To Chase The Shadows of Redemption

With the little one on her back, she continued to search with no particular direction in mind, only avoiding areas she thought she had already been. It was difficult due to the monochromatic nature of the world now. She made no sound, half afraid to to and half lying to herself that it was to listen for Luna. There should've been a bustling life here, families living out their lives in full. How many ponies had been living here? She had no idea. Somehow she doubted many, if any had made it. Besides the one she had found.

A slight glow lit up something further ahead, and it stood out against the darkened surroundings. Celestia rushed there immediately. Indeed, it was exactly what she had been looking for.

Luna lay on her side in the fetal position, covered in debris breathing slowly and unresponsive. As it turned out, the glow had been coming from what seemed to be a translucent cocoon around her. Getting closer to it for inspection, she quickly withdrew all the same. This energy was full of life, it had not been produced by Luna. It was mixed with her power however. She swore she heard silent whispers of pain that were indiscernible, they cried out in agony, and it wasn't just one voice, but many, untold many.

It all hit her at once after she had let the filly down off her back.

She threw up to the side of her body, and sat there with glaring nausea. She closed her eyes.

She didn't want to think about the loss of life. Or how they went out. Who they were and what they meant to each other. She couldn't right now. Her sister was in front of her.

But what followed that disgusted her even more. Calculation. Cold and based on a lifetime of service in politics. Her mind had immediately jumped on how to cover all of this up. What kind of a pony had she become? It shook her to her core. It got even worse when she knew there was no other way in the end as well.

But how? This was unprecedented, an entire town. It wasn't some small mining incident, ponies would find out soon and be hunting and demanding for the truth. Relatives would have to be informed.

She forced her eyes open and looked around her at the desolate wasteland. The filly was staring at Luna with a combination of shock and awe, and Celestia doubted she even understood what she was seeing anymore. That's right, this was all just some nightmare for her. Celestia would make sure it stayed that way.

It was far past the town itself that she finally saw some semblance of a plan forming. It was going to take work, but there was no other options.

Carefully, she gave the filly some warning before picking her up in magic, as well as making to break the ground below luna to lift her with it. She then flew with them in her grasp to take them away from here, anywhere else was better than here and she needed the place clear for what was to come. After she had flown about five kilometres away, she dropped them down lightly in a clearing of the forest. She then cast her weakest barrier to surround them. The filly would be unable to escape it and hurt herself, and Celestia could maintain something of that level in her sleep even while distanced.

She made to return back to the remains, only this time she flew high and past. She was all eyes on the largest local mountain she had spotted. She didn't care how unrealistic it would've felt, if it was possible then she would hold onto that angle until the end.

The fastest way to do this was unclear. She could brute force it, but that led the risk of the final outcome seeming implausible. She could also take her time, but every second here wasted led the risk of Luna's health deteriorating and ponies showing up from travels to take in the before picture that could complicate everything. She would need to to make good time.

She lit her horn, and started firing a beam towards the downward slope of the mountain, trees were felled one by one as she blew by with haste, drawing a line in diagonals in hope that there would be some overlap from collisions. A path had to be cleared so that the risk of the rock slide not flowing naturally all the way down to the casket of a town would be hampered.

Next, she flew close to the top of the mountain. A brilliant idea suddenly formed in her mind. One by one, she found segments where rock stood out and started hollowing out the supporting areas with a drill like piercing magic of light that she shaped up before oscillating and thrusting. She made key insertions and indents, and moved across the mountain to touch upon as many important locations as she could. This needed to seem plausible on inspection, so path the rocks came down the mountain would need to be an actual real rock slide.

Finally, she made to create space and get high up. This was the important part. She would blast just below where she had done all of that work, and the foundation would crack bottom to top and start the avalanche. It was tough to calculate how much power she should use, but she tried to imagine about enough to blow up a building or something. She wondered if Luna had done simi—

She gathered her power and fired swiftly. The crash echoed and scared all life in a mile radius, and for a moment she thought she had failed despite seeing the resulting crater she had made. Just as she was about to prepare another one, the telltale signs of it began, and boy did it go when it got going. Trees that had already been uprooted were taking into it like they were floating down a river, and the sheer volume of it surprised Celestia. This would be more than enough. No more than two minutes later and the entire town - which had already been filled with the remains of every building, had a fresh new pile layer on top. This was satisfactory. She did a quick flight in a circular manner to make sure that no area was left uncovered. Content, she made to fly to where she knew her barrier was.

It was there that she found them, exactly as she had left them. The filly had passed out. Good.

It dawned on Celestia she would need an excuse for her absence. No matter, she would conjure up something and the ponies of the palace wouldn't have it in them to be that suspicious anyway. What troubled her more was what to do with her sister and the lost child.

She supposed she could do what she had done a few times in the past on sad situations she had stumbled on. An anonymous drop off to the Canterlot royal foster home, something she had established and provided an occasional lump sum donations beyond the normal funding provided. It was one of the few things she could genuinely think of and be proud of these days. She would be providing another allotment soon, that was sure.

Luna was more troubling. She knew that she was going to have to hide her now. Hide her and finish up establishing the team to figure out what was going on with her so that they could provide treatment while swearing them to secrecy. What she currently saw of Luna, she knew it was going to be hard to hear. She didn't want to think about it. It was time to fly back home. There was always spare bedrooms in Canterlot. She would have to ensure one had good reason to be closed off and isolated without alerting any suspicion. She had originally planned on reintegrating Luna back into equine society and civilization, but it was clear that now was not the time to reintroduce her.

There was so much to do, and so little time. The next week would be critical. Now was not the time to be weak, she had to be there for her sister and make the most of this situation for her ponies. Even today, it was better they believed that this town suffered an innocent fate, one where they passed peacefully instead of the hell she had witnessed. Whatever had possessed Luna to do that was beyond her, and she realized that both of them had fallen deep into sin despite putting everything they had to swim back to the surface to breathe. What mattered in life was not wasting the sacrifices of those so as to make them not in vain. She would ensure that if anything.

It was pitch dark outside, Celestia had only just raised the moon a few hours ago. The buildings windows lit the local vicinity in straight lines from the lights inside ending by the walls. It was at the back door here that Celestia that made to knock in a coded manner. Her connection here knew it for times they needed to meet in secret for times like these.

The door opened slowly with no words shared. They weren't needed. Not yet.

Faithful Promise shared a look with Celestia, checking the situation by reading her expression alone. She gave a nod, and turned to look at what was brought to her.

"How many?"

"Just one. Same as always, please."

Faithful couldn't resist a sigh.

"I just wish we weren't already being pushed to our limit in capacity already, but we'll have to manage. Let me."

She went to the covered up figure. Celestia stopped her, and they shared an awkward silence.

"I've... been delaying too long expanding our home, haven't I? Tell me honestly, can you keep up with care?"

She had to look down and the ground, and shuffled her hooves in a nervous manner.

"Celestia, you know that it will always be hard... even if things have gotten a little worse lately."

"You didn't answer the question, please, I need to know."

"Fine. It has dropped in quality over the years. It's all we can do to feed and guide them all daily, let alone give them individual attention. Is that enough, or do you want more?"

"That is all I needed to hear. You'll be hearing from me soon. I know I haven't said this much lately, but thank you from the bottom of my heart. I wish we could meet for tea like old times sake, but I know neither of us will have the time for that for a long while. I must go, there are still things to be done, have a good night."

Before the door even closed Celestia had disappeared and faded into the night.

Celestia didn't even bother to put covers over her sister, who now lay gently on a procured bed. The magical cloak still surrounded her and did the job, but it had receded in size as it slowly seemed to absorb into her. She had stressed a lot lately, but knowing her sister could rest here and not in some god forsaken place undisturbed and in a safe did wonders for her mental health.

It was times like these she thanked the sun that she had established agent Rosebud into the service of the maids. Sometimes even Celestia didn't know how she accomplished so much in her position. She secretly believed that she had acquired blackmail against the head maid.

This room was now secure and under her watchful duty. To be seen by no other maid or servant.

Now came the time to get who she needed in here, in and out without any hiccups.

It dawned on her that she had been completely ignoring the existence of Twilight, and made a mental note to get back to her tonight. She was still undecided on how much to reveal after all.

She teleported back into her personal bedroom, that being the best way to leave Luna sealed.

This time she quickly went over her desk to do a final run over the letters she had quickly drafted. She closed them up and sealed them. Four of them sat there in near identical order. She quickly went for the door. Trotting to the servants room, she skipped the usual process. Opening the door with magic so she could enter without breaking stride, she saw several servants and maids lounging in the room. It was where they gathered, relaxed during down time, and found all of their equipment for shifts that they'd need.

"I need these delivered now, who can do it?"

Several of them took a moment to realize who it was that had entered, but a few tensed their bodies up and came to attention.

"Yes! We shall immediately!"

It came to her at no surprise at all that Rosebud was one of them, she must've known how important this was, if Celestia came here. Even if she hadn't been informed yet. She had already been given a partial briefing. Celestia fed her information personally.

As soon as she came she was leaving, having dropped off the letters.

She made for the meeting room of which she had called the majority of those who were supposed to run the place when she was gone. She would air her grievances even if it didn't change much, the catharsis was greatly needed.