//------------------------------//
// A Princess Betrayed 
// Story: Luna Nos Custodit 
// by Tsuguri 
//------------------------------//

Dawn was just lighting the sky as Princess Luna circled around Canterlot one last time. The wind under her wings felt... fresh in a way that she had not felt in over a century. She was almost reluctant to abandon this tranquility, but there was important business that had to be attended to.

'I shall confess to Tia before I ask for the Moon's return. She will understand the significance of that.' Finalizing her thoughts and her resolve, Luna began her descent towards her private chambers. 'Interesting, the palace seems to be exceptionally lively this morning.' 

Indeed. As she touched down on her balcony she could still hear the movements and voices from the courtyard. Whatever had the staff agitated this morning must be something important. As she entered her chambers, she sent a magical summons for one of her Night Guard to attend to her. She started to cross over to her mirror and was just beginning to prepare her grooming kit when one of her Sergeants rushed through her door and bowed low.

"While I commend you on a prompt response, what reason do you have for bursting into my chambers without even attempting a courtesy?"

"My apologies Majesty, but we have been waiting for your return since the news broke."

"Oh," Luna cut in, feeling her curiosity peak, "and what is it that has the entire castle buzzing this morning?" she asked as she turned to back towards her mirror.

"Majesty, Twilight Sparkle has been recovered by Princess Celestia."

That caused Luna's head to whip back around and stare at her Guardspony in alarm. "How is that possible? She should be... We saw her get... HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!" she nearly shrieked as she felt her bottom land on the floor in shock.

"Majesty, I know not how she was returned. Only that Celestia departed the palace sometime after midnight, apparently in great distress after receiving a scroll from Miss Twilight's dragon assistant. Upon her return she called the courts entire medical staff to her personal chambers, including Princess Mi Amore, and has not emerged since. According to reports from the attending staff, Miss Sparkle was recovered in Ponyville, coated in injuries most dire, and even now is barely clinging to life with the assistance of your sister's protection magic. She is apparently in and out of consciousness and she has yet to report on anything of her abduction." Glancing up towards his princess's face, the Guardpony could see the shock starting to fade and a calculating look overcome her features. His own face and tone started to take on a steely undercurrent. "In the time since then, all of your forces have been put on high alert and now stand awaiting your instructions. We are now fully prepared to initiate True Night. Our targets have had their shadows attached and are ready to move. We only require your command."

"NO!" Luna cried out in alarm but then she quickly got her voice under control. "No, we will not be using True Night, inform them to detach and prepare to execute Everfree on my signal. We maybe still able to salvage this, but that will not be an option if we act rashly. Under no circumstances should we shed any blood unnecessarily. Am I understood?" she let a hard edge creep into her voice as the Guardpony let a look of disbelief cross his face. 

"Completely." It was the only response he could voice under the harshness of his princess.

"Good. Now go and inform the rest. I shall be confirming the situation and will send out the signal personally if need be. Now be off." 

With another bow and an abbreviated "Majesty," the Sergeant turned and ran to carry out his orders. His haste was so great that he had not even paused to close the chamber's door. After she magically closed the door herself, Luna turned towards her mirror once more and took a deep breath to stabilize herself. Closing her eyes, she felt the last vestiges of her earlier peace slowly slipping away. So close, she had been so close to confessing everything and avoiding a worst case scenario. Now if what she feared had happened, then the chances of this ending without bloodshed were swiftly approaching zero. Exhaling, she felt her resolve return to her like a set of heavy armor once more.

As she turned and started to exit her chambers, she paused only to grab a small satchel and settle it on her flank. 'If this truly has come to pass then I must be ready. I think a quick stop in the royal vault is in order, and then we shall confront our mistakes.'

**********

Princess Celestia sat near the edge of her bed and gazed upon its sole occupant. Her ever flowing rainbow mane was barely moving as she silently concentrated her powers and prayers upon the one she had failed. All of the powers at her command, all of the authority at her call, and she still was unable to prevent the tragedy that befell her most faithful student. 

Twilight Sparkle lay in an uneasy sleep; her breaths were irregular and shallow and her face, even now, was creased with pain and sweat. Around Twilight was gathered the most knowledgeable doctors in the entire realm being lead by her niece Princess Cadance. They were all gently examining and probing her in an attempt to discover the extent of her trauma. The only others in the room were several guards Celestia had order to stand by, including Twilight's brother Shining Armor, who looked on with an almost-painful feeling of rage on his face; Prince Blueblood was waiting on any words the young mare might utter; and lastly, Twilights loyal assistant and best friend, Spike the Dragon, held a hoof gently in his claws. He has yet to leave her side even once since she had arrived, relinquishing his hold on her only when the doctors needed him to stand aside, but had returned to her the instant he was able.

Celestia's heart went out to the young dragon. Even more then her, perhaps even more than Shining Armor, he felt the greatest sense of betrayal. To him, Twilight was his best friend, teacher, sister, and mother all rolled into one and someone had taken her and very nearly killed her. If they ever discovered the one responsible for Twilight's condition, Celestia was not sure who would win the race between the brother and the assistant to extract retribution. No matter who it was though she would have to stop them, she could not allow them to seriously injure any of her other subjects, not before she had a chance to extract her own share of blood and tears.

As she noticed Cadance step back and approach her, she returned her senses to the present and faced her directly. "What is your diagnosis my Niece? Will she be able to recover?"

"Physically, yes Aunt Celestia. Mentally though, I am not so sure," the Alicorn said as she glanced back towards her struggling sister-in-law. "I do not know what kind of depraved soul would do such a thing, but whoever it was will not be able to be sufficiently punished under Equestrian Law in my opinion." Even though Celestia agreed with this assessment, the venom present in the voice was so far out of Cadance's nature that it prompted a questioning look from the princess. "Aunty, in addition to the damage you can see, we have found evidence of multiple bone fractures, her hide has been sliced and burned, both by flames and by electricity, so much we are surprised that it is still attached to her, her muscles are bruised and torn enough to suggest she went through a tenderizer, and many of her organs she signs of previous ruptures. But even more disturbing than all of this is the disproportionate amount of healing which has occurred over it all. As far as we can determine, not only was this done over the course of many months, it was done in such a way to guarantee that she felt every bit of the pain."

Celestia's face fell even farther with this bit of news, and she found herself in complete agreement with her niece. Not only would Equestrian Law not allow this villain to be sufficiently punished, she doubted that she would even be able to allow herself the ability to do so; at least she could not imagine being able to live with herself after the fact. "Have you been able to learn anything about who did this though? Has she been able to say anything?"

"No, not yet. She hasn't said anything coherent and we were reluctant to deeply probe her mind after all of the trauma it has absorbed. Now though, we believe it would be safe enough to awaken her. Your protection spell has healed the worst of the injuries."

"Please do so." Celestia's words were barely more than a whisper. "We need to know who was responsible for this as soon as we can."

With a small nod of her head, Cadance returned to her place among the other healers. After a quick consultation they all pooled their magic once more, this time with the goal of nudging Twilight towards consciousness. It still required several minutes of tense waiting, but eventually the mare started to become more agitated; she started thrashing around and her breathing became more erratic until her eye's finally shot open. Her eyes were wild and frantic as she quickly scanned the room and recoiled away from the gathered doctors.

"It's ok Twilight, you're home, you're safe, Twilight it's ok." Spike quietly reassured her. It was not until her eyes locked onto him that her panic started to fade. Her breathing started to calm down and her eyes became less frantic and started to mist over with tears. 

Her voice came out thin and weak, "Oh Spike, it's really you, it's really you."

"Yeah Twilight, it's me. And don't worry, I'm not going to leave you again. Never again." he claimed as he gently embraced her, his eyes brimming with unshed tears. 

Celestia looked on as relief threatened to cause her own eyes to become watery as well, but she held them back as she gently approached her student and caught her attention. "Twilight Sparkle, my most precious student, I am sorry to intrude on this but I must ask, do you remember who did this to you? Do you know is responsible for this?"

"Oh Princess," Twilight cried out, her eyes dripping with the tears now running down her face, "it was so horrible. They locked me up in some kind of dungeon, it was so cold and there was never any sunlight. I never thought I'd see you again. It was awful." she was nearly bawling now.

"Twilight, I know it was most horrific for you, but I promise that I will see those responsible punished. Just tell me who and I shall smite them with every means at my disposal."

"It was... it was..." suddenly, Twilight's eyes grew wild once more and she started to scoot away on the bed. Her hoof flew out and her voice rose to a frantic pitch. "It was her! She is the one who did it! Please, stop her! Don't let her near me!"

Startled, Celestia whirled around and stared at the figure who had just entered the chamber, at her own sister. Princess Luna stared back at her accuser wearing a look of shock and confusion on her face. "How? How is it that you came to be here? I know what happened to you and I swore you were beyond help, so how is it that you come before us again?!"

Celestia could only stare in astonishment at the words coming forth from her own sisters lips as she advanced further into the room. Others, fortunately, were stunned much less. "Guards! Surround Princess Luna! Do not let her near Miss Sparkle and do not let her escape!" Blueblood called out. Even though they were stunned nearly as much as Celestia, the authority in Bluebloods voice shocked them into action and they quickly circled around and blocked any routes the advancing princess could take. Shining Armor himself blocked the way forward towards his sister and shot a look of pure hatred at the advancing princess.

Looking around and finding herself blocked on all side, Luna scanned the assembled faces. Just before she faced her directly again, Celestia heard the last thing she would have expected from her sister in this situation, laughter. "Oh ha ha ha ha ha. So that is how you want to play it do you? Tell me, dear sister, do you truly intend to charge me with responsibility for this?"

Celestia shook herself out of her daze and addressed her sister back. "Luna, I do not what why this is so, but as Ruler of Equestria, I must ask that you do not resist and to submit yourself to my authority for questioning in this matter."

Spike, meanwhile, had nearly rushed on over and would have joined the Guardponies around Luna if not for Cadance herself holding him back and out of the way. "Is that true? Are you really the one who hurt Twilight?!" he bellowed, the rage coming through load and clear in his voice. 

"I am afraid that no matter what, the answer I give you will not be satisfy you, any of you. So I am sorry sister, but as the other Ruler of Equestria I must decline your authority over myself and refuse to answer your questions here." Luna replied back with an almost... resigned look upon her face.

"Very well," Celestia answered back, "if you will not submit yourself willingly, then I shall have no choice but to force your cooperation." With this declaration, she started to gather her magical energy and approached her defiant sibling.

"You are welcome to try dear sister, but I think you shall find me to be a most unaccommodating suspect." Suddenly, Luna sent out a large pulse of magical energy which Celestia could find almost no reason for. This was followed very shortly though by a sharp telekinetic shove which staggered the Guards and a sharp bolt of lightning which both deafened the guards and blinded everyone in the room. 

As her eyes quickly recovered, Celestia could hear her sister calling out. "If you actually desire the truth, then seek me out and I shall answer all of your questions there. He will be able to tell you were to find me." Celestia caught a last glimpse of a dark mist slipping under her balcony doors and out towards the open air.

Judging by the way Luna had said he, Celestia could only think of one pony off hoof she could have meant and turned towards her nephew. "What did she mean that you can tell us where to find her?

Blinking that last residual traces from the lightning from his eyes, Blueblood lowered his head. "Over the past several weeks I have had reports of strange activity in a couple of areas regarding Princess Luna and her Night Guards. I have yet to bring them to your attention due to a lack of collaborating evidence. Based on those reports though, I believe she is heading for the mountains overlooking Ponyville and will be meeting with the rest of her available forces."

"While her forces should be limited, they will most assuredly not come quietly. Shining Armor, I want you to detain any Night Guards who are still here and question them on the status of their comrades. Blueblood, rouse the rest of my personal guard and prepare them to move out, we shall be retrieving my sister one way or another. I shall be in the royal vault in the meantime, there is something I must prepare. Now go!" 

The two stallions gave a quick nod before they dashed out to their respective tasks. Shining Armor's thoughts were consumed by the need to find anyone who might have been responsible for helping to hurt his little sister and to make them pay. Blueblood's thoughts were much simpler in scope and he allowed himself another small smile at the memory the damage his last one in that chamber had provoked. 'Perfect!'

************

Slithering through the skies in her form of mist, Luna felt herself seething in a near rage. How? How did they do it? One of the most loyal ponies she had ever met and they were able to turn her! Oh she understood now how they had gotten some of their information. Blueblood, the little snot, had let a small smile slip back in Celestia's chamber, a smile which had spoken volumes and had provoked her outburst in the chambers.

'I always knew he was a power hungry, narcissistic little twit, but I never expected this! What did they promise him to have him turn so easily and not even leave a hint of their presence on him?'

Letting her magical senses range wide and far, she located her fleeing Night Guards and performed a quick headcount. A feeling of relief flooded through her as she found all of them uninjured and free of pursuit. 'Now if I can only convince Celestia about what really happened.' If she had a face in this form it would now be gazing towards the heavens with a look of desperation. 'Please, no matter what happens, please do not make me kill her!'

*************

Prince Blueblood and Shining Armor found their Princess unmoving in the royal vault. She was just sitting and staring into an empty case which had previously held her greatest hopes. Without even looking in their direction she called out a simple command, "Report."

"Highness," Shining Armor started off, "I regret to inform you that there are no Night Guards remaining in all of Canterlot. It seems that unexplained magical pulse Luna fired was a signal. I have reports from all over the city of the Guards suddenly abandoning their posts and fleeing into the surrounding areas. Even the few Earth Ponies stationed deep in the castle were teleported outside with Unicorn assistance. I am ashamed to say it, but they must have been planning this for quite some time, the level of coordination involved would have required at least several months of preparation."

"Do not blame yourself to harshly my good captain," Blueblood cut in, "as the head of the Royal Intelligence I have collected some rumors that something was amiss with Princess Luna, but I would have never dreamed that she would have been capable of something like this again. Let us remember that above all else, she is the Grand Master of lies, deceit, and treachery. We could search the entire realm for all of time and still not find her equal."

"Watch your tongue Nephew," Celestia spoke with a hard edge to her voice, "do not forget that this is my sister you are speaking of."

Blueblood bowed his head low in apology, "I do not speak to condemn, but to admire. Such cunning is rare and I would be speaking in praise of such skills if they had not been directed at yourself."

"Yes, Luna was always the more clever one," Celestia spoke still just staring into the empty box, "even as a filly she was more at home hiding in the dark and pulling pranks from the shadows. However, it is time to show what happens when that cleverness is called out into the light of day." Finally she turned and faced her subjects directly. "And what is the status of my personal guard?"

"I am sorry to report that it will require several more hours before they are ready to depart," Blueblood did not bother raising his head as he apologized to his aunt, "this situation has caught them completely by surprise. Several officers were on extended leave and have yet to report back, and the rest are rapidly finishing overdue maintenance on their equipment. I believe it would be prudent to wait until your forces are at full strength before departing."

As her eyes drifted back towards the empty case, Celestia let an annoyed note enter her voice, "This is unacceptable. I agree that it would be foolish to leave before they are ready, but they should have been ready at a moment's notice." Now she fixed her captain with a piecing gaze. "After this is over, my Captain, we will have a serious discussion about what has lead to this situation .

This time, Shining Armor's head joined Blueblood's near the floor. "As you command my Princess. I only ask that you allow me to accompany you and to let me assist you in the retribution for my sister."

"I am sorry Captain, but that will not be possible."

At these words, Armor's head flew back up and gaped in disbelief at his ruler, "But, your Highness..."

"But nothing Captain." Celestia cut him off before he could continue, but her voice softened as she continued. "Nephew, you are a member of my family and I feel for your anger, but you are needed here. Your strengths have always lay in defense, never in attack. And I fear that my sister may have more than one plot at work. She visited this tower before she was exposed this morning and removed our most powerful weapon. In order to ensure I have enough forces to compel a surrender, I shall be drawing on both the palace and city guard ranks as well. Canterlot will be especially vulnerable today, and it shall fall to you and Cadance to make certain that our home is protected. To ensure that Twilight is kept safe."

As Shining Armor's head dipped again in apology, Blueblood raised his own. "Aunt Celestia, I feel I must remind you that you will be dealing with somepony who excels at treachery. Any surrender you secure without force will almost certainly have some hidden benefit to her. I implore you to finalize your victory by making sure the Night Guards will not be a threat again, ever."

"Mind your tongue Blueblood," Celestia snapped back, "you are advocating for the shedding of the blood of my ponies. Of my own blood."

This time Blueblood kept his head high and his gaze locked with hers. "I only advocate for what I believe to be the best for Equestria."

Celestia finally broke the gaze by closing her eyes and letting out a deep sigh, "Very well. I shall keep your warning, and your recommendation in mind."

At this concession, Blueblood lowered his head once more. Not out of humility or gratitude, but to keep the smile which threatened to appear on his face well hidden. "Thank you Aunty, that is all that I ask."