• Published 21st Oct 2017
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The Problem of Evil - Quixotic Mage



What does it take to rule Equestria? Celestia’s vanished to give Luna a chance to find out. Twilight’s got strong opinions on just who should be in charge with Celestia gone. Meanwhile, Sombra stirs in the north, dreaming of himself on the throne

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Arc 2 Chapter 4: Negotiations

BANG-BANG!

Luna was jerked into wakefulness by a sharp rapping on the door to her building. Her heart pounded and wings fluttered, encouraging her to swift motion. Her first thought was that the encampment was under attack, but if that had been the case Luna would have heard screams and shouted orders from the outside. Instead, her night still seemed relatively calm. A quick glance to her moon informed her that sunrise was perhaps two hours away.

Having ruled out the more urgent possibility, Luna felt the adrenaline flowing through her veins begin to subside. She considered ignoring the noise and hoping it would go away, but the knocking came again, louder and more urgent than before.

Yawning, Luna shrugged off her cloud cover and stumbled blearily to her hooves. Making her way downstairs she saw a similarly sleep mussed Sunlit Rooms making her way to the door.

“You’ve been staying here?” Luna asked, blinking stupidly.

Confused, Sunlit stopped before the door and glanced over her shoulder. “Yes? Should I not be? How did you think I was able to wake you up each morning anyway?”

“I didn’t think about it, I guess. You can keep staying here of course. I would have been less… ah, careless.”

Sunlit smiled. “It’s fine princess. Should I let whoever that is in?”

Luna nodded. “You’d better. They sound liable to break the door down if you don’t.”

Gripping the door in her wing, Sunlit swung it open and a frantic Twilight Sparkle burst into the room. She caught sight of Luna first and surged toward her. “Luna! I need your help.”

“Calm down Twilight Sparkle. If we’re not under attack then you can afford to take a deep breath and explain the situation to me in a reasonable manner.” Luna couldn’t deny that she felt a twinge of joy at being the self-controlled pony for once. “Sunlit will you make us some tea?”

“Of course princess,” Sunlit replied.

“There’s no time for tea,” Twilight interjected. “We have to hurry –“

“Twilight!” Luna gasped. “Surely Celestia taught you that there is always time for tea.” Now that she looked closer she could see the redness of the other pony’s eyes and the trembling of fatigue in her muscles. That just served to convince Luna that she was correct in insisting that the other pony deliver her news over tea.

“I –“ Twilight paused and Luna could almost see the little schedule pop up in her head as she tried to figure out if she had the time. With a conscious effort and a few deep breaths the panicked pony brought herself under control. “No, you’re right. We have a lot to talk about and I’ll need some caffeine to get through today anyway. Sunlit, Earl Grey please, as strong as you can brew it.”

“Right away,” Sunlit called, passing into the kitchen and putting the water on the stove.

“While she’s making the tea please come sit down,” Luna said, leading Twilight into a study off the entrance hall. The room was smaller and cozier, with plush purple couches set on either side of a low wooden coffee table. With a flick of magic Luna lit the lamps, filling the room with a warm orange glow.

Twilight sighed as she walked in, letting some of the tension drain away as she settled on one of the couches. Luna took the other and watched as the smaller pony re-centered herself. Twilight already looked less frantic than when she had arrived and despite herself seemed to take comfort from being with the princess.

Luna wasn’t so vain as to think that the comfort came from her. It was memory and the similarity of sitting down to tea with Celestia that brought comfort now. She also suspected that pointing that fact out would make Twilight angry. Still, she was pleased to provide what comfort she could. After all, any event that could send Twilight to her in such a state was liable to be pretty serious.

Sunlit returned a few moments later with the tea and gracefully placed the teacups in front of each of them. She was about to leave when Luna caught her eye and gestured for her to stay. To Luna, it was Sunlit’s presence that was a comfort. She had seen Luna at her worst, recent worst anyway, and was still there.

Twilight meanwhile raised the teacup to her lips, inhaled the bright citrus scent, and sighed. After a small fortifying drink she began to explain what had brought her running in the middle of the night.

“A few hours ago one of the scouts reported that Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy have been captured by the griffons.”

Luna started. “No, not those two. They’re not soldiers. They should have been protected! How could they have been stolen from the midst of our camp?”

“They weren’t in our camp,” Twilight grimaced. “I thought Fluttershy’s rapport with animals would be useful, so I sent her outside to instruct the local wildlife to leave the area, to put pressure on the griffons.” She averted her eyes and her ears pressed flat against her head. “It was a mistake.”

“I see.” Luna’s tone was reserved, the judgment implicit rather than explicit. Exactly, she happened to know, the way Celestia sounded when somepony around her made an error. It had the expected effect for Twilight’s shoulders slumped even further.

Luna decided to continue on rather than rub Twilight’s face in her mistake. After all, she was not Celestia and Twilight not her student. Moreover, Luna of all ponies understood how it felt to make a mistake and watch the ponies you cared about pay the price.

“We go to war then?” was all she asked. Though the princess had not been involved with the running of the camp she had always expected to be involved in the fighting once it commenced. Luna was no stranger to combat and, more to the point, without the power of the princess the ponies were simply too outnumbered or outmatched to have much hope of victory against the rebellious ponies, griffons, and dragons. In a way she had been looking forward to it. Battle was a clear and unambiguous task which was singularly good at consuming attention, leaving none for brooding.

“No,” Twilight said. The purple pony raised her head and Luna flinched back from the fire contained there. Even bent over tea, weeping from guilt and wracked by exhaustion, Twilight could project such an air of menace as to discomfit an immortal. “I have a plan. I will take them back. The griffons will regret hurting my friends.” The way she spoke it was a fact, not a promise or an oath or a wish, but a simple inevitability. In that moment, Luna knew no doubt whatsoever that Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie would be returned to camp before another day was done.

“Alright, what is it you need from me then?” Luna asked.

Blinking, some of the intensity left Twilight’s eyes and she took another sip of her tea. “I don’t know if you noticed, but Spike has been away from camp for much of the past few months.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” Luna admitted. She had been self-absorbed recently and she was now learning that there were any number of important details that had passed her by.

“Well, he was over at the dragon encampment. Begin a dragon I figured they wouldn’t hurt him. At least I was right about that,” Twilight said with a trace of bitterness. “Anyway, he finally got the dragons to agree to a meeting with me and any two ponies I choose to bring. The problem is that that meeting is today.”

“And you want me to take your place?” Luna guessed.

“Right.” Twilight nodded. “Spike made the arrangement for me to meet their leader. I can’t imagine that they would oppose you as a substitute. If anything, we could spin it as doing them greater honor by sending a full immortal to meet with them.”

“I can’t,” Luna said, panic coloring her voice. “I don’t know what we want from them or what they’ve been up to. Hay, I don’t even know what we’ve been up to. Besides, navigating this war has been your task, not mine.

“That’s just because you refused to have anything to do it and practically locked yourself away,” Twilight shot back. “No, wait.” She held up a hoof to forestall a reply. “I’m sorry. I don’t have the time to have this same argument again. It doesn’t matter what happened before, what matters is that right now I need you to go meet with the dragons. There is no pony else that they would accept. Spike is up to date on what they have been doing. He can guide you.”

“That won’t help me much if I don’t know what we want to get out of this negotiation,” Luna pointed out. “That’s assuming I go talk to them at all,” she hurriedly added.

“I’ll go.” Sunlit Rooms said, startling both Luna and Twilight who had forgotten she was there. “Rarity came to me early on for advice about how to best act as an advisor to Twilight. She’s kept me up to date since then.” The pegasus turned to Twilight. “This works right? You said that the dragons expected you and two other ponies. If Luna takes myself and Spike she should be reasonably well prepared for anything they throw at her.”

“This sounds perfect. I have the utmost confidence the ability of you three to handle it,” Twilight said, perking up slightly.

“Hold on,” Luna protested. “I still haven’t agreed to go.”

“It’ll be good for you,” Sunlit said. “Get you out of this house and involved with things again. I’ve been worried about all the time you’ve been sulking in here. Princess,” Sunlit added belatedly.

“Just give me a moment to think, please.” Sunlit fell silent at Luna’s request. Luna knew it would not be easy to negotiate with the dragons. They were, as a rule, a subtle race and long-lived. Many among their number would easily remember her as she had been before the Nightmare. In a way that would almost make it easier. She would not have to establish anew that she was not to be trifled with. They would have a proper appreciation for the power of an immortal.

Still, Luna’s track record had not been terribly good of late. Mismanaging this rare opportunity would be quite a setback, possibly a catastrophic one. However, even with that risk it was clear Twilight was determined to save her friends, and in truth Luna could not fault her for that. If Luna did not go, there really wasn’t any other pony whose presence the dragons would not take as a slight. On the other hoof, maybe the meeting could be rescheduled?

As Luna wavered from one choice to the other she heard a soft sound begin to fill the study. Even before she recognized it, it filled her with peace and strengthened her resolve. Only after a moment did she realize it was the barest melody of the Lunar Anthem. There was no magic in it now, no grand inspired orchestra to play her song. Only a friend, whiling away a spare moment humming a song of Luna’s devising.

Luna caught Sunlit’s eye and the other pony realized what she was doing. She blushed and looked away, mumbling an apology.

“You don’t need to stop,” Luna said gently. “When did you have time to learn that anyway?”

Looking up Sunlit replied, “the pony that told me about the Lunar Anthem sang a few bars. It’s the kind of song that just sticks in your head. But in a good way,” she hastened to add.

“I’m missing something,” Twilight put in, looking confusedly from one to the other.

“I wrote some music yesterday and it seems to have caught on with some of the camp members,” Luna explained, still looking at Sunlit, who scoffed at Luna’s understatement. Twilight, though, accepted the explanation.

“So, will you go meet with the dragons in my place?” she asked.

Luna took one last glance at Sunlit’s encouraging expression. “Yes,” Luna said. “I will meet with the dragons.” She sat up straighter, trying to fake a confidence she didn’t feel. “I only hope that this doesn’t prove to be a terrible mistake.”

***

Far too soon, Luna found herself making her way out of the camp to meet with the dragons. She had been up half the night being coached by Sunlit and Spike, who was much taller than she remembered, but she still felt unprepared. Twilight had not stayed around to help with that coaching.

In fact, after Luna had agreed to take her place, Twilight had disappeared with a speed usually reserved for Rainbow Dash. Now she had the whole camp in an uproar. All around Luna ponies were dashing this way and that to see to Twilight’s plans for the army's mobilization.

Privately, Luna couldn’t help but feel that more of that bustle should have been dedicated to the princess currently going to negotiate with the most dangerous of their current opponents, excepting Sombra. Still, ponies had gotten used to asking “how high?” when Twilight said jump. Besides which, it was Fluttershy that had been captured. Half of the camp wanted to marry Fluttershy, while the other half simply wanted to murder anypony that bothered her. So Luna could understand the urgency with which the other ponies moved and she did her best to tamp down her jealousy.

“Ready to fly?” she asked, glancing at her two compatriots.

Sunlit managed a nod. Her white fur had gone even paler and she appeared to be rethinking the wisdom of literally flying into a den of dragons. Luna tried and failed to suppress a sliver of satisfaction that the other pony had caught her trepidation.

Spike, though, had no such reservations. With a grin he leapt into the air and a shout of joy drifted down to the hesitant ponies. Suppressing a smile at his antics Luna nudged Sunlit with her wing. “Come on, worst comes to worst we make no progress and go back to this little cold conflict of ours.”

“Worst is that we get eaten by a herd of hungry dragons,” Sunlit grumbled, though she did spread her wings and take to the air.

Luna spread her own wings and with a rush joined her in the air. “It’s a horde of dragons, actually, or a blaze. And if you’re worried about getting eaten, don’t be. I might very well make a mistake in this negotiation and force us to return empty hooved. However, I am still an immortal princess of Equestria. I can and I will shepherd you and Spike home safely. You have my word on that.”

Sunlit’s countenance brightened. “Thanks princess.”

Wheeling sideways on a thermal, Spike came up next to the two mares, grin still plastered on his face. “There’s nothing better than flying,” he shouted breathlessly. “I can’t imagine this ever getting old.”

“Take it from me Spike,” Luna said. “After you’ve lived for hundreds or thousands of years most pleasures lose their luster. Flying however,” she added with a mischievous grin of her own, “is not one of them. Race you!” she called, already accelerating away.

Spiked whooped with glee and sped after her, with Sunlit trailing behind but keeping up as best she could. The cold clear air of the sky was refreshing to Luna. It had been far too long since she last took wing. In fact, she hadn’t gone for a flight since the evening her sister disappeared.

With that realization Luna’s temporary good mood soured. She knew that she would need that calmness, though, and she tried to drink in what she could of the sky’s serenity. All too soon the three of them circled downward toward the guarded entrance of the dragon encampment. While the plan had initially been to meet at a halfway location, the dragons had leveraged the change in negotiator to change the location of the negotiations to their own camp.

Unlike the ponies, who were based in a residential area of the former Crystal Empire, the dragons had made their camp in the industrial district. Dragons being solitary by nature, they had each claimed a factory, forge, or other shop as their dwelling. They took turns guarding the border, but each dragon also took time to make sure the place in which they lived was not entered by the other dragons. In a way, Luna thought, the biggest surprise was that over one hundred dragons had managed to work together in relatively close quarters for six months without massacring one another.

All of which was not to say that dragons were not friendly to one another. Indeed, as they entered the camp they were greeted by the dragons on duty. Spike chatted amicably with a brown dragon as he guided the pony delegation to the place where Sim and the other dragon leaders waited. He broke off every now and again to wave to other dragons as they passed.

“You’re not going native on us, are you Spike?” Luna teased.

He spread his arms wide and shot her an ironic glance, as if to say it was a little late for that. Luna chuckled, partially to cover her returning nervousness. As she kept a wary eye on her surroundings she noticed something peculiar. Every now and then they would pass an open foundation of a building with the walls and floor all torn to pieces. Luna had believed that whatever stasis magic had held the Crystal Empire out of time for those thousand years had preserved everything equally, but that appeared not to be the case.

Trotting forward, she interrupted the guide’s conversation with Spike. “Pardon me. What happened to those buildings? Did you find them in ruins?”

“We ate them.” The guide puffed smoke in amusement at Luna’s surprise and continued. “We brought supplies of course, but when somedrake tried the crystal they found it was one of the most delicious stones they’d ever tasted. Since then most dragons have left our supplies alone and switched to eating the crystals. After all,” he added, gesturing expansively, “it isn’t as though we’re going to run out.”

“Are these crystals as good as the other dragons say, Spike?” Luna asked.

“I wouldn’t know,” Spike grumbled. “Iolite has me on a strict diet. Apparently, living with ponies has left me deficient in certain nutrients dragons need to develop. And she claims the crystals are all empty calories.”

“You never snuck a bite?” Luna asked skeptically.

“I figured I’m not going to get that many chances to learn from other dragons, so I’d be pretty stupid not to listen to advice like that,” Spike said matter-of-factly. “I didn’t have my wings before Iolite fixed that for me because Twilight and I simply didn’t know about them. So yeah, I took her seriously when she told me to stick to certain gemstones and minerals.”

“That’s a very mature outlook. You’re growing up Spike,” Luna said.

“Turns out those two things are related. It’s easier to make the mature choice when I’m this size than it was when I was small.” He shrugged. “I guess it’s all part of getting older.”

“We’ve arrived,” the guide broke in. “I’ll be seeing you Spike.”

“Catch you around,” Spike responded, waving farewell as the guide departed.

They had arrived at the largest forge in the district. Towering smokestacks puffed forth black clouds from the roof and even from outside the aura of heat was palpable. Based on the contours the door had once been a grand carved wooden affair but now, like everything else, it was an opaque crystal, albeit with a brown tint. Spike took hold of the door and heaved it open. He gestured for the two ponies to enter.

Inside the room was expansive. A high ceiling was crisscrossed by ex-wooden support beams with spaces for the chimneys. On one wall glowed a truly massive forge, heating the room to an uncomfortable warmth. Looking closer, Luna could see that the heat from the forge came from an open pool of lava set into the floor. There were wards inscribed around the edges, channeling the heat and containing it. Luna felt a chill at odds with the stuffy room as she realized that that forge was incredibly old. The magic that kept it contained was older than ponykind and it was very possible that the industrial district, if not the entire city, had been built around this ancient alter to creative power. It provided some small measure of relief that the dragons did not appear to be making anything in the forge. The heat simply provided comfort, much the way a pony might open a window in a stuffy room.

On the opposite side of the room from the forge, as a concession to their pony visitors, the dragons had found and laid out two pony sized couches. Next to those couches waited the dragon’s delegation to the negotiations. In the central position hovered Simulacra Seven. It was coiled comfortably in midair and its black eyes glinted in the dim light. On its right hand rested Iolite. She sat up when Spike entered and now was making her way over to the group. On Sim’s other side sat a tiny red dragon Spike identified as Thraxus.

Iolite reached the ponies and gave a hurried, if proper, curtsy to Princess Luna, who nodded back. Scarcely waiting for the acknowledgement Iolite rushed over to Spike.

“Are you alright?” she asked in an undertone. “They didn’t mistreat you did they?”

“I’ve lived with ponies for most of my life, Iolite,” Spike said patiently. “They wouldn’t hurt me.”

“I know, I know, it’s just that you’re so young to be going off on your own. But then,” she added with a note of pride, “you are big for your age.”

“That’s enough clucking over the hatchling.” Sim’s voice was still fluid and persuasive but there was an edge to it that Luna had not heard when last they spoke. “We have serious matters to discuss. Do we not, princess?”

“Yes, you are quite right,” Luna answered, taking the seat directly across from it. She intoned, “I am Luna, Princess of Night and Moon, accompanied by Spikorean Magic-hatched and Sunlit Rooms, Royal Advisor. We have come to parley.”

Matching her ceremony more brusquely, Sim replied, “I am Simulacra Seven, undying dragon construct, accompanied by Iolite and Thraxus. We accept your parley and guarantee your safe return from our territory.”

“Excellent.” Luna leaned forward. “Well then, no need to mince words, what exactly is it you are after?”

Sim held up a claw. “Not yet, these discussions are rather sensitive in nature. Could I request that you put up a ward against eavesdropping?”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you set it up?”

“This is our camp. If we were to be overheard it would be more likely to be one of our dragons. If you set it up you’ll be able to trust that the ward is working. Plus, as Princess you can make a ward even dragons can’t penetrate.” It shot her a meaningful look.

Nodding slowly, Luna reached for her magic. “Right then, I'll set one up now.” A ward against eavesdropping was relatively easy. A ward that would hold against dragon magic was rather more complicated. Not for nothing, though, was Luna a princess and in short order she had used a sound dampening spell to set up the preliminary shell which she then supercharged to resist dragon magic as best she could. She also set an alert on it so she would be informed of any attempts to break through the ward.

“Alright, it’s done. No pony, and no drake for that matter, should be able to hear us.” Luna narrowed her eyes. “Now what is the real reason you wanted to prevent us from being overheard?”

“Perceptive, princess. But perhaps not perceptive enough.” It hissed on the sibilant syllables, putting Luna in mind of a cobra rearing to strike. An image not helped by the way Sim had coiled most of its body on the floor and was unconsciously bobbing its head back and forth. “Tell me, have you looked for immortal magic here?”

“I have done so repeatedly ever since I arrived here,” Luna said uneasily.

“Do ssso again. Now.” the hiss had become more pronounced.

“That would leave me vulnerable. Why don’t you just tell me what you think I would see?”

Sim considered for a moment and then shook its head. “No. How about a wager? I have a guess and if I am correct you will look for immortal magic. If not, I will tell you what I have been speaking of. And I will agree to whatever you hoped to gain from these negotiationssss to the fullest extent of my power.” Sim sounded entirely too amused by its concession for everything to be above board. However, the chance of an immediate and complete success at the negotiation was too tempting to pass up entirely.

“I reserve the right to cancel the deal if your guess is something obvious or trivial,” Luna clarified.

“Deal,” Sim said. “I guess that every time you have looked for immortal magic in the Crystal Empire it has been from the exact same location.”

Luna twitched. There was no way it could know that. Looking for immortal magic wasn’t completely trivial, but it was not so complicated that she couldn’t have done it at almost any moment in the past six months. Unless Sim had set a watch on her the entire time, there was no way for it to be so sure.

“That is correct,” Luna said carefully, “and there does not appear to be any way you could have known that.”

“Look,” it urged. “Look and this mystery will become clear.”

“Alright. Sunlit, Spike, be ready for treachery.” Sunlit tried to frown menacingly and only succeeded in looking adorable. Spike, with his glare, claws, and fangs, managed to be rather more threatening. Sharing one last look with the two of them, Luna closed her eyes and reached within for her immortal magic.

The magic came easily, that at least she could do without difficulty. Luna allowed it to rise and give her the sight, just as she had when she had sat atop her building and looked for her sister. When she opened her eyes everything became immediately, terrifyingly clear.

Luna was surrounded by the darkness of King Sombra’s magic. Her body tensed, preparing to run but there was no direction in which to flee. A pony touching a hot pan will naturally flinch back, but a pony in an oven is going to have to think of something cleverer. So too did Luna, prevented from fleeing the darkness, force herself to turn the panic toward some useful end.

Peering closer at the darkness she began to understand what had happened. The darkness was present, yes, but it adhered closely to the edges of the rivers of immortal magic, appearing to her eyes as light, that ran through the Crystal Empire. Such lights naturally cast shadows on her vision and she had thought those shadows entirely normal. Now she knew better.

With a chill, Luna realized that the situation was even worse than it appeared at first blush. The darkness was clearly visible from where she stood, it was only from her perch on top of her dwelling place that the darkness would blend with the ordinary shadows cast on her vision by the Crystal Empire’s natural magic. In other words, the entire city was an optical illusion where, if one stood in the proper spot, there was no darkness to see. An optical illusion meant solely for her.

Luna could scarcely conceive of the magical skill and knowledge of the city that would have been necessary to create that illusion. With a lifetime of work and liberal use of her immortal magic she might have been able to manage a single static image. Sombra, an apparently mortal pony, had managed to preserve the illusion while spreading his influence across the city. That was terrifying, even to her. It was a good thing she had feared a trap in the Crystal Spire or she might have walked straight into a head to head battle that she could not win.

She followed the threads of shadow out past the forge in which she sat. There were the thick cords of darkness, hidden in the shadows cast by the Crystal Empire’s light, but there were also smaller moving patches. They weren’t large enough for her to have seen them from her tower so apparently Sombra hadn’t felt the need to hide them. But what were they?

Dragons, Luna realized abruptly. The dragons moving around camp each had a dark ember burning in their chests. Which meant there was an even more pressing danger than the darkness looming on all sides.

Blinking away her immortal sight and readying offensive spells she wheeled on Simulacra Seven. Spike was quick on the uptake and before she even cast anything he had Sim grasped firmly in his claws.

“Wait, wait!” Sim shouted desperately, aplomb breaking for the first time. “We’re not under Sombra’s control.”

Luna hesitated. She hadn’t seen any darkness in the brief look she’d had at it, but there was so much she’d clearly missed there was no way to be certain. “Can you prove it?” she asked.

“I know how he’s controlling the other dragons. You’ll have to judge for yourself if that is sufficient,” Sim said. Iolite and Thraxus hadn’t moved, the former because she wasn’t willing to do anything to her son, and the latter because his size meant there wasn’t much he could do. Luna glanced at the two to gauge their reaction before nodding to Sim.

“Continue,” she said, gesturing to Spike to release his hold.

“No being, not even an immortal could brute force their way into control of a dragon’s mind,” Sim began. “So Sombra had to take a different route. He slipped his power into the crystals that make up the buildings and the roads.”

“Crystals ever were his specialty,” Luna commented. “And you didn’t notice because only immortals can visually detect immortal magic.”

“Right. We do have spells that can notify us of the presence of immortal magic, but they have to be actively cast and we had no reason to scan the walls. Plus we knew that you were here and that there was a source of powerful immortal magic buried beneath the city.” Sim shook its head regretfully. “Overconfidence played a role as well. We dragons have grown used to disregarding the subtler effects of magic because so few can impact us.”

“You claim to still be unaffected, correct?” Luna asked.

“Yes, those you see here are unaffected, but not immune.” Sim gestured at the crystal walls around them. “Sombra placed his magic in the crystals and waited. Eventually, somedrake grew hungry and took a bite of the wall. They told all the other dragons how delicious it tasted and pretty soon almost everydrake had imbibed Sombra’s darkness and fallen under his spell. It’s mostly luck that the four of us did not do so as well.”

Spike looked shaken. “You mean if Iolite and I hadn’t been following that special diet she laid out for me Sombra would have gotten us as well?”

Sim nodded. “Yes. You fortunately restricted yourselves to the gemstones brought by the other dragons from our homeland. I, as a construct, have different energy and nutrition requirements and I wasn’t sure if I could digest the crystals anyway.”

“I sought to regain my former size,” Thraxus put in. “So when other dragons forewent their allotted portions of gemstones I collected them to add to my horde.”

“There’s just one thing I don’t understand,” Sunlit said, breaking her silence and startling everyone but Luna, who had grown used to the other ponies’ tendency to be forgotten during important discussions. “If you haven’t been taken over by Sombra then why did you lure us into your camp with a promise of negotiations you can’t possibly fulfil?”

“Clever,” Sim said with a small smile. “You are quite right, this is not a negotiation. It’s a rescue.” It ceased to hover and lowered its entire body to the floor in an approximation of supplication. “Princess Luna, goddess of night and moon, we surrender without reservation and humbly plead with thee for sanctuary.”

Fortunately, Luna was spared the need to answer as she had no idea what she would have said. Spike had made a strange noise, as though all the air had whooshed out of him. When Luna looked over she had to look down as well because he had shrunk by a few inches.

“We have to go. Now.” Spike’s tone was flat, his expression was anything but. Abstractly, Luna noted that his purple face had gone white. She hadn’t even known dragons could do that.

“Spike, it’s nothing to worry about,” Iolite said comfortingly. “Somedrake has probably just taken a gem or two from your hoard as a warning. These things happen.”

Spike didn’t even glance her way, he held Luna’s gaze with his own and she flinched back before his intensity. “My hoard is the Elements of Harmony. Something has happened to one of the Elements.”

At his words Luna felt her own wave of fear that nearly sent her to her knees. She fought it down. They could do nothing for the Elements until they left the dragon encampment and their own situation was precarious enough as it was.

“They will not let you leave,” Sim said, raising only its head from the ground. “This is too promising an opportunity for them to capture the princess.”

“We can’t teleport?” she asked.

It shook its head. “There are wards, much the same as your encampment has.”

“And if we try to fly they’ll just burn us out of the sky,” Luna mused. A small part of her noted that Sim and she had both included the other dragons in their number, implying that she had indeed accepted their plea for sanctuary. But that was unimportant now in the face of their urgent need to leave.

“Luna if we can’t think of something I’m making a break for it.” Tension hummed from every word Spike said, like a sword half drawn from its sheath and already aching for blood.

“Give me a second,” she snapped. Trying to cudgel her fearful brain into working Luna scanned the room, looking for inspiration. Her eyes fell on the forge at the far end and an idea sparked to life. “Sim, are you as fireproof as an ordinary dragon?”

“Yes,” it replied.

Turning, Luna looked at Sunlit. “Do you trust me, Sunlit Rooms?”

“With my life, Princess,” the pegasus answered without hesitation.

Luna pointed to the pool of lava. “Then that’s our way out. Sunlit, you’ll ride on my back and I’ll protect us both from the heat. The dragons will help part the lava as we go. Once we’re away from the dragon encampment we’ll try and find a vent, or I’ll blast us a passage to the surface.”

“Brilliant,” Sim chuckled. “A true dragon might consider that escape route but I doubt one controlled by Sombra would. I am more easily able to move in a viscous fluid like lava, so I will lead the way.”

The four dragons took up positions around the pool of lava. Sunlit flew up and landed on Luna’s back, clutching her tightly around the neck. Luna reached for her magic to fashion the ward they would need. It was straightforward since it would only need to protect against pressure and heat, but the sheer amount of each would make it very expensive to cast and maintain. But then, Luna was not overly concerned with running out of magic.

As the ward shimmered into place Luna heard Sunlit murmur, “I just want you to know that if we die a fiery death I don’t blame you in the least. Even though I probably should.”

Luna raised a comforting wing against Sunlit’s side. “Trust me, I’m not worried about fire from inanimate places. This is safer than trying to make it past the dragons.”

“Just tell me when it’s over, princess,” Sunlit whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut.

“Are you ready?” Sim asked. When Luna nodded it arced up and slithered head first into the pool of bubbling lava. Iolite and Thraxus, the former holding the latter so the smaller dragon wouldn’t be lost in the lava currents, followed.

“I just hope we’re not too late,” Spike said as he slid his way into the lava.

So do I, thought Luna. She stepped forward and dove into the holes in the lava created by the passage of the dragons.

Author's Note:

And Sombra rears his head at last. Those negotiations went about as well as Luna could have hoped, considering that there were only 3 dragons to negotiate with. Sombra has the rest, whatever that means. Next chapter will be Twilight dealing with the captured Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy situation. It should also be the end of the second arc. Following that will be an interlude chapter and then the third and final arc will tentatively start the week after that.

Thanks for reading and see you next Saturday!