//------------------------------// // 18: A Cold Canterlot Night // Story: Death of a Queen, V2. // by Arkane12 //------------------------------// “What happened?” Twilight demanded, glancing over her shoulder at the guard and Shining Armor behind her.  “I don’t know the details, Princess. Luna simply ordered that I bring you as quickly as possible,” the soldier said between breaths. Despite years of conditioning, both armored stallions struggled to keep up with the adrenaline-fueled alicorn.  A crowd had gathered outside Celestia’s bedroom. Several armored stallions stood at the core, surrounded by a mob of servants and castle staff.  “Clear the way, royal entourage coming through,” Shining shouted over the din.  Several heads turned his way. The congregation split wide, allowing Twilight to pass through unhindered. Two of the guards closest to the door, spears still in their grasp, heaved the doors open and stepped aside. Twilight nodded to them as she passed. Inside, Luna, Cadance, Doctor Heart, two black-clad thestrals, and a trio of nurses were scattered around the room, sitting in silence. Every pony in the room turned up toward Twilight as she burst in.  “What happened?”  Luna turned away from Twilight, casting her gaze down at her comatose sister.  Cadance stepped forward. “Celestia’s in bad shape. We were worried that she might . . .” she swallowed hard. “Doctor Heart can explain better than I can. Doctor?”  The unicorn in question sat on the couch between his nurses. At Cadance’s insistence, her rose, his joints creaking like rusting metal. He walked to Celestia’s bedside, opposite the other two alicorns. He motioned for Twilight to step forward.  Shining Armor slipped in through the door before ordering the guards behind him to close it back up. They did so wordlessly, removing the interference of the many prying eyes waiting outside.  “Princess Twilight, you may wish to sit down.” Twilight wanted to sit, but her legs refused to bend at her command. “Just tell me, Doctor,” she said.  “Me and my team have been monitoring Celestia’s vitals.” He pointed to the medical monitors set up around the bed. Several different stats were listed on just as many screens. “The poison is continually spreading through her body, causing damage wherever it ends up.”  “I’m aware of her condition, Doctor,” Twilight snapped. Almost immediately, her eyes went wide and she stepped back.  “The damage has been steady. But, thanks to her alicorn physiology, she’s exceptionally resistant. Our initial diagnosis gave her a month left.”  “Given that you called me here, I take it that something went wrong?” Twilight asked.  “Unfortunately. Several minutes ago, her vitals spiked across the board. Then her heart stopped.” Twilight paled. Suddenly, she was happy to have missed dinner tonight.  Doctor Heart gave her a moment to digest the information before he continued.  “Luckily, my nurses and I managed to restart her heart. Her vitals have returned to their normal rhythm, meaning that she’s in the clear for now. Right now, we think the poison might have reached her heart and damaged some of the muscle. Problem is, the poison is also messing with any scans, so we can’t confirm the issue.”  “What exactly are you trying to say, Doctor?” Luna’s voice startled Twilight. She’d nearly forgotten the elder alicorn was there.  The doctor cleared his throat. “I’m saying that, for now, our original timeline still stands. At her current rate, she still has a few weeks left. However, should her vitals crash again, we might not be able to revive her.”  “How long?” Luna asked, her head hung low.  “As of this moment, we don’t know. Could be tonight, could never happen again.”  A cold chill settled over the room. For several minutes, only the beeping of the medical monitors could be heard.  “So, what is our plan going forward?” Cadance asked. The doctor retrieved his clipboard from the foot of the bed. He scanned each page as he flipped through. “For now, we’re doing all we can to keep her together. We’re trying to buy as much time as possible for Princess Twilight. Speaking of which, have you made any progress, Princess?”  “I have.” Twilight’s thoughts raced by too quickly for her to grasp, leaving her stunned and only barely standing. She never noticed the rest of the room staring in her direction. “She has,” Cadance intervened. “From what I understand, she’s learned that the poison is mystical by nature. She’s trying to create a potion that can dispel the magic and render the poison inert.”  “Hmm.” The doctor conferred with his underlings. Despite their exhausted features, they seemed eager to entertain the Doctor’s words. “That’s certainly an interesting route to take. Traditional medicine has had little impact, so I suppose the mystical option is a good one to take. Any ideas on her current progress towards that goal?”  “Based on what she showed me . . .” Cadance looked to Luna, then Twilight, then back to the doctor. “It looked like it worked.”  “Is that right?” Doctor Heart returned to Twilight’s side, putting a hoof on her shoulder. The touch shocked Twilight back to reality.  “Yes,” Twilight answered, her mind only now realizing they had been speaking to her. “My current incarnation of the potion was able to neutralize one of my spells. But I still need to test it extensively. If I can blitz through them tomorrow, the cure should hopefully be ready by tomorrow night.”  “You’ve done well, Princess,” Doctor Heart assured her. “Is there nothing else we can do to help her, Doctor?” Luna asked. Twilight had never heard Luna’s voice waver like it did now. She seemed to be on the verge of tears.  “Me and my team will keep watch. We’ll do everything we can to keep her safe.”  “No.” A wave of authority emanated from Luna with only a single word. “For tonight, I will stay with Celestia. You and your team have done well, Doctor.”  The nurse trio exchanged concerned glances.  Doctor Heart cleared his throat. “Princess, I’m not sure that’s a good . . .”  “That goes for the rest of you as well. You all heard the doctor. There is nothing to be done tonight. Return to your rooms and get some rest. I will watch over my sister.”  “But Princess Luna--” Twilight began.  “Silence, Twilight.” Her orders were much softer than before. “I know you do not wish to leave Celestia, but we all have work that must be done. Equestria must stand strong, and that means that we cannot let this distract us from what must be done.”  Twilight tried to argue, but only managed to stand there with her mouth agape.  “Please, Twilight. I do not wish to argue with you tonight.”  At Luna’s command, the room emptied, save for the elder alicorn and the doctor. The crowd had scattered up and down the hallway, chomping at the bit for any sliver of information they could get. Still, they too eventually dispersed.  “I need to go,” Twilight said once only Shining and Cadance remained.  “You should go to bed, Twilight,” Cadance said, wrapping her foreleg around Twilight for a hug. “You need sleep, too.”  “I . . . I don’t really feel tired right now.”  “Twilight, you look like you’re about to pass out from exhaustion,” Shining Armor interrupted, taking his place at Twilight’s other flank.  “Look, I promise that I’ll get some sleep tonight. I understand how important it is. I’ll go up to my lab and start running the tests I need to determine if the potion is safe. If I start them now, they’ll be able to run overnight. I’ll be able to sleep then. Okay?”  “Alright,” Cadance relented. “But promise me that you’re serious.”  “I am.”  “Fine.”  Twilight started to walk away. “Twilight?” Shining called.  “Yes, Shiny?”  “I . . . I know that I’m not exactly . . . smart, but if you need any help, or even if you just want to talk, wake us. Cadance and I are here to help you. I want you to remember that.”  Twilight stared back at him. “I know, Shiny. Thank you. Goodnight. Both of you.” With that, she marched off toward her lab.  “I said that everyone should leave. That includes you, too, Doctor.” Luna rested her head on Celestia’s bed, watching the doctor in his chair on the other side of the room. He slipped a bookmark onto his current page and set his reading materials aside.  “I’ll consider it . . . as soon as you tell me what you’re really planning.”  “I’m afraid that I do not understand--” “Don’t start with me, Luna. You might be a princess, but you’re my patient as well. Your health is just as important to me as Celestia’s.” “It should not be. Celestia is what matters here. Equestria needs her.”  The doctor levitated a cigarette out of his case and set it in his mouth. He tugged the lighter from his pocket and flicked the lid open. “That’s not true, Princess. Equestria needs all of its princesses.”  “It has survived without me for centuries. It can continue to do so. If Celestia falls, it may very well be the end of this country.”  “Aren’t you selling yourself short?” The doctor asked, snapping his lighter shut. “I could never compete with her. I should be in her place. She does not deserve this.”  “And you do?” The doctor’s voice took on a harsh tone. Luna refused to look him in the eye. “Luna, be honest with me, are you having nightmares again?”  “I am not the one in need of your aid at the moment, Doctor. Whatever wounds I might have, they cannot amount to my sister’s.”  “This isn’t your fault, Luna.”  Luna lifted her head from her sister’s chest. “I did not say it was.”  “Tell me then, whose fault is it?”  Luna stood. “What sort of question is that, Doctor? It’s that cursed bug in the other room. Chrysalis is to blame for Celestia’s injury, obviously.”  “Is it so obvious?” the doctor suggested. “You could also argue that it’s Celestia’s fault--” Luna rocketed up. “Hold your tongue or I will have you imprisoned for treason!” “They’re not my words, Princess. Given what I read from Princess Twilight’s reports, Celestia not only spared Chrysalis, but stayed behind in the hive to help her. So, the argument could be made that Princess Celestia shares in the blame.”  With a scoff, Luna returned to her sister’s side. She knelt down beside her bed and listened to Celestia’s heartbeat. “Do not be ridiculous.”  “Alright, then. Tell me, what should Celestia have done instead?”  “I am not in the mood for a test, Doctor.”  Doctor Heart shifted in his seat, massaging his knee. “Humor an old stallion.”  “If it had been me there, I would have executed Chrysalis. Left her body for whatever predators stalk those Badlands. It would have been a better fate than she deserved.”  “Why?”  “Why what?”  “Why does Chrysalis deserve such a gruesome fate?”  “You have sympathy for her too, Doctor?” A tangible danger lurked in Luna’s glare.  “I’m a doctor. I don’t need sympathy to save a life.” He lifted the cigarette from his lip. “Now stop dodging the question.”  “I am not dodging the question. Every pony in Equestria knows her crimes. If she had not been stopped, she would have taken control of Equestria and enslaved its citizens. Assuming, of course, she did not kill us first.” The doctor replaced his cigarette. “Sounds familiar.”  “Excuse me?”  “Attacking Princess Celestia? Destruction of Canterlot, or at least, a city? Attempts to overthrow the Equestrian leadership? I can list several villains capable of such things.”  “What exactly are you inferring, Doctor?” Luna demanded.  “Nightmare Moon.”  The moonlight dimmed. Shadows at the corners of the room crawled forward. Though the doctor’s cigarette remained unlit, he exhaled a cloud of his breath alongside it. “You do not wish to continue this conversation, Doctor.”  “Tell me something, Princess Luna. You say that Celestia should have killed the changeling for her crimes. In fact, you seem almost angered by her mercy. But has she not shown you the same? Or are you saying she should have killed you, too?” Luna’s magic faded. The dark receded. The frost on the windows dispersed. Her silence answered his question, prompting him to continue with another.  “Tell me, Princess Luna, are you having nightmares again?”  Luna’s anger faded, replaced with a numb emptiness and a vacant gaze.  “Yes,” she whispered.  Doctor Heart leaned back in his seat. “You should have told me.”  “I am not the one who needs your aid right now.”  She didn’t react as Doctor Heart climbed from his chair. He smothered his cold cigarette in the ashtray and moved to Luna’s side. He put a hoof on her shoulder, right above her wing.  “Princess Luna, this isn’t your fault. You know that, right?”  “It should be me lying here, Doctor. I am the one that deserves this. Not her.” Tears welled in Luna’s eyes, spilling onto her sister’s snow white coat. “Not her.”  Shining Armor held the door open, letting his wife go first. Cadance kissed him on the cheek as she passed. Once inside, she made her way into the bathroom to begin her nightly rituals.  The tired stallion pulled the door shut, turned the lock, and engaged the deadbolt. But he didn’t move away from the door. His conversation with Twilight still wormed through his thoughts. But Cadance had enough trouble for one day. It could wait.  “You know, we have locks on our doors back home.”  His wife’s words startled him. He turned around to face her, all the while searching the room for an excuse. Cadance’s silhouette stood in the bathroom door, a magic-controlled hairbrush running through her mane.  “What?” Shining asked.  “The locks. I assume they must be interesting. Isn’t that why you’re just standing there, staring at them?” She raised an eyebrow.  “It’s not the locks,” Shining chuckled quietly. “I’m just . . . doing some thinking.”  Cadance traded one brush for another. When she returned to the doorway, her toothbrush hung from the corner of her mouth.  “Oh? Well, what are you thinking about?” “You know . . . just . . . stuff.”  “Shining, are you going to tell me what this is about, or am I going to have to pout?” she mumbled through her toothbrush.  “It’s not urgent. It can wait.” He prayed she would see it that way as well. “Sweetie, I love you, but you’re really bad at lying. Tell me.”  He sighed. “Fine. I just figured you’d had enough trouble today.”  “I live for trouble, Shiny.”  “I know.” He smiled. As Cadance finished and rinsed, Shining stripped his armor away. In his exhausted state, he just tossed them into the corner. His superiors would have tanned his hide for such an act. Fortunately for him, he was the top dog now.  “So, are you going to tell me what’s up?”  “Twilight was really upset tonight,” he began.  “I don’t blame her. She’s got a lot of stress on her. And after what happened tonight, I’m not surprised she’s on edge.”  “That’s the worst part. She was upset before Celestia’s incident.”  “Oh. Ooh.” Cadance stepped out of the bathroom and climbed into bed.  Shining took his turn getting ready for bed.  “Yeah. Remember how Luna was talking about letting us take Chrysalis back north with us? Apparently, she didn’t confer with Twilight first. When she learned the truth . . . she didn’t take it well.”  Cadance sighed. “I don’t get it, Shining. Twilight knows what Chrysalis did to us. Did to her. How can she protect her like this?”  Shining tilted his head to drink from the faucet as he put his own toothbrush away. “I don’t know. She says she wants to help Chrysalis, and that she needs Chrysalis’ help to finish the cure . . . but it feels like there’s something else at play here. Something we’re missing.”  Cadance rolled onto her side and stared out at the moon. “Yeah. She said something similar to me when I went to visit her in her lab.” Shining flipped off the light and joined his wife in their bed.  “And? Do you believe her?”  “I . . . I don’t even really know. She seems convinced that Chrysalis can change, that she wants a new life in Equestria. I can’t believe that she thinks Chrysalis is capable of such things. I certainly didn’t see it.”  “Why would you have seen it?” Shining asked, rolling to face his wife’s back. “Please tell me you didn’t go down to talk with her.” Silence. “Well, I can’t imagine that went too well.”  Cadance rolled over as well, putting them face-to-face.  “Not even close to well. She attacked a guard.”  “She what?” Shining asked, recoiling.  “She attacked one of the guards that accompanied me. She stole his spear and threatened to kill him. She . . .” Cadance’s gaze left her husband’s kind eyes. “What did she do?”  “She threatened me. Sort of. She wanted me to attack her. If I didn’t, she threatened to kill the guard. Even put the spear to his neck. But even after everything she did to me, I couldn’t hurt her. Well, not that badly, anyways. I clipped her with a spell.”  “Yikes.”  Cadance frowned, catching Shining off-guard.  Shining cleared his throat. “That sounds like a tough situation, I mean. If it were me, I would have let her have it. I’m sure it would have been cathartic.”  Cadance inched forward, resting her head on her husband’s barrel.  “That’s just it. At that moment, I thought about how much I hated her. Even thought of all the things I said that I would do the next time I saw her. But I couldn’t do it. Not even to save a life.”  “She killed the guard?” Shining moved to sit up.  “No,” Cadance said, putting him at ease. “She . . . missed. Put a hole in the ground right next to his head.”  “Missed?”  “Yeah.” Cadence squirmed. Shining raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound like her.”  “It bothers me, too. I want to believe that it was some sort of plot of hers, but I just . . .” Cadance reached her foreleg over to Shining’s far side, pulling him into a close embrace beneath their sheets. She pressed her cheek to his chest. The tension in her body eased as she listened to his heartbeat. “I really don’t know what to think anymore, Shining.”  “Yeah.” Shining teased the ends of his wife’s mane. “Are you alright? Do you want to talk about what happened?”  Cadance groaned. “I didn’t know what to do, Shiny. More guards were coming to help. But she could have killed that poor soldier easily. I’ve never really . . . hurt anyone. I just . . . froze.”  “That’s not your fault, Cadance. You’re kind-hearted. Don’t take this the wrong way, but that really isn’t a good trait for getting into fights.”  “You say I’m kind-hearted. Chrysalis said I was a coward.”  Cadance’s head bounced up and down as Shining started to laugh. “It’s Chrysalis. If she hadn’t insulted you, I would have been worried.”  The two of them fell quiet for a short time. They listened to the sounds of the night. Howling wind and settling stone. “What are we supposed to do, Shiny?”  Shining loosed a long sigh through his nose. “I don’t know. I feel like we just kind of stumbled into the middle of something here. Something we definitely were not prepared for.” “I feel like Twilight and Luna are expecting me to pick a side,” Cadance said. “How am I supposed to pick a side between my own family? It’s not fair. But I don’t have the right to complain. Shiny, I’m really worried about Twilight.”  “Yeah. Me, too. Speaking of which . . . I may have made Twilight a promise.”  Cadance sat up, staring down at her husband with a suspicious stare.  “What sort of promise?”  “I told that I would never trust Chrysalis. That if she tried to hurt Twilight, I would kill her myself. But . . . I also said that I’d trust Twilight. She deserves that much.”  Cadance laid back down against Shining’s chest. “You mean about Chrysalis?”  “Yeah,” Shining said. “What if Twilight’s right? What if Chrysalis really has turned . . . or rather, is trying to turn over a new leaf? If anyone could do that, it would definitely be Twilight. But if she’s wrong . . .”  “Yeah.” Another long pause.  “I think we should stay for a while,” Shining decided. “Chrysalis can help Twilight under our supervision. If she gives a reason to rethink our choice, we go with the original plan. How does that sound?”  “Like a pain. I can send a letter to Flurry’s sitter in the morning and try to explain. I hope it’ll tide her over until mommy and daddy get home,” Cadance whined. “But, at the very least, we have a plan. One that might even improve Twilight’s mood a bit. Not sure how Luna will take it.”  “Probably not well. If she says anything, I’ll take credit for the idea.”  “Such a gentleman,” Cadance giggled.  Shining could nearly hear her rolling her eyes. “And speaking of Twilight’s mood . . .”  Cadance pursed her lips. “I’m listening.”  “I think I’m going to take her with me tomorrow. She definitely seems like she could use a break. Did you see how exhausted she was?”  “Yeah,” Cadance closed her eyes, enraptured by Shining’s warmth. “We should probably focus on getting some sleep, too.” She jolted back awake. “Oh, Shining, would you do me a favor and not mention my visit with Chrysalis?”  “Your secret is safe with me, Cadance.” Shining smiled and held his wife close. Together, they slipped away into a well-needed sleep.