//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Equiforce // by Crack-Fic Casey //------------------------------// Celestia did not groan. She did not rest her head against her desk, or sigh, or give any other sign, of how worn down she felt. She acted like the mature and dignified leader that she was, never letting her poise dip below what was acceptable for somepony of her stature. Suffice to say, it was terrible. Every muscle was protesting it’s continued use, her head pounded, and she was desperately thirsty. Celestia almost wished she was one of the semiconscious youths sitting across from her; despite their best efforts, all three had eventually begun dozing while they waited for the queen. She'd been forced to keep them waiting hours while she directed her army, secured Twilight Sparkle, and organized a marehunt for the two escaped Unicorns. The three of them had removed their armor and now lay on top of one another, Diane against Abigail's shoulder and Rainbow on the farmgirl’s lap, and it was such a precious sight that the queen wished she could just leave them for a while longer. Especially considering what likely lies ahead. The queen lightly stamped one hoof. Abigail shot up straight, dislodging the other two. Rainbow, by virtue of practice, was standing to attention and didn't look like her attention had wavered at all. Diane landed on the floor and continued snoring. Celestia frowned and lightly poked her with one hoof. Nothing happened. "Is that... normal?" Abigail chuckled. "Nothin' about her is normal. Hold on." She licked one of her fingers and bent down, cramming her finger as deep as it would go into her ear. Shrieking, Diane arose. "Stop right there! I'm warning you; I'm... fairly... strong..." She looked around. "Oh, that was all a dream?" Blinking sleep from her eyes, she turned and faced Celestia. "Wait, that was the dream?" "I'm afraid so," the queen not-unkindly stated. "Please, have a seat. I'm sorry it's taken this long, but there are a lot of things to take care of when one is the sole ruler of a nation." "I can imagine." Diane hesitated. "Well, I can't imagine, 'cause I'm just a high school student, but... well-—" she waved her arms around for a bit, apparently hoping that would summon up the correct words. Celestia took pity on the sleep-deprived human. "I see. At any rate, I'm sure the three of you have questions. I thought now would be a good time to try answering them." In hindsight, she really should have expected the outpouring of questions from the youths. The three of them began to talk over one another, words filling the empty space like water filling a river. After a few seconds, she raised a hoof, halting the barrage. "Let's try this again. Abigail, you may go first." Abby nodded. "Beggin' your pardon, ma'm, but all I really want is to know when we can go home. I got folk dependen' on me that I gotta get back to." Celestia sighed. "I'm sorry, but we don't know how to yet. Starswirl built the Crystal Mirror, and his secrets died with him. The second one we recovered from the Dream Castle might be modified to travel between Realms... but it won't be ready for some time."  Gently, "I'm so sorry." Abigail closed her eyes. In that simple motion, Celestia could see all the strain run across her face as she pushed her emotions back. The solar queen lay a comforting wing on her shoulder and didn't say anything else. After a few moments, she stood up. "I'm sorry, I— I just need a second. I'll be right back—" she was already heading out the door, and its closing cut her words off. Diane stood to follow her, but Rainbow stopped her. "Trust me. She just needs some space." Hesitantly, Diane nodded. The young girl reluctantly leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. "Do you need a minute?" The queen asked. “I understand if you require some time to come to terms with all of this.” Diane shook her head. "No, sorry, just... organizing everything." She straightened up and looked the queen in the eye. "What was wrong with that crazy lady? I mean, not Twilight, the other one, the evil one. Why did she go crazy?" Rainbow shrugged. "Some ponies are just crazy." "No, they aren't," Diane shot back. "Crazy people don't think they're crazy— they always have some way of making it make sense to them, even if it doesn't for anyone else. What was with her?" "That's next on my list to figure out." Celestia looked back at her desk, levitating several files until she found the correct one and floated it to Diane. "We haven't been able to find out much about her, which leads me to believe that she's been preparing this plan for years. Before she disappeared, she was a researcher for Sunrise Industries. She and her fiance Sunburst were working on some very low-key projects based on ancient Equestrian monsters when Sunburst was killed in an unrelated accident while hiking. Starlight quit her job and left Equestria for a time, before returning after two years and falsifying her way into a job as an Archivist here in the Royal Archives." Diane frowned as she flipped through them. "So she went cray-cray when her boyfriend got killed? What does that have to do with Equality?" Privately, Celestia was wondering the same thing. Insane ponies, in her admittedly limited experience, didn't lack logic. They simply moved with a logic that made sense only to them. It was possible that Starlight had been driven mad by Sunburst's death... But how did she get from there to here? She also wanted to know why Starlight thought that the Royal Sisters had thwarted her before. She'd already checked to see if the mare was a time traveler, and everything seemed fine. Starswirl’s research indicated that shifting time was impossible; the power needed to break through the Time Barrier would create ripples throughout the past and future, destabilizing the time stream and remaking the world into one that had been conquered by evil. That was something Celestia would have liked to think she’d have noticed. But then where had Starlight seen her before? Did she know the future? How could she? Celestia blinked, realizing that the girls were staring. I must be more tired than I thought. "We can continue talking in the morning. Right now, I think we could all use some rest." She took the folder back from Diane and levitated it to the desk, bringing back from it a ring of keys at the same moment. "I've prepared several guest suites for each of you. Sleep as late as you wish; we can organize ourselves properly in the morning. If there's nothing else—" "What about Sparky?" Rainbow demanded. "You saw what Starlight did to her, right? That means she didn't do anything wrong!" Celestia's tail lashed at the interruption, the only outward sign of her annoyance. It was still enough to silence Rainbow. The queen sighed. Sitting down, she draped a comforting wing across the other mare. "You don't need to worry. We've restrained Twilight to keep her from hurting herself, and there's a team of guards posted to protect her from Starlight. She'll remain unconscious until we awaken her." "And then you can save Luna and turn Twi back to normal, right?" Rainbow pressed. Celestia paused, choosing her words very carefully. "It isn't as simple as that." She raised a hoof to forestall any further questions and continued speaking. "Starlight has been casting spells on Twilight's mind for at least a few months. Even after we remove them all, I don't know how cognizant she'll be of the world around her. It could take some time for her to be healed." "But—" Rainbow said desperately, "She— she could talk and stuff before Starlight came in— in the Vault? She'll be fine, she has to be. I couldn't have... I didn't..." Her voice trailed off and unconsciously leaned into Celestia's hug. The queen didn't say anything, knowing it would just embarrass the mare.  "It didn't mean anything, did it?" Rainbow said quietly. "I betrayed the Guard to save Sparky, and it made everything worse. I— I just wanted to help." Celestia wished she had the words to help, some magical sentence that would restore the mare, but nothing could be done. Words couldn’t fix this now. "We will." Celestia glanced at Diane, surprised at the expression on her face. From out in the hallway, Abigail leaned in to hear as well. Horror filled the queen as she realized where Diane was going with this. No, you don't need to do that, just calm down... "What exactly do you mean?" the queen asked carefully. "What I said. We're gonna help." Diane's face was surprisingly solemn. "The Elements of Harmony made us Rangers for a reason. We have superpowers, and we're gonna use them to bring Starlight Glimmer to justice!" "I know you want to help," Celestia said carefully, "but this is incredibly dangerous. You don't have to do anything. If you gave the Elements back—" "I can't. They choose us, remember? Besides, it was my fault that the other three got lost, it's only right that I help fix it." "Nopony blames you for that," Celestia said soothingly. "You don't have—” "Could Starlight take us home?" Celestia paused, her rhythm broken by Abigail's plainly stated question. "...I suppose," she said hesitantly, "but you don't need to be the one to catch her." "Yeah, I do." Abigail stood up straight, a few inches taller than Celestia was. "I ain't gonna let some strangers get killed tryin' to help me when there's somethin' I can do to help." Rainbow stood up as well, pulling free of the queen's embrace. "I screwed up being a guardsmare, and I let my friend down. Bringing Starlight to justice is the least I can do." Diane nodded. "All three of us are willing to risk our lives to stop this madmare. Can you think of one good reason we shouldn't?" The warrior’s armor disappeared in a burst of light. Underneath it was what looked like a girl, perhaps an adolescent. Her mane was scarlet red that had been cut short, and she wore a simple white top that was getting more and more stained with blood. Despite some minor differences, it was very clearly Diane. "Doesn't... matter," she got out. "Even if you... win here. Humanity won't... give up." If anything, the monster looked annoyed. *You barely have lungs anymore and yet you still find time to prattle on.* Diane chuckled. "Well, you're gonna have ta...try harder to... shut me up... "No," Celestia said slowly, "I suppose there's no point, is there?" Celestia stood, and all three girls unconsciously held themselves to attention. "I'll begin training you three in the morning. For now, all of us need to get some sleep." Much to her surprise, Diane stepped across the room and threw her arms around the queen. "Thank you," she whispered. "I won't let you down, I promise." "Oh, Diane," Celestia held onto her smile desperately as the specter of Diane's dying body hovered behind the girl, "I know you won’t. Nothing could have stopped you." Sunset Shimmer shuddered as another icy wind buffeted her body. She stumbled through the Everfree Forest, trying desperately to find a warm place to sleep. Why? she pleaded in her head. Why did everything go so wrong again? Celestia still hated her. She had nothing left. There was no hope. And to top it all off, this was the second time she'd been reduced to this. What is wrong with me? "Come here often?" Sunset whipped around and gaped at the form of Starlight Glimmer. The mage didn't look hurt at all; it was as if she'd had weeks to recover and not scant hours. Her body shimmered as she lowered herself to Sunset's level with her field. Without a second thought, Sunset lit her horn and sent a wave of fire flowing towards the mare.  It sputtered out in half the time it was supposed to; Sunset's magic wasn't fully restored yet. With a casual effort, Starlight absorbed the flames with her magic and landed in front of the pyromage. She didn't speak, but her message was clear; you can't hurt me. Don't bother trying. Sunset glared. We'll see about that. Sunset shifted her weight backward, her body tense. As grating as it was to admit, Starlight held the advantage in magical power. Her only chance lay in escape. "I'm surprised you can still stand," she said to buy time, "did you pull some kind of impossible healing spell out of that book of yours?" Starlight smiled sheepishly. “Yeah. I hate using that thing; it’s so creepy.” She sat down, all four hooves planted on the ground and horn up in the air. "Look, can we just talk for a minute?" Sunset suspiciously sat down opposite her, waiting for something terrible to happen. After a few seconds, she relaxed as well. "Thanks. I wanted to apologize for what happened with Rainbow Dash and the whole... thing at the castle." "Oh, you mean leaving me for dead and then trying to kill me?" Sunset asked primly. "Because that's literally what you did." Starlight winced. "I wasn't leaving you for dead," she said defensively. "I had to leave you behind because Rainbow was attacking me. And at the castle, I thought you'd decided to join the... queen again. I leaped to a conclusion and endangered your life, and I'm really sorry. But I was hoping that you might be willing to think about becoming my partner again?" Sunset took a moment to reply. “Why?” Starlight looked off to the side. “I… don’t have a lot of friends. I’ve been fighting to make a better world since— since I lost something precious, and I’ve been letting it consume my life. I started to see ponies as tools, and— and it’s why I lost today.” She inhaled and looked back at Sunset. “I’m not going to say I didn’t mistreat you because I did, but I can change. I can do better. So please, would you give me another chance?” "What happened to Twilight?" That question stopped Starlight in her tracks. It took her a few moments to shift herself enough to speak again. "That wasn't my fault." "I figured," Sunset said grimly. "You didn't have the power or intelligence needed to overcome Twilight's mind. So what did?" Starlight shifted uncomfortably. "The world is a nasty place, and sometimes we have—" "I'm not arguing with you, Starlight," Sunset rose to her hooves and stared her down. " I wouldn't do something like that, but fine. Needs of the many and everything. I'm asking what, exactly, you did to her. That's all." Starlight worked her mouth for a few seconds, no sounds emerging. "...I can't tell you that," eventually emerged. Sunset rolled her eyes and turned to leave. "Hey, w-wait!" Starlight cried after her. "You can't just leave me! Where are you even going?" "Forwards," Sunset stated simply, " I hope." "But— don't you want to fix things? The power to make a better world, one where you’re respected? Where ponies love you?" Sunset paused at the end of the path, choosing her words carefully. "Of course I do," she said, "but this won't get me there. I just hope I can find a path that can." She started trotting away, hoping she could make it to the edge of the clearing before Starlight started casting. Losing her in the forest shouldn't be that hard, but— And then there wasn't a forest anymore. Sunset staggered back as all around her, the illusionary trees and shrubbery disappeared. In their place were monsters. They were a little shorter than her, with an insectiod appearance. Their fangs glistened under the moon, and they all had short, buzzing wings and a glowing horn. Their spells crossed each other, trapping Sunset in a shield. The pyromage slammed her hooves against it, but it held fast. She considered trying to use a spell to drill through it, but she doubted her weakened magic would be enough. Finding herself once again out of options, she settled in to wait. More of the trees and bushes surrounding the clearing flickered away in smooth, green fire. In their places were more bug ponies, some armored and some carrying scientific equipment. Sunset frowned. None of that looks Arcadian. Where did they come from? Grunting, they carefully pulled three tall pillars into a triangle some distance away from Sunset. They flashed with red lightning, coursing between them and forming a rudimentary portal. Starlight and all of the bugs bowed low as a new shape stepped through, and at the sight of her, Sunset had to fight to not bow too. She was huge, and every part of her exuded power. Her skin was jet black, with a metallic greenish sheen that made it look almost like armor. Paradoxically, it also looked soft and almost inviting. Her mane and tail were drawn back, drawing attention to her long horn and domineering eyes. She looked like she was even more powerful than Celestia. The queen (and what else can she be, an annoyingly large part of her mind insisted) looked Sunset over with a sense of scorn. *And this is your greatest offering?* Starlight nodded. "Not only does she have powerful magic, but she was raised by Queen Celestia for years. She grew up with the Royal Sisters and survived the Dream Castle. She will be an ideal subject." The queen turned to sneer at Starlight. *Can she convinced to work with us?* Starlight nodded. “Of course! It might take a little while, but I’d never have suggested her if I couldn’t change her mind!” Sunset tried to speak, but the queen shot her a look, and Sunset held her tongue. Say something! she scolded herself. Do something! But she couldn't even move until the queen broke eye contact. *Very well. Bring her to the Changeling Palace, and tell the doctor to get ready.* At her command, the... changelings, levitated the shield with Sunset inside and began to move it towards the portal. Sunset desperately threw herself against the sides, trying to disrupt it, but there was no point. It continued its inexorable crawl forwards and vanished through to the other Realm. Sunset's world twisted briefly, before with a gasp, they were back in the Human Realm. Sunset stared at her hands and arms with a mixture of anger and horror. Not again! I can't lose my magic again! She punched the side of the bubble as hard as she could, but only succeeded in hurting her hand. Sunset didn't even have her bracelet; she was helpless. Not again! Giving up a direct assault, she peered through the bubble to try and see where they were. It was nighttime, and they were in some kind of silver desert. Her captors had changed as well, but not into humans. Sunset now realized that each one of them wore silver bracelets like the one Starlight had given her. She didn’t have any way to gauge their height, but they were lean and wore dark armor that had a blocky, yet organic look to it. They were heading up a path towards a tall castle, seemingly made entirely from towers.  There were huge raised symbols on the sides of the walls, but Sunset was too close to see them properly. Above them in the sky... Sunset felt a chill of horror pass through her body. That's impossible. It... was can't be... Above them in the sky, hung the Earth. Sunset didn't know how, didn't know why, but there was only one place they could be. I’m on the moon.