Much of Celestia's training under her father's generals, advisers, and spymasters involved putting her emotions aside for the sake of reason. Sometimes, however, deception required emotional honesty. Personal servants of the princesses would not be cold and emotionless in a situation like this. They would be absolutely terrified.
Which was exactly what Celestia was feeling right now.
Emotions flooded her as she broke the dam of her control. Her eyes filled with tears and her legs trembled with the effort of holding her weight. It seemed that the emotions were infectious. She could feel Luna, still clutching her big sister, having the same reaction.
Masses of blurry colors moved before her. Through the haze of her emotions, she could make out what seemed like orders. Though her emotions were making the sounds as hazy as her sight, a small part of her, the part still capable of clear thought even in the midst of all her emotions, knew what they were: Pegasi were to scour the nearby area for the princesses.
Any member of the royal family left alive could gather together an army and retake the crown. They must be eliminated.
That small part of her could not feel elation at the success of her deception. It could only register the fact and start on the next order of business. There was something inherently wrong about what was happening. That small part of her was out of its depth, however. The mystery would have to wait until Celestia gained full control of her faculties once again.
A mass of blue, red, and bronze began to increase in size. In spite of the tears blurring her vision, the blobs had sharpened somewhat. The spell’s damage to her eyesight was temporary after all. At least, that’s what she hoped it meant.
It occurred to her then that sounds were being made at her and her sister. It was the mass of color in front of her. Standing on three legs still seemed to be an insurmountable task. Finding a compromise between her desire to be able to see her interrogator and her legs’ desire to drop her, she shifted herself into a sitting position, wiping away her tears with her pastern. The stallion standing before her was still somewhat blurry, but she could now make out some basic features. The opening and closing of his mouth, for example, timed perfectly with the sounds of somepony speaking, but her still-raging emotions could not abide by comprehension. Celestia silently wrestled with them, winning out just in time to hear the tail end of the stallion’s words.
“...hear me? I asked you a question! Who are you?”
Celestia had planned for this eventuality, but now that it was facing her, she was afraid her voice might betray her.
“M-my… name… is… Taffeta,” she managed to gasp out through her trembling lips. “I’m a… personal servant… of Princess Celestia. This is m-my sister… Cardam-mom, one of… Princess Luna’s… personal servants.”
The stallion’s eyes probed her for what seemed like an eternity, trying to find some lie written her eyes. Perhaps if he had been trained in deception, he might have fared better, but he was a soldier, skilled in fighting and not much else. Celestia took care not to show even a hint of her relief as she saw his eyes soften and him shake his head to shake loose the suspicious thoughts from his mind. Now free to pursue other lines of thinking, he began to issue orders to those around him. Celestia took this brief window to gather what information she could about her captor. Her eyes, almost entirely clear of tears and the lingering effects of the spell, could now take in hints that she had previously been unable to see about him. His height alone was several hands beyond what could be considered ‘normal’ for an Earth pony, but it was not new to the princess, having been raised around royal guards. His visible musculature, barely obscured by his deep blue coat, seemed ready to burst through his skin at any moment. Extraordinary for an average pony, but it was rare for a royal guard to be without such a physique. Banded bronze barding clung to his barrel and head, leaving only his eyes, mouth, and light blue mane unprotected. Celestia took note of spots of red on his armor, but the spiked plates running up his cannon and on his shoulders were clean. It seemed as though he had run past the battle at the entrance hall.
A flash of rage coursed through Celestia as her eyes fell upon the captain’s insignia that this rebel had no right to wear. She should- No. It would do her no good to lose control over such a trivial thing. Let him play pretend so she might live to show him the folly of assuming such an honor. She had managed to take in some vital information while his attention was elsewhere, but she dared not be caught studying him, or his suspicion might return.
“My apologies, my lady,” the 'captain' said with a bow as he turned to once gain face her. Something about the way he eyed her made her uneasy. Had she seen that strange look he gave her before? “We live to serve the common people. Surely you must know the crimes of the royal family better than any of us.” He glanced significantly at her shoulder, and Celestia realized that the injury she had sustained in her rush to the library must be beginning to show. In its current state, it must look remarkably like she had been struck.
Celestia once again played the role of the abused and terrified servant by bowing in turn. Her breathing had steadied somewhat. “I… am at your mercy, my lord. I owe you my life for freeing me from my cruel masters—”
A lightly armor soldier interrupted her act by skidding to a halt no more than a few centimeters from the captain. The messenger hesitated just long enough for the captain to nod, signaling his readiness to receive the message. Celestia strained her ears, hoping to catch some hint of the whispered conversation, but her hearing was still too impaired to gather anything from them.
Her hearing, however, had recovered enough to notice the vast array of noises caused by the whirlwind of activity around her. Picking through the pieces of the orders that found their way to her ears, it seemed that the library was being used as a temporary base for the search for the princesses. However, orders had recently arrived to move the base. As near as she could ascertain, high-ranking unicorns would be coming to pick through the spell books. Given that some of the most powerful spells in Equestria had their home here; it certainly wouldn’t do to trust them in the wandering hooves of ordinary soldiers.
The captain’s report now complete, the messenger took his leave to pass on the information. Now that the captain’s attention was once again on her, Celestia realized that she had seen that strange look. It was the same look she had seen in the eyes of some of the guards when their eyes were on a mare for which they harbored romantic thoughts.
Though she had never seen that look directed at her, she had seen its results. No doubt the captain would soon be asking her to fulfill those romantic thoughts.
At least, Celestia hoped that he was the type to ask. Either way, she didn’t plan on staying long enough to discover that particular piece of information. She… didn’t have any plans, actually. Celestia had been so concerned with ensuring that she and Luna didn’t die in the initial attack that she hadn’t planned this far ahead. Would they escape? Could they escape? What would become of them if they did? Celestia could feel her barrel tightening, her breath coming in short gasps. Her hard-won calm was abandoning her. She shoved aside the fatalistic expectations telling her that escape was impossible, that they would be discovered. She was not the crown princess. She was a servant, nothing more. There was no reason for them to suspect otherwise, no need for her to escape. She was perfectly safe.
As the servant’s mind began to shake free of its panicked state, she became aware of a hoof on her uninjured shoulder, a soothing voice in her ear… and the concerned eyes of a blue stallion, now free of its helmet.
“...please calm down. I promise that everything’s going to be okay.”
Though her heart still felt as though it might burst forth from her barrel, her calm was returning.
“I… I’m fine now,” Celestia lied. “Thank you, my lord.”
“Now, now,” the stallion replied with a wave of his other hoof. “Let’s have none of this ‘my lord’ business. I am Captain Blueblood, Miss Taffeta, though you may call me Cobalt.” A unicorn near Cobalt made a coughing sound into his hoof. “Oh. Right. Yes,” Cobalt murmured, moving back from Celestia and once again assuming the façade of a commander. “Miss Taffeta, I’m sorry that we can’t provide you time to rest, but my superiors feel that you may have knowledge that’s useful to us. No doubt this palace holds many secrets, and as personal servants of the royal family, they’re sure there are things you’ve seen that could help us,” he explained. “Even if you think you don’t know anything, there’s sure to be some things you’ve that would give us useful hints,” he added as he saw her begin to object.
In the time that it had taken for her to panic and him to flirt, the library had emptied of all but a few ponies. Two unicorns each had three teleblades rotating in circles on either side. The teleblades were just larger than razors and pointed on either end, made for quick strikes and relatively easy control, but they did require control. Controlling each individually—as opposed to simply carrying them—meant that the difficulty of handling them increased exponentially as the wielder added more blades. Being able to control six was rather impressive for unicorns. Celestia could control eight. The only other two left in the library aside from Cobalt were Earth ponies. The spikes attached to their armor were mostly clean, but one had blood on one of his shoulder spikes and the other’s armor looked to have been recently dented in the barrel. It seemed that some of the servants had fought back. Celestia felt a surge of pride that only lasted as long as it took to be crushed with the realization that that poor servant probably should have surrendered.
Celestia thanked the gods that Luna had the good sense to be quiet during all this. Though the two had never spent much time together, Celestia was well aware that her sister was a terrible liar. Celestia shared that trait, but life or death situations were a different matter for her. She couldn’t say if the same was true of her sister. She also knew, however, that Luna was exceptionally introspective. She was fully aware of her faults and knew that now was the time for her to keep silent. The only chance that she had was if Celestia spoke for them.
“I… I will do my best,” Celestia assented. “Please… take us to them.”
Had Celestia known that her recent periods of panic had sapped the strength from her legs as they had, she wouldn’t have tried to stand so suddenly. As it was, however, she managed to catch herself before she came too close to bowling over the captain. As difficult as it was for her to rise on her own, she knew that Luna would not be having an easier time of it. Once Celestia had steadied herself, she set to the task of helping her sister to her hooves. To a casual observer, Luna would have seemed calm. She was not pressed to the wall, there were no tears, and her ears were standing at attention. She was just lying there…
Shaking ever-so-slightly.
From the corner of her eye, Celestia spotted Cobalt moving to assist her. The elder princess risked her three unsteady legs to bar him with the other.
“She is my sister.”
Cobalt nodded his understanding, giving Celestia room to assist her sister. As much as Celestia wanted to comfort her little sister, she knew that now was neither the time nor the place to do so. All Celestia could do for Luna right now was to help her to her feet.
Now that his prisoners were ready to follow, Cobalt gave the order to move. Celestia prayed that the soldiers now surrounding them wouldn’t send her sister into a panic, but it seemed that Luna was still too dazed to notice. Now that Celestia could allow herself to focus on something outside of her immediate area, she realized just how dark the library had become. The windows that had once allowed sunlight to flood the room were now veiled with heavy draped, the only light left came from the library doors and the tiny slivers of light peeking through the small space between the windows and the drapes. Celestia made note of the shadows of Pegasi moving in the slivers of light. She also took this time to study their escort and the guards at the door. The escort surrounding her and Luna, who was now walking entirely under her own power, seemed more concerned with presenting an intimidating appearance than being prepared for actual combat. As bad as her own guards were, however, the guards at the door were worse. At least her guards weren’t engaged in idle chatter.
From their conversation, Celestia was able to confirm her suspicion that these were not trained guards. What few guards they had were busy with the high-ranking officers, including the ones making their way to the library. Aside from that, though, nothing in their conversation was of use to her.
Now that those around her were distracted by the shadows in the halls, Celestia was free to focus her attention on the issues she had set aside. Something was wrong with this situation… aside from her parents being dead, her sister and her being in danger, and Equestria being in the hooves of these… usurpers.
The barrier Celestia had so carefully constructed began to crack.
Celestia called upon all her strength to force those thoughts from her mind so she might focus on what was out of place with this situation.
Why the library? They would have had to have passed by dozens of rooms on their way. No matter how fast they were, they would not have had time to search for the princesses in the rooms they passed, even with a generous estimate of how many soldiers they could allocate to a search party.
That Luna spent her mornings in the library was no great secret, but coupled with the realization that one of her father’s closest advisors had been missing from the defense made Celestia wonder if the rebels had obtained their information from a traitor. The princess was not about to wait to find out whether or not that was the case. If she had turned traitor, she would know that there were no such servants as Taffeta or Cardamom. Even setting that aside, however, Celestia had a duty to prevent the knowledge and magic within the library from falling into the enemy’s hooves at all costs.
Including the lives of her and her sister.
In order to fulfill her duty, she would need to escape from her captors, and soon. The once-bustling halls might be empty for the time being, but she knew that would change as they approached the temporary command center. From their direction, Celestia reasoned that it was located in the war room. Their speed put them just a few minutes away from the command center itself, and she doubted that the halls near the war room would be as deserted as these. If she and her sister were to escape, Celestia would need to find a way. Now.
Easier said than done when surrounded by five armed ponies, two of whom were unicorns holding six teleblades each. Unicorns that were more concerned with looking intimidating than being ready for a fight.
I wonder… Taking every precaution to not disrupt the flow of magic between the unicorn and his weaponry, Celestia reached out with her magic to probe the nearest blade. Her gamble rewarded her with the knowledge that these unicorns’ blades could easily be taken and used against them, something that could not be done if they had been holding them properly. It seemed that they had, in fact, sacrificed function for numbers to look more intimidating. Celestia’s mind became a whirlwind of activity as a thousand variables worked their way through her plans. One variable, however, just could not fit: Luna. In spite of how little she really knew Luna, Celestia couldn’t help but feel protective towards her little sister. She could not and would not expose her to what was about to happen, what she was about to do.
Reinforcing the barrier she had built against emotion as best she could, Celestia set her plan in motion.
Praying that Luna’s reaction speed was slow enough, Celestia hooked her knee around her sister’s neck, pressing Luna’s face against her barrel. Immediately upon contact, Celestia reached into her diminished well of magic power, only just now starting to recover from the polymorph spell, and pumped it dry. Dislodging the six closest blades from the unicorns’ grips, she launched one blade to each side just as the unicorns felt the touch of her magic on their weapons. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see them turning towards her just in time for their unprotected eyes to meet the blades. Before blade met eye, though Celestia had already sent two more on their way, these intended for the Earth ponies behind her. She drove the blades into their skulls with nearly all her strength, leaving just enough in reserve for the next challenge. She hoped that the force at which the blades entered their skulls would put them down as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Cob—the captain spun at the sound of one of his stallions crying out. Celestia drew forth what little strength she had left to fire the remaining blades at him in quick succession. The edge of Celestia’s mind was aware of bodies striking the ground with two dull thumps as the captain managed to block the first blade with his leg armor, sending it flying into the wall. As he brought up his other hoof to block the blade he no doubt expected to have followed the first, Celestia had no choice but to meet his eyes.
Shock and anger blazed forth, but what she saw underneath the fire was betrayal. He had trusted her for no other reason than the hopes of a romantic and, in those final moments, he knew that she had lied to him. He had dreamed before he knew. But now he knew that, even in her weakened state, she was faster. Celestia clasped shut her eyes as the blade struck home. Weak as she was, Celestia desperately fought to force the blade, to end his life and this moment now.
The effort and emotional stress of killing the other four was too much for her, and the blade fell short of granting him a quick death. A fresh splash of warm blood on her eyelids caused them to fly open against her wishes. As Celestia watched, her eyes transfixed on the horror before her, Cobalt’s body convulsed, muscles twitching and jerking in a nightmarish dance. Her emotional shields shattered. Blood spurted forth from his eye in bursts as he fell, juddering all the way. Celestia choked down a fresh supply of bile as the liquid splashed upon her from breast to hoof. It seemed like an eternity before he stopped, and it was only then that she realized that Luna was struggling against her grip.
Celestia did her best to keep her voice steady, which was a feat in and of itself. How she managed such a task was beyond her. “Luna, listen to me.” Luna stopped her struggles at the sound of her sister’s voice. “Close your eyes. I’ll make sure we don’t hurt ourselves, but you have to close your eyes. Can you do that for me?” Luna nodded against Celestia’s barrel and she released her. Celestia touched her forearm to her sister’s shoulder so that Luna could follow her. It would have been far easier, or at least faster, for Luna to open her eyes, but Celestia could not subject her dear sister to this sight.
Taking care to ensure that neither tripped or slipped, Celestia led Luna past the bodies and the small pools of blood. Some part of her couldn’t believe that there wasn’t more blood. Most of the blood still leaked from the bodies’ eyes, soaking their fur and beginning to form pools around their heads. Celestia was still fighting back her last meal, and the good look she was getting at the bodies wasn’t helping. If she could stomach the experience for a few moments more, however, there was something she should do.
Celestia had exhausted her magic reserves twice today, but basic telekinesis didn’t require too much. She should have recovered enough, even in such a small amount of time. Calling upon that familiar spark and taking care not to look too closely at the body, Celestia unstrapped one of the unicorns’ blade pouches. With luck, she wouldn’t need to use them at all. In case fate held more death in store, however, she added the other unicorns’ blades to her reserve.
Before Celestia left this experience behind, she looked back upon the scene one more time. She wondered if she ever wanted to forget this death that she had caused. Celestia cleared those thoughts from her mind with a shake of her head. She could wax philosophical later. Now, they needed to move. Thankfully, her legs had not forgotten the importance of this task.
As they moved through the maze of hallways, Celestia was careful to focus on the clopping of hooves that echoed through the walls of the palace. Having lived here for more years than any non-Alicorn would see, she could tell from where particular sounds were coming. It seemed that most of the soldiers were some distance away. It made sense, from the perspective of an inexperienced military force, one without the thousands of years of tradition and experience that her father’s military had. They cleared the library area first and moved on to other places, without thinking to post guards in areas already cleared. Celestia was thankful for their ineptitude, as it allowed Luna and her to make their way back to the library unmolested.
They were nearing the library when Celestia finally noticed the reason why Luna had been struggling: A patch of matted fur on her foreleg was even darker than usual for Luna—almost black. Celestia could see no wound, meaning that it had come from one of the soldiers. The feeling of another pony’s blood sticking to her coat was a rather sickening experience for Celestia. She didn’t know how Luna dealt with it. Her sister may have been young and inexperienced in the way of combat, but she was too smart to think that that gooey wetness was anything but blood. Taking a moment to clean it or even comfort her sister could mean death for them both, however. She hated leaving her sister like that, but there was nothing she could do for her right now.
She could feel the tension in her sister’s body, the stress from everything that had happened so far. Celestia wondered if her sister knew some of what was to come for them. Celestia couldn’t understand what kept her going, knowing what little she did of what lay ahead for her and her sister. She had to remind herself that Luna had shown much more strength today than Celestia thought that she could possibly have. Even so, she hated not being able to stop to tell her that everything would be okay.
There would be time for lies later. She hoped.
The voices of the library guards from before reached her ears just a few meters from the last corner, returning her thoughts to the events around her.
The library was still her primary goal. There were books on magic and military strategy there, most especially in the Royal Chamber, which she could not trust in the hooves of the rebels or, even worse, the traitor.
From the idle chatter Celestia had heard before, she knew she wasn’t too late. Though she could not see the sun from these halls, her connection to it told her that they still had some time left.
She had to get in there.
Celestia had planned to escape through the library, but even if her magic had recovered enough to fight two trained—and likely elite—soldiers at the same time, she wasn’t sure if she could bring herself to end any more ponies’ lives. Especially not just now.
The only viable option left was to find a way into the library about which the rebels, and even the traitor, would not know.
While Luna had studied magic, Celestia had studied politics and warfare, most especially their history in Equestria. She knew that this so-called palace was, in truth, a castle that had been fitted with royal luxuries. But from the start, it had been designed with defense in mind and, if that failed, escape. Secret passages abounded, but they were winding and trapped, full of false exits meant to deceive, confuse, and even kill any that happened upon them by accident.
Celestia knew all of them. All the entrances, all the passages, all the traps. All were there, in her mind. And one of those entrances was just past the door to her right.
Of course, it didn’t look much like a door. When the castle was being turned into a palace, many of the rooms intended for the purposes of servants were fitted with doors that were difficult to distinguish from the stonework. Anyone looking for doors would find them, of course, but guests of the palace would be able to ignore them. This certainly worked to her advantage, as those unfamiliar with the layout or method of opening any particular door would have a difficult time getting into the room beyond, which would buy her and her sister a few more precious moments. Celestia had lived here long enough, though, and finding and opening the door was no great task for her.
From the palace floor plan, Celestia knew that the room was small, but she had not known its purpose before stepping into it. She could barely make out the soaps and buckets laying on wooden shelves on one wall, and book repair equipment on another wall. Along the back wall were the vague shapes of broom handles, dusters, rags, and other cleaning devices. Most of the supply room was cloaked in shadows, thanks to the winding path the light had to take to get to the room. Obviously, the servants wouldn’t be gathering supplies in such darkness, so there should be a lantern somewhere nearby. Sure enough, a bit of looking found it sitting atop a shelf next to the door. Celestia raised the wick and turned the wheel that struck flint and steel, closing the door as she did so in order to not raise suspicion should anypony of evil intent be wandering the hall.
The door closed, the lantern sprang to life, and a clatter of wood on stone reached her from the back of the room.
Every muscle in Celestia’s legs tensed as she swung her head to face the rogue. Her eyes came to rest, not on a rogue, but upon a small, light brown unicorn mare, still a year or two shy of full maturity, in servant’s clothing, baring her teeth in an aggressive stance.
Her eyes were shimmering with tears, and her tremors were plain to see.
Celestia knew this servant. Fallow… something. She couldn’t recall her family name, but she knew that Fallow worked cleaning the library and repairing the books. …So why wasn’t she standing down before her princesses?
Oh. Right. The spell. The fact that she was covered in blood probably didn’t help matters, either. She silently cursed herself for not unraveling the spell as soon as they escaped from their captors. It was not as if a servant that was covered in blood would be any better received than the crown princess covered in blood.
“Fallow,” Celestia spoke softly, “it’s me.”
She hoped that the servant’s hesitance would buy her some time to unravel the spell. It was not as if Fallow stood any chance against her, but she would not like to harm somepony so clearly loyal to her and her family.
Aggression was replaced by confusion at those words as Fallow searched her mind for who this pony before her was. Celestia didn’t hesitate in unraveling the bindings holding the spell together. The complexity of the spell was making the process take longer than she had estimated, and her inadequacies in magic certainly weren’t helping. Why wasn’t Luna saying anything?
It didn’t take long for Fallow to realize that Celestia’s current form was a stranger. Her muscles tensed again; Celestia wouldn’t get another distraction. “Who are you? I’ve never seen you before!”
There! The bindings unraveled and the last remnants of the spell fell apart. Celestia clamped her eyes shut as the illusion, now nothing more than a flash of white light, burst forth, returning her to her natural form. Her wings, now free of the paralytic effects of the spell, broke from her sides of their own accord.
As her eyes once again adjusted to the low light environment, she saw Fallow bringing a hoof to her mouth. She remembered herself as Celestia pressed her wings once again to her sides and bowed before her princesses. As important as ceremony was under normal circumstances, Celestia didn’t have time for this.
“Rise, Fallow,” Celestia said, just loud enough to be heard.
Fallow obeyed, but kept her eyes firmly fixed on the ground. “My ladies… I had feared that you were lost.”
Even in the low light, the relief of that not being the case was plain to see on her face. Celestia wished that she had known Fallow better before the attack. Loyalty that strong was a trait that Celestia prized, not just in subjects, but also in friends.
“Nay, we—“ Celestia cut herself short as she became aware of the shaky, gasping breaths behind her. Fallow winced at a particularly loud one as her eyes drifted to the corner of the room behind Celestia.
Oh, gods. Luna had opened her eyes. No wonder she hadn’t said anything.
Celestia turned to see Luna trembling in the corner, her eyes swimming in tears. As soon as Celestia took a step forward, Luna shrank back even more. It seemed that Fallow felt free to show her concern, now that most of Celestia’s attention was not on her. From the corner of her eye, she could see the servant visibly fighting the urge to run to Luna’s side.
Given how much time Luna spent in study, Celestia shouldn’t have been surprised that she had grown close to Fallow… in fact, in all likelihood, Fallow was probably closer to her than Celestia was to her own sister.
Celestia shoved aside the stab of pain that that revelation. She could dwell on her failings as a sister later. For now, the further away her blood-soaked figure was, the better it would be for Luna’s nerves. Waving Fallow forward, she moved to the back of the room.
Of course, there was no reason why she should spend this time being unproductive. She knew that there was a secret passage in here somewhere, but she didn’t know exactly where it was. All she knew was that the map showed it as being along the back wall. Each secret passage had its own version of a spell that activated it, so it was just a simple matter of directing the beginning of the spell to different sections of the wall and feeling for a connection. It wasn’t difficult, just tedious. Given how time-sensitive her mission was, though, that was worrisome enough.
She was nearing the end with no luck when the feeling of something warm and wet against her gaskin made her jump. Celestia grasped at her teleblades as she spun to see…
Fallow.
She was frozen in place, levitating what looked to be a new cleaning rag and a brush. Celestia opened her mouth to speak as the weaponry clattered to the floor, but Fallow spoke first.
“Pardon me, Your Serenity. I thought that it might be for the best if I were to clean your coat.”
Celestia began to protest, but realized that Fallow wasn’t looking at her. The servant’s eyes were directed to her right, in Luna’s direction.
She wasn’t sure what cleaning the blood out of her coat was supposed to do. It wasn’t as if Luna was stupid enough to just forget about it simply because she wasn’t seeing it just then, but if there was a chance that it might calm her down, and it was likely that Fallow knew how to do that better than the princess did, then she’d have to take the time to do it. Escape would be impossible if Luna was too busy cowering in a corner to follow her sister.
Celestia nodded her assent to the cleaning, and Fallow returned to her task as she continued searching the wall.
A half dozen partial castings spanning the length of the back wall and still no resonance. Celestia had not thought that they would place the entrances in corners, but this was the last area, so it had to be…
Nothing. No resonance.
The world around Celestia collapsed. The panic she had been grappling this entire time reared its head once more.
Okay. There had to be a solution. Maybe they were in the wrong room. Maybe she had cast the wrong spell. Maybe she had missed the resonance. Something. Anything. It could not be gone.
No… As much as she hoped that she had made some error, she knew that it wasn’t true. She had executed the right spell in the proper spots, and she would not have missed the resonance signature. The passage just… wasn’t there.
Her father… could he have sealed them?
They were trapped here.
Sooner or later, the rebels would conduct a room by room search. Sooner or later, they would come across what remained of the royal family.
There was nothing that she could do about Luna and herself. Sooner or later, the rebels would kill them.
But if this was to be her end, she would not go quietly. If she wouldn’t have to live with the deaths on her conscious, she was going to extract as much of it as she could from these traitors.
She would commit that act as a soldier, however, not the crown princess. As crown princess, there was one last act for her. She could do some good for one of her subjects, at the very least.
“Fallow,” Celestia managed to say through the lump in her throat. “You must leave.”
“Your Serenity, I—“
“Listen. They cannot discover you here with us. If they do, they will execute you. If you surrender to them, they should let you go. I am ordering you to leave, to surrender to them.”
There was a long pause before Fallow responded again.
“I cannot abandon my ladies.”
Celestia hated lying, at least to those that weren’t intent on killing her. But she could not let Fallow die so pointlessly with her and her sister. Thankfully, Fallow did not have a full view of her face, or else the servant might realize that she would, in fact, be abandoning them. With as much emotion as was flowing through her right now, Celestia knew her face would betray the lie.
“I have a plan of escape,” Celestia explained. “However, it requires us to fly as quickly as we can, and I can think of no other way to make it work. You have no wings and we cannot afford to carry you with us. I’m sorry.”
After a few seconds of silence, Celestia heard a sound that caused her to glance over her shoulder.
Luna was sitting up now, her leg cleaned of the splatter of blood. She was calmer now, but only just. Tears ran down her cheeks, and it was clear that she was desperately trying, and failing, to control her sobbing. Fallow was not faring much better. She was whispering urgently to Luna as her own tears flowed freely, holding Luna’s face with her hoof.
Celestia looked away. She supposed that Luna and Fallow had grown closer than she had thought. She shifted as her discomfort grew. It’s not like she could help being here, but she felt like an intruder in such an intimate moment. Besides that, she only just then became fully aware of her sister's age. By the standards of mortal ponies, she was old... likely older than any non-Alicorn alive. By the standards of Alicorns, though, she was... probably on the same level as Fallow; they were certainly more than old enough for love, but by all rights still children. Then again, Celestia was not much older herself. Still just children, and yet doomed to death for the crime of existing. She felt her breathing coming in shallow gasps, the world crumbling around her. Even if, by some miracle, they managed to escape, they weren't ready. Not for a world without their parents, hunted by those that hated them for no other reason than the fact that they still lived. Never—
The sound of the door closing snapped Celestia out of her panic, helping to reawaken that rational part of her mind that had fled when she couldn’t find the passage entrance. She realized that she did, in fact, have an escape plan, and it did require flight. She could… tell Luna to wait here and then hide the bodies before coming back for her. That is, if she had enough time.
Or she could just create a localized suppression of the spell wards and blast through the wall into the library. It would take a considerable amount of strength and would attract the guards, but it would be faster. She would just have to ambush them as they came through the door. She might be able to take the temporary guards by surprise. If her father had sealed the passages, he had probably sealed the escape tunnels as well. With her teleblades, though, they had an advantage over the patrolling Pegasi…
Though she had thought that she wouldn’t have to live with herself afterwards, Celestia had already committed herself to killing again. If there was a chance, however slim, that it was to save her and her sister and help to avoid all of Equestria falling under the sway of these rebels, she could suffer a little more weight on her conscience.
She filled her lungs with the musty air of the storeroom, preparing the spell that would suppress the wards.
“For what were you looking, my sister?” came Luna’s voice, along with her hooves clacking along the floor. In her surprise at the sudden interruption, Celestia lost the spell.
“Just a hidden passage,” Celestia replied before beginning her preparations again.
“You mean the one here?” Luna asked, tapping her hoof on part of the stone floor near the wall.
Celestia lost the spell again, but it was not due to Luna’s voice this time. She was too shocked to even berate herself for not checking the floor. Perhaps her sister was better versed in the hidden aspects of the palace than she thought. It was, after all, a secret passage involving the library. Luna might very well have known about those.
“Sister?”
Celestia snapped out of her shock. There was no question which choice was better; the old plan was now back in motion. Nodding to her sister, she prepared and cast the spell that would open the passage. Sure enough, the spot Luna indicated gave off resonance once she directed the beginnings of the spell at it.
A dim light appeared, shining through what seemed to be a small hole in the stone floor. Her part complete, she watched the light spread to each side, forming into a line and then into a square. The stone trapped within, now cut from the rest of the floor, began to move of its own accord. As little time as they had to escape, Celestia had to fight the urge to help clear the entry. Every second seemed an eternity, but she knew that forcing the slab along its path might endanger its ability to hide the passage again. The first part of the spell finished with the stone slab coming to rest on the floor by the entry, and a flight of stone stairs greeted Celestia, so enveloped in darkness that only the first few steps were visible to her. The spell set its next part in motion and that darkness was replaced by dim light as the globes hanging from the passage walls sprang to life.
Luna was first into the passage while Celestia went to snuff the lantern near the door.
Celestia found herself at the bottom of the staircase before she realized it, having been so lost in expanding her plan that she had no idea how she got from there to here. Now that she was drawn back to reality, however, she realized that she was staring at the passage entrance. Her mind had awoken her to seal the entrance, a command that she was happy to obey. Her path hidden, it was time to catch up to Luna. Celestia turned and promptly ran into her sister’s hindquarters.
The passage was cramped. Celestia wasn’t sure if her father would have been able to fit in it, but she and her sister were not quite fully grown and were somewhat small for Alicorns their age regardless. Even with their relatively small size, though, Celestia could not possibly be able to go around her sister. She’d have to pass on directions.
“We need to go to the library,” Celestia directed.
“Okay,” Luna replied. She didn’t move. “…How do we get there?”
How had Luna known about the entrance, but not how to get to the library? Whatever the answer, Celestia didn’t have time to find it. She could ponder and ask later, but for now she needed to act. Celestia directed her sister past the traps and dead ends and up another set of stairs that led to more passages, some leading to other parts of the palace and some leading to death and confusion. It was here that she stopped Luna. Her connection with the sun told her that they only had a few minutes, and it was entirely possible that the commanders had arrived early. Listening briefly, she could not hear any ponies in the library. She did hear Luna’s sniffling, however. Had she been doing that the whole time?
“The passage into the library is here,” Celestia explained in a whisper. “I need you to gather as many of the most powerful spellbooks you can carry. I’ll remove the ones from the Royal Chamber and open the outside passage. Be as quiet as you can. There are guards posted outside and we can’t attract their attention. Are we clear?”
Luna nodded her assent. It was only then that Celestia realized that her sister was shaking, and she once again fought the urge to comfort her. She much preferred her sister alive and scared to her comforted and the both of them dead. She could comfort her sister once they were safe.
Assuming they could reach safety.
Celestia shoved aside those dangerous thoughts, the thoughts that threatened her sanity, and unsealed the secret entrance to the library. Luna, the good soldier she was, immediately set to work picking out the most powerful spellbooks, the ones written by the greatest mages in the history of Equestria, while Celestia closed the passageway. The sealing processes for the passageways were magical, but the seal itself was mundane. The passageways were undetectable, except to the right spell, mere moments after the sealing process. That trait would most certainly come in handy once they were in the escape tunnels.
Luna was already carrying a half-dozen books with ease when Celestia finished. They had come out of the passageway not far from the corner where they had met Co—that captain. Celestia visited the library sometimes, but she was not nearly as familiar with it as Luna was. As such, it took her some time to orient herself. By the time she had made her way into the Royal Chamber, disguised and locked in a similar fashion to the secret passages, Luna was already carrying another half-dozen with no signs of strain.
There were a dozen books within the Royal Chamber. Every last one of them was so dangerous in the wrong hooves that there were only two copies, the copy of each here and another in a hidden vault known only to the royal family. In addition to the disguise and seal on the door, each of these books was also trapped and had to be opened with care. If not opened in precisely the correct fashion, the book would erupt in a fireball, killing the trespasser and destroying the book itself. Even with all these precautions, however, Celestia knew she had to remove them. Given enough time, the rebels would be able to figure out how to open them. The spells and treatises on tactics within would ensure that Celestia could never retake the throne.
One of the books on tactics was missing. As she recalled, the author had spent a good portion of the book dealing with surprise attacks and assassinations.
She should have guessed as much, but she couldn’t concern herself with that right now.
The books were difficult to carry in her weakened state, but she managed well enough that she should be able to open the escape passage without much difficulty. Careful to make sure that each of the books were locked tight and would not accidentally open, Celestia made her way back to the library proper.
She was met with a mass of books.
Luna had followed her orders more spectacularly than Celestia could have dreamed. She showed considerable strain, but she had managed to collect nearly a tenth of the books within the library. Dozens of books were suspended around her like some sort of cloth-bound shell. Celestia had no time to marvel at her sister’s magical strength, however. Every second they loitered increased the chance of them getting caught.
The escape passage from the library was not nearly as difficult to find as the entrance in the storeroom, as its location had been marked in specific terms on her map. Ten meters from the Northern wall and fifteen from the Eastern. As Celestia cast the spell, she bit her lip in worry. She was not sure that she and her sister would be able to fit all the books in the escape passage. She knew that they were larger than the secret passages, but she didn’t know how much larger. They didn’t have time to move some into it and then come back for more. It had to be all in one go.
If worse came to worst, Luna could leave behind a few of the books she was carrying. The books within the library proper were not one of a kind, but they were extremely rare. Even with years of searching, the chances of finding another copy would be slim. Celestia would rather not make things any easier on the rebels, but burning them might alert the Pegasi outside, slivers of their shadows still moving along the floor.
The unsealing process completed, the floor moved aside and…
Darkness.
There was no magical light, no way of telling how large the passageway was.
Wait… the rough shape of something a couple meters down, a rectangle taking up about half of the hole, just large enough for her and her sister. A platform? Why wasn’t it more visible? Was the tunnel was under the effects of a light dampening spell?
She hoped that that’s all it was.
Celestia motioned her sister over to her, pointing first to her and then the platform, then to the books and the area next to the platform. Luna nodded and began fitting the books in the empty space next to the platform. The books disappeared into the darkness and Celestia gave up trying to estimate how far the drop was. As she moved the last few books into the hole, Luna flitted down to land on the platform herself. Sure enough, she began to darken immediately.
As Celestia was preparing her own glide down, the sound of hooves striking stone and stern orders being barked reached through the walls and into the library, warning her of the approaching commanders.
Her time was up.
Bringing the books with her, Celestia jumped down into the hole, landing on the platform hard. She didn’t bother to assess her injuries before casting the spell to seal the passage again.
She bit her lower lip as the spell sealed the passage. It was taking too long. They’d see the sealing. With that small bit, they’d figure out how to unseal it before her and her sister managed to get far through the passage.
Closer… closer… one more side…
The flickering light of the sealing spell went out, plunging them into darkness just as the sound of the creaking library doors reached them.
