//------------------------------// // Unicorns // Story: Breaking Cute // by GoldenState3 //------------------------------// Twilight's dream came into focus. She'd been dreaming the entire night, but those dreams hadn't had any substance, they'd changed and flowed fluidly, not taking any one form for long. Now she was sitting in the middle of Ponyville Town Square. Although the square was filled with Nightmare Night decorations, there weren't any ponies. Twilight stood around, impatiently tapping her foot, and waiting for Luna to her appearance. After almost five minutes, Twilight had convinced herself that this was just some new strange dream. There was a coughing noise coming from the direction of the apple bobbing tub, and Twilight moved towards it. There was a splash of water as Nightmare Moon exploded out of it. Twilight ran away from the tub as fast she could. Well, she ran till she heard laughing behind her. "That was most fun. Shall we do it again?" Luna said. She was just Luna now, and she looked pitiful. Her mane was disheveled and merely hair, the enchantments that caused the stars to appear in it were gone. Twilight wanted to comfort her, but she wasn't sure if Luna would appreciate it. "Do you want to talk about things?" She asked instead. "I'd like to forget about things." Luna said. "How about we just have fun?" They played various Nightmare Night games in silence for a few hours. Finally, after the fifth round of spider toss, Luna sat down. "Did you find anything?" she asked Twilight. She had such a hopeful expression on her face, and Twilight hated to have to tell her no. So she sorted through her actions that day, looking for anything suspicious that she could tell the Princess. Any little thing would be better than telling Luna that she didn't have anything. If the Princess was placing on her hopes and dreams on Twilight, she couldn't say she had nothing. "Uhm, well Applejack didn't know if Babs had been near the Castor Beans." She said. "How would that help us?" Luna replied. "Uh, I guess it wouldn't." Twilight said. "Luna, I think it was an accident. Things happen." "Things do not just happen in my kingdom! " Luna shouted. There was an explosion of light and flame, as the world was consumed in a wall of fire. Twilight scrunched down, as small as possible and cried to herself quietly. Luna was on her instantly, hugging her. "We seem to have forgotten the true extent of our powers. In times of old, our mission was not merely to protect the dreams of the righteous, but to harry the wicked with nightmares." Luna said. "Uhm, I shan't do that again... But, it was most fun." The wall of fire was back, but this time, a flight of flaming Pegasi with glowing red eyes and talons of flame shooting out from their hooves descended towards them. Twilight cowered. She hated fire right now, and could barely tolerate being near lanterns and lamps, let alone a nightmarish inferno. "There, we now have that out of our system." Luna said. "Luna, do you have to use the voice?" Twilight asked. Although she wasn't actually hearing Luna, her ears were still hurting. Besides, the voice was very unsettling. Twilight's nerves were shot from Luna's demonstration, and she very much needed a more calming environment. "They don't want me to use it!" Luna pouted. Twilight ignored the pouting, and thought of the best way to phrase what she had to say. There wasn't going to be any way to say it that wasn't painful. There was no way around that. She was just going to have come and tell it like it was. "Luna, there isn't anything here. How would somepony have even poisoned Babs? It makes no sense. Whatever book you got that from must have been wrong. Zecora recognized the symptoms immediately." Twilight said. Saying those words deflated her, and she curled into a ball, waiting for the fury that was soon to come from the princess. Instead of fury, Luna merely sighed. "Zecora merely read Super Naturals. It describes Ricin, how it is extracted from the Castor Bean, and what it does to a a pony foolish enough to consume it. It doesn't mention that Ricin does something completely different if it's inhaled or eaten, and that is important." Luna said. "Maybe it's not Ricin!" Twilight replied. "It could have been pneumonia, or a thousand other things! If Super Naturals had that much wrong information, how can you be sure that it even got the symptoms of Ricin right?" "Twilight, did my sister ever tell you how much alike you are?" Luna said. "No, she never did. We aren't really." Twilight replied. "I had this exact same conversation with her. She stopped listening to me, and told me to go to bed at this point. She didn't want to hear what I have to say next." Luna said. "Which is?" Twilight asked. They were going around in circles. If Luna had something convincing, she'd better say something fast. Twilight was running out of patience. Not only that, but the more they argued, the more Luna's attempts to grasp at straws proved Twilight's point. The harder she tried and failed to prove her point, the more Twilight became convinced that Luna was mad. Not that there was anything wrong with Luna being mad. The Princess looked like she needed a break from the hospital, and Twilight was willing to spend her nights talking to Luna through her dreams. She wasn't willing to hurt Luna's treatment by giving her a way to reinforce her delusions. Luna swallowed hard. "Twilight, in your studies have you ever heard of Other Places?" Luna asked. "Oh, yes! Of course! Why, just last week I read a book about the Griffon Empire! Did you know that any Griffon can challenge a Griffon noble to a duel, and if they win, they get that Griffon's title and lands? Commoners can even challenge the Empress herself! One year, they had five separate Empresses! But I bet Celestia would love it if someone could challenge Blue Blood for his title!" Twilight said. She went on and on, rattling off facts about every kingdom, principality, and republic in the world. Halfway through a lengthy speech on Prench cuisine, Twilight paused. Luna was looking at her with a bemused expression. This didn't sit right with Twilight. She'd asked about other places, and here she was, telling Luna about other places. "No, I mean places beyond this world." Luna said. "Oh, you mean the stars? Why didn't you say so. The Royal Equestrian Astrologers and Astronomers Society is always debating if there are ponies on planets around other stars." Twilight said. Luna face hoofed. "I mean places that aren't here, places that you can't see. Places where there may not be ponies." Luna said. "No ponies? What kind of place doesn't have ponies?" Twilight replied. "Are there Griffons? What about Dragons? Is there any kind of intelligent life there?" "They have monkeys." Luna said. "As Celestia puts it, evil monkeys that belong in the depths of Tartarus." "Uh, what makes these monkey's evil?" Twilight asked. "Well, mind you, this is just what Celestia thinks. I don't agree with her. But, anyway, these monkeys seem to delight in killing each other." Luna replied. "Delight in killing each other..." Twilight said. She couldn't imagine the idea that somewhere there was a species that delighted in killing each other. But, it would make a very interesting study. If she ever met one of these monkeys, she'd have to ask it what it enjoyed about killing other beings. That's assuming the monkey didn't just go right out and kill her while she was asking it questions. Assuming that they truly enjoyed killing, there was no guarantee that it wouldn't just kill her. "I don't think so. I think it's more complex. I mean, these monkeys have things that our top scientists and magicians couldn't even dream of. If they were simply evil, they couldn't do those things. Celestia sees the world in black and white. The Nightmare forced me to see things differently." Luna replied. Twilight didn't want to dwell on Nightmare Moon. If Celestia was right, it was building in Luna, waiting for a chance to gain control. Could Nightmare Moon gain control over Luna merely by being the subject of a conversation? What if talking about Nightmare Moon made Luna more aware of it? Wouldn't that require it to make its attempts to gain power more covert, and thus slower? Luna was still talking. She was spouting theories about how monkeys might coexist in a world without the magic of Friendship. This was interesting and all, but Twilight didn't have to have done painstaking research into psychology to know that it wasn't healthy for Luna to be talking about invisible monkeys living in a world where Friendship wasn't magic. Those kind of fantasies had no place in the real world. "I have a long day of studying tomorrow, and then I'm scheduled to make a gem cake with Spike. I'd love to hear your theories, but I need my sleep." Twilight said. Wait, wasn't she already asleep? Did this count as getting her sleep? She'd have to research that. "Twilight, Spike isn't here." Luna said. "He's dead. Remember?" The pain hit Twilight like a cattle stampede. She didn't have the heart to rework her schedule. It somehow felt disrespectful to remove Spike. She'd pencil her actual activity during her Spike time slots in at the bottom, so the schedule was still technically accurate. She didn't know how to cope with the pain of Spike's loss. He was the first thing that Twilight was truly close to that had died. She wondered if the pain would lessen as time went on. No! That would be worse. Wouldn't that be the same thing as forgetting Spike? Twilight had no idea. Her head was spinning, and she needed air. "When Zecora said that the death of the foal had been an accident, I knew in my heart that she was wrong. I went looking through bookstores and libraries, seeking out any mention of Ricin." Luna said. "In a shop in a back alley, I found what I was looking for. I showed the book I'd found to Celestia, she took a look at the monkey on the cover, and refused to look any further." "Do you have the book still?" Twilight asked. "Of course." Luna said. "It's in my apartments. You may take it, and read if you wish. If you are not convinced, than your involvement in this matter has ended. I've been keeping my part of the bargain. I've been cooperating." Twilight hesitated at the door to Luna's apartments. She'd entered the castle through the back door. She wasn't sure why she didn't want Celestia to know she was here, but Luna had given her the impression that Celestia didn't want Twilight mixed in with this. Finally, Twilight got up enough courage. She pushed the door open with her magic, and entered the main room. The book was in Luna's bedroom, under her mattress. Twilight didn't know what she'd find. Part of her was hoping that there would be nothing, or that it would be some simple book with no mention of Ricin. If Luna was cooperating, it would be a trivial task to cure her. Luna needing treatment was a far easier idea to wrap here hooves around than a book written by monkeys. Twilight levitated the mattress up. She didn't see anything at first. Then she saw it. The odd off white color of the book blended well with the surrounding wood. It was upside, she was looking at the rear cover. She flipped it over. Instantly, she was aware that this was something that didn't belong. The title of the book was The Illustrated Guide to Chemical Weapons. She didn't know what chemical weapons were, but at least she knew what an illustration and a guide was. Two out of three wasn't too terribly bad. She'd make up for it. She had to. She vowed to spend as much time studying chemical weapons as possible to make up for her current lack of knowledge. She took the book, and headed towards the door.