An Investigation Into Chaos

Luna looked up from the letter, narrowing her eyes at the two Ponies in front of her. Normally it would have been a pleasure to see Twilight; however, the circumstances behind her arrival went a long way to spoil Luna’s mood. Still, she had to admit; it was nice to see her again. That along with the fact that Twilight seemed to be paying close attention went a long way to make Luna feel a bit better about the situation, at least she wouldn’t have to waste time repeating herself to Twilight.

Dual, however, was much harder to read. It was obvious by the way he was staring at the stained glass windows that he was distracted by something. Luna wasn’t sure if he was even hearing a single word she was saying, let alone paying attention to them, and that frustrated her to no end. As much as she trusted her sister’s judgment, she was seriously beginning to question her decision to involve him in this.

Luna tried not to dwell on it; she had to stay focused if she had any hope of helping her sister.

“At week’s end, each week until you are dismissed, you shall attend a private lesson that will be on any subject I deem fit to examine. Starting tomorrow you will assume your duties as a Princess of Greater Equestria. I understand that Dual Vision is perfectly qualified to serve you in his role as your appointed advisor; so if you have any questions about your duties, please field them with him. Due to certain unforeseen circumstances, you are not to disturb me unless there is an issue arises that poses a direct threat to the Empire. Do I make myself clear?”

Twilight chimed in immediately. “Clear as crystal, Luna.” Dual still seemed to be absorbed in something else entirely; he continued to stare into space. Under less pressing circumstances, Luna would have probably laughed when a “gentle nudge” from Twilight nearly pushed him off his seat. Once he managed to right himself, Dual promptly nodded in Luna’s general direction; Luna decided not to press him for more.

“Good, as far as I am aware, Twilight, you should be perfectly capable of handling this from an administrative standpoint. Dual will be there for you to should you require any tutoring in court etiquette.” Luna quickly looked between the two of them. “So, unless either of you have any questions for me...” Luna saw Twilight’s hoof go up in the air, but she chose to ignore it. “I’m afraid I have duties to attend to that require my immediate attention.”

After about a minute Twilight slowly lowered it back down to the ground, her disappointment was palpable. Luna instead, turned her attention back to Dual Vision. He didn’t so much as glance in Luna’s direction, she shook her head and sighed.

“Well then, if two of you will excuse me, I’ll be taking my leave.”

Luna didn’t even bother to wait for them to reply, or more specifically to wait for Twilight. She simply focused her magic and without another thought she appeared in her own chambers. She hung her head and let out a long, melodramatic, sigh.

“Sister, whatever am I to do with you?”

Luna had thought that a thousand years of rule might have eliminated Celestia’s impulsive streak, but with things as they that clearly was not the case. For the umpteenth time Celestia had gone gallivanting into some unknown peril, charging her problems head-on with a reckless abandon and with no regard for the potential consequences.

“And of course you had to leave me behind... Again!” Luna tried to be upset at her sister, but as much as she tried to be mad at her she only felt more and more worried. “At least this time you had the forethought and decency to leave me a note.”

“Even if you delivered it by proxy…”

Luna sighed again as she opened up one of her drawers, casually tossing the letter inside before locking the drawer with a quick spell. She looked over at her desk and saw that there was already a stack of paperwork for her to complete. She realized that, much as she hated it, when her sister left her behind, she couldn’t fault her sister’s logic.

Someone had to look after everything while she was gone; Luna was probably the most qualified Pony to do it. Of course, Luna always suspected that there was another reason Celestia did it. Keeping her busy was the best way to keep her out of harm’s way.

“Perhaps,” Luna wondered, “that’s the reason you invited young Twilight is here as well?”

It was hard for her to say whether Twilight’s presence would be a boon or a hindrance. From what Luna had seen of her records, and from what Celestia had told her directly, Twilight should have be more than capable of taking on at least a share of Celestia’s duties. Still, Luna couldn’t trust her to take on that responsibly without some oversight. No matter how capable Twilight might have been she was still a novice when it came to ruling; Luna had to offer at least some guidance to the young Alicorn. That would take time though, time Luna didn’t have.

She sat down on the floor beside her bed, taking a moment to think about her predicament. If Luna could keep Twilight busy with some of the more trivial aspects of rule then it would keep her out of her mane, keep her from asking too many questions. Luna knew full well she could differ most of her own duties to her advisors, confidants she knew she could trust. As for everything else, Luna knew she could put it off until everything resolved itself.

She shook her head, banishing the thoughts from her head. She could arrange all that later, now she had a much greater duty to attend to. She stood up and quickly clambered onto her bed, only taking a few moments find a comfortable spot.

“I won’t leave you alone again, Celestia. I promise.”

And with that she hastily shed her physical form, casting her mind into the darkness below…

Twilight stared at the spot Luna was standing just a few moments ago, despite her frustration she couldn’t help but admiring the scene before her. She watched as a thousand wisps of shadow twirled through the air, clashing together as they slowly collapsed into themselves. She cast her head down in defeat and sighed, wholly unsatisfied by the encounter.

“I barely know anything more than I did this morning. She didn’t even give me chance to ask her about what happened before she just disappeared.” She hummed to herself thoughtfully as she stood up and picked up her bags. “She could have at least given me a chance to say “goodbye” before she left me all alone-”

Dual cleared his throat loudly, causing her lose her grip on the bags and sending them tumbling back to the ground. She quickly glanced over to her side just in time to see him giving her a strange look.

“Well, mostly alone.” She felt her cheeks flush; obviously embarrassed by the fact that she had forgotten he was even there for what was probably the third time that day. “How long was I sitting there?”

“Sorry.” Twilight smiled at him weakly as she apologized. She looked over at her bags, carefully picking up what spilled out and neatly packing it away. She couldn’t stop thinking that something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her hoof on exactly what. Celestia asked her to take care of certain things while she was away before, but never anything this important…

That, and there was something else about the whole situation that evaded her. The whole thing seemed a bit impersonal to her, and maybe a little rushed; perhaps even forced?

“Something is definitely off…”

“Is something bothering you, Princess?” Dual asked, breaking her from her reverie.

Twilight blinked and looked at the book she was holding. She looked up at Dual and smiled, shaking her head. “Oh, it’s nothing.” He raised an eyebrow at her, obviously not convinced. “I think I might have left something back at the library.” Dual just continued to stare at her. Twilight laughed nervously, picking through her saddlebags and pretending to search through them to prove her point. She opened a small compartment and in the left pack and, to her surprise, she realized that she might have actually forgotten to bring some ink with her. She immediately pulled one of her other bags over and started to search through it frantically, convinced that she must have misplaced it. “And please, you don’t have to address me a Princess, just call me Twilight. Ok?”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Princess.” Twilight immediately pulled her head out of her bag and stared at him, confused, her mind trying to process what just happened.

“Huh?” Twilight raised an eyebrow towards him, regarding his implacable expression with a mix of confusion and curiosity.

He cleared his throat again and explained himself. “Even though you seem to think your title is irrelevant, you earned it and you continue to hold it for a reason.” He shook his head. “It serves to remind both of us of our respective stations. As your advisor, my duty is to assist you in your role as Princess however I can. Meaning I’m probably going to have to give you a lot of advice and guidance; however, it is important for me to remember that, even if I know more than you in certain subjects, it ultimately falls to you to make important decisions and means based judgments.” He casually lifted one of his hooves, inspecting the wall for any flaws or imperfections. “Humility is important; your title is there to remind me that I’m to follow your orders,” he lowered his hoof and glanced back up at her. “By the same token, it’s there to remind you that you are the princess, Princess.”

“Uh huh…” Twilight had to take a few moments to process what he just said. She had to admit that he wasn’t wrong and that he did have the right, as well as a reason, to call her Princess. Twilight smiled. “Well, in that case, I order you to address me as Twilight from now on.” Again he raised an eyebrow at her, but he didn’t say anything against it, prompting her to explain her reasoning.

“Mr. Vision, if you want to be able to advise me properly, then you have to be able to see the world from my perspective. I find that it’s easier to understand somepony’s perspective if your friends with them.”

Dual bowed deeply, still maintaining eye contact. “As you wish, Twilight. But, please, if you insist on being my friend, I’m going to have to ask that you call me Dual.” He shot her a cheeky grin. “Mr. Vision was my father.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and laughed sarcastically. “Of course, Dual.” She looked around, making sure they were still completely alone in the giant hallway. “So…” Her voice trailed off, grabbing his full attention as his ears swiveled in her direction. “What do you think of all this?” Dual frowned and looked at her, apparently waiting for her to elaborate. A moment passed and he looked down at the floor. Twilight could swear she saw a smirk on his face, but she couldn’t tell for sure.

He looked up again and cast his head around, looking up and down the hallway just like Twilight had done a before; obviously making sure they were alone. “Well as far as I can tell you haven’t been given any major tasks yet?” Twilight remained silent, listening intently as he continued. “Other than a few, small, public appearances and a couple other things you haven’t had a chance to really flex your wings as a Princess of Equestria, correct?” Twilight didn’t respond other than to sit down and shuffle her wings at her sides. Noticing this, Dual quickly corrected himself. “Figuratively speaking of course, I’m sure you’ve had plenty of time to get used to the wings.”

Twilight nodded. “Of course.” The hall fell silent again as Twilight just stared at him, only allowing a faint smirk to touch at her lips. It was a simple tactic, but she had seen Celestia use it enough times to understand how effective it could be.

“As I was saying,” Dual continued. “Other than a few isolated incidents you haven’t had much experience as a Princess.” Dual nodded at Twilight, affirming his own point. “Not only that, but you’ve also an introvert. From what I understand, most of the Ponies you know you’ve either met when you were just a foal, in the past few years, or while reading a history book.” The smile died on Twilight’s lips as she narrowed her eyes at the stallion in front of her. He immediately broke eye contact.

Twilight knew something was up. She expected Ponies to know a bit about her past at this point, she was a Princess after all, but he seemed a bit too familiar with her for only having met her maybe twice before. She took a moment to think back to the last time they met, he seemed to know an awful lot about her then too…

The silence hung in the air around them while Twilight waited for an explanation. Dual squirmed a bit when Twilight started to tap her hoof against the floor impatiently. “Well?”

Dual looked back over at her and sighed. “Your name has come up amongst my clientele,” he nervously scratched at the back of his neck, “repeatedly actually.” Twilight just sat there, continuing to stare, waiting for him to fully explain himself; Dual raised his hooves defensively. “Look, there are only a few lawyers in Ponyville and because of that I have a sizable base of client’s. Some of your friends happen to be those clients. I’m sure you can understand that they’ve happened mentioned you a bit in conversation, not to mention the fact that some of them have been curious about how your legal status has changed since you’ve become a Princess.” Twilight stopped tapping her hoof, much too Dual’s relief, but then she leaned forward.

“Aright, I can understand that.” Twilight shook her head. “But you seem to know some things that aren’t exactly common knowledge, even to my friends. Like how you came to me about verifying that seal. I know my friends think highly of me, but I don’t understand how you could know that I would be able to do that. That’s on an entirely different level than my normal, everyday, magic.”

“Well, after the incident where you saved the town from that Ursa Major-”

“Minor,” Twilight said, cutting him off, “Ursa Minor.”

“Right, Ursa Minor. After that I received several questions about what kind of rights and privileges powerful mages have.” Dual flashed a nervous smile. “So about a thousand questions later I kind of got curious as to your personal classification; I wanted to know exactly how powerful the Princesses’ protégé was. So I might have possibly gone and dug up some of your records. Nothing illegal of course, all the stuff open to the public.”

Twilight leaned back and rolled her eyes. “Well that explains it.” She noticed Dual immediately relax, and then something clicked in her head. “Wait a minute, that isn’t right-”

“Um, I can explain-”

“I’m not actually registered as a mage in Equestria,” she said, immediately staring him down again. “There’s still no possible way you could know that I would be able to do that, even if you looked at my records.”

“Well, that’s right, or at least half right. Can we go back to why we’re here?”

Twilight nodded. “We can.”

“Alright well the-”

“But that can wait until after you finish explaining yourself.”

“You can’t possibly be serious.” He said, obviously starting to get a bit annoyed at how insistent she was being.

“You have to understand my point of view here, Dual. If you’re going to be my advisor, even temporarily, then I absolutely have to trust you and your judgment.” She shook her head. “But I can’t trust you unless you’re completely honest with me. I need to know that you aren’t going to try to trick me or mislead me, and I can’t know that unless you’re open with me about your past.”

“I suppose…”

“Well?”

“Right... Well you are right about that. Going through you record didn’t give me much to go on other than some basic stuff from when you were just a foal; test scores, vaccination records, that sort of thing. I couldn’t seem to find much of anything from after Celestia took you under her wing.” Twilight nodded.

“Right, she didn’t want anything to get in the way of my studies.”

“Anyway, I guessed that Celestia probably had something to do with it, so I tried to get in contact with her. It took a bit of pushing but I eventually managed to arrange a meeting with her-”

“So you arranged a meeting with Princess Celestia just because you were curious about how powerfully I was.”

Dual whinged, “Well…”

“Well, what?”

“By that point it was less about you and more about finding work. I was kind of short on bits at the time, I was looking for any excuse to make new contacts in the hopes that I could find some new clients.”

“So, let me get this straight. You used me as an excuse to talk to the Princess?”

“Kinda?” Dual said with no small amount of uncertainty, “maybe, I don’t know… I was still curious, but to say that’s the only reason I went into that meeting would be a lie.”

“You couldn’t have just asked her for a job?”

“You don’t just go up to Princess Celestia and ask her for a job!”

“Then what did you do?”

“Well, you bring up a shared interest and find common ground.” Dual shrugged. “I just made small talk until we came to a point where I could mention my current employment status.”

“And how did that work for you?”

“Actually, it worked out great. We talked about some of the cases I worked on before, apparently she was following a few of them and she thought my record was impressive.” Dual nodded proudly. “She hired me on the spot.”

“Really?” Twilight asked, just a little bit surprised.

“Yes.” Dual glared at her. “Yes, she did. She also gave me some notes she took on your overall progress, mostly stuff from tests she gave you but some other stuff too.”

“Like what?”

Dual waved a hoof. “It’s not really important; your records are pretty impressive Twilight. From what I saw I could have said that you were easily as strong, magically, as anypony twice your age, and that’s before your ascension.” Twilight blushed. “Though, Princess Celestia said that if I really wanted to get to know you better I should talk to you in person.”

“And that’s when you came to me about the seal?”

“Well, no, all this happened a few years ago. I was too busy with the work Princess Celestia gave me to go out and actually talk to you about it.” Dual shook his head. “Actually, I probably would have never had the time to follow up and meet with you if it weren’t for the seal. The reason I came to you for that was because I was in the middle of another case and I needed results as soon as possible. You just happened to be the closest Pony I knew about who might have the aptitude, the knowledge, and the power to get the job done.”

“So you’re saying that, even after all that, you coming to me was still just guess.”

“Yes, but it was a very educated guess.”

“Right…” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“That might actually lead into why Princess Celestia asked me to be here with you.” Dual scratched his chin thoughtfully. “I mean I am perfectly qualified for the position, and even though there might be others who have more experience in an advisory role I doubt that many of them know as much about you as I do.” Dual shrugged. “That and I’m sure the Princess knows by now that I wouldn’t turn down the work.”

“Huh,” Twilight said, somewhat surprised, “that actually makes a lot of sense.” Twilight sighed. “But that still doesn’t explain why I’m here and why the Princess isn’t.”

“Luna did say that Celestia wanted you here so you could get some more experience as a Princess.” Dual chuckled. “From what I understand, you’re capable. But you could definitely use some first-hoof experience.”

Twilight shook her head. “I know, I know, and that makes sense too,” Twilight sighed. “Still, something seems…”

“Off?”

Twilight nodded and stared down at the floor between her hooves. “I don’t know, Dual. Between the Princess leaving without a word, the midnight summons for us to come to Canterlot, and Luna being so curt with us, I feel like somethings wrong. I can’t put my hoof on exactly what’s bothering me, but I just can’t shake the feeling that something terrible is going to happen.”

“Does the Princess always tell you when she is going off on business?”

Twilight nodded. “She always writes to tell me personally, but she usually announces it at least a few days ahead of time.” Twilight looked up a Dual hopefully. “Have you heard anything about it?”

“No,” Dual shook his head, “this is the first I’m hearing about it. You’re right of course; Celestia almost always lets it be known when she’s leaving. That’s why I asked.”

“Right…”

“It isn’t unusual for Celestia to leave for a few days, or even a few weeks, but the fact that she didn’t tell anyone does concern me a bit.” Dual shook his head again. “I can’t say for sure, but judging from the look on Luna’s face when you gave her that note, I would wager that she didn’t know anything about it either. That implies that we might be the only three Ponies who know she’s even gone.” Twilight noticed the subtle shift in Dual’s posture as his eyes started to lose focus. She watched and listened intently as he continued.

“Not only that, but the fact that you received the letter so early in the morning implies she was called away by something in the middle of the night.” Dual quickly turned to the side and started pacing up and down the hall in front of her. “If we consider that along with the apparent fact that she hasn’t informed anyone of her imminent departure, we can easily come to the conclusion that whatever she left for must be important. Something must have happened that forced her hoof; otherwise she would have given us more information.” Twilight quickly stepped in front of him, nearly causing him to bump into her.

“Do you think someone might have taken her? She might be in real trouble!”

Dual shook his head and paced past her. “I don’t think so. I know for a fact that all of the Princesses have reinforced their wards since the incident where Discord “accidentally” foalnapped them. If someone tried to take Celestia in the middle of the night, there would have been a struggle. If there was a struggle, somepony would have noticed. The fact that we aren’t in a state of emergency right now implies that was not the case.” Dual paused for a step, hesitating. He glanced over at Twilight. “Did the note Celestia gave you have her seal on it?”

Twilight blinked. “Um… Yes! Yes it did.” She took a moment to think about that. “I can check and make sure that it’s her signature.”

Dual nodded. “You probably should, I doubt that it’s a fake but we shouldn’t rule out the possibility without checking.” He promptly started pacing back and forth again while Twilight checked the signature on the letter. “My question is, why not just leave a note with Luna? Instead of just giving you a direct summons, Celestia could have given Luna time to prepare and give a proper welcome. Now she’ll have to scramble to make sure everything gets taken care of. It doesn’t make any sense!” Dual stomped a hoof out of frustration, the crack of keratin against marble echoed down the hallway. Twilight winced; she checked one of her own hooves empathetically before going back to the signature. Dual sat down and stared at his hoof, apparently pulled out of his daze. After a minute of relative silence, Twilight spoke up.

“I’m just about finished checking the signature.” Twilight frowned, concentrating intently. She sighed and shook her head. “No, this is definitely her signature.”

“Alright, but that doesn’t really give us anything else to go on.”

“Maybe we’re just missing something?”

“Maybe…” Dual stared at the letter floating in front of her. “The letter, you said you received it a few hours before dawn?”

“Yea, it was somewhere around that time. I don’t know exactly when though, it took a few minutes for me to figure out exactly what was going on when Spike woke me up.” Twilight shook her head. “Princess Celestia’s never sent me something that late at night before.”

“Is there anything else unusual about the letter, anything at all?”

“Umm…” Twilight looked down at the letter, furrowing her brow. “Yes actually, it’s a bit short and really unspecific; more so than her normal letters are anyway.”

“Can I see it?”

Twilight nodded and quickly passed the letter to him. He carefully grabbed the scroll out of the air, unfurling it on the ground in front of him. Twilight moved in beside him and read though it silently.

Twilight

Find Dual Vision and bring him to Canterlot as soon as possible. Take the first train out of Ponyville; come prepared to stay indefinitely.

I will absent for the foreseeable future. Find Luna and give her the sealed note contained within, she will explain the rest.

Yours

Celestia

Twilight, having already memorized the contents of the letter, waited patiently for Dual to finish. She watched intently as his eyes darted up and down the page, obviously making multiple passes. He seemed to linger on particular words, obviously trying to glean some kind of insight, anything, from the meager context.

Dual sighed. He grabbed up the scroll and turned it over, checking the back. After staring at the blank parchment, he carefully turned it over and set it down on the floor. He shook his head and passed the back over to her; Twilight slipped it back into her bag.

“There really isn’t much to go on here. But judging by her phrasing, she expects to be gone for a while.”

“Oh, I really hope she isn’t in some kind of trouble.” Twilight didn’t try to mask the concern in her voice. “It really isn’t like her to run off without telling anyone…”

“What would you do if I told you Celestia was in trouble?”

Twilight responded immediately, bolting upright. “What do you mean?”

“It’s a hypothetical question,” Dual waved a hoof at her dismissively, “so relax.” Twilight sat back down, listening carefully to what he had to say. “So, if you knew Celestia was in danger, what would you do?”

“I would do whatever I could to help her.” Twilight replied without hesitation. Dual nodded.

“Alright, so you would just drop whatever you were doing to help her?” Without realizing it Twilight found herself on her hooves again, this time Dual stood up as well; he took a step towards her, making direct eye contact.

Twilight hesitated, though only for a moment. “Of course, anything!”

“You would put yourself in danger to help her?”

Twilight took a step towards him, staring him down. “She is my mentor and more importantly she is my friend. I would do anything I could to help her, danger or no.”

“Anything, really now?” Dual broke eye contact and took another step forward, standing beside her. Twilight nodded resolutely. “Would you put Equestria on the line to save just one pony?”

“Yes!” Twilight realized she replied too quickly and shook her head. “No! Maybe?” She sighed and sat back down. “I don’t know…”

Dual took a step back and waited patiently for Twilight to come to a decision.

Twilight stared off at one of the stained glass murals as her mind wandered back to a book she had read not too long ago. “Risking the life of one to potentially save the life of another is a fool’s gambit that, more often than not, results in a loss of both parties.” Twilight looked back up at Dual. “Alright, I think I understand where you’re coming from now.” She frowned. “But I still don’t understand where you’re going, what’s your point exactly?”

Dual looked down at the floor, Twilight noticed his lips move silently as if he were going over what he was about to say before he said it. “My point is that Princess Celestia isn’t acting the way a Princess would act normally. For example, at first glance it appears that the Princess called you here to give you a lesson in ruling and governance. I have no issue or argument against that in itself; however, the way she is going about it doesn’t make any sense.” Dual looked up at Twilight and shook his head. “It’s perfectly in character for Celestia to give Ponies a trial by fire, the best way to learn is to do after all. But there are better ways to do it than to leave you alone with half The Empire on your back!”

“Well, I’m not completely alone; Luna is still here to make sure everything runs smoothly.”

Dual nodded. “That’s another thing that’s been bothering me.” Dual took another step away from Twilight and started passing back and forth across the hall again. “Luna could easily rule in her sister’s stead; however, performing her own duties while also overseeing your transition, as well as, mentoring you would be exceptionally difficult.” Dual shook his head without breaking stride. “It would have been so much simpler to instead have you act as a regent while Celestia was here to watch over you, that way she could ensure a smooth transition with minimal interruptions.”

“So what’s your point exactly?”

“My point is that if it was Celestia’s plan to educate you from the start, then she executed it poorly. She’s just making more work for everyone involved; Princess Celestia doesn’t make mistakes like that.”

“So you’re saying she did it on purpose?”

“Yes, I feel like that might have been her intention, it makes more sense than the alternative.”

“Alright, but why do you think she would want to make things more difficult for Luna and I?”

Dual sighed and shook his head again, staring at the floor. “I honest I don’t know, Twilight.” He looked back up at her. “If I had to guess, I would say she’s trying to keep us distracted. She’s trying to keep us away from her.”

“Well, based on the facts as we know them I would have to agree with you.” Twilight said as she stood up, gathering her bags. “Though, I do have to correct you on just one thing.” Twilight giggled as Dual cocked his head inquisitively. “If it wasn’t Celestia’s intention for me to learn something here, she wouldn’t have assigned you to be my advisor.”

Dual nodded humbly; however, any semblance of stoicism was lost when Twilight noticed the light blush that touched at his cheeks. She chuckled as she gently tugged on his saddlebags with her magic.

“Would you like to get some lunch? We can talk about it more while we eat. I don’t know about you but I haven’t had a chance to eat anything today and I could really do with some hay fries about now.”

Dual stood up and shuffled his bags into a more conformable position. “Of course, it would be my pleasure Princess.” Twilight swore she caught a glimpse him smirking at her as he turned and led them down the hallway.

Celestia barreled through the twisted undergrowth, always keeping a just few steps ahead of the abominations that harried her.

Though, only just…

From the moment she touched down in the forest she could feel it rejecting her. It made the fur on her withers stand on end. It was a feeling of revulsion, something deep within her was reacting with the magic of the place. She knew she didn’t belong. The deeper she pressed into the forest the worse the feeling got, but that feeling was the least of her problems.

The farther she went the thicker the canopy above her grew, weaving itself into a near impenetrable barrier and preventing any light from touching the ground beneath her; eventually the woods around her were cast into an eternal twilight and with the only reliable source of light being the shaky, amber colored, glow emanating from her horn.

The deeper she went the more sounds of the forest seemed to become twisted and distorted. The air around her was stagnant and oppressive, but she could hear the wind whispering in her ear regardless. It cut through the trees and seemed to surround her, but the only breeze she felt was from the air rushing past her as she charged ahead. The sounds the wind carried to her disturbed her even more. She couldn’t be sure if they were real or just another part of the illusion.

The entire time she was there she never caught sight of the forest’s fauna. It seemed completely barren of animal life, at least at first. Eventually the inhabitants of the forest came to her, but she sincerely questioned whether or not they were truly alive.

Celestia had heard accounts, fables mostly, of Timberwolves accosting Ponies out of The Everfree Forest. She had always been skeptical of the tales, personally refusing to believe them. What was she supposed to think when her subjects claimed that the woods themselves came out at night to hunt them? She didn’t make the mistake of disregarding her subjects, however. It was obvious that the woods had become more dangerous since Discord’s disappearance. So she posted a small contingent of soldiers, what she could spare. She wanted to protect her Ponies from the danger of the forest, regardless of whether those dangers were real or imagined. She could not afford for her followers to lose faith in her in what would prove to be her darkest hour.

She would have laughed at the irony of it all if she had any air in her lungs. There she was, being hunted by the very same hounds that she refused to believe in all those years ago. Her past mistakes were finally catching up with her.

“I deserve this.” Despite the cacophony around her, despite the sounds of the asymmetric footfalls behind her echoing in her ears, Celestia’s mind had never been clearer. “For everything I have done, I deserve at least this…”

Her body tensed up and she involuntarily jerked to the side as a shadow leapt out from the corner of her vision. She felt its claws glide through her coat as they grazed the tender flesh beneath. At this point the only thing keeping her ahead of her pursuers was her baser instincts, the primal drive to survive. Her mind wandered; paradoxically unbound by the chaos that surrounded her, but fettered by the memories of her past deeds.

She accepted her fate, a fate she decided by her own actions centuries ago. Celestia always knew she wouldn’t live forever, she knew that as much as she knew the world wound not end if she perished in the nightmarish depths of a forsaken forest. She knew her Ponies would mourn her, perhaps for years, but they would survive, even thrive, in her absence. The thought was humbling but filled her with a sense of twisted relief; she knew even if she failed here, her legacy would live on.

She pressed deeper and deeper into the forest regardless; she still had a job to do.

But she was alone.

As the sun set, the forest churned with shadow and was plunged into complete darkness. Luna would have had little trouble navigating the lightless wood, but Celestia was not Luna. Instinctively, the light streaming from her horn intensified, lighting the way ahead while casting everything in an amber relief. As the light grew brighter it only made it harder to navigate. The amber glow washed away all the contrast and color from the woods making it nearly impossible to distinguish one tree from the next. Still, it was better than running blind.

Her strength was failing.

The light streaming out her horn only seemed to accelerate her fatigue. Her muscles screamed with at her with every stride, every step she took felt like it would be her last. She had to press on; if she ever slowed, for even a moment, her pursuers would overtake her. Even so, it soon became apparent that if she wanted to survive the night she would have to fight. She decided she would stop and face them once she found a clearing.

When she finally burst through the thicket and into a clearing she turned to face her assailants. Part of her wondered how she would fight them off when she herself could barely stand, part of her didn’t seem to care. She waited for the hounds to burst into the clearing as a pack, to finish their hunt, to claim their prize.

But they never did.

The seconds stretched into minutes. Celestia’s adrenaline eventually ebbed away and she collapsed from the ground. In a bid to conserve what remained of her strength she extinguished her horn, the hot amber glow vanished and was replaced by cool moonlight.

She decided that the hounds must have abandoned her, probably deciding that their prey wasn’t worth the effort in the end. Either way, she was alone. The night sky shone above her as she finally allowed herself just a few hours rest…

Discord loomed over Celestia’s prone form. He watched her chest slowly rise and fall in the perfectly circular grass clearing. The phantasmal Draconequus furrowed his brow and his lips curled back in obvious disdain. His tail flicked back and forth at irregular intervals, vexed by his proximity to her.

There lay Celestia, asleep and unconscious; she would have been completely defenseless. There was Discord, the very embodiment of Chaos, entropy, and discordance, but he couldn’t get any closer to her if he tried. He couldn’t touch her; his influence seemed to vanish about a yard from her perfectly crafted neck. Celestia’s wards were always powerful, but they were sloppy. Discord knew he should have been able to find a way past them by now, but he couldn’t.

Her wards were flawless, impregnable.

She was completely untouchable.

“What’s your secret, Celestia?” Discord asked, despite knowing full well she couldn’t hear him. “Why is it that you insist on defying me to the very end?”

Celestia, completely unaware of his presence, worried in her sleep. Her face contorted and her nostrils flared, she pulled her limps in closer to her center in an attempt to shield herself from some unseen evil. Discord found it ironic, he couldn’t touch her, but he didn’t have to. Celestia had become the herald of her own destruction, somehow…

It was true; the forest would do what he commanded it to, but whenever he came near her his link with it fell silent. Everywhere within a mile of her was completely cut off to him, he could only wait and watch as the forest delivered her deepest desires. He didn’t understand it, not completely, but he knew the wolves that hounded her were not of his creation.

“Are you here to taunt me, Celestia? Are you here to show me you can take what you’ve given me? Or did you come here to show me how close you can come to death without even risking your own life?” He waited for a response that would never come. In his frustration he lashed out at her, only to have his claws slide off an invisible barrier. It threw out sparks as his claws grazed over it, like he had carved into a steel wall. Celestia flinched at the noise, but otherwise she was completely unaffected by the attempt.

“Why, Celestia? Why is it so hard for you to leave me alone?” Discord sighed, nursing his claw as the numbness wore off and the pain started to set in. “Why are you even here?”

Again, his only response was silence. Celestia was completely ignorant of his plight. It was infuriating; all the answers were lying right in front of him, but he had no way to reach them.

“I suppose a better question would be to ask why I even care…”

Discord threw his arms up in the air, defeated. He looked down at Celestia’s form and was filled with nostalgia. He chuckled despite himself. “My, my, whenever did you learn to be such a nuisance? All you would have to do is leave me to my own and I would never have to look at you again. It’s that simple! Then again I suppose that wouldn’t fit into your vision, would it?” Discord glared at her, desperately hoping she would notice him and wake up and profess every dark truth he wanted, needed, to know.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow lingering at the edge of the clearing. He narrowed his eyes and turned to face it, only to find it had disappeared. He spent a moment searching around for the presence, only to find it had disappeared from sight.

It didn’t really matter if he couldn’t find it though; he could still feel eyes on him.

“Perhaps,” he asked aloud, hoping to catch the attention of his watcher, “I can find my answers elsewhere.” He turned his attention back to Celestia. “After all, you aren’t the only one who knows how to enter dreams, are you?” He hoped the interloper was paying close attention as he centered himself. The world around him fell away as he pushed his mind into Celestia’s unconscious form.

And so, the clearing lay empty but for the lone Alicorn who lay sleeping in the moonlight. All was dark and all was quiet. However, an unseen battle raged on in the mind of one…