The Stereotypical Necromancer

by JinxTJL

Chapter 36 - His Madness 2/2

If there was such a thing as a cold heat, then Bon Bon was almost certain the current atmosphere would qualify.

She had never quite envisioned herself standing at Light's door in the situation she now found herself in. She had stood here many times before, of course. Eavesdropping, leaving tactical letters and packages, and even once in disguise as a Celestial Harkener to judge the surface of Light's devotion to the Crown.

He didn't do well.

Disregarding one of the lesser reasons that he was under such heavy scrutiny; paying Light some sort of visit, known or otherwise, wasn't out of the ordinary.

Doing so with the living Pure Goddess standing directly behind her wasn't quite as pedestrian.

"He's inside?" The risen tone of Her Highness from behind her played along her ear, and her back instinctually stiffened in response. She would obviously never admit to being anything less than completely loved when in Her presence, but Her Highness was a bit more... on edge than usual.

She had heard about the erratic mood swings of Her Highness as the celebration loomed; but she had never really thought her temper would be so... explosive. Or downright fiery...

Whether Light had been possessed by Nightmare Moon or not, She was clearly ready for some kind of action. Breaking in.. issuing an impromptu warrant for his arrest.. incapacitating him- there was just no surefire way to gauge what plan Her Highness wanted to go with.

And it could be felt quite clearly in the air. It was a sort of stoic anticipation that rolled chilling shivers through her back and down her flanks, despite the constant, pervasive heat that persistently emanated from the Goddess behind her.

It didn't very well calm her nerves.

"Um.. Yeah... uh, yes! He's definitely inside, Your Highness!" Her tongue darted out to drag cautiously across her lips, and she glanced skittishly down at the unkempt grass under her hooves just for the action of moving her eyes. Her nervous stutter was making an ugly return, for whatever reason. Action hadn't presented much to faze her since she had been little and green, but now...

It was probably just the dominating presence of Her Highness and the lingering awe of beholding Her. She had heard stories of the sorts of nervous breakdowns suffered by those in Her direct service during times of strife and struggle... That was probably it...

Or.. maybe it was Light?

...No, getting upset about apprehending the pony she had stalked for eight years was... not allowed, so it just wasn't that. It couldn't be that. The consequences for that were...

Yet another shiver ran across her withers in sheer spite of the heat.

She didn't even really know Light that well, anyway. He was just a geeky kid who liked his friend, loved his mom, and had a weird obsession with books. That was it, no more to him. She had no personal relationship with him other than government-mandated stalker and unwitting stalkee.

Acclimate, that's all she had to do. Breathe deeply, remember her faith, and act for the Crown.

For the Crown.

"What are your orders, Highness?" The steel in her voice may have been forced, but her conviction was not. If Her Highness ordered her to knock the door down and take Light out, then she would. She didn't have an attachment to him, and she wouldn't hesitate.

It was silent for a moment as she waited for Her recommended course of action. It was.. actually eerily quiet, now that she had a moment to listen. There wasn't even any birdsong in the otherwise crisp morning air, or the humming of insects, or the rustle of greenery in the breeze. Of course, that wasn't incredibly out of the ordinary so close to the Everfree, but... it still didn't seem like much of a good omen.

It felt like the world had come to a halt; as she stood, completely at the ready, waiting for The Princess' orders. A toy soldier, lined up for a play fight for Her whims and amusement.

That... was borderline heretical. What was happening to her lately?

Finally, agonizingly, the voice of The Princess cut through the silence in the air. Whatever hesitation She must have felt in making the decision wasn't reflected in Her clear, solid tone, and Her words hung heavily in the unnaturally still air. "...We're going to have to handle this carefully. I don't want to have to hurt Light unless we're forced to, so we must exercise caution... and above all, restraint."

"You must try to bait him into a vulnerable position where anything wrong will be more obvious. His initial reaction as well as his determined condition will tell us how to proceed."

Tangible relief flowed like a refreshing spout through her tense muscles as Her Highness's words sunk in. She obviously couldn't let it show in her body since that would have been a demerit, but who cared?! Her Highness was showing Light mercy, and she probably wouldn't have to take him down!

She still may have to incapacitate him, or even drag him to the Canterlot dungeons, but she wouldn't have to do something she'd regret!

Praise Her, she was so glad she wouldn't have to do something she'd regret...

A deep breath cleared her mind of the lingering doubt from her overactive imagination, and a steady blink set her head to work. "Should I employ an aural illusion, Highness?" It would be far and away the easiest method of coercing the paranoia-riddled bookworm out of his den, though perhaps not the most overtly ethical...

Shock sent her spine even straighter as a cold, metal-clad hoof suddenly came to lay on the small of her back. A whisper filled with far more warmth than before floated into her ears, and the world around her lost focus as her attention was completely commandeered by Her voice.

"Don't take it too far."

And then, it was all gone. The warmth and the inherent tension in the air that followed Her Highness everywhere She went was suddenly absent in a sobering contrast. She didn't even have to turn to see that Her Highness wasn't standing behind her anymore, though She was definitely still.. somewhere. Hopefully nearby.

Her Highness had to hide in case Light came out, obviously; but it was still a bit unnerving for her to just vanish. It may have been summer, but the early morning air was still nippy, especially so close to the Everfree; and the contrast between Her warmth and the chill of the recent night was jarring. It was also filled with far more symbolism than she was comfortable thinking about, so she instead busied herself with knocking on the door.

The hollow noise of metal on wood was clearly audible bouncing around the walls of Light's shack, though she did her best to strain her ears to hear any movement behind it. More than a moment passed with no response, so she sidled closer to the door and firmly pressed the edge of her ear against it.

There was... nothing. No shuffling noises, no subtle vibrations of hooves on wood, not even the sound of pages turning. There was just no noise. Was Light even breathing in there?

Waiting proved completely useless, as her second knock turned to more; and listening intently at the door again didn't show any signs of life. There was absolutely no doubt that Light was inside. Watch remained unbroken, the gem was still blue, and there certainly weren't any new holes in the sides of his house. She couldn't even hear him doing anything; which meant that Light was just... sitting.

Sitting, and waiting; but for what?

A glare fell over her face to cover the sickly sense of growing trepidation clawing at her heels as her ninth round of knocks fell on apparently deaf ears. Light was inside, and she knew from past experience that there was no way he could've slept through all the noise of her knocking. The only explanation was that he was ignoring her.

Well, she knew somepony that Light wouldn't ignore.

A hoof came to rest on the bottom of the latch of her throat as she coughed quietly to clear it. This was never the easiest thing to do, though the very fact that she could do it was one of the varied reasons she had been put on multiple different fast tracks to the position she currently held.

Her tongue felt its way around her mouth as she mentally reorganized her mind and register. Her voice was normally, as her marefriend would call it, 'sweet'; but it needed to be a bit... lower. That voice was... sort of... deeper, less focus on the pitch... more baritone... or tenor?

It was rough, but not quite raspy... It was low.. but not that masculine... Still girlish... but definitely not girly.

A change here... a failed hum there... a switch to the diction... an apology to her vocal cords... and... a cough for good luck.

Her hoof lowered to the ground, and her mouth opened as a smidge of natural talent and years of training did their work.

"Light Flow! It's Applejack! Ah came to check on y'all, sugarcube! You there?"

A perfect imitation of Light's friend Applejack, right down to the heavily stereotypical country accent and overdone idiosyncrasy.

A satisfied smile wormed its way onto her face as she took a step back in anticipation from the dull thud of something inside being knocked over. Changing her voice to sound like other ponies' wasn't something that most agents could do, and it was something that had really set her apart in all her years in the E.I.A.

She had always had a fairly malleable voice; and while she hadn't used it for singing like she'd always thought as a foal, it had been a particularly delightful surprise for her personal teacher. After she'd been inducted into the E.I.A training program and subjected to a very rigorous aptitude test, she'd been assigned extra classes on vocal manipulation.

It was helpful in nearly every espionage situation there was, especially if she had access to disguises. Though, admittedly, disguising herself wasn't one of her greatest strengths. Depending on the role, that sort of thing required heavy analysis and adherence to different mannerisms and movements; and she.. might've had a little trouble with memorization.

She had a pretty good memory, of course; but... it was just another level of skill that she couldn't match.

A sudden feeling of hot bitterness flashed over her for a moment, clouding her eyes even as her ears stood on end at the clear noise of sudden hoofsteps from behind the door. If she was just a better agent, she might not have been stuck in an indefinite, dead-end assignment in Ponyville of all places...

Though, she also wouldn't have met Lyra...

Her thoughts drifted traitorously towards the love of her life, and she blinked in surprise as the noise of an unlatching lock broke through an impromptu daydream. Yeah, there was another thing holding her back from a higher level, now that she thought about it.

Though that wasn't something she would ever feel bitter about.

The door in front of her inched cautiously open, and she instantly plastered a mask of fake pep onto her face. What was she even doing? She was spending too much time thinking, and not enough focusing. She had a character to play out for the scenario, and a potential threat to observe. Focus, super spy!

She blinked once as the door stopped... way shorter than open, though the befuddlement was quickly tossed aside as the edge of a very ruffled mane emerged from what could generously be called a crack.

Followed by brown fur.. followed by... wow.

Holding a relaxed posture and easy smile was more difficult than she'd expected in the face of the absolutely sickened brown face peeping cautiously out from behind the door. Light... wow. Light looked even less put together than the last time she'd seen him, and he'd been a mess then.

Even beneath his fur, his skin was somewhat visibly pale; and the fur under his eyes and lips was actually stained black. Easily mistakable for heavy bags at first sight, but no: it was his actual fur. It wasn't quite a uniform pattern, instead irregularly splotched and runny; as if something had... leaked from the holes in his face.

Highly concerning and off-putting for many, many reasons.

His large, dilated eyes struggled to focus on her; drifting and stuttering to the sides even as she made sure to stand completely still. His mane was droopy and dark, obviously unwashed; and it fell in a limp hang above his eyes, probably not making their job any easier. He just... he looked awful. If she didn't know better, she'd say he was a victim of substance abuse.

Though, he strangely didn't look malnourished. At least he was apparently eating well.

Her smile widened in spite of her rising urge to take multiple steps back as Light's eyes eventually managed to stop on her face. His dry looking lips made an audible cracking noise as he slowly squinted his eyes, and a very quiet whisper tickled the edge of her hearing.

"A-Apple...jack?"

His voice sounded more like the wind than a real voice, and the sheer hope in its undercurrent sent uncomfortable waves of heat along her fur. Guilt welled up in her throat as she struggled to prepare her excuse about advertising vocal classes, and it took effort to keep the smile that was beginning to painfully pinch her cheeks.

She felt bad. It was impossible not to feel bad. Light was... going through something, and he wanted to see his friend Applejack. She wasn't a monster, but she was a Sworn Agent of the Crown... She had to do her job...

Buck up. She had to buck up. Any longer and Light would shut the door on her. For the Crown. For Her.

Rictus pains rose in her face as she opened her dazzlingly gleaming smile, and she-

It happened so fast.

Light's eyes suddenly halted their unsteady dance on her face, and instead focused to scarily sharpened pinpoints on her form. His voice, much stronger than it'd been mere moments ago, rose to a pain filled, wordless shout as he unexpectedly stumbled forward. Adrenaline flew through her system faster than her conscious mind could keep up, and she took a measured step away from the door as it swung roughly open from Light crashing into it.

His hoof slowly, shakily raised to hold tightly against his head, and he panted in exertion as he wobbled unsteadily on three hooves; before he unceremoniously crashed roughly to the ground beside his door. She had to forcibly keep her mind away from the instinctively desire to step forward to check him. Whatever was happening, Light was very well known to be a threat, and his pain could've been a careful act.

Though, she'd seen acts, and Light didn't seem to be putting one on. Even as she kept a weary distance from where he was half-collapsed halfway through his doorway, he continued to hold his head in both hooves and grunt and moan and cry in apparent agony as he muttered what sounded like nonsensical pleas. His body visibly shook as his limbs clung tightly to himself, and he gradually curled weakly into a loose, sobbing ball.

And.. that was also the sound of him vomiting on himself.

Her nostrils flared as she took deep, calming breaths; and her mind raced for some kind of a solution while she leaned her body away from the spectacle as much as physics would allow her to. She really wasn't sure how to proceed, now. She knew multiple ways to check for all kinds of physical and magical injuries, but she couldn't really do any of them without getting close to him, and getting close to him was still the worst possible plan.

It was a minute or so later when she'd nearly found the strength to call to Her Highness for help, when all of Light's frenzied struggles just... stopped. All at once, there was no sound in the air, there was no shake in his body, and his rapidly falling sides steadied completely out.

Just... instantly.

She took a hesitant step back as her senses told- no, screamed that something was wrong. A single sniff, followed by a long snort rung disgustingly in her ears. Then, the no longer quivering ball of fur in front of her gradually moved.

His head was pointed unhelpfully at the ground, but she could clearly see his hooves uncurl themselves from where they'd been clasped over it. One fell to steady itself against the ground, and one drew slowly across his face before leading out to hover in front of it.

A clearly disgusted grunt emanated from his throat, before a much deeper sigh than she'd even thought him currently capable of rung into the air. Her jaw clenched tightly as the noise processed in her overclocked mind. A few minutes ago, Light didn't even look physically strong enough to suck in the breath for a sigh.

But now, he was steadily gathering his hooves under him to stand, completely sure and strong; nothing like the shivering mess that had opened the door. No wobble, no shudder, no hesitation.

Just... steady, and terrifyingly slowly.

His muscles creaked and groaned beneath his coat, and her lip curled in.. some emotion as his joints audibly snapped from the action of him rolling his shoulders. His fur was unmistakably dirty and stained, especially after rolling around in the grass; but the muscles underneath were so strained that his coat still somehow managed to look glossy in the light.

Literally every sign was flashing bright red and telling her that she should either prepare for combat or make a retreat as Light shook his mane out while lifting himself onto his hooves; but she managed to stay her itching hooves. Nothing wrong had technically happened, and she could still easily continue with her lies as long as Light was amenable.

She had to keep up the act. The Princess was behind her, and She wouldn't let the situation sour.

So, she returned her face to the picturesque definition of a peppy pony prepared to peddle; even as the pony in front of her completed his ascent, and began to turn his body towards her. While the tension and anticipation in the air was very real, the menace she saw behind the action was probably her nerves.

Probably.

His body had barely come around to a bend when his head suddenly whipped around to directly face her, and it took every single ounce of every mental exercise she had ever learned to force herself to not flinch away from the unmistakably cyan eyes trained widely on her.

Pupils cut into vertical furrows like horrible, cavernous ravines struck her with a very familiar, yet thankfully muted feeling of smallness. Even as those eyes traveled along her form, searching and piercing through what felt like her every defense, she was suddenly feeling very much like a foal before their angry parent.

The black ink stained into the fur underneath them had lengthened and- somewhat implausibly- darkened. And while the stain under his eyes might've just run down his face a little more than before, it was far more concerning that the uncomfortably glistening streaks ran down to meet the smeared explosion of black that expanded jaggedly across his tightly closed lips.

It was like some kind of disturbing extension to his expression... She had heard him vomit... but... what in Tartarus had come up?

Her body felt tight and unresponsive, her insides clenching painfully; and even shuffling her hoof forward on the ground an inch was nearly too much effort to bear. The air around them felt choking and oppressive, like it was actively trying to push her down and strangle her. Those dark, dragon-like eyes roving over her body, pressing and kneading through her mental walls, weren't helping much, either.

Her smile was her only saving grace at this point. She clung to it like a desperate pony lost at sea, as if it would somehow save her from the.. the Goddess standing in front of her.

No doubt. There was no doubt in her mind that Light had been possessed by The Nightmare Queen. The very same Nightmare Queen that was regarding her with increasing levels of coolness and a snarling quirk in Her frown. Whatever intelligence she had gathered to the contrary was rendered suddenly and completely moot.

This wasn't Light. Not anymore.

"You..." 'Light's' voice was so much deeper, and so much... colder than she'd ever heard it before. Slow, calculated and probing; as if even that one short syllable was apart of a plan crafted to drive towards a greater end. It was apparent in everything She was doing; every tone, every flex of Her muscles, every lingering glance...

Normally, Light's voice was relatively and aptly light, even when he'd practice 'villain lines'. His mannerisms were made-up and bumbling, as if thrown up on the spot for the unexpected variable of life. He'd never been able to reproduce the true, nonfeeling shallow tones and idiosyncrasies of a pony who knew the meaning of real apathy.

Apathy for life. For ponies' lives.

"...are not Applejack."

The abrupt finish to Her sentence brought her crashing back to reality from the dark hole of fear and aggrandizing she'd been falling down, and she was sure the shock was visible as she noticeably started. 'Light's' eyebrow rose to a questioning arch as She stared at her questioningly, even as sweat began to bead on her forehead and her mouth stupidly flapped wordlessly.

She... wasn't going to attack her? Was she not acting suspicious? Could her cover still be good?

Weary hope edged cautiously against the fear stalling her movements, and reality slowly began to dawn over the maze of her mind that she'd been lost in.

The situation hadn't changed. 'Light' didn't know- or at least wasn't showing that She was onto her in any way; even as she continued to stand and stare and say nothing for what was becoming an increasingly extended period of time.

She... No, he.. just stood there. Waiting, watching, staring at her with a raised eyebrow and a comfortable lean in his stance. Impatience was clear in his eyes and posture, but he showed no indication of making any sort of move anytime soon.

Had.. Was she overreacting? There was no doubt at all that Light was possessed, but... maybe it wasn't as advanced as it seemed? Maybe The Nightmare Queen couldn't use any of her power in Light's body, and that was why She was being so cautious?

If She couldn't use Light to fight back, then She would have to play defensively.

That would skew the playing field heavily in her favor.

Her tightly clenched muscles began to slowly unwind as a warm feeling of returning confidence flowed over her. What was she doing? Why had she fallen apart so easily?

Breaths came easier and easier as her back hooves found steadier purchase against the ground, and the open mouthed frown elected by fear and intimidation found itself closed with a swallow.

Nightmare Moon may have been millennia old, but Light was only eighteen; and untrained to boot. She likely had terrifyingly honed physical and magical abilities, but that wouldn't transfer into Light's wimpy, bookish body.

She wasn't in any danger. The Nightmare Queen couldn't hurt her.

She was making a mistake giving her so much time to recover like this.

Because she was E.I.A Agent Sweetie Drops.

She was a Third Class Special Operative with outlying permissions to authorize level three military investigations and combat protocols under the full authority and protection of Her Royal Highness Herself.

She was cleared to engage and neutralize Extraordinary threats in every province in Equestria and sparse locations in two bordering nations.

She had years of training in three different hoof-to-hoof disciplines, as well as certified proficiencies in blunt weapon combat.

She knew at least three exact locations to hit a unicorn to neutralize their magic, six for a pegasus to cripple their wings, and nine for an earth pony to knock their balance off.

Her body was a walking weapon.

Light was a nerd.

Light was a nearly underage nerd.

Oh yeah, she was getting an handle on this now.

A cool sensation of sureness washed out over nerves locked by the suffocating presence in the air, and her previous smile slowly found its way back onto her face; though tactfully introduced to caution and hesitation. Stiffened as she was, it would be far too suspicious to drop into complete ease so quickly, but if she played a certain angle..?

She swallowed exaggeratedly and woodenly rose her stiffly extended hoof in an arc towards Light, whose unnatural pupils immediately shrunk to pinpoints and zeroed in on the movement.

Creepy, but he didn't do anything else besides stare at her hoof. Which was fine; it meant that she had their attention.

Yeah, it would be best to go with their for the moment. Hope was a high virtue to keep, but idealism wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"U-Um, s-sorry for the uh... t-trick... I'm... um.. well..." A constant stammer and heavy pauses in her words would serve the image of an inexperienced, nervous pony. She also made sure to never let her eyes idle in one place, constantly keeping them flicking about to the ground, her hooves, their increasingly exasperated face, and anything else that might've imaginarily provided comfort.

Pretending to be an awkward pony wouldn't make up for every inconsistency she had presented, but it would go a long way in preventing suspicion. She was going to have to work extra hard to overcome her absolute failure at keeping composure, or the whole operation would fall apart.

"I'm... I'm uh.. advertising for... uh v-vocal.." She let the sentence trail off into the air as her eyes halted at her own hooves, and she forced herself to cough roughly as an artificial wobble came to her lip.

"vocal classes..."

She leaned her entire body into the whisper as she tried futilely to edge away from the figure in front of her without actually moving. It wasn't too far from what she'd been doing earlier, but at least this time it was on purpose.

Her act hung in the air for a second, likely as Light tried to internally process words they probably didn't really hear, but eventually a response followed.

"Not interested."

Her eyes were still trained steadily on her hooves, so the noise of the slamming door was actually a bit startling. She turned her head back up to the sight of a closed door marred by the taped-on colorful envelope she had left there more than a day ago.

Rude.

With the source of her nerves and her audience gone, her posture was allowed blissful time to relax; though her expression was mostly taken by a concerned frown.

None of that had been good. Disregarding the many, many things that she had personally done wrong, the prognosis was a grim read. The most obvious things were the strange black ink under the orifices on his face, and his changed pupils; though only one of those things made any kind of sense.

Why was Light vomiting and crying black ink? Did it have something to do with The Nightmare's possession, or was it somehow an unrelated problem?

Her eyes trailed down to the foot of Light's door, where a few strands of concerningly goopy black substance had connected between long strands of grass.

Gross.

Moving on from that, the physical discrepancies weren't the most prevalent change, but they were definitely there. Light's overall frame just seemed... wrong. His skin was sunken and pale, and seemed almost stretched over his bones; but also weirdly.. not?

It was odd. If he had been malnourished, his stomach would have been distended, among other things; but it was more like... he was a balloon, and most of the air had leaked out of him? Deflated?

No, that wasn't quite right; and it brought disturbing images to mind.

Lost in thought as she was, she could never have noticed the non-presence lurking behind her; not until a cold hoof was suddenly laying on her withers.

The unexpected contact lit fireworks in her brain, clearing out every thought except for calculated retaliation. Molten adrenaline burst through the abused floodgates of her muscles, and her weight instantly shifted onto her front hooves for the fastest option of a quick buck into a full front hoofstand so she could get eyes on her target followed by another kick-

But before the string of actions could even begin, a warm golden light was enveloping her front hooves and jerking backwards rather roughly. Recognition doused the fire of impending conflict, and she allowed the blissfully comforting magical hold to roughly pull her hooves out from under her.

Falling painfully onto her face wasn't the best feeling, especially as a stray bit of dirt managed to lodge itself into her nose; but a quick snort and a scrape on her chin was an easy price to pay for not attacking Her Highness.

Seriously, was that the trend of the day? Almost becoming an apostate?

What a wreck. She needed to get some sleep.

Sullenly staring at the door in front of her with her rear end pointed at her Goddess wasn't very becoming, so she gathered her hooves under her and pulled herself to a standing position. A quick shake dislodged upset dirt from her fur and mane, and an about face brought her to stare at Her Holy Visage.

But... something was off.

An amused smile and glittering magenta eyes didn't sit as well as usual above a.. strangely diminished pure white visage. In fact, The Princess seemed to be shaded grayer than usual. It was a stark contrast to the bright colors of nature that surrounded Her from where she sat mere hoof-lengths away, and blinking repeatedly didn't do anything at all to clear it up.

Also... it was hard to believe her eyes that She was really standing there. That wasn't hyperbole, it was literally difficult to recognize that there was a pony in front of her. Her eyes were telling her well enough, but that was the only sensation she was receiving.

No sunshine to smell, no rustling wings to hear, no presence to feel. Even the mass of colors floating around Her head was markedly more transparent than usual.

It wasn't any wonder that she hadn't noticed Her Highness until She was on top of her, because it was still somewhat hard to notice her even with her eyes trained directly on Her.

"Um... Highness? May I ask...?" Her question trailed off into the breeze much like her earlier one, though this time in actual befuddlement rather than fake unease. There were probably a million different explanations for it, but she would rather make sure it was intentional above all.

Her Highness's amusement at her own repeated heretical antics wiped off Her face as her expression bloomed into quiet surprise, but it was only another moment before She made a small noise of realization. The amused smile returned in greater magnitude accompanied by a soft chuckle as a perfect white hoof rose to wave dismissively in the air.

"My apologies, Agent Drops. I hadn't realized, but of course you wouldn't know. It's just a simple Notice-Me-Not spell, but with a little more kick than is average." Her beautiful marbled chest shook behind Her golden peytral as another subdued laugh rose in Her throat; and Her head turned as something impossibly approaching bashfulness sparkled in Her eyes.

"It's strong enough to prevent anypony from noticing either of us now that I'm next to you; but disregarding the magic, I think we'll call it my fault for sneaking up on you, don't you think?"

Her mouth naturally hung open in shock for a minute before realization caught up to her, and she straightened her leaning posture and barked out a hasty, unthinking response. "Uh! Y-Yes! Highness! Um- I mean, no, Highness! Er-"

In the end, her words ran frustratingly away from her, and she had to press her hoof to her mouth to stop the concentrated flow of embarrassment. Her head felt hot and her ears itched, and she was sure a blush was forming on her cheeks as Her Highness just smiled glowingly at her.

It was in Her loving nature to mother the nation, she knew; but did that really have to include all the worst parts of a mother too?

But all too quickly, the levity left in the wake of slapstick and ribbing bled away; and Her Highness's face reflected it in a slow turn down. Her own rush of misplaced nerves and rising jollity was smothered by the rising tide of stoicism that her job required, and she straightened her back as her hoof fell to reveal a hard frown.

This just wasn't the time.

"Highness, did you manage to figure your own diagnosis?" The question wasn't redundant, even if it felt like it, since she really had no idea where Her Highness had gone while she and Light were having their little stare down. She might have to transcribe the entire fiasco if She'd decided to pick a removed vantage point.

Thankfully, Her Highness nodded in response; and the memory of Her sweet smile seemed bittersweet in the wake of a tired grimace. Her head hung low for a moment as She shook it with almost exaggerated feeling, before She raised herself to set a grim stare on her.

"I did."

There wasn't anything else to be said. The low tone of finality in Her quiet voice sent cold chills along well worn paths on her back, and she took a silent moment to close her eyes and breathe a deep, full-body breath.

She couldn't lose hope. Her Highness hadn't said anything definite, or anything at all. It was obvious that Light was possessed and potentially extremely dangerous, but that didn't mean there was no going back.

She opened her eyes as resolve that she had never thought would rise for the moment flowed through her. "How should we proceed, Highness?"

Her Highness's hooded eyes lingered deeply on her own for what felt like a long time, before She closed them and let out a deep sigh.

She opened them fully and set her gaze over her shoulder to the door behind her. "It's not going to be easy. He's been badly affected by many differing factors, not the least of which being-" She paused for a moment as she closed her eyes again and a deep, steady breath rippled visibly across her body; before her eyes once again opened with a muted flourish. "-Nightmare Moon."

The sheer cold steel in Her utterance of the name brought a knowing weight to it that wasn't usually conveyed, and it was a struggle not to let another shiver run her through. The unspoken history was... it was staggering.

She could never know what She'd suffered. What either of Them had suffered...

Dwelling on the past, both experienced and not, took them both more than a moment; but it was only a moment. Her Highness quickly drew Herself up to continue with a head shake; as most of the painful emotions seemed to flee from Her face as quickly as they had been named.

"Her corruption is evident, but I've never seen it go this far before. She must have her roots deeply entrenched in his mind: far deeper than I've ever dared to fear." She shook Her head again as Her expression tightened. "...It's hard to say how much we will be able to do."

That wasn't the greatest bottom line, but it left room to hope. Her expression might have been a little pleading as she stepped forward and her voice rose up against the soft tones of Her Highness'. "So what will we be able to do?!"

The realization of impudence came too late to halt her words, and she could only suck in a gasp as her offending hoof returned to swap with one at her back as she took two steps back and lowered her gaze down. What was her problem?! Shame tightened her throat, and she had to work to squeeze words through the block.

"Highness, I'm- I'm sorry! I- I didn't mean-"

A raised, white hoof silenced the apology before it could find its footing; and raising her head to stare somewhat undeservedly at Her face found prevailing kindness above a touch of exasperation glittering in Her tired eyes. "It's alright, Agent. You needn't be afraid of me."

She swallowed once as a different kind of shame rose up over her face, and her uneasy backpedal quickly reversed as she returned to her best attention. Her Highness was right; devotion was... kinda getting in the way of the operation.

It was hard, though. Her Highness was a godly figure both in need of and deserving of worship, but She was also her boss.

It inspired confusing feelings. Very motivating, very patriotic feelings; but confusing nonetheless.

Her Highness watched her inner turmoil for a moment with some kind of expression she couldn't place, before She cleared Her throat. "I'll answer your question, Agent; but you would do well to remember that misplaced affections could jeopardize the situation."

Her eyes lowered to the ground as her burning ears followed suit. Admonishment never felt good.

The disappointed silence thankfully only lasted a second before Her Highness started speaking again, and she raised her eyes to focus on Her again. "Our options may be limited, but they are undoubtedly effective. The best course is for you to physically restrain him while I perform work on his mind."

Her brow furrowed as Her head slowly turned to the distance, and Her voice lowered; almost as if She had begun talking to Herself in the middle of the conversation. "If I can cut away the most prevalent parts of her, while restricting the parts that I cannot..."

Gradually, Her voice tapered off as She stared with an open mouth to Her sun as it idled low in the morning sky. The impromptu return to silence brought an uneasy wiggle to the stoic expression she had been wavering on and off of all day, and she glanced skittishly to the side as it continued.

Her Highness had become lost in thought. The polite thing to do, as a fellow member of this operation, would be to try to snap her out of it.

Her instincts were saying that the correct thing to do would be to sit in silence and simply enjoy the unworthy pleasure of beholding Her.

Devotion, or protocol? Instinct, or politeness? Her Goddess, or her boss?

It was going to hurt. It was going to feel very wrong, but she find a way to make do. If she had to pray for forgiveness in church later, then that's what she would do.

"Um... Your Highness?"

Her uneasy words may have played roughly on her own nerves as they choked her throat on the way out, but Her Highness wasn't similarly affected. After a moment, She simply nodded once, and then turned Her head back to regard her with an apology clear in Her eyes.

"Yes, Agent. My apologies; the task ahead of us is difficult, and I fear that falling short of perfection on my part could cause great damage. I was simply... taking stock of what needed to be done."

A nod of her own head seemed to set Her Highness right, and She straightened Her shoulders as needed stoicism took the mood. "As I said, Agent: you'll need to physically restrain him. I would prefer that you not expressly injure him, but all the same, do what is required."

Steady confidence rose in her chest as her gaze lowered to focus on a random point in the grass so her mind could set to the task of formulating a plan. Her Highness was counting on her, so she would aim for perfection as well.

The most obvious thing was Light's magic, which created a threat in literally any unicorn regardless of skill. Panic in the heat of confrontation could lead to a magical overload, or Celestia forbid: a flare.

Magical burns were debilitating and possibly held the potential for other effects, which was one of the lesser reasons why tools for disabling unicorns had been invented. An unassuming little measure that she always kept in her saddlebag would do the trick.

Otherwise, Light should be fairly easy to subdue. As long as she made sure he couldn't do any weird magic tricks, any method would work. Just pinning him down could do it, though some kind of hold would probably be better. That way, she could stay out of Her Highness's way while She did whatever She was going to do.

It would be far, far easier if she could just knock him out, but that wouldn't work for obvious reasons. She couldn't knock out a pony that was already unconscious.

She raised her head to return Her Highness's expectant stare with as little hesitation as she could manage. Combat was exciting, and she loved the rush; but it was always a certain kind of daunting. The thought of failure was devastating, but it hadn't stopped her before. She wouldn't hesitate. "I'm ready whenever you are, Highness."

Her Highness closed Her eyes for a moment in the wake of her affirmation, before opening them slowly with a deep breath.

"Then, let us move."

The short, quiet order felt anticlimactic; but sometimes things didn't need ceremony. Sometimes, action just happened.

Sometimes, the action was the ceremony.

First things first, she dropped her head to her side to nose at her saddlebag. The quiet click of the latch didn't leave an impression through her rising heartrate as her head raised to allow her hoof access in its place.

A moment of rooting around found a small object brushing against her hoof, and with no amount of ease, she caught it in the crook of her hoof and brought it out into the light.

The grey iron ring she held was, again, unassuming; but that didn't mean it wasn't effective. Four tiny, red gems were set evenly in its sides, and inlaid into little silver diamond patterns. They, along with the metal they were set into, did a lot more than just look pretty.

It was all very magically nonconductive. So much so that it actually blocked nearby magical frequencies. When the ring was fastened onto a unicorn's horn with the help of little latches on the inside, it rendered them almost completely magically inept.

It was possible for very strong unicorns to overcome these suppression rings, especially one as comparatively pedestrian as the one she held in her hoof; but higher strength rings did exist.

All in all, very helpful little devices. Expensive, essential, and above all, precious.

She busily popped the little ring into her mouth and quickly turned to the door. She still couldn't feel the presence of Her Highness behind her, but it was comforting enough simply trusting that She was there.

Taking a step closer to the obstacle in front of her let her examine it more closely. The latch had been replaced when Light moved in, but it still didn't look especially secure. It wouldn't be hard to do what she was about to do.

She tongued the cold metal of the debilitating accessory in her mouth as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose.

Just one last deep breath. This was it, the moment of truth. It wouldn't be a long struggle, but it held a lot of weight for one pony in particular. One pony that she did care about, way more than she thought was probably healthy.

For the Crown. For that dweeby kid.

Go time.

She turned on the hardest heel she could manage, and coiled her hooves close to her body. Her muscles bunched, and a second later, her hooves flew towards the edge of the door as hard as she could manage.

A telling crack of wood, and satisfying vibrations through her hooves. There was no time to relish the sensation, though; and she quickly raised one hoof and spun on the one connecting her to the ground, before firmly planting herself back to Equus.

One look told her that she had hit her target, and the door's latch had been thoroughly obliterated. A jagged, splintered crack in the frame, as well as the actual door.

Accuracy on point, as always; and her strength was never in question.

She fought back a satisfied smile as she roughly threw herself forward into the door, sending it crashing against the inside wall as its hinges moaned in protest. Her hoof made contact with the first wooden plank, and her eyes set on their own task.

One visual sweep of the darkened room of the cabin. Observe, internalize, act.

Numerous secret visits to his cabin had never painted Light as a very clean pony, but wow was it way worse than usual. Books in varied conditions lay scattered haphazardly across the floor wherever she looked, posing clear dangers in the form of hazards.

The bookcase at the back of the wall had been tipped over for whatever reason, though that didn't scream importance at first glance.

The hearth on the side wall looked as though it had been lit, with black soot stains on the grey stone; but generally nothing to hamper her.

No fireplace poker. Did he own one?

The 'kitchen' set into the corner beside her had one counter free of any debris, as well as a small closed fridge and an oven. A little wicker drawer had been knocked onto its side next to the counter. No sign of any knives.

And there, in the middle of the room, standing next to a desk covered in books: her target. He seemed to be in the middle of reacting to her intrusion, as he stood open mouthed with a growing light around his horn.

No visible weapons anywhere, but he could still be doing something dangerous. Time was up for observation and internalization, it was time to act.

Her heavy hoofsteps fell into a steady beat in her ears, carefully stepping between every hardcover obstacle on the floor as she crossed the short distance between them. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough, and Light had already begun to act. His angry cyan eyes bore a painful hole into her as a red light flickered into life at the corner of her eye.

A hidden knife covered in a red glow flew from beneath a book on the surface of his desk, and time seemed to slow down as the unmistakably sharp instrument cut a screaming path through the air faster than she'd have thought possible. The sudden movement captured her entire focus as survival instincts screamed to dodge away from the rapidly approaching danger.

But she wouldn't be outdone.

Adrenaline was what drove her instincts in all things, and it helped to shade the world in slower perspectives in combat situations. Nature's time manipulation, and she had it in spades. It was what made her a great agent, especially in the field.

It was what allowed her to force her screaming muscles to rise in a fraction of an instant, faster than the knife could fly, to impact the hard edge of her already raised hoof against the flat of the blade as it came within inches of her face.

But that was as close as it came.

A sharp crack rang out into the air, and her fur stood on end as magical energy was disrupted and discharged. The sudden impact bent the blade harshly inward as the red light around it instantly dissipated, and it flew in a swinging arc towards the nearby wall to miraculously impale the now deformed tip into the wood.

A pained, gritted cry of anger called her attention back to her real focus, and her eyes returned to see a one eyed grimace across Light's face as a vein in his forehead bulged. Unicorns didn't like it when their focus was disrupted. She had heard the pain could be anywhere between a migraine and an internalized earthquake.

Considering that she had hit the knife as hard as she could with just a bit of magically enhanced strength, and that the one time Warrior Princess of Equestria was showing physical strain: it was probably somewhere towards the end of the spectrum.

It would make her job easier.

Falling back into step and closing the rest of the distance was an easy feat after the split second reactions she'd just made; and coming to stand in front of Light, she had an ounce of a moment to raise her head and look into his eyes.

The same two vertical slits as had become common matched her gaze with as much vitriol as she'd ever seen before. Somewhere, underneath the pain and the rage and the madness, Light was in there.

She didn't know him, or really like him at all; but Tartarus would damn her for eternity if she couldn't protect her prime directive.

The moment passed, and time sped to a fever pitch as Light's hoof rose for some kind of attack. A misstep; the action made the next move far easier. It was foal's play to step back away from the feeble swing at her windpipe, and then step back in to throw her own hoof towards Light's remaining support on the ground.

Her strike, unlike Light's, rung true; and the meaty sound of strong flesh impacting against much weaker flesh rung into her ears. With no support, Light's body crashed to the ground; though her still outstretched hoof rose quickly to catch around his neck.

With his head in her grasp and his senses momentarily stunned, she had the perfect opportunity. A tongue deft from decidedly unofficial activities spun the ring in her mouth to the correct position, and pushed it to the front of her lips where she caught it gently between her teeth.

This would be a little gross, but she would make it up to herself by kicking Light's ass.

He was beginning to recover, so it was only another moment that she took to roughly grasp at his throat to angle his horn towards her face. Her lips pulled back to expose the ring clenched between her teeth, and she pushed her head forward despite a sickly feeling in her stomach.

It was only a moment and a subtle click, and then she was pulling her head away from his horn, which now sported a shiny new accessory. Lyra would understand that it was a part of the job, but it still made her feel gross.

"What did you-" The beginning of his sentence didn't have time to finish as she unceremoniously dropped his head from her grasp. What must have been entirely Her reflexes caught Light on his hooves before his head bashed into the floor, but he was on the ground either way.

Time for the hold.

She did a half circle around his prone body to stand directly over him, where she positioned her front hooves just under his wobbling own. Then, with as little warning as she could convey, she raised herself onto her back hooves; carefully avoiding stepping on any of the scattered books.

Catching Light's hooves and bringing him up with her was easy. He was scrawny, and he weighed virtually nothing. It was also easy to ignore the immediate string of curses and threats upon her and her family, accompanied by weak thrashing and hooves pounding at her legs and face.

What was less easy was letting her hooves drop out from under her, and allowing herself to crash roughly to the floor. The impact rung in her head, but the pain was negligible, and she kept a firm grip on Light's thrashing form. With the added freedom of movement and her back hooves being free, she was able to inch her hooves to more effectively restrain Light's; as well as trap his other limbs under her own.

And just for safe measure, she angled her head down to grasp the scruff of his neck tightly between her teeth. His fur was unwashed and she could taste the sweat and dust, but it would make it harder for him to bash her head against the ground; as ineffective as that would be.

And then, he was completely trapped in her hold. It would have been easier with some kind of rope, but she would be lying if she said that single-hoofedly subduing an ancient evil with nothing but her hooves and a ring wasn't some kind of satisfying.

Even with her obviously superior earth pony strength, Light continued to ineffectually thrash his limbs against her full body embrace. And she hadn't done anything to stop him from talking, so he was also still screaming increasingly archaic obscenities at her.

"Ye bearer were a gadabout, rakefire wretch of an open milkmare chosen for an unceremonious rut by any number of foppish, milksod stallions for daytime, diamond dog legged pleasures the likes of unfortunate measures only thought of by the most vile of bedswerving, yakson, gumworn heathens that frequent such low dregs that-"

But all of his struggles and screams stopped in a breath as a heavy presence fell suddenly over the room, and a large shadow covered the sparse light trickling into the room from the door.

Her Highness was ready, and She was coming for Her.

The somber sound of metal-clad hoofsteps provided strange resonance to the erratically rising chest and labored, open mouthed breathing of the pony on top of her. She could only imagine what it must have been like, watching The Princess walk in.

Nightmare Moon hated Her sister, that much was all that was shared with the E.I.A. Of course the rampant speculation that followed could fill in a lot of blanks, but... she hadn't felt comfortable potentially bastardizing Their story.

Whatever she was about to play witness to, under the body of an eighteen year old, would be the stuff of legends and history.

"You..." The first word came from the pony on top of her. Just a simple recognition, though absolutely dripping with venom and pure malice. It didn't sound right, coming from Light's voice.

Hatred. She had never heard the kind of raw, throat tearing emotion that came with that one simple little word; and it was something she was sure would stay with her for her entire life. How would she ever be able forget the purest of feelings expressed by a pony that had suffered more than was properly quantifiable or conceivable for an entire millennium?

What could it have been like, up there on the moon? Alone...

"You..." In contrast, Her Highness's response was monotone and apathetic. Completely devoid of any kind of expression, as if regarding a non-entity. No purpose to the word, other than a careless whim to just have it be said.

The uncharacteristic lack of emotion in Her Highness's voice was bone chilling, but she didn't allow it to loosen her grip. For all intents, she wasn't here. All she had to do was act as Light's body's restriction, while two separated sisters met for the first time in...

Who even knew?

A jagged cough, followed by a laugh reverberated through her own chest as the pony above her made the motions. That would be a little strange, but again, she wasn't here. "I have to say, sister; I didn't-"

"You are not my sister."

The sudden interruption by Her Highness held emphasis without emotion, sounding almost like She was reading off a script. Was this what she had to do, just to manage this? Cut herself from feeling?

It was a silent few seconds before another laugh rumbled down through her chest, and Light's voice turned sharply coy. "Oh? Does that still strike a nerve? Well, Your Highness, if I could be allowed the privilege of speaking.." The mocking emphasis on 'privilege' felt laden with more personal weight than she could properly understand. "..then you'll know that I wanted to compliment your little spy here."

Light's tone turned more conversational than should've been sanely possible in this situation as he continued, and his body strangely relaxed in her grip. "Honestly, I've known for years about your little operation; so when little miss 'Bennie' here showed up at my door, I knew something was up."

"Oh... but I underestimated her. I just didn't have the time or resources to prepare well enough for somepony like her. She's fast, and strong to boot. Well trained... Good instincts... It's a wonder she's so skilled at her age." A horrible, sneering tone pressed sharply into his voice. "Tell me, Celestia; do you ever feel bad about pressing underage orphans into the military, or is that just another necessary sacrifice?"

The sardonic jab directed towards both of them cut into her heart with cold knives, but she appeased the pain by pressing her grip harder. The slight seeth through Light's teeth told her it worked, and it brought a smile to her face around the mouthful of fur.

Her Highness, on Her part, didn't seem fazed by the low blow. The insult hung in the air for a few moments before Her quiet voice rang out in the small, ramshackle cabin.

"Are you done?"

The tension in the air was palpable. Two wills warred against each other in what must have been a fantastic staring contest, at the very least.

The silence between Them spoke more than words probably could, but that didn't stop Nightmare Moon from speaking again in a surprisingly quiet tone. "...You won't be able to remove me from him. I made sure to wrap myself tightly around all his most precious memories. Short of completely wiping his mind and letting him start from scratch, there's not a thing you can do."

The dare was obvious, and she didn't need to see his face to hear the wide smile in his voice.

"Could you do that? Could you erase your little subject, sister?"

Hot, sickly bile rose in her throat in the wake of the taunt. Nightmare Moon was a monster, gambling with things more precious than ponies' lives just for juvenile taunts. The idea of just.. wiping everything that made Light who he was...

It would be death. Worse, even.

The thought made her stomach flip painfully. Her Highness would never do that, of course. It was unthinkable, unconscionable. There was another way, there had to be.

"..Fine."

The single, deadpan word held less weight than anything she'd ever heard Her Highness say, but it was somehow more impactful than any screamed declaration of intent could ever be. Cold dread froze the blood in her veins as her mouth's grip on Light's scruff loosened, but she didn't think he even noticed.

His rigid posture made her think that the single word had The Nightmare Queen just as scared as she was.

"If I'm forced to choose between protecting my entire nation from a dangerous threat, and saving a single pony from harm... then you know which I would always pick."

Slow, methodical steps sounded like the ominous countdown to some unknowable event as Her Highness's quiet, eerily monotone voice moved in a gradual circle around them. Every word like a breath, but heavier than anything else.

Step. Step. Step. Step.

"No matter how innocent the pony."

Step. Step. Step. Step.

"No matter their importance."

Step. Step. Step. Step.

"No matter the cost."

Twelve evenly spaced steps, and Her Highness finally finished her long arc, stopping where She began in front of them with an air of finality to the last, heavy toll. She took an audibly deep breath, before letting it out in a tired, shuddering sigh. The first emotion She had shown since She had entered the cottage.

"No matter the pain."

The heavy silence was suffocating in the wake of the overwhelmingly final words, and grim acceptance was slowly creeping coldly over her withers.

Her Highness's words were both law and gospel. If She said it... then it had to be true.

She would follow Her command.

It hurt, deep down in her chest; but she would just have to find a way to accept that she had failed to protect Light. Now, the only recourse was the inverse.

Protecting Equestria from Light.

Regret rose up in her throat as her grip tightened. The tension in the air rose to a head as another cold hoofstep echoed through the room, and the pony lying on top of her let out one last, ragged chuckle.

"Finally, something we both agree on."

He whispered it so quietly, she only barely heard it even with her head directly next to his. It was certain that Her Highness hadn't heard it, as a bright, golden light began to shine onto the floor next to them.

Something to keep to herself, then. Nothing important, expect the ravings of a madpony about to be burnt away.

"Keep him steady, Agent." The louder whisper from Her Highness as she began to concentrate was nearly redundant, as the pony in her hooves fell suddenly limp. His head rolled back, and she had to thrust her own forward to raise it and keep it steady.

Nightmare Moon had relinquished control, but... the process had already begun? So... it would probably be best to just... sit there? With Light laying comatose in her hooves, and her face buried in the scruff of his neck?

She closed her eyes as the smell of dust and salt filled her nose, and the temperature in the room rose as the light on either side of them grew in brightness to a blinding point.

This was probably best.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Summer Sun Celebration

Mid-Afternoon

Bon Bon allowed an indulgent moment to herself as she basked in a sudden cool breeze washing across her face.

It brought tantalizing smells of freshly baked pastries, and on it rode the excited chattering of many different ponies. There was quite a large gathering out in Ponyville today, on account of the Celebration and all.

It was a little sad, knowing what they didn't. Maybe that was her burden.

Or maybe it was him.

Her eyes opened slowly to stare forlornly at the edge of a frosted gingerbread roof under a lazily cloudy sky, before her gaze fell back to Equus. Back to the cute little wooden table she sat at outside Sugarcube Corner.

Sugarcube corner was a nice enough place, but she was a pastry baker, herself. Not professionally, or even as well as expected of her cutie mark; but it was still something she enjoyed doing.

There wasn't any kind of grudge she held, but going to a shop to buy pastries just seemed a little cheap. It'd be more fun to just do it herself.

Her and Lyra. That little disaster ruining everything she touched in the kitchen while the job of cleaning was left to the actual cook.

Twirling and tripping over anything and everything. Mixing up ingredients and forgetting measurements. Tasting and touching things before they were ready.

Lyra had once managed to get an entire cake stuck on their ceiling; which, while funny enough, was especially concerning for the fact that it took hours to come off. It had just hung there, like glue.

'One slip and three too many cups of baking powder, and suddenly, I'm some sort of criminal! Where's the justice, Bonnie?! Where's my attorney?!'

For one, she had been using her magic to carry the cake; so there was no reason she should have thrown the dessert like she did. Another thing, baking powder couldn't even make a cake do that, which meant that there were probably even more problems that she wasn't mentioning.

Standing there in their wreck of a kitchen, with batter and frosting smeared over her face, Lyra could only smile widely at some joke only she knew.

She was so cute. Cute and precious and so in need of help all the time... It would be so nice to run off and see her after the long couple of days it had been, but...

No, slipping into endless daydreams of her disaster of a partner was more tempting than anything, but she wasn't off the clock yet. She still had a job to do.

A job sitting right at her very table.

Her eyes roved down to the hunched over figure sitting to her side at the table. With his head against his chest and the drool leaking onto his fur, she'd been able to reasonably pass him off as simply very tired; but it really didn't help that Light Flow perpetually looked as though he was homeless.

She sighed and lowered her head to rest on an outstretched hoof as she continued to stare at his unmoving form. He had been unconscious ever since Her Highness had wiped him and set all those barriers on him. 'Not completely', She'd said; but it was just as well.

Her Highness had talked through a lot of it while she had been stuck there holding Light's head up. Apparently, Nightmare Moon was just as crafty as advertised. Her dominion over the unconscious mind and its deeper realms allowed Her easy access to whatever kind of spiritual counterpart that memory had.

She had been really entrenched in a lot of unfortunate places. Everything about his friend Applejack, most of the details about his life, and even what few things he had to cherish about his special talent.

It all had to go. Not completely wiped, thank Her; but so firmly under lock and key that just trying to remember anything would give Light something like an aneurism.

And She hadn't even been able to really get rid of Nightmare Moon. She was still apparently in there somewhere, but Her Highness held hope that the blocks would keep it all from mattering.

Some parts of his mind hadn't been explicitly necessary to cut, but Her Highness had told her that it was all to prevent causal links and total breakdowns. All for his protection, of course.

No magic. No thinking about any kind of princess. No seeing souls. That particular string had been particularly hard to cut, since anything about his special talent related to manipulating destiny; and that was both highly unethical and extremely difficult.

But Her Highness knew what she was doing, and everything she'd done would hopefully leave Light as a regular pony with a slowly fraying mind and no special talent.

One of those She couldn't do much about due to the nature of restructuring a pony's mind; but, thanks to some special Notice-Me-Not trickery, at least nopony would notice that Light didn't have a cutie mark for the time being.

So many otherwise unconscionable things that just didn't really matter in the face of the apocalypse. If the nation survived, then Her Highness was planning to personally undo everything she'd done and deliver any amount of apologies that were required.

If the opposition prevailed... then at least it would be Nightmare Moon's problem to fix.

A rough snort was followed by a head shake as her hoof fell forward onto the table. It was too easy to succumb to pessimism in the face of adversity. The strong thing to do would be to keep her head high and remain optimistic. Twilight Sparkle was a very promising candidate for the Element of Magic, and the other Elements would always find a way to form around a pony like that.

Apparently. It was all second hoof knowledge, because of course there hadn't been any Element Bearers in a very long time.

A familiar groan brought her out of her reverie, and she turned her attention to where Light's head was shuffling against his chest. This would be it: the moment of truth. Had it all worked?

It was over a minute of mumbles and head shaking before he finally actually brought his head up off his chest. The muscles in his face visibly clenched and unclenched as unfamiliar patterns reset themselves to factory default.

Slowly, his eyes fluttered open; and she had the unique privilege of watching two blissfully brown and concerningly blank eyes open to the world.

And that was it. His eyes opened halfway and promptly stared directly into one fixed spot in space. That was normal, though. Just another part of her job.

After Her Highness had done the deed, She had taken some time before leaving for Canterlot to explain what the following steps would be, including this one.

First, she had to make Light presentable. That directive unfortunately covered the uncomfortable deed of washing him. Sitting in a barely legal kid's bathtub and scrubbing his unconscious body clean was disturbing in many ways, but she had pushed through the awkwardness and Light looked and smelled fine now.

She had even washed those weird black stains out, though not before snipping a piece of his fur and putting it in a tube for later analysis.

Something particularly concerning, but not very relevant, that she had noticed while standing in Light's surprisingly orderly bathroom was an empty box of colored contacts sitting on the sink.

Brown, of course. That meant Nightmare Moon could have been walking around in his body for any amount of time, leaving everypony around him none the wiser.

How many times had she worn him like that? Out and about among the populace; living his life in ways that might never be discovered.

Disturbing.

Anyways, after some uncomfortable revelations, she was to put Light somewhere in Ponyville. Her Highness hadn't specified on any of the tasks because performing such high level magic left her very drained, but this was self-explanatory.

Light couldn't be left at his cottage because it was absolutely rife with all sorts of potential memory triggers. Plus, they had taken away his special talent, and that was what they figured protected him from the Everfree's wrath.

So the best option would be to let him wander about and safely adjust where ponies could see him, in case he hurt himself or something. Though, that in particular wouldn't even be much of a problem.

Because her last and potentially final task ever was to follow Light around until what was hopefully dawn.

Not the kind of swan song she'd been hoping for, but...

She was sworn to the Crown. She would serve until her dying breath.

Forlorn apathy crept up over her withers, but she pointedly shook the feeling off. She wouldn't fall into despair, it would be fine.

Her eyes turned from the open-eyed, comatose pony at the table, and towards the sky above them. A few bunches of clouds hung in the air at random intervals, scattered across the otherwise lovely blue sky.

A wonderful, midday sky; with the sun hanging merrily somewhere along the horizon.

Would it be better just to run off? Spend the day with the mare she loved?

Would it be easier?

She shook her head roughly once again to dislodge the creeping claws of bittersweet regret, as forced determination took its place.

Deserting her duty was unthinkable.

She set her narrowed eyes once more to Light's blank face, and roughly scraped her chair across the short distance between them. Light's condition was somewhat like a pony under hypnosis; and all he needed to wake up was the code word that Her Highness had set him with.

It had to be something that would never come up in his mind, or his conversations. Something that, unless a pony knew that Light could be shut off like a switch, couldn't be used against him.

Something only two agents, one civilian, Her Highness, and Light knew.

She leaned her head towards Light's perked ear, and took one last deep breath.

"Necromancy."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

And so, Light woke up there at the table; all disoriented and flustered. It would have been sort of cute, if it wasn't for the clear panic he was going through.

"But weren't you sitting there with him? Didn't he think it was weird that you were sitting there with him? Oh! Oh! Did you make him think that you were his best friend or something?! Is that how you were able to follow him all day?!"

It wasn't anything like that, you dope. You see, Her Highness had worked just a little more magic to make my job easier. Just like what She had done for his mark, She had done for me. For a few hours of the day, I was completely unnoticeable to everypony that might've looked.

While Light was sitting there, looking all sad at his table, I was there too. I was there to see him cover his eyes from the sun, and slowly begin to remember where he was. I was there to see how his eyes went blank and his head twitched as he must've thought about something he wasn't allowed to.

I was there to watch him talk to Pinkie Pie, and make his terrible conversational mistake with her.

If I have to be honest, I was almost expecting her to be able to see me. It wouldn't have been the weirdest thing she'd ever done; but luckily, the scene played out without complication.

Soon, Light was off on his way through Ponyville, looking more put together than he had in a long time. It... made me feel kind of sad. He hadn't had this much control of his actions in who knew how long, and he was walking around as less than a shell of what he should have been.

"You really care about him, don't you?"

The underlying tease in Lyra's voice brought a warm flush rising to her head, and she broke from her story-telling position resting on her hoof to stare hotly across the table.

Lyra's head sat cradled on her crossed hooves from where she was basically collapsed over the table, and a half-lidded, sly expression lay on her smiling face.

She sucked in a petulant breath as she turned harshly away from the lovingly mocking expression, to instead face across the room; where, past all the ponies that had trickled in as the party went on, a brown unicorn sat talking to an orange earth pony at a table of their own.

Her eyes lingered for a second on the relief clear in his face even from across the room, as the orange pony leaned her hoof across the table to lay over his. Earlier in the party, she had gone off in some kind of state, leaving the unicorn looking beat up and afraid.

But she had eventually come back as the night wore steadily on. They had talked for quite a while in what seemed to be very emotional states, but things had eventually settled down.

And now the unicorn seemed to be doing very well.

A sudden laugh from her side brought her attention back from where it shouldn't have lingered, and she was sure the flush on her face deepened as she turned back to see Lyra clapping her hooves against the table that her cheek lay pressed directly against.

Half formed words and excuses sputtered roughly from her lips; but before she could get a handle on the flustered embarrassment in her cheeks, Lyra's laughs sputtered off. A smushed, half grin shone at her under twinkling golden eyes, and a familiar desire to smack her beloved idiot rose in her chest.

"Hah~ I knew you liked him! That was some smile, Bonnie." The last drawn out, knowing chuckle brought the flush rising higher into her ears, which promptly tried to escape desperately into the untidy curls of her mane.

"Lyra!" She hissed through clenched teeth and narrowed eyes. "Would you just leave it?!"

Heavens help her, Lyra knew how to play the game. She would never fail to find some new way of making her uncomfortable in some strange fashion.

She would get her revenge.

But unfortunately, Lyra didn't seem to be done. She hefted her head off from where it lay lazily on the table to turn to stare where Light was sitting, the same sly expression on her face. "You know... He is pretty cute..."

Horrifying, petrifying mortification dropped her mouth open as Lyra's conspiratorial tone continued; even as she swung her head back to the table to fix two hooded eyes dripping with mischief onto her undoubtedly red face. "It looks like he's heading to the bathroom. If you wanted to go try to put that ring on him again when he comes back, I don't think I'd mind~."

The singsong finish broke her final nerve, and a quick jerk upwards had her hoof supporting her over the table, while her other limb flew towards her marefriend's face.

The purposefully slow swing fell short as Lyra leaned her head back from it, her voice becoming breathless and squeaky as she laughed as hard as her shaking chest could allow.

With her attempt at domestic abuse foiled, the hoof supporting her dropped in protest, leaving her head to crash into the table with a groan. Her hooves rose over her aching ears to bury themselves in the messy buns of her mane that she hadn't styled in a week.

"It'd probably make him feel better!"

If the world survived after the apocalypse, she was dumping Lyra.

Then, something connected. Something that should have connected faster, even through sleep deprivation and a long faded buzz.

Light did what?

Panic flashed over the embarrassment in an instant, and her hooves crashed against the table to heave herself up as fast as she could manage. She ignored the exclamation of surprise from the other side of the table, as well as the few stares shot her way from ponies near them.

Her breathing picked up to near hyperventilation as she looked out over the offending crowd. A pony blocked her view for a moment; but a long second later: the pony moved, and her world stopped as a breath caught in her throat.

One pony at the table. One orange pony with a hat on her head.

Light was gone.

Author's Note:

You can scream at me all you want, but that chapter length won't change.

That's right, thirteen thousands words. The longest chapter to date and also probably ever. You should have already read it by the time you've come here, so good job! You made it through a lot of my subpar writing!

Anyway, this chapter feels pretty good to me. I might have fallen back into some old habits here and there, but I did my best to keep things moving along. There are some places where I feel it drags, but I couldn't think of any way to have everything I want in the chapter without having it be like that.

Specifically, I probably put too much emphasis on Bon Bon's devotion to the Crown, but I really felt like I had to. It's important to her character, and I just don't think it would be complete if she didn't have something like three different breakdowns about various Celestia things.

There are also some extraneous details in a lot of places, but I think that's just my writing style. I'm not incredible at this; and I can't do like the popular writers and have exposition everywhere seamlessly. It's just something you have to grin and bear through and maybe eventually give up on.

There are many other things I don't like that I'm sure you'll tell me about, but let's get to the positive stuff already! For instance, I really like my combat scene! I got a little practice in on that style back when I wrote that Cozy Glow story for that contest, so fans might see some similarities there.

I think I did a good job with the dialogue, since it's kind of one of my strong suits. And I think I captured Nightmare Moon and Celestia's mannerisms well enough; though it was a little hard doing it through the medium of another pony.

I struggled with some pronouns and emphasis, too; but that's a lesser issue. I don't really want this AN just to be a recap of the chapter, so I'm just gonna end it here. Tell me what you think about it, even if you hate the length and my writing and me! The more criticism I get, the less it'll hurt!

Comments

[WanderingPony]

Well, looks like even derping Light that badly wasn't quite enough to stop a very silly pony.

[Direct Access]

Finally! Some plot development.
But I'm still confused about some things.

[JinxTJL]

11025419
What'cha confused about? I happen to be the foremost expert on this story!

[Direct Access]

11025451
Mostly, timeline.

[John bostock]

Can't wait for next chapter

[MemerDreamer]

Great chapter, but one thing I want to emphasize in your writing style is overanalyzing. The word count for this chapter is massive and I'd like to help you cut that down, if possible.

For example:

She did a half circle around his prone body to stand directly over him, where she positioned her front hooves just under his wobbling own. Then, with as little warning as she could convey, she raised herself onto her back hooves; carefully avoiding stepping on any of the scattered books.

This could be shortened to:

She spun around him, and from behind wrapped her hooves around his barrel. In the same motion, she lifted herself onto her rear legs.

Just some tips I thought you might find useful.

[JinxTJL]

11025457
Well, if you mean the timeline of the specific events of the chapter, then it's pretty easy.

The chapter starts just after the last one; which, as you should know, began just after the dawn of The Summer Sun Celebration. The chapter goes on through the conflict between Celestia, Bon Bon and Light, before ending with a flourish and cutting to later in the day.

You should recognize the scene it cuts to outside Sugarcube corner as being just before Light woke up in chapter 29; thus explaining how he got there and what happened beforehand.

Just before Light is fully roused, it cuts to a different narrative style briefly as Bon Bon is telling the story of the day's events to a troublesome Lyra. It's not explicitly stated, but context clues can tell you that the scene takes place an unspecified time after the abrupt end of chapter 34.

Light has 'recovered' from whatever happened when he saw Bon Bon, Twilight has gone off somewhere, and Applejack has returned to the table.

The chapter ends with Light 'going to the bathroom' and Bon Bon freaking out; since, at this point, it's fairly late into the night, and that's bad.

I'll be happy to expound on anything else you might be confused about! A propensity to please is my pathology!

[JinxTJL]

11025473
Thanks for the praise and stuff!

Yeah, I've been personally preaching for a while about that specific problem, because it's cripplingly obvious to me as well. I really struggle with finding a good balance between making things detailed, and making things concise and nice to read. There's an imaginary audience in my mind that is always pressing between the lines to paint the clearest picture possible, and that's the one I usually listen to for some reason.

I just really want to make sure people understand what's happening, you know? This obviously isn't the best way to do it; since at this point more details are probably missed by people skimming through the word vomit, but I'm really unsure of a good way to appease what I imagine people want and what people actually want.

What you wrote there is actually pretty smart; and, while I don't enjoy going back and changing things in my chapters, I might do a little switch when I have some time. Though, Bon Bon didn't actually lift him up by his barrel.

[Direct Access]

11025475
What's wrong with him going to bathroom?

[MemerDreamer]

11025481
👍

[Herald of Opera]

11025484
He needs constant supervision in this state. Bon Bon can't see him right now. I think you can do the math.

[Direct Access]

11025500
As we can clearly see, her supervision really doesn't help, since even himself don't understand why he acts like old self when he meets his acquaintances. What is going on inside is very very different then what they can see.

[Herald of Opera]

11025513
It may not help, but Celestia told her to do it and therefore her panic is inevitable even if it doesn't strictly speaking make sense.

[Derpmeister]

" Necromancy. "

Gotta be honest, that's an awful, awful codeword, that's a commonly used word that even Light himself would use often, maybe not the most common word, but it's a near 100% chance it'll be activated on accident eventually.

[JinxTJL]

11025698
I really don't know about that. It doesn't seem like something any normal pony would say unless some weird circumstance was artificially created. Especially in their world, it doesn't seem like the kind of thing that would ever be mentioned. It'd be like if I randomly brought the long gone practice of scalping up in an otherwise normal conversation.

Even if something weird or contrived were to happen, that's what Bon Bon was sneaking around to prevent.

Oh, and by the way: thanks for commenting! I don't know why I always remember you in particular Derp, but I'm always happy to see your name!

[Vaal_Molochian]

I have really enjoyed this chapter, great job!

...would it be embarrassing/annoying to admit that I have, at a couple parts, taken the narrative and run off to my own scenarios? That it resulted in me stumble imagining a separate character I didn't know I needed?

Happens only when I can really invest myself....happened far too often I care to admit, for this chapter.

I wonder if Light could overwrite both Moon's and Sun's shackles if he "interfaced" with his own soul, assuming direct and total control so to say.

Regardless, thank you for the delicious reading material for the day and I can't wait to see what's to come.

[Derpmeister]

11025701
It wouldn't be common, but it's clear the idea of necromancy is known.

It is stated early on that the idea of necromancy and all that is allowed to be wrote about in all sorts of horror novels and whatnot.
So it's not common, per say, but it's common enough that eventually throughout his life he will eventually hear it.

I could imagine him just walking down a row of horror genre books in a library and someone reading a title about an evil necromancer aloud.

A short phrase would be better, like, Necromancy for Foals, if you ask me.

[JinxTJL]

11025870
Alright, alright; I'll concede that you're probably right. A one word phrase just isn't secure enough.

Though, I will say that you seem to think that this will apply for a long time. Don't forget that these measures were just put in place for the day of The Summer Sun Celebration. If it had been something permanent or long form, then there probably would have been all sorts of different things done to him.

[TheCommunistDog]

hmmm. hope he gets all of his memories back soon. tho he ain't gonna be happy when he finds out Celestia Played with his head (even if it was for the good of all)
no.... not happy at all...

well lets see what happens next.

[Crescent Nebula]

30+chapters of light’s character development gone, I have a love and hate relationship with this story but it’s starting to lean to hate permanently and stuff like this doesn’t help

[Savant Sentral]

The Manchurian Candicorn.
I can't believe my theory from the earlier chapters was 100 percent exactly correct

[JinxTJL]

11027636
Well, I'm sorry to hear that; but I think you might've misunderstood what happened in the chapter.

Celestia did tell Nightmare Moon that she would completely wipe Light's mind, but that was either a premature guess or a scare tactic: because Bon Bon then remarked later in the chapter that they hadn't actually wiped anything from Light's mind. All they did was seal everything away. Very quickly and shoddily, too; which is why Light's constantly remembering things and in pain and such.

I can't exactly stop you if you've decided to give up here, though I'm surprised it's here and not back when my writing was pretty objectively bad.

[Rawislon03]

One day Bonbon, one day you will find yourself entrapped by the cute dorkiness of the Necromancer, and then you’ll wonder. ‘What if he was in the same kitchen as Lyra?’

[JinxTJL]

11028006
I seem to recall an anecdote in a particular chapter about a younger Light helping his mother with cooking; which ended with him forgetting a cutting board and driving a knife into their counter.

If Light could stand the sheer ditzy powerhouse that is Lyra, then I think that with her pushing him to cut loose, the two of them together could reliably destroy any kitchen on Equus.

"So, it's five cups of baking powder, right Light?!"

"That... doesn't seem right.. Wait, let me check the recipe-"

"Come on, forget the recipe! Cooking's about having fun, right!?"

"Wait- I don't think you're supposed to literally throw the rules out the window!"

"Rules are just something boring ponies made up to stifle us creative types! We're pioneers, Light! Let's have fun!"

"I... I do enjoy the thought of sticking it to a higher power..."

[Crescent Nebula]

11027660
Considering I was reading this after being awake for 24 hours, I must of misread and confused myself, so disregard my last comment and while your earlier chapters are a little annoying at times it wasn’t the writing, I have read many badly written stories so It doesn’t bother me to much, it was really just how long it took at times for things to progress.

[Rawislon03]

11028402
You had your own Light moment there. Though given it wasn’t depicted through some 6,000 words it was comparatively minuscule.

[Dashie04]

I mean, I enjoyed the chapter, but damn, I know you know this but still, this chapter’s denser than my English texts.

[JinxTJL]

11035170
I'm honestly still pretty proud that I managed to write a chapter with the sort of length you'd see in something like the early chapters of Project Horizons without compromising on the quality for most of it.

Sure, it's dense as all hell. Sure, a lot of it is also fluff and unnecessary details. Sure, it might turn people off to see something so massive.

But at the end of the day, it's a pretty big number; and I've received nothing but positive feedback on the chapter. It'll almost certainly never happen again, but I like that it happened at least once.

I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, by the by.

[Squishtopher]

Light Flow is being mind-controlled by two immortal alicorn princesses simultaneously. That is rough.

[JinxTJL]

11558200
You'd better buckle in, because it only gets rougher from here!

and i don't just mean my writing proclivities

[chibilink]

Something only two agents, one civilian, Her Highness, and Light knew.

One civilian... she tell Lyra?