//------------------------------// // Chapter XII // Story: The Prince and the Workhorse // by fellstorm //------------------------------// The Prince and the Workhorse Part XII Dark clouds swirled overhead. Tempestuous winds howled like a choir of banshees. The two princesses stood opposite one another, each atop one of the twin spires of the Le Palais des Soeurs Royales, The Palace of the Royal Sisters. Everfree City burned beneath them. Bright embers rose up from the flames and whirled in the air like some perverse, upside-down rain. The Jewel City of the Valley would die that night, her “dulcet gables and marble’d halls,” so often immortalized in songs, were gutted by raging fires. Every incense bearing tree and fruited palm a charred skeleton, wreathed in flames. The stately pleasure domes cracked open like soft boiled eggs and the “proud towers, steep in majesty” crumbled to the crying earth. Celestia’s resplendent golden armor blazed bright in the light of the fires beneath, the Yoke of Harmony rested firmly on her shoulders. Her long mane was tied back in a shimmering braid that writhed like a woven serpent. She carried Luna’s Tiara of Harmony in a satchel at her side, prayed she wouldn’t have to use it. She called out to her sister, her desperate voice rising above the sound and fury of the tempest around them. “Luna, don’t do this! I’m begging you!” Nightmare Moon laughed. A throaty, booming, sardonic laugh soaked with malice and cruelty. “You have not yet begun to beg!” she bellowed. A bolt of sickly green lightning burst from Nightmare’s horn and splashed against her sister’s wing. The bolt careened off into the city, shattering the opera house and sending its crystal walls plunging to the ground in a blizzard of shimmering shards. “Jadis has poisoned you! She’s only using you to get the Deplorable Word! Cease this senseless tantrum. Together, we can still stop her!” Celestia cried. Nightmare Moon laughed again. Centuries ago, Discord whispered the terrible syllables in her ear before the sisters turned him to stone. The Deplorable Word was just nonsense in this world, but its dire weight was palpable to Luna even then. Nightmare Moon understood now that the Deplorable Word was Discord’s gift to her. “Foal! I’ve already sent Jadis back to Charn!” her lips coiled in a wicked sneer, revealing sharp, predatory fangs beneath “with the Deplorable Word!” “No…” Celestia recoiled “Sister! Your madness will doom two worlds!” “I simply gave Jadis the means to destroy her treacherous sister, just as she has given me the means to destroy mine!” Lightning spewed from her horn again, twisting and coiling like burning rope. Celestia threw up an invisible barrier and the awful bolts clashed against it, turning the unnatural night to day and rupturing the ground beneath them. “Luna, please!” “DO NOT CALL ME BY THAT NAME!” Luna uttered something inaudible that shook the palace and set Celestia’s bones ringing. The tower cracked beneath her and Celestia knew she couldn’t stand against her sister much longer. She wept. Somewhere inside that cackling monster, Luna cried out for help, but there was no reaching her now. It had been night for the span of seven days. Already plants and crops were dying. The Earth was cooling. Nightmare Moon didn’t start the fires that raged below them, the ponies did. In their desperation, they burned anything that would make light and heat. Celestia needed every ounce of her magical concentration to maintain the barrier against her sister’s onslaught, but she spared some to open the bag at her side and draw out Luna’s Glimmering Tiara. Even that slight expenditure of magical energy was too much. She felt her barrier shudder. Nightmare Moon laughed maniacally and redoubled her attack. Time was running short. “Do you think those trinkets are any threat to me? I am mistress of this world!” Her face twisted with the effort of forming the evil words. “Zah’xrehc*********** thantaha**********!” A mighty wind rocked the palace and it shivered on its crumbling foundations. “You’re only a mistress of evil, Nightmare! If you strike me, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine...” Celestia donned the Tiara. Her magic would activate her golden collar, but she could not charge the Tiara; only her sister’s magic could do that. She would have only an instant to react once her sister struck. If she failed, Nightmare would grant her no mercy. Even if she stopped her sister, the magic expended tonight would leave this place twisted for millennia. If she was lucky, it would stay confined to the city. Celestia dropped the barrier and leapt from the tower as it exploded beneath her. The gem in her collar blazed with purple light as she dove at Nightmare Moon. “Foal!” shouted Nightmare, letting loose another blast of lightning. Time slowed to a crawl as she watched the bolt stretch out to her sister, striking her horn and twisting around it. Celestia winced. For a moment, Nightmare Moon’s heart leapt with the thrill of victory, but the lightning turned, traveled down Celestia’s horn and crawled across her forehead, surging into the tiara and setting the central stone on fire. Nightmare’s eyes went wide with realization. “NOOOOOOOO!” she screamed “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Rainbow light consumed her whole world, binding her, suffocating her. She couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe. Her body burned away to nothing and she tried to scream without lungs. Then: Nothing. Blackness. She opened her eyes. Stars. Millions of stars. The Earth, blue and small, spun slowly in the sky above. The arid wasteland of the Moon stretched out all around her. *** No! NO! “TIA!” Luna cried. “Sister! No! Please, let me come back! Take me back! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! CELESTIA!” Something was binding her legs. She screamed and thrashed, kicking wildly. All she could see were stars. Something grabbed her by the shoulders. She bit at it and her teeth sank into the angel white fur of her sister’s foreleg. Celestia’s face split the sky and she realized the endless sea of stars was just her own mane. It had fallen down over her face while she slept. Celestia brushed it back. Luna’s eyes adjusted to the gloom and the dim glow cast by her sister’s hair. All around her, the familiar trappings of her room came into focus. Her tapestries, her chessboard, her HAM radio and her figurine collection. They comforted her and eased her frantic breathing. Luna put her face in Celestia’s neck. “Tia! Tia!” she blubbered like a foal, hot breath and snot leaked down onto Celestia’s shoulder. Celestia held her sister in her arms and rocked her from side to side. “I dreamed it. I dreamed we were fighting again. I dreamed I was on the moon!” she choked. “I was just a nightmare. You’re here. I’m here. I love you.” “Tia, you don’t know what it was like,” she snuffled “I was all alone up there. I lost my mind. I dreamed.” The terrible dreams. Celestia held Luna tighter and stroked her long mane. She knew all about the dreams. For the first year after her return from the moon, Luna didn’t believe she was really back. Woke up screaming every night. In those days, Celestia slept in the same bed with her sister, cuddling with her like two spoons in a drawer. A thousand years of isolation were not kind to Luna. She slept away most of her time on the moon and dark fantasies consumed her mind. She dreamed that she had escaped, that the fight never happened, that her sister had forgiven her and invited her back. She dreamed she was on Earth again. The dreams would last for decades. They became so real that she was sure she was on Earth, that her imprisonment on the moon was the nightmare. But the dreams always ended. Sooner or later, she awoke on the moon. Alone. When she finally escaped and Twilight and her friends freed her from Nightmare’s influence, she still expected every morning to find herself back in that airless desert. She had to sleep with the lights on or she would panic. She wouldn’t go out except in the brightest sunlight. Over time, she came to accept that her reunion with Celestia was really real and the nightmares subsided. She slept in her own room with the lights off and she even resumed her duties raising the night. Lately, however, the nightmares were back. Ever since Celestia’s outburst at Prince Blueblood, Luna had been having trouble sleeping, and it was getting worse. This morning, Celestia slept curled up with her sister for the first time in months. “I’m scared, Tia,” she shivered. Celestia was scared, too. *** It had been a night of troubling dreams for everypony. Tombs tossed uneasily on his bedroll. He was back in Zebrica. A pink dawn kindled to life on the horizon. Beneath him, the tanks of the Royal Armored Cavalry, 7th Division rumbled like a herd of metal monsters. Their caterpillar tracks chewed the jungle ahead of them. The faster mark Vs were out in front, the large, slow moving Juggernauts tromped behind on their stumpy elephant legs, jingling their mine flails ahead of them like a mouthful of dangling noodles. He knew this place. He knew it was a dream of a memory, but he let it play out anyway. In six hours a quarter of his chums would be dead. In seven hours, a piece of shrapnel from an exploding tank would slice open his belly, necessitating the surgical removal of eighteen inches of his lower intestine and ultimately ending with his medical discharge from the Equestrian Armed Forces. Tombs didn’t know it, but Zecora had been at the battle, too, fighting on the other side.  “We attack at first light,” instructed Princess Cadence, the Iron Maiden. “Very good, ma’m,” said Tombs. The two stood side by side on the bridgewing of the Princess’s flying fortress, the Villanelle. Machinery whirred above him as the gunnery teams in the sixteen-inch gun mounts loaded and made ready to fire. The armored mounts hung upside down above their heads, like a topsy-turvy battleship. Tombs was in his jungle khakis, his horn jutted from his pith helmet, sharpened to a killing point. He’d smeared his face with anti-flash cream. Cadence wore a crown of iron on her brow and nothing else. “Ananse’s forces won’t know what hit them. We’ll burn the whole jungle if we have to,” said Cadence, licking her lips. “Don’t worry, ma’m. We’ll smoke the blighter out.” “I have every confidence in our victory.” On the horizon, the silhouette of a massive spider strode above the jungle canopy, its long, sinuous legs impossibly thin beneath its great, bulbous body. “Readeeeeeh!” Tombs bellowed. Beneath him, a chorus of responding calls (“readehhh!”) rose up from the tank commanders. “FOIAH!” The broad barrels of the guns erupted with… confetti? “Surprise!” hollered Pinkie Pie. Tombs looked over. Cadence was gone and a grinning Pinkie Pie in a party hat jumped up and down in her place. “Miss Pie! What are you doing here? It’s not safe!” “Why wouldn’t it be safe?” “We’re in the middle of a battle!” “Battle, I thought this was a pantry?” Tombs opened his eyes. Pinkie Pie was in the pantry with him. Tombs started. “What th-” “Were you surprised?” “Yes, miss Pie, I was-” She jammed her hoof in his mouth. “It’s Pinkie, remember? We’re friends!” “Yes, of course we’re friends… Pinkie. Why are you here?” “Because you keep calling me ‘miss Pie’” she said, doing a stuffy imitation of Tombs’s voice “I thought we agreed you would call me Pinkie!” “What time is it?” “Three thirty in the morning.” Tombs flopped back down into his blankets. “I do call you Pinkie,” he said. “Not in public.” “It’s not appropriate.” “You have to call me ‘Pinkie’ in public!” she demanded. “It’s really not appropriate,” Tombs reiterated. “Neither is this, but I’m gonna do it anyway…” “What?” panicked Tombs “What are you going to d… haha! No! Pinkie! Nooooo!” Oh well thought Tombs some battles are more fun to lose. *** Rainbow Dash rolled on the ground with Fluttershy. Their legs intertwined as they hugged each other face to face. Muzzle to muzzle. Rainbow Dash was so happy! Fluttershy was so soft and so warm and so beautiful. She was the most beautiful Pegasus she’d ever seen. Her pink hair was a soft as silk. Her breath smelled like gumdrops. Fluttershy rubbed up between Rainbow Dash’s back legs with her hind hoof, sending a shudder of pleasure through the sky-blue mare. Rainbow leaned in and kissed her. Their lips popped apart. “Oh Rainbow Dash…” said Fluttershy, her smiling face twisted sardonically “I always knew you were a fillyfooler!” “Fillyfooler!” said Applejack, towering over her. “Fillyfooler!” laughed Twilight. All her friends were laughing now. Even Gilda was there. She folded her claw to make “the shocker” and waggled her tongue lasciviously. Pinkie Pie shoved a cake beneath her nose. On top of the cake, drawn in icing, was a picture of Rainbow Dash laying on her back, legs spread wide with a sky blue candle jutting up from her crotch. “Make a wish and blow out the candle, fillyfooler!” giggled Pinkie Pie. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” she screamed. She fell out of her cloud bed and landed in a puff of mist on the floor. Static electricity crackled through the cloudstuff, skittering away from her point of impact. She put her face in her hooves. “Celestia, what’s wrong with me?” *** Big Macintosh awoke early. His consciousness may have brought its internal clock with it when it made the move into Blueblood’s body, but Blueblood’s body certainly hadn’t got the news. He was stiff. The back of his throat was crusty with post nasal drip and he sweated profusely beneath the heavy quilt Prince Blueblood had pulled over him in the night. He looked up at Blueblood sleeping above him and grimaced. Blueblood, at least, seemed to be having a good dream. It was just after dawn. Applejack was already up. He could hear her moving around on the other side of the wall. She gargled and spat. She'd wake up Applebloom and send her off to school, then she would probably come in and check on Blueblood. Big Mac sighed. He longed to be back out in the fields helping his sister. This game he was playing stopped being fun. He wished for his old life back. At least nopony expected him to work in this body and he could sleep off this cold before it got too severe. Maybe Tombs would even bring him some hot tea… *** “Please, Pinkie, you really have to go now,” urged Tombs. Pinkie lounged on her side, her flank and hind legs sticking out from beneath the covers. “Aw, why?” she smiled. “The Apple family will be awake soon and it wouldn’t be proper for them to catch us here together.” “Why? Are you ashamed of me?” Pinkie Pouted. “No, not at all, but I rather think that partaking in carnal relations in your host’s pantry is poor etiquette by any standard.” Pinkie giggled. “Silly, we didn’t partake in carnal relations; all we did was have sex!” Tombs rubbed his face on his foreleg. “At any rate, it’s not appropriate.” “I think we both know how much I care about what’s appropriate,” giggled Pinkie. He heard doors opening upstairs and Applebloom’s high-pitched voice filter down through the ceiling. “Please, Pinkie will you go?” Tombs urged. Pinkie examined her hoof. Tombs fidgeted. “I promise I’ll make it a point to spend time with you later and call you ‘Pinkie’ in public.” “Pinkie Promise?” “Uh... yes… Pinkie Promise.” “Cross your heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye?” “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” answered Tombs. Pinkie fixed him with bulging eyes. “Okie dokie lokie!” She skipped off, the screen door slapping shut behind her just as Applejack started down the stairs. *** The Cave of Harmony was a sacred place. Though it was high above Canterlot city at the end of a narrow, winding hike, it still drew hundreds of pilgrims every day. The Cave was where, two thousand years ago, the Three Wise Ponies achieved enlightenment before the Spirit of Harmony. They united the pony tribes, ending the Great Blizzard and ushering in an era of peace and prosperity.  Centuries later, Pegasus separatists concocted a Love Poison and served it to the crown prince Apollo Platinum and his twin sister, Princess Artemis in the hope of disrupting the royal succession and bringing down the Platinum dynasty. The two became infatuated with one another and cared for nothing else. The unholy spawn of their incestuous union was a twisted chimera: the serpent Discord, who plunged the land into chaos and unhappiness. The royal foals, Celestia and Luna, fled their wicked nephew and sought solace in the Cave, where the Second Miracle occurred. The Spirit of Harmony manifested again and transformed the sisters into Alicorns, bestowing upon them the Elements of Harmony and sending them off to do battle with Discord. “The Cave is closed,” said the guards. A crowd of pilgrim ponies gathered outside the mouth of the Cave of Harmony. They stood on the tips of their hooves, trying to see inside. “The Princess is communing with the Spirit of Harmony and will not be disturbed,” they barked. The crowd seethed with a susurrus of whispers. The Princess is communing with the Spirit of Harmony. She’s talking to the other side. It’s really there, it’s really real. They felt the holiness of the place then and were humbled. “No visitors today,” huffed the guards. They spread their wings and made a barrier of their bodies. Princess Celestia walked the well-worn stone of the cave floor. She left the trappings of her station behind, the golden collar, the tiara, the gilded greaves and even her horseshoes. She walked barehoofed into the cavern. Celestia walked along a frozen river of wax. There were candles everywhere. Centuries’ worth of candles had burned in that cave. Placed everywhere they would fit. Crammed into crevices, piled on top of one another. Thousands of melted stubs lined the walls and floor of the cave. The ceiling overhead was black with a thick sheen of candle smoke and the air smelled like a potpourri of a million mingled scents. Six statues formed two interlocking triangles in the center of the cave. The statues of the outer triangle were the three tribal leaders: Commander Hurricane, Chancellor Puddinghead, Princess Platinum (Celestia’s great, great, great grandmother). The statues of the inner triad once portrayed the Three Wise Ponies: Clover the Clever (also a relative of Celestia’s), Smart Cookie and Private Pansy. The inner statues were melted to stubs and only the engraved pedestals remained. So it had been since the second appearance of the Spirit of Harmony. Celestia found the pedestal of Clover the Clever and knelt before it, running her eyes over the inscription, worn thin by the venerating touch of a million hooves. Trifolium Ingeniosis It said. Nopony else alive knew the faces of the Three Wise Ponies. Celestia and Luna were the last to look upon the icons before they burned away in a ball of pink light. All Celestia could remember was how Clover had looked so like her mother. Celestia breathed deeply, calming herself. “Spirit of Harmony, I need your guidance,” she prayed. There was no answer. No uncanny wind or rumbling of the Earth. She heard the birdsong and the crowd murmuring outside the mouth of the cave. “My sister is having the nightmares again. I don’t know what to do. I threatened to banish my nephew.” The Spirit of Harmony didn’t answer her. She couldn’t feel Its presence around her. Didn’t feel a formless love suffuse her. Her spirit wasn’t calmed by a mysterious, ineffable force. The cave was empty. “Please, Spirit.” The Spirit of Harmony never appeared to her. After it transformed them into alicorns, it vanished. She’d come to this cave and prayed ten thousand times in the past millennium. Ten thousand times her words echoed on the dead cave walls and ten thousand times, she’d been ignored. She remained there, on her knees, meditating, for the rest of the morning. The flickering candles twinkled like stars in the darkness. The End of Part 12 To be continued…