“NO! Applejack, come back!”
No matter how hard Apple Bloom ran, her sister’s slow-paced steps put her farther and farther away. “Ah don’t want ya ta leave!”
The orange mare was becoming a speck in the distance, but it was as if she were right by her side when she spoke. “Ahm sorry, Apple Bloom,” she said, not turning towards her sister, “but ah can’t stay here anymore, it’s for the best.”
“NO! We need you, APPLEJACK!!!”
“Apple Bloom, this is only a dream,” Luna said, flying right next to her to keep up, “everything you see here isn’t real.”
Apple bloom screeched to a stop, “Princess Luna?”
The scenery abruptly changed to a void of nothingness with lights floating in the background. The frightened filly was now looking at the Princess of the Night with relief.
“Thank Celestia you’re here, ever since mah sister came back from the friendship quest a few days ago, she’s been gettin’ more and more distant from her own family. Her family!”
“Slow down, please. Let’s start from the beginning. You’re saying Applejack returned prior to this morning, how long ago was that. Please, this is very important.”
The yellow filly thought for a moment, “Uh… a day or so after yall left on your mission, why?”
“Was she alone when she returned, or was anypony else with her?”
“Everypony was with her. What are ya gettin’ at?”
“I have reason to believe that all who participated in that mission two weeks ago were replaced by someone or something.”
“Changelings!?” Apple Bloom exclaimed with surprise.
“No… Maybe, I can’t say for sure, but let me show you something.” Luna cast a spell to open the door back into the dream realm as to take her to her sisters’ dream, but the door that appeared was not the exit to Apple Bloom’s dream, but the entrance to Applejack’s. “That’s never happened before.”
“What’s never happened?”
“Later, right now, I believe someone is eager to meet you.”
“How could I let this happen?” Tears streamed down Applejack’s cheeks as she sat in front of the archway leading to Sweet Apple Acres, but instead of lush green apple trees as far as the eye could see, everything was a shriveled-up wasteland with the main house and barn looking as if it was abandoned years ago.
“I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!” she started stomping the ground with her forehoof, “I never shoulda left em alone.” She looked back up to see a gravestone with the name Granny Smith.
She backed away only to hit another one, the name being Apple Bloom with Big Mac’s grave was next to hers’.
“No…No ahm sorry, ah…”
Looking back at the trees, she saw that they were all replaced with tombstones, each with a name belonging to a resident of Ponyville.
“Why… How could ah… This is all mah fault, ah should have done more, now everyone had ta suffer because of it.”
She set herself between her siblings’ graves, only for a tombstone with her name to raise out of the ground where she sat, and a forehoof rose out of her sister’s grave.
“No, please, ah did everything ah could! Ah was just in the wrong…” Apple Bloom continued to pull herself up from beyond the dead, as a darker hoof came from Big Mac’s.
“Ahm sorry, Ahm the one who…”
“Applejack, calm down,” Apple Bloom said, pulling her head above the ground, looking very much alive and not like a rotting corpse as Luna emerged from her brother’s grave. “This is just a dream.”
“A… a dream?”
“Yes, and there is something else that you must know as well, Apple Bloom?”
“Luna thinks that y’all might ta been replaced while you were on your quest.”
“Replaced?!” Applejack said, now sounding irritated, “what makes you so sure?”
“AJ, you’ve been actn’ strange all week. Yesterday ya said that ya had ta go away for a while. Ah was just hav’n a nightmare of ya leaving and never comin’ back no matter how fast ah ran towards ya.”
Applejack exhaled a long breath, “When ah find whoever thought they could take mah place, hurt mah family like that!” She grunted with anger in her voice, her eyes were dead set on revenge as her mane was set ablaze… literally in fact. “Ah will buck them THROUGH THE MOON!!!” with her mane back to normal, she locked eyes with Luna, “Luna, bring everypony into one dream like you did that one time.”
“Uh, Applejack,” The alicorn said, backing away slightly.
“Do it! Ah intend to get to the bottom of this once and for all!”
“Ah think you’re right, Luna, someone did replace AJ. Ah’ve seen her mad before but nowhere near anythin’ like this.”
“What are ya waitn’ for? Open the door to the dream whatever so we yall can figure out what the hay has been happen’ here!”
“Okay, but only after we get Celestia first,”
“Makes no difference to me, now open that door!”
Luna brought up Celestia’s dream and started to open it.
I usually have to pass through the dream realm. I could get used to traveling like this.
“Luna?” Celestia said on the other side, “What is the meaning of—”
“Ahm afraid Ah can’t allow that, well not yet at least,” A calm voice sounding like AJ’s spoke from behind. Everyone turned to see who it was finding another Applejack standing behind the tombstone with her name on it.
“Applejack, this is just a dream.”
“Now ya see, Princess, that’s where you’re wrong.” The other Applejack lifted her hoof and swiftly waved it once to the side. The door Luna summoned slammed shut and was obliterated.
“Would ya call a thousand years of banishment just a dream? How about every thought ya had of what you would do to your sister when ya returned?” the more she spoke, the less it sounded like AJ and more like a multitude of voices trying to imitate her.
“Can it, copycat!” AJ interrupted, “don’t you dare even think that for one, whoa—” the other Applejack twitched her head to the side, yanking the real one over the now open grave, dropping her in and closing it up.
The fake Applejack put her hoof on the headstone, pushed it forward, slamming it to the ground, and slowly walked forward. It gave up the farm slang all together with its next statement.
“How about every time you looked at Equestria when you were on the moon and thought of how you would make everypony that disregarded the miraculous night sky you sometimes spent days preparing, suffer for their crimes. And when they begged for forgiveness, you would stare at them and laugh. Is that what you would call, just… a… dream…?”
This creature may have been in Applejack’s dream, but the only way it could have known about the secrets Luna had is if it was more than just a nightmare.
“Luna, what’s happen’?” Apple Bloom said, trying to hide under the alicorn.
“I don’t know,” She replied, watching the imposter’s eyes turn black, which seeped onto her face and spread until she was fully covered, “but we need to run, now!”
Nightmare AJ cast a long shadow that went under their hoofs with a red face staring back at them, “I don’t think so.”
Tendrils of black shadows wrapped around the pony’s legs and started pulling them into the ground. “You honestly thought escaping from me would be that easy? How could you even consider something that ridiculous?”
Luna pulled against the darkness as she tried freeing herself. Distant ghastly wails and hideous cackling came from above, making Luna and Apple Bloom look up at the stary sky. However, the stars were moving at first appearing like water droplets reflecting light only to come to the conclusion they were alive.
Countless eyes stared back at them as an innumerable amount of creatures began their descent towards their trapped prey. “Oh, sisters. Let’s have some right good with these two delicious morsels.” The nightmare imposter said borrowing Applejacks southern twang once more.
With little hope in finding a way to escape, Luna looked at Apple Bloom and saw only one immediate opportunity.
“To answer thy question, it is because I am here to protect ponies from monsters like you!”
With a loud roar, she blasted the shadow surrounding the filly and wrapped her aura around the earth pony’s body. Afterward, Luna sliced a small rupture connected to the dream realm and tossed Apple Bloom through before it closed.
The yellow farm pony shot up in her bed, screaming at the top of her lungs. She rapidly kicked her blankets until she fell off her mattress.
“LUNA!!! APPLEJACK!!!!”
Big Mac nearly busted the door off its hinges coming in to save her.
When he saw no real threat in the room, except for his hyperventilating sister he relaxed a little, “Calm down Apple Bloom do ya have any idea what—”
“Big Mac, Applejack in danger, so is Luna!”
The filly grabbed her saddlebag and started stuffing it full of whatever she could get her little hooves on into it, “Ah need to tell Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo! Ah, have ta—”
“Go back ta bed, it was just a nightmare.”
“Yeah, a nightmare that even Luna couldn’t—” she paused for just a moment frozen in place.
“Apple Bloom I know you’re worried about, AJ but can ya please—”
“Does that look like a nightmare to you!?” She exclaimed, pointing a hoof to a corner that was darker than what it should have been.
“Nope.”
“Your majesty! Princess! Wake up, it’s urgent,” Commander Cross Blades said, trying to wake her.
Celestia stretched her legs as she groggily awoke, rubbing the sleep from her eyes
“What’s the situation,” she asked, still not fully rested, but not as tired as last night thanks to millenniums of wake-up routines.
“It’s Luna, she’s… Uh… you better see for yourself.”
“Luna?”
Last night’s dream came rushing back. She had seen her sister enter her dream with a few others before she was cut off. She turned to the balcony and gasped, “Oh Luna, what have you gotten yourself into?”
The younger alicorn sister was encased in a globe of shadowy light, suspended as if she were in a lava lamp with inky black droplets coming and going off of her along with the edge of the barrier. However, the most unsettling part was her dull black eyes with veins rooted in her sockets and dark ooze protruding out of her mouth.
“What should we do?” asked a guard.
“Double the guard and tighten security. Make sure every last square inch of this castle is under constant surveillance at all times and report anything that looks even the least bit suspicious, and I mean anything!”
“RETRIBUTION!!” Cerebral Cortex bellowed, storming through the cavernous hallways, “Where is that harpy!?”
The pony reached the room he knew Retribution to be in and blew the colossal doors clean off. “She has gone too far this ti— by the stars, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!”
“YOU SAID IT YOURSELF SHE’S GONE TO FAR. WHEN I ASKED HER WHY SHE ACTED IN THAT MANNER SHE SAID…” Retribution landed a solid blow to her face leaving a head-shaped crater on the wall she was impaled on.
“These…ack… creatures are so easy to scare.”
“These creatures are my species and my only ticket to freedom!” Cerebral sneered.
“WERE YOUR SPECIES,” Retribution corrected, “IN CASE YOU’VE FORGOTTEN—”
“Forgotten!? I have spent countless millennias paying the price of my mistake! After I turned into… THIS!... I have been trapped in solitude until I crossed paths with you. But if that thing pulls another stunt like that, not only will the entire PLANET want to wage war against us but will want our heads displayed on their wall no matter what excuse we present!!”
“I’M AWARE OF THAT, WHICH IS WHY—”
“You’re no better treating her this way! She may have overdone it a little, but that doesn’t mean you should kill her!”
“I GAVE HER TWO CHOICES DEATH OR THE ALTERNATIVE.” Retribution struck her stomach hard enough to leave a hole followed by two alternation punches on her face. “SHE CHOSE THE ALTERNATIVE. OTHERWISE, I WOULDN’T BE USING PHYSICAL ATTACKS, YOU KNOW THEY HAVE NO EFFECT ON HER.”
“This madness! You have no right to gah—” Cerebral’s words halted as he felt his throat constrict before he lifted to Retribution’s face.
“IF YOU NEVER MET US, YOU WOULD STILL BE IN ISOLATION, AND WE WOULDN’T BE THIS CLOSE TO FREEING YOU. ON TOP OF THAT, WHERE I’M FROM, I HAVE A FEW SET RULES. SHE BROKE ONE OF THEM, THIS IS BEYOND EVEN YOU, SO STAY OUT OF THIS.”
He tossed Cerebral aside and released the harpy from the wall. Upon exiting the room, he stomped on her head, cracking it like a frail, brittle egg.
“DON’T MOVE UNTIL YOUR ABILITIES HAVE RETURNED, OR I WILL END YOU PERMANENTLY! COME CEREBRAL, THERE ARE STILL PREPARATIONS THAT NEED ATTENDING TO. I, HOWEVER, HAVE A MESS TO CLEAN UP.”
What was left of the harpy, lay motionless on the ground. Still very much alive but temporarily incapacitated from the use of her abilities.
She, or rather it, had existed since the beginning of existence, and its primary food source was the fear and panic others expressed. No amount of physical damage could kill the creature. However, it had one weakness, being scared, and there was only one being alive that could do that.
It has spent countless eons perfecting the art of terror and fright, but one day there was an individual it came across that had no fear. If anything, all she managed to do was angering him. But that was the same reason she would follow him to the end of reality till death do they part because even with all her experience, he was more terrifying than anything she could achieve.
“It has been two days, and they are still asleep,” Zecora said, looking at the lifeless lumps littering the room under the blankets Spike provided for them, some breathing softly others snoring loudly.
Frustrated, Zecora began to dig through her satchel, “this should wake them from their slumber, no matter how deep.” A vial was removed from the bag, and she pulled the cork quickly, covering her snout before putting it inches away from Rainbow Dash’s nose.
At that moment, Spike, who was outside watering the plants, smelled the worst stench that has ever entered his nostrils.
“Whew, where is that horrible smell coming from,” As he spoke, the flowers started to noticeably wilt., “It smells worse than a TimberWolf trying to use skunk spray as a toothpaste.” He quickly grabbed a towel and tied it around his mouth to dampen the smell as he started to look for the source. “Better get that cleaned before Twilight and the others wake up.”
Zecora stood dumbfounded as the pegasus only snorted and turned on her side, disregarding the putrid odor.
“I can’t believe this formula was so easy for them to dismiss.” She pulled out a cloth and poured a small amount of liquid on it, instantly soaking into the fibers, before setting the open bottle on a table, “however I would like to see them sleep through this.”
The cloth was placed directly on top of Twilight’s face. When the lavender alicorn inhaled, the tissue entered her nasal cavity making her snout twitch, followed by a sneeze launching it across the room. She rubbed her nose then, like the pegasus before her, she shifted into a more comfortable position and continued to sleep.
“How can this be? this makes no sense at all.”
During her state of absolute bewilderment, Spike, who found a gas mask, most likely stashed away by Pinkie, entered the room.
“Where is that horrible smell coming from?”
“Mostly from this vile and a little more on a cloth by that wall.”
The purple dragon tediously approached the cloth and put on a pair of gloves followed by another pair then proceeded to grab fire tongs to pick up the reached thing. He was about to leave before his eyes locked with the flames.
“No, wait! STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING!!! You don’t know the trouble you are brewing.”
“Gah! Why? What happens if I burn it?”
“Don’t get me wrong, that was a clever thought. But it wouldn’t be appreciated by those living in Canterlot.”
Spike instantly put himself between the flames and the fabric. “I’ll just… uh, bury it in the back somewhere.”
As the dragon left the room, he almost bumped into a yellow filly that had been staying at the castle with her family after their home became haunted by a nightmare come to life.
“P.U.! *cough* Spike, *gasp* where in the *cough* name of Tartarus *cough, gasp* did ya git that thing?!” her eyes instantly watering from the cloth that passed inches from her nose.
Down the hall, Big Mac opened a door wondering what his sister meant, “Nope.” His face was noticeably green as he covered his snout and closed the door.
The dragon looked at her through the mask, “Uh… Ask Zecora, she’ll know more a…”
“EW just *cough* just git rid of it already!! I *gasp* I can’t breathe. *cough, cough, cough*.”
Spike made a beeline to the outside air before the stench became permanently embedded into the walls. At the same time, Apple Bloom threw open every window she could reach, to breathe in the fresh, uncontaminated air.
“What in tarnation were ya tryn’ ta do, suffocate everypony? *cough* Better question, how can they yall still be asleep after that?”
“What amazes me is that this concoction I made was by far the best, but it was intended to wake any creature from even the deepest of rest.”
“I’ll say, that could wake up a hibernatin’ dragon… … by the way… uh how’s AJ doin’?” silence followed the highly concerned filly’s question.
Zecora sighed and drooped her ears. “I’ll at least say that her condition hasn’t gotten worse, but there’s nothing I can do to bring an end to her curse.”
“Well, ah hope the Princesses git here soon. They seemed pretty confident in the letter they sent us this mornin’.”
(Yesterday, several hours after sundown at the border of the Canterlot Castle grounds.)
Ever since Luna was attacked, all the royal guards were on high alert patrolling every available space they could occupy. However, in the midst of his patrols, Commander Cross Blades saw somepony who was not a guard heading in their direction.
“Halt! By order of Princess Celestia, turn around now or face the consequences.”
Although his face didn’t show it, he cringed on the inside mainly because the pony he was speaking to was a young pegasus filly that almost looked old enough to start school.
Her coat was so black she was virtually nothing but a silhouette, but a few things made something about her seem off. One of them being her mane, which somehow flowed in an ethereal way, looking like it was part of a nebula from space. Another was the chrome armor she wore that looked very functional and even covered her wings in what appeared to be blades. The last unusual thing were her eyes. They shone as brilliant as the moon, showing that she was unquestionably blind, making him wonder if she was just disoriented and in need of some direction.
“Sorry, but the consequence of leaving would be greater than if I don’t do as you say,” the strange pony said, not slowing her pace in any way.
“Uh, are you sure you’re not lost?” questioned the Commander.
She stopped directly in front of the group of guards that had gathered upon hearing the warning. “Is this not Canterlot Castle?” the filly asked as if she already knew the answer.
If she didn’t have their attention before she did now, “uh, yea, it is.”
Slowly she stood on her hind legs and reached behind her head, pulling out what looked like a short letter opener made of smoothly polished rock held in her hoof as she took a fighting stance.
“Then I suggest you stay out of my way,” Her voice, as small as it was, had more than enough determination behind it to motivate the entire Equestrian army tenfold.
The instincts of the seven guards present told them to defend the castle and fight the intruder. But how could they when it was a blind filly dressed in an expensive-looking costume. However, three of the guards stuck to the protocol and raised their spears, one of which lunged forward.
The young pegasus swiftly dodged the spear, missing her by mere millimeters. She cut off the spear tip with the blades on her wings and grabbed the weapon’s shaft. She kicked it with enough force to snap the pole in two with a spinning motion, breaking it against the head of the guard who attacked, sending him flying through a brick wall.
Once the other guards got over the shock of what just happened, they saw that the filly had glided almost halfway across the castle grounds at an astonishing speed.
Cross Blades stumble to find the right words to use, “I… uh… th… se… SECURITY BREACH!!! A hostile intruder is heading towards the castle! Don’t let her appearance fool you, and don’t underestimate what she’s capable of!”
Pegasi guards and bat ponies swooped down from the sky to intercept the trespasser. They also shot arrows at the assailant, only to either have the incoming fire blocked or the guards that did manage to get in front of her incapacitated with ease.
In no time, the armored filly made it to the castle, and with one leap, began to scale the wall. She used her wings to create a downforce air current, which allowed her to gallop straight up the side like it was flat ground, knife in her mouth.
When she reached an open balcony on the higher floors, a bat pony stallion dive-bombed right into her but ended up being body-slammed when they touched the ground.
Guards ponies stationed on the other side of the door in the hall looked into the room to see what all the commotion was. They found the young filly inside with one of their fellow guards in a pony-shaped crater on the floor. She took the knife out of her mouth and grabbed a second stone blade as spells began to fly towards her.
Cross Blades immediately teleported into Celestia’s room and quickly rushed to her side.
“Your Highness, we’re under attack.”
“By who, what do they look like?” She almost demanded instantly dropping what she was working on before the interruption.
“Uh, that I’m still trying to figure that out myself, but it appeared to be an armored filly from what I saw.”
Confused, Celestia instinctively walked over to a mirror and found herself casting a spell unknown to her, but in doing so, it gave her a visual on the situation at hoof.
General Snowcap Summit was an enormous pegasus whose size could only be challenged by Rockhoof, but he was an eye-level or two taller even then. Also, the fact that he came from the original Crystal Empire guard meant he was almost twice as muscular as said earth pony due to his training. And right now, all of that muscle and power was angrily interrogating the many defeated Royal Guards.
“Explain to me how all of you, Canterlot’s finest, were overpowered by a blind, filly, infant!”
“*Cough* she’s… stronger than she looks?” said one of the injured guards, cringing to the fact that he knew his excuse wasn’t going to cut it.
The general sighed, putting a hoof to his face, “First, somepony needs to be put in timeout, and once I’m done grounding them, we need a meeting to talk about our response approach and protocol.”
He turned to look towards the castle spires and found the area where the intruder currently was at. His wings opened in a flash, and he shot forward like a crossbow bolt, determined to stop the intruder where they stood.
Celesta watched the filly work her way through the castle deflecting spells and easily overpowering the guards. “I wonder what she’s— wait, are those...?” the princess focused on the weapons the black pegasus wielded.
“That’s not possible!”
“What’s the matter?” Cross Blades asked, trying to see what Celestia was talking about.
1 “Those blades, they appear to be fabricated from the former changeling throne. One of its abilities, if I recall, was that it could negate all magic spells no matter how powerful they were, so if they are what I think they are, who had the idea of weaponizing such a dangerous object, and how did she get possession of them? Unless… she works for Retribution.”
As they continued watching the mirror, General Summit crashed through the wall in front of the attacker.
The massive pegasus came to a screeching halt as sparks flew from the hoof claws strapped to his forelegs, his eyes glaring furiously at the intruder.
“Playtime is over, this ends now!”
“My reason for being here does not concern you,” she said, unperturbed by his sudden appearance.
“It does when you attack the guards I trained, invade the castle I have sworn to protect and threaten the princesses’ safety. Now I don’t want to hurt you, but I’m going to if that’s what it will take to stop this madness.”
Without a word, he pulled out a massive war hammer and stood his ground. “Besides, isn’t it past your bedtime?”
“Madness?” she said calmly, “Compared to what I’ve been through, you don’t stand a chance against me,” said the filly getting into an equally strong posture.
General Summit swung the hammer down hard, cracking the ground on impact, missing his target somewhat on purpose just to be intimidating. However, it backfired when the filly ducked under the hammer and kicked the handle from his grip.
Snowcap barely dodged the handle coming towards his face and watched the filly snap it off the head like it was a toothpick.
Effortlessly, the handle was tossed into the air and kicked straight towards Snowcap, who dodged just in time to watch it get impaled deep into the floor.
When he turned back, the general only had enough reaction time to block the onslaught of wing blades with his hoof claws. The incoming attack was powerful enough for him to have to start backing up, at least until his leg hit the embedded weapon handle, and he lost his balance.
Celestia and Cross Blades watched the two go at each other for a while longer, both worried that nothing would stop the attacker, but that raised a question for the princess.
“Where was she first seen arriving?”
“I was the one who spotted her on the southwest side of the castle grounds.”
“Southwest? And judging by the path she’s taking, it looks like… *Gasp* Luna!” The image of her defenseless sister trapped inside of the sphere of shadowy light popped into her head.
“Say no more I’ll get every guard there is down there immediately.” Cross Blades sprinted to the door and down the hall, Celestia yelling out to him.
“I’ll meet you there, but first there’s something I need to do. Stall for as long as you can!”
“Yes, your majesty!”
General Summit had lost most of his armor by now, straps cut loose by the blind filly’s swift strikes, and peeled away like an orange skin. He had also taken quite a beating, one that would bring any normal stallion to his knees, but he wasn’t one to give up easily.
He leaned against the wall panting hard with sweat dripping down his face looking at his attacker who didn’t seem to be the least bit exhausted.
“I’m not *pant* going to lie *pant*. I thought this would be easier *gasp, pant*. Can you at least *pant* tell me what your name is?”
“If it makes any difference, you can refer to me as Rogue Nebula, and for the record, you are by far the most persistent pony I have ever fought.”
“You’re one to talk,” Snowcap said, getting his breath back, “out of all the opponents I’ve faced, they’re the ones looking like this after I’m done with them. Who trained you?”
“I’m self-taught.”
“At that age? what are you like five?”
“You’re wasting my time, excuse me while I finish what I came here for.” Nebula started to walk towards the general intending to walk past him.
“Oh, ho ho no. I’m not done with you.” He said, pulling out a broadsword. “don’t think I’ll let you just walk away like that.”
He heard her sigh as she stood back on her hind legs and said something that made him nervous, “So be it, this time, I won’t be holding back as much as I have been.”
As the royal guards gathered in front of the room Luna was in, they could feel the castle structure shake from the fierce battle between Snowcap Summit and Rogue Nebula.
“Cross Blades, sir, all the guards received the message to arrive here and are on their way. They should be here shortly.”
Celestia teleported in front of Cross Blades and the gathering of guards. She now wore a full suit of armor that she had hoped would never be needed again, but it felt necessary to put it to use once more due to recent circumstances.
“Your majesty,” said the guard saluting, “Snowcap is still fighting the intruder, now identified as Rogue Nebula, and every royal guard we have will soon—”
A loud crash was heard followed by a gargantuan pegasus being thrown through the wall, into the mass of gathered ponies, and into the room Luna currently occupied.
The general erupted into a fit of sickly coughs, taking in raspy breaths as he tried to stand but failed on every attempt. He noticed Celestia making her way towards him.
“Forgive me, princess, I *cough, cough, cough* I let my guard down and *cough, cough* failed in my duty as a soldier.” He gritted his teeth, wincing in pain, and grabbed his side.
“Don’t apologize,” she said calmly, trying to comfort the beaten and broken warrior. “I’ll take things from here, for now, I think you should take it easy and tend to your injuries.” She turned her attention to her opponent.
The armored filly calmly strode past where the guards used to be and through what was once a doorway without a scratch on her. Watching this made the alicorn ruler give a hostile look with a hatred she hasn’t shown in centuries.
“So, I assume you’re the one called Rogue Nebula?”
“Yes, now if you would just step aside—”
“NO!” Celestia erupted using the Royal Canterlot Voice, and she was just getting started, “You will NOT lay a hoof on my sister! If you think you can waltz into my castle, threaten my subjects’ safety without consequence, and just walk away, YOU ARE WRONG!!” She released a gust of magic to show her power, but Nebula looked less than unimpressed.
“If that’s all you’ve got, then I’m afraid your chances of victory are just above nonexistent.” Nebula stared ahead with her empty eyes tossing a stone blade into the air, which landed at Celestia’s feet.
This confused the alicorn backing away slightly from the dreaded knife, not daring to touch it in any way. Her focus wavered for a brief moment in confusion, but she quickly regained it.
“What are you waiting for, make your move!”
“I did, now it’s your turn.”
Snowcap and Cross Blades saw the gesture and realized what she was trying to do. “Princess, be careful *cough, cough*.”
“He’s right, her deceitfulness knows no bounds.”
“I’m aware of that, now please let me concentrate,” she muttered, drawing her sword from its scabbard and reading herself for anything. But the filly just stood there unresponsive and waiting.
“What is it going to be, Princess?” Nebula began to approach at a steady pace, “It’s your choice, so choose carefully.”
Celestia reached out her magic to imprison the seemingly vulnerable filly, but the spell she cast slipped around and avoided the pegasus.
“If that’s the way you want it,” Nebula said, feeling the deflected spells, “Then it shall be done.”
With a jump and a kick, the other stone knife was hurled past Celestia before she could react, and towards Luna with terrifying power and speed.
“NOOOO!!!” Celestia instantly cast every protective spell she knew around her sister in desperate hopes that it would alter the trajectory, slow it down, or anything to stop it from reaching its target. One by one, the barriers were nullified, and it reached Princess Luna in mere moments.
With a newfound rage, The Princess of the Sun returned her fiery gaze to her sister’s attacker and was now able to use her magic since the daggers were no longer being wielded.
Celestia locked Nebula up in magical chains and shackles, tying them around her body, strapping her against a pillar and muzzled her for good measure.
“THE CRIMES YOU HAVE COMMITTED SHALL BE—” Coughing and gagging was heard from behind, silencing the almighty ruler.
She looked at Luna and saw a thick gooey puddle with a slime-covered shaky alicorn in the middle of the mess.
“Luna?”
Within an instant, she ran to her sisters’ side as every able-bodied guard surrounded the trapped filly weapons drawn and at the ready.
“Are you alright?” she asked as she quickly wrapped her hooves around her sister, not caring that she was covered in whatever mucus now plastering the floor, simply glad Luna was free. That’s when she saw the stone knife stuck on the banister of the overhanging balcony.
“Don’t swallow.” Nebula said through her facial restraint.
“SILENCE!” One of the guards delivered a cruel blow across her face with the pommel of his sword. “After all the damage you caused, why should—”
“Wait.” Celestia ordered quieting the guard, her attention then returned to Luna, “How are you feeling? Are you hurt?”
“We… I have seen better days, but I—” Luna tried to gulp, but it got stuck in her throat and came back up, causing her to vomit a few times, followed by more coughing.
“I did warn you.”
“Another word from you and I’ll—”
“Stand down, let me speak with Rogue Nebula,” Celestia said with authority, as she approached the guards moved over and allowed her passage.
Now eye level with the pitch-black pegasus, the princess eyed her carefully. “I’m going to ask a few questions, and I want the truth.”
With a single glimmer from her horn, the muzzle spell released and added a new one that made a ring appear around her captives’ neck.
“The last time I used this spell was a millennium ago and as painful as it is for me to use it, it was never intended to be cast on one so young.”
“The Collar of Sincerity, designed for the most dangerous criminals long ago. Just one lie is all it takes to strangle whoever it is being used on to death.”
Celestia was stunned by the filly’s calm demeanor and knowledge of the enchantment. And despite the apparent threat of imminent death, she continued.
“I understand. You want nothing short of direct answers.”
Once the alicorn got over her temporary state of shock, she asked the first question, “What reason did you have to attack my palace.”
“No matter how I looked at it, it was the only way to accomplish my end goal, which was freeing Luna from the curse she was under. Sneaking in would have taken too long with the unicorn guards, and reasoning with any of you was out of the question because none of you would have believed me.”
“You could have said you were here to help, so why didn’t you just say so?”
“You’re telling me that I could have walked up to any guard or servant and asked them to let me pass so I could stab their princess with my knife? My apologies I’ll make sure to do that next time.”
Upon hearing that, everypony except Celestia erupted into uncontrollable laughter. One of them, barely having enough air to speak, “We wouldn’t have let you take… another… … step.”
As quickly as it started, the laughing ended. What she said was true. If she had told them that, then like she said before, the end result would have been no different than what it currently was.
Now it was Celestia’s turn to laugh, which began as a chuckle. “Oh, now, I understand. It would be rather difficult to believe that a knife could solve our problem, that is quite the predicament.” She continued to laugh for a little longer before it slowly died down into a warm smile. “Another question, are you or do know—”
“Princess excuse my bluntness, but I will only answer direct questions. So, for both of our sakes be specific, and get to the point.”
Celestia’s smile quickly faded as she regained her serious demeanor. “Alright, do you work for the one called Retribution?”
“I work for no one, If I need more than myself to get something, then I’m the one calling the shots.”
“Do you know anything of Retribution?”
“Retribution and I are equally matched. And just so we’re clear, you and I are after the same goal even though our paths to get there may differ significantly. If you want more information on what I know, I’ll let you ask whatever you want, but keep in mind some of that information is best left alone, Warrior of Ever Dawn.”
“That information is supposed to be—”
“Secret? If you’re allowed to have secrets, then shouldn’t I keep a few as well?”
Celestia knew Nebula wasn’t lying but felt that she still wasn’t actually answering her questions.
“It makes sense now why you acted the way you did. However, it will take some time to fully gain our trust. On top of that, you still need to make up for all my injured guards. One last question, how did you know about Luna?”
“Compared to me, princess, you’re the one who’s blind. Without my eyes, I can see more than what you could ever wrap your head around. As for the guards, how about we make a deal? If you find one pony, who can truthfully claim and prove that I attacked them first or find any injury that wasn’t caused by blunt force, I will accept any punishment you can think of, death penalty included.”
“Deal.” And with that, all the binding enchantments were broken, releasing Rogue Nebula from bondage.
“Feel free to escort me wherever you deem necessary.”
“Sister, wait! There’s another pony that could use her aid.”
“And who might that be?” Celestia asked quizzically.
“Applejack, she was attacked as well, can you do that for us?”
Nebula gave Luna a sideways glance. “Bring me to her.”