Light as a feather

Chapter 24:

“What news have you to report Captain Armor?” Luna demanded upon hearing the door to her chambers creak open.

“Do you always address your subjects before you look upon them?” An unfamiliar voice replied mildly amused. “I fear greatly for this nation if that is indeed so.”

“I was expecting…somepony else.” Luna replied standing cautiously upon the realization of her mistake. The shadows at her back shifted silently, something that easily caught the stallion’s attention for he too, on many an occasions, moved in such a manner. The stallion gave a smile as he approached the dark alicorn, her expression remaining impassive as her guards, the two unusual bat ponies always at her sides stepped forward taking up protective stances despite their meager size in comparison to the ex royal guard. “We feel we should know thee but we do not.” Luna mused. “Who are you?”

“You would not know me Princess Luna; we have yet to meet…formally.” The chocolate coated pony spoke. “Let’s just agree that I was in your sister’s employ for many years.”

“Employ,” Luna mused eyeing the stallion cautiously, though with a fair amount of curiosity despite herself. He was large, toned and muscular, scars littering his pelt. That trait was a fair bit unusual given that Equestria had seen little by way of violent conflict in recent decades. “You were a guard?”

“A captain,” The stallion amended his tone tinged with sarcasm as has gaze trailed around the room, “But I was demoted due to…conflicts of interest.”

Shelves lined the walls, overflowing with books on subjects both new and ancient, while a desk heaping with parchments and scrolls stood at the room’s center. Along the opposite wall from the entrance were windows allowing for a pleasant view of Canterlot proper and the lands beyond. He found no interest in these however as his attention drifted once more to the dark alicorn standing before him. “But I’ve not come to introduce myself,” The stallion said, “That is a conversation for a later time, and with a different pony.”

“Speak then of they purpose if thou would!” Luna demanded slamming a gauntlet clad hoof onto the floor, cracks slivering outward from the sight of impact. “Relay thy words swiftly or begone! I have little time for idle chatter!”

“She often spoke of your impatience.” The stallion mused as he strode around the room lifting books with his arcane magic. He flipped through their pages idly as Luna watched him cautiously, her brow furrowed in thought, the notion of familiarity tugging at her subconscious. She bid her guards to remain vigilant, to observe and nothing more lest the need arise as they melted once more into the darkness.

“That magic…” She breathed unable to voice her full thoughts aloud.

“Familiar is it not?” The stallion said with a crooked smile as Luna’s curious expression hardened into one of suspicion and disbelief.

“Thou dost not know with what you mettle.” She exclaimed, fear wilting her composure. Tendrils of dark magic flew toward the younger alicorn wrapping her in coils while separate tendrils snaked toward the shadows, doing much the same to her guard ponies. “I believe I do.”

--

Amber stared blankly at the caskets waiting to be lowered into the cold earth. He had counted them several times, each time the number the same; seven caskets, seven dead ponies, seven too many. He hung his head fighting back the guilt rising from the deepest recesses of his mind. He didn’t understand why but he couldn’t shake the feeling that in someway he was to blame for this. The notion was ridiculous he knew; how could he, an ordinary earth pony, fell an entire cloud? Still the guilt remained.

He lifted his head as a wailing sob shattered the quiet mournful ambiance that had settled over the funeral service as the names of the deceased were read out loud. A tear slid down his cheek followed in quick succession by several more, a flood he was unable, and unwilling, to stop. But…why was he crying? He had lost nopony, he was alive, he should be happy...right? Vinyl held him as his body shuddered with quiet sobs.

Octavia’s eyes scanned the crowd as she made her way onto a small platform to one side of the caskets.
They lingered the longest on Amber, his head buried in Vinyl’s mane. The sky overhead rumbled.

"My name is Octavia," the grey mare began softly, her voice able to reach across to every pony in the crowd hushed though it was, "some of you may know me," her violet eyes searched the faces in the crowd; she wasn’t surprised to find empty hollow stares as she continued unperturbed, this wasn’t for her after all.
"Most of you will not...”

Another peal of thunder interrupted her, the dark storm clouds overhead seeming to mimic the very mood of the funeral over which they had settled.

“I’m here today because this…this is all I can do…” She was composed as she went on, quiet unspoken sadness only evident from the faint tremble in her words, as she readied her cello. “Vinyl?”

A few curious looks trailed the white pony, as she nuzzled Amber comfortingly a moment before heading to the front, standing beside the grey earth pony atop a small platform. Octavia pulled the bow across the strings of her cello, the single deep note quickly accompanied by others, each one more haunting than the last. Vinyl began to sing, her voice quiet but gaining confidence as the song progressed. The unicorn stopped only part way through the second verse as her voice faltered, the words catching in her throat. Octavia continued to play the faint lift of her eyelids revealing the reason for Vinyl’s hesitation.

Burial had begun as the rain started to fall.

“She’s an interesting choice is she not?” Honey Glaze said with a devious smile as he watched the ceremony. He stood at the back of the gathering; hidden from view alongside an ashen grey unicorn Amber would easily recognize despite the bandages covering a majority of his face.

“How do you figure?” Mortar replied, curiously.

“He’s found a pony more broken than he is.” The dark stallion replied casually. “I would like to meet her.”

“That can be arranged.” The grey unicorn replied, a sinister smile tracing its way across his lips.

--

Twilight Sparkle paced the length of the throne room, her features marred with worry. Though her instincts told her it was near mid afternoon the sky outside remained dark, thick patches of storm clouds yet to be dealt with remaining. Through the occasional breaks in them, the faint starlight could be seen.

It had been a matter of days since Celestia’s disappearance, and with no word from Shining Amour, Twilight had become worried even more. Her request for an audience with Princess Luna had likewise gone unheeded or perhaps pushed to the wayside, in favor of more pressing matters. With Celestia missing Luna was the only ruler after all.

Twilight’s pacing was not fruitless as she used her time to think theory and speculate in what was happening around her. The cloud fell, that much she understood, but the reasons for it were still vague. The ache in her right temple and the beginnings of fatigue brought on by many sleepless nights had given her a tremendous headache. She closed her eyes and tried to envision the events she had hoped to forget.
Perhaps by reliving them she could find some answers?

~

Luna struggled against the bonds that held her, the writhing chains of darkness merely tightening with her effort. So tight had they become that even her flesh had begun to open, drops of dark crimson blood splattering against the floor of her small prison. A mangled cry tore from her throat, her eyes flashing a gleam of teal not seen for nearly three years. Not since she had been Nightmare Moon had her eyes shone such a putrid color.

“Oh the things this magic can do.” A newly familiar voice taunted. The princess turned her attention toward the voice, finding only darkness. “A shame you relinquished them so easily.”

“Do you think us a fool?” She cried her nostrils flaring. “Come forth! Show thyself coward!”

“The only fool I see is you dear princess. You think to break your bonds with force?” The voice spoke. Luna kept her expression placid though the sound of the voice was grating to her ears. “You of all ponies should know such effort futile.”

“What trickery is this?” Luna spat, her wounds becoming a mere after thought next to the hopelessness of her current predicament.

"This is no trick dear princess." The stranger replied stepping from the darkness into the dim moonlight falling through the barred window near the ceiling high above her. Even were she able to fly she could never hope to fit through. Luna winced as the bonds holding her tightened threateningly at the mere thought of escape. The stallions eyes shone with the magic she herself had once wielded, the same darkness she had given up in order to rule by her sisters side once more.

"You..." Luna whispered realizing she recognized, though only vaguely, the stallion as the pony she had met mere hours before. The forbidden magic writhing about his form coalesced along his shoulders tightening into threads which reformed into massive black wings, wings rivaling those of even her sister Celestia. Luna snorted jerking her head away from the writhing darkness as the stallion traced it along her cheek. A sneer crossed the stallions lips in response and the bonds wrapping her form grew tighter, squeezing her painfully.
She let out a gasp as her breath left her lungs, a faint filly like whimper escaping her throat. Gathering her courage she spoke, her defiance unwavering despite the circumstances. "You won't get away with this!"

"I already have." The stallion said backing away, the ever present sneer crossing his lips once more, his voice lingerin long after he had faded into the shadows. "I will return when you are feeling more...cooperative."

A spark of illumination magic lit the tip of Twilight's horn, barely lighting the recesses of the dim lit halls she traversed. Her hoof beats echoed loudly, but there was nopony present to hear them. She paid little mind to the odd absence of the castle's occupant's. The purple unicorn assumed it was due to he disappearance of Princess Celestia, and that of Luna as well; given Twilight had not seen the Lunar Princess for near as long as her elder sister had been missing, and she reasoned the ebony alicorn was absent also. Not wishing to divert her attention from her current mission she gave no further thought on the matter. If need be she would come back to it but for now she could not allow herself to be distracted.

After several more minutes, several long hallways, and three flights of stairs the purple unicorn found what she had been seeking. It was just as she'd remembered, the faint images in her mind becoming crystal clear as the huge door of the lunar archives loomed before her. The crescent moon insignia shimmered despite the darkness and she couldn't help but be mesmerized by the sight of it. As a filly she had traversed every library of which she was allowed, and several she wasn't, being rightly scolded for doing so, however this particular library had been carefully guarded, and the young pony she had once been had been unable to gain access through any means of magic or otherwise.

Twilight gingerly pushed the door open, swinging her eyes side to side as she did so lest any guard ponies happened to be near. She wasn't sure whether or not she was allowed in Luna's personal library without permission, but she couldn't find the spell she needed in the more modern texts. Surely a thousand year old spell would be more effective anyway given the restrictions set upon such magic’s had not been so severe when the sisters shared power.

Inside the dark room she found a library... of sorts. Luna's chamber room was cluttered with countless books, scrolls, and tomes containing long forgotten languages only the princess's themselves remembered. Several minutes, or perhaps it was several hours, passed before she was able to find what she was looking for, and several more minutes after that before she was able to translate the words into the common tongue.

Soft candle light lit the worn papyrus scroll, the spidery script upon it faded with age. Twilight squinted hard, doing her best to decipher the words written on it. Her old equestrian was not as good as it had once been, her fillyhood lessons with the princess having lapsed due to her absence from the castle while she studied the magic of friendship.

The words sounded harsh as she spoke them, the candles flame flickering in response to the tingle of magic coursing down her spine. She closed her eyes as a surge of wind blew through the room. Despite the vicious gale the purple unicorn remained vigilant, unaware even, as the wind did not so much as move a hair out of place as it coursed around her concentrated form. A cry left her lips as she suddenly felt herself torn backwards...