Uncompromising
There had been a night when the elder became the last survivor, and it had lasted for a thousand years.
A full millennium. And during that endless span, there had been those whom the elder spoke with, trusted with a little more of the truth. Seneschals. But each passed into the shadowlands in their turn, and even when the strength was once again mustered to look for yet another dear friend -- it still left her with nopony who remembered. A thousand years as the final living link to what had been, relentlessly pushing across the ocean of time in search of a shore which might never appear.
That which the younger, for lack of appropriate curses, referred to as Abeyance had wounded both siblings. A mere four and a half years hadn't been enough for the deepest scars to abate in their endless aches.
But there were other effects. For starters, the elder had spent all of that time as the nation's typical first and only resort in a crisis. Everything went to the palace, and then it went through her: the initial cut started near the heart. A single voice trying to impose order upon chaos.
"There's a chance to catch most of them together," Celestia rushed on as the sunlight of her field lanced towards the base of the throne. Energy interacted with a hidden lock, and one of the built-in compartments dropped open: two scrolls took the opportunity to tumble out. "It's Homecoming, but Applejack and Rarity are the only ones who have family in Ponyville. Twilight told me that she and Spike weren't heading west this year, and Fluttershy..." It almost triggered a smile. "...is exploring multiple possibilities. Add in Rainbow's reluctance to leave in case of emergency, and Pinkie wanting to be with a group... if this was dinner, we'd probably find the entire group at the farmhouse. As is, at least two-thirds are probably helping with early meal prep." With a wince and a sigh, "It doesn't exactly make things any better, calling them in on a holiday --"
During a crisis, a single voice.
In Luna's opinion, it could make her sister a little slow to listen.
She took a breath. Summoned several kinds of energy, and then let all of them go.
"TIA!"
Decibels rushed forward. A very large number of joules passed them going the other way.
The elder stopped, as the sunlight dancing on the white horn dimmed. Took a long, slow look at her sister, followed by a very careful regard of the newly-glittering floor. This was followed by a deep breath, which did nothing to fend off the subsequent shiver.
"...all right," Celestia finally said. "You have my attention."
Another look down.
"My very stationary attention," the elder revised. "Since I'm not sure I can take a step without slipping on this frost." And shivered again. "What is it?"
"There is an issue with Cerea," Luna stated, keeping her tones falsely even. "One which must be resolved to some degree before we begin, or her services might not be available --"
The Sunrise Gate partially opened. Three Solar helmets simultaneously poked through the gap: the dual pegasus presence allowed a stack.
"Princess --"
"-- we heard --"
"-- is everything all right? Why is there ice --"
Dark blue and purple eyes simultaneously focused on the intrusion.
"Leave."
The Sunrise Gate rather hastily closed. After a moment, they both heard the highest mare pull the last of her trapped manefall free.
"They mean well," Celestia sighed as her tones dropped away from that contributing half of the Royal Voice. "They always do. Luna, I know she was upset and trying to get outside: the Guards told me that much. I'm not exactly surprised. She had --" and the small portion of the room's humidity which didn't exist in solid form was evaporated by the sheer dryness of the elder's voice "-- a bad night. Let's leave it at that for now. And in the wake of that much griffon magic, it's reasonable for her to not be thinking normally for a while."
It almost sounded like an excuse.
Luna wondered if it had come across the same way when she'd said it.
"So I'm not going to hold trying to reach the gardens against her, especially when you kick in Stable Syndrome on top of everything else --"
There was a code, when it came to dreamwalking. A personal one: something Luna had exactingly constructed over the course of several years. A structure which dictated when she might intrude, how much she could try to do and, once she had returned to the waking world, what she was permitted to discuss. The only thing which allowed her to act with lessened guilt, and feel that she might be worthy of the burden.
She had to abide by a code: she'd seen that from the very start. But a personal code was just a way to direct one's thinking. It could never become the whole of it, because to automatically channel all sapience down a single narrow channel was to eventually discard thinking entirely.
"Evaporate the ice," Luna quietly said. "Return yourself to some level of comfort, for as long as that might still exist. And I regret the time this will consume, but... we apparently have no immediate need to evacuate and as you have indicated, we potentially need Cerea. And --"
The dark eyes closed.
"-- we may no longer have her. As a Guard. As someone we can turn to for help. As anything other than the final sight of a tail moving towards the horizon..."
She felt a waft of steam rise through her fur. Heavy hoofsteps slowly approached.
"What happened?"
Part of having a code was knowing when to break it.
She told her sister everything.
They were both on the floor again, about a standard body length apart. Some cushions had been brought down from the throne, to be pooled upon the marble. It hardly helped.
Technically, they were facing each other. Luna was mostly looking at the gold flecking in the marble. The pattern never changed.
"We all had a lot of talks about it, in the beginning," Celestia gently offered. "The ethics of dreamwalking."
"Yes," the younger bitterly reminisced. "Well, if we are returning to the very beginning, I would like to remind you that there was a time in which I lacked any choice in the matter --"
Softly, at least for volume: nothing muted the ancient pain. "-- I was there, Luna. We all were. I know it took a while before you got control. We did what we could..."
The dark mare sighed. "...yes. What you could, as best you could. I remember, Tia. All of it. Including how much it hurt everypony, to know that they could not do more."
Silence for a time. Four ears rotated, trying to pick up on evacuation sirens. Nothing but the distant furious, terrified babble of the herd.
"Old arguments," Luna finally resumed. "The consequences of which survive into the present. The reason why I generally go to those whose nightscapes cry out for aid. Ignoring the locked doors which I could so easily break."
"We had a lot of trouble getting the early citizens to accept the idea, when everything went public," Celestia quietly recalled. "Reassuring them, at the start. But generations passed, ponies grew up with the concept, and..." The white head slowly shook. "It was almost a status symbol, wasn't it? I remember hearing boasts. That somepony's nightscape had been so harsh as to attract a Princess."
"At least there was only the lone competition to see who could draw me in," Luna dryly noted. "Generations passed, with ponies who knew there might be visits in times of a more personal crisis. With other nations who -- were hardly happy with the mere concept, but at least accepted that all magic has some degree of range and I was a rather long way off. But then..."
The dark head dipped. The reflection of gold flecks took up residence in the younger's eyes.
"...abeyance. So many more generations, all of them passing with no knowledge that the feat was even possible." Almost a whisper. "One of the reasons why so many reacted badly, when it was all revealed for the second time. Nightscapes which radiate a familiar kind of fear: the dread of intrusion. And the other nations... so many fail to understand, or simply choose not to do so..."
Gently, with the warmth of the tones meant to buoy the younger up, "It could have been a lot worse, Luna. Compared to what we're getting with Cerea, the news of your dreamwalking hardly generated any protests at all --"
"-- because of the fear."
Celestia automatically scooted forward. Several cushions slid.
"Luna --"
"A simple formula, truly."
With quickly increasing desperation, "-- that's not --"
"Permit me entry into a dream," the younger quietly offered, "or face Nightmare."
And then there was nothing either could say.
Too many heartbeats passed. After a while, the rhythms synchronized.
"I could have abandoned her nightscape," Luna softly said. "At any time, after I understood that she was no threat. But I told myself that I wanted to understand her. And was that an excuse, sister? A lie which I offered to myself, as rationale for retaining the chance to gain glimpses of another world? I have seen so much strangeness through her eyes. Miracles both bright and dark, barely understood -- but nearly all of them casual. So many devices in a world which seems to have so little magic. Or machines, running on principles we have yet to understand..."
The younger shivered.
"Things," Luna quietly added, "I almost hope not to understand. Comprehension would be the first step towards recreation. Be glad that she only brings with her the lore of steel, Tia. There is so much worse. The reasons she dreaded that her home would be discovered by that world's majority." A deep, shuddering breath. "Let me simply say that, in the worst case... it would not have been much of a fight."
The elder's right foreleg stretched forward across the gap.
"Luna --"
Just barely audible, to the point where even the dark blue ears had to strain for the words, "-- she thought I called her a monster."
More scooting. Sunlight flowed down the elder's extended limb, carefully removed the shoe. A bare hoof made contact with cool fur.
The younger didn't seem to notice. The dark coat rippled, seemed to sink into itself. Dark eyes began to squeeze shut under the weight of blame.
"Someone who cannot accept herself, not as she exists. Who places endless defects upon herself in dream. I know her better than any, when I should not. I have spent endless nights hovering above her pain, when I might have descended within to offer aid. I never did. And she believes I see her as a monster."
Agony blossomed from the dark mare's spine as thin needles of ice.
"Tell me how to fix that, Tia. Tell me."
Softly, "Talk to her --"
"-- hours! Hours spent upon my throne, considering exactly that! Hours which wrought nothing! I know that we must speak!"
"-- Luna, you may not be able to resolve this before we have to send her out --"
"-- and will she go now? Risk life and sanity, for the sake of a Princess whom she has every reason to hate? For a nation which may never truly accept her? You wish for me to speak with her, sister? Then we share a desire."
Perhaps it was desperation which released the younger's next words into the world. Or it might have been a dream. A wish released into the waking world.
"Tell me what to say."
The white hoof gently rubbed at the cool fur.
Simply, "I can't."
The silence closed in again. Tiny icicles began to descend from dark feathers.
"They're your words, Luna," Celestia carefully offered. "We can talk about what we'll both say to her, once she's brought in. But what has to happen between the two of you... when the time comes -- so will the words. Don't overplan it. Just... give her a chance to listen --"
Bluntly, with every syllable directed at heedless marble, "-- I desired his death."
The elder blinked.
"I firmly recall," the younger continued to change the subject, "such as being my choice in the matter. To end him. With very little objection regarding any potential methodology. But you thought he could be made to speak. So, to restate the matter for your own record and any reels which might remain upon the witness: I was going to kill him. You did not. Therefore, should the worst come to pass... on the record, that would be your fault."
The left corner of the elder's mouth reluctantly quirked up.
"Well," Celestia wearily said, "sometimes you're right. Anything else before I send somepony to fetch her?"
"Other than planning out the mutual confrontation?" Luna asked, her head finally lifting again. "Since that seems to be the proper word. We need to have some concept of the mission's specific requirements."
The elder nodded. "This isn't just going to be magic-light: it's going to be magic-absent. She can't carry a single device. And if we have the Bearers waiting at the Gate, in case of the worst possibility coming out..." That triggered a soft groan. "It's the same problem as the last fight. They can't even bring the Elements. That's not an attack against him: it's a six-course meal."
"Simply having them accompany her to the entrance has its own issues," Luna pointed out as dark wings shook themselves out. "As a starting point, we already have questions regarding his current range -- and we are sending in an alicorn."
The groan became louder. "We don't know how much any one pony contributes to his strength -- but it's safe to assume Twilight is going to give him more than most. But she's essential, Luna. She knows how to open the Gate: there aren't many ponies who can pull that off." With sudden hope flaring through words and the brightness of the elder's corona, "And one of her last scrolls said that they'd been working on a defense against thaum drain. Just in case it ever happened again. So if they really have something --"
A little too quickly, "-- how does it function?"
Irritably, "I don't know. She didn't go into that many details --"
"Simply the most basic principle. What powers it?"
The elder's irritation was beginning to evaporate most of the newest ice. "Well, obviously it would have to be powered by magic --"
It took a while before the last echo faded.
"Tia?"
"...make it good, Luna," the elder forced out past the blocking facehoof. "Make it really good..."
"Very few ponies can try to open a Gate," Luna noted. "But that is a task which requires skill more than power. The ability and willingness to learn. Twilight Sparkle might be attacked from a distance: this is true. It may happen before Cerea gains entrance --" a little more softly "-- if she agrees to go."
One more last try in what felt like an infinite series. "Luna --"
"-- we have no other sapients without magic. We can make the request, and -- hope that she listens. For that requirement, there is no one else. But for the unlocking of the Gate, we require a backup. And a moment ago -- you said 'they'..."
Celestia blinked.
"She's going to hate this," the elder accurately predicted.
"With reason," Luna allowed. "And yet she will agree to accompany them. Because... she still feels that she has much to answer for. To balance. So -- an extra scroll?"
The elder sighed, and "An extra scroll," emerged with normal tones. "It might mean more that way." The rest was more of a mutter. "Congratulations, Trixie. You're the new Magic..."
There was a traditional position, when there was a guest standing before the full Diarchy and one sister was in the other's throne room. A notation would be made of when the meeting would take place. Whoever possessed responsibility for that part of the cycle would be on the throne itself: the other would be standing near the base.
It was day, and it was now deep enough into the near-winter's scant Sun-lit hours as to have sent Luna into the kitchens for wake-up juice. Celestia was upon her cushions, and Luna was standing near the throne's base. If they had called the girl in under Moon, then the positions in the Lunar throne room would have been reversed. That was just how it was. The siblings were equal in the Diarchy: the seating was just a reminder of whose dominion was currently in effect. Under Sun, Luna got to stand near the throne's base and given the way all four legs kept almost shifting, that just put the younger a little closer to making a break for it.
Celestia suspected too much wake-up juice. Or... it might have been the girl.
The centaur was standing very close to the Sunrise Gate: her tail was almost touching the doors. It was a position which seemed to indicate that she might be ready to leave at any time. And there was something about the way she carried herself...
Luna had described it, when she'd talked about the confrontation at the exit. That Cerea could stand perfectly still in a way which implied that any part of the body could start moving at any moment. Very quickly. And all of it was capable of going on the attack. There was something about the forced measure of the girl's breathing which implied that her bustline could potentially be used as a weapon --
-- the typical sapient's mind had a certain talent for self-distraction.
How would that even work?
The elder's imagination immediately provided.
...right.
Admittedly, there probably isn't enough tissue density for the bludgeoning to work. Or at least, enough to work quickly. But when it comes to just pushing a snout into her cleavage and keeping it there...
...note to self, if we all survive this: get copies of those two film scripts which Fancypants mentioned and make sure neither one has that written down as a kill method.
Worst 'thriller' ever.
Celestia took a breath, and wrenched her gaze back up to the girl's face. Something she was still learning to read, but... the features felt far too relaxed. Placid. And the hairpins were in place, the sword was at the ready, and one hand was very close to the hilt.
There were either no Guards in the room, or there was but one. Another question with a branching, binary answer. A state which had to be settled.
"Thank you for coming," the elder offered. "Before we started, I wanted to say --"
"-- the protesters grow loud," Cerea neutrally offered, and did so as the hanging tapestries vibrated again. "An increase in numbers, on what I am told is a holiday. And the staff hides newspapers from me, doing so when 'tis more newsprint and less staff to conceal it. The palace 'tis practically awash in ink, to the point where the marble itself seems stained." Placidly, "My actions at the party, one would suppose."
Another breath. "To some extent," Celestia admitted.
Quickly, with words as a weapon which had just spotted a hoped-for opening, "Then I shall understand if you desire my resignation from the ranks. Simply show me where to sign the forms. And, if it does not create too much trouble, somepony who can translate them for me --"
"But that's not why we needed to see you. Something's happened --"
"-- the 'visits' to my dreaming thoughts," was the girl's interruption, and it stood out just for being that. "Were you aware?"
All right. We planned for this. Things she might say, and what we would tell her if she did.
Talking about the nightscape intrusions.
About the reasons each of us has for her being here.
Just tell her.
"As Princess Luna told you," Celestia carefully began, keeping her posture steady upon the throne, "when you first arrived, we weren't sure if you were a threat. She investigated. That much is standard policy. But she only briefed me regarding what she discovered until we agreed that you weren't the aggressor. Just... the victim."
"And after?" struck without mercy.
Steady... "In all the world, the ability to enter dreams may be Princess Luna's alone," the elder evenly stated. "It falls within her dominion. I can advise her, but -- the decisions are hers, Cerea. She did tell me that she was continuing to serve as witness to your nightscape."
Tell her more. If I don't, then Luna might later on, and it'll backlash us all over again.
"And before we brought you into the Guard," Celestia continued, "there was another discussion." And watched the girl's breathing subtly accelerate, as two sets of shoulders went tight. "Because we had to understand the person we were recruiting. But there was very little said regarding details. She keeps your secrets, Cerea. She... keeps a lot of secrets."
Unless there's a crisis.
Until today.
"You knew," the girl offered another level of translation. "And you elected to do nothing."
The long body began to turn. A hand reached out for the door --
"-- I was selfish."
The grasping fingers paused. A blonde head turned, and blue eyes silently stared up.
Celestia forced herself to stay still. To keep meeting the girl's gaze.
"I didn't summon you," the elder began. "I never would have pulled you away from your home. It's... part of why summoning magic was banned, Cerea. Because -- what if a thinking being arrived? Confused and bewildered and lost, with no way to go back. I thought about that, when the theory was first explained to me. The ones who created the spells said it would never happen. I'd let you yell at them, but... marker stones don't listen any more than they did."
The girl didn't move.
"I never would have asked for you to come here," Celestia quietly continued. "I don't want to think about the level of crisis which would have prompted the mere thought. Summoning is, in a way... selfish. I didn't take you from your home." One more breath. "But I brought you to this nation. And that... was selfish."
The centaur was quiet. Thinking it over, or just waiting for the rest.
"I fail to understand," she finally said.
"Princess Luna and I talked, before you came in," Celestia told her. "About a number of things. One of them was the reasons each of us had for having you in the palace --"
"-- the entertainment to be found in strange dreams?" the centaur tightly cut in. "I imagine portions of the setting to be locally unique --"
More quickly, "-- you saw the worst of my nation, on that first night. And once I learned who you truly were, through witnesses of life and dream... I was ashamed." The white head dipped slightly. "I wanted to make up for it. To show you what ponies could be at their best." And lower still. "I -- still haven't. And it was more than that, Cerea. I wanted to send you home. I swore to do everything I could, to return you to what you loved --"
The girl's features went rigid, and that one hand began to move towards the door again.
Hurry. "-- but I didn't know if it would be enough." A little more quietly, forcing the words to emerge when every syllable carried the burden and agony which so often seemed to be the most dominant part of honesty. "I still don't. And I thought... if we weren't able to find your road, if there was a centaur again, one who might stay -- not just with all that she brought, but all that she was, someone who could set a new example, who had the chance to define what a centaur was..."
Her forelegs pushed. Half-upright, and no more.
"...if I had someone that special, Cerea -- then I wanted her to be Equestrian."
Silence. Luna hadn't said a word since the girl had entered. (Cerea had looked around the room, visibly evaluated exits, noted that the second alicorn was present, and -- that had been it.) And the centaur didn't say anything at all.
"Because so much of this nation is ponies," the elder made herself go on. "Compared to some of the other nations and their majority species? Too much. We need to integrate, so much more than we have. But integration takes work. Every day. And still, I told myself... a centaur. If it came to that, an Equestrian centaur. I told myself... that would be so special. And..."
She risked closing her eyes for a moment. And when she opened them again, the girl was still there. Watching, as the blonde tail worked through another slow, steady lash.
"...I never let myself truly consider whether you would have been happier somewhere else. In another nation. I told myself that if the events had been so distant as to have them treat you as little more than a curiosity at the start, there would always be a traveler from Equestria. Who would bring the fear with them. But... how much grounding could you have gained in a new society, before that pony appeared? How many friends?"
She sighed. Slowly shook her head, and wondered if this would be the day when her body finally recognized the centuries. Something where every movement would create physical pain to match that which rose from the heart.
"I don't know," Celestia finished. "Because I was selfish. I -- wanted to tell you that, before this went any further. I'm fallible. We both are. There are ways in which we've failed you. And in the wake of those failures -- we still find ourselves in a position where we have to ask for your help."
And before the girl could react, Luna spoke.
"As a knight."
Every muscle on the girl's body went tight at once. Even under the layers of clothing, it brought several of them into sharp relief.
"Do not call me --"
The dark alicorn took a single hoofstep forward, and the impact of the silver shoes filled the room.
"-- you say there is a mutual obligation?" And aspects of the words were harsh, because it was Luna and she'd been awake too long -- but they were also frantic. Desperate to reach backwards-tilting ears before sound was blocked out. Before the mind behind them denied all comprehension forever. "Then I owe you many things, Cerea. And one of them is to call you knight, much more than you have any to term me as lady."
They'd never heard the girl's voice reach that level of volume. Of open desperation. "-- I'm not, thou canst not, shalt not have me here when I am not --"
But Luna's words had a way of slicing through sound.
"For we need the services of a knight. Even a knight-errant, who may have no more reason or desire to see me as her liege. I will account for myself, Cerea, if you are still willing to hear me: if not in this instant, then soon enough. But --"
The dark head went down. Both eyes closed. Foreknees trembled. And the girl stared.
"-- we have asked too much of you, both of us," the younger softly offered. "We... need to ask for one thing more. Something which, in all the world, only you may be able to do. Will you hear us out, Cerea? Even if it is for the last time?"
The girl's entire body turned: something which happened so quickly as to make the sisters wonder whether a teleport had been involved. The powerful legs pushed, hooves did something much less than canter, and then she was fully facing them again.
One hand was far too close to the hilt of the sword. The other had balled into a fist. Tendons were standing out in sharp relief, and the knuckles were going white.
"Flattery!" the furious voice declared. "Flattery and falsehoods, pretending that you perceive anything of value within me, simply as an excuse for what hath taken place --"
"-- it's Tirek," the white mare said. And but for the lack of anything to beseech, she would have prayed.
The girl stopped, all at once. Several muscles went slack. At least two of them seemed to have some small influence over the jaw.
"...what?"
"The newspapers which ponies are hiding from you," Celestia continued, "at least for the most recent editions, concern the draining of magic. Something which happened last night, well away from the party. In a place you have never been. And that's just the first incident that we know of. We're going to try and discover if anypony else was affected and just didn't report it, but..." She allowed herself the full sigh. "...we may have a little trouble getting the word out right now. Or having it heard through all of the other words. Cerea... Princess Luna gave you the wrong number, and did so by accident. There are two things we have to ask of you. And the first is that you let us talk, even when you have so many reasons to wish you would never see or hear us again. To tell you what little we know, and... then ask our question."
"Will you grant us that?" Luna quietly asked. "Not from a knight's duty to the thrones, if you see yours as having ended. But as a way of saying that you have found at least one thing of value in this land. One person. For even if you have reached the point where your truest dream is for the world itself to be quit of us, and nearly all of our kind... is there not one mare whom you would wish to never see hurt?"
The younger was better at reading the centaur's expressions: another benefit of the nightscape visits, and there was no way Celestia could currently turn to the source of that expertise. For the elder's part, she simply gazed down at twisting furless features, and wondered what the girl was thinking.
We prepared for this.
What we would say.
The one appeal we could still make.
Using friendship as something very close to emotional blackmail.
Talk to me later, Cerea, if we all live through this. And I'll tell you how much I hated myself right now.
But this is about the world.
"Will you listen for Nightwatch?" Celestia asked. And waited.
The girl took a single deep, shuddering breath. The sisters held their own until all of the vibrations had stopped.
"Speak."
They finished.
The majority of Cerea's body had never moved. But the brown ears didn't seem to be capable of finding a comfortable position, the tail had a tendency to lash, and that one hand had closed into a fist before falling open. Over and over.
They'd had to name the parties involved in the incident. None of those reactions had been unexpected.
"Tartarus?" the centaur uncertainly asked.
"It's a --" Celestia began.
"-- the name," Cerea cut in. "'Tartarus'. 'tis truly what it is called?"
Luna took a breath. "It has other names," she admitted. "Different species refer to it by their own terms. 'Tartarus' is simply the most common appellation. Why?"
The hand which wasn't near the sword fell open again.
"I heard it twice before this," the girl told them. "In the letters sent by Fancypants and Diamond, when Nightwatch read them to me. I... had thought the disc was stopping on a term I might understand. Something... equivalent."
And just for a moment, she shivered.
"Your home has a similar location?" Which was when Celestia became aware that both of her eyebrows had just gone all the way up, partially from horror. Also that she was potentially going to have a lot of trouble getting them down again. "What is --"
"-- a myth," Cerea quietly said. "Regarding a -- region of the afterlife. 'tis unlikely to be important. Tell me of yours. All which has been said regarding that portion of thy land is that the area passed through was Tartarus, and that Tirek is kept there. Which seems to make no sense --"
Luna carefully shook her head.
"Tartarus," the younger said, "lies below the classified area. The land above is generally safe enough to pass through -- or at least, presents little more danger than the typical wild zone. There are gates, but -- they are guarded. We simply placed the classified status upon the land as an extra layer of discouragement, in case something should change. As we lack the forces to guard the entire border." Darkly, "Not that such prevents every last pony from going through. I am more than slightly curious as to just how many recent passages there have been."
"It's what we call a deep place," Celestia told the girl -- then, quickly, "Did that translate?"
The girl's ears twisted again.
"Deep place," Cerea eventually repeated. "The term, but not the definition. I heard 'warp' at one point --"
"Appropriate," Luna decided. "That is some part of what they are."
"The world has rules," Celestia offered, and shifted her body on thin-seeming cushions. "Of physics, thaumaturgy, chemistry and every other science. The rules which allow life to exist. But there are deep places, and... each represents a warp. You can survive there, if you recognize how they work -- but each deep place is either running on its own rules, or represents a subset which we don't understand. Tartarus is one of the largest, and... we keep it closed off."
"In order," Luna continued, "to keep the inhabitants locked in."
The girl visibly swallowed, and then looked ashamed of herself for having done so.
"Some deep places can almost be summarized in a single word," Celestia told her. "Something which gives you the core idea of how it operates. There's one near Ponyville, which had to be resealed. The heart of that one was echo. Duplication of the living or spiritual, but... imperfect. And the more you try to copy, the more the imperfections build. It's magic which no species has, Cerea. Something we can't replicate, because we don't understand how it's happening. The process may only be possible at the mirror pool, even if its creations can apparently survive indefinitely away from it."
"And... your Tartarus can be summarized thusly," Cerea didn't quite ask. "With one word."
Both alicorns nodded.
"What is that word?"
Celestia took it.
"'Torment'."
There was something about watching the centaur shudder. Part of it was the sheer size of her body, and another portion came from the configuration. So many things were moving at once.
"We cannot destroy it," Luna stated. "Sealing it off was the most we could manage. So it became a prison. The place where monsters are kept."
"Those who can't even be trusted to die properly," Celestia completed the thought. "Locked away, for the sake of the world." And, before the girl could speak, "A world which every single being within has tried to destroy. That's the criteria for being placed in Tartarus, Cerea. A direct, deliberate attempt to create global extinction. I hope you believe me when I say that we don't place anything in there casually."
And nearly thirty seconds passed with no sound at all. It nearly allowed the chants to reach them from the outside. There had to be still more protesters out there by now. The elder felt she could almost make out the words...
"There's something I've been thinking about for a while now," Celestia reluctantly admitted. "Since I saw the article. When we brought Tirek in, he refused medical attention. All of it."
"He had a split hoof, at the very least," the girl recalled -- and they both looked at her. "'twas in Diamond's missive."
Luna nodded. "The treatment was to be conducted by the Doctors Bear." With shadows dropping into each word, "As at the time, there was some argument for keeping him alive. But he pushed them off, with words alone. And our Royal Physicians operate by their own moral code, as do all good doctors. He was conscious and capable of refusal, so... their means of dealing with him became limited."
"He was inspected," Celestia added. "But most of that was visual. We were trying to keep him away from magic, as much as we could." With a sigh, "The theory was that Discord had burned him out. And most of the proof for that was... just how hard it was to keep him away from magic. It felt like no matter where we brought him in the capital, there was something to absorb. Minor devices, standing effects. And if everything else was removed -- whoever was trying to look him over could turn into a power source."
"We felt he had lost the capacity for absorption," Luna summarized, "in part, because he was no longer doing so. Should he have retained the ability, why would he not have retaliated? Resumed his rampage, with the one entity who had been able to so much as slow it --" her head dipped again "-- no longer able to act?"
"We risked some investigative magic," the elder went on. "Our own workings couldn't determine anything, and an analyzer was brought in. But the readings were confused. There was too much residue, and... they don't deal that well with anything living to begin with. At one point, the edge runes flashed on him as if it was comparing results on a device. And even that error couldn't locate a comparison to anything it had encountered before."
"Nightwatch," the centaur advanced a trembling word, "said you had attempted interrogation..."
"Oh, we did," Celestia confirmed.
"It was," Luna recalled, doing so as ions began to fill the air, "one of the only times he laughed."
Celestia's jaw tightened. She glanced at the nearest tapestry, and an effort of will managed to keep it from starting to smolder.
"But now I've been thinking about that," she said. "That he refused medical attention. At the time, I thought it was spite. Vain hopes that he would bleed out before we got our answers, and the next questions could be asked of his corpse. Not that it was going to happen from a hoof split..."
A slow head shake.
"I don't know that this is his doing," the elder stated. "Not as a certainly. But this happened in the vicinity of Tartarus. It makes him the prime suspect. And now I'm wondering what we missed. Whether it's a part of him. Something which a medical examination would have found. But no other centaur ever did that..."
Whether it's too late.
Luna wanted to kill him.
Sometimes she's right.
The largest mare in the world forced her fur back into its natural grain, and looked down at the girl.
I could trot down there.
Face her on a nearly-level plane. Just about eye to eye. There's so few sapients I can do that with.
But she has no reason to want either of us near her.
"Princess Luna told me about what you said to her at the exit," Celestia began. "About leaving." And paused, waiting to see how Cerea would respond.
The answer was with "I am not a prisoner! And with all which has happened -- with the responsibility, I shouldst not, should never have been a Guard --"
"-- I suppose," Celestia gently interrupted, "I miscounted too. Because now it feels like I'm asking for three things. Let me say something, Cerea. Because Princess Luna and I discussed this, and..."
Please.
Luna was still. As omnipresent as the night, and equally as silent.
"...I was selfish," the oldest mare in the world repeated. "Princess Luna will speak with you privately about her own reasons for wishing you to stay here. In her own time, if you'll permit it. But... we have no hold on you. No one has to remain an immigrant. If we forced you to stay within the borders, or to remain a Guard -- then we are keeping you prisoner. Under the current circumstances, we can't give you an order. And we are asking for --" she almost wished to laugh, if only at the scope of it all "-- 'a lot' is its own level of understatement. But you are the only sapient being in the world who has no magic to steal. Who can approach and assess him, with no more than the usual risks."
Graveyard humor had its own dark appeal. Something about the last words felt so ridiculous...
But she forced her tones to remain solemn, and went on.
"The usual risks," she repeated, "involved in entering Tartarus. And facing Tirek, who may have already absorbed some degree of magic. Just... not enough to break out." And, because she had to consider all of the possibilities, "Or he has that much power, and he's just waiting for the right moment. 'The usual risks' are tremendous, Cerea: I won't lie to you about that. But you're all we have. All the world has. And we can't give you an order -- but I can make an offer."
One last deep breath. Part of her memorized the feel of it: the swell of lungs, a shifting of ribs and diaphragm. Wondered how many breaths were left.
"Do this," Celestia told the girl, "and we'll speak to Ambassador Power. You can cross any border, once a path is cleared -- but it would help you tremendously to have a welcome set up on the other side. He'll carry the word back to Mazein." With a soft sigh which served as her lone indulgence, "There's potentially going to be a very long public debate in the logeions, and Rounding Moonsault is probably going to send us an extremely pointed letter about having had to serve as Referee for most of them. But minotaurs believe in freedom, Cerea. That'll be the argument in your favor: that no reasonable bull or ageláda would keep someone imprisoned without a crime. I think the population will vote you across the border, in the end. They have to, or they wouldn't be minotaurs."
The centaur didn't move.
"We'll warn Mazein about the summoners. We'll keep working on sending you home. That promise won't be broken. But if we need you for any part of that, we'll cross. And when you go... it'll be with enough bits to start a smithy. Mazein would hate the idea of owning someone's thoughts, so you take the secrets of your steel with you. And... one more thing."
Please listen.
Please take a chance on us.
...that's not what I'm really asking, is it?
"You would be dealing with yet another language," the alicorn finished. "Minotaurus is... notoriously hard on the throat, especially for the first few years. And you're just starting to get a hoof planting for Equestrian. So -- as final payment for your services -- you can keep the translator."
It's not about anything I just said.
And we all know it.
I don't know how to read all of your reactions. Not the way your eyelids are so tight at the corners and wide in the middle. Not that slight parting of your lips, or the tremble in all four shoulders and your hips. But I want to think I know a little about who you truly are at your core.
"Do we have a deal?"
Please be the person I hope you are.
Please care about your friend.
Please risk your life. If not for us, then for her.
Please...
The centaur's eyes closed. Her tail stilled, then went limp. One hand fell open. The other dropped away from the sword's hilt.
"...yes."
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:sigh: Good characterization of Celestia.
She can't stop manipulating. Neither of them know Cerea as well as they think they do.
Cerea is desperate to prove she's worth something. All that really had to be done was tell her the problem, state the offer of freedom, and actually ask forgiveness. Then the translator could have been a gift for services rendered as a knight. But the Princesses.
Anyway. Great writing! I cannot wait to see what Magic Trixie and the trip to Tartarus is going bring! Such fun chaos! Maybe it will be enough to revive poor Discord.
(As always, my opinion)
Oh how the evil will laugh when the terrifying magic destroying weapons of plastic, can be destroyed by so little fire?
Hopefully there wont be any dragonsneeze trees, or dragons, salamanders, chimera, there was a firebreathing cockatrice or was that a different cartoon?
11028080
No, the one Twilight ran into was the turn-you-stone kind. Shy used The Stare on the little bugger.
Like a Greek heroine from Antiquity, she is tasked to go in in hell to meet a prisoner.
They should give her a proper weapon than just the flimsy plastic sword. She might need to amputate something. A hoof, a dick... a head.
Or at least a big stick. I seem to recall that's the traditional method to deal with stupid male centaurs back in her home.
Oh boy, this is dark but what prevent Twilight from blocking the entrance to Tartarus once Cerea enters? For her, it would be the perfect way to get rid of something she hate.
Oh and the reasoning behind Tartarus and the Mirror pool being warped places by magic is a neat concept.
11028135
Good thing they bringing a backup magic user to open the door.
And Cerea's weapons of mass distraction strike again...
I love this story, and especially where these latest chapters have been going. One of the appeals of isekai for me is seeing characters from wildly different backgrounds connect and clash with each other. So it's a delight to see a story that's almost about those connections and the failure to make them. The great characterizations of the Princesses help too!
Are we finally going to see the Mane 6 after all this time? XD
I doubt this actually occurred, but a possible calculus in that discussion for Cerea could have been "they think I'm a monster; they are asking me to enter the place they use to lock away monsters forever; therefore, they may mean to fix all their problem very directly". With all the echoes following (why tell me this if it's actually that trap, &c.).
Gotta say I'm excited to finally see the Mane Six in this fic. Though they're probably going to make asses of themselves, and not in a humourous fashion that everybody will get a laugh out of before learning a friendship lesson. But maybe one of more of them will surprise me. Celestia definitely saved the day here, manipulations or not. Luna needs to apologize and then stand the F back. Excellent chapter!
11028132 A rowen tree wrapped in Poison Joke might do the trick.
Friendship is Emotional Blackmail.
The Sister’s are definitely playing dirty and manipulative, though the perceived stakes likely warrant it. I am surprised to see the offer of sending her to Mazein actually show up in the narrative, but can’t help but think it’s still the best place.
It wouldn’t be Cerea without the self-hate, but I’m glad she is mostly allowing herself to feel the anger at the violation. Her stopping in her rage to punch herself in the face is something I think whiplashes the emotions a bit hard. I understand the reasoning for it, but letting her just direct some anger strictly in an outward direction for a few minutes at a time would be good for the emotionally stunted filly.
Luna won't be able to solve the divide she created as long as she doesn't mare up and be direct in telling how she fucked up. That she wanted to call herself the monster. That she was enough of a moron to go for dramatic effect when she should have just talked. In the real world.
But I've never seen the two sisters being direct, nay, straight in their discourse and without manipulation or a fuckton of eggshell walking, in Estee's works yet. It'll be a first for Luna, but a first that MUST happen if there's any chance at all of reconciliation.
It's impossible to Cerea to ever actually forgive Luna without that. A true heart to heart, with no barriers raised nor tip hoofing. The true, naked, exposed. Facts and feelings, not misdirection.
This is the very least Cerea earned and deserves from her.
Well, that answered some questions. The ponies put up with Luna's dreamwalkng not because they want to, but because they feel they have no choice.
And a possible additional wrinkle (like this story needs more), the CUNET nutjob probably was returned to her hideout in Ponyville, what will she do if she sees Cerea there?
This feels like a bit of gallows humor between two sisters with a lot of water under their shared bridges, but given the end of this chapter...
I reaaaally have to wonder if it's less humor between them and more a cutting, bitter remark to which there is no real defense.
Because I read an extra quiet part of Celestia's ashen prayer:
If you say no, whatever happens to Nightwatch will be your fault.
Subject of manipulation and/or blackmail aside, Cerea has crossed an important line in the sand.
She has been tasked to help in a way that only she can, that requires personal sacrifice and risk, and she has asked herself, "If I don't do it, then who will?"
If that doesn't unconditionally and automatically qualify her for knighthood as she defines it, then she needs to look at her definition again.
I love the emergency scroll case in the throne. Excellent touch there.
(mixed cheers and gasps from the audience)
What can change the nature of a centaur?
In less dire circumstances, this would probably raise a number of questions about minotaur politics.
This will be very interesting indeed going forward. Especially since Fluttershy is being asked to spend an extended time around Cerea. I can only hope somepony lets slip a mention of Nightmare Moon soon enough to pique Cerea's curiosity, but I doubt it'll pierce both duty and outrage. We'll see what happens. And what the centaur herself thinks of all of this.
Come to think of it, there's also the question of just what the plan will be once Cerea finds Tirek. If she's going in completely magic-free, that also means forgoing the translator. Though given the previous attempts at interrogation, I suppose that wouldn't yield much information anyway.
11028132
A steel blade for the steel maker.
Senses enhanced beyond those of the regular citizenry. Travel the land, "slaying" unusual threats that only one with her perceived "unnatural" skills can handle with two blades: Steel for standards, Plastic for monsters.
I mean she's basically halfway to being a Witcher already (with some crippling self-esteem issues), so the extra sword would just cement it.
11028080
I'm not sure if that would be enough to destroy it. It would certainly ruin the sword, but it might just end up making a bunch of tiny plastic particles instead.
I can't wait for her to look at Tirek and be utterly confused about why everyone else is freaking out. "He's… not even all that close to being the same species as me, guys." But at least that's not why they are meeting, so there's that.
11028132
I actually love the ridiculous idea that her plastic blade is enough.
World-shaker Behemoth enters the area! "RAWR!"
Cerea pokes World-shaker Behemoth with Plastic Sword of Nullification.
World-shaker Behemoth is enfeebled!
World-shaker Behemoth collapses!
Cerea: "What have we learned?"
World-shaker Behemoth wimpers.
"Desperate, I will crawl, waiting for so long.
No love, there's no love.
Die for anyone, what have I become?"
Breaking Benjamin aside, Cerea will become a hero for putting it all on the line when she has no true obligation to, and what would a hero helping the Princesses be if not worthy of being a knight? To which I wonder if the Mane 6 have 'knight' pencilled in below their 'Element of X' titles, or is being an Element considered a station above being a knight?
Wait... if Cerea is going into Tartarus, that mean she is going to meet Cerberus! Another link to her world legend on Tartarus.
Will she think she need to play an instrument so well that it will charm the beast like Orpheus? Will she believe she need to wrestle the beast like Hercule? Huuuuh... and I vaguely remember a TV show where I think someone gave him threats to pass... TV Hercule with Kevin Sorbo?
11029496
Lyra and Twi would handle the doggy :P
Celestia is quite good…. Equestria would never have lasted long without her.
I’m quite intrigued about Tirek’s hoof injury and what importance it might have in the coming encounter… if his refusal for treatment was just a way to keep them from looking too closely at him, or if there was something more.
In the manga there's a subspecies of centaur called "nightmares" that has the power to shape people's dreams. One, Rem Nighdrem, shows up in chapter 69 to try to get Centorea's help to find people whose dreams she can enter (she has to be standing right next to the sleeper to do so, and most people sleep inside), but Centorea refuses.
oh, i recently read a story where many Bat-Ponies had a similar ability...