• Published 16th Nov 2014
  • 10,566 Views, 605 Comments

Chrysalis Visits The Hague - Dan The Man



In a universe where Equestria recently arrived on Planet Earth, Queen Chrysalis sits in chains. Now she must answer herself in front of this world's highest court - the International Criminal Court in the Hague, the Netherlands.

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XXVII. The Reasonable And Insightful

XXVII.
The Reasonable And Insightful

Ponyville Townhall
Everfree County, Equestria
23. November, 2015
3:48 pm ICT

The wooden town hall was a little smaller than Oxford’s Radcliffe Camera - but certainly an ample size for such a small hamlet. The building was about as deserted as the rest of the village, with only a select few guardsponies loitering around by the assembly hall on the ground level, observing the two approaching humans and one pegasus vigilantly when they had entered.

The rotunda Pierre and his 'companions’ now stood in was located on the first floor in what seemed more like an extravagant loft. It was ornate, spangled with tall mullioned windows that looked out into every cardinal direction, lodged between curved wooden beams that led up to a pointy ceiling emblazoned with a handful of celestial bodies.

In spite of all the splendour, Pierre’s badly weakened heart skipped another beat as he digested the realisation of whom he was standing on front of.

It was not Celestia.

The gentle-eyed, soft-spoken lady of the sun with the pristine white coat and radiant aetherial mane was nowhere to be seen.

He realised with a sigh that he was once again in the presence of the bellicose, waspish younger sister.

Princess Luna of the Night.

It was ominous how she just stood up there, on the balustrade of the building’s circular atrium, draped in a pitch-black reaper-like travelling cloak, and looking down at him amidst sharp breaths.

Pierre noted that the centre of the room beneath her walkway was marked by a semi-circle of metallic file drawers - each rolled shut and secured by a heavy lock - with a wider sorting desk flanking the door. From the looks of it, this was some kind civil register room.
The irony of encountering the dread monarch in the same kind of place a second time did not evade him.

He swore that he would strive to never set foot in another archive in his life.

The pegasus officer with the bandaged wing that stood to his right immediately dropped on his haunches in reverence when he spotted the princess stepping forth from behind a column in the upper level, where she circled around their heads like a vulture on the lookout for cadavers.
Even the seasoned Chinese diplomat Tian, standing to Pierre's left, had trouble keeping his composure as he performed a short bow in front of her shadow, leaving Pierre the only one among them standing perfectly straight.

Since Pierre had already failed to bow before her the first time they met, he figured that a second such indiscretion could hardly make things any worse. He could feel the dread rising in any case. All diplomatic niceties be damned, he was growing increasingly certain that he would not leave that rotunda a free man.

“I wish you a good morning, Your Majesty...” Tian called upwards, “...considering the circumstances.”

Displeased, Luna didn’t bother acknowledging him with as much as a nod.
“Indeed,” She uttered and thought for a second. “We recall thy countenance, human. Hath We laid eyes upon thee before?”

Tian nodded. “I had the great honour of making introductions last September, Madam, at the official initiation of the mission. Your sister and yourself threw a ball to inaugurate UNEVEG.”

That did bring a particular question back into Pierre’s mind, however: Where was Princess Celestia? She was, de facto, the sole head of state of the princedom.
Was this matter just not important enough for her to appear in person? Was it really just enough to warrant the smaller one?

Luna momentarily turned her head to glare at Pierre, as though she had heard his thoughts. Seconds later, she had once again trudged from view.“Perhaps,” her voice answered after a long while. “Lord Tian of China. Werest thou not the first amongst the delegates to bid thy farewell from the festivities?”

“Unfortunately, I had to return to my homeland that same evening on official business.”
He smiled an innocuous smile.

Pierre gritted his teeth at that revelation. Of course, this was where his superior had been withdrawing to all this time. The plot thickened.

“‘Tis funny that nary two months ago, that fair night, We were still celebrating this mission taking wing.”She once again strolled into a spot where they could see her and stopped.
Her voice hardened, her tone cooling considerably. “And yet, here We now stand.”

Her words were replaced by unbearable silence. Neither Tian nor the pegasus captain dared to pick the conversation up by themselves.

Tian cleared his throat, “I have come to vouch for my colleague. He has assured me that finds his entire affair most regrettable.”

“Has he?”Her gaze moved past Pierre as though he wasn’t there.

Tian used the opportunity for another small bow.“In the name of the Secretary General and his High Representative, I wish to express my sincerest condolences for your loss and the damages inflicted. We are already in the process of verifying ways in which they can be recompensed.”

Luna emerged once again, her lips pursed, and gave him a look as tired as it was unimpressed. “A lovely thought. But bother not. Such damages as were sustained, no amount of human goodwill could ever hope to restore.”

“If there are any terms on which Her Majesty would be willing to refrain from any... legal measures regarding this deeply unfortunate affair, we are willing to earnestly consider them.”

“Human, what gave thee the idea that We wished to see these individuals leave as free, unpunished creatures?”

Pierre’s heart skipped a beat or two.

“But certainly, Your Majesty wouldn’t have agreed to this meeting if she didn’t find the possibility at least... worth considering.”

She stared at him long and hard. Then she was back in motion, and soon out of sight once more.“We have heard enough of thee.” her voice answered. “Leave.”

Pierre, the pegasus lieutenant and Tian gave each other searching glances.
“Your Majesty?”

He remains,” came her answer.

It was clear who was meant.

Tian gave Pierre a flustered, relieved expression. “How do they say in your country? ‘Godspeed’, was it?” he smiled.
He patted Pierre on his sore shoulder, and then - with the satisfaction of a man who had tried and given his all - Tian left the atrium.

Only Pierre and the Pegasus Captain remained.

“Captain Fit,” her voice thundered. It was as though a jolt of electricity passed through the soldier as he snapped to attention.
“Before thou too takest thy leave: Is this human in good condition? Have the good doctors dragged him from the brink of harm?”

“Uh…” ‘Fit’ muttered, confused. “Yes, Ma’am. The doctors say he’ll be right as rain.”

“Hm. That’d be all.”

Captain ‘Fit’ gave Pierre one last skeptical glance before also turning around and departing the arena.

The door slammed shut. Pierre quickly found himself standing in the middle of the round, deserted room. The princess was once again nowhere to be seen.
He was a little too terrified to check the balustrades for her.

“What hast thou done?” her voice ultimately asked.
It was crestfallen, yet sore and severe. “What hast thou wreaked?”

Pierre parted his sore lips to say something. Naturally, nothing would come out.

“Ser Pierre of Newfoundland. Hast thou nought to say in thy defence?” she asked in feigned confusion.

Again, he tried to seek refuge in his officialese.
“I do not w-”

“Raise thy voice.” Luna sharply interrupted, her disgust laid bare. “Thy beard may have gone, but thy chords have not. ‘Tis the least that thou canst do now.”

He resisted the urge to feel his barren, bandaged, blistery chin.
He eyed the floor,
“Under the circumstances… I wish to clearly distance myself from any... role in the fire.”

What could he say, anyway?

Luna, of course, was rather aboil about that. “Oh? Oh, We see. So the masonry spontaneously decided to immolate itself. We are glad to have this affair cleared up then.”
Trying to contain her spleen, she moved on, dragging her black cloak with her.

Pierre gulped.
“It is for that reason that I ask that this unfortunate incident… won’t disturb the cooperation between... my organisation and your… your-”

“Shut thy maw.”

He obeyed. It didn’t even matter if she could actually see him at the moment. He shouldn’t be risking it.

“The ‘Castle of the Two Sisters’, as it’s been known among the common folk…” she began, her tone a little more serene, perhaps even melancholic, “It may have been little more than a ruin to thy ignorant little eyes. But to Us, there was quite more to it.” She paused and collected herself before continuing. “We and Our esteemed Sister hath spent countless, fateful years behind those ancient walls. Many happy. Some tragic. Alas, once we had turned backs on this place for good, we decided to look back no longer, as it had grown home to… plenty of heartache on Our end.”

Pierre felt that an opportunity presented itself for him to haul himself back in.
“I… I could only imagine how much-”

“Why canst thou not do as thou art told?” she exclaimed. “Hold thy tongue. Cur.”

His heartbeat nearly broke his ribs.

“When we first received word of flames licking at the castle’s walls, We were convinced that a terrible fluke must have seized the place. A forest fire, mayhaps. Or a thunderstrike. The cruel prank of some higher power.”
She cleared her throat. “At least… until we received word that a number of humans were caught in the inferno. ’Twas perhaps at that point where We knew that chance was entirely out of the question.”
The voice fell silent. Only split-seconds later, it continued, but from a lot closer than before. “We had nought but the deepest regard for the humans’ reputation for battle prowess; it was for that reason that we urged thy masters for a military coalition.”
She inhaled sharply. “But think not for a moment that we were ignorant to thy equally legendary reputation for greed. Thy self-importance. Thy stubbornness.”

Pierre dabbed at his nose and cheeks with the corner of his sleeve. It returned with a diluted blood stain.

“For a fleeting moment, we were convinced that these humans had broken into such a worthless ruin with the gleam of gold in their eyes. Lusting for trinkets and souvenirs to enrich themselves with, at the expense of their host nation. Such is the nature of some humans, we were told; not unlike that of magpies.”

Pierre, naturally, wanted to protest.
But Luna’s voice, as though detached from her body wholesale, again circled ever-so much closer around him.

“Then we heard that thou hast belonged to said party. And we remembered thy countenance promptly. Just as we remembered thy reputation. We remembered thy harsh, spiteful words to Our secretary. Thy gracelessness, thy impishness. Thy false sense of superiority.”

Now, of all moments, Pierre’s shock strangely began to move to the back seat. Somehow, things began to feel a little farcical. Carefully putting one foot before the other, he silently advanced further into the room.

“We remembered the way thou acted in the archives the other week. The green in thy face as thou wert forced to eat crow before thy subordinate, Edith of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The burning hatred in thy eyes as We declared protection over her. Thy vengeful words: ‘Let me assure you, it will never be over for you. This will have consequences.’”

Pierre flinched in shock as he heard his own words dictated back at him, in his own tone, and in his very own voice.

Her own voice had morphed into a conspiratorial hiss.
“And then? Then We heard that Edith too was caught in this fire. And so, all the pieces fell into place. In that forest, in yonder castle, thou hast had thy vengeance on her.”

“Ex… cuse me?”

“Thou couldst not enact thy feeble, commission’d power over her. And so, thou plotted to deny her Ours.”

“That...” Pierre gasped, “That is… complete...”
Frantically, he turned his eyes to the balustrades, and hobbled across the room to catch the meandering princess. “That is defamation! How… how petty do you think I… Who do you take me...”

His shock was mind-numbing when he turned and found her standing on the parapets above his neck, like a demonic hellhound stalking him.

Her deep blue eyes bled into him, just like they had the last time.
“And now… Now that I read thy fatuous little mind, indeed I grow doubtful once more.” She shook her head with hypnotic slowness. “There is no greed in thy eyes. No rage or desire for reprisal. No. Just thy own, unwavering imbecility. Thy misdirected gullibility.”

Her gaze instilled all kinds of feelings in him. Fear. Dejection. Resignation. Just to name a few. It was as though, deep inside him, the feeling that she was actually right was welling up inside him.

“Really, one meagre question remains.” she determined, moving behind the pillars. “Why? Why such folly?”.

Numbed, he struggled to answer. As bravely as he could, he resisted the urge to stutter, to splutter and spit out something half-baked.
Only when her gaze detached itself from him, he felt like he had been granted more air to breathe.
Forlornly, his eyes searched for a hold in the room.
“I… What… will happen to me?” he finally brought himself to ask.

“It shall be decided.” she plainly stated.

Her vagueness almost killed him.
What… will… happen to me?” he repeated, a bit more forcefully.

“Well, if thou choosest to conduct thyself like this, thou mayst find even sooner than later.”

Almost hysterically, a gigglish snort escaped his lips.
“Well what will it be? Jail? Dungeon? Hard labour? Hanging? Shooting? Stoning? Drawing and quartering?”

The sound of her hooves stopped.

“I know how this works.” he spluttered. “You don’t just summon someone you ‘know’ to be guilty of a crime if you haven’t already made up your mind on what’ll happen next.”

“How much is thy freedom worth to thee, human?” she asked, severely.

That question drove it home, really.
“Did… did we really come here to bargain?” he asked meekly. “I already had a talk with my superior. Whatever happens, there’s gonna be an investigation. I’ll probably lose my job either way. So… freedom be damned, these are my prospects.”

Luna sounded unimpressed.
“And deserv’st nothing less, as far as We are concerned.”

“Well… that’s just grand, isn’t it?” Pierre breathed, “That says it all. That means we can just cut to the chase then, can we?”

“Thou seemst to look forward to thy punishment.”
She nodded delicately. “It shall suit Us fine.”

“There is only one thing I look forward to,” he corrected her, trying to spot her among the columns. “And that is blowing the lid on this farce once and forever!”
He puffed out his chest bravely. “I want a complete list of all the literature that was stored in the Everfree Chancery. All of it.”

The reply seemed to stun her.
“The gall. The sheer gall.” Luna soon spat. “Thou must be mocking Us.”

“Oh no. I’m serious.” he reassured her in a tone that had already become mocking. “And you’re right. This is the reason I went to the damn place to begin with. And right now, I don’t feel like leaving tasks half done.”

“Thy efforts led to chronicles of knowledge spanning three millennia being fed to the flames.” she berated him, disbelieving. “Now, thou want’st to incinerate all which survived thy previous attempt?”

“I didn’t burn a fucking thing.” he snapped. “Stop telling me I set fire to that archive, because I did not! I know it’s probably not gonna make much of a difference to you, but I did not! I had no reason to!”
Suddenly, he was overpowered by a powerful urge to cough the charcoal-infused mucus out of his choked lungs.

“Then how did the fire start?”

“I do not know!”

He could hear Luna gritting her teeth.
“Thou art a lowly fool, human.” she stated with very compelling certainty.
Her voice seemed to float over his head, causing him to glance up.

“Though I have to say that I’ve got a hundred ideas who would want to see that place burned to the ground.”

“Now thou hast concocted a theory?” Luna laughed mockingly. “Humour Us.”

“Someone...” he breathed, “Someone seems to be interested in sabotaging the Chrysalis investigation.”

“Oh, what art thou talking about?” she cut him off. “How on the Moon could the Lower Everfree Chancery be tied into thy Chrysalis investigation, human?”

“We went there to gather evidence.”

“Evidence for what?” she scoffed. “Our force hath spared neither time nor labour to supply thee with any such relevant files. What wast thou really seeking?”

“More.” he stated defiantly. “We were acting on a... clue that the files we received had been... tampered with. References to the Lower Everfree Chancery had been expunged.”

“Enough of thy excuses!” she interrupted him again, “Dost thou honestly think We doth not know what Our own archives contain?”

Pierre left a thick, suggestively laden pause.

Soon, Luna seemed to understand.
“What exactly art thou implying?”

Pierre smiled weakly.
“Why was your government denying the existence of those archives?”

“That is none of thy bucking business, human.” Luna spat, “Keep thy spleen in check before it comes to doom thee.”

“What on earth could have been so risque about it that it meant directly violating the treaty with the UN that you yourself signed?”

Luna gave no reply.
Feeling brave, Pierre hobbled into the centre, hoping to spy the hiding princess out on one of the parapets.

She was nowhere to be seen.

“You’re suppressing something. You and your lovely sister. And you really shot yourself in the foot when you started this whole ICC crap. I bet that, soon, you won’t have a secret left to hide.”

But what he found instead of the princess just made his heart falter all over.

He looked around the walls, and noticed how they had begun to melt.
Pillars, shelves, drapes, windows, even the light beyond the windows, had begun to liquefy and warp.

Was there something wrong with his eyes?
He blinked.
Horror rose up in him.
It was unreal, like from a twisted fever dream.

Inexplicably, dirt and gravel began to collect on the carpeted parquet beneath his shoes, and every small movement became marred by ugly gnashing sounds.

“Stand to!” she bellowed right into his ear.

Instinctively, he felt his feet snapping to attention. Those were two words he was far too familiar with, and now, caught in something of a dread-induced trance, he remembered them too vividly.

“Eyes front,” she commanded.

Almost automatically, his gaze strayed away from the malforming scene, and directly into the princess’ deep blue eyes.

He barely even had a moment to question how the mysterious creature had found her way down from there and right in front of him in what just seemed to be the blink of an eye.

She just nodded at him in realisation.
“A soldier, art thou?”

“I… am. Was.” he gulped.

“Though judging by the way thou carriest thyself, no lowly private.”

“C-career officer.”

Her eyes seemed to scan through his entire self, sussing out any information she deemed relevant.
“There is great conviction in thee. As is great frustration. One would think that a soldier of thy nation’s crown would have been taught to respect the sovereign.”

He tried to breathe.

“And normally, We believe that thou wouldst indeed be respectful. But thy conviction is just too grand. It runs amok inside thee. Its force pushes thee against the edges. It must be taken down a peg.”
Her eyes flitted from left to right and back to left, as though she was turning a page in the book that was Pierre.
“Yes… Thou ventured into this citadel for a distinct reason. A clear goal in thy head. Whatever it is that thou sought, t’was nominally righteous. In thy misled mind, at least.”

He didn’t know how to respond to that.

Unmoved, she searched on.
“Indeed, there seems to be an idea that nourishes a deep antipathy towards Us. A fear of thy elders and betters. But how come? What could it be? Is it owed merely to the fact that We startle thee so, or doth the truth lie deeper?”

And deeper she delved.
Pierre could practically feel her digging through his brains, sorting through his thoughts, filing his feelings.
In a fleeting moment of clarity, he tried to dive away from the terrifying creature.
“We are not done with thee, human! Face Us!”

“F...” he stammered, his mind awhirl with startled “Fuck you!” and tried to hobble to a safe distance. But the powerful alicorn stayed hot on his slow, crippled heels.

“Hast thou had enough?” she asked with a flight of cruel satisfaction, “To run through life with such a choleric frame of mind is entirely up to thee.”
Her features darkened visibly. “But the moment thou hast decided to take thy hate and instrumentalise it against Us, and take oh so much satisfaction in implicating Us in thy little fantasies of lies and deceit, thou hast treaded too far for Us to bear. Dost thou understand Our words?”

“Just tell me what you want!” he yelped. “Tell me what you want to do with me! Quit stalling!”

She pulled up beside him like a bolting black shadow.
“Thou wantest to know what the Everfree Chancery stored. Only that would lift thy mind free from its firm entrenchment. We consider to aid thee with that.”

Everything about that acquiescence set off alarms in Pierre’s head. But before he could lose too many thoughts about it, he stumbled and almost tripped over something flat but heavy that lay in his shoes’ path.
Barely keeping his balance, he gazed down to realise that there was a book like at his feet.
No, several books.
Countless books plastered the ground before him.

The unanticipated sight almost made his heart flutter.

Next thing he knew, the princess had seized his shoulders from behind, and was exerting her weight unto him, trying to get him to drop onto his knees.
Curiously enough, he didn’t feel the pain that would logically come with that.

“Sit.”

Trying to scramble back up, he noticed he was now suddenly resting on a bed of moist summery grass, glistening in the light of a full moon rising up somewhere in the distance.

“Look up, young Pierre.” she ordered him, and directed his attention to a scenery obscured by a numbing night’s darkness.

It didn’t make sense. Hadn’t it been forenoon just a couple of minutes ago?
In fact, hadn’t they been inside just a couple of seconds ago?

It took him a few moments until he spotted the weak shine of torches and lanterns in the distance. Small, pony-like figures scurrying about, covered from head to toe in cloaks and cowls.

“What on God’s earth...”

The gleam of their lights faintly illuminated a backdrop of sprawling stone towers and walls. A sight that seemed as familiar as it seemed foreign.

“We hope thou recognisest the place.”

“I don’t… I… What’s is this?”

“Tell Us what thou seest.”

He saw carts being pushed down a cobblestone path snaking through tall wild weeds. Carts loaded with copious amounts of something, and aptly hidden by veils strapped over them.
The hooded equines pulled and pushed the carts towards a secret door, hidden in the among the masonry. As it opened, it revealed a majestic golden glow, a glimpse from a vast hall adorned with an abundance of banners and tapestries and tall shelves.

“Dost this strike thee as familiar?”

There was a faint memory.

“The Lower Everfree Chancery, young Pierre.” Luna revealed. “But countless moons in the past.”
He heard a sigh from her. “What thou seest here, no creature has witnessed in twelve thousand moons.”

It was like a scene from some tacky film that was trying just a little too hard. The ominous feeling to it was positively unreal.

“Thou doubtest still.” Luna recognised. “See what these carts contain.”

Looking closer, Pierre could see large staples of books being unloaded. Great, thick folders of paper and massively bound books, floating off the ramps with magical vigour, and settling inside the hall in neat rank and file.

“T’was what thou wast looking for.” she explained, “Books and scrolls on knowledge of yore, hidden from the world, in the bowels of the citadel.”

“The… the documents.” he sighed in his muddled state. “Those are the...”
Instinctively, he tried scrambling onto his legs and move toward them, driven by some invisible urge to secure the decaying literature.

“Hark.” Luna intervened, pinning his form in place with a solitary hoof. “‘Tis a mere projection. Thou wouldst not reach them.”

Why was he not doubting this more, Pierre wondered.

Under the cowls of the transporters, he could see the extravagant tunics and scarves poking out, priestly shawls and drapes, and the gleam of military cuirasses and dangling of belts. He could even see nervous eyes darting around the landscape as the ponies went about their business in secrecy.

Pierre tried to sort this thoughts.
“There… there must be something to those books. Relevant to the evidence. I wouldn’t know about them otherwise.”

That seemed to bemuse her a little.
“Thou want’st to know of these books’ nature. We assure thee, thou errst gravely.”

As if on cue, one of the ponies, her back laden with three or four massive volumes, stumbled on a loose cobblestone.

The books were sent flying, being catapulted into the gravel and flinging open.

The creatures reacted with panicked jolts, throwing up their cloaks and pulling their heads, as though to shield themselves from the books’ contents.

“What’s going on?” Pierre muttered, his eyes drawn automatically to the pages.

“As we find ourselves in a mere illustration of past events, thou art in no danger. Look at the texts at thy heart’s delight. But be aware that in any other happenstance, they would doom thee.”
Confused, Pierre tried to pick himself up and read the foreign scribbling that filled the page, attempting to discern the various letters, numbers and symbols that he had never understood.

As his gaze passed one particular word, he thought he could see a ghostly apparition pass by the corner of his eye.
He ignored the fleeting distraction, and read on.

As his eyes reached the next line, his sight was momentarily blurred by a wave of colours. The letters virtually seemed to leap from the page and the ink shed its blue and black.

Was this yet another hallucination?

The sight next line caused his stomach to contract in excitement.
Why?
He could not even read the damn thing! What was it about that line that evoked that reaction in him?

The next line toyed with his equilibrium, nearly causing him to topple back to the ground.

The next one… had he just read it? He could not quite remember. His mind became groggy and unfocused.

The next one… had he just read it?

He had enough. He closed his eyes.

“What is all this hocus pocus?” he asked Luna, who was still towering behind him.

“Magical spells. Incantations. Their magic is so powerful that they can influence those who are unable to wield it themselves.”

“I don’t know anything about that.” Pierre grunted. “I don’t care about magic, I care about-”

“Then what business hadst thou at the Lower Everfree Chancery?”

A hoof swept over his head to make him open his eyes again.

“At the dawn of the unified Equestrian realm, the court magicians from the Three Tribes agreed to gather at this place in secret,” Luna began explaining, “They brought their vast tomes of magic with them. They were not about such banal, minor incantations as thou may have just experienced. No, they brought with them spells of war and dominance. The most heinous and perilous and destructive magic that their realms had to offer.”

The creatures by the castle walls emptied their carts and went to locking the massive hidden doors.

“They agreed that, to preserve Equestrian unity and stave off a war that would shake their world to rubble, they would place their magical weaponry under lock and key, deep in the cellars of Our castle, that they may be kept safe and hidden from the world for eternity.”

“So… so I... What?” Pierre asked on. “How is this tied to the Chrysalis matter?”

“How indeed!” she snapped back.
“As We said, ‘tis not. The magic contained in these tomes preceded the reign of Chrysalis by a good few years.”

“So...” Pierre stuttered, and tried to look up at Luna.

Her eyes were cold and sharp.
“The only attribute that sets all this magic apart is their sheer destructive force. They ability not only to harm our earth and planet, but to invite its annihilation.”

“So… so then.”

“Let Us just say that there was a good reason why We kept these tomes secret from the world. ‘Twas to protect it.”

A cloud of magic surrounded Pierre and carefully lifted him back up onto his feet.

“In some form,” Luna continued, “We would have to be thankful that this compendium of malicious magic hath finally found its demise once and for all.”

Pierre shook his head. “If… if it was dangerous, then why keep it in the first-”

“In other,” she continued, her tone much more severe, “We curse thee and thy rampage for robbing this nation - nay, this world - of the ability to protect itself against the very sorcery that was chronicled within!”

There was a rumble in the ground.
In seconds, the castle in the distance exploded into a flower of fire and smoke.

Pierre tried to duck, but the princess’ powerful magic held him in place.

“Thou seest what thou hast done.”

“I… I told you… I did not set the fire.”

“Who put thee up to scouring this place?”

The sight of the inferno almost compelled Pierre to spill it all, to tell her everything he knew, about the page and Edith and Golden Dirk… But he managed to get a hold of himself.
“I… I refuse to name my sources.” he stuttered adamantly.

“Art thou not aware that they sought to find this place? That they wished to lay their hooves on this weaponry?”

“That was not the reason.”

“Was it not?” she inquired, trotting around his magically-supported form, her eyes glistening in the light of the flames. “Thou really art a fool then. A useful idiot.”

“I do not-”

“Thy gullibility may have opened the doors of Equestria’s most dreadful spells to nefarious powers that seek to make this earth their own! Let its terrible riches into the hooves of monsters!” she spat. “Tell Us who or what steered thee towards this chancery! Who was it that used thee?”

Pierre felt short of breath.
But he said nothing.

She crept closer. Her voice fluttered.
“We would be right to clasp thee by thy throat and fling thee so hard that thy body may shatter against the rocks of the moon!”

Luna's magic yanked him upwards, letting him dangle several metres above the grass and the princess.

He felt tremors in the air. Then he witnessed the ground shattering, giving away under his floating feet.
Glancing down, he saw an endless night sky beneath him; a floating sea of stars.
At the very bottom, the bobbed the moon, many hours, no, days, of freefall away.
Vertigo set in. Panicked, he tried to struggle free as the ever widening edge expanded to the spot of ground above which he now hung.

“Thou seemst to fear Us for Our malice, Pierre. Hate Us for our deceptiveness. Curse Us for Our monstrosity.”
She bobbed her head up down in a cynical ‘yes’ motion.
“Do not make Us oblige.”

He was openly shivering now.
“Please...” he began to beg silently, “Let me down. Please. Let me down!”

Unmoved, she glanced up at him. “It seems there is no other way than to drive thy fault home.”

“I am sorry!” he suddenly spurted, coughs accompanying his every word. “I did not want to do this! I had no idea! Please!

“There appears to be much human talk these days about Our nation being a tyranny. A state pockmarked by its injustice.” Luna talked on, “But let Us assure thee. We honour Our justice greatly. What is important to us is not punishment, but seeing reason. Experiencing repentance.”

“I beg you...”

“Dost thou see the error of what thou hast wreaked? Search thy heart.”

“I...”
Almost automatically, his mind began to rampage through the events of the last few days.

The yelling in the office.

The waiting for the phone call.

The nerve-wracking drive through the countryside.

The Doors song ringing.

The roadblock.

The Everfree.

The car swerving into the unicorn with golden armour. The sickening 'crack’. Pierre jumping out, running up to the felled creature, checking for signs of life.
And a simpering changeling staring up at him with untelling blue eyes.

Him.

It was him.

The changeling.

He was the one who wanted to find that place.

The same one who had loitered by his car all those days ago.

Watching them.

“I… am sorry.” Pierre could hear himself whimpering. “I am so sorry...”

So, Luna extinguished her magic.
Vertigo overcame Pierre as he plummeted down.


“Wake.”

Pierre’s eyes fluttered open.

Taking a minute to refocus, they explored the civil register room.

White, wintry noon light floated his face.

His pain and sore aching were back. Yet, he found himself sitting comfortably.

As his surroundings came back to him, he found that he was resting somewhat limply on the edge of the central cashmere carpet, propped on one of the countless pillars in the rotunda.

And next to him, he saw the hooves of Luna.

Glancing up, he saw a shimmering white, string-like apparition floating away from his forehead, and flowing right back into the alicorn’s horn, like a rope running along a magical cord reel.

Opening her pale blue eyes, she looked down at him with a far more merciful expression than he remembered.

“How much dost thou remember, Pierre of Canada?”

“...What?” Pierre mumbled, only to realise that the pain in his throat had returned as well.

“As thou may have noticed, what just hath transpired was no more than a figment of thy imagination and Our magic.”

A rather inappropriate yawn interrupted Pierre’s onslaught of one-thousand-and-one questions.

“We… must apologise for becalming thee in such an waylaying manner. But We needed a fleet establishment of all the relevant facts and thy role in this affair.”

“Ehm...”

The princess of the night sighed as she trotted between the pillars, Pierre’s forlorn eyes clinging on to her.
“To be perfectly frank, thy tenacity impresses Us. But no more so than thy mulishness.”
She glanced towards the balustrade she had been standing only a few - alleged - moments ago.
“Thou wishest not to betray thy source. ‘Tis a principle that We - albeit begrudgingly - respect. Indeed, in Our wilful concealment of the Lower Everfree Chancery’s existence… it would be quite two-faced otherwise.”

She lowered herself onto her haunches onto a spot next to Pierre, as to be closer to the human on the ground.
“But in order for Us to deduce whether or not a terrible crime has just been committed, thou must break thy vow of silence and let Us in on this mystery.”

Apprehensively, Pierre tensed back up.

She tried looking as imploring as she could.
“Thou must understand, Pierre, that right now, we are not meant to be one another’s antagonists. We have no quarrel worth quarreling. Thou hast been misled and abused by an unknown party. Thou must accept Us as an ally under these circumstances, just like We must accept thee as a beneficial partner.”

As she closed in further and further, Pierre’s heartbeat began to run rampant.
“Y- you… chucked me down a hole...” he wheezed.

“We apologise for the illusion. ’Twas... cruel, and as some others would go as far and say, archaic.”

“You… we… we were at the Castle… by night.”

“As bewildering as the visions were, We assure thee that they did serve a purpose.”
She raised her chin to hide the flight of nervousness on her face. “We cannot begin to the danger that these magic spells pose. If one would ever find itself in the wrong pony’s hooves, they may threaten the existence of our very planet.”

“W...what are we talking about here?”

“Where to begin…” she pondered, “There are physical spells; Magic with which a creature may turn the planet to ice, or burn it to a crisp in the terrible onslaught of the sun. Or make the oceans rise out of their basins and flush over the continents.”
“Then there are subtler ones, the mental spells; They may allow the wielders to influence a multitude of peoples simultaneously, forcing thoughts and ideas into every creature’s head. Alter their behaviour. Reconstructing their allegiances. Fabricate their very memories.
“Any one of those spells could enable a tyrant to make this world his plaything. Their perilousness can thus not be understated.”

“But it burned... ” Pierre stammered, “But it burned up… didn’t it?”

“Let us pray that it did. For if one of these tomes were to have been carried off, then there would be not even be instructions on how to counteract its effects left.”
She looked behind herself. “And for the moment, the only works that we know to have survived the fire are these.”

She pointed to a table at the far end, where there lay half a dozen books - all were singed black from every side and crumbling into yet more flakes of ash onto the polished tabletop.

“And if these survived… what else might have?”

Pierre tried to shake his head.
“You… you don’t need to tell me that… Tell UNEVEG. Tell the nations of the world. This is-”

Luna shook her own head, silencing him.
“We shan’t exacerbate this situation. Lest We may play in anypony’s - particularly the thief’s, should he exist - hooves.”
She flicked her horn meaningfully. “Presently, thou art the only human on this existence who knows of these tomes. This knowledge will burden thee, until We remove it once again.”

“Remove?”
Pierre all but jolted upright. “Wait! You… you don’t mean you want...”

“‘Tis for the safety of ponykind and humankind, Pierre.”

Ignoring the pain, Pierre pulled himself upright with the pillar’s help.
“I… refuse. I refuse. I will not let you do that.”

“Calm thyself.” Luna said, more forcefully than soothingly. “For there is a reason why We let this knowledge seep into thee in the first place.”

“...Alright...”

“What dost thou know of the current whereabouts of Edith of Bosnia and Herzegovina?”

Again, the typical shower ran down his spine.
“Edith… nothing. She was with us when we were on our way there. I don’t know what became of her.”

Luna’s countenance grew serious.
“Considering the fact that she is missing without a trace… the thought occurred to Us that whichever party is responsible for thy detour may just as well be responsible for her disappearance.”

“Do you think that?”

“Pray tell, Pierre. How much dost thou wish to see Edith again? To see her return to safety of thy United Nations?”

Pierre’s reply was quick to the point of irreverence.
“Yes! I mean… a lot. Obviously.” He gnashed his teeth. “I have no ill will towards this person. I’m not wishing harm on her, for Christ’s sake.”

She nodded.
“We believe thee. So if it would mean that Edith be saved, what wouldst thou be willing to tell Us about the pony that told thee?”

Frustrated, Pierre tried to turn away from the interrogating princess, but he could not she her off.

“It was a pony, was it not?”

He shivered.
It was more telling than he had wished.

“Not a pony? A gryphon, then? Or a changeling?”

Pierre squeezed his eyes shut.

But Luna still read him like a picture book.
“A changeling then.” she deduced in a grave voice.

Pierre felt strangely sick.
Silently, he sat himself back down from the ground he had just tried to get away from.

“Please...” Luna besought him, her voice and her eyes hopelessly aghast, “Please tell Us that this changeling took command of thy thoughts. Tell Us that thou werest not in thy right mind to follow its guidance.”

Pierre just buried his face in his hands.

Luna’s stare did not subside.
“Dost thy inanity know no bounds?”

She let a few moments pass. It was as though she was earnestly expecting a final answer from him.

When the thirteenth moment passed, she turned her attention towards the doors.

“Captain Fit. Lord Tian. Thou mayst re-enter!”

The double doors were swept open by a magic gust of force, and let the UN official and the pegasus officer back into the room.

Confused, Captain Fit checked his pocketwatch, apparently surprised by the time the ‘talk’ had taken.

“That was speedy,” Tian commented, looking at the clock’s foreign Equestrian dial, “though, one hopes, fruitful.”

Ignoring him, Luna turned to Captain Fit.
“Captain,” she exclaimed, recognising the soldier. “We had not anticipated to see thee again this soon.”

He bowed respectfully.
“I know that I’m long supposed to be on my way north, Ma’am, but-”

“But the call of duty intercepted thee.” she nodded. “Word reached Us that thou hast become the most senior investigating officer at the scene of the crime.”

“I… suppose that’s true, yeah.”

“Good. Then thou mayst deliver thy report. Let us try to resolve the mystery of the missing party members once and for all.”

“...Okay. How much do you know already, Ma’am?”

“Only the bare essentials among the facts.”

“And… ehm...” he tried to nod towards Tian as discreetly as possible. “What about… you know...”

“There is nothing in thy query which wouldn’t concern the United Nations likewise. So if thou pleasest.”

Captain Fit cleared harrumphed nervously, and started pacing through the room and assembling his thoughts.
“Well... We have been estimating the original size of the group to be eight. All of them, with the exception of three, were members of the United Nations.”

Discreetly, Tian whipped out a notepad and a pen, and began to jot down some short sentences himself.

“Four of them - including Mister Pierre here - were rescued from the fire. Until now, he has been the only one who has been responsive to any exceptional extent.”
He raised his hoof, as if he wanted to count down the numbers, “Two others, we apprehended as my comrades approached the premises. They are uninjured and fully approachable, but by their own account, they did not witness the fire breaking out, as they were outside the entire time. One of them seems not to be part of the United Nations directly, but...”

“No...” Pierre winced hoarsely, “That’s Ibrahim Shalgham. He’s with the ICMP.”

“Right. That leaves two just two ponies… uh, persons unaccounted for.” His face darkened. “Edith...”

“Šarić?” Tian clarified.

“...Yes. And the other...” Fighting hesitated, “Would be quite the odd one out, really...”

“Well...”

Luna stepped up, expectantly.
“Please. Carry on.”

Fighting just sighed.
“The other probably was Sergeant Golden Dirk. He’s in the Canterlot Archives Detachment. If anyone had access to the documents for the investigation, it was him.”

Tellingly, Pierre clenched his teeth at the mention.

“How wouldst thou know him, Captain?” Luna inquired.

“I... “ began, bashfully, “I was Sergeant Golden Dirk’s commanding officer for the last year and a half. He violated a disciplinary remand yesterday and fled Canterlot barracks.”

She seemed confused.
“What led thee to conclude that thy Sergeant were present here?”

“Ehm… he told me.” he answered, pointing back at Pierre. “Before he lost consciousness, he whispered his name and called him…. what was it again… a ‘bastard’, I think. It sure sounded like more than just a coincidence to me.”

Again, all eyed returned to an increasingly uneasy Pierre.
“I… I do not remember mentioning that to you...” he wheezed forlornly.

“But it’s true, right?” Fighting ascertained, all but taking over Princess Luna’s interrogation. “You didn’t just happen to come up with his name out of thin air! Was it Sergeant Golden Dirk who... hoodwinked his fellow countryponies?”
He cocked his eyebrow, before dropping his head and making it clear that his question was rhetorical. For just a moment, he seemed unsure of his own words. “He’s a Royal Guardspony, for crying out loud. Canterlot Garrison, no less! I’m not gonna lie, this a darn difficult thing for me to believe.”

Pierre winced uncomfortably.

“I don’t get it.” Fighting continued, pacing by his princess and the official. “Allow me to sum this up. First, Golden runs off to Celestia-knows-where. Then he finds you, and somehow leads you out into the Everfree for some kind of… what? Looting party?”

Gravely, Luna nodded.
“We are nopony to voluntarily cast suspicion on Our own subjects, but...”
She looked Fighting in the eyes. “We have reason to believe that thy Sergeant Golden Dirk was no more than a Changeling impostor.”

Fighting stared at her in complete silence.

Tian looked up from his pad and eyed the pair.
“There is a changeling involved in this affair?”
He glanced over to Pierre. “An actual changeling?”

Pierre opened his mouth to say something, but nothing would come out.

“Excuse me just a moment.” Captain Fit finally blurted out. “I must have misheard that.”

Luna’s chin hardened. Her ears folded back.
“Thou didst not, Captain.”

He gave an almost hysterical smirk.
“A changeling? In Canterlot? No, in Canterlot Barracks? That’s ridiculous.”

“And yet it is true.” Luna concluded.

Indignantly, Fighting raised his chin.
“W… w… with all due respect, I watch out for that sort of stuff. If one of my own colts had been replaced by a changeling, I would...”
At the last minute, he cut himself off. He looked as if he had been overcome by a feeling of deja-vu.

“Changelings are nefarious tricksters.” Luna explained mournfully. “We regret not assigning decloaking specialists to the barracks sooner. It seemed this infiltrator beat us all to the punch.”

Captain Fit looked positively humiliated by now,
“Is… is that supposed to mean, Mister Pierre, that you threw in your lot with a changeling back there? You didn’t know, r-right?”

“That is not important right now.” Luna said and silenced him. “What matters is that this changeling may have an innocent human in his grasp. And that that human must be rescued.”

With elegant slowness, Tian took out a mobile phone and began dialling a number.
“Well… I believe this would warrant contacting Peacekeeping’s crisis command. This is the third or fourth abduction in two months.”

Also Captain Fit stepped up, filled with newly found vigour.
“Well, I’ll bring her back, Ma’am!” he declared. “Wherever those creatures, they couldn’t have gotten far. They probably haven’t even made it out of the Everfree yet!”

“And I will send a... notice to every peacekeeping outpost on the archipelago.” Tian added, not looking up from his screen, “They will surveill the area, to the best of their resources.”

“And I will round up my colts in Canterlot and Ponyville! They will lock down the entire countryside and block the royal highway to the Crystal Empire!”

Princess Luna just erected a hoof, interrupting the hassle momentarily.
Then she minded Pierre, who was still cowering in the corner, debilitated by fear and cluelessness.

“Art thou willing to do thy part in rescuing Edith?”

Hesitantly, he nodded up at her.
“I… of course.”

“Then thou shall be accompanying the Captain Fighting Fit up north. Use the assets and perks of thy position in bringing her back into safety.”

Pierre didn’t even need to nod to signal his agreement.

“Well then...” Tian harrumphed one more time, covering the speaker of his phone with a finger, “Can I assume that the issue of Mister Abel’s… involvement has been resolved in some respects?”

Her head held high, Luna approached the official.
“We would say that a resolution has been found in most respects.”

Pierre began to shiver uncontrollably as he looked after the princess.

“Does Her Majesty intend to set any legal steps in motion against Mister Abel and his subordinates?”

“We believe that shan’t be necessary.” she declared. “Consider this a taste of Equestrian justice. We honour the reasonable and the insightful.”

The tension poured out of Pierre’s body like a hailstorm through a gutter.

“Very well put, if I may say so.” Tian just grinned with his typical wheeding veneer.

“What matters now is put the errors of part to good use to bring justice to the true culprit. We expect Ser Pierre to be a valuable addition to this effort.”

“Well...” Tian sighed, “I am afraid Mister Abel might not find himself in any capacity to contribute to the search efforts in any meaningful way. His presence is currently requested in New York, your Majesty.”

Luna’s big blue eyes intensified, “Well, We believe that Ser Pierre will be put to much better use in this country, Lord Tian. A ‘notice’ shan’t be enough to resolve this situation.”

It was almost like heaven-sent to Pierre. Finally, someone called the situation out.

Tian gave a charmless smirk.
“Did Her Majesty not insist earlier on that the peacekeeping personnel shall be… ‘swept out of the countryside’?”

Luna huffed forcefully.
“We were privy to a powerful emotional eruption. That much is true. But We feel like We do not have to explain to thee how drastically the circumstances have changed now.”
She drew a breath. “We are in no way averse the human presence taking action in matters that are truly beneficial. In that regard, We require any helping hand We can get.”

Tian, unfazed, smirked on.
“As glad as we all are that your Majesty has decided to desist from further punitive measures, even I cannot exceed my own authority. And I’m afraid that as far as Mister Abel is concerned, this affair is a purely internal matter of the UN’s own authorities now...”

Luna was unmoved herself.
After a few meaningful seconds of silence, she addressed Tian anew.
“Ser Pierre has just now directed Our attention towards the fact that We may have reneged in our treaty-bound duties.”

Tian raised his eyebrows.
“Really?”

“Yes. We have failed to inform thy organisation of the existence of a number of documents in Our possession.”

“Well…” he chuckled, acting a little flabbergasted, “We are surprised to hear that.”

Her head beckoned him over to the table with the pathetic few hoof-ful of books.
“Perhaps thou wouldst want to perform the formal act and view these documents to satisfy thy duty.”

He cleared his throat.
“Perhaps that would indeed be… purely formally… and briefly...”

Without even waiting for him to finish, Luna turned around and returned to Pierre.
“Wouldst thou like to join Captain Fighting Fit downstairs, while We this resolve this matter with thy superior?”

Confused, Pierre gazed up at her. He didn’t know what he was waiting for. Some kind of clue to what was happening, perhaps?

The princess bowed her massive head down towards him, and locked him in her gaze.
“Remember,” she began to whisper softly, “Remember Our words. Remember the dangers that these documents pose. If thou should see any of those in the custody of a changeling, then thou must tell Our guards to act. Those books must not fall to the wrong wielder!”

“I… I don’t get why me.”

“Because We are giving thee the chance to put thy eagerness to proper use. As well as to learn a valuable lesson.”

Confused, Pierre tried glancing over to Tian, as he was in the process of bowing over the table and inspecting the books, his arms behind his back.

“Besides… By this time the next day,” she explained, “thou shalt once again be the only one of thy kind to know of these tomes’ existence. That, thou mayst consider a sign Our trust in thy kind.”


“I hate Lunar Guards.” Fighting grumbled as he and Pierre were led down the stairs of the town hall by half a score of menacing-looking guards, their armours dark purple, their coats grey and their eyes piercing yellow.

Pierre hobbled as fast as he could, not only to keep up, but get as far away from that princess as fast as possible.
The ‘why’ and ‘how’ didn’t really come into it.

At some point, the two of them standing outside in the snow, shivering in the cold, as the doors were shut behind them.

“That...” Pierre stuttered, his body still bathing in the warming feeling of relief, “That was it. I think.”

“Yeah.” Fighting chewed, pretty skeptically. “You must be the luckiest bucking monkey in the universe.”

“Whatever.” Pierre grunted dismissively, and looked around the deserted wintry hamlet.

“What exactly did the Princess tell you in there?”

“I...”
He shook his head. He didn’t feel like he knew well enough to be able to explain it all anyway.

“So… and what now?” Fighting asked, putting on his helmet and tightening the buckle. “Did that mean that you’re supposed to be coming with me now?”

“...I’ll have to discuss this with Tian Shouxin.”

“Something tells me...” Fighting sighed, “That he’s not coming out for some time.”

“Why?”

Fighting just shrugged.

A bad feeling swelled up in Pierre.

“Don’t look the gift-horse in the mouth, I guess.” Fighting finally concluded.

Pierre decided to bite the bullet, and began buttoning his ill-fitting blazer.
“What about my colleagues?”

“Ponyville has one of the best hospitals on the continent. They’ll probably be fine.”

“Hm.”
He noticed a military chariot swooping down from the sky and touching down on the main road.
“And where are you going, Lieutenant?”

Captain.” Fighting grumbled. “We go north.”