Storms On the Horizon

by Eeveexpert

4 - Nighttime Stories

Twang!

Sssss-thunk!

"A little too much to the left..." the unicorn sighed.

Another arrow magically floated out of the leather-bound quiver strapped to the white pony's side. The icicle-sharp projectile glided up to the equine's face, where she studied it intently with her dark blue eyes. Rainbow Dash is taking all of this very hard... I've never seen the poor dear so shaken up before... Still guided by magic, the arrow nocked itself upon the suspended bow. In one fluid movement, the unicorn drew the bowstring taut... Draw... she sighted down the shaft... Aim... Finally, she took a deep breath, and... Release...!

The crisp Twang! of the bowstring reverberated through the still night air.

Thok!

"Exceptional shot, Miss Rarity. Dead center."

"Thank you, sir..." the unicorn mare replied absentmindedly. Her focus remained on the quivering arrow protruding from the bull's-eye at the far end of the range. Before long, she had selected another arrow and sat it upon her bowstring. One more Twang! later, and the new arrow was on its way downrange.

It was hard to tell in the low light, but if one looked just so, they would see that the second arrow had been split, nock to tip, by the third. This was quite the achievement, but the mare's expression remained unchanged. There really wasn't much to smile about at the moment. Sighing, she propped the bow up against the small table next to her and picked up the small bottle of sparkling water from said table.

"Are you finished for the night, Miss?"

Swallowing her sip of her beverage, Rarity glanced at the pegasus guard standing at attention several yards away. "No, I'm not quite finished yet. Although, it is getting rather late, isn't it?" she remarked, noting the height of Luna's full moon. "You do look like you've had quite a full day, too... If you wish, you may retire for the night. I shouldn't think I'll be too much longer."

The armored stallion adamantly shook his head. "I appreciate your concern, Miss Rarity, but I must refuse. Our weather teams have been carefully monitoring several rogue storms over the Everfree Forest. Following today's affairs, Her Majesty Celestia has ordered every member of the Royal Air Guard to remain on full alert. I'm afraid I am not permitted to let you out of my sight while you are outside the palace. My apologies."

"No need to apologize, sir. If such is the case, I shall be done within the next five minutes." The unicorn picked up her bow and faced the archery range once more. She had just drawn back another arrow when...

"Princess Luna, milady, it is an honor to have you join us during this beautiful night you have given us."

"Wait, did you just say Princ- Waahaah!" Surprise caused the white pony's magic to yank back heavily on the bowstring as she looked over her shoulder, but only for a second. She quickly lost her grip and the arrow streaked off into the night sky. Standing before her was the younger of the two royal sisters; a tall alicorn with a smooth navy blue coat and a star-filled mane and tail that glittered mysteriously and danced with a life of their own. The jewelry and boots she wore twinkled and shimmered as though they had been forged from the night sky itself. "P-princess Luna...! Your Majesty..." The violet-maned unicorn bowed respectfully, if a little hastily, in the presence of the royal alicorn. "Forgive me, your Highness; I must look simply dreadful... My mane is a mess, my hooves are-"

The winged unicorn laughed; not quite the reaction Rarity was expecting. "Oh, that's quite all right; I don't mind at all."

"Re-really?" Rarity stammered, hesitantly looking up at the princess.

"Really. That's another thing; everypony's always afraid to look me in the eye. Although," Luna added, a little nervously, "a good deal of that is probably my fault. I...presume that Twilight told you what happened last Nightmare Night?"

The diamond-marked pony slowly stood up, and cautiously met the alicorn's eyes. "A little of it, yes. I am terribly sorry that I was absent for your visit, your Majesty."

"That's quite all right. I'll admit that I did get a little carried away. The spiders, the shouting, the lightning... Things have really changed in the last 1,000 years." she mumbled sheepishly. "So...what exactly were you doing out here at this hour?"

The wayward arrow that had taken to the sky earlier couldn't have picked a better time to return to the earth. It reappeared in the blink of an eye, embedding itself in the table, right next to Rarity's drink. Luna flicked the vibrating arrow with a hoof. "Ah, I see. I don't recall any of Twilight's letters ever mentioning that you practiced archery."

"Not to be rude, your Highness, but how do you know of Twilight's letters?"

"Whenever 'Tia finishes reading one, she lets me borrow it so I can copy it down and learn a little something about friendship, because, well...I've been a little out of practice lately... That's not to say that I haven't learned a lot, however; your friend is very studious."

Rarity nodded in agreement. "She is indeed. At any rate, archery is something that I just picked up in my spare time. Idle hooves, as they say. Orders for dresses have a habit of coming in a very irregular fashion, if you'll pardon the clothing humor. If you think about it, archery is very much like making a dress. Threading the needles, drawing the bowstring, and so on."

"I can see how that would be true." Luna agreed. "But practicing at night? I don't often make my moons this bright."

"That's...easily explainable, too. As you could very well imagine, everypony is quite upset about today's events. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie have barely spoken to anypony and my mind has been galloping in so many directions, there isn't the slightest chance of me getting any sleep."

"I can understand." Luna nodded sagely. "From what I've read, you all seem very close. I know I have not really had the chance to really sit down and get to know Twilight, but I am just as concerned."

"Thank you, milady."

"Enough of those silly titles. 'Luna' will be quite all right. Now, if you wish, you're more than welcome to join me back in the study if you think that would help take your mind off things. I was about to do a little research on our current situation, and I wouldn't mind a little help."

"Thank you for the offer, and I don't mean to be rude in saying this, but I couldn't. I feel as though I should look in on my friends and try to get some rest. I would probably be more of a knot in your mane than anything else."

"If you insist." the princess replied simply.

The white unicorn nodded. "I do. It was a pleasure talking with you, mil-Luna." As Rarity passed the guard, she bowed her head in thanks. "Thank you very much for your patience, sir."

"My pleasure. Enjoy the rest of your night, Miss."

"Oh, before I go, could you direct me to Rainbow Dash's room? I'd be most grateful."

"Of course. Head left down this hallway and take your first left. That should take you to a staircase. Once you are at the top, Miss Dash's room should be the first on the right." the guard pony instructed.

"Thank you." Rarity bowed once more and took her leave.

"Are you retiring for the night as well, your Majesty, or do you plan to return to your study?" the white pegasus asked as Luna came back inside.

"Yes, I was planning to keep studying. I'd feel better if I could figure something out, no matter how small."

Very well. Do you require any further services from me?"

"I should be fine for the nigh-" The pony paused and looked up at the ceiling. "Actually, yes, there is. Stop by the kitchen and have the cooks begin preparing a dozen scones. Send half of these to Rarity and her friends. I think they could use something to eat. Also, have the cooks start boiling some water for tea. I'll be down shortly to pick it up. After that, have guards stationed at each of our guests' rooms. We can't have a repeat of today's incident."

"At once, milady."

"Very good, Lieutenant. You may go." Luna waved off his salute and watched as he subsequently turned and marched away. Waiting until she was sure he was out of earshot, she let out her held breath. "'Milady' this, 'your Majesty' that. How in Equestria has 'Tia put up with it for so long? It's already driving me insane..."

-------------------------

Rarity had little trouble in locating Rainbow Dash's room after following the directions from the guard. Despite the hour, something told her that her friend wouldn't be asleep yet. The unicorn raised a hoof and knocked quietly upon the door. To her surprise, the door wasn't locked, let alone latched, and it slowly swung open, creaking softly. Rarity's intuitions had been correct; the rainbow-maned pegasus was still awake. She was sitting silently at the window, idly tapping a hoof against the stone sill. However, there was one more pony in the room than the unicorn had initially seen. "Pinkie Pie, dear, it's getting awfully late. What are you still doing up?"

The aptly-named pink pony that was lying upon the bed looked up and blinked sleepily. "Hiiiii..." she mumbled, sounding as if she was forcing herself to sound happy and upbeat.

"But what are you doing in here, darling?"

"I kept having these really scary dreams every time I fell asleep. Like really, really scary. I came in here to see if Dashie was having the same problem, but she says she hasn't even gone to sleep yet. She's been sitting at the window since I came in." The curly, pink-maned pony let out a long, depressed sigh. "I don't blame her..."

"I understand you're upset, Rainbow Dash, but you should try and get some sleep anyway." Rarity urged, lightly laying a hoof upon her friend's shoulder.

The sky-blue pony snorted indifferently and shrugged off the unicorn's hoof. "I'm not tired..." she muttered.

"Okay... That doesn't mean that you couldn't try to go to sleep anyway. Things always seem better after a good night's rest."

"She's right, Dashie." Pinkie chimed in, hopping off the bed. "Whenever I'm feeling down, I always like to have a really biiig piece of cake and take a nice long nap. It always helps me!"

The unicorn couldn't help but flash a confused glance at the pink earth pony. "In that order, dear? Really?"

Pinkie Pie forced a grin onto her face and shrugged. "What? It works for me..."

"Just...leave me alone... Just go..." Rainbow Dash sniffed. Not bothering to see whether or not her friends had taken her advice, she continued murmuring to herself. "I couldn't do it... I...wasn't fast enough..."

"Rainbow Dash, darling, you did all that you possibly could have done..."

The pegasus shook her head. "No, I didn't... I could have gone faster..."

"C'mon, Dashie, turn that frown upside-down. How could you have flown faster than a Sonic Rainboom?"

"Augh! You don't get it!" For the first time since Rarity had entered the room, the pegasus turned to face her. The pony's expression was a frightening mix of anger, sadness, and deep regret. "Neither of you do! I could have done something! For Celestia's sake, I'm supposed to be the Element of Loyalty! Bottom line: Twilight needed me and I wasn't there for her! I...failed..."

As the multi-colored pegasus sank to the floor, slowly dissolving into a puddle of angry tears, Rarity could feel her heart moving in the same direction. What is happening to all of us? she thought. This is tearing us apart...

-------------------------

Luna's trip back to her room didn't take very long either. Several hallways and an equal number of staircases later, and she was in her private quarters. Just inside the alicorn's room, a little off to the left, was her own private study, walled in by three fully stocked bookcases. Even more books were spread upon the finely crafted desk in the center of the room, mingling with scrolls, quills, and a candle or two.

The princess made a quick lap around the room, carefully scrutinizing the shelved books, selecting one from here and a few from there. She placed the stack of books upon the desk and turned around to head back down to the kitchen as she had promised. She made it no further than her door. A pony dressed in typical chef's garb stood just outside, a serving cart before him.

"Here are half a dozen freshly baked maple scones and a kettle of boiling water, along with a selection of our finest teas, as you requested, your Highness."

Luna was a little surprised to see the head chef at her door. "Oh...my... You didn't have to bring that all the way up here. I was just on my way down to the kitchen to come get these."

"Nonsense. It was my pleasure. Will this be all for you tonight?"

"Yes, this will be fine. Thank you, Five Star." The familiar glow of magic surrounded Luna's horn as she removed the silver platter from the cart. "Have you taken the other scones to our guests yet?"

"Of course. Just as you requested."

"Very good. Enjoy the rest of your night."

"You too, Princess." The chef pony bowed respectfully and left to return to his kitchen.

At least he didn't call me "milady." the horned pegasus chuckled to herself. This time, as she closed the door behind her, she made sure to lock it; she wanted no further interruptions. "All right... Back to wor- Wait a minute... What's this book?" Out of the clutter on the desk, one book in particular stood out to the pony; a rather thick volume, bound in fine black leather. Attached to the front cover was a short message. Luna easily recognized the writing upon the parchment.

"Here's the book you wanted to read. I wanted to get into it a little bit more, but after what happened today, I don't have the time. I hope that you can take a longer look at it and perhaps shed some light on what's going on.

Love ya, sis,

'Tia."

Luna pulled the note off the book and looked at the gold calligraphic text of the title. "A Brief History of Harmony and Discord... 'Tia must've left this for me while I was outside. Looks like as good a place as any to start." Before she dove into the book, Luna picked out several bags of crushed rose petals and rosehips from the serving tray. These she put into the kettle so that the boiling water could do its work while she did hers.

Of course, it made sense to start at the beginning of the book, and as the pony opened to the foreword, something jumped out at her. "This work seeks to explain the many intricacies of the mysterious forces at work in our world today, collectively known as 'Harmony,' and those ponies that have wielded them." Luna read out loud. "As you read on, keep in mind one simple fact. Know that everything in this world, even the governing force of Harmony, has an opposite equivalent and is not always as it appears; good and evil, light and dark, so on and so forth."

Separated from this ominous-sounding reminder, farther down the page, was another line of text that appeared to be a quote of some kind. "Not every cloud has a silver lining, but everything good has something evil to go along with it." Strangely enough, this quote was not followed by any sort of name, not even "Anonymous." Interesting... Luna folded the top corner of the page down for later reference and flipped past the various dedications and introductions to section one, entitled Exploring the Elements: An in-depth look at each individual Element.

"Perfect." the blue alicorn mumbled around a mouthful of scone. Phoenix-feather quill and fresh parchment at the ready, she dove into the first section. With each hour that passed, Luna found herself a few more pages in, with several more scrolls of notes on the table, and one less scone on the plate.

Things were refusing to add up however. The beginning of the section had distinctly mentioned all six Elements, from Honesty to Magic. As she read, Luna had noted that each Element had a very thorough chapter dedicated to it. At least until she got to Magic. "Wait a minute... There's almost nothing here." Confused, she flipped back a page to see if she had missed something. "Nope... That's not it. Odd...there's barely even a paragraph for the Element of Magic. Even then, it just mentions it as a 'key.' That's it..."

A quick set of knocks at the princess' door interrupted her confusion. "Luna? Are you still awake?"

'Tia? The blue pony looked up from her book and ran to the door. The winged unicorn on the other side was lacking her tiara and usual accoutrements, but it was indeed Celestia. "You look awful, sis! What are you doing up? It's still the middle of the night."

The tall white alicorn blinked sleepily and yawned. "I know, but I'm waiting for Applejack and Fluttershy to arrive. Their chariot is long overdue and I'm becoming worried. I need somepony to talk to. May I?"

"Of course! C'mon in." Luna saw something in her sister's eyes; something other than fatigue. She took a step back and allowed the white pony to enter.

Celestia's gaze quickly fell upon the cluttered desk within the study. "You look as if you've been quite busy tonight. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"No, you're fine, 'Tia. I was just looking through that book you left me."

"Oh. Please tell me that you've figured some of this mess out." Celestia sighed, a touch of desperation in her voice.

"Sort of..." Luna answered hesitantly. She looked toward the book laying open upon the desk and followed it as it magically floated back to her. "Look at this." The slightly yellowed pages flipped backwards, to the dog-eared page with the strange quote.

"Not every cloud has a silver lining, but everything good has something evil to go along with it..." Celestia stared intently at the passage as something long since buried in a millennium of memories squirmed to free itself. Why does this sound so familiar? Where have I seen this before? Finally, like a drowning pony breaking the water's surface, it came to her. "That's it..." she murmured distantly.

"What's it?" Luna looked at the quote in confusion, then to her sister, and finally back at the text again. "Have you seen this before, 'Tia?"

The white alicorn princess nodded. "Let me see the book for a minute." Two pages before the enigmatic quote was the standard publishing information that all books possess. "Here. Read the publication date."

"December 22nd, 1010. What abou... Oh, right... That's one thousand years ago..." she mumbled.

"One thousand and one, actually, give or take a few months. This book was published one year after our..." The princess paused, unsure of how to breach the delicate subject.

"Disagreement?"

"Yes, that's a good way of putting it. Thank you, Luna. This book was written and published one year after our disagreement, in an attempt to explain just exactly what the Elements of Harmony were and how they worked. It also tried to explain why there were so many rogue storms in Equestria at the time."

"Wait, what?" Luna looked like she'd just been slapped. "So what's going on now has already happened?"

"Yes. There just isn't a pony alive that still remembers it. I'm the only one that does. Even back then, those storms were searching for something, just like now."

"But what exactly are they looking for?"

Celestia sighed and closed the book. She slowly walked over to a window and stared out into the night sky for some time. When she spoke again, her tone was very shaky. "I-if you...had asked me that two days ago... I...I couldn't have told you... A-after today, though...I...I..." The alicorn trailed off, refusing to finish her sentence.

"What's the matter, 'Tia? You look like-" It was Luna's turn to trail off, as her question was answered by a single tear dropping to the window sill. She'd never seen this before, not from her sister.

"I know what you're thinking, Luna...but there's something that you should know about that night all that time ago. That night... That night was the worst night of my life. I don't think I've ever shed so many tears in my life. For a week, I would cry myself to sleep, wake up an hour later, and keep on crying. I cried so long, and so hard, I actually believed that there weren't any tears left in me. For almost one thousand years, that was true; nothing could compare to what had happened between us. Until, that is, I met one pony. In that instant, I knew if anything should ever happen to her...it would bring those tears back..."

"Twilight..."

Celestia nodded weakly. "Yes... She reminded me so much of you... I had already failed to protect you, Luna... I swore to myself that I wouldn't make the same kind of mistake again. So much for that promise..."

Luna nudged her sister in her trembling shoulder. "It's not your fault, 'Tia. You can't be everywhere at once."

"T-that's true..." she sniffed. "But I could have paid more attention to what was going on. I should have done something the instant I saw the storms turn toward Ponyville. I saw all of the signs, just like I did with you. You weren't acting like yourself, you weren't the Luna I knew. By the time I knew something was terribly wrong, that evil force already had you tightly in its grip. I could have stopped it if I had acted sooner...and now...that evil force has returned, again taking s-somepony close to me... I...I'm sorry, Twilight..."

"I wouldn't worry too much, 'Tia. You've told me great things about Twilight, and from the time I spent with her, even though it was very short, she seems as though she has a smart head on her shoulders."

"Y-you're right, Luna. I shouldn't be worried. Twilight is a very smart pony. She'll be fine. Still, I can't help but worry as to why she was taken to begin with."

"About that, 'Tia. I found some-"

Luna's news would have to wait until later. Out of nowhere, Lieutenant Jet Stream appeared at the open door. "Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! Your Majesties! Your presences have been requested at the main gate!"

After exchanging confused glances, the sisters followed the lieutenant down numerous hallways and staircases toward the palace's main door. "What is the problem, Jet Stream?" Celestia asked over the rapid clicking of three sets of hooves upon the marble flooring.

"Your guess is as good as mine, your Highness." he replied. "One of the guards on watch said he spotted something approaching the palace."

"Not again... Once a day is more than enough..." The alicorn's violet eyes glinted angrily.

The trio slowed to a halt as they approached the main gate. "Open the gate..." Celestia ordered coldly.

The sight beyond the imposing double doors was not one that any of the three ponies expected to see. Two pegasus stallions, clad in a damaged variant of the typical armor issued to the Royal Air Guard, stood, exhausted from their quick flight.

Jet Stream instantly recognized the two guards. "Cirrus! Wind Shear! Where have you-"

One of Princess Celestia's majestic wings flicked out, cutting off her lieutenant both physically and verbally. "At attention! Quickly!" she barked.

The pair of guards scrambled to stand up straight and salute. "At once, your Highness!" they replied simultaneously.

"Excellent. Full report!"

"We had no trouble locating the ponies you asked for."

Celestia's eyes narrowed darkly at the pause in narration. "Then where are they, pray tell?" Understandably, the guards were quite nervous under the princess' cold, scrutinizing stare. "Well?"

Finally, one of the armored pegasi mustered up the courage and stepped forward. He swallowed visibly and launched back into his narrative. "We were able to take off without any problems. However, as we passed over the Everfree Forest... We...we lost the chariot..."

"How exactly does one just lose a chariot?" The princess' voice was quickly becoming frustrated.

Luna noticed this and gently nudged the white alicorn. "Calm down, 'Tia." she whispered. She flinched a little as she was smacked in the face by the feathers of Celestia's other wing.

"Hush. What happened to the chariot? How did you lose it?" Celestia repeated.

"A bolt of lightning cut the chariot loose from us and knocked us from the sky over the Great Scar. Since then, we've been picking our way through the forest until we were free of it. That's why we arrived so late."

"I see... Am I to assume that General Headwind followed the chariot down?"

"Affirmative. His orders were for us to return to Canterlot and find you if anything were to happen."

"Very good. The two of you have had a long day. You are dismissed."

The guard ponies bowed respectfully and rapidly took their leave. Perhaps they too could sense the princess' mounting irritation? "Shall I ready a combat squad?" Jet Stream asked the princess as the guards galloped away.

Celestia shook her head. "A regular combat squadron would draw too much attention to us. I want this operation to be as covert as possible. Ready the G.R.A.S.S. team. We will be moving within the hour."

"'We,' your Majesty?"

"Yes, Jet Stream. I will be leading this mission. I have observed from the sidelines for long enough; this time I take action."

"Forgive my saying so, Princess, but with regards to the day's events, I suggest you reconsider."

The alicorn turned a smoldering glare on the lieutenant, causing him to flinch. "Are you disobeying a direct order, Jet Stream?"

"N-not at all, your Excellency. It is just my opinion that-"

Celestia's gaze softened slightly as she spoke. "Jet Stream, you have served in my Royal Air Guard for many years and I do respect your opinion. However, this is not something I will be swayed upon. Too many things, today included, have only come to pass because of my lack of action. Send word to the armorer, have him begin preparing my armor. Quickly!"

Jet Stream gave a militaristic salute. "Yes, your Highness!" Soon, he too was off down the hallway.

"Come with me, Luna. I need to talk with you."

The blue alicorn watched as her sister started after the lieutenant. What's wrong, 'Tia? You don't often get like this. The last time I remember seeing this side of you was back while we were fighting against-

"Luna!"

"C-coming!" she stammered.

"Listen to me carefully, Luna." the elder princess instructed. "I do not foresee this...errand of mine taking more than a few hours, but in the event that I am wrong, I want you to raise the sun in my stead."

"Really? You've always done that, 'Tia. You think I'm ready for that?"

"I know you're ready."

The sisters rounded a corner and entered a massive chamber lined with dozens of variations of the standard Royal Guard armor. Against the far wall was a highly ornate, glass-doored cabinet housing two sets of armor, vastly different from the numerous other sets in the room. These two sets were identical in every way, save for their color. One of them seemed to act as its own light source, gleaming a bright golden yellow. The other one was forged from a nearly pitch-black metal that absorbed any and all light that came near.

"Princess Celestia, your Majesty." A unicorn garbed in a brown blacksmith's apron appeared from a small room alight with the glow of burning coals. "Jet Stream told me you would be coming. Your armor is ready and waiting."

"Very good. Begin my fitting."

"At once." The golden armor pieces drifted out of the cabinet, guided by the blacksmith's steady magic. "Pardon me, your Highness, but would you raise your wings? Thank you." Two parts of a magnificently crafted breastplate, floated up around Celestia's neck and fastened themselves together. A specially made helmet and knee-high leg armor, also made from the same golden metal, completed the ensemble.

The alicorn shrugged slightly to better adjust the armor over her back. It had been quite some time since she had last worn this. "All right, Luna, you're in charge until I return." Without waiting for an answer, the princess turned away and headed for the exit.

"Wait up, sis'!" Luna called after her. "I need to tell you something!"

"Don't worry; I know you can handle being-"

"Just stop and look at me, 'Tia!"

The desperation in her sibling's voice surprised the winged unicorn and she faced the smaller pony. "What is it?"

"P-promise me that you'll come back..."

Celestia smiled at her sister's concern. "I'll be back. Promise." She lowered her head and met the younger princess in a sisterly embrace.

"Please be careful, 'Tia..."

Comments

[Starcat5]

7958 It is worse than that. Rainbow Dash is accounted for, which means that their "Power Source" is most likely Twilight! These bucking Nightmare worshipers have crossed a line, and `Tia is about to go all "The Sun is Tired" all over their flanks!

Is Twilight......Dead?!?!!?

[Eeveexpert]

8616

I'm going to stop you right there. There will be no death in this story. If there is, it will be implied, and it will only be a villain, not one of the Mane 6. You have my word on this.

[DeathMetalPony]

8619

at first i was like , then you said that and i was like

[Jake The Army Guy]

Oh sh*t! Celestia about to whup some ass!