In another Equestria, order is kept by a band of skilled spellslingers representing the Princess. The ponies call them Lawmares, and they are about to face something none of them are prepared for.
In another Equestria, order is maintained by a select group of skilled spellslingers operating under the endorsement of the crown. The ponies call them Lawmares, and they are a dying breed.
Twilight Sparkle is one such Lawmare, considered by her Princess and her peers as the finest spellslinger in generations. Her abilities will be put to the test soon, however, as a dark force is growing in the North, and not even the Lawmares may be able to keep the chaos at bay.
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My loving tribute to Westerns and Stephen King's 'Dark Tower' cycle.
You do not know this world. Oh, yar, you may think you do. There are similarities, say true. But look closer and you'll see that you're on a whole 'nother level of the Tower.
Know this; there once was a bright and beautiful land ruled by two sisters. One, the elder, raised the sun and watched over the day. The other, the younger, raised the moon and watched over the night.
Don't scoff, maggot. Aye, you know this much I'm sure. Just as ye know that the younger sister grew jealous of the adulation her sister and her shining day received from the populous. Ye know she gave in to the darkness inside and became a monster. Ye know there was a great clash, and when the dust settled the elder sister stood alone.
But here's where things start to get a mite different, do ya ken? So pay attention.
Aye, the elder sister was our own Princess Celestia. But following the tragic collision with her own flesh and blood, Equestria as a whole did not simply snap back to normal like some great rubber band. Chaos and anarchy spread. Bandits and outlaws patrolled the roads. Tinpot, upstart dictators rose and began gathering power. Celestia and her forces did what they could, but they were greatly weakened by the brief and bitter war.
Something new was needed.
So Celestia's own School for Gifted Unicorns was refitted and became that something. The best and brightest of the spellslingers were collected and trained, and when they were ready they were turned loose to do what needed to be done to restore harmony. They did so with the most potent of magics in the universe, and the solid will of their Princess backing them.
Did they succeed? Well... for the most part. There's not so many dictators anymore, say true. But there's still bandits and outlaws. There's still a need for special unicorns like that. There's not so many these days, do ya kennit? But there's a few still out there, fighting the good fight.
So it's been for a thousand years now. Officially those brave spell-slingers are designated as "Agents of Harmony." But the ponies of Equestria got another name for 'em.
The blizzard had moved in way faster than she'd anticipated. A particularly hard gust of wind nearly took her off her hooves and likely would have taken her hat were it not held tight against her mane by one hoof. She could see a light through the snow now, shining red-orange in the dark of night. She passed a wagon with a broken axle, leaning heavily on it's side. The wind made the tarp covering the cargo flutter against the straps holding it down. Something caught her eye and she paused. She considered taking a closer look, but knew that if she didn't get inside soon she'd likely freeze to death. With one last burst of energy, she pushed herself to trot up to the cabin's steps. The little place had clearly seen better days, but the flickering light promised the two things she needed most in the world right now; warmth and comfort. She took the steps up onto the porch two at a time and banged on the front door with the hoof not holding her hat. "Hello?" She called. "Can I get some help?"
The door opened a crack, and just the little bit of warmth that floated through that gap was enough to make her swoon. "Who needs help?" An eye appeared, looking out at her with suspicion. Not a pony eye, either. This one was clearly avian.
"Please, sai." She took her hat and placed it over her heart. "I was heading down the mountain when the storm hit and I got lost. Must've gotten turned around. If you could give me shelter until the storm passes, I could pay you back for it."
The eye narrowed. "We ain't got no room." The door began to swing shut.
"Please!" She cried in desperation. Her horn lit and a small satchel floated out from her saddlebags. "I have gold."
The door froze. "...How much gold?"
She smirked, trying to suppress her chattering teeth. "Enough."
The griffon on the other side of the door laughed as he swung it wide. "A pony after my own heart. Get in here before you let all the warmth out."
She raced inside and practically melted as the heat from the nearby fireplace chased the cold from her bones. Distantly she heard the door shut behind her, and she turned to offer her thanks to her rescuer.
Instead, she found herself staring down the barrel of a pistol.
She gulped. "That's really not necessary."
The griffon behind the pistol chuckled. "I'm afraid that I've got to be the judge of that, Miss...?"
"Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."
"Miss Sparkle. Can't be too careful these days. Especially when it comes to unicorns." He used his gun to gesture at her horn. "Why were you headed down the mountain?"
"I'm a courier."
"She's lying." An older, rougher voice came from the other side of the room. Another griffon stepped out of the darkness and glared at her. "There's no unicorns in the Courier's Guild."
"Normally, you'd be right." Twilight gestured at her saddlebag. "I'm filling in for my Dad. He's sick. I'm filling in for him 'til he gets better. Do ya ken?"
The older griffon's eyes widened. "Aye, I kennit. And from Canterlot, too? You're a fair distance, my cully."
"Say true." Twilight nodded her head. "Been there yourself?"
"Once or twice. Enough to pick up on that high-class way ye've got of speakin.'" The older griffon examined one sharpened talon. It glinted in the firelight. "So ye're fillin' in for your Pa? That's sweet. But I'm wonderin' this; what do ya do when not keepin' your Pa employed?"
"I'm a librarian." She felt her saddlebags being lifted from her barrel and did not resist. "If you tell me what you're looking for, I'd wager I could help you look, sai."
"I can look fine myself." The younger griffon muttered as he rummaged through the bag with one hand while the other kept his pistol trained on her. "What am I looking for here?"
"Lawmares are supposed to have a letter from the Princess on their person. Shows they act in her name."
The griffon made an irritated noise. "There's a ton of papers in here. Most of 'em are letters." He dropped the bag with a huff. "Maybe she's tellin' the truth."
"You two think I'm a Lawmare?" Twilight laughed and shook her head. "What kind of lawmare gets lost in the mountains with naught but a bag of mail as her gunna?"
The older griffon considered, then nodded. "Aye. Ye'd be a poor lawmare indeed Twilight Sparkle. S'pose we can put you up for the night."
Following his elder's signal, the younger finally lowered his pistol.
"Say thank ya." Twilight bowed before taking a seat by the fire. A warm, spicy aroma filled her nostrils as they warmed, and she sniffed eagerly. "Don't suppose I could pay for some of that what's cooking as well?"
The elder griffon chuckled as he made his way to the fireplace and to the source of the smell; a covered cook-pot suspended above the fire, the lid bubbling happily. "Don't reckon this stew would be to your likin,' Miss Sparkle."
She shrugged. "Fair enough. Could still use some vittles if you've got something more for the equine palate."
"We've got some of these." The younger gestured to several vegetables on a nearby table. "Usin' 'em for seasoning."
"I wouldn't say no to a carrot." Her magic took the offered food from his claw and brought it to her mouth. "Obliged." They sat in companionable silence for a while as the stew boiled and the wind blasted the walls outside. It was Twilight who finally broke the silence. "You seemed awful worried that I was a Lawmare."
The elder griffon stiffened as he reached towards the stewpot's lid. "I had a bad experience with a Lawmare a few years back. Don't rightly trust 'em."
"Why's that?"
"From my experience, Lawmares don't take kindly to non-ponies in Equestria. 'Specially us meat-eaters."
Twilight shook her head sadly. "That's a shame. There's plenty of room in Equestria for every creature." She nibbled the carrot a little more. "Did you two just move out here?"
"Yeah, just recently." The younger was peering out the window into the blinding white of the storm. "Why do you ask?"
"I saw the wagon outside."
Both griffons flinched and shared a look. "Yeah? What about it?"
"Your axle's broken." Twilight took another bite. "I figured I could help you fix it in the morning. It's the least I could do after you let me crash here tonight."
They relaxed and resumed their work. The elder griffon put his beak over the stewpot and inhaled deeply. "Ah. Almost ready."
"It sure does smell good. You sure I can't have a little bowl? I'm good for it."
The elder shook his head. "From my experience, you ponies don't digest meat very well."
"Did a little hunting before the storm hit, huh?" Twilight polished off the last of the carrot and licked her lips.
The younger looked away from the window, a bemused smile on his face. "Yeah, I guess we did."
"I mean, you must have. There couldn't have been any meat in the stores since the ponies who lived here before couldn't digest it very well."
The griffons froze once more, and their eyes locked across the room. A silent conversation began between them. "You, uh, knew the ponies who used to live here?" The younger asked.
"Well, I didn't really know them. Just in passing while tending to my courier duties, do ya ken?" She looked around. "You two really lucked out. They must've left in a hurry. Looks like they left most of their stuff."
The elder griffon nodded to his young partner. "Yeah, well... sometimes... sometimes you just get the urge to travel."
Twilight nodded. "Say true." She took a deep breath, readying herself. "Of course..."
"Of course what?" The younger asked, slowly reaching for his pistol.
"Well, as I recall, those two ponies had a little filly." She stared hard at the elder griffon. "Seems right strange they'd leave with a little one like that. Especially with the weather like this."
"Well... ponies do strange things these days." The elder started shifting to the left. He tried to look at his partner, to confirm he had the shot, but found that he couldn't look away from the unicorn's eyes...
"Yes. Yes they do." Something in Twilight's eyes flashed. "NOW!"
What happened next happened very fast.
Just as the young griffon raised his pistol and aimed at the back of the unicorn's head, the cabin's front door was blown off its hinges with a tremendous BANG. It flew into the room and knocked the young griffon to the floor with a cry of pain. His shot went wild, missing Twilight by inches, but she paid it no mind. As the elder griffon reached for his own pistol, she let fly with two shots of magic. The first took him in the shoulder, the second carved a groove in his scalp. He fell to the floor, squawking in pain as the icy wind filled the cabin like it was trying to steal away every scrap of warmth.
Two more unicorns stepped into the cabin and scanned the room, each dressed as Twilight was in leathers, coats, and hats. The lead one adjusted her glasses and glared at the green mare beside her. "You didn't need to blow the door off the wall, Lyra."
Lyra grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I got excited."
"Moon Dancer, I'd love to not freeze to death tonight." Twilight barked over the wind.
The two mares hurried the rest of the way in before resetting the door into it's proper place. Moon Dancer examined the younger griffon and gave him a kick. When he didn't move, she nodded with approval. "Out cold. How's the other one?"
"Still breathing. For the moment." Twilight leaned down towards her wounded prey. She could feel the warmth of the fire already chasing away the chill, but part of her wished it wouldn't. She wanted to feel cold for this. "You were lying earlier." She told him. "About having a bad experience with a Lawmare. You've never even seen one before. Know how I know that?" When he didn't answer, she leaned closer. "Because we don't carry letters from the Princess." She reached up and pulled her heavy coat to the side. Pinned to her vest was a golden bauble engraved with the image of a rising sun. "We wear badges."
The elder griffon glared at her with undisguised hatred and spat a wad of blood onto the floor.
Twilight pulled back and looked at her partners. "Did you check the wagon?"
"Yeah." Lyra said sadly. "They were all there."
Twilight's heart fell. "All three of them?"
"Three?" Lyra cocked her head.
Twilight returned her attention to the griffon. "Where's the filly?"
And, despite the blood oozing down his face and the pain in his shoulder, the griffon grinned up at her. His eyes cut over to the bubbling, steaming stew pot.
Twilight's eyes widened in sudden realization, and an intense hatred filled her heart. "You bastard, I'll...!"
The young griffon took this chance to give up his charade of unconsciousness. He jumped to his feet and screamed as he swung his talons down at the ponies in front of him. If they'd have been normal mares, it would've been the end of them.
But these were Lawmares, and the young griffon soon found himself with two sizzling holes in his chest. He fell in a heap, twitching.
At the same instant, Twilight finished the job on the elder. Her shot went through his skull, clean as a whistle. His body spasmed for a moment, then was still.
Silence reigned in the cabin.
Twilight sighed, turned to tell her partners to start the clean-up... and saw a pair of eyes watching her from a cupboard in the kitchen. She smiled and lowered herself to their level. "Hey. It's okay. You can come out now."
Moon Dancer and Lyra watched as a little orange filly, a pegasus, pushed the cupboard door open and stepped into the room. Her eyes darted from the mares to the dead griffons and back again. "A-are you...?"
"Yes." Twilight told her. She opened her forelegs wide. "You're safe now."
With a chest-wracking sob, the filly ran into Twilight's waiting embrace. "T-they killed my Mama and Papa. T-they s-said they w-were g-going t-to... g-going to..." But the rest was lost in crying.
Twilight held the filly and soothed her as best she could. She looked up at her partners. "Get these two outside. We'll stay here until the storm passes. Then we'll bury her parents."
The filly cried harder.
"What then?" Moon Dancer asked. "What about her? She can't rightly come on the roads with us."
Twilight nodded solemnly. "You're right. We have to take her to Canterlot."
"Really? We're going home?" Lyra could barely contain her excitement. Even the cooling body of the griffon she'd killed at her hooves couldn't quell the ecstatic prospect of seeing her wife for the first time in months.
"Yar. We'll have to cut this patrol short. We're going home." Twilight squeezed the filly tighter. She was already fading into that blessed hideaway called sleep, her sobs now intermittent sniffles. Yes, they were going home. But for this filly, her home was gone.
It was high noon in Canterlot when the calls came down from the city's great front gates. "LAWMARES!" The watchers on the walls cried. "LAWMARES COMIN' IN!" In the days of old, such an announcement would have sent the whole of the city into a frenzy. Lawmares were the sword in the darkness, the will of the Princess sent into the wild and untamed regions of the world. Their return could mean anything, good news or ill. Great feasts would be prepared, and high level ranking officials would be dressing in their best to welcome the heroes of Equestria and hear whatever news they brought.
These days, however, there was barely a small fervor. Most in Canterlot may have raised their head to hear the news more clearly, but then went back to whatever task was already at hoof. The glory days of the Lawmare were long passed. The world had moved on, and those once considered the best of them had been left behind with it.
The great gate swung forward just enough to allow the ponies entrance, then swung shut with a hollow bang. Twilight Sparkle didn't relax until she heard that bang. The great noise meant safety. It meant security.
It meant she was home.
The snoozing filly on her back stirred at the noise. "Are we there yet?" She murmured, her voice thick with sleep.
"Indeed." Moon Dancer smiled gently at their small guest and gestured at the tall buildings of white stone with their gilded roofs of purple and gold. "Welcome to Canterlot; the greatest city in the world."
The filly looked around in wide-eyed wonder, suddenly very awake. "I think I'm still dreaming."
"Nope. It always looks like this. You get used to it." Lyra was practically vibrating with excitement, her eyes darting every which way. There were still a few of those in Canterlot who recognized and respected what the Lawmares did, and a small crowd of them was rapidly approaching the returning heroes. "Where...?"
A cream coated blur burst from the crowd and took Lyra to the ground, cutting off the unicorn's question with wanting lips and happy tears.
Lyra relished the kiss until the earth pony mare who had tackled her pulled away to breathe. "Hi, honey." She giggled breathlessly.
"Don't you 'hi, honey' me!" Bon Bon helped her wife to her hooves and glared at her. "Do you have any idea how long you've been gone?"
"Five months, two weeks, three days." Lyra rattled off easily.
Bon Bon the inside of her cheek to stop herself from smiling. "Well... then you should know that's too long." She turned to Twilight and Moon Dancer. "Thankee-sai, for bringing her back. I know she can be a bit of a nuisance on the road." She added a respectful bow, as was tradition.
"Lyra acquitted herself well in the wilds." Moon Dancer nodded at her fellow Lawmare, who returned the gesture. "You should be proud."
"Believe me, I am." She cut her eyes at her wife, a new emotion replacing her initial irritation. "And I'm going to show her just how proud I am as soon as I get her home."
Lyra knew that look, knew the tone in her wife's voice, and both made her shiver pleasantly. She looked pleadingly at Twilight. "Can I...?"
"Go on." Twilight waved her off. "Take a couple days before you report back to the barracks." She noted the twitching in both mare's tails. "Better make it three days, just to be safe."
"Thankee-sai." Lyra brought her hoof to her throat and tapped it there three times in the ultimate gesture of respect from one Lawmare to another. Her horn lit, hefting the giggling earth pony onto her back before she bolted down the road.
Moon Dancer chuckled before looking the opposite way the two mares had gone. "Twilight, I..."
"Go. Go check on your mother." Twilight nodded at the filly on her back. "I'll see to this one, then go make our report to the Princess."
"Thankee-sai." Moon Dancer repeated Lyra's gesture of respect and turned to leave. She paused, then looked back. "I'll face the roads with you anytime... my dinh." That said, she made her way down the road, saying hello to the ponies who greeted her along the way.
Twilight stood stunned a moment. Moon Dancer had just called her dinh. Traditionally Lawmares had no command structure. They were all equal to one another. Those with less time in service knew well enough to follow orders when given by a more seasoned Lawmare.
But to be called dinh?
It was more than a a simple designation of leader. A dinh was seen by her tet, her closest friends and allies, as more than just another Lawmare. A dinh was a parent, a confidante, somepony obeyed without a single thought.
A tet would give their lives for their dinh without a moment’s hesitation.
"Twilight?"
The violet unicorn looked down to find the beaming face of a unicorn filly, this one the color of fresh milk. She smiled down at the new arrival. "Hile, Sweetie Belle. Long days and pleasant nights."
"And may you have twice the number!" The filly squeaked the response, feeling very grown up as she did so. "Who's that?" She pointed a hoof at the pegasus on the Lawmare's back.
Intrigued by the arrival of somepony her own size, the orange filly flew to the ground at once. "Hi. I'm Scootaloo."
Twilight sensed the questions coming from Sweetie Belle, and knew this was not the time nor the place for them. She placed her hoof over Sweetie's lips to silence her and raised her brow in silent communication. "Scootaloo's had a hard journey, Sweetie Belle. She needs food and rest."
Sweetie Belle brushed the hoof away and wrinkled her muzzle. "She could use a bath, too."
"Hey!"
"Don't be rude, Sweetie Belle." Twilight chastised her young friend.
"Say sorry." Sweetie Belle blushed and looked away. "I'll take her home. We'll take care of her."
Scootaloo looked up at Twilight, unsure. The Lawmare gave her best reassuring smile and booped her muzzle. "You'll be fine. Sweetie Belle's a good friend."
"Yup!" The filly did a little bounce then grabbed the pegasi's hoof, pulling her down the road. She paused to look back. "Will you be coming by later?" She raised an eyebrow. "Somepony misses you..."
Twilight Sparkle considered herself a mare in control of her emotions. A Lawmare had to be. But at the mention of the mare Sweetie Belle was talking about, her throat suddenly felt very dry. Butterflies took flight in her belly. Every hair of her coat stood on end. "Ahem." She cleared her throat. "Yes. Tell her I'll come calling this evening."
Sweetie Belle smiled knowingly before pulling the pegasus down the road, the orange filly still staring awestruck at the architecture all around her.
Twilight watched them until they turned a corner, then started down the main thoroughfare towards the palace. Every so often a pony would tip their hat to her, offer thanks for her services to the crown, or try to hand her a small gift. She responded politely, cordially, as she'd been trained to do since she was a filly. A tip of the hat here, a murmured word of respect there. The gifts she politely, but firmly, refused. A Lawmare did what she did because it was her purpose to do so, not for material gain. Service was its own reward, one much more valuable than adulation or trinkets.
Still, she couldn't help but notice that each time she returned from a patrol, the number of well-wishers and gift givers was smaller and smaller. What's more, she thought she saw suspicious glances and (once or twice) the air-written sigul of the force rising in the North. These worried her greatly, but one would never have guessed by the practiced neutral expression on her face. There was only one mare she would share this worry with. And she was on her way to see that mare now.
Just outside the palace gates, she spied a small crowd. There were twenty or so by her count, and they were a good mix of representatives of the three tribes. They were gathered around what looked like some kind of raised platform. Atop the platform was a mare, and she appeared to be preaching to the crowd. Her body was concealed by a hooded robe of deep, midnight black. The get-up disguised which tribe she belonged to. Only her mouth could be seen.
And heard.
"And I tell you, brothers and sisters; your so-called princess is nothing but a fraud. A sham. A relic of a bygone age." She gestured at the palace. "The world has moved on, so why hasn't she? So much has changed in the last one thousand years, has it not?" She paused, allowing one or two voices to sound their agreement. "Society has progressed, has it not?" Another pause, and this time the sounds of agreement were louder and more numerous. "But I tell you this; we are capable of so much more, but she is the reason we cannot progress further! She is the one holding us back! And why?" A dramatic pause here, held so that the crowd had time to consider the question. "Because she fears that once we reach our potential, we'll realize we don't need her. And really, what do we need her for?" A small mare near the front of the crowd said something Twilight couldn't hear. "She raises the sun and moon?" The mare in black scoffed. "It's no secret that unicorns did the same thing for centuries before she and her traitorous sister conquered us! Yes, you heard me; conquered us! Made slaves of us! And she has kept us in the dirt with lies of a dark day sometime in the future when the Mare in the Moon would return to wreak bloody vengeance. But tell me this, brothers and sisters; will that day ever come?" She stomped a hoof, several members of the crowd visibly jumping at the noise. "I tell you NO! She lies because she knows that we don't need her! She lies because we are capable of exceeding her! SHE LIES BECAUSE SHE FEARS US!"
Twilight had heard enough. She started forward, fully intent on stopping this mockery by whatever means available to her, when a hoof reached out and stopped her in her tracks. She rounded on the pony who'd dare to lay a hoof an a Lawmare attending to her duties... but relaxed at the familiar and kind face of the only stallion she'd ever loved. "Shining."
"Twily." Shining Armor, her old brother, hugged his sister tightly. "I missed you."
"Missed you too." Shining Armor had been her first friend and mentor in spellslinging. He'd have made a tremendous Lawmare were it not for the disqualifying feature betwixt his rear legs. As such, he had still promoted as far as he'd been able; Captain of the Royal Guard. Their mutual positions in service to Her Majesty kept them close, and each knew that as long as their other sibling was around, there was always somepony to have their back. Twilight returned her attention to the mare in black and cracked her neck. "Shall we take her into custody together, then?"
Shining Armor shook his head. "We can't. She's not doing anything illegal."
"What?!" Twilight's horn sparked in shock. "But... how? That drivel she's spouting? That's the same nonsense my tet and I are hearing more and more out there on the roads. How can she say all that right in front of the damned palace?"
"The Princess is probably better suited to explain it." He shrugged. "All I know is that my troops are under strict orders not to interfere with any public speakers unless they openly call for rebellion."
Twilight gestured at the mare who was now going into excruciating detail on the inconsistencies of Celestia's supposed victory over the Mare in the Moon. "And that's not an open call?"
"Not unless she tells that crowd to storm the palace." He sighed. "Look, I don't like it either. Why don't you go see her Highness? Maybe you can change her mind."
"I was just on my way there." Twilight sniffed, resuming her trek.
"Wanna grab dinner later?" Her big brother called after her.
"Can't. I've got plans." She called back.
"Yeah, I bet you do."
She ignored the good natured barb and headed straight for the palace. She gave the mare in black one last look, trying to mark her face should the need to arrest her one day. While her sermon didn't stop, not even for an instant, the mare's eyes appeared from the depths of her dark hood and locked onto the Lawmare's. They glinted with something she didn't like. Some subtle cunning.
It was a look that spoke volumes.
And then Twilight was past the gates, heading up the great stairs. She left the mare in black's voice... and her eyes... far behind.
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After dropping her cargo with a palace attendant and a quick trip to the barracks to freshen up, Twilight entered Princess Celestia's study without preamble. She knew that if Equestria's ruler didn't want to be bothered, she wouldn't have been able to get past the door frame. Twilight was a gifted spellslinger, the greatest in a generation some had said, but compared to Equestria's monarch? She was nothing. Sure enough, she found herself expected. The stately alicorn was seated at her great oak desk, a huge map of Equestria spread out before her. Her royal regalia gleamed in the sunshine. She saw Twilight enter and bowed her crowned head. "Hile, Lawmare. Are we well met?"
"As always, your Grace." Twilight paused to bow low, then made her way to the desk's opposite end. She removed her hat respectfully and lowered it to the floor. "How have things been?"
"Not well..." Celestia admitted. "But not as bad as they could be." She inclined her head toward the open window. Distantly, the sound of the mare in black's sermon could still be heard. "I trust you've met Trixie?"
"Is that her name?" Twilight frowned. "We weren't introduced."
"She's quite the talented public speaker. My sources tell me she was a showmare before she found religion."
"It isn't religion she's preaching." Twilight shook her head. "Why do you allow her to carry on like that practically outside you front door? It shows weakness."
"On the contrary, sai Sparkle; it shows strength. A dictator would silence her critics the moment they opened their mouths. She stands out there, day in and day out, telling whoever will listen about what a terrible pony I am. What a monster. Yet, if I'm so terrible, then why do I allow her to carry on?" She leaned forward over the map. "She'll trip up eventually. It's why I have your brother and the other guards watching her all the time. One day she'll say the wrong thing and we can write her off as another traitor to the crown."
Twilight perked up. "Another traitor?"
Celestia grimaced. "Two of my ministers were smuggling funds to the North. Funds... and weapons."
Twilight peered at the map, her concern growing. "So she is building an army."
"Building... or built. Who can say? If she's building an army, she's hiding it very well. We still don't know her base of operations." She cocked an eyebrow at the Lawmare. "Do we?"
Twilight's shoulders slumped. "The Northern mountains are too great. And the weather? It makes them impossible to navigate. She couldn't have picked a better spot to hole up. I'm sorry."
Celestia sighed. "It's alright. We'll find her eventually. What do you have to report then? We weren't expecting you back for two more months."
Twilight leaned over the map and pointed. "We routed several bandit dens here, here, and here. We checked in on several of the outlying communities, assisted an injured courier with her mail deliveries, and touched base with the border patrols here and here. We had just left the Leota Woods and were heading up the Macintosh Hills when a blizzard started up."
"Ah, that's my fault." Celestia grinned with embarrassment. "The Weather Guild were eager to try out that new batch of blizzard magic. I thought that area reasonably unpopulated." She dipped her head. "Say sorry."
Twilight waved her off. "I figured we could wait out the storm with a family I knew lived in the area. I went ahead just as the storm hit to ensure they had room for three Lawmares. Instead I saw bodies in their wagon and knew something was up." She paused, remembering the cold. "A pair of griffons had killed the farmers who lived there. They were keeping their filly for food."
Celestia's eyes widened with shock. "Griffons? In the Macintosh Hills?"
"They probably snuck across the border in a trade caravan." Twilight pointed to the nearby border of Griffonstone. "We checked them over, but didn't find anything that indicated they were anything more than common outlaws. You might want to tell their ambassador to check those travel permits more carefully."
"Say true." Celestia murmured. "And the filly?"
"We brought her back here. I sent her to stay with a friend in the city until we can find her a permanent home."
"Good."
They sat in silence for a moment. Twilight wanted that silence never to end. She knew what was waiting at the end of it.
"You may as well tell me, Twilight." Celestia offered her the same warm, reassuring smile she'd given since her youth. "The longer you drag it out, the worse I'm afraid it might be."
Twilight sighed heavily. "Her influence is spreading."
"As expected." Her magic summoned an ink pad and floated it to she who had once been her student and now was as trusted as her own right hoof. "Where?"
Twilight dutifully dipped her hoof into the ink and started making marks on the map, adding to the ones that were already there. "We found her siguls here, here, here, here, and here."
Celestia watched impassively until Twilight was done. When the Lawmare's hoof withdrew, more than a quarter of the map was covered in black hoof-prints. "She's progressing faster than I thought."
"The ponies in these settlements are still only whispering about the Good Mare." Twilight wiped her hoof clean of ink on a nearby cloth. Nopony knew who the Good Mare was, but none could deny that she was very real and very dangerous. Whoever she was, she preached that the time had come for a revolution. That a new age of peace and prosperity was just over the horizon. The only impediment? Princess Celestia herself. "But the whispers are getting louder. We have to do something. And soon."
"And we will." Celestia checked the clock on the wall. "As soon as we know where she is." She forced herself to smile. "But enough bad news for now. Three of my best Lawmares have returned from the wilds, whole and unharmed. This calls for a feast."
Twilight smiled apologetically. "If it's all the same to you, Highness, I'd rather forego the feast. I have... plans."
Celestia's eyebrow raised. "Plans?"
"Yes. Plans." She wished that she weren't blushing. "I'm allowed to have plans, aren't I?"
"Oh yes." Celestia practically gushed. "In fact, I was getting worried that you were never going to have plans." She gestured down the hall with her wing. "Will you at least join me for tea? I won't keep you long. I know how plans can be."
Twilight smiled, reaching for her hat. "Tea would be lovely. Say thank-ya."
////////////////////////////////////////
The sun was setting by the time Twilight approached the manor house that was her destination. Upon sighting the old building, her troubled thoughts of the Good Mare quieted for the first time since her meeting with Celestia. Here, she knew, was peace. Temporary, yes, but peace still. Here was comfort and quiet reprieve.
Here was the mare who held in her possession Twilight Sparkle's sole weakness; her heart.
She stepped onto the porch, doffed her hat, and knocked three times. It swung open at once, and Twilight grinned down at the two fillies smiling at her beyond the threshold. "Are we well met, Sweetie Belle?"
"Of course!" The filly squeaked.
"Hi Twilight." Scootaloo's tiny wings buzzed with joy at again seeing her rescuer.
"I see you're doing well."
"Oh yeah! This place is awesome! There's so much food here! And the biggest bathtub I’ve ever seen!" A look of confusion crossed Scootaloo's face. "Wait; why are you here? Just to check on me?"
"No. She's here to see my big sister." Sweetie Belle smirked up at her elder. "Right?"
"I... might have things to discuss with her, yes." Twilight stammered. Damn it all, she never stammered.
"Oh, yes. We have a number of discussions to have, don't we? Lawmare." The voice was like melted butter, smooth and simmering at the same time. It preceded it's owner like an envoy, and when the alabaster mare who had so ensnared her peeked around the door Twilight's legendary resolve nearly crumbled then and there. Twilight had forgotten how achingly beautiful Rarity was. She seemed like some expertly crafted statue given life by some force beyond the spheres. Her eyes were glittering sapphires and they flashed when they locked onto Twilight's own.
"Rarity." Twilight swept the floor with her hat as she bowed. "Long days and pleasant nights."
"Oh, the days have indeed been long. But the nights? Not so pleasant." The finest lady in the whole of Canterlot extended her hoof and smiled. "Not without you here to share them with me."
Twilight took the offered appendage and kissed it, breathing in the light scent; vanilla and jasmine. A potent combination.
Scootaloo watched the interaction, then stomped her hoof in sudden understanding. "Oh! I get it now." She nodded sagely. "You two are bucking."
The moment shattered like glass, and the two elder mares stared in open-mouthed shock at the little pegasus.
Scootaloo wilted under their gaze and turned to Sweetie Belle. "We should probably go back to your room. It’s almost time for bed, right?"
Sweetie Belle blinked rapidly, then looked up at her older sister and guardian. "Rarity, what's bucking?"
"BED! NOW!" The high class mare barked, and the two fillies were gone in a flash. Rarity shook off her embarrassment, cleared her throat, and tried to salvage the situation. "Now, where were... mmph!" The last word was stolen by purple lips claiming hers, and she surrendered to the Lawmare's kiss without complaint. When Twilight pulled away, Rarity found herself trying to follow, trying to keep the kiss going longer. "That's very forward for you."
"Absence makes the hard grow fonder."
"Indeed." Rarity regained her composure and stepped to the side. "Hungry?"
"Famished."
"Good. I've taken the liberty of having the cook prepare a few of your favorites." She turned towards the dining room, deliberately swaying her hips as she walked.
"And dessert?" Twilight asked as she hung her hat and coat on a nearby rack.
"Oh, that will be served in the bedroom." Rarity looked back with eyes of fire. "It's best eaten there."
/////////////////////////////////////////
There was dinner, and loving after in the grand master bedroom. The two unicorns, spent for the time being, were contented to simply lay in each other's arms and relish the presence of one another.
Lawmares desired no reward for their action, Twilight knew. But if this was the universe's way of telling her she was doing a good job? Well, who was she to say no? She kissed her partner's cheek, tasted that vanilla and jasmine that was now tinged with sweat. "I love you." She whispered.
Rarity cooed as she snuggled deeper into her lover's embrace. "I could hear you say it a thousand times, and it would never be enough."
Twilight felt sleep creeping upon her, but something was still bothering her from earlier. "She… she called me her dinh."
"What's that, darling?" Rarity yawned.
"Moon Dancer. When we got back to the city, she called me her dinh."
"Well... aren't you?" Rarity brushed a stray lock of hair back into Twilight's mane. "They're your tet, aren't they? Moon Dancer and Lyra?"
"They are, but... I don't know." She closed her eyes and wished she could just relax. Just be a normal mare for once. To spend an evening in the bed of her beloved and not be bothered by thoughts like this. "It's a lot of responsibility being dinh. Your tet becomes more than your partners. They become your sisters and daughters in one. I... I don't know if I'm ready for that. Ready to call them my bondsmares." She opened her eyes and found Rarity's, drawing on the compassion swimming in their depths. "Our fates will be bound. We won't simply be tet any longer." She swallowed. "We'll be ka-tet."
"One from many." Rarity whispered with reverence. "Isn't that the sort of thing all Lawmares strive for?"
"A Lawmare strives only to do the bidding of her majesty." Twilight repeated the mantra almost robotically. "We seek only to serve until the day our heart stops beating. But..."
"But...?"
"But what if... what if there's something... somepony... that I want more than that? Something I'd never considered before. That I never thought would be a possibility?"
Rarity was silent for a moment. "Twilight... I could never come between you and your calling..."
Twilight cut her off with a kiss. "Maybe you're my calling. Lyra has a wife. Why can't I?"
Rarity's eyes shot wide. "Twilight, are you asking me...?"
"What if I am?" Twilight sat up and looked down at the perfect creature beside her. "I would cast my badge away and trot into the West tonight... so long as I had you."
Rarity smiled sadly and stroked her lover's face. "No. No you wouldn't. And you know it."
And Twilight did. Damn it all to the pits of Tartarus and Nar, she did. She could no more cast her badge away than sever her own horn. "Even still, would you m..."
This time it was Rarity's turn to silence her with a kiss. "Darling, you've been out on the roads. You're tired, and you're confused, and you're love-drunk." She nuzzled the Lawmare. "You can ask me again, properly, in good time. And you know what the answer will be."
Twilight knew she was right. She always was. It was one of the reasons she loved her so. "I have a few days before my next assignment. What do you want to do?"
"Well, I think that little filly you foisted upon me is dying to see the rest of the city. We could make a day of that."
"That sounds nice." Twilight leaned down and pecked her lover's lips. "What else?"
"Well..." Rarity licked her lips, trying to catch the taste she loved so much. "I've been meaning to go to the library."
"I love the library." Twilight whispered huskily, nipping the other mare's neck.
Rarity shuddered at her lover's ministrations. "I know you do." She gasped at the sensation of another love bite, this one on her stomach. "Oh, there's no limit to the things we can do now that you're home."
"Is that so?" Twilight grinned into the mare's belly fur. "And is there anything specifically you'd like me to do at this very moment?"
"Oh, Twilight, don't make me beg!"
Twilight didn't.
//////////////////////////////////
In the light of day, the mare in black preached to the masses from above, mounted on her simple wooden pulpit.
In the dark of the night, she stood equal height with the ponies assembled to hear from her... yet she felt higher above them here than she did when speaking to the crowds.
The room in which the conspirators gathered was lit only by a circle of flickering candles along the walls. As per the Good Mare's wishes, they were dressed in dark hooded robes as she herself was. This way each didn't know the identity of their fellow conspirators. Safer that way should one of them be captured and interrogated. Each of them only knew three things; they knew everyone present came from Canterlot's upper crust, they knew that death was a certainty should they be discovered, and they knew the name of the mare before them.
Her name was Trixie Lulamoon, and she spoke for the Good Mare.
"The Good Mare is pleased with how things are progressing. Each day our numbers grow." She told the assembled ponies. In reality, the present conspirators numbered only ten, but in the darkness they could practically feel an army standing just behind them. "The Good Mare is almost ready to make her move, but the last obstacles must be removed from play."
A hooded stallion stepped forward. "The best and brightest of the Royal Guard stand with the Good Mare. Should the need arise, they can subdue those who will not join us."
Trixie nodded her approval. "The Royal Guard is a threat, but not the one that concerns the Good Mare most." Her eyes found one robed mare, knowing her true identity from just the way she stood. "The Lawmares."
The hooded mare shuddered.
"The Lawmares' zealous devotion to Celestia makes them the greatest threat against what must be done. Their numbers are few, but even a single Lawmare could spell disaster." The mare in black tossed back her hood so the mare in question would see her eyes and have no doubt who it was the Good Mare's emissary was speaking to. "They must be eliminated. All of them."
The assembled conspirators muttered to themselves and each other at this pronouncement. The stallion from before stepped forward once more. "The Lawmares are still a symbol to a great many in Canterlot. I understand the Good Mare's concerns, but killing them all might have an unintended effect." He looked toward the mare Trixie had singled out. She was shivering now. "Make them martyrs, and Canterlot might fight in their name."
"All the more reason to remove them quickly." Trixie smiled. "Already plans are in place that will send the Lawmares far from Canterlot. With them out of the city, we will be free to make our move unimpeded. If they return, the city will already be ours. It will be too late for them to do anything."
The mare finally spoke up. "If they return?"
"What could be so catastrophic that Celestia would empty the city of Lawmares?" The stallion asked.
"The less you know the better." Trixie chided them gently. "Just keep prepared, and keep a weather eye. The time to move is soon. Some of you will be out of Canterlot before the fall. Your presence will be needed in the North." She focused on the stallion. "Especially you, sai."
The stallion said nothing.
"Everything we have worked for is coming to fruition. We are about to usher Equestria into a golden age the likes of which it has never seen. Your names will echo in the halls of eternity for all that you've done here." Trixie pulled her hood back up. "May the Good Mare watch over you."
"And you." Came the echoed reply from those assembled.
As they filed out of the chamber past her, the mare she'd singled out lingered behind. Trixie had known she would. Once the others were gone, she slowly approached the mare in black. "You... you never told me they were all going to die."
"The world has moved on." Trixie put a hoof on the mare's shoulder. "It's time they moved on with it." The mare shuddered with a heavy sob, and Trixie yanked her into an embrace. "The Good Mare knows your suffering. You will be rewarded beyond all others for your sacrifice."
The mare sniffled. "Will I... will I be sent away as well?"
"The Good Mare has not given that knowledge to me yet. Only the one knows of his imminent departure. Once I know the rest, then you'll be told. You have to have faith."
"I do." The mare sobbed again, and Trixie was repulsed at the feel of snot trailing down her shoulder. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't."
"Go home." Trixie told her as she pulled away. "Get rest while you can. The great work draws near."
Once the mare was gone, the mare in black gave the empty chamber a final once over before extinguishing the lights one by one. In her mind, it wasn't tiny flames she was dousing, but the lives of each and every stallion and mare who had wronged her. Bit by bit, her beloved, cooling darkness filled the space as each imaginary enemy was done away with. Finally, only one remained.
One light.
One life.
"Celestia." She whispered, and then spat. Her saliva hit the flame where it sizzled and died. The room was dark now, but even the room's darkness couldn't match the vantablack that dwelled in her heart. She was Trixie Lulamoon, the mare in black, the right hoof of the Good Mare.
And she would see Canterlot reduced to rubble at her hooves.
The word paradise gets bandied around quite a bit by those who have no specific meaning for it. It seems everypony has their own definition of just what paradise is. Is it a state of mind? A location? Was it just a word that could be used to apply to any number of things?
Twilight Sparkle certainly didn't know. But sitting on a blanket spread on the soft grass of Canterlot's grand park, laying back comfortably on a beautiful mare, a treatise on Equestrian history in her hooves and a glass of lemonade held aloft in her magic? That, to her, certainly seemed like paradise.
She could hear Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo playing on the nearby playground, and she gave the two fillies a cursory glance without moving her head. "They seem to be getting along famously."
"Indeed." Rarity yawned lightly, enjoying an afternoon doze in the sun, the comfortable weight of her lover practically dragging her into a state of deep relaxation. "How are you feeling?"
"Honestly? Light." She grimaced as she looked down at her unclothed form. At Rarity's urging, she'd left her hat, coat, and leathers back at the manor. The high class unicorn had told her she'd attract less attention from the populace this way. "I should've at least brought my badge..."
"Need I remind you that you are off duty today."
"A Lawmare is always on duty..."
"You. Are. Off. Duty. Today." Rarity punctuated each word with a gentle jab of her elbow. The two mares giggled, then sighed in contentment. "This is nice."
"Say true." Twilight was feeling more than a little drowsy herself. She never slept so well as when she was home in the great walled city. She supposed it was her body playing catch-up from all the sleep she tended to miss while on the roads. It seemed like she'd spent most of the last few days in Rarity's bed either sleeping or... otherwise engaged. Part of her felt guilty, like she was abandoning her duties. The rest of her, though?
The rest of her was loving every minute of it.
She forced herself to sit up and looked back at her pillow. "Let's go out tonight. Just me and you."
"What?" Rarity stretched her back like a cat, and Twilight was suddenly struck with a wave of wanting so strong she was tempted to have her way with the mare right there in front of Celestia and everypony. "You mean you haven't enjoyed two precocious fillies dancing at our hooves at every waking moment?"
"We'll go out to a fancy dinner. You can get all dressed up."
"Oh, you sweet talker. You know all my buttons." Rarity giggled as she stood. "And what about you? Will the Lawmare take the lady-fair out bedecked in her leathers?" She leaned over and kissed Twilight's cheek. "Let me dress you up as well, darling."
Twilight stiffened. "Um... I'm not so sure about that."
"Don't tell me the greatest spellslinger in a generation is afraid of a little satin and lace?" Rarity pouted. "And I've so longed to see you in one of my gowns."
Twilight smiled and kissed her. "Bird and bear, hare and fish..." She whispered. "Give my love her fondest wish."
"Is that a yes?"
Twilight opened her mouth to tell her that the answer was very much yes when the earth beneath their hooves shook. A resounding BOOM crashed overhead, and the two mares turned to see a rising plume of smoke with a few dancing embers of orange still floating on the breeze. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo screamed and raced to the safety of the older mares. Twilight's eyes locked onto the direction of the blast. "That's the palace." She whispered, her horn already lighting.
"Twilight, go..." But the Lawmare was gone before Rarity finished the sentence.
Scootaloo looked around wildly for the mare who had rescued her. "Where'd Twilight go?!"
"To do her job." Rarity swallowed hard, her eyes watching the rising smoke and her mind going a million miles a minute. "She's going to do her job."
Sweetie Belle put a comforting foreleg around her new friend's shivering wings. "It's okay, Scoots. She's the best. She'll be fine."
At Rarity's manor house, a maid screamed as her vision was swallowed by a brief flash of light. She blinked rapidly to clear her eyes and looked around to find the source of the flash. Had lightning somehow struck inside the house? If so, why was she not dead? But, no; everything looked fine. Everything except...
Except the coat, leathers, and hat that had just been cleaned and had been left out to dry were gone.
Shining Armor cursed as another bolt of magic shot past, this one close enough that he could feel its deadly heat. "I need a count, Sentry!"
"Right away, sir!" The pegasus guard shot into the sky, then doubled back just as quick. Two spell shots zipped by in the air where he'd just been. "I count six, sir. But there might be more hiding in the wreckage." He glanced at his commanding officer's glowing horn. "Is the shield holding up?"
"About as well as I can hold it while I'm getting shot at." Shining Armor growled, peering around the piece of marble pillar that had become an improvised barricade. "Did you see any more of ours?"
"Flail's down. Looks like a clean shot through the head. I can't tell from this distance, but I think Joust is still breathing." Flash Sentry looked back at the palace entrance, currently blocked off by a glimmering shell of magic the same color as his commander's. "The others?"
"Still guarding her Majesty. It's her recuperation day, remember?" He spared another look. "She could probably still waste these guys in a second, even in her current state, but we can't take that risk."
"Do you..." Flash dodged a piece of shrapnel. "Shit! Do you think they knew it was her recuperation day?"
Shining Armor didn't want to think about that question right now. The idea that not only were agents of the Good Mare in Canterlot, but they were privy to knowledge only guards and castle staff were supposed to know? It was too horrible to imagine.
And to think the day had been going so well, too. One minute he was finishing up morning patrol, and the next a bunch of crazed spellslingers had blown up the grand fountain that been a gift from the Abyssinians. That structure had been there since before he was born, and now it was rubble and chunks of polished marble. And the cherry on this manure sundae? Said 'slingers were now hell-bent on getting into the palace.
"FOR THE GOOD MARE!" A stallion cried as another bolt singed over head.
"I HAD YOUR PRECIOUS GOOD MARE IN BED THE OTHER NIGHT!" Flash called back, reaching for a nearby lance. "SHE WAS RUBBISH!"
"YOU MOTHER-!"
Quick as lightning, the pegasus was airborne. He hurled his lance, then dove back to cover. He grinned savagely as the insult became a death rattle. "That'll be five left." The shots came faster now.
"I think you made them angry." Shining Armor muttered dryly.
"And me all out of spears." Flash laughed.
A flash of light filled their vision for a moment, and both blinked rapidly as they'd been trained to do. "Easy, boys. We'll take it from here." The newly arrived mare was fiery orange, her two toned mane tied into a long braid that trailed down her swan-like neck. A badge glinted from her leather vest.
"Took ya long enough to show up." Flash muttered, still smiling. "Welcome to the party, Sunset."
"Well met, Flash." Sunset Shimmer winked before drawing a deep breath. "FOLLOWERS OF THE GOOD MARE!" She cried, her powerful voice actually seeming to stop the frenzy of magic blasts all on its own. "YOUR ACTIONS ARE THOSE OF TRAITORS! SURRENDER, OR YOU WILL DIE!"
"BUGGER YOUR SURRENDER!" An older mare shouted. "ONLY ONES DYIN' TODAY ARE THOSE WHO WORSHIP AT THE ALTAR OF A FALSE GOD!"
Flash was looking around. "Sunset, I know you're good, but shouldn't you have some back-up or something?"
Sunset didn't answer. She just smiled. "LAWMARES!" Her voice was a trumpet, foretelling doom for those meant to hear it. "FOR CANTERLOT! FOR CELESTIA! KILL! KILL! SPARE NO QUARTER!"
The air was suddenly filled by a frenzy of magic blasts, screams of pain, and cries of rage. In moments, silence reigned over the courtyard.
"Just had to give them time to get in position." Sunset held out a hoof.
Flash grinned as he took it, letting the Lawmare help him up.
Shining Armor picked himself up and looked back towards the fountain's wreckage. The smoke was clearing, and what it revealed struck him dumb with awe.
The Lawmares had come.
There were eighteen gathered, each wrapped in leather vests and coats, each with a shining badge on their chest. Some wore hats, a few had decorative strips of leather and beads around the horns that were their greatest weapon. They were moving among the fallen followers of the Good Mare, checking to see if any still drew breath. A lime green mare stopped at one body that seemed to have sprouted a new limb and whistled. "Whose lance is this?"
"Mine." Flash raised a hoof.
Lyra tapped the length of metal stretching from the carcass' neck and gave an impressed nod. "Good throw."
"Thankee-sai."
"Flash, tend to Joust." Shining Armor had spied his sister and was already crossing the field toward her. "Twily."
She gave a half-hearted wave as she shifted another corpse, looking for anything of interest. "Did they say anything before the fountain blew up?"
He shook his head. He glanced over at another Lawmare using her magic to scan the wreckage that only minutes before had been such a beautiful work of art. "Anything interesting, sai Starlight?"
"They definitely used some kind of magic to blow it up, but it's not like any magic I've ever seen." Starlight Glimmer chewed her lip as she thought. "If it came from the Good Mare, then how did they get it into the city...?"
"We've got a live one!" Moon Dancer called, her hoof pressing down on a slowly squirming and moaning body.
Shining Armor and the Lawmares raced over to examine their new captive. From the sound of her voice, it seemed she was the older mare who'd exchanged words with Sunset. She glared at them, the wound in her side clearly painful but likely not life-threatening. Moon Dancer had already slipped a magic nullifying band of silver around her horn. "I did tell you to surrender, my cully." Sunset Shimmer smirked.
The survivor growled deep in her throat. "The Good Mare will..."
"Oh, we're gonna talk about the Good Mare in good time." Shining Armor cut her off. "But right now I want to know what it was you and your pathetic excuse for a posse used to blow up that fountain."
Before the mare could respond, Flash Sentry called out. "Captain Armor!"
"What?"
"It... it's Joust, sir." He made his way over to the group, his head hanging low. "She didn't make it."
New rage filled Shining Armor's heart as he looked down on the mare who had just ended the life of one of his best guards. "Sai Shimmer?"
"Yes?"
"Would you let me conduct the interrogation, I beg?"
Sunset's smile was cold. "Yar."
To the mare on the ground, those three letters combined with the look of hate in Shining Armor's eyes seemed to her like nothing less than a death sentence.
The nineteen Lawmares had all gathered in the barrack's common area. The barracks had been built nearly a millennium ago when the Lawmares were first founded, but special spells and constant upkeep by young spellslingers going through their training made it seem as thought it had been built yesterday. The stone walls were decorated with maps and portraits of some of the greatest to ever wear the badge, and light came from ornate sconces hanging from the ceiling. A fire was kept burning in the grand fireplace, a symbolic torch meant to guide lost Lawmares back home.
Starlight Glimmer looked away from the window she'd been gazing out of and shook her head. "We can't jump to conclusions..."
"Conclusions?!" Minuette stamped her hoof on the great circular table at the room's center. "They've invaded our home, Starlight. Came within a hair of the palace itself. Now, if that's not a declaration of war, then I don't know what is." The other Lawmares at the table pounded their hooves rhythmically in agreement.
"We're all angry, Minuette." Lyra was sitting on one of the sofas in that favorite way of hers, the one that everypony else said looked so damned uncomfortable. "I'm right there with you. The idea that these savages are in the same city as my wife makes me sick. But..." She looked over at Twilight Sparkle. The defacto leader of her tet was sitting on her haunches, staring intently at the room's sole door. "But we can't allow them to make us fly off the handle. It's what they want."
"Say true." Moon Dancer adjusted her glasses. "Such an open attack? It was meant to draw our attention. Throw us off our guard." She looked to Sunset Shimmer. "They want us angry."
"And we are." Sunset sat at the table and sighed. "But we cannot let our anger get the best of us. We're better than that." She looked hard at her own tet partner. "Do ya ken, Minuette?"
"...Yar." Minuette finally spat as she slumped into her seat. "You all say true."
"Shining Armor knows what he's doing." Twilight assured the assembled Lawmares without taking her eyes off the door. "He'll get the mare to talk."
A minute pop of air and tiny flash of light announced the arrival of young Dinky Hooves. The filly had only barely begun her training, and the winking spell left her momentarily swaying with dizziness. She recovered quickly and bowed respectfully to her assembled peers. "Hile, Lawmares."
"Stand easy, spellslinger." Sunset crossed the room to her apprentice and mussed her mane affectionately. "Is everything alright?"
"Aye." The little lilac unicorn smiled. "Dinner will be up soon."
"Testers..." Starlight muttered.
"If you've something to say in the presence of your fellow Lawmares, say it loud enough for us all to hear it." Sunset barked.
"I said that we should have food testers." Starlight eyed her fellow senior Lawmare evenly. "Just in case."
The implication struck all assembled cold. The Good Mare's forces were in Canterlot. They could be any-pony.
No one could be trusted now.
The moment was broken by the door swinging wide. The assembled Lawmares turned as one to see a pair of white stallions enter the room. One was expected.
One was not.
"Prince Blueblood." Sunset Shimmer gave the slightest of nods. "And to what do we owe this distinct pleasure?"
The princess' adopted nephew sniffed and looked around the room. "As this matter involves the royal palace, her Majesty thought it wise that I be involved in the proceedings." The upper crust stallion seemed either blissfully unaware or simply didn't care about the glares and looks of derision he was receiving from the assembled spellslingers. Blueblood was nothing to them, somepony who had gotten a lucky break and believed that made him better than everypony else. Princess Celestia had taken him in as a foal as an act of charity and in the hopes that having a potential successor to the throne might assuage those already whispering of sedition even then. As he'd grown, Blueblood had shown not even the basest skills of a spellslinger, nor the political acumen to hold his own in Celestia's court. He was simply there, an emergency option for a time that in all likelihood would never come.
The Lawmares and Royal Guard agreed; he was nothing more than a parasite.
"What did you find out?" Twilight asked her brother, pointedly ignoring his fellow stallion.
"Did she know where the Good Mare is?" Moon Dancer chimed in.
Shining Armor sat and shook his head. "I used every mind-read spell I know. She genuinely doesn't know where the Good Mare is."
"What about the weapon?" Starlight asked. "What did she know about that?"
Again, Shining Armor shook his head. "Nothing. It was delivered to one of their safe houses in the dead of night. It had instructions on where to place it and how to activate it. That's all."
Minuette's momentary look of disappointment changed into one of hope. "Did you at least find out about the other traitors? Where they're hiding?" When Shining Armor again shook his head, the blue unicorn grabbed her hat and threw it across the room in frustration. "Did you find out anything useful?"
Shining Armor ignored Minuette's outburst and spoke to Sunset. "The posse weren't from Canterlot."
Nineteen pairs of ears perked up. "So... then it's possible the Good Mare's followers haven't infested the city as much as we feared?" Lyra asked hopefully.
"No, she seemed pretty sure they were here." Shining Armor crossed the room towards a great map of Equestria mounted on the wall. "She and the others were instructed to come here and wait until the weapon was delivered. It, and the pony or ponies who carried it, must have been here already."
Twilight joined her brother at the map. "Where did they come from, then?"
"Here." Shining Armor touched a small town on the map. "Ponyville."
"Ponyville?" Dinky Hooves asked, peering through the legs of the older ponies.
"It's a small village on the edge of the Everfree Forest." Starlight approached the map and examined the area around the indicated settlement. "They're one of our main exporters of apples."
"So they're moving on our supply lines." Moon Dancer whispered.
"It's not just that." Starlight pointed at the great green mass beside Ponyville. "The Everfree Forest is huge and mostly uncharted." She looked sideways at Sunset. "It's the perfect place to hide an army."
Twilight looked to her brother. "Did she say anything else?"
"No." He smiled without humor. "Just screamed a lot. She's below in the dungeons."
"And she'll stay there." Blueblood spoke up, reminding everypony that he was still, unfortunately, there. "I forbid any Lawmare from approaching the prisoner until..."
"Who in the name of Tartarus and Nar do you think you are?" Lyra was on her hooves, her body tense. "Nopony commands the Lawmares save Celestia herself."
He put on a brave face, but the subtle change in his posture belied his intimidation. "Well... as... As the heir to throne, I am entitled to..."
"You're entitled to my hoof in your ass, maggot." Lyra growled.
"And mine." Moon Dancer pushed away from the table.
"And mine." Another pair of Lawmares stood.
"Peace!" Sunset barked, trying to defuse the situation. "Our enemy is within the walls already. Should we help them by rending each other's throats before we even see their faces?" She looked to Blueblood. "Aye, we'll stay away from the prisoner. But not on your leave. On our own. Do ya ken?"
Blueblood started to reply, but chose instead to snort angrily and leave the room, swinging the door behind him shut so hard that it swung back open.
"Mangy cur." Minuette muttered. "Wouldn't surprise me in the least if he was one of the Good Mare's."
Starlight Glimmer looked away from the map and stood at attention. "Sai Sunset; my tet and I stand ready. We'll go to Ponyville at once at see how deep these rotten roots go."
"Mine as well." Twilight stood beside her fellow Lawmare. "I believe that together we can..."
"Hile, Lawmares. Captain Armor." All eyes turned to see a pair of pegasi standing in the door frame. One was Flash Sentry, the small wounds he'd incurred in the battle already bandaged. The other was new; her coat a lightning blue and her close cropped mane cast in a variety of colors. She stood at attention, eyes looking around nervously.
"Hile, Flash." Sunset smiled broadly at her oldest friend. "What brings you to the barracks?"
"Her Majesty would see you, Sai Sunset." He looked at the other Lawmares almost apologetically. "Only you."
With a respectful nod to Shining Armor and her fellow Lawmares, Sunset hurried out.
Shining Armor made his way to the pair and appraised the new arrival. "And whose this?"
The mare snapped to a salute. "Corporal Rainbow Dash, Sixth Airborne Division."
"She's been reassigned to... replace... Flail and Joust."
Shining Armor nodded solemnly. "You're taking the place of two of my best soldiers, Corporal. Think you can handle it?"
"Sir!" Rainbow Dash lowered the salute but didn't relax otherwise. "I will do honor in their names."
"You'd better." The Captain turned to his sister... but her attention was elsewhere. She was still staring hard at the spot on the map where their enemy was apparently waiting.
An hour passed. Shining Armor and his guards departed to check on how the clean-up was going in the courtyard. Several Lawmares had paired off and were at the smaller tables playing cards. Dinky Hooves and the other apprentice Lawmares had brought up the food and they'd eaten heartily. Even Starlight had partaken despite her reservations. Lyra and Moon Dancer were giving the apprentices an impromptu lesson in stunning spells.
Twilight Sparkle was still sitting and staring at the map.
The door swung open, and all eyes turned to see the return of Sunset Shimmer. She spoke not a word, but closed the door behind her and made her way to the food on the table. The Lawmares waited patiently while she made herself a plate and ate her fill. Once she was done, she patted her cheeks clean with a napkin and turned to them. "The Princess has made her decision."
Equestria's finest waited for her next words on the edge of a knife.
"By the command of Princess Celestia, we are to travel at sunrise to Ponyville. Once there, we are to root out the followers of the Good Mare and determine what, if any, forces they've amassed in the area. If said forces are manageable..." She filled a cup of wine and drank down every drop. "We are to do what must be done."
The Lawmares let out sounds of grim pleasure at this news. Starlight abandoned her game of Watch Me and approached. "And who has the honor of carrying this out?"
Sunset had refilled her glass, and she quickly chugged it down. "All of us." She gasped.
The murmuring ceased at once. The eighteen mares stared in open mouthed shock.
"But... Sunset..." Starlight reached for the wine bottle even as Sunset made to refill her glass. "She can't mean..."
"We do as the Princess commands!" Sunset snapped, her magic slamming the wine bottle into the table. "And if the Princess commands the city to be emptied of Lawmares, then that's what will be done."
"But our families..." Moon Dancer started, but a warning look from Twilight silenced her.
Sunset drained her third cup of wine, then stared into the depths of the empty chalice. "All of you will assist the apprentices in cleaning the kitchens. Return here in two hours' time for the specifics of her majesty's plan." The Lawmare's moved to obey. Even Starlight, who had earned her badge the same day as Sunset, headed out the door. The fiery orange mare looked back. "Not you, Twilight. You stay."
The purple unicorn stopped in her tracks. She waited there until the last Lawmare had left the room, then shut the door and faced the mare who had been her teacher. "Are we well met, Sunset?"
Sunset Shimmer laughed as her magic grabbed another glass. She filled both, then floated one over to the younger Lawmare. "Twilight, if we were any more well met, we'd be married."
Twilight smiled and sipped her wine, suddenly very uneasy.
"Twilight..." Sunset's smile cracked, and tears appeared in the corner of her eyes. "We've been betrayed."
Twilight choked on her wine. She coughed and stared at the older mare like she'd lost her mind. "What...?"
"That's why Celestia is sending everypony and not just a tet or two. She told me that a Lawmare has sworn herself to the Good Mare."
"But... but how would she...?"
"She just knows things, Twilight. You know that. That's how she is. That's how she's always been. She knows things." Sunset gave a humorless laugh as she drank down her wine. "But she doesn't know everything. She knows a Lawmare has switched sides, but she doesn't know who."
Twilight stared into the depths of her wine, suddenly feeling physically sick. "So she's sending us all to Ponyville just in case."
"No." Sunset looked at the bottle of wine, considered, and finally pushed it away. "She's not sending everypony away. Just most of us."
"But you said..."
"Hear me, Twilight Sparkle." Sunset held up a hoof, and Twilight's mouth snapped shut. "Hear me very well." She took a deep breath and sat heavily. "Princess Celestia told me that she wants one tet to remain behind in Canterlot while the rest of us investigate Ponyville. As I'm the most senior, she left the decision to me." Sunset tipped her empty glass in Twilight's direction. "And so I have chosen you. You and your tet will remain here when the rest of us depart tomorrow."
"But... but why me? Why us? Surely you or Starlight would..."
"I asked you to hear me, maggot!" Sunset barked at her as she had when Twilight had been but an apprentice, and again Twilight silenced herself. "I trust you, Twilight Sparkle. More than anypony else in this old city, I trust you. Do you trust your tet?"
("I would face the roads with you anytime... my dinh.")
"With my life."
"Then the three of you will stay. Your brother and the guard already maintain the peace in the city limits, so you and your tet won't be bothered with that while you attend to your mission." She gestured for Twilight to join her by the table. Her horn flashed and a map of the city appeared. "While myself and the others tend to Ponyville, the three of you will seek out the conspirators at home. By day, you three are to remain as inconspicuous as possible. Leave your leathers and badges at home. But at night..." She stamped her hoof, and the map vanished. "You hunt."
"Find the traitors." Twilight repeated. She looked up and nodded. "Find them, and we'll find their weapons."
"Say true." Sunset pulled her old apprentice close and touched her horn to the other mare's. It was an astonishingly intimate gesture between unicorns, allowing each to feel the love, trust, and respect each felt for the other through their magical connection. "Celestia willing, we can end this war before it begins." She sighed. "Watch over the apprentices. Especially Dinky. That filly's head is always in the clouds."
"Of course it is." Twilight smiled. "Her teacher is the biggest hardass in the history of the Lawmares."
"I say thank-ya." Sunset laughed and playfully punched her old student's shoulder. They pulled apart, looked at one another for a moment, then as one raised their forelegs and tapped the hollows of their throats. "Long days and pleasant nights, sai Sparkle."
"Has she ever been wrong before?" Twilight asked wryly.
"Point taken."
The three of them were alone in the barracks' common room. Their fellow Lawmares were out and about, spending a final night in Canterlot before they took to the roads. They were drinking, dallying, and partying... but most importantly they were loudly telling anypony in earshot that the city would be without Lawmares by sunrise.
Twilight looked to her bespectacled friend. "Moon Dancer... I'm sorry. I don't mean to speak harsh to you."
Moon Dancer waved her off.
The purple unicorn turned to Lyra. "I have to ask you something, and I need you to say true. Do ya kennit?"
"Aye, I kennit." Lyra leaned over the table.
"When we returned from the roads, Moon Dancer called me dinh." She glanced over for Moon Dancer's reaction, but there was none. "I would know if you feel the same way."
Lyra's eyes widened at the sudden question. "I mean... yes?" She considered, then nodded. "Definitely yes." She added resolutely. "It's been an honor to walk the roads with you... my dinh." She found the last word tasted strange on her tongue. Strange... but somehow right as well.
"And also with you." Twilight eyed them both evenly. "We find ourselves united towards a common goal; the defense of our home from a force that seeks to destroy everything we hold dear. If you would have it so, I would accept placement as your dinh and name us ka-tet."
"One from many." Lyra and Moon Dancer intoned solemnly, then bowed their heads in acquiescence.
"Then let it be done." Twilight's horn lit, and a small beam of magic extended from the tip. "Lyra Heartstrings; I would name you bondsmare. As your dinh, I will love you, protect you, and fight beside you always. Your family is my family. You are my daughter. You are my sister. In return, you will obey my orders without question. Should I demand you fight, you shall be tenacious. Should I command you to kill, you shall have no mercy. Shall it be so?"
"Aye." Lyra's own horn emitted a beam of similar consistency. It stretched out and touched Twilight's in mid-air.
"Moon Dancer; I would name you bondsmare. As your dinh, I will love you, protect you, and fight beside you always. Your family is my family. You are my daughter. You are my sister. In return, you will obey my orders without question. Should I demand you fight, you shall be tenacious. Should I command you to kill, you shall have no mercy. Shall it be so?"
Moved to the point of tears, Moon Dancer nodded eagerly. "Aye." Her magic joined the others. The three Lawmares were now connected by magic; one from many.
"Seal this ka-tet with our sacred creed." Twilight ordered.
In one voice, the mares recited the creed taught to all apprentices on the day of their ascension. The creed known only to those who were worthy of wearing the badge of a Lawmare;
"I do not aim with my hoof. She who aims with her hoof has forgotten the face of her mother. I aim with my eye. I do not cast with my horn. She who casts with her horn has forgotten the face of her mother. I cast with my mind. I do not kill with my magic. She who kills with her magic has forgotten the face of her mother. I kill with my heart."
Their united magics pulsed once together, as though marking the moment. The beams returned to their point of origin, and the three mares smiled at each other. It was done. They were ka-tet now. One from many.
And Celestia help any who stood in their way.
//////////////////////////////////////////////
The older mare had just started dozing off when she heard the door to her cell swing open. Memories of her interrogation returned and she leapt to her hooves, ready to resist the intruder, whoever they might be. Her visitor wore a dark hooded robe, the pony's identity completely lost in the black folds. The mare cocked her head in confusion. "Are… you aren’t with the guard, are you?”
The stranger shook their head.
There was a spark of hope in the mare. “Are you with the Good Mare?"
The stranger nodded.
The older mare broke into a wide grin. "I knew she would send somepony for me. We must make haste. We have to warn Ponyville before..."
The stranger moved so quickly, it might have been magic.
The older mare found that the words refused to come. And something seemed to be blocking her breath. She reached for her throat, and her eyes widened at the feel of the throwing knife's hilt. She looked to the stranger in confusion, then found that she no longer had the stength to remain standing. She hit the hard stone floor, driving the blade of the knife even deeper.
"You have served your purpose." The stranger's voice was distorted in her ears. She couldn't make out if it was a stallion or mare who had murdered her. "The Good Mare thanks you. May it be the clearing that awaits you at the end of your path and not the flaming pits of Nar.” This said, the stranger leaned foward and yanked the knife out.
The last sight the older mare's eyes saw was her life’s blood pouring out onto the dusty floor of her prison cell.
"Next!" Twilight Sparkle uses her hat to wipe the sweat from her brow. It's hot today. Of course it would be hot today. It would be too much to ask for a little shade on try-out day, wouldn't it? She glances at the line of prospective fillies. Shorter now, thank Celestia. Maybe an hour left if the rest of this lot is as useless as the last dozen have been. She should be worried, shouldn't she? Worried that so few of those trying out today have showed that spark that marks a prospective Lawmare? But she's just too hot to be worried. "Next!" Since she's still celebrating the passing of her own final trial, she's strictly on observation duty today. Blazing sun aside, it has, by all accounts, been a lovely morning. Now that Sunset Shimmer is no longer her teacher, the two of them have found the sort of friendly camaraderie forbidden between Lawmares and their apprentices. They've spent the day watching Starlight Glimmer put today’s prospective 'slingers through their paces. Sunset's lucky. She's already found her new charge in a little lilac unicorn named Dinky Hooves. The filly passed all three trials with flying colors, and now she and her mother have been whisked away by Sunset to discuss what should come to pass should the filly elect to continue her journey. Of course she'll choose to do so. Of course she’ll take the oath. You can see the excitement blazing in her eyes like fire. She's got the spark. "Next!" Twilight winces. That's three now in a row that couldn't even pass the first trial. That says a great deal, especially since passing the first trial takes no effort at all. The first test a prospective Lawmare has to pass is a scan of her magical core. Only if she has the potential to hold all the skill and knowledge of a Lawmare is she even permitted to take the next two trials. "Next!" Twilight tries to ignore the tears that flow as another filly is turned down and runs back to her parents. Disappointment is normal, but in time the rejected will learn that it's for the best. There's a reason only a select few are deemed worthy of wearing the badge. She watches as the next filly steps up to Starlight and stands stock still. The Lawmare says not a word as her horn lights and her magic begins probing and exploring the filly's magical core. The filly winces at the unfamiliar intrusion, but maintains her bearing. Good. Maybe this one has the salt to... Her attention is grabbed by the next filly in line. She's a tiny little white thing, her mane a two toned pink and purple. She's fidgeting, looking around. She's nervous, but a different kind of nervous than the other prospects. Her hooves do a little tap dance as she looks around again. Twilight sees her gaze return to the filly getting probed and the determined look cross her face that says 'come on, hurry up.' Starlight's magic fades... and she shakes her head. The filly's face falls, but, to her credit, she doesn't cry. She just gives a little bow of thanks and slinks away to her waiting parents who hold her close and whisper how everything's okay. She did her best. There are other ways to be of service to the Princess. The nervous little filly steps forward... and so does Twilight. Starlight looks back. "Something the matter?" Twilight gestures at the filly. "Mind if I take this one? For practice?" Starlight sighs. "May as well. I don't think we're going to find many more prospects today." She steps to the side and gestures. "Go ahead." Twilight stands before the filly and notes that she's fully shaking now, her pupils practically vibrating. "You seem nervous, cully." "N-no, sai." The filly stammers. "J-just trying to move this along is all." "Are we boring you, maggot?" Starlight snaps. "What? You think the Lawmares are going about their selection all wrong?" "N-no, sai!" The filly protests, trying to stand straight. She's terrified she's messed this up already. "It's just..." It clicks for Twilight. A small smile crosses her lips. "It’s just that you're not supposed to be here. Right?" "SWEETIE BELLE!" The filly jumps (as do the Lawmares, though they'll never admit to it) and all eyes turn to see a blaze of white and purple come barreling through the palace gates. The mare skids to a halt inches from the filly and seizes her in her magic. "HOW DARE YOU, YOU LITTLE...?!" "Oh, come on!" The filly squeals in exasperation, struggling to get out of the older unicorn's grip. "I've been standing in line for ages! I'm already here! Just let me...!" "Not another word!" The mare turns to walk away. "When we get home, you're going straight to the..." "Sai?" Twilight finally finds her voice. "Is there a problem?" The unicorn rounds on her, fully intent on venting her fury to whomever has had the audacity to interrupt her. She freezes when she sees Twilight, however. At the time, she'll claim it's because she was a Lawmare. Later, she'll admit the truth. "N-no, sai." The mare stammers like the filly still floating in her magic. They're clearly related. Too close in age to be mother and daughter. Sisters, perhaps? "This one decided to take an unauthorized day trip to the palace. I'm terribly sorry if she interrupted your, erm..." She struggles to find the right word. "Your audition?" "Is the filly yours?" Starlight asks. The mare nods. "She's my sister. Yes, sai. Again, I'm very sor..." "Put her down, if you please. She has been waiting patiently all morning." Sweetie Belle's sister doesn't hesitate. It doesn't matter who you are. When a Lawmare tells you to do something, you do it. She drops Sweetie Belle at once, and the filly lands nimbly on all four hooves. Starlight bends down until she's eye level with the filly. "Did you mean to come here today? Do you know what it is these fillies are trying out for?" Sweetie Belle straightens up. "Yar." Starlight grins at the reply. She can't help it. "Is your drive to be a Lawmare so great that you'd incur the wrath of your sister to be here?" Sweetie Belle nods eagerly, earning a scowl from her sister. "Then I see no harm in at least giving you the first trial." She holds up a hoof to block the filly's excited gasp. "But no more than the first. No filly takes the path of the Lawmare without the express approval of those they love. Do ya ken?" Sweetie Belle's smile begins to fade, but she nods. Twilight understands her trepidation. She doubts her sister will give her the approval she seeks. Starlight's horn lights, and Sweetie Belle gives the tell-tale wince as her core is probed. Twilight sees the sister lean forward, about to interject, and she speaks up to distract her. "I'm afraid we aren't well met, sai." The mare turns her attention to the mare clad in practically new leathers. "We... well, perhaps we aren't. But that's entirely my fault." She dips her head in a slight bow. "Say sorry." Twilight waves off the apology. "Mayhap we can start over? I'm Twilight Sparkle." "Rarity." The unicorn smiles, and the effect nearly knocks Twilight off her hooves. Starlight's magic fades... and she grins, impressed by what she’s found. "This one has potential. Return on the next testing day, young Sweetie Belle, and we'll see how you fare on the other trials." Sweetie Belle's grin threatens to cut her head in half. "Hear this very well, however." Starlight holds up a hoof. "You may return only if your sister gives you leave." She nods to Rarity, who returns the gesture with thanks. "We'd better be heading home, then." Rarity reaches for the still star-struck Sweetie Belle to guide her away. "Sai Rarity?" Twilight practically blurts out. When the mare turns those sapphire pools upon her again, she almost loses her nerve. "I'm still not certain how well met we are." Rarity considers, then smiles again. "Then I suppose you'll need to drop by later. Just to make sure." Twilight returns the smile, and that's how it starts. That night is dinner. The next week is the first time their lips meet. It's another month before Rarity takes her to bed for the first time. Not long after that before they say 'I love you' somewhere besides the dark. As it turns out, they were well met indeed.
The hooded pony looked around furtively. It was said that in the old days it was safe to walk Canterlot at night. That it was the one genuinely safe place in the whole of Equestria. But these days... well, one could never be too careful, could they? He took a deep breath before approaching his target. He'd been eyeing it for days, waiting for just the right moment to strike. He looked around one last time to make sure the coast was clear. When he was satisfied that his only spectators were stars and crickets, he set to his work. He worked diligently, carefully. He didn't make a sound. Red dripped to the stones below, but he was careful to keep any from spattering on him or his robes. He grinned as the shape took form, moved in to begin the next step...
"I'm a little foggy, Moon Dancer; what's the penalty for defacing city walls again?"
The hooded pony didn't even turn. He bolted at the sound of the voice, running as fast as he could.
"Oh no you don't!" A lasso of golden magic lashed out and encircled the robed pony’s barrel.
He cried out as it tightened and lifted him wholly into the air, spinning him to face those who had discovered his act of vandalism. His eyes widened at the sight of leathers, hats... and badges. "L-lawmares?" He gasped. "But you're all..."
"Hush, maggot!" Moon Dancer's hoof struck the pony's face. He cried out in pain as his hood fell, and his captors stared in shock.
"Moon Dancer, he's just a colt." Lyra whispered.
"Keep hold of him" Moon Dancer shook off her surprise and turned to her dinh. "Twilight?"
Twilight was still a few feet behind, staring hard at the crudely painted sigul that now adorned the wall. It was an image she was becoming all too familiar with these days; a large hoof-print centered in a winged heart.
The Lawmare turned her attention from the art to the artist. "Put him down." Lyra's magic faded, and the colt hit the ground, his body already tensed to flee once again. "Take one step, and we'll kill you." Her tone was icy cold.
The colt froze, his wide terrified gaze on the three Lawmares. "I'm... I'm sorry, I just..."
"Hear me very well, maggot." Twilight's voice wasn't raised, but was deadly even, somehow making it that much more terrifying. "Because your answer to my next question determines whether or not you end up hanging from the palace walls."
The colt was shivering now, his eyes wide. He nodded.
"Did you do this of your own volition, or did somepony put you up to it?"
The colt swallowed hard. "I... I'm not a follower of the Good Mare, if that's what you're implying."
"So you're just putting up her sign for fun?" Lyra took a threatening step forward. "Is that it?"
The colt looked away. "I didn't see the harm. I thought it would be funny..."
"Funny? FUNNY?!" Moon Dancer struck the colt's muzzle again, and he cried out in surprised pain. "Ponies are dying at the hooves of the Good Mare, and you think that's funny?!"
"I don't understand!" The colt flinched away from the Lawmare as she raised her hoof to strike once again. "If she's such a threat, then why doesn't Princess Celestia just do something about her?"
Twilight reached out lightning quick and caught Moon Dancer's hoof as it struck out, her eyes not leaving the colt’s. "You're a tremendously stupid little pony. But you're also very lucky."
"L-lucky?"
"Lucky that times have not gotten so bad in Canterlot that we hang colts just for being tremendously stupid." Twilight leaned in, and the colt shrank under her gaze. "You're going to clean up this mess before the sun rises and somepony sees it. If there's even a drop of paint left on that wall by the time Princess Celestia raises the sun, I'm going to have no choice but to arrest your parents under suspicion of sedition." She bared her teeth. "Do ya ken?"
The colt, very close to wetting himself, nodded frantically.
Twilight's magic flashed and a mop and bucket of water appeared against the offended wall. Her eyes left the colt's, noticing his attire for the first time. "Where did you get this robe?"
"I... I found it, sai. In the alley behind the library."
"Give it here."
The colt hurriedly did so, tossing the robe to the ground and rushing to complete his cleaning assignment.
While Lyra kept an eye on the youth, Moon Dancer approached Twilight as she examined the robe. "You think he's telling the truth?"
"He's practically a foal. Truth is subjective. If the followers of the Good Mare genuinely wanted to send a message, they would’ve sent someone a bit more competent." Twilight lifted the robe with her magic and rotated it, looking for clues. "Does this look familiar to you?"
Moon Dancer adjusted her glasses and peered at the black fabric. "Not really. Should it?"
"It's the same style that street preacher wears in front of the palace. Trixie." Twilight dropped the robe and rubbed her eyes. "Or maybe it's just a simple cassock and I'm seeing connections where there aren't any."
Moon Dancer put a comforting hoof on her dinh's shoulder. "It's getting late. You've had a stressful few days. We all have."
Twilight thought Moon Dancer was understating the obvious. Stressful didn't even come close to describing the past fortnight. Trying to hide from the public in the day, hunting the city for clues by night... and no word from the Lawmares in Ponyville, good or ill. She'd been to see Celestia every day, but she wouldn’t discuss it. Nor would she discuss what she'd told Sunset in regards to which Lawmare had betrayed them. If it weren't for the days spent with Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, Twilight likely would have broken from the stress already.
But Lawmares were built for stress, weren't they? They had a job to do, and they would follow every lead, no matter how obscure or chance.
Twilight looked back at their night’s catch. "When the pup is finished, we'll retire for the night. And tomorrow..."
"Tomorrow?"
She kicked at the robe. "Tomorrow we're going to take a look at that alley."
/////////////////////////////////////////////
"Sai Lawmare?" The colt paused in his scrubbing and looked to Lyra. "May I ask a question?"
"So long as you can scrub and ask at the same time, maggot." Lyra growled. "Time's wasting."
"Yes sai. Thankee sai." The colt quickly returned to work. "It's just... I've always wondered... well, with the Lawmares..."
"Spit it out!"
The colt flinched. "Why can't stallions be Lawmares?"
A bemused smile snuck across Lyra's face. "What, you want to be a mare? I can make that happen if you don't keep scrubbing."
"No sai! I mean..." The colt struggled to find the right words. "Lawmare isn't your official title, is it? You're Agents of Harmony. Ponies only call you Lawmares because you're all, well, mares." He chanced a look back. "I'm just curious."
Lyra opened her mouth to reply, but paused. She'd never thought about it, really. Why were only mares permitted to wear the badge? Stallions could be Royal Guards, say true, but so could mares. So why couldn't stallions...? "I guess... I guess it's just because it’s always been that way."
"My brother wrote me a story once. The Lawmares were the heroes, but there were stallions there too. It was neat."
Lyra sniffed. "You should focus more on the task at hoof than reminiscing, young..." She paused. "What is your name, anyway?"
"Rumble, sai."
"Young Rumble." Lyra put her troubled thoughts away and made a show of looking in the distance. "Say, is that Princess Celestia I see ascending her tower to raise the sun? My, she's early today..." She giggled as young Rumble's cleaning became faster and more frenzied. Still, the colt's question buzzed in the back of her mind like a troublesome fly.
Why couldn't stallions wear the badge?
And a second question, more irksome than the first; was there really no better answer than 'that's just the way it's always been?'
She resolved to ask Twilight about it before the night was out. Surely her dinh would have the answer.
////////////////////////////////////////////////
The ka-tat said their good-byes not long after dropping Rumble back home. They ensured he confessed to his crime of vandalism, and made doubly sure to extract vows from both him and his parents to keep the Lawmares' presence in the city quiet.
Lyra slid silently into the bed she shared with her wife, quietly disappointed that Bon Bon was already up and away but too tired to think much about it.
Moon Dancer looked in on her mother before turning in, making sure the old mare was still breathing and sleeping as comfortably as she was able.
Twilight considered heading straight for Rarity's manor, but something drew her back to the barracks instead. It was eerily quiet with the apprentices all asleep. The fillies had been instructed to keep up their studies while their teachers were on the roads, but that didn't mean they couldn't take advantage of their absence to sleep in a little before their return also brought the return of exercises at the crack of dawn. Twilight found herself in the common room, her gaze drawn to the large map on the wall. Something didn't feel right, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on it. Ponyville was a day's journey by train, two by hoof. What could Sunset and the others have found there that would impede either return or communication for three whole days?
There was a noise behind her, and she spun, her horn already alight and ready...
Princess Celestia stepped into the room, smiling gently. "I didn't mean to frighten you, sai."
Twilight's magic faded at once, and she bowed. "Your Majesty. To what do I owe the honor?"
Celestia crossed the room and eyed the map herself. "I thought I would lead the apprentices in their lessons today. I recall the days when I took the reigns were your favorites."
Twilight smiled at the memory. "You were a gentler instructor than Sunset."
Celestia grinned. "Ah, but you need both, the gentle and the hard, to forge a good Lawmare."
"Say true." Twilight's eyes returned to the map.
"You're worried about them."
"Aren't you?"
"I worry about every stallion, mare, and foal in the whole of this land, Twilight Sparkle. Every hour of every day, I worry about them. Every single one... save nineteen very special exceptions." She reached out and put a hoof on the Lawmare's shoulder. "They wear the badge, and that is comfort enough for me."
Twilight smiled a little at the praise. "I guess I'll just have to worry for you, then."
Celestia laughed lightly and turned from the map and started for the big table. "Be patient, Twilight. It won't be long now."
"How do you...?" She started, but stopped herself short. Celestia knows, she reminded herself. Somehow she always knows. If she says they'll be back soon, then they'll be back soon. Instead, another question came to mind. "Princess Celestia?"
"Hmm?" The statuesque mare had just manifested a steaming pot of tea and a pair of cups.
"Lyra... One of the mares in my tet..."
"Lyra Heartstrings. Good humored, light of spirit, but deadly with her aim." Celestia looked back with a wink. "And your bondsmare now, so I understand."
(Celestia always knows.)
"Yes. She had a question for me that I didn't have an answer for this morning." Twilight made her way to the table as Celestia poured.
"It is a wise dinh indeed who seeks the answers for her bondsmares when she doesn't know the answer herself." Celestia sipped her tea and nodded for Twilight to continue.
Twilight sipped her own tea, letting the herbal mixture soothe and relax her. "Why are only mares permitted to be Agents of Harmony?"
Celestia swallowed and pursed her lips. "That's an interesting question, but I'm afraid the answer is far less so." She lowered her cup and took a breath. "One thousand years ago, when it became clear to me that I needed to do something about the chaos that was infecting our world, I envisioned the formation of the Agents of Harmony. I looked to my School for Gifted Unicorns, and I found many little ponies who showed the spark necessary to go on such a crusade. Fillies and colts both. By the time that first batch had come of age and earned the first badges, I noticed something was... off, however. These fillies and colts had grown up together, come of age together. A few had fallen for one another. A select few even more than that. They’d married. Some had foals of their own. I loved them all, and I celebrated these developments, but trouble soon became apparent."
"Trouble?" Twilight was as enthralled with Celestia's storytelling now as when she'd been a filly. “Wouldn’t those who’d found mates amongst their number be more devoted, more protecting?”
"Yes, but it was more complicated than that. I'd picked these ponies to be my right and left hooves, remember? My enforcers in the wilds of Equestria. I needed them totally devoted to the cause, to the service to which they'd been chosen for. Mothers could not bear their little ones on the roads, could they? It was too dangerous. Husbands became jealous of wives who found themselves in another stallion's tet. Long months on the road can bring loneliness when you've become used to sharing your bed with another every night."
Twilight thought of Lyra's quiet mumblings for her wife in the dead of night. And she thought of Rarity.
"I knew the Agents of Harmony had to endure, so I made adjustments when the next crop of students were chosen. I instituted strict rules against fraternization. Agents were more than welcome to find mates and start families here at home, but amongst each other? I had to forbid it." She shook her head in a bemused fashion. "Of course, there was one enemy that I couldn't have prepared for."
"Which was?"
"Biology. The new batch of agents still found each other tangled in the dormitory sheets more often than not. This continued on the roads, with more stallions and mares than I'd like to admit choosing their tet partners not on the basis of how well they worked together, but by how compatible they were when night fell. In the end, the best solution was the easiest one; I just had to choose between the two." She shrugged. "And I chose mares."
Twilight thought about it. "And the problem worked itself out?"
"In time." Celestia nodded. "I ensured that new crops of Lawmares were exposed to more than just those they trained with. Such ample choices in the populace lowered the chances of fraternization. I keep a close eye on each newly formed tet, ensuring that each is formed for the right reasons and not the wrong. I know that some Lawmares still find comfort in each other from time to time while on the roads, but these entanglements are less messy than those of old."
Twilight nodded slowly. "No foals."
"Yes." Celestia took another sip of tea. "Which is not to say that a Lawmare cannot start a family. She can. But she must never forget; the badge comes before everything. Even blood."
Twilight touched a hoof to her own metallic sun.
"Does that answer your question?"
"Yes. Thankee-sai."
"Good. I'm glad." She polished off her tea. "Now; do you have any news from last night? Any new developments?"
"Not much. We do have a lead we'll be following up tonight, though."
"Then you should go get some rest." She tipped her cup in a mock salute. "I need the only Lawmares still in these walls at their best, after all."
/////////////////////////////////////////////////
The mare in black ducked out of the crowd she’d been slinking through and into the alley. She glared at the stallion who had summoned her. "How dare you contact me in broad daylight! Your aide was barely even disguised! Why not just have him announce your name in front of Celestia herself next time and save us all the tro..."
"Lawmares." The stallion hissed. "There are still Lawmares in the city. I saw one of them in the palace this morning."
Trixie rolled her eyes. "Of course there are still Lawmares in the city, you dolt. You didn't think she'd sent them all away, did you?"
"You knew?" The stallion blanched. Trixie hated the stupid look on his face. Of all those conspiring for the Good Mare in Canterlot, it was him she disliked working with the most. "You knew and you didn't tell me?"
"And what good would telling you have done, you idiot?" Trixie growled. "What, did you think you could take the city all by yourself so long as the Lawmares were gone?"
The stallion pouted (actually pouted, for the Good Mare's sake!) and looked away. "I have the guard..."
"The Good Mare has the guard, and it's no thanks to you! Never forget that you're only in the position you're in by virtue of luck. Were you anypony else, you wouldn't be worthy of the Good Mare's spit." Trixie chewed her lower lip. "…Which one was it?"
"Which one was what?"
"Which Lawmare did you see, you great fool?!" Trixie wanted nothing more than to throttle the stallion, but she restrained herself. "Who was in the palace? Was it Heartstrings?"
"No. It was that Sparkle mare."
"And what was she doing?"
"Just having tea and chatting with Au...!" He cut himself off by jumping at the noise of a cat knocking over a garbage can.
Trixie considered this new information carefully. Twilight Sparkle had been having a morning chat with Celestia, then. She had no idea their relationship was so easy-going. Perhaps this fool had provided her with something she could use after all. "Don't contact me again. Do ya kennit? I'll come to you when the time is right."
The stallion pouted again, but nodded his understanding.
The mare in black adjusted her hood, peeked around the corner, then melted back into the crowd. She was gone in an instant, already making adjustments to her plan with the information the poor excuse for a stallion had provided her with.
The marks of recent activity were plainly visible in the pale moonlight. Twilight knew what that meant in an instant. "Whatever they had here, it's gone."
The ka-tat were in the alley behind Canterlot's grand library. The library's plain white walls on this side were covered in dust and grime from years of neglect... save a perfectly rectangular outline in the stone. Moon Dancer's magic traced the outline, and she grimaced.
Lyra noticed the look and took a step back. "Booby trapped?"
"No. Not anymore, anyway." Moon Dancer tensed and pulled with her magic. The hidden door in the wall swung wide, revealing a flight of steps that spiraled down into darkness. "But they definitely had some kind of lock here. Real dark magic. Probably rare too, since it looks like they took it with them when they cleared out."
The three mares trotted briskly down, their horns lighting the way and making their shadows dance in shades of violet, gold, and scarlet. The stairs didn’t go down too far, and just past the last step reached the stone floor was a wooden door carved into the wall, hanging slightly open. With a nod to her bondsmares, Twilight pushed the door wide and took in the room.
The chamber was circular and plain. A raised dais was by the door, and cold torches lined the walls at regular intervals. The rest of the room was empty.
"Looks like one of the library’s old store rooms. Could be hundreds of years old. They must’ve been meeting here." Lyra sniffed at one of the torches. "Still smells like smoke. They could've dropped the robe while they were cleaning the place out last night."
"This place was relatively well hidden. Why abandon it?" Moon Dancer swept the room with her magic.
"Maybe they became too numerous for so small a chamber to hold them." Twilight murmured.
All three Lawmares were silent at that horrifying possibility.
Moon Dancer's magic zeroed in on a scrap of fabric caught in the door's frame. "Twilight. Take a look at this."
Twilight pulled the scrap loose and examined it closely. Oil from the door hinge had rendered it’s color unknowable. She held it to her muzzle and sniffed lightly. Her eyes widened at the sudden rush of familiarity; old stone, ancient dust, and a special detergent only used in one place. "This is... this is from the palace." She swallowed hard. She scraped the fabric against the wall, staring with wide eyes at the familiar shade of red that was revealed. "This is from a Royal Guard's dress uniform."
Lyra stared at her with dawning horror. "Sweet Celestia, you’re telling me they've infiltrated the guard?!"
"Of course. The timing of their first attack makes sense now." Moon Dancer sat heavily. "Only Lawmares, guards, and palace staff know about Celestia's recuperation periods. They have somepony in the palace. It's how they knew exactly when to attack."
Twilight dropped the fabric but kept staring at it. It lay there like a dead rat. "My brother has to be told about this. Now." Her bondsmares nodded, and the trio raced back up the stairs.
Each felt the same way; like the walls around them were starting to close in. Like something terrible was inching ever closer.
Like their enemies already had knives at their throats.
Shining Armor sat silent and still once Twilight finished telling him about her discovery. He sat at his desk, staring at the various papers spread across the surface. Twilight and her ka-tet stood on the desk's opposite side, waiting for his response. Flash Sentry and Rainbow Dash stood on opposite sides of the Captain's office door, their faces perfect stone, betraying no reaction to the information they'd just been made privy to.
Finally, Twilight could stand the silence no longer. "Well?"
"Well, what?" Shining Armor didn't move, didn't look away from his papers.
"What are you planning?"
"Planning?" Shining Armor shook his head. "Twilight, you've just told me that the brotherhood that I'm in command of, that I've dedicated my life to, has apparently been compromised by agents of an enemy force. I need a minute to process that." He waved a hoof in her direction. "But if you have suggestions, I'm all ears."
"What about a formal dress inspection?" Lyra piped up.
"Now, there's an idea." Shining Armor shook his head. "Flash?"
"Sir! Each recruit into the Royal Guard is issued three full dress uniforms upon completion of basic training, sir."
"Very good." Shining Armor smiled without humor. "What else have you got?"
Moon Dancer raised a hoof. "A thorough inspection of the dormitories and barracks might be a good place to start."
"Another stellar suggestion. Dash?"
"Sir!" The pegasus stood at attention.
"If you were conspiring to overthrow the princess and you tore part of the uniform that you'd stupidly worn to the big conspiracy party, what would you do with it?"
"Sir! Dispose of it immediately, sir!"
"Immediately." Shining Armor nodded sagely. He finally raised his eyes to meet his sister's. If he was affected by the rage burning there, he gave no sign. "Any other suggestions, Twily?"
Twilight reared back and slammed her hooves on the desk. "How can you be so flippant about this?! Bad enough they're in our city, but now they're in the palace! We have to do something and we have to do it now!"
"And if you or your tet had a suggestion that wasn't absolutely stupid, we would be doing it right now!" Shining Armor mirrored his sister's pose, looking down on her. "Have you considered the possibility that the scrap was left there to plant false doubt in your mind? Which it clearly has, by the way." He cut his eyes at the two pegasi by the door. Following the unspoken command, they swiftly turned and left the room, closing the door behind them. "Now, if you'd like to look at this calmly..."
"You… you just don't want to believe that your precious Royal Guard could have been infiltrated!" Twilight's horn sparked dangerously.
"You mean like your Lawmares were!?" Shining Armor roared back.
The silence that followed was thick with shock and tension. Twilight's mouth worked up and down, but the words were slow in coming. "H-how did you...?"
"I'm Captain of the Royal Guard! Did you think Celestia wouldn't tell me?!" Shining Armor leaned forward, hating the way his sister shrank. He'd never yelled at her like this. Not once in life. But he needed to say this, and she needed to hear it. "You think that piece of tin on your chest means a damn thing in this city? It doesn't! Out there, on the roads? In the wilds? That's where you're the authority! That's what the Lawmares are for! But in these walls?" He put a hoof to his chest. "It's me. Me and my guards. That's how it's had to be since the Lawmares starting shrinking in number. I don't like it, you don’t like it, but it's the truth." He waited for any of the Lawmares to rebut him. When they didn't, he lowered himself back behind his desk and sighed. "The city is already on edge. If the very idea gets out that the guard might be compromised, it'll be chaos."
Twilight finally found her voice. "So what do you suggest we do... Captain?"
"I'll have Flash start snooping through the dorms." He gave Moon Dancer a slight nod, which was not returned. "It's a long-shot, but if the stallion or mare in question is dumb enough to leave a scrap of their uniform behind, then maybe they're dumb enough to keep said uniform close at hoof."
Twilight eyed her brother evenly. "Do you trust Flash?"
"As much as trust your tet."
Twilight nodded slightly, the only expression of satisfaction she deemed worthy in this situation. "Keep me posted."
"Of course." He tried to smile. "I know you'll do the same." The Lawmares turned to leave, and Shining Armor tried to extend the olive branch as best he could. "Twilight?"
He so rarely used her full name, that she stopped and looked back in spite of herself. "Yes?"
"We'll get through this. We just have to stick together."
She chewed on his words, nodded slightly again, and left.
Alone in his office, Shining Armor slumped onto his desk and sighed. "We'll get through this." He muttered. "We have to."
"The nerve of that stallion!" Twilight ranted as she paced back and forth. "Who does he think he is, talking to me like that? Like I'm some silly little foal!"
"Well, he is your older brother." Rarity offered from the picnic blanket. "And he is the Captain of the Guard." She gave a little shrug. "I'm surprised you were expecting more from him."
Twilight sighed and sat heavily, barely missing the bowl of fresh fruits Rarity had set out for their lunch. They were in the park again, trying to recapture that feeling of bliss and peace that had been shattered by an explosion just a short time ago. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were once again on the playground, surrounded by other fillies and colts. Twilight watched their carefree play and found herself wishing desperately she could be that young and carefree again, just for a short while. Instead, here she was; worrying herself sick that her enemies were two steps ahead. "I just... I feel like I'm losing control, Rarity. Like I'm chasing a lit fuse and, as much as I try, I can't seem to catch it."
Rarity reached across the blanket and touched her hoof to Twilight's. "Your brother was right about one thing, darling."
"What's that?"
"That we'll make it through this if we stick together." The white unicorn sat up and sidled over to lean on her Lawmare.
Twilight relaxed and let her head rest on her lover's. She kissed the top of her head and breathed in her mane. "I know."
"Perhaps you should find something to take your mind off things. A distraction might be what you need to revitalize that brilliant brain of yours."
"Well... I suppose I could give the apprentices some extra training." A thought occurred to the Lawmare, and she looked over at the playground. "Come to think of it, I haven't trained with Sweetie Belle in a while..." She felt her lover stiffen against her, and she looked down into her purple locks. "What?"
"It's... it's nothing." Rarity offered, knowing full well how useless it was to lie to a Lawmare.
"Rarity, we've talked about this." Twilight put a foreleg around her lover and held her close. "Sweetie Belle's almost ready. I intend for her to be fully ready for the trials when the next try-out day rolls around."
"But I thought a filly could only try out with the full support of her loved ones?" Rarity chuckled uneasily. "Or is that the real reason for your proposal the other night, hmm? You marry into the family, and..."
Twilight flushed and started to pull away. "It's... it's not like that..."
Rarity felt her lover starting to move, and she embraced her to keep her close. "I'm sorry. That was cruel of me." She sighed, rubbing her muzzle in Twilight's coat. "I know Sweetie Belle is destined for great things, but..."
"But what?"
"But these are difficult times, Twilight. Unsure times. Dangerous times. Sweetie Belle's the only family I have left. And she's still just a filly. I mean look at her." She pulled away and looked towards the playground. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were talking animatedly to a new arrival; a pretty little earth pony with her mane tied up in a red bow. "Look how happy she is. How unconcerned. Am I wrong for wanting that to last just a little bit longer?"
Twilight shook her head. "You're not. But Sweetie Belle wants to be a Lawmare. Wants it more than anything. Would you deny her that?"
"Of course not. I just... I used to hope it was some passing fancy." Rarity laughed lowly. "But if it's a phase, she certainly hasn't grown out of it yet."
Twilight relaxed again. "It's not like being an apprentice is some awful ordeal. It's hard, yes, but she'll make friends that will last a lifetime. She'll have access to magics the likes of which most only dream about. And you..." She kissed the top of Rarity's head again. "You, my love, can have the pride that comes with telling everypony that your sister is part of the proudest legacy in the history of Equestria." She smiled. "Now wouldn't that make Upper Crust so jealous?"
"Well, when you put it like that..."
The two mares giggled together as the two fillies in their charge returned to the blanket, their new friend in tow. In complete contrast to the way her two comrades practically bounced in the sunshine, the earth pony had a quiet, cautious look about her. Her shoulders were slumped, and her tail dragged the ground. She tried to smile when the trio reached the two mares, but it looked false and painfully forced.
"Apple Bloom, this is my sister Rarity and her marefriend Twilight Sparkle." Sweetie Belle introduced them, still panting slightly from her intense play. "This is Apple Bloom. She just got into town."
"Is that so?" Twilight gave a nod and a smile. "Long days and pleasant nights, Apple Bloom. Welcome to Canterlot."
Rarity gave her most generous smile. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, darling."
Apple Bloom didn't pay the white unicorn any mind. Her attention was locked on Twilight. "M-ma'am, are you a L-lawmare?" She stammered, her voice carrying a distinct drawl that marked her immediately as being from somewhere in Western Equestria.
Twilight's friendly smile wilted slightly, the filly's demeanor speaking to her instincts. "...I am."
Apple Bloom looked around as though checking for something, then leaned in close. "I... I need you to follow me, please. It's important." Her eyes cut to Rarity briefly. "Just you."
Twilight stood without question. There was a brilliant flash of purple light, a pop in the air, and the mare was gone. An instant later, the effect happened again, and Twilight Sparkle was among them once again. The only difference now being, of course, that she was now clad in her leathers, hat, and badge. "Rarity, take these two home. I'll be along shortly. And tell the maid I’m sorry I keep scaring her."
Rarity stared at her, that feeling of worry from the day of the palace attack returning in force. "Darling, are you sure about this?"
"I'll be fine." She leaned over, pecked her lover's lips, and then nodded at the filly. "Lead the way."
Scootaloo looked at the filly in confusion. "What's going on...?"
"Girls, help me pack this up." Rarity cut her off. "I'm sure we'll see your little friend later."
Apple Bloom started away at a brisk trot, Twilight following at a careful distance. She ignored the looks and whispers from the ponies around her. It would be around the city by nightfall; there was at least one Lawmare still in Canterlot. But she couldn't worry about that now. Apple Bloom had known who she was at a glance. Somepony had given her name and description to the filly. Now the question of why needed to be answered.
The pair quickly left the busy park behind and headed down the bustling streets of Canterlot. The Lawmare kept her eagle eye on the filly's bright yellow coat so as not to lose her in the crowds. They continued on a good while, going past the city's business district and on towards one of the older areas. The crowds began to dwindle as the buildings began to look less grand. Age and neglect had robbed the golden roofs here of their shine. The plaster and marble that made up the walls showed obvious cracks and had places where whole chips had fallen away. The filly turned down another road, and a peek around the corner showed Twilight that it that led down a totally deserted avenue.
The Lawmare had seen enough. "Hold, cully."
Apple Bloom froze and looked back, her eyebrow raised in confusion. "What's a cully?"
Twilight glared, her horn lighting with magic. "You know what a Lawmare is. You should know, then, that we aren't so easily led into a trap."
If Apple Bloom knew any fear of a Lawmare getting ready to attack, her innocent face didn't show it. "She said you'd be suspicious. That's why she told me to tell you somethin.'" She put a hoof to her chin in thought. "I think it was something like... 'You're too cautious, Twilight. Sometimes you just have to...'"
("...sometimes you just have to let fly and hope for the best.")
Twilight's breath caught when she heard the words. Those words were burned into her memory as clearly as her mother's face or the first time she'd seen Princess Celestia smile. Those words had been her teacher's first lesson.
She rushed forward at once, no longer concerned in the least that she might be heading into a trap. Some things were just worth the risk. "Take me to her. Quickly, for your mother's sake!"
Apple Bloom nodded and started running. "We're almost there! C'mon!" The sound of racing hooves echoed along the long forgotten walls as the two ponies rushed down the road. The filly skidded to a stop in front of one derelict house so suddenly that only Twilight's skills kept her from colliding with her tiny body. "This is it." She stepped up to the door and knocked five times in rapid succession, paused, and then knocked twice more.
The door swung open to reveal an earth pony mare of orange, a hat not unlike Twilight's perched on a blonde mane. She exhaled at the sight of Apple Bloom. "Oh, little bit; you had me worried sick."
"I found her." Apple Bloom gestured back towards Twilight, but the Lawmare was already pushing past her.
"I reckon you must be Twilight Sparkle." The mare shared the filly's accent. She tipped her hat. "Name's Applejack."
Twilight was in no mood for pleasantries. "Where is she?"
"This way." The mare ushered both ponies inside before closing and bolting the door. She led them down the hall of the decrepit, abandoned house towards a room that shined with candlelight. The smell of mildew and rotting wood surrounded them. Reaching the portal, Applejack stepped to the side to allow Twilight to see the mare inside.
Twilight gasped in shock and horror. Her worst fears had been realized; it was Sunset Shimmer. And she looked like she'd been through hell.
The golden unicorn lay on a cot in the room's center. The rise and fall of her chest was the only sign that she was still alive. Her fur had been burned away in several patches. Her front right hoof was gone completely, the stump bound in heavy bandages. Half of her head was wrapped in gauze, only one eye left visible.
Applejack stepped in beside Twilight and sighed. "I patched her up as best I could, but I couldn't save her eye or her ho... GAK!"
Twilight had spun and pinned the other mare against the wall in one smooth motion, and her hoof was pressed against her throat. A little more pressure, and her trachea would be crushed. Her eyes blazed with fury, her horn spat literal flaming embers of magic. "What did you do to her?!" She hissed through gritted teeth. "What did you animals do to...?!"
"Twilight. Stop."
The command from her teacher, even when delivered weakly, made Twilight relax at once. Applejack gasped for air and touched her hoof to her neck once she was free. She stared at the Lawmare in shock. Twilight paid her no mind, but crossed to Sunset's side, sat, and held her good hoof. "Sunset...?"
"Twilight. Apple... Applejack saved me. She... helped me get back to the city." Sunset's voice was ravaged. She coughed and took a great wheezing gasp.
Twilight assessed her fellow Lawmare's injuries. Going by her breathing, she definitely had bruised ribs. Possibly worse. There was no telling the extent of her internal injuries. She winced at the sight of her missing hoof, dreaded the moment the bandages would be removed revealing her ruined eye. "Sunset... what happened?"
"...a trap." Sunset took another deep, rasping breath. "Ponyville. It was a trap. The whole town... follows the Good Mare. Not just a few. They... they were waiting for us."
Twilight looked back at Applejack, currently being checked over by Apple Bloom. "The whole town...?"
"Our farm is far enough away from the town proper that we managed to avoid most of the turnover." Applejack rubbed her sore throat. "They left us well enough alone for the most part. Guess they figured we'd come around eventually. But when I heard that they were wantin' to start sendin' more of our apples to the North, I knew their patience had run out. Me and my sis here had been plannin' on leavin' long before the Lawmares showed up."
Twilight whipped her attention back to Sunset. "The others! Sunset, where are...?"
"Don't you understand, Twilight? Don't you see?" Sunset gasped, a tear flowing from her one remaining eye. "They're all gone. Starlight, Minuette, Lemon Hearts... everypony." She forced her eye open, and Twilight could tell from the filmy glaze over her pupil that it didn't matter that her teacher and mentor had only lost the one. The one that remained was now completely blind. "Dead... they're all dead, Twilight. It's just us now. It's... just... us..." She broke down, her whole body shaking on the cot on which she lay.
Twilight was too stunned to join her. She felt cold. Detached. Untethered. Unreal.
Nineteen. There had been nineteen badged Lawmares just a week ago.
Nineteen...
...and now there were four.
"Celestia save us." She whispered. But deep in her heart, the first tiny sliver of doubt appeared and began to whisper. Perhaps it was too late.
Perhaps not even Princess Celestia could save them now.
The Lawmares and apprentices are seated in the circular pavilion's benches. There is an air of excitement about them, muttering and whispered gossip all around. This is quite the unexpected development. Most of the mares and fillies had been on their way back to the barracks for lunch when the pavilion's bells rang, calling them to assemble here. It could only mean one thing.
Somepony is about to take her final trial.
Some of the newest apprentices are confused, wondering what's going on. Final trials are supposed to be scheduled months in advance, aren't they? Was there some kind of scheduling error? And, if a final trial was indeed about to commence, then who was the mare who'd had the temerity to demand her trial on such short notice?
It isn't a question to any of the Lawmares or apprentices with longer tenures. They know exactly who the mare in question is.
The chattering peters out as the inner gates of the arena swing open. Two mares walk in, side by side, the sand beneath their hooves muting their entrance. They match each other step for step, each with her head held high. They reach the arena's center and turn, walking in opposite directions. Their march is stoic, unbroken. Though they can't see one another, they somehow manage to stop simultaneously and turn in place, facing one another dead on.
Sunset Shimmer reaches up, removes her hat, and holds it over her heart. "Hile, my Lawmares!" She cries. "My sisters in life and in death! Say true; are we well met?"
A mixture of "Ayes!" and "Yars!" comes from the assembled crowd.
"Indeed. We are well met." She looks around at the fillies and mares. "I know most of you are confused. After all, is not a summoning to this ring not the culmination of a great festival? There is meant to be feasting and drinking before we settle our haunches on these splintery old boards, is there not?"
"Say true! I'm thirsty!" One mare calls out, inciting laughter from those around her.
"Truth be told, I'm a might parched myself. So let's all hope that the mare who has summoned us here today in such an... unorthodox manner is up to the task. For, if she succeeds, we'll just do the feasting and drinking afterwards!" She lets the crowd cheer before pointing her hat at the mare across from her. "Apprentice! Know that you stand on the sand that your forebears stood upon. The sand they bled upon. That some have even died upon. This pavilion, this arena, has stood here for almost eight hundred years. Far better mares than you or I ever will be have claimed their destiny upon this hallowed earth. Show it respect, I beg." She kneels in the sand and presses her lips to the ground. The apprentice mirrors her. They rise together, and Sunset allows herself a moment of pride when the mare doesn't wipe the grains from her mouth. She raises her hat into the air and once again addresses the crowd. "Sisters, hear me. Hear me very well. Say thank ya." She returns her hat to her head. "Before you stands my own apprentice. Most of you know her. Some of you envy her. There is no denying her skills, nor her aptitude. I've even heard it whispered that some are calling her the finest spellslinger in a generation." Sunset grins savagely. "Sadly, it would appear that my apprentice has heard these whispers and has taken them to heart. I admit; she's always thought pretty highly of herself. But this? This surprises even me." She stomps her hoof, sending a small puff of dust into the air. "Apprentice! Announce yourself. Let us know your name, maggot."
The violet unicorn's voice is even and solid. "My name is Twilight Sparkle."
"Twilight Sparkle." Sunset repeats with a nod. "Your father was a librarian of good standing before he went down the path and into the clearing."
Twilight's shoulders slump ever so slightly. "Say true."
"And your mother is a teacher, one who even taught some of the mares and fillies here."
"You say true."
"And your brother is in the Royal Guard. Rising rapidly in the ranks, so I hear."
"Say..."
"Is that what's brought on this foolishness, maggot!?" Sunset barks, and Twilight is immediately standing straight and tall again. "So jealous of your brother's progression that you'd risk throwing away everything you've been working on for nearly eight years?"
"No, sai Shimmer."
"So you think you're better than your sisters, then? Is that it?" Sunset points at a pair of mares in the crowd, picking them out easily among the pastel mass. "Do you think yourself better than Lyra Heartstrings and Moon Dancer? They are nearing the end of their apprenticeship. Ten years of work, study, and sacrifice all set to culminate in a matter of weeks. Ten years, Twilight. The same as me. The same as every badge-wearing Lawmare here." She stomps the sand again. "Do you think you're better than all of us?"
"No, sai Shimmer." Twilight's gaze is as unwavering and unyielding as steel.
"Then why?" Sunset spins, making a grand gesture towards the assembled Lawmares. "Tell us why you had the audacity to demand your final trial so soon?"
Twilight swallows hard before answering. "Because I'm ready."
"AND WHO ARE YOU TO SAY THAT, MAGGOT?!" Sunset's roar echoes in the pavilion, shaking the old boards. "IT IS NOT YOUR PLACE TO MAKE THAT JUDGMENT! THE DECISION OF YOUR READINESS IS SOLELY IN THE HOOVES OF SHE WHO TEACHES YOU; ME! I AND I ALONE SAY IF YOU'RE READY OR NOT! YOU THINK YOU KNOW BETTER THAN ME?!"
Twilight doesn't move. Doesn't budge a single inch. "No... but I think you know I'm ready, too."
Sunset speak over the crowd as they gasp at Twilight's seeming show of disrespect. "And why would you say that?"
"Because I wouldn't be standing here otherwise." Twilight replies, a small smile crossing her lips.
In the silence that follows, Sunset returns the smile. It fades quickly, however. "Twilight." Her voice is lower now. The others can still hear her, but these words are still meant only for her apprentice. "Please. Call off. You still have time."
"Sunset." Twilight takes a deep breath and licks the sand from her lips. "Please."
The golden unicorn feels a heart-rending surge of love for her first apprentice. She silently prays that this won't go the way she fears it will. "Twilight Sparkle." She takes a deep, calming breath. "By your own volition, you stand before your sisters seeking to join their ranks as a Lawmare. By your own words, you are prepared for this final trial. Say true?"
"Say true."
"You do this knowing the consequences should you fail."
"Aye."
"Then let it be known to us all. Should you pass this trial, you shall join us as a Lawmare. Should you fail, you will depart Canterlot and begin your long trot to the East, never to return. In this trial, you must be prepared to kill, as all Lawmares are at all times. This is your last chance." Sunset tenses and squares herself. "Call off."
"Say sorry, but no." Twilight mirrors Sunset's pose. "It has been an honor learning from you, sai."
Sunset's horn sparks to life. "The honor has been mine, spellslinger."
They move as one, their first spells colliding in the arena's center with an enormous BANG. The attacks are distractions, nothing more. Sunset has already winked behind Twilight in the time it takes to inhale, but Twilight is ready and waiting. Her back legs buck out, knocking the air from her teacher's lungs. Sunset doubles over in shock and pain as Twilight whirls to deliver what could already be the finishing blow, but she falls right into the older mare's trap.
Doubled over, Sunset's horn is right in Twilight's face.
It's her brother's favorite shield spell, the first spell she ever learned, that saves her from direct impact, but the concussive hit still knocks her backwards. She lands on her hooves, shaking it off, but Sunset is already following up with a flurry of strikes from her front hooves. Twilight dodges and weaves, trying to watch Sunset's horn for the next magic attack while trying to choose her own. She falls for Sunset's feint and feels a bright shock of pain as her teacher's hoof collides with her muzzle. Sunset presses her advantage, following up the blow with two more identical strikes before spinning around and aiming a buck of her own. Her hooves meet empty air as Twilight winks away, giving herself some distance to plan her next attack.
The two mares circle one another, watching each other for the slightest move. Twilight wipes a trickle of blood from her muzzle, making Sunset smile. Twilight returns the gesture... before rearing back and slamming her front hooves on the ground. A cyclone of sand surrounds the mare, obscuring her from sight. Sunset observes the funnel for a moment before casting her charm. The sand ceases spinning and flies inward like a swarm of angry bees, but Twilight is already gone. Sunset looks around wildly, ready and waiting for anything her student can throw at her.
Almost anything.
A pair of purple forelegs pop up from the sand beneath her and wrap securely around her own. Sunset only has time for her eyes to widen and utter a muttered curse before she's yanked underground.
The assembled Lawmares and apprentices have watched this all in silence. An eerie quiet settles on the pavilion. Some of the mares look around, unsure of what to do. Moon Dancer leans forward in her seat so far that her glasses are in danger if falling off of her face. "Come on, Twilight." She whispers.
The mares jump as a muffled THUMP is followed by a small mound of sand rising and falling. Another THUMP is followed by another rising mound, and the mares realize as one what's happening; the battle is still on. They just can't see it. They watch in stunned amazement at what little they can see, their imaginations running wild at what must be happening just under the surface. Minutes pass...
...and some of the smaller fillies scream as two shapes explode from the sand and slam to the ground on opposite sides of the arena.
Sunset's hat floats to the earth and sits, as though waiting.
Panting and coughing, the two mares rise on unsteady hooves. They're filthy, covered in sand and clay. A chunk of Twilight's mane is missing. Blood flows from a moderately deep gash on Sunset's flank, but she pays it no mind. The two mares lock eyes... and, amazingly, start laughing.
"I... wasn't sure... that would work..." Twilight giggles, pausing only to cough out more sand.
Sunset shakes her head. "I don't even want to know where you learned that." She catches her breath and swallows hard. "Ready?"
Twilight recovers from her laughing fit and clears her throat. "Let's finish it, then."
The mares loose beams of magic at the same time, and brilliant gold clashes with vibrant purple in the arena's center. The beams struggle against one another, pushing hard, manifesting each mare's will as they press for dominance. The mares grit their teeth with the effort of their casting. Neither gives an inch. It's a stalemate. Each knows that whoever lets their guard down first is going to take a blast of magic so strong they aren't likely to survive. The crowd watches, their jaws slack. This is it...
Shockingly, Twilight closes her eyes and relaxes. Her magic fades to nothing and Sunset's beam envelops her before smashing its way through the very gates the two mares used to enter the ancient arena. Sunset reins in the magic before it can do more damage, sudden sorrow filling her heart. She lowers her guard and falls to the sand, rolling onto her back to try and catch her breath...
...just in time to see Twilight falling towards her, hooves out, like a purple comet.
Sunset's shield charm is instinctual... and exactly what Twilight is waiting for. The apprentice hits Sunset's shield as hard as she can, stunning her teacher with the impact instead of killing her with it. She absorbs the force with a grunt of effort and uses it to launch herself back into the air, her horn already alight. A flock of birds made of violet magic manifests and dive-bombs the golden unicorn. Sunset is still reeling from two hundred pounds of pony hitting her chest like a runaway train. She can't focus, can't think. She fires blindly at the birds, taking out as many as she can...
...realizing too late that they were just the distraction.
Twilight screams as an enormous magical hawk is sent flying down at impossible speed. It almost seems to shriek as it hits Sunset full force. The Lawmare cries out in agony as magical shocks race through her system like electricity, wracking her with convulsions of pain. She can't catch her breath, and the pain seems to have no end... but then it's gone just as quickly as it came. She goes limp in the sand, sucking in precious air. She forces her eyes open.
Twilight is standing over her, her horn pointed at her throat. "Su... su..." Twilight is panting too, her quivering limbs threatening to give out and send her to the ground as well. "Submit, my teacher."
Sunset coughs. And then she laughs. "A...aye. I submit. And happily so... Lawmare."
At the sound of the word, Twilight's body finally gives out on her. She lands on her teacher, causing them both to let out identical grunts of pain. As they lay there in agony, the Lawmares and apprentices erupt in cheers and applause. They rush the arena to tend to the wounded, pulling them apart and checking them for obvious threatening wounds.
"That was amazing." Lyra is bandaging the gash on Sunset's flank, but her eyes are on Twilight. "You've got to teach me that bird trick, Twilight."
"Another day, sai." Twilight waves her off as Moon Dancer checks her legs for breaks or sprains. "As for now, I believe sai Shimmer promised us feasting and drinking?"
"Aye. That I did." Sunset laughs. Starlight Glimmer brings her hat over, and she gives a nod of thanks. "Somepony alert the cooks. And somepony else get down to the cellars. We're going to need some hard cider." As the crowd cheers and a few apprentices break away to carry out her orders, Sunset goes to put her hat back on. Something makes her hesitate, however. Instead of putting it on her own head, she leans over and pulls it snug on Twilight's tattered and dirty mane. "Hold onto that for me, will you? I'll get it back after a bath. I've got sand in places you wouldn't believe."
Twilight laughs and puts a hoof to her teacher's hat, trying not to cry. The two ponies embrace, Lawmare to Lawmare. They are helped by their sisters into the barracks to get cleaned up, and then join in the festivities that last late into the next day.
It took a little while, but Sunset Shimmer finally managed to calm down enough to try and explain more fully what had happened in Ponyville. While she did so, Applejack had been sent to deliver a message to Rarity that everything was okay and also to ask that Apple Bloom be given safe berth in the manor for the time being.
Sunset began her tale by telling her former apprentice how the Lawmares had arrived in Ponyville well ahead of schedule, entering the town proper at high noon. They'd hoped that such a display of courage might send a message to those in the town whose sympathies lay with the Good Mare; the Lawmares had come, and their time was up.
Instead, it had been exactly what the villagers had been planning on.
"I knew something was wrong the instant we got there." Sunset had rolled onto her side while Twilight carefully weaved several healing charms along her barrel, trying to alleviate any internal injuries. She stared at the wall with her unseeing eye as she talked. "The whole place was empty, completely quiet. I swear I saw a sagebrush blow down their main street. If the place didn't look so well maintained, I'd have sworn it had been abandoned. That they’d turned tail and run once they’d gotten wind we were on our way." She grimaced as Twilight's magic fixed another bruised rib. "But they were there, alright. Hiding. And watching."
"I just don't understand how they did so much damage." Twilight spoke at last. "The last census listed less than a quarter of the population of Ponyville as unicorns. Did the Good Mare station more loyal spellslingers there? As part of the trap?"
Sunset shook her head. "Unicorns we could have handled. But the magic that killed us didn't come from around us, Twilight. It came from below us."
"Below?" Twilight thought back to her final trial against Sunset. "They were under you?"
"Not them. The weapons. Must have been the same kind they used to blow up the fountain." Sunset bit her cheek to keep from crying out when Twilight's magic found something sore. "Careful, for your mother's sake!"
"Say sorry. That one's definitely broken." Twilight concentrated and began to knit a more powerful healing charm. "How did they get them under you?"
"They must have buried them before we even got there. All I know is that Starlight started to say something, and the next thing I knew I was airborne."
"They're crystals." The Lawmares turned to see Applejack step back into the room. "Your lady friend sends her regards, Miss Twilight. She’s really somethin,’ if you don’t mind me sayin’ so."
"Just Twilight's fine. And I don’t mind. I say thank ya." Twilight cocked her head. "You said they're crystals?"
"Some kinda crystals, yeah. Never seen anythin’ like them ‘til they started showin’ up in town. Ain't entirely sure how they work, but I reckon they get overloaded with magic and blow up somehow. It's why they moved so many of 'em to a majority earth pony village. Less chance of an accidental discharge. Least that's what the hooded mare said at the last town meetin.'"
Twilight perked up. "Hooded mare?" A pair of intelligent eyes staring at her from under a hood flashed in her memory. "Was her name Trixie, by any chance?"
"Nope." Applejack settled onto an old cushion and doffed her hat. "The Good Mare's liaison in Ponyville is an earth pony. Name’a Octavia. Reckon she was sent there to appeal to the more xenophobic of us." She snorted as she tossed her hat onto a nearby peg. "That's how they converted most of the town, y'know? Convinced 'em that earth ponies had less rights than the other tribes under Celestia, and that they'd do better under the Good Mare."
"And you don't think that?"
Applejack chuckled and shook her head. "Twilight, the way us Apples see it is this; we've done just fine under the Princess, and we don't see any reason for a change in management."
Twilight smiled. There was something about the way the mare put things that put her at ease. "So they let you attend these town meetings even though you haven't sworn loyalty to the Good Mare?"
"Of course they do. How else are they gonna convince us hold outs that theirs is the right way of things? But, as I said before, it was really only a matter of time before they came to the farm with the old swear or die routine. I was just finishin' goin' over plans to leave with Mac when we heard the explosion come from the center of town."
"Mac?"
"My big brother. Hopefully he's made his way to Appleoosa by now. It was his idea to split up." A distant, worried look crossed the farmer's face. "Gosh, I sure hope he's okay."
As much as she was loathe to do it, Twilight gently guided Applejack back to the topic at hand. "So you heard the explosion. What happened next?"
Applejack shook off her growing melancholy and continued her recollection. "Well, I went to check it out." She shivered. "It was awful; a big crater in the middle of Main Street with bodies and limbs all over the place. I saw ponies movin' about the bodies and I ran to help, but when I got closer..." She gulped. "When I got closer I could see that they weren't helpin.'"
Twilight felt a new surge of horrified anger as realization struck. "They were finishing them off."
"Eeyup." Applejack nodded slowly. "It was plum lucky that I got to Sunset when I did. I could see she was still breathin,' but I lied to Octavia and said she was dead."
"How did you get her out of there?"
"I saw they were startin' to bury the remains in the crater. I happened to have a big canvas sack on me. Pure luck I guess."
"I got her bundled up when nopony was lookin' and hustled back to the farm quick as I could. I patched up what I knew how to while Apple Bloom got the last of the stuff packed up. Mac and Granny headed west, and we headed back towards Canterlot." She cast a pitying look at Sunset. "It was slow goin.' Had to move at night, mostly. Almost got caught once or twice. We just kept movin.'"
"How did you get in the city? Did you have to use the tunnels?" Twilight let her magic fade and gave Sunset one last once over. "That should do it."
"Say thank ya." Sunset sat up on her haunches, breathing much more easily now. "Aye, we used the tunnels. I figured it would be the easiest way of getting into the city undetected." Only the Lawmares were supposed to know of the labyrinthine tunnels that went all the way through Canterlot Mountain. They were meant to be a last resort in case the city were ever breached.
"But why did you want to be undetected?" Twilight shook her head. "Why didn't you come straight to the palace? Our sisters are lying in a mass grave, Sunset. This is war now. We should do what Minuette said from the start and go on the offensive."
"Twilight." Sunset's tone was even and cool. She'd regained her emotional control with her repaired insides, it seemed. "From a mare in pieces to one still whole, hear this very well; I didn't come back to the palace because I didn't want to risk the traitor discovering her plan to kill all of us had failed."
Twilight's jaw dropped. "Wait... You aren't saying..."
"Twilight, I trust you. With my life, I trust you." The golden mare turned her milky eye to her friend, her gaze filled with pity. "But I can no longer trust your tet."
Twilight reeled at the implication. "No... Sunset... You can't be serious."
"I am. I don't know which of them it is, but it has to be one of them." Sunset reached out with her remaining front hoof and touched it to Twilight's gently. "It's either Lyra or Moon Dancer. One of them is the traitor."
Twilight shook her head and pulled away. "No. No, I can't believe that."
"It's the only thing that makes sense, ain't it?" Applejack chimed in. "I mean, the traitor would hardly send herself to get butchered along with the rest of you."
"Then… then there must never have been a traitor at all." Twilight reasoned. "The princess was ill-informed or was fed false information."
Sunset frowned. "C'mon, Twilight; what's the one constant of this world? Celestia knows. If she said there was a traitor, then there was one."
"The elite protectors of this world are lying in a shallow grave in pieces, Sunset!" Twilight snapped. "There are no constants in this world. Not anymore." She began to pace the room as she always seemed to do when agitated. "It doesn't make sense, anyway. Let’s say for a moment it’s just as you say. One of my tet is a traitor. If that’s so, then how would either one of them know that they wouldn't be sent to be massacred with the rest?"
"Because they knew that Celestia wouldn't send every Lawmare away. That one tet would be left behind."
"But how could they know it would be my tet?!" Twilight argued. "There's too many variables. A conspiracy this deep would be..." She paused. A sinister new thought had popped into her mind. An impossible idea, too terrible to be true. But in this new world that had turned upside down, who was to say what was impossible and what wasn't anymore. "The Guard..." She whispered.
"What about them?" Sunset asked. Twilight told her of the robe they'd found, the secret meeting chamber, and the scrap of uniform. Sunset's eye widened at each new revelation. "So it wasn't just us." She slumped at the idea. "The Guard are part of it as well."
Twilight grunted in anger and rounded on her. "I still refuse to believe either Lyra or Moon Dancer have anything to do with this. Either the traitor was killed in Ponyville, or she never existed in the first place."
"There's a third option." Applejack offered. When both Lawmares turned to her, she smiled without humor. "Could be that one of you is the traitor."
Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, student and teacher, looked at each other carefully. As one, they shook their heads. "Impossible." They said at the same time.
Applejack cocked an eyebrow. "Whatever ya'll say."
Sunset reached for Twilight blindly. "I love Lyra and Moon Dancer as much as you do, Twilight. But you have to at least consider the possibility that..."
"No. I don't." Twilight stepped away from Sunset. "The night before you all left, we became more than just a tet." She put a hoof to her heart. "We are ka-tet, and I am their dinh."
Sunset narrowed her eye. "Then as their dinh, it's your responsibility to..."
In a move that shocked even herself, Twilight turned away from her mentor to face Applejack. "Sai Applejack, I say thank ya for bringing Sunset here safely. I beg that you continue to watch over her for just a while longer until she's able to leave on her own strength."
"Twilight!" Sunset barked, reaching in the direction of her friend's voice.
"I'll keep her safe.” Applejack nodded. “Where are you goin'?"
"To the palace. I need to speak to the Princess about this at once." She cast her eyes back at the crippled mare who had been like the big sister she'd never had. "I'll send for you both once it's safe."
"Twilight!" Sunset tried to stand and almost fell. Only Applejack's speedy response kept her from hitting the floor. "Twilight, please..."
"I shouldn't be long." Twilight turned and started for the exit.
"Twilight!" Sunset cried out, reaching into the empty air. "I know it hurts, but you can't let your feelings blind you! Twilight!"
But the Lawmare just kept walking away. She knew that if she stopped, she would not be able to start again.
The mare in black found him right where she was expecting to. The stallion always tended to work late. Trixie wondered if it was because he was trying to keep his mind off of his traitorous actions. Or maybe he had just always been this way? She really didn't care enough to ask. "Do you have a moment?" She relished the little jump he gave at the sound of her voice. "Don't tell me that little old me was able to sneak up on you so easily? That's the problem with everypony in this stinking city; you've all become too damned complacent."
He stood and stared at her. "You?! How did you get past..."
"Oh, please. One of them has less brains than Blueblood, and the other..." She smirked. "Well, the other is with us."
The stallion's eyes widened. “But… Why are you…?"
"The very fact that I'm telling you the identity of another of our number should be answer enough as to why I'm here."
His mouth snapped shut. "Now? But... No, the timing's all wrong. The Lawmares..."
"The Lawmares are dealt with, with the exception of a few. The pieces are moving, sai. I'll be sending the last one along shortly. Nothing can stop what's coming. Not even her."
The stallion's head dipped. "I just... If I had more time, maybe I could convince her to join us."
"You of all ponies should know that her convictions are too strong for that. Those same convictions will be her downfall." She saw the stallion slumping and felt the slightest twinge of pity. She crossed the room and lifted his chin with her hoof. "She has called for you, sai. The Good Mare. She needs you, more than any other. She wants you safe, by her side, before the fighting begins in earnest."
At the mention of the Good Mare, the stallion seemed to find new strength, new resolve. He sat up straight. "When?"
"Tonight. Once night falls, follow the runes I've left to mark the trail. They will guide you to a tunnel out of the city. Then head North."
"North?" The stallion blinked. "But I thought she was coming to Ponyville."
Trixie shook her head. "Ponyville has served its purpose; a grave for the Lawmares, and everything they once stood for. The Good Mare waits for you in the North, sai. The journey will be cold and hard, but her bed at the end will be warm and soft."
The stallion nodded. "Is there anything else I need to do before I leave?"
The mare in black smiled. "No. Just make haste. And ensure nopony sees your face until you're beyond the walls." She leaned in and gently kissed his cheek. "Safe travels, sai. Your part in this is done." Without another word, she turned and left.
The stallion waited until she was gone... and then he started to pack.
Lyra looked up from her plate and at her wife. "Uh... no. No. The food's great. Why do you ask?"
"Because you've barely touched it." Bon Bon took another bite of her own salad and laughed around her fork.
Lyra chuckled good-naturedly, but her focus was still elsewhere. The recent confrontation in Shining Armor's office had left her feeling uneasy, and the feeling had not dissipated when she'd returned home to find her wife gone again. Bon Bon had returned not long after with a basket of groceries for their dinner, but the incident had made her think back on a number of similar ones in the last few days. "Bonnie?"
"Hmm?"
"When I got home the other morning, you weren't in bed."
"I wasn't?" Bon Bon's fork paused halfway to her mouth. She shrugged. "I must've gone to the bathroom."
"Yeah." Lyra smiled, tried to take a bite of the meal her beautiful wife had made for them, but couldn't bring herself to. Not yet. "It's just..."
"Just what?"
"Well, you've been out and about quite a bit these last few days."
Bon Bon raised an eyebrow. "Do you expect me to just lounge around the house all day? Because I can. And then you can do the shopping, the laundry, the cooking..."
Lyra waved her off. "No, it's not like that. It's just..." The Lawmare sighed. "Well, it's been a few times that I've come home from patrol and you're not there."
"I like to get an early start."
A perfectly reasonable answer. So why couldn't Lyra just accept it? Just leave well enough alone. "Bonnie… I love you."
"I love you, too." Bon Bon reached out and touched her hoof to her wife's. "What's wrong? You can talk to me."
"You... you would tell me if there was anything going on, right? You know you can tell me anything."
"I know." Bon Bon lowered her fork and smiled at her wife. "Everything's fine. I promise. Why don't you tell me what's on your mind?"
Before Lyra could muster the courage to do just that, a knock at the door caught their attention. The mint green unicorn watched as her wife wiped her mouth and hurried over to answer it. She mentally kicked herself for having the thoughts she was having, for jumping at shadows.
But that was the thing about shadows; something had to cast them, right?
Bon Bon opened the door wide and gasped when she saw the pony on the other side. "Moon Dancer?"
"Hi, Bon Bon. I’m sorry to just show up like this, but may I please come inside?"
Something about the Lawmare's voice made Lyra jump up and run into the foyer. She saw her bondsmare standing in the door's arch, a look of profound sadness and misery etched on her face. A saddle bag that looked hastily packed was strung around her barrel. "Moon Dancer? What's wrong?"
The unicorn locked eyes with her sister Lawmare, and suddenly those eyes were flooded with tears. "My... my mother..." She let out a choked sob and ran past Bon Bon and into Lyra's waiting embrace. "She... she wouldn't wake up..."
Lyra shared a look with her wife. Without a word, Bon Bon closed the door and made to get the guest bedroom ready. Lyra watched her go while stroking her dearest friend's mane. "When did it happen?"
"I-it must h-have been this m-morning." Moon Dancer sobbed. "I knew i-it was c-coming, b-but... b-but..." She collapsed entirely, her whole body shaking with her cries.
Lyra let her cry for a few moments before gently leading her towards the master bedroom. "You can freshen up in here while Bon Bon gets your room ready. When you're ready, we have some dinner for you."
"S-say thank y-ya." Moon Dancer sniffled. "I'm sorry. I-I just couldn't be there tonight. I had to get away."
"Hey, it's okay." Lyra hugged her bondsmare tight and kissed the top of her head. "It's all gonna be okay." She looked back and saw her wife carrying a load of linens. Her earlier concerns again made themselves known, but she did her best to seal them away. At least… for the time being. "I promise; it's all gonna be okay."
Twilight's mind raced along with her hooves as they carried her towards the palace. It was just past sunset, and the last of Canterlot's populous was making their way inside to retire for the evening. The desperate, scared part of the Lawmare pleaded with her to follow their example. To change course and head to Rarity's manor instead. But duty wouldn't let her. She was a Lawmare, and that still meant something, damn it. Even if there were only four of them left.
Especially if there were only four of them left.
Sunset's words echoed in her mind as she grew closer to the palace gates. She couldn't believe it. Refused to believe it. Moon Dancer or Lyra a traitor? Impossible. Inconceivable. They were ka-tet. They were one from many. How could one of them take such a vow knowing it meant nothing? It simply couldn't be.
It had to be a ruse of the Good Mare. There never had been a traitor in the Lawmares. Princess Celestia had been fed false information...
(Celestia knows... Celestia always knows...)
...But from whom? Who could Celestia have trusted so implicitly that she would just take their word that one of her hoof-chosen had changed sides? It had to be some high ranking member of the court. Or perhaps some spy had given her a bad tip. Or...
Her eagle eyes caught a flash of movement ducking around one of the palace walls, and on instinct she pursued. She rounded the corner just in time to see her prey take another turn. She couldn't make out much about them...
...because they were wearing a hooded black robe!
Twilight's magic flared and she winked ahead, halving the distance between she and her quarry without missing a single hoof-step. She poured on the speed, panting with exertion. The pony she pursued seemed to be heading straight for one of the sheer stone walls. Her eyes widened when she realized where they were. This particular wall was special. This wall had a false door built into it that led down into the tunnels.
Whoever this pony was, they knew something only a Lawmare was meant to know.
Quick as a shot, she loosed a bolt of magic that singed the air as it passed the face of the pony. He gasped as he skidded to a halt mere feet away from the false door. Twilight stopped on a dime and angled her horn right at the robed stallion. "The next one won't miss, so give me a reason, I beg."
The two ponies stood there for a moment, catching their breath. It was the hooded stallion who finally broke the silence with a chuckle.
It wasn't the chuckle itself that chilled Twilight to her core, but the familiar ring to it. "No..."
"Part of me was hoping that I'd actually manage to get out of the city without anypony seeing my face." The stallion turned to her and pulled back his hood, confirming her worst fears. "The other part of me was terrified that I wouldn't get to say good-bye to you... Twily."
Neither sibling moved. Not an inch. Not a millimeter. They barely breathed.
"You probably want to talk." Shining Armor cut his eyes back towards the wall that contained his exit from the city, but made no sudden moves. He was no slouch at spellslinging, say true, but Twilight was a Lawmare. She could put a hole through his heart between its beats. The only reason he was still breathing at all was because of her surprise at seeing his face. "I don't have a lot of time, but if you came with me..."
"It's a trick." Twilight meant for it to come out as a statement of authority, a slap back in the face of reality, a denial of the image before her, but instead it came out as a choked sob. "It's a trick! You're not Shining Armor. You're not my brother. He wouldn't..."
"When you were three years old, you broke Mom's favorite vase." He said, trying to pretend the pained wail she uttered didn't make him ache to his core. "And I took the blame."
"Oh, Shining Armor, why?!" The tears were flowing freely now. The Lawmare had receded. Only the betrayed baby sister remained. "How could you side with her?"
"You don't understand, Twily." The stallion risked a small, backwards step. "But if you'll let me explain..."
The darkness around them was suddenly lit with violet as Twilight's horn sparked back to life. "Don't move. If you try to run, I swear to Celestia, I'll..."
"What? Kill me?" He challenged, though he did stop moving. "Is your devotion to her so absolute that you'd kill your own brother?"
"You're the Captain of her Royal Guard!" Twilight screamed. "Where's your devotion?! Where's your loyalty?!"
"Twilight, you know me." He pressed. "You've known me all your life. Doesn't that give me a little credit? Can't I at least try and explain myself?"
"Yes, you're my brother." Twilight's magic flashed. "Which is why I don't understand why you'd throw everything away in service to... to that monster!"
"She's not a monster, Twily." His tone was calm and even, surprising given he was one wrong move from death. "That's just another lie you've come to accept."
"Not a..." Twilight gasped on air like a fish plucked from the water. "SHE HAD MY SISTERS KILLED, SHINING ARMOR! MY...My..." She blinked rapidly as another realization took hold. "You... did you know...?"
"Did I know what?"
"DON'T PLAY DUMB!" This time a bolt of magic actually arced towards the stallion, and it was only a quick shield spell that deflected it into the dirt. She sent no further volleys, but he kept his shield up... just in case. "You told us there were enemy agents in Ponyville! You sent them there! Please tell me you didn't know... didn't know..." She took a deep shuddering breath and glared at him. "Did... you... know?"
He looked into her eyes. "...Yes." It was the way he said it that broke her. That calm, reasoning tone. The same matter-of-fact 'that's the way of the world, Twily' tone he'd used when he'd told her their father was dead. He lowered his shield charm and gestured at his heart. "I knew all that awaited the Lawmares in Ponyville was death. It wasn't my idea, but I knew. So go ahead. Kill me. Avenge your sisters by slaying your brother." He closed his eyes and waited. "An eye for an eye, right? That's Celestia's way."
Twilight's rage swelled within her breast. Her magic became brighter and brighter. All it would take was a thought, and the backstabbing stallion would be dead. Her sisters would be avenged. And then...
And then... what? The pain would still be there. And the questions. She could kill him right now, should kill him right now. He was a traitor, a conspirator, a servant to the Good Mare. He was... he was...
He was her big brother. Her first and best friend. The one who had comforted her during thunderstorms. The one who had attended her tea parties with her dolls and stuffed animals. The one who had held her hoof when she got her shots. The one who'd first taught her magic. The one who had been there for her no matter what.
Her magic faded, and the pair stood silent in moon-lit darkness. "You're under arrest."
The stallion opened his eyes and smiled at her. "I knew you wouldn't do it."
"Shut up." A single bolt of magic shot from her horn into the night sky. It coalesced into an orb, floated for a moment, and zipped away. "That'll bring the guards. Once they get here, you'll go quietly into custody. You'll stand trial for sedition, conspiracy to commit treason, and accessory to the murder of fifteen Lawmares."
"Sixteen." He corrected her automatically. His eyes widened. "Unless... Ah. I see. That's how you know what happened in Ponyville. One made it back." He smirked. "I hope it was Sunset. Flash always fancied her..."
She ignored him, her gaze hard as steel. "Just tell me why. What could she have told you that convinced you so thoroughly that you'd throw away everything?"
"She told me the truth, Twily." He looked away and gazed up at the moon. "Princess Celestia's not a bad pony. She's as much a monster as the Good Mare is. But she is a despot. A tyrant. She's held the throne for far longer than she should have."
Twilight barked out a harsh laugh. "And who would she cede the throne to? Blueblood?" She clenched her teeth. "Is he involved in this too?"
"I wouldn't know. None of us know anypony else's identities. It's safer that way in case one of us is captured." He chuckled. "Though it does lead to unfortunate instances like that bunch who blew up the fountain trying to kill me as well. It's a good thing you killed them all. I don't think she would have been too pleased if one of them had managed to hit me."
"Yeah, I guess you have been pretty valuable to her." Twilight shook her head. "Can't imagine how valuable you'll be now that we know who you are."
"Oh, I think she still holds me in pretty high regard." He straightened up. "Considering we're married and all."
A revelation like that on it's own should have been enough to send Twilight screaming into the relative safety of insanity. But after the day she'd had? All it did was barely stagger her. "What? But... how?"
"She has her ways." Shining Armor shrugged. "That's why you can believe me when I tell you she's not the monster Celestia says she is."
"What? It just strains your credibility even more." Twilight wanted to laugh, but it seemed that she'd forgotten how. "Figures a stallion would be led to treason by his sheath." She shook her head. "Celestia was right to choose mares..."
"Because Celestia knows best, right?" Shining Armor snapped. "Celestia knows. Celestia always knows. She knows everything. So you shouldn't be surprised to learn that she knows exactly who the Good Mare is."
"Oh, stop lying." Twilight chanced a glance back. Where were the guards? They should've been there by now. "There's no point in lying anymore."
"Exactly how you know I'm not lying, Twily. She knows who the Good Mare is... and she knows exactly where she is."
"That's ridiculous!" She rolled her eyes. "If Celestia knew, then why even allow her to gain so much influence? If she knew where she was this whole time, then why not do something about it?"
"Why indeed?" Shining Armor looked behind his sister. Still no sign of the guards. Good. "The easy answer? She's known where she is because she put her there. Hid her there like a dirty little secret. Because that's what Celestia thinks she is; just a dirty little secret she thought she could just hide away forever. Out of sight, out of mind. You should ask her about it when I'm gone, Twily. You should ask her about her niece."
"You're not going anywhere, you..."
He leaned forward and bucked with all the strength in his back legs. The false part of the wall crumbled away to reveal a hole into darkness just big enough for a grown pony to pass through.
On instinct, Twilight's magic shot out...
...and rebounded off the shield spell Shining Armor had cast in front of her when he'd lowered his own. It had only been a stunning charm, thankfully, and it knocked Twilight senseless to the dirt. She could only stare into the night sky and listen as her brother's hooves carried him down the tunnel and out of her life forever.
His voice echoed back, his parting cry finally carrying some of the emotion he'd been denying. "I'm sorry, Twilight! I love you! Remember that! I love you, sis!"
Twilight didn't give chase. It was just too much. She felt unconsciousness come for her, and she didn't fight it. She let it guide her into a deeper darkness.
There was still some sense and peace in sleep, at least.
It was the comforting crackle of a fire and the smell of good, fresh coffee that drew her back into the waking world.
Twilight cracked one eye open and scanned her surroundings. She was somewhere in the palace, that much was clear. The architecture and tapestries could attest to that. But where exactly? She couldn't say for sure. Not until she spied the mare sitting across from her, a look of relief on her face. "P...Princess?"
"You're awake. Good. I was getting worried." Her voice was as soothing and caring as the morning she wardened. Her sun-tinged magic floated over a tray with a steaming pot and two cups. "Can you sit?"
Twilight pushed herself up with a groan and rubbed her aching head. "Where am I?"
"My private chambers." Celestia explained as she poured the coffee. "Flash Sentry found you outside and brought you to the barracks. I happened to be there talking to the apprentices, and I had him bring you here at once." She held one cup aloft until Twilight's own magic could take hold. "Something a little stronger than tea, but I thought you might not mind. I was hoping you could explain how you managed to stun yourself, and why Flash found you beside one of the city's emergency tunnels."
Everything came rushing back at once, and the resulting pulse of Twilight's magic shattered the cup she was levitating. "Shining Armor! We have to go after him! And Sunset! Sunset is..."
"Shhh..." Celestia shushed her gently, her own magic reforming the cup and transferring the liquid back inside. "Easy, Lawmare. Control yourself, I beg. Be calm, and tell me what's happened."
After several deep breaths and two cups of coffee, Twilight was able to do just that. She told her Princess about their recent investigations. She told her about finding Sunset Shimmer and the fate of the Lawmares in Ponyville. Finally, she told her about Shining Armor's betrayal and escape down the tunnels.
Princess Celestia sat and listened, not reacting visibly to any of these shocking revelations. Not even when Twilight told her of the massacre of the Lawmares. She simply nursed the same cup of coffee until Twilight was finished. When Twilight finished talking, the great mare lowered her mug and sighed. "So... Shining Armor has fled the city."
"I should have killed him." Twilight spat. The coffee had done wonders. The after-effects of the stunning spell were all but gone. Now in retelling her tale, the bitter rage returned with force. "Now there's no telling what he's going to tell the Good Mare."
"Cadance." Celestia corrected her, refilling her mug. "Her name is Cadance."
The loaded silence that followed that pronunciation was broken only by Twilight's mug shattering for the second time. This time, however, no attempt was made to salvage it.
"It... it's true?" Twilight stared at her Princess with mounting horror. "Everything Shining Armor said... it's true?"
Celestia nodded, but then gave a thoughtful look. "For the most part, yes. Though I don't agree with everything he said. I don't consider myself a despot, for one thing. I think I'm fair, and I believe I've done a good job, all things considered. But as far as the Good Mare's identity and location? Yes; I've known all along. Her name is Cadance, and she's in the last city that remains of what was once the Crystal Empire."
Twilight swooned, and it was only her training that allowed her to keep her seat... and her head. "You... you knew. All this time." She shook her head. "Why... why the ruse? Why keep this information from us?"
"Guilt, I think." Celestia sipped as she thought. "That's how this all started, of course. With guilt. The guilt I felt about how badly I handled everything with Luna." She saw Twilight's question coming and halted it with one raised hoof. "Please, Twilight. I've not told this to anypony in a millennium. Let me say this, I beg." When Twilight had settled once more, Celestia continued. "Trixie and her ilk stand outside my gates and tell their stories of rewritten history, of lies and falsehoods. But I never lied, Twilight. I withheld. There's a difference."
Twilight couldn't help herself. "Is there?"
"Yes. It can seem small, but the difference can be huge. Catastrophically so. The populace is taught that my sister and I ruled in peace until she fell to darkness. This is true, though I withheld from the histories as to exactly why Luna succumbed to shadow. It was..." She paused, the words seeming to stick to her throat. "It was my fault for not seeing what was happening sooner. I saw her jealousy growing, and I refused to address it. I've felt guilt over that for over a thousand years. You're all taught that there was a catastrophic battle, and when the dust settled my sister had become the 'mare in the moon.' I withheld the fact that she has no chance of ever returning."
Twilight's jaw dropped. "But... but the longest day of the thousandth year! The stars..."
"Twilight, that day has come and gone. My sister was freed and I sealed her away again immediately. I knew where she would be, and I was waiting there. And, in another thousand years, I'll do it again. The mare I loved as my flesh and blood is long gone, reduced to a beast of fury and vengeance. I can never allow her to return. Not ever."
(Celestia knows. Celestia always knows.)
Twilight stared at the floor. "When did it happen?
"A year ago, I think. Right before the Good Mare started making her first moves." Celestia lowered her mug and sighed. "I should've seen it coming. It must have upset her, not being able to talk to her mother after all this time. Not even having the chance to salvage a part of the mare she once was."
Twilight's eyes snapped back to Celestia. "The Good Mare... Cadance... is Luna's daughter?"
"Of course." Celestia shrugged. "How else would she be my niece?" She smiled wistfully as she peered into the distant past. "She was the sweetest little filly. The light of Luna's life before she fell. It broke my heart to send her away to the Empire."
"So why did you?" Twilight asked. "Send her away, I mean."
"Guilt, as I said before. I couldn't look upon her without seeing the sister I knew could never return. I couldn't handle her constant questions about where her mommy was, when her mommy was coming home... It was for the best. It was, as much as I'm pained to admit it, the easiest way. Not unlike the decision to block stallions from being Agents of Harmony. I have so very many decisions to make. Difficult decisions. It's such a relief when an easy one comes along."
"Easy." Twilight repeated dully.
"She wasn't alone out there. I'm not a monster." Celestia assured her Lawmare. "There's an entire tribe of Crystal Ponies at her beck and call. She could rule there in peace and prosperity for all time. But I suppose that just isn't enough anymore. Now she's coming for the throne she feels she deserves." She took a sip. "That's what the glass has told me, anyway."
"Glass?"
"...I may as well tell you everything, then." Celestia sighed as her horn lit once more, and a hidden compartment in the wall slid open. "The glass did tell me that you would find out about it in time." She floated out a sphere wrapped in scarlet cloth. Carefully, she set it on the table between them and lifted the wrappings aside. "And there's no time like the present."
Twilight stared in awe at what was revealed; a perfect crystal sphere of the most stunning coral pink. It winked in the ambient light, seeming to sparkle like a star. "What is it?"
"The wizard Marelyn crafted thirteen of these glasses in the days so long ago that even I've forgotten them. Each has been lost or destroyed over the years... all save one. This one. Marelyn's grapefruit. The wizard's glass. This is the answer to the riddle that vexes all of my little ponies. 'How does Celestia always know?' The answer is that I don't. I only know what the glass tells me. It shows me the past, the present, and sometimes the future." She gave the bauble a withering look. "It can be irritating at times. Sometimes it only gives me the vaguest hint of what's to come. If it had told me that all the Lawmares would have been killed in Ponyville, I wouldn't have..." She stopped when she caught the look on Twilight's face. "What?"
"You... you sent them to die." Twilight wanted to vomit. She wanted to scream. "I kept asking you, and you knew... you knew they were dead." She leapt to her hooves and shrieked. "YOU KNEW! YOU ALWAYS KNEW! You've treated us like... like playthings in some game!"
"You aren't playthings." Celestia's voice was just as caring, just as soothing as it had always been. "You're my little ponies. Everything I've done is for you. I will deal with Cadance when the time is right..."
"You mean when this... this thing tells you to!"
"...when the time is right, she will be dealt with." Celestia pressed on. "The loss of the Lawmares is a tragic one, but I'm confident that you, your ka-tet, and Sunset can mold the current batch of apprentices into..."
"Into what? Chattel? Meat for the grinder?" Twilight shook her head angrily. "All my life, I believed that we were doing something important! Something that mattered!"
"You are."
"We aren't!" Twilight's magic lanced out and broke a nearby table to splinters. Celestia didn't even flinch. "We're cogs in your great machine! We either age out or break and then get replaced! Replaced and forgotten!"
"No." Celestia reached out a hoof. "Never forgotten."
"Don't touch me!" Twilight jumped back like the offered appendage was covered in filth. "They gave everything for you, and you sent them away to die like they were nothing!" Tears were flowing now, but she paid them no mind. "But they were something! They were my sisters! And you... and you..." Twilight glared at the mare who had been one of her mentors with absolute hatred. "You've forgotten what sisterhood means."
A veritable shock-wave of magic knocked the Lawmare off her hooves. Celestia was glowing, her eyes pure white and emitting a searing heat that seemed to come from the sun itself. She rose into the air without flapping her wings and glared down at the smaller mare. "You forget the face of your mother, Twilight Sparkle. And you forget your place!" Another wave of magic shook the room, knocking delicate treasures from shelves and sending them crashing to the floor. "Everything I've ever done has been for you. I've never married, never had foals, because of you. I've denied myself every happiness in this life that other mares have for you. And my sister? My own flesh and blood? She fell to darkness and was lost to me forever because I was too concerned with you to see what was happening!" Another wave of magic shook the walls...
...and the wizard's glass rolled off the table.
In an instant, the heat and the light were gone. Celestia cried out as she threw herself to the stone floor, catching and cradling the crystal sphere before it could be broken. She lay there, holding it and breathing heavily. She gazed at it, turned it over in her hooves. Checked it for cracks and flaws. Finding none, she clutched it to her chest and offered thanks to the universe.
She didn't even notice that Twilight Sparkle had fled.
There are moments in our lives when time stands still, do ya kennit? Where the world around us fades away and we sink into a void of contemplative silence. The learned among us will say this is a kind of defense mechanism. Our brain encounters something that shatters our basic understanding of the universe, so it takes a moment to withdraw and try to make sense of things.
Twilight Sparkle experienced one such moment when she saw her brother's face emerge from beneath a hood of black. Lyra Heartstrings, her bondsmare, is having one of those moments now.
Her life has been devoted to her role as a Lawmare. She comes from an affluent family, her parents pushing her from birth towards a destiny in music and the arts. Her future lies with the upper crust of Canterlot society, they tell her. No one is more surprised than they are when she is found to have the spark of a Lawmare in her magical core. The life of a Lawmare is wild and dangerous, and it is everything her stuffy, controlling upbringing was not. She loves it, and believes that there is nothing in life that she can ever love more.
Until she meets Bon Bon.
Bon Bon, who owns the little sweet shop off Firefly Avenue. Bon Bon, whose laughter makes her heart swell to bursting. Bon Bon, whose loft behind her shop is so cozy and warm and safe. Bon Bon, whose breathless exaltations during love can be as addictive as the sugar she crafts.
It happens so quickly. They meet, they court, they marry... and Lyra is happy. Happier than she ever dreamed. She is a Lawmare. She has a wife. Everything is perfect.
Which is why time was standing still now... with a familiar hooded robe of black cradled in her hooves. A robe she's found tucked under her wife's side of the bed.
"Lyra?"
The Lawmare jumped at the sound of her wife's voice, the familiar tones shocking her back to the present. The robe dropped to the floor, out of sight. "Yes?"
"Moon Dancer's gone. Left a note that she had to start settling her mother's affairs." The earth pony stepped into the bedroom. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Lyra kicked the robe back under the bed and turned to smile at her beloved. "Did Moon Dancer say where she was going?"
Bon Bon shook her head before nimbly jumping up onto their cozy marriage bed. "Probably to start the funeral arrangements. Do you think she's going to be okay?"
"Of course she is." The smile felt forced, even for her. "Everything's gonna be okay."
Bon Bon cocked her head. "Are you alright? Something on your mind?"
(You're on my mind. I found your little costume you wear when you and your friends get together and plot to overthrow the Princess I've sworn my life to. Celestia above, Bon Bon, how could you do this to me? To us? To Canterlot? Why? How could you do this? Was it something I did? Was there something I missed? What was it? Tell me!)
"Nope. Just thinking about... stuff."
Bon Bon shook her head as she fell onto her side. "That's my Lyra; head always in the clouds." She sighed dramatically before closing her eyes. "Are you going out again tonight?"
Lyra stiffened. "Why?"
"Because with everything that's happened with Moon Dancer, you haven't slept a wink."
(Want to report my movements to your conspirator friends, right? Easier for you to sneak out if I'm not in the house, isn't it?)
"Actually... I don't think Twilight will mind if we take the night off. I mean, Moon Dancer just lost her Mom. Her head's not going to be in the right place." Lyra laid down until she was face to face with her (traitorous) wife. "What if we just hang out tonight? Like old times."
Bon Bon opened one eye and smiled. "That sounds great. I love you, Lyra."
(Liar! How can you lay there and lie to me like that! Did you ever really love me, or was it all just a ploy? A game? Celestia above, how could I not have seen!? You don't love me! You're a liar! A liar! A...)
"I love you, too." She kissed her wife softly, gently.
Rarity opened the manor's front door, fully intending to give a thorough tongue lashing to whoever was fool enough to come pounding on it at this hour. Instead she grunted as the air was pushed from her lungs by a distraught purple unicorn who immediately started weeping into her coat. "T-Twilight?" She gasped. "What's wrong?"
"E-everything's w-wrong!" The Lawmare managed before she once again devolved into incomprehensible sobs.
Rarity spied her maid in the corner and signaled for her to shut the door. "And bring some brandy to the study, please." She added as she began guiding her lover out of the foyer.
"Rarity?"
The white mare looked up to see three fillies peering down at the scene with concern. "It's alright, girls. Everything's alright. Go back to bed." She helped Twilight into the study and lowered her onto a cushion in front of the fire. The maid brought the brandy, filled two snifters, and bowed out of the room. Once they were alone, Rarity used her magic to swirl the amber liquid in its glass and hold it to her lover's lips. "Drink this, darling. For your nerves."
Twilight sipped delicately, letting the warmth flow down her throat and steady her somewhat. She took the glass in her own magic with a nod of thanks and continued to nurse it. "Thank you."
"It's what I'm here for." Rarity brushed a stray lock of mane out of the Lawmare's eyes and touched her cheek. "Now can you please tell me what's wrong?"
For the second time that night, Twilight told somepony everything that had happened in just the last few hours. She talked about Sunset, the Lawmares, and her brother's betrayal. This time, however, there was an epilogue to the story; Celestia's confession.
Rarity gasped at the reveal of method behind Celestia's supposed omnipotence. When Twilight was finished, the unicorn held her lover close before she could start crying again. "There there. It's alright."
"No, it's not." Twilight sniffled. "It's not alright. Nothing's alright. My brother's a traitor, my sisters are dead, and everything I've ever stood for is a lie."
"It wasn't a lie if you believed in it." Rarity assured her, stroking her mane. "If you and the others really believed you were doing good, then you were doing good."
Twilight coughed. Her throat felt raw and swollen. "Sunset thinks Lyra or Moon Dancer is the traitor."
"And what do you think?"
"I... I don't know what to think. After Shining Armor? I don't know who to trust."
"You have to trust yourself, darling." Rarity giggled. "If you can't trust yourself, you can't trust anypony." She sighed as she began stroking Twilight's back. "In any case, I can't say that I'm not relieved that I opposed Sweetie Belle's joining your number as strenuously as I did." She felt her lover stiffen in her embrace. "What is it, darling?"
"You... you always were against it, weren't you?" Twilight's voice was low, dead. "Why?"
"It's as I told you, darling, I..." The words died before they could come out. They fled back into her mind at the sight of Twilight's horn flaring to life inches from her face. "Twilight?"
Twilight said nothing as she pulled out of Rarity's embrace. She kept her eyes closed tight. She knew that if she looked at the mare's face, she wouldn't have the strength. That had been her mistake with Shining Armor. It was not a mistake she'd make a second time. "How long?"
"What?"
"How long have you been with them? The conspirators? The traitors?" Each word tasted like poison on Twilight's tongue. "Did you join them while I was on the roads? Or have you always been with them? Is that..." She tried to bite her tongue, but the possibility was too awful. Too monstrous. "Is that why you've been with me? Easier to keep tabs on me while I'm in your bed, right?"
Rarity swallowed hard. "Twilight, I don't know what this is..."
"Shut up!" She tried to ignore Rarity's gasp when a bolt of magic singed the air beside her head. "You gave yourself away by telling me to only trust myself. Because, really, who can I trust anymore? Not my brother, not my princess, and certainly not you." She growled. "Why serve the Good Mare, Rarity? What did she promise you? A better title? More influence in court? Or was it always about the abolishment of the Lawmares? Did you think it was the only way to keep Sweetie Belle from joining us?"
Rarity's world was the magic emitting horn that, in an instant, could deliver her to the darkness. "Twilight, darling, please... Please look at me."
"Everything was perfect!" Twilight shouted, and another stray bolt shattered one of the brandy snifters. "I was a Lawmare! I had a purpose! A destiny! And then you... you...!" She cried out and finally opened her eyes to behold the cowering mare before her. "You..."
Rarity closed her eyes. "I loved you. That's all I did. That's all I've ever done. I swear to you on my mother's name, Twilight; I'm no servant of the Good Mare. If you think I'm lying... then do what you must." She sniffed. "Just promise me you'll take care of Sweetie Belle. And remember that I always loved you. Even at the end."
Twilight saw Rarity tremble, saw the tears start to flow... and let her magic fade. "Rarity, I..." She collapsed to the ground, her eyes not leaving the shaking mare she loved. "I'm... oh... Oh, Rarity, what have I done? I've... I've forgotten the face of my mother. I-I've let this... this thing..." She bent her neck and seized her badge in her mouth. She twisted and pulled the image of the sun free of her leathers and cast it aside. It hit the plush carpet and lay there like a dead insect. "I've let it... let all of this poison me, make me destroy everything that matters... oh Rarity!" Twilight pushed herself across the floor and took her lover into her arms, holding her tight. She peppered her face with kisses, paying no mind as her own tears mixed with Rarity's. "Oh, forgive me..."
Rarity's kiss was her answer, and the two mares stayed there on the floor just holding each other for quite some time. They held onto each other like two survivors of a sinking ship, terrified that if either let the other go then they would be gone forever...
"Well, isn't this just the cutest?"
The two mares looked up in shock at the voice. "You..." Twilight stared in amazement.
"Forgive me, madam." The maid shuffled nervously, unable to meet Rarity's eye. "She just barged in when I opened the door."
"Send your gilly away, Lawmare." The mare in black tossed back her hood, letting her silver mane tumble free. Trixie Lulamoon smiled as her eyes flashed at Twilight's just as they'd done the first day they'd lain eyes on one another. "It's time we held palavar, you and I. Long passed time, I'd say."
The air is crisp this morning. Not quite frosty, but close. The filly shivers, but it is not just the cold that makes her shake.
It's nerves.
She reminds herself that the easy part is done. The older mare has probed her magical core and found the spark. She has the potential. Now she just has to prove she has the other qualities befitting a Lawmare; tenacity and an ability to adapt. Twilight Sparkle isn't worried about the former. Her father often jokes that she reminds him of a small dog clutching a scrap in its teeth with the way she refuses to quit reading and go to bed. But to adapt...?
Well, improvisation has never been her strong suit, do ya ken?
The older mare (what was her name? Twinkleshine?) steps aside. Two other mares step forward. Like Twinkleshine, they wear the leathers and badges marking them as full-fledged Lawmares, but their clothes are less frayed, show less signs of wear and tear. They're also much younger. "Sai Starlight Glimmer will be taking my place as the inspector while I go on the roads this spring." Twinkleshine nods at the pink mare. "She'll be administering the remaining trials. Do ya ken?"
"Yes, sai." Twilight tries not to squeak. She tries to stand straight and tall, tries to give no sign of the bubbling excitement in her heart. These Lawmares aren't much older than she is. These are two of the elite spellslingers she'll be training under, learning from, and one day? Fighting beside. "I'll do my best."
"You'll speak when prompted, maggot!" The golden Lawmare beside Starlight Glimmer barks, making Twilight flinch.
Starlight shakes her head at her sister Lawmare's gruff action. "Try not to scare them off just yet, Sunset."
The mare named Sunset snorts and looks away. "If they're jumpy enough to be startled by a little yelling, then maybe they should be scared away."
Twinkleshine gives a withering look to the golden unicorn. "As I recall, Sunset Shimmer, you were quite the jumpy one yourself. Don't let that badge on your chest make you forget what lies beneath it. We Lawmares are tough ones, say true, but we must be caring as well." She turns her gaze to Twilight and winks. "There's something about this one, I think. And who knows? Maybe she'll be your own apprentice."
Sunset takes the chiding silently, then turns back and stares daggers at the purple filly.
Twilight gulps, but doesn't break her gaze. She stares just as hard at Sunset.
Sunset's horn sparks. "Something you want to add, maggot? Something on your mind?"
"N-no, sai." Twilight wills herself not to look at the horn's dangerous glow. She maintains the impromptu staring contest.
For moments, neither pony moves. Neither looks away. Neither blinks.
It's Sunset who blinks first, and she grins. "Yar, you've got some salt, cully. What's your name?"
"Twilight Sparkle, sai." Twilight bows respectfully. "Daughter of Twilight Velvet of Canterlot. Sired by Night Light of the same."
Sunset nods approvingly. "And are they here to see your trials? Your parents, I mean."
"Say true." Twilight spares a glance over to where her parents are watching with rapt attention. Her brother stands near them, the teenager bedecked in his dress uniform. His graduation from basic training was only yesterday, and by all rights he should be using his leave to be out in the city partying with his friends and fellow members of the Royal Guard. He should be, but he's here. He's here for her.
And that means the world to her.
"You've done them proud by passing the second trial." Starlight starts smiling as well.
Twilight does a double take. "But sai, I..." It clicks, and she nods slowly. "It was a ruse."
The two young Lawmares share a look and a laugh while their elder shakes her head as she turns to walk away. "Mark me; if this is how you'll be conducting the trials, then may-hap you'll be the end of the Lawmares." She mutters as she leaves.
"Don't mind Twinkleshine." Sunset assures Twilight. "She's just sour that Starlight's so good that she's taking her job early."
Starlight watches the older mare leave with some sadness before turning back to Twilight. "Aye, 'twas a ruse. But you stared down a Lawmare, cully, and if that doesn't show a tenacious spirit, then I don't know what does." She cracks her neck. "Now all that remains is to test your adaptability."
Twilight's reply is cut short as the pink unicorn's horn sparks to life without warning. A tiny bolt of magic, hardly bigger than a bee, shoots out and strikes the filly in the chest. She cries out, more from the shock than the pain. It's almost nothing, barely a sting, but the suddenness of the attack makes it feel worse somehow. She opens her mouth to complain, but a yelp comes out as a second magic bolt strikes the same spot as before. Her ears flatten in irritation. "Why are... AH!" A third bolt, but this one's bigger. And it hurts more.
A lot more.
"Why are you just standing there, cully?" Starlight sends another bolt and gives no reaction to the filly's cry of pain. "You're under attack. Defend yourself." Her eyes narrow. "Adapt."
The fifth bolt actually staggers her. She racks her brain for what to do. Should she fight back? She only knows a few simple offensive charms. Certainly nothing that could affect a Lawmare. Defense wise...
The sixth bolt is bigger. She begins to cry. She can't think. She wasn't prepared for this. Everything hurts now. She doesn't want to be a Lawmare anymore. She just wants to hide under her bed with her books and wait for Shining Armor to...
Shining Armor!
Her little horn sparks and her brother's favorite shield charm flickers to life just in time to block the seventh bolt. She's finally able to catch her breath, and she wipes her eyes quickly, hoping the Lawmares haven't seen her crying. She's done it. She's passed the last trial. She lowers the spell and smiles... and then cries out in agony as the eighth bolt strikes her chest dead-center.
"Did your enemy yield, maggot?" Sunset snaps, unmoved by the filly who is now openly weeping and trying not to collapse to the cold ground. "Or did you think to reason with the pony trying to kill you?"
Twilight throws up the charm before the ninth bolt can hit her. She leaves it up as the tenth and eleventh bolts strike home. She stares in horror as the twelfth bolt makes the shimmering magic around her visibly crack. The thirteenth widens the crack. "What...?"
"Your enemy is increasing her attack to break your defenses, maggot. And she will. Do you know why?" Sunset continues her lecture while Starlight lets the fourteenth and fifteenth bolts fly. "Because a shield spell cast by a little filly is nothing compared to mares like us. And us? We're on your side. We're taking our time. But out there? On the roads? The enemy won't test your defenses. They'll just let fly with the most deadly spell they've got."
Twilight pours more will into keeping the shield up, but the sixteenth and seventeenth bolts continue to chip away. It's inevitable; the shield will collapse in a moment, and...
"That's what a Lawmare has to do, maggot." Sunset nods to Starlight. The pink unicorn ensures the eighteenth bolt is the strongest of all. "You're too cautious, Twilight. Sometimes you just have to let fly and hope for the best."
Twilight's shield shatters like glass and fades into the air. Twilight stares in horror as Starlight prepares to cast again. The bolts are too strong now. With the amount of magic she's using, Starlight Glimmer is apt to kill her. She thinks about running. She thinks about laying down and accepting her fate. She thinks about how she should have just stayed home today. She closes her eyes.
The nineteenth bolt flies out...
...and stops, humming slightly, inches from Twilight Sparkle's face.
Starlight and Sunset take an involuntary step back. Something has changed very suddenly. The air tastes different, somehow. The other assembled ponies can feel it too. They're looking around to see what could have caused it, this feeling of unease.
The answer is the cringing filly before them all.
Twilight's eyes fly open, and a blinding white (the WHITE, the coming of the WHITE) light shines from her sockets. A beam of light shoots forth from her horn and the magic bolt explodes with more force than should be possible, the resulting shock-wave sending both Sunset and Starlight to the ground. They stare in disbelief as the filly begins to rise into the air, a neutral expression on her face. Another magical shock-wave pushes the ponies even further back. They turn to face one another, each expecting the other to have some plan, some course of action.
Instead, they watch as a set of long white legs with golden shoes at the hooves passes between them.
"My little pony."
The magic flowing through her tiny body is roaring in her ears, but somehow she hears those words with perfect clarity. She seizes on them and pulls herself forward. Back to herself and out of the light. Twilight feels her hooves once more touch the ground, and now she can see again. She looks up at the statuesque mare and kneels at once. "Princess Celestia."
Celestia turns to the Lawmares who are just getting back on their hooves. "Who is she?"
"Her name is Twilight Sparkle." Sunset is staring at the filly with amazement and fear.
"She was taking the third trial." Starlight adds, dusting herself off. She has to do something with her hooves to keep them from shaking.
"So I see." Celestia reaches out, cups the filly's chin, and raises her eyes to meet her own. "I'd say she passed. Wouldn't you?"
The Lawmares share a look, then nod. "She'll be a fine apprentice." Sunset reaches up, pulls off her hat, and fans the dust away.
"Agreed. A fine apprentice." A peculiar smile crosses Celestia's lips. "And more than that, I'd say. Much more." She leans in close so only Twilight can hear her next words. "You're going to do something that nopony's ever done, little Twilight."
Twilight opens her mouth to start asking questions. What is she going to do? How does Celestia know about it? And why did she smile that that? But the ruler of Equestria is already leaving. Her family is racing over to hug her, to congratulate her, to tell her how proud they are. Twilight loses herself in their praise and admiration. The questions can wait. Now she has a walk to take with Sunset and Starlight to discuss when her training will begin. Her future is waiting.
But in all the excitement, she forgets to ever ask those questions. And what a shame that is.
Because by the time she does remember, it's too late.
The Lawmare and the mare in black sat across from one another, the only sound in the room the cheerful crackling of the fire beside them. Rarity hadn't wanted to leave, but Twilight had insisted. Had assured her that everything would be alright.
The lie had been a bitter one to deliver.
Trixie swirled the brandy and delicately sniffed it. "Making a high-status mare your gilly has some side benefits, I see."
"Don't call her that." Twilight growled. "She's not a whore."
Trixie paused in her sip and raised an eyebrow at Twilight. "I didn't call her one. Or has the meaning of the word 'gilly' also been twisted these days? Typical." She finished her sip and made a sound of approval. "Whatever she is to you, she has fine taste."
"Why are you here, Trixie?"
"To palavar with you, as I said. Or, if you'd prefer a modern parlance, I've come to chat." She smiled a little. "I've been keeping an eye on you, Lawmare, since you returned to the city. I saw something in you that day outside the palace. You were... different. Special. I could tell." She took another sip. "You were just the mare I needed."
"If you're thinking about trying to recruit me for whatever it is you've got planned, you can forget it." Twilight bared her teeth. "The only reason you're still drawing breath right now is because you're going to tell me everything you know about what the Good Mare's planning."
"Investigation was never the role of a Lawmare." Trixie polished off the brandy and exhaled with a smile. "Lawmares cast first and asked questions later. At least that's how it was in my day. When I wore the badge, we were more Celestia's enforcers than anything else." She didn't flinch a bit when Twilight's magic shot across the room and blew her snifter to shards.
"I have put up with a lot today." Twilight Sparkle's vision was tinged with red. It was a miracle that her shot had hit the glass and not popped the mare in black's skull. "My whole world has been turned upside fucking down. I've lost my sisters, my brother, and my..." She almost said ’my faith’ but managed to catch herself in time. "But I will not sit here and listen to you lie about..."
"'I do not aim with my hoof; she who aims with her hoof has forgotten the face of her mother. I aim with my eye.'" Trixie recited without pause, without emotion. Like a reflex. She spoke the words instilled in each apprentice from the moment they rose at the crack of dawn to the moment their heads hit the pillow under the shining moon. "'I do not cast with my horn; she who casts with her horn has forgotten the face of her mother. I cast with my mind.'" She closed her eyes as she spoke, and her shadow seemed to change in the dancing firelight. She seemed taller somehow. Prouder. Her bearing was one of absolute authority, of one who knows that they are the absolute true right of the world. "'I do not kill with my magic; she who kills with her magic has forgotten the face of her mother. I kill with my heart.'"
Twilight slumped in her seat. It couldn't be. It simply couldn't be. But how else could she know the words? Only those who had taken the oath were permitted to learn the sacred creed. "How... how old are you?" Twilight finally asked.
"Not much older than Sunset Shimmer, I suppose." Trixie smiled.
"Then why don't I remember you?"
"Ah, now there's a story." Trixie's horn lit and a deck of cards levitated out from her saddlebag. "Do you mind? It helps me to think." When Twilight waved her on, Trixie began shuffling the cards in her magic. "Now, I don't know the exact length of time, but as far as I can tell it's been somewhere in the neighborhood of two to three hundred years since I cast away my badge." Her eyes flicked towards Twilight's own sun emblem on the carpet nearby. "Did it feel good? Tearing it off, I mean?"
Twilight watched the cards, desperate not to look down at the discarded symbol of what she'd devoted her life to. "No. It felt awful."
"I felt the same way." Trixie sighed as the cards changed patterns in the air. "It was like ripping off a piece of my own flesh. I was shocked that I didn't start bleeding." The cards went wide, creating a wavy pattern in the air. "Yes, I was a Lawmare, Twilight Sparkle. I wore the leathers. I learned the spells. I know the creed. It wasn't my first inclination, of course. When I was a filly, all I ever wanted to do was be a showpony. An entertainer. In those days it was the law that all fillies of age had to try out for the Lawmares. Imagine my surprise when I returned and that was one thing that Celestia had softened up on." She sniffed. "I was heartbroken when I passed the trials. I spent my first weeks in the barracks plotting to run away and join the circus whenever the opportunity presented itself."
"So why didn't you?" Twilight asked, trying to look past the cards and focus on the mare in black. "Any apprentice is free to walk away anytime during their first year. Before you speak the creed."
"Isn't it obvious?" Trixie's smile was bitter. "I came to enjoy it. To relish my new life as a Lawmare. It was a challenge and a thrill. I was learning magic beyond anypony else. I had sisters who cared for me and pushed me in equal measure. I found happiness. I earned my badge. I took to the roads and dispensed justice in Celestia's name. And then..." The bitterness cracked, and something else snuck out. "I found something else that made me happier." She blinked rapidly, and Twilight realized that the mare in black was trying not to tear up. "I found somepony else."
Rarity's face flashed in Twilight's mind.
Trixie laughed as the card's flight pattern changed again. "I never dreamed that I would be one of those fools who falls in love. But then I met him. On the roads, of all places. He was a tavern keeper in a little village due east from here, maybe two weeks by hoof. He was such a charmer, my Tapper. Always flirting with anypony with a nice enough flank. But when he talked to me..." She smiled. Genuinely smiled. "There was something between us. Something I can't put into words. Do ya kennit?"
"Aye." Twilight smiled herself as she thought of the mare just a few rooms away. "I kennit."
"I didn't let him take me to bed until I was certain it wasn't just an act. I always made sure my tet would pass through his village on each patrol, trying to catch him off guard whispering the same sweet nothings to some other mare while I was gone. But I never did. He was always there, waiting for me." Her eyes sparkled. "And then he asked me to marry him." She giggled and sighed at the memories. "Oh, to go back to that day. My tet acted as my bridal party. We held the reception in his bar. It was all very classy."
For the first time in what felt like ages, Twilight managed a small laugh. "I'll bet."
"He finished that patrol with us and came back to Canterlot to live with me. He left his brother in charge of the tavern." She closed her eyes. "Hear me very well, Twilight Sparkle; those were the happiest days of my life. Coming home to the perfect bedmate..." Her lip trembled. "...Coming home to him... and to my little star."
Twilight's eyes widened. "You had a foal?"
"I did. A healthy, perfect little colt. And when I held him the first time, I knew that I could never go on patrol again. He was my new purpose. Holding him and looking into Tapper's eyes... I no longer needed to be a Lawmare. I needed to be something else; a wife and a mother. And a showpony!" She laughed and the cards seemed to dance with a laughter all their own. "Oh, we had it all worked out. He'd run the bar, and I'd handle the entertainment. It would be our own little family enterprise." Her smile began to fade. "But I had responsibilities to finish. My apprentice was nearing her final trial. I knew I couldn't leave until that was finished." She sighed heavily. "So, Tapper took our little one on ahead to the village. I was supposed to follow not long after, on the same day as my apprentice's last trial was finished."
Twilight leaned forward, enthralled despite herself. The cards whizzed about on the edge of her vision. "What happened?"
"Twilight; a question, I beg." Trixie looked into the fire. "Do you know the last time an apprentice failed her final trial?"
The purple unicorn shook her head.
"It was my apprentice. And what's worse? Her last cast was too much for her horn to take. It shattered, Twilight. Her horn shattered." Trixie glared at the flames. "I should have killed her. As a mercy, I mean. But she yielded, and I was forced to send my own student into the west without her magic to protect herself. Poor Tempest. It only strengthened my resolve to leave. How could I face a world of such cruelty by day and not bring some of that darkness into my perfect little world at home? I went straight from the arena to Celestia. And do you know what the worst thing about it was? She didn't even try to get me to stay."
A thought occurred to Twilight. "Princess Celestia knows you by name. She mentioned as much to me the first time I saw you preaching. She didn't mention..."
"Oh, please Twilight." Trixie sniffed. "She put me out of mind the moment I gave her my badge. For all of her talk of remembering us who serve under her, she forgets those of us who leave the instant we leave her sight." Her gaze hardened. "I spent years in her service, Twilight, and she didn't even ask me why I was leaving."
"Of course she didn't." Twilight almost scoffed. "You were dead-set on leaving, weren't you?"
"No, Twilight. Listen. Hear me. Hear me very well." Trixie's eyes seemed to burn as they bored into Twilight's. "She let me cast away my badge, thanked me for my service, and sent me away. Nothing else. Not a word." Trixie's teeth clenched, and tears emerged from the corners of her eyes. "Not a single word."
Something in the mare in black's tone made Twilight's blood run cold. "What happened?" She asked once more.
"I arrived at the village expecting to find my husband and my son waiting for me. All I found was death." The dancing cards began to flit about the room like a swarm of angry bees. "Death and ruin." Sparks lit from her horn, catching one card by the corner and making it smolder. "The bandits who had done it were still nearby. Before I let the last one die, I made him tell me when they'd destroyed the village. When they'd killed my husband... and my son..." She saw the question coming and snapped. "It had been the day before I left Canterlot for the last time! The day before! The blood of my loved ones was still on the ground when I went to Celestia! When I told her I was leaving her service! And she didn't say a word!" The cards burst into flame, and the room was briefly filled with dancing balls of fire.
On reflex, Twilight started to say something in Celestia's defense. After all, how could she have known...
(the glass)
...and Twilight said nothing. She just kept listening to the mare in black's tale.
"Celestia knows. Celestia always knows. The one, single, inescapable absolute of our land." Trixie spat into the fire and listened to the sizzle. The cards miraculously reconstituted themselves and resumed their dance in the air. "I think I lost my mind then. I just started wandering. I barely ate. I hardly slept. I had no set path. I just... wandered. In time my hooves carried me to the snows and up the hellish slopes of the North Mountains. I didn't care. Nothing mattered. I just wanted to die." Her eyes narrowed. "But part of me wanted to live. To survive. Because there was work to be done." She looked back to Twilight. "Do you believe in ka?"
Ka. Fate. Destiny. The weave of the world that made certain things happen. Twilight pursed her lips. "I do... but not as much as others. Sunset is..." She caught herself. "...was more of a believer than me."
Trixie nodded. "There was a time that I didn't believe in ka. That was until the night that I died. Or, rather, the night I was supposed to die." Her gaze drifted to the fire once more. "I don't know how long I wandered those frozen wastes. I do know that, in time, my body led me to a cave and then told me to lay down and sleep. I knew it was death guiding me, leading me to my own grave. I didn't care. I just didn't want to hurt anymore. So, I fell to the snow, wrapped myself in this cloak, and drifted off. I prayed for oblivion and afterlife in equal measure. I got neither."
"How could you possibly have survived?"
"Ka." Trixie whispered. "The cave I'd stumbled into was full of magical crystals, remains of the once great Crystal Empire. They preserved me, kept me breathing for centuries. I only awoke because she found me."
Twilight nodded slowly. "The Good Mare."
Trixie returned the nod. "Princess Cadance still doesn't know what guided her to that cave while on her morning walk. I say it's ka, but she's not much of a believer. Do you know what she does believe in, though?" When Twilight didn't say anything, Trixie smiled. "She believes in getting what's hers. We shared a common goal, she and I, so I pledged myself to her service and swore to deliver her what was rightfully hers by blood; Canterlot, and the throne of Equestria."
"Is this the part where you try and convince me to join your little crusade?"
Trixie shook her head. "It's like I told your brother; your convictions are too strong. All who serve the Good Mare do so for a reason. Me? It's revenge. Shining Armor? It's love. But you? You have no reason to join her. Even with your badge cast aside, you're still a Lawmare, through and through. But the days of the Lawmare are over, Twilight. You know it, and I know it. Otherwise you wouldn't have thrown away your badge. So what role is there in this drama for the Lawmare in all but name?"
A card flew close to Twilight's face, and she flinched. "So why are you here? Why are you telling me all of this if not to sway me to your side?"
Trixie took a deep breath. "Because I see something of myself in you. They called me the finest spellslinger of my generation, too. They called me 'the Great and Powerful Trixie.' But nopony remembers. They forget. They always forget. Even Celestia forgets. She certainly never told you the truth about me, did she?" When Twilight said nothing, Trixie pressed on. "I'm telling you all of this because I want to spare you my pain." She leaned forward, the cards circling her horn like a halo. "Run, Twilight Sparkle. Run. Take your gil... your lover and run. Leave Canterlot far behind. Tonight. Now. While you still have a chance. Go and find someplace to be happy. There are still places in this world where a mare of your skills, your convictions, is needed."
"Why so soon?" Twilight cocked her head. "Are you going to tell me next that the armies of the Good Mare are approaching Canterlot as we speak?"
Trixie practically cackled, and the cards bobbing in the air seemed to cackle with her. "Oh, Twilight. The Good Mare's army is leagues away from here. Her plan is for the Royal Guard to seize the city from the inside. The Royal Guard, of course, that your brother delivered to her like a bridal gift. Then she can just casually stroll in and take what she believes she's owed."
"Not even the Royal Guard would be able to last a minute against Celestia." Twilight scoffed. "She'd be ready and waiting when Cadance got here."
"You know that. And I know that." Trixie grinned wickedly. "Twilight, I'm not telling you to run because Canterlot's about to belong to the Good Mare. I'm telling you to run because, in a matter of hours, there won't be a Canterlot at all."
Twilight's jaw dropped. "But Cadance... You promised her..."
"I told her what she wanted to hear. I needed her resources, her weapons. It's not enough that Celestia dies, Twilight." Trixie winked, and her cards flew back into her saddlebags with expert precision. "I'm going take everything from her. Just like how she took everything from me."
Twilight's magic lashed out but struck only empty air as Trixie winked away in a flash of light, her last cackle echoing in the silence she left behind. She jumped to her hooves with a cry of frustration, reeling in her first instincts to trace Trixie's signature and follow her to wherever she'd sent herself. "Rarity!"
The alabaster unicorn ran in and looked around. "Where is she? What happened?"
"Never mind that." Twilight floated her hat onto her head and started for the door. "I have to go see Sunset. Then Lyra and Moon Dancer. You..." She stopped, remembering Trixie's words. "You and the girls need to start packing."
"Packing?" Rarity crossed the room to her lover. "But why?"
"Because you're leaving."
"Leaving Canterlot?” Rarity put a hoof to her mouth in shock. "But why? And where?"
"Anywhere. Away from here." Twilight took Rarity's hoof and kissed it. "Do you trust me?"
Rarity smiled. "Of course, darling."
"Good. I'll be right behind you. I just have to make sure..." She debated telling Rarity more but decided to hold her tongue for the time being. "I shouldn't be long." She headed for the door again, but something again gave her pause. Her gaze drifted down to the discarded badge still sitting on the floor. "I... I actually have to make one more stop. It won't take long. I promise."
"We'll be ready when you get back."
"Good." Twilight shook off the weird feeling and looked back at Rarity. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
Twilight winked... and vanished in a flash of light.
//////////////////////////////////////
Lyra's magic held the robe aloft. She watched her wife's eyes carefully, reading them for any tell-tale signs of deception. Any giveaways at all. "Well?"
Bon Bon cocked her head in confusion. "Well, what?"
Confusion flitted through Lyra's brain. Bon Bon seemed totally unphased by the robe's revelation. Didn't even seem to know what it was. If she was lying, she was doing a damn fine job of it. "Why was this under your side of the bed?"
"I don't know. I've never seen it before." Bon Bon's muzzle wrinkled. "Why would I have a black cassock anyway? Nightmare Night isn't for months. Besides, you know I always go more cute than scary."
Lyra's eye twitched. There were few ponies she really knew in this world. Ones that she could read well enough to know what they were really thinking. She'd always considered Bon Bon to be at the top of that list. And Bon Bon... didn't seem to know what she was looking at. The significance of it. Maybe... "Bonnie... I need to ask you something. And I need you to tell me the truth. No matter how much you think it might hurt, I need you to tell me the truth."
"You know I'd never lie to you." Fear and worry began to creep into Bon Bon's eyes when she heard the seriousness of her wife's voice.
Lyra opened her mouth, meaning to start by asking her where she'd been disappearing to so early in the morning, but the question was interrupted by a series of hard raps at the front door. Both mares turned and stared at the wood dumbly. "Who goes there?" Lyra called out.
"The Royal Guard!" A stallion's voice rang out. "We've received an anonymous tip that a follower of the Good Mare lives in this house!"
Everything clicked at once for Bon Bon. Her eyes flew from the door to the robe, to the pained look in her wife's eyes. "Oh! Oh, Lyra, no!"
"Bonnie..." Lyra started, lowering the robe. Her horn stayed lit. "Like I said; I need you to tell me the truth."
"Lyra, no!" Bon Bon gasped. "You can't believe... Lyra, I would never...!"
"Open this door, Lawmare!" The stallion shouted as he pounded on the door once again. "You know it's treason to shelter enemies of the state!"
"Lyra, listen to me." Bon Bon bit the inside of her cheek to keep her mind clear. Panic was starting to set in. "I've never seen that robe before. I know how this looks, why you'd be suspicious, but I swear to you... I swear to you, I would never betray you. You know me." Another round of pounds on the door made her jump. "You know me. I'm your wife. I don't know what's happening here, but I'm not a traitor. You have to believe that, at least. You have to believe me."
Lyra stared hard at her wife, her horn still lit. She ignored the strikes on her door becoming hard kicks as the guards outside began trying to batter their way in. She searched Bon Bon's eyes, the way she held her body, everything about her, trying to find some clue that she was lying, some tell that she was deceiving her.
She found none, and so she made the only choice she could.
Bon Bon's eyes widened as Lyra's horn glowed brighter.
The wooden front door exploded inward from one last impact, and the trio of armored guards raced into the little house, lances at the ready... just in time to be blinded by a flash of light. They blinked rapidly and shook their heads to clear their vision, but it was too late.
The two mares were gone.
/////////////////////////////////////
"Dinky Hooves."
The apprentice jumped, but her training helped her not to lose focus and drop the plate of cookies she'd absconded from the kitchen. The lilac unicorn turned towards the voice's origin and cocked her head. "Sai Moon Dancer?"
Moon Dancer let her saddlebags slide to the floor as she knelt to be at the filly's eye level. Her eyes flicked towards the platter of treats. "Taking advantage of the Lawmares' absence?"
Dinky bit her lip. "Say sorry." She murmured.
Moon Dancer laughed quietly and ruffled the filly's mane affectionately. "Many of your forebears have done the same." She grimaced. "And worse." She looked down the hallway towards Dinky's destination. "How many of you are here tonight?"
"Just me." Dinky relaxed slightly, now confident that she wasn't going to catch hell for this when Sunset Shimmer returned. "Everypony else went home for the weekend."
"You didn't want to take a little leave?" Moon Dancer cocked her head. "See your family?"
"It's just my Momma and me." Dinky shrugged. "She understands. Sai Sunset told me before she left that I needed to work on my defensive charms, anyway."
Moon Dancer stiffened slightly. "You don't think you'd rather spend this time with your mother?"
"She understands." Dinky insisted. "And it's not like she's going anywhere." She watched, confused, as Moon Dancer's kind face seemed to shrink in on itself slightly. "Sai Moon Dancer? Are you alright?"
Moon Dancer quickly got ahold of herself and stood tall once more. "Apprentice Dinky. I'm not your master, but I am a Lawmare. As such, you should obey my commands. Say true?"
Dinky snapped to attention. "Aye."
"Good. I want you home by daybreak." She saw the filly's mouth opening to question her but silenced her with a bark. "Are you hard of hearing, maggot?!"
"No sai! By daybreak. Aye." She gave a little bow, turned, and rushed down the passage to start packing her bag.
"Dinky!"
The filly stopped and turned back.
Moon Dancer's muzzle was quivering, tears gathering in her eyes. "You give your mother the biggest hug when you see her. Do ya kennit?"
Dinky nodded quickly, then hurried on her way. When she came back a few minutes later, saddlebags bulging with books and scrolls for home study, Moon Dancer was gone. As she left the barracks, she thought about how odd it was that Moon Dancer was so concerned that she hugged her mother.
Almost as odd how a fully badged Lawmare had been so forgetful to leave her saddlebags behind.
/////////////////////////////////////
The palace was oddly silent as Twilight made her way down the corridors towards Celestia's chambers. True, it was the dead of night, but the castle never really slept. Not really. The cleaning staff was always about. And the guards were downright dogmatic when it came to their patrols.
So why didn't she see or hear anypony?
(The Royal Guard, of course, that your brother delivered to her like a bridal gift…)
Trixie’s words echoed in her mind and put her on edge. Her horn lit on instinct. After everything she'd been through today, she was taking no chances. No more surprises today, thank you very much. She was here for a reason, and heaven help any who tried to stop her.
But why was she here, anyway? Why, to warn Celestia, of course. Personal feelings aside, she was still the princess. Still the ruler of the nation. She was in danger. And not just her. The entire city. The seat of power. The source of stability in the whole of Equestria. Trixie was planning on bringing all of it down. If they were to stand even the ghost of a chance of stopping her, they would all have to be united. She would tell Celestia what Trixie had told her and then advise the beginning of a systemic evacuation. Given the minions of the Good Mare's willingness to use those explosive crystals of theirs, it seemed the safest course of action. That way, should they fail in stopping Trixie's machinations, then at least the innocent ponies would be safe. Now if she only knew where to start searching for Trixie's lair...
(the glass)
No. Twilight grimaced at the intrusive thought. The glass was poison. She knew that somehow. Deep down. She had little doubt that Celestia's intentions were noble, but her reliance on the grapefruit's nature had clearly altered her mind somehow. How long had she had it, Twilight wondered. How many decisions that had once seemed so obvious, so wise, were really only made because Celestia's bauble had willed it so? Had it been Celestia's decision to allow only females to be Lawmares? Or had that been the glass too? Had Celestia seen her sister becoming a monster and done what she'd done for the good of the land...
...or had she only done so because the glass told her to?
The implication made Twilight shudder and she quickened her pace. She could see the great doors to Celestia's chambers now... but no guards were posted. Her steps faltered. There were always guards at Celestia's doors. Had they made their move already? She slowly crept closer, lighting her horn the slightest bit and using her magic to seize one of the great golden handles. She pushed the door in ever so gently...
An unfamiliar pink glow came from just inside the monarch's chambers.
Twilight inched closer, pushing the door in further as she did so. The glow became more pronounced, stronger, the closer she came to the portal. Something urged her on, began to eat away at her apprehension. Her pace increased, and she soon crossed the threshold and stared in horror.
There was an alicorn in Celestia's chambers... but it was not the Princess of the Sun.
Twilight stared in shock, frozen, as she took in the mare's pink coat, her mane the color of spring, and the regalia she wore wrought from gold and shining with crystals. She was visibly younger than Celestia. Shorter, but still taller than the average pony. Her eyes showed no sign of surprise to see Twilight. Cradled in one gold-slippered foreleg was Marelyn's Grapefruit.
Princess Cadance, the Good Mare, smiled at Twilight Sparkle and opened her mouth to speak.
Twilight’s mind reeled. Of course! It was so obvious now! Shining Armor knew about the tunnels. Of course he’d told his bride! She didn’t need an army to lay siege to the walls. All she needed to do was creep inside like a shadow on a cloudy night and take what she believed to be hers in one fell stroke. While she’d been kept distracted by Trixie’s tale of woe, the Good Mare had snuck in and struck like the heartless assassin she was. She was holding the grapefruit, wasn’t she? How else could she lay her filthy hooves on it unless she’d already killed…?
After the day she had endured, it was no surprise how Twilight reacted. Her sisters were dead. Her mentor was broken. Her brother was a traitor. Her monarch had lied to her. She'd forsaken everything she had ever stood for, cast away the symbol of her position, and nearly lost the one good thing in her life that the universe had been kind enough to give to her.
And it was all because of her. Cadance. The Good Mare.
Twilight shrieked with fury as the killing bolt left her horn. Her aim was deadly accurate, and the blaze of magic struck the Good Mare directly in her breast. Twilight felt the grim satisfaction of the kill as she watched the pink fur turn red, then black as the spell burned its way right into the mare's heart. The Good Mare's eyes widened with shock, but she didn't scream. She spoke but a single word.
"Twilight..."
But it wasn't the unfamiliar voice of the Good Mare that said her name. It was a voice she knew all too well. A voice that had offered guidance, compassion, and love. A voice that had been there all of her life.
Twilight swooned, and her vision seemed to swim and grow hazy. She shook her head and steadied herself... and stared at the reality of what she'd done.
The Good Mare was gone. Princess Celestia stood in her place, tall and regal and perfect... save for the bald and scorched hole upon her breast. She started to lift a hoof, perhaps to reach out to she who had betrayed her so totally, but lost her balance and collapsed to the plush carpeting.
Twilight was beyond words. She could only manage a choked gurgling cry as she practically leapt to her princess' side. She wrapped her forelegs around the alicorn's neck and almost vomited at the heavy, dead weight. Still she tried to lift her, tried to get her standing again. She was Celestia. The pillar of Equestria. The rock of order. She had to rise! She couldn't die! Twilight couldn't really have...
"T...Twilight..." the corpse whispered.
Twilight looked into the fading eyes of the mare she'd sworn to serve. The mare that had guided Equestria since time immemorial. The mare who had battled gods and monsters... and now had been felled by Twilight's own hoof.
"I...It's alright, Twilight." Celestia grimaced, and Twilight realized that she was trying to smile. "I... I knew it... it would be you..."
(Celestia knows... Celestia always knows...)
She went slack, and her last breath left her body with a quiet hiss. Marelyn's Grapefruit slid from her grasp and landed on the carpet with a soft thump.
Twilight stared at the glass, remembering what Celestia had told her that fateful day so long ago; that she was going to do something nopony had ever done. Twilight had wondered, from time to time, what she had meant with those words. Now she knew, of course.
All those years ago, the Wizard’s Glass had told Celestia that Twilight Sparkle would be the death of her. And instead of taking steps to alter that fate, Celestia had accepted it. Had guided her and taught her like she was no different than any other Lawmare. Had held her close and loved her as a daughter, knowing and believing all the time that it was her own doom she cradled.
The glass seemed to wink at her.
With a cry of rage, Twilight seized the cursed bauble in her magic and hurled it as hard as she could away from the fallen princess. It smashed through a stained glass window and vanished into the dark of the night. Twilight paid it no mind. She just stayed there, silently sobbing into the cooling fur of the mare that she'd killed. The mare that she'd loved. Her teacher. Her mother.
The maid looked up from the suitcase she was packing to see her mistress staring out the window. "Miss?"
Rarity's eyes remained focused on the night-shrouded city outside. "What time is it?"
The maid looked to the clock briefly before returning to her task. "Half past seven, miss. If you'd like breakfast a little early, then perhaps..."
"Something is very wrong."
"Why d'ya say that, miss?"
Rarity turned from the window, concern etched into her lovely face. "Why hasn't the sun started rising?" Before the maid could answer, Rarity pointed a hoof towards the upstairs landing. "Check on the girls, please. If they're still sleeping, then leave them be. No sense in worrying them."
"Aye, miss."
Rarity watched the mare climb the stairs before turning and looking out the window again. She could see other ponies poking their heads out of doors, eying the sky curiously. A few emerged from their dwellings to speak to their neighbors, huddling together in the streetlamp's glow. One or two actually appeared to head down the lane, presumably to head to work like nothing was out of the ordinary.
Rarity sighed and settled back on her haunches. Something was wrong. She knew that. She could feel that. It felt like some awful dream she couldn't wake up from. The Lawmares had been decimated, the forces of the Good Mare were in the thick of Canterlot, and Twilight...
...her own beloved Twilight had threatened her.
She shivered as she recalled the cold, broken look in her lover's eyes when she'd accused her of being an agent of the Good Mare. It was so unlike the mare she'd fallen in love with. So unnatural. So alien. That moment hadn't felt real. But real it had been, and it was clear that the Lawmare who held her heart was in danger.
In danger of losing herself. Say true.
But what could Rarity do? She was a noble in only the most technical sense. Her family's place in court was so very minor now compared to what they had once been. It was only the family coffers that kept them in the comfortable place they were in now. In this shadow conflict that she was rapidly becoming a part of, what part could she possibly play? Was there more that she could do besides just being Twilight's moral support? Or would that have to be enough?
The windowpane reflected a tell-tale flash of light behind her, and she sighed with relief. Her Lawmare had returned. She turned... and froze. Indeed, there was a Lawmare standing before her, but not the one she'd been expecting. "Lyra?"
Lyra Heartstrings made sure to give her wife a quick once over before turning to her dinh's beloved. "I didn't mean to startle you. Forgiveness, I beg." She gave a quick, formal bow. Before finding her place with the Lawmares, Lyra had been a noble like Rarity. Like the Lawmares, the court had certain customs that had to be maintained. She waited until Rarity returned the bow before continuing. "Where's Twilight? Is she here?"
"She... she said she was coming to find you." Rarity looked to Bon Bon. The cream-colored mare was tinged with green. "Are you alright, dear?"
"I'm fine." Bon Bon swayed slightly. "Just not used to winking."
"Please, have a seat." Rarity indicated the couch. "I'll have the maid get you something to drink."
"There's no need. I can..." Bon Bon's eyes suddenly got very wide. She bolted from the room, and the two noblemares winced at the sounds of retching.
"...I'll clean that up." Lyra muttered. She snapped back to the matter at hoof. "You said Twilight was coming to find me? What for?"
Rarity opened her mouth to answer but paused. Was it her place to tell Lyra that her sisters were dead? That the Royal Guard had been compromised? That Twilight had practically ordered her to leave the city entirely?
The two mares jumped at a sudden pounding on the door. They hurried to the entryway, arriving just as a second series of knocks shook the wood. Bon Bon reappeared from the room she'd ducked into and shared a nervous look with her wife. "Who is it?" Rarity called out. "It's very rude to go knocking on doors like that so early in the..."
"Miss Rarity." A voice she recognized drawled from the other side. "It's me. Let us in, quick!"
Rarity rushed to do just that, but found her path impeded by Lyra. The Lawmare placed herself between the noblemare and the door, her horn lowered and glowing. "State your business plainly or begone." She commanded. "There's too much going on for..."
"Lyra Heartstrings, you maggot, you open this door this instant! For your mother's sake!" An all too familiar voice barked.
"Yes, sai Sunset. Say sorry." Lyra opened the door at once and would have screamed at the sight of her elder Lawmare had Rarity not been ready with a hoof to place over her lips. She backpedaled rapidly as one of her mentors limped inside, followed by an orange earth pony mare who kicked the door shut behind them. Lyra tore herself free of Rarity's grasp and stared at Sunset with wide-eyed horror. "What in Celestia's name?!"
"Twilight didn't tell you?" Sunset's lost eye was covered by a bandage, and her exposed unseeing eye narrowed. "Where is she?"
"We came here looking for her." Bon Bon joined the group. "Lyra, what in Equestria is happening right now? First the guards come banging on our door, saying there's a traitor in the house, and then... AH!" Bon Bon uttered a little scream when Sunset's magic seized Lyra and lifted her wholly into the air, pressing her against the wall. "Sunset, what are you doing?!"
"It was you?! You?!" Sunset spat the words. "Twilight trusted you! We all trusted you!"
Lyra's muscles screamed as Sunset telekinetically squeezed her like a toy. The pain from the attack and the confusion at who was doing said attacking made casting a countercharm practically impossible. Her horn sparked pathetically as the tightness spread across her chest and reached her throat.
"Sunset, Lyra thought I was the traitor!" Bon Bon grabbed her wife's legs and pulled as hard as she could, trying to free her from Sunset's grasp. "Please let her go!"
Sunset didn't move a muscle, but her magic stopped getting tighter. As Lyra gasped for air, Sunset took an uneasy step forward. The wooden prosthesis Applejack had whittled for her was too long and ached terribly, but it would have to do. "Lyra Heartstrings. Sayt true; do you still call yourself Lawmare?"
"A...aye." The hanging mare croaked.
"Do you still hold true to the creed?"
"Aye."
"Have you betrayed your legacy?"
"No!"
"Then make me believe it, maggot!" Sunset's magic vanished and Lyra landed nimbly on all four hooves. Sunset readied herself to be attacked, or for Lyra to fall and profess her innocence. Either action would have marked her as a traitor and earned her a killing bolt to the brain, her wife standing there or not. But Lyra did neither. She rushed forward and embraced her elder, holding her tight.
"Oh, Sunset! What happened?! Who did this to you?!" She wailed into Sunset's coat, her voice wracked with agony.
Convinced, Sunset returned the embrace. "Say sorry, sai Lyra. I... I was wrong to doubt you." She sniffled, finally allowing the possibility that there had been no traitor at all to enter her heart. "This is what the Good Mare wants, isn't it? To drive us apart. But we can't let her win. We can't."
The orange mare cleared her throat as she looked past the reunited Lawmares at Bon Bon. "Don't believe we've met, miss. Name's Applejack. I'm a friend."
"Long days and pleasant nights, sai Applejack." Bon Bon bowed her head. "I'm Bon Bon Heartstrings."
"Yes, yes. We're all very well met and all that." All eyes turned to Rarity as she waved her hoof in a manner that reminded them all of a certain missing Lawmare. "There's still the pressing question of where Twilight is."
"And why the sun hasn't risen." Applejack murmured.
"HEAR YE! HEAR YE!"
The assembled mares turned to the front door. "That's out on the street." Rarity whispered.
"A crier?" Sunset's remaining ear flicked as the call came once again. "Why would the palace send out a crier?" Royal criers were rarely used in the modern age, only rolled out once a year or so to announce the start of annual festivals. "Rarity, go outside and listen, I beg. It'll be less suspicious if they see you. We'll stay inside."
The white unicorn nodded and opened the door. She stepped out onto the veranda and looked to the street. It was a royal crier alright, all dressed in gaudy gold and purple. A crowd was beginning to gather around. More and more ponies were looking at the sky, wondering the same question and hoping the crier had the answer; where was the sun?
"HEAR YE, HEAR YE! CITIZENS OF CANTERLOT! A PROCLAMATION FROM THE THRONE!" The crier raised a scroll in his magic and began to read. "PRINCESS CELESTIA, OUR BENEVOLENT RULER AND PROTECTOR SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL... IS DEAD!"
Rarity's gasp of shock was swallowed by the sudden rush of screams and raised voices from the ponies around the crier. Celestia... dead? The idea seemed impossible. The crier may as well have told them that water was dry, or the stones soft as pillows. If Celestia, immortal and all-knowing Celestia, was dead, then...
...then it must be the very end of the world.
"PER CELESTIA'S WISHES, THE CROWN AND THRONE OF EQUESTRIA DO HEREBY PASS AT ONCE TO HER BELOVED NEPHEW, THE PRINCE BLUEBLOOD. HIS ROYAL MAJESTY PROCLAIMS A WEEK OF MOURNING FOR HIS AUNT. HIS GRACE WISHES HIS LITTLE PONIES TO KNOW THAT THEY MAY MOURN IN PEACE, KNOWING THAT AT THE VERY LEAST THE ASSASSIN OF CELESTIA, THE AUTHOR OF ALL OUR WOES, IS IN CUSTODY AND CURRENTLY WAITS FOR THE PONY'S JUSTICE IN THE PALACE DUNGEONS."
"Who has done this?!" A stallion cried out.
"What monster could kill Celestia?!" A mare wailed.
The crier continued, answering their questions. "THE PRINCESS' ASSASSIN WAS SOMEPONY SHE TRUSTED ABOVE ALL OTHERS. THIS WRETCHED CREATURE USED OUR BELOVED MONARCH'S LOVE AGAINST HER, USED HER TRUST TO ENTER THE PALACE LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT AND SLAY HER UTTERLY. HER ACTIONS HAVE NOW THREATENED THE VERY FOUNDATIONS OF PEACE, AND HIS MAJESTY WISHES HIS LITTLE PONIES TO KNOW THAT SHE, AND HER CO-CONSPIRATORS, WILL FACE JUSTICE."
Rarity knew, then, what his next words would be. She didn't want to hear them. She wanted to run back inside and hide. She wanted to wake up from this dream, this nightmare, before he said his next words. Before her world had the chance to break entirely.
"PRINCESS CELESTIA WAS SLAIN BY TWILIGHT SPARKLE, THE LAWMARE." The crowd roared in angry shock at the words. "WHAT'S MORE, EVIDENCE HAS BEEN UNCOVERED THAT SUGGESTS THE LAWMARES AS A WHOLE ARE IN LEAGUE WITH THE GOOD MARE HERSELF. THEY, AND THEIR ALLIES, WILL BE BROUGHT IN FOR QUEST..."
Rarity felt herself seized in a magical field and yanked back inside. She closed the door herself, turned, and nearly collapsed against it. She saw Bon Bon and Applejack in much the same state of disbelief she herself was in. As to Lyra and Sunset Shimmer? Their heads were lowered, their eyes were closed, and they were quietly speaking in unison with a language Rarity didn't understand. Tears streamed down their faces, but their voices were steady and strong. "Wha... what are they...?"
"My granny told me about something like this." Applejack reached up, removed her hat, and held it over her heart. "Said the Lawmares have all kind of secret ceremonies for every possible outcome. I think... I think this might be the funeral rite for the princess."
As one, Sunset and Lyra lifted their heads, stomped their left hoof three times, and completed the incantation with a simultaneous exhale. The ceremony done, Lyra rushed into Bon Bon's embrace and cried into her shoulder. Sunset stared stoically ahead, her face soaked through.
"It... it has to be a mistake." Rarity started. "Twilight would never..."
"No. No she wouldn't." Sunset wiped her cheeks. "There's more to this atrocity than Blueblood wants Canterlot to know. We'll ask her ourselves shortly."
"But..."
"We know where she is." She walked to the door, her gait steadier now. "So let's go get her."
"Right." Lyra reluctantly pulled away from her wife and followed her elder Lawmare. "Bonnie, you stay here. We'll be back soon."
And what would Rarity do? Her lover was imprisoned for a crime of unfathomable evil. She herself would soon be collected for questioning as a known ally of the Lawmares. She was a part of this now, whether she liked it or not. In this conflict that was now fully out in the open, in the shadows no longer, what part would she play? Was there more that she could be than just another rich noble, watching from the sidelines while others stood true?
Twilight Sparkle stared at the damp floor of her cell, deep in the palace dungeons. Her cell was dark, the only source of light the torch in the sconce just outside the bars. It was quiet this deep under the ground. There was a steady drip of water somewhere nearby, but beyond that? Silence. She reached up a hoof and touched the ring of silver that now encircled her horn; a magic nullifier. Standard issue for prisoners.
She vaguely wondered if she was the first Lawmare in history to be wearing one down in these cells.
The old heavy door at the dungeon's entrance swung forward on old, creaky hinges. Hoofsteps echoed on the walls, then stopped just outside her cell. Twilight looked up, expecting to see another guard or investigator.
Moon Dancer weakly smiled at her. "You look awful, my dinh."
Twilight returned the smile as best as she was able. "It's been a long night."
Moon Dancer's face fell. "It's not over. The night I mean. That's how..." She swallowed. "That's how I knew it was true."
Twilight's face fell. "You know what I've done, but you still came. Why?"
"Because you're my dinh, Twilight." Moon Dancer pressed herself against the bars. "I know you. So I don't understand how this happened."
"I've been trying to figure that out myself." Twilight stood and started pacing the small cell. "When I attacked, it wasn't Celestia I saw. It was the Good Mare. The vision only lifted once the killing blow was struck." She paused and stared hard at the wall. "It must have been Trixie."
"Trixie? What's she got to do with this?"
"She came to Rarity's house and told me her story. I let my guard down... and she must have done something to me I didn't notice. Hypnotized me somehow." She reared back and punched the wall with a grunt. "She wound me up like a clockwork toy and used me."
"Do you think they'll believe that?" Moon Dancer settled back on her haunches. “That an agent of the Good Mare used you like a gun?”
Twilight chuckled humorlessly. "Moon Dancer, I wouldn't believe me." She looked over. "How are things out there? Has the news spread?"
"Across the city. Blueblood dispatched the criers." Moon Dancer shook her head. "There's a mob gathering outside the gates. Most of them are calling for your immediate execution."
"Naturally."
"They're keeping the guards busy. Made it easier for me to sneak in to see you."
Twilight cocked her head. "Why would you have to sneak in?"
Moon Dancer sighed. "Because Blueblood has declared that all Lawmares are to be brought in for questioning. Says that he has evidence we're all in league with the Good Mare."
"So we're all traitors?" Twilight sat, shaking her head. "Sunset's going to love hearing that."
Moon Dancer's ears perked up. "Sunset? She survived?" She regretted the words the moment she said them, and she bit her tongue so hard she drew blood. "That... I meant to say… she… she returned?" But the damage had already been done, and she knew it.
It took Twilight a moment to process what her tet-mate had just said, and even then she didn't want to believe it. "No." She whispered. "No." She must have misheard her. Perhaps she really had just mis-spoke. "Not you. It can't be you." After such a long night of betrayals and shattered worlds, she hadn't believed anything could phase her anymore. But as she watched Moon Dancer wither under her gaze, one more sliver of glass worked its way into the shattered remains of her heart. "Why, Moon Dancer?"
"Why...?"
"Trixie told me that everypony who follows the Good Mare does so for a reason. For her, it's revenge. For my brother, it's love. What's yours?"
Moon Dancer took off her glasses, polishing them on her coat. The action was a reflex, a calming ritual. For a moment, she considered the idea of continuing the lie. But no. No, the lies had gone on long enough. She returned the glasses to her eyes and sat straight. "My mother."
"She got sick so quickly, Twilight. The doctors... they told me there was nothing they could do. All I could do was keep her comfortable. And then Trixie came to me. Told me how the crystals in the north mountains had kept her alive." Moon Dancer talked faster, like she was afraid that if Twilight interrupted her, she would lose her nerve. "She had a small chunk, and she showed me how it could heal. She... she cut her foreleg and used the crystal to heal the cut. She told me that I could save my mother with them, and all I had to do was..."
"All you had to do was send your sisters to their deaths! You swine! You cur! You… you bitch!" Twilight lunged at the bars, pressing herself against them. "You forged a false ka-tet knowing full well that...!"
"There's nothing false about our ka-tet, Twilight!" Moon Dancer jumped to her hooves and protested. "Yes, Trixie told me that the others would have to die, but I did everything in my power to make sure that at least you and Lyra would survive!"
"How can you stand there and say such things and not kill yourself out of shame?!" Twilight screamed. "Your sisters died like dogs in the dirt, and you carried on like it was nothing!"
"Because they were already dead to me!" Moon Dancer screamed back. "They were dead the moment Cadance willed it so! I had already mourned them and let them go by the time any blood was spilled! I spent every moment ensuring you, Lyra, and the apprentices would be safe! And... and..." She faltered. "And it was all for nothing anyway." Her voice cracked. "My... my mother's dead, Twilight. She died before Cadance could get here with the crystals. I betrayed everything I’ve ever known, everything I’ve ever loved... and for what? Nothing. Nothing at all..." She let out a heavy sob and fell to the cold wet stones.
Twilight looked down on her impassively. "Yes. It was for nothing. In fact, it was for less than you realize."
Moon Dancer looked up, wiping her eyes. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that the traitors have been betrayed. I mean that when the Good Mare gets here, all she's going to find is a dead ruin." Twilight spat. "Trixie is planning on destroying Canterlot."
Moon Dancer blinked rapidly. "But... No, that's ridiculous. Why would she...?" She trailed off, knowing from the look in Twilight's eyes that it was the truth. "Then... then we have to stop her." Her horn lit. "I'll get you out of there, and we'll..."
"If you open this door, I'll kill you with my bare hooves." Twilight's voice was flat, broken. "If you remove this ring from my horn, I'll pull you inside out. Slowly. The last thing you'll taste in this world will be your own blood and shit."
Moon Dancer shrank, her horn's light dying. "T-Twilight... My dinh..."
"I am not your dinh!" Twilight cried, slamming her body against the bars. "I disavow you! I cast you from my heart and declare you accursed!" She drew in a great breath and spat a wad of saliva and phlegm on Moon Dancer's hoof. "You have forgotten the face of your mother."
Moon Dancer's lip quivered. Without another word, she turned and ran. The heavy door slammed closed behind her.
Twilight was left in the darkness once again. Cold. And dark.
Blueblood hefted the contraption in his hoof carefully, feeling its weight. "And you're certain this will work?"
"For the dozenth time, yes." Trixie's irritation with the stallion was rapidly approaching critical levels. She'd barely had a chance to celebrate the news of Celestia's murder before he'd found her demanding the device she'd acquired from the Good Mare. "It's been analyzed numerous times by the Empire's top mathmagicians. They've even made a few upgrades so it's even easier to use." Her magic lifted the copper coated tube into the air and rotated it slowly, once again bringing the twin switches into the kingdom's new head's point of view. "The one with the image of the sun will raise the sun, while the other..."
"Yes, yes. I understand." Blueblood's own magic roughly snatched the device away. He tucked it under his ceremonial cape, pointedly ignoring Trixie's look of rising rage. "What I don't understand is why I can't raise the sun at my coronation ceremony."
"Because the Good Mare does not want you to raise the sun. Not yet." Trixie tossed back her hood and looked into the starry darkness above. She was ever so fond of the night. A rather long one didn't seem like such a terrible idea. "As previously planned, you will assure the citizens of Canterlot that you are delving into Celestia's archives for some way of restoring the natural balance of sun and moon. In due course, you will 'discover' evidence of Celestia's lies about the Good Mare and announce that you have sent envoys hoping for peaceful reconciliation. Only when you receive word that her banners are in sight are you to use the device and raise the sun."
"So the fools in these walls will see it as a sign. Or ka. Or some other such nonsense." Blueblood nodded. "I will welcome the Good Mare and cede her rightful throne to her..." The pale stallion cut his eyes at the mare in black. "And the rest of the plan hasn't changed, then? I will still be seated as the crown prince of Canterlot, second only to her?"
Trixie had to bite the inside of her cheek to hold back her retort. Ka willing this would be the last time she and the obnoxious royal shared the same breathing space. "I can promise you, sai; you will get all that is coming to you." She reached back and pulled her hood back over her mane. "All that and more. Say true." She turned and started away.
"You aren't coming to the coronation?" Blueblood called after her.
She ignored him. Another moment within earshot of his voice and she knew she would likely vomit. She wanted a moment to herself. A moment of silence and solitude to reflect on her success. She headed away from the palace and wandered into the royal gardens. Nopony would be here now. She cast a look back at the palace's glowing windows, the closest thing to a sun in this new dark day. How she wished she'd had time to sneak inside, to see the bloated white corpse before it was spirited away to prepare for burial. She wondered if the frozen look of pained betrayal matched the one her mind had conjured for her. It was done. The bitch was dead. And now...
Now, it was almost over.
She breathed in the good, cool night air and wallowed in the garden's night song. The crickets sang a hymn for Celestia's passing, and the wind provided an accompaniment as it swept past the hedges and marble statues that surrounded her. Trixie looked up at the winking Mare in the Moon and thought of Princess Luna. Did she know her sister was dead? Did she celebrate as Trixie did? Did she mourn?
Did it, did any of it, really matter?
Trixe finally settled onto the soft grass and leaned against the chill marble of some decoration. This was as good a place as any to wait for the finale. Her work was done. All her months of scheming, planning, and coordinating... it was finally done. Now she could rest. Just lay here and wait for the last domino to fall. She wondered; if she fell asleep now, would she even wake when the time came? It might take Cadance another week to march her army to the city. She certainly felt like she could sleep for a week right now.
She took another long breath and smiled sadly. She really did feel bad for Twilight. The Lawmare had seemed genuinely moved by her story. Trixie had been able see that even as her deck did its wicked work, planting the subliminal spell that would compel Twilight to visit Celestia... and make her see somepony else in her teacher's place. Trixie wondered if Blueblood would execute the Lawmare before Cadance arrived. If so, she hoped it would be sooner rather than later. Despite everything, she didn't want Twilight to suffer more than she already had. The unicorn knew the fate that awaited Canterlot. Better to kill her quickly instead of letting her drive herself mad waiting for the inevitable.
But, again, did any of it really matter anymore?
No, she decided at last. It didn't. Her work was done. Now there was but to wait. She put her hoof to her heart and sighed, long and hard. "It's done, my love. You and Little Star can rest now. I'll be there with you soon enough."
Ah... but will you?
Trixie's ears swiveled towards the sound of the voice. "Who's there?" She demanded.
No one of importance... After all, nothing matters anymore...
Trixie's eyes scanned the moonlit gardens, eyeing each dancing shadow for movement. Try as she might, she couldn't zero in on where the voice was coming from. It seemed to be dancing around her one word, then coming from right next to her ear the next. "I warn you, cully, whoever you may be. You'd best carry on your way. I’m not one to trifle with."
Ah, but this is right where I want to be. I was hoping we'd get to meet... Trixie Lulamoon.
Trixie's horn lit, ready to attack at the first sign of movement, but she froze when she saw a brighter glow shining dimly from a hedge nearby. It pulsed in the darkness, a lovely and low shade of pink. Keeping her magic at the ready, the mare in black stood and moved slowly towards the light. "I see you. Your light is giving you away."
A light you can only see because I wish you to see it. I wasn't sure you were the one I was waiting for. I didn't want to give myself away too early.
"So what changed your mind?" Trixie had reached the bush now and leaned close to inspect the glow. It was coming from a break in the hedge, a hole that looked freshly made. Like something had been thrown and been buried in the green to be forgotten. "Why reveal yourself to me?"
Because I think you're just the mare I need, Trixie Lulamoon. You're a mare of great talents, a mare that can get the job done. And, as I understand, your service to the Good Mare is done. You're quite unemployed at the moment.
"I'm not looking for new work." Trixie narrowed her eyes. Try as she might, she couldn't make out just what was making that pulsing glow. "My work is finished. Leave me be so I can rest until the end. My family waits for me."
Do they? Are you sure? What if all that's waiting for you is simple oblivion?
"Then to oblivion I go. Anything is better than this world."
I understand. But you should know something, Trixie Lulamoon.
"And what's that? What should I know?"
There are other worlds than these. Worlds brand new, and worlds moved on. With my help, you could traverse these worlds and find one where your husband and son still live.
Trixie smiled at the thought, but it died quickly. "That might take a long time."
You're right, of course. Which is why I've got a much simpler solution.
"Which is?"
A clean slate. Wipe the board clean. Return all the worlds to the endless nothing they were before and create a new one. A perfect world.
Trixie swallowed hard. "You... you could do that?"
Not alone, no. I will need help. Help from ponies like you. Serve me as you've served the Good Mare, and I will let you help me shape this new world. You can have the life you always wanted, the family you always wanted... Doesn't that sound nice?
“That… that does sound nice.” Trixie's magic faded as she reached into the hole in the hedge, pushed her hoof into the pulsing pink. "What... what are you?"
Let me show you. I'll let you know... as Celestia knew.
Trixie's hoof touched glass... and her world became as fire. Her mouth hung open in a silent scream as her muscles locked in place. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as an endless multitude of images flooded her mind. She went insane, returned to sanity, died, and was born again in the space between a clock's tick and tock. She saw everything. She knew everything. She saw worlds upon worlds, universes upon universes. And rising high above, in the center of all things, she saw...
She saw...
She pulled the object free from the hedge and the flood of images was gone. She fell to the grass, gasping for breath and chilled by a frothy sweat on her coat. She cradled the object in her foreleg and stared at it with wonder. She knew. She understood. "You... you'll help me bring them back?"
Yes. But there is great work to be done first. Will you serve me, Trixie Lulamoon, Lawmare that was? Will you be my right hoof, o mare in black?
A dry sob wracked Trixie's throat as she leaned down and began planting kisses all over the glowing glass orb that still pulsed against her fur. "Yes, I will serve. I will. I swear. My life for you." She pressed her face against the glass. In the cool night, it's touch warmed her to the core. "O Discordia..." She moaned.
In Discordia I wait for you, my mare in black. But you have work yet to finish in Canterlot. Finish it, and come for me. Serve me well, and there will be a place of honor waiting for you here...
...waiting for you in the court of the Crimson Queen.
Twilight didn't look up at first when the door opened and hoof-steps approached. She supposed it was her next meal being delivered, but she had no appetite. None of that mattered anymore. "Just leave it and go." She whispered. All she wanted was to be left alone in this cell. Left to wallow in her failure, her blindness.
Left alone to die.
But there was no clatter of a tray. No clop of departing hooves. No creaking of the heavy door closing.
Twilight looked up. Four ponies were lined up outside of her cell door. Each wore identical hooded robes of black to conceal their identities. Two were unicorns, their exposed horns already lit. The other two were pegasi, sharpened throwing knives held primed and ready in rigidly extended wings. She couldn't see their eyes, but she could feel their gaze upon her. Despite everything, she managed a small chuckle. "Not even going to bother making it look like a suicide, huh?"
"No chances." One of the mares hissed. "The Good Mare thanks you for your service, Twilight Sparkle. As a reward, she offers you a quick death. It's better than whatever public spectacle Blueblood will use to placate the masses."
Twilight fixed the mare with a withering glare, gathered what little moisture was left in her mouth, and spit in her direction defiantly. "Just kill me and be done with it, maggot."
The mare smirked. "By your command, sai."
Twilight stared hard at her assassins. She would meet Death with open eyes. She wanted to be ready the moment the old bastard appeared. He had a lot to answer for.
There was a tremendous bang, a flash of light so vibrantly purple it made her wince, and all four assassins were blown against the cell's bars with enough force that several of them bent inward. The ponies slid to the ground in a broken, moaning heap.
"Damn, mare. You're telling me that's the first time you've ever cast an offensive spell?"
"Oh, dear. I overdid it, didn't I?"
"You were supposed to wait for my signal, cully."
"Sorry, sorry. I saw them about to attack and I panicked."
Twilight stared as three mares stepped through the doorway. She saw Lyra's goofy smile, Sunset's scarred but still caring visage...
...but her attention was solely on the mare in the middle. The alabaster unicorn wrapped in a leather trench-coat, her purple mane tied up in a perfect bun, flashing purple smoke still drifting from the tip of her horn...
...She was the most beautiful mare she'd ever seen.
Rarity smiled at Twilight as she approached, pointedly stepping on top of one assassin's leg and pressing down until she heard a small snap and groan of agony. "Well come along, darling." Her magic flashed and the cell's lock fell away, reduced to molten slag. She pushed open the door, stepped into the cell, and held out a hoof. "The night's not over yet."
Twilight Sparkle ran into the embrace of the mare she loved and held her like she would never let go again. She almost cried at the depth of the love she felt in this moment, but there was more to it. She felt something else now. Something she had been worried was gone forever.
For the first time all night, Twilight Sparkle felt hope.
