Reba

by ErraticOverlord

Maniacal Aid

I look into Swiftwing’s eyes, as he presses his forehead against mine.

“Perhaps you want to take her, then.”

I say, coldly. Swiftwing turns away and sits on my bed.

“How did you hear that Swiftwing was locked up? I swore all of the guards involved to secrecy.”

Swiftwing laughs, softly.

“It would be pretty hard not to notice one of my best agents suddenly disappearing; if it was a mugger, or something of that sort, she could have taken them on easily, or radioed for assistance. She did neither, so, it was a pretty safe bet that she was with you.”

He responds. I nod, thoughtfully.

Not too bad in his deductive reasoning, is he?

No, indeed.

“I want answers, Swiftwing, what is going on?”

Swiftwing sighs, his shoulders slump forward, then back again. He stands and looks at me; he seems tired, like he has been doing this for far too long. He speaks to me.

“We are not your enemies, Princess Luna, we are your supporters. If you think one of our members would attack you, then
you’re dead wrong.”

He paces back and forth, always maintaining a steady stare on me.

“When you took Swiftwing in, I bet she didn't put up a fight, did she?”

I think back to her sudden passive nature, when I confronted her.

“No.”

I say, through clenched teeth. Swiftwing stops pacing.

“Do you think she couldn't have? She definitely could have done some serious damage to you. Maybe enough to get away; but she didn't. Why?”

I stare at him, coldly. I say nothing, choosing instead to analyze the facts, despite the chance that I might be wrong. If I am going to save Celestia, I am going to have to start thinking things through.

“It’s because she, and by proxy all of us, will not harm you.”

I let his words sink in, my face unmoving. After a time, I nod.

“Swiftwing silver, I charge you and Swiftwing Silver with suspicion of conspiracy and treason. Until such a time as I can discover who the real culprit is, you will be under surveillance and will do all you can to help me find the truth; so decreed by Luna, second sister and regent of the moon.”

I look back at him, as he listens.

“I am entirely at your service, your Majesty.”

He bows, as he says this, and I allow a small smile.

Perhaps he might be of use to us; only time will tell.

He stands up and looks at me expectantly with an obnoxious smile on his face. It looks like twenty years have melted off of his figure.

“So, where do we start?”

* * *

I trot with Swiftwing through Ponyville, wearing my disguise. With the information I have acquired so far, I should be able to get more information out of the element bearers.

We near the cloud home of Rainbow dash, when suddenly a tremendous cold overtakes me; I shudder, uncontrollably, as the cold burrows through my flesh and muscle, to my bones. I hear two cries of anguish, one behind me and one, I realize, I created. Swiftwing stands next to me, with something of a vicious concern on his face. I drop to the grassy ground, while I try and recover my breath.

I know that sound.

I am vaguely aware of the Element of Loyalty’s bearer, Rainbow Dash, landing on the ground next to me, on the side opposite to Swiftwing.

I clutch my temples, to ease the intruding throbs echoing through my mind, and hyperventilate. I begin to mutter very slowly.

“Felt them… I felt them… felt them… felt them…”

Several more renditions of this occur, while Rainbow Dash is sent to find Princess Twilight. Swiftwing wraps one of his wings around me, in an attempt to stop my shivering, but to no avail.

After some time, Rainbow Dash returns with Princess Twilight, and a few guards, in tow. My illusion spell has shattered and I kneel still clutching my head. My vision blurs and I hear Princess Twilight speak.

“What happened to you, Princess Luna? Guards, take the Princess…”

My vision fades to black.

New Moon

I shoot my hoof forward, at Celestia, with Alicorn strength and speed. Celestia dodges the blow, easily, and my hoof connects with the marble wall that was behind her moments ago. Celestia brings a wing up, in an arc motion towards my head.

She’s going to have to do a lot better than that.

I use one wing to block the incoming attack, while the other pushes me out of harm’s way, with a jet of force. Celestia comes at me again, with an arc of her wing.

I see the attack, Celestia, why would you try this again?

I duck under the wing, and ready myself for another hoof strike against her. I land on my back, looking up at the sky. I blink twice and look at the laughing Celestia.

“What happened? I had you on the ropes.”

I whine. Celestia stands up. Her stubby legs are beginning to lengthen and I thought her new clumsiness, with them, would give me the advantage; turns out, I was wrong. Celestia walks over to me, slowly, trying not to stumble. She extends a hoof, to help me up, which I take. When I’m on my feet, she giggles some more, her cheeks growing red, from laughing. I muster a fierce scowl at her, which only seems to extend her mirth. When she is done, she speaks again:

“Luna, you have to think about more than one attack at a time. Every move you make has to be about getting closer to winning.”

I kick a pebble, on the dirt path, away from me, as she says this.

“But, you are only a few hundred years older than I am, how can you think of so many things at once?”

She ponders this for a few minutes, while I stew impatiently.

“Well… you just have to keep everything separate, I guess.”

My left eyebrow goes up and my lips form a thin line.

“Oh, do not give me that look. Here, I will show you.”

She takes the pebble, I kicked moments ago, and sits down on the path, gesturing for me to join her. I oblige, sitting down across from her. I see her bend the magic around and within the stone, to lift it, her brow slightly creased in concentration.

“Right now, this is one pebble.”

She says. She breaks the stone along minute fault lines, sensing them out with her magic. Even at the only few hundred years I have lived, I am very good at sensing out the methods with which magic is used. Celestia speaks again.

“Now, it is five pebbles.”

She slowly rotates the pebbles, in her magical grip. All of the pebbles are still together, in one analogous hand of her magic. She separates them into different magical grips, her eyes now firmly shut in concentration.

“In order to keep the pebbles in separate grips, you need to think of each of them as individual objects instead of as a whole, or group.”

I stare intently at my elder sister and the pebbles she holds.

“The same thing applies to combat thinking, or really, any kind of thinking.”

She stops rotating them, and instead positions them into a circle facing me.

“If you keep ideas separated, then you will be able to control multiple things at the same time, while, if you accidentally get your thoughts muddled or confused…”

One of the pebbles flies through the air, very narrowly missing my right ear. My hoof flies up to cover it.

“Hey, what gives?”

Celestia drops the pebbles back onto the path and opens her eyes to look at me.

“Sorry. You get the idea though, right?”

I answer slowly, with my hoof stroking my chin.

“Sort of…”

Celestia sighs and helps me up again.

“Alright, I will help you work on it okay?”

I beam at her, my wings fluttering.

“Okay.”

With that, Celestia and I make our way back inside the palace, two filly sisters without a care in the world.

Waning Crescent

“Gah!”

I fling the blankets covering me onto the floor, with the force of my awakening. The door opens and a guard looks in.

“Is there something the matter, Princess?”

I look around, to see that I have once again been taken to my room and put to bed. The deathly cold has all but forsaken my body.

“Yes, I believe so. Send for Swiftwing Silver, if you please.”

The guard hesitates, and then speaks.

“Swiftwing Silver is eh… already present.”

He nods towards my bedside; I turn to see Swiftwing there, laying on the floor and sleeping. I allow a small smile. The guard continues.

“He was told not to disturb you, and said he was going for a walk; he then doubled back around, and flew to your window. We tried to escort him out, but he managed to break one guard’s nose, as well as put numerous scratches and bruises on others; after a few minutes of this, Princess Twilight said to leave him alone and so we have.”

I nod to the guard; he steps out and closes the door. I step off of my bed and stand up. I look over at the sleeping Pegasus.

“Swiftwing Silver, I am afraid we have much work to do.”

His eyes open, without moving the rest of his body; slowly, he stands up and turns to face me.

“Swiftwing Silver, your loyal subject and worshipper of the moon and stars, is reporting for duty, your Majesty.”

I turn and trot through the door, nodding to the guards posted there, while Swiftwing follows. Swiftwing moves to my side, when we turn the corner, and speaks to me.

“How are you feeling, Princess?”

I think back to my encounter in front of Rainbow Dash’s house.

“Troubled, I am deeply troubled.”

Swiftwing nods, deep in thought.

While we trot towards the Canterlot Archives, I muse about my battle last night with the Runemaster.
I had Applejack in my grasp, then Celestia fired at me.

‘If you keep these ideas separate, then you can control multiple things at once.’

Celestia‘s words come back to me, causing me to shiver. Swiftwing looks at me, but says nothing.
Control, whoever the Runemaster is he has to have a remarkable amount of control, to be able to manipulate multiple ponies at the same time, perhaps while carrying on with his own life as well. Somepony had to teach him that control but who could? There is me, perhaps somepony Celestia trained taught the Runemaster this control. Perhaps it was somepony Celestia, herself, trained.

“Princess?”

I come out of my ruminations, to see that we have arrived at the Archives. I nod, to Swiftwing, and we trot inside the building. Looking up, we see that most of the ceiling is almost entirely missing, and there is a cleaning crew there, to take care of the broken ceiling tiles and bookcases on the floor. We trot towards the head librarian, slowly, and with dignity.

We approach the librarian’s desk, where we see her busying herself with papers. Once we get closer, she raises her head and looks at us with surprise.

“Oh, Princess Luna, how may I help you?”

I take a look at the damage around me.

“Tell us about the stolen books, to start.”

I say. She nods and sets her falling spectacles further up her nose.

“Well whoever stole the books knew exactly what they were doing.”

My eyebrows move up. I exchange a look with Swiftwing that seemed to say ‘did they indeed?’

“How do you mean?”

I ask. The librarian reaches a hoof underneath her desk and pulls out a map of the Archives.

“The Archives are formatted very specifically, with the Starswirl decimal system; every book has its place with other books like it. It is a very good system, however, since the Archives are so immense, there are thousands of categories and subcategories in it and, while I know where everything is, hardly anypony else does. I checked, and the other sections did not have a single speck of dust on them disturbed.”

My mind races, with the implications of this.

“So, our Runemaster knew exactly where to go, to get the books he needed.”

The librarian nods, sagely.

“Precisely.”

I nod. Swiftwing speaks up:

“What Unicorn librarians are currently employed here?”

The librarian’s eyebrows go up and her mouth opens.

“Why sir, are you suggesting that one of my librarians did this to the Archives?”

She gestures at the rubble surrounding us and the missing roof or floor of the second story.

“Unfortunately, madam, everypony is a suspect, especially ponies who would know where to go, to get the books they needed.”

I look up from my musings, suddenly.

“No.”

Swiftwing looks at me, one eyebrow raised. I turn to Swiftwing.

“It would not be somepony who works here, for then they have no reason to steal the books.”

Swiftwing tilts his head to one side.

“Go on.”

I nod.

“It would be quite simple for a pony working here to get whatever books he needed, and he wouldn't have to steal them. If he wanted privacy to read them, then he could have just taken one of the books on his break, and read it either in the Archives or outside it. As it stands now, the Runemaster is a pony who cannot normally access these books without drawing attention to himself, but, somepony who knows the Archives and their layout.”

Swiftwing and the librarian nod.

“So we’re looking for a frequent customer.”

The librarian shuffles some papers in her desk around.

“You know it may not be a frequent customer you are looking for; I know somepony who could have done it.”

Swiftwing and I turn our heads towards her. I arc an eyebrow.

“Who do you mean?”

I ask. She pulls out a file from the folder she has in front of her and lays it in front of us; on it, is a picture of a Unicorn mare in her forties with a cream colored coat and a lime-green mane.

“Her name is Gemmie Reference; Miss Reference was discharged from the Archive staff, a few weeks ago, for trying to steal books out of the Archives.”

I turn my head, to the side, and furrow my brows.

“What sort of books was she stealing?”

I ask. The librarian runs her hoof down the page, in the file, until it reaches a certain line. The line reads: Discharged for attempting to steal one copy of ‘Starswirl’s theoretical hypnosis’ , one copy of ‘Magical analysis, how a pony’s mind works’, and one copy of ‘Wrack and rune, the history of the theoretical rune spells’.

Comments

[ErraticOverlord]

3721780 Very glad to hear it!