//------------------------------// // 5. Betrayal // Story: The Name of Our Mistakes // by ObabScribbler //------------------------------// 5. Betrayal “Highness!” Celestia startled awake, all but falling out of bed as the double doors to her bedchamber flew open and crashed against the walls. She sat up, pushing waves of tangled pink hair from her face. “What ails thee, Captain?” she cleared her throat, chasing sleep from her voice so she sounded more authoritative. Even just awakened, a ruler must be respectable or she would garner no respect. “Highness, it is disastrous!” The captain of the Royal Guard dropped to one knee even as he delivered news that chilled the blood in her veins. “The Elements of Harmony are stolen!” Celestia leapt from her bed. She considered waiting for her maids to dress her in her golden attire but dismissed the idea. She would have to communicate royalty and authority in her bearing and voice. She could not wait for such an insignificance if what he had sad was true. She galloped through the castle, heedless of whom she woke with her hoofsteps or the chattering entourage that followed her. She even flew across the Great Hall, clipping the enormous chandelier that had been a gift from the glass-makers of the Unicornia Province. It swung wildly in her wake but she barely noticed. Nothing occupied her thoughts except the Elements of Harmony. When she reached the chamber she found Luna already there, her own guards searching the chamber. The unicorns bearing the insignia of the Moon Court ignited their horns and peered into every corner, searching for evidence. They had better not be looking for clues as to how the thief gained access to the chamber, Celestia thought. The chamber doors lay in smithereens where they had been caved inwards by some huge force. Luna turned to her and held out a foreleg to stop her approaching them. “Halt, sister. Look upon the marks herein before laying thy hoof upon them.” “Marks?” “Dark magic, sister.” Luna indicated what appeared to be scorched wood and metal that looked as if it had been melted. She pointed at the roof of the corridor outside the chamber, which was stone, just like the rest of the castle. There, too, were huge black marks. It seemed as though a great fire had erupted in the tiny space and then gone out again the moment the doors were removed. “Fire magic?” Celestia wondered. “But only dragons have such a thing and we are not at war with their kind. What need have they to attack us and steal the Elements of Harmony?” “Not only dragons may wield dragon magic,” Luna replied grimly. “And who may know the mind of another if they are not present to explain their actions and have us judge them? I have dispatched several of my guards to search the grounds.” “I will dispatch mine moreover.” “Do you not trust my stallions, Celestia?” “In this, dear sister, it is neither trust nor competence I distrust. Many eyes, many wings and many magic horns may made the difference between locating the missing Elements and not.” Celestia turned to her captain. “Ready my armour. I will go with them.” “It is night, Celestia,” Luna pointed out. “My domain. Thou art weakened when not below thy sun’s rays.” “This is so,” Celestia agreed. “Yet it must be done. Wilt thou accompany me in’t searching?” Luna stared at her. Her mane had lost its lustre and no longer billowed like clouds of starshine. Instead, it hung lankly around her face, glimmering only now and then. “I will go,” she said sourly. “Though whether I ‘accompany’ thee is contentious for a princess of equal rank.” Celestia ignored the jab as she made her way back to her chambers.