The Problem of Evil

by Quixotic Mage

Arc 3 Chapter 3: The Butterfly Aegis

Luna surveyed her gathered battalion of pegasi in the prep tent, wondering which ones wouldn’t be coming home today. The one snapping his ebonite gloves over his hooves as he chatted with his neighbor? The one in the corner quietly singing a prayer to herself? Perhaps one or both of the pair with their wings wrapped around one another, sharing a last few quiet words? Under the wide tent canopy the soldiers performed the thousand and one little pre-battle rituals that helped them believe they had some control over their destinies. Luna could only hope that some of those superstitions would be proved true.

At least there were no rookies here, not after the six months they’d spent fighting. There were no ponies shaking with too-wide eyes to haunt Luna’s dreams with guileless accusations. No, they all knew what battle meant, for all the good that did them. Luna was humbled by their willingness to fight anyway.

But then, in the past week Luna had often felt humbled and awed by the determination and sheer competence of her subjects. Thanks largely to the efforts of Twilight and Sunlit Rooms, the army had indeed been able to pack up and depart in two days’ time. At that point, the traits that had allowed Equestria to become the dominant superpower in a world inhabited by many creatures possessing both greater ferocity and significant natural inclinations and advantages for violence came to the fore.

In the journey north to the Crystal Empire they had ridden on a troop transport train and disembarked at a tiny end of line train station that was only an easy day’s march from the crystal empire. In this, Luna saw her sister’s hoof. Celestia must have expected that the empire would return one day and that, when it did, she would want to be able to move a lot of ponies north rapidly.

One of the early actions of the griffons had been to destroy that train station and the tracks that led to it, despite the ponies’ best efforts. The ability for the ponies to resupply practically at will had been too strong of an advantage for their enemies to countenance. As such, the army’s plan now was to flee south following the path of the tracks and meet with a troop transport at the next station along the line.

Shining Armor had been correct in his preliminary prediction. After poring over the maps, Luna had to agree that the Galloping Gorge station was the ideal destination to meet Duke Fancypants’ army. If events turned against them, they might even be able to retreat by train.

For her part, Luna had not thought they would make it. She and she alone had seen their enemies, dragons, griffons, and rebel ponies, each with a dark flame of shadow beating in their breast as they rose or ran forth from the crystal city scarcely two days after the ponies themselves had departed.

It seemed inevitable to the princess that Sombra could push his slaves faster than the ponies could run, not to mention the superior number of flyers he possessed. However, she had not seen an Equestria army on the march, nor the peculiar specialization that lent it a speed no other army in the world could possess.

Rather than divide up the squads by race, each squad in the Equestria army possessed a core of earth pony fighters, pegasi scouts/special forces, and unicorn engineers. When there was a need to cover great distances quickly, each would play to their strengths. Pegasi would fly above the army and scout out the optimal path to take, letting the army know days in advance where to cross rivers and how to avoid hills or valleys. Earth ponies carried supplies and equipment, their greater hardiness allowing them to run for days on end carrying supplies sufficient for the entire squad. Finally, the unicorns had a special spell, one every single mage was required to learn. When cast, the rote placed an even flat surface an inch or so above the ground, allowing the army to run at full speed without fear of injury or being bogged down in the terrain. Essentially, the Equestrian army was never surprised, never under-supplied, and never off-road.

This was aided by the requirements of the pony diet. Many ponies, Luna included, were known to enjoy a wide variety of foods from cucumber sandwiches to cupcakes. However, if necessary a pony could march for days on a simple and relatively light mixture of hay and oats. The griffons, by contrast, had to carry much heavier meat supplies to suit their diets. Meanwhile the dragons tended to dine on glorified rocks, though they didn’t need to eat as often as the shorter lived races.

All of which was to say, at the end of the third day of travel Luna had been pleased to see that, far from being closed on, they had actually opened up additional distance between themselves and their pursuers. It was also why she had been unsurprised to see, midway through their fourth day since setting out, a strike force of consisting of four hundred griffons, two hundred pegasi, and twenty dragons, approaching fast by air.

Luna had gathered a troop of pegasi, with unicorn ground support, and planned to lead them herself in a rear guard action. It would be a bloody affair. Sombra’s soldiers would likely not retreat or give any thought to self-preservation. Somehow her soldiers would have to match that fanatical intensity, and far too many of them would lose their lives in the process. Still, it had to be done. If Sombra’s soldiers slowed them enough for the entire army to catch up, then they’d be slaughtered through sheer weight of numbers.

Luna’s thoughts were interrupted by her ever-present aide. “Princess, Rainbow Dash requests a moment of your time.” Glancing back, Luna saw Sunlit Rooms peeking through the large tent flaps.

“I wondered what was keeping her,” Luna commented. “She’d better hurry her if she plans to join us in this fight, as I suspect she does. By all means, send her in.”

Sunlit Rooms nodded and withdrew her head. A moment later both tent flaps were pulled back and open as widely as they could by Gilda and Thraxus. Dash flew through the opening, careful not to let her wings touch the sides. She hovered in front of Luna and snapped a surprisingly crisp salute.

“Princess, request permission to sortie.”

“That is what we’re doing, Rainbow Dash. You’re welcome to join us,” Luna said.

“No. Alone.” Dash’s voice was flat and cold, just as it had been every day since that ill-fated loss.

“Not quiet alone,” Gilda corrected. She and Thraxus had come to stand on either side of Rainbow Dash, though both maintained a careful distance from the hovering pony. “But, yeah, don’t send in the whole troop.”

“That’s suicide,” Luna objected.

“Princess, I believe it would be a good idea,” Thraxus said carefully. Luna focused on the small dragon and what she saw stopped her objection in its tracks.

Thraxus was afraid. He kept shooting glances at Rainbow Dash and then looking away, clenching his talons. Almost, he seemed skittish, as if he might bolt at any minute. Were he the age he looked, his discomfort wouldn’t be that surprising. But Thraxus was an ancient red dragon. He had seen empire’s rise and fall, had faced danger in more forms than any pony save Luna could count.

And he was afraid of Rainbow Dash.

An inkling of the danger they were all in bloomed in Luna’s mind. The smell of ozone began to fill her nostrils as she carefully observed Rainbow Dash. She noted the still blood-stained ebonite gloves, the care she was taking not to touch the ground, the way her proximity made Luna’s own fur want to stand on end. It all pointed to one terrifying conclusion.

Biting back the blackest oath she knew, Luna reacted at once. She cast the strongest shield spell she had around Rainbow Dash, pouring all her strength into its defense against electricity. Then she grabbed Dash in with telekinesis and practically threw both pony and shield back out of the tent.

Ignoring the yelp from Gilda and the protestations from Thraxus, Luna stomped out of the tent after the pony she’d just tossed. Dash had borne her sudden exit with admirable aplomb and was calmly flapping in place, watching Luna.

“How long?” Luna demanded.

“Since Pinkie,” Dash answered.

“A week!” Luna shouted. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Never mind Sombra, you could have killed us all with a moment’s carelessness. It’s a miracle we’re all still alive.”

“Is it really that bad?” Gilda asked, having followed Luna back outside. “Thraxus or I were watching every time she slept to make she didn’t accidentally hit the ground. Outside of that, what’s the danger?”

Luna rounded on the Griffon. “What’s the danger? The danger is that her concentration wavers for an instant and the entire army is vaporized instantly.” She turned angrily to Thraxus. “And you. You clearly understood how catastrophic this could be. Why in Tartarus didn’t you tell anypony?”

“I chose to fight beside Dash, with all that entails.” He paused and a rueful note entered his voice. “I did not anticipate that it would prove so dangerous so soon.”

“What’s going on here?” Shining Armor shouted, trotting up. “I could hear the yelling from the unicorn tent.” He blinked when he saw the culprit and subject. “Princess Luna? Why are you yelling at Rainbow Dash?”

Luna pointed at Dash’s ebonite gloves. “She has been gathering electrical power for the past week!”

Shining Armor paled and he immediately snapped his famous shield overtop of the one already surrounding Rainbow Dash.

Wrapped in telekinesis and under two incredibly powerful layers of shields, Dash still looked calm. “Captain, request permission to sortie.”

Shining Armor rubbed tiredly at his eyes. “Luna save me from hotshot fliers that don’t think about what they’re doing,” he groaned.

“I am trying to,” Luna growled through gritted teeth.

“I don’t understand what the big deal is,” Gilda put in. “She’s got a lot of power charged up, she blasts Sombra’s army, happy ending. What’s the problem?”

“Those gloves are designed to be repeatedly used in combat, so they charge up quickly,” Shining Armor said. “Properly directed, a few seconds of motion generates enough power to fry a pony. Even in practice we don’t let anypony charge up for more than a few minutes. I wouldn’t have thought any pony eve could charge for more than an hour or two without losing focus and letting it all go.”

Gilda was finally starting to understand what all the fuss was about. “So with a week’s worth of power?”

“If it caught me unprepared, it would kill me and everypony else in this army,” Luna said flatly. “Even immortals have a tough time living through the total destruction of their body.”

For a moment, a flash of a younger and more carefree Dash shone through. “It was reckless and dangerous and blah blah blah. Can I go use it on our enemies now or not?”

Shining Armor glanced toward Luna, who sighed. “I think we have to let her go,” she said. “I don’t know of a way to bleed it off and the longer we wait the more likely her focus slips.”

He nodded. “I can’t believe she’s held it this far. The skill and sheer willpower that that must have taken is incredible. Twilight once told me that Dash was as much as master of pegasi magic as she herself was of unicorn magic. Seeing this, I can believe it.”

Dash, remarkably, did not use that praise as an excuse to crow about her awesomeness. When Luna had said that she would be permitted to go, her eyes had swung to regard the dark shape in the distance that marked the approaching army.

“Drop the shields,” she said. “Let me go.”

Shining Armor dropped his shield, but Luna hesitated. “I should not permit this, Rainbow Dash. You likely won’t survive. But I fear I have no choice and our need is great. Is there anything you want to say? Any message you’d like us to pass on?”

Dash turned to regard Princess Luna. “No,” she said with absolute conviction. “I will be back. My work isn’t done.”

Luna met the other pony’s eyes, taking her measure. “Fine. But I’ve decided that I’m coming with you. I will witness this for myself.”

“And me,” Gilda put in. Thraxus nodded as well.

“I can’t hold it back,” Dash said warningly.

“I’ll keep us safe,” Luna said. “With forewarning and distance it should be alright.” She turned to Shining Armor. “Captain, I leave you in command. Continue readying the pegasi and unicorn forces. If necessary, you have my permission to sortie after Rainbow Dash is done, but use your best judgement.”

“Yes, Princess.” He saluted. “Good luck out there. Try and bring her home. She’s an idiot, but there’s a place here for ponies like her.”

Gilda chuckled and even Luna managed a small smile. “Will do, Captain. Now step back.”

She lowered her shield and before any of them could blink Rainbow Dash was just gone. A rainbow contrail led up and curved away toward the approaching army.

Luna leapt into the air and sped after her, Gilda and Thraxus close behind. Wind whipped through her mane and she felt the blood pound in her veins. For all that she had not wanted to let Dash go, exhilaration now warred with anxiety in her heart. This was what she lived for. Those unique moments when something new was born from the greatest paroxysm of emotion that a living soul was capable of.

“Stay close and watch carefully,” she called to the other two. “We’ll not see the like again.”

“Who cares about seeing it?” Gilda demanded. “I just want to make sure my friend is going to be ok.”

“You won’t be able to do that if she inadvertently kills you,” Luna pointed out. “Hence the command to stay close.”

Thraxus said nothing. He was lack of familiarity with his newly small wings left him laboring just to keep up. Luna slowed her flight slightly to compensate. It wasn’t as though the final moment would be difficult to see.

At last, the three of them reached a point roughly equidistant from their own army and Sombra’s approaching army and stopped. Rainbow Dash was only a few moments short of contact and protection was needed. Luna would have liked to use a spell for the added efficiency, but she knew of no shields that she was confident would be sufficient.

Instead, Luna had decided to use free magic to produce the shield so that she could adjust it on the fly as the nature of the danger changed. She shaped it in her mind, building a curved plane in the air, prioritizing defense against electricity, and anchoring it to the ground to help protect against the shockwave. The she super charged it, pouring power into it until it grew large and solid like a huge cobalt pane of glass. On a whim, she layered a magnifying spell overtop of the shield, aided by its lens-like appearance, so that they could make out all the tiny little details.

Eerily identical derisive smirks colored every face of Sombra’s army. Luna could only suppose that he felt amused at being charged by a single pony, and that he wasn’t shy about letting that emotion show on the face of every one of his thralls.

Dash’s face was simply determined, eyes narrowed in concentration, wings straining to their utmost. Luna could just make out the cone of air resistance that Rainbow Dash was fighting through.

“She’s not just going to release the energy,” Luna commented in surprise. “She’s going to do a sonic rainboom at the same time. Because of course she is.”

“Of course,” Gilda moaned, covering her eyes with her feathers before peeking through them. “Because nothing is ever enough for her. Come on Dash, just do it and come home.”

“If she’s going to do it, it better happen soon. She’s only got a few seconds until impact,” Luna said, though she need not have worried

Rainbow Dash timed everything perfectly. She breeched the sound barrier and released the energy she had stored in her hooves at the same moment she reached the enemy army’s front line. Luna felt the impact in her magic first. Reality itself rippled and twisted under the enormous force and Luna had to hold tight to her magic to prevent it from going haywire. Then, light, brilliant and blinding blasted outwards. Her shield turned black and opaque as she poured more and more magic into it, and still the light blazed through it, brighter and more penetrating than even the sun.

Thunder rumbled deep in their bones and Luna rushed to add sound dampening to her shield lest they be shaken apart. The very ground rocked and trembled while the air whipped as if possessed by the spirit of the tempest. There was no harbor to be had, no place safe against the fury that had been unleashed. All Luna could do was send more and more magic into her shield and hope that they could weather the storm behind it.

Last of all came the colors, a riotous shockwave in all the colors of the rainbow. Luna would never have thought that colors could cause harm, but where they touched her skin sizzled and she could feel wrongness eating into her on all sides. Luna had no idea what was hurting her or how to shield against it. Desperately, she pushed at her shield, expanding its purpose by making it as dense and as powerful as she could. That helped somewhat and the feeling of utter wrongness produced by those colors faded slightly.

Then, quite suddenly, the feeling of the explosion changed. There was still anger, to be sure, and it was still an expression of utmost rage and loss. There was something new in it, though. Perhaps a stillness that beat at its heart.

Looking up, Luna saw that the concentric rings of colors had stopped expanding. Arcs of electricity played along each of the bands, moving through the colors as though tasting or testing or looking for something.

As Luna watched, the electricity found its goal in the yellow circle. It wrapped the color in a crackling blanket of power and pulled yellow up out of its place in the rainbow. Distantly, Luna noticed that portions of red, green, blue, were being wrapped up in their own cocoons of electricity and lifted from their place.

The stolen colors swirled together toward the center of the explosion. Luna lightened her shield back to transparent so that they could see what was going on. Squinting against the glare, Luna could just make out the shadow of a pegasus with her wings spread wide and one hoof upraised in defiance of the heavens themselves.

Alighting on that hoof, the orb of stolen colors paused for just a moment. Then they rocketed upwards, high above the explosion and into the untroubled blue sky. Slowly they began to flow and run, combining and separating in new ways. A creamy yellow rectangle of impossible size stretched wide against the blue background of the true sky. Within, three figures began to form, butterflies of pale pink and light green.

Rainbow Dash had indelibly emblazoned Fluttershy’s cutie mark on the very fabric of the sky.

Luna knew immediately that no power could ever wipe that mark away. There were some few other places like that, where a unique conflux of magic and circumstance had conspired to leave a mark on the world. A glass coffin, deep in the San Palomino desert. A ship with no crew and black oars that could be seen pulling against the current on certain misty nights. A thin chain etched with the heads of hounds stretching across the badlands in Equestria’s south.

No pony, not even an immortal, could number the anomalies or know all the stories of their births. It seemed sad, though, that that memorial to Fluttershy would wave alone over the barren landscape of the frozen north until the stars fell from the sky. Still, Luna suspected that, if they should win the day against Sombra, other ponies would return to this spot, drawn by a magic they didn’t fully understand to make their homes in an aura of kindness under the aegis of the butterfly.

Luna was glad to have seen the birth of this one anomaly, and gladder still that Rainbow Dash had managed to survive the terrible strains of the power she’d release. However, even as she thought that, her eyes dropped to the still shadowed figure of Rainbow Dash and she saw her wings fold as the pegasus dropped from the sky.

“No!” Gilda cried and leapt forward. Luna grabbed the griffon in her magic and hauled her back.

“You can’t,” she cried urgently. “The colors remain and you’d die to them before you could reach her.”

There was a flash of color from her other side and before she could react Thraxus had darted forward and through her shield. His wings pumped hard as the light glinted off of his scales.

Luna paused just before her telekinesis could grab Thraxus and pull him back as well. The legendary resistance of the dragons might be enough to endure the poisonous touch of the colors, and if it was he might be able to reach Rainbow Dash in time.

Meanwhile, she needed to do something about those blasted colors so she could help her subject. Luna glared out to where the rings of brilliant color, minus the stolen few, still shimmered in the air around them. She reached out with her magic and pushed.

Electricity crackled and Luna felt the lightning that had trawled the rainbow push back against her, stubbornly keeping the colors right where they were. Growling, she redoubled her efforts, striking at that power itself. No mindless electricity would deny her. With a sharp crack her efforts were finally rewarded.

The electric potential that had hung heavy in the air dissipated and Luna’s fur lay flat for the first time since Rainbow Dash had requested permission to sortie. Without that power to hold them back the rings resumed their outward spread, quickly dissipating into the ether.

At once, Luna shot forward, hoping against hope that there would be somepony to save. As the light cleared from her eyes she saw two shapes heading toward the ground at dangerously fast speeds. She reached out with her telekinesis, trying desperately to get a hold of the falling figures. Thraxus’ resistance worked against them as they slipped through her grasp time and time again.

Luna dove toward the ground, putting every ounce of energy she had into closing the gap. She knew if she were just closer she could lift them both without a problem. The question was whether she could get close enough before that fatal impact.

Abruptly, Luna realized the obvious solution to the problem. Cursing herself for a fool, Luna fired off a line of sight teleport. She materialized right next to Thraxus as he struggled mightily to lift Rainbow Dash and himself with his small wings. At once, she wrapped the both of them in her magic and lifted until they were back at a safe height.

Gilda caught up to them as they rose and immediately wrapped her talons around Rainbow Dash. Luna and Thraxus relinquished their holds and let the griffon bear the weight of her friend as they all panted for air.

“My strength was not enough,” Thraxus murmured to himself, staring at his claws. “I had forgotten what it meant to be weak. You’ve given me another gift I never asked for, Fluttershy.”

“Dash! Hey, Dash! You better not be dying on me.” Gilda glared down at the still form in her talons.

Dash’s eyes were open, but glazed as she stared up at the mark she had imprinted on the sky. “Another tribute you’d hate, Fluttershy. You never did want ponies looking at you,” she whispered. Then her eyes closed and she slumped limply into Gilda.

“Dash!” Gilda cried in alarm.

Luna sent her magic questing through that small form and sighed in relief. “She’s just unconscious. No telling how she’ll be, but I think she’s stable enough to make it back to camp.”

Gilda was still gazing forlornly down at Dash.

“You care for her deeply,” Luna said gently.

“She’s all I have,” Gilda said, her voice empty and lost. “Sombra’s control or not, I have committed the unforgivable crime of fighting against griffons. I have no family, no home, and no flock. All I have is her, and she,” Gilda shrugged at their surroundings, “she does things like this.”

“However it came about, she is lucky to have a friend like you. Both of you,” she added glancing over at Thraxus. “Between the two of you, you might just be able to keep her alive.”

“I was not equal to that task,” Thraxus said, still staring at his claws. “If you had not caught us we would have both died on the ground below.”

Luna nodded. “That is true. But even though it could have killed you, you didn’t let her go. And it was that willingness to sacrifice for your friend that allowed me to save you both. It was very much something Fluttershy would have done.”

An expression of surprise crossed Thraxus’ face and he glanced over to Rainbow Dash. His eyes rose to meet Gilda’s and the two shared a silent understanding. Luna watched them both and smiled.

She turned and gestured back toward her army. “Come on, we need to let Captain Shining Armor know that he can stand down and get Rainbow Dash medical attention.” She gave a mischievous smile. “Besides, the sooner Rainbow Dash wakes up, the sooner she’ll hear that I’ve named her Stormlord, and I’m sure we’re all looking forward to her boasting for that.”

***

Several days and more than a hundred miles later, Luna could still see the Butterfly Aegis. It was a yellow and pink gleam in the distance as she made her daily flight over the troops, checking for signs of Sombra’s taint. Many of the troops that saw her fly over raised their hooves in salute, and Luna made sure to return each and every one. At the very least her flight overhead could serve as much needed morale boost. A week of running had put everypony on edge, even if things had been quiet since Rainbow’s dramatic defense. They continued to run and Sombra continued to pursue, though he seemed content to maintain a distance of a day or two between the armies.

Completing her flight over the army, Luna shook her head and allowed her immortal sight to fade away. She adjusted the angle of her wings and closed her eyes, taking a moment to glide in circles and simply enjoy the feeling of the wind in her mane. As the leader of an army on the march, she had to steal such moments where she could find them.

Sighing, Luna let the moment pass and allowed herself to glide down to a landing in front of her command tent. She trotted inside, her dark mood slightly lifting at Sunlit Rooms’ enthusiastic greeting.

“Welcome back, princess!” Sunlit Rooms chimed from her desk by the entrance. “Find any today?”

“Not a one,” Luna replied, navigating around the army-standard table and map at the center of the room and throwing herself into the well cushioned command chair on the far side. “I’m beginning to worry. As proud as I am of my troops, I can’t believe that there isn’t even one pony in the bunch willing to take Sombra at his word.”

Sunlit Rooms set aside the endless pile of paperwork that kept the army running and trotted to the side of the room to put the kettle on. “So what do you think is going on?”

Luna leaned back and pressed a hoof against her eyes. “Either Sombra can now corrupt ponies without leaving a trace I can see, in which case we’re doomed and don’t even know it yet, or his attention is focused elsewhere.”

The kettle whistled in the background. Sunlit quickly filled a cup and offered it to Luna, who smiled up at the pegasus. “Thanks Sunlit. The question I keep coming back to is this: what would be drawing his attention away from us?”

“Maybe he needs to focus on that wellspring of magic to fully control it?” Sunlit hazarded.

“Hvergelmir? Maybe. I can’t help feeling like if that was the only other thing on his plate we’d be receiving of more of his focus though.” Luna shook her head. “Putting that aside for a moment, are there any updates on our situation?”

“Yes, actually.” Sunlit walked back to her desk and shuffled the papers around before coming up with a specific one. “Here it is! Duke Fancypants has reported in. He wanted to register his uncertainty about the wisdom of discarding everything else to bring all our troops up north.” Luna looked up, about to object to the Duke, but Sunlight continued reading. “However, he acknowledges your command and is readying the troops. It took longer than we might have wanted for them to get moving but they still have the trains so they should beat us to Galloping Gorge anyway.”

Luna snorted. “It’s good that somepony knows his place, and I’m glad they’ll be there in time. What about our army?”

“Ah, one second.” After more shuffling of paper, Sunlit found the next file she was looking for. “I don’t fully understand military matters, but according to Captain Shining Armor we’re doing fine. Aside from, ahem, the little issue of being pursued by an army that horribly outnumbers us. Worst case scenario, he says, we could keep this pace up for a month, if not easily.”

“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” Luna commented. “And you? How’s my favorite assistant doing?”

Sunlit harrumphed. “Honestly princess I’m overworked. I’m not afraid of long hours but there’s only so much I can do before things start to fall through the cracks, which I’m not sure we can afford. I’d have thought Twilight or Rarity would be helping, but Twilight has been holed up with Pinkie and Rarity seems to have up and vanished.”

“They’re both a little busy,” Luna said, wincing. “I’m sorry for not realizing how much pressure that would place on you. I’ll see if Shining Armor has any army staff he can lend to take some of the work from you.”

“Thanks Princess. I don’t mean to complain, but I’d never forgive myself if something went wrong because of a mistake I made,” Sunlit said gratefully.

“Don’t mention it,” Luna replied, waving away the thanks. “You shouldn’t have to run a whole army’s bureaucracy on your own.” She gave a conspiratorial smile. “We leave that to crazy ponies like Twilight. Speaking of which.” Luna stood up and stretched her wings. “I need to check in with her as well.”

Sunlit Rooms nodded. “I should get back to work as well. Future assistant or no, there’s still a lot to be done. Take care princess.”

“And you as well,” Luna said, leaving Sunlit to her work.

***

As the only pony known to be under Sombra’s control in the camp, the security around Pinkie Pie was exceedingly tight. During the day she was confined in a sealed palanquin carried by a team of four earth ponies. It turned out that some old law required that if the royal guard was traveling with a princess, they had to have a palanquin on hoof so that she could receive foreign dignitaries in style should the need arise. Sure enough, Barrel the quartermaster had found one buried deep in the storage crates and it had been magically altered to be secure before the army had departed.

After the army stopped for the evening Pinkie was placed in a magically and hermetically sealed tent. Both the palanquin and the tent were covered with a suite of wards and two rings of guards comprised of a mix of the pony races stood guard, or ran guard when the army was on the move. No visitors except for Twilight and Luna were permitted to enter either the tent or the palanquin, and even they were required to stop and give the correct passphrases to each ring of guards.

“An incredulity of cuckoos,” Luna intoned perhaps more seriously than the passphrase warranted. The mint green unicorn guard didn’t even crack a smile. She just nodded and stood aside to allow the princess to pass. Moving forward, Luna shivered as the tingle of the wards passed over her. She ducked through the tent flap and saw a slight glow as it resealed itself behind her.

The inside of the tent was itself subdivided. On the far side from the entrance was Pinkie’s “cell”, though the sheer number of pillows and sweets present kept it from seeming too harsh. In the middle stood a grid pattern of magical energy preventing anything other than sound from leaving the area in which Pinkie was contained. Twilight had been willing to try and develop a set of wards and barriers while she was rushing around trying to get the army moving but, fortunately, it hadn’t proved necessary. The royal guard had a standard set of spells for imprisonment and after a quick examination Twilight had pronounced them sufficient.

Nearest to Luna was the section of the room dedicated to Twilight’s examination of Pinkie. Gems of all colors, shapes, and sizes floated in the air emitting various beams of light. Every now and again Twilight would get up from her small writing table and make a minute adjustment to one of the gems producing an equally minute variation in the light before humming to herself and hurrying back to the table to scribble down more notes.

“Twilight,” Luna said, only to be ignored as Twilight kept writing. “Twilight Sparkle!” she repeated, loud enough to make the smaller pony jump.

“Oh, Princess! I’m sorry. I must not have heard you arrive. What can I do for you?”

“I came to check in,” Luna said. “How is Pinkie?”

Twilight gestured helplessly to the other side of the tent where Pinkie, her mane flat and her eyes lifeless, lay back against a cushion staring at nothing. “As you see her. Sombra has asserted himself once or twice, but he doesn’t usually stay for long.”

“I wonder if he doesn’t want us to know the extent of his control,” Luna mused. She moved up to the magical barrier. “Pinkie, or Sombra, can you hear me?”

Pinkie’s eyes focused but Luna was disheartened to see that a shadow darkened those blue orbs. Sure enough, Pinkie’s mouth yawned wide and it was not her voice that emerged.

“Hello, princess. Have you come to accept my offer?” came the deep smooth voice of Sombra.

“Which offer is that?” Luna asked derisively. “To live under your control in a lotus filled stupor? Or the offer you made back under the crystal spire where you take my immortality leave me to a natural death? Because, to be honest, neither really appeals.”

Sombra chuckled. “You are more confident now than you were then. Still, the doubts that plague you will return, sooner or later. The Nightmare casts a long shadow, as you well know. Only under my care will you be free from that burden forever more.”

Only a supreme act of self-control allowed Luna to keep herself from flinching at what might well have been an oblique reference to her gallery of inaccurate self-portraits. But it couldn’t have been. There was no possible way for Sombra to know about that specifically, and any foal could have guessed that the Nightmare still haunted her.

“You’re wrong,” she said aloud. “Twilight will find a way to excise you from Pinkie, and when the time is right my army will destroy yours and we will come for you.”

“So you’ve said.” Disinterest colored Sombra’s tone. “Well, Luna, if you’re not going to do more than spit the same tired defiance you have each time before, then I’ll be off.

“Actually there is something else,” Luna interrupted. “I want to know why.”

“Why what?”

“Why this, why all of this?” Luna asked, spreading her wings wide as if to encompass the whole conflict.

“You are a thousand years late in asking that question,” Sombra commented wryly.

“There wasn’t time or opportunity one thousand years ago. You have to admit this is a somewhat unique situation. It’s not often that the leaders of opposing sides can speak at length without fearing for their lives.” Luna made to sit on the ground, trying desperately to maintain the cavalier mien with which she had been speaking as she felt the full weight of his cold regard. “Who knows? Perhaps you’ll convince me and I’ll give in to you here and now.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Princess?” Twilight asked from her table. “We know he’s rather skilled at telling ponies precisely what they want to hear.”

“Such timidity,” Sombra mocked. “I thought you had more curiosity than that, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight sniffed disdainfully. “I know everything I need to know about you, you brute.”

“Twilight!” Luna snapped. “Be careful what you say.”

“Careful indeed,” Sombra laughed. “Please ladies, don’t fight over me.”

“As if!” Twilight retorted, though she fell silent at Luna’s warning glare.

“But you asked why, Luna” he said, sobering and placing his attention squarely on her. “And the answer is simply this: no other course of action affords me as much freedom as that of conquest. With this, I shall never die and I can indulge my every whim or curiosity. I alone know what it is like to die. Most recently, I learned what it was to be ripped apart in the center of a storm of light and electricity and magic, six hundred and twenty times over. That was unpleasant, to be sure, but now I have that knowledge that no one else in the world possesses. You cannot imagine the satisfaction I feel from that, though perhaps Twilight Sparkle can. I will have the time and the resources to plumb the depths of every mystery, to answer every question, to master this world more truly and completely than any being ever has. You asked why I seek to rule the world. I ask why any being would seek otherwise.”

“And how do other ponies play into that?” Luna asked sharply. “Where does love, or friendship, or the warmth of belonging enter into your world? Will you do away with all the ephemeral feelings that impart meaning to life?”

“Where do those feelings enter into your life?” he asked simply. “When, in the last thousand years have you known love, or friendship, or warmth?”

“I-“ Luna began, only to be interrupted.

“But say you are right,” he continued. “Say I begin to long for the fellowship of other creatures. Perhaps I will. I offered Twilight Sparkle a chance to stand next to me as ruler of the real world, after all. Over time, I may even gather other such worthy beings to me and give them the power to rule as well. Imagine that, a small coterie of incredibly powerful creatures ruling over their fiefdoms and playing out games across the centuries with the lives of the less powerful as their pieces. All to stave off the boredom of immortality. What might that world look like, Princess Luna?”

Luna’s mouth went dry as she began to understand what Sombra was implying. “That- that can’t possibly be true. I am an immortal. I would know if the world was the product of some game.”

“Would you?” Sombra’s voice dripped with saccharine compassion. “Is it so impossible that after centuries one of the immortals might want to raise up another of their kind, for that companionship you spoke so highly of mere moments ago? Poor Luna. Forever the youngest of the immortals because the experiment of her existence culminated with a thousand-year banishment. No other immortal dared risk such a failure.”

“Celestia could not have lied to me so thoroughly for so long. I won’t believe it!” Luna snapped back. Her rising emotion caused her magic to flare and the magic grid sizzled in response, peppering Pinkie’s unflinching muzzle with burning flecks.

Sombra spoke in an odd lilting cadence, as if reciting something he had memorized long ago. “I have delved into the deepest corners of the world looking for the oldest secrets. I have pieced together stories passed from elder to foal since time out of mind and spoken only by firelight in the depths of winter. I have followed tracks laid down by long-lost species in a desperate attempt to gift the story of themselves to those that would come after. And having done so, the best that I can say is, it may be. There is evidence that the world is not as it once was, and that is sufficient justification for my effort to change it once more.”

“That’s it? That’s your justification for all this? Because maybe somepony did it before? You really are a monster,” Luna said frankly. “If I had had any compunctions about the punishment my sister and I meted out a thousand years ago, or the punishment that I am going to deliver when you lie beaten at my hooves, they would have been put to rest by this conversation.”

Sombra chuckled again, finding amusement in her derision. “Perhaps. But Twilight understands, don’t you Twilight Sparkle? How can you not want to play in a laboratory the size of the world?”

Twilight, who had been remaining very still in apparent hope that they would forget that she was there, flinched back against the wall of the tent. “I-I don’t-“

“She is nothing like you,” Luna broke in, saving Twilight the need to respond. “Not in the ways that matter. When we first met I was afraid because in her potential she reminded me of you. Now, after seeing what she has done, I look at you and am saddened because you had the potential to be like her.”

Luna stood and resolutely turned her back on Sombra in Pinkie’s body. “Come Twilight, we need not waste any more time on him today.”

As Twilight scurried behind her, Sombra called after them. “I so enjoyed our chat, princess. Feel free to come back any time. After all, argument is a luxury I’ll soon have lost.”

Luna exhaled and shook herself as she left the tent, trying to put away the troubled feelings Sombra had engendered in her. Twilight trotted in her wake until Luna glanced back and indicated with a gestured wing that the other pony should walk beside her. Even as she did so, an uncharacteristic expression of fear still darkened Twilight’s face.

“Twilight Sparkle would not be so afraid of Sombra, and even if she were she would not let it show,” Luna murmured to Twilight.

“Yes, you’re right of course, princess.” With a visible effort, Twilight schooled her features to impassivity.

“Better,” Luna said, nodding. “How is it going in there? You have an important task after all.”

“Honestly, it’s hard to say. I can’t even always tell when Sombra is present.” She sighed. “This is hardly a role I ever thought I’d have to play.”

“It might just be our best chance though.” Luna broke off to smile and nod to a passing pair of earth ponies who had waved to her, and her eyes lingered on the broaches they both wore in the shape of the Butterfly Aegis. “I have seen a number of ponies with that sign recently,” she said to Twilight, indicating the broaches.

“After Dash’s defense and the appearance of the Butterfly Aegis, I had a great many ponies asking me about it. I had to come up with a number of different ways to display it since we didn’t have enough materials for everypony to wear the same type.” Twilight shook her head. “I must admit that I’m not quite sure why they’ve taken to wearing it.”

“Superstition, I suspect,” Luna said. “Soldiers are a superstitious lot. Between the stories about Fluttershy when she was alive, and Rainbow Dash defeating an attack without a single loss of life while creating that mark, it’s no wonder they’ve adopted it.”

Twilight snorted. “I suppose that’s true, but it’s going to feed Rainbow Dash’s already inflated ego. Though I suppose these days that wouldn’t be as bad as it once would have been.”

“How is Rainbow Dash doing anyway?” Luna asked. “I’ve not had a chance to look in on her.”

Twilight hesitated, letting her eyes run across the bustling activity of the camp as they entered the area where the living tents were set up. “She’s doing better, I think. Her eyes aren’t quite as empty as they were, and Gilda and Thraxus have done her a world of good.”

“But?” Luna prompted, and Twilight sighed.

“But her wings are still wrapped and the nurses say that they don’t know if or when she’ll be able to fly again.” A bitter ghost of a smile crossed Twilight’s face. “And aside from when she came to me to brag that by earning the title 'Stormlord' she finally had a title equal to ‘Archmage’, she hasn’t shown any of her usual energy.”

“Give her time,” Luna recommended. “Time for her wings or her heart to heal. Maybe something can be done for her after Sombra is defeated.”

“I certainly hope so,” Twilight agreed fervently. “It’s been dreadful having his army chasing after us day in and day out

Luna nodded in agreement. “I wanted to talk to you about that, actually. Something is bothering me about our flight. As unpleasant as its been to have his army hanging over our heads, the flight itself has been too easy so far. It doesn’t make sense that Sombra has only made that one attempt to stop us. He has plenty of troops, why hasn’t he been throwing them at us over and over again?”

Twilight held up a hoof to stop her. “Princess, I have spent the past week locked up with either Sombra or Pinkie Pie’s mindless body, both of whom are exceedingly stressful to spend time around. I’ll leave larger matters like Sombra’s machinations for you to worry about.”

Luna blinked. “Are you sure?”

“Quite sure,” Twilight said primly.

“Ah, yes.” Luna nodded. “My apologies, I had forgotten.” Silence fell between the two ponies as they stood, waiting for a supply wagon to be moved out of their path. The shouting of orders mixed with curses filled the air, though the curses were truncated amusingly quickly whenever the foul mouthed ponies caught sight of who was waiting.

After a moment, Luna idly remarked, “Ponies have been asking after Rarity.”

“I should hope so.” Twilight tossed her mane. “She is, after all, a fabulous pony.”

“No doubt,” agreed Luna, smiling slightly.

Twilight shot a sidelong glance at Luna. “I don’t suppose we could let a few of our closest friends know what’s going on with her?”

The princess shook her head. “No. That particular plan might well end up being our last hope. If it’s revealed too early she would be in a lot of danger and the plan would almost certainly fail.”

“Of course, it’s just–”

“Twilight, there you are!” came a shout from behind them. Shining Armor cantered up to the mares as Twilight shot Luna a panicked look. “We haven’t had a chance to finish our conversation.”

“Captain Armor, please, walk with us,” Luna broke in, as the cart finally cleared from their path.

Catching himself, Shining Armor saluted the princess and fell into step beside them. “Of course, princess, my apologies for my haste. I had hoped to have a conversation with Twilight here.”

“By all means, continue,” Luna said mildly.

Shining Armor hesitated. “It’s that conversation from the hospital. It’s something of a personal matter.”

“I’m afraid I don’t think now is the best time for a personal conversation,” Twilight said. “You must be so busy with the army and I have my hooves full with my research on Pinkie Pie and Sombra. Surely it would be better to wait until this is all over before sitting down for a nice chat?”

“I don’t want to risk one of us dying before this is settled,” Shining Armor protested, his voice rising. “In case you hadn’t noticed that is an imminent possibility.”

The three ponies stopped and Twilight faced the captain head on. “Look, Shining Armor, this is a personal matter and neither of us is in a good place to have this out. I promise you that you would regret settling this now, and I myself am in no position to hash it out either. Now, we have reached my tent so I bid you good day.”

With that, Twilight turned on her hoof and strode into her tent without a backwards glance. Luna’s gaze lingered on the flaps until she saw the tell-tale glow and felt the wards, similar to but less confining than those around Pinkie Pie, spring into being.

Luna shifted her attention to captain Armor who appeared momentarily dumbstruck. “Twilight’s right you know,” she said gently. “I too can guarantee that waiting would be best. This is not the time or the place to cloud one’s mind with external matters.”

Shining sighed heavily. “I’ve waited most of my life. I suppose I can wait a bit longer, assuming neither of us manages to get ourselves killed.” He turned to go. “If that is all then, by your leave, princess.”

“Ah, one more thing before you go,” Luna said. “Sunlit Rooms has requested some aid in managing the army paperwork. Are there any general staff you could spare to help her out?”

He blinked in surprise, then chuckled. “You mean she’s been doing it alone all this time? That’s crazy. It sounds like something,” he paused, face falling as he glanced at the tent next to them, “sounds like something Twilight would do.”

Luna was about to encourage him again, fearful that a distracted captain was something the army could ill-afford. However, Captain Shining Armor knew his business. With a shake he visibly put aside his personal concerns. Luna could practically see him putting on the mask of professional solider, and when he spoke it was in a deeper and more collected voice.

“I will send over two of our general staff secretaries. Have Sunlit Rooms let me know if she needs any more.

“Will do, Captain.”

“Princess.” Shining Armor saluted before turning and marching away. Luna could only hope that he had been as effective at partitioning away his concerns as he had appeared to be. She had a feeling that Sombra would test them all to their limits before too long.

Author's Note:

This is the chapter where I try to be subtle, but not too subtle. Hopefully it's pretty clear that something is off with a certain character. I've heard its very hard to calibrate exactly how hard you should hint at something to be sure everybody gets it, and I certainly agree with that. Regardless, all should be clear in a chapters or two.

Originally, Rainbow's defense and that whole first scene was a single page told by Luna as a reminiscence. That just didn't seem fair to Rainbow which is why it got expanded into a full scene. In case it wasn't clear, she earned the title 'Stormlord' which is the pegasi equivalent of Archmage. Also, for those wondering, the 'colors' of the rainboom were giving off nuclear radiation. Twilight would know what it was, but Luna didn't exactly make physics a priority when she was catching up with stuff after getting back from the moon. Next chapter is another Luna chapter, and then we'll spend a chapter or two in Twilight's point of view.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next Saturday.

Comments

[SC_Orion]

Also, for those wondering, the 'colors' of the rainboom were giving off nuclear radiation.

Neutron? Gamma? Alpha? Beta? What kind of radiation!? Saying "nuclear radiation" isn't very descriptive. Also, light is in of itself radiation (electromagnetic radiation), and based on this, I would thus assume the radiation is either neutron, alpha, or beta radiation, in which case Dash's rainboom either created matter or caused fusion of the air which in turn released radiation, to say nothing of the heat which would have been released (For example, a fusion reactor on Earth requires temperatures up to one-hundred million degrees Celcius in order for fusion to occur).

Good story so far. I have a few minor complaints, and they're mostly grammar/typo errors from the earlier chapters.

I hope this comment didn't offend you with my commenting about the radiation. I like science, especially when it related to nuclear technology such as fusion and fission. I have to stop myself from commenting here and explaining the types of radiation I listed above.

[Quixotic Mage]

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I will admit that I was not thinking about the precise type of radiation Rainbow Dash was giving off. My general thinking went something like this: her Rainbow contrail demonstrates that she can emit the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this chapter, where she's converting a great deal of stored electricity to light and heat, my thought was that the sheer quantity of energy would cause what is emitted to expand beyond just the visible spectrum into ionizing radiation such as extreme ultraviolet and x-rays. Since she doesn't know that that is occurring she can't do anything to mitigate it.

It's been several years since I took a physics class, so I hope you'll pardon me if I'm a little rusty. Hopefully this is sufficient to satisfy your need for technically accurate nuclear physics in your my little pony fanfiction.