A Method to his Madness

by Luna-tic Scientist

19 -- Regaining Equilibrium

Chirr glided silently down the dimly lit corridor, big ears hunting for the slightest sound. There were noises aplenty, but all were too far away or of the wrong sort -- galloping hooves several floors down, something heavy being dragged across a wreckage-strewn surface over on his left, and any number of less identifiable sounds -- but finally he found the room he was looking for. Head cocked, he listened intently, sighing slightly when he heard the near-imperceptible sounds of at least one pony breathing on the other side of the door. A gentle touch confirmed that it was locked.

Carefully, he pulled out his Guard-issue 'master key' -- a glittering cube that shimmered with little sparks of blue light -- and stuck it on the frame, right next to the lock. Sometimes I wish I'd been born a unicorn, he thought, staring at the little device, then stepped back. Stretching one wingclaw forward, Chirr hit the trigger and smartly pulled his wing away. A moment later, there was a flash of blue light and the sound of heavy objects tumbling to the floor.

The thaumic door-opener had done its job perfectly, taking a precise, circular bite out of the door and frame before turning into a pile of sharp-edged crystalline grit. Chirr nosed the door open, carefully avoiding the mirror-smooth and very sharp edges of the cut, sweeping the ward with eyes and sonar.

Libi was still in the room, but only because she had been tied down. The rest of the small ward was deserted, discarded medical supplies littering the floor. One of the stalls had an unpleasant brown stain on the floor and the whole room smelled slightly of rusty iron.

"Equilibrium? I'm here to--"

"Stay away from me, you bat pony filth! Come any closer and I'll make you wish you'd never been born, or hatched, or whatever it is you freaks do."

Uh-huh, I should have figured I'd have to do this the hard way, Chirr thought. "Do you want to get out of here or not? I've got transport on the roof to take you out of the city." He gave his armour's anti-grab function a little flick, making sparks jitter from the electrodes on his shoulders. "Staying here isn't an option."

Libi narrowed her eyes, then snorted. "I suppose getting out of this madhouse is worth the olfactory trauma of standing next to you."

Chirr rolled his eyes, then pulled the rescue straps from his harness and arranged them over his withers and flanks. "I'm sure you'll manage. Hope you don't mind, but I'm going to fly you out." Equilibrium opened her mouth, but the chiropt didn't give her a chance to respond. "I can't guarantee your safety otherwise; I passed a group of stallions going door to door looking for lovelies like yourself."

Her ears flattened and she tossed her head, but she said nothing more. Right, let's get this over with, Chirr thought, unsnapping the fastenings that secured Libi to the stall's pad. Gesturing for Libi to crouch in a cleared space, he moved to stand over her while trying to remember his one-pony rescue training. The flight harness was usable by one, but there were good reasons why a squad of three was the standard procedure...

"Put your hoof through that loop. Good. Now shift your tail, please, I just need to push the hindquarters strap through here--

"Hey!”

“I'll just grab the end and--"

“Get your muzzle out of there!"

Wings thrashing for balance, Chirr managed to get his teeth around the end of the universal clip, dragging it through to mate with the junction plate nestling amid the fur of Libi's sternum. "You're really not my type, ma'am," he mumbled, giving the plastic cylinder a tug to make sure it had gone home.

Switching his grip to the dangling toggle, he gave a mighty tug, tightening all the retaining straps and pulling the unicorn off the ground. Libi whinnied in surprise when the hoof cups retracted, leaving her trussed uncomfortably between his forelegs. "It would be less embarrassing if you left me for them," she said loudly, trying to shift her weight.

Chirr ignored her, grunting at the extra effort to lift the mare, before waddling to the door of the ward, spreading his wings, and flying off down the corridor.

One short, complaint-filled flight later and Chirr had located one of the exit balconies and lifted his cargo to the roof. Even before she'd been unstrapped, Equilibrium had locked eyes with Neighmann. "I should have known you were behind this little foalnapping. Well, you can kiss goodbye to any hope of seeing your spawn ever again. That restraining order--" Violet magic congealed around Libi's mouth and she fell silent.

"I can see why you picked this one, Director," Luna said dryly. "Fortunately we do not need her cooperation for this next part."

The glow over Libi spread and she relaxed, slumping against the wall of the rooftop hangar.

===

Luna motioned Neighmann and Chirr to stand back, then placed Libi against the wall of one hangar. At her first delicate touch, the faint tendrils of magic coiling inside Libi's brain seemed to pulse and surge, so she hurriedly pulled back. After a few moments the patterns resumed their endless roll, and Luna nodded to herself. A trap, that much is clear. My sister must have tripped it without realising, investigating too deeply when she caught a glimpse of the magic.

When it was quiescent once more, Luna reached out, intent on the reaction of the magic. She made careful alterations to the nature of her probe, hunting for a method that would let her examine it without causing it to activate. It was delicate work; being able to look into the arcane pattern necessarily made her vulnerable to it and there was no way to fully shield her mind if it went wrong. We have not been idle, Discord, magical theory has advanced to the point where we can match you without the Elements. I hope.

There, that was what she was hoping to find.

Previous incarnations of this magic had been tied into a pony's horn, back before the catastrophe that split the race into the individual clades. While something might be managed with a pegasus -- there were distinct, magically active, areas along their wings -- it would never work with an earth pony; their magic was just too diffuse. This spell was connected to somewhere else, through a non-causal channel to an arcane power source.

Luna traced the patterns, seeing how they all connected up to a single point where energy was popping up from nowhere. In principle the range was infinite, but the complexity of the operation meant there would be losses. No, Discord is fuelling this, and he's somewhere close. Somewhere on the surface of the planet -- but where? Luna carefully sank her magic deeper into Libi's mind, wrapping herself around the alien spell, mimicking its every twitch and pulse. When the time was right, she pushed.

Violet light flooded the hospital's roof, visible even through her closed eyelids. To make sure that she was fast enough, Luna poured all of her strength into the attack, neutralising the spellstuff at all locations simultaneously. The pattern dissolved like spun sugar in hot water, far easier than she'd expected and left Luna with most of the energy she'd applied. All that power had to go somewhere, and she frantically diverted it into other magics before it ended up as waste heat and cooked Libi from the inside.

===

Now he recognised it for what it was, Neighmann could feel the hostility in the atmosphere and, while he watched the Princess work, he tried to fill his mind with thoughts of the old Libi. How they'd met and their first intimate moments, the joy when they'd discovered she was pregnant, all in the hope that it would immunise his mind against the contagion. Desperately afraid that it wouldn't be successful -- that he might not even notice the personality shift -- Neighmann moved back to place Luna between himself and Equilibrium.

Neighmann watched the look of intense concentration on the Princess' face as her magic twisted and curled around Libi's head. The complex flicker of hornlight was starting to give him a headache, and the amount of concentration required to keep the toxic emotional environment at bay wasn't helping. His anger spiked, replacing the fear. Why is it taking so long, you are supposed to be--

Light suddenly flashed, bright enough to leave afterimages, at exactly the same time as a wrenching sensation, like somepony had twisted the world a few degrees. The wall behind Libi's improvised bed exploded, throwing masonry blocks the size of his head into the empty hangar beyond.

Dust and gravel blasted backwards and he quickly conjured a zone of telekinesis to clear the air around them all. In the centre of the bubble lay an exultant Princess Luna and a confused Equilibrium. "Was that really necessary?" he snapped, then froze when Luna turned to look at him, her eyes narrow.

"That spell is like a weed," she hissed, hornlight flashing once.

Neighmann flinched at the sudden pressure in his head, folded ears relaxing as all the anger vanished. It got me again, he thought, a horrible tightening in his chest making it hard to breathe. "Libi?" he asked tentatively. "Are you okay?"

She looked at him, then over at the Princess laying next to her, all covered with cement dust and brick fragments. "I-I..." Her eyes grew large and she started to tremble. "No, it can't be true, it must be a dream... I remember--" Her eyes met his and she gave a piercing wail, jerking and pulling at the magic that held her down, legs churning like she was trying to gallop somewhere and hide.

Something broke inside Neighmann's chest and he ran over, collapsing to his belly by Libi. He leaned forward, pressing his muzzle against her neck, trying to provide some measure of comfort. Oh Celestia, what did it make you do? Nothing seemed to work, and his presence only seemed to make her more frantic. "Libi, please, it's not your fault. Whatever happened wasn't your choice. Libi, can you hear me? Talk to me, Libi!" Neighmann looked hopelessly up at Luna. "What's happened to her? Did something go wrong?"

"She remembers everything she did while under the influence of the spell." Luna said softly. "Worse, she remembers wanting to do those things. It comes as a terrible shock to discover that side of yourself, voluntarily or not. The spell only enhances what is already there." The Princess stood up, a rapidly building fury on her face.

"Equilibrium, if you will not listen to your mate, you will listen to me." Luna's voice was hard, full of iron and fire, and loud enough to shake the dust from Libi's mane. "I know of this kind of mind control, and you are not at fault. I, Princess Luna, say this is so." She leaned forward, coming nose to nose with the now mesmerised mare. "Do you doubt my words?" she demanded, holding Libi's gaze.

"I--"

"Answer the question!"

"No," she said in a small voice, then her face seemed to collapse, tears running tracks through the dust in her fur.

Luna turned to Neighmann, her ferocity disappearing in an eye-blink. "Be fast. We must move quickly."

He nodded shakily, then reached forward to nuzzle at Libi's neck. This time she didn't shy away, leaning into his caress. He whispered in her ear, reaffirming his love and trying to convince her that it would be alright, then slowly pushed his head under Libi's chest to help her up. She stayed at his side, pressed so close that she was almost glued to him, flank to flank.

"Okay Princess, we're ready," Neighmann said. Libi just nodded, then rested her head against his neck.

"Good. Into the aircar with you; I need to see the thing that claims to be Discord."

===

With Libi and himself in the aircar and Chirr flying alongside, Princess Luna repeated her telekinesis trick and hurled them all out of the city on a low ballistic arc. Neighmann kept his eyes on Libi, separated from his mate by the low walls of the safety stalls, but she had lowered her head and refused to meet his gaze.

A thousand words collided in his head, filling it with everything he wanted to say, but the guilt was piling up in his mind like water behind a dam. Will you ever forgive me for sending you away? What did you do to survive out there... how much worse than the things I did? Any chance he had of even starting the painful conversation was lost when the feeling of weightlessness disappeared and the autopilot brought them in for a hesitant landing. The turbine was far too loud for this slow descent; a high-pitched warble that spoke of an imbalance somewhere in the finely-tuned blades. Amber lights were flashing on the console, warning him that the machine would not permit another take-off.

The lights were on at the Institute, even though the parking structure was essentially empty. There was a furtive movement in the half light beyond the limits of the security lighting; a pair of eyes briefly glowed green in reflection, then there was the drumbeat of hooves receding at a gallop. The big glass main doors had been smashed, a sight that made Chirr swear softly. The office area attached to reception was thoroughly trashed and full of smoke, soot staining the walls and ceiling where somepony had started a fire in the cupboards.

Entering the room, all four ponies immediately became wet from the efforts of the fire suppression system trying to get at the fitful flames still visible from one shelf. Luna ignored the dirty water pouring down onto her already dusty coat, reaching out with a flick of magic to wrench the burning cupboard from the wall and throw it out onto the stone path outside.

The damage became less severe the further they progressed; the vandal obviously didn't want to go to too much effort and had just left after taking whatever it was they wanted. The final set of doors bore the marks of forced entry, but this was a proper security door, one designed to slow even the Lord of Chaos, and the only real damage was scratched paint.

The doors slowly opened, the normal smooth silence turned into a grinding as the motors fought against the debris clogging their tracks. Inside, the power was still on, although with the subdued emergency lights rather than the full glare of the ceiling spots. Discord almost seemed to glow under the influence of the one remaining spotlight. Taloned gryphon's foot raised in the air, he stood on his hind legs with wings outstretched, mouth half open as if in the middle of a sentence. Probably was, Neighmann thought, by all accounts he really liked the sound of his own voice.

Motioning them all back, Luna strode down the shallow ramp to walk circles around the Lord of Chaos. Her horn glowed, violet light casting huge and distorted shadows against the instrument-studded ceiling. While the Princess worked, Neighmann stepped close to Libi, lowering his head to gently nibble at the junction between her neck and withers. His mate seemed transfixed by the immobile Discord. "It will be okay," he whispered between mouthfuls of fur, "whatever happened; I know it wasn't you."

Libi tore her gaze away from the ever increasing display of magic, stepping away from Neighmann and laying down with her back to Discord. "No, I don't think it will. I--" Libi's mouth snapped shut and she shivered, curling into a tight ball and flicking her damp mane over her face.

"It must, I won't let him win, not after all this."

"What makes you think he hasn't won already?" Libi muttered, twitching away when Neighmann moved to lie next to her.

He resisted the urge to get too close, leaning back to give her some space. "Please, just talk to me, tell me what happened to you." Neighmann's ears drooped and he looked away, voice dropping to a mumble. "When I think that I sent you away because I thought it would be safer..." I sent you away, and he sent you back as a weapon.

Neighmann felt suddenly sick, and glanced at the frozen Discord. All this time working with that thing,.. was it even my decision? He tried to remember when they'd talked about her going to Razorclaw. He's been manipulating me all this time. "...stupid, how could I have been so stupid. If you can ever forgive me for that, then I can forgive you anything." Libi said nothing, and both ponies stared off into their own memories, the reverie broken only by the return of Princess Luna.

"I have gone as far as I can without risking Discord's release, should he not actually be free already. I need absolute proof." She stepped up to Libi, gracefully folding her legs to get down to the mare's level. "Equilibrium, I need to look at your memories."

"No, I-I can't, mustn't know." Libi jerked back, but was unable to break Luna's gaze. "He's out already, I promise. He spoke to me, then he showed..." Libi's mouth worked and she swallowed loudly, shaking her head vigorously.

"That's not enough," Luna said gently, "I think that you are right, and Discord is out... but I need to be sure. There are ways to implant false memories, ways that are very hard to detect by conventional means." She smiled slightly, but there was no humour in it. "Not that such things would fool me."

"No! I refuse, you can't make me!" The panicking mare stole a frantic glance at Neighmann, then got to her hooves and started to back away.

I bet she can, Neighmann thought, feeling a sick, helpless horror as Luna advanced on Libi, her horn starting to flicker with violet light. "Princess, please, she's suffered enough without you forcing her through it again." Libi was staring at him now, eyes wide with terror. Wait, she's not afraid of Luna... she's afraid of me!

Princess Luna saw the same look and turned her hard gaze on him. "Neighmann, you need to leave. This has to be done now and your presence is inhibiting Equilibrium."

"Princess, no! You can't--"

"Do not think to instruct me, Director. Sergeant, clear the room."

"Yes, Mistress." With a bound and a flash of membranous wings, Chirr landed in front of Neighmann, trotting forwards to force him to retreat. "Come on, Director, back off."

"Chirr, please..." Neighmann took one look at the hard, uncompromising expression on the foxy face and fell silent. He gathered his strength, arcane power building for the effort to push Chirr out of the way, when the chiropt opened his mouth and squealed.

The sound did something funny to the inside of Neighmann's head, making the magic bleed away and his eyes defocus. Thoughts came slowly and were disjointed; he could only protest weakly as Chirr hustled him from the room. Neighmann collapsed in the corridor, balance suddenly gone, laying against one wall and shaking his head in an effort to clear his vision.

Chirr leant down, peering intently into his eyes. "Sorry about that, Neighmann. You feeling okay?"

"I didn't know you could do that," Neighmann said, trying to get his eyes to focus on the chiropt's face.

"We don't talk about it much... my mistress made us to fight the Guard, back when she, ah..."

"Wasn't quite herself?"

"Huh, still got a sense of humour, that's good. Yes, the Nightmare didn't want any magical competition, so she didn't breed some super unicorn. Instead she selected some of her pegasi and gave them bat traits, gave us a way to see in the dark and give any unicorn a really bad day." Chirr stepped back, giving Neighmann the space to struggle to his hooves. "That's only the second time I've had to use that in anger," he said softly, "I'm sorry it had to be you."

"Me too. Listen, you must know that what she's doing is wrong, my mate has been tortured by that spell for days, she needs time to recover. I-I don't want to get her back just to have her spirit broken."

"This is hard, Neighmann, really hard, but try and see it from the Princess' perspective. Celestia is on the warpath and talking genocide, while the rest of Equestria is dissolving beneath our very hooves. Equilibrium might have information from the heart of the enemy's stronghold -- if we don't do something soon there might not be anything to recover for."

===

"There, your mate has gone, and he will never discover whatever secret you have, unless you choose to tell him."

Libi, unable to retreat any further, cringed away from the looming Princess. Luna was almost twice her height, and in the darkened room her stern visage and half-raised wings brought forth foalhood dreams of the Nightmare. Please, I've done such terrible things, don't make me remember. Even the idea of having to look in detail at her memories was bringing forth little snippets: a wall of coarse brown fur filling the inside of a stone cell, the satisfying crunch of her hooves making contact with a prone earth pony's ribs, the look of fear in the gryphoness' eye as the mob she'd stirred up closed in. The feeling of teeth gripping my mane and heavy, warm fur on my back, and--

Libi moaned, a low wordless sound full of despair. "Yes, but you'll know, and I'll have to think about what I did... and how much I enjoyed some of it." Tears started to soak her muzzle and her legs gave way, dropping to her belly on the ground. "I've ruined everything... I hated Neighmann so much and I did everything I could to hurt him. It will never be the same, he'll never love me again."

Luna stepped close and sat down next to the weeping unicorn. Gently she opened one wing and folded the big, glossy feathers over her comparatively small body. "I think you are wrong. It is true that terrible revelations can drive ponies apart, but it is also true that it can forge them together into something far stronger than before. Your Neighmann tried to fight his way past Sergeant Chirr to get to you; I think he would have attacked me, given the chance. That does not sound like a pony that would let you go."

"How can you be so sure?" Libi sniffed, gazing up into Luna's eyes with a desperate hope.

"I have been alive for a very long time, and have seen many ponies in the most dire of situations." She looked away from Libi, staring over the consoles at the mocking shape of Discord. "I am also something of an expert on guilt and regret. What you feel now is almost paralysing with its intensity, but the edge will dull with time, especially with the support of those around you. The worst thing possible is to lock the pain away, hide it deep in your soul so it can grow and fester in the dark."

Libi nodded dumbly, but Luna wasn't finished. "I suspect you have suffered worse than most, but you are not alone. Many other ponies are afflicted with the same spell, and it is spreading rapidly. Soon there will be nothing left if we cannot stop it. I believe that vital information is locked in your memories; with it I can form a strategy and put an end to all of this."

Without thinking, Libi dried her eyes against the Princess' shoulder, an act that made Luna's distant expression soften and a small smile twitch at the corners of her mouth. "I guess that's probably treason, Princess."

"I think you are safe from that charge. Libi, please."

She nodded slowly. "Okay, I'll do it. How does it work?"

"It will be like a waking dream; there will be a sense of dislocation."

"Good."

"I will be as quick as I can. Remember, I will not judge you; my wrath is reserved for the one who did this to all of us."

Luna's horn glowed and Libi's eyelids closed.

--where there had been solid stone, was a wall of dark fur, a snake-like undulating body with multiple, asymmetric limbs and ending in a heavy, horned head--

Comments

[ascendant]

Alright boys and girls, we got the chapter title the whole story was written for. Time to pack it up!

[Turquoise pony]

Without thinking, Libi dried her eyes against the Princess' shoulder, an act that made Luna's distant expression soften and a small smile twitch at the corners of her mouth. "I guess that's probably treason, Princess."

A great bit of writing there.

[KMCA]

9945249
Dear sir and/or madam, do you truly believe that this is the end from a series called "A soot covered world"

[Q07]

I'm so pleased that equilibrium has finally returned. Her chapters were so hard to read, and that's what makes it a great story. I don't know how much more of bitch Libi I could take.

[Cozy Mark IV]

They'll have plenty to work through, but I still think they'll work it out. Great story, thanks for sticking with it : )

[5plus5seconds]

Finally all caught up. Reread the entirety of the first two stories and now on this one. Absolutely love this entire universe you've created!

[lazyreader19]

9963659
Wait.... First two stories?!
I didn't see a sequel mention, I've skipped already too far?

[Luna-tic Scientist]

10093555
Don't worry!
This one is same universe but stand alone. The other two (starting with Days of Wasp and Spider) are set in Equestria's deep past.