//------------------------------//
// Murder Take II 
// Story: Sisters Forever 
// by Arya Stark 
//------------------------------//

This newest victim looked like she could hardly hold up her feather duster properly, let alone fight off whatever had attacked her. Her blood ran thick on the stone wraparound to the fireplace, where she had been making the early morning fires for the royal family in their individual quarters. 

I didn’t even know her name, and yet I saw her every morning, Luna thought bitterly as the guards swept in and out of her room in a flurry of activity, a dull distraction in the back of mind. 

The race had been quite the adventure. Making it in 9th place, Luna considered herself a success. Number 5 had won, much to the crowd’s surprise, and Solar Dancer had riveted his death glares to the young mare, as if Luna were to blame. But the rest of the evening had gone without incident, meeting Celestia and Forest Canter at the bar again, for the journey home. 

Celestia had flown ahead back to the castle; Luna chose to stay behind and walk with Forest Canter. The mossy green stallion had been uber congratulatory, much to her secret thrill, and she enjoyed the walk back with the earth pony. Her wings burned from the race, and even now they hung from her side a bit looser than normal, as her muscles settled from the sudden workout. 

As her mother burst into the scene, Luna’s mind tumbled back to the present. Sun Burn shoved past her, hardly noticing the dark mare. She was flanked by three guards, who Luna assumed had woken the marestess to alert her of the situation. 

“Black Night!” She hurried over to her mate’s side, who was near the body, in a discussion with the older guard, Pebble Hoof. She pressed her muzzle to Black Night’s, who turned away from the guard and nickerd soothingly to his mate, ears flicking. “I was so worried, when the guard wouldn’t tell who it was, and when the mares were missing….I feared the worst.”

“Be at ease, all is fine, we are all safe.” Black Night responded, nuzzling her muzzle once more before turning to the victim. “At least, most of us.”

Luna witnessed her mother turn those flame colored eyes to the scene, her ears flicking in distress. The pelt along her hackles raises, and the older mare’s neck went stiff. “Dusty Road,” her mother breathed, providing Luna with the name she didn’t know. Another stab of guilt; how had her mother known, but not herself? She prided herself in being familiar with most of the staffhooves, and so the fact that the name of this dead mare eluded her made her feel disappointed, for some reason. 

“It would have been early, very early,” the first guard was speaking, inspecting the scene. 

“Of course,” Black Night nodded, mane rustling as he did so. “Dusty got up before the first light, usually. Before Sun Burn even raised the sun. So all of us would have been asleep while this happened.”

There was a pause, and then Sun Burn’s gaze turned to Luna. Celestia had entered without Luna noticing, so when she felt her sister’s pelt brush hers, she flinched. “Then again, we weren’t all asleep, were we?”

Luna sensed Celestia stiffen simultaneously with her, and the two mares glanced at each other. How had she known? For a moment, Luna’s mind turned to accuse the strange mare she had met, Sorcha. Maybe the mare had lied, and was spying on the two young mares for their parents. Her second silent thought was that Celestia had tattled on her, and it was clear her sister was thinking the same thing, as both their eyes met with light hostility. 

“A night station caught you three plodding in a couple hours ago,” Black Night spoke up, his voice low and even as he gazed at both his daughters. “The third being the new hired hoof of the kitchens, Marestress Pumpkins’ apprentice…Wood Trot?”

“Forest Canter,” Luna corrected automatically, her voice as quiet and low as Black Night’s.  The stallion’s eyes fell on her sharply, his expression inscrutable, ear tilted thoughtfully. Beside him, his mate was not so coy, openly glaring between the two sisters. But finally her gaze skipped over Celestia and settled on Luna, seeming to decide that it was the younger’s fault. 

“What were you doing out?” Sun Burn demanded. Glancing at her sister again, Luna caught Celestia’s gaze, who quirked and eyebrow and flicked and ear, clearly dismissing the responsibility as hers, which Luna supposed was only fair; it had been her idea, after all. 

And so she began to explain, starting from how she had heard the rumors, informing her royal parents about what seemed to be an established, annual event. She explained the underground cavern, and how it seemed to be eons old, but sturdy enough all this time to hold a hundred ponies. Celestia every so often piped in to help describe details that Luna missed, details that she didn’t find important, such as how awful the place smelled, and how the service had been absolutely deplorable. 

Their parents stayed mostly silent for the most part, though their father commented here and there, promoting more detailed answers. Once the sisters were done, Black Night turned to Pebble Hoof, speaking in a authoritative tone. 

“Find this Forest Canter. I want him detained, and then ask him to lead you back to where this bar and cavern was. Take the best scribes and draw up the best maps they can of this place, I want them to know the area inside out. I want the barkeeper detained as well, and brought into questioning. Find out if any more members of our staff were there, and take whoever were. I want answers as to why they knew about this but we didn’t.”

Luna felt her stomach plummet, and she stepped a hoof forward. “Black Night-“

“Furthermore,” her father interrupted, “I want a set of guards stationed outside the mare’s rooms.”

Both sisters protested at once, but were silenced by their furious father. “Your nightly adventures are over, do you understand? I won’t hear any more of it! To think you two would defy and betray us the moments our flanks are turned. You disgrace our House, and disgrace yourselves! Well, no fillies of mine will be doing that behind my flank, see that I don’t let it happen again! Are we clear?!”

Luna swallowed hard, knowing protest would be futile. She had never seen her father so angry, nor had he ever spoken or scolded the both of them so heavily before. Black Night was rather easy going, and sharp at the worst times, but fair all around, and to see him like this….the stress of the second murder was really getting to him. She wished that there was a way to extract Forest Canter from the equation, and thinking quickly, dared to speak up again, stepping forward again.

“What… if I were to go back with the guards, and find the information out?”

“No,” Black Night said simply, and then as quickly as he had striked out, abandoned he attentions from his daughters back to the guards. 

Luna flicked her ear in irritation, and tried again. “But if I were to-“

“No, Luna,” Sun Burn suddenly turned on her daughter, ears laid back, teeth bared, snapping at her neck once before drawing back with a fierce snort, neck muscles bulging, eyes blazing. “This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t run off! You and your foolish ideas of adventure – what was it this time, racing? – caused this! The guards wouldn’t have been distracted if you were where you were supposed to be, and they might have had time to notice the killer slipping in. They might have saved this poor mare. But no, no, they were looking for your sorry little ass, and because of you, we have another death on our hooves!”

Shock and hurt emanated through Luna, her breath caught in her throat at her mother’s accusation. Her mother had never spoken to her like this before, she was normally always so patient and calm. Even her father looked stunned as he looked up from where he had been consulting with Pebble Hoof, pausing mid-sentence. Even the guards collecting evidence had paused, watching the scene. The silence was almost physical to Luna, pressing on her sides with a painful pressure, making it hard to breathe. The pressure increased, pressing to her flank, and she hardly noticed that it was actually Celestia who had pressed against her, facing their mother.

“This. Was. NOT. Luna’s. Fault.”

Luna wasn’t sure if she could take any more shock as her sister’s voice rung with fierceness, a snarl almost curling at the edge of it. Sun Burn snorted, nostrils flaring angrily as she glared at her eldest daughter, livid demons dancing at the edge of her eyes. Luna wanted to glance beside her, meet Celestia’s gaze, feeling as if she was in a dream, but couldn’t tear her eyes away from the fallen room maid, the blood drying and flaking over the stone.

“If your sister hadn’t been out flying-“

Celestia unfurled a wing, lifting and draping it on Luna’s back protectively, matching her mother’s challenge with her own arched neck and loud snort. “Then you blame the both of us! She is just at as much fault as I am! Or did you forget we were both out, last night?”

Her mother seemed as taken aback as Luna was, her eyes dancing between her two daughters. Luna stared at nothing dully, her ears low. Her mother snorted again, baring her teeth in an angry snarl. “Then the both of you will be blamed. Here I was thinking you were the more mature of the two,” she growled at Celestia. “I had high hopes for you, Celestia. I always thought you were the one destined to be the better, always attending the courts and taking your responsibilities seriously, and was going to begin your sun raising training today but mayhaps I was wrong!”

Now the hurt was creeping into Celestia’s voice. “Sun Burn…”

Sun Burn jerked her muzzle to the door, cutting her eldest off. “Silence. I won’t hear a word from either of you for the remainder of the day. Be gone from my sight, and don’t show mane or tail until I am ready to deal with you.”

With that, the lucid mare turned her back to her daughters, and stormed out of the room.

Celestia’s wing was stiff on Luna’s back, and any warmth she was trying to provide seemed to fall. The two young mares stood there in shock, and then all at once, Celestia’s posture dropped, her wing sliding limp off Luna, to fold dejectedly back at her side. Her head low, Celestia started to the door, glancing back at Luna only once. 

“I’d say this is all your fault,” she said quietly, “But I think we know whose fault it is truly.”

Leaving no hint of who she truly blamed, the elder sister slipped out, leaving Luna to herself and troubled heart.