The skies were awash with the reds and oranges of the setting sun. The gathered ponies on both sides flanked the Charlie engine from a fair distance away. Applejack was in charge of a small team as they oversaw the engine churning its way to full steam. The coals were already burning and steam escaped in little gasps of white smoke.
The pressure gauge rattled with the needle pointing ever higher, matching the rising noise of the pistons. “He’s going strong!” Applejack shouted further down to where the inquisitors were waiting. “We’ll hold him steady here!”
A line of three unicorns stood with their staves at the ready. Rarity, Radiant Dawn, and one of Topaz’s former retainers who was fit enough to handle the draw the staff demanded.
Radiant charged his staff, and was delightfully surprised it was operating as advertised. “Well I’ll be. The Lunarians have played their part. Now it is our turn.” He looked up to Rarity, hoping some level of pride out of being vindicated would shine through. Yet all he saw on her was trepidation and doubt. “Rarity,” he called out, making her jump. “It’s been hours since you had that little chat. Just what did Twilight Sparkle say that rattled you so?”
Trying to focus herself on the work, Radiant was not somebody she could just brush off. “It’s hopefully nothing more than delusions of a mad mare.”
“It’s not like you to get this worked up over delusions. Unless that’s just what you’re telling yourself.”
Rarity winced, and tried to sound reassuring. “One way or another, we’ll find out the truth in a matter of moments.”
The runes on their staves were glowing bright and ready now. Before any of them could focus on the task however, they saw Pinkie Pie running up to them with a stack of papers bound in twine hanging in her mouth. “Here, take these.”
Glad for the distraction, Rarity almost leapt to take the package from the earth mare. “What is this?” Through the string, Rarity saw old Equiss writing in large wing-wrote script.
“It’s flash cards for Celestia of course,” Pinkie Pie explained as if she was expecting them to know already. “Well, Twilight insists they are not flash cards, but she's not fooling anypony.”
Rarity pulled the twine off to look more closely with Radiant Dawn taking a page into his magic as well. Pulling off the top page, it was covered in old Equiss script while the back of it had the modern translation. “Wait, stop, peace, peace?” The script was sloppier than he expected of a scholar, although he could tell it due to the haste with which it was written.
He looked up at Pinkie in confusion. “Flash cards? We’re going to talk to the goddess using flash cards!?”
“Oh you can read it?” Pinkie jumped out of excitement. “That’s great! Then you don’t have any reason to distrust the translation on the back.”
Rarity flipped her page over to find modern script was indeed correct. “So Twilight is genuinely doing this?”
“Of course she is, Scary, see?” Pinkie pointed to Rainbow Dash who was distributing similar loose sheets of paper to her officers. “It's only fair that you can get Celestia to be calm enough to talk to while they do it for Luna.”
Radiant looked at the officers, then to Pinkie, then finally at Rarity. “What is all this? What did Twilight Sparkle really talk to you about?”
Grumbling at it all, Rarity wasn't as familiar with the old tongue as her instructor was. Learning it had been Lock Stock’s job. She found different phrases in the stack of paper, and all of it seemed to be in a logical order to get the alicorns to sit down to talk. “This is our plan B in case there are complications.”
Inwardly, Radiant was beginning to question matters. Was putting her in command a mistake, or should I see where this is going? Both paths left him uneasy. Giving it over a few seconds thought, he bit his lip and shook it off. Perhaps. But we're here now, and I will leave it up to Celestia herself to settle any sort of impropriety out of my student. He wasn't happy with things, but raising a fuss at this point wasn't worth the cost.
Twilight stood near Rainbow Dash eagerly watching the mages to end the Sisters’ long imprisonment. Not one person was absent for this as all of the wounded had been brought over to watch.
Suddenly, a trio of arm-sized colorful ice spikes shot forth from the mages’ staves. They rocketed over the engine, trailing a shower of splintering crystals as they passed through the disruption field. The crowd held their collective breath as they watched for impact.
Two of the crystals missed while the third hit Celestia dead center. The purge field guttered like a candle for several seconds before returning to normal. Two scouts inspected the statue before flying over to Rarity and Rainbow.
“It did something, ma’am,” the scout reported. “But we either need to get all hits on the mark, or just keep applying soft spells until we beat it.”
“Oh the irony of using ice to deliver a ‘soft’ spell,” Pinkie chuckled as she ribbed her sister in the side.
In spite of the situation, Twilight gave a short-lived chuckle while Rainbow shrugged at the scout. “Well fine then. Tell them to keep firing until we see fur.”
Soon enough the mages fired a second salvo. This time, two hit. The purge field winked out entirely. Around the statue, the six orbs that normally floated around the sisters’ heads started orbiting rapidly around them.
The purge field returned more powerfully than before, shrinking the bubble generated by the engine. The mages ran to keep up with the shrinking field to keep their staves safe.
Uncertainty started spreading around the group. Undeterred, Rainbow shouted at the mages. “What are you wanting for? Keep firing!”
The angle was a bit better, and when the third salvo fired, all three spells impacted the statue. Three of the spheres crackled with raw mana and fell still, floating but otherwise inert.
A fourth salvo saw the other three give up and stop moving, save to keep crackling with occasional spats of mana. The purge field died with them, lifting the slight pressure against every unicorn's horn, and the smell of sterile plastic vanished.
Although most of the ponies assembled couldn’t see it happen, however the unicorns among them saw the field dissipate.
Rarity and the others held their staves pointed up to the sky as a show of firing discipline. “What are those spinning things?”
“Could have been the artifacts they were using,” Radiant Dawn guessed. He started hobbling to the flanks and towards the statue a bit. “Come. With the field down, we don’t need to cast through the engine. And that means we don’t need an ice shell potentially causing harm.”
Once the plan was relayed to everyone else, the trio of mages stood directly in front of the statues. With the field still down, nothing could stop them now.
Everyone crowded around the clearing, eager to see it all happen. Anticipation electrified the air as the moment of truth approached. No idle gossip or chatter remained, as no one would dare miss a second of what was about to happen.
Twilight and her family huddled together as they watched the mages encircle the statue and in unison, cast one final soft spell.
The statues glowed an ethereal blue light. Cracks started forming along both alicorns, spider-webbing over every inch. Rarity’s eyes grew wide as finally a piece of stone fell away from Celestia, revealing show white fur. Yet a split second later, the orbs kicked back to life and orbited the statue so fast they became a colorful blur. An instant later, the whole statue exploded in a hail of pebbles and dust, choking and blinding everyone while a magic shockwave threw everyone to the ground.
Luna felt dizzy and disoriented as the world spun brown and blue as she sailed through the air. Damn it, the spell backfired somehow. Flaring her wings to arrest her tumble, Luna came to a hovering stop far into the air. Though she had stopped moving, the world was still spinning.
Holding her head to get her vision under control, Luna used her magic to sense anything around her. Damnation. Whatever she did knocked the Elements away.
Blinking repeatedly got her vision to steady out. The swamp below her dominated her view along with the massive dust cloud in the middle of what looked to have once been a village. The presence of it was jarring. What felt like only seconds ago, she was on the ground dueling her sister all while surrounded by blade and spell as both armies clashed around them. Now, aside from the fading echoes of an explosion, and distant cries in alarm from below, Luna felt utterly out of place. “This isn’t Echo Forest. What in blazes did Tia actually try to do? Adrenaline was pumping hard in her veins, making her act quickly. "I need to get back to the army!” Scanning the horizon, the setting sun at least let her know what direction was which, but without a map or known landmarks she was as good as lost.
Her searching eyes caught a blur of golden light racing towards her. Encrusting her wings with protective magic, she easily took the blow to her left wing. “How clever of you, sister!” Luna spotted Celestia coming right for her from below. “But you honestly believe my army can’t stand on their own without me?”
Luna saw the golden enchantments on Celestia’s forelegs and did the same to her own. Celestia tried to strafe her, only for Luna to bash the attack away. “Fool. You should know attacking from below only works if I don’t see it coming.”
Celestia spun about and hovered not too far away, her empowered hooves still glowing. “You’ve been slipping a lot recently, sister. It was worth the attempt.”
“Where did you send us?” Luna growled, taking up an aggressive stance.
Risking a look around, Celestia still remained focused on her sister. “I had planned for us to arrive at my castle, but so much for that.” Celestia saw figures on the ground far below them, but ignored them for the moment. “End this damned war, sister. Come back with me and rule at my side like we were meant to.”
“You started this war,” Luna retorted.
“And you can finish it with me,” Celestia pleaded. “We can try again.”
“You had your chance!” Luna fired a stream of magic at Celestia to distract her long enough to gain altitude. “You should have listened to me!”
Ducking under the beam, Celestia slammed into her sister, enchantments sparking and hissing under the pressure. “You let the mob blind you to subtlety!”
With a smirk, Luna looked behind her sister. “Not entirely.”
Fearing the beam had been a feint, Celestia pushed back off, only for a backhanded strike to never come. Instead, Luna used the breathing room to take a swing at her sister. The impact struck Celestia solidly in the ribs, but the elder alicorn was made of sterner stuff and used her back legs to kick her sister back off and send her downward so Celestia would retain the advantage.
A cry from below made Celestia look behind her sister to a cloud of incoming pegasi and thestrals. They seemed to be armed with quarterstaffs, an odd choice for fliers. However, too many of them wore the silver and black of Luna’s army, a fact solidified by the fact that none of them were fighting each other. Confound it all! Did we land right in the middle of a rebel camp?!
The dark sister risked following her sister’s gaze only for a moment, but it was long enough to see the uniforms. Turning back to gloat, Luna took up a renewed attack posture. “Looks like your plan failed in spectacular fashion, dear sister. Surrender.”
The soldiers below were confusing to be sure. Their wings did not reflect the setting sun’s light, revealing the lack of wing blades or armor, nor did their forelegs glitter in the light for the same reason. The oddity took a backseat to the colors of their allegiance painted on their clothes. They all have uniforms too, they are certainly not levies. “You know my answer. Equestria will be reunited, and you’ll never hear me say otherwise.”
Diving for speed, Celestia sprinted away from the incoming soldiers. Luna chased after her, matching her speed. Even if Luna can keep up, no pony else could ever hope to out fly me.
Racing as fast as her wings could take her, the village was lost among the trees in a hurry. The encroaching night weighed heavily on Celestia. I’ve got to lose her before nightfall, or at least her mares-at-arms.
Glancing back to see how much distance she had put on the soldiers, Celestia barely saw the mana stream coming right for her in time. She banked right, allowing the attack to speed past her. Luna was nearly upon her.
Celestia dove trading altitude for speed. The wind screamed in her ears as the gloomy trees grew in her vision. Feeling the hairs on her tail stand end on end, Celestia pulled up, allowing a lightning bolt to roar behind her. Twisting in the air to face her sister, Luna was barely visible now against the dimming sky. Celestia summoned a blindingly bright ball and left it hanging in the air.
Luna cried out and covered her face and pulled back. With her vision ruined, she tried to guess when an attack would come and started moving erratically. Celestia fared little better, but at least she could see her sister clearly now. Better yet, there was no sign of the soldiers. She conjured an ethereal club the size of a train engine, and hammered Luna out of the sky.
On her way down, Luna countered by summoning shadows to blanket the flare, casting them all back into darkness.
With her night vision still recovering and unable to see where her sister went, Celestia suspected an attack was coming and sprinted further west. The portal must have spit us out somewhere between Echo and the castle, but I don’t recall seeing a swamp on the maps between the castle and the forest. Either way, I should run into a friendly town eventually if I just keep heading west.
To her benefit, the moon was still mostly full, giving even Celestia enough light to navigate. Looking backwards to see if her sister was still in pursuit, she saw only empty skies. Taking a risk, Celestia pulled up to gain some altitude. Higher and higher she went so she could see the earth below for any signs of civilization below. On her ascent, a barely visible translucent ceiling appeared. Almost not seeing it in time, Celestia rolled so her back would take the impact.
Upon hitting the ceiling, Celestia saw her sister was coming in hot, and fired a caustically hot beam at Luna. Her sister weaved around it, and snapped off a bolt of her own.
Celestia bled off some altitude to avoid it and summoned another club, but it was too late, Luna crashed into her head-on. The two were entangled with each others’ legs as they kicked and punched each other as they tumbled out of the sky. “You should have listened to me, Tia!”
“Don’t you dare put this all on me! You’re the one who walked away from our responsibilities!”
“And you let yourself be blinded to them!”
Fury fueled a solid punch from Celestia, finally dislodging her sister. They spun about in midair until they corrected themselves. “You let the mob control you!”
“Just like how the nobles controlled you?!” Luna screamed in fury while firing off a lightning spell.
Hastily enchanting a hoof, Celestia grounded it into herself. “At least they had to do it behind my back. The mob flaunted their coercion for all to see!”
Celestia charged her horn for a counterattack, only for distant shouting to distract both sisters. A long figure was flying straight at them. In the gloom, Luna could see it was a strangely brightly colored thestral wearing that unarmored uniform. Celestia couldn’t see much more than an outline and barely reflecting moonlight off her fur and metal quarterstaff. What she could see clearly however, were those tell-tale reflective slitted eyes.
“You’re coming here alone?!” Luna shouted incredulously. “She’ll kill you where you stand!”
As if to prove her right, Celestia fired off a quartet of mana bolts, each with enough power to pulp a regular pony.
“No!” Luna hastily let loose a few of her own, but only intercepted one of her sister’s attacks. The thestral rolled away from the first two, and barely dodged the third.
With her sister still distracted, Celestia opted for a beam, hitting the pony square on. “There. One less-”
Impossibly, the thestral was still flying, seemingly no worse for wear. More so to the pony’s own surprise as she checked over herself for injuries. Of the three, the soldier recovered first and started shouting at them. <Damn it, stop fighting! I need you to read this!>
Tilting her head, Celestia was utterly confused. “Is she singing in the middle of a battle?”
Rather than answer, Luna fired mana bolt after bolt into her sister. Catching her off guard with the first one, while the rest were either deflected or were absorbed into enchanted forelegs. Celestia broke the attack by wildly launching a blinding flare and rolling away.
As both alicorns recovered from the new light, the same soldier flew to get in between them. <I can’t believe I’m doing this. Stop it both of you!> The soldier had her back to the light as she pulled out a piece of paper and held it towards each sister for a few seconds before shifting it to the other one. <I swear if I live through this I’m going to kill you, Twilly!>
Disregarding the paper entirely, Luna yelled back. “What are you doing?! Either fight or get out of here!”
“My thoughts exactly!” Celestia yelled back as she summoned her club again. The soldier saw the massive glowing weapon swinging right for her and pulled in on herself. To both sisters’ surprise, the club started falling apart before it was even a meter from impact. By the time it would have hit the soldier there was nothing left but motes of golden light, and the soldier was left spinning a bit by the wind. It was only then that the glint of metal on the soldier’s back revealed the presence of armor. “Dispelling armor is it?” Celestia growled. “Well I can correct for that.”
<Oh that is it!> the soldier yelled with reckless abandon. She pointed the quarterstaff at Celestia who was trying to formulate a piercing spell and empowered her horn.
“Get out of there!” Luna tried to magically fling the bewildering soldier away from her attack, only for the soldier to prove as easy to grab as air.
A strange crack echoed from the quarterstaff along with a short-lived burst of flame. To Luna’s astonishment, Celestia suddenly cried out in pain and was clutching the side of her face.
As for Celestia, the white hot pain that had suddenly manifested along her cheek left her utterly dumbstruck as to how it happened. She had not seen the spell coming, only a strange buzzing sound that had whipped by her. A warcry snapped her back to the present as the soldier was now charging straight at her with the quarterstaff staff raised to strike her. Suddenly, her sister was the least of her worries.
Luna charged in to join the attack, giving Celestia precious little time to react. She fired off a trio of piercing bolts at the soldier, but all they did was shower the thestral’s raging muzzle in harmless sparks. Celestia hastily enchanted her forelegs and raised them to defend her face. Only to feel utter dread as the soldier got close enough to strike, and the enchantment flaked away like burning paper. The soldier clubbed Celestia’s guard away before spinning the staff with practiced ease and slamming the flat end against Celestia’s wound, splashing blood everywhere. <Serves you right!>
Celestia went dizzy for a moment and fell back only to hear a loud metallic ‘click-clack’. Frozen in utter disbelief, the untouchable soldier was pointing the hollow end of her staff right between Celestia’s eyes. <Don’t try that again, or so help me, the next one won’t be a warning shot!>
Even if the words were lost to her, the intent was clear. Celestia briefly considered diving for trees to lose her, but Luna was upon her now.
Luna tried to summon a wall behind her sister to block any escape, only for her horn to fizz and spark when she got too close to the odd soldier. Trying to pass it off as letting a spell go, she focused on her sister. “It’s over, Celestia.”
Snarling in defiance, Celestia tried to back away, only for the soldier to aim in the direction she was about to flee. The staff cracked again with thunder and fire, causing both alicorns to jump. The ‘click-clack’ came from a lever of some kind from under staff before the hollow end was pointed at her once more. Trying to think of a plan, Celestia remained still and her horn dark. Aside from the moon, the flare was the only source of light. “What sort of fiendish magic have you been working on, Luna?”
“Not this, but I won’t complain.” Luna was shaken by the soldier’s bewildering magic immunity aura, and might have joined her sister in attacking the stranger had she not been a thestral. “Warrior, what is your name?”
First twisting an ear at Luna, and then turning at the realization her goddess was addressing her, the soldier grew flustered, and pulled her odd staff back. <Ah, oh boy, it’s you. It’s really you! This is so crazy awesome! I'm fighting side by side with her Holiness!> she squealed. The soldier’s ecstatic euphoria evaporated as she caught movement from Celestia and leveled the staff at her again. <Hey! I saw that!>
The alabaster alicorn’s escape plan was looking thinner by the second if even slightly turning away was noticed. “Is she some foreign mercenary of yours?”
“It would be the first I’ve heard of it.” Luna kept looking between the strange ally and her sister. “Promise me, Tia, that you will not run.”
Celestia did not like her prospects one bit. It was night, she was lost, and now her sister had been joined by some untouchable warrior with an unknown weapon. Even so, she wasn’t going without concessions. “Only if you promise to finally talk to me in private, away from your allies and advisors.”
“Finally some progress. I accept.” Knowing the warrior clearly didn’t understand Equiss, Luna rested a hoof on top of the metal staff. “Enough, warrior. She surrendered.”
<Gave up did she? By the night I can’t wait to brag about this.> The singing soldier made the weapon click a couple more times before clipping it to a strap and stowing it away on her back. <Screw being a bearer of the eclipse, I got to smash Celestia right in the face!>
“Well I heard my name, at least I think it was.” Celestia doubted the soldier was safe against a good solid punch, but her honor and curiosity kept her from fleeing. At the very least I can get some answers by staying close.
“Soldier, can I get a name?” Luna watched with slowly growing impatience as the soldier unfastened her saddlebag and started rooting around in it. “If I didn’t know any better I’d think I was being ignored.”
<Ah good, it’s all still in order.> Resting the bag on one foreleg, the soldier took out a piece of paper, read the back of it, then gave it to Luna.
“What is it?” Celestia queried.
Claiming the offered parchment, Luna read it just to sate her growing curiosity. “It says: stop. No fight. Peace. You best feel lucky, sister. This was her trying to be peaceful.” The script was over-sized, clearly meant to be read at a distance. Luna flipped the page over to see what the soldier had read. The script there was at a normal reading size, and had a much cleaner flow to each letter. How strange.
Celestia grumbled while rubbing her bleeding cheek. She didn't want to think about what the weapon could have done if the attack had been slightly more to the right. “Yes, so I noticed. Whoever she is, she has a poor grasp of our language though.”
“The script on the back is strange. Like some sort of bastardized version of Equiss.”
“May I?” Celestia asked with a raised hoof that made the soldier jumpy. “Calm yourself, warrior,” she said placatingly as best she could.
The warrior nearly dropped her bag trying to reach her weapon. She settled back down since Celestia’s horn remained dark and Luna had not returned to a fighting posture, but the cold iron stare was mixed with barely contained amazement. Keeping one eye on the elder sister, the warrior rooted around and briefly looked at two pieces of paper and presented one to each of them.
Careful not to set the soldier off, Celestia took the page with a hoof and read it. “There is much to say. Peace for a time. Soldiers of both sun and moon here.” She arched a bemused eyebrow. “I didn't authorize any parleys,” she added with a distinct note of hostility.
The harsh tone, caused the warrior to pull back, and eye her dangerously. <Watch it.>
"She's a vigilant one to be sure," Luna said derisively at her sister.
“Skittish is more like it. You are certainly no soldier of mine,” Celestia grumbled as she rubbed her agonizing cheek. She was further irritated when her hoof came back with fresh blood. As painful as it was, Celestia had the iron will to stay focused.
I need to get this tended to. “I could use a hundred like you though.”
A new piece of paper was given over to Luna. “Follow centenar back to village.” Looking up at the brightly colored thestral, she tried to place where the soldier could have possibly came from, let alone her weapon and uniform. Now that she could take a moment to actually look at her, Luna noticed the dirt and dust expected from battle. However the silver trim was immaculately uniform. Not one thread was out of place, and the lapels on her shoulders bore an unfamiliar insignia. Most curiously however, was that her armor was emitting a quiet sound. To Luna's ears, it sounded like pieces of metal tapping each other at regular intervals. Oddity or not, Luna deduced the armor must be unique enough to be a symbol of rank all on its own. “So she's a centenar. That explains her weapon and armor then.”
Celestia hummed in agreement. “Naturally. Only a high noble could possibly afford such things. Although she barely carries herself with the proper poise of one of such high birth.”
“Perhaps she was elevated for some noble act. Either way, I find it refreshing.” Smirking at her sister, Luna waved one of the pages at her. “Well, Tia, we've been given an invitation to follow her, I for one would love to learn more about her and her people. Because if where she came from could create such arms and armor...” Luna cackled at the idea of leading a host of such warriors, and sweeping across Equestria with laughable ease.
“And march myself right into your custody,” the elder sister seethed.
“Peace or not,” Luna reminded her with a coy wink. “I am still her queen if all her fawning is anything to go by. All I need to do is convince her I want you attacked with more lethal intent. Violence is a universal language after all.”
“On that we can agree.” Shaking her head, Celestia sighed in defeat. “Very well. I will come quietly.” If nothing else, I can try to find a map.
The soldier held out another piece of paper to both. Celestia claimed her copy with a scowl. “If agree peace. Follow centenar to us. Rip page up and down to show agreement.”
“Finally something we can say back. Such a waste of paper though.” Luna ripped her page apart as directed and glared at Celestia until she reluctantly did the same.
Upon seeing this, the centenar almost cheered, but coughed to control herself. Digging around in her pack once more, the soldier pulled out a circular brass object and stared at it for a little bit, glancing off into the distance before going back to it. She stuffed it back in shortly after and re-tied her bag back on. <Right. Great. Ah - follow me.>
Mere seconds after the Sisters fled west to continue fighting, Twilight Sparkle sat on her rump in amazement as she watched them disappear over the trees. After all this time, the skeptic in her always held out that the statues could have very well just been solid stone. It was such a powerful relief that she felt as if her whole body felt lighter. “Well, at least we can say for sure what happened to Celestia and Luna.”
With every single flying soldier racing after the pair, that left only the civilians, Applejack, and all but one of the Equestrians to stay behind.
Silver Vein was the first to realize this and tugged on his wife’s wing. “Um, Twilight my dear, I think we should have a nice calming chat with the inquisitors before they think to murder us.”
Twilight and Pinkie looked to the line of mages. Even from a distance it was obvious they were arguing with each other and pointing in the direction the alicorns fled to. “They don’t seem to be interested in us,” Twilight said unenthusiastically.
“Give it time,” Pinkie added with dour certainty. “Why don’t I go talk to them? I got just the thing to keep them occupied.”
“Ahh...” Twilight had been hoping the Sisters would have remained close by, and them running off was close to a worst case scenario, right next to the inquisitors deciding words weren’t enough anymore. “If you're sure about it. Just be careful.”
Doing a flip as she jumped off the house, Pinkie Pie winked at her sister. “No worries.”
The shouting got louder as she approached, making the voices more distinct.
“If - no -when they team up with Luna they might capture Celestia!” Shouted the older, injured stallion.
Pinkie guessed he was the Radiant Dawn she heard her sister talk about earlier.
“They won’t do that,” Rarity argued back. “They’ve got every reason to come back.”
“And yet you still won’t say why!”
“Twilight and-” Rarity had turned to point at them, only to realize Pinkie Pie had practically snuck up on them. “Lady Pinkamena?”
“Beg your pardon, but I go by Pinkie Pie these days.” Pinkie was all smiles and adopted her good-host demeanor. “But nevermind all that. Why don’t we all sit down and have a nice cup of tea as we wait for the Sisters’ return.”
Pushing past Rarity, Radiant Dawn hobbled over with malicious intent. “This is hardly the time for such nonsense. Your escorts have abandoned you to us, and it’s high time-”
“For tea,” Pinkie interrupted hard, all while keeping an upbeat smile. “When the Sisters return, and they will return, it would be irredeemably rude of us not to have some refreshments prepared for them.” Radiant Dawn stuttered at the audacity of the earth mare in front of him. Not only showing no fear, but giving him orders in a roundabout way. Even Rarity was unsure on how to respond. “Granted I know we’re currently lacking a banquet hall, but surely the lot of you have more than enough creature comforts around here to satiate our guests for a day or so, yes?”
Jabbing a dangerous hoof at the businessmare, Radiant Dawn wasn’t in the mood for a sales pitch. “Compared to Luna, all of you are expendable. What makes you so sure the good captain will return with Celestia unharmed?”
“Unharmed?” Pinkie made a show of thinking it over. “You forget, your honor, Captain Rainbow Dash was hoof-picked for this assignment by the emperor himself. In part because she is good friends with Twilight Sparkle and myself. Rainbow is the epitome of professionalism and loyalty. She will do everything in her power to see Celestia returned here with nary a scratch.”
“Nary a scratch you say?” Rarity asked with disbelief.
Pinkie shrugged helplessly. “Then it must be said after all. If Luna causes an injury before Rainbow can explain the situation to the Sisters, that would hardly be the captain's fault, now would it? Besides, we’re still in the middle of Equestria and now there is no purging field for you to be concerned about. I highly doubt the captain would get very far without their baggage,” Pinkie pointed at the big pile of bags and saddlebags. All of the company’s remaining food and supplies were all there, and a pony can not survive on grass alone.
Radiant Dawn mulled it over. His fear of losing Celestia after just getting her back warred with the logic of the Lunarian’s arguments. He looked to Rarity and shook his head. “Rarity, this has gone on long enough. I command you to-”
“They think this will end enstripment!” Rarity interrupted with a commanding shout, dumbfounding the older stallion. “Twilight and the others believe Celestia will denounce enstripment, and want to tell her about it in front of us for verification. That’s why I know they’re coming back.”
Radiant Dawn raised a hoof to say something, but he lost the words. He started again, then stopped once more. Eventually he looked towards Pinkie Pie whose smile never left her lips. “Is that your angle?”
“Right on the nose, your honor,” Pinkie said with steady cheer. “Now. I don’t know about you?” Pinkie Pie spoke quickly to keep the initiative. “But after seeing them fly off like that, they’re bound to work up a mighty thirst, and be peckish to boot. I could whip something up from our baggage, but none of it is worthy of a goddess.”
“Well we certainly can’t have Celestia debase herself by having to eat unprepared salted pork.” Rarity closed in on the smiling mare. “I believe you have the right of it. However, hosting a soirée is not exactly a talent I’ve practiced all that much.”
“Ah ha haaa! But I have, your honor,” Pinkie bowed like an actress on stage. “Bring me everything you can spare, and I’ll work my magic!”
As Pinkie Pie bounced away yelling for Applejack, Radiant Dawn moved up to grab Rarity’s foreleg. “You don’t seriously belief this daft notion about enstripment do you?”
“Of course not,” Rarity said too quickly, unsure if he would accept her insecurity. “But they do. Book of Swords chapter eight paragraph two: never interrupt an enemy when she is making a mistake. If this theory of hers convinced the air corps to abide our ceasefire agreement, then we shouldn’t give them a reason to do otherwise.” Rarity gently removed herself from his grasp and rested her staff against her shoulder.
He still didn’t like it, but ultimately had little power to save Celestia if the fliers betrayed the armistice. “We're either going to return to Equestria as heroes or as the greatest villains of all time. One way or another, Rarity my dear, there’s going to be a whole chapter on you in future curriculum.”
“Oh Dearie me there better not be,” she shivered at the thought, and at how she managed to talk Radiant down. “It’s bad enough you already have a training assessment named after me. In either case, we shouldn’t tarry. Our fair isn't exactly the best, but we can try to make it worthy of Celestia‘s palate.”