(Act I) Chapter 3: The Seeds
Lady Lulamoon whistled as she trotted up to the doorway of a house, not too far from the square. Behind her, screams of terror and roars of fury could still be heard from the stragglers running from the massacre, cutting off one by one as the Vraals found and killed their prey.
Lady Lulamoon gave a shake of her head, sending her slightly mussed-up mane spinning behind her. The beasts really were barbaric.
She arrived at the doorstep, making sure that her outward appearance looked acceptable. Then, she cleared her throat and knocked on the door.
It opened a crack, and a single teal eye peered through at the unicorn standing on its doorstep. The eye widened in surprise, and the door swung open completely, revealing a mustard-yellow mare hopping from hoof to hoof in nervousness.
“What’s going on?” the confused Pegasus asked quaveringly, looking at the street behind Lady Lulamoon apprehensively. “Are the monsters gone yet?”
Lady Lulamoon was about to answer, when a shrill shriek of terror reached both of their ears, coming from a few blocks down. The frightened mare in the doorway cringed, folding her ears against her head, while Lady Lulamoon tapped her hoof impatiently on the welcome mat. The scream went on for a second more, before cutting off suddenly with a warbling cry.
The Pegasus looked at Lady Lulamoon imploringly, shuffling her wings uncertainly. The crimson unicorn cocked her head, listening carefully. After a moment, she nodded happily.
“Yes, I think they got all of them.” Lulamoon confirmed reassuringly. “Now, might I have a minute of your time?”
The yellow mare didn’t look convinced. “But that sounded like-”
“Dear, I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.” Said Lady Lulamoon forcefully, cutting her off. “I need to find the Sparkle residence, and it is of the utmost importance that I do. Time is of the essence and such.”
The Pegasus narrowed her eyes at the unicorn’s nonchalant appearance. She had a bad feeling about this mare…
“Sparkle?” she said, feigning ignorance. “Hmm… Nope. Nada. I don’t think I know any ‘Sparkle’s.”
Lady Lulamoon raised an eyebrow at the mare’s pitiful attempt at discretion. “No?” she inquired sarcastically. “Not at all? You don’t mind then if I come in for a visit do you? I haven’t had somepony interesting to talk to in ages.”
With that, Lady Lulamoon pushed the Pegasus aside with her magic, drawing an indignant, “Hey!” from the mare as her house was invaded by the nosy unicorn.
Immediately upon entering the household, Lady Lulamoon walked briskly to the living room, ignoring the shouts coming from the Pegasus. She appraised the furniture, and turned to the hearth, devoid of flame at this time of year. On top of the mantle, a collection of pictures cluttered the brick, family members and friends smiling down on the unicorn.
Amongst them, a small photo of a familiar mare and her foal stood out. Lady Lulamoon moved a family portrait of the pegasus, her husband, and their two small fillies out of the way. The picture was labeled, Victus, Iris, Lily and Dandy, but she was not interested in that particular portrait.
Lady Lulamoon’s targeted picture showed a unicorn mare with a grey coat and a two-tone white and purple mane. A cluster of stars adorned her flank. On her back sat a tiny, deep purple unicorn filly, with a single stripe of pink showing through her violet mane. The filly was looking off into the distance distractedly, while the mare was beaming at Lady Lulamoon with a permanent smile set on her paper muzzle.
“Hey! I’m talking to you!” came the irritated call from the Pegasus as she caught up to Lady Lulamoon. “This is my house, and I- oh.” The tirade stuttered to a stop as the yellow mare realized what her unexpected guest was looking at.
Lady Lulamoon levitated the picture off the shelf with care, floating it in front of the Pegasus. “Friends of yours?” she asked sweetly.
The cornered mare spluttered frantically, racking her mind for an excuse. “I- uh, I mean- we- umm…” she trailed off, completely lost for words. Lady Lulamoon just tut-tutted disappointedly.
“You shouldn’t lie to ponies you know,” she reprimanded. “It might make them angry.”
A red haze of magic surrounded the Pegasus’ neck, stopping her would-be response and leaving her choking for breath. While the mare scrabbled at her throat, trying to dislodge the obstruction, Lady Lulamoon picked up the unused fire poker leaning up against the hearth. “And when ponies like me get angry…”
The Pegasus slammed into the floor, knocking out what little air remained in her lungs in a gasp. Without hesitation, Lady Lulamoon drove the iron bar through her outstretched wing, spurting blood onto the clean carpet. “They tend to do drastic things.” She purred, twisting the pole and ripping the muscles and tendons in the wing. The haze of red, which had never really left her, flickered jovially around her vision, seemingly enjoying the show going on in front of it.
The mare flailed, crying and screaming around the poker pining her to the ground. The picture of the unicorn and her foal was shoved into her tear-stained face, and the question was posed again.
“Do you know where the Sparkle’s live dear?”
“YES!” the Pegasus screamed, relenting instantly. “Yes I know where they are! Please! STOP!”
Lady Lulamoon stopped rotating the poker and leaned in close, breaking her calm façade and baring her teeth at the injured mare. “Where?”
“742 Evergreen Terrace!” blubbered the mare almost incoherently, verging on the edge of shock. “Please! That’s where they are, I swear! Stop, please… stop…” she finished whimpering.
“See how easy that was?” Lady Lulamoon smiled, her face back to its normal happy expression. She wrenched the poker out of the mare’s wing, a fresh screech of pain echoing through the house. Lady Lulamoon placed the poker carefully back in its resting place, enjoying the new scarlet sheen coating the spike at the end.
She was about to leave the house, when she was struck with an idea.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” she quipped jovially, placing a hoof daintily on her forehead in mock disbelief. She sashayed back to the Pegasus, still lying on the floor and slapped her gently a couple times to get her attention.
“I can’t have you falling unconscious on me dearie, not until I have corrected your lying problem!” she explained instructively. “Now, be a good girl and open your mouth for me.”
The mare didn’t hesitate, dropping open her jaw immediately, in too much pain to argue. Lady Lulamoon hummed and tittered, probing inside her mouth with her magic, grasping her tongue tightly. The Pegasus’ cries were muffled by the crimson magic inside of her jaw.
“Are you ever going to lie to anypony ever again?” the unicorn asked condescendingly. The Pegasus shook her head as much as she could and whimpered a stifled promise and apology, looking up into Lady Lulamoon’s eyes pleadingly. The crimson pony shook her head and laughed.
“Liar.”
If the Pegasus had screamed before, now she shrieked, as Lady Lulamoon began to slowly pull upwards on her tongue, holding the rest of her head down with a clasp of magic. The mare thrashed, and felt the skin on the inside of her mouth rip and tear, sending copious amounts of coppery flavoured blood into her mouth.
The membrane connecting her tongue onto the floor of her mouth snapped and tore, allowing Lady Lulamoon to pull the slippery appendage farther and farther out of the mare. The nerves screamed in protest, and the major tendon on the bottom of her tongue stretched as far as it could go, before giving way and ripping loose, hanging limply below the mass of flesh.
The last strands of skin snapped, removing the tongue completely from the screeching Pegasus. Her mouth flooded with blood, streaming out of the messy gouge endlessly, spilling out of the corners of her lips, down her neck and into her mane. The magical clamp kept her head in place, making her choke and gurgle in her own blood, while the rest of her body jerked and floundered, impacting the carpet with dull thuds.
The Pegasus coughed, spraying a cloud of red mist into the air, droplets of gore spotting her yellow coat. Her mouth quickly filled again, leaving no room for breath or sounds, other than a wet warble that was quickly cut off by the rising blood between her jaws. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, as the lack of oxygen started to get to her, slipping her away from the world of the awake.
Lady Lulamoon looked at the severed tongue in her magic, turning it over and playing with the dangling remains of skin disinterestedly. The figure below her gave a lurch of her chest, as blood filled her lungs and clogged her airway. Her face turned blue, splotched with red as she gave one last attempt at breathing.
Sighing, Lady Lulamoon dropped the tongue into the Pegasus’ pool of blood around her head and relinquished her magical hold over the mare. She flopped to the side limply, pouring the contents of her mouth onto the floor, soon followed by that of her stomach.
Lady Lulamoon wrinkled her nose at the acidic smell of bile mixing in with the heavy scent of blood. She sauntered over to the doorway, looking back at the convulsing Pegasus, lying and coughing wetly in a pool of her own fluids.
“Next time I’ll use soap to wash out your lying little mouth.” She tittered, watching almost forlornly as the red receded again, staying at the edge of her eyes.
Fixing her mane again, she walked outside, reciting to herself quietly, “742 Evergreen Terrace… 742 Evergreen Terrace…”
***
The door to the throne room opened with a slam, startling the guards standing casually at attention just inside. The two identical ponies stood ramrod still, as a clearly fuming Princess Celestia stormed into the room, not even stopping to close the doors behind her.
Following her, looking slightly winded and flushed from yelling, was Stargazer, Celestia’s most trusted advisor and long-time friend. Their argument seemed to have abated as they neared the throne room, as neither pony said a word to the other, each instead preferring to stonewall the other.
One of the guards began to close the doors, but another figure ambled through the ornate archway, looking very uncomfortable and out of place.
Trixie’s usual cocky and sure-fire demeanour had softened into quiet resignation in the presence of the Princess. Her mane was sticking up at odd angles, like she had just stepped out of a hurricane, and she was wringing her wizard’s hat stressfully in her blue-hazed magic.
Princess Celestia stopped just short of her throne, looking up at its grandeur with a gaze that saw nothing. It was the shell-shocked look that each of the guards had seen many times in their long careers. It was the look of a pony who had witnessed something truly traumatizing.
The tension in the room capped as Stargazer stood beside his ruler. The two still said nothing, preferring to stay in a stalemate. Trixie just looked lost, taking in the luxuries of Canterlot Castle with a gaping jaw and wide eyes, for a minute forgetting all about the dire situation that she had found herself in.
Stargazer sighed, taking the first step into conversation. “Princess, I did warn you-”
“You did nothing!” snapped Celestia, obviously resuming their argument where they had left off. “Where were you when Starswirl’s spell was activated? Where were you when she broke into the vault? When she killed those guards?”
“I was... otherwise occupied.” The old, navy-blue unicorn said exasperatedly. “You of all ponies know that better than any. Or, was it not you that told me to discreetly prepare the castle and staff for Miss Sparkle’s imminent ascension?”
Celestia turned to Stargazer with an expression rarely seen on her face. Anger.
“Otherwise occupied?” She whispered dangerously, boring her glare directly into her advisor’s eyes, making the unicorn cower faintly. “You were ‘otherwise occupied’ for two days on a task that should have only taken a few hours? What warranted your disappearance? What could possibly have been so dreadfully important to you that it created a national security risk?”
Stargazer took a second to regain his composure, gulping his pride down. The two guards stared, aghast at the heated disagreement taking place before them. Princess Celestia had never become this unhinged before. Trixie was just becoming aware of the row going on in front of her, and thankfully had the common sense to stay out of it.
“Your Majesty,” Stargazer began, steeling himself in the harsh light of the Princess’s gaze. “While your accusations are not without due grounds, I must remind you that in fifty-seven faithful years under you, I am entitled a couple of sick days.”
Celestia huffed, not giving him any room. “You have taken your fair share in sick days and vacation days Stargazer. Regardless of the personal issue, I expect an advisor of your standing to give some notice before he disappears off the face of Equestria.”
“Disregarding my vacation habits, what happened in the vault was… regrettable, Your Highness,” Stargazer continued, causing Celestia’s eyes to flash angrily. “But I do not believe that I personally-”
“The fact remains Stargazer,” The Princess cut in, “That your incompetence and foolishness have opened a new threat to all of us. I know full well that you were to be stationed in front of Starswirl’s Vault for extra security after you were done preparing the castle. And you know full well that it was within your capabilities to keep both the vault, and its contents safe from harm, as you are the second-most powerful unicorn I have ever met. So, why were you not at your post?”
Stargazer paused, readying himself to bite the proverbial bullet. “I am not a member of the Royal Guard, Your Majesty. It is not my priority, nor my duty to stand at attention for hours in front of a dusty store-room waiting for an assault that will never come.”
“Yet come it did.” Celestia pointed out wearily. “And it came the one time in over fifty years that you were not at your designated position.”
At this, Stargazer looked shamefully at the tiles below him. “I… There are no words to express the shame I feel now Your Highness. I did not see the importance of the task you had set upon me, and I disregarded it out of pure languor.” He met Celestia’s eyes again, resolve hardening his gaze. “I have made a grievous mistake, that much I understand. And the only way I can atone to that error, is to put an end to this perpetrator’s schemes!”
Celestia fell silent once more, staring back at her throne with a new expression. Sorrow. She turned to the two guards, who jumped to attention immediately, not missing a beat. Her eyes passed over them however, and landed directly on a very scared and confused Trixie.
“Y-Your Majesty?” she stuttered fearfully. “I-I, er, that is to say-”
“You need not explain your mother’s actions.” The Princess said quietly. “For they are nopony’s but her own.”
Stargazer stiffened. “Her mother?” he inquired irately, turning to face Trixie himself. “Your mother is responsible for this mess?”
Celestia sighed. “Yes Stargazer. Lady Lulamoon, for all her prowess in magic, saw fit to use it for the sake of power, instead of goodwill. She has abused that same power for mere personal gain, and has harmed many ponies through the act.” She stared harder at Trixie. “But we still do not know why.”
The show-mare froze. She knew that this question had been coming, but she never expected it to come from the Princess herself, least of all when she was in a testy mood already. Trixie gulped loudly and began to speak past the knot that had formed in her throat.
“M-my mother… she… s-she was disappointed in me, Your Highness,” she admitted, still having trouble admitting her loss. “S-she sent me to Ponyville to… to…” she stammered to a stop.
Celestia smiled gently, appeasing some of Trixie’s fears and encouraging her to go on. Meanwhile, Stargazer scoffed at the mare’s partial sentences.
“S-she... I…” she knew that the Princess would not like this next part, and took a breath to weather the inevitable storm. “She sent me to Ponyville to face Twilight Sparkle in a magic duel Your Majesty, with an artifact that I know as ‘The Alicorn Amulet’. It was going to give me an edge against her…”
Princess Celestia stood stock-still as she listened to Trixie’s confession. She was seconds away from teleporting down to Ponyville to help her student, when she realized that her student’s aggressor was right in front of her. “Am I to assume then, that you failed in this endeavour?”
Trixie nodded slowly. “Even with the amulet, I was no match for her.” She whispered shamefully. “She defeated me with nothing but a doorstop!”
That made Celestia smile faintly. “Yes, my student has the uncanny ability to tilt the balance in her own favour despite overwhelming circumstances. Now then, how does this relate to your mother’s recent actions?”
The show-mare swallowed. “Mother… s-she plans to take her… revenge on-on Twilight Velvet, Your Highness.”
The Princess seemed taken aback by this. “And what reason does your mother have for taking revenge on Miss Velvet?”
Trixie muttered something unintelligible. Stargazer shook his head. “Speak up mare!”
The room seemed to wait in baited breath as Trixie spoke her next confession quietly.
“… Nightlight, Your Highness.”
Celestia blinked. “Twilight’s father?”
“Yes,” Trixie confirmed, looking up at the monarch with teary eyes. “My mother never wanted to marry my father. She wanted to have Nightlight as her husband instead. My mother tells me that they were only days away from getting married, when Velvet stepped in and claimed Nightlight’s heart for her own.” The show mare looked down shame-facedly. “Or, that is what she tells me...”
Stargazer nodded thoughtfully. “Love has led many a-pony astray... I see how this could be motivation for her acts of treason.”
Celestia sighed, looking down at her gold-clad hooves in dismay. “So we know the why, and the how. All we need now is what she plans on doing with Starswirl’s time spell.” She once again locked her gaze on Trixie, anxious for the truth.
Fear was evident on Trixie’s face as she met The Princess’ violet eyes with her own. “She… she wishes to… I quote, ‘Remove the problem at the root’ Your Majesty. She plans to go back to a time where Twilight Sparkle is vulnerable and…”
The revelation hit the room like a giant brick. Panic creeped into Celestia’s expression, as her mouth fell agape. Stargazer just seemed resigned, the cogs seemingly turning inside his head to find a solution.
“I… I...” stuttered Celestia. “I must go.” And she vanished in a flash of light, leaving four ponies in the throne room to comprehend the situation.
Trixie’s lip began to quiver, and she collapsed onto the floor, sobs wracking her body and echoing back around the room.
The advisor cast a disdainful look at the mare, before setting his head high upon his shoulders and walking purposefully out of the throne room.
And in the grand hallway, unseen by any, Stargazer smiled.
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3826680 lol. I think the words: 'Waiting for approval' are seared onto my eyeballs now.
3826728 what picture?
3826741
The one at the end of Chapter 8
3826842 I could have sworn it was working before... Oh welll, I'll deal with it tomorrow.