//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Manipulations // Story: Dread // by bossfight1 //------------------------------// For the next two weeks, Luna and I remained together, right under Celestia’s nose. We managed to keep our newfound relationship under wraps, mainly by making every effort to avoid looking the part of “the couple” when in public. At night, however, we could relax; Luna never saw anyone else during her nights on the tower—the night’s aerial guard often patrolled at levels below the top of the tower—so our secret wasn’t at risk. Not that we did anything on those nights; we simply sat close together, resting our heads against one another, simply enjoying each other’s presence. I was getting so comfortable that I’d almost completely forgotten about Pridefall and his corrupted fear; I’d kept my ear to the ground, sure, but there hadn’t been any further signs of some extreme paranoia, or any similar incidents. From what I could tell, the other nations surrounding Equestria—including, but not limited to, the Minotaur kingdom, the nation of Zebrica, even some of the more rowdy clans of something called “Diamond Dogs”—didn’t have any immediately apparent gripes with the ponies, so there weren’t any signs of more overly paranoid leaders or militant commanders. There wasn’t anything. After a week of fruitless searching, I decided to call it quits, at least for now; if something sprang up again, I’d investigate while the trail was still hot, and this time I’d convene with Celestia. Until then, I was content to just be with Luna... It was on the second week, when I met her atop the tower at the usual time, that I found she had brought a few things; a lit candle, a plate of cheese and crackers, and a bottle of what looked to be some aged cider. “I figured it would be nice to have a meal just for us…” Luna said sheepishly. “But it… might have looked suspicious if everypony knew we were having dinner together, so I figured it would be safer during… our time.” I smiled and sat in my usual spot. We spent a few minutes quietly munching on the cheese and crackers before reaching the cider. Luna uncorked the bottle with her magic and poured us a couple glasses; I’d noted that Equestria didn’t have any alcoholic beverages, though it had been known to import some from its neighboring kingdoms. Cider, however, was considered their equivalent of wine, without its intoxicating qualities. I made to take a sip when Luna gave me my glass, but quickly stopped and raised it to her. “To two weeks without stirring the hornet’s nest,” I said. “And to many more,” Luna replied, clinking our glasses together. We each took a sip; in my mouth the cider fizzled and bubbled, sending a rush of flavor through my mass. “Delicious…” I said. “A gift from Applejack’s family,” Luna said, nodding towards the bottle. “One of the oldest in the Apple Family’s collection.” She smiled fondly at it, though I soon spotted a sadness in her eyes. “One of many gifts the Bearers have given me…” I lowered the glass. “What’s wrong?” Luna gave a little empty laugh. “The first time they ever saw me, I was a monster…” “Hey…” I said gently. “We talked about this…” “I know I need to let go, but… It’s hard enough for me, what about everypony else?” Luna asked. “I endangered them, Joel, tried to kill them… I enticed a manticore to attack them, even attempted to send them plummeting from a cliff… But after I was restored, they… They treated me as a friend… Me! Even after everything I did...” “Well,” I said, placing my glass down. “I can see a couple reasons for that. One, they know you’re no longer Nightmare Moon—you’re Princess Luna. End of discussion.” “It did take many a while to see that…” Luna mumbled. “Some of the Bearers included…” “But they see it now,” I said. “The point is, you’re not the monster in the book you showed me. You aren’t now, and you never will be again. They want you to move on from your mistakes as much as you do.” Luna gently nodded, silently conceding my point. “Secondly…” I continued. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it you who ultimately made them as close as they are today?” Luna frowned in contemplation. “Well…” “Even if it might not have been intentional on your part,” I said. “You ended up uniting them and making them the closest circle of friends I’ve ever seen. And maybe they’re aware of that—how they have you to thank for bringing them together… And they simply wish to treat you the same they treat each other—as a friend.” Luna smiled gently. “The same way you treat me…” I made a mock-offended scoff. “Well, I’d say I treat you as more than a friend, but apparently…” I folded my arms and pouted skywards. Luna giggled and scooched over, laying her head in its usual spot in my shoulder. As was customary I reached an arm around her back, while she reached a wing around mine like a mother bird hugging her hatchling. “I guess you treat me better than that…” She admitted with another giggle. Her expression softened somewhat. “...I…” I could feel a light tenseness in her wings. “What is it?” I asked. “...I… love you.” I tensed up. Somewhere in the back of my mind, Yay and Nay seemed to lean in, metaphorical eyebrows raised. They both seemed to ask the same question. “And you?” There was a beat. “...I love you, too.” The words came out of my mouth without warning, though I noticed they didn’t feel forced. After a few seconds, the tenseness in Luna’s wings faded. Her head sank deeper into my shoulder as she sighed contentedly, almost relieved. Smiling, I adjusted my arm around her and held her closer. Luna reached up with a foreleg, turned my head towards hers and kissed me. Almost without thinking, I shaped my mouth to look less like that of… well, to be honest, a monster, and more… human. For the past two weeks we were both hesitant towards displays such as this, mainly around the obvious physical reasons; I had some instinctive discomfort towards kissing what would come across as a horse back home, and she was hesitant to essentially kiss a pile of black sand. But as we kissed, any discomfort I had was just… gone; and I could tell it was the same for her. Here we were; two people who loved each other, simply kissing. It’s funny how small an obstacle can seem once you’ve made the hurdle. As we kissed, Luna’s hind leg moved and bumped the plate which, in turn, bumped the lit candle. In slow motion, I watched as the candlestick fell over, letting the flame touch my mass. Roughly two square inches of my mass quickly ignited. “Fuck!!” I yelped, springing back from Luna. She let out a surprised cry as I stupidly tried beating out the small, yet no less painful and terrifying flame, which only served to spread the flame to my claw. Before I could panic, however, Luna quickly took her glass of cider and splashed me with it; I was thankful this wasn’t the alcoholic kind as the flames quickly died. I looked at the burnt areas as Luna moved the candlestick away, blowing out the flame. I’d suffered much worse as an MHA, even worse than my first experiment with fire in the early days. Still, this one wasn’t any laughing matter; my claw had hardened like clay, as had the initial area, though it would recover in a short while. Getting burned made it difficult to shape my mass—sort of like a clump in a box of cat litter—but the smaller burns usually recovered in a couple hours. “That…” I said, staring at the burn. “...could have gone much worse.” “Joel…” Luna breathed, in the way that usually implied a desire for an explanation. I immediately made to start explaining, but hesitated; a few unpleasant scenarios flew through my head, namely around what Celestia might do if she found out about the only thing that could hurt me. I hadn’t (intentionally) given her any reason to distrust me, sure, but I felt a distinct… well, dread, over Celestia knowing that fire could be her ace in the hole. But then I remembered, this was Luna I was talking to; if we were keeping quiet about our relationship, she could keep quiet about this… Unlike Celestia, Luna had absolutely no reason to use this knowledge against me. And besides, she’d probably be able to piece together the truth anyway—it wasn’t like I could realistically keep this from her. “Fire,” I said plainly. Luna blinked. “Fire?” I held out my burnt claw. “Fire’s the… only thing that hurts me—hurts it, I don’t know… My mass isn’t that different to sand, in that it… hardens when exposed to open flame. We managed to keep my… weakness… a secret from any Malefactors; the Department knew, sure, but I never gave them any reason to use that knowledge…” My gaze fell. “Can’t really say the same about Celestia…” Luna blinked for a moment, then leaned forward and examined the burn, gingerly taking it in her hooves. “Does it hurt?” I shook my head. “Not when it’s stopped burning. It just needs a while and it’ll get better—it’ll sort of ‘thaw’, you know? ...Even though it didn’t freeze with ice, per se—you get the idea.” Luna glanced down at the candlestick, a guilty look forming in her eyes. I immediately gave her hooves a little shake. “Hey. Accident.” Luna looked back at me, then sighed. “Guess self-blame is a passion of mine, huh?” “A burning passion?” I asked, smirking. Luna gave me a deadpan expression. A cricket chirped in the distance. I savored every minute of it.                 -                -                -                -                - Celestia maintained her normal, regal poise and smile as she walked down the streets of Canterlot, nodding warmly at her subjects as they bowed humbly before her. Her royal guard remained close behind her, yet strode in a somewhat relaxed gait; Celestia hadn’t been the target of a direct assault in years. Yet it seems it is my subjects who are being targeted… Celestia thought sadly as she strode along. It had been about a month since the griffon attack on Ponyville. There hadn’t been any incidents with Dread in that time… Or rather, it seemed that way. Nearly two weeks after the attack, a guard had come to Celestia with grave news regarding a young Private of the guard who had been found just outside the castle wall. The Private had been left in something of a trance, screaming in terror, unresponding to outside stimulus… It was a condition that Celestia was, sadly, familiar with nowadays. She’d had the Private sent to the home of a good friend of hers, on the outskirts of town; it was a sizeable home, with a basement large enough to house plenty of bedridden ponies. Then more were found—ponies, left in a wakeless, screaming Nightmare. Celestia had had them all sent to her friend’s home, though she didn’t know how many more she could accomodate. She could have had them brought to Canterlot’s finest hospital, yes, but then word would spread… Word of some strange sickness claiming innocent ponies, plunging them into some horrendous nightmare from which there was no escape. Fear of this contagion would spread, leaving Canterlot—perhaps even Equestria—stricken with terror… A terror that someone could use to their advantage. And Celestia had a hunch who that someone would be… And that hunch grew with each new victim. It was when the fifth victim had been found that Celestia needed to fight the urge to storm into Dread’s room and openly denounce him then and there, to refuse to submit to the terror he sought to plunge Equestria into. She knew she had no means of combatting him—not yet, anyway—but she would be glad to at least try. Yet she didn’t… this entire affair had been nothing short of baffling. When in hers and Luna’s company, Dread was anything but the monster Celestia suspected him to be. He was polite, caring, even one to tell the occasional joke… Yet, with each fear-stricken victim found, Celestia suspected a much more sinister being lying behind that kind demeanor; not unlike a changeling—maintaining an agreeable visage, whilst manipulating events to their advantage in the background. Yet, if Dread was the one responsible, why was he doing this? Did fear strengthen him? And if so, was he creating sources of strength, with which to usurp power from her and Luna when the time was right? Was his arrival here not so coincidental, perhaps with the intent of ‘softening’ Equestria for the arrival of some conquering force from wherever he’d come from? Or was he truly sent here by accident, and simply making the best of a situation beyond his control? Celestia wanted to believe that Dread was innocent, that he wasn’t tied to the victims, yet… there was no other potential suspect. Sombra was dead and gone, and, as far as she knew, there was nopony dabbling in similar Celestia had neglected to tell anypony else about the victims; the only ones who knew were the ponies who’d found the victims, and her friend housing them. She’d urged every single one to remain silent, to neglect telling anypony, in order to prevent a panic. She’d even kept Luna out of the loop; she’d watched over the past month as her sister and Dread had grown ever-closer, nigh inseparable. If she went to Luna and attempted to explain what was happening, Luna may not believe her; Dread may even build on her disbelief and turn her against Celestia. Celestia felt trapped. She felt alone. She felt… afraid. Celestia rounded a corner and approached the home of her friend, Bright Dawn; it was a sizeable, two-story cottage on the edge of Canterlot. Bright Dawn had been one of Celestia’s favored doctors, and one of her closest friends, for a great many years, and had retired two short years prior; the two remained in close contact, though Celestia wished they wouldn’t be meeting today under such grave circumstances. The guards about-faced and stood guard as Celestia knocked on the door. A few seconds passed before the door swung open, revealing an aged, harried-looking pegasus with a gray coat and pink mane. “Princess…” she panted. “I was just giving our… new arrival his medicine… Please, come in…” Dawn stood to the side as Celestia entered, smiling warmly at her. “Again, I must ask, if this has been too much trouble for you…” Celestia began. Dawn shook her head firmly. “And again, I must say: it’s no trouble. Anything for you, Princess.” Celestia looked to the door that led to the basement. “So is our new arrival any different?” Dawn sighed sadly. “No… He’s just the same as everypony else—the screaming, the lack of response to outside stimuli… I’ve given him the same dosage as the others, so he’s asleep now… Though sleeping only serves to cease their screams.” Celestia nodded stiffly, choking back a sob of pain and sympathy for yet another of her subjects. But Dawn seemed to notice her pain, and laid a hoof against her leg. “We’ll figure something out, Princess…” I dearly hope so… Celestia thought. Dawn glanced towards the door. “There’s actually somepony here,” she said. “He’s the one who found this latest victim; he’s from the Crystal Empire.” Celestia blinked in surprise; one who’d seen, perhaps even suffered from a similar torture? Perhaps he could offer insight? “I’ll go speak to him…” Celestia said, heading through the door and into the basement. “Thank you, Dawn… Truly.” In the dark basement, lit only by a few firefly lanterns, about twenty cots were laid out in rows. Seven of them were occupied, bearing ponies that lay shivering on their beds, whimpering and twitching, clearly wishing to be awoken from their torment. Celestia sadly approached one of the victims and tentatively laid a hoof on his shoulder; he flinched away from her touch with a whimper, as though she was a part of the visions that haunted him. “Not the first time I’ve seen something like this,” came a voice from down the row of beds. Celestia looked up, not having noticed the pony standing at the far end of the basement. He was a crystal pony, a unicorn with an azure, crystalline coat and a mark of an amethyst shield. He gazed blankly at one of the other victims before turning to Celestia. He approached her and bent to one knee. “It is an honor, Your Highness. I am Bulwark.” Celestia blinked, the name familiar to her. “Have we met before?” Bulwark gazed at her sadly. “I believe you found yourself at odds with my former… master?” Celestia remembered; Bulwark was among those who fought alongside Sombra, one of those she and Luna had needed to fight against to free the Empire. He, and all those who’d ‘served’ Sombra had immediately been freed of his cruel grasp on their minds, but suffered the same thousand-year banishment as the whole of the Empire. When the Crystal Ponies had returned, Bulwark, and the others who had allied with Sombra, had unanimously agreed to face judgement for their crimes, yet had been offered amnesty. “Yes, I remember now…” She said, keeping this in mind. “What brings you to Canterlot, Bulwark?” “A simple escape, I suppose…” Bulwark sighed. “It’s… hard to forget what we did back then, you see? I thought putting some distance between me and the Empire would help clear my head… But then I found him.” He gestured at the pony Celestia had tried to comfort. “I, myself, may not have been subjected to such torment, but I’ve seen it inflicted on others so many times that I know it when I see it.” “You were the one who found him?” Celestia asked softly, laying on the floor in front of Bulwark. The crystal pony did the same and nodded. “Not very far from the Castle, actually. It was last night, I was heading to the hotel I was staying at when I heard somepony begin to scream. I didn’t see anypony around when I found him…” “You don’t know any way to remove the… illusion?” Celestia asked. Bulwark shook his head. “Sombra, he… He was the only one. The only one who could place it, and the only one who could remove it… The only way to remove the illusion without his consent would be to destroy him.” Celestia’s gaze fell to the floor; she blinked back tears as a rush of hopelessness flowed through her. As I suspected... Bulwark frowned, noticing her reaction. “...Princess, do you… Do you know who might be doing this?” Celestia hesitated, then nodded. “I… I think I do, Bulwark… I think I do… But I don’t know what I can do to stop him...” A sniffle escaped her. Bulwark walked to Celestia’s side and lay beside her, laying a sympathetic foreleg over her back. Celestia failed to notice the brief flash of green in the Crystal Pony’s eyes. “Tell me everything…”