The Unbroken Spear

by Jamis

26. Aftermath

The pair of alicorn and man rushed through the halls, the two of them burst into the throne room, it was empty. "Curses! We must find the bearers and my sister before Discord can gain a hold of-" Luna couldn't finish her sentence before the doors opened and the pair saw all of them walk in. "Sister! Friends quickly we must make hast if we are to capture-" she was once again cut off though this time not by her own doing, a hand from Celestia pressed to Luna's mouth for a moment before she spoke calmly to her shouting sibling.

"Don't worry Luna its fine, the element bearers were able to defeat and re-imprison Discord." her calm smile was switched to a explanatory one, "Though I am glad to see you both safe, when Discord appeared the bearers had to attempt to find the elements themselves, he had hidden them before we could access them, we may need to consider upgrading our security enchantments." The remark was almost an after thought as her mood began to shift as she reminded herself of the recent events, "After they left I went to find you both but the srcying room had vanished, the door that should have led to it was a closet." after she had recalled that Celestia reached out and grabbed her sister's hand, "From there, I had to try and keep the city organized and calm for the coming chaos. But once it actually broke out," Celstia's long rant was ended as she shook her head, "We can talk specifics later all that matters is we are all safe and the threat is passed, I am having Discord's statue put in a safe location."

Luna who had been mostly silent until now was still processing that during their own "trials" ,as Discord had called them, she had been unconscious long enough for the foul spirit to have been re-captured. "Yes I suppose you are right,"

"So we were both out for the entire time, I am sorry that we had not come to help you or warn you of Discord's presence. He had ambushed Luna and I at the scrying room. His trickery had rendered us helpless before we shook the magic off." Atreus stepped forward and apologized to the group.

"Ahh, no biggie, we beat that meanie up just fine, even if we had some issues." Pinkie ever the peppy pony of the group, her dramatic understatement was let slide by her friends.

"Yes, well I think we should begin clean up, and perhaps make some plans for a celebration, you six have certainly done it again." Celestia's calm and motherly voice had returned from its brief vacation in the worried isles. While the prices were fine you also wondered if you were being charged too much. “But before that who wants to raid the kitchens with me, I’m positively starved, and I don’t think the chefs will be able to cook for a while.”

“You can go sister, I think Atreus and I will catch up with you all after a quick talk.” Celestia raised an eye brow but nodded, considering that the had gone through the attack together, it was likely they needed to have a quick meeting on what they didn’t have time to discuss while they thought everyone was still in immediate threat. Considering what some of the element bearers had apologized to one another for because of Discord’s magic it was likely some words or actions had to be settled now that they were free.

“Ok, but don’t take too long, or there won’t be any food left.” Celestia tone was playful, she and the bearers left the throne room and the two of them were alone.

“Atreus, I need to talk to you about what I saw in my... dream shall we say.” Luna said as she unsummoned her armor, she crossed her arms and seemed to look at everywhere but him.

“I feel we have a similar tale to tell, would you like me to go first?” the man had removed his helmet now that the threat had passed, his short cut hair and beard now free he kept his helm under his arm.

Luna blinked in thought before she settled on her choice, “No, no I need to tell you first.” The two of them had unconsciously moved to a stain glass window to talk, “When Discord used his magic on us, I was back in my old home, the castle.” Pantheon placed his spear up against the wall, and his helmet and the sill. “Nightmare Moon was there, I was confronted by her, she made me realize... I was not separate from her, that all of the crimes, and actions she had committed. It wasn’t another person, she was only the extremes of my negative emotions. I was in a dark, cold and horrible place,” the man listened intently, this was perhaps an even more intimate and important moment than when he had asked her about her past in his dream. “But then, you were there, you told me that even if I had done horrible things I had already paid for them. That even if I had killed I should remember that for a thousand years I may as well have been dead. And You told me that if I felt I had not payed enough, I should repay my subjects through service. I know it’s weird to hear, and I know that was not you. It was just a part of my mind, but Atreus I-“

“Luna.” the single word that was her name cut through her as if she was paper, she had exposed something very personal to him and now he judging her she....she looked at his eyes, they were understanding, and kind. “Before you finish that thought, may I share my story?”

Her anxious thoughts had been swept away and she apologized, “Yes of course, please, I didn’t mean to make this one sided.”

The warrior had put down his shield now, “I had quiet the similar experience, I was on mount Targon, and I was confronted by three people.” he paused to look Luna in the eye, “One you already know, Pylas he was my battle brother and rival. He died at the peak of Targon in my arms, the next was his wife, Aiula. She had cared for me after the death of Pantheon, in the months I had spent in recovery we had grown close, I had not seen her since I had left to face barbarian invaders, and defeated Aatrox instead. And last is a warrior woman, whom I had met only just before I found myself in Equestria, she and her fellow Ra-Horak warriors had faced the Ascended that sent me here, before I arrived to slay it.” A pause for thought, “Each of them I failed in some form. They asked me, ‘why?’ and I could not answer. But then you were there, your voice cut through the howling on the mountain like a ray of light.” Luna listened, there was no embarrassment or blushing, or anything of the sort, merely understanding, and compassion. Empathy seemed to imply some thing or another was wrong. “You said to, ‘Did you give up?’, your words helped me come to see that even if I had failed, I had to move on. To honour their memories and losses with my survival and continuation into triumph.”

A quiet moment passed between them, “Thank you for telling me that Atreus, I hope you grasp why that means a lot to me to hear.”

“I’m glad... Luna.” the tone was serious but not harsh, “Thank you, for everything. I have been alone for a long time, and in Equestria, you are the one I know best. So thank you for that. I have grown fond of our time together, and I think I have grown rather fond of you as well.” the lunar diarch seemed to take a momentary pause at his word before she spoke.

“Atreus, what I meant to say earlier was... I have grown to love and appreciate our shared moments together, but I guess saying I love you wouldn’t be to wrong either.” silent, not an eternal silent moment, no. Though it was longer than some pauses. The pair stepped forward closer to the other before they embraced in a hug, their heads on the other’s shoulder. A few minor breaths were taken before they put their foreheads together like before, eyes closed and special care taken with Luna horn. Another moment of intimate connection, this time not interrupted by the idea of a chaotic outbreak.

A small withdrawal from each other saw the two of them locking eyes. A spark seemed to jumped between them as they each did the same thing. The princess and the warriors lips meet and both closed their eyes again, it was small and light. But the gesture seemed to slowly add pressure further. A full on kiss between the pair, each not really sure how to go from there, they withdrew from the kiss and breathed in small quiet breaths. A smile spread on Luna’s face as she spoke, “We may have to hide this from my sister for a while. Something tells me it would be best if we didn't rush this... besides.” Another light kiss was put on Atreus’ right cheek, “we should savour this, our relationship shouldn't take a jump, so much as a well-“

“A climb?” a smile of his own spread on his lips as he spoke, “I am quite good at those, and I think you are right. Your sister doesn’t need to know yet, hardly any point since we need to figure this out ourselves first.” the man used his slightly taller frame to kiss her forehead.

A quiet was held between them before the Lunar princess broke it with a reminder, “We should go to the kitchen before our friends get to the stage wondering where we are.”

“You just might be right there.” the newly proclaimed love between them had been put on hold, for desserts and friends awaited them.

...

A couple of days later

The normal routine had returned to the castle somewhat, after the ceremony for the element bearers they had left to return home to Pinyville. They had only come back to Canterlot after Discord’s defeat to guard the transportation of his statue to the princess. Afterward the guards had informed Celestia that the scry-room had returned and her sister had been seen running through the halls with Pantheon.

Now that all of that had passed the paperwork seemed to have doubled, yep, it was defiantly just like the norm. Luna had to help her sister with the amount of mail she had received, most of it was asking to know what had happened to Equestria from several... hundred... thousand citizens. Thank all that is good that neighborhoods and small towns had had the decency to make their concerns part of one letter, the nobles on the other hand. Lets just say that there were still at least a thousand or so letters to respond to. That on top of the usual bureaucracy that ruling required, lets us just say that Atreus soon found himself deep in ink once again.

Of course this was quickly swept out of the schedule once it was done. Funnily enough a large amount of new disaster from dangerous villains clean up plans had been established, after the implementation of a few in efforts to remove the damages caused during the chaos things went quite well.

The guard forces had been more active then ever, something about being helpless during a crisis was probably some part of it. The Lunar guard had began to establish a fully functional spy network, it allowed for covert information to be passed much quicker and with less notice drawn to it. Celestia had of course already made infrastructure for a spy network in Equestria, but it was small, and threstals are much better than the average pony at stealth and night work. The previous spies had began to transfer into Luna’s guard for some time now but they finally got back to familiar work with their new batpony colleagues as of a few days ago.

This may seem like a lot of events to happen in such a short amount of time, but given that everything was already in place before hand, its not hard to see how. The main target of their eyes and ears was members of the criminal underworld, as well as nobles and merchants who were suspected of either tax evasion or worse. Not even Equestria was perfect, and its underbelly was in need of a cleaning now that a proper broom had been found.

During the past few cycles of the bodies in the sky, Luna and Atreus had been together for most of it. Silent though it was, they enjoyed supporting the other. The late night paper work would end with the pair walking together to their respective rooms, tired as they were from the time spent at their desks. They still shared a smile, a small hug, and a kiss before they went to collapse into sleep on their beds. Ever the one to think ahead, Luna had her guards’ position changed. Now her closest guards stood outside of the hall where the two of them had their rooms.

This meant no one saw their kiss, and as for the guards, the distance change was minor enough that they didn’t notice it much. And for those that did, it was because they were glad that they were far enough away as to reduce stress. Stress that they would accidentally hear something they really shouldn't know. After all, the rooms were hardly sound proofed unless a spell was cast, and some ponies who didn’t know the princesses very well, or perhaps just read too many fiction novels, thought that if they heard a state secret they would be imprisoned or killed. Yes, opposed to having their oath of loyalty invoked for them to stay silent. Yes I was talking about state secrets what did you think it was about? ......Fair, but no.

Author's Note:

Saw that someone had added this story to, waiting for updates section in their library. That reminded me that I should update this, so I wrote all this today, now tired. 😴

Comments

[deathcombo99]

10134526
The element BARES.
Shouldn't it be the element BARERS?

[Jamis]

10134604
No bearer is correct, check google. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bearer
Also, why are you putting some of your words into all caps as if I can't read, even if I had made a grammatical error(which I haven't in this instance) you don't need to be like that. It feels rude, and condescending, though I do appreciate you saying something, while it is not the case here, you wanted to correct a believed error, so thanks.

[deathcombo99]

10134938
I do apologize for sounding like that, I had just tried to put emphesis on the words.