Where Loyalties Lie: Ghosts of the Past

by LoyalLiar

XIV - Treasonfang Pass

It was a quiet, sunny morning on the common lawn of Manechester.  On any other day of the year, that would have meant quiet old folks reading on the benches and cattle grazing.  But this was no ordinary day.

A grown, tan unicorn stallion faced down a looming giant of the same breed, regal in his blue coat, if ever so slightly heavyset.  Neither spoke, but magic gathered on their horns; the scarred stallion wincing as his aura sparked and sputtered.

“Go home, Mirror.  Learn from what you just saw today, and perhaps you’ll amount to more than your father did,” the giant taunted.

Mirror Image sent a bolt of raw magic arcing from his horn; it rebounded from a spherical shield around the larger unicorn, and soared up into the sky.  His foe responded in kind.  Image’s body ripped itself in half, dodging both ways at once.  After a moment’s arcane glow, two distinct Mirror Images paced where once there had been a single stallion.  With no further words, they gathered their respective magics.  The titan’s head swiveled between them, trying to watch both at once.

He ended in a burst of sparkling ash.

The two bodies Image had created rejoined, and he fell to his knees with a sigh.  “It… it doesn’t feel real.”

“It isn’t.”  His head snapped up, to find Princess Luna sitting beside him on the warm grass  He hadn’t heard her approach, but then, he wasn’t sure she actually had.  She took a long moment to absorb the tranquility left behind by the empty field, before laying a wing gently over her guard’s back.  “Dost thou remember now?  We met a pair of wyverns, and you cast some manner of spell to disguise the heartbeats of the bag.  We had meant to ask thou―”

He interrupted with a chuckle.  “Okay, Princess, that’s too far.  Who meant to ask?”

Luna released a little growl of annoyance.  “I had meant to ask you what you had done, but you passed out.  So Eldest Sister and I carried you some way up the mountain until we found a nice cliff to build a shelter against.  Then I entered your subconscious, to see if I could offer you any comfort.”

On mention of the Night Guard leader, Image’s brow darkened.  “Is she in here?”

“Eldest Sister, you mean?  No, I left her to watch for danger.  Besides, I do not make a habit of taking my Night Guard with me while I wander the dreamscape.”

Image’s brow rose.  “You can take other ponies with you?”

Luna smiled just a little bit, and nodded.  “If they are physically in my presence, yes.  I have no intention of wandering in the course of our urgent mission, but there are a few other minds I should like to visit if I can catch them asleep.  Would you care to accompany me, bodyguard?”

Image gave a single dip of his head.  Then he felt the lurch.

For an eternity, which passed before he could blink, all the world was stars, as if he stood in the cold void and looked down on where Equestria ought to have been.  The only break in the beautiful, glimmering emptiness was where it joined with Luna’s mane, and swept down onto her focused face.

Then, just as quickly as it had come to pass, it was over.  He landed in a pile of hooves and horn on a much softer, more cushioned pile.  When he finally saw what it was that had broken his fall, he nearly vomited.

Severed pegasus wings dominated his vision as far as his eyes could see, forming rolling hills and valleys in even, blue feathers.  In the center of it all, a pegasus mare sat crying under a rainbow mane.  No wings decorated her back.  In the sky above, the distant dots of pegasi moved back and forth, but none came down to see her.

Luna approached the pony who could only be Rainbow Dash in silence.  Without speech, the princess’ wings surrounded the smaller pony, pulling her close to her chest.  Image watched as they sat that way, the only motion being the gentle nuzzle that Luna bestowed on the side of Rainbow’s neck.

A stallion who knew his way around both mares and the tenderness of such comfort, Image only gave a few steps of approach.  He didn’t want to interrupt, or draw Rainbow’s attention back to the flesh and feathers that cushioned his every step.

When Rainbow finally found the courage to look up, Luna’s wings spread fully.  In a single mighty flap, the grim landscape was blown away.  Everything was once more the starry void between dreams.  And amidst those stars, Luna turned to him.

“Bodyguard, might we borrow your mindscape?”

He wasn’t sure what the Princess meant, but he nodded.  Her horn glowed, he felt eerily dizzy, and the common lawn of Manechester returned.

The first sound beyond the little hint of wind and the chirping of birds was Rainbow’s voice.  “T-thanks, Princess.  Er… Luna.”

Image didn’t pretend to know Rainbow Dash, but he’d stood watch over enough of her meetings with Princess Celestia to appreciate just how shaken the normally brash mare must have been.

“Your nightmares seem to be getting worse, Rainbow.”

Rainbow looked away with hesitation.  “I don’t think this was the same thing, Princess.”

“Tell me about it,” Luna requested, laying down on the grass and guiding Rainbow to do the same with a wing.  “What is troubling you?”

Rainbow looked away, trying to avoid Luna’s gaze.  In so doing, her eyes crossed with Mirror’s.  “Uh, hi?”

“Hey,” Image answered, half-teasingly.  “Or hello, for some ponies.  It’s nice to actually meet you, Rainbow. I’m Mirror Image.”  He walked forward to extend a hoof.  She stared at it for more than a few moments before giving it half-hearted shake.

“You’re Honor Guard, aren’t you?”  He was surprised just how much she managed to say with the question.  Most of it was condemnation, but there was also a curiosity, and a bit of confusion.

He, in turn, made his answer plain and simple.  “Yes, Rainbow.  I’m Princess Luna’s bodyguard.”

“Oh,” was all she had to say to him.  To Luna, she asked “Why not a Night Guard?”

“To be honest,” Luna replied, “sister disapproves of them, and I grew tired of arguing with her.  Though I confess that I still keep one of them with me most days.  We have Eldest Sister with us now, watching over us as we sleep.”

Rainbow made a little face.  “What does Celestia care about the Night Guard?  They’re just ponies, right?”

Image coughed into his hoof awkwardly, and Luna shook her head.  “It may be easy to forget just how old I am, Rainbow, but I have had a great many conversations in my lifetime.  Hence, I find it hard not to notice that you are changing the subject.”

Rainbow failed to notice Luna’s subtle hypocrisy as she forced herself not to divert her eyes again.  “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“I am worried about you,” Luna replied honestly.  “You are vulnerable, and the pressure on your soul is great.”

Image cocked his head, but he said nothing.  He’d been part of enough conversations between the Commander and the Princesses to know better than to stick his horn where it didn’t belong, especially when the subjects of souls and monsters came to light.

Rainbow crossed her forelegs, and then lowered her head onto them.  “It just… it hurts, Luna.  Do we have to do this?”

Luna surprised Image with her response.  “No, no we do not have to do anything, Rainbow.  I shall only…”  She took a moment to swallow her pride, and to draw up memories of no small pain.  “I will tell you that you need to speak to somepony at some time.  Not to do so invites a darkness that you are too good of a mare to risk.  Believe me when I say that I have seen what comes of bottling up such feelings.  And given your distance from your friends, I offer myself for the moment.  But you must someday find somepony whom you can show your heart too―not just the glories and the pride, but the shadows and the shame as well.”  Rainbow nodded, and Luna stood up.  “Then, having given you comfort, I will leave you to―”

“Wait!”  Rainbow clearly had not meant to sound so desperate, but her lunge toward Luna could bear no other interpretation.  “Uh, I mean, it would be cool if…”  Conflicted, her lips moved without speaking, before she finally found her resolve.  “I think… um, can we...you know… talk?”

The Princess said nothing at first.  Instead, she paced around slowly, taking long gentle steps as if treading on an icy lake.  Her path carried her to Rainbow’s side again, where she pulled the smaller mare close against her with a midnight blue wing.  Only then did she speak, and with a softened kindness that Image had never heard in her voice before.  “I am honored to listen, Rainbow.”

“Alright.  Um… so, Deadeye and Soldier On and me were on this train.”

“Hold on!”  Mirror Image’s ears flipped up in sudden interest.  “You found Soldier On?”

“Not the time, Officer,” Luna snapped, before returning her focus to Rainbow.  “Apologies, Rainbow.  Please, continue.”

Rainbow nodded.  “Um… right.  So we met this foal, Rocket.  He was a fan of mine; I think he might have seen me in Cloudsdale or something.  He was a cool foal; really excited.  We were most of the way to San Palomino City when a bunch of bandits stopped the train.  They grabbed Rocket as a hostage.  Soldier On went out to go stop them.”

Then they sat in total silence, feeling the breeze in their manes and the grass against their bellies.  Image watched as Luna waited patiently for Rainbow to build up the courage to continue.

He had to admire the young mare; she didn’t take nearly as long as he had expected.

“Their leader, Sundown, cut off his wings.”

Image winced, and even Luna’s implacable face flinched.  “Sundown?”

“That was the leader of the bandits’ name,” Rainbow repeated.

Luna gave a small nod.  “He died last night.”

“What did you decide―”

“We do not―”   Luna’s sudden snap left Rainbow to recoil, and for just a second, the sky grew visibly darker.  Then the power and the ire were both gone from the dreamscape.  Luna pulled back her wing from over Rainbow.  “Apologies.  I am sorry.  I had no intention of frightening you.  Sister and I agreed long ago that we would keep such decisions regarding the souls of the dead to ourselves, so that we might not be biased or influenced in our judgements.  Besides, do you truly wish to have that burden?”

Rainbow took a moment to steel herself, but despite the freedom Luna had given when she lifted her wing, the young pegasus did not leave her side.  “It’s okay, Luna.  I shouldn’t have asked.”

“You had no ill will, Rainbow, and I can hold nothing against you.”

“The wing was nice,” Dash replied.

Image almost winced at the line, but it seemed enough to get Rainbow her feathered blanket back.  

“Well, uh, we went after the bandits to Brayce Canyon, and we saved Rocket.  He was all tough; he even told me nothing was wrong.  And I kinda wrote it off, because I was still worried about Sundown.  After we got out of the canyon, we kinda split up.”

“Why?” Mirror Image asked.

Rainbow hesitated.  “The San Palomino Rangers came after us.  I took Rocket and flew back toward San Palomino.  They didn’t have anypony who could chase me.  I don’t know what happened to Deadeye, but I think they caught Soldier On.”

“You are worried about them?” Luna prompted.

Rainbow swallowed slowly.  “Yeah.  But that’s not what was bothering me, I think.  See, uh, Rocket and I were flying back.  I had him on my back, cause― well, you know.”  She bit back another taste of bile.  “He just started crying.  And I just… I just locked up.  I landed, and I tried to hold him, but I mean, what do I tell the kid?”  The pegasus blinked twice, holding herself together as if she thought Luna would look down on her for crying.  “I can’t say ‘everything’s going to be alright,’ can I?  What do I do?”

“I… daresay I do not know, Rainbow.  Perhaps there is nothing to say.  Some damage cannot be undone, or at least not easily.  But I do remember a day not so long ago when you offered me comfort in a time when there was little that could actually be done to fix things.”  Luna smiled, just a little bit.  “You might be surprised to learn what a mare can hear when she lays in a coma.  For the sake of saying it aloud, I don’t think ‘the fastest flier in Equestria’ sounds ‘stupid’ at all, though I do have to agree that ‘Bearer of Loyalty’ is a better sobriquet.”  Rainbow cracked a small smile of her own, though it was cut off by surprise when Luna gave her a small nuzzle.  “If you simply follow your instinct, Rainbow, I have no doubt you will help Rocket just as much as you helped me.”

“I guess… Thanks, Luna.”

Luna nodded slowly.  The motions calm was lost in an abrupt lurch to her hooves, guided by a glow around her horn.

“What’s wrong, Princess?” Mirror Image asked, stepping forward.

Her eyes slowly regained focus, and shifted to to her bodyguard.  “It’s not a cause for alarm.  This is an opportunity.  Rainbow, we will return shortly, but I do not want to miss the chance to speak to your father while he is still asleep.”

The Crystal Empire glistened amidst the February snow.  Impossible spires sparkled in the distance as a long chain of passenger cars pulled into the train station.  They had barely lurched to a proper stop when a pink mare soared up into the skies.

Empress Cadance, as the ruler of the Crystal Empire was meant to be titled, paid little mind to the subjects who stared up at her passing.  Her mind was on heavier topics than the thought that she was unaccompanied by her usual mass of Crystal Guards, or that she flew on her own wings instead of using a chariot as was the tradition of nobility.  Uncharacteristically, she paid not a single thought to the fear that her urgency might spawn in their imaginations.

Her task was too important to be stopped for such thoughts.

A pegasus guardspony approached her, unique in the Crystal Empire in two ways.  Foremost was the fact that she was a pegasus in the first place, telling Cadance that she was no native of her glittering Domain.  The second was that in place of glittering diamonds, her armor was plated in gold.  Cadance found herself recalling her husband in his youth, when he was still a young officer in the guard and not yet more than her coltfriend.

“Princess Cadance!” she called, with a distinct accent of Manehattan in the outcry.  “You’ve come back!”  Cadance didn’t stop for the guardsmare, and found herself annoyed by the other pony’s persistence in following her.  “Uh, Princess, we need to talk.”

“I am very busy,” the alicorn replied in an almost cold tone.  “Can your superiors handle this?”

“No,” the mare answered, before coughing into a hoof.  “Well, I mean, I guess they could, but Captain Armor insisted―”

Cadance winced, and spent no shortage of moments bringing herself back to focus.  The guardsmare looked away awkwardly, realizing too late what she had said.  “Um… he said it was important.  So I thought I should tell you.”

“What’s your name, guardsmare?” Cadance asked, after a lengthy pause.

“Run Down, Princess.  Private Run Down.”

The name stuck on Cadance’s mind, though she ultimately settled on the idea that the mix of memories swirling in her thoughts would keep her from any real recollection.  She cast the concern aside completely when her hooves set down on the high balcony, jutting out of the glimmering face of her palace.  “Well, Miss Down, if this is so important, walk with me.”

In a few mere strides, the wide blue skies and shimmering towers had become an open lounge, with a wide wooden table offsetting the omnipresent glimmer of gemstones with a pleasantly dull brown.  Cadance ignored it completely, progressing out of the lounge and toward an opulent throne.

Run Down stared in awe, even as she struggled to try and keep up with the taller, stronger alicorn.   “Well, Princess, I was with the team that was assigned to the excavation on Sombra’s Glacier.”

Cadance sighed.  “So you finally found the cavern?”

Run Down was halfway through a nod when a bolt of black lightning began sparking along Cadance’s horn.  Green fire leaked from the mare’s eyes, and a beam of darkness erupted toward a large crystal looming over the throne.  Slowly, darkness spread to envelop the room, revealing a deep and spiraling staircase in the center of the floor.

“Uh, what was that, Princess?”

“Alicorn magic,” Cadance replied, without realizing just how frightened Run really was.  “Empatha, Endura, and Arcana don’t naturally combine with one another, and the reaction is sometimes violent; however, it can do things other magic can’t.  For example, heal the wounded, or turn flesh into stone.”  Cadance took a single step down the long hallway before adding a final thought.  “Or raise the dead.”

“But that looked like King Sombra’s magic… and he wasn’t an alicorn.”

“Sombra is dead and gone, and we have no reason to worry about him anymore,” Cadance answered as she continued her descent.  “I assume that’s what you wanted to report.  What we call ‘alicorn’ magic is the combination of three types of magic: Empatha, Endura, and Arcana, into a single force.  There are other creatures in the world which can use all three, though they don’t make for polite conversation.  If that is all, you are dismissed.”  She stopped at a section of flat wall no short distance down the stairs and charged her terrifying alicorn magic again.  A moment later, a door peeled its way out of the smooth gray stone.  It swung open with a chilling creak, revealing a dark and musty library.

Run Down hesitated, entranced just as much by fear and curiosity.  She watched as Cadance moved swiftly to a large tome on a lectern near the door, creating a blue light with her horn to read by.  She spoke more to herself than her silent observer.  “Coil…Coil… here we are.”

Again, her hooves were swift for a walking pace, finding their way to what to Run’s eye saw as an indiscernible shelf.  The alicorn mare moved her hoof along the spines of weary books, before pulling a small scrap of parchment from between two tomes with a raised brow.

Prince Armor, Princess Cadenza,

I elected to take you up on your offer of borrowing the books I needed for my project with the Obelisks.  I know you’re moving most of Sombra’s spellbooks to Canterlot for safekeeping, so I’ll have the Grimoire Fatalis delivered there when I’m done with it.  

Thank you again for letting me make use of your libraries.  In the face of so much knowledge and history, even the chore of helping to organize these books feels like an honor and an adventure.  It certainly provides a pleasant break from the chores of Stalliongrad’s finances.

I wish you the best of luck in whatever you ultimately decide to do with all of these, now that they’re in sorted order.

Again, thank you,
-Predvidenie.

- - -

The starry void did not fade as abruptly this time.  Mirror Image picked his princess out of the night sky, and wandered over to her, feeling the strange absence of a sensation beneath his hooves with every step.  “So, uh, Princess… you and Rainbow Dash?”

Luna, deep in thought, spared only a terse answer without even looking his direction.  “I do not follow.”

Image took a moment to gather his thoughts, before he said something stupid.  “You two seemed to have a pretty close bond there, with the wings and all that.”

“Indeed.  Amongst pegasi, such an embrace is a gift of comfort.  And I consider myself to have a great bond with Rainbow, for her willingness to look beyond my past transgressions.”

Image groaned.  “Okay, sure, Princess.  But… how do I put this delicately?”  He gave about three seconds of thought to the question before giving up.  “She wants your horn.”

“I have no doubt there are many pegasi who would dream of being alicorns, but―”

Image slapped a hoof onto his forehead, and then immediately gasped at the pain of his own broken horn.  “Alright, look, Princess.  I have some experience with this sort of thing.  I’m pretty good at reading other ponies; that would be no small part of why I have the job I do.  So let me put this in language you will understand, o Princess of the Night.”  Image made a show of clearing his throat, and continued with a much headier Trottingham accent than his usual suave tones.  

“Come, night; come, Rainbow; come, thou day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow on a raven’s back.
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow’d night,
Give me my Rainbow”

Luna turned a very peculiar shade of red, and shot an irate glare at her bodyguard.  “How dare you, Officer?  Do you think me too prudish to understand such metaphor?  I have no intention of dallying with mortals; sister already suffered enough of such troubles for both of us.  Now be silent, and let me focus.”

“Why are we so worried about Rainbow’s father anyway?  Shouldn’t we be focusing on Krenn?”

Luna ignored the question, and her horn ignited.  Before the pair, a visible crack opened in the sparkling sky.  Behind it, fields of blurry wheat blended with faded, parchment-colored skies to form a watercolor landscape.

“What’s going on, Princess?  Is something wrong?”

“He is… resisting me,” Luna answered, as the void snapped shut.  “Perhaps he fears that it is a shade or a spell tinkering with his mind.  I suppose we shall do this the hard way.”

Luna’s horn briefly sparked, and its spiral began to glow.  With a sickening crack, a bolt of pure blue lightning flew out into the stars, and once more ripped open a path into the stallion’s dreamscape.  This time, the tear grew wider and longer, wrapping around the void in both directions until it had consumed the stars, and only the world of blurry colors remained.

It was a farm, Image inferred, if it had been painted by Moneigh.  The smudged face of a sturdy farmhouse of stone, capped by a thatched roof, was large enough to house a small family.  It seemed not to be real, painted flat against the horizon and bleeding its colors slowly onto the marshy ground.

A painting of the sun slowly rose on the horizon, visibly moving and yet lacking the blinding brightness of the genuine article.  Image watched it slide upward, until the whistling of a sword through thin air caught his attention.

“Get out of my mind!”

Luna recoiled behind an arcane shield as an unmistakable stallion clad in black armor lashed out at her with a sword and the blades covering the crests of his wings.  

“Commander?”

It the pegasus heard Image’s cry, he did nothing to acknowledge it.  Seeing that he had failed to break Luna’s shield, he spread his wings and lit them with a roaring blue flame.  The smoke that followed was thick, dark, and blinding.  The shadowy surface of Hurricane’s armor was gone in an instant, and soon so was the rest of the Commander’s dreamscape.  Image hacked and coughed in the oppressive darkness, struggling to find his way and wondering whether he could be killed in a dream, or if he would just wake up.  His vision dotted with stars and darkness, and even his curiosity was lost.

A large wing brushed against his side, and a gust of wind cleared a small sphere of the choking smoke, granting him a needed breath.  Another of Luna’s shields wrapped around the Princess and her bodyguard, keeping out the Commander’s smoke, but also trapping them in place.

It took a moment of hacking for Image to regain a clear thought, and he would have to blame the lack of oxygen for its unfocused topic.  “Wait… the Commander is Rainbow Dash’s dad?”

“Yes,” Luna replied through gritted teeth.  “But ‘tis not the time, if you had not noticed.”  Her horn grew brighter as she devoted more power to her shield.  “Commander Lining, I do not know what it is that I have done to anger you, but I beg you to stop and listen to me.  I―”

“You don’t know?” the stallion outside her shield roared, as the smoke grew ever thicker.  Mirror Image felt his mane rise on end, and an uncomfortable memory from the depths of the Changeling Hive drew forward.  He could picture the black stallion turning, his hind legs rising in the air, and the surge of power that flew from him  He only had a moment.

“Princess, get down!”  He lunged at her, and though her body was sturdier than his, the surprise of the force knocked her to her side.  Had it not, the bolt of lightning that broke through her shield and seared the back of Image’s neck might instead have struck her squarely in the chest.

Her focus destroyed, Luna’s protective sphere peeled away.  Image rolled away from her, falling onto the dirt on his back, and clutching his tender neck.  From his place there on the ground, he saw a shadow in the smoke.

Slowly, the Commander approached―but in a sense, not the Commander that Mirror Image knew.  He was a younger stallion, whose gray-blue coat was devoid of gray, and dark to the verge of being called black.  His eyes were brighter, harsher, and more alive, carrying a magenta-red tone rather than the faded brown that Image had always known.  The scars below his eye and on his lip were missing, and he walked evenly without his omnipresent limp,.  Between his hind legs, sparks of blue and white lightning leapt between the gold-trimmed black greaves of Hurricane’s armor.

“Commander, stop!”

“Is that the best you can do?” he asked Luna, not even shifting his cruel eyes in Image’s direction.  “I know what you can do with illusions; you’re wasting your time trying to lower my guard.  Image wouldn’t stand with you; not after what you did to Loose Cannon.”

“Commander Lining, please.” Luna stood to her hooves, and approached the other stallion slowly.  “Truly, I am not here to hurt you―”

“I’m not interested in your mind-games and lies, Luna.  I’ve suffered enough without you haunting my dreams again.  So leave now, or I’ll drive you out myself.”

“Listen to yourself, Commander!”  Though she struggled to remain even, no small irritation leaked into Luna’s voice.  “I do not haunt the dreams of my subjects, and even if I did, I know nothing of what you fear.”

“Princess, let me handle this.”  Mirror Image paced up to the Commander, so close that the blade of Procellarum sticking out of the pegasus’ mouth was nearly drawing blood from his throat.  “Commander, it’s really me, and I can prove it.”

“How?” the stallion snapped, speaking with perfect clarity despite the handle of the ancient sword in his mouth.

“Seven years ago, before Princess Luna returned, you brought me to a Wonderbolts show in Vanhoover.  You told me we were there to pick up a new messenger for the Honor Guard, since we didn’t have Marathon yet.”  The Commander’s gaze softened ever so slightly, but Image didn’t stop.  “That’s where I met Loose.  I wanted to take her back to Canterlot right away and treat her to dinner, but you insisted on staying through the whole thing.  When we got back, Star and Deadeye and I had a good laugh at the idea you were some closet stunt-flying fan.”

Finally, the Commander’s brow rose.  “You’re actually in my mind, Mirror?  What are you doing here?”

Image laughed, and wrapped a hoof around his leader’s shoulders.  The Commander accepted it without word, but he didn’t reciprocate the gesture.  “Well, to be brutally honest, sir, I used a lot of magic protecting the Princess from some wyverns, on the way to Krennotets, and I passed out.”  He tapped the split shaft of his horn.  “You know how it is.  Princess Luna came into my dreams to help ease the pain from it, and then she took me with her to visit other dreams.  We were visiting Rainbow Dash when the Princess… sensed you?”  Luna gave a curt nod, affirming Image’s understanding.  “So we came here.”

“And broke into my dreams,” the Commander noted, with a clearly constrained anger in his tone.  “Well, congratulations, Luna.  You’ve finally finished the job.”

“What, pray tell, do you mean by that, guardspony?”

The Commander fell back on his haunches, and removed the helmet of Hurricane’s Armor.  Beneath it, the tame and utterly gray mane that Mirror Image had known was a short but untamed mass of steel blue that rather resembled the modern tones of his coat.  Neither time nor his work had been kind to the stallion, it seemed to Image.  The pegasus’ shoulders rose and fell with a single slow breath, and then he finally found the strength to meet Luna’s gaze.

“You’ve killed me.”

Luna cocked her head in confusion, and then narrowed her eyes in offense.  “You think I have any intention of seeing you harmed, Commander Lining?  Even if I did, what could I have possibly done in visiting you to spell your demise?”

The stallion answered with a chilly gaze to match her own.  “I am, right now, asleep in the company of a camel caravan in Suida, perhaps two days travel away from the border to San Palomino.  I escaped from Khagan, and lost his pursuit.  In five days, I would have been back in Canterlot.  Instead, with the magic you used to break into my mind, you’ve told Khagan exactly where I am.”  Casting his eyes to the ground, the Commander added his final thought.  “At least he’ll kill me quickly this time.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Image asked.  “Why don’t you just fly?  You could be back in Canterlot tomorrow afternoon.”

Again, the Commander’s shoulders rose and fell with a terrible weight.  “With what wings, Mirror?”  The leader of the Honor Guard’s brow creased in focus, and before Image’s eyes, Hurricane’s armor rippled away.  The vibrant, near-black blue of the stallion’s coat turned to the duller steely-blue that seemed familiar to his subordinate, and his mane was revealed beneath the helmet as a steel gray.  Magenta eyes became brown, tired and bloodshot.  The Commander’s wings folded back on themselves, twisting in an unnatural curve that made Image’s skin crawl until their crests pointed back toward his tail.  The brutal burn scar that dominated his right flank reopened.  An old puncture wound on his chest took up its usual divot.  The little slits under his left eye and down the left side of his muzzle reemerged from beneath his coat.  His left foreleg crumpled, gaining an unnatural bend in the middle of its femur that left it dangling uselessly at his side.

“How… what was that?”

“This is reality, as of this moment,” the Commander explained.  “I’ll never fly again, and I can’t really run, but I can walk.”

Image winced.  “I’m sorry, sir.”

Luna picked up with a positive tone.  “In fact, Commander Lining, you are not so certainly doomed as you believe.  One of your own, Dead Reckoning, suspected you had not met a final end as we believed.  I was able to extract from Masquerade that you had been taken to Suida, and I dispatched a team to rescue you.  Knowing that you are here, I can direct them to your aid.”

“For all the good my life would do anymore.”  The pegasus turned his attention fully to Luna.  “Let me speak to Mirror Image alone.”

“May I ask why?” Luna inquired.

“Because I am about to give him directions concerning the Honor Guard that I do not trust you with.”

Luna once again regained her irritation.  “Why not?  Are you not meant to serve me just as much as my sister?”

The Commander rose to his hooves and shook his head.  “The Honor Guard was founded one thousand and nine years ago, Princess Luna.  I think you can tell from that exactly what its intentions toward you were.”  In a surprisingly instant transformation, he was once more his younger self, garbed fully in black armor.  One of his pitch-toned wings wrapped over Image’s shoulders, guiding him toward the nearby fields of wheat.

Image shook off the feathered appendage.  “Hold on, sir.  I want a straight answer.  Why do you hate her so much?”

The Commander took a single further step, his hind right leg suddenly jerking with the limp that he had previously ignored.  Without moving his body, he twisted his neck to stare at Image with one eye.  “After what she did to Loose Cannon, you honestly ask me that?”

Luna spoke with an obvious curiosity, glazed over a layer of muted anger.  “You mention this so often, Commander; who is this Loose Cannon?”

Sparks appeared on the tips of the Commander’s wings, but Mirror Image’s quick words spared Luna his rage.  “You call her Eldest Sister, Princess.  She used to be one of us.”

“Don’t waste your time being gentle about it,” the Commander growled.  “You killed her five years ago in Ponyville, Princess.  And for five years, instead of letting her go to the reward she deserves, you’ve damned her to be your undead servant, in the company of the corpses of murderers and thieves you call your Night Guard.  I would expect you to know that, if you had the courage to at least live with the guilt of what you did as Nightmare Moon.  But of course, you dumped those memories in one of your magic crystals so that you could go forward, pretending that your actions didn’t have any real consequences.”  

The Commander’s lips pursed into a little loop, and he whistled a few notes in a string Luna didn’t recognize.  The golden lightning bolt in the center of the armor split cleanly in two, and the gilded pegasus wings flanking it folded together.  A black hoof pulled the void-crystal plated armor open, revealing a small pocket, clutching tight around a tiny sapphire.  “If we do ever recover my armor, you can have this back, and you’ll understand exactly why the Honor Guard will never answer to you.”

The silence in the air was unconquerable.  Luna sucked in a slow sniffle, and tried to call to mind what Celestia had advised her when she dumped her agony into that little stone in the first place.  In the midst of the Commander’s mind, all she could manage was to keep a straight face as the black stallion led her bodyguard away into the fields.

The faded memories of wheat parted like the watercolors they resembled, leading to a small green on which the Commander lay down, and gestured for Image to do the same.  As the younger Honor Guard approached, his leader once again squinted in focus.  The ancient armor of Commander Hurricane faded away into nothing, leaving behind what looked to all the world like another mere mortal stallion.

Mirror Image knew better.

“Where is this, sir?”

“This?”  The Commander’s wing gestured to the surreal landscape, from the farmhouse to the glowing orange glow on the horizon.  “This is where I grew up.”

“Hmm?  I thought you grew up in Cloudsdale.  Isn’t Councilor Lining your father?”

The Commander chuckled quietly to himself.  “I wasn’t raised by Silver Lining.  I didn’t even grow up in Cloudsdale.”

“Oh.  I guess that explains a lot.  But where is this?”

“Nowhere, now.  It used to be a little town in… Zebrica.”  The Commander’s hesitance did not go unnoticed by his unicorn companion, though nothing was said on the topic.  “Not a hundred miles from Grivridge.”

“But the treaty line’s three hundred miles from… oh.”  Image swallowed awkwardly.  “The griffons destroyed it?  In the war Deadeye lost his eye in, all those years ago?  I didn’t realize you were that old, sir.”

“I’m older than I look, Mirror.  Believe it or not, not all my gray hairs are from the job.”  The Commander rolled his neck, releasing a trio of pops from his spine.  “You said you and Luna are headed to Krennotets.  Why?”

“Krenn wanted… something from us.  He said Celestia took it, but he didn’t actually say what it was.”

“His hoard,” the Commander muttered.  “I took it.  You may as well turn around.  The minute he has it, he’ll bring the dragons to bear on Equestria again.  He won’t dare to actually act; I threatened to destroy it to end the Dragon Wars twenty years ago, and he’s kept in line since.”

“Wait, you know where it is?”

The Commander nodded.  “There’s a magical bag, hidden in Burning Hearth―”

“We already have that,” Image interrupted.  “It was empty.  Can you tell us what we’re looking for?”

The Commander took a moment to think, and cast a glance back through the wheat in Luna’s direction before slowly shaking his head.  “You would have to ask Krenn; I stole the whole bag; I didn’t care what his hoard was; only that it could serve as blackmail to stop the war.  My advice would be to bluff that you can still destroy it.”

“I don’t think that’s going to work, even if we did have it; he threatened another war, sir.”

“It’s likely a hollow threat compared to what will happen if you give what he wants back.  He’ll spin you a tale about his innocence in the Wars, but he was the one who started it.  If you don’t keep some leverage over him, he’ll eventually move on Equestria again; he’s just as greedy as the rest of his race.”

Image held his tongue at the racism of the statement.  “What happens if it isn’t a hollow threat?”

“Have the Elements of Harmony free Discord, and use him against the dragons; as ridiculous as it sounds, Baron Frostbite’s ‘Wall’ would serve as a good place to hold the line, if Discord’s magic could stop the snow for a few days.  We’d simply have to endure Magnus and Valdria’s anger for freeing Discord, if it came to that.  The Royal Guard is too weak to hold off the dragons these days.  But I suppose that’s Soldier On’s problem now.”

Image winced; the Commander saw the motion clearly.  “Sir, um… Soldier On didn’t take your place.”

“Why not?”

“She had something to do with the attempt on Princess Luna’s life; there are wanted posters for her everywhere.”

The Commander shook his head.  “I don’t buy it, but it doesn’t matter.  You’ll never catch her.  Did Celestia bring Shining Armor up instead?”

“No… she was worried about Princess Luna, and Masquerade, so she brought in a Stalliongradian pony to take your place.  A student of yours, if what he says is true.”

“Roscherk?”  From the look of recognition on Image’s face, the Commander knew he had guessed correctly.  The leader of the Honor Guard scowled.  “Tell Celestia to get rid of him.”

“What?  Why?  Is he lying about Masquerade?  He’s talked about how he knew you plenty of times since he took the position.  He calls you ‘mentor’ and tells stories of the Blizzard Revolution, and how you were the one who taught him to run the guard there.”

“I taught him, Mirror, but he didn’t learn.  There is a reason I never brought him on.  He’s strong; probably more so than anypony else on the Honor Guard except Flag or On, but he’s also lazy.”

Image lifted a brow.  “Lazy?  I’d call him rude, sure.  And maybe cruel if what I hear about Stalliongrad is true.  But he seemed to have good discipline…”

The Commander shook his head.  “That isn’t what I mean.  For somepony like Roscherk, or myself, what do you think is easier: negotiating with some noble to get land for a new guard post at a reasonable price, or threatening his life to get the land for free?”  Image didn’t need to give an answer, and the Commander didn’t wait for one.  “You and I both know that sometimes circumstances require the second option.  Roscherk is lazy because he takes the second option even when the first is still available.”  The stallion coughed into his hoof; it was a dry, dusty noise that seemed to belie the youth of his body.  “If Celestia won’t take Soldier On, and I don’t make it, you should take the position.”

“Me?”  Image put a hoof on his chest in disbelief.  “Uh, sir, what about Flag?”

“Treasonfang Pass,” was all the Commander needed to say.  “Tell Celestia I said she was my only sunshine, and she’ll know the order came from me.”

“I… like the song?  Isn’t that about somepony cheating?”

The Commander took a long breath, and let it ripple through his nostrils in a slow, painful whinny.  “If I don’t make it back, Mirror, you’re also to tell her that I said to tell you everything.  And you’re to tell her I said goodbye.”

It was a word with a decided finality to it.  Mirror Image waited a good thirty seconds before moving his hooves to stand.  The Commander turned slowly, with desperation in his eyes.  “Wait.  Please, Mirror.”

“Sir?”

“I don’t have any more commands or secrets to share, Mirror, but… you might be the last good pony I ever get to see in my life.  If you can wait with me, at least until morning, it would mean a lot to me.”

Mirror lowered himself back to the grass and gave a single nod.  “It would be my honor, sir.  Can I ask you something?”

“There’s no harm in asking,” the Commander answered.  “And you may not get another chance.”  

“Are you really Rainbow Dash’s father?”

The Commander’s smile evaporated, leaving him as grim as he did before battle.  “Who all knows that?”

Image shrugged.  “Princess Luna.  Rainbow Dash herself, of course.  Her friends, I would assume… I don’t know who else, honestly.  Why?”

“Under no circumstances are you to tell Celestia.”

Image’s brow rose.  “What?  Why?”

“I’m not going to answer that question, and you’ll be breaking your oath if you ever ask it again.”  The Commander took a slow breath.  “Yes, I’m Rainbow’s father.  That’s a large part of why I don’t go by ‘Steel Lining’.  I told her and Silver…”  He swallowed slowly, took a breath, and started over.  “I had Thunder and Star give them notice of my death after the Dragon Wars, and I just went by ‘Commander’ to keep the name from showing up in the papers.  I was dead to them, and all the loose ends were tied up.”

“Then I was right.”

“Hmm?”

“When you insisted on staying at that Wonderbolts show, you didn’t care about the actual show at all.  Rainbow was there, wasn’t she?”

The Commander looked away, and spoke three simple words.  “Never tell her.”

The conversation was cut off when two halfway blurred figures and a more clear one emerged from the farmhouse through the creaky watercolor door.  They wandered out into the fields, ignoring the two resting ponies and beginning to work on the fields.

“Pegasus farmers?” Image wondered aloud.  “Is this from Zebrica too?”

“They’re family,” the Commander answered.  His eyes flicked from the blurry midnight blue stallion with a crisp white mane to his wife of a darker but similar complexion.  Only a younger mare, maybe sixteen, of brown coat and pitch black mane was crisp and clear.  

The guardspony spoke with guilt in his voice.  “I hardly remember them.  Just… colors.  Voices.  Maybe a few little quirks.”

The stallion of the group stumbled on his way to his fields, unleashing a deep hacking cough into his leg.  Even from a distance, Image could see specks of blood on the stallion’s blurry hoof.

“Was he alright?”

“The disease didn’t kill him,” the Commander answered.  “The griffons did.”  

“What about the mare?  You seem to remember her a lot better.”

“She was my sister.  She survived the griffons.”

“What happened to her?”

“She knew too much,” the Commander answered darkly.  “And I wasn’t there.”  He closed his eyes in focus again, and the family disappeared.

“I’m sorry.”

The stallion forced out a pitiful reply.  “It was a long time ago.  All we can do is live and learn.  Magnus has been quiet for a long time, and no matter how kind he seems when he comes to Canterlot, he has the heart of a barbarian.  I would be more worried of him than Krenn.”

The February sun rose slowly on powdered slopes and a roaring crowd.  They were a sad mass of bundled-up young unicorns, who seemed almost as concerned with being noticed amongst one another as they were at shouting their protests toward the palace.  

“We have the right to see the Princess!” one of the ponies in the group behind the glittering rainbow shield cried.

Another bellowed “End zebra oppression!”, waving a sign that depicted a broken ball-and-chain.  

They were only two of a mass around three-hundred, by casual guess, that had gathered on the little strip of road leading up from Canterlot proper to the gates of the palace.  It was snowing in Canterlot, which explained both the small size of the group and its abundance of scarves and boots.  The protesters had stopped a few hundred yards shy of the drawbridge not by any desire or restraint of their own, but because a formation of four armored unicorns stood facing them, maintaining a wide, flat barrier of magic to hold them at bay.

Behind the four suits of gilded armor was one stallion clad in solid steel.  The drab olive green crests of his wings were covered by thick rows of steel scales, and an officer’s sword hung from his shoulder.  Thunder Crack’s heavy brow swept along the line of his soldiers, and he gritted his teeth.

“Great… just my luck.”  He knew nopony could hear him over the chanting of the protestors, or he wouldn’t have said a word.  In a way, he agreed with them, though duty and honor and a few other philosophical words were standing in his way.

“We’ve got airborne incoming, sir,” one of the guards on the line called to him.

Crack nodded, and then lifted his hoof six inches from the snow covering the road.  When he slammed the hoof down, his Empatha took the form of his namesake.  The noise was deafening, completely silencing the protesters.

“Alright, all of you, listen up!  If you’re here to petition, come back tomorrow.  Open court has been suspended for the arrival of the Emperor of Grivridge.  Those of you here to protest his government can continue wasting your breath.”  Crack looked up into the sky.  “He isn’t gonna…  who in Tartarus is that?”

“I don’t know, sir,” one of the guardsponies answered.  “Pink pegasus… mare, I think.  You want one of us to strengthen the overhead shield?”

“No,” Crack answered, before his eyes caught onto something else unique about the mare.  “Actually, let her land; I’ve got it covered.”

With their orders, the conventional guardsponies turned back to the slightly dispersed crowd leaving Thunder Crack to watch what he had observed to be not a pegasus, but an alicorn.

“Princess Cadance?”

The ruler didn’t respond until her hooves were on the ground and she got a good look at the assembled mass.  “Is something happening?”

Crack nodded.  “Your aunt is hosting Emperor Magnus, the griffon ruler.  We’re expecting him shortly.  I’m going to assume you’re here to talk to her.”

“It’s urgent,” Cadance told the stallion.

“Changelings urgent, or Blueblood urgent?”  When Cadance didn’t respond, Crack let out a light laugh.  “Sorry, Princess; I’ll take you in with the griffons when they show up.  And for the record, you have my condolences.  Shining Armor was one of the best.”

There wasn’t anything else to say on the topic, which the alicorn made clear when she forcibly changed the subject.  “Why is Magnus coming here?”

“He probably wants to see how far we’ve fallen after the attempt on Luna’s life.  The griffons are vultures.  No matter how many times you drive them off,” Crack’s eyes flitted up toward the sky, “or how many talons you cut off, they just keep watching and waiting.”

Cadance followed the stallion’s gaze up into the sky, where a mass of black and brown was descending from the decidedly white winter sky.  Magnus was obvious simply by his enormity, and the pair of soldiers flanking him weren’t much harder to pick out.  The breakneck pace the trio cut through the sky brought them forward in only a matter of seconds from their first appearance.

The protesters howled, shouted, and waved their signs as the five talons and six paws hit the ground.  Cadance realized exactly what Thunder Crack had meant when one of Magnus’ escorts―a lean, grim brown griffon with a stump where his left hand should have been―wandered up to the Honor Guard.  “It’s been a long time.”

Crack’s omnipresent glare furrowed deeper, and he stepped past the griffon.  “Emperor Magnus, on behalf of Princess Celestia, I would like to welcome you to Canterlot.”

Cadance was stunned; never in her life had she heard a less welcoming welcome.  Crack offered a bow, though it wasn’t long before his eyes were once again locked with Magnus’, and pointedly avoiding those of the the three-legged griffon.

“Thank you, pegasus.” Magnus boomed, his voice resonating enough to silence the protesters.  He paid them no mind at all, and instead extended a talon in the direction of the griffoness still standing at his side.  Without word, she produced a wide, flat wooden case with the support of both her wings.  Magnus snatched it in a single claw and tucked it up into his armpit.  “This is Naia Julia, my niece and frumentarius.  She will handle our trade negotiations, if you will see her to your representative.”

Crack gave a curt nod, and then turned his neck to the line of guards.  “Saber, take the griffoness to the Daybreak Lounge; Record Time should already be there.”

“But sir, the line―”

“Will be held,” Crack interrupted forcefully.  “Go.”

“Of course, sir.”  The unicorn stepped away from the magical barrier, and his yellow aura disappeared from its swirling colors.  His three peers focused harder to pick up his slack.  For her part, Naia silently followed her guide away.

“Now, shall we find Celestia?”

Crack nodded once, and spoke with a flat tone.  “Emperor, Princess, if you will follow me.”

“Princess?” Magnus wondered aloud, as the group took the first steps toward the gates of the palace.  “I do not believe we have had the pleasure of meeting, alicorn.”  Inclining his head slightly, the titan passed the first doorway into the palace.  “I am Magnus, called by many titles.  The only one you would likely appreciate is Emperor of Grivridge.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Cadance replied, with far more diplomacy and honesty in her words than Thunder Crack had managed.  “I’ve heard of you, Emperor, but I am a bit in awe of your size.”

“Most ponies struggle to imagine any creature larger than little Celestia.”  Magnus’ body shook with his light-hearted chuckle.  “But I have just as much curiosity for you, little alicorn.  Why do you share Celestia and Luna’s title?  Are you one of their offspring?”

“That’s a… complicated question,” Cadance answered.  “Well, to begin, I’m Princess Cadance of the Crystal Empire.”

“Would that not make you Empress Cadance?”

Cadance scowled only subtly, but another voice rejoined the conversation.  “It would seem she isn’t fond of that title, Emperor.”

“Ponies in general dislike it, Gaius.  That is most likely my fault.  Forgive my bodyguard’s intrusion.  You were saying, Princess?”

The low hallways of the palace gave way to airy spires and halls of stained glass glimmering just as much from frost as from sunlight.  Though the decorations were impressive, Magnus kept his attention on Cadance.

“Well, to be honest, I can’t really tell you whether or not I’m descended from Princess Celestia because I don’t know myself.  I’m part of what we call ‘the Line of Platinum’: a line of nobles that dates back to before the founding of Equestria.  Traditionally, the story goes that Princess Celestia started it, but she doesn’t like to talk about the subject.”

“Ah, Celestia and her secrets.  One would think that would be Luna’s domain, given her talent with shadows.  Perhaps that is what I shall bet her today.”

“Bet her?” Gaius asked.  “Emperor, what do you mean?”

Magnus answered his subordinate with disinterest.  “Just a little game we play.  Not a matter of politics or war.” 

Thunder Crack stopped abruptly at a pair of slender doors.  “This is where we stop, Gaius.  Emperor, Princess, we’ve arrived.”  His wings wrapped around a pair of wide golden rings, and with a mighty tug, the doors were opened.

“A cozy little place you have here, Celestia,” Magnus noted, taking in her personal quarters.  The wide, round room contained two large cushions, a few end-tables with wine, salad, and an enormous bowl of seasoned raw meat that made Cadance’s stomach twist.  Sensing her discomfort, Magnus proffered the bowl in a massive claw.  “Hungry, Princess?  I have to say, I’m grateful your cooks were willing to work with what I provided.”  Atop one of the cushions, Celestia regarded the doorway with the same even expression that seemed as constant as the marble of the castle itself.  A roaring fire popped and cracked in the fireplace behind her, framing her features in gold and orange.

“Hello, Magnus.  Cadance, I have to admit I wasn’t expecting you as well.  Come in, friends, and let us speak.”

“Take the cushion,” Magnus noted to Cadance, before extending one of his enormous wings.  In a swirl of wind, a cloud that matched his unruly proportions came into being opposite Celestia.  Without actually stepping onto his newly made seat, however, Magnus addressed Celestia.  “Before I forget, I brought what you asked, Celestia.  The last set I could dig up, too.”  He accompanied the words by hefting the case off his back, casually despite its size and obvious weight,  

Wooden hinges creaked and groaned as Gaius and Thunder Crack squeezed into the room for a look.  A small puff of dust escaped the case, spilling over the floor of Celestia’s bedroom.  When it cleared, the contents of the chest were revealed.  A single set of dusty, broken black armor lay in the center of the chest, trimmed in gold.  To an Honor Guard, it was unmistakable.

Thunder Crack’s sword was halfway out of its sheathe when an aura of golden magic wrapped around its blade to hold it in place.  “Where did you get that?”  the guardstallion demanded.  “Did you kill the Commander?”

“Quite possibly,” Magnus replied sarcastically.  “Is your commander a Cirran legionary of old?  Was he born ten thousand years ago, perhaps?  And did he walk away from the wounds that split this armor open?  This came out of the ground of my home a mere week ago, where it had been laying since your ancestors left it there, pegasus.  You would do well to sheathe your sword, or perhaps in another ten millennia, it will be your armor I place in this box.”

There was a little whistle of steel as Crack’s saber slid back into its sheath, at which point he turned away from Magnus and strode out of the room.  “Forgive me.”

“Leave us, Gaius,” Magnus muttered.

The three-legged griffon limped out of the room after Crack.  Only a moment after the puff on his tail had passed the chamber’s threshold, a sudden gust of wind slammed the doors shut.  “Much better.  It seems your subordinate has a certain spite for griffons, Celestia.”

“Thunder Crack was involved in our… border dispute.  Twelve years ago.”

“We fought that recently?”  The emperor cocked his head.  “No, that can’t be right.  I’m certain the last time we were at war was at least half a century ago.”

Celestia took a slow breath―Cadance knew to interpret it akin to the twitch of annoyance that might irritate an eyelid on a less controlled face―and responded calmly.  “My ponies hold the zebras in high enough regard to remember these sorts of things.  But we shouldn’t split feathers over the past.  Cadance, are you here because of Magnus?”

“Unfortunately not, Aunt Celestia.”  Cadance’s eyes briefly flicked to the gigantic griffon in the room before continuing.  “I’m here because of Shining.”  

Celestia’s metaphorical mask shattered with a visible wince.  “Cadance, I’m so sorry…”

“I know.  You told me so when I found out.  Recently, I was thinking about your request regarding Rainbow Dash.”

To Cadance’s surprise, Magnus reacted to the name.  “The one you sent to me a few months past?  She was quite knowledgeable about griffons, for a pony.  Was she the one who saved Luna?”

Celestia nodded.  “Yes, Magnus.  She’s the new Bearer of Loyalty.”

“Fitting that she should save Luna, then.  Who would I be turning to if I needed aid?”

Celestia’s mouth turned up just a touch at the corners, though there was still a sadness and a guilt to the rest of her face.  “Fluttershy.  Another pegasus.”  Cadance’s eyes traced from Celestia to Magnus and back again as her mind raced.  The other alicorn took notice of her confusion.  “Yes, Cadance, there was a time when Magnus and Luna and I bore the Elements of Harmony, alongside Lord Krenn and Lady Valdria.”

A look of realization settled over Cadance.  “And the boar ruler?”

“Bah, Khagan isn’t one of us.  He’s barely three thousand years old; just a little runt.  There are mortal dragons older than him.”

“What happened to the original boar, then?” Cadance pressed.

Celestia shook her head.  “Our sixth friend wasn’t a boar at all, or any creature you would have heard of.  She was our leader.  In revenge for stripping him of his powers over the world, Discord banished her, and her entire species, to another world.”  There was a short silence in the room, punctuated only by the fireplace, before the alicorn concluded her thoughts.  “I would rather not talk about it anymore, Cadance.  You were saying, on the topic of Rainbow Dash?”

The Crystal Princess turned her attention to the fireplace as she continued.  “I… did some research on the magic you talked about.”  Her hesitance lasted only a moment, before turning into resolve.  “I want to borrow the Grimoire Fatalis.”

Magnus, who had been sipping from a giant goblet of red wine, struggled to keep his drink in his beak as he began to laugh.  “The Deadly Book?  What would possess you to name something like that?  And in Cirran, no less.”

“It’s a spellbook, Magnus.  And it was named in that language for a very particular reason.  Cadance―” Celestia spared herself another long slow breath.  “―every time I have used that spell, I have come to regret it.  It isn’t the kindness that your mind might assume.  If you want to discuss the subject further, we can do so at a later time.  For now, I need to attend to Magnus.  If you find Record Time, I’m certain he can arrange a room for you, if you would prefer not to stay with…”  Ever the diplomat, Celestia caught her oncoming word before it left her tongue.  “...Twilight’s family.”

“Oh, don’t send her off,” Magnus grumbled, finally climbing onto his cloud.  “I have so many questions for her.  She tells me she might be your offspring.  I would like to know if it is true.”

Celestia’s hoof moved toward her creased brow.  “That is not a topic I seek to discuss with you in particular, Magnus.”

“Then that is what I shall ask for my reward in our game.”

The creases on Celestia’s brow disappeared.  “That’s a high price, Magnus.  I may have to ask a lot in return.”

“It’s knowledge of the past, and I already know that you took a single mortal mate some eight thousand years ago.  And the simple fact that you hesitated instead of telling me outright gives me half the answer already.  If I win, you will tell me the whole story.”

“Very well.”  Celestia’s horn ignited, and a rather large checkerboard table floated into the center of the room from its place against the wall.  “If I win, I want you to tell me what happened at the end of the Red Cloud War.”

Though Cadance didn’t recognize the name, Magnus visibly winced.  “Very well.  You may set the pieces.”

Cadance watched as Celestia’s magic summoned a full chess set of brightly colored figurines.  Rather than the usual faceless tokens, the set took the form of an array of griffons, staring down a mass of ponies.  A little token of Magnus served as his own king, while Celestia sat in that place on her own side.  Cadance could pick out a few of the pieces on her side of the board, though they nearly all came from tapestries or paintings, rather than personal experience.  Luna was the queen, and at her side stood Starswirl the Bearded.  The king-side knight took a form that could only be Commander Hurricane, and his counterpart was a vibrant purple mare clad in what her mind labeled her husband’s armor, despite the knowledge that it vastly predated him.

Before she could try her memory of ancient history any further, Celestia lifted Commander Hurricane and moved him forward, placing him in front of her Royal Guard pawns and a robed unicorn bishop Cadance didn’t recognize.  It was the first in a series of moves that Cadance could barely follow; barely a second’s thought passed between Celestia’s placement of a piece and Magnus’ response.  In a matter of less than a minute, Celestia had three of Magnus’ pawns and a knight, at the cost of Starswirl and a pawn of her own.

The longest pause in the game came when Celestia broke a slight smile.  “There’s your mistake, Magnus.”

“I don’t see what you’re talking about, Celestia.”

Commander Hurricane slid backward from the griffon line, taking up a position that threatened both Magnus and his queen (a blindfolded grifoness).  “A king-queen fork, Magnus.  Check.”

Magnus scowled, and scratched a talon along his chin.  “Yes, I see that.” 

The little stone Magnus stepped backward diagonally, and Celestia answered by taking the griffon queen.  Magnus released a quiet, leonine growl, and slid a rook forward.  The pony ruler responded by sliding Luna across the board.  “Check again.  Four to mate.”

Magnus’s eyes widened, and he took a moment to survey the board.  “Impressive, Celestia.”  He slid himself backward again.

Luna darted forward.  “Check.”

Magnus slid a knight into line with Celestia’s attack.  Only a single square away from his king, the armored griffon wasn’t worth the trade of a queen.  Instead, Celestia pushed a pawn at the far side of the board forward.  It would take only one more turn to reach Magnus’ rear line and be promoted.  She had the time to wait.  Magnus was pinned.

The griffon ruler in the flesh grabbed one of his rooks, as Celestia was expecting; it would buy him time, but nothing more, hounding off Hurricane.  To her surprise, however, it didn’t go for her knight at all.  Instead, Magnus talon thrust across the board, using the lane that Luna had left behind.  The rook was placed one row ahead of Celestia’s own piece, cutting off its escape but leaving it unthreatened for the moment.  “You were close, Celestia.”

“How so?” Celestia asked, sliding her pawn forward.  In a burst of her magic, it became the likeness of a jade green alicorn, glittering like a crystal pony.  Cadance could have sworn she’d seen the mare before in some history book or painting, yet her mind couldn’t call forth a name.

Magnus’ talon clenched down on his other rook.  “It only took me three moves.”  With a brutal finality, he slid his open rook completely down the board, ignoring Celestia’s more numerous remaining pieces and parking in line with her own figurine.  “Checkmate.”

“What?  But how…”  Celestia stared over to the side of the board, where she’d piled up Magnus’ bishops, pawns, his queen, and one of his knights.  In contrast, he’d barely touched her army.  Yet when she looked at the board, she realized exactly what he’d been doing the entire game.

“Now, I believe I have won the right to hear a story.  Unless your honesty holds no more weight.”

Celestia’s face grew weary as her horn ignited.  Her magic sealed over the door of the room.  “A silencing spell,” she explained.  “What I tell you, Cadance, is not to leave this room.”  Her wings twitched idly as she adjusted herself on her cushion, and for just a moment she spared herself a wistful glance into the fireplace behind her.  “There was a time when Luna and I distanced ourselves from other ponies; we had no desire to rule, or be worshipped, or to be blamed or praised for events we had no influence over.  When all ponies still lived in the Low Valleys, near modern-day Stalliongrad, we flew west and made our home amongst the caverns of this mountain.  We passed millennia this way, sharing our company only with you, Magnus, and with Krenn and Valdria.”

“How long ago was this?” Cadance asked.

“I… honestly do not know how long we avoided other ponies.  I know with certainty, though, that it ended eight thousand years ago.  He was the first stallion I had met since we left the other ponies behind; maybe that was part of what I saw in him.  I think much of it was the way he accepted myself and Luna as ponies, when others still wanted us to be gods.  It wasn’t love at first sight, but at the same time, it didn’t take long.  We were both lonely, and we found ourselves spending so much time together, as we struggled to build up Equestria into a real nation.”

“What was his name?” Cadance pressed.

Celestia’s horn lifted her knight off the chessboard, rotating the stallion in place.  “Hurricane.”

A fountain of red wine spurted from Magnus’ beak, and was only kept from staining Celestia’s coat by a quick golden shield in the air between them.  “Hurricane?  The Cirran Emperor?”

Celestia nodded.  “I won’t claim he spoke highly of you, Magnus.”

Magnus laughed, replying with no slight sarcasm.  “I can’t imagine why not.”

“Are we talking about the same Hurricane here?” Cadance asked.  “Commander Hurricane?  From the Hearth’s Warming pageant?”

Celestia gave another nod.  Magnus twisted his avian head.  “You have a pageant about Emperor Hurricane?”

“He called himself ‘Commander’ after the Red Cloud War,” Celestia explained.  “He felt it was better to separate what was left from the legacy of the Cirra you destroyed.  And yes, for his part in founding Equestria, he is featured in the Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant we perform each winter.”

“I take it something happened with you before then, Emperor Magnus?” Cadance pressed, finally reaching her cushion beside the fireplace.  “You were in a war?”

“Indeed,” Magnus answered, with a prideful smile.  “I have lead many.  But never one like that.  For millennia leading up to those days, my kind had fought the Cirran Empire; at times, I would let one of my chosen warlords lead a battle against them, but time and again they failed.  In a sense, I was rooting for the Cirrans; with every hard-fought victory, they taught me lessons in war that no other empire in the history of the world has mastered.  Yet slowly but surely, they locked down upon my people, and there came a day when I was forced to take to the battlefield and the command table myself.  Hurricane began the war as little more than a petty soldier, but he ended it as my rival.”  Magnus looked down at the chess board.  “His leaders played much like you did, Celestia.  I hid my numbers, and their leaders underestimated me.”

Cadance had to note that the griffon seemed almost wistful in his recollections.  Unlike the predatory glee he’d shown in defeating Celestia at chess, his face in that moment reflected a sort of nostalgia.  “He left something to be desired as a personal foe, though at the time pegasi knew nothing of their magic beyond flight.  And, in his own way, he beat me.  I had intended to wipe their entire civilization from the face of the Earth, yet he led his people across the sea and saved them.  I only wish he had the gall to face me and die nobly, instead of leaving his friend to hold my attention.”  A haunted look passed over Magnus’ otherwise happy face.  “Silver Sword; now there is a name burned into my memory.”

Celestia’s brow rose, though she again held her tongue on Magnus’ topic.  “After the first Hearth’s Warming Day, he found us here on the mountaintop.  I’ll glaze over a tale of our romance for your sake, Magnus.  He had lost his wife…”  Celestia’s voice trailed off as she realized just what she had said in front of Cadance.  “Some years later, I bore him a foal; a little filly we named Gale in honor of his father.”

Magnus broke out into a laugh and collapsed backward on his cushion.  “You named your child after Thunder Gale?”

“You knew him?”  Celestia asked.

“I crippled him,” Magnus answered with a sickening pride.  “At one of the battles of Nimbus, if memory serves.  There were so many battles there; they all run together after all the centuries.  Half-decent soldier, I think.  Honestly, I only remember him because of Hurricane.”

“Why do you care so much about Hurricane, if you destroyed his Empire?” Cadance asked the giant griffon.

“Because he was the best foe I ever had the pleasure of fighting.  Not claw to… well, to hoof in his case; I mean as another leader.  He inherited a war that was already lost; any other pony would have given up or broken.  He fought me, with such intensity that I didn’t even notice his plan until it was too late.  He left his legions behind to hold my attention, and fled with his civilians.  He lost his empire, but he saved his people.  Certainly not the strongest, or the most dangerous of my rivals, but without question the most entertaining; he did things with a half-dead mass of conscripts in those days that Krenn could never equal with a thousand dragons, nor Luna with her armies of corpses.”

Celestia flinched.  “I can attest to to his skill, Magnus, but that’s beside the point of the question you asked.  It’s through Gale that I am related to Cadance, and Blueblood, and countless other ponies.”

Cadance cocked her head subtly.  “I don’t recall anypony by the name of ‘Gale’ in the Line of Platinum.”

A small chuckle escaped Celestia’s lips in response.  “That’s because she didn’t go down in history as ‘Gale’.  In those days, both the pegasi and the unicorns included Luna and I in their pantheons of gods.”

“And rightly so.”

“I disagree,” Celestia muttered.  “But regardless, there would have been… repercussions if the public of that early Equestria knew that Hurricane and I had borne a foal.  So, with a little help from another character in our pageant, we crafted a different story.  The name you would know Gale by, Cadance, is Princess Platinum the Third.”

“What?”  Cadance’s mouth dropped open.  “You mean… the line of Platinum…”

“Doesn’t actually have anypony named Platinum in it?” Celestia nodded. “One of the little ironies ancient politics plays on the modern day. But now you know why there was never a Platinum the Fourth. When Hurricane died, it was one of the worst feelings I’d ever experienced. And when Gale went to join him...” Celestia’s wings heaved with a deep breath, but it didn’t seem to restore much of her composure. “I’m sorry, Magnus; we’ll have to have our talks later in the evening. If you tell Thunder Crack, he can take you to your quarters. Cadance, give me just a moment to think. Then there is something I would like to show you.”

Mirror Image awoke with a surprising warmth across his body, given the fact that his surroundings appeared to be an ice cave.  The crag was no more than eight feet long, and only a third as wide.  At its only exit, Princess Luna sat with her back facing her bodyguard, her head hung low.

Image took a moment to stand up, and felt the flow of warm fur covering his body.  He cast a glance back and found himself garbed in a dark gray cloak he didn’t recall Luna packing.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Luna whispered, only audible in the total silence.

Image walked up toward her and took a seat at her side staring out at the white and gray landscape, broken only by a steep cliff wall of blue ice.  “I honestly thought you knew,” Image answered.  “Didn’t you ever ask her?”

“Of course!” Luna snapped.  “I… well, the truth is that she was the one who offered to stay.  There is a great deal to this story you may not understand, Officer.”

“You can call me Mirror, Princess.”

“Oh.  Of course.  Mirror.”  Luna took a few seconds to consolidate her thoughts.  “I shall endeavor to hold nothing back from you, Mirror.  What Commander Lining said is true; at Celestia’s guidance, I cast aside my memories of the Nightmare.  My first memory since my banishment is standing with the Bearers and my sister in the old castle.  It wasn’t until we returned to Ponyville that Commander Lining approached me.  He tried to kill me, and it was only Celestia’s presence that stopped him.”

“Some ponies never change.”

Luna seemed surprised at her behavior a moment after she released a chuckle.  “I suppose not, Mirror.  As I was saying, he insisted that I free the soul I had captured.  I didn’t know her name; but when they led me down into the basement of the Ponyville town hall, she wasn’t as hostile as the Commander or the other Honor Guard.  I told her I was going to let her go to the Summer Lands, but she protested.  She said she wanted to stay, even if it meant being a thestral.”

Image cocked his head.  “The Commander always said you’d forced her.  That the Night Guard thestral things didn’t have free will, and that you just made her say that.”

Luna shook her head.  “There was a time when I might have done such a thing; it is within the capabilities of the spell that creates a thestral.  But I would never do such a thing to a soul as kind as hers.”  The princess of the night hung her head.  “I told her that I could not spare the magic to support her unless she served on my Night Guard; she agreed.  I told her what that oath entailed.”

“What does it mean?  You called them thestrals?  I assume that’s a ‘Night Guard’, right?”

Luna nodded.  “I know Celestia frowns upon the subject, so I expect that your education would include little knowledge of necromancy.  I do not believe that any magic is itself good or evil, but I will admit that necromancy is most often used for darker ends.  In any case, most undead are souls trapped in dead bodies, suffering in mindless hunger and obedience to their creators.  That is the result of using only Arcana to drag a soul back from its place of rest… or torment.  But if one can wield Empatha and Endura as well, much more can be done.  Thestrals are the pinnacle of this practice: intelligent, and free-willed, yet controllable.”

Mirror Image’s expression did not seem delighted by the description.  His rich blue eyes dragged away from hers to stare out into the snow.  “So that’s what they are to you?  Tools?”

Luna shook her head.  “No, Mirror.  Not at all.  The Night Guard are my chance to give redemption to others.  As you know, Celestia and I judge the souls of dead ponies, guiding them to their reward or punishment.  I won’t comment on my sister’s philosophy, but I am sensitive to the plight of those ponies who lived their lives in darkness before struggling to earn forgiveness, and those who committed cruelties in the interest of a greater good.  Rather than damning such rare ponies, I offer them a chance: one hundred years of service on my Night Guard.”

Image nodded.  “So that’s what the Commander meant, about murderers and thieves.”

“I would assume.  If he knows that, he must also know of the costs.  I call this ‘Loose Cannon’ by the name Eldest Sister because I forbid the Night Guard from keeping ties to their past lives.”

“I guess that makes sense, given what you know about who they used to be.”  Image tightened the cloak over his shoulders.  “But Loose Cannon never did anything wrong.”

“I gave her the title of Eldest because I trusted her, but I did not want her to set a bad example for her subordinates.  But that is only the least of the prices paid to serve in the Night Guard.”  Luna closed her eyes and tilted her head back toward the dark cloudy sky outside their little crag.  “Like all undead, my thestrals must feed on the freshly dead flesh of their own kind.”  Image winced at her revelation.  “I wish it weren’t so, but even Mortal Coil could not spare us that need.  Thankfully, such hunger most often comes but once a year.  Secondly, a thestral must gain mana from their creator every few days; a need just as great as water or food for a living pony.  I project my magic off the moon, so all my Night Guard need do is find a place with a clear view of the sky each night, or come into my presence directly.”

“Would this sky work?” Image asked, gesturing to the cloud mass above them.

Luna shook her head.  “No.  It must be truly clear.  Stalliongrad is a dangerous place for my guard.  They would need to go somewhere like the high towers of the castles in Burning Hearth or Trotsylvania to reach above the storm clouds.  Each day that passes weakens the thestral; about three days is lethal.”

The unicorn’s head cocked like a curious dog.  “Can you even kill them?  Aren’t they already…”

“If you destroy the body’s ability to contain a soul, the spell will be ended.  They are hardier than mortal ponies, yes, but not truly immortal.  And should they die, their soul is sent neither to Tartarus nor the Summer Lands.”

“What?  But where else could it go?”

“Like all who are brought back from the dead, the soul is left to wander the world, slowly going mad from loneliness and powerlessness.  Over years and decades, such a spirit is warped by its memories and environment until it becomes any of a number of horrible creatures.  A windigo, for example, or a shade, or even a draconequus.”

Image’s jaw dropped.  “So Discord is actually―”

“I do not know; he is far older than I.  He will gladly speak on the subject, but he does not tell the same story twice.  Luna shook her head.  “There are other prices, but none so major.”

“Why did Loose agree to all of that?  Did she tell you?”

Luna shook her head.  “She asked for one reprieve.  While she agreed to go by the name of Eldest Sister, she wanted the right not to break off completely from her former life.  In particular, she mentioned a stallion whom she loved.  I saw no reason not to oblige her, as she would be living in the palace with the Honor Guard regardless, and―Mirror?”

The unicorn walked out of the crag, keeping his face away from Luna’s.  “Let’s go.  Where’s Eldest Sister?”

“Is something wrong, Mirror?”

“I’m cold enough to be looking forward to seeing Krennotets,” the stallion growled.  “And I don’t know where we are.  Otherwise, I am fine.”

“We’re in the pass you pointed to before you passed out.”  Luna whistled a shrill cry once, which echoed through the storm.  “And you’re wearing most of Eldest Sister.”

Before Image could process the thought, a trio of bats fell out of the sky like inkblots, darting into the cape in his back.  All at once it came alive, and he only narrowly escaped releasing an entirely unmasculine scream.  Loose Cannon once more took a pony’s shape and stepped away from the unicorn.  “Ooh, I’m all toasty and warm.  Thanks for keeping me company, Mirror.”

He didn’t answer.  With disappointment in her slitted eyes, the thestral turned to face her creator.  “The rest of the pass is clear.  Just a lot of charred bones and ice, up to where the pass opens up and starts sloping down.”

“Charred bones?”  Mirror Image’s head swiveled like a hound on the scent.  “We need to hurry.  I don’t like this.”

“Why?” Luna asked.  “Is there something wrong?”

“This is Treasonfang Pass,” Image muttered.  “Just because you didn’t see anything doesn’t mean it’ll stay clear for long.  We need to move.”

There wasn’t any room for protest before the unicorn took off, leading the two winged ponies to chase after him through the snow and the ash.

A fourth shadow on the wall watched them, before its toothy maw twisted into a caricature of a smile.

“Aunt, you aren’t taking me to the library.”  Cadance’s words could not have been any more obvious than they were as Celestia’s hooves entered the palace hedge maze.

For her part, the elder alicorn shook her head.  “I’m glad your eyes are working, Cadance.  I know why you are interested in the Grimoire Fatalis, and there is somepony I would like you to meet before you continue down your path toward that choice.”

“In the maze?”  Cadance looked down a few side passages that Celestia ignored, before scampering to keep up with her ancestor’s longer stride.  “Do you mean Discord?”

Celestia shook her head.  “He doesn’t much like the hedges; we passed him on the way in.  No, I want you to meet a pony.”  The towering mare rounded a corner, stopped suddenly, and extended a wing directly forward.  “Cadance, I’d like you to meet Mortal Coil.”

The stallion was pale marble, standing on a plinth a foot and a half above the ground.  He couldn’t have been more than Cadance’s age, with a strong chin and cunning in his cold stone eyes.  Though the horn that stood on his brow was longer than one could find on most unicorns, his back was barren of wings.  Instead, he wore a short surcoat with a raised collar, covering a slim but fit young body.  Overall, he was handsome, though not the equal of Shining Armor…

Cadance winced, took a slow breath, and glanced to her aunt.  “Who was he?”

“There was a time when, much like Twilight, he was my student.”  Celestia’s words rung of regret.  “Then he was my court archmage.  Some would call him the father of the art of necromancy, but when we last parted, I knew him as my son in law.”

“Is this actually… is he a real pony?  Or just a statue?”

“Neither, in a sense.”  Celestia’s magic wrapped around her gilded peytral, and from somewhere within, she produced a small shard of jagged black crystal.  “This should explain things for you.”

Before Cadance could ask for an explanation, a beam of light shot from Celestia’s horn, engulfing the crystal.  It disappeared with a sound like glass shattering, and round where it had been, the world turned from grass and dirt to gray stone, flickering in the light of grayscale torches.  On a stone plinth in the center of the figment lay a mutilated corpse that could only be identified as a pegasus by the muscled masses that had once been wings sticking out of its sides.

Mortal Coil was the first living pony to enter the scene; he looked nearly identical to his statue, save that his short-tailed jacket was a pitch black, and that he wore a peculiarly large amulet of silver, in the shape of a shield.  His horn lifted a bowl of something that glittered like silver dust or gems; without color, it was hard to tell for sure.  He spread the substance in a wide square around the body, and then took up a position near the unfortunate pony’s head.  There, he levitated a heavy book from somewhere else in the room, and began to work magic in silence.

“What are you doing?” Celestia’s voice was unmistakable despite the interference of the magic.  She charged into view a moment after her words to Mortal Coil, wearing a tired mortal pink mane and with bags beneath her eyes.  “Stop this, Morty!” 

“Why?  I can bring him back, Princess.”  His voice, resolved and demanding, was warped by the magic recording it from ages past.  “All of the sigil forms work out; all of the tests were perfect.  It’s no different than a phoenix.  And with your help, I won’t even need all the complication of transmuting my Arcana into the other forms.”

“Morty, listen to me.  I understand that you’re troubled after what happened; I think everypony is.  But Hurricane earned his rest, and we have to let him go.  He’s in a better place now.”

The unicorn walked up to what could only be Commander Hurricane’s body, staring at the flayed flesh and the exposed bones.  “And you would want him back, Princess?  Your immortal lover, standing by your side through the ages?”

Celestia snapped.  “Don’t you dare, Mortal Coil!  Do you think I’m happy now?  Do you think I don’t want to have him back?  But I never would have expected you of all ponies to say something like that.”

“I can do it.  Not just bring him back; he’d be as timeless as you.”

“So he could watch Gale, and Typhoon and Cyclone die?  Do you understand what you’re saying, Morty?  This isn’t right!”

“It’s what’s right for Equestria, Princess, and it’s what’s right for you.”

“Stop it!” Celestia shouted.  “He’s not some rat or dog you can play with in your study, Morty!  Don’t do this to him!  You’d hurt him!”

The young unicorn wandered around the plinth.  His foreleg moved to wrap over Celestia’s shoulders, only to realize that he couldn’t reach.  Instead, he placed a hoof on her shoulder tenderly, drawing her eyes to match his.  “I never claimed he was a test subject, Celestia.  No matter our differences, I would never say something that.  But I can see what’s happening in Equestria, and I know you can too, if you can bring yourself to look.  Equestria still needs him.  Gale still needs him.  Tartarus, you still need him, whether you want to admit it or not.”  Coil’s hoof came away from Celestia’s shoulder, and he stepped toward the body once more.  “A ‘better place’ might be an easy, comfortable lie, but it’s still a lie.  So, as your student, and as your court archmage, I am going to do what’s best for Equestria.”

Coil’s magic started before Celestia could even process his final sentence.  The square he’d drawn on the flow crackled as an enormous mass of mana gathered around his horn; Cadance had only ever seen Twilight gather so much power at once.  The amulet around his neck also began to glow, floating up away from his neck.

“Stop this now, Coil!  What if you hurt him?  You have no idea what this could do to his soul!”

“Actually, Princess, I do.”  Coil smiled, and continued his spell, right up to the moment that Celestia’s magic slammed into his side.  Though he was thrown a good four feet onto the stone floor, his magic barely wavered.  “Let me do this, Celestia!”

“I can’t, Morty.  I can’t take let you risk him, and I won’t let you hurt him.”  Instead of assaulting the mortal unicorn, Celestia’s magic reached for his medallion.

“No, Princess, wait―”

The chain holding it around his neck snapped, and in the same second, the mana around his horn exploded.  There was a terrible screech from the air somewhere, and Mortal Coil’s eyes rolled back in his skull, leaving him to collapse on his side.  Cadance could see him breathing, though she wasn’t sure how long that would last.

“Morty!” Celestia shouted, rushing up to his side, as if the damage had not already been done.  The alicorn wrapped her student’s amulet around his neck, but his body remained still.  Blasts of magic struck his breast, shaking his body but failing to revive him.  Cadance’s unpleasant suspicions of the story’s end were only strengthened when the image disappeared.

The real Celestia, whose mane still shimmered in an unfelt breeze, lifted the crystal back into her golden peytral, and then turned to stare at the statue of Mortal Coil.  “That was the first time I learned what the cost of my student’s spell really was.”

“You mean what you said about outliving Gale?  Who were the others―Cyclone and Typhoon, he said?”

The ruler of Equestria stared up between the hedges to the sky overhead.  “Commander Hurricane’s other children, from his first marriage.  You might know recognize Tsyklon’s name if I pronounce another way.”

“The founder of Stalliongrad?”

Celestia chuckled a little.  “In a way, yes; Twilight can tell you his story if you are curious.  Typhoon doesn’t have quite the same fame to her legacy, though she has just as much claim to the Royal Guard as her father and her younger sister.  She made an enemy of Luna, and I am sorry to say that she did not see eye to eye with me either, in her later years.”  Celestia sighed and shook her head.  “But all that amounts to nothing more than the memories of lifetimes past.  I think you misunderstood the point of my image there.  Hurricane wasn’t the subject of the spell.”

“I’m not sure I follow,” Cadance noted.  “Was the body on the table somepony else, then?”

Celestia shook her head.  “No, that was… that was what was left of Hurricane.  But I prevented Coil from casting his spell in that room.  What I hadn’t realized was that it would have been the second time the spell was cast.  Mortal Coil hadn’t simply tested his magic on an animal, or in theory.  He’d tested it on himself.”

Cadance stared up at the statue.  “Wouldn’t he have already needed to be dead?  And why would he die when you stopped his magic?  What happened?”

“His locket,” The elder alicorn explained.  “It was how he managed to test his spell in the first place: in effect, it had cast the spell.  But when I tampered with its magic, the spell ended.  Morty was always overconfident in his magic, and in the end it cost him everything.  He didn’t truly die; his body lived on.  But the magic that had tied it to his soul was gone.  All he left was a comatose body.”  Celestia tapped the ‘statue’ with a hoof as she continued.  “I saved that, in the hopes that one day, I might find where his soul had gone.  But after eight thousand years, I fear he has just as likely become some spirit or monster.  That is what I want you to understand, beyond all question of whether or not it is right to raise Shining Armor: the risk that he would be lost forever.”

The princess of love swallowed slowly.  “I see.  But if all that is true, why did you do use the spell on Rainbow Dash?”

Guilt rushed over Celestia’s expression like a wave.  “I acted selfishly, in desperation not to lose Luna.  I was terrified that I would be alone, again.  And even then, I knew enough of what I was doing to know that it would be wrong to keep her in this world very long.  I raised her so that I could ask her about Masquerade, thinking she might know something of help.  I had intended to end the spell and guide her back to the Summer Lands then and there… but when she offered to protect Luna, I couldn’t shake the thought that she might actually be the one to save her.  I was right, but what I did was still wrong.  I’ve made peace with the fact that I will likely never regain her trust.”  A long white neck hung toward the ground by the end of Celestia’s thoughts.  “I do not mean to linger on such topics, but until Twilight or Commander Ink locate a body, it is a moot point.”

Cadance nodded.  “Thank you, Aunt.”

“I am glad you came to me, instead of making this mistake again.  It was my pleasure to help you here.  Now, is there some less gruesome topic we can discuss?  I understand you spent some recent time in Neighples with your father.  Is he well?”

“Putting on more weight,” Cadance answered, sitting down against the plinth supporting Mortal Coil’s body.  “And I still don’t see what he sees in my step-mother, though thankfully she was away in Shetland while I was there.”

Celestia chuckled.  “Sometimes, we must simply accept that the ponies we love will come with others we might not love as closely.”

The ruler of the Crystal Empire bit her lip for just a few seconds, before speaking up.  “There is… another matter I would like to discuss.”

“Go ahead.”

“We visited Trottingham, to talk to Powdered Wig and Haute Couture.  I can’t stand it when they and father play their politics, and this was the worst it had ever been.  They sat there plotting who would… who would replace Shining.  Like I wasn’t even there.”

In the garden, birds sang, ignoring the snow covering the rest of the mountaintop.  In the chilly breeze, Cadance took notice of the wing that wrapped around her in a warm embrace.

“Are you concerned with who will be given the position?”

“No,” Cadance answered.  “I don’t care.  I don’t know anypony; I just… it made me so mad.  And then they started talking about Tsar Eye.”

Celestia’s eyes widened in acknowledgement.  “Not the most popular stallion amongst Equestria’s nobility.”

“They were plotting against him.  I think they wanted to embarrass him, or do something to ruin his reputation in Stalliongrad.  Then they asked me take over.”

“What?”  It may have been the first time Cadance ever heard her ‘aunt’ surprised when discussing politics, yet the exclamation barely registered in her ears.

Cadance shifted in Celestia’s wing, putting her weight against the paler mare’s side.  “They wanted me to marry Predvidenie.”

“Ah.”  Cadance felt Celestia’s chest shift as the princess of the sun considered her next words.  “Have you considered it?”

A wince answered Celestia’s question.  “No!”  Realizing her harshness, Cadance’s voice dropped.  “I mean…”

“He seems a nice enough stallion,” Celestia picked up.  “Perhaps lacking some measure of charisma, I suppose, but a competent and generally well-meaning pony.  Between princesses, I hear rumor that his preference in the bedroom might make things difficult between you, but perhaps you could change him…”

To Celestia’s surprise, Cadance turned beet red.  “Oh.  No, Aunt, he isn’t…”  Shaking her head, the younger alicorn struggled to find her words.  “I mean, maybe he does prefer stallions.  I don’t actually know.  But the rumors are my fault, from when we were study partners at the Academy.”

“Oh?  Did he not find you attractive?”

Cadance looked away, hiding behind her mane.  “It was much more embarrassing than that.  My love spell wasn’t always as… controlled… as it is now.”

Celestia laughed, only deepening Cadance’s blush.  “I see.  Well, forgive me for intruding.  Shall we head in?”

Cadance answered by rising to her hooves and nodding.  “There was one thing I wanted to ask though, Aunt.”

“Yes?”

“What did you really see in Hurricane?  Wasn’t he an awful racist?”

With a sort of fatigue to her motion, Celestia shook her head.  “The Pageant was written by Clover as a foal’s story, rather than a history.  Hurricane didn’t so much hate unicorns or earth ponies in general as Platinum and Puddinghead in particular.  The same could be said of both of them.  But to answer your initial question, he was a sensitive, compassionate stallion who actually listened when Luna and I told him we weren’t gods.  Even in those days, you’d be surprised how hard it was to convince ponies of that idea.”  An enormous grin spread across Celestia’s face.  “He was also fantastic with his sword.”

“You admired that?” Cadance asked.  “I would have thought you wouldn’t have had much in common with his military ideals.”

Rather than answering with words, Celestia simply tilted her head in Cadance’s direction, donning what could only be referred to as ‘that smile’.  It spoke volumes about how much more the immortal mare knew than her political rivals, and yet it explained nothing at all.  At first, Cadance was confused.  Then she was stunned.  She didn’t manage to realize how widely her mouth was hanging open until Celestia had led her out of the maze.

The blackened bones of ponies blurred past in the snow and ash as Luna’s wings carried her alongside Mirror Image.  “I have heard whispers of this ‘Treasonfang Pass’ before; what about it frightens you so?”

“Twenty years ago…” Image began, before stopping to suck in a breath of frigid air.  “During the Dragon Wars…”

“Don’t try and talk while you’re running, Mirror.”  Eldest Sister pulled herself forward with a few casual wingbeats, matching pace with Luna.  “During the last days of the dragon wars, when we thought things were going to turn out bad, White Flag led a regiment through dragon-controlled Stalliongrad, and up toward Krennotets.  Sixteen-hundred of our best scouts, spies, and covert specialists.  They were using magic to go unnoticed, and they got as far as Treasonfang Pass before the dragons caught on.”

Luna took noted of the charred pony bones scattered across the valley floor.  “I take it the attempt ended poorly?”

“Out of the entire regiment, only eleven ponies made it back to Equestria.”

“Ten.”  It wasn’t a pony’s voice that had spoken, but instead a grumbling wheezing noise that reminded Luna of a distant avalanche.  To emphasize the connection, a massive wall of snow and ice rose up, cutting off the ponies’ path.  “One was not among others.”

Wincing in pain, Mirror Image’s horn lit with sparks, pointing up at the new cliff wall.  Eldest Sister matched his speed, guiding Luna to the ground and spreading her wings to shield her princess.  Luna herself remained calm, though her head began to swivel along the cliff walls, looking for the speaker.

“So hard to remember words without thoughts.  Do not fear, Luna; I am not here to kill you.  I stopped you only to give warning: turn back.”

A light began to shine through the ice of the cliff wall.  Its brilliant blue somehow left Mirror Image feeling colder than he had in the relative darkness of the stormy mountain sky.  The unicorn endured the pain of his magic to conjure a shield around Luna and Eldest.  When the dark spots finally fled from his vision, a silhouette swam into view over the surface of the glowing ice.  It looked like the shadow of a dragon, with a slender fanged maw and long arms covered in cruel spikes.

“Wow…” Eldest whispered.  “Deadeye always used to say this place was haunted.  I’m gonna have to start paying more attention to ghost stories.”

“Not the time,” Image muttered to his Night Guard counterpart.  “Who are you, shadow?”

“I have no interest in you, mortal.”  The dragon silhouette’s hollow eyes rotated across the blot that was its face, so that they were pointing in Luna’s direction.  “Turn back, Luna.”

“Identify thyself, creature, so that I can understand your motive.”

“My name is… an enigma.  I only have time to give a warning, at great pain. If you go to Peschera, you will find death awaiting you.”

Luna raised her chin high, glaring at the shadow on the wall.  “You believe you can stop me, figment?”

“Not physically,” it answered.  “I cannot fight Luna, mightiest of six, mistress of darkness.”  Luna’s glare grew narrower as the figment continued to speak.  “But the threat you are nearing is not one of force or magic.  It comes from shadows and secrets, much like that which so nearly defeated you not a year past.”

“Masquerade…” Luna muttered to herself.  “What is the threat you claim to foretell?”

“I think we need to get going,” Mirror Image interrupted, pointing back down the path they had come from.  The charred bones were stirring.  “Something’s happening”

The voice purred, as its umbral form twitched on the wall.  “The dead are restless, and Krenn will be amongst them in two days time, Luna.”

A burst of Luna’s magic shot through Image’s shield, smashing into the icy wall and the shadowy creature.  When the ensuing mist cloud cleared, the wall had reformed and the figment was unharmed.

“You’re the same creature behind Masquerade!” Luna shouted.  “Tell me, phantom, why?  Who are you?”

It’s smile disappeared.  “I am not behind the assassin; it would be a death wish to come before you if I were.  One of my kind serves that master, and seeks to kill Krenn; he will succeed, and if you are present, you will be blamed.  Even your might cannot stand against so many wyrms.  If you seek the threat that faces your own race, you should turn back now.  Your foe lies in the frozen city that will burn.”

Luna’s attention was stolen from the figment’s words when the chattering of bones became audible.  Mirror Image stepped past her, grabbing a slender tube about a foot long from his side.  With a burst of his magic and the twang of a spring, it became a metallic spear, which he pinned against his side with a foreleg.  “Eldest, you’re more mobile.  Take point; I’ll cover the Princess.”

“On it!” the thestral answered, throwing herself into the air with a force no living pegasus could match.  The full force of her body slammed down on the nearest skeleton, outright shattering most of its spine.  Another of the creatures wielding a rusty sword swung for the mare’s neck.  With impossible speed, she snatched the blade between her fangs, and threw her shoulder into the weapon’s wielder.  Joints popped free from the blow, and the bones scattered about.  

Her black mane stood up when a bolt of Arcana shot past it, eradicating a unicorn’s corpse mere inches from a blow to her skull.  “Thanks, Mirror!”

“Focus,” the unicorn managed to mutter, though his own eyes were still blurry from the pain of his magic.  “Princess, we need to go now!”

“This shadow seems to know about the contractor of Masquerade; I would ask more―”

Image ripped his spear out of a skull and swung it in a wide arc, sweeping out the hooves of three more approaching creatures.  “Curiosity killed the cat, Princess.”

“I am not familiar with that―”

“It means your answers won’t do us much good if we’re all dead!” Image shouted.

Ahead, after smashing a skeleton into dust with another’s skull, Eldest Sister called out to him.  “I resent that, Mirror!”

Luna turned back to the ice wall.  “Shadow, do you know who was behind Masquerade?”

“No; I only know the servant.  I do know that he needs one of the six to die, and that he does not care which.”  The figure rippled, as if the icy wall it lay against was liquid, disturbed by a thrown rock.  “And that the master’s magic affects memories and thoughts; it is difficult to discuss, and my strength wanes.”

Mirror Image’s howl of pain caught Luna’s attention.  His spear batted the skulls off two approaching undead, though she could see his shoulder bleeding.  Wasting no more time, her hooves wrapped around the barrel of his chest, and her wings flung her into the skies.  “Eldest Sister, we leave!  Shadow, though you speak in riddles, your warning is of great use.  How can we repay you?”

“Remember me,” was all it said as it disappeared.

Nodding by way of an oath, Luna’s horn blasted away a group of winged skeletons approaching her in the air.  “Then we will have to reach the volcano quickly.”

“What?” Image asked.  “Didn’t you hear that… thing?  You’ll be walking into another Masquerade.”

“Yes,” Luna replied with a grin.  “And this time, we shall bear the element of surprise.”

Ahead, the eastern skies boiled with fire and ash.