It's not my fault.
Celestia gazed out the open window of her assigned (and far too opulent) bedroom, staring up at the Moon. The light did marvelous things to the crystal structures below, she remembered some of the effects plus just how they interacted with the coats of the residents and with the weapon secured for the night, some of those were out and about now, she could hear ponies laughing in the streets -- but she didn't look down.
There had been times when she'd wanted nothing more than to hear crystal ponies truly laughing again. Because something had been found funny. Because there was a joke being played. Because they were happy -- and hadn't been told to be. The sound should have made her feel better, served as inspiration to swoop down and join the fun. The crystal ponies barely knew who she was, nothing more than that 'visiting royalty' stamp. She wasn't even a page in a history book: the old texts had been removed (with a few copies kept just to see what Sombra had dictated as not even remotely being the actual events) and there hadn't been enough time to publish anything new. The ponies below would stare at her, for height and horn and wings and mane and tail -- but perhaps that would have been all. There might even be the tiniest chance that, should she descend, she might find a precious second of being treated as if she was --
-- normal.
It's not my fault.
She couldn't sleep, in part because she knew what would be within her nightscape. Who. She wasn't ready for that yet. And she couldn't go down to join the crystal ponies, because...
...of the next question. The one Cadance had known needed to be asked. She needed to figure out what it was.
Oh, there had been questions, and so many of them had been the wrong ones. A recent example had seen Luna come up with a particularly bad specimen in wanting to know where the Royal Bedroom was. The proper query in Lunaspeak would have been 'Where did you confine your spouse?', because the bedroom hadn't been it. Easily dismiss the very minor comedy factor and 'Where did you two engage in intercourse?' wouldn't have been much of an improvement because, in retrospect, there was no way Shining Armor would have been able to remain conscious long enough to recite the entire path. After failing to locate any signs of a broken shield spell in or around the bedroom, they had switched to feel, reaching out for Shining Armor's distinctive signature -- something they both had far too much experience with after having been confined within a bubble of it. And as they'd tracked it down, they had inevitably found -- the trail. Starting somewhere in the middle of it.
After it had all ended, once Cadance had been found and dealt with, the sisters had gone over the whole thing and cleaned it up personally just so the youngest wouldn't have to see any of it. That had included hauling out broken furniture, disposing of torn draperies, asking for help to seal the cracks in crystal walls (and floors, one large window, two of the ceilings...), and offering counseling to one shellshocked servant who knew exactly what she'd just seen and had no idea how to reconcile it.
It's not my fault.
Dealing with Cadance had been both the easiest and hardest part. Easy because there had been no fight at all. The junior Princess had been slumped within the shield, eyes closed, mane tangled, coat drenched in sweat and light froth, her face soaked with both of those added to previously-fallen tears. She had said nothing when they'd opened the shield to release her: simply staggered to her hooves, stumbled forward -- and then fell against them, crying again, a conflagration of self-hatred raging through the gentle pony with the intent of burning down every foundation there was.
Luna had been shocked to find the smaller body pressed so tightly against her own: Celestia had seen it in her sister's face. And then her sibling had sunk down to the floor in perfect synchronization with Cadance's collapse, the impact of their bodies sending out near-twin bell tones, and simply allowed Cadance to cry. Forty minutes without moving, wings draped over the youngest, eyes closed in silent empathy, and Celestia had seen all of it because she'd joined them a split-second after and refused to leave.
Shining Armor -- the first thing he'd done after being revived, treated, and very quickly informed was rush to his mate's side so he could tell her there was nothing to forgive. That he had been giving consent, that he wouldn't have married her if it hadn't been in his plans to let her tackle him every so often. At one point, he'd reminded her of what had been her final test -- the one where she had told him everything she could do, and he had trusted that none of it had been done to him. Wanting her to remember everything that meant.
He had listened as she'd sobbed apologies with one breath and then insisted there was nothing she could ever do to make amends with the next. The siblings had left them alone together after that, taken that time to clean up, and Cadance had finally come downstairs with her mate, smiling, her eyes bright. It was almost enough to hide the refraction from the flowing tears.
Celestia was sure Cadance understood that Shining Armor had forgiven her. That in his mind, there was nothing which needed forgiveness at all because
It's not my fault.
the trigger had been imposed from the outside. But for Cadance to forgive herself...
After dinner, Luna had risked a single inquiry -- to Celestia. It had been a simple one: why hadn't Cadance let Shining Armor know Joyous was coming? The captain of the Crystal Guard had clearly possessed no idea about what had happened or why -- which meant he hadn't known just who had been that trigger: Celestia had belatedly realized it and gotten to the recovery room just in time to brief him on the staggering run. The sisters had taken great pains (and more than a dozen scrolls) to let Cadance know exactly what the Empire might be in for. And Shining Armor had known to set up the security precautions and clear the streets, had a full understanding of the needs and worked out how to achieve them -- but it seemed nopony had ever told him the complete reason for why, and there was only one alicorn who could have given him that information at all.
An alicorn who, standing within the strange acoustics created by crystal walls, had heard every word Luna said.
Cadance had trotted up behind them, planting her hooves to provide musical warning of her impending presence, making Luna do everything possible not to jump -- and then said "You really expected me to tell my husband that the world's sexiest mare was dropping by for a visit?" And she'd laughed, a single peal which sang concerts against the walls --
-- but they'd both watched her pass between them, head for the stairs. Seen her posture alter from moment to moment as she tried to stay fully upright and relaxed. Watched her tail as it drooped, straightened again, beat against its owner's flanks. And the strange acoustics had brought them echoes from that Royal Bedroom as Cadance begged Shining Armor not to share sleep with her that night, she didn't deserve...
It's not my fault.
...an order the captain had ignored.
The next question...
....there was one which Luna had already asked.
"Do ponies express their attraction only according to their personality, or does even that vanish with continued exposure?"
Torque, not a pony at all --- but he had tried to fight his way to Joyous because that was what minotaurs did.
Cadance, with the single longest continuous duration in Joyous' presence. She had claimed to have been thinking of her very special somepony the whole time, and while it had been the mare's name which had been called out -- it had been the stallion she'd sought at the moment her control had finally broken, arousal beyond endurance, needing a place to explode. She had not thought of -- personal measures, nor had she tried to find other ways of calming (or cooling) down, for Cadance believed in love, and had shifted the need -- because for Cadance, when desire was felt, it meant you looked for the one who had expressed desire for you. The one who'd promised that desire would last a lifetime.
Luna... oh, Celestia could see it now. The refurbishments of the cell and train car should have alerted her to what was going on, and she'd somehow managed to overlook the food. Luna couldn't cook, neither of them could beyond the level of the most basic trail food and their mutual lack of skill had generally inspired others to get off the trail all the faster. It had initially made both of them lightly fascinated by the results produced by those who possessed that talent -- and over the centuries, that curiosity had become something else. Neither sister could afford to be a hedonist, not in some senses of the word -- but they each had to take their pleasure somewhere. Celestia had ultimately gravitated towards pastries, cookies, and everything else which she still had to force herself not to hire the Cakes for. Luna smirked at the elder's devotion to baked goods -- while quietly sampling the most exotic fruits in the world and getting excuses ready in case somepony noticed. Fruits she still raised herself in this current age within a renewed private garden -- most of which had found its way to Joyous' table. For when Luna's attentions focused on a pony, gifts flowed.
And she could so easily hear her sister's voice. 'I give you the finest chambers Canterlot can offer. I grant you the best food on the continent and beyond. I offer you the full devotion of my time and effort, the knowledge that I will do anything, anything to be the one who provides the one thing you truly desire: a life...'
'I give you everything of myself so that you may ultimately find yourself. Because --'
-- that was who Luna was.
Two alicorns affected by Joyous. Two who were, even during their attempts to fight off direct physical interaction with the cause, thus far expressing that desire according to their personalities.
And the third?
'She's making you feel normal. She's making you feel young.'
When I was young...
...anypony could die at any moment.
It didn't exactly help with our social lives.
How would I have proven myself as a prospective mate?
A pony from her own generation -- as the elder sister, the one who would have taken over if
(my father just)
there had been no other options left...
I would have tried to prove that I could keep somepony safe.
I've been designing the security measures. I've been making sure the isolation is what it needs to be. I rush forth when I think she needs protecting, no matter what she might need protecting from. Even if that's my own sister and there's no threat at all: I have to be there and guard her --
-- from the chaos.
And there was more to it.
The scrolls. The Tartarus-freed scrolls which she had been sending into the aether with no assurances they would ever arrive, because her skills were inferior and they still had to create the effort which ultimately solved that tiny part of the problem because
Sun and Moon, I've been trying to make a good impression on her parents.
Look at me. Look at all the work I've been doing in trying to help your daughter. Forget my little sister: I'm the one who found you and let you know your daughter, your most precious creation, is safe and she's safe because I made her that way and that means you can trust her to me and with me forever...
She hadn't taken the simple measure of asking Spike to send the missives because she didn't want the little dragon to get any of the credit.
Celestia closed her eyes. More true laughter drifted up from the streets, and it was an effort to convince herself none of it was well-earned mockery.
It's not my fault.
...how many times have I deliberately not thought that since this started? I can finally indulge in some fantasies because it's not my fault. I can enjoy the dreams because it's not my fault. Just let it all take place and enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts because no matter what happens, it's not my fault.
I told Cadance that what happened wasn't her fault...
The laughter seemed to be getting louder.
Whose fault was it, really?
When I introduced Joyous to Torque, I called her an envoy. I could have come up with any other excuse. Another title. Is there anything else on my mind? An idea I was trying to hide from myself secured somewhere within that inner core, pragmatist?
Joyous is so many things.
A problem.
A victim.
An excuse.
I can't counter her: I know that now, and it is something I should have tested for myself long before Cadance brought it out. Until we find out how she's doing it, we can't stop it. All we can do is guard ourselves and each other, try to recognize when we're acting according to our personalities -- and if we're about to leave that behind. Hope we can stop ourselves, or that somepony who loves us will do it first...
But I am done with trying to impress her horse apple smear excuses for parents.
Celestia went between.
The sleepy little dragon rubbed his eyes, glanced back through the glass panes inset into the porch doors, checked his sleeping sister for signs of movement. None were present.
Whispering, "So how many, total?" It was a sign of both lost sleep and concern that the nictitating membranes visibly flickered.
"Forty," Celestia replied, her voice pitched as quietly as she could manage: there were times when it felt as if her student was far too attuned to her voice. "I know it's a lot, Spike. Don't worry: I brought the gems myself. You won't run out of flame."
He sighed. "I just don't want to miss anypony..."
"You never do," and Celestia was able to put a smile to the words.
"That one time --"
"-- Luna was as good as a gallop," she assured him. "I believe in you, Spike. You keep giving me reasons to."
He managed a smile of his own, and Celestia wondered if the words would stay with him this time. "Okay. Forty..."
She nodded. "Three for them. One to each, one addressed to both together. Trying nothing but mutual contact was a mistake I made and I'm not asking you to repeat it." They were ponies who spent most of their time in wild zones and as such, there was always the chance that one or both would never emerge. A letter sent with no living recipient... well, it might arrive in the shadowlands, but neither would ever know, and a reply would never come.
Celestia had learned that the hard way.
"And the other thirty-seven?"
"Are for every major police department which neighbors a potential settlement area on the continent, and most of the minor ones." It took everything she had left not to spit the words out under a close-to-being-lowered Moon she'd spent far too much time awake beneath for a single exposure: her teeth had been on edge for hours, and that was the least of it. Celestia was finished with half-measures. "Each containing a Priority One Royal Summons, authorization for all necessary local budget search expenditures, guaranteed Royal Vouchers to reimburse their actual costs, and one copy each of the sketches I had made from Joyous' description. If they have to interview every pre-settlement survey company in Equestria and go through the right wild zone a quarter-hoofwidth at a time, then that's what's going to happen. I don't care if the Releases don't want to know about their daughter's problems. I don't care about their contracts or travel situation or just how interesting that latest weather pattern is. I want them found and I want them brought in now."
They are fighting.
It is a verbal fight, yes. But heated words and cold logic have a way of turning somewhat figurative in the nightscape. The environment twists about them, warps in ways large and small. One stands under Sun, the other beneath Moon. The border between the two writhes, fights the pressure from both sides. Neither will give a single hoofstep, and the world burns and freezes about them to match.
"Lock her away."
"I said I would not."
"I need you to do this for me, Luna. I need to rest -- without thinking about her. Without seeing her. Without..."
"And thus you would find no inspiration in your nightscape. No potential answers -- and I am not about to remove a single source of hope."
"I'm not finding answers! Just -- her! That's not going to change!"
"You cannot know that."
The Sun dips for a moment before surging higher into the sky.
"Remember what you said, Luna? That we have to be rational beings -- and nothing more? You are giving me a place to be irrational in, without restraints, without limits, and I can't stop myself. I don't want to, you know Cadance was right about that. I'm trying to control it under Sun. But under Moon... Luna. please -- you have to lock her away..."
"No."
"...why won't you do this for me?"
"Because I am not the Nightmare."
Constellations shift, become the outlines of four familiar marks.
"...that doesn't make any sense, Luna. You have to --"
"It hated you. Not me. And it would have granted your request in an instant, sister. Obeyed your order out of spite and anger and the need to destroy your heart of hearts. But I am not the Nightmare. I never was. So -- why do you believe I could ever hate you so much as to take away a dream?"
"I wish Twilight was here."
Luna looked up at the words, and the smirk was rather on the light side. "My apologies, Princess, but it seems my sister has forbidden her student's direct intervention in attempting to solve the problem unless doing so becomes one of what, at last count, was twenty-three last resorts. Admittedly, that number has probably gone up in the hour since we last tallied, but until she feels that we have finally reached that point..."
"I don't want her here to work with us," Cadance grumped. "I want her to organize this stupid library. I know I'm still learning to read Ancient Crystalia, but I know enough to recognize that whatever they wrote the card catalog in isn't it..."
Celestia glanced over from the pile of books she'd been field-sorting through. "Tell me about it," she wryly agreed. "And the language is so convoluted to begin with... I keep hoping we're going to come up with something in here and I'm still dreading following any instructions we might potentially get from it." A single tilt of a mouthwritten character changed words -- and while the Empire had come up with a huge number of innovations during its heyday, 'paragraphs' had never been on the list. To read anything in Crystalia was to make a best guess at just where any given portion was meant to begin and end -- then compare notes just to verify that everypony else had in fact picked completely different spots.
"At least you learned to read it at all," Luna groused. "I have been looking at the same diagram for ten minutes. I am entirely certain that it is a diagram. However, my initial impression of a mystic circle designed to disenchant whatever rested within is now starting to look somewhat more like a particularly disagreeable idea for a manestyle."
Which had all come across as fully sincere -- and it meant Celestia had to ask. "What makes you think that?"
"I have a rather distinctive memory of that one style of shampoo bottle which the crowd kept pelting me with during our last mutual visit and just spotted the shape within the margins. And that involuntary grooming was an experience which is rapidly proving superior to that of going through the next book. There has to be something else we can do."
"You've been saying that for the last two days," Cadance pointed out.
"Have I? Then I am in admiration of my own restraint, given that we have been at this for four..."
Now had turned out to be its usual variable.
Cadance had given them her insight: ask the next question. But with no other ideas on the horizon and all the questions they could come up with seeming to endlessly echo earlier editions, they'd mutually gone back to one of the older ideas: research. The Empire's knowledge was, for the most part, severely out of date, not to mention out of touch: even before Sombra had taken over, they'd never had much in the way of contact with the rest of the continent. But at the same time, that meant their archives had the potential to contain knowledge which Canterlot had never seen. There had been faint hope of discovery within the not-quite-organized-to-Twilight-standards stacks -- so there had been an attempt to locate that theoretical information, with the Princesses taking direct part in it just so they would have something to do, claiming a large room for themselves well out of (carefully verified) hearing range from the few local researchers Cadance had added to the overall group. There was just the minor issue of a semi-porous language barrier. And a paragraph division problem. Plus the card catalog appeared to have been directly imported from Tartarus.
But it also put them all in the same room, supervising each other. Some of the time.
Celestia glanced up from her position on the floor (because there was nothing in the library large enough for her and crystal ponies seemed to be a little shorter on average than Equestria's three races, she swore the entire country had been built to an extra underscale just to see how she would deal with it) and checked the clock. "I should go back..."
"You have been back twice already," Luna said, not bothering to suppress any of the frustration. "And that is only the tally for the period since I attended to my duties with the Moon."
Celestia sighed. "We managed to spare the time for the trip up here, Luna -- but Equestria expects us to check back regularly. Remember, most ponies don't even know we're in the Empire right now. We have to manage our own realm -- not to mention keeping up the appearance of being there full-time."
"Yes," Luna simply agreed (and that in itself immediately roused Celestia's suspicions). "All quite correct. Reassuring the populace that we are at our normal tasks and accomplishing those in our home is of course a priority. However, at this hour, your personal priority would rapidly be approaching a decidedly overdue quest to find your bed, which quite logically dictates that I should be the one to go back."
"You're avoiding the books."
"Books I cannot read," Luna not quite shot back. "I can see no way in which I am not of very little use here. If you wish to escort me through the between to be certain I arrive in Canterlot, do so and then teleport back yourself." A small increase in volume. "Should you need to bring Cadance as well, I know that is within your abilities." Another, not quite so minor. "If you then detect a necessity for chaining my forelegs to my own throne --" and she stopped. Took a slow breath. "-- I apologize."
Celestia and Cadance sighed in not-quite-chorus, with the youngest taking up the words. "Luna, it's okay. You've both been awake at all the wrong times for days, you're tired, we're all a little short-tempered --"
"-- and it does not change the fact that I am useless." Luna's front right hoof slammed into the book she hadn't been reading: the resulting ice block rebounded off two walls before knocking over a enchanted light. "A filly with a mere year of local education at the lowest level of school in existence would be a more practical addition to our forces than I am at this moment. I remain determined to help Joyous, I will do everything I can -- but how am I accomplishing any part of it in this place? If I am in Canterlot attending to the duties of the realm, then it at least frees the two who can read to be effective, I will no longer be in the way...!"
The thunder sounded odd, reverberating from the crystal walls.
Celestia slowly got up, trotted over to her sister, nuzzled against her. Luna closed her eyes, allowed it to happen. Cadance, perhaps uncertain of her proper place during such moments or simply not wanting to chance damaging the fragile truce, quietly watched.
Finally, the younger sister released a slow sigh of her own. "I hate feeling as if I am useless, sister. That has never changed. And I simply cannot see what good it does to have me here."
Celestia pulled back just enough to look in Luna's eyes, found a smile to give. "And I shouldn't go back and forth too often." The sheer distance... manageable for them (and almost nopony else), but treating it as a casual commute was begging for exhaustion -- and Celestia had been going back at least five times a day, with the last teleport-return to the Empire a mere two hours prior. Managing her duties. Making sure nopony outside the conspiracy suspected a thing. Checking for news. To date, they'd been keeping up appearances and getting through Equestria's normal needs without interruption -- but any new crisis, however minor, could break the entire deception even as it was being dealt with, and as far as news went -- nothing that helped.
It doesn't matter whether I'm the one who hears the update or Luna is. She can take a 'Nothing, Princess' just as well as I can. At least after the temperature comes up again.
"Go," Celestia said, trying not to let the silent intention to check on Joyous in a minute (or less) show in her eyes. An intent she had seen in Luna and Cadance every time she personally teleported out -- an intent which needed to be there. "I'll put in another three hours --"
"-- one." And that chorus was perfect.
Cadance and Luna glanced at each other. Cadance giggled.
Celestia smiled. "All right -- both of us should sleep when we're supposed to, at least for this cycle. One hour, and then I'll go to bed."
Luna nodded. "Fair fortune," she said --
-- typically, she used her throne room for her primary palace arrival point, at least during the night. The reason for doing so was simple: as she'd recently been so rudely reminded, teleport sites needed to be clear in order to prevent injury. And the room was cleaned, ponies went in and out making sure every part of it was in perfect polished order -- but that cleaning was done by the Solar staff. If Luna wasn't present in the room while it was under Moon, nopony was supposed to be -- and that made it safe.
Even so, she seldom targeted the throne itself. She suspected more than a few among Celestia's staff had tried it on for (over)size, and would not have been surprised if any of her own had given in to the natural urge.
This time, the room and throne were empty, and she took a few deep breaths of what felt like slightly stale air, composing herself before heading into any other part of the castle.
Despite her best efforts, she was behind on some of her duties. Nightscape travel... the one she'd spent the most time in recently was that of her sister, and that was an argument they couldn't seem to resolve simply because Celestia refused to admit Luna was right. They'd managed to keep any part of it from coming out under Sun and Cadance thankfully hadn't asked if Luna had done anything about the dreams, but...
...there were things Celestia didn't understand. She wished her sister would realize that. Celestia needed Luna to tell her when she was being stupid: she knew that. The reverse was also true. But the recognition that this was one of those times (for the elder) didn't seem to be coming at all.
Luna sighed. Perhaps not showing up this time would be best. She could tell the difference between a call made from the midst of nightmare and all the false alarms her sister had been sounding: if she felt one more of the latter on this night, she was going to ignore it. The request itself had been stupid and it was a gift in so many ways, to let Celestia have that time with --
-- did she go to her quarters after I left?
No. Cadance is there. They will watch over each other.
They would not work together in any way.
I am certain of it.
Completely --
-- and she wrenched her thoughts back to Canterlot. What was on the docket for this evening? The Night Court had no session and she had no intention of hosting an open one, perhaps ever again. She did want to review some of the legislation on her desk to make certain it contained nothing suspect, worded through doubletalk, or written in an incredibly boring fashion in hopes that her eyes would glaze over before ever hitting the interesting parts. After that, she truly had to visit any nightscape which wasn't her sister's, be on watch for fears and consuming anxieties plus if there was somehow any free time available, there was a prank she had been planning for two days before Joyous came into her throne room and she knew Rainbow Dash would never see it coming.
But first...
Her field coated the doors, gently pushed them open, and she trotted out into her palace wing -- to, as usual, find Starstruck waiting in the hallway. She was starting to wonder if he was living there.
The earth pony stallion took a deep, slow breath. "Princess..." The black coat shifted, the white tail flicked twice, and the silver eyes stared up at her with open worry while front hooves nervously scuffed the floor. Everything about him suggested that the slightly bent spine had caved under the weight of bad news, and passing the burden to another would violate the law of pain conservation and somehow double his own. And given that he was a low-level part of the conspiracy, the one in charge of tracking Canterlot events and updating her on everything which she had to gain immediate knowledge of so that she could present the illusion of having been on top of things the entire time...
She sighed. "Best to tell me immediately, Starstruck. Rest assured that given the lack of progress in the north, there is very little you could inform me of which could truly make things worse --" with more than a little sarcasm, all tinged with the feeling of uselessness she had been unable to abandon on the library floor "-- and anything which threatens apocalypse would at least have the potential of removing any need to solve the problem. Now -- what is your news?"
Another breath. "It's twofold, Princess. I just don't know -- what to tell you first. Or -- how..."
"Are they both equally bad?"
"I don't know," Starstruck hesitantly offered. "There's something you have to -- well, one of them at least has the potential to be good, I hope, but..." His tail flicked harder, and his ears went halfway back. All four legs trembled.
Luna wasn't in the mood to be particularly subtle to begin with, and given that this was one of her own staff... "I believe we have adequately established that I do not gobble backsides, correct?"
He winced. "Princess..." The deepest breath of all, and the air filling his lungs seemed to somehow grant him a measure of extra solidity. "It's just hard to tell you things sometimes, and it's because I know how much you care about us. About everypony. We hate disappointing you or letting you down because you already have so much to deal with. Even when it's just passing things on, it can feel like we're failing you just by having that news to give." And then came the true surprise: all his knees straightened, and those silver eyes directly met hers. "What I'm afraid of is making you feel worse than you already do. I hate doing that -- but you've made it into my job, and I -- do my duty. It just hurts. Especially when I know it hurts you more."
She blinked --
-- and then she quietly said "All the burden is not mine..." before resuming her normal volume. "The potentially more positive aspect first, then. Let us take the chance of being buoyed before we mutually sink."
"The Doctors Bear contacted the palace again. They said they have the results of another test..."
"...which, as with all the others, they can only tell us about personally," Luna wearily concluded. "Because their part in this is to provide every last repeated instance of 'And this came up with nothing too' directly to our faces. I would raise my hopes that their work has at last borne fruit worth consuming, but my hopes have been in the same room with them far too often. Very well: I will make an effort and go to them later." And it would have to be a physical visit. She had taken a jaunt into Vanilla Bear's nightscape three days prior when the first of the negatives had come through and -- well, to some degree, everypony lived in their head, but that one had created an entire settlement. "And that which you see as the bad?"
He said four words.
There would have been many more, but she didn't stay to hear them.
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So many means of transport available to her, and Luna made use of every one. Teleportation for when there was true distance involved or if it offered a tactical advantage. Flight for safer short-range travel, along with the sheer joy it so often brought her. But galloping -- there were times when the most basic was the best, when she could feel her muscles smoothly working, her heart pounding as her lungs expanded and contracted, her hooves impacted the marble and that could be even the best part, experiencing the solidity against her body, not the variable quality of atmosphere or endless nothing of between, the feel of existing in the here and now...
She was galloping this time, racing through her wing of the palace at her best ground speed -- which was faster than almost anypony in the world could run. Because she wanted to feel that exertion. Because the emotions storming inside her were being expressed as pure action before they could come into the world as lightning and thunder and winds meant to drive things out of the sky, things which she felt no longer had any right to be there. And because every time a hoof went into the floor, thudded down and pushed off again with so much of her considerable raw strength behind the impact, she could imagine there was a pony skull beneath it.
Luna raced, and the inner words pounded to the beat of her hooves.
We will talk about how they ignored her, turned away from her pain while considering everything else in the world to be far more important.
There will be discussion of possible neglect charges -- no, there will be neglect charges no matter what any idiotic concept for 'statute of limitations' might dictate and perhaps Tia is so very reluctant to take a judge's bench, but the law applies equally to both of us and if I wish to take up the duty for a single trial, I will. Half the ones she sits on of her own accord are for child abuse anyway: she'll understand. She may not even raise an eyebrow at the sentence. I am going to find a great deal of entertainment in coming up with something appropriate, assuming anything ever could be.
I am going to approach them with calm and rationality and logic, all of which I will use to prove they are ponies who deserve nothing more than simple justice, and that justice is me.
I am going to hurt them just as much as they hurt her.
In a legal, judicial, system-designated fashion.
But I will still hurt them.
A lot.
Four words from Starstruck: 'They're in your Courtyard.' And 'they' could only have one meaning.
Her field pushed doors open before she reached them, moved servants out of the way, found mostly-safe landing points for every object and pony which had the misfortune to be anywhere near her most direct path and her corona had gone double, two layers for the most simple of manipulations of masses that just weren't that heavy for her, but rage had its own resonance and that emotion was being expressed in the layering of the field around her horn, she knew her eyes would be fading to white and she wanted them that way, she never wanted ponies to be afraid of her unless it was absolutely necessary and this qualified --
-- she erupted into the silver-shot confines of the open-air Lunar Courtyard, lit by the illusion of a perpetual full Moon which shone above it in all weather and times during her night. Her old festival area. Her modern press conference hosting facility, which usually made her wish for the festivals. And the current poorly-intended holding pen for two metallic pegasi mares who for some reason had been left outside, even under the supervision of six Lunar Guards (all of whom had disbelieving looks on their faces, stunned expressions everywhere added to something else, but that wasn't important). Yes, her own Guards could have caught them should they have attempted to flee, not unless those pegasi had enough speed to launch rainbooms of their own, but they should never have taken the chance and --
-- the pegasi were in the air.
Circling the Courtyard near the top of the border columns. Visibly talking to each other with open excitement, ignoring everything going on below. Just -- circling and talking, over and over --
-- the strangeness of it froze her. It gave the anger extra time to chill, a vat of internal liquid atmosphere preparing to be poured over everything she intended to shatter.
"What," she hissed at Nightwatch, "are they doing out here?" Why are they not within a freezer?"
Her Guard winced. "They weren't -- actually charged with any crimes," the mare whispered. "We couldn't immobilize them unless they did something which was against the law -- and all they did was refuse to come inside. We brought them in through this access route because we thought it would be more private, and they just -- Princess, we barely got them this far at all, they kept --"
She had heard enough. She'd seen more than enough. Her field speared towards the sky, grabbed both pegasi, slammed their wings against their bodies and locked their legs straight.
Nightwatch started: the armor jangled on her streamlined torso, the helmet went slightly off-perch. "Princess!"
"I can hardly be expected to chase them," Luna forced out. "This is simply -- conducting our discussion -- in a single location..." She pulled, and the pegasi were dragged from the sky. "...whether they like it or not..."
"Princess, please -- I don't know what Starstruck got to tell you, but they're --"
"-- they are here. They will account for themselves, and I am truly curious to hear the words which they have somehow convinced themselves could ever suffice..."
Luna stared (white, her eyes had to be completely white by now, her field had too many stars in it and the borders were spiking all over the place) at the two mares as they were forcibly descended. She wanted to see every detail of their bodies before those forms were tucked into twin mounds of cringing flesh...
Metallics. Both metallics, the fourth and fifth of her life, a pair of rarities defying all odds to come together and produce the third before deciding to never again care about the result. One was red with a pearl mane, the other green set off by garnet. Middle-aged, but in excellent physical shape: they had to be in order to survive in their occupations at all, not that such would be an issue again because by the time they were ever considered for parole, the mere idea of wild zone weather surveying would trigger comedy, with the actual action causing expiration. The marks... not identical in icon, but matched in theme: both survey symbols used on preliminary atmospheric maps. One meant caution. The other told ponies to be ready for a fight. As advice went, she intended to follow most of it.
She could see Joyous in them, at least physically. The shape of the eyes there, the rib cage on the other. The incredible spread of Joyous' tail wasn't visible on either one, but they were keeping both manes and tails short: less chance of tangling and being caught in plants or jaws when exiting a wild zone at speed. Something which wouldn't save them here.
Urgently, at the edge of her disinterested hearing, "Please, listen to me..."
The other five Guards were drawing closer and Luna didn't know why, she hardly needed protection from these two --
-- and then Nightwatch took her chance. "-- Luna!"
She blinked.
She looked at the midnight-shaded pegasus, maintaining the field all the while -- which was how she knew the borders were becoming just a little more smooth.
"That..." Luna got out, "...is not quite official address protocol..."
Nightwatch just barely managed her next breath, and the words were rushed. "I'm sorry, I had to get your attention, Princess, I know you're angry, we were all furious when we heard they'd been found and were about to be brought into Canterlot, we found out about five minutes after Princess Celestia left and we thought we could use the time until one of you came in again to secure and interrogate them. We were fighting over who would get to escort them in, everypony who's been in contact with her. Who got to make sure they didn't get away. But we've been with them for a couple of hours now! We've seen how they act! And -- the way you raced in here, you got moving before Starstruck could finish, didn't you? He didn't know how to tell you, he was afraid of what the words would do, what it all means... Princess, please -- look at them... really look..."
And Luna looked.
Two middle-aged metallic pegasi mares. Attractive ones, actually, not that she cared because beauty should never serve as an excuse, but it was easy to see Joyous in that as well, although the offspring was a distinct improvement on the parents in every way. There were a number of old scars dotting both bodies: wild zones encounters survived. Their faces...
...were puzzled.
There was no fear there at all. The field locking all six limbs into place only confused them. More than anything else, their expressions put Luna in mind of ponies trapped at a concert they'd never wanted to attend, the same expression she'd worn when Celestia had dragged her (not kicking and screaming, but considering it all the way) to her first opera. They wanted to get back to something which anypony of sanity might find interesting instead of mind-numbingly boring. They didn't understand why anypony would subject them to this...
...they look like ponies who don't know they've done anything wrong.
Like fillies and colts told to sit in the corner after playing a little too hard, rough-and-tumble where somepony yelped, and all of them know it's just a natural part of play and the stupid adults are the ones who don't understand how it works.
They look like we interrupted something truly important for something ridiculously trivial and they don't understand why.
Luna had seen insane ponies in her time, too many of them, especially during the before, when sanity had been so very hard to hold onto. She knew a thousand little signs which would indicate a pony was on the verge of that final surrender to the madness of that lost world. And so many of them had resembled this, the total bewilderment that came when something occurred outside a cone of understanding which had shrunk to the width of a single strand of fur...
"Princess...?"
"The breach of protocol," Luna softly said, "is forgiven."
Slowly, she brought the pegasi to ground level, loosened her grip just enough to allow movement while still keeping all hooves pressed against the aisle between the benches where those of Murdocks' normally rested and thought of the best ways to distort her words. Watched for the beginning of the techniques which Joyous had said both were so expert with, prepared to unweave any attempts at escape.
But they just blinked at her. The innocent confusion of those whose world had gone beyond the last stable strand.
She was having trouble getting volume into her voice. It didn't matter how many centuries had passed, or that there was a stone statue sitting in the garden. To be in the presence of those who were potentially insane was to remember -- and in this case, to remember was to hurt.
Luna had been strong enough then, somehow. She could be strong enough now.
"Do you know who I am?" she asked, and there was a moment when she hated the gentleness in her voice because no echo should have traveled across more than a thousand years and arrived fully intact, much less had any true need for a landing site.
The red one -- Pleasant, Joyous had said, the one who had taken on the last name... blinked at her.
"You're Princess Luna," the mare said in a voice which bore touches of accents from everywhere on the continent plus more than a little beyond. "That's a silly question. Who else could you possibly be? And you're just the pony we need to speak with."
The green -- Rapture -- smiled. "We're happy to meet you, Princess. Believe me, after discovering what's going on here, I am thrilled you brought us in. We never thought we'd meet you in our lives, or Princess Celestia, but -- it doesn't matter who called us, does it? Just that we're here now. And trust me, we know just how to fix everything."
Her Guards were staring at the two mares, and the expressions were identical there. Sorrow. So much pain...
"I admit," Pleasant laughed, "we were a little surprised to just be -- pulled out like that. And by so many ponies who needed to get us here that quickly... Honestly, a Royal Summons? For us of all ponies?"
Rapture nodded happily. "But when we thought about what it had to mean..."
Carefully, always so carefully, treat every word as if it can bring an explosion and be prepared to protect those who have yet to fall... "They did not tell you?" Luna asked.
"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" Pleasant said.
Rapture agreed. "There's only one thing it could be!"
Anything can sever the last strand. Anything at all. But when words themselves have an edge...
She wasn't shivering. No part of her was trembling or shaking at all, and the effort that was taking would cost her dearly later.
Luna let the syllables come, braced herself for whatever might follow. "Your daughter."
And they couldn't even be bothered to blink.
"Her?" Rapture said, and the renewed confusion was higher than ever -- but only for a moment. "Oh, she would never be any good to you here! She never completed her training. Never even started, really. Trust me, you have just the ponies you need to straighten out that little humidity spike you've got swirling about the upper levels of the columns. It really must have been annoying you to call us, Princess! And I can see why. I nearly messed up my coat just surveying it out!"
Pleasant laughed. "Okay, maybe it's not exactly a wild zone," the mare giggled. "But when you want something done right... Don't worry, Princess! We'll get up there and make sure the moisture goes somewhere it's needed! And after that -- well, as long as we're here, we can check your gardens too. Plus I saw some porches and an observation tower on the way in and while that's not our usual field, well, not to say anything against the Canterlot weather team, I'm sure they're really good, but you'd be amazed what a subtle little tweak can do for your viewing pleasure!"
Luna felt her eyes squeeze shut, her head dip down, her tail falling to the lowest possible arc as the flow of her mane almost completely stopped.
"Of course," she said, and wondered how long it would take her to stop feeling the words. "I have a considerable amount of work for you, truly, and some of it is rather subtle. So you may have to stay for some time. And since you are here -- I had never thought about it before now, but Canterlot has been working from the same survey chart for centuries. It would not hurt in any way to reexamine the environment and ascertain nothing has changed without our knowledge. As you are the ideal ponies for such a task..."
They both laughed. "Just leave it to us, Princess!" Rapture happily declared. "We are on the job!"
Luna released her field, opened her eyes just long enough to see the pegasi take off. They flew up to the top of the columns, chattering happily. The circling began anew. And it was the last thing she could bear to watch before returning to her private darkness, a personal night offering no safety within self-inflicted shadows.
"It -- it was like that all the way in, Princess," Nightwatch softly said, and she felt the Guard move closer, almost as if the pegasus was about to press against her -- but some boundaries still remained. "All they did was talk about wind swirls and how the buildings were changing things in such interesting ways, the thermals around certain districts and things we should be doing with and about them... We tried to talk to them about Joyous, over and over, and they didn't seem to understand. If it wasn't weather surveying or alteration, they barely registered it, and never for long. And we told Starstruck, and he was trying to find a way to tell you that --"
"-- I know." And Luna had whispered the words, something she almost never did, but it had taken very nearly the last of her strength to make the words emerge at all, and the thoughts which followed took away what little remained.
It is in the blood.
It grows stronger with age.
Or... it is a disease.
It can spread.
They contracted it first and gave it to her, for their symptoms are the stronger.
Perhaps she gave it to others, and as the years pass...
In the blood: only they are affected. No cure. But only those three fall in the end, plus all those who might manifest it in their own family lines.
The best case.
But in the true worst...
A disease, one which could be contagious...
...and if Celestia has it...
...if I have it...
...Cadance...
...I swore to stop it every time...
...and she would do the same for me...
...but who is left to stand against all of us?
A single pegasus.
The palace.
The Empire.
Equestria.
Everything.