Tales from Everfree City

by LoyalLiar

Interlude XV - Out of Desperation

Interlude XV

Out of Desperation

The Constellation docked at the same private berth of Canterlot castle from which it had launched, and being that it was not a scheduled arrival, its gangplank was met by no small contingent of Celestia's personal Honor Guard.

These ponies watched as Somnambula and Tempest Shadow slowly disembarked first, carrying between them the corpse of Sunset Shimmer wrapped in a thin white sheet (taken from the ship's linen closet)—and once the duo were off the gangplank, the soldiers moved forward to take the remains of the dead mare off their backs.

They largely stopped in their tracks when the next pony emerged into view on the deck of the constellation. Unicorn horns were lit and pegasi hopped into the air to free their hooves.

"Soldier On," said Commander Flag, the old unicorn who had consoled Ink on his soul at the Stalliongradi airport. She looked on at the gigantic earth pony with a withering glare. "What are you doing here?"

"Surrendering myself," On answered with her distinctly un-Stalliongradi southern lilt. Then she nodded to her back, where she was carrying a blue pegasus in a state of consciousness but clear discomfort. "This is Solo, from S.M.I.L.E. Crack, help her to the infirmary, and then send word for Secret Service. He'll want to talk to her."

Thunder Crack, a sort of olive green pegasus with a profoundly rectilinear jawline, glanced to Flag for approval before following the criminal's orders. In passing, he added in a whisper "Good to see you again, On, for what it's worth."

On let out a single chuckle, but said nothing in reply. Instead, she started down the gangplank, only to be very quickly surrounded once she was on solid ground. "What, did they move the throne room since I quit?" The Honor Guard collectively found the joke less than funny, to which On shrugged. "Celestia will want to talk to us. Please, lead the way."

"Did you kill Ink?" Commander Flag demanded.

"Only his spirit." On took a moment to spit on the stone of the airship berth. "He's in there somewhere, along with Dr. Caballeron. He'll need a doctor too; I broke his leg."

After that, nopony bothered to speak as the procession of soldiers, ex-soldiers, criminals, and the remains of Celestia's apprentice made their way through Canterlot Castle. Seeing so many of the Honor Guard moving together, the castle staff threw themselves out of the way, ducking into side rooms or choosing different floors to focus their attention whenever possible, and otherwise pressing themselves up against the walls and trying to blend into the wallpaper—given how boring their cutie marks were, to varying degrees of success.

Finally, the great gilded double doors that would open to the Equestrian throne room towered, and it was at their face that Commander Flag stopped. "Honor Guard, keep your eyes on On. Miss Shadow, Miss Somnambula, please follow me. Attendant, please bring the remains."

The throne room's doors opened to reveal its intricate fountains, flanking the long carpeted ramp which led up to the dais on which Equestria's princesses found their thrones. Both mares were present, seated in court and attending to some statutory mass of bureaucrats.

"Three incidents in Baltimare, one in Las Pegasus, a full thirteen in Manehattan…" the small horde grumbled.

Upon seeing Flag, Tempest, and Somnambula approaching with obvious emotion on the latter two faces, Celestia immediately raised a wing for silence, nodded, and said "I'm sorry, my friends, but some business of state has come up. Please present this concern to Captain Armor; Miss Inkwell will make sure he knows you have my referral as a matter of urgency."

Raven Inkwell, then Celestia's assistant, took over the work of shooing the petitioners (some now quite grumpy) away, which gave Celestia just enough time to take a deep breath before she flung herself up out of her seat. "Somnambula. Tempest Shadow. Where are Lieutenant Ink and Sunset?"

"Ink should be coming," said Tempest. "But…" She drew in and released a deep breath, glancing back at the white sheet on the stretcher beside her. "Sunset's dead."

Celestia raised a brow in disbelief or denial, lit her horn and opened the sheet enough to see Sunset's head and neck (and thus her wound), and then fell back onto her flanks with a visible shudder.

"Sister!" Luna rushed forward from her throne, quickly wrapping a wing around the larger alicorn's shoulders. "Pray, Somnambula, what happened?"

"You didn't know?" asked Tempest, stepping forward herself. "I thought like when Morty killed Ink, you'd see her soul or something."

Even in her distress, Celestia looked to Luna, and Luna looked back to Celestia, and in their mutual confusion, the world froze. At last, it was the younger sister who spoke. "When did this happen? Was the sun yet in the sky?"

Tempest nodded. "It was probably around two in the afternoon. Why?"

Celestia swallowed, and squinted for a very long second, and then suddenly her demeanor went back to what I will call a very good impression of her usual calm self. "When a pony dies during the day, I judge their soul. If it is night, Luna handles the responsibility. Thanks to some magic we created a very long time ago, that responsibility is not constantly demanding our attention; the spell lets uncontroversially good ponies through to the Summer Lands without question, which thankfully most ponies are. But in addition to more troubled ponies' souls, the spell is supposed to alert us to ponies who are important to us personally—such as when Lieutenant Commander Ink was killed by Mentor, like you observed." Celestia sighed, and then nodded to Luna. "I should have known Sunset had passed. Do you think the time she spent on the other side of the mirror interfered with our spell?"

Luna frowned. "Sister… this isn't like you. Sunset was your apprentice; you have every right to grieve."

Celestia looked to Sunset, and in a rather plain tone she said. "It's my fault this happened, but when we get Morty back, he can fix it. This is only temporary."

"Celestia!" Luna declared. "You cannot speak of death so callously. Coil's abominations—" When Celestia's brow fell, Luna corrected herself "Coil's achievements notwithstanding, it is not right to flaunt the natural order of things with such disdain and disregard for the consequences. Do not forget what happened to me."

"I have not forgotten," Celestia answered, a crack in her voice. "I am fine."

"You are not, and your denial tells me all the more strongly you cannot do this now. Leave this place, Celestia. These ponies will still be here when you have taken time to rest and come to grips with your emotions. Equestria does not sit solely on your back, remember? I, and if need be Cadance and Twilight, will support you."

Celestia swallowed once, and then nodded. "Thank you, Luna. But I can't leave this be until I at least understand what happened, and talk to Sunset." The better of the two alicorns then turned to the still living members of her task force in the room. "What happened?"

Tempest nodded. "When we got to Klugetown, the four of us split up. Sunset and I went after Dr. Caballeron—he's here too, by the way—and Somna and Stalliongrad went after the hippogryph who had the next part of Morty's soul, or whatever it is, we were looking for. Turns out we weren't the only ones looking for Caballeron; some giant earth pony and one of your spies got to him first."

"Soldier On," Commander Flag clarified, causing the two sisters to share a concerned glance. "And Going Solo, a S.M.I.L.E. agent."

"Did the traitor—that is, Soldier On—kill Sunset?"

Somnambula shook her head, picking up the story. "Morty did. Or, at least, it was definitely his body. Um, when Mr. Ink and I got back from our side of the mission, he'd already killed Sunset and ran away."

"Despite the charms I gave you?" Celestia asked with growing concern.

"She went up out of the hole we were in and fought him one-on-one, and I think he did break her little necklace thing. I don't know what they talked about. Just how it ended. He beat her skull in with a rock and then dropped her on her neck," Tempest answered.

Silently, Luna stretched out a wing to wrap it over Celestia's shoulders.

"We think it might be Grogar, using Morty's body," explained Somnambula. "Since he used one of Grogar's bells at Onyx Ridge when he pulled out Mr. Ink's soul. And then again, outside of Klugetown, he was after another bell."

"Grogar?" Luna asked, glancing over to Celestia. "From your grandmother's stories? About Tambelon?"

Celestia shrugged. "I am more concerned with what happened next in the present. My student is dead. How did the rest of you escape?"

"He basically just walked off," said Tempest. "Well, Not-Morty wasn't alone. He had this, uh, bat-pony mare with him. He wanted her to kill the big mare and the spy and me; this was before Stalliongrad and her got back to us."

"A 'bat-pony'?"

"I don't know what else to call her; she had leather wings and fangs."

Celestia immediately glanced to Luna, who shrugged rather defensively.

"It was Typhoon," Somnambula explained.

Luna stood fully to her hooves, wings slightly raised in alarm. "Are you suggesting Coil raised a mare who has been dead eighteen hundred years with my spell? The hypocrisy! After all the times he chastised me for the Night Guard." Then with a chuckle, she added "Though perhaps these are just desserts for the daughter of Hurricane, after her sins—"

Celestia took the unprecedented step of grabbing her sister's muzzle in golden magic, pulling her face forward to look her in the eye, and glaring down at her. "That poor mare suffered enough in life, in no small part because of you, Sister." Then, releasing Luna, Celestia turned back to the reporting ponies. "Grogar's bells, Morty using magic he would never use willingly—"

"Wait, does Morty actually know how to make Night Guards?" Somnambula asked. "I thought you told him you would never teach him in a million years, Princess Luna."

Luna looked away. "The colt was nothing if not cunning. He got enough out of me in a moment of weakness to reverse-engineer the spell. But you're certain it was Typhoon Stormblade?"

Somnambula nodded. "I'm sure. Even if she hadn't recognized me, her mane colors are hard to mistake. And she had Hiems Osculum. She must have gotten it out of the chasm at Onyx Ridge."

"I find this very troubling," said Luna. "To have this difficulty of a search for Coil is one thing; we all know the stallion never made a single thing simple in his entire life. But Typhoon is a very different threat."

"Lieutenant Commander Ink's fire drove her off?" Celestia asked, pulling the conversation back onto topic.

"Enough that she realized it was a losing fight," Tempest confirmed. "They fought with their magic a bit, made a bunch of steam and fog, and then she stole the bell off the spy filly and made a run for it."

"And Soldier On fled?" Celestia confirmed.

This time, Commander Flag spoke up. "She turned herself in. She's in the waiting room, with the rest of the Honor Guard."

Luna blinked several times rather rapidly as her mind processed that claim. Finally, she uttered "The traitor who tried to poison me gave herself up?"

"I…" Flag sighed. "There is reason to suspect there's more nuance to her part in the assassination attempt several years ago than that. But yes, she is here. Shall I have her escorted in?"

"One moment," said Celestia. Then she turned to her sister. "I'm more concerned about this threat to Equestria from Grogar than I am about punishing Soldier On. She will face some kind of justice, Luna, but can we agree not to put that ahead of the issue in front of us?"

"I shall do my best," said Luna.

Celestia then nodded to Flag, and a few moments later, Soldier On was escorted into the throne room by several gold-clad Honor Guard soldiers.

"Your Majesty," said On with a bow that wasn't even especially sarcastic. She gave no show of respect or even acknowledgement to Luna, though.

"What were you doing in Klugetown?"

"Working pro bono for S.M.I.L.E. Going Solo and I knew each other from Baltimare; before she was a spy, she was the mare Armor dragged around when he was trying to solve the poisoning. So when we ran into each other again, she trusted me."

"Why would she trust you?" Luna demanded. "You were the guilty party!"

On huffed out one breath. "Fine, you want the truth, Luna?" On glanced around the room, then turned to Flag. "Is the chamber secure?"

"Is the chamber… are you serious? You're an arrested criminal; don't pretend you're still Honor Guard."

Celestia, however, answered "It is."

"Alright. Let me start at the beginning. I don't know how the Commander knew about Nightmare Moon's return, but he did."

"Her?" Somnambula asked, pointing at Flag. "Why not just ask?"

Commander Flag shook her head. "At the time, the Honor Guard was led by a stallion named Steel Lining, who usually went by 'the Commander'."

On continued "We also knew that the boar warlord Khagan knew when Nightmare Moon was going to come back. S.M.I.L.E. gave us intelligence the boars were massing an army to strike Equestria's southern side while we were weakened in the turmoil of that night. This was before I was on the Honor Guard proper, but just after… after Roscherk killed my foals, and framed me for hiring Silhouette to kill his little brother."

"You expect us to believe you were framed?" Luna asked. "Surely, given what you tried with me—"

"Third Brother is my husband, and the father of the foals Roscherk killed," On interrupted. "And you can ask him to his face if you need those parts of my story verified."

"You…" Celestia muttered. "I hadn't realized he was here."

"The Commander knew enough to know that if I let the secret out, she'd—" (here she pointed to Luna) "—punish him. But with the issue with Khagan and the boars, I didn't know any of that yet. I just knew I couldn't stay in Stalliongrad, and the Commander offered me a job. So the two of us went all the way to Zebrica to meet with some kind of undead elk doctor… monster… to get some kind of special poison. Then we set off to assassinate Khagan."

"So you admit it!" Luna snapped, only to have Celestia caution the younger mare with wingtip feathers on her shoulder.

"Why have I not heard of this?" asked Celestia.

On chuckled. "Because if you were involved, even tangentially, he was worried would break some kind of huge treaty. I promised the Commander I'd take the blame alone if word got out. Didn't seem like a big deal to me; I didn't have anything else to live for."

"What treaty?" Luna asked. "I mean, assassination of a rival leader seems self-obviously illegal."

"The Midnight Castle Accords," Celestia answered. "Um… I do not know how much you've let yourself remember, but the Twilight War wasn't just an Equestrian civil war. Magnus fought on my side. Krenn and Valdria were on Nightmare Moon's. After we ended it, the four of us who were left, and a few other parties—notably, Morty—decided that no matter what happened, we could never let a war like that between those of us with so much power happen again. All five of us had used our powers in one way or another in the interest of war. Krenn tore Dioda fully in half; making the huge canyon we call Grivridge. You and Valdria created the Everfree Forest. And I…" Celestia sighed. "I can only hope directing a pure solar flare on the far side of the battlefield gave a death that passed mercifully quickly."

Luna arched a brow. "So you agreed to never war again? A noble sentiment, but probably naive."

"We agreed that if any of us ever used our divine power against one another, or in any way attempted to steal a spark, all the rest of us would go to war against that one bad actor. Personally." Then Celestia glanced to Soldier On. "Despite not being a signee, Khagan's spark was considered protected by the treaty—as would yours be, Luna, when and if you were able to return."

On nodded. "But some rogue criminal from Stalliongrad? That gave the Honor Guard… what do you call it in Equiish? Plausible deniability? We didn't actually care about stealing the spark from the boars; we just wanted an internal power struggle to stop them from being unified enough to invade us when you showed up."

"I see," said Celestia. "But Khagan lives."

"I don't know how Khagan knew what we'd done; maybe, since boars have earth pony magic, he got a twitch of danger sense like I do. But he gave the poisoned food to another boar. And that's when we learned the poison was far deadlier than we thought. The poison fed on the magic of the victim—the stronger the magic, the more it grew and spread in their body. But then when that boar died, his tusks rotted through and seeds leaked out. Seeds that got into the To Go River outside of Ulaanboartaar, and spread across Suida. It turned into an epidemic—the boars call it 'tusk rot'—" (here, Celestia's expression broke with horrified realization) "—and while that was enough to stop the invasion Khagan had planned, it came with a lot more dead than we ever meant it to."

Luna took two swift and threatening steps down the dais toward Soldier On. "This poison you speak of—this is the gilded lotus? The same poison the assassin Masquerade used against me?"

On shrugged. "If I had wanted you to live, that would have been my guess. But I never had any evidence. That's the extent of my treason."

"Why do you hate me so?" Luna demanded, visibly hurt.

On rolled her eyes. "Because if you died, Celestia gave her word she'd send all your Night Guard to the Summer Lands, no questions asked. Because every day you still live, my husband is at risk of having his soul ripped into pieces to where I'd never get to see him again."

"What?" asked Tempest. "Why—?"

"If you kill a Night Guard, that's what happens," On explained. "Luna likes to claim she chooses them based solely on how evil they were in life, but the truth is, she's just looking for the best fighters she can, who have just rough enough of a life that she can get away with that excuse."

Luna tensed. Her wings wrapped tight around her. "You are not the first to make such an accusation. Would that Hurricane were here; I would at least trust he argued in good faith." The words came out of the blue alicorn almost shaky, heavy, oscillating. "Or Coil, in his oh-so-infinite wisdom. To hear Typhoon faced such a fate…" Saying that name herself, it was as if Luna had walked horn-first into an iron pole.

"Sister," said Celestia, trying to offer some comfort.

"No, Tia, do not console me. This is right. It is my burden to bear. In the past, I made my guardians from far more wicked stock, and it was to Typhoon's suffering that such a choice so nearly destroyed Equestria. Now, to hear that I have taken the path less traveled, and yet have turned the loathing of my subjects so readily upon myself…" She shook her head. "But we cannot do without them. I am resolute in that; an evil they may be, but a necessary evil."

Soldier On's square jawline soured into a scowl, and she turned her eyes to Celestia. "You still want to decapitate me, Celestia, or can I go? I'd rather die than listen to this."

Celestia shot a harsh glare toward Soldier On, and the stubborn mare locked up a fair bit from the intensity of the better princess. Then she spoke. "You're going to wait until I have all the information I need about this incident in Klugetown. Then I'll decide what to do with you. Let us see if we can ask Sunset Shimmer."

Celestia, the rightful monarch of Equestria, rose fully to her hooves and stepped forward to the edge of the throne dais. Pointing down at the carpet so as to project Sunset in a natural place in the room, she lit her horn with golden magic and closed her eyes. Her spell reached up to the back of her neck and the familiar sensation of the thread there which linked her soul, like all others, to the life beyond. Sending her magic up the thread and into the perceived sea of blood at the other side, she then focused her mind on a welcome and happy memory: embracing Luna for the first time after her return from exile.

To the other ponies in the room, Celestia was still for only the very briefest of moments. Then her right wing reached up to her neck, her brow furrowed with confusion, and she muttered mostly to herself "That's chilly…"

All at once, Celestia went limp. She fell forward, down the ramp, and without the grace of her conscious movement, her gangly body rolled and bounced and slid, dipping at times into the fountains beside the carpet. Ultimately, Soldier On, White Flag, and Tempest Shadow were able to rush forward and halt her descent, but it was a futile gesture of rescue.

Celestia was dead.

Comments

[RoboRed]

...What.

I think she might have just used the Knife on herself? I forget, does she know Morty's technique?

Celestia, the rightful monarch of Equestria, rose fully to her hooves and stepped forward to the edge of the throne dais.

Is that some Morty narration slipping through?

Also, poor Sunset.

[CopperTop]

Well. That's going to be an awkward judgment...

[duckmagee]

Was expecting a seanace not celestia poping to the summer lands herself

[Mr Swanky Hat]

Well... if that ain't a doozy of a doozy, I don't know what is!

[Raugos]

the small horde grumbled.

Did you mean small horse?

it is not right to flaunt the natural order

Should be flout, I think.
Flaunt means to display boldly. Flout means to treat with disdain.

[Zennyth]

Well, well, well. That's some turn of events there. Wow.

[Noobblue]

Welp... That didn't work

[CopperTop]

11755371
>> When the seancee reverses the charges on the call :P

[Lunar Strike]

11755360
Well considering he was Celestia’s student for a time, Luna fucked them over with the whole “ETERNAL NIGHT” and they’ve never been on the best of terms (at least at this time as Luna said she shared a “moment of weakness” with Morty). He’ll likely never think of her being fit to rule. So just a smidgen of bias

[GuardianofRoin]

Umm.... What? She just cast the razor on herself instead of just doing a Seance?