Fugue - Volume 1

"Where am I?"

Huey glanced around. He was no longer in Celestia's bed chamber. In fact, it was apparent that he was not even in Canterlot Castle. The decor of the throne room he found himself in was the exact opposite of the lavish interior of Celestia's throne room. Instead of stained glass windows decorating the sides of the room, there were arches leading deeper into the castle, white marble replaced by brown sandstone and two thrones, one gold, the other blue, were situated at the end of a red rug that covered the floor. To round off the differences, a large podium marked the middle of the room, a meeting point between the two thrones.

"Princess Celestia?" Huey called out, but no reply came. He glanced back at the two thrones. Each had a banner suspended above them. The golden throne's consisted of rolling hills and mountains bathed in golden sunshine, while its blue counterpart possessed the same scene, however it was mirrored and the moon hung in the place of the sun. Hesitantly, Huey took a step towards the twin thrones.

"Not... Another... Step!" An unknown female voice boomed. Huey immediately threw up his hands submissively and froze in place. Suddenly, a dark blue alicorn emerged from behind the blue throne. While her stature was clearly larger than any of the average equines Huey had met thus far, she was nowhere near the size of Celestia.

"P-Princess Luna?" He murmured to himself in realisation. The Princess of the Night glared fiercely, her brow furrowed in what could only be described as a representation of true bitterness and fury.

"Did you really expect me to sit idly by, while they all basked in your precious light!?" Luna bellowed acidly, the resulting breeze causing Huey's hair and clothing to ripple gently. Huey's mouth fell open in alarm as he took a step back. Unfortunately, his footing failed and he fell with a thud onto the solid floor.

"There can only be one princess in Equestria!" Luna declared, every word dripping with the most toxic venom Huey had ever heard, as she stepped up to the podium. "And that princess..."

Huey's eyes widened, his mind alternating between fear due to the clearly malicious intent behind her words, but also aware of the cliche that was about to occur. Luna reared up onto her rear hooves.

"Will be me!" She screeched as her hooves slammed down onto the floor, causing the podium to explode in a hail of rubble. Huey raised his arm just in time to cause numerous fragments of rock to bounce off him. Terrified, he lowered his arm enough to permit his eyes the ability to keep watch on the enraged alicorn. Behind Luna, the wall began to crack ominously, followed by the sole window in the room shattering to reveal the sun as it was eclipsed by the moon. Forehooves held aloft, Luna levitated into the air in a manner symbolising her holding the moon in her hooves as darkness fell.

The inky blackness thickened and engulfed Luna in a manner similar to a cocoon. Huey was riveted to the spot, his mind totally entranced by the spectacle and numbed by the fear within him. The cocoon of darkness suddenly glowed a deep, threatening orange before a black, imposing and fearsome figure emerged from within. The equines coat was pitch black, her mane an ethereal blanket showing the stars and her body, now similar, if not larger, than Celestia's, clad in dark blue armour. The creature's eyes opened, revealing thin, vertical slits instead of regular circular pupils, and the maniacal laugh permitted Huey the blessing of seeing her teeth morph into jagged, menacing rows of canines.

When the alicorn suddenly ceased laughing and glared furiously in Huey's direction, he gasped and scrambled to his feet to flee. However, his route was cut off when a massive beam of magic zoomed past him and gouged a massive crevice into the walls and roof of the castle. Huey dived towards one of the arches and rolled past the threshold just in time to see his original spot be crushed under a sizeable chunk of masonry.

"Luna, I will not fight you. You must lower the moon, it is your duty!"

"Celestia!?" Huey gasped before sprinting towards the arch he had rolled past to escape being crushed. At the opposite end of the throne room stood the alabaster alicorn, her expression grave and serious as she glared back at the monster destroying her castle.

"Luna?" The armoured nightmare scoffed indignantly. "I am not Luna. I am... Nightmare Moon!"

"Nightmare Moon!" Huey repeated in shock.

"I have only one duty now!" Nightmare Moon declared. "To destroy you!"

Huey watched as a beam of dark blue magic blasted its way towards Celestia. However, she leapt into the air and took flight, ensuring that the beam merely bore a sizeable crater into the floor. Huey watched as Celestia beat her wings furiously and flew out of the hole Nightmare Moon had made in the ceiling into the night sky.

"And where do you think you're going!?" The monster asked viciously before pursuing Celestia. Huey bit his lip anxiously as he glanced around. With his lack of wings, he could not follow them via the same route, but he could find a way that would lead him outside. As the sounds of magic and masonry crashing to the ground echoed round him, he bolted from door to door, kicking them open in a manic search for a way out.

"Damn it!" He cursed. "Why must these places be so bloody big!?"

His frustration evaporated when a blood curdling scream rung through his ears and chilled his blood.

"Celestia!?" He cried out before sprinting back to the throne room. Upon arrival, what he saw made him skid to a halt. Laying motionless, surrounded by rubble, lay the alabaster alicorn. Huey shook his head in disbelief and rushed the final few steps so that he was beside her.

"Princess Celestia!" He bawled, his lower jaw trembling. "Don't tell me what I think just happened happened."

No answer came, causing Huey to laugh nervously.

"Come on, Celestia," He murmured. "It's just a scratch! I think... I didn't actually see what happened, but you're a tough girl... I mean mare... You can walk it off!"

As the silence persisted, his heart sank, while tears rolled down his cheeks and fell to the floor.

"This isn't funny anymore!" Huey sniffled. "You've got a deranged alicorn to stop! Wake up!"

With his third attempt at rousing the downed alicorn failing, Huey slumped to the floor. As far as he could remember, he had never seen someone die before. Suffice to say, a feeling that could only be described as his heart being torn in half ripped through every fibre of his being. His teeth chattered as he tried in vain to contain his tears, the flow increasing exponentially.

"Oh no," Huey mourned. "Celestia..."

The human closed his eyes and wept silently, the agony within him refusing to leave. Suddenly, the sound of hooves against rock echoed round the room. Huey took a deep breath in, sure that he was going to be murdered next by Nightmare Moon. Bravely, but with a heavy and terrified heart, he stood up and opened his eyes. What he saw made him gasp in disbelief.

Standing before him, grave, but unharmed, was Princess Celestia. Huey laughed maniacally in relief as he wiped his eyes.

"You're alive!" He declared ecstatically. "I thought that you'd... I... I'm so glad you're safe!"

"My dear sister," Celestia said solemnly and sadly. "I hope you will forgive me for what I'm about to do."

"Princess Celestia?" Huey asked, his joy vanishing as swiftly as it arrived. "What are you going to do!?"

"I have no choice, but to use these!"

Huey watched as Celestia's magic grasped a massive stone slab in the centre of the throne room floor and lifted it, revealing a massive, rotating orrery. However, the arms that usually contained models of planets possessed a single, hexagonal-cut gem. The human witnessed Celestia silently gathered up the five gems, each either pink, red, purple, blue or orange. Her magic then encased the concrete orb in the centre of the device, which usually represented the sun. Huey gasped as a sixth gem, cut into the shape of a large, six-pointed star, rose up from the solid sphere.

"What are they, Celestia?" Huey asked hesitantly. "What are you going to do to her?"

Celestia ignored him, instead examining each gem individually before they formed into a circle round her and began to orbit the alicorn. Huey stepped back, the speed of the gems orbit rapidly increasing to the point where they were just a poly-chromatic blur round the princess. Suddenly, a flash of rainbow-coloured light blinded Huey, causing him to shield his eyes and look away. After letting his eyes have a few moments to recover, he glanced back to see Celestia fly up and out of the roof again.

"Wait!" He cried out before rushing to another door adjoining the throne room. Frustration bubbled inside him as he found himself inside another dead end. However, a seed of hope sprouted when he realised he had stumbled upon a study. The inside was completely trashed as a result of one of Nightmare Moon's beams blasting a hole through the wall, however it presented a perfect view of the outside world. Huey sprinted over to the gaping hole and looked outside. Far away, up in the night sky, floated the two alicorns. Unlike Nightmare Moon, who blended relatively well with the dark background, Celestia was an unmissable spot as the rainbow light surrounding her continued to pulse gently.

"Damn it!" Huey murmured. "I can't see!"

As he tried to lean out of the window, his foot bumped into a metallic object. Glancing down, he found that he had accidentally kicked a telescope. Smiling, he snatched the dusty object and peered through it at the pair. Nightmare Moon, the maniacal goddess of darkness, was clearly undeterred by the spectacle Celestia was bathed in. Meanwhile, Celestia was gazing at her former sister tearfully. Suddenly, Nightmare Moon glowed bright blue, her entire body being bathed in her aura as another attempt to murder her sister charged up. Celestia clenched her eyes shut, tears drenching her cheeks as she said a few words. Unfortunately, Huey was too far away to hear them. The two alicorns fired their respective beams simultaneously. The two streams of magic colliding in a massive orb of white light that shifted back and forth towards either opponent as they fought for dominance in this battle of magical endurance and strength.

Huey watched as the orb slowly began to creep towards Nightmare Moon. Certain that Celestia was about to be victorious, he focused his attention on the monster. Nightmare Moon's eyes were clenched shut, every fibre of her being pouring every last atom of magic into what was clearly a matter of survival or death. However, the effort, which was beginning to cause beads of sweat to trickle down her face, was for nought. The moment she felt the orb of colliding magic touch her horn, her eyes opened wide in shock and surprise. That single moment sealed her fate as the lapse in concentration caused all resistance to crumble and the full force of Celestia's magic to engulf her.

"No!" Nightmare Moon screamed in terror as she was engulfed in a shimmering orb of rainbow coloured magic that rocketed into the sky. Huey watched as the screaming ball, and its captive, smashed into the surface of the moon, crafting the shape of a unicorn's head into it. Huey let the telescope slip from his hands and fall to the ground far below.

"Of course," He whispered in understanding. "The banishment of Nightmare Moon... One thousand years ago."

However, his realisation did not last long when his vision was once again engulfed in white.

Huey sat up with a jolt. His heart was pounding and every part of his body was drenched in cold sweat. Panicked, he looked around in the pitch black darkness.

"Celestia!?" He cried out in fright. "Where are you!?"

"Shhhh... I'm here," A motherly voice whispered, while a pair of hooves embraced him. "It was just a memory... My memory."

Huey sobbed uncontrollably as he buried his face into the alicorn's chest.

"I thought you died!" He bawled. "I thought... You had been killed!"

"I was very close to being killed," Celestia admitted. "However, I am very much alive and well, as you can see."

"But... It was all so real! You weren't moving! I heard you scream!"

"That's because it was real, Huey," Celestia clarified. "Was. That was a memory of the past."

Huey shivered and remained silent, his mind still reeling from the shock. Meanwhile, Celestia gently stroked his hair and whispered comfortingly into his ear. Eventually, Huey's sobs subsided, but the tears remained. It took a few minutes of crying before the flow began to dry up and Huey had the strength to look up into the alicorn's eyes.

"It was horrible!" He stated tearfully, earning a nod of understanding from Celestia. "There was so much destruction."

"I know, Huey, I know."

"But you're not a bad pony," Huey stated, causing Celestia to gaze back in surprise. "What I saw was self-defence. It was banish or be killed. You did the right thing, Celestia. You could have struck your own sister down, and be forced to bury her, but you didn't... You showed her mercy, even when she had become so twisted that she sought to kill you."

Celestia looked away, the metaphorical gears within her mind turning as she considered the human's assessment of what he saw. Minutes passed as she desperately tried to concoct a rebuttal, adamant that she was a bad pony, that there was an alternative solution she could have taken that didn't mean she had to banish her sister to the wastes on the lunar surface. However, her concentration was broken when a thumb gently stroked her cheek.

"You can't torment yourself over the past, Celestia," Huey said quietly. "All you can do now is try to make the future brighter for those you adore, and realise that what happened in the past could have been much more painful if you hadn't shown such restraint and care for your sibling."

Celestia gasped, his words touching her heart. The princess grimaced as she mulled over this new nugget of wisdom for a moment, before nodding her head in agreement.

"You're right," She agreed. "I must be strong. Not just for my sister, but for my subjects."

"That's right," Huey replied. "However, you cannot do that on your own. You may be immortal, but that doesn't make you any less of an individual."

"But, Equestria... They need me!" Celestia protested, but was cut off when a fingertip was placed on her lips.

"Immortality does not make you invulnerable to stress, Celestia," Huey said forcefully. "You'll be useless to everyone if you bottle everything up. You need to be able to relax and, if necessary vent any frustrations or worries you have to someone."

"But I'm a princess! Who could I possibly go to? I couldn't even consider confiding in one of my subjects... They can't be expected to cope with such a task."

"Then consider going to someone other than your subjects!" Huey explained. "I would suggest your sister, but she's not in the best of places, like yourself. So..."

"So, what?"

"Why not me?"

Celestia's eyes widened at the suggestion.

"Before you say anything, just think back to what you and I have done here," Huey said. "You shared with me a very traumatic memory and, dare I say, you seemed to enjoy being fed. Would that perhaps be due to your position as a princess?"

Celestia raised a hoof to her lips to conceal a silent giggle, while her cheeks took on a slight red tint.

"It was nice," She admitted. "But I could never ask any of the servants to do such a thing. It's too..."

"Degrading or dictatorial?"

"Yes!"

"Well, I volunteered and suggested the idea, so you've nothing to worry about!" Huey remarked. "Meanwhile, I do believe there's still some cake left. May I try some?"

"Of course!"

Huey smiled as he retrieved the plate and fork. Eagerly, he sliced off a chunk and ate it. The sponge was delectably soft and moist, while the butter cream icing on top was a delightful mixture of vanilla with zesty lemon. Huey hummed in appreciation and licked his lips.

"Whoever made this is a genius," Huey murmured. "The buttercream icing... Soft, easy to eat, but the taste of vanilla and lemon. It's perfect."

"I know," Celestia replied quietly. "When I am feeling low... I..."

"Comfort eat," Huey finished. "It's not healthy. I don't know if you can gain weight or not, but if you can, becoming overweight will be detrimental to your health and self-esteem."

"I know, I know," Celestia replied with a roll of her eyes. "I'm not a child. It's just..."

"With no one to confide in, the only way to relieve stress is cake?"

"Exactly."

Huey nodded his head in understanding before slicing off another chunk, which he presented to the princess. Without the childish fanfare provided last time, Celestia accepted the tribute and ate the treat.

"While I'm not averse to letting you have cake," Huey said as he continued to present chunks of cake for Celestia to eat. "I will make sure it's not too much, for obvious reasons."

"Fine." Celestia muttered, a hint of disappointment bleeding into her tone as she munched another serving. As soon as the remnants of the cake had vanished, Huey put the plate and fork aside and gently stroked Celestia's ears, who had quietly laid her head in his lap. The princess' ear twitched and flicked periodically, but the gently cooing and murmuring were a clear indication that she was enjoying the attention. Huey's fingers eventually left her ear to stroke the alicorn's neck and mane too, causing further mutters of approval.

"How are you feeling?" Huey whispered, anxious not to break the peaceful silence that had fallen.

"Secure." Celestia even whispered back. The choice of adjective puzzled Huey. Was Celestia referring to being in the company of a friend? Was it a statement of her mental health now that she knew she had someone she could rely on to help her through her darkest hours? Huey grimaced as he wondered whether to probe further for confirmation. Eventually, he decided on letting the matter drop. The reason why Celestia found any value in his company meant nothing to him. What mattered is that an individual, isolated by her own status and power, had finally found someone they could speak to as an equal, not as a superior. The distance created by being a completely different species, an alien, in Equestria was pivotal. Without that unique status, it was doubtful that Celestia would be so willing to open up. It was actually surprising she opened up to him at all, in retrospect, but, for some reason, the sun princess had found enough reason to trust him with some of her most troubling worries.

Huey shrugged his shoulders lightly before returning his attention to Celestia. The coos had ceased, and the only sound indicating she was alive was her gentle breathing. Guessing that she had fallen asleep, Huey tilted his head as he began considering whether he could slip away without disturbing her. With the alicorn comfortably using his lap as a pillow, it was obvious such an idea was doomed to failure. Grimacing, Huey shook his head and sighed quietly before slowly shimmying down into a supine position. With the alicorn's head now resting on his chest and his own against the pillows, Huey resigned himself to sharing the same bed with not just an equine, but the most powerful one he knew existed.