Chapter 7: The Moon Princess
Twilight Sparkle was so relieved to see Luna that she almost ran over to her and nuzzled her openly. Twilight wanted to do it -- there was something about the situation, such a relief to see Luna's big, beautiful, deadly and above all friendly form when she had been fearing the advent of Discord, that it made her feel like a lost filly suddenly rounding a corner to see her family standing there. Only Luna wasn't save in the most remote sense her family at all, but something else mysterious and exciting that she did not like to name even to herself too explicitly, lest naming it somehow rob it of its power.
But as she stepped gladly forward, Twilight saw Pinkie Pie in the way, and suddenly realized that all her friends were watching, and remembered one of the less pertinent earlier topics of discussion. And she was suddenly shy, and stopped in front of the Moon Princess, looking up at her a bit awkwardly. Twilight had grown surprisingly over the past year -- Rarity had happily let out the better of her older clothes and taken the opportunity to design her newly-royal friend a whole new wardrobe -- but Princess Luna still topped her by a full hoof at the shoulder.
"Princess Luna --" Twilight started to say, and at that moment Luna's beautiful blue eyes moistened as they looked into Twilight's own, and Luna reached forward to wrap a foreleg around her and draw her into an unashamedly open hug, giving her cheek and neck a quick but affectionate nuzzle, just short of expressing more than friendship. Twilight stiffened for a moment in surprise, then relaxed happily into Luna's protective warmth.
"Well met!" Luna said loudly, then, more softly almost breathed into her ear, "I am so glad to find thee alive and unharm-ed." She fully pronounced the last syllable of 'unharmed,' one of the remaining archaisms of her speech that not even four years in the 16th century had changed. She usually used 'you' in normal conversations with most ponies now, but still almost always still used the second person familiar with Twilight and a few other Ponies -- a habit whose implications Twilight grasped quite well.
Luna released Twilight, looked at her with extreme fondness, then smiled at Twilight's friends.
"Well met you one and all," she addressed them. They responded with bows of differing degrees; Applejack regarding her with reverence, Fluttershy and Rarity executing perfect formal bows, and Rainbow Dash making a military salute. Pinkie, being Pinkie, bounded happily all around her, grinning and warbling "I've got lots of chocolate cake!" to the \warrior Princess. Twilight, who had finally gotten use to her new station, simply inclined her head slightly in respect, but her eyes returned Luna's warmth.
Luna turned to Twilight. "I would guess that Discord has neither yet returned, nor harmed anypony?"
"Yes," replied Twilight. "The last any of us has seen of him was Fluttershy -- he teleported away from her house, possibly back to his own realm."
"Was he wroth?" Luna asked.
Everypony looked at Fluttershy.
"Um ... yes ... I think so ..." Fluttershy replied. "He kind of ... glared at me ... and howled ... and then left."
Luna frowned. "He's deciding what to do next," she said. "This is bad."
"Why is it bad that he's deciding what to do next?" asked Twilight.
"He is most times rash," Luna explained. "He will do what he wills on the instant, then oft times forget his purpose. If one survives his first fury, one may well be safe from future scathe."
"And if he stops to think?" Twilight asked the question, but wasn't sure she'd like the answer.
"It means he is angered greatly," Luna stated. "It means he may be preparing some vengeance terrible."
"Eep!" said Fluttershy, ducking under one of the tables.
Luna ducked down to meet Fluttershy's frightened gaze. "I do not think he means to harm you," she said, "If he had, he would have snatched you to his domain when you were in his presence."
Fluttershy looked out a bit hopefully. "That's good," she said. Then she seemed to realize something. "Wait ..." she started to ask. "Who ...?"
"Bulk Biceps," Luna said. "Discord will wreak his wrath upon him."
Fluttershy moaned. "It's all my fault!"
Luna looked at her. "Why do you say that?" she asked curiously.
"Because if I hadn't made love to Bulkie, he'd be okay!"
"Had you in any way promised yourself to Discord?" Luna asked.
"No ..." said Fluttershy.
"Then what did you do wrong?" Luna's voice was demanding, but gentle.
"I was supposed to keep Discord happy," Fluttershy wailed. "This isn't happy! This is totally and completely furious!"
"'Supposed to' -- my sister's orders?" Luna asked, a certain edge starting to come into her voice.
Fluttershy nodded.
"What exactly did she tell you to do?" Luna's tone was beginning to get cold.
Fluttershy gulped, hunkered down a bit more under the table.
Rainbow Dash hopped down to stand partially in front of Fluttershy. "Hey, Princess," she said, "Go easy on my friend, okay? Can't you see you're making her uncomfortable?"
"Yes, Your Highness," said Rarity, leaning forward with a knowing smile. "Honey catches more flies than vinegar, they say."
"But you should answer Princess Luna's question," added Twilight, looking under the table, smiling warmly at Fluttershy. "What did Celestia actually ask of you?"
"She told me that she wanted to give Discord a second chance," Fluttershy said, gaining some courage from the love of her friends. "She said that I should ... be nice to him ... be his friend, get him to like me, and show him that kindness could accomplish more than cruelty. Yes, those were her exact words: 'show him that kindness could accomplish more than cruelty.'"
"Ah," said Luna, relaxing. "But she did not command you to be Discord's lover, did she?"
Rainbow Dash's face darkened, and she started to move forward. Applejack put a hoof on her shoulder. Rainbow turned at the touch, and Applejack silently shook her head, no.
Rarity looked at Fluttershy inquiringly.
"N-n-n-no," stuttered Fluttershy.
"And were you?" Luna asked coldly.
"No!" squeaked Fluttershy. "We're friends! We're affectionate, but not like that! Would he even want that?" she asked. "I mean, from a Pony?"
"Yes," said Luna, directly. "He would."
Applejack blinked in surprise.
"Oh," said Fluttershy. "Then it really was what it looked like." She sounded sad. "Then I hurt Discord. When I could have made him happy."
"Fluttershy," said Luna, her voice gentling, "I greatly doubt that my sister wanted thee to be Discord's whorse. Or his slave. My sister is subtle, but she would not -- could not -- so abuse one who has given so much of herself in the service of the Realm." The stress in her voice increased in that last phrase.
Applejack frowned.
Twilight noticed that Luna had shifted to the second person familiar in addressing Fluttershy, and with affection rather than contempt.
"Then ..." Fluttershy said "... I didn't fail Princess Celestia?"
Luna looked briefly sad. "No, Fluttershy," she said. "Thou didst not. Rather, thou hast served us both right well, keeping a very dangerous being content." She bent forward. "Understand, 'tis not chiefly his carnal lusts he would satisfy. Discord hath his own ways of relieving such desires, and needeth not any other soul for such a purpose."
Fluttershy nodded, giving Princess Luna a look of complete understanding..
Twilight knew to what Luna referred. The thought of Discord doing this rather disgusted her, but it made sense given his known powers.
Rainbow got a very strange look, as if she was trying to figure something out.
Applejack pulled her head back, a look on her face as if she had bitten into a sour apple.
Pinkie screwed up her face in concentration for a moment, then giggled. "Ooh," she said brightly. "That'd be useful!" Everypony looked at her, and she -- quite unusually for Pinkie -- grinned in what looked like actual embarrassment, and did not comment further.
Rarity started and looked down, as if she had suddenly remembered something.
Spike smiled cheerfully up at her.
She leaned down to the small Dragon and whispered, "Darling, you should probably fetch some more sandwiches from the kitchen, the Moon Princess may be hungry."
"But this is interesting," Spike protested.
"It's not for your ears," Rarity said.
"I know all about mas --" Spike began.
"Hush," said Rarity. She put a gentle hoof over his mouth. "This is Discord," Rarity pointed out. "The Moon Princess may mean something beyond the obvious."
That if anything made Spike look more interested.
"Actually, Spike," said Twilight, "we could really all use more sandwiches."
"Aww ..." grumbled Spike, but he trudged off to the kitchen.
Twilight and Rarity smiled at one another.
Luna had watched all this byplay. Judging the moment right again, she said.
"I speak, to be plain, of Discord's energy forms. Ye have all noticed that he can make the semblance of life itself with his magic?"
Understanding dawned on the faces of Rainbow Dash and Rarity.
Rainbow was plainly revolted. "That's gross," she said aloud.
"This is Discord we're talking about, Rainbow," commented Rarity. "Different strokes, dear, and his are about as different as they come." She had a strangely abstracted look on her face, as if something about the thought fascinated her.
"But wait ..." said Rainbow. "His energy form thingies -- they aren't really real, are they?"
"They are holograms given solidity by his telekinesis," Luna explained. "Sound is easily managed by vibration. Smell and taste are more difficult, but he can simply add illusion to his forms if he wishes to imbue such sensations."
"But they don't have minds of their own, do they?" asked Twilight, seeing at what Luna was driving. "They only do what he makes them."
Luna nodded, smiling at Twilight in approval of her quick grasp of the situation. "So ..." she began, deliberately slowing her speech to give Twilight the opportunity to complete the thought.
"They can't love him!" Twilight continued excitedly. "They can't even really be his friends -- he'd only be talking to himself. So that's why he's so obsessed with Fluttershy!"
"Thou hast seized upon the truth," Luna affirmed. "Fluttershy is the first Pony to befriend Discord in fifteen hundred years -- longer if one considers that even his mother did turn upon him, at the last. One could say that Fluttershy is the first Pony in twenty-five hundred years to in her own right mind share his friendship."
"Wow," commented Applejack. "And Ah thought sometimes it got a mite lonely in the outer fields!"
"That's so sad," said Pinkie Pie, her mane drooping. Then it fluffed out again. "Somepony should throw him a party!" She was plainly volunteering.
"Do not have too much sympathy for Discord," cautioned Luna coldly. "He earned the fear and loathing of the world through a thousand years of tyranny. He had friends in his early years, after all."
"What happened to them?" asked Rarity. "If I may be so bold as to ask, Your Highness."
"He killed some," Luna . "Drove others mad. Twisted some into monstrous forms. Others fled. One or two," Luna said, looking at Pinkie oddly, "he actually sent away for their own safety. From himself."
"Then maybe he's not all bad," said Fluttershy.
"Not all bad," agreed Luna. "He has some good in him. But 'tis buried deep, and rarely comes to light."
"He's often been very nice to me," insisted Fluttershy, surprising everypony by her willingness to debate Luna on this issue.
"Yes," said Luna deadpan. "So nice that you're hiding under a table in terror of him. If I'd only known that the standards for being 'nice' were so low of late, I might rage and threaten more often: perhaps it is a good way to make and keep friends?"
Fluttershy winced. Everypony, even Twilight Sparkle, looked reproachfully at the Moon Princess. Rainbow Dash was openly scowling at her.
Luna sighed in exasperation. "Fluttershy," she said with clearly-deliberate calm, "You have done well to bring forth Discord's better side. But you must know that Discord is dangerous, and unpredictable. That is why you are afraid."
She turned to Twilight. "That is why thou didst write to me, asked me to come here. Thou -- rightly -- doth fear what Discord may do, and over a circumstance that while it would most certainly upset most stallions, would not drive them to serious violence. Discord is mad, and has been for two thousand, four and five hundred years. You know the tale."
Twilight nodded.
"Rainbow Dash," Luna said, her tone conciliatory "thou art mine own friend, and I am thine. Full well I know why thou art wroth with me, for my cross words with thy dearest friend, the High Lady Fluttershy. But be aware, brave warrior, that I am not and never shall be any foe to thee and thine."
Rainbow's expression softened and she smiled slightly at being called a 'brave warrior.'
"The threat," Luna continued, "comes from Discord, not myself. It is Discord, not Princess Luna, who might wreak vengeance upon Fluttershy, or Bulk Biceps -- or others -- for a betrayal which exists only within his own fevered mind. Indeed, should we good friends come to quarrel here, we are but achieving his ends, and by his own means. Canst thou see that?"
Rainbow nodded. "Sorry if I was steamed, Princess," she replied. "I'm just -- you know, it's Fluttershy."
"And I apologize for any insult to the High Lady Fluttershy," Luna said, looking directly at the yellow-and-pink Pegasus.
"S'okay, Your Highness," replied Fluttershy, slowly emerging from under the table.
"I have your own protection in mind," explained Luna, "and that of your dear friend Bulk Biceps." She looked around her, closed her eyes a moment. Her horn briefly flouresced bright blue. She looked at Twilight.
"A goodly ward," she commented. "Well done."
Twilight smiled and colored slightly at the praise.
"Bulk Biceps should be relatively safe with Golden Pie," Luna said. "She has the lore of Iolite Quartz and the power of Paradise behind her. Provided that Discord is not willing to really work at it -- and believe me, he is rarely motivated to work at anything -- he cannot pass that good matron's wards."
"That's my Granny!" crowed Pinkie Pie, bouncing up and down with joy.
"Indeed," acknowledged Luna. "And you are a grand-daughter of whom she may be rightly proud."
Pinkie grinned happily.
"That takes care of Bulk for the moment, then," said Luna with some satisfaction. "Now, as to his loved ones ..."
"Discord would hurt them?" asked Twilight in alarm, her eyes widening.
"Mayhaps," replied Luna. "If he was sufficiently wroth, and could not reach Bulk Biceps."
"Featherweight," whispered Fluttershy, looking frightened.
Rainbow Dash looked in the air and moved her hoof as if she were tracing something, then her eyes widened in outright horror.. "Scootaloo!" she shouted and ran right out the front door without pausing to bid farewell to any of her friends.
Twilight telekinesed the door shut, and briefly rewove the wards over that section.
"They are his kin, I ween?" asked Luna.
Twilight nodded. "Featherweight is his only child. Scootaloo is his niece."
"He's divorced," Fluttershy explained softly. "And his brother and his sister-in-law are dead, Scootaloo's being raised by her maternal aunt. He has some other family, I think, in Cloudsdale."
"I know Scootaloo," said Luna. "A brave little filly. I hope she is unharmed."
"Rainbow hopes so too," Applejack said. "She loves her -- treats her as if she were her own kid sister."
"Would even Discord avenge himself on innocent little colts and fillies, Your Highness?" asked Rarity, her face troubled. "I mean -- he's bad -- but can he really be that bad?"
"Yes," said Luna. "He can be. And worse."
Fluttershy unexpectedly climbed out from under the table and spoke.
"Excuse me ... um ..."
Everypony looked at her.
"You've all said that Discord's horrible and that he's scared us all, but what has he really done?"
Luna's jaw dropped open.
"Lately, I mean," Fluttershy clarified. "Yes, he scared me and upset me, and I sent Bulkie away because I was scared for him, but he hasn't actually hurt me. Or Bulk. Or anypony. Over what he saw, I mean. Maybe he won't hurt anypony. Maybe we're all overreacting."
Luna thought for a moment.
"Fluttershy," she said. "It is true that Discord as of yet has not seriously harmed anypony -- within the space of the last year, which is all the time in which he has run free. And is true that we have talked here as if he very much might do harm. But think about why this is so.
"Thou wert worried because thou apprehended Discord night hurt you, or Bulk, or one of Bulk's kin. I worry because I think he may do those things, or worse. Why do we feel this trepidation?
"Because Discord has power but does not care to restrain that power, that is why. And by doing this, he makes a threat against any who might merely thwart him in some way.
"Consider this. Mine own power is great. Suppose, Applejack, that I lusted after thine own brother, Macintosh. But he loved another. Would you tremble, in the belief that I might raze thy farm, murder thy family?"
Applejack thought a moment.
"No," she said. "Cuz you wouldn't do no such thing. You're not like that."
"My power is checked by my principles," said Luna. "I do not claim moral perfection, but I would not harm Ponies merely for failing to bend to me in every thing. That would be wrong.
"The same is true of my sister, and of Cadance, and Twilight. We all have great power, but we do not use such power as a mace with which to batter down the freedom and dignity of others. We respect others."
Luna looked right into Fluttershy's eyes. "Does Discord?" she asked quietly.
Fluttershy shrunk, drooped, mutely shook her head.
"Even if Discord wreaks no wrongs, now, the knowledge that he has both the magical and the moral capability to oppress others can be wielded as if it were a mace against the liberties of each and all," Luna explained. "Who would dare oppose him in anything, when the price of calling his bluff and finding it no bluff at all might be death, or worse? I know myself of ones who opposed him, often in minor matters, during his reign of terror, and who not only suffered, but saw their kin or even whole Kinds tortured for generations for their temerity." Luna's expression grew bleak. "I knew some of them personally.
"Fluttershy, thou hast been put in great fear. Bulk has been forced to flee to South Dunnich. Did either of you do any wrong?"
Fluttershy thought about it for a moment, then shook her head.
"Rainbow Dash even now searches for Featherweight and Scootaloo. Discord's shadow falls over their lives as well. What wrong was done by either of those young innocents?" Luna asked.
Everypony's expression, even Flutteshy's, grew somber at this thought.
"It is possible that Bulk Biceps shall spurn thee after this ..." Luna began.
Fluttershy's eyes widened, and she whimpered.
"I do not say that he will!" the Moon Princess hastily added. "I know him not, but I have never heard any name him coward. But understand -- if Discord means not to actually harm Bulk, his obvious next ploy might be to try to frighten him, harass him so that he abandons his suit. He could do all this without actually committing any crime dire enough to warrant the risk to the Realm of commanding him to cease. And though he is impulsive, he has a certain cunning -- as ye all well knoweth.
"And having won in this sally, ruled over thee in this thing," continued Luna, "how long before he came to rule thee in all? He could drive away everypony who meant anything to thee who threatened his domination over thee or simply occupied an attention he meant to belong to him alone. He might torment your lovers, your friends, even your animals. In the end, Fluttershy, thou wouldst be both his leman and his slave, whether thou willed it or no.
"And so," Luna said grimly to them all, "ye do ken why I so greatly misdoubted, from the start, this plan of my sister's to tame Discord through friendship." She looked at Fluttershy. "It makest thee, in thy own most private heart, hostage to Discord's whims. Celestia should have simply left him stone, for another fifteen hundred years if need be, until Ponykind were much more mighty, and need no longer fear him."
"But ..." protested Fluttershy in a sad small voice. "I've made ... progress. He can be friendly ... fun ... really kind ..."
Twilight glanced at Luna. "Fluttershy has a point," she said. "This is a bad moment, but it seems to me as if Discord has learned and grown. He's been nicer to us lately than he was a year ago. And -- if this works -- we gain Discord as an ally for the Realm. Nopony's been hurt yet -- we can still give Discord a chance, can't we? What's the harm in a little trust?"
Luna looked long and searchingly at the smaller Alicorn. "Twilight ..." Luna finally said. "My sister told thee of our early life, did she not? How Paradise Estate was broken?"
Twilight nodded. "And some of the battles you and your family fought against Discord, yes. But that was long ago -- he must have changed -- he doesn't act like that now. He didn't even do all that on the Day of Discord. Maybe he's mellowed."
Luna looked troubled.
"There is perhaps more thou shouldst know," she said in a very low voice, "something I fear Celestia did not tell thee to spare my feelings, for she knows who and what thou art to me. I wouldst fain converse with thee in private."
"Sure," said Twilight softly. Then, to everypony. "Princess Luna wants to discuss some special aspects of this situation with me in private. We're going to go into my study for a bit."
"Sure thing, Twi," said Applejack.
"How intriguing," commented Rarity. "But we shall respect your privacy."
"Ooh, secrets!" said Pinkie Pie. "It's important to keep secrets!"
"Okay," said Fluttershy.
They stepped into the study.
Twilight observed her friend and colleague.
Luna seemed nervous, ill at ease. She kept averting her face, almost as if she would hide behind her own mane like Fluttershy. This was strange behavior for the normally direct, forthright Moon Princess.
Finally, as they settled down, Luna looked slowly up, gazed into Twilight's own eyes.
"Discord -- when he awoke to his true self -- that it caught Paradise Estate unawares ..." she began, then looked down sadly.
Twilight extended an encouraging hoof, gently stroked Luna's lower foreleg.
Luna looked up, her face twisted in shame.
"It was my fault."
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I admit, I paused in my reading for the better part of a minute here. I tried to see into Pinkie's imagination, and something looked back.
In any case, this chapter offered a wealth of insight, both in the interactions and the discourse. Given Discord's actual actions, the dramatic irony is thick enough to cut with a knife. And, of course, you end on a cliffhanger that likely won't be resolved for two chapters. Ah well, such is the cost of alternating perspectives.
(Also, you and thou are both second-person pronouns. First-person is I, me, my.)
Looking forward to more.
4498791
Pinkie had a very good idea of the possibilities, starting with the more innocent ones. Then she spoke. Then she realized the less innocent ones, because Pinkie's not totally innocent. Then she realized that the latter were of what Luna was speaking.
Fortunately, it's hard to see a pink pony blush.
Hilariously, Rainbow didn't get it at all, until Luna made it obvious.
Even more hilariously, Rarity seemed to find the notion very interesting.
Aagh! You're right on the grammar, and Twilight of all Ponies would never make this mistake! Got to fix it!
And we're not even going to find out what happened for at least two chapters.
Discord makes all cliffhangers worse.
WHAT? And I can barely read what Luna say but some I can . Also slave that sounds so familiar
4499326
I didn't think I'd made her vocabulary that archaic by tossing in a few Early Modern English terms. Though I was trying to show her slipping more into at as she got increasingly upset. Which terms threw you? Here's some of the ones I used, with definitions.
"fain" = pleased or willing.
"ken" = know or understand.
"ween" = think or suppose.
Luna's point is simple. Discord, given his power level and reputation for doing dreadful things, can intimidate others and control Fluttershy's life even without doing a specific dreadful thing or even making a threat. Just seeming angry is enough.
Luna herself is more dreaded than she wishes she were. But at least she realizes that this can be a problem.
4495064
Discord might well have been grounded somewhat by that.
The thing Luna blames herself for is something implicit in your original version of the story, too. Though I don't know if that's how you meant it to be taken. And I'm sure some of the extrapolations I've made were implications you probably didn't intend.
Doesn't trust the mane six with the truth? Heh.
So in this reality Scootaoo lives with her aunt eh?
So Bulk is Featherweight's father in this reality, interesting.
4499354
Wait, where is this particular story "Lovecraftian?" That trying to comprehend the Cosmic self of Discord would make one go mad? That's more or less implied by canon, though the canon doesn't precisely have the Cosmic vs. Aspect distinction important here.
My treatment of the actual elements I borrowed, modified or parodied from Lovecraft have been deliberately anti-Lovecraftian. Most of the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods are at worst neutral or weird. Paradise was created by the Ponies of the (alternate) Age of Wonders; it's an AI that rewrote itself into godhood. Claire Quartz Pie (aka "Claire-Bear") the giant invisible fluffy Pony with the multiple heads and tentacular tongues, is a good being. Pinkie's reality warping is canon. And so on.
4499994
Luna doesn't want to have to be careful with what she says in order to avoid revealing things to certain members of the Mane Six for which those members might not be ready. She's also not entirely sure what Celestia's told to which members.
Plus, she's quite ashamed of what she's about to reveal. She feels she must tell Twilight Sparkle, but she doesn't want to tell everypony else.
Yes, I kind of like the idea of Bulk being Featherweight's father (in part because of the contrast), and Bulk has similar wings to Scootaloo's so I figured they should be kin.
4499437 o OK thanks and I do believe everyone knows that he can do whatever
ahh, interesting. good work.