Prim Rose's Redemption

by Hope

Chapter 10

Prim Rose stood to the side as Princess Luna and King Grover entered the Great Chamber.

She’d spent the last 5 hours meticulously preparing the meeting, and ensuring that no odors would be present in the room which would disturb either occupant. Considering that King Grover hated pony smells and Princess Luna hated griffon smells, it was not a simple task.

Once they were inside and seated, Prim Rose slipped inside and closed the heavy doors behind her. She was so focused on performing her duties that she did not remember a single word spoken between the two.

She locked the doors, before stepping to the side and slipping two glasses from their holders by hoof. Even using magic for such a simple task near the King could incite his his paranoia.

The glasses were laid out on the table between the two rulers, and then Prim took the wine bottle from it’s cold resting spot. She removed the cork without making a sound, and then tested that the temperature of the blood red wine was exactly as it should be. Then, she turned to walk to the table.

Walking on one’s hind legs as a pony is not an easy task. First and foremost, the pony hindquarters are designed to support the weight of an equine in concert with their forward legs, and the instinct is always there to fall back to the proper stance. In addition, rearing up is a motion in action and brief. There is added stability in being in motion, which walking alone does not afford.

Finally, there is the question of moving from one hoof to another. Typically a pony never balances on a single leg for any length of time, so walking with only two was an exercise in balance few could perfect. Thankfully, Prim knew how to cheat.

Thanks to a ten pound weight tied to her tail to offer a slight counterbalance, and a thick plush rug, she did not have to stand quite so straight, and she did not have to lift her hooves. She simply slid them to move forward.

So, without disturbing the discussion, she swept into place, deftly poured two glasses of wine, and retreated to the corner to stow the bottle.

It was much to Prim’s surprise that she turned to look back at the table she’d just left to see Princess Luna looming over King Grover with a look of fury on her face. Having missed the leading conversation, Prim had no idea what was wrong, but simply remained in her post, trying not to stare.

“Thou art either a fool or a damned traitor to Equestria to say such a thing, Grover.”

The King backed away slightly, snarling in anger.

“If this is the thanks we are given for warning thee of such a terrible thing, then perhaps Equestria is better a stranger to us than we had thought!”

“Perhaps it is so,” Princess Luna said with narrowed eyes.

As King Grover stood, Prim quickly stepped up to the door and unlocked it, opening it just barely in time for the large griffon to brush past her and into the hallway.

His guards escorted him away, while Princess Luna caught her breath and sat again, staring at the spot where the King had been moments before. Prim waited next to the door, stunned by the rapid change in pace.

There had been plans for a brief meal after the meeting, clearly Princess Luna had not planned the outburst either. Something was terribly wrong, and there was no pony there to address it besides Prim.

She stepped forward, and in a daze Princess Luna looked up at her, expecting some banal information about the next thing on her schedule, or some offer of assistance. Instead, Prim decided that was the moment to take action on the request that Princess Luna had made months before.

“As a friend, your Highness… May I speak as a friend?” she asked cautiously.

Princess Luna’s gaze sharpened and she focused on Prim, jarred out of her contemplation.

“You may.”

“What in tartarus was that about?” Prim asked, stepping forward again. “What in the world did he say that warranted such a reaction? I hath given all of my attention to my duties and was not listening.”

Princess Luna’s expression turned dark, and she looked back to her table. Picking up her glass of wine she drained it, before picking up the other glass and emptying it as well.

Both were set down as she stood.

“King Grover insinuated that the conspiracy to dethrone us is orchestrated by none other than our own sister.”

“C… conspiracy?” Prim said, suddenly uncertain.

Luna swept past her and into the halls, and Prim managed only to lock the great chamber to be dealt with later before cantering after her to catch up.

“We hath kept it from thee, as thy work is heavy and new. ‘Tis not something that even a friend should be tasked with, but we hath become aware of a scheme to remove us from power.”

Prim, knowing more of what Princess Luna said than the princess would ever guess, did her best to keep to her side as she tried to understand how to reply.

“King Grover… he said that Princess Celestia led such a plan?” Prim asked, trying to clarify what Luna knew.

“No. Not led, but sanctioned,” Luna said bitterly. “It’s sickening, for him to think that she would know of such an insidious thing and not stomp it out. We hath done the same for her any time that we became aware of treachery.”

Princess Luna’s private chamber doors opened before she reached them, the guards standing aside and swinging them closed once Luna and Prim were inside.

“It’s absurd. It must be a trick. Some way to manipulate us,” Princess Luna muttered angrily, pulling open drawers and taking out writing implements and blank scrolls.

Prim stood near the door, her eyes following Luna as she stood completely still. That pressure was building again, the need to act, the need to come clean to her princess and admit what she knew. She had just a moment ago professed to be Princess Luna’s friend, and now she was lying by omission.

But this time, it was not just her own pride or fear that she was struggling with, but also the weight of the potential alliance between two nations. Despite all of that, it would be so easy for her to say nothing. In the end, it was the friendship that tipped the scales.

“It’s true,” Prim said softly.

Princess Luna’s magic released the things she had been grabbing, and they all fell to the floor as the magical lights in the room were abruptly snuffed out, the room growing cold in a fraction of a second.

If Princess Luna was not still standing there, Prim would have thought that she’d fallen asleep on her hooves and woken up to an abandoned room, the change was so drastic.

Prim straightened her neck, standing tall as Princess Luna turned to face her.

Luna looked like she was split between fury and terror.

“Hast thou misspoke, Prim Rose?” she whispered as she stepped towards Prim, head low and her wings spreading slightly like a bird of prey about to strike.

“I hath not,” Prim said, her voice wavering as she struggled to breathe regularly.

“Explain.”

“The first day I arrived… The meeting with thy sister…”

Princess Luna began circling Prim, staring into Prim as though she could weigh the character of her soul. Prim tried to keep her voice steady despite her growing fear.

“She showed to me a scroll from the nobility… A plan to dethrone thee and… She wished to prove them wrong.”

Princess Luna stopped, blinking in surprise.

“Pardon?” she asked as she closed her wings, and sat as the mage lights around the room flickered back to life, shedding a dim glow on the room.

“She… She wished to prove them wrong,” Prim said nervously, the sudden change of mood making her more nervous than the predatory stalking had been.

“We hath understood thee quite well, Prim Rose, but explain it. Prove who wrong? About what?”

Prim tried to relax and focus, to remember exactly what the paper she’d been shown had said.

“The nobility had created a petition… They wished to remove their cities from the Lunar court and swear fealty to thy sister, to deprive thee of power and taxes, and then have thee deposed as unfit for rule.”

Prim hesitated, looking to Luna who was listening carefully. She seemed unsurprised so far, apparently she’d uncovered much of the conspiracy already.

“Continue, Prim,” Luna said cooly. “How is our sister involved?”

“When she received the petition, Princess Celestia wished at first to encourage thee to employ an alienist in my post, which you knew of, so that they could evaluate thee as fit for thy post,” Prim said quickly. “Then when I became chamberlain, she asked me to help her evaluate thee… I was unwilling. I simply could not stomach the idea of tricking thee into evaluations and behaving… behaving like thy sister does. I refused, but kept the secret of the petition,” Prim explained.

Princess Luna pondered the revelation, standing and walking to the glass doors that looked out onto the patio. Prim remained quiet. Eventually, Luna looked back at her.

“She wished to counter such a thing? Not encourage it?” Luna said thoughtfully.

Prim nodded quickly before frowning and looking away.

“It is true, but… She wished to make thee more like her, your Highness. She wished for thee to respect the rich and nobility, and to be more sociable, I disagreed with these goals.”

Princess Luna huffed and shook her head.

“Such things, difference of rule we hath had for hundreds of years. We may discuss it, we may find a compromise, but to allow this deception and suspicion to stand… No. It shall not continue from this night. We must come together to combat the scheming and greed of the nobility. Not sit opposite to each other in silence.”

She opened the doors to her chambers and strode out, gesturing for her guards to stay at their posts, as Prim followed her, trying to keep up with her long gait.

“I don't… is that… art thou certain that is the wisest course of action?” Prim asked breathlessly, trying to find the most polite way to dissuade Princess Luna from her current path.

“Of course it is. We hath always been capable of settling our differences. This is a problem with the public, the nobles. Our connection to our sister shall never waver.”

Prim whimpered, a sound easily lost in the cacophony made by two sets of hooves cantering on stone tile.

All too soon, they were standing in front of Princess Celestia’s private chamber doors, with a double set of guards looking at them with no small amount of alarm.

“We must speak to our sister,” Princess Luna stated simply.

“Your Highness, I… we had been instructed by Princess Celestia to allow her as much sleep as possible this night.”

Princess Luna’s eyes narrowed to slits, and her horn lit up in pale blue. After a moment of confusion on the part of the guards, she then smiled.

“She is not asleep. We would sense her in the realm of dreams.”

The guards looked between themselves before knocking on the door.

“Yes?” Princess Celestia's voice called, weary. “What is it?”

“Thy sister requests to speak to thee, your Highness.”

“Enter.”

The guards pulled open the doors, allowing Princess Luna and Prim inside.

Prim expected lavish decorations in gold, and finery equal to Princess Luna’s chambers. What she did not expect was to see Princess Celestia sitting between two towering stacks of paper. She could see small crates around the room with additional paperwork, and a scroll basket that had overflowed into a scroll pile.

Princess Celestia looked up, and attempted to smile at her sister. But when she saw Prim, her smile grew bitter, and nearly vanished altogether.

“Sister, it is a pleasure to see thee as it is at any other time. May we ask what was so urgent this night?” Princess Celestia asked, her voice carefully neutral.

Princess Luna nodded briskly, and began to pace the room in front of Celestia’s great desk.

“Indeed, it is an urgent matter. Prim Rose hath informed us that there is some plot by the nobility, a petition that hath been sent to thee, regarding an insidious plot to dethrone us. While we understand that there was a need for secrecy, it is foolish to continue the deception when our investigation into the conspiracy hath already revealed it all to us. Besides, there is no force that can stand against us together,” Princess Luna said firmly, stopping to look up at Princess Celestia.

Princess Celestia was not even looking at Princess Luna. Instead, her gaze was on Prim. When Luna looked to Prim, she was shocked to see that the mare was struggling to breathe, as a golden ring of magic tightened around her throat.

“Sister! What possesses thee to harm our friend?!”

Princess Luna's magic sprung into a bubble around Prim, breaking the grip Celestia had, and allowing Prim to gasp for air, falling to the floor.

“Treason is punishable by summary execution,” Princess Celestia said, sounding almost bored. “Or so thee asserted to thy past Chamberlain. And thy past head mare in waiting, and thy captain of the guard, or was it…”

Princess Celestia feigned confusion, putting her hoof to her chin as the great windows of the room showed the night sky rapidly growing brighter.

“Was it thy honor guard? We cannot recall. Thou hast threatened so very many ponies with death after all. So if we decide to execute one lying, dishonorable, traitorous unicorn, why dost thou react with such shock?”

Princess Luna stepped back, looking at her sister in fear.

“Sister… put the sun back, it is night, what art thou doing?”

“One promise. Just to keep a single secret,” Princess Celestia said bitterly. “Just to honor the order of things. The order of ruling a country, the order of proper etiquette, the order of bureaucracy.”

She said the last word with a bitter hatred that coincided with her mane bursting into a roiling fire that rippled the air with heat. Quickly, the pillars of paper surrounding her burst into flames.

She smiled cruelly and her magic pushed the flames to spread around the room, catching every flammable thing alight as Princess Luna backed towards the door, eyes wide and dragging Prim in her magic.

“Sister, don't do this!” Luna begged. “Stop this at once!”

“No. No more polite requests,” the voice said from the flames. “No more smiling for the sake of others. No more picking up after your messes. No more trust, or honor, or the way things should be. No more sister. No more Princess Celestia.”

From the flames strode a changed mare. The alicorn’s teeth were sharp and predatory, her eyes were a dark burned orange with yellow pupils that seemed to flicker like flame.

With the sun rising behind her, she was walking in a beam of sunlight that cut through the rising flames, silhouetting her as she walked towards Princess Luna.

“I am Daybreaker,” she said as she looked down on Princess Luna with unholy fury in her gaze. “For I shall break even the natural order of things if it stands in the way of my whim and pleasure.”

Luna had just enough time to teleport Prim to safety before the solar wing of the castle exploded with enough force to send stone blocks as far away as the edge of the Everfree.

Luna was flung through the chamber doors, and landed hard in the middle of the great Hall before sliding nearly to her own bedroom doors.

As she stood she watched while Daybreaker floated closer and began walking towards her, tossing the bodies of her guards aside with a casual air that showed Princess Luna that this thing was nothing like her sister.

“Stop this!” Princess Luna shouted as she stood firm, bracing herself with magical spells. “You have a royal duty to uphold the diarchy!”

Daybreaker’s harsh laugh echoed in the halls as tapestries around her caught fire and screaming began to be heard throughout the castle.

“Dost thou intend to lecture me in royal duty, you pathetic excuse for a princess? Thee, who spent more of thy treasury on the poor who squandered it on brief satisfaction, than on any sort of sensible investment? Thee, who changed laws of marriage without consulting us for a sensible way to do so, and rather chose to alienate every traditionalist in a broad sweep of thy pen? Thee, who spends more time concerned with the state of thy guard than the state of thy country? Don't make me laugh.”

A beam of sunfire burst from Daybreaker's horn, roaring across the castle and only missing Luna by the width of a hoof, as she burst up out of a skylight into the suddenly bright sky.

She struggled to see as a pillar of light erupted from what little roof clung to the ruins of the far side of the castle. A second later, Daybreaker flew up to face Luna, her grimace of hatred becoming a scowl as she took in Luna's fearful expression.

“Afraid, Luna? I thought thou wert the warrior of the two of us. I thought thy confidence in thy honed skills of combat was firm. Surely thou hast bested thy sister before, or art thou beginning to realize that she let thee win?”

Princess Luna shook her head, a bubble of protective darkness forming around her.

“I never wanted to fight thee in anything but play, sister! Never like this. I have no desire to fight thee!”

Luna could see ponies exiting their houses all around the Everfree, or peering from their windows to take in the sight. To take in the flames rising from the castle. They all seemed stunned by the appearance of their two princesses, floating in the sky and speaking of combat.

“Oh but that simply won't do,” Daybreaker said with a cruel grin. “I'll have to make thee fight. Thou hast professed to hate the nobility, thou may be surprised that I do as well. Let us see if thou shalt defend them.”

Daybreaker waved her horn and there was a brief pause during which every pony in the Wilds started to run in every direction. Then the light in the sky changed.

Three meteors, wreathed in flames and screaming through the sky, became visible. They were headed straight for the city, and with some brief consideration, Luna could guess they would impact the Wilds.

Princess Luna did not hesitate. Blasts of her magic chipped away at the rock, but it was not fast enough. She placed dozens of shields in front of them, but they shattered every one of them effortlessly, leaving Luna dripping in sweat, her horn smoking.

In a final attempt to save her ponies, she flew just below the three meteors and called upon all of her power, slamming into the leading meteor from below, spreading her magic out to let her wings hit the other two at the same time, with the same force.

The explosion sent an exhausted Princess Luna into the ground below, and the meteors flying just over the tops of the tallest buildings, to crash into the Everfree forest, leaving three overlapping craters, and a single smaller crater in the streets of the Wilds, where Luna had landed.

Princess Luna barely found the energy to stand, but as she climbed from the hole in the ground, she looked up at Daybreaker, looking down at her from above the burning castle, and smiling. She knew that she was all that Equestria had left, their only defense against her former sister. If she did not defend them, all of Equus would burn. That realization somehow gave her the strength to go on.

“We shall protect all of our ponies!” Princess Luna shouted as loud as she could, before taking flight.

This time, she was the one to attack first, unleashing a spear of deadly black void that Daybreaker dodged, before replying in kind.

At every attack, Luna tried to ensure her attacks would not impact the city. Daybreaker seemed to have an opposite goal, and every attack was a forced choice for Luna. Take the beating, or let the ponies take it for her.

Too many times, Luna took the flames to spare her dying city.

Finally, the flames proved too much, and she was blasted from the sky, falling through the ceiling of the castle, and hitting the stone floor too hard.

Spiderweb cracks radiated out from her body, as Daybreaker laughed overhead.

“Burn! All of thee, burn! No more lies! No more hollow sympathy, no more kindness!”

The screaming of ponies brought a sob out of Princess Luna as she tried to get up, only to suddenly have a smaller pony pressing against her side, helping her stand.

“Prim?” Luna whispered as she opened her eyes.

It was not just Prim, but her night guard as well.

“What are thy orders, your Highness?” Prim asked in a soft tone.

Looking around at her ponies, she felt the stirring of pride in her chest. They were loyal to her still, despite it all.

“Evacuate the city, protect all you can. Prim, there is a lever behind the stairs up to our throne, pull it.”

The ponies all departed rapidly, while Luna caught her breath. Looking up, she saw her sister cackling madly as she burned Everfree City for its crimes, both real and imagined.

The clanking and grinding of machinery stirred Luna from her horrorstruck stillness.

Gradually, the machinery set into the foundation of the castle pushed up through the shattered stone, and with it came the elements of harmony. Five gemstones which represented Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, and Joy. Luna gathered them all in her magic before reaching into the stone sphere at the top of the statue, and drawing forth the sixth gem. Magic. Friendship.

She looked up at Daybreaker again, but this time it was with sorrow. She knew that the elements of harmony would put things right, but they were often brutal in their methods, turning an enemy to stone, destroying them entirely, or changing them in permanent ways.

Luna just hoped she would still have a sister when this horrible night was over.

Luna opened her wings and sprung back into the sky, as the elements formed a circle around her, already glowing with white light.

“Stop this now, sister!” Luna called out one more time.

Daybreaker stopped tossing fire and turned to look back at Luna. Again, it struck her how bored Daybreaker seemed. How uncaring.

“Thy sister has perished. She died slowly, painfully, while thou didst nothing.”

Sorrowfully, Luna began the elements spinning around her, forming a shield of rainbows.

“Thou hast leaft me no choice!” Princess Luna begged, eyes filling with tears.

“No choice at all,” Daybreaker agreed, before she unleashed a finishing attack.

The blinding star fire splashed off of the elements like water, before Luna replied with a rainbow beam.

Daybreaker struggled, pouring her power into resisting the inevitable energy, her attacks becoming more frantic by the second, until finally she was overwhelmed, and the light of the elements shot out and up into the sky.

For a moment, it seemed that Daybreaker was truly gone. But as an alicorn, Princess Luna was able to look into the sun without pain. There she saw the visage of a screaming mare, etched in sunspots on the boiling surface of the sun itself.

With her wings spread, Luna slowly glided down into the ruins of the castle of the two sisters, as the elements of harmony one by one froze into stone and fell to the ground below, inert and frozen, their connection to Princess Luna completely broken by the sorrow in her heart at what she had just done.

Comments

[mishun]

Well, that was... Unexpected?

[Hope]

8393569
Muahahaha

[Backlash91]

Wait...
Wut...

[Hope]

10224807
I'm glad you're enjoying the story! This is where it gets interesting hehehe

[rikithemonk]

Interesting. You can't imagine the massive grin on my face right now.

The Monk
“And it's the cowgirl with a disturbing love of apples.” -Hawker Hurricane

[CommanderApplejack]

One hell of a plot twist