04. Voices In My Head
Twilight crouched low on the damp maintenance walkway and frowned. This would be where the princess left her message, if she left one at all. Up until this point, assuming Twilight's theory was correct, Celestia had been proceeding under the impression that escape lay at the bottom of that stairway, rather than ambush and capture. Once she'd realized the folly in that, she may have tried something, anything, to leave a clue for anypony investigating to find. Marks on the walls, magical signs, something un-noticeable enough that her captors wouldn't scrub it clean. Something, Luna had said, specifically for her loyal student.
The unicorn stood up and paced back and forth along the waterway, thinking, but not without one eye warily fixed on the waves. She was cautious, but not overly worried. Pinkie had been right, whatever had taken the princess was an intelligent force. It had a plan and a target and had succeeded on both accounts. It was long gone by now. But what? What sort of… thing… behaved that way? Not for the last time, Twilight wished she had the copious reading material in her library to consult. She also wished the ground here wasn't so wet; it was making her fetlocks messy.
Twilight blinked at that particular annoyance, and was forced to smile. Some artifact of Rarity's personality was rattling around in her brain, making her notice things she'd otherwise overlook. The distance had helped; she was no longer catching various drifting feelings and emotions. Now all she could pick up were solid thoughts and specific feelings, things caused and directed at ponies or objects. Rarity had stuck her hoof in a pile of messy rubble and retracted in disgust; Twilight had noticed that. Without the buzz of Rarity's basic emotions cluttering the signal, the white pony's true thoughts were easier to make out. A little practice and they might even be able to manage words, Twilight thought.
The water twitched. Twilight caught the motion out of the corner of her eye and turned to it suddenly, narrowing her eyes as her pulse rate quickened. She scanned the aqueduct slowly, tracing a careful grid with her eyes. Nothing. She could feel Rarity's attention, like a shadow over her shoulder, waiting to see what the reason for the concern was all about. Still nothing. The water rushed on toward its termination off the cliff edge, showing no indication of any sort of inhabitant. Twilight forced herself to calm down, and sent what amounted to an emotional 'all-clear' to Rarity. A now familiar warmth returned from the other unicorn and brought a smile to Twilight's face. She was getting used to that.
Twilight turned back toward the walls and began near the frame of the stairway, her horn aglow as she scoured the stonework for hidden messages. Muffled words were coming through the link now, spoken in Rarity's voice. It was nothing Twilight could make out, but it sounded like speech in her brain, just beyond earshot. The magical dynamic fascinated her. The further away she got from Rarity, the easier she was to understand. While the closer they were, the more of her feelings poured through like an open tap. Under less dire circumstances she'd have loved the opportunity to experiment with it. For now, though, she was thankful to be alone down there. Having one constant voice was problematic enough. It seemed likely that, with a bit more distance, Rarity might as well be in the room with her anyway. She could alllmost hear the words; it was like listening to a speaker with the volume turned to its minimum… or, like listening to a speaker with its volume on high, but without any sound coming through it until the song actually began, as Twilight found out moments later.
*By Celestia she has a wonderful ass,* came Rarity's voice, clear as day, commenting in more frank language than Twilight had ever heard her use before. *Do I really need to kick a tree all day to get an ass like that? Would it be worth it? It might be worth it. That's a really wonderful ass...*
Twilight literally tripped over her own hooves. “WHAT?!” she yelled in surprise, before coughing in embarrassment and composing herself. She shut her eyes and thought, rather directly, at the emotional presence that was Rarity. *What in the wide world of Equestria are you talking about?!* she demanded, and felt a jolt of shock from Rarity's end of the spectrum.
*Oh… dear. You can hear me now?* came a timid reply.
Twilight was forced to smirk. *Looks like we both can,* she replied.
Rarity summoned up an excuse, which involved a rather amazing degree of internal mental gymnastics that Twilight found herself privy to even as it was happening. Rarity gave up on her attempt to cover for her thoughts when she realized some moments later that thinking up a cover story does little good when the pony you're trying to cover from can hear you think.
*Applejack has… a rather attractive rear end,* Rarity replied eventually, with forced dignity. *Likely due to a life spent working with her hind legs. Her hooves could use a good scrubbing and buffing, but...*
Twilight had to laugh out loud, which probably looked a little creepy to anyone watching, as it apparently emerged without provocation. *She really does,* Twilight responded, sparing Rarity the trouble of having to justify what was intended to be a private thought. *I'd like to say I'd do anything for legs like those, but I guess, if that were true, I'd be spending a lot more time kicking trees.*
*Or running marathons,* Rarity returned, and Twilight caught a wistful image attached to the words that forced a mental picture of Rarity kicking trees and running races though somehow doing so while maintaining a perfectly clean mane and wearing rather stylish western-themed clothing. There was an abundance of lens flare too, which struck Twilight as a little… flamboyant. *Its the curse of an indoor profession, Twilight,* she continued. *We must maintain our figures by diet alone.*
Twilight scoffed out loud, and turned to face the waterway, though it was only peripherally within her focus. She eyed the floor for some sort of scrawling or indication of struggle while she replied to Rarity. *Diet alone, right. You exercise every night,* Twilight accused, *Jumps and sprints and everything. AJ's jaw would fall off if she could see you do it.*
There was a sensation of surprise mixed with concern that filtered down the link with Rarity's response. *Twilight...* she thought to the purple pony, *how do you know about that?*
Twilight sat upright and blinked. She shouldn't know about that. Rarity had never told her about it. No pony had. And yet, when Rarity had made a comment that was contrary to something she herself knew to be true, Twilight had simply… noticed. As though the information had been in her head all along.
*I'm getting the feeling we're going to have to be rather… open… with each other for a while,* Twilight sent. *It looks like when one of us is trying to hide something, the other picks up on it.*
*Er, yes, dear. Suggestion, if I may? The next time you have a revelation about not trying to hide things in your mind, you reeeally shouldn't follow it by attempting to bury thoughts of the rather impressively sculpted stallion phallus replica you have hiding under your bed.*
*RARITY!*
*Because that showed up reaaaaally clearly in my head, and if I dare say so myself: Damn, filly.*
Mortification flooded Twilight's bloodstream as every attempt to stave off Rarity's access to her memories only seemed to force them more and more clearly into her friend's head.
*The PRINCESS got you that?! No WONDER you're her favorite student!*
*Raaaare-it-eeeeeee!* Twilight pleaded, burying her face under her hooves. *STOOOOOP!*
*I'm TRYING to Twilight!* Rarity insisted, *But every time you try and stop me it just pushes more and more into my- oh my. Your vibration spell is much better than mine. By all things Equestria, Twilight, how do you WALK after a night like that?! Oooh… ooh. Wonderful,* she deadpanned flatly, *and now we're on to anal.*
“ENOUGH!” Twilight yelled aloud as she pulled her hooves off from over her eyes and sprang upright. Her eyes shot open, and focused immediately on the nearest object. Something was standing in front of her, not five feet away, on the edge of the aqueduct. Legs that were too big, a silhouette that matched no pony she'd ever known. Something alien that had crawled up from the waterway to grab her like it had grabbed Celestia. Terror gripped her, and she reflexively reacted to protect herself. Before she'd so much as mentally registered the thing's color, Twilight let loose a blast of violet energy toward it. The impact sent the creature hurtling over the edge and arched it over the flowing river of winter-cold water. In the instant before the magic had hit, Twilight's brain caught up with her reflexes.
The creature had a face. A pony's face.
It looked young, and feminine, and concerned. An instant later, she saw the face again, but this time it was twisted and angry. The creature with the pony face was in mid-air, falling toward the water, when it fanned out its wide, winglike forearms and the river itself rose like two massive watery pillars and rushed upward toward Twilight. The unicorn didn't have time to scream. Cold like no cold she'd ever felt enveloped her, slammed her violently into the stone of the back wall, and swept her into the flowing river just as the creature she'd attacked splashed down. The entire encounter had taken less than five seconds, and when it ended, the aqueduct was empty. Twilight's final thoughts before cold and trauma robbed her of consciousness were of Rarity screaming her name, and of the glint of large eyes and a dark shape in the water, pulling her deeper and deeper toward the bottom.
“Princess Luna!”
Captain Midnight of the Royal Pegasus Guard saluted as Luna arrived at the clouded barracks. The Pegasus Guard maintained a detachment not far from the palace, overlooking Canterlot from any number of interconnected cloud forts. The arrangement, presumably, allowed them to quickly locate and deter problems before they could escalate. That was assuming of course that the problems didn't originate from within the palace itself. Luna didn't blame the Guard for its failure to protect Celestia, due entirely to her sister's insistence of a minimal complement of soldiers within the palace, but the failure was there nonetheless. They all felt it. From the shamed looks on some of the injured to the dark mutterings of those who had not yet come on shift, swearing they could've done more, the whole complex was dripping with the urge to lash out at the as yet unidentified enemy. Luna knew a powder keg when she saw one, having lit a few off herself in the past, and sent silent hope to Twilight's quest to uncover some clue that would narrow their search.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had arrived just behind Luna, both of whom had never stood within the barracks before. Fluttershy looked up at the hard-lined cloud pillars and shrank back a bit. The place felt military, down to its very bones. If clouds could have bones, that is. To a pegasus, they could, and these walls had been sculpted by Cloudsdale's finest to repel all manner of conventional attack. Canterlot, as it had been for ages, was well defended against any incoming siege. The futility of it all in light of attack from within made Luna's stomach churn.
“News, Captain,” Luna said, stopping in front of the armored pegasus. Midnight had served the Guard with distinction for years, and was, before all things, a quintessential soldier. Luna's interaction with him over the past year since her return had been minimal, but Celestia had described him as… 'diligent’, which Luna had taken to mean 'tedious’. Enlistment in the guard tended to pass through families, and Midnight represented the fifth in his line to serve the princess. There was an awful lot of pride wrapped up in that.
Midnight stood at attention while his two lieutenants waited on either side of him. Both were experienced, but it would be an exaggeration to say that anypony in the employ of palace protection actually got to do much protecting. The day's kidnapping was the most shocking thing to happen to the princess in decades. “Please report, Princess,” he replied with a salute. Rainbow returned it reflexively, before putting her hoof back down in embarrassment. Something about the hard and fast structure of military life had always struck her as attractive. It was just all the work she didn't like.
“I've collected the bearers of the Elements of Harmony,” Luna replied, to which the captain nodded, and glanced behind her. Fluttershy did her best to hide behind Luna, and was less than successful. He lifted a brow at the princess.
“Them?” he asked, “I thought there were six.”
“There are,” Luna replied, “the other four are at the palace. Twilight Sparkle is the princess's student, there are few pony's in Canterlot with as much regular communication with her-”
Midnight's face had turned from inquisitive to aggravated. “They're at the palace?” he demanded, glaring at Luna. “Under whose authority?! The palace is locked down, princess, there's been a kidnapping! We can't allow civilians to wander around disrupting things!”
Luna was taken aback. She shook the shock away and narrowed her eyes. “MY AUTHORITY,” she responded, and the halls echoed with her voice. “What makest thou think thou can question-”
“Princess,” the captain interrupted, “I'm afraid your authority in this is… lacking.” Another pegasus, some rank and file member of the Guard, pulled a document off the nearby desk and held it up to Luna, looking apologetic and worried, but even more frightened of not doing his job.
Luna levitated the parchment out in front of her and opened it. She recognized the seal of the princess and the Equestrian Parliament instantly.
“Those were drafted centuries ago,” Captain Midnight explained, “but are signed and current, renewed every year.”
“What is it, Princess?” Rainbow asked, catching a peek at the parchment.
“Official Canterlot policy to be taken in the event of the Princess's death or unplanned absence,” Luna replied, reading the fine penmanship, “written while Nightmare Moon was banished...”
“The document clearly stipulates that in the event of the Princess's absence, all matters of government fall to the parliament,” Midnight explained.
“And where are they?” Luna asked with frost in her voice.
“Running for their lives,” Midnight replied disdainfully. “Princess Celestia ran everything, Princess. The only thing those old ponies know how to do in a crisis is shift blame and hide in corners. The document goes on to say that if Parliament is incapable of performing their job...”
Luna's eyes had arrived at the bottom of the page, which slowly sank downward in the sky. “Equestria goes into martial law,” she said quietly, “military control, until the crisis is resolved.”
“Exactly,” Midnight replied flatly as he plucked the document from the air and returned it to the desk. “We recognize you as the Princess, Princess Luna, but I'm afraid that by the laws of Equestria, in the event of Celestia's absence, that title is just… a formality. You, and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, are civilians. Albeit extremely important and valuable civilians, prime targets for additional acts of aggression. And as such,” he straightened up, and his lieutenants followed suit, setting their gazes firmly, “I'm going to have to ask that you remain here, under protective custody, while the Royal Equestrian Pegasus Guard conducts this investigation. We simply cannot risk your capture.”
Rainbow swallowed hard. Armored pegasus ponies had been moving slowly around them, forming a circle that closed off in front of the door at the captain's final statement. Fluttershy had seen it too, and backpedaled with tiny whimpers into Luna's rear, prompting her to look behind and register their situation. Rainbow could hear her seethe. When Luna looked back at the captain, Rainbow got behind her, and draped a wing over Fluttershy.
“Get ready to fly,” she whispered, “very, very fast.” Fluttershy could only squeak worriedly in response.
“The only thing thou cannot risk, Captain,” Luna growled, “IS MY IRE.”
The alicorn raised both her hooves and pounded them into the sculpted cloud floor. It detonated downward, cracking like a thunderclap and exploding in a hail of vapor and contained electricity. Luna, Rainbow and Fluttershy dropped through the breach and into the open sky below, with Fluttershy's scream trailing behind them.
“FLY!” Luna commanded, and both pegasus ponies took wing, soaring at breakneck speed behind Luna. Not far behind, Rainbow could hear the clamor of armor and the swoop of new wings hitting the air. They were being pursued.
“What do we do?!” Rainbow yelled toward Luna, vaguely muffled by the rapid and terrified stream of worries Fluttershy was reciting like litanies in her tiny voice.
“The two of you need to return to the palace,” Luna commanded, “Get the others and get out. I'll not have the Elements of Harmony held up in custody to be employed at the whim of those that do not understand their function. They're willing to take an old moldy piece of neglected parchment over the word of the Princess of the Night!”
She snarled viciously, and spun in the air, soaring on her back. With one clap of her hooves the air behind her split, and the some dozen pegasi in hot pursuit were swatted from the sky like annoying insects. The second wave peeled off to avoid entering the still trembling air. Luna resumed her forward flight.
“There's no telling what they may try to do to you to get the Elements to behave in a way they deem correct. You must take the task of locating Celestia into your own hooves, my little ponies. Trust each other. This land owes more to the six of you than it can possibly imagine. I know you will not let me down.” Luna set her jaw, “I must locate the members of the Canterlot parliament and re-establish control of the Equestrian government before anything else happens 'for our own safety'.”
“We're on it, Princess!” Rainbow replied with a firm salute, “C'mon Fluttershy!” the blue pegasus veered right, peeling away and diving toward the palace as Fluttershy dipped under Luna to join her.
“Fluttershy,” Luna said, catching her at the last minute. The yellow pony turned, her face still frozen with fear and adrenaline. “Watch after her, little one,” Luna said softly. “She will need you.”
Fluttershy swallowed and resumed her turn, diving off toward Rainbow and the palace below as Princess Luna soared left and deeper into the heart of Canterlot. As the meek pastel pegasus caught Rainbow's slipstream, her eyes narrowed with uncharacteristically firm resolve.
“Always,” she said, in a voice only the wind could hear.
Stats
Page generated in 0.02 seconds
Total duration
749 users online
957,611 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
That law.
79600
This is why things run better when you just let the pretty white pony with the alluring eyes and the sun on her ass handle everything
yay! its good too see Luna again! but i hate that law that stops her from ruling in her sisters absence that's just wrong. the interaction between Twilight and rarity was very funny. LOL checking out AJ ass O.o and whats this? Flutter sly rising too the task Luna has given her ? this should be interesting i hope gets too kick butt soon! all and all a grate read so far!
Oh Twilight. Your inner most secrets are bared for all.
Oh shit, that scene right before Twilight got captured was priceless. I can't stop Pinkie grinning
“Watch after her, little one.” Luna said softly. “She will need you.”
Fluttershy swallowed and resumed her turn, diving off toward Rainbow and the palace below as princess Luna soared left and deeper into the heart of Canterlot. As the meek pastel Pegasus caught Rainbow's slipstream, her eyes narrowed with uncharacteristically firm resolve.
“Always.” she said, in a voice only the wind could hear.
This is perfect. This is exactly how the Fluttershy/Rainbow Dash relationship works in my head, and it's a lovely moment as well as a nice inversion of expectations.
Ya know? The leaders of Equestria's military are real assholes. Not reminding the Royal Sunbutt of changing a century old law, just so that they can get control in the event of a crisis. Somehow I'm getting the feeling that they may be involved in this whole mess...
Okay, the description was kinda promising, but this stinks. First "dur hur hur sea pony evil" and then this martial law crap.
1131043
Why would you automatically assume it's sea ponies?
Personally, i'm liking where this is heading and badass Fluttershy at the end was freaking awesome.
Now I'm thinking some ponies in the guard might be in on it.
Or corrupt.
~Skeeter The Lurker
I don't think Equestria could never be run under a military rule. Everything about that society is dedicated to harSmony.
Did you write this passage before "Simple Ways" was shown?
I totally agree with you in the implication that Fluttershy is actually the dominant one in her relationship with Rainbow Dash -- and is very protective of Dashie.