> The Good, The Bad and the Princess
>  by BorealStargazer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“This way, Your Highness.”

Since the very moment they landed “Her Highness” kept stalking her wherever she went. Luna stifled a grimace. After all, she reminded herself, composure is a virtue of any successful sovereign.

“Tell me, captain,” she inquired with utmost negligence she could muster, “why do you keep addressing me as ‘Your Highness’?”

“'Cause you're a princess?” shrugged her guide, catching the more informal tone of their conversation. The answer was quick though. Too quick. As if it wasn't just formulated but was prepared in advance.

“True as it may be,” admitted Luna with a fleeting smile. She knew these games inside and out. And probably was slightly more experienced in the art than a captain of the guard of some mining facility. “Yet 'tis the land of Equestria that We rule. And Equestria is quite a walk from here, don't you think?”

She waited for the guard in his dark grey streaked armor to face her and graced him with her royal look.

“I am no Princess of yours, Captain Lash.”

“Yet...” the guard was saved by the clang of the elevator. He dived for the sliding doors. “...You are the co-ruler of an allied state.”

“The state you've never seen, captain.” the alicorn continued, examining the vestibule through the muddy glass of her protective helm. “War makes you treat things simpler.”

“Your sister...” Lash stumbled, “Princess Celestia... informed that You may fancy some traditions of old.”

Luna rolled her eyes. She should have guessed. The joke's been stale for a while. We're going to discuss it later, sis.

“And now I tell you I prefer to be addressed as ‘Princess Luna’,” her teeth glittered. “Is that clear, Captain?”

“Just so, Your Hi... Princess,” he stopped short so clumsily, Luna hardly suppressed a giggle. Sometimes even something this small is enough to lessen the tension. “A pity this storm hampered your plans, Princess.”

“How many times are you going to apologize, officer?” Luna snorted. “Once is quite enough. Besides, it's a perfect opportunity to make a tour.”

If only not for this armour.

This armour had a designation of "protective mining overalls” and captain of the guard insisted on Luna equipping it prior to descending to the bowels of the excavation. Luna herself considered her magic to be valid enough protection from any dust and stray bruises but captain proved to be unexpectedly uncompromising about the matter. A single scratch on her body, he pointed out, is a good enough reason for Serenity to flay him.

Eventually, she yielded.

Serenity, Captain of the Night Guards, standing in the distance like a shadow, had been imperturbable and mute during the whole conversation. But Luna'd felt his silent laugh echoing in her tail.

She could also swear on anything captain insisted on wearing "protection" solely for the occasion to later gift her a similar attire specially tailored for her frame.

“You could expect the pegasi of Meteoservice to learn their chores after all these years,” he grumbled under his breath. Something about his tone felt wrong but the princess could not put a hoof on it yet.

“The middle belt is still not terraformed, captain,” she searched for the words. “Blooming life is restricted to pockets. I've read the reports and geographical articles. How comes you earth ponies haven't turned everything into a garden of blossoms?”

“Trivial,” the guard sniffed. “Or, better say, not trivial at all. Nature is a tangle of things interconnected, not to be treated lightly. You can't just dig out the rivers and hope you won't break anything on the way.”

Princess gave him a thin smile.

“Then why, captain, do you expect Weather Control to be any different? Meteorology is pretty much the same ‘tangle of things interconnected’.”

This time Lash didn't think of a good answer.

They spent the next minutes walking the corridors. The lamps were dim but the rest seemed uncharacteristically tidy for the mine workings. Luna was ready to ask about how far their destination was when captain of the guard stopped in front of the door, swept the card he was holding in his mouth through the reader and turned to her. A warm yellow glow streamed through the folding doors sliding open.

“Welcome to the Amber Hall, Princess.”
> Interlude
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Getting caught in the loop of my past is a known weakness of mine. Never before I adverted to this one, though. Buried too deep in the past, too much time flew since.

Too objectionable were the memories it triggered.

Dreamland is an interesting concept in itself. And since I don't strive for an academic degree here I will try my best to explain it in earth ponies' terms. When inside a dream almost never can an uninitiated pony discern the vision. To tell illusions from reality is a skill of the chosen few. And while my inherent talent contributed to it, mastering the skill required both knowledge and effort in proportion equally immense.

The stallion was tossing, agonizing.

A moment later I saw the agony for what it was: a mirage, a construct of a feverous mind. The pony shaking with fever so bad the sweat was rolling from him. I pressed myself against the asymmetric scintillating gate and caught the hot breath, the folds of drenched sheets. A hospital ward? A cozy home bed? No matter.

I burst forward, diving headfirst into the ghostly flickers. And found myself in the middle of a nightmare.

A thick stagnant stench of hydrogen sulphide and rotten grass tied a knot in my stomach. Barely stifling nausea I turned around. And recoiled. Hard to stay calm when meeting face to face with an Everfree hydra — even if you know for a fact it is no more than a dream spawn. Especially if the said hydra is profusely bloodied.

The blood was of a stallion the hydra was clenching in its middle-jaws. He was struggling for freedom, but the energy was clearly fading from him. Hydra didn't pay him much attention. Two of her other heads were snarling at each other. It seemed they have not yet decided who'd be the first to have a meal this night.

“Let him go!” I've screamed before I could think of the consequences. My magic would protect me. Probably. My teachers would hardly support the approach though.

To Tartarus with the teachers and their approach.

The hydra, distracted by my scream, stopped snapping and turned her attention to me. Vacant heads licked their teeth, their intention obvious. Once, I'd be scared. Now I got a hold on myself.

“THOU SHALT RELEASE HIM.” My Canterlot Voice bent down the reed, nearby willows raining leaves and rubbish. “IMMEDIATELY. OR WITNESS MY WRATH.”

The hydra squinted as if struggling with a sudden gush of wind. Then her head shoot forward, snapping its teeth a breath away from my face.

A flash of combat incantation reduced the hydra to a hoofful of glittering dust. I barely caught the pony who suddenly found himself in the middle of the air and made him descend on a nearby dry plot, carefully supporting in my magic. If anything, I did my homework proper.

“There.” After the Voice these usual words sounded uncharacteristically quiet. “It is over. You're safe.”

“Am I... gonna die?” the injured pony muttered heavily.

“'Course not silly. 'Twas just a dream.”

“A... dream?”

I sighed. Certainly. A common pony. He doesn't possess my knowledge nor my training.

“You're only injured as badly as you want to be. See?” I raised his foreleg, a moment ago visibly bitten through to the bone. Now it had not a single sign of recent wounds.

“Who are you... stranger?”

The space between us rippled, drawing a wavy curtain, severing me from the foreign nightmare that was a nightmare no more. The last thing I felt was the breath. Breath of a exhausted pony lying in his sweat-drenched bed. Many times I questioned the purpose of my existence. Now I knew exactly what I should do.

I didn't know yet that the pony would never remember me. Not he nor the thousands following him. But even if I could know that beforehand... Would that really matter?
> Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“...the Princess must have seen lots of cut ambers.” Captain Lash was switching off the illumination, one lamp at a time.

Surely you can't miss the opportunity to remind.

“Amber differs though. No two samples are the same. All of the exhibits collected here were mined in separate drifts of the same wing.”

“Many thanks, captain.” At last Luna turned her gaze away from the honey-colored crystal frozen inside the showcase, sharing with him her embarrassed smile. “Where are we heading now?”

“I suppose You should have some rest after your journey. We've cleared the officers' module so that part of Your Honor Guard can share it with You.”

“We could also stay in Our dropship,” Luna informed, mimicking his inflection. The door to the Amber Hall closed behind her with a loud clank. “I have a personal compartment there.”

“To sleep in traveling conditions?” chief of the guard winced. “Why?”

Then again, really, why? Regardless of how dry are the tropics here this place must have some sort of a shower. A real full-size bed, too...

“Be honest to yourself, princess... Are your doubts based solely on this meaningless showoff-ish window-dressing?”

“We accept your offer, captain. You have our gratitude,” she declared. “Serenity will handle the order to transport some of my luggage to the place of your choosing. I expect the officers not to be cramped.”

Would this earth pony know her a tad better he'd know to be cautious around this squint.

“Nothing to worry about. My room is your, Princess,” Lash waved her off without a turn of his head. They were back to the known places, crossing the hangar she'd seen before, and to the both sides combines, tunneling shields and exoskeletons towered above them. “We can coordinate a dinner once you've changed back.”

“It'd be a pleasure,” Luna grinned, having just noticed one more pictogram to the side. “Can I change in here?”

“As in right here?“ her guide stumbled.

“Not precisely here, no,” the alicorn snorted. “If I am not mistaken, the door leads to the cloakroom?”

“A workers' checkroom,” Lash specified. “Should I remind you that some of the miners in our facility are pony convicts?”

“Some of the colonist pioneers were convicts,” the princess archly retorted. “Besides, all the prisoners, according to you, should currently rest inside their wing.”

“Yes,” the captain quickly acknowledged.

“Meaning you must be worrying I can see something I shouldn't have?” Luna let a cute smile.

“Surely not!” the captain scrubbed the floor with his forehoof. “The thing is, your position...”

“I'm long past the age when a pony can't decide for herself, captain. If that'd be easier for you, consider this to be a royal whim.”

Chief of security shook his head but seemingly had nothing to object with. They turned to the side from the central gallery.

“A pity I never saw one of those in action,” the princess thoughtfully uttered looking at a bipedal walker mech they were passing. The vehicle looked tiny next to the massive tunneling shield but still was easily twice as tall as herself. “What were you calling it again?”

“Sokolka,” the guard replied. “A mobile repair vehicle. That's a tough one. An operator once hold a crumbling lining on his back when inside one of those, while simultaneously welding the fittings until all the workers were out of danger. The work for today is over but we can return here tomorrow if you wish, catch the early shift. A couple of CRVs always accompanies the crew when they go down.”

“That's it, right. A curious name,” the princess stopped several steps from the door and gave his words some thought. “I wonder...”

“Yes?”

“That faulty lining you mentioned, the landslide. Was it a recent event?”

“A very old one,” Lash gave her a patronizing smile. “During the war. We have long since ceased having emergencies of the kind.” He proudly drove himself up, puffing out his chest. “This is one of the safest mines on the Frontier.”

“That's strange,” the princess said, looking behind him, “'cause it surely looks like one of your repair vehicles was here not so long ago.”

Captain turned around and a shadow crossed his face. He briefly examined the dock. The toolbox hiding behind a crate. Thick charging cables snaking from the ceiling. A diagnostic console.

“Lash to hangar watchpost.”

Of course, normally she would not hear the watchponies' response. Not as if the captain was going to switch to speakers. Why would he do that anyway? There were regulations in place, some internal matters...

“To think about it, you were inquisitive once.”

“...ere, Capt,” judging from the voice the pony got distracted from something much more exciting than watching the internal surveillance.

'Tis good to have spells missing from the public catalogues. As one book suggests, a sovereign never eavesdrops. A sovereign gets informed of the affairs.

“That you, Lazy? A CRV number three. Where's it?”

“A rep vehicle?” watchpony's voice sounded confused. “What do ya mean, ‘where’? Right there in the hangar, where else could it be? Looking at it right now.”

“Lazy,” the captain facehoofed, slapping his leg against the visor glass. He totally forgot he was wearing a helm. “You're looking at the camera data. The third dock is in front of me and it's empty. Don't tell me I'm going nuts.”

They continued talking but Luna, careful of not being caught, shook her head, and a halo wrapping her horn faded. When captain switched off the comms and wheeled about to face her she was inspecting the service diagnostics panel, completely disinterested in the cloakroom.

“You must excuse me,” he told, answering the question she never asked. “It seems we may have a teeny-tiny bit of a problem.”

A loud sound came down on them rolling from somewhere deep within the facility maze. A sound of blaring alarms.
> Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Gimme a layout!” Lash snapped, waving off the offered coffee. “And would somepony kindly cut the buck off those blasted wailers?”

Luna curiously observed the control panels. They were at the mine's sanctum sanctorum, the administrative section. Maneframe racks towered everywhere around them, their displays and sensor screens dimly glowing. The air was filled with quiet humming of cooling systems and fans in the air ducts, a sound barely audible yet omnipresent.

“Better go grab a pillow, Princess,” the captain turned his attention to her. “We will deal with this regrettable incident.”

“You must be kidding,” Luna chuckled. “The day just got interesting.”

“Curses. Fine, stay if you want but stay aside. The job's mine to do. I've asked for the layout dammit!”

“Maneframe has just finished rebooting the kernel modules,” a technician responded apologetically, nervously tapping his hoof on the end of the console. “Will get it now.”

“Analysis here,” another one added, a blue-coated mare with a bright mane wearing engineer's clothes. “Let's take a look... No viruses detected. No sign of tampering with the encrypted data either. Kernel is fine. All systems running smoothly.”

The table flared with an image that quickly rose to gain volume. They've never been to most of the branches but still, looking at the tiny surface structures Luna recognized the place. No need for reading labels. They were looking at the spatial plan of the Yurga-2 mine.

“Gonna tell me there's no misplaced tech, too?” chief of security maliciously inquired. “Check out the prisoners' tags.”

“Already did,” the blue pony echoed. “Indications confirm your manual headcount. All safely inside the isolation.”

Her hooves deftly moved through the controls, displays flashing with labels and menus, then going dark again. The plan blinked and got covered in ruby dots, all of them to the side of the main shaft. At the place where the princess guessed a cellblock and service quarters to be.

“What of the private miners?” the captain quickly demanded.

“The same,” a flash again, and the plan was now specked with yellow dots instead of red. Those were not limited to one place though. Instead they were scattered here and there away from the cellblock.

Hired workers have more freedom of movement, the princess deduced, remembering all the facility descriptions she was absent-mindedly listening to earlier. A couple of cafes, a diner, a VG arcade room... did she miss anything?

“Security?” chief interrupted her line of thoughts, reluctance in his voice. Reluctance, she quickly realized, in no small measure caused by some unauthorized ponies being in the admin section. Meaning Serenity and herself. She noticed Lash to let out a sigh of relief after the blue pony shook her head (the plan flashing with green dots accordingly).

“Then who...”

“That leaves us.”

“You?” Lash frowned.

“Maintenance,” the pony explained. “Serviceponies, engineers, operators, cooks...”

“Do it. Also, why still no report on where that CRV is?”

“Cuz nopony knows where it is,” the pony replied giving her mane a shake. “One thing's for sure. Either its comms are offline... or it is outside.”

“Outside?” the chief snorted. “In this sandstorm? Nonsense.”

“That's strange,“ the engineer pony's eyes narrowed. “Cuz right here it says there is a standing authorization for one CRV to leave the base. Outer data cable repairs. Signed this morning.”

“Who signed the sanction?” the captain drew forward.

“You did.”

“Bunk,” Lash shook his head and hurried to join her. “Show me.”

Minutes stretched as the chief of security seemingly had read the digital doc over and over again. The doc the system stated was personally signed by him this morning. At long last engineer mare's display flashed with another message, and AI announced the scan was complete.

“Who?” he blurted.

“One pony missing,” stated the AI in a slightly crackling voice. “Occupation, tech maintenance. Name, Celekh, undefined. Profile...”

“Stuff your profile,” the captain broke her off. “What does ‘missing’ mean?”

“One pony missing. Personal tracker deactivated or out of scanning range.”

“Celekh,” the captain murmured. “Buckity. I should have guessed.”

He turned to the blue-coated pony.

”Rosie, we'll be making the rounds. Detect the protection breach,” his next words were addressed to everyone. “Question the whole tech maintenance crew. Make a full section sweep. I want Celekh found! Report any news to my intercom asap.”

As soon as the chief turned away the technician mare wrinkled in disgust. He wasn't paying her any attention, though. It was all on Luna. Lash hesitated, then grimly made his mind.

“Princess? You offered to help me.”

A few minutes later they were standing at the locked door in the passage. The only difference this door had from its neighbors was a “C” letter printed on a plate.

Name, Celekh, undefined, echoed Luna.

“Don't tell me you have no unicorns in the mine, captain,” she cast the chief of security a sidelong glance, watching his reaction. “Why me?”

Captain Lash stood straight but avoided looking at her. His eyes were drilling the door instead.

“There's a huge difference between a common unicorn servicepony and a princess. Your experience and Your magic could enable us to notice something the others would surely miss.”

He sweeped the card on the reader, and the door rolled grinding into the wall.

“Please stay here for now, Princess. We don't know why wasn't Celekh found. If there are any surprises inside it'd better be us dealing with them.”

He made a sharp hoof movement, and two fully armored and armed guards slipped inside. Not risking to turn on the lights just yet, they waved their headtorches around, scanning the walls and watching the indications on their detectors. One of them checked behind the narrow door across the room that separated it from what looked like a small storage room. Luna followed their actions with some interest. Something was telling her, however, that they will find nothing.

“All clear, chief,” one of them said. “You may enter.”

“The lights,“ quickly said Lash, the ceiling flashing up with built-in lamps. After waiting for a while he stepped inside. “Careful. We don't know what we may expect here.”

“His room?” wondered Luna just in case, examining the closet she stood in. The small room barely had place for the four of them, notwithstanding the fact that the folding bed was raised and fixed to the wall.

“Her room,” the captain corrected. “Celekh is a mare. One of the civilian workers from the tech maintenance crew.”

“Do they handle the mechs?”

“Among other things. Yurga's excavations belong to the initial mine workings...”

“I remember the tour,” Luna nodded. “‘Initial’ is an euphemism for ‘ancient’. Meaning mechanics always have work to do.”

“The Princess has a sharp mind,” Lash bowed.

“Does that also mean mechanics sleep in the hangar bay?”

“Surely not,” the captain hurriedly rejoined. “We have regulations to adhere to.”

“She hasn't tidy the place up for quite a time, then,” the princess observed, drawing a trail in the dust with her armored boot.

“Civilian techs do not conform to military policies,” Lash said, gloomy and apparently embarrassed. “Obviously we do interfere in case of emergencies. But generally members of the service staff make their own decisions about how to keep their quarters up.”

Luna inspected the room once more. Bare walls. Bare floor. No lamp decorations either. A lonely bedside table, no lock. And dust, dust everywhere. Is it really somepony's home? Looking more closely now, she noticed the dust was somewhat thinner in center of the room and near the door. The table corner closest to the bed was also slightly more tidy. Yes. Somepony lived in here. But it was a strange way of living.

She closed her eyes and concentrated. She saw the place, what she needed now was to feel it as well. Things bore the imprint of their owner but it was rather weak. Weak and... unusual. Darkness and... clouds of smoke? Still, something else. Something very familiar...

She shuddered weakly and abruptly inhaled, flinging her eyes open.

“What can you tell me about Celekh?” she asked, not caring to turn.

“Not much,” Lash reluctantly replied. “Reserved. Canny. Didn't have any real friends. A wiz with machinery... obviously, otherwise she would never be able to do something like that. Why the question?”

“I have no idea why would she want to disappear all of a sudden,“ the princess candidly divulged.

Captain snorted.

“I have a dozen o' reasons on my mind, fit for any taste. I expected the search to point us to the true one. She could prepare an escape for a convict. She could be spying for the marauders. She could even...”

A buzzer of his intercom interrupted him mid-sentence. The princess moved her lips, and the glowing of her horn had a slight change.

“Yes?” the chief said with displeasure, pressing the comm device fixed on his foreleg, just above the hoof, to his ear.

“The airlock guard station just reported in, captain,” the voice was that of a blue-coated pony from the administrative section.

“I thought you've found her,” captain replied, his irritation audible.

“Think we never will, sir. The station confirms one CRV has left the facility. The time seems roughly fitting...”

“Impossible...” Lash muttered. ”Who was driving the vehicle?”

“The guards are unsure of that, sir. They had no visuals.”

“Are you taking me for a fool, Rose? What are they, blind?”

“In a sense, sir,” the sarcasm in pony's voice was barely noticeable. Luna stifled a smile. “Sokolka had her windshield polarized. They could only recognize there was one pony figure inside. She introduced herself as Celekh. They say the voice has been similar to hers.”

“Get them to my office,“ Lash growled. “I will personally conduct the interrogation.”

When he addressed Luna there was regret in his voice.

“Princess, I have to leave. We will sort this out soon, I assure you. Autumn Leaf will accompany you to the quarters.”

“Thank you, captain,“ Luna turned to him and gave him her most charming smile. “Very amiable of you.”

She was tempted to use his hospitality. Get away from this place, away from the shadows that made her blood freeze. Instead she inspected the room once more, opened the bedside table with her muzzle and peeked inside.

“Your Highness?” the pony asked, a chestnut-coated stallion in security uniform. Looked like the young guard felt uneasy in her presence. Serenity standing close behind him didn't make him feel any better. “Princess? Shouldn't we be going?”

“I am positive the captain won't mind if I decide to look through the place once more. I doubt your colleagues have missed anything, but still...”

Bedside table gave her no surprises. No books, no photos, not even a coffee mug.

“And what can you tell me about Celekh, Autumn Leaf?”

“I'm afraid nothing more than the captain, Your Highness. She commanded the crew responsible for vehicle and mining machinery maintenance.”

“She was in charge?” Luna closed the table and looked at him, confused.

The guard awkwardly picked at the floor with his hoof under her gaze.

“It may seem odd. Captain didn't feel like putting her in charge but she was good. No friends, that one's true, but she was well respected by the service folk. In would be real funny to have somepony else manage them.”

Alicorn took a quick glance at the narrow built-in closet. Inside were some old working overalls stinking of artificial disinfectants and rags on the floor, worn beyond recognition. That left the tiny storage behind the door she saw earlier.

It seems tech manager and captain were not exactly on the best terms, the princess thought. Asking this out loud was probably not the wisest of choices.

“Did you like her?”

“Did I?” Autumn Leaf seemed to be both confused and embarrassed. “We didn't socialize that much. Security is even in a separate wing, away from maintenance. Fixed my intercom real good once. She can give ponies the creeps all right but she never did me no bad, eh?”

A tiny room she dubbed storage at first turned out to be a toilet. And a bathroom as well, though one could get a shower here only when rearing on the hind legs. It had some more signs of the pony inhabiting the place. A slick soap stub, a toothbrush covered in stains and streaks of paste. A mirror with a cobweb of sharp cracks covering it. The smashed mirror was only barely holding in its frame.

“Was there ever any reason to?”
> Interlude
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I stand by the marble balustrade above the sea of fires and watch as my light wanes. Daybreak is not quite there yet, no reason to hasten it. Today I'm not in the mood to delay though. I've seen enough of the fires, enough of this air crackling of expectations. The miracle is about to happen.

Can you chalk something up as a miracle if it happens on a schedule, to the nearest minute?

I have hundreds and thousands of enlightened faces in front of me. I see patches of light inside one mare's eyes, cast by the candle she's holding. She chews on her lip in anticipation. All manes are grey in pre-morning dusk, but I know her hair to be rich carrot orange.

I also know every night she has the same dream. The dream filled with biting snaps of her father's belt. The one where her mother locks herself in the kitchen, heedless of her desperate cries for help. Did I say has? She had one. I took her pain from her. Let her night be a tranquil one.

There are vastly different ponies in front of me. Torturers and victims. Alarmed parents and scared fillies. Gregarious ones and independent loners. They believe they've never met me in person. Yet I know some of them better than they do.

There are times when I feel I know much more than I ever bargained for. Privy desires. Fears. Temptations. Regrets. Hatred, deeply suppressed. Jealousy. Old guilt. There are times when I wish to doze off myself, to fall into a dreamless slumber. To forget anything and everything I've ever seen.

It's at these times when somepony whispers that it is too much for one mind to bear. That I should stop before it's too late. It's at these times when I buck that somepony, and she goes quiet for a while, granting me a moment of silence. I shall not forgive myself if I leave them to their fate. I never asked for this, that much is true. Nopony could. Yet I cannot wish such a fate for anypony else.

All I wish for now is to be left alone.

Seconds last for hours. But even hours have their limit, and there's a gleam crawling through the sky in the east, just behind the towers. I put on my practiced smile and disappear behind the curtain, missing the majestic alicorn soaring up above the city fell silent. Soaring up to freeze there for a moment at the highest point, above the sharpest spire, above the glistering tiled roofs, pulsing in the warm glow. Then the glow fades not to overshadow the spreading light. A disk of fire rises up from behind the houses to transfix itself in its rightful place, and an excited, exalted stomping of thousands of hooves greets it.

Perhaps I need to have something to eat but I feel sick. My head throbs as if it was I that had just made Sol rise to the sky. I look inside these lifeless eyes of mine and I don't like what I see. I don't like my haggard muzzle, my tumbled brittle mane, the bags under my eyes.

Poor poor thing my rump.

Without a second thought I unerringly crunch my mug inside the twisted mirror frame, finding remote delight in watching the shivers crumble.

All you need is some sleep. Some good healthy nap.

My eyes slip to the rumpled bed and I start shaking.

“Are you all right?” there goes knocking on my door. Not now. Please, not now. I want to be left alone. “I've heard something.”

“It's okay Tia,” I repeat the alien words, never thinking about their sense, and feel smile crawling back onto my face. “Dropped my cup. No worries. I'm just tired. I'm tired, that's it.”

“Won't you open?”

“Need some rest,” a funny wish if one considers the noise of festivities from the window. Hurriedly I draw the gauze curtains and pull down the heavy winter blinds. The room instantly grows darker, leaving some ardent beams of light to shine from the slits between folds of fabric. “Wake me up when my shift starts.”

The door is silent for a while, then asks in Tia's voice:

“I might sing your favorite if you want me.”

“I'm no child, Tia,” I smile although the pony behind the door can't see me. “I'll be fine. Don't you worry about me.”

“Goodnight sis,“ the door tells me. I hear the hooves clopping away.

My legs feel like wood when I approach the bed but still I smile. I drop on the sheets without undressing, hug my blanket, curling into a ball, and writhe in pain.
> Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“When were you going to inform me that Celekh is an umbrum?”

“Princess?”

“Did I not make myself perfectly clear, captain?” Luna looked at the chief of security with significance.

The chief kept silence. A chain of heavy thinking was plain on his face. Luna's face, on a contrast, was emotionless. A useful skill for royalty.

“I didn't want Your Highness to be... disappointed.”

Luna continued staring at him, expectant.

“...I knew their kind shouldn't be here. Tyrek, I opposed this assignment! I have a pull up there and, dammit, my word has some weight back in the capital. But this time it was all useless. Someone tugged at the strings, there was nothing I could do. Nothing! I knew nothing good could ever come from an umbrum!”

Luna studied him patiently. A flash of thought in his eyes. His slouch was short-lived. He recovered rather quickly.

“What's your next step, captain?” she inquired.

“We should run a damage evaluation,” Lash answered, deep in thought. “Make sure that the facility systems weren't compromised. The ponies responsible should be subject to repercussions... obviously. Myself, I'm going to be busy putting a report together. The storm might have interfered with the radio but cable comms are still live. Should be live. One incident is more than enough for today.”

“That was not what I had in mind, captain. Are you going to send somepony to... track Celekh?” Luna was cautiously picking up the words. Her emotions were hard to read. The chief though, it seemed, never tried to do it in the first place.

“Into the storm?“ he sniffed. “Sure as hell no! Instructions clearly forbid that. You aren't very familiar with our lovely storms, are you, Princess?”

“Enlighten me then,“ the alicorn smiled politely.

“In all these years Weather Control was never able to determine precisely what causes a sandstorm to be born. One might wonder what were they doing all this time...” Lash wrinkled his muzzle and waved his hoof. “Bah, to Tyrek with it. Still, we all learned on our own skin: the storm is always deadly. Visibility is practically zero. There's constantly electricity in the air. Perhaps you Equestrian folks have your thunderstorms when it rains, but in here it's much more common to see thunderbolts in a weather like this. One good charge is enough to leave a pony a charred shell... or a cripple for the end of his life. The air here is disgusting as it is, but during sandstorms you won't be able to breathe without a filter. But the worst news is sand. The sand here is able to skin you alive...” he coughed, “er, I mean, an unwary pony, Princess. To skin alive. Trust me, that's not a pleasant sight.”

He managed a polite smile. It seemed he completely regained his self-control.

“No sane pony would want to be outside in this storm. Perhaps you were thinking I made this little tour of local attractions just for the sake of entertaining Your Highness... In this case you were wrong. Any officer aware of the rules would recommend you to land a ship and wait through the storm in cover. Speaking of Yurga, perhaps we don't have these fancy force shields they have in cities but mining constructions will weather any storm. Luckily we're safely shielded from lightning here, and ventilation systems can run on recirculation for a long time. Behind the walls of steel and the thickness of stone Your safety is assured.”

“If everything is truly as you claim it is,” the princess pondered, “why is it that Celekh decided to choose this moment to disappear? Sure, she has her CRV...”

“Who can truly say what these umbrum want? Shadowspawn are vile creatures. We should interrogate the drivers about how she got her hooves on one of their ignition keys. When this storm is over I'm going to send search parties. With any luck they will find what remains of the vehicle. All this paperwork,” he almost groaned. “Even one lost CRV is a serious event.”

“Lost? Didn't you tell me about its sturdiness earlier?”

“CRVs are durable, and our Sokolkas are additionally modded to work in dusty terrace conditions. Still, even a mech like this won't last long in a sandstorm. The scoundrel wouldn't make two steps away from an airlock without it, but even with its support she won't be able to get back.”

“Why is that? You won't let her back in?” the alicorn snorted. “Is this also mentioned in the rules?”

“Why would she escape if she was expecting to turn back?” the captain retorted. “Besides, the vehicle won't be able to even if she wanted,” he noticed the princess' confused gaze and explained. “The storm generates a serious jam preventing any communication and interfering with the devices. Even something as simple as a common compass won't help her now. No idea what was she thinking but this umbrum just made the last mistake in her entire life,” he grinned. “Celestia's Providence if you ask me.”

“You're trying to say...”

“Forecasts suggest the storm will continue at least for the next several hours,” Lash said, confirming her surmises. “Whatever Celekh does, she's already dead.”
> Five
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

She should probably go get some rest. All things considered, sorting out the escapees was not on her schedule.

Luna loved mysteries. Especially the ones that resonated with her. And now she felt something inside of her jingle, barely audible, trembling like a tight string.

When she returned to the hangar the work was well underway. Third dock was sealed off, three unicorn technicians in dark blue overalls tinkering with the apparatus and terminals, the purpose of which she could only guess.

“Your Highness,” one of the few security ponies stepped forward and bowed his head.

“May I ask what are you doing?” she asked innocently.

“Captain ordered us to inspect the charging station and the rest of the gear. Maybe we'll find something pointing out to where this...” the guard stumbled on his eager explanation, “pony went. Are they even ponies?”

“Wish I could know,” Luna managed a weak smile. “Alas, my wisdom has its limits.”

“They say you've dealt with them before.”

“So they say,” the princess confirmed absent-mindedly, taking notice that one of the mechanics gave his place behind the terminal to another one after having some words with her. The new pony looked back, and Luna portrayed herself to be completely immersed in discussion. “I'd like to skip the details if I may, officer. These are not the memories I would eagerly recollect now.”

“The Umbrum are Darkness,” the guard echoed understandingly. The phrase sounded crammed.

“No,” the princess countered thoughtfully. “They are something entirely different. Darkness is my domain.”

“You won't mind me watching them work, now will you?” a change of topic was very timely. “A rare opportunity for me.”

The guard was conflicted, a clash of emotions plain on his face.

“Princess... I wouldn't want...”

“I have no intention to obstruct their duties, I assure you,” Luna smiled encouragingly. “It's just royalty has boring days, too.”

“All right, fine,” he yielded, giving way. “But only on the condition you won't be interfering. We have a job to do.”

She did not approach at once. First she took a look at the charging cable, then at the metal manipulator claw (a technician was tinkering with its controls).

“Beg you pardon,” she said, addressing the unicorn mare in the working suit sitting behind the terminal, “whatever is this?”

She could be pretty quiet when she wanted to.

Unicorn started, turning around. Her hooves twitched, series of opened interface panels vanishing from the terminal, leaving a blank screen.

“N-nothing. I mean...” she stumbled, thinking. “I was in the middle of checking if there were any modifications in SRV software modules preceding its disconnection, Your Highness.”

“What's your name?” Luna frowned.

“Tyre Iron, Your Highness,” the unicorn bowed her head.

“Tyre, imagine that I have a... superficial understanding of technical things,” Luna smiled embarrassingly. “Could you explain it in laypony's terms?”

The pony scratched her nose with a greasy hoof and threw back a thick curl of lilac hair obscuring her face, the curl immediately falling back.

“Any kind of machinery aside from mechanical parts has some software utilities at its disposal.”

“Like a clock widget on a PC rig,” the princess nodded in encouragement.

“Exactly! So I was checking if the programming of the repair vehicle were changed prior to its disappearance,” the unicorn said, picking words. She turned to face the monitor, chewed on her lip a little and restored an interface panel she had just hid. “Any changes in vehicle's firmware are logged in the system journal. So if there is a glitch we will always know where to look first.”

“And did your search bear any fruit?”

“Nope,” the unicorn shook her head. “Nothing. According to the log all systems weren't changed since the last check.”

“Princess,” the guard was quickly approaching them. There was disappointment in his voice. “You promised...”

“...not to interfere,” Luna finished before he could have a chance. “I do keep my word. Tyre here couldn't find anything relevant, am I right?”

The most difficult in all of that was to wait, mimicking a bona fide involvement in the process. Luna never expected she had to revive some of her college skills here. Once she tried to explain that the sleep was her duty. Professors weren't moved by her argument about the subconscious learning though, so sometimes she had to resort to more... trivial techniques. One of them proved to be very useful here.

When the maintenance crew began to move, turning the displays off one by one, Luna shook her wings.

“Tyre,” she exclaimed cheerfully, stopping the unicorn short of escaping. “Could you please explain another little thing?”

“I... er... sure, Your Highness,” she froze.

“No, no,” the princess shook her head. “I'm not going to rob you of your well-deserved rest. We can talk on the way.”

The guard she talked to earlier was already gone, probably to report the findings. The rest of the security were also lazily dispersing. If Luna got the basics of the local routines right it was the time of the evening shift change.

“I've been thinking,” she confessed, “why would one want to change vehicle software anyway? Is the factory-made firmware not good enough?”

“Not at all,” the unicorn giggled, quick to assure her. “The problem is their software is pretty standart. SRVs are multipurpose machines used everywhere from full-scale construction to cable system repairs. Our work has its quirks, so we need to revisit inner modules from time to time. Sometimes the operators have requests...”

“...to unblock networking,“ the princess lightly backed her up. “Put in a player with their favourite music...”

“Your Highness!” the unicorn looked injured. “It is a blatant policy violation! I can lose half of my monthly pay for something like that!”

“I won't tell anyone,” Luna calmly informed. Serenity silently followed them, never showing he heard anything from their conversation.

There was a momentary awkward silence.

“There are players... occasionally,” Tyre admitted. “But no Net! We have an understanding of what is safe play, after all. But we also improve programming!” she quickly added. “Calibrate the controls. Add in and tune filters and sensors. Sometimes we even install some of our in-house dev projects! You might have noticed our equipment here is not exactly top-of-the-line... And not all of it was designed for mining in the first place.”

“So how was it? Did you find anything?”

“Nothing,” the pony quickly shook her head. “Not a trace.”

Luna stopped and watched her intently for some time. Servicepony was clearly feeling uncomfortable under her scrutiny but she never moved.

“It's okay, Tyre. I believe you,” the princess nodded slowly. “And what did you expect to find?”

The unicorn didn't say anything. She nervously threw the bun of hair back and rubbed her nose again, leaving a trace of motor oil on her muzzle.

“You've entrusted me a secret, Tyre,” Luna decided. “And I will disclose something in return. Captain Lash didn't ask me to question anyone. On the contrary, I believe he would prefer no questions asked. Prefer to see me at the honorary banquet surrounded by his lieutenants,” she let out a weak smile. “Yet the life eternal has its drawbacks. Two hundred banquets later the novelty of it is gone, replaced by routine and wearisome rite. Cely, perhaps... No. Even to her.”

She drew closer.

“What do you think of Celekh?”

The pony wavered.

“She's queer,” she managed finally. “Maybe she's bonkers. Maybe all umbrum are.”

The princess kept patient silence.

“Didn't have any friends, even among us, although we worked together. Always a gloomy one,” Tyre threw a lock of hair back again.

“Your tone suggests she's dead,” the princess slowly said. The unicorn nodded in return.

“Everypony knows you need a shelter from the storm. To willingly leave the shelter during one... The guards said she could spy for the marauders, prepare an escape or even help the umbrum. I'm not sure. Got a message from her half an hour ago...”

“Half an hour ago? But then she was already...”

“Outside, yes,” Tyre nodded. “I guess she scheduled the sending from her terminal. The last few weeks she was working on an underground vehicle positioning utility.”

“I don't get it,” Luna scrubbed her chin with her hoof, thinking. “I saw worker markers tracking back in administrative section. How can you possibly get lost in a mine with a technology like that?”

“Getting lost doesn't exactly nail it...” the unicorn bethought. “The thing is... Amber is a constant source of tracker interference. They say the last models have a nice shielding from it, but, as you've probably noticed, princess, we don't have the last models here. Trackers are good for dwelling levels but the deeper you get, the more toasted circuitry you encounter. It would be nice to have at least a quarter of them running at the lowest layer.”

“The captain...”

“Knows, obviously,” Tyre made a wry face. “He repeatedly tried to get us to fix them. But we don't know how to make spare parts from sand yet, and he had no luck pushing the funding through for that. The richest layers here are worked out. Guess the Senate believes it is more profitable to invest in more promising mines elsewhere.”

“So what is that program Celekh was writing?”

“She wasn't writing it as much as adapting it. I'm... not a wiz on the thing. She said it would help machines find the course and keep it in case positioning sensors are not responding. The message had her groundwork files as an attachment but I doubt I'll get a grasp on them soon.”

“That's what you were looking for,” the princess smiled. “You wanted to check if the repair vehicle had a copy of this program.”

Tyre nodded.

“When I said I found no sign of changes I wasn't lying. Maybe Celekh wiped the system logs. Maybe I was worrying about nothing.”

“Can a CRV with such a program navigate in a sandstorm?” Luna inquired thoughtfully.

“No idea,” the unicorn shuddered. “You may want to ask the comms engineer in the admin, Celekh was working with her. Rose... Rosy... something like that.”

“I believe I know who are you talking about,” the alicorn nodded. They stopped at the aperture leading to one of the civilian tenant sections. “One more question if I may.”

The pony stared at her questioningly.

“How did the umbrum start the vehicle without a private key? The captain even ordered an investigation on that.”

Tyre smiled.

“Oh, that's a simple one. You see, princess, you either play by the book or do your work in here. If you'd need to do all the paperwork our instructions prescribe just to run a couple of simple tests...” her horn sparked with a small discharge, “...you would quickly adjust.”
> Six
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After ringing the third time in a row Luna started thinking nopony was home. Her persistence was rewarded, though, when the speaker responded with a voice encompassing all the tiredness of the world.

“My shift's over, colts. Go home.”

“Rose, is it?” she tried, searching for the familiar notes in the timbre.

“Princess Luna?” the baffled voice replied from behind. There was a thud of something falling inside. “What are you... What am I... How can I help you?”

“By opening the door, for starters,” the princess knitted her brows aristocratically.

“Oh, right, sure. One minute.”

It seemed the door truly did slide into the wall a minute later, no less. There was a blue mare in the doorframe, the one she'd already seen in the control room. Judging from her mane resembling a mix between a tumbleweed and a bottle brush, the alicorn caught her in bed.

“Woke you up?” the princess inquired sympathetically.

“No. Well, yes. Errr,” the mare got confused, “did you need something, Your Highness?”

“May I come in?” Luna specified and, seeing a rainbow of emotions on her host's face, added. “No well yes?”

The pony gave way, letting her into the room. Serenity slipped inside right after her, and the mare stiffened, watching him closely. That didn't slip past the princess' attention.

“Captain,” she turned to her all-time companion. “I ask you to stay outside.”

The leader of her guard stopped and lifted his brow.

“Indeed, I am confident,” Luna confirmed, casting glances at the frozen host. Yep, that's it. As soon as the door behind her guard closed the pony stopped short of letting out a sigh of relief. Seemed to straighten, even.

“Any problems with security?” Luna inclined her head to the side, curious, watching the pony in front of her. A pony with a bright mane, with a coat of deep blue, especially fluffy on her chest, with a metallic bracket on her ear. There were twin knob headphones dangling from her neck, their cord stretching across the withers.

“Who, me?” the pony shrank again but then got a hold on herself and carelessly threw her forelock away from her eyes. “Pfft! Why?”

Luna shrugged.

“Your call, Rose.”

“Blessed sweetrolls,” the pony made a wry face like if she just tasted quinine and wrinkled her nose. “For the love of Celestia. I'm not ‘Rose’, not ‘Rosy’ and not ‘Rosie’,” she met Luna's gaze and blushed. “Sorry, princess. A sore spot.”

“The captain called you Rose,” alicorn mentioned casually.

“Captain abuses his liberties,” ‘Rose’ snorted. “I mean, yeah, sure, we're not military. The captain, if you please, wants some coffee but has no secretary provided in the staff. Man'core tail his... coffee. That's not in my contract.”

“How should I call you, then?” Luna specified, taking a look around. The dwelling was much like Celekh's tiny room in shape but that was were the similarities ended. There was a small flickering notebook on the unfolded bed, half-hidden under the wrinkled blanket, the latter obviously not a standart issue. Right under it there was was a lonely slipper shyly huddling up to the bed leg. All kinds of spare parts, circuit boards and mechanisms were piled in corners, in cardboard boxes on the shelves, even on the table. There also was a bright patch on the wall just above the table, with shreds of sticky tape in the corners.

The pony turned her side to the alicorn and uplifted her hindquarters.

“Tell me, does it look like a rose for you?”

Luna choked but had enough self-control to do it silently.

The pony's cutiemark resembled... a flower. A simple one, with round petals of pale rose and a yellow center. There was also a tangle of thorny branches with serrated leaves behind it.

“Actually... kinda sorta.”

“You must be kidding me!” the pony blurted furiously, flinging up her hooves and rolling her eyes. Then she noticed a sparkle of mischief in Luna's eyes and stopped. “Wait, you are...”

Princess took a moment to let this thought get settled in her mind. Then she shook her shoulder lightly, a bit sad.

“My sister does it in a more... natural manner. A thousand years of practice. Now what is your name?”

“Dogrose, Your Highness,“ deep blue pony slightly nodded.

Here it goes again.

“I see,“ she said. “The wild one. I've heard it was used for tea sometimes, wasn't it?”

“If you're going to take a sip, princess, watch the thorns,” the pony replied in a funny voice.

“Take a...” Luna couldn't keep her composure this time and snorted, blushing profusely. Dogrose after a small pause did the same.

“I am abusing my liberties, too, it seems,” the pony noticed, addressing nopony in particular. “Sorry, Your Highness. Working with the captain quickly makes you allergic. A natural immune reaction of sorts. Besides...”

She waved her hoof around.

“So I've noticed,” the princess nodded. “Still, I'm not sure what exactly is your position under Lash... Dogrose.”

“Call me Dow,” the pony grinned. “I'm dealing with communications and their maintenance. Intercom, radio tower, that sort of thing. Helps keeping the captain at bay. He stays away from the place for the most part. Too cramped for his ego.”

“What were you doing in the control, then?” the alicorn wondered.

“Ah, that,” Dogrose snorted. “I'm also a part-time infosec engineer. It's quiet, easy cash, but any incident is a real party pooper.”

“So this disappearance is what brought you out of your radio room?”

“Yeah, that sums it,” Dow nodded. “Radio is currently useless anyway. Any signals are jammed by statics. If you wanna watch some newscasts better plug into any terminal at the Recreation.”

“Radio signals only?” princess specified.

“Your Highness?”

“Call me ‘princess’,” Luna replied, imitating Dogrose's intonation. “Captain believes Celekh to be dead since the sandstorm should have disrupted the navigation of her mech.”

“Very likely,” the pony answered slowly. “You can't see your own nose in the dust, let alone the NavSats. Stationary beacons are of little help either, even if you set their output to max. Any signal dissipates, quickly becoming corrupted.”

“I'm no expert,” Luna began adsent-mindedly, “but what about some autonomous navigation system? Like the one you and Celekh were working on?”

“No idea whatcha talking about, princess,” Dow looked drawn.

“I'm in a difficult situation here, to be honest. You see, Dogrose, I am positive captain Lash is aware of your little side project, but he can't put two and two together. No idea why.”

“Perhaps he is weak on the head part,” the blue-coated pony grumbled. “What do you care... princess? How do you even know about it?”

“Was in the right place, at the right time,” Luna shrugged. “That true? Can this program show her the way?”

“It doesn't work like that. Eh, anyway, who cares?” Dow sighed. “What's in it for you?”

Luna shook her head.

“I do care. Regarding why... Maybe I haven't seen an umbrum for a while.”

“You're insane, you know that?” Dogrose blurted.

“I am Nightmare Moon reformed,” alicorn managed a weak smile. “Is it really your place to evaluate my sanity? Who knows, maybe madness should be measured in Lunas.”

Dow studied her for a while. The princess, in turn, raised her brow elegantly. At long last the blue mare shifted, dropped on her rump and threw her hooves up.

“Welcome to the club.”
> Interlude
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Useless.

Shut up. Silence. Begone.

Uselessssss.

The sun burns even through the drawn hangings, a small ray beaming between them slices the soft, enveloping haze into shreds. Such rays are like measured ticking of the alarm clock in nightly silence, like drops of water dripping from a loosened faucet. You never notice one until you're in bed. You endure them for some time, reassuring yourself that the long-sought sleep will take you soon anyway to where no faucets or alarm clocks will threaten you.

Then comes a sudden urge to break something. To crumple. Tear apart. Utterly destroy.

I feel sick, I writhe in my bed but the salvation doesn't come. I'm a dirty cesspit everyone dumps their disgusting, shameful, unwanted things into.

Your choice.

My gums feel strange, aching? hurting? and I clench my teeth to a crunch. The sensation doesn't go away but grows duller. Like an itching place you've just scratched. I loosen them, and the feeling returns in force. I bite my pillow.

When novels describe the protagonist descending into madness, he usually starts seeing nonexistent ponies. He begins talking to ghosts no one except him can see, does things looking strange to any outsider, but eventually he finds his way across the abyss. He comes to his senses, his mind finally returning to him.

Horseapples.

I see only death. Death, death and death everywhere.

Dear diary, do you wish to know what did the soldier of the Sun Guard say the other day? ‘The cute one’. Cute. That's what they see. My sole function is being a decoration of the throne room. The only thing that makes me different from the crystal chandeliers and gilded armchairs is me having wings and a horn.

No one looks at me from the mirror. There are no mirrors anyway. Not a single one in my entire chambers. Imaginary interlocutors are nothing.  The real challenge is to stay alone for a quarter hour. 

You took the burden. Now carry it.

They don't see.

There are things in this world that one cannot bear. Sorrows one cannot manage. It's such a convenient thing, to have somepony who takes your pain away becoming your saviour. Painkiller. Medicine. Healer.

Who heals the healer, Tia?

Do they even deserve to be healed? I've seen them, seen them all. All the dirty laundry they wished to hide. All the things for which there is no place in the showcase of our land of love and friendship. Everything that gets stuffed in the darkest corner of the darkest, dustiest closet never to be brought back to the light.

So you yearn for forgetfulness. But how about seeing the real you? Not the ponies you want to be seen but what you truly are. Foul, wretched, envious, cowardly, depraved monsters.

Care to take a look with my eyes?
> Seven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The feeling was nostalgic. Sort of a tantalizing bittersweet pain. Luna rose on her hindlegs, leaned back and moved her forelegs apart, pressing herself into the soft fleecy membrane fabric that covered the insides of the suit. Calm and cozy, like in her mother's womb.

The fixtures on her legs locked, triggering the rest of the armor to start assembling. She kept her eyes shut, feeling the familiar procedures come and go. Cool biometry sensors. An abrupt clang of the latches. A click of the coat closing up on her chest.

“Combat systems... activated,” a familiar insinuating whisper with a touch of aspiration in her headphone.

The princess moved, trying her legs, and the servos followed by turning weak and careful motions into sharp and bold flourishes of hooves.

“Hi, Shadow,” she replied. “Long time no see.”

“Welcome back, Luna.”

She turned her eyes to Serenity. The captain's exoskeleton, a big pony-shaped figure with a tint of ebony lilac, was already assembled, too. The guard was now thoughtfully inspecting the arsenal.

“I wouldn't mind some self-diagnostics,” Shadow whispered. “Much time passed since the last launch.”

“Do it,“ the alicorn replied, turning her attention to another pony who looked at the third prepared exoarmor. Watcher's bloodline, fourth scion... “Flashlight? What are you doing here?”

“Accompanying you,” the stallion scratched his imperial and sighed.

“Flashlight,” Luna frowned, drawing closer. “You're an armourer. A mechanic. Not a fighter.”

“I am a sworn of the Night Watch, princess,” the pony snorted. “The captain believed I could use some field experience.”

The alicorn graced Serenity with a gaze full of significance, but he justified his name. Gazing at a boulder would probably be of equal effectiveness.

“Moreover, it's an opportunity to run some live stress tests on our equipment,“ mechanic added. The latter, is seemed, he was looking forward to with more eagerness than the ‘combat experience’ he mentioned earlier.

“Flashlight,” she sighed but couldn't help but smile. “You're irredeemable.”

“Since when was I broken?” he cast a glance downward. Then he heard guard's steps behind him and hurriedly got into his armor, shifting his shoulders, until the chest parts hid his torso.

“And you,” Luna turned back to the captain. “Serenity, are you going for a tank hunt?”

Captain didn't grace her with an answer but turned his visor to her.

“Yes, I remember,” princess sighed. “The Agreement. Yes, I'm still game,” she confirmed, answering her guard's silent gaze. “Still, I want you to remember. We take weapons for protection only. Protection from real danger.”

“Calibration complete”.

Captain jerked his head. Even if he let out a snort, the glass of his helmet muffled it.

“I have lots of questions,” Luna straightened up, rising in her full height. “I can be quite... persuasive.”

She didn't bother taking anything. Shadow was equipped with a number of autonomous defensive systems, and all fo them, according to the reports quickly scrolling on the sidescreen, were operating smoothly. Mechanic reluctantly stopped on the rearming platform but it confined to attaching a short leg-fixed carbine to his frame. Luna recognized the model: a shortened version of a modular army rifle designed for auxiliary personnel.

“At least he didn't give Flashlight a second ‘Geyser’,” she hemmed.

“Shadow, give me a basic channels encryption.”

She jumped down from the descended ramp of the shuttle's cargo bay and made a few steps to get a hang of it. They say skills like these can't be lost. The armor, though, had some memories attached. The kind she wouldn't mind forgetting.

Enough is enough. No more dreams of blissful ignorance.

“Flashlight. Did you make the changes to the system?”

“Yep, Princess. Everything is as you asked. From what I've heard we're in for a ride. Our energy weapons will be useless. And not the weapons alone.”

“We shall see,” Luna nodded, passing by a shocked guard at the post. “I'll be doing the talking.”

It was no surprise for her when she entered the vestibule and immediately spotted Lash accompanied by a group of moody guards hurrying in their direction. The alicorn expected them earlier, but emergency-caused bewilderment, it seemed, once again did the chief of security a poor job.

“Princess? Where are you heading to?!” he was panting, his gaze jumping from one suit of armor to another.

“We decreed the weather favours a stroll,” Luna declared, weighty and ceremonial, stretching her hoof forward.

“Your Highness!” Lash protested. “There's storm outside! It is gravely dangerous!”

“Indeed, you did say so.”

“Don't you believe me?” Lash pursed his lips.

“Why, no,” the princess replied, circling him and his band of guards swarming behind. She couldn't help smiling casually. “I am confident your information about the storm is nothing but genuine.”

“But that means...” he crossed her path.

“That means nothing,” she skewed at him, now as at an insolent insect. “We have spoken.”

“But I...” even his wide forehead now looked red. He inhaled and blurted. “I can't let you do that!”

“Is that so?”

She arched her brow in her usual royal manner and glared at him. Coldly. Haughty. Weighting. Captain shrank though his massive guards crowded behind his back.

“I mean... that's... You can't...”

“Stop me then,” Luna suggested. She measured him, shrugged as if flexing and clicked her visor shut. Serenity followed her, never farther than a step behind, a large-caliber cannon on his back slightly swinging. The wall of guards backed down and finally gave way, forming a corridor.

“Sealing. Switching to internal life support.”

She stopped at the airlock. Looked up, watching at the mirror glass of the guardpost room, the room built higher than the floor of the hall.

“Open the gates, captain,” there was steel in her voice, deformed by the helmet speakers.

“Boss? What are we gonna do? Captain??”

Her sound sensors caught the voice of security from Lash's intercom. An unseen pony once again called for the chief but got no response. Luna cast a sidelong look at her bodyguard.

“Shadow, RCV amplifier. Give me twenty percent boost.”

“Already on it.”

She straightened her shoulders. Her mane was hidden under layers of composite armor plates but projectors sensed her silent order and cast clouds of starry darkness flying proudly behind her back.

“OPEN THY GATES, CAPTAIN. ELSE I SHALL OPEN THEM MYSELF.”

The walls quivered, the floor shaking under their hooves. The Voice reverberated between plain walls. Manes of the guards rose on end. A mixture of dust and cigarette butts flew from under the benches.

Letting out a single cough in the stretching silence, Luna wondered if Vinyl should become an acoustic physics engineer.

“Let her out,” the alien voice ordered, hardly recognizable as that of Lash.

A toothy door shook and pulled upward, tugged by the hidden rods, folding in itself. The metal was thick, princess noted. Very thick. She hadn't been to the lock yet but stepped inside without hesitation. The alicorn found herself inside a spacious room, its floor covered in slits. One could easily fit a tank or two in here, provided there is a need. The guardpost window continued along the entirety of the right wall, but seeing something behind the reflecting reinforced glass was virtually impossible. She never tried to. Instead looked at the screen to her left, across the room. Revolving yellow lights cast gleams on the metal walls, Shadow timely damping down the blaring sirens.

“Processing,” the short flickering message on the large display stated. “Do not move.”

The princess cast a glance at her guard. Serenity kept his aim at the gate but his pose was rather relaxed. She had a passing thought if he would shoot at her command. She banished the thought. Not now. It's not the time.

The gates behind them lowered with a clank. A message on the display was replaced by another. “Airlock sealed. Shut your windows.” Then the lamps switched to red, the message reluctantly informing, “Outer gates opened.”

It wasn't quite true. The gates were still opening. The wind threw clouds of sand under the rising door, and the princess instantly understood what were the slits on the floor for. She took a step, then another, waiting for the light to come.

It never did. Instead the room was choked up by the sand mist, their surroundings momentarily darkening. She looked around but the flashes of red were now barely visible behind the swirling dust.

“Hold on, princess,” Flashlight's voice sprang to life in her headphone. She recognized a vague armor-like shape to the side and remembered why were the guards unable to identify the missing CRV driver.

“Shadow, enable polarization. Small particles filtering.”

The glass of her visor rippled. Utter chaos of sand and dust didn't go away but grew dull, taking form of shaking, squirming distortions. Still, the exoarmor of her mechanic was more visible now. He offered her a hoof with a carabiner, holding it in his manipulator claw. The carabiner was attached to the end of the rope.

“It may look impressive but I took a chance to read a bit about their storms,” his voice sounded unnatural, disappearing behind the crackle of static every now and then. “We'd better travel chained together. More chances not to lose each other.”

Princess nodded, locking the carabiner on the cringle at her side, just under the wing. The guard took her own rope, although she felt like moving in tapioca when she levitated it.

“Ah, yes. The Agreement,” her inner self snorted. “And here be your leash.”

She harrumphed. Shook her head. And stepped into the storm.

Lash wasn't lying or exaggerating. The sight was truly an impressive one. Dangerous? Undoubtedly. Yet impressive. At the small plateau to where the gates led and in the space beyond, as far as her eyes could see, darkness brewed. Darkness swirled, ran in circles, flowing from one form into another. Darkness blurred any sense of direction. There was no mountains behind the wall of sand, no dark evening sky, no moons. Nothing but darkness... and the rare blinding branching flashes inside.

“It's like a local blizzard,” Luna thought. Yes, just like a blizzard, she agreed. If a blizzard could kill and throw lightnings around.

“Initial analysis complete,“ Shadow whispered.

“Surprise me.”

“Thermal screen, fifteen percent. Conditioning active. Outer atmosphere breathable. Low oxygen level. Recirculation and oxygen saturation, active. Air filters overload. Outer powered systems overload.”

“Overload... care to elaborate?”

“Statics,” Flashlight replied in her place. Now when her eyes grew accustomed to the constant jitteriness of the feed she could even recognize the head inside his helmet. “If we're going to switch any of our external sensors on, the best case is we get some fuses kicked out. And not just the sensors.”

He raised his left hoof to demonstrate. Luna knew the subsystem. “Firewall”. A fragment of his armor flicked out the extending projectors, exposing the generator. Yet the rectangular tower shield she was familiar with from the demonstrations did not appear. Instead the generator started buzzing in exertion, audible even through the muffled howl of the storm, and died out, powerless, throwing sparkles around.

“Good thing I've stocked up on some mechanical alternatives.”

“What else?” Luna inquired.

“Many things,” she couldn't see mechanic's face but felt that he frowned. ”Force reflectors. Jump engines. Beam weaponry. Oh, blasters are still deadly but only if you shoot at point-blank range.”

“That's why captain gave you a simple carbine.”

Serenity's silence was an eloquent one.

“I've never held a firearm before,” Flashlight grumbled discontently, but there was uneasiness hiding behind his displeasure.

“You still don't, Flashlight,” princess retorted. ”It is bolted to your hoof.”

“That's exactly the point,” mechanic groused.

“Enough of that,” the alicorn shook her wings. “Where's our target?”

“I've set the parameters you mentioned,” he replied. Screens of her visors blinked, and a few bright dots appeared on her compass scale. “Take caution, princess. We will have to follow the azimuth, preferably in a straight line. Even the gyroscopes of our armor are not all-powerful.”

“Care to explain?” princess tried to hide her embarrassment. Mechanics was not her strongest side.

“All I did was to point in the right direction based on our relative starting position,” he patiently explained. “Divergence will be minimal while we are moving straight... more or less. But the more turns we make, the more inaccuracies will build up on top of our initial setting. All the magnetic-based devices are currently useless. We can't depend on them, nor can we get corrections based of satellite positioning. Landmarks, maybe...” he waved his hoof around ostentatiously.

“If we are able to find them,” finished Luna for him. She looked around and noticed a dim shimmering bright spot, barely visible in the haze.

“Shadow?”

“I see it,” Shadow hummed in return. “Identification in progress. Radio tower. Control flash beacon Yurga-two. Signal level, medium. Military ranges...”

“It seems Dogrose indulged my small request,” Luna agreed. “Track this frequency.”

“Doubt it will do us much good,” Flashlight grimly noted. “Even at its full power. If the signal is that good when we're close...”

“Don't look a gift pony in the...” Luna started. At this moment the gate started grinding again, and she turned around to see darkening forms in the airlock's scant light. Two of them.

“...ordered us to make you a company, Your Highness,” one of them finished right after Shadow highlighted the frequency.

“Did I ask for an escort?”

“No, but...” the pony stumbled. “Captain will have a lot of trouble if you go missing. That's the least we can do.”

The princess sifted through her memory to identify the familiar young voice.

“Autumn Leaf?”

“Sure am, Your Highness.”

“Glad to have you here,” Luna silently sighed. She doubted she could get rid of them that easily. “And your companion there would be?”

“Lieutenant Trowel,” his neighbor slowly responded in a croaky voice. “I am the chief's first deputy.”

That figures.

“Why isn't the captain here in person?” Luna coldly asked. “He assured me earlier he was honor-bound to accompanying me...”

“The captain has his official duties,” lieutenant replied. Her imagination instantly painted an aging stallion with a wrinkled face. “As the highest ranking officer he could not abandon his post.”

“Naturally.”

‘Shadow, split our comm channels. Make it one for each member of my group and one more for the newcomers. Keep encryption in place for my team.’

‘Done and done.’

“Are you armed?”

“Of course,” lieutenant came closer, showing an adapted pump-action shotgun on his leg. “This one should be enough.”

“I'm not heading for a hunt,” princess informed.

“You sure aren't,” Autumn Leaf looked past her at Serenity's mobile cannon.

“Flashlight, you first,” she ignored the gaze as if it never existed.

The mechanic jerked and started walking, following his nav systems away from the airlock. Luna followed, listening to her senses. The air felt viscid like dirt, coarse sand pouring on their legs and chest. She tried switching her sound filter off but quickly changed her mind. Flat roaring of the storm and the scratching of sand on her armor made her shudder. Their outstretched group plodded on through the desert covered in sand cloud, sticking in the drifts again and again. Luna remembered there ought to be a rock bed somewhere in the base of this plateau, but where is it now? They were barely moving, trying to keep the same pace not to pull on the ropes. The only thought comforting her was that nopony would move faster in this weather.

“Power leakage detected,” Shadow whispered.

“From where? How long?”

“From the very beginning,” Shadow kept silence for a moment as if she was ashamed, then added. “Absolute numbers are low but I can't locate the source.”

“You said all systems were running,” Luna reminded.

“They were when we left,” Shadow confirmed, confused. “I don't understand.”

“Flashlight,” the princess called for the mechanic walking right before her. “Are you losing energy, too?”

The pony stumbled.

“Now when you've mentioned it... Yes, I am. A small but stable loss.”

“Autumn Leaf, Trowel,” the alicorn addressed the mine guards walking in the rear. “We've detected a loss of power in our armour. Can it be that you know the reason?”

“It's the storm, milady,” lieutenant shortly replied.

“The storm is draining our batteries?”

“Sandstorms are not just bad weather. It's a blend of magic and electricity. They can drain energy if the power circuits have weak shielding.”

“Sounds plausible,” Shadow agreed. “The leak is all over the outer circuits. I can't localize it. My advice is to power off all the peripherals.”

She underestimated things. Not the first time she did that, too. Luna frowned and shook her head. Grim reality mercilessly interfered in the perfectly thought out plans. Then again... If a princess cannot change her plans on the fly she should have retired a long time ago.

“Did you hear that?” she asked her followers.

“My outer subs are already offline,” Flashlight snorted. Serenity harrumphed in acknowledgement. “Most systems are now useless anyway.”

“Is your protection also failing?” the alicorn switched back to the general channel.

“It does,” Trowel confirmed, “but at a more slow pace. Our gear has additional isolation layers to work in amber-rich conditions. You better listen to the captain. It's mighty dangerous to be outside in this weather. Much easier to search the escaped pony or her remains after the storm is gone.”

“Who said I'm looking for her?”

“Captain said you were angry. He said it was because of your old clash with the Umbrum.”

“Is that so?” Luna thanked the storm. Nobody could see her eyes dangerously narrowing. “And what else did captain say?”

“He ordered to escort you and ensure your safety. He also instructed to tell you that you need to come back,” the officer patiently explained. Either the princess was hiding the poison in her voice too well or her interlocutor was deaf to sarcasm. “That would be the best course of action, I assure you.”

“Royal considerations don't always follow the common logic, lieutenant,” Luna shrugged her shoulder. “Sovereigns also don't always choose what is best for them. I do not intend to catch the runaway pony, nor do I ask for an armed escort. You may return to the captain.”

“We have clear orders, Highness,” Trowel repeated. “We will defend you until you return.”

“And if I don't?”

“You will,” once again Trowel paid not attention to the sarcasm. “Captain said so.”

“Captain sure knows better,” Luna sighed. She scrolled the hologram of the plateau in front of her. Their position was defined now... But how long will it last?

“Leakage minimized to the programmed limiters. Some systems are still running,” Shadow warned. “I recommend to...”

“Be silent,” Luna hemmed grimly. “We won't see a thing without our lanterns, even if all they give us is several steps. Better bring the charge to my screen and extrapolate for a point of no return.”

She momentarily glanced at the numbers flashed on her display, mentally nodded in satisfaction and returned to the hologram, inspecting their surroundings.

“Couldn't you find a more accurate one?“ she asked Flashlight. “Resolution is ridiculous.”

“It's a classified zone. Someone up there still believes one can uphold secrecy by hemorrhaging high-res state satellite imagery,” he snorted.

“Couldn't you get some private databases?”

“Probably. But princess...” he hesitated, “conversion to the format suitable for our navigators would take too much time. I'm no topographer.”

Technology. At the end of the day it's all about technology.

“Well, you wanted to test our gear in these new conditions. Enjoy,” Luna smiled casually. Then frowned, looking at the diagnostic feedback. “By the way, our bearing assemblies are nearly hitting overload.”

“It's the dust,” Flashlight sighed with guilt in his voice. “Nobody expected us to go sand swimming. A mix of dust and grease is effectively an emery.”

Princess shook her head. Already she began to grew tired, yet they barely moved at all, and even that little progress was mostly due to their armor. Was there any other choice?

“The worst case scenario, we go hibernating,” she jested. The joke didn't sound very funny though. Now when the mountain ridge wasn't shielding them from the wind not one bit, walking was becoming gradually harder. The wind was throwing new portions of dust at her face from its bottomless pocket. They had to push this resilient wall with their chests to keep moving at all.

Their group reminded a fleet of ships to her. Five stubborn chestnut shells, five pony clad in defensive composite armour, the only barrier that separated them from the howling wind. No wonder the first settlers never called this ‘foul weather’. A storm. A sand tempest. Could it be that this place had windigoes of its own kind, a sand variety?

“Is it time to return yet?” lieutenant reminded. “We didn't make much, if we turn back now we can get in for a late supper.”

“Listen, nobody forced you to stalk me, lieutenant,” Luna snapped. She sighed, zooming in on a part of the spatial hologram. “Beg you pardon. FOr what it's worth I am truly sorry.”

“For what?” Autumn Leaf wondered. “It wasn't like you ordered us to gather up an escort team...”

“Still, if I wouldn't be so stubborn with my inspection idea you would be eating now,” she countered. “It's strange that the captain don't pick up some ponies from the next shift.”

“An order's an order,” Trowel echoed, distracted.

“The honor is ours,” Autumn Leaf added.

“I know. Still, I'm genuinely sorry. A whole shift... I imagine you must be very tired.”

“It was a hard one,” lieutenant agreed thoughtfully. Autumn Leaf proudly exhaled into the microphone.

“...Very tired...” Luna continued ingratiatingly, picking modulations.

“Actually...” Autumn Leaf began, unsure.

“...Gravely tired...”

“...Gra-very...” Autumn Leaf weakly confirmed, then grew silent. Trowel wasn't responding either.

Luna wheeled around. The armored suits of both guards stood frozen, one with his hoof lifted. Flashlight and Serenity followed her, surrounding their companions, abruptly stopped.

“But how?..” Flashlight managed, baffled, cautiously stretching his hoof to one of them as if expecting him to jerk and bite in return.

Serenity harrumphed mockingly.

“Flashlight,” the alicorn tilted her head reproachfully. “You forget who I am.”

She stared intently at motionless figures.

“I will need your help. There should be a nice chunk of rock ahead of us,” she sent a marker to them both. “I hope it hasn't sank in sand yet. It will provide them some protection from the elements.”

Moving two ponies took more time than she hoped. The storm raged on, resisting their every step. Statues of exoarmors belonging to their unlucky escort were not the most convenient cargo, the wind struck them over and over. Serenity huffed, concentrated, but pulled his load. Flashlight wasn't that lucky. He panted from the effort, trying not to drop the guard from his back, the princess supporting him with her magic.

“That all?” he asked, still panting, when both guards were on the leeward side of the rock romantically leaned against each other.

“Almost,” Luna added the marker to her navigation system's bookmarks. “We will pick them up on our way back. Mark this point, too.”

“The thing I don't get,” mechanic confided, “is why did we need to get rid of them anyway?”

“I don't know what other orders did Captain Lash give them,” the princess coldly measured the motionless silhouettes, “in addition to posing as my honour guard. I prefer not to tempt fate. The worst case, he wanted them to rid himself of Celekh. As I said, I can be very persuasive,” she shook her head. “But dead ponies tell no tales.”

“So we are looking for the runaway after all,” mechanic faced her. “Why?”

“I want to take a look in her eyes,” Luna replied, ignoring the cold knot in her chest. “We won't be searching for her though.”

She nodded to Flashlight and touched her temple.

“We know precisely where she is.”
> Eight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Should I remind you my responsibility is information security, princess?” Dogrose curled into a ball on her bed, next to the notebook, and offered the only chair to her guest. “I won't be able to answer most questions about the procedures or personal data.”

“Principles?” princess inclined her head in recognition. “A rare find nowadays. Let's call it... a mental exercise then. Building hypothetical castles. How about that?”

“Suits me. Coffee?”

“Got any cream?” Luna smiled cunningly.

“You bet,” Dow forced an injured face, enveloping a plastic packet hidden behind the pile of spare parts in her magic.

“Well, in this case...”

Coffee turned out to be quite a nice blend.

“An instant one?” the princess asked to be sure, the thing was almost obvious.

“I'm a too lazy creature,” Dow waved her off. “Still, it's a real sublimated Arabica.”

“You said you didn't do coffee.”

“You're not the captain,” the unicorn countered. “So what is it you want to know?”

“Where was Celekh heading to?” princess decided to start from the most important part.

“Dunno. No, really, I don't know!” Dogrose repeated. “Never told me. She's not the most talkative type. I can only assume.”

She put the mug she levitated to the side and turned her notebook to the princess.

“Our plateau has a very convenient location. It could all be monitored from the radio tower, if not for the storm.”

“If not for the storm,” Luna nodded. “And if there is one?”

“Now it can't. But this will change. After the storm is over, all will be in the open. If Celekh doesn't want to be found... Or doesn't want to be found too fast...” she put her hoof at the eastern end. “Here and here. We're covered by the mountain ridge from the west, and eastern side is too steep to transport any goods. That's why there are two descents made in the eastern slope.”

“Why two?”

“Neightport was not yet built back then. I guess. History is not my strongest,” Dow scratched her ear and pointed at the southeast. “The rail was constructed later. Now it's the only transit line in active exploitation. A canyon here,” her hoof slid through the scheme on the screen and stopped at the northeastern corner, “was the initial supply line. All the amber mined was delivered to the capital by the means of common cargo trucks.”

“Why isn't it in use now?”

“Landslides,” Dow pursed her lips. “The slope turned out to be very unstable. The storms repeatedly damaged the reinforcing walls. In addition, after the freight traffic shifted to Neightport is was more convenient to have a more direct route. If the captain really decided to look for Celekh he would warn the monitor bunker situated on the railway line here. Perhaps that's exactly what he did,” the unicorn grinned.

Luna looked at her questioningly.

“Monorail is practically the only reliable landmark in the storm,” Dogrose acknowledged. “You will never get lost following it. Except you can also be found in no time. No. If Celekh didn't want to be found she didn't choose this route.”

“And that northern route, is it passable?”

“In all honesty I have no idea,” the blue unicorn frowned. “That's not a place for a car, even a passenger one. If you travel on foot, have the equipment and wear exoarmor... probably.”

“How about Sokolka?”

“The dimensions... yet the equipment... Maybe. Maybe not. There is a chance.”

“Why did she leave, Dow?” Luna carefully moved the notebook aside.

“I don't know,” the blue unicorn looked down. “Why are you asking? Do you really want to... follow her?”

“No,” the princess's eyes were dreamy. “Not really. Been there. Still, we're leaving in an hour at most. Do you want to follow?”

“Your Highness?”

“Or is it because she's an umbrum?” Luna surmised innocently.

“I don't discriminate ponies because of their origin,” Dogrose clenched her teeth. “Unlike someone else.”

“The captain?” Luna asked. “He's a soldier, isn't he? He can have his reasons for hating the umbrum.”

“A closet officer,” Dow corrected. “He has a combatant's certificate, sure. They say he even was at the frontline. Once or twice, choosing the days during the standstill.”

“So his reasons...”

“...are of a purely career variety,” unicorn confirmed and added sarcastically. “Ponies have a thing for black-and-white pictures and ostentatious patriotism.”

“If you didn't know exactly what she was going to do, why help her?”

“With the software?” Dogrose threw her forelock back (it returned to its place almost instantly). “It was a good... distraction. A change in occupation.”

“No,” the alicorn shook her head. “With the whole escape thing.”

Dow narrowed her eyes looking at the princess.

“Correct me if I am mistaken. The guard post had been thinking all the vehicles and equipment were in the hangar until captain told them otherwise. I'm not a security specialist but I doubt Celekh had access to security cameras.”

“She had,” unicorn began. Then sighed and agreed. “Okay, she had no clandestine access. It's not too hard to cycle one of the records, putting in on an endless playback loop. They are all butterhooved down here... not to say half-asses. Couldn't just sit and watch now, could I?”
> Nine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“How much longer?”

“Are we on a timetable here?”

Luna sighed. Flashlight was essential for some kinds of work. Generally, though... His supernatural ability to get on her nerves was on par with her own magical talents.

“Five more minutes. If there is still no progress after that, drop it,” she decided. “Yes, we do have a schedule to keep. At least explain what the problem is. I thought decreasing energy consumption should not be hard enough.”

The mechanic raised his muzzle away from the maintenance hatch on the side of the guard's armor and turned to her. There was a spark of eyes behind the visor glass. It seemed he switched the filter off to be able to see anything in the depths of the exoskeleton. After inspecting her and seemingly being unable to find fault with anything, he sighed heavily.

“Security is the problem,” he went on in response to her puzzled silence. ”Maintenance access to the system has its bottlenecks. Our armor — yours, mine, — is a continuation of our own coat. Especially yours, princess. A psycho-mould, a retinal check, a hoofprint scan. Your armor is unique. You have no need to introduce yourself to get all the controls.”

He adjusted something inside the hatch with his hoof, glancing on the displays, invisible to her.

“I'm currently logged into this stallion's armor using usual maintenance credentials. The problem is, the system requires the correct password to provide me all the access I need. Without the appropriate rights the most I can do is look at some numbers.”

“Can't you hack it?”

Flashlight rolled his eyes.

“I'm a mechanic, princess, not a hacker. It is not as if there are just ten possible options to choose from like in those videogames of yours. Bruteforce attack is out of question considering my capacities at hoof. I don't know who handles their info security...”

I know, the princess knitted her brow.

“...but this is where I hit the rock.”

“Did I hear you right, Flashlight?” Luna raised her brow. “Did you just use the ‘I’ word?”

“Save your moon-y sarcasm.”

“I'm serious. It's not often I hear ‘can't do that’ from you.”

“I can reboot in emergency mode to bypass the safeguards. This will reset all the life support subsystems. Do you want that?” he answered. “It's forty-five above zero outside. I thought we were trying to keep the guys alive.”

Princess sighed.

“Check Trowel's armor. Is there is no progress by then... We don't have much time to waste. Pack up and move on.”

While the earthpony was struggling with the hatch she tried the communications once again. A small grotto that had hidden them and their ill-fated followers did provide some protection from the primal storm, but there were still occasional portions of sand reaching them.

“Unable to establish connection,” Shadow whispered, audibly upset. “Statics level critical.”

Looks like asking Dogrose is out of question as well, she reckoned. If Dogrose would give her the password, that is.

“That's strange,” mechanic interrupted her thoughts.

“What is strange?”

“The indications are. Usually this kind of armor is supplied with standard power sources. How much charge left do you have, princess?”

“Ninety-three percent,” Luna replied. “You?”

“About the same level,” Flashlight tried to scratch his beard habitually, then remembered about the helm and looked at his hoof, puzzled. “The same with the guy. Lieutenant's suit has full charge, though. We've been walking for no less than half an hour. Meaning...”

The alicorn patiently waited. From her experience about the past conversations with the mechanic she knew that new questions would probably only delay things further.

He fiddled with the exposed side of the armor for a while, then shook his head and grimly leaned back.

“If there is a plaque "Cockatrice" on a cell with a hydra inside, don't trust your eyes,” he sighed. “Princess, take a look here.”

Luna leaned to the opened hatch. Inside, in the depth, between the cables, the rods and some rolled reinforcements, in the slot behind the thick glass a crystal was glowing. Once honey-yellow, now it shimmered in crimson, and there was a shaggy ball the color of blood growing inside.

“A power cell,” she recognized, summoning all of her scarce technical knowledge. “But why is the amber red? It is a common accumulator...”

“The crystal usually never reaches this condition under normal circumstances,” Flashlight grumbled. “I doubt you've seen it like this before. Color shift on the spectre. In common terms, this accumulator is nearly worn-out. It is able to hold only a fraction of its design capacity.”

“So his armor is out of energy?” the princess frowned.

“Not yet,” the earthpony spreaded the cable connecting his armor to the service ports on the guard's. “But it will be. No wonder the charge feedback sensors are confused. They can show full charge now, but soon the indications will abruptly deteriorate to several percent. That's when his subsystems will begin to fail one by one. Normally the maintenance crew should not accept armor suits like this one into exploitation. It can be detected by any standart grade diagnostic tests in the dock.”

“He would die,” there was no question in Luna's voice. “He'd suddenly find himself in a metal box without any power.”

“He will die,” Flashlight winced. “In case we do nothing to prevent it.”

“And what are our options?”

Mechanic thought for a short while.

“We might be able to get back in time... probably, if we turn back right now. I suppose we discard this one?”

“We will lose the umbrum. There is only one way down while she's on the plateau. After she leaves it...” Luna shook her head. “We will never find her.”

“I could shunt power supply to another set of armor through its charging port,” he said, weighting. “Probably even to the other guard's suit. I can't lower consumption without full service access but he will still hold longer like that.”

“Will it take long?”

“Actually, no. I have no appropriate cables... Nothing our duct tape couldn't fix.”

The princess shook her head and stepped away. If you only knew what kind of trash... Serviceponies' ability to build working mechanisms from a box of scraps never stopped astonishing her. Still, if there was one thing she was certain about, it was that Flashlight would do it right.

“What's your opinion?”

Serenity stopped inspecting his cannon and turned his Y-shaped helmet glass to her.

“On those two,” she added, nodding at the immobile exoarmor suits. “Sending somepony to... watch over me... was something I expected. Giving one of them a suit of defective armor guaranteed to fail soon...”

Serenity kept his silence but the princess felt his smile on her. A smile devoid of any joy.

“I would never think Lash had subordinates so devoted.”

Serenity jerked. The alicorn was puzzled at first, but then understanding slowly descended upon her.

The captain was laughing.

“You think he wasn't aware?”

“Princess,” there was Flashlight's voice in her headphone. “I'm sorry to interrupt you but we have a problem.”

“Speak, Flashlight,” she replied, turning back.

“I totally expected it to work,” he groused as if making excuses. “Short-circuiting the cables is trivial enough, there is a convenient plug here, and the tape should more or less protect from circuit breakdown...”

“Flashlight,” Luna sighed. “Stop mumbling. What happened?”

“I can't make the armor switch to charging port. Maybe it considers the input to be too weak... I don't know. I can't force it without superuser access.”

“Flashlight,” Luna touched his shoulder softly. With an armored hoof able to crumple plate iron. “You are one of the most gifted mechanics I know. You can't make it? Fine. What else can you do?”

“I can... I can...” he scrubbed his helm with his hoof, pondering. “I don't like the alternative. Still, I can patch the systems directly,” he explained, feeling the expectant silence of his princess. “Bypassing the charging port. But I need to disconnect the broken power cell for that. This museum stuff has no option to support multiple power sources.”

“Will it work?”

“It will. I'm sure of it. Like, eighty-five percent sure.”

“What should I do?”

Her help, she believed, was mostly token. Perhaps she wasn't aware of something... Still, after she tightened the "donkey" nuts having funny "ears" with her telekinesis, fixing the clamps in place, and Flashlight pulled the rectangular power cell, they both let out a simultaneous sigh of relief. She never noticed she was holding her breath. A shoulder lantern of the suit blinked briefly but didn't die.

“We're terribly lucky today,” Flashlight concluded in satisfaction, hugging the metal box with a red crystal inside. Then he jumped when a lighting struck somewhere above them. Small shards of stone rained down on them from the rocky ceiling of the grotto.

“What the...”

A new discharge followed shortly, this one near the exit, lashing on the sand. It was raining boulders now, the alarmed captain reached them in a few leaps, but even he looked unsure about what to do next.

“It's the amber,” the servicepony blurted out, looking at his box in shock. A new double strike shook their cover that seemed so safe before. “The sensors could lie but the crystal is used up! The cell itself isn't shielded! It attracts the charge!”

It was as if Serenity was expecting exactly that. His dark blue silouette appeared near Flashlight. With a single strike the captain kicked the cell out of his unsteady grasp, then threw it in the air and gave it a precise buck. Luna realized only that the cell was flying towards the entrance.

The flash blinded them, the shockwave knocking them out of their hooves when it shook the floor. Shadow howled like a buzzer, filling the screens with warning messages. Several big chunks of rock, torn from the ceiling, drummed on their armor.

“I'm alive?” Flashlight lifted his hindquarters clumsily, shaking off the settled dust. The explosion threw him against the wall, and he landed in an upturned heap. “Seems like I'm alive. I'm alive!”

He stopped and coughed.

“I mean, are all of you alive?”

Serenity grunted in her headphone. Luna rolled from her back and shook her head. Her assumptions were confirmed by the sight on the screens of her helmet: the armor didn't get much damage. What surprised her was that the thunderbolt, and she was positive that was it, appeared to be completely soundless.

Having clumsily hobbled to the guards lying nearby, pony mechanic checked the cables and nodded reassuringly.

“It worked,” alicorn stated the obvious.

“We better move our hooves fast,” Flashlight agreed. “Or we will have two dead ponies instead of one. They have a single battery now.”

Preparations didn't take long. Luna and Serenity were walking at the front now, barely lighting several meters ahead of them with their body lanterns, the mechanic following in the rear. He added the mark of the place where they left the immobillized guards to his navigator on princess' request. Still, it wasn't much of a relief to her. She wasn't that familiar with the two, she also had reasons to question their declared good intentions. Yet they never gave the oath and weren't part of her Guard.

This prolonged silence didn't do her much good either.

“What was that?”

“We catched a bolt.”

“Flashlight.”

“Yes, sure. Amber attracts electricity,” the servicepony hummed thoughtfully. “Kinda like a magnet. I mean, it doesn't do it all the time. But this cell was nearly empty. Okay, imagine an empty mug that is being submerged in a barrel of water, but not to the rim.”

“A rough analogy, of course.”

“Terribly so,” Flashlight agreed. “Don't tell my electrotech lecturer. What happens when we suddenly remove the sides of the mug?”

“The water.. implodes?”

Her companion uh-huhed, reserved.

They continued in silence for some time, pushing through the wall of sand.

“Fine, but why the explosion?”

“I'm not sure, but I have an idea. Stabilized crystals are similar to old chemical accumulators in their properties.”

“Chemical accumulators are still used to this day,” Luna pointed out. “You were stuck in your workshop for too long. Life isn't limited to the latest developments.”

Flashlight snorted in displeasure.

“An accumulator can't be charged instantly,” now it was he who broke the silence. “In theory we can speed up the charging by increasing the intensity of the current. But some energy is still lost in the form of heat due to resistance. The more the intensity, the more hot the device gets.”

“The power cell got overheated, then?” Luna specified, perplexed.

“So to speak,” Flashlight snorted again. “The crystal's structure was significantly degraded already. If we add a lightning to the mix... I'm no planetologist but if the lightnings here are anything like Equestrian ones, that means hundreds, if not thousands, of amperes.”

He went silent again, then finally added.

“Anyway, that's just an assumption. We use amber for many years, we built our entire technology around it but the eggheads in their labs still didn't figure it out entirely. They never tried to make it explode... or hit it with a lightning.”

“Should I worry about thunderstorms?” Luna glanced at the mechanic without turning to him.

“Exoarmor is shielded by default,” Flashlight sighed, exhausted. Then confirmed reluctantly. “Perhaps not as good as their armor, but still it is. If you don't pull the crystal out of the protected zone, the danger of catching a bolt is as real as some straw breaking a mule's back.”

“That's funny,” the princess smiled casually. “There is a saying about this, you know...”

She noticed the flash in the corner of her eyes but had no time to react. A flat strike to the chest threw her back, knocking the breath out of her.

A princess that turned out to be so fragile.
> Ten
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“The scheme is simple, it consists of two parts only,” Dogrose slurped from her mug labeled "Horn-y power" and licked her lips. “First is the state subsidies. It's no secret all of the Yurga shafts are in a near-breakdown shape. The worn-out hardware, the sand drainage collectors, the supporting constructions. It is one of the oldest mining systems that was founded during the first wave of colonization. At the same time one does not simply decommission it. Even formally speaking, you can't get rid of more than a thousand convicts in a day, especially if they are two hours away from the capital.”

“And informally speaking?” Luna gulped down some coffee and curiously watched at the radiopony.

“I have no direct access to these numbers,” the pony crunched on a cookie. The second, exactly the same, stopped short of the princess, enveloped in the softly glowing levitation field. “But I suspect that you can dig out two new mines for the money they provide us. The maintenance crew files more breakage and malfunction messages every day, the things got even better with Celekh. She decided to organize the material, and the chief got some very condensed reports. Surely, he never missed the opportunity to use them in his correspondence with the superiors. The amount of subsidies increased...”

“Let me guess,” Luna stretched her neck and grabbed a cookie with her teeth. Mmm. Chocolate crumbs. “The equipment remained in the same state of disrepair.”

“If it all gets fixed, one will have great difficulties when defending the budget, right?” Dow waved her hoof like if conducting an invisible orchestra, then winched in disgust. “Obviously Lash has some high-ranking patrons in the capital. He is loyal and controllable... a much more valuable trait than honesty and skills for some ponies.”

“What's the second part?”

“Second, I wasn't aware of before the umbrum appeared here. Now, however, it feels only natural. You see, Yurga mines are not so dried up as they are usually considered to be. There was no deposit re-evaluation but I've seen some numbers on the actual output. Both kinds. The official and...”

“...the non-official ones,” Luna finished for her habitually. “To think of it, I began to get bored in here. Is there much difference?”

“Several times,” Dow gulped from her mug again. “No idea where and how does this "extra" go to but if part of it goes to the warehouses of some Equestrian corporations I won't be much surprised. Amber is a valuable resource. Not everyone is that picky to dig its origins.”

“You're talking contraband,” the princess glanced at her, waiting for confirmation.

“The law-enforcement-covered-it-up kind,” the radio pony nodded. “Please don't call Lash a smuggler. Real smugglers don't use slave labor.”

“If you know so much why don't you do something about it?”

“And what can a mere assigned intern possibly do?” Dogrose asked. She sounded tired, almost without irritation. “Send a paper to the superiors? All I got in return was a polite "thanks" and an unambiguous hint that I will be blacklisted if anything like that is filed again.”

“I somehow doubt it scared you,” Luna assumed.

Dow sniffed.

“I will not be thrown out of this place if I don't do something completely stupid, and I will be free in about three months. I am impudent enough to consider myself not so greedy as the captain. Any appropriate private company or a corp will be glad to accept a clever pony regardless of any state blacklisting. They can offer more for the work, too. Still, even if I am stupid I'm not that stupid to try the same closed door again and again expecting another outcome. Looking for more options is much wiser.”

“What about the security staff?”

“Most get a share. First of all, the ‘experienced ones’,” the unicorn sniffed in disgust, letting know about what she thinked of their experience. “The rest are either newbies or have no real voice in decision-making.”

“The convicts?”

Dogrose crunched on a new cookie.

“Do you suggest to start a Revolution in One Mine? I believe, princess, that you are slightly misguided about what Yurga truly is. It is a labor camp. A prison. A fancy, convenient, an arguably comfortable one, but a prison still. And any prison is a feudal microcosm of sorts, the Chief of Security being a king of a little Equestria of his own, free to execute or pardon as he pleases.”

The alicorn grew serious when she remembered the recent search for umbrum.

“That leaves you. Civilian specialists.”

“Yes,” the unicorn nodded. “Our hooves are tied by the contract but we are not obliged to execute military orders without question.”

“It seems we've made full circle,” the princess observed. “As a civilian spec you may be able to write a three-volume book on corruption, but if Lash has some high-ranking officials covering him up...”

“Precisely,” Dow nodded and used her levitation to bring the bag of crunchy cookies to the bed. “Still picking them one at a time, princess? Don't be shy. My treat.”

Luna mournfully sighed, mentally waving goodbye to her dreams of losing weight. She didn't miss the opportunity to pick another round goodness smelling of cinnamon, cocoa and raisins from the bag, though.

“The problem is, once you've started it's hard to stop. A true story, and not just about the cookies. In case you still remember, princess, I combine two positions here.”

“I remember.” The aroma was overwhelming, she had to struggle to keep the thoughts running straight. “A radio operator and... Hold on a second. You're trying to say Lash has issues with keeping up the security?”

Dow gave a sweet smile.

“You have no idea.”
> Eleven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gnashing.

Not the low-pitch gritting of rusty hinges. On the contrary. Creaking of a glass-cutter, drilling through your braincase like a screw. Leaving the ringing in your ears. Piercing. Angry. Demanding.

Luna opened her eyes just in time to see the shield deploying above her head. It was somewhat beautiful. There were no sounds audible behind the storm but she knew it from memory. The click of a plate block extending from the cannon bone. Then the extender blocks slide up and down, to the forearm and the hoof, turning a compact stack into a thin stripe. Then, at last, the “Ironwall”. Armor plates shift into position, expanding into rectangular full-height barrier. Flashlight had to kick some jammed segments twice, though; the shield was never designed to operate in the midst of a sand cloud.

“Administering adrenaline solution.”

Two seconds later the alicorn felt a prick in her thigh and jolted. She knew Shadow had no needles whatsoever but still shivered in her shell. Meanwhile the two shields closed up above her, providing a single cover from hostile fire. It seemed Serenity wasn't quite satisfied with the reaction of the pony he was in charge of, but now he was keeping his displeasure to himself. He and Flashlight had other troubles to take care of. The violent wind splashed against their deployed shields, trying if not to take them off then to tear them away with the legs. There were no more shots, and the guards separately decided to lower their rectangular pieces of plate armor, sticking the spikes designed for that on the lower rim in the sand.

“How long have I been unconscious?”

“Not long. Several seconds,” Shadow informed. “Armour integrity not disrupted. Biometry signs are... acceptable. Light haematoma in thorax section. I wasn't fast enough to amortize,” there were traces of guilt in her voice.

“Forget it.”

“I recommend...”

“Forget it, Shadow,” Luna winced. “Some bruises never killed anypony. What was that?”

“Weapon not identified.”

“You are very helpful. Could you determine anything at all?”

“Solid full-metal projectile. High stopping power.”

“So I've heard,” the princess sighed, rising up. Liquid energy was spreading through her veins. “I am fine, captain. Let's move on.”

Serenity gave a tiny nod and started moving, using his shield as support in place of the leg it was fixed on. A step. Place closer. Another step. Move the shield again. Flashlight tried his best not to fall behind him, and their small barrier of iron gradually shifted. It looked like the captain got the direction right, because after a while the shield caught another hit. Their barricade shook but absorbed it. Howling of the storm suppressed any gunshot sounds but this time the princess managed to see the muzzle flash clearly. She pointed the direction with her hoof.

“Where did she get a gun? She shouldn't be armed.”

Serenity just shrugged with his free shoulder in response. Looked like he wasn't interested in such details. He had caught the rhythm, mounted it and now pulled his companion along. Two shields kept moving slowly but surely, almost in unison, closing in on the mouth of the canyon, leaving hoofprints in the sand. The wind of sand itself seemed to weaken here. Their path started sloping downward, two piles of stone rising to the left and right from the shroud of dust. Barely distinguishable, they resembled some queer monsters.

Another flash. She caught a sharp, angry plop of gunfire through the armor-filtered noise now. The projectile jabbed at the shield, deforming it, but the armor plate endured it again. Now, though, the princess could see the shooter. Sokolka appeared out of nowhere, merely several meters in front of them. Mecha's frame that looked compact while in the spacious hangar now towered like a threatening dark shape in the middle of sand whirlwinds between two rocks. Yet she could not pick out any weapons.

The cannon above Serenity's shoulder jerked weakly but didn't move. He sharply growled in the microphone and caught the handle with his free hoof, tugged it down, and the corbel hesitantly gave way, gritting, rotating the whole barrel length to face the offender. He moved his hindlegs farther, the hooves unsnapping additional support plates to compensate the recoil.

“Cease fire,” the headphones were instantly filled with noisy humming feedback. Captain's voice was barely recognizable behind the teeth-grit-inducing ferruginous low pitch and palpable affectation typical for integrated verbocoder. “Or be destro-”

Roar of a new shot left another dent on the shield, interrupting the guard mid-sentence. If he expected to impress the enemy, his efforts were vain.

“Do not return fire,” Luna hastily growled, and the captain turned to her, his hoof remaining on the cannon handle hanging over his shoulder. The alicorn silently counted to ten and explained. “I am unharmed. If the shield wasn't affected when this close, the weapon cannot penetrate our armour.”

Serenity kept silent for a while, then sharply snorted.

“Let us pull closer.”

“It is close enough.”

The voice. Hoarse, hissing, matching the wind roaring around them and only slightly muffled by armor's frequency filters. Screaming. Gasping. That voice. She realized somewhat late that she used the common channel — the same Serenity's autotranslator used to send his threat.

She had heard this voice once. No, not this one, but the one very similar to it. Sending shivers through her bones, making her cold stomach stiffen.

“A word of advice. Do not threaten before proving yourself.”

The mecha moved, parting with the rock and adjusting its... manipulator? Hand? Leg? Its end had no hoof, nor the fingers akin to these of diamond dogs. Instead there was a large box with a pile of ribbed elevations, cables and a great and powerful...

“It's a barrel,” she realized in a flash. A two-segment barrel ending in a thick round prop plate with some strange staples protruding from it. With a caliber of a pony leg. Next to a giant like this even the captain's Geyser looked pale in comparison.

“Weapon not identified,” Shadow repeated, highlighting the assembly with a band in the screen. No wonder. A cannon integrated into the vehicle frame... and unlike anything she saw before.

“We are looking for Celekh,” she decided. Made a step forward, cautiously showing herself from behind the shield. “One service worker Celekh. The umbrum.”

Sound of inhaling in her headphones like a grinding sound of a metal brush.

“You've found her. Your move?”

The vehicle drew closer, moving its legs heavily, impending over them. The cabin windshield rippled, becoming transparent again.

And Luna faced her nightmare.

She had a chance to inspect a Sokolka back in the hangar during their prolonged tour. Still, now when she had a fully working CRV in front of her, the storm raging above them, it somehow looked bigger. The princess casually put a hoof at captain's shoulder to calm him, moved the shields aside and stepped forward. A mecha towering before her looked bigger indeed, although her conscience reasoned that all the Sokolkas are similar. A massive awkward frame standing on two three-segment supports resembling unproportionately enlarged pony legs. A convex windshield covered most of the cockpit, and there, behind it, hooves on the levers, was its driver.

Luna steeled herself for this moment. And yet she felt horribly unprepared when she got to it. The levers of steering rods ended in flat round latches fastened to forehooves. The shadow pony vaguely resembled... a ghost. A skeleton. A usual pony frame, completely flayed, if only to ignore the fact that it was smoking. The entirety of her body, stretched, thin, with long skinny legs and protruding ribcage, was woven of micaceous smoke and dust, flowing in misty trickles disappearing somewhere in the cockpit depths. It was as if she embodied a part of the storm raging above the canyon. And at the same time she didn't belong to it. The storm, however magical, brutal, merciless, was a natural phenomenon.

The shadowpony whirled around her axis, never loosening her hold on the levers, reminding once again her body wasn't limited by anatomic constraints, and stretched her long horse-like muzzle adorned with crooked mismatched teeth forward. Two plates of eyes, dripping sickly light, stared at the stranger again.

“What's next?” she repeated, shifting her hoof. Sokolka moved her arm sideways, the barrel muzzle pointing at princess' chest.

“No need for that,” the alicorn shook her head and knocked on her cuirass plate lightly. “It is moonsteel. Designed to withstand direct meteorite hit. Do you really think you can pierce it with your... your... what is it, anyway?”

“Assembly Power Hoof,” Flashlight cut into their channel. The princess inclined her head questioningly, barely turning, and he hurriedly explained. “It's a construction cannon. It, er, it shoots nails.”

“Nails?”

“The bigger variety.”

“Oh,” the princess smiled, thankful for the glass hiding her expressions. Still, the box that she assumed to be a feeding magazine was quite impressive. “That changes things, obviously.”

“I should aim for the face then,” the shadow pony bared her teeth, raising the mech's arm to point the barrel at Luna's forehead. “Or is it some sort of ‘moonglass’?”

“You don't even see my face,” the princess reproached, stepping closer. “But fret not. You've shown yours. It would be impolite for me not to respond in kind.”

The canyon gave them some cover from the sand, so the visibility was somewhat better than in the open. At least that's what she was counting on. Her glass, too, rippled from the polarization filter switching off. She imagined looking at herself with foreign eyes. A sleek, smooth, elegant armor suit, her helmet with Y-shaped visor glass. The decorative necklace with her symbol lighted up on her chest, one of the few embellishments she did allow. Shadow caught the hint and even turned on the spine-mounted projectors, the second time for today. Although her spectral mane would probably not look so impressive in this whirlwind of dust.

“...Princess Luna?”

“The one and only.”

Shadowpony blinked, grew haggard, hunched up. Even her muzzle seemed to shrink. Not for long, for a moment.

“Don't come any closer. I will shoot you.”

“You know, Celekh...” Luna forced herself to stare at the pony intently, “I envisioned you differently.”

A screech? A cackle. Umbrum leaned forward abruptly, pressing her face against the windshield. The features of her muzzle got blurred, plate-sized eyes dangerously narrowing.

“I can be... many things.”

Luna barely avoided shuddering. The likeness was... unnerving. Still, it wasn't her. The princess took a deep breath, then breathed out, calming herself. The nature of these nightmares eluded even her so far. It would be much simpler if it was Sombra. His predatory grin and her silent powerless scream inside her shell of stone.

Yet is wasn't he she had dreamed of. Not the former ruthless emperor and tyrant of the Crystal Empire. She dreamed of his closest assistant. The grand-vizier. “Lady” Rabia.

“You must leave,” the shadowpony croaked, shifting her cannon again. “Leave. Now.”

“Celekh,” the princess sighed impatiently. “This nail-thrower can't scratch me. Even when shot in the face.”

“I can overload the accumulator of this vehicle,” the umbrum offered gloomily. “The explosion may not necessarily harm you... Are the suits of your companions made from moonsteel as well? What about the canyon itself?” she puffed hollowly, widening her holes of nostrils. “Leave, princess. Return to your castle.”

“We will not go back without you,” Luna grimly responded.

“And you are going to force me how?” Umbrum's round eyes mockingly glimmered. She poked the mech's free arm at the captain who still aimed at her. “Threaten me with this gun?”

“This gun will crack your machine...”

“...like a tin can,” the umbrum cut Flashlight up. “An Ironshod HAPC-4 ‘Geyser’. I know what it is, my little pony. Do not think I am scared of it.”

Luna nearly groaned. Of course. To think of it, it was so obvious.

“Identify yourself, soldier,” she said dryly.

“Sergeant Celekh. Repair detachment, company D, 4th Battalion,” the shadowpony exhaled before she had a chance to think.

“The Fourth Republican?” the puzzled mechanic asked.

“Of course the Fourth Republican it is,” Luna confirmed, coolly glancing at the driver. “You didn't seriously think Celekh served in the army of the Umbrum Empire now, did you, Flashlight? Whatever could possibly give you this idea?”

“Yeah, really,” Flashlight mumbled. “Whatever.”

“You see, we have something in common, Celekh and I...”

“You have no idea what you're talking about, princess,” the shadowpony hissed.

“Do I?” Luna narrowed her eyes. “Captain Lash blabbed about him trying to get rid of you when someone in high ranks got in the way. If we remember for a moment that captain Lash is a military pony, however bad at this he is... Truth be told, there is only one explanation. You're under the same High Command.”

“You know nothing, princess,” her headphones practically oozed poison now, Luna's title almost a profanity. “You are a royal co-ruler of the most powerful state on Equus. The whole planet bears the name of your country. And I am a wretched spawn of the cursed empire. We can have nothing in common.”

“For a spawn of the cursed empire you are exceptionally overconfident,” the princess couldn't stop herself before replying with a jibe in turn. “I was exiled you know. For some thousand years.”

“Oh really?” the shadowpony rustled with a pale smile. Her rusty voice suddenly grew strong. “...So great was her reign, so brilliant her glory that long was the shadow she cast, which fell dark upon the young sister she loved, and grew only darker as days and nights passed...”

Umbrum sang. The princess shivered. It was probably the last thing she expected. There was some perverted, biting, insinuating caress coming through Celekh's expression. And while she herself certainly knew the tune, it was the first time she heard it being sung like that. The shadowpony herself seemed to change as her voice grew stronger. Her legs, the bones clothed in dry sinews, grew meat around them. The face was thawing, melting like candle wax, and for one brief moment Luna almost saw the face of a pony. A haggard, skinny one, with sunken cheeks and smoking fluorescent holes of eyes.

“...Soon did that pony take notice that others did not give her sister her due... And neither had she loved her as she deserved; she watched as her sister's unhappiness grew.” The spell was gone. The shadowpony bared her crooked teeth. “I know everything of your exile.”

“‘The Tale of Two Sisters’,” the alicorn respectfully said. “‘Lullaby for a Princess’. I'm impressed.”

“I may be an umbrum,” Celekh's voice once again screeched in her headphone like shards of glass on somepony's teeth. “But that doesn't mean I never studied history... or been to the opera.”

“So you do know history,” Luna agreed. “The official one. The opera approved by the Royal Committee of High Arts. The one that underwent all the corrections and editing. But how about what really happened?”

She picked the hatch on her forearm with her nose and opened the slots for memory cards. There was a crystal glowing in one of them, the one she knew all too well.

“Do you know what that is?”

“A memory ember,” the shadow pony moved forward, hanging on the control levers while she inspected the crystal. “An amber with reminiscences inside. But why is it... so...”

The alicorn remembered what her “ember” looked like. A small faceted shard of the usual honey yellow. The unusual were the branching ebony rays of needles that pierced the crystal, the rays that belonged to the star, frozen in the middle. There, in the depth two sparks were dancing and circling, a cold of dark purple and a warm of shiny silver.

“Because it is mine,” Luna simply answered. “And I want you to share it.”

This time, it seemed, she managed to surprise the pony. Umbrum frowned, flaring her nostrils.

“Is this some kind of trick? Don't take me for a fool, princess. One does not leave a stranger's memory so easily.”

“I said ‘share’. I will go with you. We will dive in together and leave together.”

“This will take hours,” the umbrum snorted. “Meanwhile the storm will completely drain our batteries. Do you really wanna die so badly, princess?”

“Celekh,” Luna shook her head. “Memory recording technology was created in my lab. It is a brainchild of mine, if you wish. And you think I can't rewind the data?”

“If captain Lash thinks-”

“Captain Lash thinks nothing,” Luna cut her off. “If you wish to know he tried to stop me. Forget Lash. This is between you and me. Your move?” She grinned. “This is not something I offer to anyone.”
> Interlude
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Celestia woke up, the view behind her window was enveloped in twilight. There was no dawn in the night sky yet. She could indulge herself in some sweet tossing and stretching in her bed, oblivious for a while to all the things planned for today. She softly smiled to the ceiling, reveling in the feeling, then turned on her tummy. The sleep was avoiding her, although she woudn't mind slumbering for half an hour more. She rang in the gilded hoof bell, rolled off from her cushions and perfectly landed on her legs. Well, if there's no more sleep to find...

A light warm-up didn't take long and she quickly switched to stretching, bending elastically on her gym rug, shaking the leftovers of sleepiness away from her limbs. The butler still didn't come. The alicorn made the full set of exercises, put her headband away and trotted for the bathroom, slightly tired yet satisfied, but not before ringing again.

Her bedroom was the same as when she left. The empty shade dissipated the dim light of magical lightballs. Celestia frowned, hanging the towel on the dryer unlike she usually did, and slipped into her gilded horseshoes. Once again, nopony responded to the ringing, but she noticed, focusing, a light haze trickling from under the closed double door.

A worm of light uneasiness in her chest moved, rustling. She reached the door in a few sweeping steps and opened it wide.

“What is happening here?”

The guard gave no response. Frozen like a trained statue, he stared in front of him from under the closed helmet, his cuirass of the Sun Guard slightly glittering. The mist was thicker here, it crept, clinging to the floor, barely rising to her hips. The light from the lanterns fixed on both sides of the passage struggled with penetrating the thick air. Everything seemed vague, illusory, indistinct.

“Officer?”

This is ridiculous, Celestia persuaded herself. What is there to be afraid of in her own castle? Suppressing her anxiety she approached the guard.

“Officer!”

The guard never moved. But now, up close she could see for sure that his eyes were closed. His eyelids fluttered, something shifted behind them in short spasms. He was sleeping, sleeping at his post, and his dream was an uneasy one.

“Wake up, officer!”

The stallion's massive body turned out to be in a fragile kind of balance. He leaned on a wall from her soft push, then slowly slipped down. His breath quickened but he didn't wake.

She went through empty spooky corridors like if she was in a dream. Except it wasn't. She even had to buck herself, just to be sure. The guards were sleeping. They leaned on the marble pillars, hanged on the poles of their halberds resting on the floor, stood as immobile statues. The mist powdered with sprinkles flew around, spiraling, running away in small vortexes from her steps. A cleaning mare softly snored in her tiny room under the stairs. A night shift of cooks were lying on rugs in a crescent around the dead firepit. She paused near one of the windows, staring at the sleeping city. There wasn't a single lit window in Canterlot, tiled roofs glimmering silver in the cold moonlight. The dawn was frozen somewhere in the distance, on the rim between the earth and the sky, illuminated with weak beams of the sun that struggled to rise and couldn't.

“Captain? Luna?”

She felt something that, it seemed, an immortal princess could not possibly feel. Her trot hastened to a gallop, the mist rolling under her legs, turning the clattering of hooves, once clear, into a dull, viscous stomping. The door leading to Luna's chamber wasn't locked, and Celestia momentarily hesitated before pushing the panel of dark wood away.

“Are you in here? You alright, sister?”

The bedroom welcomed her with thick shadows. The only light was from a whitish silver night-lamp standing to the side, but it was as if the haze pressed against it, its light being unable to pierce the permeating shroud. The puffs of mist here were thicker, richer, they bloomed in inky ultramarine, shimmered with star dust, shaping into exquisite castles, towers, elaborate patterns and quaint monsters, then crumbled, dwindling into the night air.

“Sister, are you okay? Sister?” the princess asked again. The thumping of her heart seemed to resound in her temples, sounding louder than her weak and uncertain voice.

“I am here, Tia,” Luna echoed, and she felt a great relief. “I'm fine. Perfectly fine.”

“Thank the Mother,” Celestia let out a sigh, calming down her nervous shakes, and threw her wet forelock away. “The guards are sleeping... As well as all the other ponies. What happened to them? What time is it?”

“What time is it?” Luna cracked a coarse, choking, toneless laugh. “Is this the best you could ask?”

“I don't understand...” Celestia narrowed her eyes, nervously looking into the shadows. “What's happening?”

“You know, sister,” Luna shifted her weight from one leg to another, flexing her shoulders, “didn't it ever occur to you that you know... precious little of your subjects... for an omniscient ruler of the nation?”

“Luna,” Celestia shook her head. “I don't believe this is the best of times. We need to wake...”

“Oh, on the contrary,” Luna cut her off. “Now is the perfect time. No hindrances of any kind, no outsiders intervening in our discussion. At long last, we can have a talk in private.”

The pieces of a puzzle started shifting into place in princess' head one by one.

“It was you? It was you, sister?”

“Who else could it be?” Luna silently smiled, her teeth glittering. “Of course it was I.”

“What...what did you do?” Celestia gasped.

“Less than I should have,” Luna replied. “Still, it was nothing they didn't deserve. I dispensed justice. I believe you do remember Starswirl's lessons well.”

“The ruler is to be just,” Celestia nodded, then frowned. “Do you mean I wasn't just? Did I ever wrong somepony by undeserved punishment?”

“Why, no, dear sister,” Luna mockingly smiled. “You never punished anypony. You equally shone to all, hunters and prey alike. Tell me, did you really think one can idly watch while they all basked in your precious light? Do you sleep well at night?”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Celestia frowned, “but you must lower the moon. The ponies must wake up. It is your duty!”

“Must I?” Luna's eyes threateningly narrowed. “I envision my duty differently. The night will last forever... until the redemption comes. But yet one question remains. Why can't I see your dreams? What are you hiding, Tia?”

The night-lamp's dim light glistened on the armor. Narrow catlike eyes glanced at the princess from under the roundish silver helmet.

“Let's find it out... sister.”
> Twelve
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Is that true?” umbrum's hideous face recoiled, drawing away from the windshield into the cockpit. The shadowpony watched her with unblinking smoking clouds of widened eyes.

“Memory embers cannot be forged. Not yet, anyway.”

“You know what I'm talking about,” shadowpony's features melted like a chunk of butter. “Did you really do this?”

“Celekh... My incarnation was called Nightmare Moon. Time might have erased the reasons but still, ponies don't easily throw names like this around.”

“And you did plunge them into the nightmare?”

“Not ‘the Nightmare’,” Luna corrected. “Creating an all-encompassing dream which is still adapted for each and everypony is an inconceivable feat, even for someone like me. I plunged them into their own nightmares. All at once. All of them. Simultaneously. Small worlds tailored to the minds of their unwitting authors. To think of it,” her eyes grew bleary, she managed a sweet dreamy smile, “it wasn't that hard. All it took was pulling the plug.”

The smoke inside the vehicle cockpit was settling. The monstrous skull-head of the shadowpony shrinked again, resembling a simple earthpony one.

“You... you...”

She moved with blinding speed. The hooves wrenched lever clutches around the axes and Sokolka rotated its manipulators, grabbing Luna under her forelegs. The princess knew her armor had quite the mass, yet the vehicle raised her like a thistle. The umbrum pushed forward, pressing the pedals, and iron arms crunched the alicorn into the canyon wall. The cabin moved right up to her, Celekh's muzzle hanging in front of her own.

“You're a monster. A rabid thing, you sick filthy bitch!”

The headphones screeched yet Luna turned her head blindly to where she believed Serenity was standing.

“Cease fire!” she roared. Then added quieter. “Sticks and stones, captain. Words are my responsibility. Moreover,” she looked at Celekh again. Skinny face looked back at her with luminescent pits of eyes, her nostrils above the clenched teeth blowing out puffs of smoke, “our good Celekh is right. A sick filthy bitch,” she recited, as if savoring it. “A worthy, if slightly belated title.”

She nodded, never drawing her gaze away from her opponent, the windshield still separating them.

“Thy mistake of yours is a minor one. I was a monster,” she casually smiled, seemingly nostalgic. “I'm better now.”

“Was?” she managed, for once, to puzzle the umbrum with this. She looked at her, baffled, even the grasp of her manipulators weakening in confusion.

“As I was saying, we're birds of a feather in a sense. I'll take a risk and assume we both are in pain. It can come from many places and take many forms, but pain is pain still.”

“What do you know about it?” Celekh snapped.

Instead of an answer the princess enveloped her horn in a soft twilight glow, pulled a small white can with thread lid out of her saddlebag and raised it to the windshield, struggling with the gushes of wind.

“Shadow, isolate a channel for me and Celekh. Remember the thing?” Judging from how the shadowpony gave container a sullen look, she did. “You should find a better hiding place, really.”

“How did you?”

“Lash asked for my assistance with the search in your room. Yes, I have been there. No, he doesn't know. If I... maybe I would hide things like these in the same place,” she smiled weakly. “The question is, do you know what it is? For how long have you been taking the pills?”

“Two months,” Celekh muttered at last, looking at the princess with her lifeless eyes.

“Are you aware of the side effects?”

“Nausea, headaches, tachycardia,” shadowpony grumbled. “Nothing fatal.”

“On the contrary,” the princess sighed. “This class of antidepressants actually has a curious principle of work... especially when you are not under medical observation. According to one of the theories, sedative effect is the first to kick in, so it suppresses anxiety and fear. Including the fear of death. I suppose I don't have to explain the threat for patients prone to suicide?”

“You didn't look like a suicide pony,” Celekh snapped.

“Because I directed my pain outwards,” Luna agreed. “You, though, carry your pain with you. And it corrodes you from the inside like an alkali. Forgive me if I withold my enthusiasm, but I like your option no better than I like mine.”

“Would it be better if I murdered Lash?” the shadowpony winced. “Oh, I probably could. All the newspapers would flash around with headlines about an ‘umbrum agent killing a war veteran’.”

“Are newspapers all that bothers you?” Luna clenched the vehicle's manipulators with her hooves. Hanging like this wasn't very comfortable, and when you are pressed against a wall, the wings only impede turning around.

“The Frontier was at war... is at war with the Umbrum Empire for several years already, regardless of whether Equestria or the Empire itself acknowledges it. Even if I served in the Repiblican army, appearance is the only thing many ponies see,” the umbrum smiled sarcastically. “I have ‘enemy’ written on my forehead in bold. Even more, one captain of security dying isn't much of a loss. You cut off one head and get two new instead. But if there is an investigation...”

“...for example, looking into the death of a civilian worker and vehicle destruction assumingly attributed to gross derelictence of duty...”

“Oh, stop it, you. Number Three here is a trusty ol' one,” the shadowpony leaned back and rubbed her head against the headrest. “With my modifications its chances to survive this storm are pretty good.”

“Civilian death it is then,” the alicorn sighed. “And this civilian has ‘enemy’ written on her forehead. Why do you think Lash can't simply cover it all up?”

“Dogrose explained the efficiency of reports to supervisors quite well. Covering up a dead body isn't that simple. Even if we're talking about the Frontier.”

“This plan is stupid.”

“It's the only one I have,” Celekh shrugged, seemingly tired.

“An ennobled self-destruction. How nice,” the princess snorted. “How about continue living for a while, for a change? I have two bodies not far from here, and I wouldn't mind some help delivering them back to the base... if you don't want to meet afterlife in a company.”

“Two of your Guard?”

“Two of the captain's security team,” the princess shook her head.

“Tails and cruppers. Lash is quite a stallion,” the shadowpony grumbled. “Could he really care I don't make... Wait, ‘bodies’?”

“One of the exoskeletons had its battery damaged,” Luna winced. “Before they left the facility, it seems. We had to reroute energy from the other one, but both guards ended up unconscious. Why?”

“Whom did he send after... us?” the umbrum's narrowed eyes glimmered dangerously .

“Lieutenant Trowel and private Autumn Leaf. Wait-”

Celekh crashed her back into the stone. Looks like the sound of her teeth gritting could be heard even from behind the two-layered glass.

“You. You and your bucking generosity, princess,” Luna's title was almost a curse on umbrum's lips. “He would never send anypony after me. And your little stroll gave him an opportunity to tie up loose ends.”

“Explain youself, damn it,” Luna spat. “You think...”

“I know,” the umbrum cut her off, baring crooked teeth. “Those two are doomed. Or at least the lieutenant. Did you ever think about how could I get clearance to leave the facility in the middle of the storm? A clearance with captain's unique digital signature on it?”

“Wait. Lieutenant Trowel is the captain's second-in-command...” Luna felt her thoughts running with feverish speed, checking what she just heard against what Dogrose told her.

“Exactly,” the shadowpony grinned angrily. “Meaning if the captain is plastered senseless... or has an acrobatic appointment with some mares... or is busy accompanying the unexpectedly visiting princess of Equestria...”

“Somepony has to sign the documents. And ponies are security's weakest link,” Luna echoed, repeating something the blue radio unicorn said a few hours ago. Then added thoughtfully. “Using digital signatures by any other person than its owner is strictly forbidden.”

Celekh shrugged her free shoulder.

“If you start breaking the rules, may as well start breaking them all.”

“Did Trowel know of the captain's liberties with the budget?”

The shadowpony sighed heavily.

“Knew? This obliging hell of a bore had his cut in the deal. All the officers are knee-deep in it... senior officers at the very least.”

“You're talking as if he's already dead,” Luna noticed.

Celekh did not reply. Still, after a few moments the vehicle drew back, releasing the princess' armor, and the latter crashed heavily at the bottom of the ravine in a rather nonroyal manner.

“I will not go back,” her voice dully gritted in the headphone.

“Those two will die.”

“Can't you just blink them back to the facility yourself?” the umbrum hoarsely managed. “You're a princess, Tartarus claim you! A fucking alicorn!”

“The storms here, it appears, have some very unpleasant side effects,” Luna informed, her tone deliberately casual. “Suppressing any teleportation spells, for example. It was a strain enough to levitate them to a cover.”

There was a drilling grind, heard even through the howls of wind muffled by filters. Some umbrum gritting her teeth, maybe? Luna could not tell for sure. Cockpit of the vehicle was once again a swirling darkness, almost as if the driver decided to hide from foreign eyes behind the smoky veil.

“You will be just as guilty in their death... princess.”

Luna gave only a short nod, acknowledging that.

The shadowpony's silence lasted for eternity. Then Sokolka stirred its driving gear with effort, pressing herself closer to the ground.

“Climb up,” Celekh commanded in general channel, brief and lifeless. “It'll be quicker.”

“Can you find the way?” the princess inquired, raising herself on the manipulator hanging low.

“Will do. Never thought I would need to. Where is that cover of yours?”

After Flashlight had sent her the coordinates and she set the return route, Sokolka straightened up. It seemed three exoarmors dangling from it didn't slow it one bit.

“Hold tight,” the shadowpony advised, pressing levers with both hooves. The vehicle roared, drowning the storm, and surged forward, rowing the sand with its legs.

“Did you know, princess?” the umbrum broke the silence first, falling back to their private channel. “Did you know I would choose that?”

“No,” the princess shook her head, turning to face her. “Knowing is my sister's playground. A stake based on ultimate knowledge ruins the game. I prefer intuition.”

“And if you wouldn't be lucky?”

“Intuition and luck are not one and the same, Celekh,” Luna answered. “Yet now my intuition suggests 'tis another question that really troubles you.”

Umbrum's eyes sank in the dark holes of her skinny pony muzzle. But when she looked back up at the alicorn, Luna saw the light, still lingering inside.

“It was all pointless, wasn't it? All that...” the shadowpony grimaced, “adventure?”

“It depends, really,” Luna countered seriously. “You know, I happen to like that plan of yours. It isn't so bad.”

“You claimed earlier it was a very stupid plan,” the umbrum reminded.

“I still do claim that. Yet for a plan to work 'tis not necessarily required to be a clever one.”

Her neighbour stared at her, confused. Yet Luna noticed more than that. There was a gleam of a different light in Celekh's eyes. A distant yet familiar one. A gleam speaking of hope.

The princess did not wait for this light to fade.

“Your plan had a good chance of success. It still has. Yet I would like to make some alterations if I may,” she shared her modest smile with the umbrum. “As your friendly freelance editor.”
> Aftermath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Is that all?” Celekh carefully picked up the cup. She still seemed to be digesting the things she saw and didn't rush to share her thoughts on the subject. “Differs from what the textbooks say, but all and all...”

“Not exactly,” Luna hid her memory ember in the case and clicked the lid shut. “One or two more fragments there. Six Elements of Harmony defeating Nightmare Moon is around the middle of this story.”

“What was next?” the shadow pony asked, turning her skinny muzzle to the princess in confusion. Luna still couldn't quite get used to the metamorphosis, but began to see the pattern here. The umbrum once again resembled an earthpony. A pony so emaciated that sharp dark strokes of ribs protruded on her smoky chest, her sunken cheeks giving her head a disturbing resemblance of a skull. And yet... She did not possess the monstrous appearance of Rabia.

“Why not learn it in your spare time?” the princess shrugged, pushing the oblong case across the table with her hoof. “I find curiosity to be a powerful driving force.”

“They say curiosity killed the cat you know.”

“Why do you think a cat has a need of eight more lives?” the alicorn snorted. “Celekh, since we've already decided to be frank here, I suggest not to fall back to formalities. At least for the time being. We're not at the gala, we're in my shuttle.”

“Still, why not now?”

“If the previous argument wasn't enough, here's another one: I have things to do. We do not want to miss the endgame, do we? You will have all the time in the world,” she nodded at the case with the crystal lying before the umbrum. “It's a gift.”

“But how about Y- you?”

“Sentimental attachment to such a talisman is surely a cute thing... But it's nothing more than a mould of my memory, Celekh. If I ever need another one, I'll just make a new copy,” the alicorn coolly nodded at the ember. “I presume it goes without saying that this information isn't supposed to be shared with everyone.”

A stallion behind her let out a deliberate cough.

“Princess? You wanted to see me?”

“Oh, Flashlight. Do come in. Debriefing should not take long.”

“Is she going to stay here?” the mechanic nodded at the shadowpony.

“If you're disturbed by the fact...” Luna grinned. “Sit down. What can you say about the mission?”

“If I have the permission to speak freely...”

“I would expect nothing less,” Luna cut him short. “Never noticed you favoured these cheap military curtsies before. If it is because of Celekh, she was there as well. I don't think you can say something she didn't witness.”

“Wasn't the risk excessive?” Flashlight seemed to buck down his hesitation at last. “Risking two Night Guard members because of one umbrum... not to say two Yurga guards...”

“That's a good one,” the alicorn nodded. “Considering subordinates of Lash's, my responsibility for their fate is of indirect variety. Not the biggest part, I dare to say. Concerning you... 'tis a topic I myself wanted to discuss. You gave the oath, Flashlight, didn't you?”

The earth pony nodded slowly.

“Now you know what can be expected of you. Night Guard's Oath is not a vow of personal loyalty to me. But I have the power to free from it. Since it was your first combat operation, it is tradition for me to inform you of that. Do not be hasty,” she warned, seeing that he opened his mouth to protest. “Think about it. I don't rush you with an answer. You have time before our working visit is over.”

The mechanic slowly nodded once again. Then, seeing that she had finished, he continued.

“Thank you, princess. But that wasn't my only concern. Was there no other way to resolve the situation?”

“Of course there were,” Luna agreed. “I decided this one to be the most acceptable. As I was telling Celekh, I don't play dice. Intuition and blind chance are not the same things. In addition, I can be curious, too,” she gave a fleeting smile. “Eternal life has its drawbacks. Eternal boredom is one of them.”

“You could dig in her head,” Flashlight suggested, stroking the end of his beard with his hoof. “Probe just how risky that is.”

“And would strip her of her free will,” the princess nodded eagerly. “Metaphorically speaking, one may call it brain rape. Would you prefer me do that?”

“P-probably not,” the mechanic looked embarassed.

“Just hold on a minute,” Celekh interruptted. Her smoking luminescent eye spots shifted gaze from Flashlight to the princess and back. “Could you really look into my head?”

“Maybe,” the alicorn gave a thin smile. “Could you really blow your vehicle up, killing us with you?”

“Maybe,” the scowled umbrum grumbled, imitating Luna's voice.

“Can you teach me?” the princess asked quickly.

Shadow pony stared at her in shock.

“Princess! Of all ponies why would you need that?”

“Oh, you never know,” Luna said slowly, then pulled herself together. “But we digress. Anything else, Flashlight?”

“Considering weapons and exoarmor. Generally test results aren't bad but there are a few bottlenecks. Power circuitry needs additional shielding, we have a rather aggressive environment here. Navigation systems may use some improvements here and there. Celekh's little tool has some interesting ideas,” he nodded to the umbrum. “We got used to depend on stable network operation and online positioning. Also, our windshields suck in these storms. We'll need to refine the hardening process...”

“Spare me the details,” the princess winced. “There's a post-report for that.”

“Flashlight?” umbrum's muzzle seemed to smoke even more now. “Can I ask you a question on your weapons?”

“If it doesn't concern the classified data,” the earthpony warned, sharing a glance with his princess. Then waved welcome with his hoof. “Hit me.”

“Why the Geyser?” umbrum chewed on her ghostly lip for a while and added. “Our battalion often used it as a heavy armament it is. It's a good and reliable gun... But even back then it wasn't exactly new.”

“In other words, why this old piece of crap?” Flashlight snorted.

The shadowpony slowly nodded.

“Revealing a big secret here. Those folks at Ironshod decided the gunpowder reached its limit. Starting from mark five HAPC model line is made up of railguns.”

“Errrrr... Er? But railguns are-”

“Powered by electricity, yes,” Flashlight nodded, then looked at the princess. “It seems Ironshod never supposed their guns would be used outside Equus. Might as well give them a hint they were too hasty with burying the firearms.”

“We use Gauss rifles, actually,” Celekh countered. “And sane commanders don't run military operations in a storm.”

“Oh really?” Flashlight lifted his brow. “What about operation Sandwall?”

Celekh's muzzle beamed with a smirk.

“Well, our sanity was a subject of disputes...

“Should I leave?” Luna asked innocently. While the two were carried away with conversation, she managed to get some tea and was sipping the hot herbal drink now, regularly glancing at them.

Flashlight and Celekh turned to her. Confusion painted on their muzzles was almost identical.

“We'll miss the performance.” Still holding the cup, she enveloped her horn in magic glow. A remote popped up from the table, and subtle rustle indicated the TV screen coming to life on the wall.

“...about it later in this newscast. And now for the fresh piece. Our own Eyecatcher reporting live from Neighport. Catchy?”

The camera switched to the tiny earthpony mare standing in the middle of the street in front of a tall building. A huge megalopolis was teeming with midday life behind her, but it was a small crowd gathered at the steps in front of the entrance that attracted attention.

“Thanks, Mike. Mister Paperback, Secretary of the Office of the Prosecutor General, made an unexpected statement at the press conference earlier this day. He informed us about the uncovered evidence of wide-scale corruption inside Yurga Drills mining conglomerate executive office. As we got to know, a similar announcement was posted in the official pegacourier account of Penitentiary Central yesterday evening. State correctional system currently manages mines two and four of the Yurga complex.

In the previous statement Internal Investigations took credit for uncovering the facts. However just a few minutes ago Mr Paperback refuted this information, practically confirming his department puts no faith into IIS results. He also informed that the case is now officially under jurisdiction of Neighport City Public Prosecutor's office.

According to the secretary, investigation was made possible thanks to the vital testimony of lieutenant Trowel, second-in-command to the head of Yurga-2 administration. Lieutenant provided the testimony immediately after the incident that nearly cost him his life. Mr Paperback ensured us that the press service of Public Prosecution will additionally inform us of any new facts found during questioning as soon as the witness recovers from shock.”

“Catchy, and how wide-scale according to Prosecution this wide-scale corruption really is?”

“Wish I could know, Mike. Mr Paperback evaded the question, but according to my sources the entire administration of Yurga-2 division is suspended. Trowel's immediate commanding officer, captain Lash, was taken into custody last night.

According to our internal sources in Prosecution, the most possible charges are large-scale theft, gross violation of inmates' rights and Labor Code infringement. In addition, placing lieutenant Trowel under heavy protection makes many ponies, myself included, suspect the Prosecution does not consider the ‘incident’ to be an accident.”

“Wait... That Paperback fellow didn't even mention you, princess!” Celekh blurted. Flashlight opened his mouth, then nodded in agreement, never saying a word.

“Is that a bad thing?” Luna gave her a sugary smile.

“Looks like the yesterday's storm managed to shake some serious constructions after all, contrary to what the Weather Control says,” the anchor whistled in the meantime. “Sounds serious. Are there any accused ponies yet?”

“Can't say for now, Mike. Press secretary warned against rushing with conclusions here and informed that the names could only be divulged after the preliminary investigation is over. But I was told captain Lash's defence had already made a statement citing severe health problems with the detainee and insisted on his immediate hospitalization.

As a reminder, Yurga Drills mining operations are staffed by both convicts from the centralized state penitentiaries and hired employees. Yurga is a company with significant share of the State and one of the primary recipients for state subsidies.”

“Thank you, Catchy. And now for the other news. Princess Luna's visit which was delayed due to the yesterday's sandstorm...”

“That's enough for now I believe.” The princess muted the TV and blissfully stretched. Public relations forced her to change the daily schedule she was accustomed to. Still, her body never ceased to remind her about it.

“It wasn't like that,” the umbrum gloomily said.

“I thought you liked the opera,” Luna reminded. “Or theatres. Care to hear another story?”

Celekh stared at her, seemingly not understanding.

“I'll take that as a yes,” the princess absent-mindedly watched through the TV screen, resting her chin on the crossed hooves. “The Elements of Harmony also proved to have some curious side effects. Something few ponies know about even today, although if you dig the works of Starswirl the Bearded... Ah, no matter. As it turns out, purifying Nightmare Moon and returning her back to normal was not the only thing the Elements did. They also made her greatest dream come true.”

“And that is?” now it was Flashlight who asked first.

“From now on ponies remembered who helped them in their dreams. The princess shared a bond with her subjects now, even if it wasn't the kind everyone openly talked about. This bond was unlike the bond that connected Celestia and other ponies... She wasn't praised. She was never openly worshiped. She preferred to act from the shadows, not in the broad daylight like her sister. She found certain enjoyment in that.”

The floor under their hooves shook, the sound of engines warming up reaching them from the outside, muffled by layers of armor.

“Sometimes the things you want are not the things you need,” the princess said thoughtfully. “I'm no Elements of Harmony... But I like to cause myself and others some small joy every now and then. You were saying you didn't want to return to the mine.”

The umbrum nodded slowly.

“What if I offered you a participation in some curious project... an experiment of sorts, you might say. Oh, 'tis not the project of mine. But I presume it is interesting enough for you to find something for yourself in it.”

“You're speaking in riddles, princess,” Celekh winced.

“True,” Luna agreed. “Unfortunately we don't have much time. The pilot needs half an hour at most to run the usual system diagnostics. I shall share the details on the way to the best of my ability, but now you need to choose. Are you staying here... or flying with us.”

“Can I say goodbye?”

“Undoubtedly,” the alicorn smiled softly and raised from the table. “Please don't be late. And now you must excuse me. There is a couple of things I must settle before we leave.”

“Princess?” the umbrum called, and Luna stopped in the doorframe. “One last question, if I may. The books say recognition wasn't the only thing you sought. They also say you wished to be the only princess.”

“To think of it, the Elements weren't content with fulfilling just one wish of mine. There were occasions when I ruled Equestria in place of my sister. Long story short...” Luna smiled weakly. “It wasn't as fun as I thought.”