The Good, The Bad and the Princess

by BorealStargazer

Interlude

When Celestia woke up, the view behind her window was enveloped in twilight. There was no dawn in the night sky yet. She could indulge herself in some sweet tossing and stretching in her bed, oblivious for a while to all the things planned for today. She softly smiled to the ceiling, reveling in the feeling, then turned on her tummy. The sleep was avoiding her, although she woudn't mind slumbering for half an hour more. She rang in the gilded hoof bell, rolled off from her cushions and perfectly landed on her legs. Well, if there's no more sleep to find...

A light warm-up didn't take long and she quickly switched to stretching, bending elastically on her gym rug, shaking the leftovers of sleepiness away from her limbs. The butler still didn't come. The alicorn made the full set of exercises, put her headband away and trotted for the bathroom, slightly tired yet satisfied, but not before ringing again.

Her bedroom was the same as when she left. The empty shade dissipated the dim light of magical lightballs. Celestia frowned, hanging the towel on the dryer unlike she usually did, and slipped into her gilded horseshoes. Once again, nopony responded to the ringing, but she noticed, focusing, a light haze trickling from under the closed double door.

A worm of light uneasiness in her chest moved, rustling. She reached the door in a few sweeping steps and opened it wide.

“What is happening here?”

The guard gave no response. Frozen like a trained statue, he stared in front of him from under the closed helmet, his cuirass of the Sun Guard slightly glittering. The mist was thicker here, it crept, clinging to the floor, barely rising to her hips. The light from the lanterns fixed on both sides of the passage struggled with penetrating the thick air. Everything seemed vague, illusory, indistinct.

“Officer?”

This is ridiculous, Celestia persuaded herself. What is there to be afraid of in her own castle? Suppressing her anxiety she approached the guard.

“Officer!”

The guard never moved. But now, up close she could see for sure that his eyes were closed. His eyelids fluttered, something shifted behind them in short spasms. He was sleeping, sleeping at his post, and his dream was an uneasy one.

“Wake up, officer!”

The stallion's massive body turned out to be in a fragile kind of balance. He leaned on a wall from her soft push, then slowly slipped down. His breath quickened but he didn't wake.

She went through empty spooky corridors like if she was in a dream. Except it wasn't. She even had to buck herself, just to be sure. The guards were sleeping. They leaned on the marble pillars, hanged on the poles of their halberds resting on the floor, stood as immobile statues. The mist powdered with sprinkles flew around, spiraling, running away in small vortexes from her steps. A cleaning mare softly snored in her tiny room under the stairs. A night shift of cooks were lying on rugs in a crescent around the dead firepit. She paused near one of the windows, staring at the sleeping city. There wasn't a single lit window in Canterlot, tiled roofs glimmering silver in the cold moonlight. The dawn was frozen somewhere in the distance, on the rim between the earth and the sky, illuminated with weak beams of the sun that struggled to rise and couldn't.

“Captain? Luna?”

She felt something that, it seemed, an immortal princess could not possibly feel. Her trot hastened to a gallop, the mist rolling under her legs, turning the clattering of hooves, once clear, into a dull, viscous stomping. The door leading to Luna's chamber wasn't locked, and Celestia momentarily hesitated before pushing the panel of dark wood away.

“Are you in here? You alright, sister?”

The bedroom welcomed her with thick shadows. The only light was from a whitish silver night-lamp standing to the side, but it was as if the haze pressed against it, its light being unable to pierce the permeating shroud. The puffs of mist here were thicker, richer, they bloomed in inky ultramarine, shimmered with star dust, shaping into exquisite castles, towers, elaborate patterns and quaint monsters, then crumbled, dwindling into the night air.

“Sister, are you okay? Sister?” the princess asked again. The thumping of her heart seemed to resound in her temples, sounding louder than her weak and uncertain voice.

“I am here, Tia,” Luna echoed, and she felt a great relief. “I'm fine. Perfectly fine.”

“Thank the Mother,” Celestia let out a sigh, calming down her nervous shakes, and threw her wet forelock away. “The guards are sleeping... As well as all the other ponies. What happened to them? What time is it?”

“What time is it?” Luna cracked a coarse, choking, toneless laugh. “Is this the best you could ask?”

“I don't understand...” Celestia narrowed her eyes, nervously looking into the shadows. “What's happening?”

“You know, sister,” Luna shifted her weight from one leg to another, flexing her shoulders, “didn't it ever occur to you that you know... precious little of your subjects... for an omniscient ruler of the nation?”

“Luna,” Celestia shook her head. “I don't believe this is the best of times. We need to wake...”

“Oh, on the contrary,” Luna cut her off. “Now is the perfect time. No hindrances of any kind, no outsiders intervening in our discussion. At long last, we can have a talk in private.”

The pieces of a puzzle started shifting into place in princess' head one by one.

“It was you? It was you, sister?”

“Who else could it be?” Luna silently smiled, her teeth glittering. “Of course it was I.”

“What...what did you do?” Celestia gasped.

“Less than I should have,” Luna replied. “Still, it was nothing they didn't deserve. I dispensed justice. I believe you do remember Starswirl's lessons well.”

“The ruler is to be just,” Celestia nodded, then frowned. “Do you mean I wasn't just? Did I ever wrong somepony by undeserved punishment?”

“Why, no, dear sister,” Luna mockingly smiled. “You never punished anypony. You equally shone to all, hunters and prey alike. Tell me, did you really think one can idly watch while they all basked in your precious light? Do you sleep well at night?”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Celestia frowned, “but you must lower the moon. The ponies must wake up. It is your duty!”

“Must I?” Luna's eyes threateningly narrowed. “I envision my duty differently. The night will last forever... until the redemption comes. But yet one question remains. Why can't I see your dreams? What are you hiding, Tia?”

The night-lamp's dim light glistened on the armor. Narrow catlike eyes glanced at the princess from under the roundish silver helmet.

“Let's find it out... sister.”

Author's Note:

http://fav.me/d8k5ob3
(except Luna is Anderson)