//------------------------------// // A Tooth and A Camera // Story: Winter Bells // by Pen Stroke //------------------------------// Winter Bells By Pen Stroke Preread, Edited, and Reviewed By Batty Gloom, Illustrious Q, Municipal Engines, Cloudhammer, Wraithguard, Kohta Izumi, Kirk Heller ===================================================================== Part of a side-story miniseries known as "In The Family" for the story Past Sins - The stories of the miniseries - Trinkets - Nightmare or Nyx? - Winter Bells ===================================================================== Chapter 7 A Tooth and A Camera ==================== The night was cool in Canterlot, an ideal night for most Hearth’s Warming Eve celebrations. It was warm enough for Ponies to be outside, to travel to parties and family gatherings. The nip in the air, however, was just sharp enough that once a pony got where they were going, all they’d want to do was go where it was warm and enjoy a tall mug of hot cocoa. But for some ponies, their frigid trek outside was not meant to be a short one nor was its end in sight. Shivering, Applejack adjusted her hat so it sat down, over her ears, and she pulled the jacket she had been loaned tighter around her body. The coat was from a servant pony about two sizes larger than her, but she didn’t complain. Right now, she and everypony else had bigger concerns than an ill-fitting jacket. Coming to a stop at the crest of a hill in the castle gardens, Applejack lifted a hoof to her mouth and called out into the air, “Nyx.” A shuffle of hooves in the snow behind her made Applejack glance to her side. She had been paired with Twilight Velvet, who probably should have stayed inside the castle. Her mane was disheveled, and she was a ball of nervous, pent up, panicked energy. It was similar to how Twilight had been when she feared she was going to turn in a friendship report late, proving that she truly was her mother’s daughter. Applejack waited, watching as Velvet came up the hill slowly. Each of her hoofsteps was labored and slow, like she was wearing cement shoes. “Come on, Velvet. You’re the one that’s supposed to be in the lead. You know the castle grounds better than I do.” “Sorry,” Velvet said, finally making it to the top of the hill. She was bundled up in her own coat, and the makeup she had worn for the pageant’s reception had been washed away, first by tears of fear, then by a wet rag. “Listen, Velvet, none of us will think any less of ya if you want to stay inside,” Applejack said. “We got plenty of eyes out here. We’ll find her.” “No, I want to help look,” Velvet said, taking a step down from the crest of the hill. “I’m worried about her too.” Velvet and Applejack approached a gazebo that was one of the many landmarks in the castle’s gardens. It was like a scene from a greetings card. The gazebo and the surrounding ground were covered with a thick, fluffy blanket of snow, but the space beneath the gazebo’s roof was clear. It was a space the pair entered gladly, their hooves clattering against the wood as they took a moment to shake the snow from their legs. “Nyx!” Applejack called out again, her voice joining other shouts in the night. Rainbow Dash and Cadance were in the air with the pegasi guard, and Rarity was with Night Light searching the other side of the castle. There were also a dozen teams of guards outside and even more scouring the castle’s interior. It was a systematic search that had started almost as soon as Twilight realized Nyx had vanished. And Pinkie Pie— “Hey, Applejack! Did you know you look silly upside-down?” And, of course, Pinkie Pie was searching the only way she knew how: randomly. Applejack and Velvet had already crossed paths with the pink party pony once, but now she was on the roof of the gazebo, hanging her head down over the edge. “Hey, Pinkie, has anypony found her yet?” Applejack asked. “No, they haven’t,” she answered, her smile weakening for a moment. Still, her grin soon bounced back, retaking it’s strength. “But we’ll find her, I know we will. I’m the best Hide-And-Seeker in Ponyville, and—” A snowball sailed through the air, splatting against Pinkie’s face and causing her to tumble off the top of the gazebo along with a small avalanche of snow. The tightly packed snowball had been thrown by Velvet, who was shaking. “Is my family’s safety just a game to you!?” “Whoa there,” Applejack said, quickly stepping between the two ponies. She turned to Velvet and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Listen, Sugarcube, Pinkie Pie doesn’t mean any disrespect. She’s helpin’ search, just like the rest of us, but she’s doin’ it her way. And trust me, I’d place bets Pinkie Pie’s the one that finds Nyx first.” Velvet huffed a little but then frowned and nodded. Applejack patted her shoulder reassuringly and then turned back to Pinkie Pie. “Hey, are you okay?” Pinkie Pie popped out of the pile of snow like confetti out of a party popper and nodded. She had a beard of snow and large, bushy, snow eyebrows, but she made no effort to shake them off as she smiled back at Applejack. “Yep, I’m as okay as a bale of hay.” “Then let’s get back to searchin’,” Applejack said. Pinkie Pie brought a hoof to her head, saluting Applejack. “You got it mon-capitan.” She then zipped off and jumped into a pile of snow. Applejack then saw a trail of upturned snow moving away from the pile, a sign Pinkie was digging a tunnel beneath the snow. “How can she be so... happy?” Velvet asked as she came up beside Applejack. “I think being the Element of Laughter has somethin’ ta do with it,” Applejack commented, a small smile on her own face. “But don’t misunderstand her. She’s just as worried as the rest of us, and she’s trying just as hard to find Nyx. Heck, if it wasn’t for her and her Pinkie Sense, that catwalk would have probably caught me and the rest of our friends.” “What do you mean?” “Do ya remember hearing somepony shout ‘Twitchy Tail’ before everything started coming down?” Velvet had to think about it a moment, but she then nodded. “I do.” “That was Pinkie. She has this sixth sense about her that tells her when things are about ta happen, and she sensed something was going to fall. And in Ponyville, when Pinkie's-a-twichin', you better listen.” “But what if she hadn’t shouted? Twilight and Shining and Cadance... All of you were all on stage. And, if that catwalk had come down on top of you, you could have all been—” “Sugarcube,” Applejack said, trying to be as kind as she could, “I know what almost happened. I probably won’t sleep right for a week ‘cause of what almost happened. But we can’t change that, and we can’t think about it right now. Nyx is still missing, and we need to help find her. Now come on, let’s keep lookin’.” ~~~ Silently, like the moon in the sky, Luna stood in the pageant hall, which had been all but abandoned when the search for Nyx began. The catwalk still laid in a heap, a splintered center piece to the destruction that had ruined the otherwise pleasant evening. She watched as Shining Armor worked to clean the mess, using his magic to disassemble and break apart the catwalk and set the pieces off to the side of the room. Luna had requested that Shining stay behind to investigate the accident while she supervised. It had taken Shining less than a second to see through the sugar coating, but he didn’t protest his punishment either. He had gone to work dutifully, beginning to break apart and disassemble the fallen catwalk. Still, Luna hadn’t asked Shining to stay with her solely as punishment. She wanted a chance to hear his side of things for herself. She also felt it was best if Twilight and Cadance had some time to calm down. Neither one of them wanted to see, let alone talk to, Shining at the moment. “And you feel the blood taken from Twilight during the initial spell was somehow used to bewitch her?” Shining nodded, gritted his teeth, and tore a hunk of metal away from the wreckage. “I do,” he said quietly before tossing the piece into the pile that he had formed off stage. “I looked it up in the archives of the crystal empire. It’s hard to do, but that kind of subtle mind control can be very effective and hard to detect, mostly because it isn’t cast on the pony you want to control. It’s cast on something else, something you want them to break, protect, or even care for.” “Yes,” Luna confirmed, “such magic does exist. Your sister caused a ruckus in Ponyville with the ‘Want it, Need it” spell, which is a far more extreme version of what you’re describing. But, Shining, do you honestly feel you chose the best time to make your fears known?” “No. I probably picked the worst possible time,” he said with a sigh as he threw another scrap into the pile. “I was trying to wait until after the holidays. I wanted this to be a good Hearth’s Warming for Cadance, and I knew that wouldn’t happen if I tried to talk to Twilight about Nyx. I knew she was going to get mad. But when the catwalk fell, when Nyx tried to hurt Twilight and Cadance, I just... I just couldn’t wait any longer. “ “You still assume that Nyx is the one that caused the catwalk to fall.” “Who else could it have been!?” Shining asked, pausing from his work. “The room was dark when it happened. If it had been somepony in the audience, we would have seen the glow from their horn. And Nyx was up, on the catwalk, by herself. She went up there with me and Cadance and was still there when we started to do our part in the scene.” “Being at the right place at the right time is not enough to convict somepony of a crime, Shining. As the previous Captain of the Guard, you know we need evidence.” Shining turned back to the pile, his horn glowing as he tried to heft up a particularly large piece of wreckage. “Well, if she used magic, then you know as well as I do trying to find evidence of it is like trying to find a needle in a—” Shining managed to finally get the large hunk of catwalk up off the stage. But, instead of levitating it off the stage straight away he instead paused and cocked his head. “What is that?” “What did you find?” Luna asked as she quickly strode across the stage. She looked at the large hole in the stage that had been revealed. The boards were splintered from the impact, and through the hole they could see much more of the catwalk’s wreckage had ended up beneath the stage. But, the thing that had drawn Shining’s attention wasn’t on the floor below them. It was hanging precariously off a splintered piece of the stage’s boards. Luna levitated the small item up with great care, turning it over in her magic. It was a camera with a neck brace, and it wasn’t a family’s camera used to snap pictures of vacations and birthdays. It was professional grade and well maintained. “Shining,” Luna asked, “did you notice anypony backstage with a camera?” “No,” he answered, his own horn starting to glow. “And look, there’s something in the viewfinder.” Luna couldn’t help but arch an eyebrow. “The what?” “The part you look through,” Shining said as his magic extracted the item that was wedged through the glass of the viewfinder. It was small, white, and had little bits of blood on it. “Is this... a tooth?” Luna took the tooth back from Shining Armor, holding both it and the camera in her magic. She stared intently at the two items, her eyebrows slowly furrowing. She believed she knew the origins of the tooth, and thus there was a chance she knew who the camera belonged too. But, to be sure, the princess of the night began to weave her magic around the two items. “What are you doing, Princess?” “I am casting a scrying spell,” Luna said as she continued to work her magic. “Your sister used such a spell to find the underground location of Night Stone Castle, and I wish to find who this camera and tooth belong to.” “But don’t you need a map?” “That is the modern version of the scrying spell. In millennia past, when Equestria was not so well mapped, a more rudimentary scrying spell was commonly used. These enchanted items will not be able to tell us an exact location, but they will point us in the right direction.” Luna turned to face Shining and, with little warning, placed the camera and its brace around his neck and secured it in place. “Take the camera, go where it leads, and apprehend the pony it points to. That pony knows something of what transpired this night.” “But how is this going to lead me any—” Shining began to ask, only to feel a tug on his neck. The camera had lurched to the right a little. Not enough to be painful or to cause Shining to trip, but like the camera had been nudged by somepony who wanted him to take a picture of something in particular. “Nevermind.” “It’s a strong reaction for how weak I made the scrying spell. The pony this camera belongs to is still near the castle,” Luna said as she held the tooth in her magic. With a small flash, like a star bursting to life in the heavens, Luna manifested a small glass sphere around the tooth. She then finished the enchantment on the tooth, causing it to fly to one edge of the sphere, pointing forward and slightly up. “And it would seem this tooth belongs to another pony who is even closer. Shining, when you have apprehended the camera’s owner bring him to the medical wards, and feel free to begin questioning him on the way.” “Are you sure you want me to start the questioning?” Luna spread her wings, leapt from the stage, and landed on the floor below. “Yes, I do, for the greatest understanding of any truth comes from discovering it yourself.” ~~~ “Nyx?! Nyx?! Are you here?!” Twilight raced through the front door of her parent’s home the moment she had been able to get it open. She galloped into the living room, her horn glowing with light, and glanced around briefly for any sign of Nyx. She then bolted for the kitchen. From there, she galloped into the dining room, and from there she backtracked to the living room and climbed the stairs to the house’s upper floors. All the while she called for Nyx, hoping to hear some answer. “Oh no, it doesn’t look like she’s here,” Fluttershy said. She and Spike came through the home’s front door, moving slowly into the darkness. Twilight hadn’t bothered to light a single lantern or candle, relying on her magic to illuminate her way. Spike and Fluttershy, however, couldn’t rely on that same magic, not when Twilight had already raced upstairs. So, Spike felt his way through the dark, eventually finding the fireplace. It was trivial for the dragon to light the logs, and soon their pink flames were casting light and warmth across the room. If things had gone as planned, the whole family and all of Twilight’s friends would have come home. All the lights in the house would have been lit. There would have been games, laughter, sugary treats, and perhaps an embarrassing story or two. But now those things seemed like distant dreams. Fluttershy gently pushed the door shut once Spike had the fire lit and then walked into the living room. “Do you think she’d be in the backyard?” “She isn’t,” Twilight said as she came in through the back door, kicking some snow from her hooves. “Wait, didn’t you go upstairs?” Spike asked, pointing over his shoulder with a thumb. “I did, and Nyx wasn’t up there.” “But then how did you—” “I levitated myself out a window,” Twilight answered as she shut the backdoor. “I thought I saw something move in the snow, and I didn’t want to waste time going down the stairs. B-but... it was just the shadow from this.” She held up a small, burnt stick in her magic, which was shaking like she was about to drop it. Twilight’s lips were quivering as well, as if they didn’t know whether to smile or frown at the sight of the stick. But Fluttershy knew what to do. She put a wing over Twilight’s back and quickly brought the mare to the couch. And it was good timing, because Twilight’s legs were losing their strength quickly. She collapsed onto the couch’s soft cushions, mane fraying as her nerves began to get the best of her. “It will be alright, Twilight, we’ll find her,” Fluttershy said soothingly. “Yeah, Fluttershy’s right,” Spike added, forcing a smile and confident tone to his voice. “Everypony is helping look, even the castle guard. We’ll find her.” “But where else could she be!?” Twilight asked, shouting at the pair as if she was trying to raise her voice above a crowd. “And what if we don’t find her quickly enough?! It’s cold outside, and getting colder. Sure, it isn’t a Hearth’s Warming blizzard, but if she stays out in the snow too long she could get hypothermia or frostbite.” Twilight gritted her teeth and slammed her face down into the couch cushions. “Why? Why did this have to happen?” “There’s nothing you could have done,” Fluttershy reassured her. Twilight shook her head firmly. “I could have noticed something was wrong with Shining. I should have noticed. He was so quiet around Nyx; he almost never talked to her. He asked mom all those questions when we got back from shopping, and I should have talked to him after what happened at the station.” Twilight lifted her head, only to slam it back down against the cushion. “And he can’t be right! He’s wrong! It can’t all be just because of a mind control spell! Why would he even say that?!” “He’s just worried, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, speaking softly and sweetly despite Twilight’s shouts. “It’s a brother’s job to care about what happens to his little sister. Yes, maybe he’s a little... overzealous, but didn’t you do the same thing during the wedding rehearsal, when you thought Cadance was evil.” “But I was right! That Cadance was evil! She was an evil, love-eating, mind-controlling, changeling queen! Are you saying you think he’s right!?” Spike put up his claws defensively as Twilight glared daggers at both him and Fluttershy. “Whoa, that’s not what we’re saying.” “Then what are you trying to say!?” “That you should look at it from Shining’s perspective,” Fluttershy explained, lifting a hoof and gently setting it on Twilight’s shoulder. “He’s just worried that what happened to him is happening to you, but he’ll come around.” “But what if he doesn’t?” Twilight asked. “I don’t want Nyx to grow up with her only uncle hating her, and I don’t want this to ruin my friendship with Shining. I just want us to be a family, like we’ve always been, but what if—” “Twilight, it will be okay. He just needs a chance to get to know Nyx the way the rest of us do.” “But what if he doesn’t give her a chance?” “He will,” Fluttershy said again, confidence and gentle firmness in her voice. “It will be okay.” “But what if—” “It will be okay.” “But—” “It will be okay.” The simple confidence in Fluttershy’s voice made her words sound as if they were absolute facts, and, as usual, facts brought some peace to Twilight’s mind. She smiled a little, silently thanking Fluttershy before turning to look at Spike. “Send a letter to the princess. Tell her we didn’t find Nyx here at the house and ask her what she thinks we should do next.” Spike nodded and quickly scampered off to find a quill and piece of parchment while Fluttershy stayed with Twilight, continuing to give her strength and hope that things would, in fact, be okay. ~~~ “He went that way!” Quick Snap banked hard, made the tightest turn he could manage, and then continued to fly low. He gasped for breath and pushed all the strength he could manage out of his wings. He made turns at intersections, double backed, did everything he could do to escape the pegasi guards that were in hot pursuit. But they were gaining. Each time he glanced back over his shoulder they seemed only get closer. He had been almost two blocks away when Shining Armor came out the castle gates with the two other guards at his sides. Quick Snap still wasn’t sure how Shining knew where he was hiding while he had been waiting for Column to come out. But, somehow, Shining had known exactly where to look, and that was how the whole chase had begun. Glancing back again, Quick Snap saw the guards had gotten even closer. A few more minutes and they’d be able to catch him. That’s if his wings didn’t fall off from exhaustion first. He wasn’t a sports flyer. He wasn’t a daredevil or racer. He was a photographer who needed to fly more laps around Canterlot each day and cut back on the hayfries. Panting heavily through his mouth, Quick Snap made another hard turn on a random street. He didn’t have to look back now. He could hear the guards’ wingbeats, and they were close. He couldn’t beat them. He had to do something else. What would Column do? He was the one always coming up with plans, like the one at the train station. Yes, Column would lure the guards under some roof and knock the snow off, or he’d trick the guards into crashing into a snowpony. Pfffft Maybe it wasn’t a Column quality plan, but throwing a snowball had been all Quick Snap could think of. And, by some miracle, it had worked. One of the two guards that had been chasing him, the one he had hit in the face, tumbled to the snow covered ground and into a snow fort that had been left behind by some fillies and colts. That left just one guard, and Quick Snap scooped up another hoofful of snow as he pulled another tight turn. He didn’t know how earth ponies lived with just their hooves. A unicorn could pack a snowball with his magic. A pegasus could use their wings, but earth ponies were stuck with their hooves. Still, despite the difficulty of trying to pack the snowball with just his hooves, Quick Snap had another icy ball ready for the one remaining guard. He didn’t throw it right away, though. The guard would be expecting that. No, Quick Snap kept flying, kept trying to escape by his own wing power. The guard was continuing to gain, and then he felt it. A forehoof had grabbed hold of one of his rear hooves. “Halt! In the name of the—” Pffffft Quick Snap nailed the second guard square in the nose with the wet snowball he had been holding. The guard fell back, coughing and sputtering from the snow that had entered his mouth as he rubbed at his eyes with his hooves. That was all the opening Quick Snap needed. He ducked into a narrow alley, flew a short ways, and then hid behind a few garbage cans. He then worked to quiet his breathing as he strained his ears. He heard the guard he had just hit shout and heard another voice call back. He dared to take a peek. One of the guards taking off from the street and flying skyward. They were going to try and spot him from above, thinking he’d still be flying. But, one lesson Quick Snap had learned from Column was to be where ponies weren’t looking for you. At the moment, the guards expected him to be in the skies, so he folded his wings, got to his hooves, and began walking. He breathed deeply, trying to calm his racing heart. He shook his head, fluttered his wings, and continued to make his way towards the far end of the alley. He then allowed himself to smile a little. He had escaped the guard, and now all he had to do was go home, go to bed, and just forget about Column. But just forgetting about Column was hard. Reaching the end of the alley and stepping out into the street, Quick Snap focused his gaze on the distant castle. It glowed like a finely dressed Hearth’s Warming tree in the clear night air, but Quick Snap couldn’t see that beauty at the moment. All he could see, all he could think about, was the mess Column had likely made in the castle. “What in the wide world of Equestria did you do, Column? You were just going to take a picture of her.” “Of who?” Quick Snap flinched and spread his wings. He didn’t even want to look back and see which guard had caught up with him, but, before he could even get a foot off the ground, a pink aura had surrounded him. He slammed into the magical barrier and stuck there for a moment before falling down to the soft blanket of snow that covered the street. “Aren’t you the photographer from the other day?” Quick Snap rolled his head back and then had to fight the urge to vomit when he realized the stallion who had caught him was none other than Shining Armor. “Who, me!?” Quick Snap asked as if Shining’s question was a joke. “No, I just have one of those faces and coat colors. That and I know five other ponies in Canterlot that have a cutie mark like mine. Their names are... they are... they are...” Quick Snap laughed as he fumbled to think of fake names. All the while Shining looked on, his glare growing sterner by the second. “Well, who are they?” Shining pressed. “They are... no one else.” Quick Snap hung his head in defeat. He just couldn’t come up with a lie like Column could. “So you are the pegasus who harassed my wife and sister the other day with his camera?” “Yes,” Quick Snap admitted with a small nod of his head. “And I take it this belongs to you.” Shining opened a small hole in his barrier and then tossed something inside. Quick Snap had to reach out his hooves to catch and juggle the item. It was his camera, though it had seen better days. The view finder had a hole in it, the case was beaten up, and the lens was cracked. “What happened to it?” Quick Snap couldn’t help but ask. “It was found amongst the wreckage.” Quick Snap took his eyes of the camera and looked up at Shining. “The wreckage of what?” he asked, concern and a small amount of panic ringing in his voice. “Of the pageant. Somepony caused the stage’s catwalks to break loose and fall onto the stage, nearly killing several very important ponies, including myself and my wife. And we found your camera at the scene.” Shining took a step closer to the barrier, using his height to loom over Quick Snap. “So, do you care to explain what happened, or would you prefer I arrest you for your involvement in this act of treason?” “T-treason!? B-but I didn’t do anything! It was all Column. He had—” Quick Snap slapped his hoof across his mouth, but the damage had already been done. ~~~ “And how is our patient, Doctor?” Celestia stood at the edge of the bed in the castle medical wards, looking over the unicorn that had been found in the wreckage of the catwalk. He had taken a pretty good beating from the accident. A missing tooth and a few bruised ribs were the worst of his injuries, but he also suffered from numerous bruises and cuts elsewhere. It was maybe a good thing he was sleeping, though the occasional moans from the unicorn made it obvious his mind was restless. “We’ve started him on some treatments to make sure he’s stable and to verify that he hasn’t sustained any dangerous internal injuries. After that we’ll get to work mending his bruised ribs and regrowing his missing tooth. It’s definitely not going to happen overnight, but he should recover just fine.” “And did you find any identification on him?” Celestia asked, not taking her eyes off the unicorn. “No, we didn’t. Why do you ask?” “I just wanted to see if it had his address, so we could tell his family he’s being cared for here,” Celestia said, putting on a smile as she turned to face the doctor. “Thank you again for tending to this pony, Doctor Physica. I’ll check back again in an hour.” With that Celestia turned and gracefully strode from the room, letting her lips form into a frown as she slipped out the door. Part of her was happy that the pony was going to make a full recovery. Things could have turned out much worse if some heavier part of the catwalks had fallen upon him. Yes, she was happy, but at the same time something wasn’t right. “Sister, what are you doing here?” The familiar voice drew Celestia from her thoughts, and made her turn and offer Luna a gentle smile as she walked up. “Oh, Luna, I’m just checking on the injured pony. He should make a full recovery, but he’s out cold for the moment.” “I see, and what of Nyx? Has there been any sign of her?” “She’s not in the castle or on the grounds, and Spike sent a letter saying they hadn’t found her at Twilight’s home either. I’ve ordered the search expanded to include the streets surrounding the castle, and have asked some of the guard to set up checkpoints to ensure Nyx doesn’t slip out of Canterlot.” “Do you really believe she would try to leave the city?” “I don’t know at this point,” Celestia admitted, sighing as she shook her head. “This whole evening has been full of unexpected complications.” She then put a smile back on her lips and looked back up at Luna. “Still, what are you doing here, Luna? Where is Shining Armor?” “While cleaning up the stage he discovered a camera with a tooth embedded in the finder of view. Believing he had found a clue, I cast a scrying spell on the camera and sent Shining to locate its owner. I then took the tooth and did the same myself.” Luna held up the tooth, which was still contained within the magically manifested glass sphere. It was drawn to one side of the orb, pointing to the door that separated the princesses from the medical wards. “It led me here.” Celestia turned and looked at the door as if her gaze might bore a hole through the wood so she could glare at the unicorn in the other room. “I knew something was wrong when I didn’t recognize that pony.” “What do you mean?” “I directed the play, Luna, and I would not be a good director if I didn’t learn about my cast and crew,” Celestia said. “Yes, perhaps I can not recite the names of every earth pony peasant without seeing their faces, but I know two things for certain. The first, no pony, not even Nyx, should have been up on the catwalks during that part of the performance. The second, I don’t remember seeing that stallion during any of our dress rehearsals earlier today.” “So we have a stallion we do not know, who was on the catwalks where he didn’t belong, and who was carrying or with somepony who was carrying a camera. It is all very suspect,” Luna said as she undid the scrying charm on the tooth. “Yes, it is, and if I had the time I would wait for that pony to awake and get the answers from him myself.” Celestia drew in a breath, and then let it out slowly to quiet her short outburst of anger. “But I do not have the time. Twilight will be getting back from her house soon with Fluttershy and Spike, and I wish to help my student with the search for Nyx. I do believe I owe her that much.” “Sister, didn’t you say the unicorn was unconscious?” Luna asked. “No, he was unconscious when they brought him up here. He eventually came around, but Doctor Physica then gave him some general anesthetics. She felt it was best for the unicorn to get his... sleep.” Celestia fell silent. A thought clicked into place in her mind, and it caused a smile to spread onto her lips as she looked down at the princess of the night. “Do you mean?” Luna only nodded a silent confirmation. “Very well,” Celestia said as she turned to leave. “I will gladly leave this unicorn in your capable hooves. Please send word when you’ve been able to find out anything of use, and I will do the same if we are able to locate Nyx.” ~~~ Quick Snap sat silently as he watched Shining Armor run a hoof through his mane. He sat on the opposite side of the table from the prince inside one of the castle’s interrogation rooms. He had, so far, managed to dodge and avoid most of Shining’s questions. He had been forced to give his real name, especially when Shining realized it was etched on the bottom of the camera. He also had to admit that Column was the unicorn he had been with when he ambushed Cadance and Twilight. Beyond that, Quick Snap had been able to avoid the truly compromising questions, but Shining looked like he was far from giving up. “Why were you waiting outside the castle walls?” “I was outside the walls?” Quick Snap nervously asked. He was trying to sit still, but he was unable to keep himself from fiddling with his hooves. It felt as if he’d explode if he didn’t do something with them. “Yes, you were,” Shining confirmed. “The guards at the gate said they’d seen you loitering outside the walls for almost an hour.” “Was I really loitering? I just thought I was standing there enjoying the view of the castle. It really is a beautiful sight this time of year.” “But didn’t you say you’ve been a Canterlot resident for the past several years?” Shining asked. “I did.” “Then haven’t you seen the castle before?” “Well, that doesn’t mean I can’t look at it, does it?” Quick Snap was able to quiet his nerves for a moment by eagerly pursuing what would be the fifth tangent in the interrogation. “I mean, tourists come to the capital all the time to see it. It’s one of the great landmarks of Equestria, and it’s right in our backyard. We should enjoy it more than anypony else, but most folks in Canterlot just never find the time. This pony I work with at the paper has never even seen the castle from up close. He just never has had a reason to come to this side of the city.” Shining Armor sighed and scratched his forehead. “Yes, I understand. It is a shame, but you still haven’t answered my question. Why were you—” “Prince Armor?” Shining flinched, and Quick Snap saw what looked like the beginnings of a shout form in the prince’s throat. But Shining didn’t shout. He kept his calm and turned to look at the guard who had just poked his head through the door leading out of the interrogation room. “What is it?” The guard held up an envelope in his wings. “They’re done.” “W-w-what’s done?” Quick Snap couldn’t help but ask, trying to crane his neck to see what the guard was holding. “Thank you,” Shining said, quickly taking the envelope in his magic. He waited for the guard to close the door and then turned back to face Quick Snap. He opened the envelope gingerly and began to slowly take out its contents. Quick Snap recognized what Shining was holding almost instantly. They were photographs, photographs undoubtedly developed from the film in his camera. “You aren’t a bad photographer, Quick Snap,” Shining complimented as he looked at the picture on the top of the stack. He then gently drew the photograph out and flicked it onto the table, like he was a card dealer in Las Pegasus. The picture spun on the well cared for table and came to a stop at Quick Snap’s hooves. He couldn't help but swallow nervously as he felt his heart skip a beat. The picture resting in front of him was of Cadance and Twilight, standing stunned, while Nyx hid beneath Twilight’s hooves. It was a picture he had taken when he and Column had ambushed Shining’s family at the Hearth’s Warming festival. Forcing a laugh, Quick Snap opened his mouth to try and deny that the picture was his. He tried numerous times, but each time his tongue felt numb. It was like his mouth was a dry well. No matter how many times he opened and closed his jaw, he just couldn’t seem to draw up any words. Shining watched this, taking the silence as an admission of guilt, before flicking his gaze to the next picture in the stack. He looked at this one only briefly before flipping it onto the table with the first. It was another picture from their ambush, this time a large, close up shot of Cadance with Column pestering Twilight for a question in the background. And no matter how Quick Snap wished it to stop, the pictures just kept coming and the pile on the table kept growing. Shining flicked all the pictures from the ambush onto the table and then began getting into some of the other images Quick Snap had captured. There was a picture of them coming back from the dinner at the hotel, and a picture of them leaving to go shopping the next day. A single picture of his mother slipping outside to check the mailbox. There was then a picture of their home later that evening, the same evening the logs in the back caught fire. Quick Snap thanked his lucky stars he hadn’t taken a picture of the backyard. That would have certainly made Shining question if he and Column had any involvement with the fire that had occurred. But there was still one picture left, one picture that Shining was staring at. Quick Snap didn’t know what the photograph could have been of. The last picture he remembered taking was the last one Shining had thrown onto the table. Maybe he had set the camera off by accident. It wouldn’t have been the first time, and those pictures were always a bit confusing. Even he, a trained photographer, sometimes had to stare at one of those accidental pictures for quite a while to understand just where and when it had been taken. But something was wrong. Shining didn’t look confused, like he was looking at a photograph he couldn’t make heads or tails of. No, he looked... it was hard to pin down. He was kind of angry, but he also looked like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was like the time Quick Snap had shown Column a snapshot of a buffalo ballerina company that had started up after Discord’s attack on Equestria. Finally, after several tense minutes, Shining took his gaze off the picture and looked to Quick Snap, making a shiver crawl down the pegasus’s spine. “Okay, no more games. I want you to tell me everything you know about this picture, or the next pony who will be asking you questions will be the prosecutor when you’re tried for treason. Do you understand?” Quick Snap nodded as he swallowed nervously, and at that Shining Armor set the final picture down on the table. Quick Snap leaned in and instantly recognized that the picture wasn’t his work. The focus was off, and the image was blurry from an unsteady shot. There was also a blob of beige in the top center of the picture, a blob that had to be Column’s chin. First rule of using a neck mounted camera, keep your head up. But when Quick Snap looked past the flaws in the picture, his breathing grew still. It was a picture of Nyx. He could recognize her by her cutie mark and mane. Her headband was gone, and her white coat had turned an inky black. She had been photographed mid gallop, while she was looking back at the camera. Her wings were spread as if she was preparing to take flight, and her eyes, with their slitted pupils, showed brightly in the light of the camera’s flash. And the look on the filly’s face was one of terror. She was scared, like she was being chased by the headless horse himself. “Well?” Shining pressed. “I... I didn’t take this,” Quick Snap said as he used his wings to pick up the snapshot. “Column must have. He was just... just so dead set on making sure everypony knew the truth, that Nightmare Moon hadn’t been put in jail like so many of us believed. He takes his work seriously, sure, but... I’ve never seen him this determined. I... I shouldn’t have left him alone.” “What do you mean?” Quick Snap sighed, still looking at the picture. “Column wanted, needed, a picture of Nyx with her black coat to make his story. So, we worked out a plan for getting into the castle. The first thing we did was sneak in with the ponies delivering the tables for the reception. After that, we...” ~~~ To gain the ability to walk in the land of dreams, many ponies would expect there to be some complicated spell or ritual. They’d believe it required a long, complicated incantation and a sacrifice of seasonal fruits and vegetables on some long-forgotten altar. But for Luna, entering the world of dreams was no more complicated than turning her head. Like she was flexing a muscle, Luna made the sights and sounds of the castle’s medical wards fade. She grew numb to the real world and let the dreams come into focus. It was an ethereal soup of fantasies and nightmares that swirled and bubbled around her like stars in the night sky. Luna could see many such points of light behind her, representing the many sleeping minds of Canterlot. But one dream was far closer than all the others, a single dream that hung and floated in the room she had just been standing in. It was the dream of the mysterious unicorn, and Luna stepped towards it. Like she was walking into the ocean, each step made her sink further into the dream. She did it with grace and flinched only once as the cooler air of the dream washed over her coat. Her head reached the surface of the dream, which shimmered like water reflecting a perfect full moon, and she neither took a breath nor shut her eyes. She just continued to wade deeper and deeper. She floated for a short time as the dream began to account for her presence. She felt her hooves touch solid ground, and soon she had settled into her role. This was how she normally viewed dreams, as nothing more than an observer watching behind the mask of some aspect of a ponies dream. For young Scootaloo, she had watched from behind the silhouette of the mare in the moon. For this dream, however, she was one of thousands. A member of a faceless crowd of ponies who were nothing more than silhouettes. This was a common feature of dreams. A pony’s mind crafted only what was important, only manifested the details that it needed. For the dream, the unicorn needed to be in a crowd of ponies, but there was no need for each pony to have a face, name, or cutie mark of their own. The crowd was what was important, not the ponies within it. And where the crowd was looking seemed to be important as well. All eyes were turned upward, and Luna looked in the same direction as she began to take note of her surroundings. They were in Canterlot, in the largest of the castle’s courtyards. The crowd was focused on a balcony, the same balcony where Shining and Cadance had first greeted the world as husband and wife. And above that, hanging in the sky, was a sight that Luna had never seen first hoof. The moon was shining above Equestria, but upon it was the shadowy silhouette of a regal mare with a long horn: the mare in the moon. Motion in the periphery of her vision made Luna look back to the balcony, where she saw a familiar stallion stepping to the edge of the railing. A megaphone was brought out for his use, and soon his voice was ringing through the night. “Mares and Gentlecolts of Canterlot! I am Shining Armor, Canterlot acting Captain of the Guard, and it is my duty to announce that Princess Luna and Princess Celestia have been defeated.” A hushed murmur echoed through the crowd in the truest form. The ponies around Luna in the crowd made no real words, just mumbles and whinnies to fake the sound of conversation. But through the murmurs, Luna heard one, true voice. She looked in its direction and saw the one pony in the crowd that was more than a silhouette. The unicorn whose dream she had entered was standing just feet away, listening to Shining Armor’s words with a look of disbelief. “Their defeat came at the hooves of Nightmare Moon who, during the night, overwhelmed the castle guard before making her way to the throne room. There she bested Princess Celestia in single combat, and then waited for Princess Luna to return. Both princesses are now imprisoned in the sun and the moon respectively.” Luna began working her way closer to the unicorn, all the while listening to Shining Armor. This speech, she had heard of it from some of the castle staff. This was the speech Shining had given to all of Canterlot when Nyx took power, one of many similar proclamations that had been made all across Equestria. “Nightmare Moon has hereby decreed herself Queen of Equestria,” Shining Armor continued, his voice carrying threatening undertones. “And let it be known that much of the Canterlot Royal Guard, including myself, have sworn allegiance to our new queen and have joined in the blessing shared by the Children of Nightmare. Also know, I will personally ensure that law and order are maintained. Any attempts at rebellion will be punished.” Shining paused, causing Luna to glance in the direction of her nephew-in-law and the guards surrounding him. While their features had been vague at the dream’s start, as the mind focused so did the details of Shining Armor’s appearance. Luna could now see that Shining and all those who stood on the balcony shared a single, defining feature. Their eyes were exact matches to Nightmare Moon’s. “Lastly,” Shining said, “let it be known that Nightmare Moon has declared that Equestria has seen its last sunrise. This night will last forever.” Luna was now standing next to the unicorn and was able to hear him shout with much of the crowd, trying to protest the words they had just heard. It looked as if all of Canterlot was ready to rebel in that moment, but it seemed Shining Armor had predicted this. With snapped steps and firm glares, the bulk of Canterlot’s royal guard surrounded and began to march through the crowd. Pegasi also patrolled the skies and dive bombed the crowd, all part of Shining’s show of force. “You are now all to return to your homes!” Shining shouted. “A curfew is now in effect on Canterlot. No pony is to be out on the streets between ten p.m and five a.m. Anypony found violating this rule after today will face an extended stay in the dungeons.” The threat of incarceration under the new regime of Nightmare Moon was enough of a threat. The crowd calmed and, under the castle guard’s stern gaze, began to disperse peacefully. The unicorn Luna was following seemed to be going with the flow as well. He still seemed unable to comprehend that what was happening was real, but still he moved with the crowd towards the gates. “Come on, get moving!” Another voice, a new voice, rang out clearly in the dream, and both the unicorn and Luna looked to its owner. It was a mare, and, though she was not a bat pony like some, she still wore the dark blue colors of the lunar guard. Her face, her nose, her eyes, her cutie mark, all were in sharp focus. This was a pony the unicorn knew very well and cared for. It was the only way she would be in such focus inside his dream. “Clear Cut?!” The unicorn shouted, starting to shove his way through the crowd. He eventually broke free of the moving bodies, and Luna followed a few steps behind. He tried to approach the guard, Clear Cut, but was soon blocked by another soldier, who was a faceless silhouette like all the others. “Clear Cut! Clear Cut!” Finally, the mare seemed to acknowledge his existence. She turned to look at him, but the frown on her face didn’t fade. She marched towards him and pushed the other guard out of the way. Her eyes were a brilliant turquoise, like every other, and her glare threatened to bore a hole straight through the unicorn’s skin. “What are you doing?” the unicorn began, “You swore allegiance to Nightmare Moon!? Are you crazy!? She’s as bad as the changelings that attacked during the wedding! You’re coming back to my house right now!” The unicorn tried to grab Clear Cut’s hoof, but she reacted with all the training the guard had given her. Within moments, she had pinned the unicorn against the ground and was shouting sharply at him, her tongue like a dagger. “You get back to the house. Curfew is in effect and I’m on duty.” “Princess Luna?” A voice from reality reached Luna’s ears, and she began to pull herself out. The scene she had been watching faded, and the sights and sounds of the castle medical ward’s came back into focus. She looked down at the bed, to the unicorn who was still enduring a restless sleep, and then she turned her head to see Shining Armor standing beside her. “Were you able to locate the camera’s owner?” she asked. He nodded. “Yes, and I was able to get some information out of him once we got the film in his camera developed. He and his partner, Column, both work as newspaper reporters. They were trying to write a story about how Nyx, or rather how Nightmare Moon, isn’t locked up in a jail but is, instead, running free. They’ve been stalking my family for the past few days, and were even able to find a Letter of Pardon in Nyx’s name. They honestly had their story, but Column insisted that they needed a picture of Nyx in her natural, black coat to make ponies believe it was true.” “And how were they going to obtain this picture?” Luna asked as she turned to face the prince. “Quick Snap, the camera’s owner, said their plan was to sneak into the castle, hide as extras for the pageant, and take a picture of Nyx without her disguise on. But, when they realized Nyx still had her headband on while she was backstage, Column started talking about catching Nyx alone someplace and taking the headband off by force.” Luna furrowed her eyebrow as she flicked a gaze back at the unicorn in the bed. “And is that what they did?” “No,” Shining answered with a shake of his head. “Or rather, the photographer doesn’t know. When Column started talking about forcefully taking Nyx’s headband, Quick Snap refused to go any further. He left his camera with Column and left the castle on his own. He then waited outside for Column to come out until he was arrested.” “Then let me ask you one thing, Shining. Do you recognize this unicorn at all?” Shining moved up beside Luna, and looked at the unicorn who had been found amongst the wreckage. He already had his own suspicions of who the unicorn was, but, after getting a good look at him, Shining knew for certain. “Yes, I do. He and Quick Snap were the ones that ambushed Cadance and Twilight the other day. His name should be Column.” Luna nodded. “Yes, what the photographer told you aligns with what Nyx told me. She said she was attacked by somepony while she was on the catwalk. This unicorn, Column, had something to do with what happened on stage if he was not, in fact, directly responsible.” “But what was his motivation?” Shining Armor asked. “Quick Snap said Column could get wrapped up in his work, but he also said that he’d never seen Column go so far for a story. And why would he risk being arrested and tried for trespassing in the castle just for a story?” “Sometimes, we don’t understand our own motivations, Shining Armor,” Luna said as she turned and began to stride towards the door. “I’m going up to the observation tower. I would like you to join me up there after you do one thing for me.” “What is that?” Shining asked. “There is a Lunar Guard by the name of Clear Cut. She should be on duty tonight. Find her and tell her that her brother is here in the medical wards and that he is in very deep trouble.” ===================================================================== Questions, Comments, Concerns? pen.stroke.pony@gmail.com My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic © Hasbro I do not own the intellectual properties this fan-fiction is based on. =====================================================================