//------------------------------// // 44: The Seminal Tragedy // Story: A Clash of Magic and Steam // by law abiding pony //------------------------------// Shortly before Novos and Summer Flame arrived Luna found herself inside of Eclipse’s quarters.  While she may have taken his place on the throne, she had no intention of taking his bedroom.  While that was all well and good as a symbolic gesture, it did cause the mare private aggravation when callers went to his door instead of hers.  Presently, she was being pampered in front of a mirror in preparation for the delegates’ arrival. It hardly mattered if her only experience in foreign diplomacy was her sister, she was at least going to look her best.  Two attendants hovered around her with brushes, trying to locate any hair out of place or blemish that needed correction. Off to the side, Eclipse was sitting at his desk with a report bound to a clipboard. A bemused grin came to his face at Luna who looked so deep in thought that she might keel over and not even notice.  It was only when her assistants mentioned their work was complete that she pulled herself to the present. “Thank you ladies, you may go.” Once they were gone, Eclipse looked up from his report. “Slip for your thoughts?” Luna sighed heavily. “I’m worried about going too heavily with Harmony. The other races will interpret it as us going soft. If that happens, it will only lead to trouble.” Flipping the pages back on his clipboard, Eclipse fixed her a firm gaze. “There is a minotaur idiom that I have recently grown quite fond of. The god Fel granted them two hands. One with an open palm, and one with a closed fist.” Luna wrinkled her brow and sarcastically looked at her raised hoof. “I fear that wisdom doesn’t translate.” Chuckling richly, Eclipse let the report clatter onto the wooden desk, and stood up. “Ahhh but it does. Perhaps an offered forehoof and the raised back hoof?  In essence, we all possess the capacity of both friendship and violence.  If these visitors of the east have even a drop of intellect, they should have realized by now the fleet escorting them here is our raised back hoof. Now is the time to offer the fore. Which hoof they choose after that is their doing.” Grinning out of good humor, Luna gave herself another check in the mirror, and found she looked the part of a dignified ruler. “I see what you did there, you wily one. It is easier to offer a forehoof, than to spin around and buck somepony.” “Guilty as charged, your highness.”  He gave an exaggerated hoof roll.  “Oh stop that.”  Luna waved a wing at him in playful irritation. “You know it is just names between us.” Giving a wilting smile, Eclipse looked away from her. “I appreciate your friendship, your highness, but such familiarity between us could lead to things best left for a different stallion.” That was not exactly on Luna’s mind, but the refusal did not miss the mark entirely. “Perhaps three years ago, but even now?  We are over the hill with the famine. The crime wave will diminish along with it.  Especially once we finalize the Policing Charter and more ponies seek out homesteads instead of overcrowding the cities.” She closed in, wanting to embrace him, but held back for fear he would recoil out of duty. “The people trust my rule is stabilizing now.” “I appreciate the gesture, but it is simply not my place.”  Eclipse pulled a pocket watch out of his vest, intent on verbally pushing her out the door, only for a crack and crumbling sound to pull his ear back to his desk. The oddity of the noise also drew Luna’s attention.  The old emperor gasped in fright as he scrambled to pick up the broken pieces of the quartz crystal. “Damn…” He sunk his head, prompting Luna to place a comforting hoof on her friend and advisor’s back.  “What’s wrong?” Taking a few steadying breaths, Eclipse presented a broken piece. “Faithful Hymn just died.” A chill ran down Luna’s back. “…Isn’t that the stone the assassin gave you?” Cringing a bit at the question, Eclipse collected the pieces. “It is.  I’m glad I never had to return it to Card Holder. Faithful said he’d never return, but…” Eclipse held his tears back, guiltily glad Luna would have to leave him soon so he could grieve. “I had held out hope he would change his mind. He was a good pony.” Resting a wing on Eclipse’s back, Luna wished she could nuzzle him for comfort, but this was all she could do. It felt too sudden. She had spoken to Faithful yesterday, and the stallion was as fit as one could be at his advanced age. Yet sudden death was an all too common thing for the elderly. “I still have time. I’ll dreamwalk to one of his attendants to see what sort of arrangements he might have requested.” The prospect of his old friend being interred in the Tomb of Honored Heroes gave Eclipse a measure of peace. “It only happened seconds ago. Surely anypony sleeping right now wouldn’t even know it even happened yet.” Luna magically pulled some sitting cushions over to her. She settled down into a comfortable enough position that wouldn’t sully her careful grooming. “Perhaps not this second, but I passed instructions to his entourage to have one member sleeping if the time came so I could coordinate his prompt return.” “You are too kind, your highness.” Giving him a sad nod, Luna easily fell asleep and left her body behind. The starlit nebula of the dreamscape greeted her like an old friend. Aside from Faithful Hymn, her sister and Twilight Sparkle on occasion, she found it increasingly difficult to find time to simply take a walk as it were. The city around her and the territories beyond and above it were awash with light from sleeping ponies. A sizable number of them were the brighter purple-blue lights of her thestrals. It warmed her heart seeing so many of her citizens, but she did not have the time to indulge.  She let the wistful feeling go and traveled to the mountain aviaries within a matter of seconds. As with everywhere else without thestrals, she was met with the familiar pale white lights of dreamers across the city. To help identify her missionaries from all of the griffons she hard marked them, turning them into a rich auburn color. At least it was supposed to make them easy to find.  Luna scanned the sea of lights, trying to find an auburn glimmer, and instantly felt something was off when she couldn’t find any. The hour is late here. Were they all awakened upon finding out Faithful had passed? The theory didn’t sit well, even if it made sense.  She looked around, thinking maybe one of them was at the forum and might be napping unawares. Although she could see nothing of the real world, repeat visits had given her a rough idea as to where it was. However, she barely angled down to search when she spotted a faint splash of auburn. She immediately went for it, but she could already see something was terribly wrong.  For one, it was in the opposite direction of the forum, but more distressingly, it was dim with flickers of darkness closing in on it. A clear sign to her practiced eye that death was near. That she could see it at all meant they were asleep, or worse, had fallen unconscious.  For a brief moment, she thought that perhaps she had found Faithful Hymn, still alive but in his final moments.  The others could be awake trying to find him.  Entering his mind to hear his last words was dangerous. The unconscious mind was not like a dream. Her control was limited, the mindscape was extraordinarily fragile, and any injury suffered would be mirrored on her real body.  Nevertheless she dove inside to find a black void, save for a single stallion floating limply in the center. It was not Faithful, but a pegasus called Sea Spray. Luna had dealt with many unconscious soldiers during her war trying to awaken them.  She slid next to him and rested a hoof on top of his forehead. “Sea Spray, are you there?”  She rubbed his head, only to cause thunder to crack from directions, and a sharp pain lanced across her belly as the mindscape fractured.  There was no deadening against pain here, and the bleeding injury nearly took wind out of her. Yet Luna was practiced enough to forcibly remind herself she didn’t breathe here, and the spasm subsided.  “A head injury…”  There was little she could do then. “How did that happen?”   She did the only thing she could to find answers. Moving the hoof on his chest in a circular fashion, the black landscape sluggishly morphed into his most recent memories, the only things that were easily accessible from an unconscious mind.  Luna found herself in a familiar dining area within the griffon castle. It was part of a sequestered section the missionaries had been granted. Little more than a dayroom attached to shared lavatories, the bedrooms, and a small cooking area and larder. Gentle conversation filled the air along with humming coming from the thestral mare sitting opposite of Sea Spray. The two were playing chess while others were reading books. Close to the exit, Faithful Hymn and a young pegasus lad were mixing cut vegetables together. Lantern light gave the room a warm, almost cozy feeling to the pale wood walls and furnishings.  However, Sea Spray’s injured state gave everything a fuzzy distinction. Voices were tinny or outright unintelligible, shadows flickered far larger than they should have, and black spaces formed and vanished erratic patterns with the only constant that the spaces were growing larger and would smother the memory in short order.  Luna pressed her magic into the memory, closing the black voids as best she could and brought clarity to the eye, but even she was limited here.  She chiefly paid attention to Faithful Hymn, waiting to see if perhaps he suddenly died to a heart attack or perhaps something else that could be sudden. However, she did not limit her focus on him. “Something bad happened. Sea Spray is young and strong, and by the looks of it, in no place to be injured like he is.” The memory progressed without incident for a short while. The strain of controlling the deteriorating dream was heavily taxing. Far more than it should have been.  If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he is dying.  Luna stared into a stubborn patch of blackness that refused to fade. The empty void beyond chilled her to her heart.   Sea Spray just checkmated his opponent when the exit door slammed open. The memory became crystal clear around the griffons who stalked into the room while almost everything else grew dark or too blurry to know what it was. Luna instantly knew something was off. The griffons were postured lower to the ground than normal, as if they were getting ready to pounce, their eyes were murderous. Every pony in the room went on edge and stopped what they were doing. Some, like Sea Spray started carefully retreating.  Faithful Hymn however, ignored it all, and stepped up to greet them. He stopped cold when the lead griffon turned a baleful gaze upon him.  Luna had seen such a face before, but only on wolves or manticores who were hunting her in her youth. Luna knew what was going to happen next and instinctively tried to magically blast the griffon away.  Yet her spell might as well have been air.  The griffon tackled Faithful Hymn, his beak ripping into the unicorn’s neck, and his claws clamped down to hold the stallion in place. The ponies split, some tried to fight, but others like Sea Spray were momentarily shell shocked. The griffon did not use a weapon, they were hungry.  Sea Spray quickly backed away, pressing himself against the door, trying to save his chess partner. Both he and his partner ran for the same bedroom. Luna watched as the griffon tore a piece out of Faithful and looked away in complete revulsion.  She couldn’t bear to see him reduced to that. The stallion that she admired for his resilience and passion.  “Reduced to food for a monster.”  Luna was caught between sudden grief and being incandescent with rage.  She watched Sea Spray’s partner barricade the door with a bed, pleading for him to escape. He threw a stool at the window, creating an opening. He was trying to climb through when the griffons smashed the door open. One pounced his partner while the one behind the first pulled a pistol and fired.  The shot hit Sea Spray in the left wing as he jumped out, and he started tumbling uncontrollably to the mountain below.  Luna couldn’t watch anymore of it and pulled herself out of the stallion’s dying mind. With her strengthening presence gone, she saw his light wink out completely.  Screaming her rage into the heavens, Luna glared at the sea of griffon sleepers. “You will answer for this, Geraldy. You all will!” Luna blankly stared at the meal before her.  Her original idea of having the delegates join her for dinner while telling them what she had learned was beginning to feel like a poorly-thought out plan to unsettle them.  She had no appetite for her favorite food now.  Glancing over, it seemed Twilight Sparkle’s food was barely touched, as well as Novos’ own.  A bit to Luna’s exasperation, Rainbow Dash’s stomach would not be denied. “So now I trust you understand why I can not let this stand,” Luna postulated to her guests.  She watched Summer Flame who had collected himself and remained unreadable for the moment, hiding his truth thoughts behind a careful grimace.   “Would giving ol’ Geraldy a few nightmares would be out of the question?” Summer Flame asked, earning a spiteful glare out of Novos for being so flippant. The hippogriff’s irritation was matched by Luna’s surging anger, something Novos had to put a stop to.  The queen slapped him across the face with an audible smack.  “You’ll have to forgive Summer here, Empress Luna.”  Novos stared down the stallion’s coy expression as it slowly morphed into one of embarrassment.  “Kirin are… difficult to understand at first.  He means no insult I assure you.” Luna wasn’t exactly buying it, and cast her gaze upon Twilight to see what the pegacorn would say.   Upon being given silent leave to speak up, Twilight shivered to try and suppress the mental image of griffons eating ponies.  “My sister has personally taken more than one trade enterprise to Union lands, your highness.  Kirin are naturally… how best to put this… provocative.  Not so much to elicit violence, but to inflame the mood, as it were.” Seeing that neither foreigner was quick to argue the point, Luna moved on.  “Very well.  I’ll have to remember that.  Moving on… I leave you two choices. Do not interfere with my dealings with the emperor moving forward, or - expend yourselves resisting us.” Novos’ mouth went completely dry. She knows more about the Emerald Horde than she lets on.  Novos made an attempt to appear even keeled, but inwardly she was quickly becoming a nervous wreck.  Recovering quickly with a cough, Summer Flame resolved to better hold himself in check. “Forgive me, ma’am, but I can’t see Geraldy ordering this. He knows full well that angering you over some - over this would be foolhardy beyond the pale.” “Whether he ordered it or not hardly matters,” Luna countered heatedly, still disliking the kirin. “It happened.  “If the emperor is too incompetent to protect a group or missionaries, he should have sent them away. You don’t honestly think expelling missionaries would have angered me as much as this has, do you?  He had more than enough time to conjure some slight out of the ether to justify removing them on less shaky ground.” Not knowing the full extent of Luna’s knowledge, Novos tried to placate the fuming alicorn. “If I may, perhaps he was taken by the message they were spreading. If nothing else, improving relations with you would ease the stress on his rule and people.” “Doubtful.”  Luna tapped the table with every point. “You see, I’ve kept close tabs on my missionaries, something I expect Geraldy knew full well. He made no effort to show interest, not even a token one for diplomacy’s sake. The only one to show genuine interest was his youngest son Gallus. I’m sure the two of you know full well his role is the fool who pulls his father’s ear. Geraldy was either too incompetent or too much of a coward to expel my missionaries nor protect them.  I do not believe either to be the case. He would not be your so-called savior if he was so miserably incompetent.” “At least allow him a chance to make amends,” Novos pleaded. The fear of watching the Emerald Horde destroy her nation and her people was surging over her fear of Luna. “This is a grave crime, but it need not lead to war!” Luna made a show of sluggishly pulling back to think. She idly toyed with a meatball in her magic before looking to her two thus far silent subjects. “Friends Twilight and Rainbow, what say you?” Rainbow practically jumped at the chance to speak and propped herself up on the table with a heavy stomp of her hooves. “Geraldy practically spat in our faces letting this happen, worse if he’s actually behind it. I say we extract our pound of flesh!  Once the people hear of this, they’ll demand no less, I guarantee it!” Twilight used a hoof to gently pull Rainbow Dash back into her seat as she stood up in her place. “If I may be so bold, war is the last thing Faithful Hymn would have wanted, regardless of the emperor’s motives. I may not have known him all that well, but if his speech in court came from the heart, he wanted to offer the hoof of friendship to a people we have long warred with. Geraldy rightfully bears responsibility for allowing this to happen, but if he did not give the order, then he should be given the chance to make amends.”  She caught the angry glare from Rainbow and matched it with an iron stare of her own. “Faithful and his own were the ones who were killed. We should honor their wishes to bury our animosity, provided the griffons allow justice to have its day.” Her words felt like a slap across Luna’s check. Not in a manner befitting an insult, but in making Luna feel as though her wisdom was as lacking as Geraldy’s competency. It’s as if Eclipse is speaking through her. “I agree,” Luna cut in before Rainbow could argue further and break protocol. “It would dishonor his memory if we forsook aspects of Harmony when it suited us.” She paused a moment to think, pursing her lips as she did. “I will give Geraldy a chance to make things right. However,” Luna stared at her guests, leveraging her full weight or personality to impress her grim sincerity. “The armies will be made ready, and the navy will raise steam to keep you in your place if you try to defend them.  Should matters become… heated.” Novos’ feathers ruffled, but she knew full well who held the position of strength. “Ma’am, this escalation is hardly necessary.” “Then you wouldn’t honor your defense agreement with the aviaries?” Luna rebuked with a sneer. This time it was Summer Flame who took point away from Novos. “I can see we are all still in shock about what has happened. Might I suggest we retire for a day?  Douse ourselves with water, give the matter some thought, and then return again with clearer minds?” Luna was about to refuse, until her eye caught Twilight nodding vigorously. Letting go of a held breath, Luna relented. “Perhaps you’re right. My guards will show you to your quarters. If you so desire, I will arrange an escorted tour around the city as well.” “I completely agree.”  Novos felt like she could breathe again.  It was getting difficult to keep her feathers smoothed over as the stress mounted. As embarrassing as it might be for her feathers to get out of sorts, it offered the perfect excuse. “The long voyage here has taxed me heavily. Perhaps I would be better company after I have had time to sort my thoughts.” Gallus stepped down into the bowels of the castle, and into the dungeon proper.  The stone brick of the fortress above gave way to the gray mottled granite it sat on.  The slime covered floor was damp from disuse, as proper prisons had taken the dungeon’s role decades ago.  There had not been a criminal shameful enough to be cast down here in just as long. Gallus tiptoed around the sticky slime molds, wishing he had been wearing his boots, but his purpose down here diverted his disgust of the rotting floor and walls to the griffons he was here to see. Sparse torch light guided him to the dampest, squalid cells where three soldiers stood watch over three others behind bars.  The three were further subdued by leg irons attached to the wall, which held them uncomfortably upright.  The young prince’s temper flared upon seeing the condemned.  He could still see the bloodied rooms where blood and scraps pooled under the half eaten ponies.  The prisoners before him had not even been given a chance to clean themselves.  Each of their beaks and faces were still awash with blood, yet not all of it belonged to their victims.   The emperor had ordered them beaten, and the torturers had been overly enthusiastic.  There was no love lost on the Lunarians, but no one in the aviaries wanted a war with the ponies, not now. Gallus had half a mind to add a few bruises of his own, yet each of them were already on the brink of unconsciousness.  With a silent gesture to the guards, he was let inside the cell where Gallus focused on Steel Heart, the former sergeant of the ponies’ escorts that night. Among other injuries, the middle aged tom had a broken left claw that he suffered while being subdued. It was not being tended to as his execution was expected to be swift, so no care was given.  Gallus’ approach garnered no reaction from the prisoners, not that he truly expected one. He could see at a glance they were spiritually vacant. Not just the slump of a defeated and captured soldier, nor that of a helpless babe being confronted by a pillager, but ones who were already laying in a grave, and awaiting someone to start piling in the dirt.  That revelation blunted Gallus’ first thought of petty revenge, but his ire still held an edge. Instead he spoke with controlled anger. “Why?  Steel Heart I have known you since I first held a blade. I thought I knew you, but last night shattered that illusion.”   The shamed soldier said nothing at first. He couldn’t even bring himself to look up at his prince. However, to say nothing would imply he was now insulting Gallus directly, and that was something even the becursed griffon couldn’t do.  “I have no excuse, sir.” “Bosh there isn’t!” Gallus half-yelled, losing his self-control for a moment. “A bird doesn’t just eat somebody just because!”  Gallus reached to grab Steel by the scruff of his feathered neck, but stopped short. He clenched his extended claw with enough anger to cut the skin. “Why did you do it?!” “…I can’t explain it.”  Steel Heart wished his prince to flog him as well if it could give the young griffon some small measure of satisfaction. “I just… we… I felt so hungry and - and - I… lost myself.” “Lost yourself, he says.”  Gallus’ cold voice replied as he forced himself to separate from Steel and the others. He couldn’t trust himself not to divulge in corporal punishment if he stayed so close. “Well, I have a number of other losses to report. As ordered by my father, you and the others havelost your citizenship and honors. For the crime of eating a civilized, you have lost any chance to see Valinhine as the Seer Council has disinherited you from the ancestors.”  The other three besides Steel Heart finally reacted in muted pain. Yet ultimately none of them spoke out, having expected this very punishment.  “Lastly, you will be lost on the Lunarian border. Where they can do with you as they see fit.” Gallus leaned in towards Steel Heart. “The council wanted the lot of you shot and your corpses thrown off of Traitor’s Fall, but ultimately the ponies will decide your fate.”  Steel Heart flinched away, but could not bring himself to speak in his own defense.  “If that doesn’t satisfy Luna, and you have lost us the peace, then the Emerald Horde will be the hammer to the Lunarian anvil. If there is a single mote of honor left in you, then pray your extradition will satisfy her.” Twilight and Rainbow Dash were riding in the back of the aristocrat’s personal model - s, having just passed the city limits and were on the now paved road leading to Talon Point.  The barely muffled chittering of the engine threatened to drown everyone out if they didn’t raise their voices.  Talks and other matters had eaten away the day, and now they were in the dead of night.  Pinkie Pie was the acting chauffeur more out of the continued novelty of the motor car more than anything else. A million things ran through Twilight’s mind as she stared out to the crescent moon.  Chief among them was the infuriating soldier sitting beside her. Rainbow likewise was as sour as three month old milk that was left in the sun. Unlike Twilight though, she was boring a hole into the side of Twilight’s head with a baleful glare that had barely moved ever since Pinkie Pie picked them up from the palace.  Navigating the hustle and bustle of the city had dominated Pinkie’s attention, but even she could see the sparks flying between the two friends. As the tent city outside of Tranquility fell away into the countryside, Pinkie only had the moon and her dim headlights to navigate by. The tall grass that used to be here had long since been eaten down to the dirt, but it at least allowed her to feel safe that no desperate highwayman could be lurking in wait.  “Sooo,” Pinkie called out behind her, wincing a bit as rocks on the road made the ride a bit too bumpy for a bit. “I take it that things went poorly.” “That’s an understatement,” Twilight said flatly.  “Poorly would be an improvement,” Rainbow said at the same time. Her evil eye never wavered from Twilight.  Pinkie frowned fretfully as she kept trying to watch both the road and her friends. “Well it can’t be that bad.” “They ate them!“ Rainbow growled, jostling Twilight from the side of the motor car.  “What ate what?” Pinkie chanced as many glances backwards that she dared. The car started to swerve a bit, causing Pinkie to refocus lest they end up in a ditch.  Twilight fussed, even as Rainbow was getting increasingly belligerent towards her. “Go on and tell her,” Rainbow demanded. “See how a normal pony would react!” Twilight lost her patience, and shoved her face into Rainbow’s own. “We are supposed to be better than normal ponies, that’s why Luna is empress and we are to act to a higher standard.” “Tell her,” Rainbow repeated more aggressively.  Feeling like Rainbow’s temper was causing her sister to dig in her heels, Pinkie slowed the car and reached back to put a hoof on Twilight. “What happened, Twily?” Sighing her frustration away, Twilight pulled away from Rainbow. “Luna dreamwalked into a dying missionary in the aviaries, and she saw the emperor’s own soldiers killing and eating the other missionaries…” She looked away, trying to keep her stomach under control. “Starting with the archbishop.” “They what?!”  Pinkie slammed on the brakes, and lost control as the car spun onto the short grass of a turn off, and nearly slammed into a wooden fence. The pink mare didn’t even wait for everyone to stop rocking in their seats for her to fully turn around to speak to them. “Tell me this is some mean prank.” “It’s not!” Rainbow seethed. “The warengines should roll on the aviaries for this!” “Hear hear,” Pinkie chanted. Twilight tried to play the role of reason and sat back into her seat. “A lot of good they’ll do against a mountain.” “You know what I mean!  The last thing we should do is ‘wait and see’,” Rainbow jeered harshly.  “We are in no position to fight a war, Rainbow. We’re just now crawling ourselves out of a famine, we don’t have the stores necessary to feed an army on the march, let alone to war.” “We’ll take it from them,” Rainbow countered. “By Tartarus, if I have to eat Equestrian bread to make those monsters pay then so be it!” “We should still wait to see what the griffons will say first.”  Twilight refused to raise her voice or shout. “If he comes out stark raving mad and claims he gave the order himself, then by all means, we make him answer. But I can’t see why he’d do this.” Having gotten tired of banging her head against the wall Twilight was putting up, Rainbow turned to Pinkie so sharply the earth mare jumped a bit. “You said it yourself, we should go in there and raze Griffonstone to the ground, eh?” Pinkie felt the heat of the spotlight that she had just been thrown under as Twilight stared at her intently. The tycoon loved the spotlight when it didn’t feel like an interrogation. “W-well… What exactly did Luna see?” “She told you already,” Rainbow spat with growing impatience. “The emperor’s own troops killed and ate the archbishop and the rest of the missionaries.” Twilight wanted to bring up the state of Luna’s ‘witness’, but she didn’t know enough about dreamwalking to feel comfortable arguing it. “But why would he wait?” Twilight rebuked with firm conviction. “If he wanted to do this, he’d have done it the day the archbishop arrived.” “Are you daft?!” Rainbow cried as she flared her wings, only for the car to catch and scrap her. “He wanted to find a way to block Luna from getting into his dreams. He’s a monster, but he’s a smart one.  I knew the stories about them eating ponies was true!” Seeing that she was getting nowhere, it was Twilight’s turn to get a response from Pinkie. Her sister’s ears were flat from all the shouting, and she had not been able to get a word in until now. “What say you, Pinkie? You’ve dipped your hooves in eastern trade. Do you think the emperor would have done this if he is as smart as Rainbow claims?” Still trying to wrap her head around the enormity of the crime and keep her dinner down, Pinkie was glad for the distraction.  She turned back to sit properly in the driver’s seat to think. “Well… uhhh,” She tapped her head with one hoof while waving the other to the left. “No… Not unless he felt war was going to happen no matter what he did.” Twilight latched onto the fact and pushed on before Rainbow could get a word in. “So if he wouldn’t order it, who would?” The question irritated Rainbow enough to give her pause.  Pinkie had to think it over for a solid minute before cobbling together a possibility. “If anypony was going to frame the griffons it’d be the centauri, but I can't see how they could get a group of the emperor’s own soldiers to do any of - what was done.  The Union loves the griffons, but the griffons love money more than praise. It’s possible a group could be paid to spark a war, but I don’t think they’d live long enough to spend the gold.” Rainbow scoffed at the notion. “Even if, and it’s a big if, there’s traitors, I’m not taking a bird’s word over Luna’s own.” “Nor would I,” Twilight said with a disgruntled sigh. “Claiming responsibility for the order would be suicide. So of course the emperor will deny whatever part he has to play, if at all.” “So we go back to my plan,” Rainbow replied in morbid triumph. “We fly in there and show them why ponies aren’t on the menu!” “And I say we let them have a chance to negotiate a settlement,” Twilight shot back.  The argument sparked anew, only this time Pinkie stayed out of it. She cranked the engine back on and drove off once more trying to ignore the bickering behind her.  What a mess. Celestia stood on a balcony overlooking a theater. The ponies below were reenacting her favorite story, a play lost to time in the modern age. Rich red curtains fell, closing out the performance, much to the crowd’s clamoring approval.  It was a cheer Celestia found herself unable to join in, for another story had met her ears just now. Luna sat beside her, the dark sister’s tongue had been still for barely a moment before Celestia turned and placed a comforting wing on Luna’s back. “What do you plan to do, sister?” Sighing like a dying engine’s last gasp of steam, Luna absently stared at the actors below phasing out and back into their starting positions. The dream started to repeat itself now. “I’ve already given the order to mobilize the army and navy but-” she eyed her increasingly distressed sister with a stern glower, “I will demand recompense as a first recourse. If they refuse, the aviaries will burn.” It wasn’t the outcome Celestia wanted, but it was an understandable decision. “If the emperor has any good sense it won’t come to that.” “Assuming he didn’t order the murders.”  Luna fully turned to her sister. She didn’t want to look desperate at this moment, but the question was too important, and it was making her mask of confident indignation slip. “Sister, Tia, you may not feel this is necessary, but I must ask. Can you ensure no Equestrian elements will interfere while my armies are distracted with this?” Celestia was actually hurt by the question, but she was equally hurt that a part of her couldn’t blame Luna for asking it.  Celestia held her pain in check by putting on a stern front.  Part of her wanted to reign her sister back from warring so soon after their rule.  Do we really want our rule to be defined by war?   It was a bitter thought, but another matter pulled at her mind.  She wanted her sister’s trust more than putting on a pacifist front.   “Interfere?!  Lulu, I most certainly refuse to sit by and do nothing. These murders are not just a crime against Lunaria, but all of ponykind. If anything, I insist on lending you military support.” Taken aback, Luna stammered, “you would go that far?”  Recovering quickly, Luna shook her head, and then took it further by warding her sister off by pushing her back with a wing.  “I’m sorry, but no, this is a matter between Lunaria and the Aviaries.” Celestia wasn’t going to give up that quickly, and slid around the offending wing.  “Luna, I have no doubt you can handle this on your own.  You have long since proven you are a capable leader…” Celestia stopped as she saw a bullheaded stubborn scowl crawling over Luna’s face. So she switched tack and let go of her sister’s hoof. “Very well,” Celestia began again trying to ward off the coming retort. “If aid is not what you desire, then can I at least offer arbitration?  Equestria has had about as much history with the griffons as Lunaria has had with the Union species.” As planned, Luna’s rebuke died on the edge of her tongue. She pulled back and pursed her lips. Luna was no fool. The offer differs but the motive’s the same.  Even knowing this, Luna still found the idea had merit.  That made her even more suspicious.  “You certainly won’t be going in person, it’s on the other side of the world from Canterlot. Who could you possibly send in your stead?” Seeing that the door of opportunity remained open, Celestia practically pounced on Luna’s hesitancy.  “I'll be sending one or more of my justiciars, and escort. I have full faith that they can perform this duty honorably.” Luna became wary, but did not go so far as to challenge the idea. “I can’t say I’m familiar with justiciars.  Who are they?” “Well I hope you’re familiar with at least two of them. You met them in the swamp we awoke in.”