Luna: For the Night is Dark V
It didn’t surprise Luna at all that Penumbra had placed the manifested Archive on the opposite side of the mountain from the one they’d arrived on. What did come as a surprise as that when it wasn’t metaphysically anchored to some other structure, the construct had an uncomfortably familiar appearance.
“...is that your… old castle?” Nightmare said as they came in view of it.
“As I remember it,” Luna said. The not-a-filly had captured the palace with the exactness of someone who’d made a detailed study of it. The turrets were of the correct number, the crenulations atop the walls were staggered in the three-two pattern that was the architect’s signature, and the fittings on the front gates were bimetal instead of the uniform brass everyone assumed after the metal had weathered. “It’s… I can’t… what would lead her to make an homage to my and Tia’s old home of all the possible designs?”
“Old people are quirky and nostalgic?” Thalia suggested with a grin.
“But why our old castle?”
“Maybe ask her sometime, Selune,” Nightmare said. “Thalia, did the du Dune explorers ever record the exterior appearance of the Archive?”
“They’ve always worked on the theory that it doesn’t have one,” Thalia said. “Their supposition was that it was a metaphysical construct floating in a pocket of reality built from the inside out. To my knowledge, we’re the only ones other than its creator to see it anchored independently in actual reality.”
“Did they, or anyone since, ever ask the manifest spirit who its creator was?”
“They did.”
“And?”
“I don’t know,” Thalia said. “It’s been decades since I checked out what the originals had to say about it. But we’ve been assuming the worst up until now, so it’d be a shame to start getting optimistic.”
“Penumbra made it, brought it here, and anchored it,” Luna said. “And we have no idea why.”
“Perhaps she had use for it,” Nightmare siad. “I’m sure that having all the knowledge you’ll ever need on hand before going to dismantle a curse would be useful.”
“So this is what this place looks like?” All three of them looked up to see Rainbow lounging on the peak of the roof directly above the front door. “Cuz it sorta looks like that busted castle in the Everfree, ‘cept it’s all in one piece.”
“We were just commenting on that,” Thalia said. “You should go back and hang out with Ember, Rainbow. This isn’t exactly a fun exploration trip with the other Elements.”
“Depends,” Rainbow said. “Anything in that fancy ‘Archive’ of yours got books about how to kick the shadow thing’s plot up between her ears? Cuz I’d love to read them.”
“It does but…”
“Great.” Rainbow stepped off the roof, expertly flared her wings at the right moment to touch down as sofly as if she’d stepped off a flight of stairs, and looked slightly up at Thalia. “Point me at ‘em.”
“Rainbow Dash, what part of ‘the books will eat your soul’ didn’t you hear?”
“Eh.” Rainbow shrugged.
Luna narrowed her eyes at her. “That’s it? A shrug?”
“Flutters is my friend,” Rainbow said. “Someone hurts your friend, you kick their plot. If the books can tell me how to kick shadow thing’s plot, I don’t care about the rest.”
“Rainbow, we’ve covered this,” Nightmare said. “You can’t kick her plot.”
“Well, not right..”
“No.” Nightmare sighed. “Rainbow, she’s not not some immense megalomaniacal entity that you can kill by hitting her really, really, really hard. The Guardian was ultimately a being of this world. He was fully real, he had a distinct body, and you could kill him by harming that body. Zambet isn’t like that.”
“Well, yeah,” Rainbow said. “I mean, she burst like a balloon and went through the ground like water.”
Nightmare blinked a couple times. “So you realize that she doesn’t have a body for you to beat on with your hooves and yet you believe you can just… stroll up to her and kick her plot?”
“Nope,” Rainbow said. ‘You need to hold her down first.”
Nightmare grinned widely at this. “Not exactly what I need to do, but accurate enough.”
“Rainbow, you understand what…”
“Yeah, I heard ya the…”
“I am not finished.” Thalia glared at Rainbow until the pegasus subsided, and glanced Luna’s way as well. “The archive’s books are a lure, a temptation. If you read them, it will worm its way into your mind and make you want to read more, learn more, study more. The need to know will become overwhelming because no matter what you want to know by reading, it will strive to create that empty space that must be filled so you can be absolutely sure that you know enough… except it will never be enough. In the Archive, you will never tire, never hunger, never thirst, never become bored, and need nothing except to read. All of this with the ultimate goal of drawing you into the center and making you into fuel for its power. It is a machine fed by the lives of those incautious enough not to recognize the seductive whisper, that all the knowledge ever gained in the entire world can be had if you just keep reading.”
Rainbow’s eyes got wide. “Whatcha mean, all the knowledge.”
“I mean exactly what it sounds like,” Thalia said. “If anyone at any time in the entire history of this world knew something, it can be read in the Archive’s books. You can read every moment of your own life’s story, even the parts that you cannot remember because for a single instant, you knew it. Every meal, every word, evey experience, every single moment.”
Luna took in a breath. If Tia had learned about this Archive after I’d been bound to my moon by the Elements... “You… didn’t put it that way when you explained it the first time.”
“That’s true, I didn’t.” Thalia looked steadily at her. “Do you understand now why this is a risk, Princess? Do you understand how much of a risk it is?”
I could relive all of it, Luna realized as she stared at the changeling royal. The campaigns with the changelings, all the good times I had with Tia, every joyful moment with every friend and lover… all of it. “I do,” she said, trying to put extra emphasis on the words, “and it terrifies me. But I cannot turn aside, I must know what Penumbra does and what use she intends to put the Crystal Heart to.”
“That won’t do,” Thalia said. “You need to have a very, very specific goal. Tettidora theorized that Penumbra is immune to the Archive’s snares and can peruse its infinite knowledge as she pleases. If you seek to know everything she knows, you will never leave.”
“Then how she intends to return the Crystal Empire, and what she intends to do with the Heart,” Luna said. “Is that specific enough? Seeking knowledge of her specific intentions related to the Empire and the Heart?”
“I believe so,” Thalia said. ‘But don’t let yourself lose sight of those specific knowledge goals. As long as you have those specifics to cling to, I--or at least the du Dunes--believe that you’ll be more resistant to the Archive’s manipulations.”
“Wouldn’t they know?” Luna said. “You said that under Queen Vespa, they interacted enough with the Archive to immediately be able to sense it attempting to intrude in their minds.”
“You’d have to ask an older member of the family directly,” Thalia said. “My understanding is that the interaction wasn’t scientific. They didn’t do trial and error to see what way of reading might defray the influence. The best they could offer was anecdotal recollecitons that they tried to derive information from.”
“I’m surprised Vespa was willing to take the risk.”
“She was extremely close to the du Dunes,” Thalia said, stepping up to the ponderous door of the Archive. “Her dearest childhood friends were du Dunes. Her husband came from their family. She accompanied them on dozens of their expeditions before she was crowned. She understood the nuances of their work and obsession, and the uses to which certain of their pieces could be put without consequential risk; by sheer coincidence, she presided over the humbling of the yetis and establishing a successful permanent embassy with the dragons. You’ll not meet a single du Dune who’ll even entertain the thought, but there is every reason to believe she leveraged her understanding of the du Dunes’ collection to enforce her diplomacy.”
“She seems… irresponsible.”
“I can’t comment on that,” Thalia said. “Tettidora could, or perhaps Chiti, but I’m not a scholar.”
She paused to take a firm grip on the handle for the doors with her teeth and pulled against the weight, nearly falling over as the door moved easily, and the interior that was revealed was emphatically not like the dim, torch-lit expanse of bookshelves that it had been when Luna entered in the Provinces..
Natural light streamed from above, slightly golden in tone from the noon-day sun overhead, through a glass roof laid in heavy iron framing. A rug of rich violet, blue, and teal stretched before them over a floor inlaid with what Luna knew was green marble sprinkled through with quartz that looked like points of light--stars as a point of fact--in the night sky. Luna glanced to either side to confirm, but knew exactly what banners she’d see: a portrait of Celestia rendered in thread and fabric to the right, one rendered of her to the left. The replication was exquisite, even down to replicating slight cracks and flaws in the stone.
“What the…?” Luna held up a hoof for Nightmare to stop and stood there, drinking in the scenery around her. It’s… our palace, she said to herself. The chip where a workpony slipped with a statue, the wear of the Guard never using the carpet, even damage from where dignitaries would wait for an audience.
“I never thought I’d…” She took a breath to collect herself. “It’s my home. It’s the home Tia and I shared. She even duplicated details, down to miniscule damage caused by the workers and servants. I don’t understand, why did she do this?”
“A gift, Silver Ellune, now Princess Luna.”
There was nothing to warn of the manifest spirit’s appearance, no sense of gathering magic, nor slight chill in the air as the specter drew in energy from around itself to create a distinct form. Just like how the Evils traveled through the Void by disappearing or appearing in a blink, a form that looked like a young wolf standing upright, clad in the jacket, trousers, and shirt of a well-to-do shopkeep, was simply there.
“Thus I was instructed by Light Shadow,” the spirit said, his voice like a young colt. “It is recorded that she was pleased with her work when she instructed me so.”
“Light Shadow?”
“It is recorded that she also uses the name ‘Penumbra’ as an approximation of her given name.”
Luna looked from side to side, taking in all the familiar features again. “Modeling my home with Tia was a gift.”
“So stated Light Shadow, and so it is correct.”
“I suppose I can just ask her later, assuming she gives me the chance.” Luna advanced on the manifest spirit. “Where are the books?”
“It is recorded that you know where your library is, Princess Luna. But if you will permit a minute of your time to be used, I was commanded to give messages to Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, and Queen Chrysalis upon meeting them. Will you allow me to discharge her command?”
Luna didn’t hesitate; the chance to gain some personal insight into this ‘Penumbra’ if only through her choice of words was too great to pass up. “I will.”
“Your consideration is helpful, and appreciated. You will receive her message to you where you received guests in your home, when you lived in it.”
Luna quirked an eyebrow at the spirit. “You can’t just give it to me?”
“I cannot. However, I can be called upon wherever you or your companions are by the use of the phrase ‘librarian please assist’.” The manifest spirit’s expression, previously frozen into one of vague, vacant pleasantness became a pleased smile. “It has been centuries since I was last able to aid seekers of knowledge. I regret that my services were so off-putting to those charming du Dune gentleponies that they kept others away all this time.”
And then he had vanished, between one blink and the next, just as he had appeared.
“Well then,” Nightmare said. “That’s an… odd way to create a manifest spirit.”
“Odd how?” Luna said.
“Typically, a manifest spirit represents the thing it’s a manifestation of,” Nightmare said. “With the Quarantine Flag, for example, the manifest spirit represents the artifact, totally controlling it and bound within it. This manifest spirit seems more like a caretaker who has access to its power--the repeated phrase ‘it is recorded’ means that he probably has access to all of the information in the Archive--but doesn’t represent it. He’s not in control, but obeys Penumbra.”
“Odd that she’d require me to go to my antechamber to receive a message she left for me,” Luna said. “Perhaps she means to do what Zambet did: project her presence somehow and converse with me. About what, I can’t imagine, but I, Tia, and Queen Chrysalis represent the entire leadership of pony nations so I’m sure that’s related in some way.”
“Then you’d best go and find out what she has to say,” Thalia said. “I’ll see if there’s a way to formulate what we’re after to minimize our exposure to the Archive’s allure.”
“If you’d like me to go with you, Selune…”
Luna shook her head. “I doubt she’d have overlooked your possible presence, Nacht,” she said. “It would be unusual to say the least if her Father didn’t mention the Dread Queen of Nightmares.”
“He’d have called me ‘Meinnacht’ but point taken.” Nightmare seemed to hesitate a moment, as if she was thinking of adding something, before she gave Luna a smile that reminded Luna strongly of Tia--mouth closed, crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes, radiating warmth--before turning away to begin a conversation with Thalia.
The way to her room, even after a thousand years had passed, was so familiar that Luna was sure she could walk it blindfolded. The obsessive attention to the most miniscule detail--even down to the difference in rug texture where the weaver had been forced to use a different regional wool for a few inches of a design--carried on through the walk and it lent a familiarity to it that was intoxicating.
And that was genuinely frightening.
The manifest spirit had called the duplication a gift, and Luna suspected that he was telling the absolute truth, but it was becoming clear that Penumbra had another purpose to it. The exactness of the replication almost smothered her in nostalgia and comfort, every little thing full of familiarity, wrapping her in a blanket of safety and peace--and not a bit of it was magic. Giving Luna a space that she instinctively recognized as home was an incredibly subtle way to put her off her guard, dull her senses, and distract her and it was made all the harder to fight because there was no magic to disrupt, no illusion to pierce, no runes to smear. And if she confronted Penumbra on it, the filly could quite compellingly deny any ulterior motives because there was no malice obvious or implied, and worst of all… Luna had no way to be certain that there were any reasons other than what Penumbra had conveyed via the manifest spirit.
Calculation like this took practice, lots of practice, and an understanding of the target that was nearly as good as being able to magically sift through their mind. She knows me, Luna realized as she continued to her room along the incredibly familiar hall, and all I know about her is what others have told me.
And then she opened the door to her room--she even duplicated the slight indentations from when Tia lost her patience and started to kick at the door to get my attention, how could she even know about that--the subtle fragrance of the alstroemerias she loved to decorate with swept out to enfold her, mingled with the mouth-watering aroma of ginger-camomile tea from a still-steaming cup that had been set on the side of the table she met dignitaries at, her side of the table as a point of fact.
Luna approached the cup cautiously, horn alight and probing for illusions, and then traps, and then any hint of poisons, and finally for any runescription on the black porcelain with hoof-painted designs of waterlilies in the moonlight. The cup was real, as was the tea, and there was no malicious magic or poisons about it. There was a simple preservation runescription--one that kept the contents fresh and at a constant temperature, and prevented the heat from evaporating the liquid--but no other runes that she could find. Satisfied that there was nothing dangerous about the tea, Luna seated herself on the comfortable bench, and picked up her very favorite tea blend to sip.
It was perfectly-steeped, rich with flavor, sweetened with a quarter teaspoon of honey the way she liked it, and there was a pleasant tang to it as well, something different than the norm but familiar in a way Luna couldn’t quite place.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Princess.” Luna raised her eyes from the cup to see a full-grown zebra mare standing there, looking quite pleased. Her pure black mane was long and woven with very familiar zebra ornaments--familiar, because Luna had spent time admiring the ancient Zebrican art pieces the last time she’d gone to visit the Caeser. These, however, had no visible signs of age and looked quite new.
Despite the tribal ornaments, however, Penumbra had ice-blue eyes that were very much not Zebrican but Luna had seen in many ponies, and a long horn that had been carefully and painstakingly ground into a point and capped with iron to make it a viable weapon. She also wore the iron shoes that professional hoof-fighters used, and a pair of bandoleers holding the various small pieces of a battlemagi’s kit.
“It seemed rude to refuse to hear your message,” Luna said evenly.
“And you wished to learn about me by examining my words and the precise way I said them.” Penumbra smiled and walked over, her footfalls having no impact on the ground, and magically levitated a chair out so she could seat herself, making it obvious that she was some kind of projection or illusion by not denting the cushion. “I expected no less of Equestria’s princess of war and espionage.”
“That was a thousand years ago.”
“The war part, perhaps.” A small clear glass of liquid and ice, topped with a sprig of chocolate mint, appeared in front of the illusion and she gunned it down with a sort of brisk motion before putting the empty glass down again. “But you cannot do your duty without slipping into minds and learning the deepest of secrets as you guard the dreams of ponies.”
“This is not a mere message,” Luna said, sipping her tea again.
“It’s a message, but it would be poor form to leave some sliver to speak to you and be unable to answer.” Penumbra tipped the glass onto a point of its rim and rotated it steadily, looking levelly at Luna. “We are long passed games, Princess Luna. You know what I’m trying to do, the artifact I’m seeking, and where the palace tower of the Crystal Empire was positioned when the capital was built. You know about Vorka and his experiments, the fate of your sister and of Canceros, and that I leveraged your niece and her friends into accompanying me on my journey. You know about Zambet and her contingencies, and I while I don’t know who she used one of them on, I suspect you do and that you wish to smite her for harming one of your little ponies.”
“Fluttershy.”
Penumbra grimaced and let the illusion of the glass return to level. “Naturally,” she sighed. “Naturally it would be the one Element I least wanted to see harmed in this endeavor. This will greatly complicate things.”
Luna eyed her. “You pretend a great deal of remorse for someone who tried to manipulate one of her servants into torturing Pinkie Pie.”
“It is genuine,” Penumbra said. “Disabling Laughter with exquisite agony was necessary; harming Kindness was neither necessary nor desirable. My only regret in regards to Pinkamena Pie is that I lacked the certainty in my alternate method to disable her harmlessly.”
“Would you have, if you could have?”
Penumbra smirked. “You think I would have preferred harm to Laughter, who never raised a hoof to me, when my means of dealing with Honesty attacking me was to let her bat me around while trying to talk her down?”
Luna’s stifled her reply and gave the zebricorn frown, and a slow nod. “That’s a reasonable point,” she admitted. “Did you genuinely not expect her to try to buck you through the nearest wall when she realized that you went to her home and spoke to her family?”
“I knew she would,” Penumbra said. “And for that reason, beyond my personal aversion to doing harm without good cause, I made sure that I did neither harm nor injustice to any pony in Ponyville while I was gathering food and drink for my guests.”
“Because if you had, you couldn’t have hidden it.”
“And Honesty would have known immediately, and harming Applejack could have easily become necessary,” Penumbra said. “Combined with the nearly crippling blow dealt by Zambet by disabling Kindness, it would have defeated my plans entirely. Fortunately, Applejack is unharmed and Fluttershy will recover in relatively short order.”
“After seeing the wreck your mercenary made of her, I have trouble believing that.”
Penumbra snorted. “I would have thought you’d be the last pony to underestimate the Elements, Princess. After they made their debut by pile-driving Discord into the bedrock, I’d have thought you’d error on the side of overestimating them.”
“I try not to make a habit of overestimating the powers available to me.” Luna sipped her tea. “You’d been described to me as a filly.”
“I am, for the moment. I can resume a form more appropriate to my age but it’s enormously uncomfortably and hideously humiliating.”
“It’s not an illusion then.”
“No.”
Luna considered this. Something to think about later, she decided after a moment. “It’s a bit cliche but I feel compelled to ask… why?”
“Because there is no harm in showing consideration,” Penumbra said. “Because it’s an artifact of a wonderful and beautiful time in history. Because I’m old, and nostalgic, and like to hold on to my little box of good things.”
Luna blinked and realized that she was referring to recreating the forest palace. “No, I meant…”
“I know what you meant Princess.” Another illusion of the drink with a sprig of chocolate mint appeared, and this time Penumbra sipped it instead of drinking it whole. “Although I meant every word I just said. But why am I doing this? Because I have spent over ten thousand years refusing the sword, while everyone else has failed.”
Luna didn’t have to fake her confusion. “Failed? Failed to do what?”
Instead of answering, Penumbra leaned back in her chair and looked at Luna, although something about her gaze made Luna think that the illusion of the zebricorn wasn’t really looking at her. “I want for very little,” she said after a moment. “I have relatively few ambitions and even fewer desires. A bit of lovely land near the sea where I can build a simple cottage. Good food and drink, and some basic comforts. Safety and security for a mate, should I desire one, and for foals should I adopt any. I’ve never really wanted the world, or to rule it, or conquer it, or exploit it. I’ve only ever wanted the world to leave me alone, and naively left it alone in the hopes that I could just exist as I pleased, with my simple things.
“My lack of grand desires is probably why you were confused when you were told of someone out there who was the most ancient living being you’ve heard of, but you’d never actually heard about before.” Penumbra’s eyes shifted and focused on Luna. “I very much want to leave all you mortals alone to do whatever you please. You have nothing to offer me, and nothing I want. But I can’t do that because the lot of you refuse to stop bucking it up.”
“Bucking what up?”
“The world, Luna, the entire bucking world.” Although her expression remained impassive, Penumbra sounded angry. “The people I was born to lacked the resolve to bat down the sphinxes at first, and thousands died over nothing to achieve an agreement that gave everyone what they wanted and would have been achieved if someone had just said something. I could have been that someone, but I refused the sword. Leave the little mortals to their meaningless squabbles, I thought. Surely nothing bad could come of this, I thought. It would have only taken someone to lose their mind for a split second and just yell what they wanted at the other person, but no, it couldn’t have been that easy. It never is.
“I might have prevented much of the suffering that led the griffons to establish the Provinces as they are. Stopped a few wars, ended a few famines, stopped a grisly plague, saved so many lives but I refused the sword. It wasn’t my place, I thought. These are things that they have to work out by themselves if a solution is ever to be achieved, I thought. There were so many decision points along the way, Princess, where an immortal battle-shamaness of a tribe that even by then had been long forgotten could have done a great deal of good. But I? I refused the sword, and suffering came. Because I trusted that the lot of you could smooth out your own petty squabbles, and advance my goals without even the gentlest touch upon your destinies.
“And so it went, Luna. Preventing the rise of the succession of Storm Kings among the yetis; how many lives have been destroyed by them, I wonder? But I refused the sword, being such a wise and tolerant girl.” Penumbra practically spat ‘wise’ and ‘tolerant’ as she said the words. “Broken the squabbling dragon lords until they united under the strongest centuries before you did… but I refused the sword. The dragons are mighty, I said to myself, and wise and they can surely work it out without a nosy little zebra filly to interfere. Better to leave them to struggle. It would ennoble them, allow them to overcome their troubles by themselves and have a better foundation to build on, I thought. I wonder if Synge would have still suffered the bellyrot from being weaned in a dank cave instead of the airy one she belonged in? Guess we’ll never know, will we?
“And then we came to you two.” Penumbra’s eyes narrowed, the first time in her recitation that her face reflected her voice at all. “Born unicorns, but ascended to a higher plane through forging a bond to the forces of Order and Chaos and embodying the Graven Light and Mutable Dark. Sisters by adoption--I remember it, even if neither of you do--but as much family as if born from the same parents, the Royal Sisters, the Princess of Sun and Moon respectively. The dual rulers, to occupy the Dual Thrones, one a warrior who tore down evil in the name of her people, the other a glorious queen whose maternal wing sheltered all. You had so many potential. You were perfect for the task of bringing my paradise to be without me saying a word or doing a thing. I refused the sword again; I left matters to the rulers who would stretch the cooling shade of peace over a world thirsting for justice, for mercy, for abundance, and for safety. I could rely on you, I thought. The two of you embodied everything required in a perfect monarch, balancing each other’s flaws, each containing a part of that ideal. In time, everyone would serve you gladly, should serve you gladly, I thought.”
Penumbra stood silently, staring, before she leaned forward and her ice-blue eyes glowed. “And then a petty malcontent fanned a couple sparks to flame, and that feeble sister of yours sent your army away and you did NOTHING to stop her!”
Luna involuntarily reeled back from the sudden crescendo from a normal speaking voice to a deafening roar that put the Royal Canterlot Voice to shame, staring, momentarily shocked at the sudden surge of anger from the illusion. After a moment, Penumbra’s glowing eyes dimmed back to normal and her face slid into the placid expression again.
“And that is when I knew I could not refuse the sword again. You two were the last hope; Nachtmiri Mein engineering your sojourn on your moon for a thousand years was just a coda to a cacophony where a symphony once played. Over ten thousand years of waiting patiently, of refusing my impulse to make things better, of putting aside my accumulated power and knowledge out of a sense of duty, a belief that the gardener must allow the flowers to bloom, and it came to nothing. Things were worse than ever after that fundamental failure, and so I made a decision. I would step into that dark place that is rightly called ‘evil’ to do what must be done. I would finally discard my foolish notions of a gentle touch, and I would do things my way this time. No excuses, no promises, no forgiveness, no second chances, no kindness, and certainly no hesitation. I will have my peaceful seaside cottage, Princess Luna, to look out across the sea and watch the sun rise on a world made glorious and beautiful by my labors.
“We have reached the end of the game. I and my Father have dealt with the interloper who was arrogant enough to believe that they could take my world from me and make it their plaything. Their loss is assured; there can be no recovery from the blow we’ve dealt by feeding that pestilence to the Physician.”
“So Thalia was right about that.”
“Yes.” Penumbra smiled slightly. “I stole one of the interloper’s pawns, played at using it well, then cast it into the fire. With my competition dealt with, I move to finish my antagonists.”
“We weren’t your enemies before…”
“Nor are you my enemies now,” Penumbra said. “The antagonist is the one who opposes the protagonist; they aren’t necessarily the villain. You may esteem me your enemy, but I see the lot of you as mere obstacles to overcome, not adversaries to grind under my hoof. You would oppose me even if I didn’t take certain actions to secure my path before walking it; I just regret that I was forced to do this now instead of during the reign of Chidinida and Shining Armor’s grandchild.”
Luna blinked at her. “Their… grandchild.”
“Yes.” A gesture replenished the illusionary glass and she began sipping again. “Had I been permitted to wait, I could have simply walked into the reborn Empire with a disguised Zambet at my side, strolled up to the Crystal Heart, and implemented the final phase of my plan. Everything would have been perfect, few if any people hurt, but alas.”
Luna tried to maintain a straight face for her question, but the absurdity of it made her grin. “I don’t suppose you’re going to reveal your master plan in a villainous monologue.”
Penumbra had been in the middle of a sip and the question made her snort; based on the momentarily pained expression, Luna guessed that whatever was meant to be in the glass was extremely strong alcohol, although making an illusion do such a natural thing as their eyes watering from sneezing strong alcohol struck her as odd. “That would be so gloriously cliche that it’s very tempting,” she said after an illusionary cloth appeared for her to blow her nose, another oddly alive gesture, “but that would endanger many ponies I wish to keep from harm.”
“I didn’t expect that you would reveal your full intent.” Luna swallowed the last of the tea in her cup. “So is this your message? Explaining your motives and engaging in small talk?”
“No, this was me indulging in a desire to speak with a mare whom I’ve admired for some time.” Penumbra’s avatar stood. “The message I wished to deliver is this: I intend to shatter the wheel of destiny to which all ponykind is yoked. I do not wish to harm you, or your sister, or any other pony; having chosen to regard this entire world as specifically mine, I prefer to protect you all. But I will not accept defeat; please do not compel me to harm anyone by putting them in my way.”
Luna sighed and nodded. “You know I can’t just leave this be.”
“You wouldn’t be a portion of the perfect monarch if you knew of a danger to your people, and did nothing,” Penumbra inclined her head deeply. “But I had to ask, nonetheless. Fare well, Luna; until we meet again.”
“Why the Heart?” Luna said as the illusion began to visibly destabilize, the clear sign of whatever was powering it coming to a halt.
“It’s the only one I have any right to use.” Penumbra smiled broadly. “It’s an artifact of love, after all, and the love of home resonates as surely as the love of another.”
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So wait, Penumbra is from the Crystal Kingdom? Is that what she's saying???
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Well, she wasn't right then but I think that would be a sort of cool angle to play, don't you think? :)
Also, as in canon, it's the Crystal Empire, not the Crystal Kingdom.
174 likes?! Owo
I hate/jealous of you/this story
10176049
Well, I hope I can address the hate and increase the love. Any particular things about it you love or hate? :) As my author's notes say, I'm a junkie for feedback.
10182392
I'm sure I will. I'll be giving this a signal boost in the few Discord MLP servers I belong to. This story deserves more attention, though like you said the wait between chapters can cause drift.
As I continue, I'll post any comments I have, particularly anywhere I think there is criticism needed but I don't think there will be any big structural complaints from what I've seen so far.
10182877
I'm trying to cut down on the wait but it can be tricky to get an idea just right. Things will become easier soon.