//------------------------------// // Ends of the World // Story: Breaking Cute // by GoldenState3 //------------------------------// Luna paced nervously. She'd spent the last two weeks in one hospital or another. She'd spent the first in the week at the Ponyville Hospital. That week was a nothing more than a blur of images, and pain. She'd spent the last week at the Royal Hospital for Sick Foals in Canterlot. Never mind that she was almost eleven hundred years old. Okay, so she'd still been a filly when she'd became an Alicorn. She hadn't aged a day since then. So, she'd never really physically "grown up." She was always going to be an awkward teen. That didn't mean that Celestia had the right to act like her mother. Nothing made Luna angrier than Celestia treating her like a baby. That's why she was here. It was all Celestia's fault. She'd convinced everyone that Luna was nuts. She'd replayed the scene in her head a thousand times, unbidden, it replayed a thousand and first. They'd been sitting in Luna's hospital room. She was in the process of getting discharged by Dr. Foally. She'd been nervously pacing. Celestia had asked what was wrong. "I have to get back to Ponyville. The dastard that killed that foal has had a week to cover up their tracks." Luna said. Celestia had motioned Dr. Foally out into the hall, and they'd had a private talk with the door closed. She'd been concerned enough to listen at the key hole. "She has a history of paranoia. That's where Nightmare Moon came from. She was born of Luna's paranoia that ponies weren't enjoying her night. I only wish that I'd realized what had happened early enough last time." Celestia had said. "Her story about the foal was suspicious." Dr. Foally replied. "I've never heard of a pony using such a substance to kill another. I've seen several foals loss their lives to the Castor Bean." "You've heard her story before?" Celestia asked. "I was with the Vicountess San Palamino when the Princess explained her theory." Dr. Foally said. "The Viscountess San Palamino? How was she involved in this madness?" Celestia asked. "The Viscountess was involved because her daughter had fainted after hearing the princess's story." The doctor responed. "She has involved Twilight!" Celestia said. Luna shuddered. Her sister never used the voice. Well, almost never. She'd inadvertently used it after Luna had broken one of her favorite teacups, but that had been an accident, and they'd made up since then. "If she is becoming Nightmare Moon again, I want her as far away from Twilight as possible!" Celestia had said. "Princess, if this Nightmare Moon is born of Luna's madness, than perhaps we can treat that madness, to prevent her from appearing." Dr. Foally had said. "We have made wonderful advances in the treatment of madness in the last thousand years. May I admit her to our Madness Ward?" "No Tia! Don't!" She'd shouted as she burst through the door. Her horn had been glowing, and she had used all of her self control to stop herself from casting some dread magic on the doctor. Instantly she'd felt cold, and her magic had drained. Why had her sister frozen her like that? Did Celestia still consider her a threat? She could see the terror in the Doctor's eyes. It was like Nightmare Night in Ponyville all over again. Luna felt her legs give out. That had sealed it. She'd let them lead her to the Madness ward, and she'd spent the last six days sharing a room with a pyromaniac Pegasus filly. She blamed the poor filly's parents. Who in Tartarus named their foal Firestarter? If you were going to use a name like that, you probably shouldn't get angry when the filly started to set fires around the house. Actaully, she'd found herself getting attatched to her fellow inmates. They had a common cause, vanquishing the stuck up adults that kept them in prison. Make no mistake, that's what this place was, a prison. She honestly preferred the moon. On the moon, it was just her and the Nightmare. There weren't perfectly perky Pegasi asking her to tell everypony how she felt. How the buck did they think she felt! Betrayed! Celestia had turned her over to some quack. No, Celestia had turned her over to some quack, and then never had the guts to come and face her. She could feel the Nightmare building inside of her, and growing. If that pink Pegasus nurse showed up one more time with the cartoon chart of pony faces and asked her to point at the pony that looked like she felt, there would be night eternal. She wondered what they'd do to her if she became the Nightmare while still here? Would she lose her dessert, or would they send her to early bed time? It was visiting time again, and once again she'd hoped that Celestia would appear. Once again she was wrong. Firestarter's parent's had offered to let her sit with them, but Luna had declined. She'd pulled a pillow into a warm square of sunlight and curled up. "Mz. Moon, you have a visitor." The annoying nurse had said. They insisted on calling her Mz. Moon in the hospital. Nopony was fooled. There were only three Alicorns in all of Equestria. Even the colt that was always bucking everypony and screaming knew that. Luna turned around. It was Twilight Sparkle, and not her sister. Why didn't Celestia come? "I got your message, though I'd prefer not to have ponies poking around in my dreams." Twilight said. "So this is the Madness ward. I read up on psychology before I came here. It's a very interesting subject. Did you know that..." "I'd rather not hear about psychology. I've been immersed in it for the last week." Luna interrupted. "Oh, in that case, I've been thinking about your offer." Twilight said. "I've even talked to Celestia about it. She is strongly against it. She says that she doesn't want me to get caught up in your madness, and that if she thought your allegations were true, she'd want me involved even less." "That's why I'm here. She wants to protect you from me." Luna said. "If you'd like her as your sister, you can have her. I'm done with her." "Don't say things like!" Twilight said. "She's family! Family are our first and best friends!" Luna ignored her. Celestia didn't want to be Luna's friend. She wanted to be Luna's mother. Luna already had a mother. Discord had killed her in a flood of molasses and peanut butter. Celestia's magic taken their dead parent's dying wish for their safety and converted them into Alicorns. The souls of their parents, and the other ponies around them had then became the elements, and the rest was history. "She loves you." Twilight said. "We know that!" Luna said. "It's how she shows that love that is the problem." There was a flash of pink at her side. They didn't like it when she used the voice. "I have a hard time controlling it! Please don't take away my dessert!" Luna begged. "Why would I do that?" A familiar voice asked. "Cadance!" Luna shouted as she hugged the princess. "Do they really take away your dessert for using the voice?" Cadance asked. "Sometimes." Luna said. She really didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want her friends to hear the indignities that she'd been forced to endure. "You have to admit, it's a silly old custom." Cadance replied. "But still, in a dreadful place like this, I imagine dessert is one of the few things that a pony has to look forward to." She hadn't imagined that it was possible for Cadance to understand something like that. Most ponies didn't, but then most ponies weren't the princess of love. "I talked about your offer with Cadance. Now, if you cooperate with your treatment, I'm willing to look around, if only to persuade you that nothing bad happened." Twilight said. "You mean it!" Luna asked. "Luna, if what you said was true, this could be the harbinger of another attack on Equestria. " Cadance said. "We must be ever vigilant." Sweetie Belle couldn't believe that they were doing this. Sure, Trixie had gotten Fleetfoot out of trouble over the whole thing with Spitfire, but that had been an accident, right? Trixie had hired Pegasi to carry banners in the sky over Ponyville, and those banners had claimed if anypony had any trouble with the law, they'd "Better Call Trixie." Sweetie Belle wasn't quite sure how one would go about calling Trixie, but that's what the signs had said. So the Crusaders had decided to call Trixie. Well, visit Trixie. It was well after dark as they headed to her wagon. They'd all had sneak away from families. Apple Bloom made sure no one was watching before knocking on Trixie's door. Trixie answered, as the Apple Bloom ducked into the shadows. Trixie looked around and when she didn't see anything she was about to close the door. The Crusaders dived in through a window, and blew out the lantern lighting the wagon. "What do you want?" Trixie asked, as she turned towards the suddenly darkened interior. "We want help." Apple Bloom said. "The Great and Powerful Trixie wonders what kind of help a filly could require? Is your mommy refusing to give you dessert? Will you be using your allowance as a retainer?" Trixie asked. "You got Fleetfoot off after she killed that pony." Apple Bloom said. "What are you like the Wonderbolts fan club like Rainbow Crash?" Trixie asked. Even in the Dark, Sweetie Belle could tell that Scootaloo was bristling. Scootaloo's movement caused Trixie to realize that there was more than one pony in the wagon with her, and she started nervously retreating towards the wall. "Please don't hurt me!" Trixie begged. "You help us, no one gets hurt." Apple Bloom said. "I'll tell the princess what really happened! I promise!" Trixie Begged. "We've killed some ponies. Okay, a lot of ponies." Scootaloo said. Trixie was jammed into the corner now. "What do you want me to do?" Trixie asked. "We want you to get us out of it." Apple Bloom said. "Who'd you kill?" Trixie asked. "My cousin, oh, and a quarter of the town." Apple Bloom answered. "That thing with the cupcake shop? That was you?" Trixie asked. "Eyup." Apple Bloom said. "You're the orange one's sister." Trixie said. "Don't you dare tell anyone!" Apple Bloom said. "Or you'll what? Use the magic of friendship on me? It didn't work. I still hate Twilight Dorkle." Trixie replied. "No, we'll put Ricin in your food." Apple Bloom said. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has no knowledge of what Ricin is." Trixie said. "It's what killed my cousin, and that's all you need to know." Apple Bloom said. "The Great and Powerful Trixie finds Ricin a far better motivater than the magic of Friendship." Trixie said. "Here is the problem. We're being threatened by Silver Zephyr, one of the merchants in town. He wants us to sell his blue party powder, or he'll tell Celestia what we did." Apple Bloom explained. "Why don't you just kill this Silver Zephyr?" Trixie asked. "He's away in the Griffon Empire, conducting business. We'd be dealing with his daughter." Scootaloo explained. There was no way that Sweetie Belle was going to agree to kill another pony. Not even if it meant their deaths. She was done with killing, forever. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has another idea. Would this Silver Zephyr be paying you?" Trixie asked. "Uhm, I don't know." Apple Bloom said. "Perhaps you can work out some arrangement. The Great and Powerful Trixie could act as your agent. You could cut her in, and she'd get you a good deal." Trixie said. "Well, Sweet Apple Acres could always need more money." Apple Bloom said. "Granny Smith still needs that hip replacement." "And I'd really like to live in a house with walls that weren't made of cardboard." Scootaloo said. "So it's settled then?" Trixie asked. It wouldn't be that bad right? Silver Zephyr wouldn't call something poisonous party powder, would he? It would be perfectly fine to help Ponies have parties wouldn't it?