Three Queens
Princess Mi Amore di Cadenza Allegretta was in a foul mood. Her normally cheerful and open demeanor had been replaced with one that radiated anger and ill wishes, and she felt herself becoming irrationally angry over the slightest things. Much as she tried to hide it, by the time the day had come up on noon, she was simply unable to interact with other ponies. So, in a fit of childish pique, she had snatched several books from the library, growled her thanks at the unfortunate pony who had checked them out for her, and retreated to a private room near the very top of one of the tallest towers in Canterlot Castle.
She hated these feelings, but Celestia had told her that they would get more frequent as time went on. And she supposedly had it easy. The effects of a soulbind were no laughing matter for anypony, and even back in the wild days, when Luna’s scholars and lovers both had been locked in this magical state, the Princess of the Night was always gentle with them until they were spent. How had Luna done it, dealing with this unbalanced feeling? How had she put up with the dull aches, the vivid dreams, the sudden and unpredictable bursts of magic? She feared to use the power she had so recently wielded with ease. Indeed, the book she had in front of her now was being turned by hoof, something she had not done since she was a filly. It was oddly relaxing, in a way. She could focus on the information contained within, without having to focus on the magical grip she used to turn the pages themselves.
Though she had done so a hundred times already, she was currently looking through a book Celestia had taken from a house up north, or rather, a House. In it was contained her family tree, something she had never been too curious about until she had spoken with Twilight four years ago…her hoof went to one cheek, and she rubbed the scabbed flesh on it absently. The symbol was very clear and detailed, something that never failed to surprise her. She had attempted to remove it herself, one year after Twilight had placed it there. The pain had been indescribable.
Rather than dwell on the scar, she chose to focus on an unexpected positive, the enjoyable diversion she had found in tracing her family line. She had never been one to spend hours at a time in the library, preferring to be around other ponies, but she had enjoyed finding her relations among other ponies, and tracing her family line back as far as she could. Using the resources offered by Canterlot’s Archives, she was able to track down any surviving members of her family.
They were few and far between, scattered across Equestria, most living in quiet obscurity. All were loyal to Celestia, loyal to a fault. Except, of course, for the largest and most prominent group of family she had left. The Allegretta clan of Pegasi, one of whom was acting as Twilight Sparkle’s right hoof and lover, her family in the grasp of that unicorn who had attacked her, loving Twilight instead of her, the only family she had ever met being the only part of her family that hated her, all because of Twilight Sparkle…
She snapped the book shut, focusing on maintaining her self control, refusing to allow her emotions to run rampant, even though that was exactly what she encouraged in ponies. No, there would be nothing gained from losing her emotional center.
But she needed something to distract her from this bad mood of hers. So what would it be? She wanted nothing to do with anypony right now, not a thing. Except, of course, Shining Armor. For him, she was always able to make time. Seeing an opportunity, she thought of him to the exclusion of all else.
He was losing control fast, Shining Armor. The day he had collapsed at his desk had been his last day of acting as Commander of the Royal Guard, honorably suspended from duty by order of Princess Celestia herself, who, as usual, had filled in for her sister, who was indisposed. He had been spending the intervening time at home, attempting to maintain a level of health and fitness appropriate for the Guard, checking over the machinery that had replaced his leg, reading reports and orders that had been signed off by his replacement, and nearly everything else he could think of to keep himself occupied. His attacks were getting more frequent, and Celestia was sure that he didn’t have much longer to go. Possibly a month, perhaps less. The longer he lasted, she had said, the greater his chances of making it through unscathed were.
They truly were a pair, Cadance thought, smiling to herself. Fifteen years ago, he was considered the most eligible bachelor in Canterlot, if not Equestria, and she held equal position among mares. It was, of course, a perfect match. The ceremony had been…less than perfect, but Twilight Sparkle had pulled through and ensured that they were happy together…Cadance shook her head, choosing to focus on something other than her. She and Shining Armor had always been a high profile couple, even before he had officially proposed, and she still considered it a strange miracle that Twilight hadn’t caught wind of it…damn it!
She tried to focus on Shining Armor once again. He was a perfect gentlecolt, understanding and supportive, and she loved him with all of her heart. Their marriage was something out of a storybook, as were the marriages they had attended for the Bearers. Celestia had ordered her to keep her hooves off of the marriages, and let the Elements work for themselves. She had been pleased with the results, as far as she could tell. Each of the Elements had found their soul mates, and she did not lift a hoof to nudge them. Indeed, the only marriage she had hoped for in recent time had been the one for Twilight…
Anger filled her once more. Fine, she couldn’t think about Shining Armor without thinking of Twilight. That she could understand. But he was her only distraction, and she needed a distraction right now. Her mind cast about for a solution, and she quickly found one. Granted, Celestia had said not to do it too often, as it could potentially speed the process of the soulbind, but she needed this. Her horn lit up, and with a rush of air she vanished from the tower.
With a loud *bang*, she reappeared in the middle of the suite she shared with Shining Armor, who looked up from his desk, surprised at his wife returning home early.
“Cadance! You’re back? Is something wrong?” he asked, setting his papers aside.
“Shut up and come here.” she growled, as her horn lit up, lifting him off of his chair and carrying him behind her as she opened the door to their bedroom. She flung him onto the bed, kicking the door closed behind her, and stripping off her regalia. She did not climb into bed so much as jump headfirst into it. She turned to face her husband, drawing him in close.
“Distract me.”
And he did.
Luna was on the moon once more. White, chalky dust as far as the eye could see, while the blue pearl of her home gleamed in the sky above. She took in the beauty of the stars. She remembered exactly when the moon had looked like this. It was at the very beginning of her eight hundred and seventy eighth year of exile. She had just finished blasting that hole into the rock with her magic, where it lay alongside a row of seven others. Most ponies assumed that she had been literally imprisoned in the moon, as if she had been buried with a shovel and pail, or else she had been dispelled and spread across the moon, causing it to show the massive symbol of her darkest side, that fierce horned pony. But such was not the case, and in fact Luna had spent the first months of her exile flying aimlessly across the barren surface of the moon, testing the boundaries of her prison.
She could only fly so high before her wings refused to work, causing her to sink back down. Aside from that, she was free to go where she wished and do as she wished, an oddly gentle prison for a creature that certainly was not gentle. It was not until her nine hundredth year of exile that she, as Nightmare Moon, had begun working herself into a good froth once more. In the intervening time, she had perfected several mathematical and magical theories, composed entire languages, and created works of art in her honor. There were, of course, several monuments and statues dedicated to her sister, none of them at all nice. But it was not any of these she had considered her greatest work, certainly not when compared to what lay before her, what she was now visiting in her mind.
Before her lay a city, a grand metropolis of lunar rock and dust, greater than even their city had been, back when Celestia and Luna had ruled together. All of it built to the glory of the Nightmare, and more importantly, just to spite herself, all built entirely by hoof. She had used magic exactly twice in building the city. Once to gather iron and forge it into tools, and once to set an eternal light burning in the Palace of the Night, located in the center of the city. She was not sure if it was visible from Equestria, but it didn’t matter. She had built it on the dark side of the moon, anyway.
And now she wandered through the empty streets, each house still pristine, each block of stone familiar. Those had been easy to stack on top of one another, as things seemed to weigh far less here. The problem had been finding ways to ensure they stayed put, without magic. By notching them, however, she had solved her problem. That solution had taken her the better part of a year to perfect.
She hadn’t built the entire thing at once, of course. At times she grew weary, and would wander off to practice speaking, preparing for the day she would return and usher in eternal night. Well she knew the effects of outside influence on language, and so she extrapolated based on what she thought might have affected Old Equestrian. In the end, she had come up with three or four different languages, complete with grammar and syntax, for her return. She had been extremely pleased to find one of her guesses mostly correct, and with a little adjustment, she had been able to make herself understood.
She had finished the city, which she had chosen to call Astropolis, and had spent one hundred and fifty two years brooding in her castle. But it was not for this purpose that she had returned to the city in her mind. She did not wish to brood, she had no desire for angry contemplation. Closing her eyes, she sat through one hundred and twenty two years of exile in a moment, passing through each moment of exquisite madness in a heartbeat, until at last she stood before her throne, on the day of her return. She had broken the no magic rule in her last year, scrambling as she constructed her army as it had stood at its peak, fifty thousand strong. She created near every face from memory, and armed them all with spears and armor she had forged in an instant from lunar iron. Her stone army stood on the parade ground below her as the stars gathered power, ready to allow her to free herself. She stood on the balcony overhead, looking out over the assembled ranks, bidding them all farewell. Her last act as Queen of Astropolis had been to create a perfect likeness of herself, a surrogate queen for her surrogate subjects.
Then the stars called her home, and from the balcony she had shot, watching as the imposing castle, the parade grounds, all of her armies and the entire city she had created sank into the ground, all turning to rubble and ruin. Uncaring, she had soared into the sky once more, bringing one thousand years of Lunar power to bear against her sister at the moment of her triumph and locking her inside of the sun. Into the bright moonrise she had soared, faster than the light itself, and into a new and glorious reign Nightmare Moon had thrown herself.
Of course, that had not happened. The moon faded, as Luna hung limply in her chains, back in her cell once more. She had been beaten by Twilight Sparkle, and for that she thanked her. However, her salvation had come at a cost. For over a decade she had watched, helpless and waiting for an opportunity to set things right, to restore some semblance of balance to the world. She wondered if she was right to have helped Celestia seal Discord away.
Now that was insanity. Discord was destructive, no way about it. Celestia was the only one who would be willing to preserve existence, the very thing they had been born to guide. But that was the problem, was it not? She had failed to preserve balance. She had failed at her purpose.
No.
Twilight Sparkle yet lived, she still fought to rein Celestia in. So long as she was able to avoid capture, she would be able to maintain some semblance of balance. She remembered what had been said years ago, that Twilight would try and rescue her. She certainly hoped it would be soon, else Twilight would have no way to counter Celestia’s next move. And if she could not, then one thousand years on the moon would be the least of Luna’s worries.
“What do you mean, missing?” the white unicorn said, all sense of decorum thrown out of the nearest window as she confronted her monarch.
Celestia had done many difficult and frightening things in her lifetime. She had sealed Discord in stone, banished her own sister to the moon, and had managed existence for the entirety of that period in the absence of her sister. That said, she almost wished to be doing those things now. But she could not afford to lose her temper or calm right now.
“She was being detained under my authority. For some reason, she was picked up during the arrest of Ever Free rebels and held for questioning as a matter of procedure. The last I had heard about it, she was being detained for further questioning because of contraband found in her saddlebags. As soon as I heard that we had lost contact with the post she was being held in, I contacted you.”
Rarity breathed deeply and quickly in an admirable attempt to compose herself. She had grown, both in stature and social presence, after she had taken up her Element and moved to Manehatten. Though she did not have the elegantly tall figure of, say, Fleur Di Lis, she possessed a magnetism that drew the eye in any situation, and she carried herself with the confidence of somepony who was attractive, and quite aware of it. Her mane had been cut into a short bob, though her tail remained long. She had, however, opted to straighten it out of its signature curl. The Element gleamed at her neck, it having taken on the form of a short diamond necklace with a single amethyst that hung at her throat. It was a credit to Rarity’s natural poise and beauty that she remained quite attractive, even in the middle of an entirely justified breakdown.
“But…I don’t understand! What in the world was she doing in Trottingham, of all places?” Rarity asked.
“That’s just it, Rarity. I don’t know. All I know is that she was arrested and held for questioning.”
“By who?”
Celestia sighed. “Are you familiar with the Equestrian Intelligence Program? Besides your work with Sun Division, that is.”
Rarity nodded. “Yes, I am. It’s divided into three sections, Sun, Moon, and…oh my word, are you saying that she was held by DAWN DIVISION?”
Celestia fought the urge to wince. “Yes, she was detained by Dawn Division, they were in charge of the team that made the arrest.”
Rarity began to panic in earnest. “Sweetie Belle was taken by the Roses, she’s as good as dead, my sister is gone…”
Celestia exerted a bit of will, and when she spoke, her voice rang with command. “Rarity! Calm down!”
The necklace at her throat flashed as Rarity immediately quit babbling. Celestia breathed out through her nostrils. “I apologize for having to do that, you know I do not enjoy it. But we must remain level-headed. Now, here is what we know. Please remain quiet until I have told you everything I know. Alright?”
Rarity nodded.
“Here is what we know. Moon Division informed me that Sweetie Belle was met last week by several ponies, and shortly after she left the city. She headed to Trottingham, and stayed somewhere under a false name. She was spotted three days later entering the Abbey of the Paladin, and meeting with a pony inside, who turned out to be an operative of the Ever Free. The name is classified, and I don’t want this getting around, but we know that the operative was Scootaloo, a Pegasus I believe your sister knew growing up. She was detained for a total of two days, at which point a strike team of Ever Free fighters broke in, killed the operatives we had stationed inside, and took both of them and another dangerous Ever Free member away. Where, we do not know. No magic was used in the attack except to blow the door open.”
Rarity’s brow wrinkled. “Scootaloo? The Pegasus with the small wings?”
Celestia nodded. “She’s a very good smuggler now, and hard to track down.”
Rarity gave a despairing laugh. “Just like when she was a filly, then. Scootaloo was always the one who seemed to lead them into the most trouble.”
Celestia removed herself from her throne, descending the dais in order to speak with her Bearer.
“Rarity, I know this must be hard for you. I’ve already sent Rainbow Dash orders to go to Trottingham and lead a search there. The city is on lockdown, especially along the river, where most of the rebels try to get in and out. I brought you here so you could make an informed decision about what to do next. Should you desire to meet Rainbow Dash there, I will arrange for transportation. However, if you would prefer to stay here, and be informed of events as they unfold, I will be more than happy to keep you in the loop. If you like, I can have somepony escort you to the house Sweetie Belle was staying in, perhaps you can find some clue that we have overlooked.”
“I…I am not sure what to do, Your Majesty. This is quite different from anything Sweetie Belle has done before. I’m not sure how to handle it.” she said, slumping down dejectedly.
Celestia knelt down, looking her in the eye. “Rainbow Dash and the Solar Wing, for all their speed, will not reach Trottingham for two days yet. As somepony who has experience in having lost a sister, would you like my advice?”
Rarity nodded. “If you have advice, I’d love to hear it, Princess.”
“Spend a day here. Look through her home, see if you can find anything. Then go and find your sister. She needs you as much as you do her. With two Bearers in Trottingham, things will go much more easily.”
“That is good advice, Your Highness. I think I will take it.” Rarity said, getting to her hooves. “And with two of us searching Trottingham, it’s only a matter of time before we find her, and bring her home.”
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Well done. The last in the roundup is Rainbow. I guess I'll just have to see if Celestia has put overt pressure on her thoughts through her Element or not in the upcoming chapters. And now that I understand it better, the soulbind makes sense. After all, the (weighted?) average of infinity and one hundred is still infinity, or if she's just incredibly long lived, still millennia longer than Shining's natual lifespan. The talk of it not taking is rather concerning, though. Huh, will his foreleg regenerate? If he takes more damage, can it be regenerated?
And now we need to know what Luna knows that Twilight should know but probably doesn't know.
Okay, back to feeling bad for Luna. I am guessing the crazy might have been an act to keep Celestia wondering.
Rarity won't find a trace of Sweetie in Trottingham. Or her house. Her Sister will have vanished without a trace...
Good chapter!
Good to see an answer to the question of the mates of the other element bearers being actual romantic interests and not play actors, or at least as far as Cadence knows at any rate. Trottingham is going to go to hell in the very near future it seems.
1642287
My friend, you have no idea.
Lol, angry sex.
Still have no idea what the soulbind is all about.
Really, Celestia? You would rather be banishing your own sister to the moon again instead of dealing with Rarity. Hmph, I guess that love for your sister was just a ploy. Guess I shouldn't be surprised.
1642796
Probably a figure of speech.
Probably.
1642823
1642835
Looking forward to more. Though I am interested to see how this plays out...
1642287
Oh they were most definitely play actors.
In ANY instance of love at first sight I fully expect to see Celestial intervention involved. (Cadance is not the only one able to use mind powers to the relationships of her subjects). Every single one of them happened under suspicious circumstances. Meet, fall in love and marry in very short order all while being under the influence of Celestia and the Elements? Celestial intervention ... Definitely.
Why she did it? Don't know. Maby she really really loves controling the lives of her subjects. She did create cutie marks after all ...
1643206
Well, we know she had been manipulating their bloodlines heavily to get them to be the elements due to the discoveries Twilight made in Webs. Celestia definitely had a hoof in choosing who they fell in love with, and, as I recall, she was even going to chose the foal Rarity was planning to adopt, but she has a hoof in everything, her long range planning abilities being the only saving her from being almost incompetently evil.
Morning Glory was out and out evil though and as far as we know about the others, they don't seem to be more than just fellow pawns in the way Cadence's were. Their meeting was engineered, but their love was real kind of thing.
great chapter!
wow, that was a lot of foreshadowing. the soulbinding thing have been ongoing for quite a while, but now we know that trottingham is gonna be turned upside down by rarity and that luna's time is running out.
GAWD DAYUM EET CELESTIA
you haven't re-banished luna have you?!?!?!?
they won't find sweetie belle
at least...i hope they won't
lol, rage-sex
love how Celestia acts like banishing Luna was a terrible thing for her, I very, very much doubt it with how she acts now
(unless of course her sister's banishment made her go insane for lack of equilibrium, in which case both sisters failed their job, Luna by falling, Celestia by both probably not trying that hard to catch her before it got bad and everything she's doing now)
Oh my god.
The lunar capitol is essentially a giant lego structure.
Wait, wait, wait. Hold the phone.
Shining isn't going to question this sudden mood swing in his normally-cheerful wife? He's not going to ask her what the hell's going on and if he can help? He doesn't have a single concern when Cadance more or less tosses him into bed and tells him to sex her up or else?
Maybe he just thought she was in heat.
Sounds like my Fridays when my girlfriend gets off work.
3278496 So much yes.
mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/mlfw831_medium.jpg
3278496
Ever play with Linking Logs? When building log houses, they actually notched the logs to make the joints. Even when building cabinets, they put notches and tongue grooves in place to make a better fit.
The notch doesn't have to be LEGO in shape; in fact, that would have created more work than less. It was more like a series of tongues and groves, to better fit the blocks around it. That's my understanding anyway.
Oh Celestia, giving advice on relationships?
Oh, how to torpedo them, that's better.
So, this seals it. Celestia can exert the control over bearers, but they're no longer under her complete influence and are aware of when that happens. Neat-o!