//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Equestria: Civil War // by LightningSword //------------------------------// “Moon Dancer!”   Twilight smiled as she rose from her seat and trotted briskly to her old schoolmate.  “I can’t believe you’re here! I’m so glad to see—”   Igniting her horn, Moon Dancer conjured a thick blue shield around herself, repelling Twilight and sending her flying back several feet.   “I brought this up,” Moon Dancer spoke harshly, ignoring Twilight as if she wasn’t there, “after doing some research on your new little friend.”  She took her seat at the conference table, right across from the very pony she spoke of.  Moon Dancer stared daggers at her before mumbling, “I wish I could say it was a pleasure to finally meet you . . . Starlight.”  She spat her name out bitterly.   Starlight’s look of misery only worsened, and she dipped her head back down beneath the table.   “Wait a minute!”  Twilight returned to the table and stood beside Moon Dancer’s seat.  “You mean . . . you did this? You talked to Celestia behind my back?”   “If I spoke to you directly, Twilight, you wouldn’t have done anything,” Moon Dancer answered without even looking at her old friend.  “I needed to speak to Princess Celestia without anypony getting in the way. It would be easier for her to see reason that way.”   “What?!” Twilight shouted without entirely meaning to.  “Moon Dancer, how could you?! I thought the past was behind us! I thought we were friends—”   “You are the last pony to play the friend card on me, Princess!!”   Moon Dancer’s eyes seemed to boil in their sockets as she got up from her seat.  Twilight recoiled from both the look she got and the words she heard.   “We were friends, Twilight,” Moon Dancer continued.  “We’d buried the past. But then you decided to invite a known criminal to stay with you at your palace as if you’d known her as long as you’d known me! So, what use was I anymore, right? Why should you have anything to do with me knowing your conscience was finally clear? You ruined my life, then came back to apologize and throw me a party, and suddenly, everything was okay again, right? Business concluded, no need to bother with it anymore, out of sight, out of mind! Right?!”   Even Moon Dancer hadn’t realized her voice had slowly risen—and her eyes slowly tearing up—well into her tirade.  Fluttershy quietly sobbed in her seat as well, and Rarity held her hooves to her mouth in awe.   Twilight also stood in shock.  There was a long, brutal pause in which all language seemed to have been forgotten.  Finally, even Celestia blinked when the silence was broken:   “Is that what this is about?” Twilight finally replied.  “You think I turned my back on you again, and you went over my head to get back at me? Are you really that petty that you’ll try to take away Starlight’s freedom just because you think I made her your replacement?”   There was another pause, this one more intense than the last, as Moon Dancer stared at Twilight with tear-stained eyes.  Finally, she sniffed and made her reply.   “Starlight Glimmer is a criminal. She would have ended up in a dungeon, where she belongs, if it weren’t for you. She needs to pay the price for what she’s done.”   “Couldn’t have put it better myself,” Thunderbolt murmured from Celestia’s side.  The princess rolled her eyes.   Moon Dancer lit up her horn, and another small gem, similar to Celestia’s projector gem, floated out of the front pocket of her sweater.  It landed on the table, Moon Dancer tapped it with her hoof, and like the first one, this one displayed a scene in a shining square of light like a projector.   A scene of a long, white room full of cots was on full display.   “Ponyville Hospital,” Moon Dancer recapped.  “And the twenty-six victims of the destruction of Town Hall.”  The scene changed to a white Unicorn with a wild, electric-blue mane lying in one of the beds, bandages covering her limbs and her neck.  Next to her, a grayish Earth pony in a pink bow tie sobbed and held her hoof.   “They’re saying her neck was severely damaged in the crash,” Moon Dancer explained.  “She may never talk again.”  Pinkie gasped at this before the scene changed again.   Now, the scene displayed the ruins of Ponyville’s Town Hall building, now under busy construction.  On the ground, dashing back and forth, was the mayor; her mane was frazzled and her eyes were wide and swiveling in her head.  In her hoof appeared to be an abacus, on which she tallied the costs of the reconstruction.  It didn’t look pretty.  Applejack grimaced as they watched.   “And that’s not even the worst of it,” Moon Dancer continued as the scene changed once again.  On display now was another hospital scene, but one that was a bit different from the Ponyville Hospital.   “This only recently cropped up,” Moon Dancer kept on.  “We’ve only just now gotten wind of a group of ponies who were attacked by a mysterious assailant. One of them was a Unicorn named Star Song. Maybe the name strikes some of you as familiar . . . anypony? A hint, maybe? Hmmm?”   Twilight didn’t need to hear the name for her heart to plummet.  Just the sight of the similar-looking mane and coat colors was enough.  Off to one side, the group heard another throat-clearing sound, and turned to see Thunderbolt rubbing his eye briefly with his hoof.   “Your sister . . . .”   “My sister! Good answer, Princess,” Moon Dancer snapped.  From beneath the table at Starlight’s seat, a small, terrified squeak could be heard.   “These ponies have been in a coma for the last three days,” said Moon Dancer, “and nopony has heard a thing about it. Can anypony hazard a guess as to why? Hmm? Anypony?”   “Moon Dancer, enough,” Celestia spoke at last, making several ponies jump as she did, “I think they get the point.”   “Well, yes,” Moon Dancer sighed and pressed on.  “Their situation has been overshadowed by Little Miss Perfect here and her foul-up in Ponyville. They were attacked by a powerful magic, and the counter-spell for it is still being developed. And where did this attack take place, I wonder? Canterlot!!”   The last word was so loud and so sudden, Pinkie and Rarity jumped again, Fluttershy yelped, and even Dash gasped where she sat.   “Yes,” Moon Dancer said, nodding while the screen of light blinked out.  “While you and your prize pupil were out destroying Ponyville, these innocent ponies almost lost their lives. It’s obvious evidence of an increase in crime rates since Twilight’s ascension. Some mad Unicorn almost killed seven ponies, in our own capital city, and nopony cared. All because she had to drop a building!”   “That’s enough, Moon Dancer!” Twilight had finally had enough.  “As your friend, I understand your frustration, but as a Princess of Equestria, I order you to cease and desist—”   “Sorry, Twilight,” Moon Dancer barked back, “but I reported to Princess Celestia, remember? She outranks you!”   At her seat, Princess Celestia heaved a deep sigh and dipped her head down.   “Princess, please!” Twilight said to Celestia, her eyes starting to quiver.  “I understand why you had to set this all up. I really do. But Starlight Glimmer really is trying to be a better pony! Nothing that happened in Ponyville that day was her fault! She never meant to hurt anypony! I beg you, please reconsider! If I ever meant anything to you, as a student, and a colleague, or as a friend, then please think about this!”   Celestia’s eyes were squeezed shut as she sat, head bent, in her seat.  Another deep sigh from her was the only sound during yet another weighty, strenuous silence.   “I’m sorry, Twilight,” Celestia said morosely, “but if I see a situation turning for the worse, I can’t ignore it. Even though the accident with the Town Hall building was just that, it still wouldn’t have happened if you had been stricter with Starlight. And it was her decisions that day that led to the building’s destruction. Ordinarily, I would agree with Moon Dancer’s proposal and have Starlight, and every villain you’ve ever granted amnesty to, imprisoned for their crimes against Equestria and its citizens.   “However,” Celestia continued, and Twilight felt her heart dance with a newfound hope, “I have seen Starlight’s attempts at bettering herself. And she did help fix the map inside your palace. So she does show initiative in earning forgiveness. It is with all this in mind that I must make a preliminary decision . . . all former villains must answer to a checks and balances system imposed by the Equestrian diarchy.”   “’Checks and balances’?” Rainbow Dash spoke up.  “What the hay is that supposed to mean?”   “It means,” Thunderbolt answered irritably, “that the actions of former threats to Equestria now acting on its behalf—including that chaotic freak, the obnoxious showmare, and you too, Starlight—will have to be monitored by authorities in case of a relapse in evil behavior during a mission.”   “Not as much ‘evil’ as ‘potentially life-threatening’,” Celestia added.  “And until we can implement such a plan, no such missions shall be carried out. I will discuss the proposal with my sister tomorrow, and we will send the word throughout Ponyville to vote on the matter once details have been set in stone. Expect an announcement of our final decision within at least one month.”   Another painful pause struck the conference room, only punctuated by the soft sound of Starlight fidgeting in her chair and sitting upright again.  The other six mares (sans Twilight) glanced back and forth amongst each other as they wordlessly weighed Celestia’s final words.   Moon Dancer broke the silence by leaning toward Twilight and muttering, not without triumph, “Just so you know, I’ll be voting in favor of the proposal.”   “As will I,” Thunderbolt added gruffly.  “When the heroes make mistakes, the ramifications make them no better than the villains. And if we can’t trust you, we’ll just have to muzzle you.”   With no other words, both Moon Dancer and Thunderbolt got up and started toward the entrance.  Moon Dancer swept up her hologram gem in her magic and pocketed it before turning to walk out of the room.   “Moon Dancer!”   The impulse to call out to her was too strong for Twilight.  Moon Dancer stopped, allowing Thunderbolt to leave, but she did not turn.   “Please . . . don’t do this . . .” Twilight choked, now shaking and holding back tears, “we can still talk about this . . . .”   “There’s nothing left to talk about, Twilight,” Moon Dancer retorted.  “You need to be put in check. Whatever form that takes, I’m fine with it. You should start getting used to it, as well.”  Moon Dancer started walking again, and Twilight sat down on the floor, her heart evaporating as she watched her former friend trot away.  She almost made another attempt to stop her and fought it, even as Moon Dancer touched a hoof to the door of the conference room . . . .   “I’M SORRY!!”   Everypony froze as the scream echoed from one wall to the other.  Moon Dancer stopped again, this time turning around with wide eyes at the sound of the desperate voice.  It wasn’t Twilight’s.  It wasn’t even Celestia’s.   It was Starlight’s.   “I’m sorry, Moon Dancer!” Starlight repeated, knocking over her chair as she bolted out of it.  “Everything I’ve done, I’m sorry! I’d give anything to go back and do things differently! I’d do anything for forgiveness! Whatever it takes, I want to make up for this! Please, just tell me there’s a chance you can forgive me and we can start over! Please! I’m begging you, please forgive me!!”   Starlight stood on trembling legs, and tears ran in endless streams down her face.  Fluttershy started softly crying again, as well, and even Rainbow Dash tried to cover up a tear sliding down her own cheek.   Moon Dancer stared at the begging Unicorn for a good few minutes without speaking, and the tension was wound tighter with each passing second.  Soon, Twilight could hardly bear it.   “There’s no way for you to earn my forgiveness,” Moon Dancer said coldly, “but there is a way things can start over.”   “What? What is it?!” Starlight begged.  “Just name it! I’ll do anything!!”   There was another pause as Moon Dancer aimed a heartless stare at Starlight.   “Just go back in time again and make it so you never met me.”   And with that, Moon Dancer pushed open the door and walked away.