Nightmare's Return

by CanterlotGuardian

Interlude - Canto III: I Am With You

As Celestia and Twilight confidently made their way through the winding aisles of bookcases, they were totally unaware of the other presence in the room. She watched her sister and student intently, as though trying to figure out what they were doing. She already knew, though; information like this does not stay secret for very long in Canterlot castle. It also didn’t hurt that Celestia had divulged the details of her plan to her sister when Celestia had first come up with it.

Luna closed her eyes briefly, opening them again. The subjects of her study had stopped at a particular bookcase and were looking over some tomes that they had taken out. She could hear every word they were saying, not that they were trying to be quiet or anything.

“Could this be the one?” Twilight asked, flipping through a few pages and studying them briefly. “No, this isn’t it. All this details is how the courts were run… Three thousand years ago?” Twilight looked up at Celestia. “The Archives have records dating that far back?”

Celestia smiled at her. “I told you that we keep meticulous records. In fact, I remember writing that book myself. Granted, my dear sister had her part in it as well, but I was the one who ended up taking all of it down on paper in the very end.”

Twilight looked up at her teacher. “Where is Luna, by the way? I haven’t seen her around in awhile, not even in the few brief times that I’ve visited the castle at night?”

Celestia sighed. “I know where she is, but I believe she wants her privacy for the time being. She has had many things on her mind as of late. Of what, I do not know. I could always just pry into her mind and find out for myself, but I have more respect for her than that.”

Luna let out a quiet sigh. It was true, her sister did have respect for her. However, she entertained no false notions of Celestia not knowing exactly what was going on inside her mind. She knew; of that, she was certain.

She continued to study their every movement. “There is something not right about this…” Luna murmured to herself. “Why is she not mobilizing every force that she can, to try and find Rainbow Dash? This is entirely unlike her… Every other time one of the Elements of Harmony has been in danger, she’s done everything she possibly can in order to get them out of danger. So why the change of heart now?”

She tried to shake the feeling of dread that was welling up in her heart, but she simply could not. Every fiber of her being was telling her that something was seriously wrong, and she found herself conflicted that she could not figure out what it was. Was her love for her sister blinding her to some key fact that she could have seen easily, were it not for the ponies involved?

She glanced around the room, watching for anything that could clue her in, as to why she was having such an intense feeling of dread. As she gazed upon her surroundings, her heart skipped a quick beat: The door to the Archives was open.

“Why?” she asked herself as she stood from her crouched position. “Why did Celestia not close the door when she and Twilight entered?” She dropped down from the top of the bookshelf where she was perched, landing noiselessly on the ground, using her magic to ensure she was not heard. She quietly made her way over to where the door was located, all the while keeping an ear on Twilight and Celestia’s conversation.

All they were talking about was old history topics, things that hadn’t been brought up in hundreds, if not thousands, of years. She remembered them all, though, as though they’d happened yesterday. That was one of the curses of being immortal; her memory was just as unassailable as her lifespan, and both the good and the bad things were always at the back of her mind.

When she rounded the corner and reached the door, she could swear that she saw an ever so brief shimmer in the air, but just as quickly as it had caught her eye, it was no longer there. Luna was almost tempted to brush it off as just a momentary illusion, but the fact that the hairs of her coat were now practically standing on end caused her to discard that thought. Now, she was sure that there was something else going on, more than just what she could see.

She sent a ping through the whole room, using her magic to try to weed out any life-form that was there that shouldn’t be there. She almost audibly gasped when the ping returned to her and revealed not one, but four invisible beings in the room. Knowing the situation, and who they were dealing with, she could only think of one thing that it could possibly be.

“Changelings!”

Deciding upon abandoning her previous plan of staying in the shadows, she dropped the magical field that was keeping her presence a secret, and she strode up to Celestia and Twilight, who were both nose-deep in ancient tomes. It was not until she was almost upon them that Celestia looked up at her.

“Luna?” she asked in surprise. “This is rather unexpected. I have always known you to hate being in the Archives. What brings you around this fine night?” At Celestia’s words, Twilight also looked up and seeing Luna there, bowed respectfully to her.

Luna smiled and nodded at Twilight, acknowledging her gesture, and when Twilight had stood once again, she directed her attentions back to Celestia. “I was taking a walk to clear my mind, and I happened to see the Archives door opened. I came in to make sure nothing was wrong.” She felt bad lying to her sister, but she had to see what her reaction was going to be to her words.

Celestia cocked her head, seemingly confused. “The door was open? But… I closed it as soon as Twilight and I were in…”

“Then somepony else must have opened it after you-”

Celestia was already shaking her head before Luna could even finish. “There are so many magical wards around this part of the castle, that an intruder would have been identified before they could even finish opening the door.” Luna had to admit, this part was completely true. She knew, because it was she and Celestia that had put them up to begin with.

Luna turned to Twilight. “Can you remember if my sister had closed the door when you all came in?”

Twilight thought for a moment, then shook her head. “No, I’m sorry, I can’t. I wasn’t paying too much attention to that; I was just wanting to get in here and start looking through all these books.”

Luna nodded silently. “Well, it appears that all is well here, so… I shall not interrupt you any longer.” She bowed slightly to her sister, then turned around and walked away. As she left, she could hear Celestia talking to Twilight, encouraging her to keep looking for the information she was seeking.

“She is not questioning anything?” Luna whispered to herself as she walked out, making sure to close the door behind her. “My story did not even sound plausible, even to me. So why is she almost wanting to make sure that nothing about it is questioned?” Nothing was adding up to her, and it very much concerned her.

She made her way back to her royal quarters, and crossing through her bedroom, she stepped out onto her personal balcony. She gazed up at the stars that were out that night, and a far-away star blinked at her once, then twice. She smiled.

All at once, an idea came into her mind, and she visibly recoiled at even the thought of it. She usually trusted her instincts, but this time, even she had to question where the thought had come from. It was not normally her modus operandi to have such crazy thoughts, and yet this one had surfaced unbidden as easily as raising the night came to her.

The more she thought about it, though, the more she began rationalizing it, and she began to consider that this might be a very good plan in the end. After all, if her sister was going to be this meek about the situation, it may very well in the end have had to fall to Luna after all to clean up the mess.

She stepped back into her room, gathering up her royal armor and putting it on carefully. Where she was going, she wanted to announce herself as someone not to be trifled with, a force to surely be reckoned with. When she was done, she took one last glance out into the stars, then sighed and began the journey out of the castle. She had become convinced that the Celestia in the Archives was not the real Celestia, and she knew that the only way for her to find out the truth for herself was to go where nopony had willingly gone before.

She was going to make her way into the Changeling lands.

Comments

[squalllockheart]

to go where nopony had willingly gone before.

Sorry, too much star trek, to boldly go where nopony has willingly gone before.

[CanterlotGuardian]

3223073
lol I wasn't even thinking about Star Trek when I wrote that. that's the worst part.

[Chaodiurn]

Thanks for pointing that story out. Interesting read, even more interesting characters. Especially Celestia in her oddness hooked me.
That, and because you left this behind for playing Magic: The Gathering (can't blame you; congrats for making second place by the way), you left me and many others hanging without Luna's adventure. At least that's what I hope the next chapter contains. Can't have enough traveling Luna.
Anyways. Extended cliffhanging is evil!

I'll keep an eye on that story.

[FinalFan]

3376881 The first step to my prediction becoming reality is in place.

[FinalFan]

3393218 You know I was mostly joking, right? Except for the part where part of my prediction was actually confirmed.

[Jdts7]

Wait....Luna knew that there were changeling in the archives....the super-collection-of-forbidden-knowledge archives.....and did nothing? Why? Regardless of weather or not it was the real or fake celestial or twilight, she knew FOR A FACT that there were four individuals that were NOT supposed to be there, so I ask again, WHY IN THE NAME OF THE MOON DID SHE DO ABSOLUTLY NOTHING?!

It doesn't make any sense....

[CanterlotGuardian]

3748234
Celestia and Luna are the only ones who are officially allowed in, as they are the rulers of the castle. also, Celestia can allow anypony in that she desires as long as she is with them while they are in the archives.

I probably should have made that more clear. That's my bad.