And Pitiless As The Sun

by BuffaloBrony

Chapter 4 - Finis

Princess Celestia jolted awake.

A pair of blue-green eyes looked into Celestia's from a distance of about six inches away.

“Sister! Thou wast... I mean, you were having a bad dream again,” Luna said softly. “I could feel it all the way on the other side of the castle.”

Celestia struggled to get out of her bed, sweat covered sheets tangled around her. The full moon beaming through the window showed her mane hanging flat and limp. Her heart thundered as she panted with fear.

“Luna. I had the most horrible nightma-” Seeing the flash of horror on Luna's face, Celestia stopped. “Bad dream.

“Twilight, Spike, the guards... Everyone!” Celestia gasped. “They died and I couldn't stop it.” Celestia's voice faltered. “It was all my fault.”

Luna hugged Celestia tightly. “Hush, dear sister. I'm here and nothing has happened to any of us. It was only a bad dream.” Luna’s horn glowed in the moonlit room. “What happened this time?”

Celestia’s heartbeat slowed. She could feel the gentle light of moon beams, thin tendrils of Luna's magic questing for traces of any foreign magics or malign influence.

“It's kind of silly,” Celestia said. “In my dream, Old Cernunnos somehow raised an army of monsters out of the Everfree and razed Ponyville. Twilight died to save the town, but many were killed during the attack, including Spike. When we tried to negotiate with Cernunnos to end the hostilities, I… I went berserk and eventually blew up Equestria.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Blowing up Equestria? Even when you were fighting Discord and Nightmare Moon, you never lost your temper quite that badly.” Luna smiled. “But I also remember how angry you were when I took the last of the cookies, so I can’t say I’m completely surprised, either.”

Celestia chuckled softly.

Luna frowned. “Cernunnos? He was one of my-- I mean, Nightmare Moon's lieutenants during the rebellion. Wasn't he the one you met with to set up the Everfree Forest and end the Rebellion?”

“Yes.” Celestia paused, gathering her thoughts. “He was a monster, a rogue, and a hopeless braggart, but he could be quite charming when he wanted. After the war, he set up the Everfree as a preserve of the old ways, the way things were before Discord first showed up. We had a few disagreements in the beginning, but as he got older he mellowed out quite a bit.”

Celestia smiled as she remembered an aged Cernunnos sharing pleasant conversation as they played chess on an oversized board in the old Pony Sisters castle. He always played the Black side, and never, EVER sacrificed his Queen.

“He had a long life for a manticore. I attended his funeral about 850 years ago, I think. When he died, Everfree was so wild and chaotic that no one really wanted to take his throne, so the Everfree Compact just expired peacefully. By that point, my little ponies were scared of the place and left the forest alone. I just left the Everfree as is after that. Cernunnos wanted it that way.”

“I can find no traces of dream magics or hostile spells about you, Celly.” Luna finished her detection magics. “But you have been having nightmares for weeks, and they appear to be getting worse. Do you want to talk about it?”

“ I've never been one to dream too often, and my powers have never run towards precognition. Dreams are more associated with your moon than my sun. I strongly doubt my nightmares are a prophecy of doom.

“Besides, it's impossible for the events from this dream to happen. Cernunnos is long dead, and most of the monsters in the Everfree have eaten each other. There aren't going to be any ravaging hordes.”

“Dreams aren't just tools for prophecy, Celly. Sometimes dreams can dredge up thoughts and fears that you don't quite realize that you have.” Luna drew close to her sister. “Are there any patterns in your dreams? Anything consistent?”

Celestia looked at her hooves for a long while. “In all of them, something horrible happens to Twilight Sparkle. Sometimes she gets hurt, sometimes it's Spike, sometimes it’s her friends. But it always has to do with Twilight. And I always find myself unable to cope. My guilt and grief overwhelm me.”

“You truly care for her, don’t you?” Luna asked quietly.

“Yes.”

Luna snickered.

“Not in THAT way, Luna. You know I prefer stallions who are big, dumb, and well hung. The Blueblood clan certainly wouldn’t have gotten far on their natural wit and charm, after all.” They both giggled.

“Twilight’s more like a daughter to me,” Celestia said. “Or maybe a much-younger sister. It's just that the thought of anyone or anything hurting her….”

“Maybe that’s the message of these nightmares,” Luna said. “It could be as simple as your dreams telling you to take care of Twilight while you can. The question is, what are you going to do about it?”

Pensive silence hung in the air. “When did you get so smart about dreams?”

“Probably around the six-hundredth year or so on the moon.” Luna smirked. “There really wasn't much else for me to do, after all. At the time I was thinking of using them to defeat you and conquer Equestria on my return.” Luna grimaced.

“I am sorry, you know.”

“I know,” Luna said. “You made the right choice. Nightmare Moon's eternal darkness would have killed everypony. But sometimes I really do wish...”

“I know.” Celestia nuzzled her sister affectionately. “I think you’re right about my nightmares. And I also think I know someone who may be able to help me. Could you tell the chamberlain to clear tomorrow morning's schedule for me?”

“Certainly, sister.” Luna rose.

“Luna? Thank you. For everything.”

~~~~~~

“Knight Captain. So good to see you.”

“I came as soon as I received your summons, Your Highness. Is something wrong?” The ancient unicorn wore a simple decorative harness instead of the usual full Royal Guard barding. His silver mane and cream coat glowed under the bright morning sunlight streaming into Princess Celestia's office. She could almost hear his joints creaking and popping as he crossed the room.

When did he get so old? It seems like only yesterday that I was knighting him.

“Sit down, Starlight. Would you care for some morning tea?” Celestia gestured to a cushion across from her.

“Of course, Princess. I am ever at your service.” Knight Captain Starlight Dancer slowly eased into the cushion. Celestia floated her tea set over to them and poured tea into a pair of teacups.

Starlight sipped the tea, nodding politely. “What can I do for you, Princess?”

“What makes you think I didn't just invite you over for a spot of tea?”

“Because you had another nightmare last night. That makes ten over the course of two weeks or so, correct?”

Celestia simply sipped at her tea – a single eyebrow raised at him.

“By the way, this truly is an exquisite blend, Princess. And I can definitely use the pick-me-up. I'd forgotten how wearing the overnight shifts outside your door can be on these old bones.”

Celestia sipped her tea again, using the teacup as a shield as she gathered her thoughts. “How long have you known?”

“Since the beginning. Most Royal Guardsponies have excellent hearing and take your protection rather seriously. I’ve known since the first time you woke up sobbing.” The old unicorn set his cup down. “Would you care to talk about them?”

Celestia sighed. “Not really, but I will. Knight Captain, I believe I have a serious problem.”

Starlight Dancer froze for just a moment, his eyes widening ever so slightly before his unflappable expression returned. “And what can Her Eternal Princesses' Royal Guards do to resolve this problem?”

“I'm not sure. I'd like to discuss it with you and hear your thoughts, if you are willing.”

“Always, Princess. As I said before, I am ever at your service.”

~~~~~~

An hour and several cups of tea later, they were still talking.

“Do you think what is happening in the nightmares could possibly happen in real life? I mean, your reactions.”

“I don’t know.” Celestia looked down at the small table between them. “The heavens know I’ve seen enough of my ponies die over the years. I’ve had personal students die before. Grief and I are old acquaintances by now. But for some reason, the thought of something happening to Twilight fills me with extraordinary dread. And the thought that I could lose control of myself in such a manner terrifies me. So now I am beginning to truly fear for what could happen to me and Equestria if something does happen to her.”

Starlight Dancer leaned back. “Then why not recall her to Canterlot? Surely she would return if you asked, and she would be far safer here than anywhere else.”

“I can't,” Celestia said sadly. “She’s finally beginning to grow and live her own life out there in Ponyville. All her friends are there, and she’s finally learning the life lessons she would’ve learned long ago if I hadn't chosen her as my student. I know Twilight would return in a heartbeat if I asked her, but I'm afraid she would never forgive me. I’d probably never forgive myself.”

“I see.”

Celestia looked at Starlight Dancer, pleading. “Do you have any other ideas? I can’t – Equestria can’t afford to lose Twilight.”

“Well, I suppose I could get a Royal Guard detachment assigned to Ponyville. They'd be able to protect Miss Sparkle should something untoward happen.”

Celestia frowned. “I'm not sure the Council of Nobles would allow that. They feel that Royal Guard protection should be reserved for certain bloodlines. The only way I could head off their incessant complaining would be Royal Decrees and a few executions. And I will not start down that road again.

“More importantly, Twilight would probably think an active Royal Guard presence in Ponyville means that I don't trust her. She’d drive herself crazy trying to look perfect in front of the guards. You remember how she gets.”

“True enough,” Starlight said. “That little filly always was a bit high strung. Hmmm...

“Do you think we could assign just one Royal Guard to watch over her, undercover? It wouldn't have the threat deterrence of a full squad of Royal Guardsponies in full regalia, but one trained pony in the right place can certainly do quite a lot in an emergency. Besides, if he is acting undercover, no one would even know he was a Royal Guardspony unless he had to put on the armor for some reason.”

Celestia’s heart leapt. A Royal Guardspony would die before letting anything hurt Twilight. Knowing someone like that is there to watch over Twilight would definitely ease my fears.

“And assigning one Royal Guard off on detached duty somewhere would never get noticed by the nobles, especially if the paperwork was creatively filed.” Starlight said, grinning.

“That could work indeed.” Celestia smiled. “Do you have any specific Guardsponies in mind?”

“Most of my boys and girls aren't exactly undercover material. Those that are undercover material probably wouldn't be much help if Miss Sparkle was in over her head. Besides, she’s met most of them, even if she didn’t know it at the time, so there’s a chance she’d recognize them. I'll have to look over my files and get back to you.”

“Do you think you’ll have time to do it before your retirement? I’d prefer to keep this as discreet as possible.”

“I'll find the time,” he said. “I've already handed most of my workload over to my successor, Thunderstrike. And even if I don’t get it done before I’m officially retired, I’m sure that this old warhorse can use a little of his spare time to finish up a side project or two with discretion.”

“I understand.” Celestia smiled. “I believe we are done here then, Knight Captain.” Celestia stood gracefully, studiously ignoring the wince of pain crossing Starlight Dancer's face as he wobbled to his hooves.

“Your Majesty.” The Knight Captain saluted and left.

Celestia watched her ever-loyal Knight Captain leave her office and looked at her calendar. I should really do something nice for that poor stallion.

~~~~~

That night, Princess Celestia dreamed again. It was one of the nice dreams.

Comments

[Truth_Seeker]

Gotta admit, I was ready to blow my top at the "All Just a Dream!" ending
and then Starlight Dancer happened
and now perfect setup for the next story, tied in with old guardponie's duty. Cant wait

[BuffaloBrony]

405860

Exactly.

I knew going into it that "it was all just a dream" was a trite overused story concept. But one of the reasons they get overused is the same reason a hammer tends to get used a lot. Sometimes it IS the right tool for the job.

I had initially penciled this story in (roughly) as Chapter one of my yet unnamed sequel to Old Guardspony - but then I realized that it had (and had to have) a WAY darker tone than I intended for the rest of the sequel. So I broke it out as a separate story so i could tag it appropriately and then get back to work on the sequel.

Now you all know what poor Summer Oak's mission is going to be - trying to covertly guard Twilight Sparkle.
We can't imagine any problems with THAT simple a mission, now can we?

heh, heh, heh...

[Truth_Seeker]

Just re-read the description. Actually taking the time to check that would have helped me put the story in the proper perspective.

Still, something's bothering me about this story, so I'll lay it out below. If its rude or unhelpful let me know and I'll delete it.

I assume that this narrative was to simulate the concerns brought up in "An Old Guardpony's Last Duty", namely that sometimes the purpose of the Royal guard is to protect the Princesses (and, by extension, Equestria) from themselves. Furthermore, characters discussing the implications of this simulation in-story sets up the framework of your next fic.
The best trope to illustrate this concept in-story (while keeping it a simulation) is through a dream, which allows the reader to sympathize with the character while also allowing the author to retcon everything (which, as stated before, serves as a catalyst for the discussion that takes place at the end). the problem with this is that coming out of the dream completely shatters the reader's suspension of disbelief (war and slaughter in Equestria, believable? Gotta love them Dark fics!). It's not the trope itself, but breaking suspension of disbelief that makes this trope trite (and its overused in its convenience in providing characterization without consequences).
I'm not an experienced writer or editor, so what I've got below is just some fanciful conjecture, take what you will. There are two changes I could think of that would reduce the impact of invoking "All Just a Dream" without adding twenty pages to the story. The first: bookends. This fic starts with Celestia dreaming and ends with her not, and that's confusing. A one or two page scene of Celestia's day winding down (with perhaps a passing reference to Starlight Dancer ) would give the story symmetry, which I feel would make the "dream" much more justifiable to the reader. The second: give the reader some hints that you're pulling this as it plays out. As for how to pull that off, I'm kinda lost . To put it in metaphor, I think getting slapped upside the head a few times is preferable to a brick to the face. You've completely justified how the dream was ridiculous in-story, but this all goes completely over the readers' head while its playing out. Sorry I don't have any easy solution

Well that about sums it up, hope it doesn't sound completely ridiculous

[BuffaloBrony]

406575

I never reject honest criticism. You can't improve yourself if you don't know what you are doing wrong...
~~~~~~~
You are right - and I accept full responsibility for it.

I did try to give the story subtle bookends regarding dreaming. The first line is: Princess Celestia dreamed... The last line was: That night, Princess Celestia dreamed again. It was one of the nice dreams. (which is also a callback to first real paragraph.) Both lines without indent and formatted similarly. I guess that was too subtle... Doh!

I also tried to make sure every chapter and major scene in the dream had some sort of visually based clue that things were slightly out of focus - smoke, morning haze, tears or the heat of her rage causing the world to waver, etc. I also made a few attempts to play with timing and pacing to give that slightly disjointed yo-yo feeling you sometimes get in dreams - but those are less obvious.

One of my problems as a writer is that I tend to be too verbose and descriptive. My editor - being more classically trained and actually having worked as a professional editor for several years - is a true believer in the "sometimes less is more" philosophy. (I'll freely admit that a large chunk of the 20% cooler she makes my writing is by hacking out unnecessary verbiage. ) My editor convinced me to pull some of the "its a dream" cues or tone them down because they were being too overt.

I guess I was actually trying to get a dawning sense of "something's not right" combined with "shock and horror" in the reader - which would then culminate with Celestia waking up, and having a reason to want to assign a bodyguard to Twilight via SD. Obviously - I wasn't quite successful.

Oh well. At some point, I may return and try to clean this up a bit more. But for now, I'm just going to chalk it up to a "learning experience" and leave my mistakes where I can see them.

[CommanderX5]

I like that Celestia is interested in giving Twilight protection.

However I do not understand the whole think with the nobles, after all Twilight and her friends are element bearers of harmony and national heroes, they are the most important line of defence and should be celebrities, they are worth more then every single noble in Equestria put together ( even Fancy Pants ), so I see no problem with getting entire division to Ponyvile.

[BlueColton]

It was just a dream. Okay. Entertaining until that point.

Celestia's fears show she's more mortal than ponies realize. I never bought into the whole indestructible ruler bit. She is powerful, but not powerful enough that she cannot be hurt in other ways. I would love to see more of the conflict between ponies and the monsters of the Everfree. Historical epics are always my thing.