Ch. 1: Dream a Little Dream
With a mighty yawn, Princess Luna awoke, her eyes trying to adjust to the light. Her head felt splitting, and her stomach was knotted and churning in her middle. She groaned, to see the face of Prince Aligorna of Aquilonia smiling at her. She rolled out of bed, her eyes examining the room.
"My moon goddess. How are we this morning?"
She was startled by that. Morning? She tried to put together the events of the previous night in her head, trying to find a window to peak out of. If it was morning, surely Celestia was waiting for her to lower the moon so she could raise the sun.
"Ugh. I am so confused. I remember waking up to conduct my duty, then we were at dinner. We ate well enough, but I was soon complaining about drowsiness. I excused myself for the evening, leaving you to finish business with my sister. That's the last I remember until now..."
Her eyes widened as she turned to him with astonishment, as she felt the floor of the room move beneath her hooves. "YOU! We are at sea, are we not? That means... YOU PONYNAPPED ME?! What is the meaning of this? Turn this ship around and return me to Canterlot at once!"
Aligorna shook his head, a slight smirk on his face. "I am afraid that's not possible, dear Luna. The winds were favorable while you slept. We are hours away from port already."
Her eyes narrowed dangerously at him, her noble voice a near growl. "You have power over the sea, Prince. You can use your magic to speed us home."
Again he smirked arrogantly, shaking his head. "No, I really cannot. You see, I intentionally picked the oldest and most rickety ship on the Aquilonian fleet just for this very purpose. We must match the speed of the wind, otherwise we risk the ship not being able to handle the added strain."
Luna was about to launch a tirade, when she felt herself about to heave. She put her hoof to her mouth, trying to hold it in. When the nausea passed again, she groaned out miserably, "What did you slip to me? I feel terrible."
Aligorna looked at her concerned, then put a hoof up and said, "Hold that thought. I do not want you feeling ill. I have to go talk to a certain crew member about what to do about that. The window is on the opposite side to your left. I hope my cabin is enough for your liking."
He walked out the door, while she went to the window, opening it. The salty ocean air hit her skin and took a deep breath. She focused her magic as the moon came down and the sun came up, almost instantly warming the cool autumn air. She strained her ears, listening to the conversation."
"Strife! You didn't warn me that the sleeping drug you slipped into the food last night was going to make anyone ill! Is there any greater risk from it?"
"Why no, my lord. That distraction of the long conversation with the new princesses, Cadence and Twilight, was perfect though. Both are young ponies who are not used to conducting royal business yet, so you managed to both distract them while giving them needed encouragement. Under normal circumstances, that is exactly what you should have done. But no, there is no risk of death or permanent damage from that particular drug. It will cause headaches and nausea though, so even if she thinks she can't hold it down, perhaps I should tell the cooks to start preparing breakfast?"
"That sounds like a splendid idea, Strife. And I appreciate you for coming up with this plan. I'm not sure that I could have approached the Princess any other way."
"Frankly, you know how I feel about love in general. Love is weakness. Strife is related to strive. To strive means to overcome. It means to face down what tries to oppose you. To take those things you want. That I can understand, and that's what I offered you, my lord. You wanted the Princess, and as a pirate you know all about taking what you want. Why play by Equestria's rules?"
"Well, thank you. You are right. We've played this dance of civility with Celestia for too long. We gave up who we are in exchange for peace. Peace is important. I don't want war. But warriors we are, with history stretching back to my grandfather, to an age before your brother ruled Equestria."
"My brother...pathetic weakling. I wish I wouldn't have had to sneak into the castle. I wish I could have looked him in the eye after a thousand years and told him what I think about these rumors of him finding his special somepony. We are draconequus, Discord and I. We don't 'find' anything. We take everything! And we enjoy ourselves fully with it. But no, he goes and lets himself become tamed...domesticated...by some pink haired little powderpuff? Waste of already limited genetic material, if you ask me. Disgrace to his species is what he is. And he always has been. What I wouldn't give to remind him that discord does not breed strife, but strife is the blood from which discord is bred. I was the first. I am the strongest. And I am proud to have aligned myself with a peoples that understand this, that know what good I have to offer because they have lived the hard life. Celestia and her pampered ponies..."
"That's enough, Strife. I am not looking to be part of your sibling rivalry. All I wanted was Luna, and you delivered her to me. Expect your tribute to be doubled when we get home."
"It is a pleasure to serve you, my lord."
Luna gasped audibly, total dismay numbing her being. Discord had a brother...that Aquilonia was aligned with?! What did this mea...
In Canterlot, Celestia had just finished her task of raising the sun, her head slung over her balcony, any color drained from her already white coat. She felt unbearably ill. Worse than she had in well over a decade. Alicorns, being such immense wells of magic with such long lifespans that no pony was quite sure if they were immortal or not, were not known for catching illness. But here she was, feeling like several days worth of food were about to be deposited on the handful of citizens gathering below, looking on her with concern.
Princess Twilight Sparkle poked her head out behind her mentor, looking not any better herself. Already stressed from a long night of diplomatic negotiation, helping Luna, Celestia, and Cadence hammer out a new treaty with Aquilonia, she had gotten only a few hours of sleep. To be awoken with a pain in her skull as though she had taken a kick from her friend Apple Jack, it made her feel like she was two steps from Death's door.
"Princess Celestia...have you seen your sister? Cadence and I woke up feeling really bad, and I was hoping she could help guide us to the castle apothecary."
Celestia turned and entered the her chambers again, gently kicking the french doors to her balcony closed. She shook her head at her young student, letting out something that sounded like a suppressed scream before moaning out, "Noooooo. I have not seen Luna this...I think I'm going to be..." She whimpered, her normally regal composure breaking down, to Twilight's dismay. She supported Celestia as they walked out of her chambers and Celestia directed them to the castle infirmary. She was laid down, a bucket placed before her as she finally let go and vomited. The doctor and nurse both looked concerned, already knowing what was happening but afraid to tell their royals the simple fact that they had been poisoned. Nothing they wouldn't survive, but poisoned nonetheless.
Twilight could tell by looking at them though, her mouth about to fall open when Celestia sat back up, looking a little less pale already, though still week.
"Aligorna...I never thought he would stoop...I am just in shock. Twilight, I think we have been duped. Duped by a professional thief, who has stolen my sister out from under our snouts."
Twilight nodded, shying away from the angry glare coming from her teacher's big eyes. This was terrible, and she already could tell she would have to drag her friends into this. They wouldn't let this go and stay royal business, to be conducted in a royal manner. To them, this would be an affront to her, and one that had to be dealt with the way the group many in both Canterlot and Ponyville had come to call the "Mane 6" dealt with problems.
Under her breath, she mumbled out, "This is going to get a lot worse before it gets better..."
Celestia stood on wobbly legs, but patted her student on her shoulder. "Twilight...if you think you can talk them out of getting involved, do so. But we will need the help of a few of our allies. Come on, we have to get a 'second opinion' on rather or not this is 'chaotic' enough."
Shortly, they were in the courtyard, finding Twilight's friend Fluttershy in a corner, coughing and gagging. Discord, Celestia's former enemy turned staunch ally was with her. Fluttershy was the one to reform him, showing him the power of friendship. Now, with Twilight's ascension to princess and Alicorn, she was a frequent visitor to Canterlot when Twilight was called for royal business. It gave her and Discord a chance to deepen their relationship, and rumors were spreading that they had moved beyond friendship, and given how Discord seemed to admire her flanks when she walked by, maybe even beyond the level beyond friendship. Twilight had never bought that. Discord was a very id driven creature. That was draconequus nature. So she assumed he lusted after anything over a certain age that he deemed appealing to his personal sense of aesthetics. Besides, Fluttershy was, well, too shy to even know anything about lust. Wasn't she?
Discord patted Fluttershy's back as she finally turned to Twilight and Celestia, biting her lip with tears in her eyes. "I didn't think the food was that bad, Princess! Please don't fire the cook!"
Celestia mustered a goodhearted chuckle at that, smiling at the whimpering little pink maned pegasus. "Worry yourself not, dear Fluttershy. It was nothing the cook did. It is not even the food. No, Prince Aligorna betrayed us. I do not yet know how, but he poisoned us in order to take my sister..."
Discord placed an eagle taloned hand under his chin, stroking his goat's beard. "Ah, yes. You did mention something during his meeting with Princess Twilight and Princess Cadence something about him seeming extra excited for the conducting of simple state business. You thought Luna might have had something to do with it?"
Celestia nodded. "Yes. He made no mistake over the past thousand years that he indeed missed her. He said something about how during our first meeting, how they had spent so much time together and developed a strong bond. I of course remember that, and wondered at the time if he might have been considering a courtship with her. At the time I probably would have said no. We were still fresh to the throne. We were learning to be rulers ourselves, and a romance would have been a distraction. Given some time to settle in though, I think I would have warmed to it, but the whole Nightmare Moon business stopped things before they could have gotten even that far."
Fluttershy let out a shaky breath and shook her head vigorously, trying to work the cobwebs out. "I would think that's sweet. I love romance, Princess. Nothing is more adorable than anyone in love. But why would he think it's a good idea to kidnap her? If he wants her as his special somepony, why not ask her?"
Discord chuckled at the innocence of his companion. "Flutters hon, the habits of old pirates die hard."
Fluttershy cocked her head in confusion. "Why are we doing business with a pirate?"
Twilight looked thoughtful and said, "I did some research to prepare myself for his arrival. Apparently he met with both the Princesses after they first defeated Discord here, and solidified an alliance between the two lands that gets renewed about ever 15 years, give or take 2 or 3 years either way. His people aren't just pirates. They're seafaring ponies generally, and excellent fisherponies. They give us a supply of their catches, we give them a portion of our harvests, and they haven't had to pirate ever since. So then the question is...why would he feel the need to resort to it now? And why Luna? Is it just because he's never learned proper courtship etiquette, or is there something else involved? Do they need something and plan to use her as a hostage?"
Celestia nodded and said, "I agree these are important questions to ask, and we will when the time is right. But finding them is what we need to focus on first. Discord, I have a feeling that if diplomacy fails us, we're going to...well, let's say I think we'll be in need of the specific services your powers offer."
Discord nodded. "I understand, Princess. I am at your service for however you need me. But right now, Fluttershy says she doesn't much care for the idea of using the castle apothecary, but she does have some herbal remedies at her cottage saved up. I am going to take her back home since she's too weak to fly herself, make sure she has what she needs, then put lay her down and makes sure she takes a long nap."
Celestia beamed at that. "You two really do make a cute pair. You have no idea how much joy it brings me to see you have a friendship so strong."
Discord didn't say anything, his back already turned as he scooped up Fluttershy, hovering in the air before teleporting out of sight.
Twilight's voice was flat, trying to suppress a contented sigh for Discord and Fluttershy, as she said, "That's one sure bet for us. You don't really think that it will get that far though, do you?"
Celestia shook her head sadly. "I don't know, Twilight. I just don't know. We can't think about that though. It's time to pay our special Doctor a visit."
"No!"
Doctor Whooves, the lost Time lord, shook his head at Celestia and Twilight, standing in his doorway.
Celestia's eyes narrowed at him as she whispered out, "We don't have time to argue, Time Turner. Every second we waste, the further my sister slips from our grasp. We have to intercept Aligorna before her can reach Aquilonian shores. If they make it back to his homeland, then he will hold all the cards in his that point, we might have no other option than all out war. That can't be an option. Our two lands need each other too much to squander a thousand years of peace."
The Doctor was about to speak when his eyes looked up to the sky to see his beloved assistant and special somepony, Ditzy Doo, flying in at high speed. The goodhearted and wall eyed mail pony seemed to be out of control, and he yelled out, "INCOMING!"
Twilight and Celestia scattered as Ditzy slammed into the Doctor and sent them both rolling around the entryway of their shared abode. She popped up as though nothing had happened and turned to the door, bouncing on her hooves excitedly. "HIYA, PRINCESSES! Whatcha dooooooing here?"
The Doctor dusted himself off and pulled himself up. "Ditzy dear, are you okay?"
Ditzy smiled. "I'm fine. I actually was being chased by a flock of geese, if you can believe it. Hee hee!"
The Doctor's voice dripped sarcasm as he replied, "Oh, I can believe it."
Celestia and Twilight both groaned in unison, before Celestia said, "Ditzy, could you please talk some sense into him? My sister's been kidnapped, and he doesn't think it's enough to a threat for you two to get involved."
Ditzy turned on her hooves, her eyes trying to focus as she tried to take on a serious and stern expression. "Doctor! We pledged to tackle any threat to befall Equestria. I think the stealing of the night is a pretty serious threat that needs tackling."
The Doctor rolled his eyes, saying dismissively, "Our talents are needed to fix those issues involving time and its proper operation. I understand the importance of Princess Luna, both to the Princess and to our land, but her abduction is a political issue. What would happen to Equestria if, while we're chasing her around, Daleks or Cybermen invaded?"
Ditzy stamped her hoof, catching everyone by surprise. "I'm overruling you on this one, Doctor. What if something happens to Luna? Then it does become an issue involving time, right? Riiiiiight?"
The Doctor sighed. "Alright. Alright. I'll go try to prepare the TARDIS."
Ditzy smiled, letting her eyes fall into their naturally unnatural pattern again before shouting excitedly, "GOOD! I'LL GO MAKE SOME CELEBRATION MUFFINS!"
She kicked the door shut right in Celestia and Twilight's faces, leaving both Princesses to stare at it blankly, before turning to each other in utter dumbfoundedness...