Hoof and Claw Versus the World

by Chythar

Act 5, Chapter 12 - Apologies

Now that Luna was free of her hatred and had made up with her sister, it was time to undo everything that she and I had done. And make a heck of a lot of apologies.

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With Nightmare Moon 'defeated', her plan to take over Earth was over. Well, Luna and I agreed that the effort was pointless now that she had made peace with Celestia. She and I realized that we would need her sister's help to dismantle our control over the country, so we laid out our former plan to the Solar Diarch. She was shocked to find out how close our plan was to succeeding, and doubly shocked to find out how close she came to losing. The only reason Nightmare Moon lost was because she turned on me when I controlled the Elements of Harmony. If Nighty had kept herself under control, Celestia would have lost and never seen her sister again.

In order for us to undo the damage we had done, we needed Celestia and her diplomatic skills to keep us from being arrested for our crimes. The three of us discussed the story we would tell to the United States, and eventually to Equestria. Luna and Celestia decided to blame Nightmare Moon and her 'minion' on 'dark magic'. I was uncomfortable with using 'magic' as an excuse, as the people of Earth generally considered magic to be cheap tricks and fakery. Thus, the excuse would be seen as just that, an excuse. Celestia convinced me otherwise. She said that her ponies in Equestria would accept the explanation, as 'dark magic' could still be found on Equestria. As for my people, she admitted that they would be more difficult to convince. But she was confident that she could make the excuse work.

To shift the attention away from Luna and me, Celestia and the Mane Six would take the credit for 'defeating' us. My part in the final battle would be reduced to a mere minion, and I would claim that Nightmare Moon had kidnapped me and 'infected' me with her 'dark magic'. Both Luna and I would ask for forgiveness from the President of the United States, and offer to help undo the damage our 'evil' selves caused. Celestia would apply political pressure as necessary, plus the promise of trade with Equestria to push for that forgiveness.

As she embodied the Element of Honesty, Applejack had to object. She wasn't comfortable with all the lies we were about to spread, and not at all comfortable telling folks that she 'defeated' us when she didn't do horseapples. We finally convinced the farm pony after a heated discussion on the finer points of diplomacy. Applejack agreed to say something like 'she didn't do anything, the Elements defeated Nightmare Moon.' Most ponies and people would presume that Applejack was just being modest, and had used her Element against Nightmare Moon. This was a 'lie of omission', letting others believe a lie because you didn't reveal the full truth. Applejack agreed to tell that lie so Luna and I would have a chance to make amends. However, if we did not follow through on our promises she would be very 'cross' with us.

Once every pony was satisfied with their part in the official story, Celestia contacted her government 'handlers'. According to her, the theater was a government 'safe house'; the Equestrians had been staying there ever since they had made contact with the United States government. The building was designed to house a large family, so there were several beds and a full kitchen in the back. Celestia told her 'handler' that she had defeated the 'Equestrian Invader', and that she must speak with the President of the United States as soon as possible. While Celestia was busy, I went over to Nightmare Moon's 'grave' and snuck Nighty's old armor into my pocket dimension. I remembered that the armor was special to her, so I figured that I could return it to her as a present or have it mounted as a memento of our time together.

An hour after Celestia hung up the phone, the theater was invaded by SWAT forces. The SWAT team caught Celestia and Luna chatting, while I was sitting with the Mane Six (covered in a human illusion) playing a board game that Pinkie Pie had pulled out of her mane. There was a lot of shouting and yelling before Celestia managed to convince whomever was in charge that everything was under control. It took some more yelling before Luna and I were allowed to travel with the other Equestrians.

All nine of us filed out of the back of the theater, and found a plain white delivery truck waiting for us. It was a relatively small truck, where the cargo area was maybe sixteen or eighteen feet in length; basically, a medium-sized moving truck. We walked around to the back of the truck, and instead of waiting my turn to walk up the loading ramp I just climbed up to the deck. The back of the cargo area was decorated with two couches that were strapped against the side walls. Several large pillows were piled up in the space between them. I was pleased to find out that this was a refrigerated truck, and as such this trip back to Washington DC would be a cool and pleasant one. Celestia walked over to a couch and draped herself across the padded surface while I sat on the far end of the other couch. Luna climbed on to my couch, then draped her forelegs over my lap and leaned her head against my chest. The trip to Washington DC and the White House was mostly uneventful. The conversation was light and easy, and I noticed that the Mane Six had relaxed around Luna and me. Even Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the two most suspicious ponies the MLP show had ever known, were laughing and trading stories.

We only realized that we had arrived at our destination when we heard someone unlocking the truck's rear doors. When I exited the truck with the other Equestrians, I noted that the sun had dipped below the horizon and the light had turned into shadow. We had been dropped off at the same side door to the White House that Nightmare Moon and I had used that morning. I couldn't help but reflect on how much had changed that day. Our conquest of the United States had almost been completed, then our battles with Celestia and the Bearers, and finally our 'defeat'. I had to admit, I was glad we had been 'defeated'. The whole conquest thing had felt wrong for a long time, but I had been too caught up in my brony fantasies to do anything about it.

Strange. When I think back on the things I did for Nightmare Moon, I feel bad about doing them. I used to enjoy following the rules, but I broke so many of them under Nightmare Moon and never thought twice about it. That's so out of character for me.

I set my inner thoughts aside when I noticed we had entered the West Wing Ground Floor Lobby. This time, the hallways were cleared of all but Secret Service agents. Some wore uniforms with tactical vests, while others only wore business suits. All were armed. Our handlers quickly escorted our group down the hallway, around the corner at the end and then up the staircase to the first floor.

There were more armed agents on this floor. Down the hall, I could see the Oval Office Corridor. I was surprised to see that the Corridor was clean. When I had last seen it that morning, it had been covered in debris from Nightmare Moon's attack on Celestia. In my opinion, the cleaning crew had done an excellent job. However, as our group was escorted down the hallway I could see that the holes in the walls had not yet been repaired. A glance into the Roosevelt Room as we passed by showed that the conference table and chairs had been set back up, and a look in the opposite direction showed a blue tarp over the hole leading to the Rose Garden. Our group was held out in the Corridor for a moment, before we were led into the Oval Office.

The room looked unchanged from our visit earlier that day. The only difference I could see was a missing couch, the same one that Nightmare Moon had damaged when she attacked her sister. The President of the United States was sitting behind his desk, but once he saw us he stood up and stormed over.

"What in the HECK were you thinking?! Starting a WAR in my own home? Look at the damage you caused! If this is your idea of a peaceful resolution--"

"Be quiet."

Luna's spoken command was immediately obeyed; the President stopped his rant and his anger disappeared from his face.

"Yes, Mistress."

The armed officers in the room looked at each other in shock and surprise. I imagined it was unnerving to see your leader suddenly obey an alien. Luna turned to speak to Celestia.

"As you can see, the leader of this country is completely under my control. If you had not arrived when you did, my Captain and I would have leveraged that control to finalize our conquest of this country. Eventually, we would have spread that control to the rest of the planet.

"But now that we have been defeated and my free will returned to me, it is only right to restore this human's free will to him. Here, I shall guide you during the process."

"Of course, sister."

As Luna and Celestia approached the President, I realized that Luna's speech had not been for Celestia but for everyone else in earshot. She had not only confirmed that she was the one responsible, but was trying to make amends by undoing the damage she had caused. It only took a few minutes for the President's shadow parasite to be removed, and the man sat up from the couch he had been laying on. He rubbed his head tenderly, then looked at the purple blob that sat in Luna's upturned hoof.

"That thing is what made me obey you?"

"Yes, Mister President. It is designed to make my commands sound reasonable to its host; in this case, you."

"It was so strange. One second I was furious with you, and the next I felt ashamed for speaking out of turn. Felt like I was a child and talking back to my mother."

"The Shadow Parasite searches the memories of its host so it can learn how to control your behavior. I can only guess that your mother was a strict disciplinarian."

"Yes, yes she was. What else did this thing make me do?"

"Nothing, as I had not given you any other commands. It only interferes with free will when given a command."

"I see.

"Wait a minute."

The President took a good look at Luna, then at me. His gaze swept over the other Equestrians before he spoke up again.

"I don't recognize the two of you. You're--are you the ones they defeated?"

"Yes, Mister President. We are the ones that attacked you."

Luna briefly projected an illusion over the two of us, showing herself as Nightmare Moon and me in my armored feline form. Well, in my case she dropped my human illusion to reveal my feline form underneath. I simply re-cast my human illusion when Luna dropped hers.

"I don't understand. If you're evil, why did you help me?"

Celestia took that moment to join the conversation.

"I believe I can explain, Mister President. This mare is my long-lost sister, Princess Luna. Over a thousand years ago, a magical experiment went awry and she was consumed by dark magic. It twisted her until she became the one you saw earlier, a mare called Nightmare Moon. When I defeated her, I did so by purging the dark magic from her and she returned to normal."

"That is correct, Mister President. The dark magic twisted my thoughts, much like the shadow parasite did to you. Once I was freed, I was ashamed at the evil I had done. As such, I wish to make amends in any way that I can."

"Okay. And what about him?"

The President had pointed to me. I decided to answer, rather than let Luna do it for me.

"I ran into Nightmare Moon when she first arrived her on Earth. I was a fan of the My Little Pony cartoon show, and I recognized her as one of the villains."

"We made the same connection with Celestia and her guests when the daughter of one of my aides recognized her."

"Right. Nightmare Moon infected me with the same dark magic, and made me follow her commands. She then used my knowledge of this world to help her conquer Southern California, where I'm from."

"So, you two are responsible for the strange goings-on in Southern California?"

"Correct."

Luna and I laid out everything we had done in Southern California, from our initial success at the sheriff's station in Twentynine Palms to our conquest at Camp Pendleton. Afterwards, Luna and I gave our deepest apologies to the President and did our best to show remorse towards our actions. Celestia then helped us explain out plan to undo the damage we had caused. Our apologies had softened the President's anger, but it was our plan to right our wrongs that convinced him that Luna and I were no longer evil.

The President of the United States asked us for one thing, to settle our debt to him: repair the damage our fight had done to the West Wing of the White House. Celestia and Luna did the actual repairs, while Twilight, Rarity and I helped. The alicorns pieced the broken wood and plaster in order like a billion-piece jigsaw puzzle, and somehow fuzed them together with their magic. Twilight and I ferried the broken pieces to the alicorns, while Rarity did the final polish to the decor. Applejack and Fluttershy went outside to repair and replant the Rose Garden, with Pinkie and Dash as helpers. To the President's amazement, we had the West Wing and Rose Garden back to new in under an hour. Twilight tried to explain to us how it all had been done, but her explanation quickly went over our heads. I can only summarize it as 'Magic can do cool things.'

After all the repairs were complete, we returned to the Oval Office. To our surprise, The President had summoned Mr. Nicholes while we were repairing the White House, and man was standing there waiting for us. Celestia gently removed the man's parasite, and as soon as he was free he immediately began to grovel at the President's feet. The President rolled his eyes at Mr. Nicholes' actions, then ordered his staff to 'take these ponies to California so they can clean up their mess.' The Secret Service quickly and efficiently escorted us to what I presume was the National Airport, then loaded us onto an unmarked plane. We spent the night on that plane, and arrived at LAX in Los Angeles early in the morning.

Transportation was arranged to take us to Luna's Moon Palace in the US Bank Tower. Immediately after we arrived, the Mane Six crashed in the bedroom. They had been too excited to be inside a 'flying metal tube' to get any sleep. As Celestia, Luna and I did not need to sleep, we stayed up to talk. I also dropped my human illusion, and placed my armor on to its stand. Celestia was impressed with Luna's throne-couch, and Luna showed her sister all of the various games and other entertainment that the bronies had left behind. I did get a kick out of the two alicorn sisters laughing and beating the heck out of each other with Dagorhir swords.

When Twilight woke up around noon, we brought her into a meeting. The alicorn sisters and I had been trying to figure out how to remove the thousands of shadow parasites Luna and I had spread across the Southland. It had taken months to enslave that many people, and could take even longer to free them all. None of our ideas solved the problem, so we were hoping that Twilight could help. The problem was, removing the parasites one-by-one would take too long. Luna could destroy the parasites from a distance, but it would cause psychological damage to the host. In rare cases, the host can die from fatal brain damage. Even if we removed them safely, the hosts would all remember what they had done under Nightmare Moon's control. The ones that acted against their personal morals would probably have the hardest time dealing with those memories, and they could react badly. I had watched an old friend go through a mental breakdown, and I did not want to make anyone go through that kind of anguish. Luna also insisted that causing the enslaved humans any more pain was not an acceptable option.

While Twilight did come up with better ways of destroying the shadow parasites, she couldn't figure out how to protect their human hosts. So we eventually decided to punt the solution, and make this a 'future us' problem. With Twilight's help, we learned how to put the shadow parasites in a 'crippled' mode of sorts. In this mode, a parasite would cut itself off from the rest, was not allowed to control its host nor force them to follow commands. There was one exception: if the host tried to remember a painful memory caused by the mind control. The parasite would then interrupt the memory and make the host feel happy or satisfied, like they had done something good. It wasn't a perfect solution, but we hoped it would be enough until we found a more permanent one.

Twilight and Luna worked on the new spell to cripple the shadow parasites, and they figured out how to do it from a distance. This meant that we wouldn't have to visit each enslaved human personally. We could instead disable the shadow parasites en masse, just by flying overhead. The spell was designed for the shadow parasites' unique magical signature, so it would not affect their hosts nor humans that were not under our control. Celestia, Luna and I could easily work several nights in a row to do this, but Rainbow Dash offered to fly Twilight around so we could get the job done faster. With our plan set, Luna decided it was time to recall the bronies to her court. After the magical message had been sent, she spoke to all of us in the room.

"I have another issue that must be discussed.

"Janice."

I sucked in an intake of breath. Janice certainly deserved our special attention. She had not only been exceptionally helpful in creating the Moon Palace, but she had been lying and hiding us from the owners of the building.

"My Captain knows whom I speak of. Janice is a high-level worker in this building, and she has acted as my seneschal in most every way. Her help was essential in creating the Moon Palace that we now sit in. As Nightmare Moon, I did not care about the consequences for my slaves and merely did as I wished. But now, I am quite concerned that she will take the blame for my decisions here. The number of bits spent on my behalf must be enormous."

"And the rent lost, from renting this space out."

"Correct, Captain."

Luna turned back to Celestia and Twilight.

"My Captain and I enslaved Janice and many of her fellow workers, then convinced them to cancel a rental contract for this entire floor. I imagine the financial loss was quite high."

"We have to free her, Princess Luna!"

"Yes, Twilight. We must. But that will mean the end of my home here, as Janice is the only one preventing its discovery by the owners of this building. That will put us all out of a place to stay while we undo the damage I caused to these lands. In addition, it will not prevent Janice from paying for my crimes. In a sense, we will be doing more damage to her as she will be aware of the things she did here but have no way to remedy them."

"My fears may be groundless, though I don't believe so. The only way we shall know for sure is to speak with Janice herself. I have already sent for her, and she will arrive shortly."

True to her word, Janice arrived not long afterwards. She then took a seat at the conference table with the rest of us.

"Thank you for coming, Janice."

"You are always my top priority, Mistress."

"Thank you. As you can see, my appearance has changed. Does this not concern you?"

"No, Mistress. While I can see and feel the changes in you, you are still my Mistress."

"Excellent. Part of my new changes is a newfound concern for your welfare. I am concerned that running my Moon Palace has taken a high toll upon you. Is this so?"

"O-of course not, Mistress. I am happy to serve."

"I'm glad to hear that, but I wasn't questioning your loyalty. I know I have asked you to lie and hide my Moon Palace from the owners of this building. I have also asked you to purchase many expensive items for me, and you have provided them without complaint. But those bits must come from somewhere."

"Oh, yes! I am in charge of the finances for this building, and I have siphoned off those funds as needed. Officially, the funds were used for repairs that were not needed and never done. But I have used other means as well."

"I imagine that the owners of this building must be suspicious by now."

"Yes, they have been for a while. At first, they accepted my excuses. But they've started talking to my co-workers and keep trying to catch me in lies. Fortunately, everyone they've talked to is also your slave and they have helped me keep the lies going."

"Is that all they have, suspicions?"

"For now. But they've decided to open an investigation into the building's finances anyway. I can delay them, but eventually they'll find out what I've been doing and I'll be accused of embezzlement."

"Not just accused, Janice. You have been stealing, under my orders."

"Yes, Mistress. And I have been happy to do so!"

"I know. Let me pose a question to you. If we were to leave all this today, and remove all evidence that we were ever here, what would happen to you?"

"Oh. Well, the investigation would still find the embezzlement that I already did. It might even be more suspicious as the money stopped disappearing as soon as the investigation started."

"And thus, you would still be found guilty of stealing."

"Yes."

"What would happen to you then?"

"I-I guess I'm not sure. I won't tell them that you ordered me to take the money, so I guess I'll be the one they blame. I can't pay the money back, so I'll probably be sent to prison for a while."

A gasp came from Twilight.

"But, that's not right! You were just following orders!"

"Yes, I was. But unless I betray the Mistress, I am the one that must take the blame."

"We can't let this happen, Princess Luna!"

"I agree, Twilight. But there are only two ways I can think of to help Janice: either I take the blame myself, which may not pull all blame from Janice; or we bring her with us to Equestria and out of their jurisdiction. Neither option is very appealing."

We all jumped at a sudden knock on the shoji door to the Palace Room. The door slid open to reveal Pinkie Pie.

"Hey Luna! Your house is really neat!"

"Um, thank you Pinkie."

"You should keep this place so you can stay here whenever you visit Earth! You could even have your Earth friends come visit you here!

"Okay, bye!"

With that, Pinkie slammed the shoji door shut.

"Well, that was something."

"You get used to her ways, Lulu. But there are times, like now, when her inner brilliance shines through. She has given me an idea."

"Oh?"

"We could declare this place as the official Equestrian Embassy on this planet. I'm sure I can convince the President to authorize it."

"Hmm. I think I see your plan. Embassies do not tend to appear overnight; they are planned and built, then their presence is announced. Thus, this embassy has been 'under construction' ever since I arrived here."

"Exactly, sister."

"That takes care of the future of this space, but it does not help Janice. Why would Janice embezzle if this was an official embassy?"

"We have not negotiated a conversion rate of Equestrian bits into this country's currency. So we cannot pay our bills until our money has value here. She was loaning the missing money to us until we could reimburse her properly."

"Perhaps. But wouldn't the government of this country pay its citizens on our behalf, then expect us to reimburse them?"

"An excellent idea, Luna. I'm sure the President could do that for us, and also officially sanction Janice's actions. He can say that she was ordered to support and cover up the presence of an official embassy for an alien race. Which is what we are to the people of this planet, aliens from another dimension."

"It could work. The plan would paint Janice as a potential fool, for if the embassy did not happen she would be the one blamed for the missing funds. However, it is a reasonable explanation for her actions."

"I'm glad you agree, Luna. I'll discuss the matter with the President the next time I speak to him."

Celestia turned to Janice.

"How long do you have until this investigation is complete?"

"Oh! Um, it hasn't started yet. I was told that one would be started soon."

"Then we have time to set our plan into action and clear Janice's name. Good."

Luna inclined her head upwards slightly, as if hearing something that the rest of us couldn't.

"It seems that the bronies of my Camarilla will be arriving soon. Janice, please place our usual pizza and soda order. But this time, add a second order of 'hot wings'. I am sure my sister will want to sample them."

Twilight's face went slack in shock.

"Princess Luna! Didn't we just talk about the financial damage to Janice?!"

"I don't see the problem. We discussed a solution that will absolve Janice, so additional funds taken will not harm her. If our plan fails, she will face the same consequences whether we feast tonight or not.

"Would you like to go hungry tonight?"

"No."

"Very well then. Janice, place the order."

"Yes, Mistress."

"I proclaim this meeting to be adjourned."

"So formal, sister."

Comments

[Nebulous Draco]

Nice chapter, looking forward to more of it

[BruhMoment23232]

Love how this story is continuing to surprise and entertain me, love your work, keep it up!

[doompony32]

If you want a way for moony to get some Humvees head to escandido, somewhere in town there is a lot with a few of them and some military transports. Be a good idea to raid it before its to late.