Okay, so after a long while I guess I should post something, shouldn't I? To elaborate though, Luna here isn't canon Luna. It would be strange to change her character all of a sudden. Let's go then, to see if justice will come.
Camp Oppenheimer have never been that nervous like today. Out of nowhere, Celestia's sister announced her arrival, but instead of engaging them in combat, she decided to come down to the camp on their own terms and was willing to... negotiate?
Adeon Falcontet's eyebrow raised considerably. "The fuck?", he thought surprised. Alicorn, peaceful? What about Celestia's bad fame of annihilating whole groups of soldiers with the same, emotionless expression? While he knew about younger sister of her, he couldn't possibly imagine that she could have such different opinions. "Well, I guess it won't sting to try and talk. It's not like we have another options...", Adeon thought grimly.
About time, two of his men escorted young princess to his tent. He gave her a quick look. About size of average pony, maybe slightly bigger. Nothing strange or unusual with her, sans having both wings and horns. Her eyes were glittering with something he could call... hope?
"I'm sorry I can't give you a seat suitable for your kind.", he started.
"It isn't a problem at all, Mr. Human. I'm glad you decided to hear me out.", she responded, smiling slightly.
"My name's Adeon Falcontet and I'm the leader of... rebels here in Camp Oppenheimer. I assume you're Luna, right?"
"That would be correct."
"It's an honor, M'Lady. Friend or not, your title shall be respected here."
"Thank you, Mr. Falcontet."
"Well, let's cut to the chase then." Adeon stopped himself from igniting another cigarette. It was strange for him to discuss with... alicorn. "We've already checked you under detector of lies, so you seem to be clear with your intentions."
"Yes, indeed."
"So... What do you want?"
"I'd rather hear "What do YOU want from me?", this surprised Adeon.
"Excuse me?"
"I'm not here to give you documents to surrender or the likes... I want to reach the consensus." Slight, cynical smile ran through man's face.
"I see... That's funny, Luna, you know?"
"I don't think I understand."
"I guess you haven't heard about your sister's way of solving conflicts with human rebels...", he chuckled quietly. "Ever heard about Fillydelphia's Ark of the Covenant?"
"I don't think I recall hearing about this... Ark.", Luna responded, feeling tense. Was he lying, so she'd turned against her sister? Or maybe he was telling the truth. It was known that her sister treats mankind like dust, but...
"There was one old movie called "Raiders of the Lost Ark"... Long ago, when we were still at peak of our domination in Equestria... Or should I say, United States of America. The place we're living in has been renamed by Celestia's successor or even herself, I don't know... Anyway, it has one certain scene, when bad guys want to open the Ark – said to be artifact blessed by our God itself – and are disappointed when it's certain that there's nothing in there. However..." Smile appeared on Adeon's face. "There was something in there... Oh, I think simply describing it with words wouldn't be enough. I'll give you the tape to watch once we're finished with negotiations... So, when should we leave this place?"
"Right now. This isn't an appropriate place to live... It's a middle of a desert."
"Where should we go then? Can you provide us with a place safe from fights and death?" Long silence.
"I don't know.", she finally managed to say, her head going down in shame. Surprisingly, Adeon smiled weakly.
"It takes quite a courage to admit your own failures.", he said. "But sadly, this will get us nowhere. We're bound to this place... As long as you don't tell your sister our location, the sun will probably be bearable enough." Luna cringed. How could this man... How could he be so carefree in such a moment? "It's not a question "if", but "when", Luna. We can't win this fight, nor persuade your sister to leave us be... And do you know, why?", man's smile disappeared. "Because we're not "united" anymore. Would you believe that we're actually still fighting each other even in a dark hour like that? Just recently, there was a small fight here, in this hellhole. Two small armies were battling... No. One of said armies massacred the other... We won. They didn't...", a small flame appeared in man's eyes. "Don't you see? We're like rats in a cage without food. We'll start biting each other just so we can survive... And after long, excruciating fight, only one will remain, so he can die in peace by his owner's hand. However, what if our "owner" absolutely despises us?" Long silence. "This said "owner" is, of course, Celestia. She owns everything here right now... The weather, the ponyfolk, everything. Meanwhile, we own nothing. We're the rat, Luna."
"S-Stop that!" She cried out, partly terrfied by Adeon's vision, partly fed up with this grim image. "How can you... How can you even assume such things?"
"I can because I can see things. Those guys back there... I assume they used to be your subordinates?", Luna looked behind. Wait, what they were doing...? Why are they...?
She ran off the tent. Her army... Her soldiers... Everypony were attacking. No... They were massacring those humans. They were trying to defend themselves, but were caught completely off guard. So many dead bodies... Lying on the ground, pierced with horns, trampled, mauled... And Kaiser in the middle of the fight, biting someone's head off...
"ENOUGH!", she screamed with her now magically enhanced voice. The fight stopped. Kaiser was about to smash the face of human who responded to her call. Everyone and everypony's eyes turned at her. "WHAT... WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?", she continued, full of rage. Kaiser looked at his opponent with contempt and trotted to her.
"M'Lady, allow me to...", he started, but was interrupted with a sudden slap, courtesy of Luna's armored hoof. He didn't even flinch at the hit, but he seemed to be moved by such behavior.
"General... Why? How could you do such a thing?" She yelled at albino stallion. "Why are you attacking, ignoring my orders?" Kaiser's stare turned away from Luna's eyes.
"...Direct orders from Princess Celestia.", he responded after a while. "She ordered us to attack humans's camp and..." Long silence. "Leave no survivors." Remaining humans pointed their weapons as one at Luna and Kaiser the moment they've heard the news.
"Put them down, everyone!" Adeon's command surprised many of people around. "If there's someone to blame, then it would be Celestia herself. Luna... Nor Celestia's bloodhound have nothing to do with it."
"Watch your words, you pathetic excuse of a living being!", Kaiser growled fiercely, turning his crimson red eyes at rebels's commander.
"Or what, big guy? You'll bite me?", out of nowhere, a pistol appeared in Adeon's hand. "It's not like I wouldn't be able to shoot you before your troops will maul me a second later." Stallion looked grimly at single eye of Desert Eagle, looking at him cautiously. "Then again, we're doomed anyway. If Celestia watches our camp directly..."
"NO! I mean, no, I won't let it happen!" Luna exclaimed fiercely. "I see that I've been mistaken for quite a long time... My sister needs to explain it to me."
"M'Lady... Are you questioning orders of Her Majesty?", Kaiser asked very slowly.
"Yes, Kaiser, I do. I want to know the truth. It seems my imprisonment in the moon made me miss many important things here in Equestria."
"Then... What will we do with... them?" Albino stallion's words were not without concern.
"Mr. Falcontet can go with us as humans's representative, if he wishes to." Long silence.
"Sounds like a nice idea." Adeon said after a long while. "It's not like I'm having high hopes or something, but..."
"With your permission, Mr. Knight, ah'd better take Applebloom with me.", Stallion with watery eyes turned his glare to Applejack. "She needs to get some rest."
"I see... You're sister of her? Element of... I mean, Applejack, correct?" Flintlock's eyebrow arched a little. Just as he was about to ask an important question. He still managed to ask about the incident though, so at least he could safely assume that humans had something to do with it. Again. And he thought that this nuisance is way behind him. Oh well, it's not like he didn't like killing those creatures. After all, his Cutie Mark was speaking for itself. He earned it in Fillydelphia some time ago... And alongside that, he got a nickname. Humans were calling him "Ark of the Covenant" for some reason. Perhaps it had something to do with their faith and tradition, Flintlock never bothered to go that deep. All that he needed to know was to know mind of the man, his weak points and where should he hit to kill. That's what he's been taught at the Academy.
Symptoms of this little filly seemed to have something common with poison. It was unlikely that the cause of said poison is a creature living in the Everfree Forest – filly had no wounds anywhere on her body... Magic? Again unlikely, he knew that witch living in the woods is on friendly terms with citizens of Ponyville. "Just one more question, if you allow me. It's an important matter."
"What can be so important in questioning mah sister?" Applejack inclined, her eyes narrowing a little bit.
"I do believe you've seen what happened just now." He responded, absolutely unmoved. "Since your sister happens to be friend of that filly who've just passed out, I thought that questioning your sister would be enough to know what was the cause..."
"Ah doubt she would know."
"Oh no, I'd say she said enough. So, if I could only ask that one question...?"
"Applebloom?" Applejack looked at her sister. Little filly nodded after a short while, much to Flintlock's happiness.
"So, the last question, just as I promised. How did it look like?"
Twilight couldn't believe her ears.
According to Nurse Redheart, Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep due to... tranquilizer. She also said that she didn't gave anything to Fluttershy. Purple unicorn knew that yellow pegasus is a vet and probably would need tranquilizer once in a while, but... according to Nurse, this medicine was way too powerful to be used safely.
Concluding, it wasn't Fluttershy's.
She said she found Rainbow like that... But then again, who did it...? As she was trotting towards Fluttershy's cottage, her mind was filled with dark thoughts. She knocked the door.
Yellow pegasus seemed healthier than few days ago. Angel was sitting on her back as she opened the door.
"Oh, hello, Twilight." She greeted her with smile. "Do you need help with something...?"
"I do. We need to talk, Fluttershy."
"Oh, I see. Come in then."
"No. We need to talk in Nurse Redheart's clinic." Yellow pegasus felt her muscles are getting tense. "It's about Rainbow Dash. She's been tranquilized."
"Oh... Oh my goodness...", she made quite a job faking her expression. "So... That's why she has been like that?"
"I expected that you would know the answer."
"M-me?" Her mask dropped and Twilight noticed it at moment's notice.
"You're hiding something, Fluttershy. Something about what happened to Rainbow. Would you go with me then? We have no time to waste."
"I... I will." So, everything was clear now. The moment Dashie will wake up, Fluttershy will be in serious trouble.
"So, how's the situation?" Hier asked.
"Well, half of the town is with Sigurd's idea of assaulting Ponyville...", Casper responded, pondering. "While the other half inquires on staying here, if only for the sake of preparing themselves better for a fight."
"And you...?"
"I can adapt to both of those scenarios, Hier. Still, staying here and minding our own business is better than attempting to storm through Celestia's favourite city.
"F-favourite?" Hieronimus stuttered slightly.
"Yeah. Ever heard about Elements of Harmony?"
"No."
"Before the whole war between us and ponies started, Celestia and her younger sister, Luna, had been responsible for lifting up the Sun and Moon respectively. However, since everyone... Or maybe I should say "everypony", were sleeping during the night, younger sister grew bitter."
"Sounds like something that was taken from kid's show." Remington snarked in answer.
"I wouldn't put it better...", Casper said, giving a slight stare at computer's screen. "But facts are facts: She grew bitter and one day she decided that Moon will never left out the skies. She turned into Nightmare Moon. I think I have this book somewhere. If you're interested, I can lend it to you."
"How did you obtain such a book? I really doubt you've just gone to Ponyville and bought it."
"Kimberly didn't tell you?" Casper seemed surprised. "Sigurd appointed me and her to investigate Ponyville from the inside out."
"Wait, what...?" Now Remington was the one surprised. That's when he reminded of Kimberly's words back then, in Fluttershy's cottage. "Oh... Right. So they can know better?"
"Exactly. And the book, I bought it out of curiosity. Anyway, I haven't finished my story yet. Celestia was fed up with her sister even before she snapped, but now she had had a legitimate reason to get rid of her. So, she sent her to the Moon for thousand years. Unobstructed by anyone, she began her campaign against United States of America... And won."
"Okay, fine. But what are those Elements?"
"Mea culpa, I got carried away."
"And stop using Latin. I hate when you're using Latin." Hier added, getting progressively more irritated."
"Oh, sorry for that. Anyway, Nightmare Moon returned after those thousand years with her plans of revenge. Celestia couldn't use Elements of Harmony – the only thing to stop her now deranged sister – because it required six parts: Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, Loyalty and Magic, that would appear the moment the other five grouped together. Because of her way of living and lack of co-creator of Elements, Luna herself, she could only confront her directly, which...", Casper smiled slightly. "Failed miserably. And suddenly, out of nowhere, six ponies from Ponyville decided to go and take on insane Nightmare Moon in her own area of residence. They were led by Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's number one student. Guess what happened? It turned out that said ponies are the Elements."
"Okay, it seemed pretty unbelievable a moment before, but now it's completely ridiculous."
"But it's true. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Twilight herself are the respective Elements of Harmony." Hieronimus twitched a little. Fluttershy as an Element of Kindness. "Well, it kinda fits", he thought. "Huh, what's wrong, Hier?", Casper asked, slightly surprised at this twitch.
"I've been under... uh, hospitality of Fluttershy after Celestia's guards got me." Man with glasses seemed even more surprised.
"So...? How is she? Kind?" He asked after a long while.
"Too kind. One day someone will use it against her."
"That's Hieronimus Remington I know." Casper said jokingly. "The biggest pessimist on this side of Fillydelphia."
"Don't remind me about Ark of the Covenant. It's rather unpleasant to remind yourself of your comrades... melted." He hesitated to finish the sentence. Casper's eyes flashed.
"I know, sorry. I shouldn't be joking like that... You'd been there after all."
"Heh... You can be an ass sometimes, but you're a good friend, Casper." Hier said, smiling slightly.
"I know, Hieronimus. That's why I'm here after all, to be the voice of reason... But, hell, I got carried away once more. Can you guess why Ponyville is Celestia's favourite city in all Equestria?"
"Because of Elements?"
"Prorsus, Hier. Elements's are Celestia's most powerful weapon, but they are very, very fragile. Thanks to them, she can easily keep on her mask of benevolent ruler, but should she lost any of them – or even all of them – she would go... awry."
"Awry?" Hieronimus's eyebrow arched considerably.
"I could say "Goddamn batshit fuckin' pissed off", but I doubt there's a point in it." Man with glasses smiled slightly.
"Oh... I see."
"That's why we need to convince Sigurd Senior that attacking Ponyville – at least for now – is a bad idea. Imagine, how would the Everfree Forest look like if Celestia came down in person?"
"It would burn."
"Not burn, it would be obliterated."
Well, there you go. Hope you liked it. Read and write reviews!
