Raven Inkwell - 3rd of Thanksgiving, 4 EoH
Mayoral Estate - Evergreen Falls
Raven looked across the Mayoral Estate’s cramped utility closet, which had once been Princess Luna’s bedroom. She could just barely make the massive alicorn out over the boiler and past the electrical panel.
Luna sat atop a water filtration system where her bed had once been, looking like a mare doing her best to cope. “They had to build walls to make this smaller to make this possible…”
“I’m sorry…” Raven apologized on behalf of all pony kind.
“They discarded my jewelry…” Luna growled, her ears entirely flat against her skull. “It was sentimental.”
Raven had nothing to say.
“I will make this mire a home once more,” Luna vowed.
Raven cleared her throat. “If you’d move over here, I would be happy to offer you a hug.”
“I don’t need a hug,” Luna grumbled to herself. “I need a pack of changeling wenches, a firkin of whiskey, and for my sister to be busy for a few hours… And possibly Cadence to drop in. She seems to know how to find a good time despite one’s woes.”
“There’s a changeling hive below the town. I can arrange that once we’re done,” Raven promised, reaching out towards Luna to squeeze her hoof but failing due to the junk in the way.
I might even be able to get Cadence to help throw a spontaneous party. Raven mused, making a note to put in a call and see if she was free later.
Luna met her halfway and squeezed her hoof. “When Celestia retires… Will you do me the kindness of taking over as Twilight’s Regent? And should she have somepony in mind for the position, would you become my Regent? You’re the right mare for the title.”
Raven blushed. “I— Well, I would be delighted. That being said, why must we meet here?”
“Because despite being in shambles, the wards of privacy are still functioning. Nothing outside this room can hear, see, nor perceive us,” Luna explained quietly. “I used it to conceal my affairs from my sister, for at the time, loving one of your own sex was punishable by death.”
Raven winced at that particular anachronism. “I’m sorry you grew up like that… For the record, you’re bisexual, correct?”
Luna frowned at the word. “I know not that term. Just know that I do not care what my lovers are, only who they are.”
Raven nodded, content with the answer. “Understood. That is bisexual. Though I am certain younger ponies than I have one of hundreds of redundant categories to place you into with extreme precision…” She shook her head and chuckled. “Identity became a little political for them. I’m not entirely certain why.”
Luna shrugged her wings. “Likely the same reason anything strange happens within our culture. A Psychic Echo of the World Before resonated with a time, place, and people..”
“Maybe,” Raven agreed, nodding. “Shall we get on with this?”
“Please… It smells of ineffective cleaning agents in here,” Luna said, glaring at a bottle of eco-friendly degreaser which not only did a worse job of degreasing surfaces than other cleaners, but due to how much more of it you needed to use was actually worse for the environment than traditional chemical degreasers.
Raven cleared her throat. “Junebug, Samhain, Dew, and Enox were debriefed by STF Alpha-One,” she began. “We were able to determine, thanks to Enox’s testimony—”
Luna raised a hoof.
“Yes?”
“Is she truly from another planet?”
Raven nodded. “Yes. Many ponies under me believe she is a mutant, but she took me to a galactic mall to buy a replacement dress for one of mine she ruined with a prank. She’s an extraequestrial.”
Luna nodded, seemingly happy that there was an answer to one of the oldest questions.
“Her testimony proved to be the only fruitful one. She discovered the anomaly within the AC system and, in her words, ‘shooed off’ a form of nightmare creature. As far as we can tell, the nightmare hitched a ride with Dew on her last voyage beyond our realm. It appears to have left her in search of better food—”
Luna raised her hoof again, prompting Raven to stop and nod for her to ask her question.
“Hath nopony placed a tracking spell on the filly? Would that not ensure her location is known at all times and, thus, prevent her from traveling?” Luna asked.
“We tried. But the spell has no memory. Somepony would need to monitor it twenty-five/five,” Raven sighed. “A technological solution may be possible. I’ve heard SkyTech Industries has a digital tracking system. However, we’re not preferred clients of theirs. It would thus be costly to even get a consultation on… We’re getting off track.”
Raven cleared her throat and returned her mind to the current dilemma. “The nightmare… Mmm, I don’t like calling it that. It behaved quite differently from the ones I am familiar with. The... Let’s call it a pseudo-nightmare for now. It left Dew in search of food, was chased away by Enox, and after leaving the Observatory’s thaumic interference shield seems to have been possessed by another entity.”
Raven sighed and nodded to Luna. “The signature is the same as the one we found had interfered with the Elements of Harmony when they chose their new bearers before your return. The same one which allowed the Nightmare to possess Lyra Heartstrings in an attempt to take its revenge on the Elements… Erm, while we are on the subject until that happened, I genuinely believed you had been extremely enraged at your sister. Which, having worked for her, I can entirely understand.”
Luna laughed and shook her head slowly. “She can be infuriating, though she knows how to keep a nation stable and prosperous. Just not truly safe. That was meant to be my role,” Luna sighed and looked to Raven forlornly. “I am truly sorry for all that has beset you and your ancestors since I failed to get through to Celestia during our battle. I only sought to show her the truth. That some threats must be slain. How was I to know one must be precise to the point of perfection with their words when wishing upon demons? That was not a part of my education and apparently too common knowledge to have been written in the grimoires I used.”
Raven smiled. “No apology necessary. To quote Clover the Clever: The ancient past is distant indeed.”
“Less than five years ago, from my point of view,” Luna corrected, looking down.
Raven made a note to hire a therapist for Luna. “Well, back on track once more, the same entity we’ve been running into from time to time… You know the one. Shows up, messes with something only for it to almost entirely remove all traces of its existence? That thing. It appears to have been responsible for this. It possessed the nightmare, it delivered targeting information to Silk, it may even have directed Dew to the world she encountered that Nightmare in… And, it appears to have created the Aurora anomaly.”
Luna looked up, her eyes narrowing slightly. “First, it attempts to ensure I was never freed, then it sought to destroy the Elements of Harmony, then it compelled Celestia to attempt to visit that… Alternate Equestria, despite knowing the unstable portal might collapse our realities if somepony of her power crossed the gate again. Then it hijacked one of Discord’s old traps to incapacitate Celestia and I, forcing the Elements to keep them on the Tree of Harmony most of the time, lest it once again possess the tree.”
Luna sat in thoughtful silence for a moment. “Are we certain it’s the same signature? This does not fit its apparent modus operandi. Celestia and I are its clear targets.”
“It is the same,” Raven confirmed. “I agree it’s seemingly out of character for our mysterious opponent. However, this is your home town. Perhaps it knows? Is there anything here that could be used to destroy you?”
Luna snorted. “Not since my scrapbooks are long gone…” She said before looking a little more serious. “In truth, yes. Beneath the hive, in the ruins. There is plenty that could harm an Alicorn. If one knew what they were, how to use them, or how to repurpose them. Though most, if not all, would need repairs before any could use them, my sister and I are the last of the living with the knowledge needed…”
Luna snorted and rolled her eyes. “Correction: I am the last. Celestia couldn’t remember how to recharge her old regalia. I had to do it for her.”
Raven’s ears perked as an idea occurred to her. “In that case, June has been tasked with studying Object 92. It’s a relic discovered within a complex beneath those ruins. Perhaps it could shed some light on this matter?”
“Beneath?” Luna asked, frowning sharply. “Oh! Yes. A wizard lived in the caverns once upon a time. If the bedtime stories hold truth, that is. It’s worth making the relic a priority. For if its interference in this place is but a coincidence, in terms of my being from here, then perhaps the entity is from here as well… A ghost of a dead age.”
Raven nodded in agreement. “I’ll have June placed back in her lab tomorrow. As for the criminal investigation, what do you think we should do? We no longer have stealth.”
Luna laughed and smiled at Raven, standing up slowly. “I intend to make life as difficult for Grape Vine as possible by making it wonderful for the employees he griefs. As his plans fail, he will make mistakes. All you need do is watch for those mistakes. I also plan on dealing with this little land dispute.”
Raven nodded slowly. “I like your plan. It’s simple and could work quickly enough, and at the very least, it should distract him from my own moves. How do you plan on dealing with the property problem?”
“Simple,” Luna said as she walked to the door. “After I learn everything about Lord Night Sky, and I do mean everything, I will pay him a visit. I will agree with him that my sister’s threat resolution is unacceptable, offer to help him get military-grade materials for his bunker as a pure act of kindness, and negotiate for this facility. If he be willing.”
Raven winced. “That may not work, Princess. He is… Unstable.”
“Aye,” Luna agreed, nodding. “As am I. He and I have more in common than you would believe, and he realizes. At the very least, neither you nor my sister thought to simply speak to him on the matter. If I fail, Celestia still has her list of solutions. Silkwing is fed once again, so there can be no containment breach if CARE no longer owns the shed, as she is loyal when not ill. There is no longer a downside to simply asking him.”
Raven raised a hoof to disagree, then sighed and nodded. “Very well. Good luck. Let’s hope it works.”
Luna turned the doorknob with her magic. “It’s not a matter of luck. It’s a matter of sympathizing his madness with my own.”
Raven nodded in agreement and made a mental note to go tell June her project was now a priority assignment. We need to learn more about our meddling friend. It could be behind all of this, the corruption, the land issues, the new anomalies. My gut says the sooner we know, the better.