A Cavalcade of Cards

by QueenMoriarty

Treachery Most Foul

The Vault of Harmony was far less impressive than its name suggested. It was really nothing more than a glorified walk-in closet, in which they kept a large treasure chest, which itself contained the Elements of Harmony. Even at the best of times, all it would need would be a broom propped against the wall to be mistaken for a janitor's closet.

The door to the vault, though, that was a spectacle. The doors were like giant slabs of gold, inlaid with jewels the size of ponies' heads and guarded by an enchantment that none save Celestia could dispel. They towered higher than the tallest dragons that had ever been admitted into Canterlot, and probably would have stopped them as well. But the most impressive thing about the door was its location.

At any given moment, the door to the Vault of Harmony could occupy any one of a million places in Canterlot. One moment, it would be at the end of the Hall of Glass in the palace, but less than a day later it would have taken the place of the door into the Royal Mausoleum. Celestia didn't consider her week complete until she had gotten at least twelve complaints about the vault door materializing in somepony's house, or blocking an alleyway they used as a regular shortcut, and the tabloids were never free of a constantly-retooled article that tried to convince its readers that the door was actually an instrument of espionage.

Tonight, the door had decided to materialize exactly halfway down the hall between Celestia's room and... Luna's room.

The last few weeks had been difficult. Every time Celestia remembered that her sister had come back, she was filled with the urge to run to her sister and pull her into a passionate embrace. But as those feelings raced through her, she could not help but kick herself for having forgotten, however briefly. She was left worrying that it would happen all over again, just because she wasn't constantly in the same room as Luna. No matter how many assurances her sister gave, Celestia felt... paranoid.

If you had asked her why she unlocked the vault door that night, she wouldn't have been able to tell you. Sentimentality, perhaps, or maybe a childish desire to escape her paranoia. It might have been the subtle tug of destiny, or that vague sense of foreboding one gets just before they walk in on a child that has broken the cookie jar. Regardless of the reason, Celestia unraveled her enchantment and stepped through the great double doors.

The Elements were scattered on the ground, and the chest that normally held them had been torn open. Before she could be properly surprised at somepony slipping past her wards, Celestia spotted the spirit hovering over the trinkets with a giant glowing hammer. She prepared a spell, and lit up the vault.

The spirit looked like the disembodied top half of a dragon, if dragons were made of blood-red rocks and wreathed in spectral fire and lava. Its mouth seemed to exist on a totally different level than the rest of its head, as though the imposing dragon-face were merely a helmet. Just above the lip of the mouth sat three all-too-normal eyes, while the eyes of the dragon-face were empty dark spaces. Celestia gritted her teeth, and took a bold step forward.

"Halt, miscreant."

"No, you." The spirit growled, and two fiery pits flared up in the darkness where its eyes should have been. Celestia glared into the eyes, and felt magic pulling and pushing at her mind. She tried to grab hold of the spell and examine it, but it was too weak to stand up to her efforts. With that in mind, she allowed it entry, and immediately regretted it.

The battle with Nightmare Moon flashed in her mind, chopped up as though it were being edited for time. She felt every impact as her hooves connected with the face of her sister, felt her muscles ache as she threw each punch, and felt her horn heat up with each spell. All of those memories were nothing new, but that was where the magic started to push; As she felt herself throw each punch, she also felt them from Nightmare Moon's perspective. The crunch of each hoof into her jaw, the air rushing from her lungs after a buck to the chest, the lightning burns all across her body.

"You betrayed her," the spirit growled. "You turned away from your own flesh and blood in her time of need, and when she fell you only struck her down harder."

"I knew that already," Celestia sighed, her spell fading. "So why are you here?"

"To make you suffer as she suffered," the spirit replied, gesturing towards the Element of Loyalty with its hammer. "Pain for pain, small one."

"Thou art as foolish in thy thinking as in thy shape, if thou dost not consider our Celestia to have suffered."

The voice caused both Celestia and the spirit to jump back in shock, and they stared as Princess Luna seemed to melt out of the shadows. She fixed the spirit with a glare the likes of which she usually reserved for horrifying creatures from beyond the veil that had stepped in her flower garden.

"Was she not the one forced to banish her own sister for nigh on a thousand years? Was she not forced to watch madness tear at one she had thought content, 'til there was naught left of the pony she loved? Is she not the one who hath been plagued by nightmares of her own making, even after our glorious return?" Luna's straight blue mane was beginning to spark and flow, as though her old aura were returning to her. "The debt thou seekest collection on hath long been paid, foul shade. Away with thee, or thine entire plane shall know the ire of the night."

The spirit blew a raspberry at the princess of the night, which was very impressive considering that its tongue appeared to be an uncontrollable river of lava. Her horn glowed with a warning spell, and the spirit took the hint, fading out of their reality and back into its own.

The two sisters stood in the darkness of the vault for a while, Luna putting the Elements back in their box with a reverent silence and Celestia trying and failing to hold back her tears.

"Luna," she said at last. "I..."

Luna lifted a hoof to Celestia's lips, then pulled her into a hug.

Author's Note:

Ever notice how the location of the Elements of Harmony changed between the Season 2 opener and finale, but the door basically remained the same?

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Does it? It's been a while since I've seen those episodes. The idea of the vault door wandering around out of even Celestia's control is amusing, though.

In any case, these particular creatures present a fascinating challenge, given their alien anatomy and origins in comparison to Equestria. I'd say you used flavor text and appearance to their absolute fullest. Nice work.

[PresentPerfect]

Dang, but you fit a lot into this. :D That was great.