//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Escalation // Story: Happy Endings // by Taranth //------------------------------// Celestia smiled. "I can't apologise enough, your highness." The middle-aged unicorn prostrated herself before her sovereign, deep in the vaults. "But the piece in question is gone from the vaults entirely. Five years ago, in fact." "Do you know what happened?" Celestia asked with a soft smile, her voice calm and gentle. The vault keeper winced, speaking reluctantly. "It seems that there was a request to access a piece from Vault G, but it was poorly written, and then copied incorrectly, and the equivalent piece was taken from Vault C instead. The original request came with approval from security - not high enough for Vault C, but I... I must have signed off on it, assuming it would never have reached me if it had not been correct. I take full responsibility for the error." She winced, ready to accept whatever royal punishment was imminent. Celestia's smile grew, a little indulgently. "Please, Dusty. You have served the palace for decades now, and nobody could say that keeping these vaults in order is an easy task. I understand that mistakes happen. And you'll know what to look out for next time, won't you?" "Of course, your highness!" Dusty Ledger bowed, a relieved smile on her face that she was not bound for the dungeon for losing a precious artefact from the palace vaults, and that none of her staff were in trouble either. Her half-panicked exuberance reminded Celestia of her most faithful student, which made her smile all the wider. "Do you know who made the original request?" "Of course, your highness!" Her horn flashed, documents and ledgers flashing past before her eyes with a speed born of both long practice and special talent, finally settling on a single piece. "One... Lord Grand Expedition. The piece he requested to access was one that he owned, that he had stored in the vault for safe-keeping. Strange - I would have expected he would notice that what he received was not his own piece?" Celestia nodded, recognising the name. "Lord Expedition was a minor lord fond of grand and unique trinkets. Although don't let his name fool you - he was far more inclined to sponsor groups to go delving for them in his name than get his own hooves dirty." Celestia winked at Dusty, who giggled at the image. "But a fire consumed his mansion... indeed, it would be about five years ago now. A vast collection of priceless treasure and art was lost along with him. It seems this item was among them." Celestia sighed, showing level of disappointment one might expect from a mare who had seen someone drop a stack of the fine china kept aside for visiting guests. It lasted only seconds, but then she smiled reassuringly again as Dusty's ears drooped, hearing that her mistake had led to the destruction of the princess's treasure. "Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he would have returned it if he had the chance, shall we?" "O-of course, princess." Dusty nodded. "And... I'm sorry again, your highness. I promise you, I'll make sure this never happens again." "Just keep doing your best, Dusty. I'm proud of the work you do here." She started moving towards the exit, as the vault keeper resorted the receipts she had been looking through and returned them to their proper places in the record. The mechanisms in the great doors unlocked in an aura of soft yellow magic, followed by the massive frames splitting open outwards just wide enough for the Princess to exit. "Your highness..." Celestia paused, looking back at Dusty. "I know it's not my place, but if it's not private, what was the item that was lost? There really wasn't much information on it, just that it was a jewellery box... not if anything was inside?" Celestia smiled. "Just an old heirloom, an amulet, that was given to me quite a few centuries ago. I remembered it earlier this week and thought I might show it off to the delegates from Saddle Arabia while they were here. It really isn't that important - just rusting away in the vaults, really. I told you - don't worry about it." "Alright... goodbye, princess." Dusty Ledger bowed one last time as the doors to the vault closed again. Celestia walked away through the palace corridors to return to her royal duties and guests, smiling all the way. ~-~-~-~ That evening, Celestia calmly strode into the Hall of Windows, seeing Luna already there waiting, three tomes lying open around her as she looked into the windows. The door shut behind her, sealing the two of them in with impregnable privacy. "How did things go with the delegates?" Luna asked, not even turning to greet her sister as she scribed carefully in one book, simultaneously crossing out a couple of lines in another. "Well. Very well! They were most interested in increasing trade with us, and we already have the infrastructure starting construction in Trottingham. We should see increased travel and familiarity between Saddle Arabia and Equestria within the year." "Do you think they'll be able to handle an evacuation of the city like we planned?" The pause before Celestia answered was just a little too long, but when she spoke it was with full confidence. "If they are not too stubborn. I think the next mayor of the city can be convinced to see it as a strong option." "Rig some elections for Trottingham, gotcha." Another tome floated forward, Luna marking another note in their elaborate scheming. "So, are you going to bring it up, or just sit there grinning about a successful tea party with the neighbours?" "I don't know what you--" "Strangely-shaped clouds and no traffic out of Ponyville for days. A taste of dark magic on the breeze even the nobles could feel. If Shining Armour wasn't up north with Cadance, I would've had to lock him in the dungeon for a week to keep him mobilising the whole guard and storming the place. The whole thing stopped the day before you passed through." Luna sighed. "You've got to stop doing this, sister. I'm not one of your subjects. I can't help you if you keep trying to sugar-coat everything." "I... I know." With clearly visible effort, Celestia's smile slowly slipped again. "I'm just not used to... talking about it with anyone." "Forget it. Ponyville. What happened?" "The Alicorn Amulet." Celestia walked down the hall a way, Luna leaving her books behind to follow, and stopping before the first of a trio of small windows, showing a white pony rearing up, with wings composed of strips of scarlet energy spread wide, and horn shining the same bright red. "Nine hundred years ago, a prestigious unicorn family had a pegasus foal. Seeing this as a fatal weakness, and wishing that their child could wield true magic, they pooled their power and sought to create an amulet which could store the power of a unicorn, allowing another to use the power in their stead. "It started as a gesture of goodwill - however misguided it might have been - but soon the family realised that the amulet could store more than simply unicorn magic. What had been created as a gift for the son soon became a weapon for the father, as he learnt to siphon magic from others around him and wield it, improving his own unicorn magic and taking on the magic of pegasi and earth ponies as well." The second window showed the same pony, his horn and wings now far larger than they should be on his body, each spectral feather touching down on a different pony in a pose of defeat, clearly drawing red streams of power away from each. "It became an artifact attuned to possession and greed, and as part of that power, none but the wielder could remove it from his neck. Many attempted to defeat him or at least seperate him from the source of his powers, but none ever succeeded, and his power grew with every foe he defeated." Celestia moved to the next window of the three. "Eventually there came a day where his son stood against him, and was drained of power in turn before his father truly saw who opposed him. It was then he came to see his folly twofold - that not only had his greed for power come to hurt his own family, but his son had stood strong against him without unicorn magic, with only his pride and his wings, a far better example of the family than his father ever was. The final window showed the white pony embracing a pegasus, and the amulet lying discarded on the ground. "He tore the amulet from his neck, never to use it again. But the power of those who had fallen under his brief reign remained within the piece, and remained seething in the amulet. He had originally attuned it to his own family line, and in the hoof of any other wielder it was a shadow of its former self - no longer able to drain the powers of those around it, but very capable of significantly improving the power of any pony who wore it, and sometimes even allowing them access to the other races' abilities - at the cost of corruption, as the stolen essences drive the user mad." Luna turned from the window to her sister. "How did Twilight Sparkle come across this accursed artefact?" "I had it held for safe keeping in one of my personal vaults, under cover of every bit of security the palace offers, alongside a hundred treasures of personal value to myself and none other - anonymity can often protect things to a level that no amount of magic or stone can hope to achieve." Celestia glared across the hall. "But it's never enough. No matter what protection we try, the coincidences add up, mistakes are made, and things make their way out to star in new stories. I can't even be angry at the staff who let it out - if the stories demand the cursed charm gets out, then get out it will, somehow. Sometimes I think about locking all the cursed artifacts I know of in one place and burying them under a thousand tonnes of rock and enough magical traps to melt a mountain, but that just means they'll all get found at once when everything I've done somehow fails, and I'll have a new crater to deal with." She sighed. "At least I know what happened to Lord Expedition's house now... "Twilight never used the amulet herself - unless she has become far better at mastering her emotions than I could imagine, she could not hide that from me. But she didn't tell me about it - I would never have known if I couldn't recognise the feel of its magic in the air - and she certainly didn't give it back to me - so she has it hidden away, and she knows where it is, now. And with her knowledge and power, and the stories behind her, she could likely wield the amulet to its full potential. Indeed, now I think of it, I would not be surprised to find I traced back her family tree, that the Sparkle house was once that very noble house." The two of them looked back to the second window of the triptych, considering the implications of this new information as they added this new power to the potential villian they prepared for. "It's forever one step forward and two steps back." Luna whispered, despair in her voice. "First the mirror pool... I thought the ability to create doppelgangers to spread her darkness would be bad enough, but this as well... is it always like this, sister?" "No. This is one of the darkest stories I've ever seen. I've... maybe I've been too good at this for too long, Luna." She sighed. "I've manipulated events so stories that should have caused months or years of problems were resolved in days. Without my efforts, Discord's reign would have lasted years while Twilight regained her confidence in another land. He was entombed in stone again within days. Sombra would have conquered the crystal empire, leading to a time of darkness and despair over Equestria before love shone through again - but he never truly gained a foothold." Celestia spoke without pride in her accomplishments, simply stating fact. "I haven't had an Equestria-wide disaster last longer than a week in over three hundred years. But this... I think this is too big, Luna. Maybe it's been building up from all the cases I've minimised the damage from... I can't cover this up. Every time I try, it just gets worse." The despair in Celestia's voice was painful to listen to. Luna watched as her jaw clenched. "And to stop it... all I have to do is go to Twilight, and teach her a simple spell to banish darkness." "That's not all, and you know it, sister..." "I know! I know. But it's hanging there, always taunting me. Just tell her what she faces, what she has to do to stop it, and stop a tragedy... but without knowing the cost, I..." "How was she? Did you see any hints that she might be experimenting yet?" Luna cut in, trying to change the subject before she had to see her sister cry again. "...No. She was... fine." Celestia stared blankly through another of the stained glass windows, not seeing the artwork emblazoned on it. "She hasn't started yet. But she's... she's pulling away from me, Luna. I don't even know if she realises she's doing it yet. Did you know she hasn't sent me a single friendship report since the wedding?" Luna winced. "Not one?" "Not one. I told her she only needed to send them when it was necessary, but I think she's too caught up in things to remember it at all. I... part of me says I'm just being paranoid. That she's just growing up, becoming more independent. But... how much of it is really her, and how much is what the stories are preparing her to be?" "That's a very dangerous thought to have, Celestia. You can't think that. Twilight Sparkle is your student, whatever happens." "Mmmm. Yes, my student." Celestia sighed. "My student who I send alone time and time again to fight monsters far beyond her power. I've shown her so little honesty, treated her so unkindly, shown no loyalty, been generous only with impossible tasks and shared laughter only through a mask. What right do I have to expect any report on friendship from her?" "Just because you can't tell her the truth doesn't make everything worthless, sister. The values aren't any less important simply because they came from one who cannot practice them." Celestia would not be consoled, winding herself up further. "So I'm above the magic of friendship. It doesn't apply to me? After all I've told her about friendship, I throw her to the darkness. And even if she makes it out again, what can she hope to have happen? Her struggles are complete, and now she can become like me, and pull the strings of nations! And I'll have to explain it all, of course. How can I look her in the eyes and tell her that I knew that Cadence was trapped in that pit all along... her brother being brainwashed... and that she was heading down the path to darkness... and I sat here and waited for other ponies to fix it? And then tell her to do the same thing?" "You did it for me." Luna whispered. Celestia jerked back as if stung. "I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." Luna cut her off with a sharp gesture. "Don't. You're not in any state to do this right now. Go to rest, big sister. The darkness will not come tonight." "I... no, we need to--" "To bed, sister, and no further thoughts on this. I will come beat it out of your dreams if I need to. Please, for me, if none other." Yet reluctant, Celestia paused as if struggling, but Luna's expression brooked no argument. Finally, she acquiesced. "So be it. I will be dealing with the delegates in the next few days, but once that is finished we will start in earnest." "Even the sun can shine on reason on occasion." Luna teased, but pushed Celestia gently towards the exit with her wing. Taking the hint, Celestia moved. At the doorway, she opened the door and glanced out briefly. Fortunately, there was nobody in the corridor at this time of night, the guard patrol not in this particular stretch. As soon as she was outside the wards of the hall with the door closed behind her, she teleported directly to her room in a flash of sunlight with nopony the wiser. She suspected if she had had to start smiling again even for a moment, she would never have been able to sleep that night.