay."

"Believe me, Fluttershy. Nothing would make me happier," said Discord with a smile.

"Well, I'm glad that's all settled," said Celestia.

"I suppose," said Luna, although she still wasn't keen on the idea. "I just need to get some things from my room. We'll meet back in the throne room."

"Don't keep us waiting, Lunatic," said Discord playfully.

Luna rolled her eyes. "Please don't make me regret this," she groaned as she left the room.

***

"Are you sure you have everything?" Celestia asked.

Luna gave an exasperated sigh as she donned her black cloak. "I told you, Sis. I can take care of myself. I have all of the supplies I need: Tomes from the Canterlot Archives, money, and provisions. And thanks to Discord, we won't be running out of anything anytime soon."

"Just making sure," said Celestia. She then draped a wing over her sister and nuzzled her with her muzzle. "Be safe, Luna."

"I will," said Luna with a solemn nod. She then turned up her hood and trotted over to the others. "Alright, I'm ready."

"Alrighty then," said Discord, donning a conductor's hat. "Please have your tickets ready!"

"Tickets?" asked Fluttershy. "What tickets?"

In a flash of light, golden tickets appeared in front of Fluttershy, Luna, and Philomena.

"Those tickets," said Discord, punching each one with his fang. "Is that everyone?"

As if in response, Angel bounded in, bouncing into Fluttershy's mane.

"Oh, you want to come too, Angel?" the pink-maned pegasus asked.

Angel nodded rapidly, and then leered at Discord. Discord sighed.

"Alright, fine," he said reluctantly, punching another ticket for Angel. "I suppose he'll just follow us, anyway. Now then, all aboard the Discord Express! Next stop, wild adventure, dark mysteries, and a grouchy two-headed fleabag! Allllllllll aboard!"

With a snap of his fingers, he disappeared along with the others. Celestia looked on and sighed.

"I'll always be watching over you, dear sister. Even in the dead of night," she whispered to the empty air. "Stay strong."