There were ways in which the cave was never truly empty.
The dark mare had memorized every alcove and grotto of the formation long ago, and... a thousand years spent in abeyance still hadn't been enough for a cave to truly change. It meant the teleport had failed to produce any recoil. And when she used her chosen vantage point to examine the area...
No natural luminescence shone upon the rock, for that was waiting for the first touch of Moon. But she could see perfectly in the dark: something which made it decidedly easy to tally the local population. Mushrooms. Lichen. Moss. An increasingly distressing lack of centaur --
-- and a single statue, facing outwards.
She didn't have time to stay, for the battle was still surging within the palace. If she had heard hoofsteps coming up the path, she would have gone to see what was producing them -- but trying to fly over the gardens, constantly looking down, hoping to catch a glimpse -- no. Doing so would potentially allow the invader to claim vital seconds, along with simply leaving the elder alone for that much longer.
The dark mare had to go back. There was no time for searching the grounds, let alone becoming lost in her own thoughts. But there was a statue at the entrance, one so old that some felt the cave might have simply emerged around it.
A Guard. Part of the original squad.
A Lunar. One of her own.
It wasn't just tourists and trainee Guards who took slow trots through the gardens. And she had tried to tell herself that if nothing had happened at all, then he still would have been dead for centuries. There wouldn't be a body: she wouldn't have been able to identify any remaining particles as having once been part of something living. He would have been gone and dust and dead.
They all died.
There were those who said that nopony was truly dead as long as their name was still spoken and for thousands, the sisters served as the final anchor of whispers.
He had traded his life for her own.
The first to do so.
Nothing close to the last.
There was no time for mourning, or reflection, or much of anything else beyond igniting her corona again, getting ready for the teleport back. But as she did so, she looked at the statue, and there was a single moment when all of the memories came back. Of staring down in horror into proud eyes, as the light which had been behind them flowed out in tandem with the blood.
I'm sorry.
And then. because her greatest wish for the statues was never to have another, she vanished.
"-- and this is our exit!" the unicorn Guard declared.
The mare looked. In the reporter's opinion, the exit they'd been fighting to reach looked like most of the palace walls. There were visible doors. Artwork was hosted in little alcoves and because they'd reached this section first, all of it was still intact. And the corkboards next to the doors held the real treasures -- if you were so foolish as to believe that the palace would be willing to give up its greatest secrets via pinned memo.
(Wordia was fully aware that the palace received most of its art pieces through donation. It left her with a regrettable lack of ability to go after the alicorns based on a wasted purchase budget. She'd had to settle for openly noting maintenance and restoration costs, followed by questioning just how much of the collection belonged in a museum. Of course, when the sisters basically existed under glass...)
"We went up," a semi-distrustful journalist said.
"We went up to go down," the Guard told her, and began to move towards that vital wall section: the other two assumed watch positions, checking the hallway. "This passage has a few advantages. Some of which operate on independent charges."
Because anything tied into the main palace system was having problems. The idiot priorities which had money being spent on fresco restoration instead of security: that was a future article in the making if Wordia had ever thought of one. But it would have to focus on the art itself, because her readers had generally grown bored with the canid --
-- a passage with a few advantages, and none of them were going to be a built-in bottle cabinet --
-- she had to focus. They were almost out, she still had Guards with her, all they needed to do was clear the passage and get outside --
(The mare could think. The hard part was stopping. The bottles let her stop, for a little while. Prevented her thoughts from racing down the wrong paths, as long-buried questions tried to erupt from dream.)
-- she didn't need to be thinking about articles and the canid and a readership always looking for the next cause, attention drawn away by the new because keeping them interested in something old was hard enough, which obviously applied to the Princesses --
-- she didn't have a bottle and she'd been fighting, there was too much adrenaline in her system, none of it had anything to do right now and the thoughts were going around and around and they might currently be clear of the attackers, but more could arrive at any moment and she couldn't afford to let herself get --
-- to let myself get --
-- to...
And she knew.
"Get me to them."
The unicorn glanced back. "What? I didn't hear --"
"Wherever the alicorns are! Which was probably on that paper which appeared out of nowhere, the one you wouldn't let me see! Get me to them! I know what's going on --" and it would be some time before she realized that she'd actually edited herself in midstream "-- not what they're after, but what they're trying! I have to tell them!"
The unicorn's teeth were rather visibly set. It was easy to see, when the lips had just pulled back.
"You," the Guard tensely stated, "just figured something out. Something which helps the palace. Fighting to save yourself through protecting us is one thing --"
"-- they already think I'm a traitor!" She reared up, felt recently-impacted muscles scream in protest and went ahead with the foreleg gestures anyway. "I might never be able to change that! It doesn't cost me anything to tell them which I didn't already lose --"
"-- and now you're just on our side?" the Guard demanded. "You expect me to believe --"
"-- maybe," the reporter furiously shot back, "I just want to see if I got there before they did."
As counter-arguments go, "My job is to get you out --" was anticipated, and had booked its irritation in advance.
"-- then get me out," Wordia stated. "I'll tell you. And you go back in and tell them. But if you have to get me out first, it wastes time --"
And now the Guard's tail was threatening to lash. "You would tell me --"
-- stopped. All at once, as the tail fell still and folded ears lofted.
The unicorn Guard looked at the other two armored ponies.
"New plan. I'm taking her to the Princesses. I know I'm breaking orders and if you're not comfortable with that, you don't have to come. If you want to go provide reinforcements --"
"Why?" the stallion immediately broke in, and did so as the mare waited for a miracle. Something she didn't believe in, especially not when it came to the palace. The impossibility of getting somepony to think --
"Because," the Guard stated, "she would tell me." Bright green eyes did their best to drill through the mare. "But if it's a lie, something you thought you could get past me -- then you get to tell them."
Celestia automatically looked up from the makeshift battle map as the dark light flashed.
"No," the dark mare immediately reported, and the elder fought off the urge to sigh.
That's the third check. She'd asked Luna to go this time: the younger didn't have as many arrival points available in Ponyville, but the situation had long ago reached the point where Celestia just wanted the centaur to be Anywhere Which Isn't Here.
Emery may have needed extra time. Taken her by what he saw as the safest path, even if it was the longest one.
Or he had to change the plan, and he can't contact me.
...or they were overwhelmed.
If enough of them reached her...
Emery possessed the combat effectiveness which arose from decades of Not Dying. But he could be brought down. Once that line of defense had dropped, it would be down to Chocolate Bear, and...
The surgeon had technically killed, because every doctor who lasted in the profession would find a patient they couldn't save, or -- make a mistake. And they all kept count. Before the sisters had asked the Doctors Bear to mutually occupy the revived position of Royal Physician, his had been at nine. In Chocolate's view, he had killed... but she still wasn't sure he could attempt a fatal strike.
And then it would be the girl.
Helpless.
The old mare, almost flush against the floor in what felt like a sea of scrolls, pushed the thoughts away, and then shoved at the self-loathing which arose from the resulting acidic trench. There was potentially far more than one life at stake. Just for starters, she hadn't seen Glimmerglow since sending her own Guard down to evacuate the wounded.
There were a lot of wounded. More after Luna took care of a few stragglers.
Guards were also semi-autonomous. In the absence of continuing orders and knowing that Celestia was with others, the pegasus might have tried to deal with something else.
She didn't have time to hope. She might barely get a chance to mourn.
Several of the waiting scrolls shook. The top one vibrated off the pile.
"It's getting louder outside," the elder noticed. The worst case seemed to be another wave coming in. "I should go to Apex --"
"-- you," Luna firmly stated, "need to stay here -- at least for a short time. We are waiting for reports, and that was one of the regions which was already being examined. And when it comes to 'getting this war organized'..."
The most irritating part of the younger's statement was left unvoiced: something which simply allowed the words to directly grind against Celestia's mind, with no delay from having to pass through the ears.
Do not argue with her in front of the Guards.
Don't.
But there were times when Honesty was the most annoying Element, because few things were more irritating than the truth -- and the most fundamental truth of Celestia's scroll sending spell was that she was the only pony who could cast it.
They needed to communicate with the palace while using a level of discretion which the alarms couldn't achieve. (Any traitor would know about the alarms.) So Celestia had been sending scrolls, and coded messages had let ponies know where the temporary command center was. Of course, it was possible that they'd informed the source of treason as to their location, but...
...let them come almost seemed to have something going for it...
They were trying to get more information, and the process had effectively anchored them to the scroll room.
There was only so long they could stay, because remaining in one location for too long was its own risk. The (hopefully) loyal were seeking them out, providing that vital data, but... there was still some trouble in reaching them and eventually, some of the invaders might notice the unusual flow of traffic. Eventually, they would have no choice but to get back out there -- but at the moment, they were more or less stuck.
Putting together any degree of the full picture counted as Doing Something. Assembling the puzzle had the potential to save lives. To that extent, the sisters were fully active. And knowing that did nothing to silence the inner desire for going into the halls and kicking somepony --
-- hoofsteps. A heavily-bruised Solar unicorn made it up to the door, was quickly cleared by the Guards, and offered up her piece to the siblings. They added it to the map.
"So another encounter here," Celestia said, and a glowing quill made the notation on the map. "Five of them, which means they lost at least one pony along the way. " The tendency of assault groups to start off as species-balanced had already been recorded. "And..."
Their ears perked at the sound of another approach. It took a few vital minutes to put the newest story together, and then the information received set Luna's tail to flicking.
"An unpleasant reminder," the younger angrily declared (and Celestia automatically began radiating warmth, trying to counter the rapid drop), "that my bath is not quite as secured as my bedroom." Her own quill, surrounded in fine spikes and flaring stars, slashed at the paper. "Very well. So once we add this..."
The siblings looked at the results.
"...what are they attempting to accomplish?" Luna eventually finished. "The central pattern is one of scatter. They roam into every part of the palace they can reach. If there is no staff to attack, they settle for assaulting the inanimate. I see no central target, nothing they must achieve."
It had turned into the question of the assault. Celestia had started to suspect an ulterior motive early on. Luna hadn't been far behind, and might have even come in a little ahead. What was so important that the faction leaders were willing to risk... everything? They didn't know.
But when it came to the external expression of that growing frustration, the elder simply nodded. "I've seen more purpose in chaos from Discord." We need a report from Summit. "These are... angry foals. Lashing out at everything."
More hoofsteps: four sets, getting closer. The echoes suggested a quartet of ponies moving through the main secret passage. The sibling had left the door open on that one: for those who were coming in to report, it saved time and with any intruders, the Guards got an immediate clear line of sight for the attack.
"Even rebellious children possess a goal in their tantrums," the younger observed. "Frequently, to make the adults change their opinion regarding a denied wish, if only so the display might stop." She looked down at the map again. "Can we attempt to estimate the percentage tracked? Identify a cluster through their absence?"
"We don't have all the numbers," Celestia softly observed. "Not when nopony took a head count of the crowd outside, and we might have another wave coming in. So we can't be sure how many we're missing."
The newest approaches had almost cleared the passage.
"We are missing," Luna firmly stated, "the intent --"
They both knew the voice. They hated that voice. Every one of the mare's natural colors was slightly off, and there were times when they mutually swore the same thing had to eventually wind up applying to the reporter's tones. If she ever sang (and there might not be enough Tyrconnell in the world), it would have to be off-key. It was a voice which lived to say the things they loathed, and so they had decided the voice itself was ugly.
"-- the tantrum is the intent!"
It made them turn their heads. Each saw the mare's injuries, and mutually displaced any concern into a light dread of the inevitable opinion column about how the Guards couldn't keep anypony safe --
-- their own Guards, acting rationally, ignored the three of their fellows coming up behind the mare and blocked Wordia from getting in.
"Miss Spinner," Luna tightly said, "I am fully certain that you are supposed to be outside. As the evacuation alarm was given, and we cannot qualify you as any level of combatant. At least, not when it comes to what you might term as 'our' side --"
The furious mare reared up. The blocking Guards duplicated the motion, leaving them looking at the top of a bouncing off-white mane. The movement was disrupting the normal styling, and portions of the strands were starting to fall onto the other side.
"-- I heard you on the way up!" Wordia shouted. "You almost had it! Maybe you would have gotten there in another minute --"
"-- unusually charitable," Celestia noted, and began to stand. "But --"
"-- but that's a minute you may not have! It's a tantrum! And what's the one thing somepony kicking out a tantrum really wants, the one thing they all have in common no matter what the reason for the tantrum is?"
"Miss Spinner --"
One last bound, and they caught a glimpse of frantic eyes.
"They want you to look at it!"
They both stared at her, at least until gravity took over and she dropped behind the living wall again. And then purple eyes sought out a dark gaze, for there was once again somepony to consult.
Both siblings nodded.
"Let her in," Celestia softly ordered.
'Immediately," Luna added. "For we may have very little time."
"I don't know what they're after," the reporter admitted as she examined the map: both siblings briefly marveled at the sound of what seemed to be some level of truth. "I just feel like I know how they're trying to do it. Make a lot of noise, do as much damage as possible. It's not just about what they can reach, it's where they can be seen."
"Scatter the Guards," Celestia nodded. "Make us try to look everywhere at once, because there has to be a goal. A target."
"And it's not the centaur," Wordia rushed on. "Not as the main thing they're trying to do. She's like me --"
"-- I will," Luna found the time to dryly comment, "inform her of your opinion --"
"-- in that they would have taken out either of us if they had the chance," the reporter pushed. "A side benefit, but it's not the goal. Because they're being loud and public and everywhere." She jabbed her right forehoof towards the map. "Everywhere you've got multiple reports on, wherever there's one miniherd after another, if they keep going back, so the Guards stay scattered -- that isn't the target. It's the distraction from the target."
They stared down at her: the familiar enemy brought within the scroll supply, standing among the debris of unwritten words.
"I could be wrong," was the next fully unexpected statement: something where the mare had to raise her voice, because the indistinct sounds from outside the palace were still getting louder. "But this feels right. It's something they would do in the Tangle, not that you would know. Go look at the distraction."
They had been Princesses for a long time. In the most absolute sense, Luna was closer to the last gallop as a General than Celestia was. And when you were no longer fully accustomed to rapidly swapping one mask for another...
We were almost there. At the most, another few minutes would have done it. I would have remembered something similar, or Luna could have retrieved the memory first. Recognized the situation, because it's been centuries and fully original tactics are hard to come by.
But I underestimated the protesters. I didn't really think they were capable of a basic feint.
...I'm going to hear Zephyra yelling at me starting from the moment I fall asleep. Possibly for the next moon.
"We are now potentially looking," Celestia announced, "for an absence of reports."
"Some areas were still believed to be secured," Luna added. "Anything running on a fully independent charge seemed to have remained intact. They may have drawn our attention to the public areas so that they could try to defeat the most complex defenses without attention."
"Somepony has to check those," Celestia agreed. "But we haven't seen a lot of complicated spellwork or techniques from any of them. It's their normal membership. We could be missing some talents, or they might have hired outside help --"
"-- offering possibilities which can be applied to everything under Sun and Moon," Luna pointed out. "Begin with the basics. Where does the map feel they have not been?"
And then the volume peaked.
Scrolls shook. Half of a shelf crashed. and Celestia's field yanked the journalist back just in time.
"They're outside!" the elder yelled as the unicorn mare stumbled, staring at anything which wasn't the siblings. "We know that!"
It was a distraction. But it was also something they couldn't ignore.