Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The teleportation spell brought Luna back to the comforting and familiar walls of the Lux Aeternam but she couldn't afford herself the time to savour it. She saw the rest of her Directors rushing to deal with the crisis; Director Onyx was talking into his PCA to get in touch with Armor and the rest of their security forces. Luna, on the other hoof, had to see the scope of the disaster for herself. Informing her Directors of her plans before she teleported again, Luna opened her eyes to see the damaged Sextus Dome.
It was a horrific sight; nearly all of the buildings dedicated to the Orion were damaged in some fashion with smoke still billowing up to the top of the glass walls; they would need to vent it to remove the poisonous gasses building up as she didn't think they could cycle it out as they normally did. Shaking her head, she forced herself to focus on the situation as Director Water Wheel and Director Crystal Lace approached her.
"Director Luna," Director Wheel said respectfully, though the stallion looked tired, just as Director Lace did. "Thank goodness you're here."
Luna nodded. "How bad are things?" she asked, cutting through to the matter. She knew that tact would usually be more welcomed, but her Directors knew her better and they would expect this from her.
"It's bad," Director Wheel said. "About the only sections undamaged were the engines that were still in the testing phase and hadn't been mounted on the main structure yet."
"Thankfully, while there were multiple injuries, it was far less than it could have been any other day," Director Lace said, pulling out a list of names of the injured; each one a blow to her heart.
"How did this even happen," Luna asked as she read the names, taking the time to memorize each of them and making a vow to see each of her citizens.
"We are still determining that ourselves," Director Wheel said. "According to all witness statements so far, a series of explosions were set off inside the buildings somehow. We suspect they were detonated remotely or via timer, but we haven't been able to confirm this."
Director Lace bit her lip before she met Luna's eyes again. "There are rumours already starting to circulate that the Equestrians are to bl-"
"Wait, pause the list," Luna said, seeing two names that shouldn't be there. "What are the scope of the injuries to Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle?"
"Your student is being treated for shock and the Equestrian is being treated for the injuries she sustained when she threw herself between a group of ponies and a cloud of debris that was sent their way by a late explosion," Director Wheel said. "She saved many lives with what she did."
"Why were they even here?" Luna asked with a swirl of emotions in her; fear and concern for her student and her new friend, worry about how Celestia would react, and more.
"According to the early reports, they saw the explosions from where they were, all the way over in the Primus Dome, and Rainbow Dash immediately came to help," Director Lace said. "Twilight and Deputy Director Shining Armor teleported together just moments afterward, and Sunset Shimmer teleported after them. All three mares have since been evacuated to the hospital."
Luna's heart skipped a beat at the mention of Sunset, but she nodded, skimming the list. "I don't see Sunset's name on here," she said.
"Because she didn't actually get hurt," Director Lace explained. "She did help try to minimize the damage though, and she was the one to get Twilight to safety after... after Twilight saw what had happened to the Orion and went into shock from the sight." She shook her head sadly. "When Twilight and Rainbow Dash were evacuated to the hospital, Sunset went with them, on Deputy Armor's orders."
Luna shook her head at that; everything was spinning out of contr- then she remembered something. "Wait, what were these rumours you mentioned before?"
Director Lace sighed. "There have been rumours that the Equestrians were responsible," she said. "Pure bunk, as far as I'm concerned - as best as I can tell, none of them had even come into this dome since their arrival until Rainbow Dash showed up to help out with the rescue efforts. But not everypony is convinced that that's the case."
"That's..." Luna frowned as her PCA began to vibrate, along with both of her Director's PCAs. Opening up the call, Luna saw the face of Director Clear Flow looking at her. "Director Flow, what is going on?"
"It is Director Neighsay; he has called an emergency meeting of the Directors to deal with the Equestrian attack and he's leaning towards retribu-" Flow started to say before Neighsay's voice overtook him.
"This is a closed meeting, Director, please close your PCA so we can get on with the vote," Director Neighsay said with Director Flow giving Luna a guilty look before turning off the call.
"By the moon, what is going on?" Director Lace asked with Luna narrowing her eyes in anger.
"Both of you, get to the Lux Aeternam immediately; I don't have the means to teleport all three of us there," Luna said as she teleported again, hoping she was in time to stop whatever path of madness Director Neighsay was putting them on.
Flash panted; this fight had been dragging on for far too long. Even with more and more guards joining in and Princess Cadance assisting, the enemy just kept coming. Fortunately, he'd seen that the iron chain was continuing to be worked off. Just a few more links...
They just needed more time and more soldiers-
"For the princess and country!" came a voice he knew and trusted, and then Fancy Pants and what appeared to be the entire Noble and Common Houses came rushing towards the mob, smashing them in half. In an instant, Flash and Nightingale waved their soldiers forwards, cutting down those that Fancy had separated from the main bulk and linking up their forces with the Houses. Fancy, using a trashcan lid as a bludgeoning tool to smash down an enemy pony as he approached, flashed him an apologetic look. "Sorry Captain Sentry for our delay but we were detained by Captain Meadow's officers; they had locked us in parliament for our safety but once we learned of what was going on, we made our way here to stand by Princess Celestia."
"You made it here, that is what counts," Flash said, the words spilling from his mouth and they sounded like actual Captain words to him. "Now let us put the rest of these traitors down."
"Verily," Fancy Pants said, looking out at the crowd of attackers. "They shall rue the day they betrayed our princesses!"
Then he pivoted as another attacker got close enough and lashed out with both rear hooves, smashing their jaw open with a well-aimed blow and knocking them backwards.
All around, the members of their parliament were fighting back, using hooves, magic or any improvised weapon they could in defense of their princess, some even snatching up fallen weapons from either side and lashing out with them. For all that some might dismiss them as little more than a lot of talkers, they were proving themselves very capable in physical and magical combat. And they weren't the only ones who had joined in; Flash caught a glimpse of a mare he knew wasn't a member of the parliament, but who'd often visited the castle with Fancy Pants as his plus-one, as was befitting - she was his wife, after all. And she was now spinning around and lashing out at any attackers who came in range, her long legs giving her quite the edge.
Finally, as Flash looked back towards the princesses, he saw the last link fall from Celestia's horn. Shaking her head as the guard leapt off her back, she glared at the still approaching attackers.
"My turn," she said.
Then, levitating herself into the air and glowing with power, she gazed down upon them, a burning fury in her eyes and her horn glowing pure gold.
"ENOUGH!" she said, using the Royal Canterlot Voice as a wave of gold collars slammed those closest to the front line into the ground, with jaws and teeth breaking at the force and a large wall of bright light surrounding the mob. "You will all stand down and allow yourself to be taken in; those who resist will not be spared." She glared at the mob, who finally seemed to have had enough and tried to flee through the wall she'd created. Those that ran into the wall first began to scream in agony as Flash realized that it must have been made of solar magic and they were running into the force of the sun itself. Those behind the runners either didn't notice or care that their fellow traitors were dying; they still pushed their way forwards over their comrades, trampling them in a mad dash to nowhere.
There was a brief moment of infighting as those closest to the wall fought back against those who were pushing them into it but it quickly came to a bloody end as one side defeated the other before Flash's guards began to put them down, taking those who were not resisting in chains with very little considering in how they were dragging them forwards.
Flash smiled at his guards' actions, a sense of pride in their duty to the Princess and country swelling his heart.
"Captain Flash," Princess Celestia said, landing next to him with Princess Cadance and Sergeant Nightingale smiling at him. By Celestia's horn, he really wanted to ask her out after this. "You did well today but this is not finished; we do not know how far these traitors are in the city and the police can no longer be trusted. I am putting the city under martial law, with you and your guards in charge of establishing pea-" she stopped as she looked at the chain on the ground, her eyes widening before a wave of pure rage and fury took over her face; Flash could have sworn the temperature actually rose with her anger. Before he could even ask what was the matter, she had teleported away.
Looking down, Flash saw the reason for her anger and hissed; as did Cadance who was shaking her head in disappointment and anger.
"What is the matter, Captain Flash?" Nightingale asked, looking at the two of them as Fancy Pants trotted towards them, with Claret Holder just behind him.
"That symbol on that cold iron chain," Flash said, pointing to the crown. "It's Princess Platinum's family crest and Prince Blueblood is her last living descendant."
All eyes went wide at the implication, and Flash swallowed nervously. He now knew where Princess Celestia had gone, and he had a feeling that Blueblood was about to be in a lot of pain if his Princess didn't restrain herself.
But he didn't have time to worry about that; he had a city to secure.
Luna rematerialized in the hall just outside their central meeting room. Slamming the door open, she strode in, and gazed around. "Well, well, well," she said. "Somepony call a meeting without inviting me?"
Neighsay frowned at her, while Director Flow, Director Notes and Director Spice looked relieved to see her. "I did call you, Head Director," Director Neighsay said tensely, staring at her. "Though, while I am sorry that you did not take the time to check your messages, we are in a vote currently."
"On matters to determine the sabotage of the Orion," Luna said, glaring at him. "I fail to see how anything can be brought to a vote. Please, enlighten me."
"We are voting to decide how we are to retaliate against Equestria's attack on us." Neighsay said. "I am not sure if you saw the attack on the Orion but we were attacked."
"And you would have us believe it was by a farmer, a tailor, party planner, an animal warden, a weather captain, a musician and a student of magic," Luna said tensely, stalking towards him. "But none of them have the capability to create such explosions save possibly Sunset Shimmer, and she was more interested in my own student as evidenced by the letter she sent to Princess Cadance on that very topic. Nor did any of them have the ability to create such explosives as they were all given proper medical examinations during their arrival and there was no such material found on any of them." Her lip curled. "Or are you suggesting this was a coordinated and planned attack from within the Republic itself?"
Neighsay started to open his mouth but Luna did not let him speak. "Furthermore, the attack on the Orion was not as bad as it could have been. The engines were spared, deliberately so, because if they had been targeted, the entire dome could have been lost. That was the action of somepony who knew exactly what they were doing, a carefully planned act of sabotage, and again, none of our guests would have been capable of performing such an act. And in addition, each of the Equestrians' whereabouts were accounted for the entire time by well trusted officers and individuals of the Lunar Republic. Neighsay, where were you during this time?"
"Are you accusing me, one of your longest and most trusted Directors of sabotaging one of our nation's greatest projects, one we spent the entire length of our nation to making a reality over a known group of individuals who would like nothing more than our complete destruction‽" Neighsay thundered as more of her Directors filed into the room, looking furious at Neighsay; no doubt being informed at his attempt to change the course of their nation by himself.
"Equestria is nothing like that of the past; those who attacked our nations' ancestors are dead," Luna snapped.
"Save for her," Neighsay spat with Luna letting out a small gasp before her anger began to boil.
"You overstep yourself dearly, Neighsay," she snorted, flares of her magic shooting into the air as she stalked closer to him, the unicorn beginning to pale as he started to grasp the severity of his words. "Celestia has done many things over her long years; some less savoury than others and so have I. I know the depths my sister can sink to, I know the atrocities she could commit without a loss of sleep or a twinge of guilt but I know my sister would never seek to harm me or those I care about." She was towering above him, glaring down into his eyes. "Unlike you; she holds no ill will between our two nations. You have always been anti-Equestrian, always preening and boasting of our superiority over them. You were always going on about how we remember the Equestria we left behind, painting them as backward savages who cannot comprehend what two plus two is!" She growled at him, shaking her head. "You no doubt planted the bombs, or had somepony to do so for you, and then while nearly half of the Directors were gone, you would wipe up the nation into attacking Equestria." She let out a joyless laugh as she walked away from him, his stench fouling her nose.
When she had gotten far enough away, she continued. "Are you truly foolish to think we could actually win a battle, let alone a war against Equestria? We have no means of quick transportation save for myself and I can only teleport so many ponies at a time and only for a few quick trips. We might have superior weaponry but we lack the experience and knowledge to fight another nation who would have supplies and resources on hoof while we would only have what we could take with us and need I remind you, relying on my finite magical pool resources." Luna shook her head again, stalking the room as Director Onyx walked in, looking murderously angry at Neighsay. Her Director of Security was not alone; other officers were flanking him and they were walking straight to Neighsay. "Any attack on any nation of Equuis would end in our eventual defeat and forever strand us apart from the rest of the world. Not just by distance but by open conflict that would only encourage them to race forward in their development to strike us down and if they chose to do that, we would lose everything. That is in addition to asking me to wage war against my last living kin and I will not have her blood on my hooves."
"Director Neighsay," Director Onyx said through clenched teeth, the unicorn clearly struggling to keep professional and not punch the trembling unicorn the face. "My officers will be taking you in for questioning; Director Luna, if you will excuse me, Red Rocket is currently in the hospital and I wish to be by my husband's side," he said, tears running down his face.
"Permission granted," Luna said. "Go to him."
Director Onyx nodded, then walked back out stiffly, while his officers went to collect Neighsay. Luna watched both stallions leave the Director's room before allowing herself a moment to breathe before looking at her gathered Directors. Velvet, Wheel, Wishes and Lace were still not here; Velvet was likely with her daughter, Wheel and Lace must still be traveling here and Wishes was no doubt doing his part in treating the injured.
Luna let out a sigh as she began to go over all that had been said, the words cutting deep into her. She longed to see to her student and the Elements but she had a more pressing issue, one she knew that she would not come back to if she did not strike while the iron was still hot.
She had to call her sister.
Blueblood could hear the countrypony's shouting change and he knew it would only be a matter of time before she arrived and he still had a chance to make things work out in his favour.
With a loud teleportation pop, Celestia was before him, glaring pink daggers at him. The police officers tried to move up from their seats but his aunt slammed golden anchors around their necks and horns, locking them in place.
Stalking towards him with the ground melting under her hooves, Celestia's golden magic ripped off the cell door and tossed it with enough strength to embed it nearly completely into the wall. Her nostrils then flared as she roared at him. "You... dare... you DARE‽"
"Aunt Celestia, I have no idea what you are talking-" Blueblood began before she slammed her hoof into the ground hard enough to create an overpowering echo that drowned out what he was going to say.
"You are no nephew of mine!" Celestia thundered, her face right in his. "You have disgraced the line of Platinum for the last time, Blueblood."
"Please, enlighten me to how I did anything of the sort while I have been behind those bars you tossed aside, Celestia," Blueblood asked, doing his best to keep a calm demeanor. She had taught him herself that a raging pony would always lose to a calm pony in the matter of debate and if he could keep her off hoof long enough, he would see himself walking away without so much as a blemish.
"Your ancestor's nullifying chain was used on me today, Blueblood," Celestia spat, stalking back and forth while keeping her gaze directed on him. While others might have been intimidated by her, Blueblood was rejoicing as he knew she was struggling to decide what to do and thus not fully committed as he was. "It has your family emblem on it, the emblem of that thrice damnable tribalist brat Platinum."
"If that is the case, then I will need to file a burglary report with the police as I have said, I have not been out of this cell since my return to Canterlot, as per your instructions. You can ask the police for proof of my time here," Blueblood dared a smirk on his face, which only drove her further into anger.
"The police are being arrested; as their captain and your friend Meadow led the attack against me, they are all untrustworthy until we can sort out the traitors from those truly loyal to the crown," Celestia said, her voice starting to calm down which slightly worried Blueblood but he had to push on to make sure he was safe. "Such as you."
"Again, I was in here the entire time," he said in his best even voice, looking just as hard back at her as he could manage. "And it will be her word against mine in how she obtained that alleged weapon."
"She is dead," Celestia said bitterly as she cottoned onto the fact she had no hard evidence against him. "She was the first casualty in the attack today, thanks to Captain Sentry's actions."
"A tragedy then; she was a fine officer in my opinion," Blueblood lied through his teeth. In all honesty, it was a miracle that the mare had kept her views hidden as long as she had and he had disliked the fact he had to associate with her so much as it risked exposing himself but it was important to have an ally in his quest to keep Canterlot pure. Sentry had been too much like Hackpole and it was too soon to arrange for another replacement of the captain of the Royal Guards to ensure proper views were in as many seats of power as possible; otherwise ponies might begin to suspect something and poke around. He had been mulling over in seeing to her replacement as well and thankfully, the fool pegasus had done the job for him. Still, she had done what he expected of her; thin out the excitable, bold and loud members of the avengers while giving Equestria their wanted vengeance on his associates. Things were shifting and they would need to be much more subtle and careful to ensure the thousand year crusade would not be lost. "What are the casualties, if I may ask now. As the leader of the Noble House, it is my duty to see to such things, Cel-" she snorted in his face, shaking her head slowly.
"You truly think I am like one of the avenger fools that you can lie to and manipulate so easily, don't you," she said, giving him a wicked smile. "I might not have proof that you were behind this but I know you were and you will be brought to justice for everything that has occurred. And you can forget about your position as leader of the Noble House; I am stripping you of all rank and privileges until further notice and you will be brought to my dungeons to make sure you can't do any more damage to Equestria."
"If you really wanted to ensure that," Blueblood spat back at her. "Then bring those traitors to justice! They are a colony of criminals that ran from justice, hoarding power and knowledge from us to do what they wish without giving it to their proper masters. Each one of them deserves to face the proper justice their cowardly ancestors ran from that bloody night, including each of their accursed damn leaders!" He leaned into her face. "I will go forward with what I know; the Lunar Republic will be brought under the Noble House as all colonies are ours to see proper administration and justice will be done at long last."
"ENOUGH!" Celestia thundered in his face and Blueblood began to think he had overplayed his hoof. "Every second you speak, you seek to further hang yourself, tempting me to strike you down where you stand, Blueblood. The Republic is a sovereign nation and has been for a thousand years. The crimes of the past are the past and I will not give you or any of your avengers ilk more attention or leniency anymore! I already have Guards flying to arrest all known avengers to bring them in; they will be purged from my nation." She snorted angrily and slammed her hoof through a wall, breathing heavily. "You are such an idiot, Blueblood. You have no idea what you nearly unleashed today; of what chaos and destruction you almost set loose upon the world with your senseless bigotry and blind hatred."
She paused for a moment, her words seeming to have an effect upon her. Then, shaking her head, Celestia glared at Blueblood. A golden muzzle slapped around his mouth and a weighted collar slammed him into the ground, with a nullifying ring around his horn. "You will remain here until the Royal Guards arrive to collect you; attempt to flee and you will be hunted down like the vermin you are."
Then she turned around and stormed out, unable to stand the sight of him any longer.
Blueblood snorted into his muzzle; this was but a minor setback. The rest of his allies would see him free soon enough; the laws they'd set in place would make sure of that. If Celestia truly thought she would get her way, she was in for a rude awakening.
Far above Blueblood's cell, deep in his slumber, Discord suddenly felt the urge to laugh hysterically as he sensed somepony telling themselves one of the biggest lies to ever be told in Equestria.
If only he had had the chance to trick this fool into thinking he was the Lord of Lies; then it would have been even better.
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Blueblood, why the heck would your allies care for you? Your most likely a useless member of their group and even if you weren’t Celestia would most likely also arrest anyone who tries to defend you. I mean the city is under martial law. Anything goes. (I am too lazy to look up the actual definition of martial law at this moment.)
A fool's still a fool, with both Blueblood & Neighsay at the helm!
Quite a few ponies have paid the price cause of these 2 jackasses! (RD & Twilight included
) Here's hoping the hammer falls down hard on both of them soon! 
Really getting tired of people defaulting to Blueblood and Neighsay as hyper-shallow villains.
A fact that was probably planned
He dosen't know she's baaaack
Oh just Neighsay trying to do something stupid without really putting too much thought it
Yeah these guys are just a mob, need to find the leaders and planners
The "living" part might not last for much longer if he insists on trying to talk his way out of this
Again with the probable exception of Sunset, as she would've most likely been able to identify them as engines and been aware of how much damage could have been done if they exploded
Oooh, should not have gone there
And Celestia would most likely figure out a way to either detect, prevent or intercept those trips
Which, combined with the previous point, makes it more than foolish, something Luna knows
Finally those mirrors gets used for what they were supposed to be used for
The only way this ends in your favor is if you don't talk too much, but we all know that's impossible
This is true... but at what point did you convince yourself that this was a "debate"
It looks like someone had en epiphany
Pray, always, for fire. For the cold is far less merciful.
Blueblood is equestrias adolf, and so is neighsay the lunar's mussolini.
Discord, Discord, Discord.
I know it's funny, but don't go too far into the Tzeentchian direction, right ?
10878057
Eh, he's not avian enough. ;) I would bet they're drinking buddies though!
Well of course he doesn't know! And whose fault is that, Celestia, hmmm?
10879364
Well, I doubt she wanted to inform anyone of this incredibly dangerous foe that can be unleashed by something as simple as three foals arguing, especially to someone she didn’t fully trust. She didn’t tell Cadance on the off chance that someone overheard her, afterall and Celestia fully trusts Cadance.
Ah, of course it's Neighsay, how could I forget his tribalistic(in this case xenophobic) ideals.
10877832
Their personality’s are perfect for it.
Now that would be hilarious