A nightly guardian

Chapter 8

Beginning of the end

Lyra was exploring Zeos personal study. After Luna had broken the protective spells, she could finally enter it. Not only that, but Luna had actually encouraged her to do so. The study itself seemed way to expansive, to fit in a room of these dimensions. Judging from the size of Lunas and Celestias studies, it should only be about ten hoofs in radius. But the first floor alone was forty-three hooves in radius. Some of the higher floors were even bigger. She had found one room even that was as big as the Cloudaseum in Cloudsdale. How this was possible, was something she would have to ask Luna on their next meeting. The room she was currently skimming through, was filled with several pedestals, workbenches, desks, book shelfs and a simple bed that stood in the far corner of the room. As much as she wanted to look at all the fascinating objects that lay on the several pedestals, she remembered the last time she had tried to touch something here. Her horn had not healed completely yet, and she could live a happy live if she never got it burnt again.

There were all kinds of things. Swords, armor parts, strange looking devices and in the middle of the room she even found what looked like a model version of the royal Canterlot railway. On it was a miniature train, that looked pretty close to the ones she knew, even so less colorful. As she approached the desk that stood next to the bed, she noticed several parchments that were spread over the entirety of the quite large piece of furniture. On a smaller desk next to it were only small piles of dust. Lyra had found several of those, and she assumed that these were documents that had not been lucky enough to be placed in a conservation spell.

"So much knowledge lost.....", she thought to herself.

After deciding that it was no use to cry over spilled milk, she turned her attention to the bigger desk again. The desk was definitely surrounded by a conservation spell, but no protective barrier. Having encountered quite some of those in here, she had learned to notice them beforehoof. Encouraged by this, she started to read what had maybe Zeos last research project.

Magical strands able to interact with other magical energy.  Maybe able to draw foreign magical energy out of an object with them?

Gemstones successfully drained of magic. Possible uses for them? Have to look into that further. If they can be filled with magic again, they could maybe act as a vessel to store Energy?

Experiment failed. Energy stored forcefully injected in Gemstones will cause them to explode after a short time. It looks like they can't hold any other Energy then the one they slowly produce on their own. Still.... They do absorb the energy. If not filled to the brim, they don't explode, but neither do they store it. Tried casting some spells at them. The energy was completely absorbed, without damaging the gemstone. Looking for a cure, I again have found a possible weapon... why is that?

Red Steel has brought it to my attention that our agents have managed to find the rebels headquarters. This will be a good field test for my new coat. Hopefully this will finally be over once we have wiped them out. Luna wants me to arrest them, but I won't have any of that. They poisoned my wife, and killed my child. When I am done with them, they will beg for death. Red Steel and the others are with me on that. As much as I hate to do this behind Lunas back, it is better that way. This way the attacks on her life will just suddenly stop, without her having to bear the burden.

The coat worked wonderfully. Sadly we did not get all of them. We were discovered long before we reached our destination. Ash Dash accidentally set off one of their alarms, so most of them were able to get away from us.... again. We suffered not a single casualty, but that was most likely just because we only had to face a small group that was covering the retreat of the rest. Most of them were Unicorns. The plating on my coat worked just as I intended it to do. The gems absorbed every spell they threw at me. Once fully charged I could simply take them off and use them as projectiles. It is a terrible weapon, and I don't want the knowledge of it's creation to ever leak out. I will burn these documents, once my research is done, or at the very least lock them up in the vault. The Ponies are trying to create a society of peace. The last thing they need is research into very powerful magical weapons.

Celestia has approached me about my detonator gems. She wants to use them for her mining operations in the north, but I refused. Were I to agree to it, I would have to share the knowledge of their creation, and I won't to that!

Magical strands improved once again. I was able to extract energy from a Unicorn volunteer. If my research in this field keeps proceeding at a steady pace, as it is now, I may be able to help her soon. Also the Mind-link finally worked. Sadly however, it killed Good Heart. Human minds are just not compatible with Pony minds. He volunteered to help me, but that does not change the fact that I am to be held responsible for his death. We were linked for about one minute, before the signal became unstable and a sudden magical burst fried his mind. I had to put him out of his misery. He didn't actually die from this, but his mind got totally wiped. There was nothing left. I think he was better off with the bullet I put through his skull. Should there be an afterlife, I hope I meet him there. Even if it's just to apologize....

Lyra was fascinated on one hoof, but appalled on the other. The human had written about killing Ponies so casually, that it almost made her sick. What earned him some points with her though, was that he had been unwilling to share the knowledge of his potentially dangerous discoveries. Sure, the text stated that he was not actually researching weapons, but rather looked for a cure for Luna, but he sure had been quick to find violent purposes. After going through most of the parchments, something dropped from the table, as Lyra moved some of them aside. She had wanted to read the rest of it, but the object that had been hidden beneath, and unintentionally dropped to the ground, was more interesting to her. It was a small white rectangular object. There seemed to be three silver buttons on it's lower half, as well as four on one side. What Lyra made out to be the front of the device, also had a smaller, black, rectangular part. It looked almost exactly like the "Cellphone" Luna had described to her time and time again.

But... according to her mentor, Zeo hadn't gone anywhere without it. So why was it here? She enveloped it in her magic to put it back onto the table, but that certainly had an effect she had not anticipated. All of a sudden a loud sound, like that of a million alarm clocks, resonated from the device as the formerly black part of it came to live. Lyra set it down on the table, poking at it with her hoof, while trying to cover at least one of her ears with the other. If she would be deafened by this, she wanted to minimize the damage. To her surprise, the sound stopped after a few seconds. At first Lyra was surprised, but then she noticed the pale white aura around it. Turning around, she spotted Luna who was smiling widely. Apparently her little run in with the Cellphone had amused her.

"I see you found it. Zeo was looking for it everywhere.", she snickered, as she came closer.

"Yeah... but... what was that horrible noise, and why is it still working? Hadn't you said that it needed to be charged regularly?"

"Well yes, but it's been inside a conservation spell. Meaning it's power is most likely still undrained. As for the alarm you triggered, that's it's basic reaction to being enveloped in magic.", Luna was now standing next to her student.

"But why doesn't your magic cause that reaction?"

"Oh it does, but I cast a silencing spell on it. All sound that it produces is now confined within that small barrier. It's just how it reacts. Technology from Zeos world just reacts funny when it is exposed to magic. At least things that originate there. The ones we recreated from his descriptions, show now reaction whatsoever.", Luna explained, placing her muzzle on the phone and moving it in a funny way.

"What are you doing?", Lyra asked curiously.

"Shutting off the alarm of course. It doesn't react to anything except the touch of ones skin. Quite hard to operate such a device I can tell you.", Luna frowned.

Lyra watched in awe as the screen, that had gone dark after she had placed it back on the table, came to life one again. She could see a photograph of her mentor, and several objects in front of it as Lunas tongue moved over it.

"Tastes just as bad as I remember it....", she coughed, before releasing her spell.

"There you go. The alarm is deactivated, but I suggest you don't try to use magic on it again. The electronics inside just go crazy if they are exposed to it.", Luna explained, before putting the phone on her hoof and giving it to the mint green Unicorn.

"What shall I do with it?"

"Well... you wanted to know about Zeo, and I think this thing holds quite some information about him. Once you are done however, meet me downstairs. There is a new spell I would like you to learn." The midnight blue Alicorn said, before trotting off once again.

If Lyra had hoped for instructions on how to use the device, she was disappointed. But soon she had to find out, that it was quite easy. The little pictures on the screen stood for the several ways the device could be used. Since they were all labeled, Lyra soon had figured out how it worked. Some of the pictures simply called forth a message that informed her, that there was no "Service" in her current area. She assumed that these were the options that needed some sort of connection, to a network that Luna had mentioned to her once. Others however were quite interesting. A picture labeled "Video" had provided her with several new pictures. As she touched them with her nose, which was quite difficult since they were so small, moving pictures and sound started to play. It startled her quite a bit at first, but she observed the scenes playing out on the screen curiously.

Lyra saw several humans hugging each other and obviously talking. She could not understand a word however, since they were drowned out by very loud sound. The fact that the pictures had been recorded in almost complete darkness, didn't help her to recognize much of it.

Another one showed a beautiful field, from which the observer could watch all the way to the next mountain, and the one behind that one. The scene seemed wonderful, and she could even hear some birds chirping. Then something red shot past the one holding the device, causing that Pony to drop it and swear loudly.

"Du Arschloch! Pass doch auf wo du langfährst!", a male voice shouted.

Lyra did not understand a single word, but got the aggravated tone of voice rather quickly. A hand came into view, covering the device and the recording ended. There were several others. Some even made here in Equestria. On one she would see a much younger looking Princess Luna, trying to cast spells. What became quite obvious, pretty quickly in those videos, was that Luna was, or at least had been, very skilled at shape shifting.  In one of those Lyra could actually witness how her mentor changed from being a Pony, to what looked like a mix of human and Pony. She still had her coat, mane and tail, but her entire physique had changed dramatically. Lyra wondered if Luna could teach her that spell some time in the future. She already knew some basic illusion magic, but this was nothing like it. An illusion spell would not be able to bring on such drastic change.

After going through most of the "Movies", as she identified them now, she had finally reached the very last one. Her blood froze in her veins, as she recognized what the camera had picked up. It was Nightmare Moon, standing in the courtyard of the ancient castle of the royal Pony-sisters. It was evening in the "Movie", which she could make out by the time code being displayed at the lower right part of the screen. Had that not been the case, she would have assumed it had been in the dead of night. In front of Nightmare Moon stood Princess Celestia, unharmed, but with a worried expression on her face. The recording was not very long, but it was quite disturbing.

"So Zeo was there when Nightmare Moon showed up.... But... why did he record this, instead of stepping in? What happened that evening?", she thought to herself.

Lyra decided it was time to get some answers. Luna was waiting for her downstairs anyway, so she could get to that right now. It was quite the ordeal moving up and down the stairs all the time. This particular room had been on the tenths floor, so Lyra now had to canter down all these stairs. It was easier going down, then up, but it was still taxing.

By the time she reached the newly renovated first floor, she was panting heavily.

"Everything alright? You seem to be quite out of breath.", Luna asked concerned.

Just then Lyra realized that she had broken out into a full out gallop,while descending the stairs. While panting she started to address what was on her mind.

"Nightmare.... Moon.... Zeo was... there.", it wasn't a question. She was stating a fact. Lunas eyes grew wide, and her head drooped a little. She had obviously not meant for her student to find out about this.

"How did you find out?", she asked, her tone as flat as could be.

"The phone had a recording of Nightmare Moon and Celestia in the castle gardens. What I don't understand, is why he did not...", the mint green Unicorn started, but got interrupted by a glare from her teacher.

"Do not assume he did just sit idly by. If you found his phone up there, then that means he went here to get something before he did. I will not deny that he interfered with Nightmare Moon, but I can tell you now that I will not tell you about it just yet.", the trembling Alicorn stated, afraid that all her hopes were lost.

Lyra was still panting, as she lounged herself on the couch in front of the fireplace. Luna did not take her eyes of her all the while, as she was contemplating her options. Her teacher had made it quite clear several times in the past, that her lessons would be over, would she learn something out of order. Now she surely had done exactly that, but not exactly if she was honest with herself. She had learned about a fact, but not the whole story. That Luna had admitted that Zeo had actually done something about it, was surely a way for her to try to minimize the damage to her plans.... Finally Lyra came to a decision.

"I do not agree to this. I want to know about that night, but I will respect that you do not want to tell me about it right now. Just promise me that you will do so in due time, or we are done here. I've put up with you keeping things from me up to this point, so you can at least give me that, can't you?", Lyra was surprised at her own bashfulness.

Lunas expression lightened up a bit, when she nodded.

"Of course my little Pony. I was planning to tell you about it eventually. But be sure that the day, or night, that I do your studying with me will be over. It will be the last chapter in the story I have to tell you. Are you OK with that?"

"Yes. OK so you wanted to show me something. What is it?", Lyra relaxed, glad that her gamble had worked out so well.

"Today I will not tell you a story. We will have to work on another spell that you will need for the task I have in mind for you. Do not fret though my friend, it is also a medical one.", Luna explained, after placing herself on the sofa, next to her student.

"Which spell is it this time? You already had me learn about ten spells, and I can't see uses for all of them in medicine. Some, like the analyzing spell or the phase-shifting one, surely do have their uses. But what about things like the containment or even the purging spell? I can understand that it might be needed to contain a Pony that is infected with some terrible disease, but purging them? I couldn't rightfully burn a sick Pony.", Lyra huffed.

"Now now... you will see in due time. The purging spell is only a last resort. You will have to use it, if the task I have in mind for you fails. You must promise me that you will use it, no matter the consequences.", Luna pressed.

"I... I don't know...", she stuttered.

"You will understand once you know what we are attempting to do. Just trust me when I say, that it will be for Equestrias good if you use the purging spell, should our little..... experiment fail."

Lyra nodded. She still had no idea what Luna was getting at. What could be so dangerous that there was no other way to deal with it, other then to burn it to a small pile of ashes? She just hoped that this new spell would not be so.... dangerous. A hope that was soon crushed however.

"What I intend for you to learn today, is the Mind-link-spell.", Luna explained.

"The what????? But Zeos notes state that it killed one of his volunteers!", Lyra gasped.

"So you found these notes, eh? Well... Yes....Good Heart was a victim to Zeos research. The problem was the incompatibility between human and Pony minds. They reject one another. At least as long as the Ponies mind is still connected to their body. In later experiments, it became quite clear Zeo could pull it off, even so he was never able to perfect it. I, on the other hoof, have done some research on my own, and I can tell you it is safe for two magically skilled Ponies to do it.", Luna tried to reassure her.

Lyra was feeling more and more like this was a terribly bad idea, but she had chosen to go through with it, and so she would. She nodded.

The next two hours, Luna explained the spell to Lyra. She also made it quite clear that Lyra would have to be the one to initiate the link. Her damaged horn prevented her from using such advanced magic. Furthermore Luna put quite some emphasis on the fact, that one the link was established Lyra would be in her mind. Luna wanted her to go about it gently, as to not damage anything in there. She would be there with her, but the spell was designed to overpower the actual host, so Lyra would have to be careful, if she didn't want to turn her mentor into a drooling husk of a Pony.

The first try was a failure, but on the second one Lyra directed her magical strands towards Lunas horn. This time she could feel a tuck at her own mind, as if somepony had wrapped her brain into a net and was now trying to drag it out through her horn. It was an unpleasant experience, to say the least, an outright painful one to be honest. Lyra tried to fight it at first, but the pain only intensify once she did so. The more she fought it, the harder the imaginable net started to pull on her poor brain. Once she started to relax a little though, the pain subsided. The less she fought against it, the more she could feel herself travel through the magical strands into Lunas mind.

Once she opened her eyes again, she stood in a vast room, or so she assumed. Most of it was in complete darkness. The only thing she could see clearly was the smiling face of her friend and mentor.

"You have done it. I'm quite proud of you right now. The control you have due to your musical talent, has enabled you to do this. Even Starswhirl failed at this."

"He did?"

"Yep. That was actual... well it was the day he died.", Luna explained.

"WHAT? I thought you said this was safe!", Lyra exclaimed.

"It is. But you must know that he was quite full of himself, and I tried to teach him this much sooner then I taught you. He thought the spell I had recreated from Zeos notes to be imperfect, so he meddled with it. Had I not noticed this, when his mental image began to fade, and severed the connection, I would have died as well. He was quite the dumb Unicorn, for being remembered as one of the greatest ones."

"But... wait... First of all, when was that? And didn't you say that Starswhirl walked out on you?"

"He did. But he came back a few days later. He was a stubborn and persistent one. He wouldn't stop annoying me, until I continued talking to him. In retrospect, it would have been better if I had stayed strong. His meddling with the spell actually caused something terrible. I escaped death, but it still had.... side-effects.", Luna said, while walking through the darkness with Lyra at her side.

Slowly but steadily book shelfs, doors and many many cupboards faded into existence. As she looked about she saw that all of the shelfs and cupboards were labeled. There were shelfs labeled "Spells" or "Recipes", while others had their labels obscured. All the doors had large padlocks on them. Lyra assumed these held knowledge that her mentor either did not want to share yet, or wanted to forget herself. The fact that she did not get an answer to her question as to when Starswhirl had been her pupil, had not escaped her either. Just what was the reason for this? Why couldn't Luna tell her what his meddling had caused? Was it really something that terrible?

After trotting for a while, the two of them reached a giant double door. From under it Lyra could see strands of pure black magic pour out. The door itself was red with golden rims, and in the middle of it was a lock that was bigger then Celestia and Luna together. All around it were warning signs. Lyra had a very bad feeling about this.

"What is behind that door?", she finally broke the silence.

"Nightmare Moon... or at least what is left of her. The elements of harmony, after they were used on me the second time, sealed that what was left of her in there. I am not truly free of that monster, as you very well know by now. Lyra.... let me ask you... do you trust me?", Luna asked, her voice shaking in fear a little.

"I wouldn't be here, if I didn't. I just hope you trust me as well."

Luna took a deep mental breath, before continuing.

"On one day in the near future, I will have to open this door. This is part of why I have you learn Zeos spells. I want to finally be rid of her, and you will have to play your part in it. If it fails however, you shall not allow Nightmare Moon to walk freely.", she explained.

"The purging spell...."

"The purging spell."

For quite some time the neither of them said a single word, and just stared up at the mental lock that kept the mental door shut. Finally Lyra could not stand the tension anymore. Something was quite amiss here.

"But if this is where Nightmare Moon is sealed away, then why is she not fighting against her bonds?"

"This is only her essence. Her will is not here. The Nightmare Moon that was defeated by Twilight Sparkle and her friends was not the original Nightmare Moon. The terrible event that was caused by Starswhirls meddling.... it broke down this door. I created it on the night I first turned and overthrew her in my mind. Zeo had something to do with it aswell.... He weakened her considerably. The one that Twilight Sparkle and her friends defeated was but a mere shadow of the original. Let me assure you that, had they faced the real monster, then we would not be having this talk. She would have made short work of them, and laughed about the use of the elements for the toys they are.", Luna explained with a sigh.

"But.... Then you turned more then once?"

"Yes I did. How that happened though is a story for another day, my faithful student. This spell is exhausting me a great deal, and I don't want to take any chances. So can you promise me to use the purging spell, should the worst come to pass? Celestia is no match for the real thing, and I do not want it to harm her again.", Luna inquired.

"Yes, if that is what you wish.....", Lyra responded hesitantly. She would not want to harm her friend, but if it was necessary, and it was her wish, then she would do so. Even though she knew, even now, that she would most likely break from doing so.....