A Tale of Dusk

Chapter 11:

Celestia enjoyed the evening, the subtle, slow shift from bright, warm colors in the sky to soft, cool blues, purples and blacks, the way the sun disappeared over the horizon and the moon would slowly creep over the other side to bathe the world in soft, silvery light.

She considered it a point of pride to make the coming of night to be a thing of beauty, and had taken great pains to ensure that, with the advent of cheaper forms of magical light, and then the invention of turning magical energy into electricity, Canterlot and the other larger cities boasted a potent and prolific night-life scene, with Equestria’s citizens encouraged to party long into the night and many festivals and musical events held in the evening. The smaller towns were not quite as boisterous after moonrise, but then they didn’t have the bulk of population necessary to sustain such things. Of course, the Sisterhood had tried at first to claim it was because Celestia abhorred drinking, riotous merriment and lewd endeavours, and thus wished for it to occur after her ‘duties’ were done for the day, but like their ideology in so many ways, the con-artists, delusional egomaniacs and spiteful misandrists who ran the cult were so very wrong about her reasoning, and the ponies of Equestria were hardly the sort to turn down the opportunity to sing, dance and enjoy themselves, so that particular lie from the Sisterhood quickly fell by the wayside except for a few diehards on the fringe of the cult when it failed to help the Sisterhood gain any form of political or social traction.

Less than six months. Celestia thought to herself, sadness mingling with regret and excitement. Less than half a year before you return, my darling, and we finally put an end to this. If I win, will you be willing to stay by my side, will you even be able to listen to my apologies or will your rage drive you to flee from Equestria for good? Or will you banish me this time, and in your madness will you be able to recognise what I have spent the last thousand years turning Equestria into, just for you, or will you annihilate it all in favour of your ‘Night Eternal’, and doom our world to a long, slow, cold decay in endless darkness?

Turning around, Celestia cast a sad glance to a chest the size of a medium-sized dog, made of age-darkened wood and bound with silvery-hued steel, the old, arcane symbol of the moon and the stars carved into every flat surface the crafter could find. Inside, one very new and important letter sat atop scores of scrolls and journals, along with several ancient knick-knacks that modern ponies would be puzzled over, but to Celestia had great emotional attachment to … and she hoped her sibling still did.

Win or lose, the chest must go to my sibling, and at least my Captain and his officer core are under strict orders that, in the event of my defeat, the chest is to be delivered to the victor, untouched and unharmed. My thoughts, dreams and fears for over a thousand years, the toys we played with as children, the tokens of friends who passed on and left fond well-wishes in their wills to you, even after the Moonfall, all of it contained in such a humble container. Celestia found herself walking over to the chest, trailing a shaking finger-tip over the proud crescent moon symbol engraved into steel barding of the chest. It would hardly be the most profound gift she could give, but if her sibling was still in the grips of the furious madness that Celestia had encountered at their last meeting, and had to battle against, over a thousand years ago, then it could very well be all that Celestia could leave to her victorious sibling should the battle take a turn for the worse and Celestia fall in battle, or be banished to the sun for a millennia in turn. May the contents of this chest ease your mind, if only a little, should you prove victorious in the coming meeting and regain your sanity sometime in the future.

Hearing a faint, high-pitched noise, Celestia turned her attention to the palace grounds, where Shining Armor, wrapped in several layers of barrier-shields, was running for his life and screaming like a bitch, with a deranged-looking Cadence flying after him with what looked like fluffy handcuffs flopping around in one hand and a bucket of unmentionable devices that should never see the light of day in the other.

And that’s another thing I need to deal with. Making sure my … counterpart … does no damage to Cadence, or vice versa. Shining Armor is quite the catch, and I dare not risk a conflict between the Moon and Love over the affections of a Stallion who wants neither of them. Forget the country falling into anarchy and the world being locked in eternal night, a world without Love would be a hell from which even the most virulent of nightmares would seem a blessed relief, and a world without the Moon would spin itself into strange new orbits that would flood the coastlines and cause immense ecological disasters, and that’s assuming the moon wouldn’t fall from the sky and simply wipe out all life on the planet from the force of the impact. Sighing and idly entertaining the thought of turning Cadence into a statue called ‘The Need For A Cold Shower’ and dumping it in a museum filled with crusty old relics, visited by even crustier old ponies, for a century or two to teach her ‘niece’ the value of consent, Celestia watched as Cadence ‘caught’ her beau, only for the outer-most barrier to ripple and then explode, flinging the demented pink Alicorn backwards like some sort of cartoon character, complete with splayed limbs and a curiously drawn-out ‘BBBBBBHHHHHUUUUUUUUTTTTTTT EEEEEEEYYYYYYYEEEEEEE LUUUUUUHHHVVVEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEE!’ shout of dismay, and Shining Armor appeared to be propelled forwards in the opposite direction at great speed, disappearing into a darkened doorway that opened up onto the grounds, still shrieking in a blind panic. Although if Cadence continues her unwanted pursuit in such fashion, she might very well turn Shining Armor’s tastes to the point he would welcome the affections of my sibling.

That particular line of thought conjured mental images that made Celestia’s hair stand on end, and she quickly changed her thoughts to topics less likely to leave her seeking the aid of a Royal Distillery to cleanse her mind of all sentience.

But Ponyville … I’d merely assumed it would grow into a farming community large enough to attract my sibling’s attention when they first returned to the mortal world, but now that it has become a small town, I am gravely concerned what may happen to the people who live there. And Dusk’s reports do not exactly instil me with confidence that the country will keep running smoothly should I be removed from power. The Solar Princess sighed and turned away, stalking back to her desk where her faithful student’s report sat, the sole scroll not adorned with fanciful and costly filigree or ornamental designs in the borders, the sole important document amidst a mountain of false good-will and just-shy-of-blatant bribery offers. If Ponyville has been so starved of funds for even basic necessities such as public schools and civil servants, then what other towns are likewise suffering similarly? And why has nobody ever brought this up before? There must be some group that is purposefully editing the reports before they reach somebody high enough up the chain to alert someone about the funds being diverted.

And that raised even more troubling concerns. What if the graft was not merely a collective of low-level bureaucrats shuffling numbers and altering reports to keep their little schemes quiet, but rather higher-placed ones who had the leverage to keep such damming evidence secret, even from Celestia herself? She’d known there would be corruption, one did not have a nation without some form of corruption or graft in play, the nature of mortals all but assured its existence, but the prospect that such corruption, on such a scale, could exist after she’d spent hundreds of years trying to make Equestria everything her sibling had hoped it would be …

A knock on the door distracted Celestia from her depressing thoughts, as a maid came in, pulling a tray behind her, the contents beneath a domed, platinum cover marked with thick, ornate handles and decorations of gilt and semi-precious gems, followed by a train of other maids pulling identical carts.

Oh, right, lunch. A kingdom did not run well when it's all-powerful ruler tried to plot the course to take on an empty stomach and low blood-sugar levels. The maids were, as always, polite, efficient and absolutely adorable in their outfits, but as per Celestia’s terms of employment, they were pure professionals while on the clock, no matter how the guards and courtiers might have wheedled and pleaded and postured for a taste of that prench maid fantasy.

Not only did Celestia not want competition for her Royal Guards’ attention, either while they were on duty and supposed to be protecting the city or busy helping Celestia scratch the itch that her constant in-heat state produced, but she had made it a point of pride that any pony who had come from hard lives or troubled backgrounds could come to her and be given the training and education needed to succeed in the world, given to them as part of their conditions of employment. Training, education and most importantly, confidence in themselves and their own worth.

If those same maids might perhaps find themselves a beau amongst the stoic guards courtesy of that training and those outfits, and would then retire to civilian life with the training and qualifications to become any sort of tradesperson or specialist with a glowing recommendation from the Princess herself after being honourably discharged from service … well then, wasn’t that just a happy little coincidence?

And that the stallions, always outnumbered and outvoted in society by the more numerous mares, might also gain access to the training to become a talented butler, accountant, chef or even Royal Guard, who might likewise find themselves at the center of attention of mares who would adhere to Celestia’s views on stallions, and not the oft-toxic attitude of those who followed the Sisterhood’s teachings, was certainly a win for all parties involved.

Trays of steamed, boiled, roasted and fried delicacies were revealed, and Celestia repressed her hunger and the urge to steam great sloppy handfuls of the treats into her face by thanking each of the maids and offering them a chance to share a meal with Celestia. Several of the younger ones were obviously tempted, staring at her with stars in their eyes, while the older ones, well acquainted with their Princess’s habits, gave her knowing grins or politely declined, dragging their less-disciplined fellows out of Celestia’s presence, and with a quick flicker of her magic, Celestia closed the doors silently, locked them, pulled the blinds across and a second flicker of her magic activated wardings and runes that would make her office all but impregnable to anything short of a small mountain being dropped directly on-top of it.

Seating herself and wiping a trace of drool from the corner of her mouth, Celestia levitated the first tray’s worth of food onto her table, pushing piles of paperwork out of the way and settling them onto a nearby couch before turning her attention to the heaped pile of roasted vegetables, slathered with butter and spices, exotic sauces and molten cheese, and pulled open a drawer in her table.

A pair of utensils, a gargantuan fork and an equally massive knife, floated out of the drawer and into her hands, followed swiftly by a large square of cloth that was covered in elegant emblems of suns that tucked a corner of itself into the neck of Celestia’s garments and plastered itself down her chest.

For now, the troubles of the world could wait. Celestia had a date with lunch to deal with, and unless something truly dire happened in the next hour or so, the literal army of extremely well-paid, well-trained and hopefully competent individuals she surrounded herself with could handle it. So confident was Celestia that she almost missed the tingle in her horn as a scroll appeared in a burst of dragonfire, nearly ruining itself by attempting to land in a large bowl of cauliflower and cheese before Celestia’s hand shot out and saved it from it’s cheesy fate.

“Really …” The Solar Princess sighed, staring at the scroll in annoyance. While the ribbon wrapped around the scroll was done in a messy fashion unbecoming of her favourite student, it wasn’t marked with any of the coded symbols she’s taught Dusk Shine to denote a message of urgency, and she was technically on her lunch-break … “Sod it, I’ll read and eat at the same time. Surely it can’t be any worse than the scroll he sent me earlier today.”

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Shining Armor, breathing heavily and lathered in sweat, leaned heavily against the door-frame, hoping that Cadence couldn’t track him by smell as the would-be Captain of the Royal Guard limped his way up to Celestia’s quarters, hoping to get a word in about her ‘niece’s’ behaviour, when the whole castle shook with the force of a most undignified burst of laughter.

It had snorting. It had giggling. It had guffawing and howling laughter. It had what sounded like choking and the sound of somepony’s fist pounding on a solid surface that could have been the floor or walls, since no earthly wooden surface could have survived an impact of such magnitude repeatedly.

And then an eerie silence, before another noise shook the castle, this time causing trickles of dust to come cascading down from the ceiling from the sound of Princess Celestia bellowing “What skanky sorcery did she use on my little girl?!”

Deciding he’d had more than his recommended daily dosage of insane goddesses, Shining turned around and began limping as fast as he could in the opposite direction, hoping to find a broom-closet or similar hidey-hole to secure himself in until such time as Cadence got bored of chasing him around and suffering the effects of his paralysis barriers, or his shift finished and he could go home to his parents’ house to sleep for the evening, secure in the knowledge that not even Cadence would dare get on the bad side of Twilight Velvet and Princess Celestia.

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Days passed in frantic fashion, with Dusk rushing between his duties helping Mayor Mare with the agonizingly slow process of subtly prepping Ponyville for the Summer Sun Festival without alerting anybody to what was actually going on, aiding Cherilee with lesson-plans for her students and a few short walk-ins on the tail-ends of her lessons to try and introduce himself to the young ponies without overwhelming or aggravating them with his presence, and trying to figure out why Spine had had a sudden burst of lesbianism with a mare who, according to the gossip he’d gained from Mayor Mare, was not only notoriously shy and reclusive, but had a unique gift for dealing with wild creatures and apparently monsters, being able to understand and even speak to them, according to the rumours.

And then there was Spine herself, who had been shipped back to Canterlot courtesy of a express chariot from Canterlot in the dead of night after the incident itself, with the still-pining Spine having to be bundled into the back by force, and was then returned via the train the next afternoon, looking considerably sheepish and wearing a brand-new necklace of gold with an simple pendant bearing a very large, and obviously enchanted, chunk of Sunstone that could probably have paid for Ponyville’s misplaced funds on the spot.

Note to self: Don’t even make Spine upset enough she ever goes running back to her mother. Whatever fondness for me the Princess might have pales beside the unending rage of a parent who thinks their beloved child has been hurt, and this parent could literally throw me into the sun. Dusk thought morosely as he tore through latest pile of paperwork like a stallion possessed. He’d made plans to spend the afternoon with Cherilee to begin cautiously seeing who amongst her students needed the most urgent tutoring, and he’d promised to let Spine come along and spend some time with her friend, one Sweetie Belle, who apparently also needed lessons in magic, given that Cherilee, being an earth pony, had no real way of teaching to her students.

Forms to cover insurance, forms to requisition supplies necessary to expand Ponyville’s sewage system, backup generators to handle the increased demand for power, equipment to convert the wild magic of the Everfree Forest into energy to fuel said backup generators, the pile felt like it was growing bigger rather than smaller as the day progressed, but Dusk knew that was simply fatigue and frustration playing tricks on his mind. Ever since that day he encountered Fluttershy, Dusk’s mind had gone into a spin trying to figure out how one random Pegasus had managed to seduce Spine simply by standing next to her.

Dragons are supposed to be almost entirely immune to magic on a biological scale, so perhaps it’s me? I do have a unique ability to affect Spine with my magic, due to my hatching her and making her grow to adult size immediately afterwards. And the … sex stuff. Maybe our constant contact is somehow weakening Spine’s normal defences against magic? Dusk stopped his scribbling to grab a quick sip of his rapidly-cooling coffee and let his mind wander off topic before he set fire to the latest form before him purely on principle. But a Pegasus shouldn’t be able to have access to any kind of magic, let alone magic that resonates on the same frequency as my own. And even if, by some bizarre miracle, she did have magic, possessing magic along the same frequency should have caused us to suffer significant feedback from each other’s mere proximity if she was using magic on or near me.

So that leaves some sort of alchemical method. Perfume, perhaps? I didn’t smell much of anything, but perhaps she was waiting until we entered a place with many strong scents to mask whatever she was wearing? The Barnyard Bargain Store is heavily scented with cleaning products, the deodorants and perfumes of the ponies inside it and the ozone scent of mana-preserved food. The lanky unicorn stallion tapped his pen against his lips in thought, scowling as new thoughts bubbled up in his mind. If she did wait until we entered the Barnyard Bargain Store, then it is entirely possible she either has a personal agenda that needs her to get close to Spine, which is disturbing for a variety of reasons, or she was hired to stalk us by the Nobles of the court to try and cause a scene and trouble for the Princess. Having her adopted daughter rampaging through a quaint little village, especially in a place packed with witnesses, would hurt Celestia’s image and probably cause all kinds of issues with the close-minded types trying to get non-ponies kicked out of Canterlot and Equestria.

None of the options before him filled Dusk with any sense of comfort or relief. Either this ‘Fluttershy’ was a dangerous agent of the nobility of Canterlot in their unending dance of intrigue and espionage against the Princess for control of the country, or she was a rogue element who was after Spine for some reason, and was either planning on engaging Dusk’s assistant/pseudo-sister-figure/girlfriend in some serious snuggling, or had far less carnal reasons for her actions.

And that’s the big old elephant in the room. Am I more upset that somepony might be trying to hurt Spine, or am I upset about them trying to take Spine away from me? I prattle on a lot about the dangers of a relationship built around co-dependence, but here we are, Spine’s immediately made a new friend and I … am stuck rubber-stamping paperwork any half-trained teenager could do as a part-time job because the Princess tricked and guilted me into it.

That felt even less comforting than the prospect that Fluttershy was some sort of deep-cover agent from Canterlot. Apart from Spine and maybe the Princess at a stretch, Dusk didn’t have anyone he could just talk to. Hard-learned lessons had taught Dusk that everyone in Canterlot wanted something from him, and it wasn’t friendship.

To use him as a stepping-stone to get closer to the Princess. To appropriate Dusk’s fame to boost their own social status. To steal the secrets of magic Dusk had uncovered or created. To use him to sate their own lust. The list was endless, and Dusk had to admit he wasn’t exactly good at talking to Ponies, conversation simply didn’t come easily to him, and when he did speak, Dusk often tried to deflect the topic away from himself as a pre-emptive defence against being betrayed or used.

Faust knew, he’d gotten enough practice in Canterlot …

And sitting here, stewing in my own juices, isn’t going to do much to fix that! Time to take a break, go around town and try to talk to some of the other stallions, maybe make some connections. Dusk grinned to himself at the prospect. Maybe he’d find some folks who enjoyed Ogres and Oubliettes, or maybe even …

“Lord Dusk Shine! Lord Dusk Shine!” Mayor Mare came bustling into the room with a tottering armload of papers and a manic grin on her face. “Princess Celestia approved additional funding for the town for the next decade! And a personal letter of apology about the way we’ve been treated!”

“O-oh, that’s great, but I …” Dusk began, before the mare carried on over the top of his polite protest, lost in her own joy.

“WE HAVE FUN-DING! And since there seems to be a pony or group of ponies diverting all of our funding from the past few years, the Princess has requested you go over all of the forms yourself to make sure there’s no chance of the perpetrators escaping justice!” The middle-aged mare chortled, almost jiggling in place from excitement and utterly oblivious to the look of despair on Dusk’s face.

“… Well then, the sooner I get this done, the better, huh?” The unicorn stallion sighed and covered his face with a hand to hide his frustration as Mayor mare dumped the entire stack on his desk, went out of the room … and shuffled back in with an even larger stack, followed by a pair of heavily-sweating Royal Guards carrying over-stuffed boxes of more of the same.

I hope Ponyville is treating Spine well. And vice versa.