'SLAP' The crack echoed throughout the throne room as Luna turned and strode out, leaving the pegasus to rub his reddening cheek. They had only just gotten back, and she didn't even wait for an explanation, the guards lining the walls snickering to themselves. Gray approached Alec and put a hand on his shoulder. “When the lady is angry, it's the guy's duty to go and submit to her. Think you need to chase her down, dude.”
“Yeah... you're right for the most part... but unless I want to spend the next five years on the moon, I need to let her have some time to cool off. Anyway, I need to put this back in the armoury, so see you in a bit.” He started to walked away, but stopped and looked over his shoulder again. “Oh, and Gray? Thanks again.” With that he left the room, glaring at the two guards who had 'escorted' Gray to Ponyville.
“Now that is dealt with...” Gray turned back to see Celestia waving him over, gesturing to a chair next to her throne. He walked up the dais and took a seat, smiling over to the mare. “...what exactly happened out there? I haven't seem him smile like that since... well, you know.”
“I... found them for him, and brought them back to Ponyville.”
“Really? Thank you very much, you have done him a great service.”
“Yeah... for him maybe, but not for your country.”
“What do you mean? Gray?” The way he was looking around the room told her it needed to be a private conversation, and with a nod of her head the guards slipped out, her horn glowing to seal the room. “There, we are alone. Now, what is wrong?”
“The... changelings... they didn't want to give up their trophies. I was left with two choices, turn around and head back... or go in and get them.”
“But how did you survive?”
“I had Alec's gun.”
“What? You mean you killed them?” All she got was a nod, Gray refusing to meet her gaze. She quickly wrote something down, rolled up the scroll and sent it away via magic. “Then there is only one thing for it.”
“I'm sorry. I place myself in your custody.”
“My custody? Gray, you misunderstand me.” The door swung open and five figures entered. Four were in the armour of the elite Solar Honour Guard, and the fifth was the changeling mare, Chrysalis, who Celestia was glaring at. They stopped at the bottom of the throne, and the chitin covered mare crossed her arms over her chest. “Chrysalis... I have more than once asked you for the location of where you stashed your victims, and each time you refused.”
“I fail to see why you brought me here for this again. I will never tell you!”
“I see. Gray, would you like to inform her?” It was then he realised what was happening, and he gave her a curt nod, turning with a smile and walking up the changeling leader.
“Your secret is out. I found the graves... and Sonata and Dawn were returned to where they belong. Your... trophies are no longer there.”
“You took them? But... there were fifty of my best guards there!”
“Not any more.” Her eyes drifted down to where he was pointing, seeing the remnants of dark green changeling blood. “They wouldn't let me take them... so I did what I had to do.”
“You... attacked my family! I WILL DESTROY YOU!!” Her horn sparked, sending Gray tumbling against the steps. She started to advance forward, ignoring the orders being shouted at her from the guards and Celestia, but she was halted by neither of them. A sandy coloured blur had shot in and wrapped his arm around her neck, beginning to twist her head. “What a-a-are you doing? Y-you had your r-r-revenge!” The pegasus stallion was half dressed, his exposed arm rippling with muscle as he started to choke her.
“This is not for Sonata and Dawn. This for the other hundreds of families.” With one final push, Chrysalis' eyes bulged and there was the sound of bone snapping. Alec released her and let the body fall limply to the floor, the neck at an unnatural angle. “Promised I'd be the one to kill you, bitch, and I keep my promises.” The four guards we unsure what to do, elated that one potential threat had been removed, but kept their weapons pointed at the other potential threat in the room.
Alec ignored them and walked to the steps, helping Gray back to his feet. “Guards...” They tensed up, trigger fingers ready to stun the the stallion, but her orders were not what they were expecting. “...remove that filth from my throne room, and then send out word to the guard. I want that grave removed, the bodies identified as best as possible and returned to their respective families.”
Two of the guards passed their guns to the others and picked up the body between them, walking out of the room. Alec suddenly went weak at the knees, and fell to his flank with a thud, Celestia and Gray immediately asking if he was okay, and he just smiled up at them. “Yeah... I think I will be. I... need to... actually, no I won't be. That was my driving force, to push myself until I could confront her. Now what do I do?”
Celestia didn't have an answer for him, and she felt completely unhelpful right then. Sure, she was the one that interviewed him when he applied for the Royal Guard, had been the one to marry him and Sonata, and had recommended him to Luna's collection of choices for a personal bodyguard. She was even the one that gave her sister the little push to randomly kiss him on the cheek one night during a stroll through the gardens. And yet, despite all that, she realised that she hardly knew anything about the broken stallion seated in front of her.
Gray, however, knew what it was like to have a driving force behind your actions. His was to make the world a better place, one way or another. So when he sat down and put his hand on the stallion's shoulder, Celestia backed away, content to let events unfold. “You've got another thing to drive you, Alec. You said you need to give her time... but I don't think that's the case. I know how happy she makes you, so go see her. It'll be fine, I promise.”
“You... yeah, you're right I guess. I think I will go see her. At least I know she'll take this latest development well. Thanks again, Gray.”
“Hey, you just saved my life, it's the least I could do for a friend.” Celestia had to withhold her grin as Alec cracked a rarely seen genuine smile as they both stood up, Gray's hand still upon Alec's shoulder.
“Yeah, well... you just saved my soul, friend.” With a nod, he turned and began to walk out, stopping to glance at the Solar Princess. “Celestia... I am going off duty. I'll be with Luna if you need me.”
“Alec, two things. Firstly, you are off duty anyway at the moment. Secondly, how many times do I have to tell you you can just call me Tia? You call my sister Lu.”
“That's what a friend would call you, and you're my employer. Yeah, I'm her bodyguard, but you're the one that pays me. It's never good to mix personal lives with professional lives.”
“Oh really? And that telescope just happens to look at her tower for what reason, exactly?” Alec gave her a smirk, and raised an eyebrow at her.
“Like I said, you pay me to be her bodyguard... the rest? Perks of the job.” He then carried on walking, closing the door quietly and leaving the pair alone once more. Celestia gave a small to chuckle which complemented Gray's growing amusement, but that soon changed to confusion as she pulled him close and hugged him.
“Thank you, Gray. You have done a truly wonderful thing today, bringing peace to a heart that was tearing itself apart.” He slowly brought his arms up and returned the embrace. He could feel her wings under his hand, and for some unknown reason, he began to stroke them. Celestia let out a surprised gasp as her wings shot out, and she looked up into Gray's eyes, her cheeks now covered with a rosen hue. “At least buy me dinner first, Mr Heartbelle.”
He was completely confused by what she meant, and even further surprised as her hand came up and pulled his head down, Celestia suddenly kissing him. He got lost in the moment and closed his eyes, holding the mare against him. Neither of them noticed to door open, nor the pegasus sticking his head back in. “Oh, Celestia, one more thing. Where's Private... oh. Uh, I'll just put the 'do not disturb' sign on the door.”
He was gone before either of the pair with glowing red cheeks could say anything, still wrapped in each others arms, Celestia's wings still spread wide. With a giggle she rested her head on Gray's shoulder, whilst his brain tried to process what the fuck just happened.
“And this here is Princess Luna's tower. I have scheduled a meeting with her in about ten minutes, so we'd best head on up.” Dean followed Joy as she began to ascend, and then shook his head as he realised he was watching her hips sway as she walked up the stairs, wiggling her hips in that cute little uniform... he shook the thoughts from his head once more and decided to walk next to her instead. Five minutes later they emerged onto a corridor lined with guards, but they were all snickering at something. They approached the door marked with a crescent moon, but Joy stopped with her hand raised to knock as a crash came from the room, followed by a panicked male voice.
“LUNA! THAT CHAIR WAS SENT TO YOU FROM SADDLE ARABIA!”
“I DO NOT CARE, I AM STILL GOING TO BEAT YOU WITH IT!” The sound of more crashing and pained yelps came through, as well as more shouting. “A MEASLY NOTE! AND ONE WITH LITTLE INFORMATION! YOU EVEN SAID YOU MAY NOT RETURN! NOW STOP RUNNING!” The door rattled a little, but then burst open as Luna had jumped at Alec, pushing them through and onto the floor, Luna sat upon the stallion. “DO THAT TO ME AGAIN AND I'LL MPPHHH!” She had been cut of by Alec pulling her into a deep kiss, one that he only did in private.
It served his purpose, calming the mare down. He helped her stand up, and when she opened her eyes, she wished she hadn't. Her cheeks were red and her wings spread, all in full view of her guards, Nurse Openheart, and Private Hollis. She turned to the pegasus stallion that had let go, and saw him standing near an open window. Her horn sparked but he was quicker, jumping out and flying away. “That stallion is so dead when he comes back.” Turning back she glared at the guards, then glanced at the other two. “Let's just get this over with.”
Upon following her into the room, Dean thought he had walked onto a battlefield. There was a couch with it's top wooden beam broken, a shattered mirror, a table whose legs had given out underneath it, and Luna was righting a chair near the door. She glanced around the room, looking for a place for them to sit, but gave a shrug and pulled some cushions from the couch, sitting on the rug in the middle of the room and motioning for the pair to join her.
Doing as asked, Dean sat opposite her with Joy to the side. He looked from the princess to the nurse, who encouraged him to open with a nod. He took a deep breath and turned back to the one watching him intently. “Er... hel...”
“'tis customary to allow the host to open pleasantries, is it not?”
“Er... sorry. Won't happen again.”
“Doth thou know not how to converse with royalty?”
“Not really, no.”
“Then whom holds power in thine country?”
“Elected officials, who represent each state.”
“Oh, We... oh buck it. Interesting, but that can hold off for now. Tell me about yourself, Private Hollis.”
“Well, what do you want to know?” A flash of her horn, and Luna had a stack of papers in one hand and a quill in the other. She smiled at Joy and then over to Dean, placing a pair of glasses over her eyes.
“Everything.”
He looked out from under the hood of his cloak, ensuring that no-one was following. Upon turning around, the unicorn stallion's lantern revealed a pair of soulless eyes in his path. The changeling drone blew the candle out, plunging the pair into darkness. The unicorn's horn glowed green, and with a burst of flame changed to almost exactly the same as the other, with the exception of a missing eye. “You've finally arrived, sir. We can begin now.”
“Lead the way.” They stepped from the path and into a cave, which opened out to a large cavern, the walls covered by a slick black substance. They walked over to a large circular table, where more changelings were waiting. They each took a seat, the largest one that resembled a throne remaining empty. One of the others stood and was about to speak, but the latest edition cut him off. “Shouldn't we wait for mother?”
“Prince Metamorphosis... your mother, our queen... she is dead.”
“WHAT? WHY AM I ONLY HEARING ABOUT THIS NOW?”
“You had already left before we could send word out. You are her oldest child, so her crown falls to you now, King Metamorphosis.” He got up from his chair and approached the one to his left, hesitant to use it. “There is no mistake, our source in the castle confirmed that Chrysalis is no more.” Sitting down, the newly crowned changeling looked around at his subjects, and bid them sit with a wave of his arm.
“Who is this source?” One of the changelings stood, pulling out a folder from his cloak. Metamorphosis let his horn glow green, and pulled the file open. He examined the photo and description of the pony. “Are you sure we can use her?” The changeling who had produced the document was bathed in green flame, turning into a pegasus mare.
“Yes, she'll be very useful. Trust me, Fair Heart and I have got a lot in common. And her tongue does nice things.”
“What about him?”
“Temporarily suspended. He's still around the castle though, and seems to be getting in trouble with Luna a lot.”
“Have this Fair Heart suggest that she takes him away for a few days, we need him to be distracted. Then it is just Sparkle we need to ensure will not stop us.”
“Stop us do what, sire?”
“They took our ruler away from us... so we shall take theirs. Soldier!” The mare stood straighter and looked Metamorphosis in the eye. “When will she be most distracted?”
“In two days, sire. They are going to try send those two things back to their world, and that will be the perfect time to start.”
“If I may, sire, I think we have a way into the castle.” Metamorphosis raised his eyebrows at the one who had declared him the new king, and nodded to him. With a flash of his horn, some of the cocoons in the ceiling drifted down. The changeling popped the top off of one of them, and reached inside. “We use these.”
He pulled up the head of a Royal Guard, who coughed and spluttered as the liquids left his system. He looked around at his captors and began to struggle. “You'll never get away with this! When Celestia finds you, you'll....” The guard was pushed back into the fluids and the lid was replaced.
“I see. Have those that have come copy them. We will march into Canterlot Castle and take it from within. You have two days to prepare.” The gathered changelings bowed, then backed away to issue their subordinates with orders. Metamorphosis leaned back in his seat and looked up to the cocoons above him. “With the Equestrian royalty out of the way, we can gather their forces and march upon the Crystal Empire. Mother's plan will still happen, and we will have revenge upon that bucking couple.”
“...that's pretty impressive. And all in the past three years?”
“Yes. If I hadn't sent Twilight to Ponyville, who knows what Equestria would be like?” Gray held the door open for Celestia, letting the mare walk through first, he followed and found himself on a balcony at the top of the highest tower of the castle. “And now she is devoting all of her waking time trying to find a way to get you home. Look, there she goes, back to the castle library.”
Gray looked over the edge of the railing, and could just make out a small object moving through the gardens. He couldn't tell if it was Twilight, so he just assumed Celestia knew who was in her castle. Turning back around, he saw a table set for two, the mare already waiting. As soon as he sat down, a servant appeared and served them dinner, the smell of which caused Gray's stomach to rumble. “Is that...”
“Yes, meat. Alec has told Luna about your species, and took extra care to mention this. We keep a small amount of Lagomorpha around for when the griffons visit.” Gray stopped with the fork just outside his mouth, his eyes wide as he stared at her. “Is something the matter?”
“Uh... two things. Are you really okay with me eating meat? And what the hell is a lago-whatsit?”
“Yes, I am fine with you having such sustenance. And it's common name is rabbit. Do you not have them on your worl..” He wasn't listening anymore, and was instead gorging himself on the platter set out for him. With a small grin, Celestia picked up her fork and began to eat her salad, chewing slowly in stark contrast to Gray, who was eating like it was his last meal.
By the time he had finished, Celestia was halfway through her food, so he set down his cutlery and sat back against his chair. There was a hint of amusement in her eyes as she watched him look out over the city's rooftops. Upon her last mouthful, she nodded to the side and the servant returned, clearing this dishes and replacing them with two glasses and a chilled bottle of wine. “Gray, would you like a drink?”
He drew his eyes back to the table, seeing what was on it and giving the mare a nod. She reached for the bottle, but he beat her to it, pouring a glass for the mare first. She took it with a smile, then turned her head as a clock started to chime. “Now that's weird...” She cocked her head, wondering what he meant.
“Gray?”
“Well... apparently it's nine in the evening here... my watch says it's just after eight. So... weird.”
“Hmm, yes that is stran... wait, nine o'clock? I need to get to work. You are very lucky, being the first visitor from another world to see this.” After taking a sip of wine, she stood from the table and approached the balcony. Gray watched as her wings spread wide and her horn began to glow with the intensity of the sun, almost over the horizon. And then the impossible happened.
The sun began to move, almost as if by Celestia's will. He saw a dimmer glow to the side and turned towards it, seeing Luna's tower, and the glow coming from her balcony. Once the sun had disappeared to the west, the moon appeared quickly in the east, and then stopped. Celestia's horn stopped glowing, and there was a flash from Luna's horn. The moon then began to slowly move of it's own accord. “What... the hell just happened?”
“Simple. I lowered the sun and my sister raised the moon.”
“Okay... again, what the hell just happened?”
“So let me get this straight... you control the moon, and Celestis controls the sun?”
“It's Celestia, and yes, we have been doing it for years.” Dean had watched something that had to be a scientific impossibility, with this... pony moving a celestial body that should be controlled by gravity. “It is easy to understand. Our world... I really should find out what it is called these days... anyway, it is an anomaly. It sits equal distance from our sun and moon, whose mass is the same. Therefore, we need to use magic to move them, or one side of the world is in permanent days, the other nights. Because of the distance and mass, the gravitational pull does not result in systematic orbit, so we do it ourselves.”
“And you know this is an anomaly because...?”
“Twilight Sparkle, she is an accomplished astronomer. She has studied far worlds and discovered they have moons that orbit them, and they orbit our star as well. But they are too far away to influence us.”
“That's... pretty cool. Anyway... I think I've taken up enough of your time now, and I'm pretty sure you've got things to do...”
“Yes, hunt down that moron of a stallion, but go on.”
“...and I've got to... think about some things. But a quick question. That town... I'd like to go... apologise to that family. Would that be okay?”
“The Apples? I am certain that will be fine. Nurse Openheart can take you on the evening train.” The other mare, who at this point had been in a trance like state, snapped her head round to the pair standing near the balcony. “That is, of course, if she can stay awake that long.”
“Uh... I think I can, your majesty.”
“Good. We will see you tomorrow at some point then. Good evening Joy, Dean.”
“Your majesty.”
“Miss Luna.” The pair walked towards the door, and Dean held it open for the mare. She gave him a smile as she walked out, and he turned back to Luna and gave her a nod. Upon going to leave he stopped moving, eyes wide. Then his balled fist came up and struck something on the other side of the doorway. There was the sound of a chuckle, and then another male voice.
“Guess I deserved that, and more, huh? Where you going?”
“That town, to apologise. Want to stop me.”
“No, but you will be escorted.”
“Fine.” Dean the walked out of the door, Luna's face having turned into a scowl. Her eyes narrowed even further as Alec walked in. He ignored her searing gaze and strode right over to her. She was about to speak when he cut her off with a deep kiss, Velvet Bow walking in with two trays. The mare set them down on the table and left, closing the door behind her. Alec finally pulled away and Luna opened her eyes, following his arm to their meal.
She lifted the lid up and smiled, then turned back to her stallion and kissed his cheek. “Fried daisies and haycakes... my favourite.”
“That's not all.” He nodded towards her open window, and she walked over to it. Her brows furrowed when she found nothing, and turned back to her chambers confused. The confusion remained as she beheld her stallion, standing next to the table. He pulled out a chair and beckoned her over. “Enjoy your meal, milady.”
“But what of you? And why are you doing this?” Things like this only happened when he knew he had screwed up... and it was more than just the note.
“Well, firstly to say sorry, and secondly to preserve my flank. Oh, and I've already eaten.”
“Why?”
“Well... you know poison joke requires a certain type of bath?” The mare nodded as she began to eat her food. “Turns out that some of the ingredients are sold out, and can't get here for a few days. So your nephew is currently still your niece.”
“You didn't...”
“Yep, we did.”
“Hmm... maybe it will teach him to respect mares. He can stay like that for a while.” Alec turned towards her wine cabinet, but stopped when a hand grabbed his tail. “I have an idea. Rarity is still in town... so why don't we send... princess Blueblood to Fluer's? I'm sure she would love to see him like this.” Giving a small chuckle the stallion turned away again and selected a bottle, pouring the mare a glass and waiting to the side of the table to get anything else she wanted.
...although, with the way she kept glancing out the corner of her eye, it was obvious. Thank Faust my heat has gone...