“I understand that you don't like me using our parents' artifacts, but that is just because you had a bad experience with them. I haven't run into any ill-effects since I started using them a couple weeks ago.” Celestia said defensively, raising her nose in indignation as Luna visibly seethed at her words.
“I had a bad experience!?! Try having your entire being corrupted by an extra-dimensional monstrosity that can feed upon your very emotions and turn them and their power against you! What if the spirit of anger happened upon you when you were having a fight with your hairy-faced buffoon of a coltfriend and decided to ride you back into our realm with the fury of a supernova!?! Scorched doesn't even begin to cover it!” Luna stomped her hoof, and the potted plants around the room burst into flames. “You will not risk our world and theirs just so you can play hoofsies with Solaris in MY dreamworld! You shall return the relics to the vault, and we will devise a new locking system that henceforth requires both of us to open it.”
Celestia rolled her eyes, summoning miniature rain clouds from Cloudsdale above each fire in the room. “You always were a party pooper...” She said, letting out a sigh and teleporting in Father's Amulet, letting it clank heavily against the desk between the two princesses.
“And the mirror?” Luna asked as she stared her sister down. Celestia's horn flashed, and she said, “It is in the annex of the vault, ready to be stored again when you feel up to dragging it back there.” Luna sighed, remembering the tedious chore that posed, but shook her head and smiled cautiously at her sister.
“Thank you sister. Was that all that hard?” Luna asked condescendingly, laughing as a charred sunflower was tossed at her. Quickly ducking into the hallway, she barely had time to dodge a second potted plant hurled by her ruefully grinning sister.
“You owe me another arrangement! It won't be all that hard to take a trip to the botanical gardens in Griffonia!” She called out, laughing maniacally when Luna shrieked, signaling that a potted projectile had found it's mark. Celestia turned the corner to see her sister splayed out on the floor, dirt matted in her mane and coat. Seizing the opportunity, she leapt upon her prone form, white hooves tickling ultramarine fur, and the two princesses tumbled into the wall on the other side of the corridor.
Several giggle-filled minutes later, Luna managed to right herself, standing up and brushing off some of the dirt from her coat. She looked at her sister and sighed, smiling as the impromptu tickle war brought back many memories of their childhood and the many playful confrontations since. The train thought stirred her earlier musings and she grew curious. “Tia? Have you ever met Solaris' brother?”
Celestia froze briefly as she was getting up, her brow knitting as she slowly rose the rest of the way. “No, though Solaris mentioned him once or twice... Have you?” She replied carefully, trying to gauge her younger sister's reaction to the question to see where she was heading with this.
“In a sense...” Luna said cryptically, flashing a cryptic smile as she bolted around the corner. “Oh no you don't!” Shouted Celestia as she gave chase. “You don't get off that easily! What happened?”
~~~
After losing her sister with a quick series of teleport spells, Luna found herself catching her breath in the relative safety of her closet, nestled between her hanging outfits and coats. After waiting for a few minutes in the cover, she decided she was free of any further questioning and extracted herself from the cage of fabrics. As she stepped free, she felt something crumple under her hoof. Casting an illumination spell, she blinked and squinted her eyes as the bright light of her horn reflected off the surface of her mirror, directly in front of her. Looking down, her eyes adjusted and she lifted her hoof to reveal a neatly folded sheet of paper, though it was now creased where her hoof had stepped on it. Picking it up, she noticed that the sheet was of fine quality paper, and immediately grew concerned. She tried to remember if she had somehow left a royal decree or some such in one of her outfits, and the important notice had been missing since she had returned it to her closet.
Unfolding the note, her brow furrowed, confused at the lack of seals or stamps that would normally decorate such a document. She looked closer, and her eyebrows raised as she saw her name on the addressing line, written in an unknown yet strangely familiar hoofwriting. She used her magic to open the closet door, and slowly walked to her desk, sitting on the other side of her bedroom. She carefully read the note, a smile spreading across her muzzle as she understood what it was.
Dear Princess Luna,
Greetings, it is I, Prince Artemis. I write to you to convey my deepest and most humble gratitude for your intervention on the moon. Through your quick wit and action, you saved us all, and I could never thank you enough. I am sure you know that if you had not interceded when you did, the consequences are far too horrible to imagine, even for great beings such as ourselves.
While it is my great pleasure to have made your acquaintance in our short time together, our meeting brought forth many questions for me. The brevity of our encounter, as well as my condition for its duration, made it difficult to accrue any semblance of understanding between the two of us. I therefore believed that I should attempt to contact you, and perhaps in doing so, arrange a way of meeting again; albeit in less extreme conditions. Though I know it is little recompense for your great deed for me, it would also please me to no end if I could thank you face to face.
If you would be inclined to such a course of action, do not hesitate to write back to me. I have no doubt you will be able to duplicate the spell used to get this message to you, it is a symmetrical interlacing of the portal spell with a traditional scrying spell.
I eagerly await your response,
Prince Artemis
Princess Luna giggled to herself, giddy that she had been contacted, and immediately pulled out her own sheet of fine paper. Ink unstoppered, her quill quickly danced across the paper as she formulated her response.
A few short minutes later, Luna capped her ink bottle and looked over her work, sighing in content. A flash from her horn, and her mirror came floating out from her closet, it's surface already blazing a deep indigo. She carefully folded the note and sent it through the portal, feeling her heartbeat race in excitement.
The portal flashed and went dark, and as soon as she knew the note was sent, she began to worry. Should I have waited to respond? Well, the note could have been sitting in my closet for some time now, so it probably wasn't too fast. Oh no! What if he sent it days ago, and has since given up hope of my response! Oh, I should have checked my mirror before. No, I should have left it out in my room rather than putting it back away in my closet after I got here!
As her mind whirred, she caught herself and took a deep breath. Don't worry, it will all be alright. If he is anything like me, he really won't care how fast I reply as long as I do, and I did. He will probably be checking for a few days after sending it, anyways, since even intra-dimensional note sending like that is unreliable at best. If I were him, I would be surprised that it even made it here, especially since a jump like that could easily transfer the ink an inch away from the paper, and all that would come through would be a blank page. But if it worked for him, it will work for me, I hope...
“I understand that you don't like me using our parents' artifacts, but that is just because you had a bad experience with them. I haven't run into any ill-effects since I started using them a couple weeks ago.” Solaris said defensively, raising his nose in indignation as Artemis visibly seethed at his words.
“I had a bad experience!?!” Artemis shouted, teetering as he shook a hoof angrily, and had to quickly grabbed hold of the edge of Solaris' desk. “Woah... Uh...” His head swam, and he sat down hard on the floor of Solaris' office. Solaris jumped up, and rushed around to help his falling little brother. As he stooped to help Artemis back up, his cheek was met with a solid blow, and he went careening over his desk and into the wall behind. Solaris blinked, and carefully removed his horn from the hole it had made in the wall. He turned to look at his cackling little brother, who was still struggling to stand back up.
“Wow, that was a good right hook. Glad to see you are recovering, Arty.” Solaris deadpanned, and Artemis finally managed to stop laughing and get back up again. “You know there are other ways to solve your problems that don't resort to violence.” Artemis rolled his eyes and Solaris pushed his desk out from between them with a short flash of his horn.
The two brothers stared each other down, adjusting their stances to sparring position. “Yeah, well I think you are just getting soft, too much cake with that old cream-colored consort you managed to find in MY dreamworld.” Artemis snarled, beginning their time-honored tradition of insults before their occasional tussle.
“She is not old!” Solaris said defensively, stopping suddenly at the realization that Celestia was probably just as old as him. “Huh... I guess I never thought of that...” Artemis raised an eyebrow, a grin threatening to crack his serious and threatening composure. “Whatever the case, she is no consort!” Solaris said, snapping back to reality. “Though, with how she can move, you wouldn't know it.” He chuckled, raising an eyebrow at his bawdy quip.
Artemis blanched, trying desperately to clear the mental image from his mind. “Oh gross dude! Too much information! Keep your nighttime exploits to yourself, you pervert. Ugh, now I am going to have to go bleach the dreamscape just to keep me from thinking of that every night.” Artemis reared up on his hind legs, his wings spreading wide as he went to charge. “Come on, you don't want to go because you've gotten rusty!”
Solaris sighed, lit his horn, and a clicking noise filled the air. Suddenly Artemis' wings crumpled, his legs gave way, and he fell limp as a ragdoll to the ground. He looked up, and saw his older brother looking down at him, levitating several metal pins in front of him, his face a mixture of stern disapproval and freak hilarity. “Seems you are the only one who can get rusty, tin-pony.”
“Put those back in!” Artemis shouted from the ground, unable to move much of his body with the pins removed. “The doctors say I need those to recover! Do you want my bones to heal facing the wrong way?” Solaris just shook his head, obviously trying not to laugh, and took a shuddering deep breath to calm himself.
“Not until you apologize for insulting Celestia. She is the most vibrant and beautiful creation in the cosmos!” He said, trying to feign the petulant offense and self-righteousness of an insulted foal. Artemis huffed in frustration, rolled his eyes and offered a quick “Sorry”.
“See, that wasn't all that hard.” Solaris said as he re-installed the pins in Artemis' body. “We are made of sterner stuff, you don't need those to recover since you are an Alicorn.” The younger prince rubbed his shoulder as the bones clicked back in place, and experimentally flapped his wings a couple times.
“Yeah, but that doesn't mean they don't help. Plus, while the transformation into night-terror is painful enough, the change back is so much worse. I am surprised any of my bones were unbroken after that, especially since I was unconscious during it and fell so far. I guess I can thank the lower gravity of the moon for that.”
Solaris' stomach turned at the memory, and he felt a pang of remorse for his hoof in the matter. He closed his eyes, and teleported in Mother's Amulet and set it on the desk. He locked eyes with his brother, and gave a small grin. “I guess I have to drag the mirror back into the vault now... maybe I can get a few guards to help this time.”
Artemis raised his eyebrows and grinned in appreciation, putting a hoof over his brother's shoulder and pulling him into a brief embrace. “We should set up a new locking system on the vault that requires both of us to open it. Just in case, you know. Maybe Dusk could help us out, since he now knows about the vault, and since he is a prince too.”
Solaris smiled fondly at the mention of his former pupil, and nodded in assent to the idea. “I will go ask him, and have him start on that right away.” He said, regaining his usual bravado. “Umm, I don't think that would be a good idea right now... he... umm... is working on a little project for me.” Artemis said, glancing away from his brother in embarrassment.
“A project, eh? What is it this time, a new telescope or something?” The Solar Aspect asked, smiling internally that his student and brother were becoming such close friends. “Well... uh...” Artemis responded weakly, anxiously tapping his hoof. “You remember meeting Celestia's sister, right...?”
“Oh ho ho! My little bro finally shows he has an eye for the ladies! I knew you had it in you, it would just take the right mare.” Solaris burst out in almost paternal pride, patting his brother on the shoulder roughly. “So did you ask her to dinner? A moonlit walk? What?”
Artemis let out an umbrageous huff, glaring at his brother. “I said nothing of the sort, what makes you think I was even talking about... that?” Artemis said indignantly. “ I merely wrote her a letter, and asked to have a simple chat. Nothing romantic about it!”
“You always were a party pooper...” Solaris sighed, rolling his eyes. “Well, when you are done getting Captain Science to help plan your completely platonic play-date, could you send him to me so we can work on that lock?” Artemis rolled his eyes and nodded, walking out of the room. “Jeez, it seems like anything will set him off these days.” He glanced over to his desk, and his eyes alighted on the dark amulet lying on it. “While I am waiting, I guess I will visit the vault.” He picked up the necklace and teleported away.
~~~
Artemis walked into the study lounge near the guest quarters he and Dusk had commandeered, and looked around in amazement. Prince Dusk Shine had not only managed to fill the chalkboards on three of the room's four walls, but he had summoned his own free-standing boards to continue his computations and designs. Said prince was presently busy squeezing in another line of dimensional analysis at the bottom of his current board, wearing a concentrated expression and an odd looking band around his head. The band was some sort of black metal, etched with sygaldry and runes that would glow in alternating patterns in response to flashes of Dusk's horn.
“I can come back, if you are having too much fun or...” Artemis said jokingly to his friend, causing the purple alicorn to jump and drop eight separate pieces of chalk that Artemis had not noticed were writing around the room. “Oh! You scared me!” Dusk laughed as he stood up and turned to his friend.
“What were you doing?” Artemis asked, trying to decipher the neat but mind-bending labyrinth of writing around him. “Oh, I was just testing out a new design, fresh from the artificer's, while working out that spell you wanted for inter-dimensional scrying. Turns out you just have to have two identical mirrors. The bad news is that it can't be the magical mirrors you already have, because they are needed for the portal, and they have to be atomically identical, as in the same atoms in each dimension.” Artemis blanched “That won't be easy... is there any wiggle room?” he asked, not looking forward to the prospects of such a restraint.
“Well, yeah, with some occasional interference. If you are okay with it being an imperfect sympathetic link, I had a few ideas. Do you know if she has bought any mass-produced mirrors recently? Because I know for a fact that mirror-makers have high standards for their materials, even when made in groups. If she has a mirror like that, find the batch number, or even better, serial number, and you buy the one made in this dimension, it will be 90% the same atoms, or even more. With mirrors that similar, the only ill effects will be occasional breaks in connection, but not that often. Maybe 5 minutes every hour? Something like that.”
Artemis nodded thoughtfully. “That will have to do, all I need to do is wait for her to respond.” Dusk's eyes widened at that, and smiled sheepishly. His horn flashed, and a sheet of paper floated in front of the lunar prince. “What is this?” He asked, looking at his young friend questioningly. He opened it and began reading. “Oh, Princess Luna says that she is up for meeting, but has no idea of how to do so. If she is stumped too, that doesn't bode well. When did this come in?”
Dusk looked away and muttered “About an hour ago... or two? You know how time gets away from you when you are doing quantum sympathy...” He flashed the sheepish smile again as Artemis glared at him. “I know, I should have brought it to you as soon as it came in, but I was testing this thing out!” He explained, pulling the band off his head and levitating it between them.
“What is it?” Artemis asked, his frustration still present in his voice, to which Dusk flinched. “It is a magical spell-bearer. It was forged with some ground up crystal from the solid magic you brought to us in the Artificery. The sygaldry uses the magic of the band to power whatever spell is inscribed on it. I put three magical duplication runes on it, so I could write with one piece of chalk, and the runes would duplicate it to two, then four, then eight. I just had eight places where I wanted to put the same calculations for atomic similarity, since I was going to edit it differently in each case.” He explained, trying to distract his older friend from forgetting the note from Luna.
“So you are saying this band can hold a spell and be activated with a unicorn's magic? To what end?” Artemis said as he inspected the band, noting how the runes could be wiped off and replaced with a different spell if needed.
“No, it is activated by touch, I was just using it to augment my spell and casting Mage Hoof to touch it. I didn't need it, I was just experimenting with alternatives to tapping it each time I wanted to write. It is for non-unicorns on my team to use spells, like invisibility or teleportation, strength, anything like that. They would wear one under their armour, maybe behind a hoof or under a wing for pegasi. Then an earth pony guard could buck down a door and blind everypony in the room with a tap of the hoof.”
“Would it ever give out?” Artemis asked, intrigued by the possibilities, but mostly on an idea he was forming. Dusk shook his head and said, “Depending on how powerful the spell is, it could last years of constant use, or millions of repeated activations. Solid magic doesn't mess around you know.”
Artemis looked incredulously at him, and deadpanned, “Oh, I know.” then meaningfully glanced down at the scars adorning his body. Dusk facehoofed and chuckled, giving him and abashed smile.
Artemis chuckled to himself and smiled back at his friend to show he meant no harm, and Dusk visibly relaxed. His earlier thought sprung to mind, and the older prince inquired, “Dusk, do you have another of those bands? I could use one, actually for a small... errand I must run.”
Dusk looked down at the magical artifact and frowned slightly. “Sorry, this prototype is the only one I got, and I still have some testing to do on it. When I finish with modifying the designs, I will have another one crafted for you, though it will be a lot better than this old thing.” He chuckled sheepishly as he slid the band back onto his hoof.
“No! I need...!” Artemis shouted out suddenly, stomping his front hooves. Dusk stumbled back, his eyes wide in shock. “I need that...! GIVE IT TO...!” A vein stood out on the older pony's neck and his eyes opened and shut erratically. His wings spread out, and he stomped again, hard enough to shake the room. Dusk quickly tried to step away from his shouting friend, pulling the band away and protecting it. “YOU CAN'T STOP ME!!!” Artemis bellowed, his horn lighting up and his pupils narrowed menacingly to slits.
And just as sudden as it started, it stopped. Artemis' horn stopped glowing, his eyes changed back, and he fell limp to the floor. “Are... are you okay?” Dusk said tentatively, still crouching defensively. When he got no response, he quickly rushed over to check on the twitching and shivering prince on the floor. “Dude, I think you are having, like, a seizure or something. That's a thing that happens to ponies like you, right? You know, with the head trauma and stuff?” He blabbered, trying desperately to get a response as his friend blinked rapidly and shuddered in stuttering breaths.
A hiss filled the air, much like a balloon deflating, and Dusk looked around to find what was making the sound. He then looked down, and saw that the band around his hoof had faded to a metallic grey, much lighter than it had been before. In fact, he realized, this was the color the band should have been, since it was the color of the metal used to make it, sans the black of the crystal. He looked up to see Artemis had stopped blinking and hyperventilating, and was barely clinging to consciousness.
A few nudges to the prone prince caused him to stir, and he jerked his head up with his eyes wild and staring. His jaw worked wordlessly as he stared wide-eyed around him, making the eons-old ruler seem like nothing more than an over-sized foal's toy.
“Artemis!!! Artemis? What is going on!?!” Dusk asked his friend, trying desperately for some sort of response. To this, he was quickly successful, albeit in a less than favorable way than intended. His response came in the form of Artemis suddenly flailing in an attempt to stand, which sent him reeling away in shock and pain. Rubbing his cheek where a wayward limb had firmly connected, the younger alicorn looked back to see a determined, if a bit manic, look on his friend's face.
“It is not enough to lock it away. We must destroy it.” Artemis stated, bitter resolve and remorseful certainty lacing his tone. “Even beings as great as us are not worthy nor capable of wielding such power.” He turned, locking eyes with Dusk at the declaration. His gaze softened, and slight worry crept to the corners of his eyes. “Are you alright? I... I have done so much wrong. It is not my place to blame my actions on outside forces, nor discard my own guilt, so I apologize. Deeply and with every fibre of my being, I am sorry. Never have I felt so foolish as I do now, and I do not like it; I must make amends. But first, to the Vault!”
Dusk blinked slowly as the previously incapacitated alicorn charged past him wildly, his braced legs and casts making him wobble erratically. He shook his head and chased after him a moment later, following him out the door and down the hall. The two ponies wound their way through the corridors of the castle to the library, then down the secret stairs into the cavernous entrance of the Vault. As they arrived, Prince Solaris, along with a pair of solar guards, were replacing the bulky plates of their armour.
“Ah, Brother! I have done as I promised, and I even took time to think up a few ideas about a new locking system.” The white alicorn said, quirking an eyebrow at the panting duo, curious about their sudden appearance. Rather than responding, Artemis set straight to loudly chanting in Old Equestrian, causing the assembled ponies to cringe and cover their ears. “What are you doing!?!” Solaris shouted over the guttural and simultaneously screeching words of the ancient incantation his brother was uttering. Artemis squeezed his eyes shut as he grimaced in pain, faint greenish-purple tendrils coiled around his horn as he attempted the dark magic, feeling a sick agony as his broken body could barely handle the strain of the spell. When Solaris was ignored by the still reciting prince, he trotted over and shouted again. “You don't have to open it right now! Everything is sealed, and we will work on the lock elsewhere! Why are you trying to get in there?”
A few tears welled up in Artemis' eyes, and he turned from the guards and blinked them away, stopping his spell, letting out a heavy breath as his horn stopped searing with pain. “Mother's amulet must be destroyed. It is not only unsafe to use, but its very existence puts us all at risk. Puts... you all at risk.” He stated guiltily, avoiding eye contact with any of the ponies around him.
“What do you mean?” Solaris said, his voice concerned and fatherly as he approached his younger brother, placing a hoof comfortingly on his shoulder. Dusk, too, stepped closer, remaining a pace away from Artemis on his other side. The two guards looked at each other questioningly, but were cut short when they suddenly glowed gold and disappeared at a flash of Solaris' horn. Dusk stared at him with wide eyes until he mouthed “Upstairs” to his astonished student.
“Just a minute ago, you closed the Vault, yes?” Artemis asked shakily. Solaris nodded, sharing a concerned look with his former student. “Well, about a minute ago, the Daemon figured out it was about to be locked away... and...” He trailed off, looking to Dusk with an apologetic grimace.
“Oh... OH!” The purple alicorn said, suddenly connecting the dots of strange behavior and a certain magical artifact. “You mean to say that... even though you weren't Nightmare Knight, it could still... control you?”
“More like whispering to me, silently in the back of my mind. It wasn't him who made me shout, it was I... or what He made me think I was. While He couldn't use His powers through the amulet, He still could psychically connect with me, since I was His host in this realm, and that amulet is the gateway between realms. He exploited my emotions against me, turned my magic against me, used my life against me!” He began to weep, heavy tears falling to the cave floor beneath them. “He found all my anger, my contempt, my rage... and He made them his weapons. When I was annoyed by our niece the other day, rather than attempting to placate her child-like temper, He... no, I lashed out at her. When I saw that old painting of the defeat of Trigon, brother... I was not irritated or confused. No, without me even noticing, His whisper sharpened my response into anger, rage even. When I made it to the moon, only to find myself alone... all the negativity was enough for Him to crack His cage and slither out.”
Artemis' shaking legs gave out beneath him as he let out wrenching sobs. His wings flexed and he retched, his body physically attempting to purge itself. “I feel raw and chafed where His tendrils of malice snaked through my mind. His poisonous clutches corrupted my actions... but more than that, my thoughts, my mind... Me.” A few more heaves and he resumed his shuddering laments.
Solaris knelt beside him, gently patting his prone brother on the back, a look of stricken and disturbed understanding etched across his features.“I... am so sorry, little brother. I didn't know it could do that. Ugh! I am more to blame than even that monster!” Solaris said, realizing the depth of his mistake for the first time.
“No, all that... evil came from within me. All the Daemon had to do was point it in the right direction, and blind the rest of me.” Artemis said, half embracing his brother with a foreleg and outstretched wing. "I didn't even notice that I was overreacting, I didn't even see how angry I was, it didn't even register that the stones had turned black when I was purging. Usually they were clear, but with His taint... He managed to turn them all black, and corrupted their magic for His use. Looking back, it is like a different pony's memories.”
“Oh! That answers that.” Dusk said suddenly, causing the others to look curiously at him. “The band I made... it was black from the gem I used to make it, but when you closed the vault, it turned grey again, like the gem lost its color. I mean, it wasn't that important compared to you having a seizure or whatever, but it still, you know... bothered me.”
“So I guess that means my gems are now... daemon-free. That is... something, but the number I managed to amass while He was whispering to me is still entirely too many for safety's sake. I had started the practice with only a few gems at a time, just enough to maintain my Tantabus and keep it locked within my mind... as well as enough to power my lab and workout equipment.” Artemis said, chuckling lightly and sniffling pitifully at the mention of his private affairs that he had felt self-conscious about in the past.
“I didn't realize that you had so much built up anger, little brother. I know that I am likely to blame for no small share of that, but you have to understand that I thought you had a healthier way of letting it out. For me, a good drink at the officers' lounge will always quell the churning of my mind.” Solaris admitted, half grinning at his weak offer of advice.
“I always go for a night on the town with the guys when I get upset, that usually works for me.” offered Dusk hopefully, smiling at his friend. “That or some good hard studying in my library, though I am still trying to replace some books I lost in the old Library...”
“Yes, but I lack the crucial element to both of your plans. I have no lounge nor a rowdy group of officers to drink with. And as far as guys to bring for said night on the town, you two are my only candidates.” Artemis said bitterly, never having so bluntly said or even thought about his lack of real friends. “I have been on a long journey trying to adapt to this new world, and making friends is pretty far down the list, after things like 'update vocabulary' and 'catch up on current events'. A thousand years is a lot more than just great wars and changing empires. When I was banished, the great Griffon Kingdom were still little more than savage hunting packs. Never did I think I would bow in respect to one, but here we are allying with them!”
“I get it, there is a lot to do, but I can help you! I am not the Prince of Friendship for nothing, you know.” Dusk said, patting his friend's shoulder.
“You do not 'get it'. Nopony does, that is what I am saying!” Artemis cried out, shaking his head in dismay. “I will take your help, but even my brother, companion for the Eons, does not know what it is like. We may know each other well enough to never play chess for fear of stalemate, but I still hold resentment towards him, enough to make me turn from him in my hour of need.” He couldn't bare to look at Solaris, but he knew the look of offended concern that was on it.
“That is just what the Daemon made you do. That is why you have been acting so off recently!” The white alicorn asserted, moving so he could look his brother in the eyes. His heart fell at the despondent way his brother shook his head.
“No, that was my resentment, burning even back when the amulet was in the vault. All He had to do was turn that against you, drive you away, and He had more control. The less I controlled, the more He did, and when I lost my last spark of hope on the moon, He had enough to take my form. And with His fanning my issues' flames and encouragement to purge the pain, He had all the power He could ever want when He manifested. When I was freed, with the elements of harmony or otherwise, it cut Him off, yes, but He still remained, the pure construct of terror, in His realm. Just as the moon and the sun remain even without us, He too will still be there. That is why we must destroy the Amulet, for it is His only means of reaching me.”
The three princes looked at one another solemnly, thinking through the predicament they were in and finding no easy solution. “Not that I don't agree, but perhaps, just maybe could we wait on that? It is safe in the vault. We will get a new stronger lock. And we will be around for plenty of time, so what is the hurry?” Solaris said. When he saw his brother about to speak up, a look of angered confusion on his face, he added “Let us at least wait for you to be well. Then, when we have had a bit more time to think, we can go about the task of destroying one of the only things on this entire planet we have to remember our parents by.” With a gentle clearing of his throat and a hard swallow, he fought back tears, not wanting to show vulnerability in front of his little brother or student.
Artemis looked sadly at his brother for a time, then sighed. “I miss them too.” He shook his head, and locked eyes with his brother before continuing. “I want it destroyed, but I concede that we are not going to be... making a gift from Mother any time soon, so we shouldn't rush to destroy one.”
“Come on, let's go back up.” Dusk said gently, sensing an ease in the emotional tension. Solaris and Dusk helped Artemis up from the floor, and averted their eyes and made a show of adjusted their armor or otherwise busying themselves as he wiped his tears and sniffed. Artemis silently thanked them for at least attempting to respect his masculinity, though they all knew his true suffering was nothing that superficial. The three princes turned and walked somberly up the stairs in silence. As they reached the top, the pair of Solar guards jumped to attention, saluting the trio as if nothing had happened.
“At ease.” Solaris issued lightly, glad that his guards had remained respectful and professional. Remembering the manner in which they had parted, he added a quick “Sorry” and a rueful grin as the soldiers relaxed.
“Not a problem sir,” One of the stallions spoke out. “Though it was a bit startling, we are used to it by now.” The other stated confidently. Solaris smiled and mentally made note of their names for some sort of favor in the future. Good guards are hard to come by these days... not enough wars to weed out the weak ones, perhaps.
The princes began walking towards the sun wing of the castle, wordlessly agreeing to continue their conversation in the privacy of Solaris' quarters. “Well, it was a good thing that Solaris put those artifacts back, because if you had been doing it, who knows what would have happened.” Dusk said conversationally, trying to crack the iceberg of silence floating between them. “I will contact the medical wing to see if your seiz...” he trailed off as he noticed that Artemis had stopped dead in his tracks. What he had said clicked in Artemis' mind, and the blue pony abruptly turned and began hobbling off to the study lounge they had been using.
Sharing a confused and slightly irritated look of 'here we go again' the two remaining princes chased after him. When they arrived, they found the door hanging open, and Artemis inside, desperately scribbling on a sheet of notepaper. “What is wrong, Arty?” Solaris asked with a concerned yet condescending tone, almost like a parent talking to their foal.
“The only reason you were the one to put those artifacts in the vault was the fact that I was injured. If I hadn't been, but we were in the same situation, I would have been the one to return them, and then there would have been problems.” His fellow princes nodded along as Artemis worked through his train of thought, though he could tell they were wondering where this was going. “Well, there is a place where this situation is the same, minus injuries. Or should I say dimension...” He trailed off meaningfully, focusing back on his hasty letter.
Understanding hit the two confused stallions like a ton of bricks, and they quickly looked over at the mirror in the corner. “Now how to make sure it gets to her... or anypony, for that matter. If she is going to the vault, then this will just fall out of her mirror and sit on the floor of her room until who knows when.”
“You would put explosive runes on the page, coupled with a phantom observer. Everypony will be alerted to your message by that.” Solaris added, chuckling in an all too nostalgic way. “Though that would destroy the page and note...”
“We could send a page like that first, then send the note a little afterwards?” Dusk added helpfully, laughing at the idea of such a wanton abuse of dangerous magics. “But if there is anything flammable nearby, it could start a fire and burn the note anyways. Oh! A fireproofing spell on the note!”
“No fireproofing needed, because NO EXPLOSIVE RUNES!” Artemis shouted, making the other two princes laugh. “The last thing I want to do is destroy her room as well... and maybe even the mirror, which would break the link and...” He rambled furiously, his companions' humor irritating him further. “All this needs is a psychic wail spell on it, and that ought to get everypony to come running.”
“Still not as fun as explosive runes...” Muttered Solaris, a little crestfallen by the blatantly better plan that he regretted not using in his own experience. Artemis rolled his eyes and dropped some hot sealing wax onto the sheet. “Could you... umm...” he asked his older brother, a pang of bitterness in his voice. “I still can't do that much magic, so could you put the seal it with the spell?”
Solaris quickly nodded and pressed his telekinetically-formed stamp of the wail spell into the wax, sealing the letter. Dusk went to the mirror, and after a few moments of thinking, cast a spell that lit up the mirror with a brilliant lavender fire. Artemis looked enviously as his brother watched proudly, both amazed that the young prince could just figure out the spell with a few moments of thought. Dusk nodded back to his mentor, who added the final line to the rune and sent it through the mirror. Even in that short time it took to float the letter to the mirror, though, the three princes flinched at the shrill ringing at the back of their minds from the note.
A few moments later, a pair of guards busted into the room, looking around wildly until Solaris waved them off. “That is probably going to happen over there right about now. That should be loud enough to attract a lot of attention, at least until the seal is broken, and by extension the rune. Then the pony that reads the note will bring the note to whichever princess is closest, as per the directions, and hopefully the situation shall be solved.” Artemis said confidently, proud that he had overcome that obstacle.
While the three princes enjoyed peace and quiet for the first time in weeks, the same could not be said for those on the other side of the mirror.
~~~
The walls shook. The air crackled. The pair of Lunar guards that had accompanied Princess Luna to the library looked around in confusion, shouting silence at each other as the very air around them seemed to shudder.
A bright flash heralded the arrival of Princess Celestia, concern just showing through her stern and concentrated demeanor. She attempted to shout a command to the two dumbstruck guards, but found that she too was incapable of creating noise. She quickly evaluated her options and switched to a psychic command.
Her calming and motherly voice began speaking in the pair's minds. "Stop panicking and co..." But before she could finish the sentence, a shriek belted out in their minds , causing them all to cover their ears in a futile attempt to muffle the klaxon.
Confusion rolled over Celestia, and her perplexed expression undid any comfort she bestowed upon the two guards, who promptly lost it. One curled up in a ball on the ground, and the other ran around in circles flailing his wings wildly. Celestia would normally have laughed at the undisciplined show of panic, but their confusion caused it to actually affect her, making her heart beat quicken, her breath catch, and her concentration wane.
As suddenly as the screaming in their minds started, it stopped, though this did little to release tension from the air. Celestia shook her head in exasperation and ran down the secret stair, heading for the vault, and more importantly, her sister.
Nothing was making sense to the eons-old alicorn, and that was not a comfortable sensation. She knew something was happening with the Daemon, because she recognized the power rocking the castle to its foundation, but that was all. She didn't have a clue as to the reason the Daemon was manifesting, how it could do such a thing, and what that noise was.
Once she made it to the door of the vault, a few more things suddenly made sense, but they raised more questions than they answered.
There, with hoof raised and attempting to roll back the door, was Princess Luna, though she looked much more like Nightmare Moon at this point. Her coat was still midnight blue, but seemed to be flickering black at odd intervals, her pained expression showed one eye was hers, the other a menacingly familiar slit, even some of her teeth were crooked. This partway-transformed Luna was quite the spectacle by itself, but the pendant she bore was something else entirely.
While she had previously carried the amulet in her magic, it now was around her neck, and was hanging directly backwards, as if the wall opposite the doorway was the ground. From the depressions in the lunar alicorn's neck, it was clear that the amulet was actually pulling against her with great force. Then there was the amulet itself, which glowed blue from Luna's aura, apparently trying to remove it, while a thick and oily black magical aura also flowed from her horn that was counteracting her own efforts. Dark mana clung thickly to her horn, like a thick ink winding up its flutes, and Luna screamed in anguish.
Celestia sprung into action, her magic joining her sister's in battle against the tainted force. Her stomach turned as she felt the sickly embrace of the Daemon, and she recoiled violently. She shuddered in disgust, but immediately tried again when she saw the pure look of terror and agony carved into her sister's expression.
Steeling herself, she took on as much of the vile pressure as she could stand, and was relieved to see Luna relax slightly, and locked eyes with her. The two came to an agreement, and Celestia lurched forward, bodily pressing against the massive door along with her sister.
The Solar Aspect's strength should have made short work of moving the half ton of iron and stone, but a sickly volition held back against her, like bands of sludge strong as steel. The immense disk was not hard to move normally, but the black strings of magic coming from the amulet kept the door from moving, despite the two sisters' efforts.
Just as she was about to give up hope, she was surprised to see the pair of guards from upstairs run down to join them, jumping to their rulers' side and slamming into the door with all their might. That was all it took to get a rather shocked Luna to tumble over the threshold.
Dead silence bellowed, and stillness violently shook the four ponies assembled. "Huh." Was all Celestia could manage to get out, dumbstruck by the sudden change. "That was... I... thanks?" Luna replied a moment later, looking up with a dazed expression from the ground where she had landed.
The two lunar guards smiled at their liege on the floor, obviously glad they could help and overcome with relief that she was safe. When they looked over to the other princess, though, their smiles turned into abashed grins and sheepish grimaces.
Celestia rolled her eyes at them and rushed over to her fallen sister, who was struggling to sit up. "Are you alright, sister?" She inquired with a concerned voice reminiscent of a parent. Luna's mood soured slightly at that, but was surprised when she didn't get angry at the patronizing attention of her sister. She vividly remembered how interaction like this drove her to shouting matches with her sister before, but now she felt... light.
Looking down at the now-dormant medallion laying on the stone floor, a sick sense of realization set in. She looked up, wide eyed and sniffling slightly, to meet her sister's gaze. When their eyes met, she burst out crying, bitter, angry tears and heavy sorrowful ones streaming down her cheeks.
The guards immediately tensed up, looked at each other, and went back to the base of the stairs quietly. Celestia gasped at the sudden change of her sister's mood, and cradled her head in her hooves. Gently trying to comfort her bawling sister, her mind raced with possible reasons that her sister was crying. "What is wrong, Lulu? You are safe. No one is hurt. Everything is okay." She softly murmured.
"This... that thing... I never thought of... I didn't even notice..." Luna choked out between heavy sobs. She pathetically flailed a hoof at the amulet laying next to her, kicking it against the far wall of the vault annex. Catching her breath, she managed to form coherent thought again and shakily explained to her sister what had happened.
~~~
Artemis stalked back and forth between his brother and his friend, anxiously glancing to the mirror every once in awhile. Solaris had grown bored and was slightly fixing his beard in the mirrored surface of his removed helmet, while Dusk Shine was taking a demented interest in the mechanical symphony that issued from Artemis' body as he paced in the silent room.
"I am sure nothing is wrong, they just don't have time to send a letter back because they are... uhh... styling their manes..? Maybe one of them had a fashion emergency and they are waiting to reply till their dress gets mended."
Solaris almost choked and accidentally punched himself in the face at this, while Artemis stopped and looked at him with a withering glare. "Wow, and you are still single. I have no idea why." He said in complete deadpan, causing Dusk to blush indignantly.
"Hey, I mean, I know that is not all the issues that mares have, but they were the least serious I could think of. Sheesh, this is what I get for trying to calm you down."
Solaris chuckled, rubbing his snout as he looked over to his former student. “You really have to work on the whole latent sexism thing if we are going to be in contact with mares who could easily dye the oceans red with your blood."
Dusk scratched the back of his head and grimaced. "I guess it is just kind of weird to think about powerful mares like that. It seems to me that even though females make up such a small percentage of our population, a disproportionate majority of them are bizarrely unimportant. I don't think I can name many powerful mares other than Starburst the Braided, just because it seems that only stallions get important jobs or play pivotal roles, or even show promise in magical power."
The three stallions stood there pondering that peculiarity for a moment. "As far as I have learned from princess Celestia, the exact opposite is true for their realm. That includes her student, or former student I guess, Twilight Sparkle."
A twitch went through the young alicorn's expression as he faced the fact that there was a female counterpart for him as well in the parallel dimensions. He never doubted such a pony existed, he simply had never thought of it up until that point.
"Her name is Twilight Sparkle... huh. That sounds more like a villain name, or now reformed villain name at least." He quirked an eyebrow at this, and shook his head. "Must have been a popular naming convention back when I was born."
Solaris and Artemis looked at each other, Artemis raising his eyebrows and Solaris chuckling nervously. The two cosmic beings did not handle such a coincidence well, and Dusk could have sworn he heard a certain draconequus laughing hysterically somewhere far off.
~~~
Princess Luna let out a heavy sigh as she walked back into her room, feeling better than she had in a long time, partly from the weight of the Daemon leaving, but also from how good it felt to open up to her sister and cry a little bit. There is nothing wrong with a little weakness... She told herself, trying not to think about what kind of impression she had left on her personal guards, but deep down she was willing to admit that they knew her well enough to not care.
As she went to close her door, she smiled at said guards, and the pair bowed and gave a friendly smile in return. When she turned around, though, her smile vanished at the sight of her room. The desk was a mess; somepony obviously had searched it in a hurry, leaving papers and quills strewn about. She walked further in and saw the bathroom and closet doors were sitting wide open, and there was further evidence of an intruder.
She went back to the hall door and opened it, preparing to tell her guards to raise the alarm, but was met by not only her personal guards, but a pair from the castle patrol as well, breathing heavily as if they had just been running. “Your majesty! We have been looking all over for you!”
“I am here now. What is going on? My room has been ransacked, and I need you to stop whoever was so foalish as to attempt to burgle the Princess of the Night!” She said angrily, causing the guards to flinch and look sheepishly at each other.
“Look no further, we are the ones who did this. There was an alarm of some sort, and we had to search until we found this note.” One of the breathless guards said, shying away from the Lunar Aspect's wrath. “ I opened it to see what was causing the dreadful noise, and it stopped, but I have never heard anything like that before. Oh, and we didn't read it, so... uh... don't worry about that.” The second guard added, offering forth the page of parchment with a broken seal adorning its face.
“Thank you.” Luna said distractedly after a moment, glancing over the letter and recognizing the hoofwriting on it. The assembled guards blinked and looked at each other, surprised at how easy that went over with her. “Return to your...” Luna said as she slowly walked back into her room, reading the note from Artemis carefully. “Um... the, uh... posts.” She muttered as she closed the door again, leaving four confused stallions standing in the hall.
Luna couldn't believe how strange it was to read a warning of what just went on, in almost exactly her writing style. It was like she had written a note to herself from the future, and the idea was as bizarre as it was comforting.
After tidying up her room, she reorganized her desk and began to write a letter in reply to Artemis. After a few attempts, she settled on a polite enough response that also carried a good amount of gratitude and relief. She didn't want to get invasive, so she didn't ask about what happened on his side, though her mind was burning with curiosity as she sealed the letter.
Summoning her mirror, Luna then opened the portal again and sent the letter, taking a moment to gaze into the burning blue abyss thoughtfully. The way that Celestia and Solaris had used the amulet to meet gave her an idea of how to meet with Artemis, but she was not at all wanting to pull that cursed artifact back from the vault.
Once the mirror went dark, Luna strolled back to her desk and pulled out some parchment, dipping her quill and dabbing it absentmindedly. Hmm… if only there was a way to reproduce the enchantment… but those magics are far beyond anypony alive today… Father had been so attuned to the cosmic flow of power, that amulet was likely fused with pure energy…