Twilight’s hooves pounded the cobblestones as she galloped. Her full saddlebags bounced on her back, urging her on to greater speed. Behind her the screeches and heavy wingbeats of a griffon patrol echoed down the narrow alleyway.
Panting, Twilight sprinted around a corner. She reached for her magic, trying to fire off a teleport. Unfortunately, over years of conflict griffons had developed techniques for fighting mages, even ones as powerful as the Archmage. One of the aerial spotters shouted her position out to the ground pursuers and another put a blowgun to his lips and blew. Twilight let the spell fade and dodged the dart, which, according to Gilda, was tipped with Mage’s Bane, a poison that inhibited magic and worked as a tranquilizer.
Without time to gather the focus necessary to cast a complicated spell like a teleport, and without the power of Celestia’s demesne backing her up, Twilight was forced to keep running. She did have the skill to fire off a few simple un-aimed bolts of force and was rewarded with a cry, though the other griffons continued the pursuit. Combat spells simply weren’t her specialty and the griffons disrupted her concentration every time she tried to use free magic.
“Rainbow Dash better hurry with my backup,” Twilight muttered, as she rounded another corner. Convincing the loyal pony to leave Twilight so that she could bring back reinforcements had been difficult, but Twilight’d been confident she could keep ahead of the griffons for long enough. Now Twilight was beginning to wonder if she couldn’t have gone without one or two of the tomes in her saddle bags. With every step the bags seemed to grow heavier and the sharp edges of the books dug further into her side.
Twilight took pride in the fact that she was still on her feet. Just six months ago a simple run across Ponyville had left her exhausted. Now she could keep ahead of griffon soldiers without completely collapsing, at least for a little while. Nothing like life in a stalemated warzone to force a pony into shape.
Another dart shattered on the stone bare millimeters from her leg and she started at the sudden noise. It had come directly from the blind spot left by her missing eye. Not for the first time she swore to herself that she’d look into getting a magical replacement as soon as things calmed down. Which, she acknowledged ruefully, probably meant not for a long time.
Twilight swung her head from side to side, trying to minimize the area she couldn’t see. This took her attention off of where she was placing her hooves and an uneven cobblestone sent her toppling head over tail.
Even with the sudden fall Twilight managed not to lose her saddlebags and kept the books from spilling out. Though as the griffons caught up to her, wingblades at the ready, having a full bag of books wasn’t exactly doing her any good. The sharp edges of the wingblades swung for her and Twilight desperately reached for her magic, knowing she wasn’t going to make it.
She sensed a sudden swell of foreign magic and a magenta shield instantly snapped into place between the blade and her coat. From further down the alleyway she heard the shouts of the royal guards. The cavalry had arrived.
As her soldiers marched forward, led by their captain with his blue helmet plume, Rainbow Dash and Gilda dropped from the sky on either side of Twilight.
“Back off birdbrains!” Rainbow Dash growled. “Ah, no offense,” she added, glancing over at Gilda.
“None taken. Featherhead.” Gilda responded amicably. “They can’t be that bright since they’re standing here staring down a full regiment of soldiers, not to mention you, the Archmage, and my humble self.” She casually burnished a claw on her chest feathers. “If they had any sense at all they’d be running off squawking like the chickens they are.”
“As if we’d run from you. Race traitor!” snapped one griffon, evidently a squadron leader by the insignia on his chest.
Gilda’s casual nature dropped away and she stepped forward, raising a clawful of wickedly sharp talons. “You want to repeat that?”
“Yeah, you’re real brave with your new pony friends at your back. A ponylover like you can’t fight your own battles.” The enemy griffon took a step forward as well, eager for battle. However, another, wiser griffon grabbed his shoulder and whispered in his ear, indicating the rather large number of pony troops gathered in the alley. With the soldiers to run interference Twilight now could cast spells at her leisure. The griffons were outmatched and he knew it.
“Fine,” he growled. “We’ll settle this some other time, claw to claw like griffons should. Troops, move out!” he shouted and at his word the griffons took flight. They wheeled about en masse and flew back toward the griffon war-camp. The royal guard watched them go, frustrated that the rarity of pegasi in the unit prevented them from pursuing.
Twilight, however, heaved a sigh of relief. “Thanks for the rescue, Dash, Gilda. And thank you captain,” she added, turning to the leader of the royal guard. “I’m impressed you could move out so quickly.”
“That’s our job, Archmage.” He removed his helmet, revealing a white coat with a two tone blue mane and bright blue eyes. “Though I do wish you would stop going off into the city without a guard. It makes it hard for me to protect you.”
“It’s important. One of the books I bring back might help us figure out exactly what happened to the Crystal Empire. I thought you military types were all about ‘gathering intelligence’,” Twilight teased.
“Information does no good if you’re dead,” he responded bluntly, still looking worried.
“As much as I hate to agree with Captain Twinkly over there, he’s got a point.”
“That’s Captain Armor,” he grumbled. “Captain Shining Armor, it’s not a hard name.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Whatever. The point is, even when you have a super awesome pony like me who can get back up in ten seconds flat you still should... should... should do something. Yeah I kind lost that train of thought.” Dash rubbed her head sheepishly.
“You were saying that Twilight shouldn’t be going scouting with just you for company.” Gilda’s feathers were still puffed out and her eyes were hard. “She’s right about that too. I can tell you for certain that if they catch you it won’t be pretty.”
“Exactly. If you won’t listen to me, listen to your friends. As Archmage you are too valuable to risk so needlessly.”
Huffing, Twilight strode past Captain Armor, heading back toward camp. The others fell into step with her, while the rank and file soldiers took up guard positions ahead, behind, and, in the case of the few pegasi, above. “You might have a point,” she reluctantly allowed. “But nopony else except Luna can read enough of the language to quickly select the promising tomes from yesteryear’s pop novels. And surely you don’t want her exploring the city?”
Captain Armor shifted uncomfortably. “I’d prefer neither of you wander about outside of camp, to be honest. But if worst came to worst I expect Princess Luna has more combat experience and would be better able to protect herself.”
“Hmm. I was just regretting my relative lack of combat spells.” Twilight tapped her mouth thoughtfully. Her eye happened to fall on Captain Armor’s cutie mark and her eyes lit up. “I know, you can teach me.”
The brave captain of the royal guard actually stumbled in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”
“Your spell shield blocked the griffon blade very quickly. Plus,” she indicated his cutie mark, “it’s your special talent right? If I had had a way to block those darts for a few seconds, I could have teleported out of there no problem.”
“I think it’s a good idea,” Gilda put in. “Griffons have a lot of experience disabling unicorns with projectiles since most unicorns can’t handle a good shield and an offensive or mobility spell at the same time. I can’t imagine that would be a problem for you, Twilight, and it’ll catch them by surprise. At least the first time you do it.”
“Well that settles it.” Twilight flashed a bright smile at the Captain. “Our first lesson will be later this afternoon.”
“I… I…” He sighed. “I would feel better about your expeditions if you knew more defensive spells and my shield is one of the best. I’ll teach you what I can.”
“Great! Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak to my friends privately for a moment.”
A flash of irritation, quickly suppressed, crossed Shining Armor’s face. Remembering the chain of command, he saluted. “Yes Archmage.” At his gesture the royal guard loosened their perimeter, moving just out of earshot of a quiet conversation. With a last nod, Shining Armor dropped back to walk with the rear guard, since attack was most likely to come from that direction.
Turning to the one allied griffon for miles around, Twilight’s voice took on a worried tone. “Are you alright Gilda?”
“Fine. Why?” she replied brusquely.
Rainbow pointed back the way they had come. “Because usually when you walk you don’t crack the stone under your talons.” It was true. Cracks spider-webbed out from her talons as the sharp tips bit deep into the ancient crystal cobblestones. “Plus your feathers are still all puffed out like you’re angry about something.”
“Angry? Why would I be angry?” Gilda snorted. “It’s not like I’ve been declared a traitor by my own species and can never go home again. Oh, wait. It is.”
“We know this can’t have been easy for you,” Twilight began, speaking carefully to try to avoid setting Gilda off.
“Easy? You want to know what’s easy? Easy is wandering through your empty embassy for hours wondering what happened to everyone. Easy is only by the sheerest happenstance catching everypony you know as they’re leaving the city and getting the whole story. Easy is realizing that your own race left you to be a prisoner of war and that the only way you get out of this with any honor is if they ponies actually do imprison and torture you. Then at least if you somehow get free you’ll be welcomed back as a brave soldier.” Gilda was breathing hard and her voice rose as she spoke until she was practically shouting in their faces, though true to form the royal guard pretended that they could hear nothing.
“You want to know what’s hard?” the enraged griffon continued. “Hard is realizing that Talon Grist would never have acted this way without orders from the very top of the chain of command. Hard is knowing that the order to abandon me has to have come from my own father, Warlord Aquila. So excuse me if being reminded that my family is willing to let me die ruffles my feathers!” At the last word Gilda let out a screech and slammed her talon into the wall of the alleyway.
Twilight and Rainbow Dash shared a helpless glance and Twilight walked over to Gilda to place a supporting foreleg on her shoulders. “I can understand. A little. Princess Celestia practically raised me. When it turned out that she had abandoned me for Luna’s sake I felt betrayed.”
Gilda shrugged Twilight off. “Oh, what do you know? This isn’t a simple friendship problem for you solve, Twilight.”
“Well, no. It’s not, but…” Twilight faltered.
“Hey, we’re the ones who’ve stick with you. No need to bite our heads off.” Dash put in.
“If I hadn’t met you I wouldn’t need some ponies to stick with me because I’d have the rest of my species,” Gilda snapped at her.
Dash’s sympathetic air disappeared in an instant. “At this rate you’re going to lose your pony friends too, eggmuncher!”
“Take that back you brownwing!”
“Make me, chicken!”
As Gilda and Dash shouted increasing flight specific insults, Twilight silently counted down from ten. Sure enough, as she reached zero the two decided they had had enough.
Dash wheeled back and leapt into the air. “I never want to see your beak again.”
Gilda followed suit, albeit on the opposite side of the alleyway. “Next time I see a rainbow I’ll vomit at the memory of you.”
With a last snap at each other they took off, flying at top speed in opposite directions, though Twilight knew they would circle around and make it back to the pony encampment.
“That didn’t seem to go well,” Captain Armor offered, trotting back over to Twilight.
For some reason, hearing that from the captain was even more irritating than it would have been coming from another pony, so Twilight’s answer was more cavalier than it otherwise might have been. “Oh give it half an hour, they’ll be at the sparing yard beating each other up. Another half hour after that and they’ll be in the dining hall stuffing their faces with the whole argument forgotten. I’ve lost count of how many times those two have blown up at each other.”
“My soldiers are the same way. I’ve lost count of how many fights I’ve broken up these past few months, especially recently.” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t say this to the princess, but I’m not sure how much longer we can last like this.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked. “Sure things have been a bit tense, but waiting isn’t going to really harm anypony.”
They turned a corner, coming out into a wider boulevard that led directly to the pony encampment. Captain Armor shot Twilight a disbelieving glance. “With all due respect, Archmage, you aren’t a soldier. Any soldier will tell you that the waiting is the worst part. They have to constantly maintain combat readiness, not sure when the engagement will come and if they’ll make it out alive when it does. This waiting especially, with no end in sight and no plan for moving things forward, is hard on them.”
“What about events like today?” Twilight asked. “Going out in armor and staring down the enemy. Doesn’t that bleed off some of the tension?”
“For a few of the more timid ones, maybe,” Captain Armor allowed. “But for most this just gets their blood boiling with no outlet. Watching the enemy fly away after getting all riled up just makes things worse.”
The foremost soldiers had passed inside the makeshift walls of the pony encampment and Twilight and Captain Shining Armor soon followed after. They passed through the guard station and were greeted by the usual sight of ponies trotting about the business of keeping the camp running.
“Look, I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job Archmage,” Captain Armor said before they separated. “But the longer this goes on with no end in sight, the less effective the troops will be when they do have to fight. Just keep that in mind.”
Twilight nodded firmly and offered a small reassuring smile. “Will do. See you at 1:00 for shield training?”
“That’s 1300 hours. This is a military camp after all. And yes ma’am, I’ll be there.” With a salute, Captain Armor turned back to his troops and resumed shepherding them off to the barracks.
For her part, Twilight had much to think on as she made her way through the camp to her command center/library.
Upon leaving Canterlot her goals had seemed straightforward: help the soldiers arrest Blueblood and the other rebellious nobles, find out why the griffons and dragons had left so suddenly, investigate the returned Crystal Empire, and make sure Sombra was still imprisoned. Not easy goals, necessarily, but straightforward.
Unfortunately, Blueblood had somehow stayed ahead of their pursuit all the way to the Crystal Empire, and set up camp in the crystal spire at the center of the city. The same spire underneath which Sombra was hopefully still bound. In addition, Blueblood had a military force that outnumbered the royal guard.
In Equestria, each noble traditionally maintained their own military force and would work together when commanded by the princess. Blueblood had managed to assemble the forces of the nobles that followed him and now possessed a sizable army. Meanwhile, the royal guard, under the direct command of the princess, was the only fighting force that was both trustworthy and able to march on short notice. Though better trained than most noble forces, the royal guard did not have the numbers to match the combined forces of a good third of the nobility, so they were counting on the overwhelming magical power of the princess and the Archmage to make up the difference.
As for the griffons and the dragons, their reason for leaving Canterlot had become painfully obvious. They each wanted to claim the Crystal Empire as their own territory and had received heavy reinforcements from their respective homelands to accomplish that goal. Twilight wasn’t sure of all the reasons involved. Presumably it was either to pressure Equestria by gaining a stronghold on the border, or to tap into the unique and still mysterious magic of the Crystal Empire for their own ends. In either case, it could not be permitted, especially with Sombra on hoof just waiting for somepony to make a mistake and free him. That is if Blueblood hadn’t freed him already.
All of which combined had led to the current stalemate. The griffons, dragons, and Twilight’s ponies had each set up camp equidistant from one another in the empty capitol of the Crystal Empire and Blueblood’s forces held the spire in the center of the city. No one side could be confident of defeating another before the third could catch them from behind.
It was, Twilight mused, rather like a situation in chess called zugzwang, where the first party to move incurred a significant disadvantage. The six months had been a back and forth between the three outer camps, trying to force the others into making a move. Captain Armor’s words had convinced Twilight that they were nearing the end game. One of the groups would have to move soon, and Twilight had to make sure it was not the ponies and that they were ready for it when it happened.
Rarity met Twilight at the entrance to the command center. Though the elegant white pony had not joined Rainbow Dash and Applejack in their military training, she had nonetheless found ways to make herself useful, particularly with her wide network of “fashion” contacts scattered across Equestria.
“Welcome back darling. Tell me, was that you the soldiers were so gallantly dashing off to rescue?”
“Yes it was.” Twilight stepped passed the other pony and withdrew the books from her saddlebags. “So let’s hope that there’s something in these books that makes all the trouble worthwhile.” She began skimming the titles and sorting the books accordingly. “You can update me up as I sort, anything important I should know?”
“Come now, I want details Twilight, details.” She tossed her mane impatiently. “A daring rescue by Equestria’s finest should not be covered so brusquely. Where’s your sense of romance?” she teased.
Twilight shook her head, still focused partially on the books. “Sorry Rarity, but I don’t think we have time to waste. Captain Armor helped convince me that we can’t last much longer like this.”
“He’s right,” Rarity said, sobering. “Pitchforks and torches are in this season, darling, all across Equestria.” As Twilight looked up in alarm Rarity clarified. “There isn’t outright rebellion or rioting in the streets yet, but it’s not too far off. Ponies want the princess, they want the nobles, and they want somepony to tell them everything is going to be okay. They’re going to become quite brutish if they don’t get some reassurances soon.”
Resisting the urge to bury her head in a book and ignore the world around her, Twilight began shelving her finds. “What about Duke Fancypants? Isn’t he dealing with it?”
“As best he can,” Rarity replied, worry writ plain on her face. “And far be it from me to denigrate his abilities, but he never wanted or expected to be responsible for the whole country. Equestria needs her princess, Twilight.”
Twilight glanced up from her task to look Rarity in the eye. “Be honest. Knowing Luna’s whole story and current state do you really think she would be good for Equestria right now?”
“Well…” Rarity hesitated which Twilight took for agreement.
“Exactly.” Twilight snorted and turned back to the books. “Hay, without me here this army would have collapsed long ago, despite its importance to Luna and Equestria at large.”
“Nopony’s denying the work you’ve put in, Twilight,” Rarity said carefully. “But you aren’t a princess and that matters to ponies regardless of what you or Princess Luna accomplish.”
“I know,” Twilight growled, slamming the last book into place. “But what can I do other than lead when Luna won’t?”
The question hung heavy in the air, weighing on their minds as it must have weighed on the mind of the remaining princess. With no easy answer Rarity reached for anything else to say to push the thought away. Struck by inspiration at last she burst out, “I do have some good news though.”
Twilight raised her head. “Oh? That would be appreciated now.”
“It turns out that in the time we’ve been gone Ponyville has been attacked by no less than six different monsters.”
Rarity stayed deadpan as Twilight stared at her in disbelief. Then she burst into laughter. Honest laughter, though Rarity easily caught the undercurrent of tension. She watched, nonplussed as her friend cackled to herself.
Winding down to occasional chuckles, Twilight wiped a tear from her eye. “It’s good to know some things never change. Thanks Rarity, I needed that.”
“I’m no Pinkie Pie but I do like to hear my friends laugh,” she replied with a little curtsey. “Even if it wasn’t that funny.”
“I have to take my humor where I can find it these days.” Twilight sadly levitated the last book into its place on the shelf. None of her newly acquired tomes looked especially promising and as much as she’d have liked to curl up with them for the next few days, she knew she couldn’t spare the time. Still she couldn’t help but slip one, entitled The Secrets of the Crystal Empire into her saddle bags, just in case a few spare moments could be found. “I’m going to go grab lunch. Want to come along?”
“Of course, darling.” Rarity fell into step next to Twilight as the two left the command tent and headed for the mess hall. The pony encampment was even busier than earlier and more than once they had to duck or dodge out of the way as soldiers carrying weapons or large pieces of armor shouldered past.
“Oh that’s right, your joke reminded me. Are Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy back from their mission yet?”
“Not yet.” Rarity frowned. “I know they haven’t been gone longer than expected, but I’m still a little worried about them out there on their lonesome.”
“I’m worried too,” Twilight acknowledged, moving closer to Rarity so she could squeeze passed an overturned cart. “But we all agreed that it made sense at the time.”
When they had first set up the encampment six months ago Pinkie Pie had not quite understood that leaving their area was dangerous. She’d popped in and out at her leisure, picking up pranking and other party objects and generally being her inscrutable self. Unfortunately, it didn’t take too long for the griffons to notice that a pink pony was showing up in the city without backup and she ended up being captured.
Three days later she’d wandered back into camp muttering something about throwing a party for the griffons. Twilight and the others had tried to convince her to stay within the boundaries this time, but it proved unnecessary since the griffons avoided and seemed to be somewhat unnerved by her. It was this last trait that had come in handy when Twilight had found a mission for Fluttershy.
One potential method of breaking the stalemate that Twilight had considered was starving out the other parties. Truthfully it wasn’t a feasible plan with regards to the dragons because in the Crystal Empire the very buildings were edible for them. However, the griffons were a long way from the Griffon Empire and there was lots of space for resupply trains to go missing. First as a supplement and then as a primary food source, the griffons had taken to hunting the animals of the frozen tundra beyond the borders of the Crystal Empire. The mountain goats were their most common meal but they’d also grab seals, penguins, even the occasional yeti when possible.
Twilight had hit upon the idea of sending Fluttershy out to ask that those animals leave the area to prevent them from falling prey to the voracious appetites of the griffons. Without that food supplement, Twilight suspected the griffons could be made to cave in and leave, or potentially even join the ponies in exchange for diplomatic concessions.
The problem was that Fluttershy’s best chance for success was going unnoticed by the griffons and so sending soldiers with her would just put her in more danger. The number of soldiers necessary to guarantee her safety would also insure that she was found and lead to griffon reinforcements capturing her anyway. So instead Twilight had hit upon the idea of sending Pinkie with Fluttershy.
Sure, Pinkie was unorthodox, but she was also notoriously hard to pin down and prepared for the most bizarre situations. Twilight had sent the two off on their mission a few days earlier and was eagerly awaiting news of their success.
“No, I’m sure they’re fine,” she said aloud, mostly to reassure Rarity. “After all, even I couldn’t get a handle on Pinkie and we all know Fluttershy has hidden depths.”
“If you say so, darling,” Rarity replied, doubt still clear in her tone.
“I do,” Twilight said firmly. “Now, let’s go get that meal. I’ll need it for my training session with Captain Armor this afternoon.”
“Is that his reward for the aforementioned daring rescue?” Rarity asked lightly.
“I hardly think trying to teach me a spell counts as a reward,” Twilight answered drily.
“Well it never hurts to dream, dear.” Gossiping back and forth Rarity and Twilight headed off to the mess hall for a quick lunch.
***
Within the boundaries of the pony encampment there was a single park. Among the city’s arrow-straight streets, sharp slices of boulevards, meandering cobblestone alleyways, and hard crystal houses, the park stood out as the sole source of greenery. The ponies, more used to greenery than stone and crystal, had erected a pavilion in the park so that everypony not on duty could go there for a little taste of home.
In the pavilion Luna lay on the ground, her eyes closed. She did not sleep or dream. she was immersed in magic and music.
Around her were arrayed whatever instruments she could find or borrow from the other ponies of the encampment. Woodwinds and percussion predominated because of the royal guard military band, but there were plenty of guitars, violins, a cello, and for some unknown reason a digeridoo.
It was not the orchestra she would have wanted, nor the one she had dreamed of when she was composing music on the moon, but at the moment it did not matter. Her magic filled each instrument, giving wind, holding strings and bows and drumsticks. She played them all simultaneously, a one mare band.
The piece itself had been written in the midst of the dreamlike haze which had filled her mind down through the long years of her banishment. It had been meant as a tribute and a threnody for the four stars who had lost their lives to watch over her as she was interred in the moon.
There had been no paper on the moon, no quill, and no ink. Briefly she had considered using her horn to carve the notes into her own flesh. Even as that thought had occurred to her she had known it was useless; if she began to cut herself for memory she would never find strength or cause to stop and whatever she wished to remember would be lost under layers and layers of scars. Besides, playing as she was with dozens, maybe hundreds of instruments at once, no score ever written could have provided direction for all at once. So it was fitting and right that she should play solely from memory.
As for the sound, it was… different. The music held a strange unity for each instrument was in sync in a way that was impossible when played by many different players. It held a certain mechanical perfection, as if played by a master after a lifetime of practice. Indeed, Luna had spent many of an ordinary pony’s lifetimes studying music in all its glorious forms. Though the precise nature of the instruments of this age were alien to her, the art of performance was not.
Her expertise gave rise to beauty. The melody rose, hauntingly somber, backed by rhythm and the steady heartbeat of the drums. One of the soldiers waiting for the return of his instrument had tears in his eyes, and the drawn faces of the other waiting soldiers present in the pavilion gave testament to the power of the music of the Princess of Arts.
Luna opened her eyes.
Around her the instruments were released from her telekinesis and crashed to the ground. The listeners recoiled at the sudden cessation of sound, like sleepers brought to waking with a bucketful of cold water. Without a word Luna stormed off, paying no mind to the ponies that rushed to reclaim their instruments and examine them for damage.
“I was regarded as the goddess of art and music and beauty, goddess of all the finer things in life” Luna whispered to herself sadly, angrily. “So why? Why now that there is no overshadowing sister has my muse abandoned me?”
Though she had no destination in mind her hooves knew where to take her. At her quick, frustration-empowered pace she reached the quartermaster’s building on the other side of the encampment in just ten minutes. Unlike most of the other pony structures, the quartermaster had claimed one of the city’s two story abandoned buildings, claiming he need the space and walls to keep his supplies safe.
On the first floor stood rows and rows of wooden shelves holding everything from weapons to armor to food. Behind a wooden counter along the far wall stood the quartermaster, a grey and grizzled pegasus by the name of Barrel. His grim countenance lightened slightly as the Princess burst through his door.
“Good to see you again, Princess. Here for the usual?” he asked, already turning to rummage in the crates at his side.
Luna paused in the doorway, jarred out of her funk by his quick question. “uh, I am. Thank you. That is, thank you for always taking the time to get everything together so quickly.”
“Of course!” he responded immediately, adding under his breath, “not that I have anything else to do.”
Moving inside and allowing the door to close behind her, Luna idly scanned the shelves, looking for anything that might catch her eye. When nothing proved particularly enticing she meandered to the front of the store. “Why is it I never see anypony else in here?” Luna asked. “I would have thought the quartermaster would be kept pretty busy.”
“Hmph. Usually I would be,” Barrel groused, plopping a stack of large easel paper on the counter. “But this time around somepony’s been doing my job for me.”
“Ahh,” Luna nodded in understanding. “Twilight Sparkle.”
He snorted. “Exactly. She’s got some system set up where every regiment get what they need direct from the supply shipments. We’d never do that because then things tended to go missing, but apparently that just doesn’t happen to the great Archmage.” His eyes widened, as the realization of what he’d just said hit him. “Begging your pardon, your highness. I meant no disrespect to your student.”
“I know how you feel,” Luna offered with a rueful smile. “She’s done much the same thing to me after all.”
Barrel glanced up from collection of paints he was assembling. “You, your highness? How do you mean? Can’t you just tell her to knock it off?”
Luna leaned against the counter and propped her head up on her hoof. “I could and she would listen, I think, but… Well let me put it this way, what’s the last order you recall hearing me give?”
“Uhh.” Barrel’s eyes crossed as he cast his memory back. “Probably back before we left. I heard you changed the government somehow, something about the ‘Lunar Republic?’” He shook his head. “I don’t know, it’s all above my pay grade. But that’s the last big order I recall you giving.”
“Right, that’s the last order I gave. Ever since then it’s been Twilight’s show.” Luna snorted. “I wanted to set up something new, something different. But that led to the rebellion we’re here to put down. I just– I don’t trust myself to know the right choices to make. Twilight doesn’t seem to have that problem and it’s easier to let everypony follow her orders than to try and give my own and risk ponies getting hurt because I screwed up again. I want to help and I want to lead,” Luna looked down and her words came out mumbled. “I’m just not sure I dare.”
For the first time Barrel was at a loss for words. He raised one hoof awkwardly, wanting to offer some word or gesture of reassurance. Before he could gather his courage to say anything Luna’s head rose, her face impassive. “But that is not your problem. Is my order ready?”
“I-,” he hesitated again. With experience born of living with his wife and two daughters he knew Luna regretted saying as much as she had and would prefer he not mention it. He sighed. “I got your order right here,” he said, adding the final bit of wrapping to the total package. “7 sheets of 140lb easel paper, 3 full sets of watercolor paints with extra blue tones, 5 brushes of various sizes, and 1 full container of masking fluid, just like last week.”
“Thank you,” Luna snapped, picking up the package and moving briskly away. She paused by the door. “Thank you,” she said again, more softly. “For listening.”
The old stallion smiled slightly. “Of course. Everypony knows the quartermaster’s always there with whatever you need.”
Barrel could just make out a small quirk of Luna’s lips as well. “I’ll remember that.”
***
Luna trotted into the mess hall. She had dropped off her painting supplies in the building her soldiers had insisted she be given, despite her protestations that a tent would work just fine. There was just time for a quick meal before continuing with her latest project.
The other ponies, especially her captain of the royal guard, had tried to insist on providing a private dining area for the princess, but this was one area where she had put her hoof down. Since the ancient times Luna’s remembered on down through the ages, there had been a peculiar weight to the act of breaking bread together. Luna was not going to allow herself to be isolated due to some odd idea of propriety.
Gathering her food, Luna scanned the tent for a place to sit. Though she would, of course, be accepted by any table, there were many soldiers who would simply become stiff in the presence of royalty. They would be too uncomfortable to converse with her or in front of her at all.
The princess had very nearly resigned herself to sitting alone when she spotted Twilight and Rarity at an otherwise empty table. Luna almost went to sit alone anyway, but Twilight caught sight of her looking around and Luna refused to let Twilight think she was avoiding her.
Walking over, Luna slid onto the bench next to Rarity and across from Twilight. “Hello Rarity, Twilight,” she greeted them both, tone carefully neutral.
“Luna, it’s good to see you out and about,” Twilight answered with transparently false cheer. Still, Luna couldn’t shake the feeling that, below the fake cheer and below the sarcasm, Twilight actually was glad to see her out in public.
“How are things going?” Luna asked lamely.
“Oh fine, fine,” Twilight replied. She waited until Luna had taken a bite of her hay and walnut sandwich and added, “I did almost get killed today though.”
Princesses do not do spit takes, though it was a near miss. “W-what?” Luna stammered. “What do you mean you almost got killed?”
Twilight made no effort to hide her enjoyment of Luna’s surprise. “I was out trying to find books that might tell us what happened or give us some insight into the magic of this place when I was ambushed by a troop of griffons. They chased me halfway back to camp and only the timely intervention of the royal guard saved me.”
“I’m glad you made it back okay,” Luna said sincerely.
Now it was Twilight’s turn to be surprised at Luna’s genuine appreciation of her safe return. “Thank you.”
This is going well, Luna thought. If this continues we might actually get through an entire conversation being civil to one another.
Aloud she asked, “Wasn’t that reckless?” Immediately after, she winced internally. Drat, so much for being civil, she thought.
At first it looked as though Twilight would laugh off the jab. “I thought I could teleport out if things got hairy. It turns out griffons are used to fighting mages and didn’t give me the opportunity. Unfortunately, I don’t dare let the dragons or the griffons get their claws on these books, so I’ll have to keep going out there.” Then her eye narrowed. “It’s a shame I don’t have anypony else I could trust to protect themselves and be able to find and identify the books that might contain important information.”
Luna winced. “I can’t, Twilight.”
Twilight continued as if she hadn’t heard. “Or if I had somepony else with the authority and ability to keep camp running so I could devote more time to these excursions that would help too.”
“I can’t,” Luna said again, her voice firmer this time.
“Why not?” Twilight exploded. “You are a princess. You wanted to take your sister’s place, to be responsible for the other ponies. Why won’t you lead?” she demanded.
“You’re just so much better at it,” Luna remarked bitterly. “After all, you haven’t made any decisions that led to open rebellion. No, it’s better this way. You lead until this situation is dealt with and then I’ll work with you to make the Lunar Republic a reality. I’ve learned my lesson and until we can afford to go slowly and carefully I should not be the pony giving orders.”
“That’s what you say.” Twilight leaned in, her face inches from Luna. “But you know what I think? I think you’re afraid. Afraid you can’t measure up to your sister, afraid that you just can’t handle leading at all.”
“And what if I am afraid?” Luna said, not backing down. “I was the Nightmare. I fought against the crown, against Celestia. What right do I have to rule? And what would happen if the Nightmare returned while I ruled?”
“The Nightmare’s just a cop out,” Twilight spat. “An excuse, just like your claim that the current situation is too tenuous for you to be trusted with command. That’s what leadership is always like, Luna, making the best call with limited information. No, I think what you’re really afraid of is something deeper in yourself. After all, in one day you,” Twilight’s mouth snapped shut, barely catching words she knew couldn’t be forgiven. She sat back and looked away. “Never mind. Its fine. I’ll just keep running camp. You go back to your creative distractions.”
“Say it.” Luna’s voice was low, rough with pain, but she refused to allow Twilight the diversion.
Twilight rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. “I didn’t mean that, what I was going to say. It isn’t true, you know? I was just angry.”
“Say it!” Luna growled, urgency filling her voice, a need to hear the words echoing in both their minds said aloud.
“Princess Luna, she clearly doesn’t want to give offense. Can’t you just let it go? The mess hall is hardly the place for heart to heart conversations.” Rarity said, hoping that by reminding them of herself and the rest of the audience that they would calm back down. Unfortunately, neither pony acknowledged that she had spoken or even looked her way.
“Say it,” Luna pleaded. “I need to know it isn’t just my own demons tormenting me again.”
Wincing, Twilight didn’t meet the princess’s eyes but she couldn’t deny the pain in the other pony’s voice. Barely above a whisper she spoke. “You did more damage to Equestria in one day as Princess Luna than you ever did as Nightmare Moon.”
Luna let out an involuntary hiss, as when some old wound where flesh is soft and bone is fragile is newly struck. Or maybe as when some rotted cavity so long endured is first probed by the cold steel instrument of its extraction.
“It’s not true, though,” Twilight insisted, looking up now. “No pony should be judged on their two worst days. There is so much good you can do if you just work with me,” she said desperately, extending her hoof to Luna.
For an instant Luna teetered on the edge, but the habits of solitude and suspicion were not so easily cast aside. Ignoring the proffered hoof, Luna stood. “I find myself no longer hungry,” she said stiffly. It was true, the food which once had been redolent with appetizing scents now smelled of ashes. “We will speak again.” On wooden legs she turned and mechanically put one foot ahead of the other, following any path that would lead away.
From behind she heard Twilight call, “Luna! Come back, please! Just because we’ve both thought it doesn’t make it true!”
Luna did not stop, did not turn around. The mess tent suddenly seemed suffocating, close and hot. And if she turned around she would do something. She wasn’t sure what, but something was building inside her, an emotion, an energy, a scream maybe. All she knew was that she needed to get out. Only the weight of a lifetime of dignity and the need to not alarm her soldiers kept her from breaking into a run, and that will only lasted until she passed the mess hall entrance.
She fought for calm, for control. Her steps hastened. She started to trot and then to gallop. Her hoofsteps pounded on the crystal cobblestones of the empty city they were squatting in. She stumbled, once, and almost knocked over one of her little ponies. They’re so small, she thought irrelevantly. Almost toy sized really. And they were in her way. Her dodges became slower, missing other ponies by the slimmest of margins. Only when a small green earth pony had to literally dive out of the way to keep from being stepped on did the realization of her carelessness penetrate the fog in her thoughts.
With a leap that shattered crystal underhoof Luna took to the air and began winding her way between the buildings. Now at least she knew she needed to avoid the obstacles, even she wouldn’t escape from a head on collision with a building unscathed. Her wings beat franticly, far faster than needed to keep her airborne, but a nervous energy filled her veins and she needed to move her body, wings, legs, anything.
Luna swept down on to the balcony of her dwelling, landing in a gust of air that would have knocked over observers, if there had been any. But there were not. This was her space, for now, she was safe here behind the uncaring, unseeing, unneedful crystal walls.
Through the grand double doors, she strode, slamming them behind her, through the corridor, up the stairs, until she reached her destination. It was a wide airy room, with one entire wall of clear crystal and a skylight so that the very air glowed with the radiance of sun or moon or stars passed through brightest crystal.
Here, Luna painted.
With a flick of magic she snatched one of her recently purchased papers from their stack and stapled it to her easel. Another flick set water flowing into a basin set into the wall on the far side of the room. Still another unpackaged all the brushes and lifted them, each levitated in its own precise telekinetic grip. Her paints came next, dabbed onto the palette and mixed with water. Her brushes dipped in the paints and she began.
Princess Luna, goddess of art and music and beauty, painted. Her brushes danced across the canvas, all five moving at once. Her eyes stared unseeing at the canvas, perceiving only the subject in her mind’s eye, a subject with which she was intimately acquainted. Paint splattered the room from her wild strokes, blending with her coat when it landed on her.
Her painting was quick, but deliberate. Each stroke measured and tapered as with a master’s patient perfect execution. No observer could know that, for Luna painted faster than any mortal master could, maintaining that perfect focus on five different brushes at speeds that blurred the eye. She threw off the mortal limitations of art and produced with the experience of countless lifetimes and the magical power of an alicorn.
Finally, her brushes began to slow, dropping off one by one as their role was fulfilled. At last, only the littlest brush was left, adding small dots of white. As it fell from her grasp to the floor she closed her eyes.
Please, she prayed though she had nothing and no pony to pray to.
Please.
Luna opened her eyes and found the Nightmare.
A low moan escaped her lips. Tearing her eyes from the painting she lifted it with her magic and dragged it into the next room. That room was a long corridor, the walls utterly opaque, and the floor a deep ruby red. She walked down the corridor, past self-portrait after self-portrait. Not all were of the Nightmare, though most were. Some few, especially near the beginning, were of herself as a young filly, the way she had looked right after returning from the moon with the coat of light blue and the mane simply hair instead of ethereal space and stars.
Reaching an open space on the wall she turned her magic on the painting and pressed it into the crystal, embedding it so deeply and seamlessly that only the destruction of the wall could remove it.
Turning, Luna gazed down the long hallway at the one hundred and eighty self-portraits. She had painted one every single day since they had come to the Crystal Empire. Initially, she had used a mirror, but her own features were easy to remember. And besides, the accuracy of the image in her head never made any difference.
One hundred and eighty self-portraits and not a single one looked like her.
Princess Luna sank to the floor of her hall of imperfect mirrors and cried.