Shattered Harmony

V

   Twilight lied in her bed cuddled up next to Spike, sobbing into her pillow, the moonlight from her window casting blue shades around the room. It had been an hour or so since her hysterical crying had turned to simply tearing up silently into her pillow and sniffling every now and again to clear her nose. Spike simply lay up against her, trying to console her. Celestia was always good to Spike, but she and he had never become close. The closest thing Spike could fathom to compare Twilight’s emotional state would be if he lost Twilight. Celestia was like a second mother to Twilight, her younger years under the direct tutelage of Celestia, spending most of her time at the castle instead of back at home. In many ways Celestia was the biggest figure in Twilight’s life, and now she was gone. It had been hours since either had said anything. Spike had been shunted off back to his quarters after Celestia had taken the first bolt and the only thing he got from Twilight when she came back spattered with blood was “She’s gone Spike.” All that happened after that was Twilight breaking down into hysterical tears, bringing them to where they are now.

   The door opened slowly in the other room of Twilight’s chambers. Muffled hoof steps could be heard treading the rugs in the next room. After a few moments Luna came into view in the doorway to her bedroom. Luna was not wearing her crown or breastplate; her hooves were bare as well lacking the jeweled guards she normally wore. Luna had left her normal attire back in her suite and preceded to Twilight’s plainly, an uncharacteristic informality Luna seldom allowed herself. She had also had her wound seen to. Luna had the wounded eyeball removed from its socket by the castle surgeon during her time in her suite, and after such a long time without the anesthetic of sheer rage the pain was starting to get to her despite her use of magic to suppress the pain. Her eye lid was closed over the now empty socket and there was an x shape cut in her upper eyelid where the bold had made its pass, and the side of her face was bandaged where the bolt had exited. Her remaining eye looked on Twilight with great pain, both physical and emotional.

   “Twilight Sparkle, we have to come to see to you, and ask if thou art in need of anything we can provide.” Luna spoke in an uncharacteristically melancholy tone, “We have also come to speak with you about today’s events and what we have learned about our sister’s assassins. There is much to discuss, and time is of the essence, we apologize if this seems too soon but we must discuss what is upon us.” Luna levitated a tissue to Twilight as she lifted her head from her tear soaked pillow. With a sniffle and a nod Twilight took the tissue with her magic and wiped her eyes before blowing her nose and discarding it into a trash bin with dozens of other tissues.

   “What’s there to talk about?” Twilight spoke depressingly “Celestia’s gone, murdered.”

   “Yes Twilight Sparkle, but we must press on despite her loss. We understand that without our sister things have become bleak and now her throne sits empty, but we cannot be lost in grief now Twilight Sparkle, our subjects need us to be strong.” Luna’s voice was abnormally sincere, her normal formality had seemed to of melted away in the stress of the day, this was apparent when she first walked in, but now as she spoke Twilight could perceive a new depth to Luna, a side she’d only caught glimpses of last nightmare night, “Tomorrow there will be a public execution of the remaining prisoner, this display, while macabre and barbaric, will help the public grieve in its own way.” Twilight couldn’t think of how killing an assassin in front of everyone would help their situation, but Luna continued on speaking from the years of experience as a leader before her exile, “Right now they are scared and unsure, by showing them that we have captured the traitors and displaying our ability to deal with the problem it will help to quell unrest and give the populace some sense of retribution and justice, at least in Canterlot.” Twilight sniffled and wiped her eyes with another tissue.

   “I… I just don’t see how anyone could have done this, why Celestia? What did she do to deserve this?” Twilight finished her statement with a fresh outburst of whimpers and tears, Luna stared on, her dignified expression had not returned to her face, instead she looked on the verge of tears, but she would not allow herself to succumb to those feelings, now was not the time.

   “The assassins were not alone Twilight Sparkle they are part of something much bigger.” Twilight looked to Luna to hear better, “These assassins are the just the beginning, from our interrogations of the remaining two we learned that the within the northern settlements there is such great unrest that many have decided to rebel against us. They call themselves the “Army of the Red Sun.” Twilight looked on shocked at what Luna was saying, meanwhile Luna had walked to the window and was staring outside, “While their plan is unclear they did relent that their ultimate goal is the elimination of the throne, they seek to topple us Twilight Sparkle.” Luna turned from the window; her face was now stern as if the revisiting of her newfound information had angered her. Blood had begun once again crawling its way out of her tear duct as if she were crying blood.

   “What? Why would anyone want to…? Why would-” Twilight struggled to reply.

   “They said our sister sat idle on the throne, that our subjects to the north were falling to attrition, and suffering from the lack of attention by her.” Luna cut her off, “We fail to see how this is the case, our sister did nothing if not everything for our subjects.” Luna raised her voice and stomped the ground, cracking yet another tile beneath her hoof. After a moment Luna composed herself, “We apologize Twilight Sparkle, this has been the hardest day of our life and without our sister, and we find it hard to keep our anger in check. She was always helped us with our temper.” Luna paused before continuing, “Moving on, I know you must detest such displays but I would ask your presence at the execution tomorrow. Much like the speech yesterday, we need to appear strong to our citizens, they find strength in us, and if we hide from them it will only worsen their despair, and lead them thoughts of our weakness. We must be strong for them Twilight Sparkle, we cannot say it enough. Until we have you a set of jeweled plate and a crown to wear to such functions, simply attend as you would a gathering of friends, there’s no sense getting dressed up for such a thing.”

   “Alright.” Twilight sobbed in reply.

   “The next day will be Celestia’s funeral,” Luna hesitated, “We will pay our final respects to our sister and then we shall light the funeral pyre, giving her whole to the goddess.” Again Luna paused, everything starting to boil inside her was becoming increasingly hard to suppress, but she kept it inside, at least for now. “Dress in black, as would be befitting of a funeral. After we have finished the service we will then discuss our course of action to see to the coming rebellion, if they are out there, they will likely not wait for us to finish mourning, so in the mean time I’ve dispatched a contingent of guards to Ponyville and tightened security in Canterlot. I’ve also sent flyers to halt the supply caravan heading north and have them return with everything. In the coming days we wait for the enemy to reveal themselves, and then we will strike back.” Luna’s face grew despondent, “We will be very vulnerable until that time, so remain within the castle unless absolutely necessary.” Luna looked at Twilight from her bedside with burdened eyes, Twilight’s were still laden with tears she still fought the constant battle to clear her breathing passages with the tissues beside her bed, “We will keep you informed as the days go by Twilight Sparkle, and we will also need to begin your training. Our sister was originally going to teach you the ways of being a princess, but now that duty falls to us. We must start tomorrow so as to help everyone else resume a sense of normalcy around here. Most of the clerical duties will be seen to by the castle staff in the coming days, but there will be a few things, such as criminal judgments and other rulings that must be seen to by the princesses directly. We will inform you of such appointments and accompany you to them to show you your new duties.” Luna stepped towards the door before stopping and turning back to Twilight, picking up a tissue from the box aside Twilight’s bed she wiped the blood from her wound and turning back towards the door to the living room of Twilight’s chambers. “Until tomorrow that is all Twilight Sparkle, we shall send for you in the morning.” Luna nodded and stepped through the threshold, and after an unusually long period of time without the door opening, Luna came back into sight in the threshold to Twilight’s bedroom. “We apologize for everything today Twilight Sparkle, many things we done that we regret putting you through, and we wanted to be sure that you understood that.” Luna looked to Twilight with the first look of shame Twilight had ever seen Luna make, her eyes begged forgiveness, and her voice was pained and regretful, Luna wanted few things more than to know her transgressions  against Twilight were forgiven.

   “I understand Luna, it’s been a very stressful day for everyone.” Twilight whimpered.

   “Good… good…” Luna began to turn away before stopping once again, “Would you mind if we stayed here tonight Twilight Sparkle, we would prefer not to be alone tonight.” Twilight was surprised by the sudden openness from the princess, but she could see where she was coming from.

   “I don’t mind, I’d be more than happy to have more company.” Replied Twilight glancing to Spike at her side, who nodded back with a small smile.

   “Thank you Twilight Sparkle, I will try not to be a hindrance to your sleep.” Luna went to the side of Twilight’s bed opposite Twilight and lifted the blankets and sheets before clambering into it. Curling up she wished Twilight good night before covering up and laying on her left side to avoid unnecessary blood staining Twilight’s bed. With Luna now in her place she figured it was time to go to bed as well, curling up on her side she lifted the covers up over herself as Spike dismounted the bed and went to his own to retire for the night. The last thing Twilight heard before falling asleep was quiet, muffled sobs from across the bed.

***

   “That day has always stuck with me.” began Twilight to Spike as he carefully shuffled his massive body within the tower to find a comfortable spot, “The beginning of the end as it were.” Twilight paused, trapped momentarily in her memories before Spike broke her free from her mental prison.

   “Indeed, I can only imagine how different things would be now had the Red Sun never come to be, the way our lives could have been. It’s a very depressing thought, I’ve tried to avoid it these many years but it always seemed to creep upon me when I would lie in my cave and try to remember those halcyon days of the time before. I couldn’t help but let it get to me; it would always pry its way into my mind, taking my thoughts by force.” Spike let out a heavy, smoke-laden sigh into the room; Twilight merely opened the window nearest Spike and pushed the wind with her magic to carry the smoke outside. The intense cold from the winter storm entered the room abruptly and sent a sharp chill through the room, neither one flinched at the freezing winds as it brushed against them, too long had they only felt the cold, they were too used to it after the centuries void of warmth.

   “It’s a constant battle to fight back against one’s own mind, one I’ve lost on many occasions.” The pair once again sat in silence for a few minutes before looking to one another and deciding to continue.