The Mystic and The Mundane

by Equus Pallidus

Chapter 2

Now that she had had a chance to be on both sides of it, Twilight had to admit how effective that particular tactic was. After Dash had explained what the purple unicorn had meant (in as little detail as possible, naturally), the others had almost immediately accepted the truth of Twilight’s identity. Applejack had held out briefly, contending that there could be two changeling imposters, until Dash had mentioned “the special pitchfork.” The orange earth pony’s cheek flushed as red as the apples in her cutie mark, and she had relented. Twilight had smirked at the brief exchange, guessing it had a similar significance to her own pronouncement, and released the protective barrier…only to be tackled, for the second time that day, by an emotional pegasus. Fluttershy had fairly launched herself at the lavender mare the instant the shield dropped, tears streaming down her cheeks as she rambled an apology to Twilight, begging the unicorn to forgive her, and not have the Princess banish her, then imprison her in the place of her banishment. The royal protégé had smiled softly and hugged her timid friend, assuring her, and by extension the others, that she understood their motive and wasn’t going to hold the…unpleasantries against any of them. With her free hoof, she had gestured for the others to join them, and the seven had shared a brief group hug.

Of course, while the issue of her identity had been resolved, there was still the matter she had gathered her friends for in the first place to deal with – the results of her research. And so, the six ponies once more found themselves seated in a rough circle, the party cannon once again stored…wherever it was Pinkie stored it, while Spike rummaged in the kitchen, fetching juice and snacks. Twilight took a moment to reinforce the privacy spell, quickly sealing a few minor flaws that had begun to develop in the ward. She hesitated as her mental probe passed the window in her bedroom; rather than a single fissure formed as the delicate magic pulled itself apart, she felt a spider’s web of tiny gaps, radiating from a central point. She shivered slightly as she repaired the cracks, recognizing them as the results of an attempt to pierce the spell. An exceedingly powerful attempt. Any pride she felt in the confirmation of her ability to ward against that kind of power was vastly outweighed by the realization that at least one Princess was aware of the spell, was aware she was hiding herself from their sight. She considered the merit of weaving a secondary enchantment into the first, to warn of further attacks against the barrier, dismissing it wearily. She’d already been forced to expend more of her magical reserves than she’d intended to, and it seemed she might not have time to let them replenish. She reluctantly released her hold on her magic, the light around her horn fading as she opened her eyes, smiling weakly at her friends.

Applejack was the first to break the silence, though the farmer found herself unable to meet the unicorn’s eyes. “Twi, I’ve gotta ask…if’n you aren’t a changeling, then why the hay are ya’ll hiding us from the Princesses? Not that it rightly excuses our behavior, but…you hafta admit it’s mighty suspicious.” The tactless question earned her a disapproving glower from Rarity, but Twilight merely shook her head.

“No, you’re right. I admit, I’ve been behaving strangely for months, keeping secrets, hiding things from all of you. If I’d been in your place, I would have been worried, too. And yeah, the idea of me wanting to hide something from the Princess is about as out of character as Dash wanting to go for a leisurely stroll, or Fluttershy building a bonfire out of bunnies,” she began, eliciting a groan of disgust and a squeal of terror, respectively, from the two pegasi. “You have to understand…sometimes, it feels like everything I’ve done since she made me her student, Princess Celestia has expected. Every spell I mastered, she smiled, and she nodded. Every test I passed, she smiled, and nodded. Every last success I’ve ever had, she’s smiled, and she’s nodded. And I know that isn’t something to be ashamed of. She’s a goddess, a literal goddess, and I can keep up with whatever she demands of me. It’s just…” she paused as she felt composure slipping, tears beginning to well up. ‘Just that she won’t acknowledge you as more than her student?’ she teased herself with a snicker. “Just that I’m tired of only being able to live up to her expectations,” she continued, pointedly ignoring her own cruelty. “Everypony is always going on about how clever I am, how much raw power I have, how much talent I have. I’ve done things no unicorn has done in centuries. I’ve bent time itself to my will! And she just smiles, and nods.” Twilight stomped her hoof against the hard wooden planks, as her friends stared at her, concern building. “The only times I ever see her shocked by something I’ve done is when I make a mistake, when I let her down. Like with Smartypants. Like with Chrysalis.” Her voice dropped lower, her eyes glistening as she struggled to hold back her pent-up frustration. ‘Now, now, what happened to telling your friends the whole truth? Let it all out, all that anger, all that pain. Let them see the real you…’ her inner voice cooed, sending chills down the unicorn’s spine. Though the words seemed kind enough for once, they were still tainted with the same malice she had come to expect from whatever dark corner of her mind that voice sprang from. Her friends all exchanged nervous glances; they may have been sure it was their friend sitting in front of them, but that didn’t necessarily make her any less dangerous. On reflection, a single changeling was far less of an immediate threat than a deranged Twilight Sparkle.

“Twilight, darling…I think I understand where you’re coming from, really, but…doesn’t this seem a teensy bit overdramatic? I mean, I’m certain the Princess is tremendously proud of all you’ve accomplished…” Rarity offered, trying to defuse the situation.

“Proud? Proud!” the other unicorn nearly shouted in response, the clotheshorse to recoiling instinctively. “I’m not concerned about her being proud of me. I already know she’s proud of me. She was proud of me when I reawakened the Elements of Harmony. She was proud of me when we sealed Discord. She had it all planned out. She has everything all planned out! She’s never surprised!” She punctuated the last word by slamming her forehooves into the floor, the hardwood dented by the impact. The sound of hoof against floor echoed in the silent library, accompanied by the sound of heavy breathing as Twilight recovered from her unplanned rant while each of her friends considered an appropriate response to the unicorn’s outburst.

It was a foregone conclusion that a unanimous agreement on the appropriate response was impossible between the six of them, especially without time away from the emotional mare to discuss their options. Between five of them, there was an unspoken agreement that one response was absolutely not the appropriate one. It therefore came as a shock to none of them that Pinkie was of course the first to find her voice, having latched on to the last word in Twilight’s tirade. “Is that what this is all about? You want to surprise the Princess?” the pink pony asked, her head cocked to the side. Before Twilight had a chance to respond, or the others had a chance to react, Pinkie was upright, bouncing happily around the library, a huge grin on her face. “Oh, oh! We could throw her a big party! With presents, and pies, and cakes, and cherrychangas, and chimicherries, and cakes, and then after, when she goes back to her room, there could be another big cake with purple frosting and when she gets close to it you jump out and…” The description was cut short as Rainbow Dash grabbed her fellow prankster, putting a hoof over Pinkie’s mouth.

“Pinkie, I’m pretty sure that this whole thing isn’t just because Twilight wants to surprise Princess Celestia,” the pegasus deadpanned, looking at the others for support.

“Actually, Dash, Pinkie isn’t entirely wrong,” Twilight explained, her emotions reined in somewhat, though not enough to suppress a hint of a blush as the others gaped at the sudden revelation. “Not about the details, but the reason I’ve been so secretive lately is because I want to finally give the Princess a pleasant surprise. Well, both Princesses, I suppose,” she quickly clarified, her horn flaring to life as she used her telekinesis to pull the scroll from her saddlebags and levitated it to her. Even though it was a freshly-made translation of the original, and a copy at that, she still treated the document with care as she set it on the floor before her. “Girls…since the Elements of Harmony reawakened, and they attuned to us, what’s been the biggest problem with actually using them?” she asked, slipping into her lecture voice.

“Um…being able to find the necklaces when we need them?” Fluttershy suggested quietly. “Oh, and your…big crown, too, of course.” She amended, afraid Twilight might have been offended by not explicitly including the Element of Magic. The purple mare smiled softly at her yellow friend, and nodded.

“Exactly, Fluttershy. Discord managed to steal them out from under us, and the changeling army blocked our path to them. Obviously, everything worked out alright in the end, but I don’t think anyone would argue it would have been a lot easier if we could have turned Discord back into a statue without bothering with the hedge maze and…the associated issues,” she added, delicately. Fluttershy and Rarity had each told her, privately, that they still had occasional nightmares about the maze and their inverted personalities, and she suspected the others did as well. She felt is best not to dwell on the event. “And at the wedding, how much damage, both physical and emotional, could have been avoided if we’d been able to blast Queen Chrysalis on the spot, instead of having to try to reach the vault? Yes, the Elements are incredibly powerful magic artifacts, and considering how much stronger they seemed to be the second time we used them as opposed to the first, it seems like they grow stronger the closer the six of us become as friends. But none of that will do us any good if the next major threat strikes while we’re in Manehattan, or Baltimare, or does anything to cut off our access to Canterlot.” She took another breath, her emotional turmoil from earlier calming with each passing word as she hit her stride, watching carefully to ensure her friends were keeping up.

“Now, back after we rebound Discord, after the ceremony, something occurred to me. There are, obviously, six Elements of Harmony, and there are six of us. Each of us represents a different facet of the power of friendship, and the gemstones let us manifest that power in a form I can manipulate. That’s all they do, though; the necklaces amplify the power within each of you, and my tiara allows me to control it, but they don’t actually generate any power on their own. The Princess told me afterwards that was why Discord…attacked us, the way he did. If all he’d done was make us hate each other, but left our personalities intact, we still would have represented the elements, so the magic still would have worked, if not as well. She, uh, also told me that trying to have Spike wear the Loyalty necklace was…not one of my smartest ideas.” The purple mare coughed in embarrassment as she recalled that particular decision. “She described it as ‘six souls, one power,’ and that the focusing gems were specifically attuned to each of our spirits individually.”

“Hang on, sugarcube. If it takes ‘six souls’ to use tha Elements, then how in tha hay did the Princesses manage to beat Discord? There aren’t more sisters that went crazy and had to be banished, are there?”

“As far as I know, Applejack, no, there aren’t any other corrupted alicorns floating around. I asked the Princess that same question, and she said that she and Luna had used an ancient ritual that changed how the Elements functioned.” She paused, remembering the odd look in her mentor’s eyes when she had mentioned the spell. “It concentrated the underlying magic, making it so that two beings could wield all six aspects and, more importantly for us, wield them without the crystal foci. Before I could even ask, though, she told me that she couldn’t remember the spell, and that the original source had been lost in an accident. She told me not to worry about it, since she was going to reinforce the wards on the vault and add a failsafe spell so that the six of us could access it if…something happened to her and Luna. The immediate problem – Discord stealing the Elements from the vault – had been solved, and the Princess didn’t think it was worth my time to try to recover the old spell. And then…that certain incident we don’t talk about came up, and then I started helping Luna integrate into modern society, and everything was going well, and I didn’t really have time to spend on what might have been a spell lost completely to the ages. Besides, Canterlot seemed impregnable at the time, so finding a way to make the Elements less cumbersome was a bit of a low priority.” She allowed herself a happy, lopsided grin as she scanned her friends. “After all, I had a sacred duty to make sure they were as powerful as possible when we needed them, and if that meant I had to spend as time with my friends, well, that was a sacrifice I just had to make,” she added in an exaggeratedly serious tone, unable to keep the mirth from breaking through at the end.

“Yeah, yeah, Twilight. We love you, too. Is this going to take much longer? I have important napping to catch up on,” Rainbow Dash groaned, having lost interest once it became apparent that Twilight intended to lecture at them, rather than prepare them to stage a daring raid to surprise the Princess. The unicorn rolled her eyes at the pegasus’ lack of enthusiasm, though her smile remained undiminished.

“Sorry, Dash. Just a bit more, but I promise, even you’ll admit this is worth it.” The pegasus muttered something as she slouched forward on the floor, head resting on the wood, and Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle at her friend’s embellished display of boredom. “Anyway, after the wedding, and the changeling attack, Canterlot didn’t seem quite so impervious, obviously. So…I started looking for the spell the Princess had mentioned. She’d said that the original spell had been lost, and I didn’t doubt she was right, but there are a lot of books in the Canterlot archives, and even more scrolls. There are vaults beneath the castle, some of them big enough to fit all of Ponyville and still have room left over, filled with ancient documents. There are so many, the archivists and librarians just kind of…gave up on organizing them, faced with all of the newer, more relevant information. Most of the contents of those vaults, the only information on any given text is the name, and location. So, I wondered if, even though the source the Princesses had used was lost, maybe, somewhere in that maelstrom of knowledge, there was a copy.

“The first few months were beyond frustrating. Considering most ponies thought they were a legend until we reawakened them, there are tons of material dealing with the Elements of Harmony, and I don’t mean that figuratively. There was one book that must have weighed two tons just by itself. Wider than the town hall, twice as tall, and twenty feet thick.” Twilight shuddered as she remembered the dread she felt at the prospect of challenging the monstrous tome. “Thankfully, that particular book is also one of the few examples of a complete work in High Draconic in the archives, so somepony else had translated it ages ago, and found out it was a work of fiction. Something about the Princesses and masks, and the Elements do something or other. The curator in charge said it was quite good, and even gave me a copy of the translation…its around here somewhere, but I’ve been busy, so…” Her derailed train of thought was checked by another groan from a certain pegasus. “Uh…right. Anyway, my point is, there was a massive, massive amount of content to sort through, trying to discern the scholarly works from the legendary accounts and outright fiction. I…started to go a little bit crazy, to be honest. It started to feel like somepony had intentionally left behind false leads and dead ends, just to stymie anyone looking for that particular spell. Then, a few months ago, just when I was starting to think I should give up, I…stumbled on something interesting.”

“Meaning you actually tripped over something, right?” Spike asked with a knowing grin as he peeked his head out of the kitchen. It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d seen his friend-slash-sister-slash-guardian accidentally solve a problem by taking the phrase, “tackle it head-on” literally. The crimson tingeing her cheeks confirmed his suspicion, and allowed himself a slight strut as he brought in a tray of sandwiches, hay fries, and glasses of apple juice, as well as a small dish of gems for himself.

“Spike! I did not trip over an ancient text and suddenly find the answer to my problem!” She corrected as the purple dragon distributed his load, pointedly ignoring the muffled laughter coming from Dash. Her assistant cast a disbelieving look at her, and she sighed. “I stumbled over a run in the carpet, slammed into a bookshelf, had an ancient text fall on my head, then land and open right to the same illustration from The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide, of the six Elements as cut gemstones,” she mumbled, rolling her eyes as the laughter stopped being muffled. “Yes, yes, the fact that I was nearly concussed by a falling book is hilarious, Rainbow Dash. Moving on! The book that…found me was an earlier record of the Elements, written when they were still considered history, rather than legend. Most of it was just information that the Princess had already explained, but the author, Ginger Flicker, referred those who were interested in the deeper workings of the Elements to three documents…all of which were in the archives. The first, Burgundy Glow’s Treatise on Harmony was a dead end, mostly concerned with the same history again, and didn’t cover any events before Discord was defeated the first time. The second, Ebon Feather’s Musings Regarding Accord was even worse. I mean, it was beautifully written, but it was just somepony’s thoughts on how both of the Princesses represented the Elements, and how everypony should strive to emulate them.

“The last scroll, though…it was old. Tremendously old. Older than the Princesses. Honestly, it’s amazing that it survived all these years. And it…it was what I was looking for.” She paused, and nodded her head reverently towards the scroll she had brought with her. “It took me months to translate it, but it was worth it. It’s a research journal, written by a sorceress named Diamond Crescent, who was tasked with developing spells to make the Elements more powerful, more versatile. I couldn’t translate all of it, but from what I could decipher, most of the spells she managed to perfect were kept in a separate tome, though she did leave enough notes that I could probably recreate some of them. But…she included one ritual in its entirety.” The unicorn’s eyes gleamed as she basked in her friend’s undivided attention, even Rainbow’s fickle concentration piqued by the reverence evident in Twilight’s voice. “It was the last entry she made, at least on this particular scroll. To quote, ‘I’ve finally done it…I’ve finished the ritual to concentrate the power of the Elements of Harmony within the chosen vessels.’ If it isn’t the spell Celestia and Luna used themselves…it must be similar. I don’t recognize every aspect of the spell, but the majority of the components are for redirecting, containing, and manipulating magic. The rest are probably just archaic forms of magic that fell out of practice since the ritual was developed.” She paused, allowing herself a brief silence for dramatic effect. “Girls…there’s nothing described on the scroll that’s beyond my abilities. I can perform this ritual, and the next time something evil shows up, we can just blast it with the Elements and get on with our lives. No more dark, monster-infested forests to navigate, no more mazes to get lost in, no more fighting our way through armies standing between us and some magic jewelry. No fuss, no muss, no ancient horrors trying to corrupt us or kill us, or whatever else ancient horrors might do. But I want everypony on board with it.” She looked out at her friends, grinned. “What do you say?”

The question hung in the air, none of the assembled mares seeming to want to be the first to replay. “Well…I don’t know, dear. Not that I’m doubting your analysis of the spell, of course; you’re clearly the expert on that,” Rarity broke the silence, her voice perfectly level, concealing with practiced ease the anxiety she felt. “I just…find it all a bit unusual, you see. You just happen to trip in the proper spot, and just happen to bump into the proper bookshelf, and just happen to dislodge the proper book, which just happens to open to the proper page? Doesn’t that strike you as a bit…strange?”

“Eh, not in Canterlot,” Spike answered casually between handfuls of gems. Five sets of eyes turned to stare at him incredulously. “What? There’s something about the Royal Libraries and Archives. You spend enough time looking for something, and eventually, you’ll trip, end up with a bruise or bump, nothing too serious, and whatever you’ve been looking for finds you. Nopony is sure why, and nopony really cares enough to find out, either. Just one of those things that happens.” He shrugged, surprised none of them had heard the stories before.

“I…see,” Rarity replied, hesitantly. She cast a surreptitious glance towards Twilight, mouthing ‘really?’ to her fellow unicorn. The purple mare simply nodded, returning a look of exasperated acceptance. “Well…in that case, and if you’re confident in your ability to perform the ritual safely, Twilight, I don’t see any reason not to.” The dressmaker paused a moment, her

mouth spreading into a sly smile. “Though I must say, I wouldn’t mind keeping the necklace, even if it isn’t strictly necessary afterwards. It’s a shame to waste such a gorgeous accessory.”

“Count me in, too!” Pinkie shouted loudly enough that the others flinched away from her. “I mean, yeah, I suppose I’ll miss the fun-adventure part of trying to stop whatever’s trying to kill us all, but if we stop them faster, that means we’ll have more time for the ‘We stopped the bad-guy’ party afterwards, and that’s way more fun than the fun we have trying to stop them, and it’ll be even better because we won’t be so tired from stopping them that we have to stop the party sooner,

and mmph mmphle mmf-”

Dash rolled her eyes as she gently pressed a hoof against Pinkie’s mouth, muffling, though not ending, the earth pony’s rambling thought process. “I’m with Pinkie. Sure, less time for everpony to see how awesome we all are, but more time later for everpony to tell us how awesome we all are,” the pegasus offered with her standard lack of modesty, earning her a rolling of the eyes from Appljack. “And let’s face it…with me around, they need all the time we can give ‘em, so they can have a little time to get around to the rest of you,” she added, smirking playfully as she flicked her gaze towards the orange mare. Twilight just shook her head at her friend’s bravado.

“Well, if everypony else wants to, I don’t want to be a bother. And…well, I suppose I wouldn’t mind not having to have quite so much…excitement, any time something scary tries to kill us all. It’s terribly stressful for all of my animal friends, after all,” Fluttershy offered, her face still partially tucked behind her mane, unable to bring herself to look Twilight in the eye after her earlier assault. The unicorn made a mental note to take the fragile mare aside once they were done, and convince her that she truly wasn’t angry. She then turned, as did the others, to look at the last of their number to speak.

Applejack had been sitting quietly as her friends expressed their approval, her eyes closed in thought. The fact that she knew her friends were watching her expectantly did nothing to hurry her thought process, nor did the sound of Dash’s free hoof tapping the floor impatiently. At last, she exhaled slowly and opened her eyes, fixing Twilight with a steely look. “Twi…Ah’ve gotta say, it’s a mighty appealin’ offer. No question it’ll make our lives easier next time somethin’ nasty shows up,” she drawled, her voice slow and even. “But…Ah think we both know there’s something you’re leaving out, sugarcube. Ah ain’t calling you a liar, but before ah say ‘yes,’ ah want to know what you aren’t tellin’ us.”

The accusation brought all attention back to the purple unicorn, her cheeks flushing faintly at the accusation. She’d hoped to keep the last details of the ritual secret, until after they’d all agreed. ‘And this after you nearly got yourself killed over your refusal to lie by omission…you just can’t seem to make up your mind today, can you? Could you at least do us both a favor and try to not make them nearly murder you again? I’m rather attached to the idea of you living, what with me being part of you, and all,’ she taunted herself, the unexpectedly genuine laugh at her own mildly morbid joke somehow worse than the sarcasm and casual cruelty she’d grown accustomed to. There were more pressing issues than her potential descent into madness, though. Nervously, her eyes darted around at her friends, their faces still blessedly free of any sign of murderous intent. She could only hope they’d remain that way. “Well, Applejack…there might be one…tiny detail I haven’t mentioned yet, about the actual performance of the ritual,” she said, forcing her voice to remain even, forcing her smile to remain on her face. “It isn’t anything…unpleasant, before you get the wrong idea. No forces of darkness to invoke, or any kind of messy sacrifice,” she added quickly, worried that Rainbow Dash might leap to a conclusion born from one too many Daring Do novels. “But, well, the ritual has to be performed under some fairly specific circumstances. It needs to be performed ‘when the sun and moon share the sky,’ so either dusk or dawn, and…okay, here’s the tricky part,” she paused, forcing her smile even wider, trying to set her friends at ease, and failing rather spectacularly.

“Wait for it…” Dash deadpanned, ignoring Pinkie’s muffled requests to have the hoof removed from her mouth.

“According to the scroll, we need to perform the ritual at a major ley nexus, one of the points where the magic that underpins the world collects and is at its strongest and most accessible,” the unicorn continued, ignoring the speedster’s remark. “Now, obviously, places like that are incredibly rare, extraordinarily powerful, and jealously guarded, usually with special chambers built around the heart of the nexus to contain and control the power. There are only five of them that are officially known to exist. One is at the heart of the Griffon Territories, revered as a gift from the Princesses to the Griffons and so sacred to them that only the current Grand Priest is even allowed to look at the door leading to the room that contains the nexus, on penalty of death. So, that one’s out.

“Another is in a cavern beneath an active volcano. The entire formation is full of magma falls and lakes of molten rock, and the temperature alone is enough to cook ponies alive without sufficient protection. Of course, the more pressing issue is that an ancient dragon has claimed the entire place as his lair. Nopony is entirely sure how long he’s been there, not even Celestia, but…it’s been a long time. Long enough for the exposure to the sheer magical power of the nexus to physically change the dragon. The few images of him all show him as this enormous monster, with scales so black they seem to drink in the light itself.” She dropped her voice, remembering with no small amount of dread the rest of the story. “It’s said that, if somepony were to cut through his armored flesh, the dragon would bleed magma, and that, if enraged, his anger could split the world in two. I asked the Princess about those stories, years ago…and she didn’t try to reassure me that it was just a legend.” Twilight shivered despite herself, remembering the distant look in Celestia’s eyes when her student had asked if the tales about the great leviathan were true.

“I…I vote against going near the terrifying, world-destroying dragon cave…if no one minds terribly,” came a whispered squeak, muffled slightly by the pillow Fluttershy was engaged in hiding under.

“Seconded,” the others all responded in surprisingly perfect unison. At least, they each assumed Pinkie was joining the chorus, her actual reply still muted by a pale blue hoof.

“The third nexus point is at the center of the Grand Fortress of the Minotaur Lords, but that place is a maze. Literally. It’s a massive, cubic labyrinth, a mile on each side, with a passage somewhere inside to the heart of the minotaur capitol. The minotaur’s supposedly have some kind of innate ability to navigate the place, but they’re generally xenophobic. And, even if we could get there, minotaur law forbids access to the chamber except under the most dire threats to their safety and survival. Again, under penalty of death.

“Option four…well, honestly, isn’t that daunting; it’s in the basement of Canterlot Castle. Across from a linen closet, actually. Which actually reminds me, if any of you ever stay at the castle, and your sheets are glowing…mention it to someone. It means one of the chambermaids has gotten confused again, and is storing the linens in the nexus chamber, and can cause all sorts of issues.”

“That one, that one! Let’s use that one!” Rarity nearly shouted, relief welling in her eyes at the mention of a non-lethal option for their quest. “It will be lovely. Take the train to Canterlot, have a nice dinner, do a little shopping, perhaps take in a show, and then, at the end of a delightful evening, we go down to the castle, and, just as the sun is rising and the moon setting…”

“We try to use the nexus point, and all burst into flames as the defensive wards, put in place so that nopony except Celestia and Luna can access the vast source of magic, activate, reducing us to six neat piles of ash,” Twilight interrupted her friend’s fantasy trip, bringing her fellow unicorn back to harsh reality.

“Oh, fie. Of course there’d have to be a catch. And asking either of them to release the defenses would, of course, ruin the oh-so-important element of surprise,” the fashionista muttered, her lips pursed in a high-class pout. “All that aside, I still feel we should take a trip to Canterlot sometime, just the six of us, for an evening out, without galas or birthdays or weddings or acts of unrewarded national heroism to worry about,” she added, happily, eliciting a groan from Rainbow Dash and Applejack, which she pointedly ignored.

“Right…anyway, that brings us to the fifth option. Upside, it’s completely unguarded. Downside, that’s because it’s located at the top of the tallest mountain in Equestria, and smack in the middle of the frozen wastes at the top of the world. The wild storms preclude air travel, and the wild magic makes teleportation impossible within five miles of the mountain. Oh, and the final thousand feet to the summit is up a completely sheer wall of solid diamond which has been magically reinforced by the uncontrolled magic of the ley focus to be several times harder than normal diamond. Oh, and there’s a permanent blizzard with gale force winds as we’d try to make the ascent,” she concluded, her friend’s mouths hanging open as she finished her description. “No, no mortal has ever made it to the top. The only reason we know about it is because the Princess decided that something about the forbidding Mountain of Death probably wasn’t natural, and checked it out herself a few centuries back,” she answered the unasked questions, allowing herself a pleased little smirk at the shocked silence.

“So then, Twi,” Applejack began slowly, “in answer ta mah question, our choices fer doing this ritual are certain death, certain death, certain death, certain death, or really, really good chance of death?” The lavender unicorn nodded, and the earth pony rolled her eyes. “Ah like this plan. Ah have a good feeling about this plan, and give it mah full support,” she offered with unmistakably forced enthusiasm.

“See, I knew you’d react like that,” Twilight allowed, with a gleeful sparkle in her eyes. “So, with the five recorded nexuses ruled out…want me to describe the sixth, unrecorded one?” she asked with impish delight.

“Of course there’s a secret one. There’s always a secret one,” Dash groaned, studiously ignoring the sensation of Pinkie’s tongue prodding her hoof, having switched tactics as she strove to convince the pegasus to remove the offending appendage. “Where’s this one, huh? The very deepest point of Tartauros? Guarded by some insane cult trying to destroy the world? Bottom of the ocean? The moon?!”

The purple scholar placed a hoof against her mouth as she chuckled at her friend’s guesses. “Actually, the sixth nexus point is about…oh, two hours or so away by hoof, if we’re not in a rush. And…mostly unguarded, except for an enchanted door that I can open without any issue whatsoever.” She wiggled against the cushion, forcing the stuffing into a more comfortable arrangement while she watched, with an unnecessarily satisfied smirk, her friends process the new information. Her eyes casually focused on the orange earth pony, she began a mental countdown. Five…four…three…two…one…

“Twi, sugarcube…” Applejack began, her predictable timing simply adding to the unicorn’s smug smile. She hadn’t originally intended to enjoy this portion of the plan quite so much, but neither had she planned for the earlier physical altercation, so she felt she could afford to indulge herself slightly. “Next time…maybe ya’ll want to lead with the option that isn’t almost immediately fatal?” the mare suggested, her voice strained.

“Well, duh, Applejack, of course she couldn’t lead with that one,” Pinkie exclaimed, her mouth finally free of its blue oppressor. Dash cast a sour glance at the party pony, rubbing the hoof that had previously acted as a dam against the earth pony’s river of words. Licking she could handle, chalking it up to “Pinkie being Pinkie.” Sucking was an entirely different matter; “weird” could only justify so much. “I mean, first, if she hadn’t given us the super scary options first, then she wouldn’t have been able to see our reactions, which let’s face it must’ve been pretty funny. And second, she probably still isn’t telling us everything about the not-so-scary option that makes it really-pretty-scary instead. Just look at her smile, that’s obviously an ‘I know something you don’t know’ smile, not an “I really had you all going with that joke” smile. I bet that nice little walk is going to take us through something really spooky, and there’ll be creepy ruins and monsters and everything. Right, Twilight?”

Twilight knew, deep within her heart of hearts, that one day, simply accepting her pink friend’s quirks might well be the impetuous for the destruction of everything she held dear. She couldn’t explain how she knew, just as she couldn’t explain the party-loving earth pony’s precognitive abilities, her (in)convenient flashes of insight, her unnerving tendency to casually bend space itself to her will and emerge from locations she had no logical business being able to occupy. She knew that eventually, the universe itself might grow tired of ponies blindly accepting events that went against the order system it had created, and strike back in a tide of blood and darkness. In her darker moments, she entertained the possibility that Pinkie’s very existence was geared towards that horrific end, that her fun-loving, party-throwing friend was, in truth, some dark entity from beyond creation in the shape of a pony, a caricature of all it despised, working to bring back the primeval darkness of the eternal void.

She also knew, in a much less spiritual, much more direct sense, what the universe did when somepony did make an attempt to understand Pinkie Pie. Down that path lay madness, and pain, and the rage of a beast. So, after careful consideration, she had decided that, if the universe was going to punish a pony that was only trying to help, the universe could go pound sand.

“Actually, Pinkie, that’s right. One little detail I still left out.” The lavender unicorn paused as she disregarded the specifics of Pinkie’s uncanny guess, her ears twitching as she listened. Not hearing any immediate indication that the universe had reached its breaking point, she continued. “The ley nexus we can use without facing almost certain death…is in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. There’s a hidden staircase beneath the pedestal that held the Elements while they were dormant The Princess told me about it after the wedding, as…well, as a last resort,” she explained, the mirth from her little joke evaporating at the end.

“The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters…in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Of course. And, since the ritual needs to be performed at either dusk or dawn, we’re bound to either traverse the forest at night, or else spend the night in those dreadful ruins,” Rarity summarized the issue, dramatically shaking her head at the prospect. “Still…it isn’t as if we haven’t navigated the forest by moonlight before. And it really is a significantly less fatal option than the rest. Assuming you’re still dead set against asking the Princesses to let us use the one in Canterlot?” A flat glare accompanied by a single slow shake of the head was all the response she received from her fellow unicorn. “Never hurts to ask, dear. And, while I do apologize for asking, you’ve told us all of the salient details, now?” A brief nod from her friend. “Then I see no cause to rescind my prior assent to this venture.”

“Beg pardon, Rares?” Applejack asked, head titled quizzically to the side.

“It, uh…it means she still wants to go,” Fluttershy translated her spa partner’s statement for the farmer’s

benefit. “And....well, the Everfree isn’t so bad, I suppose, as long as we’re all together. And maybe we’ll see Andrew while we’re there,” the pegasus added, a small smile forming at the thought.

“Andrew?” The orange mare’s head tilted further to the side, her eyes crossing slightly.

“Oh, you remember Andrew, Applejack. You know, the manticore with a big thorn in his paw that Fluttershy helped when we were trying to find the Elements and stop Nightmare Moon?” Pinkie reminded her fellow earth pony. “Though I guess I never invited you to the parties we had for his birthday, and his wedding…he wanted to keep it small, so it was really only him, his family, Fluttershy, and me who went, so you might not remember him that well. But this still sounds like a super-awesome idea, and I’m still totally behind it, one hundred percent!”

“We just went from this being a cool ritual to make us more awesome, to a cool ritual to make us more awesome after we go through an old ruined castle in the Everfree at night to do it? Do you even need to ask if I’m still fine with this?” Dash inquired with a grin, entirely too pleased by the prospect of danger.

Applejack was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Pinkie had thrown at least two parties, in the Everfree Forest, for a manticore named Andrew, with Fluttershy in attendance, and once again found herself the last holdout of the group. She nodded slowly, causing Twilight to clap her forehooves together excitedly.

“Oh, girls, I was so worried that at least one of you wouldn’t want to do this. But trust me, this is going to work out so well, and the Princesses will be so surprised, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything right off, but I was so nervous because I wanted everything to go perfectly!” the unicorn exclaimed, blushing when she realized she had briefly begun to channel Pinkie. She coughed into her hoof, composing herself. “Now, one last detail we need to cover. I told you we had to do this at dusk or dawn, and, well, the next dusk is still hours away. I know it’s a bit last minute, but if nopony has plans for later…does anypony mind if we go and do it tonight? Or at dawn, if it we don’t make it to the chamber in time for dusk?”

****

“It would seem, sister, that whatever business dear Twilight was discussing with her friends has been concluded,” Luna announced as she felt the barrier that had been erected around the unicorn’s distant home fade into nonexistence. She took a sip from the mug of coffee that the royal maid, Primrose, had just delivered to the Chamber. Despite what she expected most ponies would assume, and what her limited experience with them confirmed, she preferred the bitter beverage diluted by a generous dose of cream and a large helping of sugar, not “black as the night sky,” as one poetically inclined pony had once guessed. Her sister merely nodded, taking a similar sip from her tea, which, ironically, she did

prefer black. Or, to use her own words, ‘uncontaminated.’

The younger alicorn set her mug upon the table between them, though she maintained her telekinetic hold on it. “I suppose, then, that without the game we’ve made of your student to distract us, we must return to our respective duties. My captains wish for me to observe a training exercise they’ve devised,” she continued wistfully. While the subjects they ruled over together had become more and more accepting of her, and seemed to treat her with respect equal to the Sun Princess, they still called upon her mostly at night, leaving her average day rather dull save for the time spent with her sister and the oversight of the military divisions which answered to her. In the wake of the changeling incident, both sisters had come to a sad realization - the bulk of the Royal Guard was, to put it politely, useless. A millennium of near perfect peace had eroded the disciplined force that had stood as the Princesses’ bulwark against the terrors that lurked in the shadows, leaving them a force whose greatest strength was sheer numbers and the ability to stand in a line. A fine ability when turned against the rare criminal that blemished the land, but not against an organized opponent.

Celestia had been unwilling to cull the detritus from the ranks completely, fearful of the effect so many suddenly unemployed ponies would have on the economy. Instead, the decision had been made to restructure the organization. The former Royal Guard had been formally renamed the Day Guard, answerable ultimately to Celestia, and reorganized based on raw ability. Those guards unfit for combat found themselves assigned to largely ceremonial tasks, guarding points of interest with no real value, either tactically or otherwise. Those who showed some measure of talent for military service had been put through an accelerated training program, out of use for centuries, in the hopes of turning them into proper soldiers, with those who showed the greatest promise made officers under the supervision of the three Captains of the Guard.

For the first time in hundreds of years, the guards were trained in the use of weapons beyond those used in various rites and ceremonies. The Wonderbolts, already technically a subunit within the guard, had been tasked with training the pegasi soldiers in aerial evasion techniques and formation flight. And every unicorn was trained to use at least some variant of the Shield Wall Shining Armor could cast, based on their individual strength of magic, as well as offensive spells that wouldn’t merely stun a foe. As a fighting force, they remained untested, no suitable threat having revealed itself, but the public response had been immediate; the sight of the soldiers, in the golden armor, on parade had reassured commoner and noble alike that Equestria would be prepared for the next attack.

“How are they doing, by the way? Still living up to your high expectations of them, Luna?” Celestia asked casually, though the corners of her mouth were turned up in a slight smirk. Luna nodded, allowing herself a similar understated smile. The Day Guard was the public face of their reformed military, the gleaming shield against the darkness. That was only half the plan, however.

At her sister’s insistence, the Princess of the Night had gleefully combed through the ranks for ponies with specific skills. A pegasus mare with a talent for stealth. A unicorn stallion proficient in invisibility spells. A pair of earth pony twins whose connection with the planet allowed them to move through a dense forest and leave no trace of their passing. One by one, she found her candidates, and called them to her to be tested. Not all she found, of course, were suited for the tasks she required of them, but those who had the personality traits she sought were quietly transferred to the units under her supervision.

The unicorns were trained in the use of a special glamour, the pegasi and earth ponies fitted with a specially enchanted collar. At will, any who served her could shed their identity, hidden by the same illusion she had placed on her honor guard during official appearances and granted armor generated by magic. Stallions were still plainly different than mares, but beyond that, the only distinguishing feature on any of her guards was the presence or lack of wings or horn. And then, they trained. Like their counterparts in the public guard, they practiced combat, but unlike their opposite number, they did so with sharpened blades, and occasionally practiced both with the enchanted disguises, and thus without armor. They trained to move swiftly and silently, by day or night, in city or country. They trained to enter and exit a building, leaving no trace of their passing. They were taught to notice subtle behavioral clues in a crowd, identifying threats before the danger was upon them. And, for those few with the stomach for it, they were trained to ensure those who would become a threat were properly handled. Though, Luna reflected gratefully, none of the nine ponies who had proven proficient in that final regard had yet been forced to put their skills to practical use.

If the Day Guard was the gilded shield, held up for the public to see and be comforted by, the Night Guard was the soot-darkened blade, hidden in the darkness.

“Verily, Tia. Any task I pose to any of them, they surpass my expectations. Already, they’ve routed out three changeling infiltrators, and stopped a cult which was attempting to summon forth some great squid-headed monster,” Luna answered proudly, still pleased that her sister had shown enough trust in her to allow her complete control of the Night Guard. Truth be told, she enjoyed the company of some of her guards, having twice accepted invitations to interact with them socially, and was fairly sure several of them, stallion and mare both, had attempted to flirt with her, though she had politely quashed such attempts. “I…do worry about some of them, though. Plunging a blade into a sack of flour placed in a bed is far different from doing the same to a sleeping pony. A great part of me hopes I need never call upon them to carry out such an act,” she added, her smile faltering. She felt a gilded hoof brush against her cheek, and looked up to see her sister’s smile had grown brighter.

“And that, dear Luna, is why I know you are suited to lead them,” the white alicorn said softly, her eyes wet with tears of pride. She blinked, dispelling the moisture before it could fall and streak her coat, and laughed happily. “Now go, court awaits me, and your guards await you. I’ll see you again at dusk, sister. Perhaps my dear little Twilight was planning something interesting we can peek in on.” She chuckled to herself as she rose, walking towards the door with Luna close behind. Naturally aware of the position of the sun and moon in the sky, she knew her Captains would expect her in slightly more than an hour.

Plenty of time, by her reckoning, to stop by the archives, and ask the keepers just what a certain unicorn had been up to earlier, that had sent her back to Ponyville in such a rush.

Comments

[andmos]

no hard fealings, but this fic is very heavy to read. I lost my line many times and there is not many gaps to "rest". I like detail fic, but you need more room to read.

[kjaslwod]

"[...] to expend more of her magical reserves then she’d intended to,"
than

"two pegasii"

Firstly, in English the plural is pegasuses. Secondly, even if you wanted to write the plural in Latin, it's wrong. The plural is Pegasi, with one "i". It's the same as the genitive in Latin, at least for this certain word and its own type of declination.

"‘Now, now, what happened to telling your friends the whole truth? Let it all out, all that anger, all that pain. Let them see the real you…’"

You forgot to write that in italics.

Something about the Princesses and masks, and the Elements do something or other.

Allusion to Eternal? Although it is set in the actual timeline with Twilight Sparkle, so I guess not....

"Older then the Princesses."

than

"I mean, yeah, I suppose I’ll missing the fun-adventure part [...]"

I'll miss, I'll be missing

"There were more pressing issues then her potential descent into madness, though."

than

"And it really is a significantly less fatal option then the rest."

than

"[..] had been tasked with training the pegasii soldiers [...]"

pegasi

"Stallions were still plainly different then mares,"

than

I didn't bother too much with finding any mistakes in this chapter, so I'm pretty sure that there are more than those listed above.

[ymom2]

I can just envision Celestia spitting out her tea when she finds out what Twilight is trying to do.

[Duplex Fields]

This is a fascinating and worthwhile story. I am thoroughly impressed by the two chapters I have so far read, and am putting it on my list. The writing is clear and not showy, the characterizations are excellent and the dialogue in character. My only quibble, plotwise, is the state of the army before the changeling invasion, though the lack of changeling ichor flowing through the gutters of the streets was, to my mind, due primarily to the "camera" being locked to the Mane Six, who didn't have bladed weapons.

[John Tannius]

This will end in tears... and maybe tears (in the fabric of reality).

[Destructorspace]

simply accepting her pink friend’s quirks might well be the impetuous for the destruction of everything she held dear.

impetus

Yeah, that's not a fucking scary bit of foreshadowing, no sirree. After all, making Pinkie sound like an avatar of an Eldritch god when you've already implied that Cthulu was almost summoned by some silly cultists isn't ominous or foreboding in any way whatsoever.

[Syrahl696]

of the nine ponies who had proven proficient in that final regard

Is this a TF2 reference in the making I spy?

(Did you see what I did there?)