//------------------------------// // 11 - Inside Out // Story: Storms On the Horizon // by Eeveexpert //------------------------------// For any pony other than a pegasus or alicorn, flight is not something oft experienced. Suspended aloft by a gentle yellow magic, Twilight got a very good view of Canterlot. Buildings rushed by beneath her while the marbled walls of the palace grew ever closer. Celestia landed before the palace gates and issued a call up to the gatekeeper currently on post. "Lower the gates!" A white face appeared at the window for an instant before vanishing again. Chains and wheels began creaking, slowly dropping the massive drawbridge. The owner of this white face came galloping down out of the gatehouse to greet the royal sisters. "Your Majesties!" Celestia acknowledged his salute with a quick nod. "At ease, soldier. The last Element is home. You may return to your post." "Of course, Your Majesty." The guard sent the princesses off with a parting salute. He spun on his hoof and started back up the stairs to the gatehouse. A lever inside willed the gates into motion once again. As the rumbling of the gate machinery subsided away into the stone floor, the white stallion took up his stance at the window. Parts of the gatehouse were still covered in shadow, as the sun had not yet risen above Canterlot. Perhaps if the gatehouse was just a little more well-lit, things might have gone differently... In a particularly dark corner of the gatehouse, a pair of green eyes sat in the shadows. Very slowly, they began creeping towards the unsuspecting guard. Before he knew any better, a ragged piece of cloth was laced around his neck and pulled tight. The air within the guard's lungs only served him for several seconds before he lost consciousness and collapsed to the floor. "Too easy..." the slate-grey pegasus chuckled. Around his neck was the all-too-familiar sinkstone, just begging to be used. Quietly, and in an ancient forgotten language, he began chanting: "Accipio hoc corpus, ad fallere eorus oculus. Cum hoc magicae, sino me abscondam." A sickly green glow lit up the center for the gem at the spell. Tendrils of the same color started snaking out of the glow and reached for the unconscious guard. Within a few seconds, said guard was enveloped with these magic threads. When the spell had done its work, the tendrils retreated back into the sinkstone, and the formerly grey pegasus was now the spitting image, armor and all, of the guard before him. Perfect... Flawless though this illusion seemed, there was still one final test. The impostor left the gatehouse and trotted down the steps. Luck was on his side today; another guard passed him at the bottom. "Greetings!" he called to the fellow pegasus. He immediately regretted that. Our impostor might as well have just shot himself in the hoof, as the passing pony happened to be Jet Stream. "No salute this morning, soldier?" Damn! Acting as quickly as possible without making any more of an idiot out of himself, the disguised pony sprang to attention. "Sorry, sir! Just a little tired from night watch, sir!" Fortunately for him, he was met with a slight chuckle. "At ease, soldier; I'm just pulling your feathers. It's been a long night for everypony." "That it has, sir." "In that case, you're dismissed for the day. Go get some rest." "Thank you, sir." Inwardly, the pegasus was grinning like a madpony. His disguise was perfect; he wasn't suspected at all. He watched Jet Stream for a moment before turning and walking in the opposite direction. "All right... now I have to find Nightshade..." Truthfully, he wasn't completely sure how to go about doing that. Obviously, she would be held within the palace dungeon, which, logically, would be the lowest level. A situation such as this would call for a little trial and error. Besides, he wasn't overly pressed for time. That turned out to be a very good thing for him. Whoever had coined the term "trial-and-error" must have also had a large amount of time on his hooves. The amount of doors within the average palace hallway was staggering. Nearly every door checked ended up being either living quarters or a broom closet. Finally, just as he was sure that he had checked every last door, he found one that opened to something far different than the marbled hallways. Stepping down onto the rough stone step was like entering another world. The narrow cobblestone hallway was lit with nothing but the odd, wall-mounted torch. It was a far cry from the sunlit halls of the palace above. As he predicted, there was a watch posted outside Nightshade's cell. "Don't look now, "the pegasus mare muttered, "but your relief is here..." With little more than a nod between them, the two stallions traded places. This new guard seemed a little...off, however. Instead of standing with his back to the cell, he faced the captive pony, staring at her and smirking a little. "Can I...help you with something?" Nightshade snorted. As if this stallion wasn't odd enough, he burst into a quick fit of laughter. "Ahahaha! I should be the one offering you help!" "Make your point or hold your tongue. I've no desire to listen to your idiocy." "All right then, Nightshade. Be that way. I'll let the others know you wanted to rot in this dungeon." "Hold it." Chains rattled as the mare stood up. "Recite the password." "Good and evil, their cycle eternal, hearken to the moon's glow and the sun's inferno." A slight chuckle escaped the gray pegasi's mouth, a sound not often heard. "Stratus, you sly devil, you..." "How'd you know?" he asked, grinning widely. "Simple. Charger isn't smart enough to come up with a plan like this, and Skies and Blitz would make terrible guards, fake or otherwise. So, to what do I owe this meeting?" "We've lost the Element of Magic. She was returned here, to the palace." Oddly, Nightshade didn't explode at this news. Rather, she was unusually quiet, almost as if she were already planning something. "I see. And you followed her?" "Precisely." "And what of the others?" "The Night Ruler sent them out to look for a separation spell. Who knows how long that simple task will take them..." "Just give them some time. We have our own problems to deal with in the meantime. Our job is to reclaim the Elements. If what you say is true, then all six are now within the palace. Half of the work has been done for us. All we need to do now is find a way to make them ours again, and if the Elements are under constant surveillance as I think they should be, then I have a way to do just that." "How so?" Stratus asked. Nightshade tapped a hoof to the side of her head. "Think about it, numbskull. What are you disguised as?" Realization lit up the stallion's eyes. "We attack from the inside..." "Atta' boy..." "So what do we have to do?" "Cool your hooves, hotshot. We're still on thin ice here. Just keep acting like one of the guards. As long as nopony suspects anything, we'll be fine. I'll let you know as I put the pieces together." "Got it. I'll be back later today." Stratus promised before turning to leave. It wasn't long after he had come up the staircase before he ran into another guard. He grabbed the other stallion's attention with a quick wave of his wing. "Would you take over guard duty for me? The princesses have asked to see me." "Of course." "So far, so good." Everything was going perfectly. Stratus could move wherever he wanted within the palace and nopony would be the wiser. His first task? Re-locating the Elements of Harmony. There was just one problem with that. He had been extremely lucky thus far. The odds of it holding out even further were not favorable. ------------------------- Even with being back within the well-guarded walls of Canterlot Palace, Twilight could not put her mind at ease. She had remained silent during the trip back, but she could no longer hold her tongue. "Princess?" "Yes, Twilight? What is it?" "I know what's going on; I know why those pegasi are after the Elements. Why they took me." That got Celestia's attention. Up until now, the events of the past twenty-four hours had been without reason. She stopped and faced her student. "Please explain then. It would take a great deal off my mind." "Nightmare Moon isn't gone. She's controlling these pegasi; she's using them." "Nightmare Moon never was gone, Twilight." Slowly, the unicorn's gaze drifted to the second royal sister. Shock was grossly evident in the young pony's eyes. Luna sighed and tossed a (very) quick glance at her elder sister. "Yeah, that was news to me too." "Never gone? Wh-what does that mean?" "It means that you're looking at Nightmare Moon herself. Since you brought me back, she's been lurking within my mind." Realization replaced shock upon the lavender mare's face. "So that's what she meant..." The game of twenty questions continued with Celestia. "What who meant? Nightmare Moon?" Twilight nodded. "Yes. While I was in captivity, I overheard her plan. She said that Luna wasn't an acceptable medium for her to exist through. She needs a complete separation to return. What would she mean by that?" Celestia's eyes grew dark at the news. "I had hoped and prayed that these events were just random acts... How foolish of me to think that... True evil can never be defeated..." Those words... Icy dread ran down the unicorn's spine. "B-but the Elements..." "Hush..." An armor-clad hoof held aloft silenced the Element of Magic. "I know what you're going to ask, Twilight, so let me ask you something. If there is no evil, how do we define 'good?'" After several moments of heavy thinking, Twilight found she had no answer to such a question. "I...I don't know..." "I didn't expect you to. Truthfully, there is no answer. The Elements are neither good nor evil, and thus cannot destroy one or the other. They are only capable of separation. That is why Discord was turned to stone. To separate the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony from those things would leave him with nothing, which is what he became. In Luna's case, the Elements separated Nightmare Moon from her magic, which is how she existed. A complete separation would have removed her from Luna's mind entirely." "So why didn't that happen?" "The Elements were incapable of such a feat. The deeper two things are entwined, the more it takes to separate them. Nightmare Moon had control over Luna for one thousand years. That could not be undone in mere seconds." "What about a ritual of some kind? Could they achieve a complete separation then?" "In theory, yes. But for Nightmare Moon to maintain a physical form, she would need to be fused with a magic source on par with Luna or myself. Even I don't know where she would obtain that." "Hold on, 'Tia." Luna lightly brushed a wing against Celestia's shoulder. "I've been thinking. If night is the opposite of day, and good is the opposite of evil, do the Elements of Harmony have opposites? If the Elements work through separation, would their opposites be able to fuse things together?" "Again, in theory, I suppose. I don't know of any documented instances of such a thing. Discord's reversal of the Elements was the closest we've seen, and given the context within which that happened, studying said occurrence was not a top priority. Reversing the Elements would be nigh impossible without a thorough knowledge of their workings." "Or a key?" Twilight... Magic... Key... Thoughts were flying through Luna's mind one after the other. "That's it!" she exclaimed, thoroughly startling the two other ponies. "Wh-what's it?" Celestia asked, trying to catch her breath. "Hold on!" A high-pitched whining began to fill the air, slowly growing in volume. Celestia could feel a familiar tingling quickly working its way up her legs. One look at the vortex of magical energies amassing around her sister's horn told her all she needed to know. Self-teleportation was easy enough, but with each other pony that was making the jump, things became significantly harder. "Twilight, duck!" Finally, the Princess of the Night had enough energy to achieve a multi-pony teleport. In a burst of glittering stardust, the three ponies took their leave of the hallway. Less than an instant later, and the trio stood within Luna's chambers. After a quick check to make sure all body parts were accounted for, Celestia let out her held breath and lowered her wings from their protective embrace around her apprentice. "Forgive my hasty actions, Twilight, but I didn't want to have you sent to the other end of Equestria by accident." "It's all right, Princess. I'm fine." Honestly, Twilight was a little dizzy, but all her body parts had made the jump. "Warn somepony before you do that, Luna." "Yeah, sure." she called back from her study. She came trotting out moments later, a book floating before her. "Listen to this. 'Of the six Elements, Magic is the least understood. Obviously, its wielder must possess immense talent with the arcane arts. Beyond that, little is known about this enigmatic Element, save that it acts like a key. A key to which all other Elements respond.'" "Let me see that book for a moment." The blue aura surrounding the tome was replaced by a yellow one, and it drifted over to Celestia. Her pink eyes traced over the aged text several times. "That sounds familiar..." "How do you mean, Princess?" Twilight eyed the back of the book, wishing she could see the text inside. The way Celestia and her sister were talking about this book had piqued her curiosity, especially that passage that was just read. Was it coincidence the both Nightmare Moon and those pegasi had mentioned it? If it had been, Twilight was prepared to eat her own hoof. A small puff of dust jumped from the book's pages as Celestia's magic flipped it shut. "You see, Twilight, though I might not have known of the reasons for the events of the past few days, the events themselves are nothing new to me. Honestly, I remember little of what happened, but it was very shortly after our..." A glance at her sister belied the true sensitivity of the topic. "Falling out..." Luna nodded. That was an acceptable way to describe it. The sun-marked alicorn continued with her explanation. "With this repeat occurrence, I believe that I've figured out why this is happening. Every time that Nightmare Moon was sealed away, remnants of her power remained, and sought a way to facilitate her return. The pegasi behind this; they are those remnants." Twilight might as well have not had any ears; Celestia's explanation had gone unheard. Or ignored, most likely. She was already leafing through the book, searching for the previously spoken text. Her snout appeared over the top of the tome. "What page was that passage on again, Luna?" she asked. "Ummm..." Familiar text breezed past Luna's eyes as the magenta glow holding the book commanded the pages to turn. "Laughter... Loyalty... Honesty... Generosity... Kindness... Hold it. There." "Before...you get too far into that book, Twilight... I need your attention." Yellow magic took the book from the two other mares. "I know the both of you very well; when you get into a book; you'll be at it for hours. This needs saying now. When you were taken, Twilight, it was then that I knew what these pegasi were looking for, both then and now. It's painfully obvious that the Elements are under attack. With what you've just told me, I now know why they are. The entity we know as Nightmare Moon is actively seeking for a way to return." "I know. I heard." the unicorn sniffed. "And that's why I wanted to get started on that book. See if we couldn't stop it from happening." Magic matching the color of her cutie mark sheathed Twilight's horn once again. Celestia's own horn flashed once in response. The young mare flinched. She had not expected her magic to be met with resistance. "Princess, I-" Having been sole ruler of Equestria for ten centuries, Celestia knew how to speak and ensure she would be met with silence. "Hush, Twilight." Not surprisingly, she did as Celestia bid. That was the Princess' no-nonsense tone, and attempting to push an argument against it would accomplish nothing. "These are trying times upon us. Equestria has weathered many a threat, but never before have the Elements of Harmony been so actively hunted by the enemy. Their safety, and your own, is my primary concern. I do not know exactly what Nightmare Moon is hoping to achieve by targeting the Elements, but I would be lying if I said I did not fear her intentions to be on par with the changeling assault on Canterlot. Your friends, Fluttershy and Applejack included, are all here in the palace, safely under protective surveillance, and as long as there is a threat to the Elements, you will be too." Having made her point, Celestia re-presented the book to her student. "I apologize for my tone, Twilight, but you are directly involved in this. I made the mistake of negligence once, and I'm not going to let it happen again." Twilight's violet eyes darted from the book to her mentor and back again. After a moment's pause, the mare did something she never thought she would do. The Princess of the Night was forced to take evasive action, lest she be floored by the book-turned-missile courtesy of Twilight's angry hoof. Magic grabbed hold of the parchment-based projectile just before it impacted the far wall. The princess tucked the wayward book under a wing and turned back to the unfolding conversation. "Look at me, Princess." Twilight began slowly. "Look at me and tell me: What do you see?" "I-I'm not sure I follow..." "Ugggh..." Twilight looked around for something with which to get her point across. Her eyes settled upon a few of the many glass shards around her. These she assembled into a crude but serviceable mirror and held it between herself and Celestia. "Now what do you see?" "I see myself..." Each of the shards dropped to the ground, as if those had been the magic words. "And now?" "Well...I see you, Twilight." "Do you?" The alicorn pressed a hoof to her forehead to alleviate her building frustration. She had not slept in over a day, and fatigue had made it a struggle to avoid becoming short. "Forgive me, Twilight, but I'm tired and I'm having a hard time seeing your point." "Why did you let me into the School for Gifted Unicorns?" "You were able to hatch a dragon's egg, Twilight. It took Starswirl the Bearded his entire life to find a way to do what you managed to do in second; and as a filly, no less." "Are you sure it wasn't just because I happened to be the Element of Magic? Is that why you made me your apprentice? Just so you could keep me hidden from the rest of the world!?" When it was obvious that no answer was forthcoming, Twilight snorted angrily. "You knew all along, yet you never found the time to tell me so... Thanks a lot..." She ripped the book from under Luna's wing and left the room in a burst of magenta light. "I think she took a couple feathers with that book..." the dark blue pony remarked in a vain attempt to break the heavy pall that had been cast upon the room. Failing that, she went on. "What was that about, 'Tia?" Without bothering to raise her head, her elder sister sighed. "I'll...explain on the way..." By now, Luna was almost expectant of this behavior. "Sure. But...where exactly are we headed?" Four shoes, a tiara, and a necklace returned to the night princess and took up their usual positions upon her. "Twilight could be anywhere in the palace." "If I know Twilight as I think I do, I know where she is. Follow me." ------------------------- How does anypony find their way around this infuriating palace!? Luck is far-and-away one of the most fickle concepts ever conceived, and if our false guard didn't know it before, he certainly knew it now. All the doors looked the same, all the walls were built from the same uniform marble. Even the odd guard or chamber attendant that passed by looked like the one before them. Stratus was convinced that he was going around in circles. "Aaagh! This is pointless! I give-" "All right, Luna... I suppose you want an explanation for what happened, don't you?" "That would be nice, yes." Hugging the wall, Stratus crept to the nearest hallway and peered around the corner. At the far end, he caught a glimpse of a pair of flowing tails. The Princesses... This could be good. There would be a lot of good information in this conversation. Making sure to stay just within earshot, which wasn't hard given how well the marble hallways carried sound, the fake guard followed the unsuspecting sisters. "Well, 'Tia? I'm waiting. Twilight seems to have guessed something correctly, judging from your reaction." "She was...right in what she said. I did have my own reasons for bringing her into the palace school. It was because she possessed the Element of Magic. For the longest time, I possessed all of the Elements. I could not harness their full power, but they were still mine. Until, one day, the Element of Magic left me. Several years passed, then I received word of a gifted young unicorn. She succeeded in passing the entrance exam, even the advanced one I suggested she be judged by, with flying colors and then some. At the time, I didn't know why, but it was obvious that the Element had chosen her. It was imperative that she be kept safe until I learned more of the situation. When the rest of the Elements finally left me, I knew. The Elements were preparing for your return." Stratus wasn't able to see Luna's face, but the tone in her voice gave him a good idea of what it looked like. "My return?" the star-maned pony echoed. "Yes. The Elements work via separation, remember? They certainly separated us, didn't they?" Celestia's awkward attempt at levity was met with an equally awkward grin. "Anyway... For the Elements to separate us as they did went against the very force they try to maintain." "Harmony, right?" "I see you've read that part, too. At any rate, for the Elements to permanently separate the two things necessary to maintain Harmony in Equestria was an impossibility. Whether or not you were Nightmare Moon at the time, there was no proper substitute for you, Luna. Yes, I stepped in to fill that role, but it wasn't how things were intended to be. The Elements then did the next best thing and sent you away long enough for them to find ponies capable of wielding them properly." Celestia fell silent and there was no response from the second alicorn. For a heartbeat, Stratus thought they were aware of his presence. "But," There was a subtle change in the Sun Goddess' voice. "while I brought Twilight into the palace for my own admittedly...selfish reasons, she in turn, brought out something in me; a side of myself that I had long thought dead. I loved her, Luna; like a daughter, like a sister, like you. She was so much like you, it was hard for me to not see you in her." "I'll be honest with you, 'Tia. I've never seen you get so emotional before; it's starting to weird me out." Luna teased. "Oh hush, you." the taller alicorn giggled. "We're here." "The Star Swirl Archives..." ------------------------- "Nnggh! Twilight's landing in the Archives was less than perfect. Anger and fatigue had caused her to misjudge the speed of her arrival. She lost her balance and stumbled into a shelf, knocking a shower of books and scrolls onto her head. Magenta magic quickly started reshelving them as the lavender mare searched for the tome she had dropped, grumbling as she did so. Finally proclaiming, "Got it." she trotted back to the center of the Archives. The recovered book was placed to the side, starting a small pile. Little by little, the pile began growing with each of her trips down the many aisles. When she had amassed a fair collection of knowledge, the mare planted herself before the stack and called several books up to eye level. "I hope you're planning to reshelve all that material, Twilight." A glance over her shoulder put a face to the voice. "You know I always do..." Twilight returned to her research with a disgusted snort. "Twilight...I know I owe you an explanation. Would you at least hear me out?" Each step closer that Celestia got, so too did the books to Twilight's face. These eventually got so close that Twilight could no longer read the text within, but that was beside the point. "There's nothing to explain. I've already figured it all out. I'm nothing more than a...a magical...plaything! What about my friends? Are they just your pawns too!? I don't want to hear it!" "Five minutes, Twilight. That's all." If looks could kill, the unicorn would have slain Celestia where she stood. "Fine." She released her hold on the books and turned around in a huff. "Five minutes." Out of respect, the alicorn sat down to lower herself to her student's level. She let out a long sigh and began speaking slowly. "I'll admit... I...did bring you into the palace because you possessed the Element of Magic... But, that wasn't the reason that I kept you there. I don't know if you realize this, Twilight, but in nearly one thousand years, you were my first real friend." "Pffft..." "Whether or not you want to believe me is your choice, but let me say this. Do you remember all those years you spent in the palace? Those experiences, those memories? At any point did those feel faked to you?" "No..." "That's because they weren't. Those good times that you had, those good times that we shared? I came to cherish those times. I had all but convinced myself that friendships with other ponies was nothing but a waste of time. One thousand years of self-induced solitude can do that to a pony. You managed to teach me otherwise. Why do you think I sent you to Ponyville with the simple instruction to 'make some friends?'" Realization flashed through the young mare's eyes and her ears stood up. Yet...some small shred of stubbornness wouldn't let her completely accept what Princess Celestia was telling her. "Then why keep me in the palace so long?" "I was protecting you, Twilight. You, not the Element of Magic. Like a mother would her foal. I had already lost Luna; I wasn't about to lose you, too. But then...then...then you were... I'm so sorry, Twilight..." Surprised at the pony in tears before her, the Element of Magic tossed an uncomfortable look to the princess' sister, who merely shrugged in answer. At length, the purple pony swallowed the lump in her throat. "No, I'm sorry, Princess... I spoke without knowing the entire story. It wasn't right for me to assume things..." "Don't apologize. We've all made mistakes." Celestia sniffed, drawing her foreleg over her eyes. "I should have been more truthful with you. Both of you." Luna glanced up from the stack of books that Twilight had amassed and nodded in reply. She returned to the pile of knowledge and began listing off titles. "The Way Magics Work... The Encyclopedia Magicka... Magic for Foals... Were you looking for a particular spell, Twilight?" "Yes and no. I am looking for a spell, but it was in a specific book. The Harmony of Magic, I believe." "The one I sent you?" Celestia inquired. "Yes." Hesitation slowed the alicorn's response. "I'm...sorry. I believe that one copy was the only one that I had. Why did you need it?" "Those pegasi; they set fire to my library... Applejack said they burned everything. I remember that book saying something about a spell for 'complete separation.'" "I'm sorry to hear that. When we resolve the matter currently upon us, I'll replace what I can. In the meantime, I'll ask the bookkeeper to look through all palace archives, but I can't promise anything." Twilight flicked her tail impatiently. "That will take a week at least. Could we somehow get a message back to Ponyville to have somepony check the library on the off-chance that something did survive?" she eventually asked. "I suppose... Canterlot is on high alert as is, and I'd rather not send anypony for a pickup unless we knew it was a sure thing." "What about Philomena?" Luna suggested. "She was the one that delivered the message to Applejack, right?" "And we could send it to Applejack's brother! He was in the library a couple weeks ago!" "Sounds like a plan." Celestia stood up, eyes determined. "Twilight, you and I will get that letter written. Luna, find a guard willing to make the trip to Ponyville. In the case we do find a lead, we need immediate action." That was the Princess Celestia that Luna knew. "You got it, 'Tia!" The Princess of the Night spun around and took off like an arrow. The grin on Stratus' disguised face was pure evil. He sidled the wall as Princess Luna came careening excitedly around the corner. He waited for a moment, and then called out, "Princess Luna, Your Majesty!" In an effort to reclaim some of her dignity, Luna slowly turned to face the stallion and cleared her throat. "Yes?" "I was passing by, and I couldn't help overhearing your dilemma. In light of that, I would like to volunteer to be the one to go to Ponyville." "Very good. Be ready to depart within the hour. It is imperative that you be ready and on standby as soon as possible. Understood?" Stratus saluted proudly. "Understood, Your Majesty."