Aliconversation
Celestia drew back the curtain to reveal the balcony, which overlooked the Canterlot Guardens. The moon rose into the sky, framing the horizon with a silvery glow. Blueblood stepped into the night and waited quietly.
Celestia sighed as she looked to the infant moonrise. “Would this not be an opportunity to reconcile?”
“Aunt Celestia, if there is any pony in all the world who irritates me more than he does…” Blueblood shook his head and rested his chin on the railing. “I haven’t met them.”
A gentle hoof descended on his back. He felt his muscles relaxing under the princess’ soft touch. “All the more reason to fix it now. He’s your father, Blueblood.”
“I recognize that I am the fruit of his loins,” Blueblood growled. “That doesn’t make me wish him to be sent to the moon any less.”
“Don’t you dare even joke about that!” Celestia said, quietly yet firmly. It took her a moment to get her breathing under control. “Please.”
Blueblood’s ears drooped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“I know,” she mumbled. She gave him a smile as she rubbed her hoof up and down his back. “It just brings up… strong feelings in me.”
“Understandable.” Blueblood sat there for a moment longer to savor the company. “Was small talk the point of this little rescue party, or was there something specific?”
Celestia stopped rubbing his back. She set her chin on the railing next to his. “I need a reason to talk to my nephew?”
“Not really,” he chuckled. “Though I suppose I now owe you one.”
“Bleh.” Celestia stuck her tongue out. “Not after this morning. Not with what you’re about to do.”
“Fair enough.” His ears twitched towards her. “How goes the alicornification of Equestria?”
Celestia’s ears fell back, and Blueblood raised an eyebrow. “Did something happen in the coronation line today?”
“Not just today, but ongoing...” The moon rose gently as the stars poofed into existence. “Every once in a while, I get reminded that I am not perfect.”
“Gasp, no!” Blueblood lifted his head to give her his best faux-shocked expression. “Not the Goddess of the Day!”
“Hush, you,” she giggled. “I try to smile at all of my little ponies that ascend. I try to show them that I am proud of them. That I appreciate them.”
He stretched his wings and rolled his shoulders. “That much is expected, I know.”
“Do you remember that time where Twilight and her friends were almost killed?” Celestia asked.
Blueblood sniffed. “You’re going to have to be a bit more specific.”
“At the Wonderbolts Academy, then.” Celestia frowned as she saw the scene play in her mind’s eye. “The mare that caused that tornado, she showed up one day.”
Blueblood’s eyebrows joined together on his forehead. “She is a princess, then?”
“Yes. And it was at that moment that I made my mistake.” She looked at him, then down at her own hooves. “I showed displeasure. Great displeasure.”
“Oh,” Blueblood said. “Oh my. Did anypony notice?”
“Just her,” Celestia sighed. “But the little sins are the ones that can hurt the most. Never forgiven, never forgotten. And now, that’s proven true even more.”
She turned to him, lowering her head to his level. “So, my nephew, how would you handle it?”
Blueblood’s nose scrunched up as he considered the options available. “I would… seek her out. I would… explain, and ask for her forgiveness. Maybe do something nice? Try to make it right?”
Celestia’s smile did not quite hide the tear sliding down her cheek. “You’re growing wiser every day, Blueblood.”
“I’m learning from the best.” He gave her a grin, which she accepted with a sidelong hug with her wing. “You will visit me, will you not?”
The silence was deafening. Celestia’s hug grew tighter, drawing him closer. “Blueblood… Oh, Blueblood. I never…” She took in a shuddering breath. “I never visited your great-grandfather. I hardly knew him. Hardly anypony knew him. His was a lonely existence that seemed to make him perfect for his job. He loathed the world after he cast that spell.”
She sighed. “But you’re not like him. You have friends and family. Oh, Blueblood, I have to visit you. To not do so would be a waste.”
“Thank you.” Blueblood stood and looked out over the kingdom. “I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
“If there was any possible way to—” Celestia ceased her response as Blueblood raised a hoof.
“I know,” he said. “I know.”
A beat passed, in which both ponies realized that they had nothing more to say. Celestia stood and made her way inside the Blueblood suite, where Bluemane was waiting. He rose and bowed to her. “I assume you had a productive—”
“Bluemane,” she interrupted, “come with me.”
The surprised unicorn stallion followed mutely, leaving Blueblood alone in the room. The prince climbed into bed with a sigh, extinguishing the fireplace with a sparkle of magic.
Bluemane smirked at Celestia. “I hope my son wasn’t too much of a burden for you.”
“Bluemane,” Celestia said, “your son is a pleasure to be around. He is doing his best to be helpful, and he is learning more about friendship every day. He is often brilliant, kind-hearted when he thinks about it, and a good listener.” She drew down to his level by bending her knees. “He is giving up everything to fulfill an oath and battle a curse that, by all rights, should be yours. I suggest you reconsider your position on him, if you can be bothered to find the time.”
Bluemane stood speechless as she walked to her bedchambers. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go mourn the loss of one of my little ponies, and a dear friend.”
“He’s not dead!” Bluemane called out. “You’ve said it yourself!”
She flicked her tail as she continued on. “The loss has nothing to do with death.”
Bluemane hesitated, but then started after her. “Very well, what sort of loss do you mean?”
She paused before her door, her hoof on the handle. Her eyes were sullen as she looked not so much at him as through him. “The worst kind of loss, Bluemane.”
The door opened, and she left him alone. “Lost potential.”
***
“Tartarus. Tartarus. Tartarus. Tartarus.”
A book flew off of the library shelves to land beside its discarded brothers.
“Tartarus, Tartarus, Tartarus.”
Five more books followed. There seemed to be more books on the floor than on the shelves.
“Heck, eternal darnation, the big hoosegow.”
One book was surrounded by a glossy purple glow and lifted into the air. It drew near to two similarly-purple eyes that burned with intensity. “There’s gotta be a link. Well, of course there’s a link, I just gotta find it!”
Twilight Sparkle lifted her head and shouted into the darkened depths of the library. “Spike! Spiiike! The heck are you!?”
Silence answered her in its unfulfilling way. Her eyes landed on the three or four candles that sat upon her desk, the only lighting in the entire tree-library-combination-conglomeration. Her violet eyes rolled. “Okay, maybe that can wait until morning.”
A quick glance out the window showed that the moon had dipped below the horizon, leaving the whole land covered in darkness that was only broken by starlight. It would be another hour before the moon shone again. “Huh. I guess even Luna can’t shine a little light on this mystery.”
“Maybe not,” another voice said. “But maybe so.”
Twilight fell off of her stool with a yelp. She rose quickly to her feet, taking a bow as she did so. “Princess Luna! What a, a pleasant surprise! Can I get you anything? Coffee? Donuts? A three-course dinner? The complete works of Starswirl the Bearded!?”
“That… won’t be necessary,” Luna assured her. Midnight-blue feathers ruffled as she strode closer to Twilight. “But I am here to help you.”
“Oh, awesome!” Twilight laughed. “If you could take the left side of the room, we can cover the shelves in half the time! Once we’ve gathered all the reference books with even a single paragraph on Tartarus, we can start cross-referencing for any mention of the Blueblood family!”
“I think…” Luna shook her head and cleared her throat. “I think we can skip that part, for now.”
“Oh!” Twilight exclaimed. “That’s even better! This probably happened before the whole Nightmare thing, right? So you can just explain the rules about the oath, and I can work on a way around it! All I need is to know who cast it, what their exact wording was, what other forces were in play, the color, size, and consistency of the ethereal parabola—”
“Twilight,” Luna coughed, “perhaps if you let me explain?”
“Oh.” Twilight sat with a frown. “Oh. Yeah.”
Luna walked slowly up to the other alicorn and sat before her. “First of all, hi.”
A smile poked the corners of Twilight’s mouth upward. “Hi, Luna. How are you doing?”
“Tired,” Luna replied. “I have fought Nightmares every night for the past week. It’s getting old.”
The smile vanished from Twilight’s face. “Tartarus escapees?”
“Precisely.” The Princess of the Night magicked a candle over to rest between them. “They are growing more numerous night by night. I am the only thing that can stand between them and the ponies of Equestria.” She tilted her head to the side, just the hint of a pout forming on her lips. “Save for one stallion.”
Twilight snorted. “Of course you mean Blueblood.” She narrowed her eyes and lowered her eyebrows, pausing a moment to formulate her thoughts. “Why him? What does he have that you can’t get anywhere else? Why him?”
Luna’s mystical mane fell over half of her face as she leaned forward. “That’s why I wanted to visit with you tonight, Twilight. I need to explain things to you before…”
Twilight took the opportunity to finish her sovereign’s sentence. “Before another ‘Lesson Zero’ incident happens, huh?” She huffed, drooping her head down and hunching her shoulders. “’Kay, lay it on me, Princess.”
“I mean no disrespect,” Luna said. She turned away to gaze upon what books remained on the dusty shelves. “But I… I just worry about you.”
Twilight Sparkle tapped her hooves together. She met Luna’s eyes. “I appreciate it. I really do.”
Luna nodded. “I know you want to help your friend, but this is… What he’s doing is important.”
Twilight brought them pillows to sit on, and the elder princess began her tale. “A thousand years ago, Celestia and I ruled the land. You know the story; I grew jealous, I gained unspeakable power, I sought to overthrow her. However, I did not do so alone.”
The skin around her eyes grew tight. “The source of my dark power, the beings that tempted me to embrace the night and discard the day, were called the Nightmare Forces. An army of Nightmares and bad dreams and temptations… But you knew that. You encountered them while we rescued your friend on the moon.”
Twilight nodded and settled down deeper in her pillow.
“Their leader, Shadowfright, fled to the moon with a small group of the Forces when I was finally banished. He was cast down when Rarity was restored.”
“Good riddance,” Twilight mumbled.
Luna let loose a sigh. “But that was not all Equestria has seen of the Nightmares. A few years after my banishment, the remainder of the Forces gathered under another commander to attack Equestria. Scorpan was his name; a powerful wizard with a keen mind, one to rival Starswirl the Bearded.”
Lavender eyes rolled to formulate a response. “Please. If he was such a rival to Starswirl, why haven’t I heard of him?”
“Because the sheer memory that I worked with him hurts.” Luna gritted her teeth. “This is hard, Twilight. It hurts to admit the things I did. That I did willingly! Celestia always tried to hide it, to obfuscate it. Nightmare Night, the Legend of Harmony, the Sleeping Volcano…” She flopped over onto the pillow. “But it always comes back to haunt me.”
Twilight leaned in closer. “We can do this another time, if you want.”
“No.” Luna sat up and squared her shoulders. “It must be said. Now.
“While I, as Nightmare Moon, attacked with brute force, Scorpan assaulted Equestria using the most devious of weapons in the Nightmare Forces’ arsenal.” The midnight alicorn’s lip trembled. “He attacked the hopes, the dreams, the hidden wishes of my little ponies. He spread fear and despair through the night as they slept.”
“Like the Nightmares are doing now?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, Twilight,” Luna said with a shake of her head, “it was on a far grander scale than now. It was a full war against Equestria’s morale, and he came so close to victory.”
Luna’s head raised a bit higher, her voice filling with that much more power, as she continued on. “But he was opposed by the full might of Celestia and her royal guard. She pushed him back in the realm of wakefulness, until he had nowhere to run but his base in a violent, volcanic region of Equestria, what we now call the Sleeping Mountains. While my sister fought the army, one lone soldier faced Scorpan. The madpony cast a spell on the soldier, a horrific curse that left him a mere fragment of his former self.”
Luna’s wings drooped along the pillow. “The soldier rose up and, with the last reserves of his strength, performed a miracle of a spell—one of his own creation—that bound Scorpan deep within the heart of the most violent volcano. Celestia vanquished the army of Nightmares, and together with the soldier cast them into the depths of what is now known as Tartarus. That broken soldier chose to stay, to guard and to hold back the villainous magic within. His name was Bluebones. His request to her was to take care of his family as long as he stayed within the newly formed prison.”
A flicker of realization flashed through Twilight’s eyes. “Blueblood’s family. Oh, no.”
Luna chewed her bottom lip as she dropped her eyes to the floor. “My sister’s adoptive nephew is the last in the line of Bluebloods. His family holds the secret of casting the spell that holds the Nightmares back. If he does not take up the mantel, there will be another war against those monsters. A full war of sheer, bloodshot panic.”
“B-b-but—” Twilight turned this way and that, looking at the books on the ground, the stars in the sky, and the princess beside her. “There’s gotta be something—anything!—that I can do to help him!”
“And there is, Twilight Sparkle!” Luna rose to her feet and looked down upon the younger princess with soft eyes. “Be his friend. Visit him, write to him, give him a life to live! You can do so much for him just by showing that you care.”
“But it’s not enough!” Twilight dove back into her books, reading without truly comprehending. “I need to save him! I need to rescue him! I need to make everything okay now! I need to make Tartarus not a ploblem!”
“Twilight, sit down!”
Twilight complied, though under duress. Luna walked over to her with a frown. “Guard your heart, my friend. There are forces afoot that would find your emotional distress… tantalizing. Now come, you need your rest.”
“I’m not tired,” Twilight huffed. “I’m not the least bit sleepy.”
Luna’s face softened again. She shut her eyes with a sigh. “Twilight, you’re not tired because you’re already asleep.”
Twilight’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”
“Observe.” Luna pointed at a still, purple form on Twilight Sparkle’s bed. The quilt rose and fell in a steady rhythm. “You have been projecting yourself in your slumber, in order to research deeper into Tartarus.” The Nightbringer shook her head slowly, letting loose a small chuckle. “I came when Spike wrote to me about ‘Twilight’s ghost’ haunting the library.”
Twilight Sparkle looked down on her true body. She raised her hoof as if to touch it. She pulled away before making contact. “I… I had no idea I could…”
“It’s just the stress, Twilight,” Luna said. “It will fade, in time.”
Luna drew beside the purple alicorn and placed a small kiss upon her forehead. “For now, sleep deeply.”
Twilight’s eyelids grew heavy as her projection faded, violet magic flowing back into her corporeal form. Luna turned from the sight and strode to the door, where a small, purple-and-green dragon waited.
“Is she gonna be okay?” Spike asked.
“I hope so,” Luna sighed. “She has the facts, now. How she interprets them is up to her.”
The dragon nodded. “Hay, speaking of the facts, why didn’t Princess Celestia want to tell her about this?”
“She has to sleep sometime.” Luna gave him perhaps the noblest cheeky grin he had ever, or would ever, receive. “I’m just helping her out.”
“It just seems kinda weird that she’d have somepony tell the story when they weren’t even there.” Spike yawned and stretched his tail out, blinking owlishly in the darkness. “But I guess that’s the same thing as books, or whatever.”
“Get some sleep.” Luna placed a hoof on his shoulder and guided him to his comfy little basket. “I shall watch you and Twilight both, guiding you on to pleasant dreams.”
Spike allowed himself to be slowly lowered into his bedding. “Still, it’s gotta be kinda different telling a story that you’ve only heard from Princess Celestia, huh?”
“Actually, Spike,” Luna muttered as he drifted off, “I didn’t hear it from her. I heard it from him.”
***
The fire burned mutely in the hearth. Discarded bits of food remained on nearly-untouched plates that sat continually ignored. Beside it all, Blueblood found himself inches away from a delightful smooch with Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.
That’s when he realized something was critically wrong.
He pushed the princess away with a frown. “No, this isn’t right. You have a special somepony. I can’t just—”
“Oh, why should that stop you?” Blueblood spun towards the fireplace, where a tall unicorn was silhouetted against the flames. “Why should the Twice-crowned Prince of Equestria have to second-guess himself?”
“B-because this is wrong. I’m better than”—Blueblood swallowed hard—“I need to be better than this.”
“But you’re not, are you?” the silhouette asked. “You’re just a petty little failure, riding on the coattails of other ponies’ success.”
Twilight looked from side to side. “Do I get a say in any of this?”
“You can try,” the unicorn said. “But will the prince listen?”
Blueblood sighed. With a wave of his hoof, the figment of Twilight Sparkle vanished into thin air. “There. Lucid dreaming. You’re next, fiendish specter.”
“No,” it replied. “You are next. The next in line to guard Tartarus, a job for which you have absolutely no qualifications. Am I correct?”
Blueblood angled around the silhouette, trying to bring it into sharper focus. The light was too dim for him to make out any details. “The qualifications required are iffy at best, and obscure at worst. I’ll be fine.”
“You’ll be fine as you are surrounded by the most haunting Nightmares? The most disturbed dreams?” The undefined figure tilted its head to the left. “You could not even stop a Terror. How could you face a true demon?”
“We— I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it, won’t I?” Blueblood sneered at the apparition. “Now, get out of my dream, whatever you are.”
The silhouette took a few steps back, putting the fireplace between itself and the prince. It sneered in a perfect mirror to Blueblood’s own expression. “Make me.”
A gray coat, a silvery-blue mane, and crystal blue eyes stood out against the dark room. “Dad?” Blueblood sputtered. “What are you doing inside my head!?”
***
Blueblood woke with a start. A headache formed beneath his horn, prompting him to grab a glass of water from his faucet. As he walked through the halls, he heard muttered grumblings issuing forth from an adjacent study, one that sat across from his own workshop.
He creaked the door open to find his father sitting on a large armchair, nose deep in a geography book. Bluemane’s bespectacled eyes shot up over the edge of the book. “Can I help you?”
“I… I suppose not,” Blueblood said quietly, carefully. “I just assumed that you’d have been asleep by now.”
Bluemane pushed his glasses up and rubbed at his eyes, bloodshot and shadowed from an evident sleep deficiency. “If only. Was there something else?”
Blueblood squinted at his father. “I suppose that depends on what you have to say about Dreamhopping.”
Bluemane shrugged. “I appreciate what Princess Luna does with it. What of it?”
Blueblood shook his head as he eased the door shut. “Nothing. Good night, Father.”
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When you think about the stuff Spike must have to put up with as Twilight's unofficial caretaker, that poor guy deserves a serious reward at some point.
This is kind of jarring. Why would Twilight refer to it as 'Lesson Zero' instead of a 'Smartypants' incident?
3512200
Muhuhahahaha!
I'm gonna do my best to make these nightmares as scary as possible, as a fair warning. Rarity's and Mamma Onyx's were just a taste.
Oh, yeah. Dude gets no respect. I need to start writing more stories about him.
It's funny because it's true!
3524833
Indubitably! I added that line because I didn't want anybody thinking it was a plot hole, or anything silly like that.
In universe: That's the codename the Equestrian Military gave the event.
Meta: It's just my little way of bucking tradition. Every writer calls it some variation of "The Smartypants Incident," so I went... wide left. Instantly recognizable, concise, and just a little bit jarring, it seems.
I might edit that at a later date, should I feel it failed in what it set out to do.
3526317
But nopony ever actually answered the question! It's still a plot hole, except now you've drawn attention to it!
"eternal darnation"
In all the millions on millions of words I've read over my lifetime, I don't think I've ever heard that phrase used. It did evoke a chuckle, though, especially because I can so see and hear it used in the actual show.
The second to last scene brings up a fair point, though. This isn't something Blueblood was exactly trained for, or any of the Tartarus Wardens, seemingly. Must be a very helpful user guide once you get to the job itself. Press TRIANGLE to subdue Nightmares. Press SQUARE to counter Nightmares. Press CIRCLE to punch!
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3534592
Seems there is something new under the sun!
All one of them, actually. There's not a whole lot of call for Tartarus training in the first place,
If you consider Bluebones to be a helpful user guide, sure!
This is about the only way I could see that going down:
i1064.photobucket.com/albums/u369/MyHobby2/Fun%20Zone/MortalWombat.gif~original
3546497
That's... not even close to a plot hole. And does it count as lampshade hanging if you draw attention to it outside of the actual medium? Meta Lampshade hanging? Whatever.
Renaming the incident and referring to it by a name that they shouldn't know is not only 100% in line with the show this is based off (Pinkie Pie. 'Nuff said), but it also is 100% in line with the author's own style. Plus it could be explained away rather easily by coincidence, etc. I definitely noticed it and wondered, but it wasn't close to anything that would cause me to drop Suspension of Disbelief.
Also Plot Spackle just sounds really dirty in this context. Sorry. Misery loves company. You're welcome.
There is one thing that is bothering me though. Luna is fighting off the Nightmares. Luna is one Alicorn. Luna is struggling by herself, but is at least breaking even (for the moment). Let's ignore the possibly thousands of new Alicorns who each could potentially help fight. Even if only 1% were capable of helping, that's still much much better to the point BlueBlood might not be necessary. Nevermind. Let's just throw BlueBlood to the wolves. It's easier.
And Sweet Merciful Poseidon forbid that we get a bunch of guards (those guys who are trained to fight in much the same way that BlueBlood isn't) so we can, y'know, rotate Tartarus Duty so that no one ends up stuck there longer than a week or so at a time. If BB was trained it would make sense, but right now it does not (Sweet Merciful Poseidon I hope I didn't just miss something really obvious that negates everything I just said).
And, oh yeah. BlueBlood is now immortal isn't he? So he's basically being pressing into eternal slavery in hell. At least BlueBones gets to die and rest at some point... That's just begging for another Nightmare Moon incident...
That is a potential plot hole. But I reserve judgement because I (hope) think that you probably got something up your sleeve.
Also you used to word "heck" instead of "hay" somewhere up there. I don't know if you're just ignoring ponyfication of English (in which case I heartily approve), or if you were trying to effect a "damn" in comparison to the "darn" they usually use (I'm not turning into my English Teacher!
LALALA 
).
It's fine as it is, but I do think that it could be improved by adding a little more emotion to Luna. She's talking about terrible things that she feels horribly guilty about, and doing so in a normal tone of voice while merely trying to avoid eye contact (rather passively). If you hadn't said something I would have simply written it off. But you did ask.
4834396
Eh, it could have been construed as a plot hole way back then. I think most of the tension in this story comes from me sharing every plot point to draw it all together, except for the one that actually draws things together. It may be a bad habit, but I'm still learning.
Style choices. Very dangerous things for an author to make, I've noticed.
You fiend!
These are both very good questions, and I do my best to answer them over the course of the story. I would most definitely bring a few more explanations earlier in the story if I was to rewrite it. It's been a learning experience.
I feel a little bashful that I didn't even know about proper pacing beyond "beginning, middle, end" when I was writing the first half of the story. It's nearer the end that things start to actually come together.
Essentially.
I don't know if you'll appreciate the reason he's ultimately doing this, but he has reasons...
They've used "heck" in the show before. I think Applejack said it. Besides, it's a very nice swear word. Very G-rated. Fun to say, too.
I did ask, and thank you for answering! Emotion has always been difficult for me to pull off. I'm afraid of the dreaded Melodrama, and I probably overcompensate in the other direction. I appreciate your thoughts on it.
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess this has something to do with the comics?
I see no problems with it. It flows well, and is oh so wonderfully informative. To be honest, I was a bit puzzled when you said "monologue", as it's broken up enough that it doesn't really feel like a monologue. Not to mention Twilight had some lógos sprinkled throughout.
5047877
Well, that's pretty ingenious! Hmm. Maybe a dragon is a good pick for a librarian after all!
So much pink! It's outrageous!
True enough, but too much emphasis can be distracting. Although, it probably wouldn't be the most distracting thing in the story.
I haven't read the arc either. All you need to know from it is what Luna shared here: The Nightmare Forces are what brought Nightmare Moon to life, and they've tried to do the same thing to Rarity. They failed, but now they're back for more.
So, don't feel too lost. You know as much as I do!
It was more of a monologue before I passed through this chapter with Second Draft Edits. As a whole, you're reading a much improved version of the story than what I posted last year.
At least I hope it's much improved!
I've seen Tirek from G1 G4ified so you can have a villain, but never Scorpan, nice.
Leave it to Luna to be both noble and cheeky.