Malignancy

"The Mare in the Moon: myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria, defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the Stars will aid in Her escape, and She will bring about night-time eternal."

-- Predictions and Prophecies, Ninth Edition

(AD 732, re 842), p. 475

Prologue:
The End of a Song Unsung

Canterlot, Lower Temple District,
Saturday Morning (September 16th, Anno Domina 988):

Caesar's train left the station, and Folio slumped. His tense anticipation collapsed into hollow resignation. He lifted his head in time to see the last train-cars disappear down the mountain. Only plumes of white smoke marked the progress of the morning express to Manehattan, and these too were fading from view. Their goodbyes had been brief and terse. "Hold the line, old boy," Caesar had said. "Don't worry, I'll fix this," he had insisted.

Long before Caesar had been raised to knighthood, before he had been made the head of Celestia's Security Directorate, Caesar had chosen Folio Luminant out of the rank-and-file to be his confidant and chief subordinate. He had served Caesar for more than 20 years, first as a soldier, then as an agent, then as the Directorate's Head of Operations. Now, he watched Caesar board the train out of Canterlot, watched that train disappear down the mountain and out of sight.

Folio frowned. "It's been an honour, Sir," he whispered to himself, Caesar already gone. He turned from the edge of the platform and joined the throngs of ponies headed to the station's exit. All around him they were chatting and laughing and hugging each other, happy, or at least content, in their lives – the life of an Equestrian citizen. Free from care or worry or overt danger. Passive. Calm. Oblivious.

Outside the station, cafes and eateries were built straight into the station's exterior, a seamless blending of form and function – as was common in Canterlot architecture. The smells of cinnamon and chocolate and fresh, hot banana-nut bread – exotic spices and foods imported from Equestria's world-spanning trade network – filled Folio's nostrils with their heady aromas, the world's bounty thick in the morning air. Every luxury, every spice and exotic food from around the world found its way to Canterlot, Celestia's "City of the Eternal Sun", Her "Citadel on the Mountain", over which She shone bright and eternal and ever-watchful.

Folio sighed.

"Good morning, Mr. Folio!" Marigold chimed. She was wrapping a dozen white roses for another customer. "I'll be with you in just a moment."

Folio nodded and managed a brief smile for the flower seller.

The customer ahead of Folio was an off-white pegasus, a tourist from Los Pegasus or Cloudsdale. Folio realized he was glaring at the back of the pegasus's head and averted his gaze toward a container of gillies: round white flowers with red tipped petals, sitting relaxed on their cosy bed of green, unconcerned that their innocent blossoms were stained bloody red at the tips.

"What'll it be today?" Marigold was saying. The orange earth-pony had her brightest salesmare smile on for Folio's benefit – a perfect mask matched by her coy, playful posture. The springy red curls bounced and swayed with every movement or the slightest breath of air, ever in motion.

Folio wore his own mask of calm indifference. "Same as usual." The brown unicorn nodded toward the display of woolly blue violets.

"Aw, nothing exciting going on today?" She began wrapping the violets in white paper.

"Oh, no, no," he disagreed. "Every day in Her Majesty's government service is an adventure." His accent leaned away from his muted but still deep Manehattan and toward his "official" government service voice, far more nasal and haughty.

"So you keep saying," she giggled. "One of these days, Mr. Folio, you're going to have to tell me what it is you do for Her Majesty exactly." She kept eye contact, her grin inquiring, as she accepted Folio's bits and gave him a few silver coins change. "You're not a spy, are you?" she teased.

"Oh, of course not," he huffed. But soon the barest hint of a grin curled one corner of his mouth. He leaned in toward her with a conspiratorial expression. "I'm Celestia's spymaster."

"Wha-at?" Marigold laughed. "Oh you! You don't…" she stopped as Folio straightened to his full height, his expression sliding back into his default stare of tired intensity – a glare hiding just beneath the surface of his long cultivated look of dangerous authority. His eyes bored down at her. "Wait, you're for real?" Disbelief still tinged her voice, but her tail, with its curly ringlets, was flicking and bouncing from side to side behind her. "You're serious?"

He gave a small, curt nod. "Deadly serious. Fifteen years as of last month." The bulky brown unicorn flicked his eyes, without moving his head, over Marigold's shoulder toward the two stallions across the street. They were pretending to shop for post-cards, pretending not to be interested in Folio. They were pretending not to be soldiers, thinking that not wearing their uniforms meant they could blend in with civilians. Folio returned his eyes to Marigold. "Today's my last day, though."

"Well… okay! Wow! I had no idea, Mr. Folio."

Folio nodded. "That would be the point. Spies and all."

"Oh, right, yes… well…" her grin became sheepish and she shrugged in agreement. "Well… I mean," she recovered her cheerful composure. "Congratulations! On your retirement, I mean! I'm sure you've earned it!"

"Oh yes," he agreed without inflection, his eyes drifting away from the young mare. He cast another brief glance at the stallions across the street. "I'd like to think so. One should receive what one deserves, and... all that."

"Hm. Yeah, well, um... how are you going to spend your retirement?"

He looked back at her. "I've a little place out in the Unicorn Hills. I may take up gardening."

"Well, I hope you enjoy yourself! Fifteen years is a long time! Thank you for your service to our country, Mr. Folio!"

Folio flinched, caught off guard, his professional face faltering. "Thank you," he whispered down at the young mare's genuine smile of gratitude. "Thank you so much for that." At her look of growing distress he shook off his sad expression and almost succeeded in making himself smile. "I'm late for… something. Have a wonderful life, Marigold. Remember this old warhorse sometimes, won't you?" He took his parcel of woolly violets up in his magic and left the confused mare at her stand.

"Sure! I mean, sure I will!" she called after him.

His back to the flower merchant, he glared at his own sentimentality, wiping his eyes with a pastern. He munched on a bite of the woollies, his regular morning snack for the last three years of his routine. One of the two stallions had fallen into tailing him while the other headed to the flower stand to "talk" with Marigold.

Lost in his thoughts, Folio found he was, out of habit, walking his usual route to his office back at the Directorate. He tsked himself and turned around, backtracking a block and turning instead toward the small private cemetery where his family awaited him. The golden gates were wide open for the public. The manicured grass sweet smelling, the polished marble and alabaster gravestones gleaming in Her Majesty's sunlight.

He stopped in front of his wife's grave, her painted portrait medallion set in the white marble headstone, smiling into eternity. "Good morning, Penny, my love," he whispered, laying a bunch of the woolly violets on her grave. "Well, it's finally happened. I'm leaving the service today. Going to take old Stone-Beak up on his offer, at last... I'm afraid it means I won't be by to visit any longer, but... You'll always be with me." He walked up to the stone and kissed the painted portrait. "Needs must," he intoned, nodding and stepping back.

With a sigh, he turned to the two smaller gravestones beside his wife's. His son, Sergeant Folio Atlas, had died defending Equestria's frozen northern border. His daughter, Captain Lucky Florin, had been part of the Trade Armies, defending the economic interests of Equestria abroad – keeping the trade routes open and profitable. Her grave was empty. Her body was never recovered after the zebra raid on her unit's trade outpost. For the first few years after the attack, of course, he had held out hope that, perhaps, she was still alive. Somewhere. Then they had found the raid's sole pony survivor, and she had confirmed that Florin had died early in the siege, her body left to rot in the desert sun. Folio Luminant laid the remaining flowers on the graves of his heroic offspring and said his goodbyes in silence.

Behind him, there was a muffled cry of surprise as the stallion tailing Folio had his throat slit clean across. Arterial blood splattered against the leaves and the stallion's body hit the ground with a loud thud and a rustling crash.

Flutter Gust stepped over the still twitching stallion and out of the bushes. Folding her blades back amongst her feathers, the pegasus approached Folio as he finished his goodbyes.

"You have them?" he asked, not turning around.

"Yes, Sir," Flutter Gust confirmed. She produced a thick envelope of documents from her saddle bag.

"Good work."

"You've the map, Sir?"

"Yes. You inspected the route?"

"From here all the way through to the other side of the mountain, Sir. It'll take you to a small abandoned mining town in the foothills. There's a safe-house set up in the old general store with enough supplies to see you through to the coast. A griffon ship, the Tail Wind, will be waiting for you at Cat Scales Harbour."

He turned to face her and startled. She was closer to him than he had expected – she had made a career out of moving in silence. Folio took the offered package in his magic, holding it aloft, his horn glowing. "Thank you, Flutter Gust," he whispered.

"Sir..." she leaned up to him. Their lips met. Surprising her, he pressed into the kiss, encircling her with a foreleg in a rough, tight embrace.

Folio broke the kiss but not the embrace, held her tighter, looking down into her eyes, his horn still glowing.

Flutter Gust was panting, blinking and struggling to regain her icy composure. "The..." she cleared her throat. "The entrance is open and ready... thr-through the under-crypt of the mausoleum. I'll seal the tunnel with the charges after you, Luminant," she promised.

He sighed. "No. You won't."

Flutter's confusion turned to shock as Folio stabbed the levitating dagger into the back of her neck, twisting it to sever her brainstem at the base of the skull. He left the dagger where it was and slipped the packet of documents into his own saddle bag. Only then did his horn stop glowing. He released his grip on her and Flutter's body fell to the grass.

Folio stood above her body for a moment longer, making one last silent goodbye before turning toward the mausoleum, toward the tunnels that would take him forever away from Celestia's shining city.