//------------------------------//
// Little Conspiracies 
// Story: Tales of Eden 
// by BlackRoseRaven 
//------------------------------//

Chapter Ten: Little Conspiracies
~BlackRoseRaven

Princess Celestia sat silently with the communicator Thorn Blackfeather had given her in one hoof. Princess Cadance had sent her a message, asking her to try and broker peace, one last time. Or rather, to tell Thorn that Twilight Sparkle wanted to negotiate with him.
She studied the device. It looked much like a watch, but the screen displayed whoever she was talking to, no matter how far away they were, as long as they had some corresponding device to speak through. It was a marvelous piece of technology, replicating the effects of ancient, extremely powerful communication orbs without the need for complicated magic.
Anyone could do it.
She flicked it on, and a profile of a dragon appeared for a moment. A strange icon, she thought.
Then the icon was gone, and instead she was looking at Thorn Blackfeather's face, the stallion asking politely: “I assume this has to do with my upcoming visit to the Crystal Empire?”
“Yes. Twilight Sparkle will be there.” Princess Celestia replied, just as cordial, as she sat back in her throne. Here she was, alone in the darkness in the dead of cold, lightless past-midnight, talking and scheming with a stallion everypony had warned her about. Scandalous.
Thorn nodded briefly, and then he asked bluntly: “Will I encounter resistance?”
“Yes. They have devised a shielding system using the core piece I gave them.” Princess Celestia answered, before she asked in a quieter voice: “But you already knew that, didn't you? You have a spy in their midst, I assume.”
Thorn gave a thin smile, and there was silence for a moment before Celestia asked, almost rudely: “How was your visit to the griffin kingdom?”
“We suffered several casualties. The griffins assumed the explosion from the device you rigged was due to our tampering. To avoid unnecessary war, I refrained from providing evidence of your interference. You're welcome.” Thorn answered.
Princess Celestia smiled wryly. “It's been a long time since a pony has dared to scold me, Thorn Blackfeather.”
“Perhaps you need it more often, then.” Thorn replied cordially, before he continued: “My terms are simple. Twilight Sparkle will be picked up at the train station outside of the Crystal Empire in twelve hours' time. She will be taken aboard the Queen Mary, where I will negotiate with her under the assumption she has the full endorsement of both yourself and Princess Cadance, and thus the full weight of your powers vested in her.”
“So you can manipulate a young, naive mare into giving you everything you want?” questioned Princess Celestia, almost idly, even as her eyes burned down into the screen.
Thorn smiled at her again, then continued as if he hadn't been interrupted: “Once negotiations are concluded, and a decision has been reached, I will return Twilight Sparkle to the Crystal Kingdom by Nighthawk. If negotiations were successful, we will continue as proposed. If they have failed, I will resort to force.”
“And if negotiations never occur?” asked Princess Celestia.
“My soldiers will wait at the station for one hour. After that, I will consider our negotiations as failed.” Thorn Blackfeather replied evenly.
The two studied each other silently for a few moments, and then Princess Celestia nodded before she said, low and deadly serious: “I will never turn over the core to you. Not while we need it.”
“Then perhaps my talk with Twilight Sparkle will only be an exercise in futility. But all the same, I am willing to attempt to negotiate. I hope that you are open to the same.” Thorn answered evenly.
Celestia grimaced, and then she sighed before nodding once, saying grudgingly: “Fine. Assuming conflict occurs-”
“While unusual to allow the enemy to dictate rules of engagement, I have no interest in prolonged warfare or causing more destruction or death than is necessary.” Thorn said tactfully. “But that is all I can promise. But please recognize that I will not hesitate to use lethal force if provoked.”
“Very well, Lord Black.” Princess Celestia smiled thinly, touching the side of the communicator. “Then all our hopes rest in Twilight Sparkle. Be good to her.”
With that, Celestia flicked off the communicator, and then she sighed and sat back for a moment in her throne. She closed her eyes, rubbing tiredly at her face for a moment before she looked down at the communicator again, and swiveled the little cog on the side to a different frequency before she hit the button to turn it on again.
Again, that same icon.
Drat, she'd forgotten to ask Thorn what it meant. Again.
The screen flickered to life, and Princess Cadance smiled from it as she asked: “Did you talk to Lord Black?”
“Yes. He's after Twilight Sparkle. He refuses to negotiate unless we surrender her to him.” Princess Celestia lied with perfect calm.
“What? But we can't do that!” blurted another voice, and Cadance winced as Shining Armor shoved his face against hers so he could stare down at the communicator on the other end, asking worriedly: “Did he say he was coming to get her?”
“Yes.” Celestia answered, omitting the where and when and why. “This isn't the first time he expressed interest in Twilight Sparkle. I believe he used his last encounter with her to assess her. I don't know what he intends to do with her, but...”
“But we can't let him take her!” Cadance blurted out, that old motherly instinct coming out: she had been Twilight's babysitter before being her friend, after all, and it showed in her, just as clearly as the big brother showed in Shining Armor at the way he gritted his teeth.
Their love made them blind.
“She was talking about surrendering to him. Is it possible he already did something to her?” he asked in a low voice, as his eyes shifted back and forth.
Nervous. Anxious. Of course they were.
Not afraid enough, though. Not yet.
“At this point, it's more than likely he's found some way to influence her. I expect coercion more than mind control, though. Twilight is very vulnerable right now, and she's under an intense amount of pressure.” Princess Celestia answered, before she suggested: “Keep a close eye on her and her friends.”
“We won't let her out of our sight.” Shining Armor agreed with a nod.
“Good. Lord Black is already on his way. He'll likely begin his attack within twelve hours. You need to be ready to hold him off for as long as possible.” Princess Celestia answered, and both ponies smiled and nodded firmly.
“We're ready for him.” Princess Cadance said, full of the confidence of ignorance. But Princess Celestia only smiled back as much as she could and nodded before she frowned as she heard a noise, shifting quickly upwards.
“I have to go. Be safe.” she said, before quickly turning the communicator off, and sliding a glare to the pony leaning on the side of her throne.
Princess Luna studied her silently for a few moments, and Princess Celestia glowered before she said shortly: “You should be in court.”
“You should be giving Lord Black a chance.” countered Princess Luna.
“And what? Risk losing them all over again? Or surrender our only hope of generating enough power to restore some sort of balance before we reach catastrophe?” Celestia snorted, almost leaping out of her throne to storm down the throne hall, before she spun around to glare at Luna. “What would you do, oh wise Mare Imbrium?”
Luna mused for a moment, unfettered, then she calmly sat down in Celestia's throne before she said bluntly: “Tell Lord Black that we will surrender the anchor to him, and he may select his candidates. I would hold my end of the deal we originally made with him.”
“That was before we knew the truth, Luna! Before we knew he was from the place that manufactured those monsters that slaughtered all of Ponyville, and before we saw what he was capable of!” Celestia retorted, before she grimaced. “And it was also before we understood the extent of the danger facing us, and how quickly we were losing spiritual energy.”
“Then alter the deal.” Luna shrugged. “Lord Black was clearly not blind to our plight.”
“And our plight ranked far below his concerns all the same. I do not need his 'best hopes,' Luna, we need action. And I am not going to trade him Equestria's last chance at survival for an impossible plan, and...”
Celestia shivered a little, looking silently away, and Luna softened before she said quietly: “He said it was the best way. I do not believe he was lying.”
“Every night, I dream of them, dead or dying. And sometimes I almost see the things that did it. I remember the Traveler, and the story she told us...” Princess Celestia smiled bitterly at Luna, who glanced away. “I remember how Ponyville became a haunted, evil place. I remember the ghosts, trapped there, and the shadows that never went away. Not until... it all just came back.”
Celestia fell silent, and then she shook her head and murmured: “The anchor must have had something to do with that. I wanted to find out what. I remember bringing it up from where we'd hidden it... where we promised to protect it. It was the only thing that hadn't changed.
“And now he wants to take it away.” Celestia trembled, before she looked at Luna with tears in her eyes and cried out the fear, the fear that had been consuming her since Thorn had first spoken of it: “And what if taking it away takes all of this away? What if taking it away ends this dream, Luna, and I have to go back to the hell, where I was forced, every day, to look down on the graveyard that Ponyville had become from Canterlot's lonely towers?”
“The Traveler destroyed the monsters, but they poisoned our land. I remember, I remember it very well. The creeping evil. The hollowness in reality. The dark... but also, I remember the light.” Princess Luna slipped out of the throne, smiling faintly as she walked towards Celestia, then embraced her trembling sister fiercely. “Nothing lasts forever.”
Celestia lowered her head, and then she closed her eyes and breathed out slowly, whispering: “Yes. But if he takes the core away, we lose everything. The artes that ponies depend on. The ability to power our homes. Twilight Sparkle. All of it, for nothing. To be given it all back, Luna, to have everything fixed, and then to have it all taken away again... it would be unbearable.”
“You were almost excited when he first suggested taking Twilight Sparkle with him. That she was unique.” Luna smiled faintly. “You were a proud mother in that moment, even though it meant-”
“That I would never see her again. But there are worlds out there that have never even been dreamt of by you or I, and if she can experience them... she deserves more. More than being the student of a Princess. And all the plans I had for her... nothing could compare to the opportunity of learning the truth of our universe.” Princess Celestia quieted, then she slowly shrugged Luna off before she turned away, striding into the darkness as she whispered: “And I only hope that once Thorn Blackfeather drags the anchor from the grip of my cold, dead corpse, he will still accept her as his student.”
Luna sighed quietly as Celestia walked away, shaking her head slowly as her sister vanished into the darkness, before she closed her eyes and murmured: “Ever the martyr, my sister. I hope this doesn't end the way you hope it will... but I fear that will only happen if you learn to allow Equestria to stand on its own hooves.”



Twilight Sparkle had a terrible feeling in her stomach. First, as happy as she was that Shining Armor wanted to patch things out with her, she was suspicious about the way he was trying to keep her busy. It didn't help he was a terrible liar, and she didn't believe for a second that Lord Black wasn't going to arrive until at least tomorrow.
She knew they'd been lucky to arrive at the Crystal Empire before Lord Black did. She was surprised it was taking this long, really.
It was after noon. She wasn't sure precisely when after noon, because Shining and Cadance were very purposefully drawing out this game of Conquestria in the Royal Library with her. Twilight moodily played with her princess, which sat on Canterlot: her victory was inevitable, but thanks to a treaty between Shining and Cadance, they were able to hold off her main force. That was really all they could do: they were losing troops and resources faster than they could gain them back, thanks to Twilight's stranglehold on the Horseshoe Mountains and Saddle Arabia, and with all her main force now in Equestria...
“Guess it was silly to start in the Crystal Empire, huh?” Princess Cadance mumbled as she pondered her next move very visibly.
“Limited resources and harsh terrain penalties for miles. A powerful defense bonus, but that only prevents siege. It doesn't prevent starvation.” Twilight said moodily.
“You always did get really mean about this game.” Shining baited. “Remember when we were kids, and Mom and Dad wanted to just play a friendly game and so we were all going to be allies, but you got real mad and said 'that wasn't the point of the game!'”
Twilight grunted.
That clearly wasn't the response Shining Armor wanted, grinning but... he kept looking towards the windows. Was something happening? “Yeah, and you... hey, wait, you can't get up, remember if you leave-”
“Forfeit.” Twilight said, flicking her princess over as she walked towards the windows, and Shining Armor grimaced as he and Cadance traded looks before they hurried after the mare. “We should be trying to contact Lord Black-”
“We can't spend all day just waiting around for him to attack, though. We have to keep calm and try and live... normally!” Cadance said, smiling at her. She was so positive, and it hurt Twilight to wonder for the first time how much of that optimism was fake.
“Come on, Twilight. We only have a few days together. Everything is pretty quiet right now, so we should enjoy it while we can, Little Sister Best Friend Forever.” Shining pleaded.
Twilight Sparkle grimaced, then looked out the window, over the beautiful Crystal Empire sprawled out before her. Up this high in the towering Crystal Castle, she could almost hear the thrum of the forcefield that protected them: a great shield of energy too thick for her to see through.
And yet she knew, somehow, that Lord Black was out there somewhere, lurking and waiting and watching. He was going to attack soon, and here they were, playing board games.
Why?
That was the real question. Cadance and Shining weren't stupid ponies. Cadance could be too bright and optimistic, Shining could be bullheaded and argumentative, but they were far from stupid.
They had separated her from her friends. They were responding every now and then in private to inquiries, but they took turns, always leaving with whoever came to talk to them, then coming back in like nothing had happened. They had kept her in the castle all day, gradually moving higher and higher up the towering structure. They had called for snack after snack instead of any meal, as if they could trick her into not realizing it was after lunch.
She was being detained. They either thought that she was the spy, or that she was in some kind of serious danger.
Or hell, maybe they thought she was a lunatic.
“Twilight, maybe you want to get away from the window?” Shining said awkwardly, and Twilight couldn't help but roll her eyes as she mentally corrected herself. They did think she was a lunatic, clearly.
She wanted to say something witty, but all she could manage was to sigh and turn around, and Shining Armor smiled at her awkwardly as Cadence asked: “So, up for another game?”
“I want to know what's going on here. Why are you two trying to keep me here? We have important things we should be doing.” Twilight responded, deciding it would be better to be blunt than tactful right now to try and prevent the two from dancing around the issue.
Shining laughed awkwardly, but Cadence sighed and shook her head before murmuring: “Guess there's just no pulling the wool over your eyes, is there?”
That was supposed to distract her, so Twilight kept quiet and kept her eyes on Cadance, who hesitated for a moment before she said carefully: “We think that... Lord Black might have made a threat against you. In fact, Princess Celestia seemed very sure he had.”
“Very sure?” Twilight asked skeptically.
“Okay, Twilight, you don't have to be rude.” Cadance replied with a scowl. “She said he did.”
But there was a hesitation there still that told Twilight that wasn't the entire truth. So she only narrowed her eyes at Cadance, who grimaced a bit before she sighed a little and asked: “Are you sure that... Lord Black didn't put any pressure on you?”
“It's okay, Twilight. You can tell us anything. We want to help you.” Shining Armor added, leaning in with a small smile. “I... I know we didn't start off on a very good note this time, but I really do want to keep you safe. To keep everypony safe. And I know we both want the same thing.”
Twilight knew that the expected response was probably for her to raise her eyebrows or get confused or upset that they thought she was compromised. But she just felt... tired, at this point. After becoming a pariah in Canterlot, after facing Lord Black in Ponyville and finding out not everything was as it seemed, after everything she'd been through, well...
“Okay.” Twilight said simply, and both ponies looked at her with surprise before the unicorn looked between them and said, as honestly as she could: “You're going to put all of the Crystal Empire and Equestria in danger by trying to protect me.”
“I don't-”
“Putting aside the fact that if Lord Black asked to negotiate, and you told him no because you were worried about me, you two have spent all day coddling me and trying to stop me from doing... anything!” snapped Twilight, shaking her head vehemently. “You're the Prince and Princess of the Crystal Empire, and there is an enemy literally hovering above our heads, about to attack us!”
“And you're still my sister!” Shining Armor said forcefully, before he softened and repeated: “You're still my little sister, before anything else, and Cadance and I were terrified something was going to happen if we took our eyes off you. Twilight, apart from giving orders, there's really nothing we can do right now anyway. It's all going to come down to the shield, whether or not that protects us.”
“And it will. You'll see, it will.” Cadance added, but Twilight could hear her conviction wavering in her voice. “All we have to do is survive his attack. If he can't break through the shield, then he can't do anything to us, because he's sure not going to be able to float around in his fortress in that winter storm until we run out of food.”
“That's right. And even if he does try and wait us out, it won't be long now before Princess Celestia completes the New Power Initiative.” Shining Armor added, and Twilight Sparkle looked at him sharply.
“Wait, do you know what she's trying to do?” she asked.
They both hesitated. Twilight wanted to shout at them, but she remembered her lessons; lessons, ironically, that Celestia had ground into her head. So instead of yelling at them, she took a breath and reasoned: “I've been with you both all day. Lord Black is almost here. There's nothing I can do to interfere with what's going to happen now. So at worst... all you can do is reassure me. It's a weapon, isn't it?”
Cadance looked at Shining, and Shining looked back at Cadance, the two having a silent conversation before the alicorn sighed and nodded, and her husband gave a faint smile as he turned his eyes back to his little sister. “We don't honestly know much about it, but there are two parts to the machine that Celestia was planning to build... was planning to have us build, too. The primary part extracts energy from the core...”
“The second part focuses magic. But we never got to the second part so we don't know the application.” Cadance confessed. “Princess Celestia was very careful about sending us the materials and the plans. She'd send us just a little bit at a time: we were honestly lucky we were able to modify our current stage into a shield generator.
“I don't think Princess Celestia wants to hurt anyone. I don't think it's meant to be a weapon.” But Cadance hesitated, her eyes drifting away. “But I know that it takes more than just words to solve things sometimes. She has to protect us, Twilight Sparkle. Do you understand that?”
“Faciam quodlibet quod necesse est.” Twilight murmured. “I will do what must be done.”
“Yes.” Shining Armor smiled at her, settling a foreleg around her shoulders gently. “That's right, Twilight. That's what we all have to do sometimes.”
“I know. I'm starting to learn that.” The purple mare looked up quietly, grimacing a bit before she closed her eyes in thought.
They gave her the moment to think, the gears spinning a thousand miles a minute in Twilight's head. She wished Spike was here: if he had been here, he would have caused a distraction by now, or at least been able to scout out a way for her to talk to Lord Black.
He would give her a friend that she could lean on, and trust, and talk to about anything and everything. And most important of all, he'd listen to her. To her hopes and fears, to her beliefs and questions.
She frowned a bit as she felt a tingling, and then her eyes flickered open in surprise as a letter burst into being in front of her. She caught it before it could fall, both Shining and Cadance staring in surprise at it before Twilight awkwardly stepped backwards and away from the two, pulling the letter out to read the naked warning inside:


The shield is going to fail. You have ten minutes.



Mare Imbrium


“We need to get as many ponies to safety as possible. Lord Black is going to attack in ten minutes.” Twilight said immediately, looking up sharply at the two.
“That coincides with Celestia's warning.” muttered Shining Armor, and Twilight wanted to ask him what he was talking about and what the hell he was doing hiding that from her, but she swallowed that urge.
“The shield-”
“The shield will-” Twilight bit her own tongue, forcing herself not to yell at Cadance. She could probably shout at them both until they did what she wanted, but if she started a big argument it might be ten minutes before they finished, and by then...
“Maybe you're right.” Twilight said, even though she knew Cadance was wrong. “But if you're wrong, a lot of ponies could be hurt. Shining, you said yourself they might be uncomfortable, but at least they'll live. So if I'm wrong, they'll be uncomfortable for maybe an hour or so. But if the shield does fall, ponies could die.”
“We... we should get everyone to safety just in case, you're right. And getting the civilians inside isn't a bad idea anyway, it'll help us be ready to mobilize our soldiers in case of emergency.” Shining Armor agreed after a moment, nodding quickly before he turned and ran towards the door.
Twilight smiled briefly, then glanced at Cadance as she touched her shoulder, the princess asking: “Will you help evacuate the castle?”
“I'll take the-”
“I need you to go down, and order every officer you see to sound the order to evacuate. I'm going to go to the top of the castle and activate the warning siren for the city.” Cadance said with a brief smile. “I'll fly down to the courtyard and we can meet there, and then we'll all head down to the bunker together.”
Twilight nodded in agreement: this was the most she could do for now. It wasn't much, but it was something, at least: hopefully she would find her friends on the way, and together they could figure out some way to get her out there and into Lord Black's view.
She had to talk to him, negotiate with him. There was no way the shield was going to hold under his attack, and now it sounded like Princess Celestia had known that from the start...
Ah, but that didn't really surprise her at all, did it?
What was she doing? What kind of game were they playing here?
No time. Twilight ran through the halls, shouting at guards to help evacuate as she hurried down the steps, warning every pony she passed to get to safety, to get out of the tower. She hesitated when she reached the vault, lingering in front of it for a moment before she bit her lip and cursed under her breath, tracing magic across the face of the armored door.
She was joined a moment later by Shining Armor, who started to weave his own spell quickly over hers, her brother grinning as he asked: “I thought you had given up!”
“Dammit, Shining, I haven't given up on anything! Lord Black's coming through that shield one way or the other!” Twilight grumbled as she finished tracing her barrier spell, waiting for Shining to finish his beside hers before she neatly bound their spells together. “But you're right about one thing. We might as well not make it easy for him.”
“That's impenetrable, isn't it?” Shining hesitated, before he started: “If the shield holds-”
“Well, you'll have to find another way into the vault. The shield isn't going to hold, now come on, we need to tell everyone to get out of here.” Twilight said firmly, before she looked up in surprise as a klaxon sounded.
“Everyone knows now.” Shining said, before he shook his head and gestured at Twilight to follow. “Your friends are waiting for you outside the castle. We're going to get you all in the bunker.”
“I'm not going into the bunker. I need to be somewhere visible. I might still be able to talk to Lord Black.” Twilight retorted.
Shining shook his head, grimacing as he said sharply: “That's way too dangerous! If the shield falls, you'll be directly in harm's way! And Princess Celestia said-”
“Celestia's been saying a lot of things lately, Shining, and not all of it is true.” Twilight replied sharply. “I need you to trust me, not what ponies, even important ponies, are saying about me.”
Shining bit his lip, and then he winced when Twilight suddenly bodychecked him, the two staggering to a halt before the stallion frowned when the purple mare grabbed his shoulders and forcefully turned him to face her, meeting his eyes as she said, just loud enough to be heard over the blaring klaxon: “When I first found out about Lord Black, and what he'd done, Shining, I... I wanted to kill him. I wanted him dead. I thought he was a monster.
“He still scares me. He still is... ruthless, but he's not the bad guy I thought he was, that I wish he was because that would make everything easier.” Twilight shook her head, before she locked her gaze with Shining Armor's, saying: “Give me a chance to try and get in contact with him. That's all I'm asking.”
Shining bit his lip, and then he shifted a little before he sighed and shrugged her off, looking down as he muttered: “Fine. I'll... I'll try. But if he tries to hurt you-”
“You'll flail ineffectively at him. Okay.” Twilight smiled despite herself, and Shining gave her a flat look even as a slight smile twitched at his own mouth.
But there was no more time for banter as they both turned and hurried to the exit of the castle, pushing through the crowd of soldiers and civilians that were flooding out into the courtyard and streets below. Shining immediately stepped to one side, shouting orders to his commanders to get everyone to safety and start organizing troops away from the castle, while Twilight hurried to her friends, who greeted her with exclamations and confusion.
Twilight only gestured for them to follow, hurrying to weave through the stampeding exodus heading into the city as she shouted over the alarms and chaos: “We need to get to a rooftop! Rainbow, go check ahead, find something close, accessible, and high up! We need to be as visible as possible!”
“Got it, Twi!” Rainbow shot off as Twilight scanned the rooftops, her sharp mind doing its damnedest to remember the view of the city from the towering castle and estimating where...
“Here!” Rainbow shouted over the chaos as she shot back down, gesturing sharply at Twilight, and the purple mare led her friends in the direction that Rainbow had indicated...
And then everything stopped.
The crowd slowed, all eyes turning to the sky as sparks of magic filled the air as the shield rapidly lost power, thinning and vanishing until nothing was left but a weak dome that could barely withstand the cold winds. It flickered in and out, letting in gasps of cold snow, letting them catch glimpses of the great, monstrous craft floating above.
And then shadows covered the world as the floating fortress descended through the dome, magic sparking uselessly against its sides as it lowered itself through the forcefield and Lord Black's forces descended into the Crystal Empire.