Apparently, actually stopping Cel is something I need more practice in.
It had been a few days. Measured had moved in to the tower, I'd gotten the labs all set up, along with my bedroom and the other utilities, and the larder was fully stocked. I'd pay Measured back for that later, despite her saying it wasn't necessary. I was getting the study furnished and thinking of ways to dissuade the solar alicorn when I got a message from Dullahan through Eureka.
Boy, the Solar Sister is here with a wing of her guards.
I sighed and went to find Measured, who was currently trying to make everything fit in her room. I snuck up behind her and gave her a quick scratch behind the ears. She let out a low hum of approval, then turned to look at me with one eye. "What is it? You almost never initiate."
My shoulders slumped a little, but I didn't stop. "Cel's at Newvale with her guards. I need to mediate, otherwise someone will get blasted straight to Tartarus."
Measured blanched a bit at the imagery I was painting for her, but nodded all the same. "Will both sides listen to you?"
I chuckled a bit as I gathered my power. "Listen to me? Likely. Listen to reason? That's another matter. Who knows?"
-----
I reappeared near the borders of Newvale to see a crowd of angry ponies and other assorted species, a headless suit of armor, a wing of impassive guards, and what looked like Celestia.
I say the last one like that because normally, Celestia has a mask she puts on when she's with another pony besides her sister. A mother who is unfazed by anything, who only wants what is best for her children. Kind, caring, loving.
I didn't get to see much of that side during my time as Dullahan, what I got was Celestia the hunter, the one who sought out threats to her ponies and dealt with them. She can be damn relentless and scary if you're on her bad side.
This side, though. This was a side of her I never got to see. Granted, I had been cracking that armor of hers, making her act like a normal pony with my antics, but these sorts of results?
Cel's bottom lip was quivering, and I could see the excess moisture in her eyes as the crowd in front of her hurled insults and jeers, or even zapped the ground near her hooves.
The crowd wasn't blaming her, per se. They were telling her exactly where she went wrong, what she could have done and what she did do, and were yelling it anyways. They had gotten past blame.
And it was tearing her up.
I stepped out from the treeline and took a spot between the solar alicorn and the crowd. I then turned to face the crowd and bellowed in my loudest voice. "ENOUGH, YOU SORRY MAGGOTS! WHY, IF MY SISTER SAID EVEN HALF THOSE THINGS, I'D HAVE HAD HER WASH HER MOUTH OUT! WITH DETERGENT!"
No, I actually wouldn't, I just needed to shock the crowd, and a quick Soldier impersonation was the fastest way I knew. Indeed, my projected anger and volume was enough to reach into the minds of those assembled, find the switch labeled 'You done fucked up now,' and flip it. I kept at it, trying to really get them to realize where they'd gone wrong.
"IS THIS ANY WAY TO TREAT A MARE WHO IS SORRY? IS THIS ANY WAY TO SHOW THAT YOU'RE A BIGGER, MORE MATURE PONY THAN HER? BY ATTACKING HER BEFORE SHE CAN SAY HER PIECE? BY SCREAMING AT HER UNTIL SHE GOES AWAY? BECAUSE IF SO, HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?"
A good majority of them actually looked ashamed as I kept ranting at them. True, I'd gathered a bunch of Celestia-haters and put them together in a small community, but I'd not expected this sort of reaction to her presence. At most, I'd hoped they'd ignore her or give her a cold look. One final twist of the knife, though, would probably help make my case, which would pave the way for Cel to make hers.
"NOW SO HELP ME, CEL HERE IS GOING TO TALK TO YOU, YOU ALL ARE GOING TO ACTUALLY LISTEN, AND BY THE GOLDEN SUN, IF YOU DO NOT, MAY DULLAHAN HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOUL, BECAUSE I WON'T!"
At some point during my ranting, my hood had changed colors, which meant I'd gone from Day coloration to Night again. I'm still not quite sure what triggers it, honestly, but I'm getting better about finding out. The ponies in front of me were shocked into silence, some staring with their mouths open, others looking at the ground between their hooves, and a few...a rare few....were actually looking at Cel.
Cel stepped forward a pace and, thankfully, her first two words were not the ones the town did not want to hear.
"No matter what I say, no matter what I do, today, I acknowledge that you all have legitimate grudges against me. Whether by arrogance or ignorance, action or inaction, today I admit to all of you that I have wronged you. You...and so many others. Because if I am wrong about how I have treated you all, then who is to say that I have not always been wrong, always harmed more than I have helped?"
She looked down at the ground and breathed deeply a few times to get herself under control, then raised her head and addressed the crowd again.
"Some of you have sought reparations with me, and these I will freely give. It is, after all, the first step in mending any relations between us. I have wronged you, and I must pay to make up for it. So not only will I seek to make things right by words and deeds. I will seek something even more basic than that."
And here she actually laid on the ground, baring her neck to the stunned crowd. Her guards bristled at the action, but she ignored them and said one word.
"Forgiveness."
The silence was broken by Dullahan walking forward and pointing at her. I was always there, you know. Sleeping, waiting. Occasionally guiding the boy. And he never once truly hated you. I believe his saying regarding his relationship with you was something along the lines of..."Should she ever truly, publicly acknowledge where she went wrong and ask for my forgiveness, then I would freely give it."
The armor walked forward and helped Cel to her feet, which confused her for a moment. I'd say that this qualifies, and since he and I were one and the same for so long, his values and mine are...mixed.
The armor let out a chuckle as Cel tilted her head slightly in confusion. Thou art forgiven, Celestia. You always were. At least, by me and the boy. The villagers may be another matter, but since you have won both me and the boy over, time, word, and deed shall do for them, eventually.
"The only question that remains now," I interjected, "Is, can you forgive yourself?"
She looked from me to Dullahan, then back to me, and slowly shook her head. "No. I don't think I ever will be able to."
I chuckled at that. "Never is quite a long time, Cel, and I'll be there to hound you every step of the way until you do."
She opened her mouth, possibly in shock and to question how I could make such a claim, but I held up a hand to shush her and turned to the villagers. "What say you, Newvale? She is genuinely, truly sorry. Will you let her make it up to you? Will you let her pay for what she has done? Will you at least attempt to forgive her?"
Silver and Shiver stepped out of the crowd and glared at Cel. She actually flinched from the intensity of the glares they were directing at her. Silver nodded once, briskly.
"It's a start."
Shiver snorted. "It is indeed. Remember what I said, Celestia. In time, I, too, may yet forgive. But not now. Not today. The best I can promise you is that I will tolerate you."
Cel nodded, and the approval of the priest and the dragon seemed to have an effect on the other ponies. They too begrudgingly nodded at Celestia, and she let out a wan smile.
"My first deed to attempt to make it up to you all, then, is to place Newvale under the protection of a wing of my guard."
A murmur ran through the crowd, and I held up a hand to forestall any accusations. I motioned for her to continue once the muttering had died down.
"Someone who goes by the name of Omega has stated he will attempt to take Equestria in a week's time, and that he will 'deal' with you all by then."
"Judging by the memories of the pony who attacked us not too long ago," I interjected, "he wants you, all of you, alive and captured, because a living adept can produce more psynergy that he can drain to power those that follow him. More than a djinn can, at any rate."
Integrating those memories had not been pleasant at all.
Cel looked at me with a bit of shock, but nodded grimly once the shock had passed through the crowd. "And to protect you from suffering such a fate, I will tell this wing of my guard to live here, become familiar with the town, and aid you should you find any suspicious characters."
Will they answer to orders I give them?
Cel looked at Dully with a raised eyebrow. "They will be told to act as guardians, defenders of the town."
I am the guardian, defender of the town. If they would work here, even under your orders, then they will answer to me. Besides, I very much doubt they've any experience working with psynergy or adepts. The armor let out a low chuckle at that, which only grew as the ranks of guards actually looked at one another in a slight panic.
Cel nodded slowly. "Your idea has merit. Very well. Guards, your mission is to aid Dullahan in the protection of this town, following any and all reasonable orders he gives."
Muttering from the ranks was silenced by a raised, gauntleted hand. I will not interfere with whatever command structure you have in place. I will not order you to do reckless, foolhardy things. All I ask is that you be reasonable with me, and I will be reasonable with you.
The guard's muttering subsided, and I smiled. "Meanwhile, I'm going to find the lair of whoever's doing this and stop them."
"And how will you do that?"
I grinned at the solar alicorn and nodded to Dullahan, who...reached inside himself, fished around, and pulled out a side-bag. The Tokens, the books the Heir gave you, and the crystals we saved. Should be enough to find wherever they originated.
I nodded and slung it onto my left shoulder. "Take care, Dully. Try not to let the madness get at you."
A low laugh echoed around the town. Kind of hard for it, considering what we've been through already, Boy.
-----
After a day's worth of travel, I paused for the night in a glade and went through the Tokens.
A coin, the Heir. A card, the Lady. A clasp, the Twins. A soapstone, the Knight. A pair of gauntlets? I didn't recall that. Still, they fit, weren't too heavy, and protected my hands. I'd figure out who they belonged to later.
I spent that night going over some of the more exotic theories posed by Starswirl in his book before laughing and going to Clover's instead. She at least was willing to consider that she could be wrong, and only wrote things as observations first, then later as facts and laws once experimentation had proven them.
The morning dawned, and just as I was about to get on my way, there was a rustling sound. I turned around, my senses telling me there were more twisted-adepts around.
And then they stepped into the clearing, and I thought, briefly, that I was facing pony-shaped elementals.
From the north, a mass of stone. From the east, an animate fire. From the south, clouds that were charged with lightning, and from the west, a freeform mass of water.
All shaped like ponies.
I could feel the sheer power contained in them. It was somewhere between a Star and the actual Light.
This...this could prove difficult. I didn't want to kill them, but with that much energy on their sides, they could do some serious damage to me, enough to knock me out, at least. And then they'd continue on their way to Newvale.
The reason I didn't use my Alchemy to do something is it requires concentration and time. If I knew them, they'd likely not give me enough time to do anything, nor would they allow me to remain undisturbed for long enough. I would need to find a way to knock them out long enough to deal with their powers.
That was when my eyes caught the inscription on the back of the gauntlets. On back of the left hand, it read 'GILGA,' and on the back of the right hand, it read 'MESH'.
Gilga...mesh...Gilgamesh? Are these the Genji Gauntlets, then? Hmm. I wonder if he'll respond to a Call. He always was a hammy character...better make it count.
I drew and raised Eureka. "Master of battles and weapons, wielder of dangerous magics, a worthy foe who seeks adventure and challenges! It is I, Auric Fulcrum, Knight of the Eclipse, Wielder of the Flames of Alchemy! I call on you, for I am in a bit of a spot of bother right now, and I could really use your help! I SUMMON THEE, GILGAMESH!"
The air itself seemed to ripple...