Sins of Harmony

Volume 3: Crisis to Ashes

Chapter 11: Canterlot Affairs, Tech Marauder

Early Morning

December 16th, 1007 ANM

Canterlot, Royal Palace

Rubbing her forehead with her hoof, Luna sighed as she finished the last document for the day.

As Celestia did with the depth of Summer, Luna had reason to like and dislike the Winter. She liked the snow, and the joy it brought across the country, provided it wasn't too severe. The nights lasted longer with daylight hours as short as could be, meaning ponies were often wide awake still when darkness fell. All the more ponies to appreciate her work.

The obvious downside however, was that she had to stay up longer, as her natural body clock prompted her to wake and tire in correlation to the sunrise and set. Thus, near the Winter solstice, it was Luna who was 'on duty' longer, though not by too much.

As she trotted out of the office, a pair of Night guard batponies bowing to her as she departed, she looked forward to her dinner. AKA: Everypony else's breakfast.

Luna glided down the dimly sunlit corridors, herself, and obviously Celestia from her bedroom, having completed the sunrise/moonset a few minutes ago. Outside, the snow, as per Cloudsdale's scheduled arrival yesterday, covered the ground.

She's heard how some more southern settlements were caught in a safe, prematurely set off ice storm. It seemed by necessity, winter arrived early there as ice. Cloudsdale was set to snow them on schedule in a few days. Ponyville being the most northern settlement hit.

As Luna knew from her dreamwalking, it was nopony's fault this year that Winter arrived early. Rainbiow Dash's dream flashbacks to her panic with her pet tortoise's hibernation revealed a more embarrassing moment in that mare's recent years. Nopony was hurt then at least.

"Ah, Princess Luna. Your sister is inside already." Captain Blacksaddler bowed at the door, clearly having waited for her.

"Thank you captain. Is there, something you want me for?"

"Yes actually. You received a letter that, if you recall, told me to keep an eye out for, and keep secret from your sister in my case."

Magically hovering the sealed envelope over, Blacksaddler saw Luna open it in her blue aura. With a small smile, Luna looked at Blacksaddler as she turned to enter the dining room.

"Thank you Captain. Now, If I-"

The sound of Celestia's melodious laughter came from inside the dining room, as a certain cackle also echoed out slightly.

Snorting as he resisted rolling his eyes, Blacksaddler muttered: "Yes, and Discord is in there with her, as usual. Him meeting her is the only routine he seems to have in what he calls a civilised life."

"More than meeting." Luna commented, repressing certain dreams she'd glimpsed as she began her nightly dreamwalking.

She couldn't help it that their 'routine' within the last 4 months, usually no more than twice a month thankfully, began shortly before she set off to help mainly fillies and colts with bad dreams.

Nightmares and passion fuelled dreams had the same strength.

"What? Uhm, forgive me Princess, but, you knew?" Blacksaddler asked incredulously, the normally sardonic but loyal Unicorn surprised now.

Luna recalled the most recent dream of Celestia's, and Discord's, she'd accidentally glimpsed last night, before she set off on her dreamwalking.

Last night

Luna was ready on her balcony, the moon high and the sun set for a few hours now. She had no constellations to reorganise as per each week, as that was every Friday. She had dreamwalking in troubled Equestria citizens' sleep every night though.

She always began in Canterlot, living in it and all.

Focusing her mental magic, she sensed the strongest dreams in the city, as they usually were the nightmares caused by stress, anxiety or fear. Her speciality.

In her mind, she sensed one in the castle, a dream that was powerful, but not in a fierce way a Nightmare was, but extremely radiant, cool, and shared between two different minds in deep slumber after-

"Oh buck, that's the 8th time!"

Luna's self exclamation snapped her from the mental dreamscape, as the passion fueled dream coming from Celestia's quarters, made better/worse by Discord obviously in bed with her, vanished from her mind.

Shaking her head, Luna flew out the window, making sure to ignore Canterlot Castle entirely.

Still, she wasn't surprised. Not like the first time. Celestia was very curious as to what made Luna blush when she looked at her, or Discord. And she was embarrassed in turn when Luna explained, asking her sister to keep it to herself.

Luna curtly replied she would, unlike her sister with certain dreams.

Present

She thought she'd be used to such passionate images, but she wasn't.

Grimacing ever so slightly as she opened the door, Luna replied: "Believe me Captain, I knew before anypony else did 4 months ago."

As she entered the dining room, Blacksaddler walked off to his duties, mouthing to himself: "4 bucking months? And Discord kept it quiet of all pon, uh, things?"

Dining room

"Ah good morning Luna. Sleep well?"

Discord's sly question, as he sat beside Celestia eating her morning meal, Chocolate banana nut Oatmeal and raisins.

He knew well what their activities entailed for the dream patrolling Princess. Luna's narrowed gaze was the prize.

As Discord snickered, Celestia elbowed him hard, making him wince instead. Shaking her head slightly, Luna sat at the table, as a Unicorn servant placed her arranged dinner before her, a bowl of Winter Lentil Soup.

As Discord summoned a glass of chocolate milk for himself, Celestia asked her sister while she had her soup:

"I take it you're excited for the Winter Night celebration then?"

Pausing mid spoonful, Luna swallowed, saying with some joy: "Yes, everything is going as planned. Many ponies approve of the Crystal Empire hosting it for the reasons I picked."

"Yes, commemorating the new Prince and Princess of our Niece and her husband, just about 6 months old now both of them." Celestia remarked. She adored Prince Obelisk and Princess Serenity, as any great aunt would. If anything, it was seeing them that persuaded her to let Discord and herself pursue a more 'intimate' relationship. Instead of one off rendezvous meetings, they had fallen into a routine of intimacy.

For Discord at least, it was a big step. But talk of marriage to properly 'consummate' the relationship was still unknown as of yet, so for now, it was all safe in the bed.

She had noticed that rumours spread of their relations, saying the Princess was looking less stressed on 'certain' mornings, or more antsy on 'certain' evenings.

And how irritated Luna appeared on 'certain' mornings near the end of her rule shift.

Sensing Luna's lesser communication, Celestia decided to get an issue off the table:

"Luna, you know you can tell me anything. And I'm certain Discord can keep a secret if I tell him to."

Celestia narrowed her eyes at the Drconeraqus, whose mouth formed a shut zipper over itself with a flash. Laughing a little, Celestia heard Luna audibly sigh, as she admitted:

"Fine. Every night you and Discord...well. When those images get unintentionally burned into my memory, it gets me thinking."

Luna turned bright red as she shook her head. She wanted to have an appetite after this. Exchanging a glance with Discord, who gestured to his zipped mouth with some humour, Celestia asked sensitively:

"About what?"

"Well. Compared to you, and Princesses Cadance, and even Twilight, I feel somewhat, out of place." Luna admitted, trying to find the right word.

"Lulu is jealous.." Discord blurted out suddenly with a laugh, eyes twinkling in realisation. Beside him, Celestia saw Luna's glare and knew it too.

"So what if I am! Its perfectly natural when all 3 other Princesses are currently romantically involved. Sure you and Discord, you're my older sister. But Cadance already married? And Twilight? In the time I've been back, she's found a stallion she clearly has shared feelings with, and who do I have? Nopony."

"Luna. Its perfectly natural to feel like this. But, is this what you want, or do you just feel out of place and want to not feel less of a Princess?" Celestia asked.

"...It wouldn't be the first time I've felt less compared to another Princess, even if for different reasons." Luna admitted with bitterness.

Truthfully, Celestia knew Luna had somewhat of a diminished, but present, inferiority complex compared to herself, she always had, hence a reason for her Nightmare Moon legacy.

"I, I didn't know you felt this way."

"I wasn't an issue that was a big concern to anypony other than myself. It just flares when I, ugh, feel you and Discord expressing your passion, and see you socialising so freely. You and he, and I'm presuming any suitors you had in the past but failed to carry through with, have had more romance than I've had in over a thousand years!"

"Weren't a thousand of those years up in the m-umph!" Discord muttered, before Celestia's yellow magic sealed his lips. Discord could be tactless at times, which while charming to her, may not be to other ponies.

Seeing Luna staring at her soup, Celestia asked: "Isn't there anypony you're interested in? It won't come unless you take a risk."

"Well, I'm not sure what it feels like, to be, taken fancy by someone." Luna admitted. Celestia then pointed out:

"Well, the Winter Night Celebration is taking place in the Crystal Empire. You can ask Cadance all about it, she'll know best."

"Yes, I suppose you are right." Luna ate a little of her soup, while Discord then loudly whispered:

"What about Prince Blueblood and all his 'exploits'?"

Luna's gaze snapped to the draconeraqus, her expression livid:

"HE is a mare, I need a MARE's opinion on this."

Holding his hands up in mock surrender, Discord sipped his chocolate milk, as Celestia asked:

"Have you invited anypony special to the celebration?"

"Other than the usuals, not many. Twilight will be bringing her friends, as they come for Cadance's children too. I did invite some foreign dignitaries too, and I figured seeing that the Wyvern girl was to be one year old around the date, perhaps I could invite her and Varkan over in-"

A gag sounded as Discord gasped: "You invited HIM!?"

"What of it?"

Leaning back, Discord mused aloud: "Surely that dance you had with him at that Nightmare Night masquerade was enough to know how much of a bore, or a beast he is."

"Says the self proclaimed master of chaos and mismatch of half the animal kingdom." Luna rebutted defensively. She reinforced: "Besides, I rather liked that girl of his, and I've broken more ground with our ties to supporting the Wyvern government and repairing Oceanic Alliance relations by actually meeting with him and others frequently in person."

Celestia suspiciously looked at Luna, but said questioningly: "What of Varkan himself then?"

Pulling up a letter, Luna hovered it over to them: "I already received his reply to the invitation."

The message was very short:

To Princess Luna,

Thank you for your surprising invitation. I told Lela about it, and she wants to meet you again too for her 1st official birthday. She also wishes to see the Winter Night celebration, as I do. Incidentally, at the Equator where we are, we have no such broad differences in day/night, so its interesting to see this event.

As for your invitation of me also, I will oblige you, as a friend.

On a side note, things at the facility are proceeding smoothly, with some new employees coming in to help now that we are public.

Lastly, receiving an invitation a week ago is better than a surprise ambush by someone [Discord] and startling everyone in the room.

Varkan

As Luna ate her soup after they read the letter, Discord whispered to Celestia:

"You told me to drop by to invite him back then. I thought it might make him uncomfortable, not this."

"Is it a bad thing?" Celestia wondered.

"Oh come now, you don't think this could seriously mean anything?" Discord asked incredulously. Shaking her head, Celestia replied:

"In all seriousness, I doubt it. But even so, it's nice to have him on better terms than before. And I'd like to meet that girl of his too, she seems to have softened him."

"I'll wager he's still as bad as ever." Discord muttered.

"I'll bet many said that about you and Fluttershy a few years ago, and me as well now."

Celestia finished her breakfast, while Discord moaned to himself: "I feel drowned in a sea of Oestrogen."

Luna gagged on her soup, as another image burned into her mind by his and Celestia's aftermath dreaming came to her immediate thought:

"Do not say that! Its too much like last night's dreams of yours!"

Groaning, Luna paused mid soup, as she debated whether she'd fully lost her appetite. As Celestia flushed brightly at her sister's 'curse', Discord finally cracked up, his cackles filling the dining room, echoing into the hallways.

A few day guards, and the night guards they were replacing, heard his howls of laughter, dismissing it as the usual Discord. How Celestia endured him as a 'suitor' they didn't know.

Singapaw, mountain outskirts.

Hephaestus Research Company HQ,

Technology development labs.

Unlike Equestria, which had largely destroyed any recovered Entity tech from the Manehatten incident, or the mild skirmishes at Canterlot and Cloudsdale, out of fear they'd reactivate the ones recovered by the Hephaestus group were exploited as much as could be.

Of course, the armed guards and remote gun emplacements in the labs were a necessary precaution.

Here in the labs, Maurik, the Orang-utan CEO, couldn't help but stare at what the Eastern Dragon, Min-Wei, had contractually brought Hephaestus by his debts, this one on Varkan's part. Min-Wei's working for Garnet, and coming clean, revealed one of his targets was Smoulder, a close associate of Varkan.

The half of the Entity aircraft from beneath the Cloudsdale marshes, and a handful of warrior and standard drones recovered from Manehatten, yielded not much in terms of how the Entity actually thought as a being.

Some methods it used, such as magical antigravity methods, proved too advanced for the multipurpose labs of Hephaestus to handle. Those components were shipped to the main EORN [Eoropean Organisation de Research Nuclear, a Faroench name] facility, on the border of Faroence and Swizerland.

As for the weapons, power plant and engine for propulsion however, they remained here. And already, they were yielding theories to test and schematics to reverse engineer for nuclear thermal propulsion, miniaturised fission and fusion, and direct energy weapons of varying types. It would take years before anything was truly ready to test their own versions of, Hephaestus of research contractor company.

But it was a financially secure future.

Even so, Maurik couldn't help but be unnerved by the sight of the Entity assets. The Orang-utan was a pragmatist at heart, hence his financial and business success as the CEO. Yet, something primal caused him to watch those components with a wary eye.

And yet he swore he felt like something watched him back from the laboratory floor.

"A sight isn't it?" A voice to Maurik's side on the balcony got his attention.

The Orang-utan saw Faral, the female Komodo security chief, approach with caution. She was in fact, the one who suggested these emplacements in the laboratory.

Leaning over the balcony, Faral stared down at the Entity aircraft half, the few workers around it probing deep inside its innards.

"My only relief is that its cut in half, nothing else with it." Maurik replied. He and everyone around the communicating world knew of what these things had shown off over 17 months ago now. It was why there was such a coalition fleet around the Maldives after so long, despite the ashcloud preventing anything from getting close, or surviving for more than a few minutes.

Turning to Faral, Maurik asked: "So, how long will you be gone for?"

"A week or so. Varkan wants me along, as he's bringing the oldest new clone with him to the Crystal Empire. Princess Luna insists on celebrating her birthday."

"Weird, a few years ago I'd never have dreamt of having an Equestrian Princess's endorsement. With some of the protests against that facility of his though, I'm sure he's not complaining."

"I'm sure." Faral murmured quietly. She still recalled her slight bitterness at the dance Luna insisted Varkan give her, knowing she had never once danced with him ever. But that was a potential bridge burned by Varkan, wanting to remain friends.

Still, he was too old a friend to abandon simply due to unrequited love, or lust. And she had avoided his more dangerous exploits anyway, even if he himself was venturing less in the last few months, over a year actually.

All she wasn't looking forward to was the cold. She made a mental note to pack her thermal clothing, even some new heated clothes a Swiss military surplus company was offering the company to distribute and test.

Komodos, and to a lesser extent Wyverns, were cold blooded. They lacked the fire generation of internal heat that Dragons and Drakes did.

Musing over the future, as she and Maurik presided over the Entity aircraft dissection, Faral at least looked forward to any time to spend with Varkan. He was away from HQ a lot in these past 2 years, much more than usual. How things change.

A chapter setting up a critical junction in the story, but not for the immediate reasons you'd think.

Well, not completely.

Also, as for Luna's dreamwalking 'side effects' relating to passionate 'aftermath' sleep dreams, well, its a logical problem one could see arising.

As usual, please review/critique as one would.