Chapter 30: Before the Fall
Mido walked out.
"Traitor!" the Feligypt ambassador shouted the moment he saw him.
"Quiet," Irmhild ordered.
"You slaughtered us after we assisted the MVSN and Sturmabteilung with weapons testing! WHO betrayed who!"
Celestia came up behind him. "Please step to the center and introduce yourself."
He nodded and made his way to the front. The ambassadors stepped to the side. Their assistants hopped off the end of the dias and stood in front of the hallway door. Vegeta snapped his fingers and a platform appeared. Mido looked at Vegeta, smiled and climbed the steps.
He looked out over the heads of the ponies and the ambassadors. "My name is Mido al-Qitt. Survivor of the 5th Hawara Midfa battalion. We participated in the conquest of the Ard ul-Fayruz and were later killed along with hundreds of civilian prisoners in the desert after the battle of Aqabarb as victims to new weapons testing."
"That's outrageous! That never happened!" The Feligypt ambassador shouted again. "Saddle Arabia, confirm this!"
"Feligypt did seize Ard ul-Fayruz six months ago. However, to my knowledge, I cannot confirm this male's identity as a participant."
He gritted his teeth.
"Said silence," Irmhild lowered his head to speak directly in his ear.
Prince Rasheed's attendant began tapping his back hoof.
In the embassy, staff looked over the sleeping trio.
"See, I told you Omar kicks his back feet while sleeping," one aide chuckled, elbowing another. "Stupid looking, right."
"Sounds as good a time as any."
"Time for—?"
He didn't get to finish.
Mido was being bombarded by questions and not given time to answer.
"How did you even escape and end up in Equestria?" Blarney demanded.
Mido lost his patience. "I will answer everything after my presentation. I will not be delayed any longer."
Mido suddenly collapsed backwards.
"Mido!" Vegeta grabbed him and held him in his arms.
Suddenly Rasheed screamed as his body below half way down his neck vanished. His head fell but evaporated before it hit the ground.
"Prince Rasheed!" Celestia ran over to where he was.
Mido looked up at Vegeta's face. "…thank you… for being so kind…" Mido evaporated as well, briefly leaving Vegeta caked in blood before it too vanished leaving him completely clean.
"What's happening?!" a mare shouted.
Rasheed's aide, Omar, who stood unflinching the whole time, spoke. "There is no need to worry everyone! They have simply been executed, by the sultan's orders."
He then looked at the shocked Celestia as he walked over and stood proudly next to the smug Irmhild.
"In accordance with the new treaty of eternal friendship between Saddle Arabia and the Holy Gryphon Empire, Saddle Arabia officially withdraws from all treaties with the pony nations, and all factions that would oppose such actions have been eliminated. And as all executions have been performed on sovereign embassy grounds, Equestria holds no jurisdiction over the matter."
"But of course you know that fact intimately," Irmhild said, "with the execution of the father of Princess Luna's child on the order of the Saddle Arabian sultan at the time."
"How do you know that?!" Celestia snapped.
"When we retook Constampedople, we found millennia of documents, including the dozens of frantic letters from Linus the Golden begging to marry Princess Luna to save her honor. But it seems Linus the Golden had been traded in an arranged marriage as part of a newly signed treaty with Saddle Arabia at the time. We also found the mountains of correspondence between the Bitatine emperor and the sultan coordinating his execution along with the massive amounts of compensation to stop the war from restarting."
Luna hicced drawing everyone's attention. She was failing horribly holding back tears.
Celestia looked at her, then glared at the horse and griffon.
The nobles were murmuring.
"Oh? Was it a secret here?" the aide said. "The griffon empire is not one to hide such ancient… archaic… and superfluous history and gladly published their archeological findings. I'm sure everyone east of the Rhine knows about the pregnancy."
The griffon ambassador took his turn in the mock conversation. "And Princess Luna's reaction to the death by locking herself away for over a month only to emerge haggard and visibly lost such a great deal of weight. About six months before she became Nightmare Moon." He looked at the aide, "Come to think of it, it was also around ten months after the first of Linus' frantic letters."
"I believe so," the aide answered. "And wasn't Sundial's filly born a few weeks beforehand? The one that was caught calling Princess Celestia grandma as a toddler? I wonder where the child learned to call the esteemed princess such a silly word?"
Luna collapsed and began to bawl, spewing rivers of tears.
But Celestia started to laugh.
Not a good laugh, something audibly wrong with it.
Many nobles and delegates backed away pinning themselves against the far walls.
"So, the kingdom that stole my sister's happiness has joined forces with the kingdom that stole mine? And over what? Splitting what's left of the Ottomanes between you in the mountains?" She tweaked her head at an odd angle, "What an insignificant prize for the price."
Omar's eyes widened and jerked his head between her and Irmhild, "What's she talking about?"
She laughed harder. "What? Did you think I never set the sun over Pinkie Pie? I love her dearly…" She began to slowly walk towards the griffon delegation. "but the kidnapping and murder—" She blinked her eyes, her irises becoming slits as she approached. "of my dearest HUSBAND is more worthy of an unending day, don't you think?"
Irmhild's eyes widened with realization. But his son took a step back, panic written all over his face.
"There is no prince of Equestria!" he shouted. "And even if you were married, a morganatic marriage holds the same diplomatic weight as a prostitute!"
"Ermendrud, quiet!" Irmhild shouted at him. He looked back at Celestia.
She cocked her head again at an unsettling angle turning her attention to Ermendrud.
"Somebody looks guilty~" Celestia said rhythmically as she turned directions.
Irmhild jumped in front of his son, raising his wing, "I don't like what you are implying about my son, or my empire!"
"Somebody looks guilty~" Celestia continued in her slow walk, her hair beginning to lose its rainbow sheen turning golden yellow. Flames began to dance through her hair. Emotion rippled through the air like blasts of sound felt by the soul.
Revenge. The sickly and green desire to inflict pain for their own pleasure was starting to be reflected at the very tips of the flames.
As beings began to quiver under the assault to their senses, Luna forced herself to her trembling hooves despite her uncontrolled crying.
"Somebody looks guilty~" Celestia's voice sharpened, along with her teeth.
Luna blasted her horn, not at Celestia, but at the griffons.
Everyone in the room was disorientated finding themselves in a new location.
An image of Ermendrud was humming a song as he walked down a hall.
The griffons instantly recognized the location.
"What the seven hells do you think you're doing?! This is illegal coercion and espionage of the highest order!"
Luna walked up, glaring at Ermendrud, "Then I suggest NOT thinking about the deaths that are about to happen."
The scene instantly jumped to Ermendrud arriving in a teleportation circle into what was clearly an inside room of a pony noble estate with nine other griffons.
"What are those things they are carrying?" the nobles whispered among themselves.
"Greetings Duke Poppycock."
Everyone gasped as he raised his arm. "Hail the emperor."
Ermendrud returned the greeting.
They all walked off the platform. "I was surprised when you asked for guards equipped with sturmgewehr. What is the special occasion?"
"In a moment, but firstly, did you send one of your assassins after my nephew's romantic rival?"
Ermendrud smiled, "Isn't that obvious."
Poppycock poofed two newspapers and threw them at his feet. "BECAUSE HE MISSED AND HIT LADY PINKIE PIE!"
His feathers puffed up. "How dare you accuse a Scharfschutze of missing his target!"
"Well, he did! Lady Pinkie Pie just got out of surgery in the palace."
"So, she is dead?"
"No, she's alive."
"Impossible! Magic cannot heal kurel wounds."
"Dark Magic can apparently. One of the doctors was mindbroken from exposure. We found him wandering around aimlessly in the streets muttering to everyone he passed." He pointed at the paper, "That's the drafts of what we're putting in the papers. These will be raining from the sky like a featherbrain breaking a weather machine in thirty minutes and then another hour."
Ermendrud looked down at the paper on top. "You're framing the target?"
"Ignoring that you just confessed, yes," Duke Poppycock said angrily. "His special talent is levitation. He's even beaten Princess Twilight in contests of skill."
"I see, then he is theoretically capable of creating gewehr-like injuries? So why ask us here if you already have what you need?"
"Some key witnesses are having… difficulty, properly remembering what actually happened. I cannot proceed without their cooperation."
Ermendrud looked up angrily, "I may have been barely older than a cub, but I distinctly remember you telling my father you had the city guard and judiciary so completely under your control you could frame Princess Celestia for actually being Nightmare Moon in a conspiracy to rule Equestria alone and no pony would ever question it. It is the only reason we have been backing your efforts to restore your family to the throne."
"This is a fabrication!" the real Duke Poppycock shouted, raising his hoof in the air.
Luna lit her horn.
He, Blarney, and the griffon delegation minus Ermendrud froze.
"Do not worry, my little ponies. Time in the dreamplane is controlled by the spell. I simply sped it up for most of us. They are fine, and will continue on their rant once it is equalized again. Any more interruptions, and we will remove thee as well." She took a step and glared at the nobles surrounding the frozen duke. "Do ye understand?"
They all cringed under her gaze and nodded.
Luna lit her horn again and the scene continued.
"These individuals were involved in an earlier incident that had the Wonderbolts as witnesses we simply cannot edit out of the narrative," memory Duke Poppycock continued, "I don't care how many you choose, but leave enough alive to get enough statements, will you?"
Ermendrud smiled, "I will leave it realistic enough that a simple peasant can accomplish the feat."
Duke Poppycock nodded. "My servants waiting on the other side of the door will guide you to the cell. I have more groundwork to do before I can finalize plans with your father."
Ermendrud lifted the first paper to glance at the second. He laughed. "You're finally moving then? It's about time. The emperor has been growing impatient."
"We need to destroy Princess Celestia's support base before anything else can be started. But Equestria's laws are now in our favor like never before to topple the alicorns when pushed at the right moment." Duke Poppycock turned around. "This way."
He and Ermendrud entered the hallway. "Show our guests to the cells," he ordered the stallion in a footman's uniform.
He bowed, "Yes. Right this way, honored guests."
Duke Poppycock exited in the opposite direction as the footman led the griffons away.
They were quickly led to the dungeon. Vegeta was surprised. It looked like a hospital, sterile and white instead of the primitive stone and crystal he experienced. Then he saw chairs with straps and instruments on trays set on rolling tables.
Whispers in the room began turning to Vegeta. His eyes had turned a shining blue and the same golden flames that kissed Celestia's fur now danced around him. Another pulse of emotion began rippling through the room as Vegeta's clothes went from gentle civilian attire to armor. White boots and gloves, blue under suit covering his skin, white and golden chest plate that flared at the shoulders supporting a red cape violently whipping in the tornado of sparks and flames. A jeweled pendant also fluttered loudly in the air and a ring of gold circled his head.
The awkward man had revealed the truth within, not the dark beast many nobles had tried to egg him into, but a king.
The wave of righteous fury knocked many off their hooves. The overwhelming desire to protect and punish.
Even Celestia slipped from the push, knocking her out of whatever consumed her. Everything about her returned to normal as she turned.
A golden ribbon suddenly snaked through the room, cutting the majority of the guests from the griffon and Saddle Arabian delegations and the nobles who had gone against the royals. The ribbon froze in place. It had a warm and inviting sensation and those who touched it found it hard as stone.
Whispers of Celestia casting a protection spell were quickly silenced.
"Prince Vegeta, lower thy protection. Your instincts are running wild. There is no need in my dreamplane," Luna ordered.
"Don't you know what we're looking at?" Vegeta answered in a deep distorted voice worthy of a dark mage.
Lighting coursed through the ribbon, causing everyone to shout and back away.
"We can guess what thou are looking at, based on thy triggers," she trotted over to him. "Thou said thou trusts us. We are stronger than our tears. We will not fail to protect our ponies again. All are safe in my embrace. Even thee."
Vegeta let out a held breath as he looked up and fell to his knees as his royal trappings disappeared in fire.
The ribbon faded away.
There was an uncomfortable gasp among the nobles.
Vegeta did not return to the suit. He was barefoot, wearing a pair of pale gray cloth pants gathered by a string at his waist and a white shirt with no sleeves tucked loosely into the band. There were symbols running down the side of the pants and a different emblem on the right breast of the shirt than what had appeared on his royal armor.
Uppercrust snarked, "Commoner indeed. He truly views himself as a homeless beggar if this is his true mental image."
Vegeta stood as the suit rematerialized. "For someone so decked in clothes you can barely see their cutie mark, even you must walk naked in your bedchambers. Or are you so insecure, you even need to convince your own bedsheets you're someone important? Or is it your lover you're so desperate to hide your ugliness from? Do you also sleep in your caked on makeup?"
Uppercrust gasped as Jetset jumped in front. "How dare—" but his retort died in his throat as Celestia snickered.
Luna slapped Vegeta's arm with her front leg.
Vegeta was pushed off balance. His face flinched and he grabbed his arm. "What?" he said frustrated, "Would you rather I blast her in the face? She snarked and I snarked back! …You're as bad as my wife, man…" he grumbled, rubbing his left arm where he got hit.
Everyone gasped at the threat of violence. Then a new whisper started seeing Vegeta's continued grimacing and turning about.
"Is he in pain? You're not supposed to feel pain in dreams."
"An injury?" the council families whispered among themselves.
"A permanent one, if even in his dreams his mind simulates pain to this extent," Marquess Metis whispered.
"He's right hooved, so his left would be his choice to absorb injury if he could help the situation," Countess Paladine said. "Broken bones, crushed tissue, nerve damage. He's supposedly elderly and rapidly approaching his death, so he would be in tissue collapse on top of old injuries."
"A weakness to remember," Lord Fire Whirl said.
The footman returned, "The interrogators are finishing up with one of the prisoners. This way to the room."
They were led down a hall with many glass rooms until they stopped at the one they were looking for.
A green unicorn was strapped and gagged to the chair, leaned back flat like a dentist chair with their head towards them. A blue unicorn with aged gray around his muzzle and throughout his mane and tail in city guard armor stopped the spell on the green one's head and removed a gold circlet with runes and gems embedded in it. One of the two white unicorns in the room dressed in white coats and surgical masks stepped on a pedal and the chair righted itself with a whirl blocking the view of the victim. But what was not blocked was the intense healing spell that unicorn began casting as the second cleaned up the ungodly amount of blood with a single zap and pushed the table of instruments away.
The guard trotted out, and was so shocked he dropped the circlet from his magic.
"My apologies," he said, picking it off the ground. "When the duke said he was calling in more experts in interrogations, I was not expecting griffons."
"Oh? Even with all the public ties the duke's companies have with imperial merchants?"
"Good point, again, my apologies," he put the circlet in a case along the wall. "I'm Agent 9 of the interrogation squad of the city guards. And you are?"
"Not important," Ermendrud answered. "Are you alone serving the duke?"
Agent 9 laughed. "No, I think the entire squad has been here at some point today. But I am the most skilled at the latest technique in our arsenal. Of course I developed it, so that's obvious." he bragged.
"Oh really? Would you share? One professional to another?"
"Sure," he smiled. "I see no harm since griffons lack the ability to perform it."
While they spoke, the unconscious green unicorn was dragged off behind them by more city guards.
No one paid any mind.
"As you know, or maybe you don't," he said with superiority, "one cannot implant memories into somepony's mind without black magic. BUT, I've discovered how to twist existing interrogation spells to the same effect, no dark magic required!" The pony laughed, "The city guards have solved so many crimes since I've developed it. So many unshakable witnesses and heartfelt confessions, Princess Celestia has been giving out so many medals I'm surprised the country hasn't run out of gold!"
Celestia seized as her rainbow hair began losing its color again.
"You haven't told me yet," Ermendrud smiled, "Come on, don't leave us in suspense."
"It's because ponies are so trusting of authority. 'Are you sure you saw an earth pony?' 'Are you sure that was the color of the pony you saw running away?' 'Are you sure that was the cutie mark?' 'Are you sure they ran down this street instead of that one?' A skilled interrogator can completely replace the real memory with whatever they want and turn the witness into a raving fanatic that will die on the hill that the false memory is the real one. Now getting someone to confess is harder of course, but after some experimenting on ponies the duke has been providing, we've been able to convince ponies they assassinated Princess Celestia herself and have them take their own lives! In fact, I made that the final test for my students. Every interrogator in the guard can do it now, along with private lessons for nobles and their private security forces introduced by the duke."
Ermendrud laughed, "So… ponies have finally discovered gaslighting! How wonderful." He put his claw on the pony's shoulder. "But don't worry, I'm sure the methods you've developed are far superior to what we've been using for centuries. You can directly enter a being's mind, after all."
He took his claw off and took a few moments to stop laughing. "So… what's gone wrong that we've been called in?"
The pony gritted his teeth, "While developing delusions during the process is not uncommon, these ponies have proven stubborn, even under enhanced interrogation. These ponies truly believe a dirty ground pounder can perform magic feats greater than even alicorns." He raised his hoof in frustration. "Even manipulating time and altering the future! It's disgusting." He lowered his hoof, "And that's not the worst one. One thinks he's the husband of Princess Celestia!"
"And threatening vengeance?" Ermendrud cut him off.
"No, he's begging to be released because he's seen her mad, and he doesn't want to imagine what she'll do to us when she teleports to his side tonight and finds everyone here."
Celestia's wings drooped to the ground, "My poor, sweet Joe... Always thinking of others first."
"Huh," he chuckled, "Very pony-like. So, what are these enhanced techniques?"
"I think Dr. Aorta would best describe it. I need to quickly prepare to interrogate that waitress again."
He poked his head in the glass door. "Dr. Aorta, come brief the new griffon interrogators Duke Poppycock brought in."
"Griffons?!" One of the unicorns pulled the curtain away to look out the glass wall.
"Oh my…" he pulled the curtain back, "…One… One moment please!"
The guard came back and nodded to the griffons, "I look forward to witnessing your techniques. A wise pony always knows there is more to learn." He trotted off.
The doctor came out, his white coat and fur now flawlessly clean.
"Oh my, that is Dr. Aorta…" the nobles whispered. "I remember him from the parties…" "He performed my surgery…" "And my father's. He's the best heart surgeon in the country."
"Greetings, I am Dr. Aorta of the Canterlot Institute of Medicine." He held out his hoof, "To whom do I have the pleasure?"
"None of your business, if you wish to keep it."
Dr. Aorta swallowed and lowered his hoof. "Of course."
"So, Agent 9 told me you would inform me on enhanced interrogation procedures so we know what has already been tried and can strategize a new approach."
"Yes…"
"You seem nervous for an experienced interrogator?"
"This is my first time partnering with griffons. Your reputations on such manners are well known."
Ermendrud laughed, "Oh I can assure you everything you know is only a pale imitation of the truth." He stopped. "So, the enhanced techniques?"
"Yes. It is well known since ancient times that pain can interrupt the brain's ability to visualize lies. Proper enhanced procedures were developed to manely induce pain without lasting damage to the body. That circlet you saw the agent carry is a pain amplifier. It can turn even a papercut into an experience similar to a broken limb."
Ermendrud cocked his head smiling. "What I saw was more blood than a simple papercut."
"Yes, I was called in after a frustrated agent accidentally killed a pony by overcharging the circlet. You do not say no to Duke Poppycock."
"Was this your first time?"
"No. I was recommended for the program by my mentor back during my residency when I was barely older than a colt. When one learns how to do things correctly, you automatically learn how to do it wrong, like causing pain. Only the best of the best are allowed to touch a prisoner."
"And if a recommended pony refuses?"
The doctor swallowed again. "Everyone in the program has witnessed at least one pony die from pain-induced organ failure. One does not say no to the duke and his family."
"Good to hear, so what have you been doing?"
"I… I was ordered to bring a prisoner as close to death as possible. And repeat multiple times as necessary. I've been doing open heart surgery without anesthesia with only a rudimentary CPR spell to force air into the lungs… while removing the heart and allowing the prisoner to come to just to the point where death cannot be reversed and reattach the heart while an agent manipulates the circlet. One pony I've done it to ten times. There must be something wrong with him, maybe a neurological disorder that reduces pain responses. It's all I could think of to tell the duke. He told me to do another round on the other prisoners while he went to find more… talented individuals."
"Yes. And here we are," Ermendrud said. "Your report was illuminating. Go after that agent and interrupt his interrogation. I want every prisoner sane and cognizant for what we are about to do."
"Yes!" he ran away.
The other unicorn came out and curtsied. "Greetings, Legatus. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask."
He raised an eyebrow. "Do I know you?"
Her white coat transformed into a maid's outfit. "I am but a simple cleaning maid. I have cleaned after many of your visits with the young master."
"Oh? You are also a nurse?"
"I am cross trained for such activities. The honorable duke ordered the best maids across all of his estates for this task." She smiled and held her hooves over her heart. "The eternally magnanimous and handsome Marquess Blarney sent me," she said with the mad devotion of a cultist. She returned to normal. "Would you like some of your favorite brierroot tea while we wait? I can teleport to the kitchen."
"No thank you. This visit is for business, not pleasure."
"As you command." She turned her back and trotted away.
Ermendrud watched her walk off. Then he laughed. "Oh! Now I recognize her. I've never seen her from the front. Perhaps some pleasure is in order after all."
The scene jumped to a large empty room with chains on the wall and iron rings on the floor. Servants are putting crates next to the stone wall.
"I don't see the purpose of these crates against the wall when a simple projectile shield spell will do," a guard said. "He's using them to guard the rest of the room."
"What the duke wants the duke gets," Agent 9 said, "And he wants crates full of wooden debris. Do you have everything else ready?"
"Yes, all the new circlets are charged and ready. We will be able to force full lucid consciousness, although that green mare will most likely take multiple casters."
"Hmm, the memory might not stick if that's the case," Agent 9 said. "I'll go talk to—"
"There's no need."
They turned and saw Ermendrud.
"He gave us permission to do everything necessary as long as we leave enough witnesses. Set her aside. You did say this pony is a mare, correct?"
"Yes."
"Excellent, set her aside and bring the rest."
Ermendrud walked away.
"Well, we know what he's having for dinner…"
"Not if the young lord gets to her first…"
"Hmmm," Ermendrud cocked his head. He changed direction towards the original footman now standing with the others. "One of you contact Marquess Blarney for me with this message: I have found a possible guest for dinner for him to inspect. And to remind him if she meets his standards that he promised that myself and my kitchen staff would have the opportunity to watch this time since we haven't been able to get the taste quite right with just the written instructions alone."
He stepped forward and bowed, "I will deliver your message at once. Excuse me."
The pony hurried away.
Duke Poppycock passed the footman in the doorway. He glanced back before continuing into the room.
"You look a little scuffed up?" Ermendrud said.
"Dealing with my stubborn nephew. Have you decided on who to kill yet? Celestia has moved Bocce into her personal dungeon and demanded copies of the evidence. My in-laws and a coroner are waiting upstairs. We can't finalize any papers without a corpse."
"Yes, Dagobert! The board."
A griffon handed him the clipboard.
He flipped through with his claw. "We'll be killing this one. His delusion is definitely the one giving the other's hope."
Duke Poppycock glanced at the clipboard. "Ah, the one that can't feel pain. I was hoping you'd choose him. Any others?"
"Seems one of your guards went too far again. I hope you won't mind, considering your country's laws over brain death?"
"Yes," he rolled his eyes, "Take your well-earned dinner. Can we get this done quickly?"
"They are your city guards, King Poppycock the First. We are ready, they just need to bring them in."
"Agent 9!" he called out. "Get them in here! The griffons are ready!"
Ponies were quickly dragged in by chains with bags on their heads. All but one were tied to the left wall. The other was bound to a ring in the floor in front of the boxes. A disheveled, shivering hulk of a unicorn.
"Joe!" Celestia shouted.
"Isn't that the chef that caters our meetings?!" Prince Eric looked at Olov and Eetu. He turned back. "Oh Jupiter and Odin…" he shook his head. "Please don't."
Eetu walked around to stand at Eric's other side and put his front leg over him.
Ermendrud raised his hand and the bags were removed from the ponies against the wall, and immediately gagged magically as circlets were forced on their heads.
"Not him," Ermendrud said, pointing at the unicorn at the boxes.
The guard backed away.
"So," Ermendrud stepped forward with the clipboard. "Donut Joe. Owner of Pony Joe's Diner. Registered seating capacity, 80 ponies." He tossed the clipboard behind him. "So, how does such an insignificant peasant end up as the crown prince of Equestria?"
The griffons laughed.
"That's quite the accent you got there," Joe said. "You must not be from around here if you don't know Celestia's taste in stallions."
"Yes, the chubby, dirty kind," he said dismissively. He raised his claw. "Stromknuppel."
A griffon gave him what looked like a wooden spear wrapped in something black with two small copper prongs on one end and a box at the other. He jabbed him, and lighting coursed through him, sending him to the floor.
"Buck…" he said as he struggled back to his hooves.
Surprised at how fast he was trying to stand, he jabbed him again.
After two more repeats, Ermendrud raised the spear and the griffon took it back.
"Hmmm, you definitely feel pain, but maybe the theory that you don't feel it as strongly is correct? How sad. Prince of Equestria."
"Ever heard of a morganatic marriage, dumb ass. You can marry a noble without becoming one."
Ermendrud jaw dropped slightly before regaining his composure. "Educated little pony. Did you hear that fancy word from one of the guards during your interrogation?"
"No. I keep telling you, I'm her husband and it's her turn to stay at my house tonight. She's gonna teleport in and see this and lose her shit."
"Yes, she bursts into flames when enraged and will accidently set fire to everything and everypony in the vicinity…" he said dismissively. "I read your myriad list of concerns. Take off his hood, but don't gag him or place a circlet."
A guard lit his horn and pulled the bag off.
Donut Joe shook his head as his eyes adjusted to the sudden light.
"Do you understand your fate yet?" Ermendrud mocked.
Donut Joe looked up. His jaw dropped and his eyes pin pricked.
Ermendrud laughed. "I see you do!"
"Don-don don't do this!"
"Why? Scared to face your gods?"
"Dawn barely pulled herself back the first time! If I die, she might not be able to! She'll go full Nightmare!"
"Oh? So, the truth is known over here? All the pony history books we've seen say it was a tiny war and blame all the deaths on a mysterious "Black Death" plague. Even in Trottingham and Prance, where their ancestors survived the Great Sonnenstrum themselves. And even the Hussar horses that tried to take over the burned wastelands in the aftermath claim they saw no such thing but won great victories against the armies of the dead. So yes, we griffons know intimately the fires your benevolent goddess of light, love, and mercy wields. Even if the rest of the planet denies it."
"Isn't that proof enough that I'm her husband! Please! It was the murder of Luna's fiancé that set her off!"
"You know about that?"
"Yes! His name was Linus! He was even part griffon! We don't have to go to war with Luna back. It was literally yesterday to her that a world existed where an alicorn could marry a griffon and no one cared. It can be again."
"The empire has already looked into possibly manipulating the returned princess with a lover, but her dream magic was deemed too much of a risk. Even if historically, she had a kink for claws. But now I'm curious, why do you think your wife unleashed the Sonnenstrum?"
"You killed someone she loved, just like you're about to do now."
"Oh? We were on good diplomatic terms until we were blindsided by a rain of fire. We never hunted on your coast, and had even conquered the flocks that did at your behest generations before."
"Everypony comes from a family. If they came out of nowhere and were proclaimed avatars of the sun and moon by the magic council, then why didn't any of the nobles instantly claim them as children? Ultimate power and prestige. Instead, there has always been hostility. That they don't deserve the throne." He looked at Duke Poppycock, "They don't have the blood."
Donut Joe stood tall and defiantly. "Celestia wouldn't marry a peasant? Just like Luna wouldn't fuck a poor peasant bard suddenly adopted into a royal family due to pure skill? Look at that noble's face. He knows I'm right."
"I don't need to," Ermendrud said confidently. "This was a lovely conversation, but it doesn't change anything. (Hand me a sturmgewehr! Everyone line up!)"
Ermendrud was handed a metal object while his guards lined up next to him. He examined the object while the others stood at attention like soldiers with a weapon.
"You know that one thing your tribes think is a blessing but is actually your biggest weakness?" He paused. "Your long lives. It's only been two or three lifetimes for you… but for US, five hundred years is much more impactful. Five hundred years, twenty-five full generations of hawks and hens dedicating their minds for one, single, task. (Ready!)"
The other griffons raised one end to their shoulders and pointed the other at him.
"City guards! I want you all to cast your strongest shield spells in front of your prince! Everyone of you not on a circlet! Layer them thick!"
They looked at each other, and the ones not controlling the circlets cast dozens of shields, turning into a five-foot-thick tangle of wards.
Ermendrud smiled and raised his. "How to kill an Alicorn. (Aim!)"
Luna lit her horn.
Vegeta suddenly found himself alone with a front row seat. He figured it was now the same for everyone else in the room.
"Celestia, for the love of the sun, don't lose your mind."
"(Fire!)
"Joe!"
Celestia only got one step in before she slid to a stop.
Everyone in the room screamed, except for him and Luna, who closed her eyes.
Hundreds of flashes and bursts of thunder. The loud cracks of splintering wood flying out as shrapnel.
And the disappearance of the pony, replaced by mush and four hooves orphaned on the floor.
The shields slowly failed one by one, along with the guards' jaws. A few fell on their butts.
Ermendrud walked over and pushed the one hoof remaining upright over with the killing end of the object everyone now understood as a horrible weapon.
He turned to the wall, "Everypony! If you thought Princess Celestia was coming to your rescue, well, she can't teleport to that can she?" He shot the broken crates again. "You now have one chance. Sign the witness statements the city guards have kindly prepared for you OR…" He shot a third time. "You end up as fish chum."
The guards stayed frozen in place.
"What the heck are you doing?!" Duke Poppycock shouted. "Give them the papers. Now!"
The guards began to move.
"Stop their shaking you idiots, we can't have anything amiss with the signatures. You guards too! You're not helping…"
Luna let her horn again, and everyone found themselves next to everyone else.
Vegeta was trying hard not to laugh. These nobles and ambassadors, probably nobles themselves now that he thought about it, were handling death as well as Discord handled a simple, ordinary post-battle lunch. Females wanted to faint but couldn't while the males' stiff upper lips were all over the floor with their nonexistent stomach contents.
"Why was I cut out of that last part?" Twilight whined. "And that part of the picture is still blacked out."
"Twillie… you do not want to see that," Cadence said.
"I can handle a dead body. Stop treating me like a foal."
"Not this," Cadence shook her head, "even if you weren't still bright green from what the doctor said. Just… just imagine what the crystal heart did to Sombra if it didn't completely evaporate him into nothing."
She sniffled. "Joe was my friend, too… Let me see."
"Ask Princess Luna later. Now's not the time."
Vegeta let the scene with the nobles play out a little bit before he spoke. "Hey Luna? Is that Blarney the griffon mentioned here? If he is, I say we bring him in and find out what happened to that green unicorn?" He looked at Luna.
She was not paying attention to anything.
"Sister…?"
Celestia was sulking in front of the remains. Strangely, she wasn't crying.
She tittered.
Then she chuckled.
Then she laughed as her hair lost its color and flames began to ripple across her entire body.
Luna removed the vision and ran over, throwing her legs and wings over her. "It's ok, sister. It's ok. You're allowed to cry. Don't hold it in. You can be a mare, not a princess. Just like you told me all those years ago."
Celestia lifted her head and started to make a new sound. It pulsed like laughter, but sounded more like a flock of geese being strangled.
Luna fought against a growing pressure trying to push her back. "Group hug! Group hug!"
Cadence and Twilight rushed over. Even Pixiu and Feiyu came over and joined the hug.
Everyone was sent flying. Feiyu was shredded but quickly pulled himself back together and flew to Pixiu. A flame bubble whipped around her as she threw her head back and her eyes slit and her teeth sharpened.
This time the nobles recognized what was happening.
"She's becoming a nightmare!" Everyone stampeded to the nearest door, only to find a white wall behind it.
"Good! Now all of Equestria can live through what we did 500 years ago!" Ermendrud shouted.
Vegeta lunged forward, pulled back and punched Celestia squarely in the jaw. She flew into a pillar, causing it to collapse.
"Get over yourself!" Vegeta shouted, keeping his fist raised.
He did not notice the black mist around his feet.
"It's my job to lose my gods damn shit! Not yours!"
The mist solidified in front of him, reared back like a cobra and shot at Celestia. It passed through her chest before turning back and piercing Vegeta through the heart before dissipating.
Celestia turned completely back to normal.
"Celestia!" The alicorns ran over to her, but Luna suddenly slid to a stop.
"Vegeta…" she slowly turned her head.
Vegeta was hunched over, his fingers digging deep into his arms as he groaned.
Then he threw his head back and transformed screaming.
His golden aura filled the room as lightning crackled through the air.
Celestia shook her head. "Where am I?" she began to lift in the air, "Wait! What's happening?!"
Tiles, furniture, and ponies began to float in the air.
The vision of the dungeon returned with Joe's remains in front of him. Then wind and dirt began whipping through the air as the image began to pulse in and out with an overlay of a bipedal's corpse.
Vegeta grabbed his head and the image completely switched as the memory played out.
The tornado.
The hand.
The beam.
The purple haired corpse.
The green black-spotted being emerging from the dust.
Vegeta and his illusion copy merged as he stared at the corpse. He began to cry and two screams emerged from the same throat. He spun around. "That's my son!"
"Vegeta! You're hallucinating!" Luna shouted.
The image leaped forward while Vegeta stumbled backwards. "I know that!"
Vegeta hunched over as the memory vanished, "I don't know who you are or why you keep whispering in my ear, but my name is not Celestia." He reared back. "I'm the mother fucking Prince of All Saiyans!" Tears poured down his face. "Learn your place!"
Suddenly a dozen glowing silhouettes of various sizes and shapes encircled him, but all bipedal. One appeared to be a felis, as round as it was tall. Then some more appeared. One was clearly Discord, then an alicorn, then an earth pony, then a pegasus, and finally a second felis missing a leg and arm."
"Alone, am I? My crown is a prison cell and no one else can see me suffer past their jealousy of the shiny wall of gold? Fuck you!"
They all suddenly lifted an arm or front limb in front of them. Vegeta did the same. The darkness gathered in a wiggling ball that got smaller and smaller.
The ball began to squirm violently as it shrank.
Vegeta smirked as he continued to cry. "Not so tough when you have a dozen friends to share the weight."
The darkness suddenly turned lavender as it turned into a whisp, then darted into Vegeta's chest again.
Vegeta fell on his knees as the transformation ended and everyone dropped to the ground. Then he tilted his head back and vomited a burst of blackness like blood. Golden tendrils curled and blossomed like ethereal flowers from his mouth as the darkness vanished like circles in water. Then the glittering light flew into Celestia.
Celestia froze. Then she tilted her head back and bawled. Two cartoony rivers came from her eyes and soaked the floor, but no sign of any physical changes.
Pixiu caught Vegeta as he tumbled over.
"You did good, my new friend," he said.
Vegeta shakily gave a thumbs up. "Whatever just happened… it still really hurts." He said as the tears continued.
"Did he just?" Countess Paladine asked.
"That was not simply layering," Marquess Metis said shocked. "That was something else. Something ghostly."
Ermendrud stumbled backwards. "Did… did you just absorb the nightmare?! AND YOU'RE FINE?!"
"You just cast friendship magic!" Twilight shouted. She ran over to him. "How?! What?! How did you do that?! What was that spell?! How did you cure the nightmare?!" she shouted directly next to his head.
Pixiu glared at her, "Silence. Can't you see he's in pain?"
Twilight gasped and put her hoof over her mouth. "Sorry…"
Lady Pumpernickel came forward through the chaotic pile of calming ponies at the far doors and slowly walked across the empty room.
She stopped in front of Vegeta. She suddenly bowed. "Thank you for saving Princess Celestia, Prince Vegeta of Saiyans. Whatever evils you committed in the past to become a dark mage, you have clearly found a way to use it to return the light you stole back into the world."
She then turned, "And YOU!" She stomped over to Ermendrud. "How DARE you harm Princess Celestia in order to get her to harm Equestria!" She then turned to the horse, "And you! You did the same to Princess Luna all those years ago! But no one was there to save her!"
She then marched up to the still frozen Duke Poppycock. "Dearest Princess Luna, I humbly request you release this fiend so he may feel my slap to his face!"
Luna stood from comforting Celestia. "My apologies, Marchioness Pumpernickel, but I cannot allow violence of the sort in my dreamscape. But," she looked around at the growing angry faces, "what all ye do once we wake ye up tis up to ye. Words will have to surface for now. But do leave enough for the guards to arrest for treason, our little ponies."
"Before you do. I would like to make a statement," Lord Fire Whirl pushed his way out of the crush.
He walked up to Vegeta. "Prince, that technique. Is that the same visualization you tried to describe before with your actions with Princess Luna and Lady Pinkie Pie?"
Vegeta wiped his eyes. "Yeah…" he said, still shivering.
Lord Fire Whirl nodded and turned to the crowd. "I would like to rescind my statement earlier. What I just saw was very similar to the elementary techniques taught in the Crystal Empire as a foundation for the newly returned lost art of golem magic. Techniques I completely failed to comprehend." He looked back at Vegeta, "At least until now. That was more akin to the delicate unfolding of a lifted image get well card than any layering seen in miscast mind spells."
"A more apt word would be origami," Kuoma said, "Not that you would know that."
"Then thou stand in support of Vegeta?" Luna asked.
"Yes," he nodded. "That black magic was most definitely real, as was its purification. I believe his claims of self harm and complete disregard for his own wellbeing. His nurses are probably busy right now."
"Th-thanks for the endorsement," Vegeta said in a pitiful attempt at sarcasm.
"Are there any other statements that wish to be made? In either defense or in opposition?"
Marchioness Pumpernickel glared at everyone, moving her eyes from one pony to the next.
Everyone shook their heads.
"Very well." Luna lit her horn.
Poppycock only got a few sounds out before shouting and jumping back suddenly finding an enraged mare nose to nose at him.
Blarney saw the completely destroyed room. "What happened here?"
"Luna froze time for you and your minions, fiends, so we could watch the memory uninterrupted!" Marchioness Pumpernickel shouted. "You're evil! Torturing and brainwashing ponies, then handing them over to be eaten by the griffons?! Where is that poor green mare?! Tell us!"
"We're evil?!" Blarney shouted. He pointed at Vegeta, "We got the alicorn of evil right there!"
"That stallion rescued Princess Celestia by absorbing her nightmare when she went mad from watching that pony die! I don't agree with mixing blood, but that lowly chef showed more worth than the rest of you snakes combined!"
"Yes! It's nobles like you who clearly forced the princess to find comfort in the dirt!"
Poppycock kept his calm façade. "You're being blind! He did not purify Princess Celestia, he absorbed her powers for himself!"
"Yes!" one of the supporting nobles said, getting his nerves up. "We all know Princess Luna's emotions towards that demon since he came here. This is all an elaborate plot. And now he's stolen Princess Celestia's powers! This is only proof of her treachery! She's teamed up with the Far Eastern nations for a coup, just like she tried a thousand years ago!"
"WHAT did you just accuse me of?"
Everyone looked as Vegeta pushed himself to his feet. He was panting and visibly in pain.
"Did you just accuse me of cheating on my wife? Or does the fact I also found comfort in the dirt mean I will automatically toss her aside when confronted with a woman of purer blood? Fuck all of you!"
Vegeta pointed his finger, "I've heard enough about you. Forced magical sterility so a noble can rape the dirt in their employ without consequences. Noble daughters poisoned against their will to end any issues before they become visible? But those are all only recent developments. How many more matching stillborn and live birth certificates are we going to find in the archives? Noble blood is all that matters, is it? Do you even know how babies are made? It takes a piece of the mother and father to fuse together in the womb to form a child. And that piece can be traced through your precious blood! Only five generations since Celestia took the throne? Two or three since the war with the griffons? Earth blood tests can go back ten! There are easily dozens of so-called peasants that can switch places with you in an instant! You think you're special? You think your spoiled bratty lives are safe? YOU ARE NOT!"
Vegeta tilted his head, "Isn't that right, Poppycock." He raised his middle finger joining his index and rotated his hand.
Two rings of light clamped down on his and Blaney's muzzles. They began to struggle.
"You see! Yellow magic!" another of his nobles shouted, only to find himself also gagged.
"It's called ki," Pixiu walked next to Vegeta with his arm raised. He nodded to Vegeta.
Vegeta continued, "Do not interrupt me. Now are his engagement to Sea Swirl and the premature but successful pregnancy despite your best efforts the only reason you went after Bocce? Was Kingpin and his sister your siblings or cousins? Some of the wealthiest bastards in the country were abandoned nobles, and now a nouveau riche had somehow found an in with the nobility? Did you have the griffons try and kill him because Blarney wanted Sea Swirl, or was it because he's the obvious choice to replace you if your coup failed. Las Pegasus is burning and most of Millionaire Row is dead after a poisoned banquet THE SAME DAY Pinkie Pie shoved Bocce out of the way of a bullet? Wrapping up loose ends before you launched the coup, are you?"
Vegeta could tell by the wide-eyed look Blarney had at his uncle that he had no idea. Then it turned to rage. Vegeta released his mouth, but not Poppycock's.
"They were cast outs the whole time?! We had the perfect slaves the whole time and you did nothing?!" Then he raised his voice, "Wait! That means you knew about the relationship the whole time?! Or were you not doing your job and fucking following him properly?!"
Poppycock swung at him but Blarney backed away and the light binding his mouth spread to his body. Poppycock fell over.
"Fifteen minutes with the guards and we could have had him beat her half to death, brag about hiding aborting meds in her food after she miscarried, or wait patiently and have him kill the baby in front of her! I could have been the savior galloping in to rescue her and she would be all over me right now and that fucking upstart would be found dead in his cell after I had my fun!"
Vegeta bound Blarney again.
"I believe that's called a confession." He looked at Luna, "Hey Luna? Wanna pick his brain about his definition of fun? We still don't know what happened to that green pony."
Luna was wincing in pain as her horn burned a bright white.
"Luna what's wrong?" Vegeta demanded as her whole body began to glow white.
"Something is trying to force its way in from the outside!"
"Is it the same beast you fought the other night?!" the mare from that night shouted.
Luna's eyes widened. "Yes! Yes it is!"
Luna lowered her spell back to a normal level and a rip suddenly appeared.
Everyone pressed themselves even farther back against the walls as the tear opened.
And a small screaming bipedal ran out. It tripped and sat there bawling. "I want my mommy and daddy! I want my mommy! I want my daddy!"
Suddenly two huge bone claws tore the small tear up to the ceiling and a flaming griffon skull the size of the throne room came through screeching. The sounds of gunfire could clearly be heard on the other side of the portal.
Luna jumped in the air and with a single blast pushed the skeleton back through and sealed the rift.
The panicking ponies turned their attention back to the small creature.
It was so small; it wouldn't even reach three feet on its rear legs. It was dressed in a white, fuzzy cloth onesie with a zipper in the front with a hood. The hood had a stuffed horn sewn on it and strips of blue fabric mimicked a mane and tail.
"Bulla!" Vegeta ran and scooped her up. "It's ok, sweetie. Look. Daddy's here. It's Daddy."
Bulla paused looking at him.
"Daddy!" she threw her little arms around his neck. She continued to cry and scream.
Vegeta pulled back her hood and wove his fingers through her blue hair. "It's ok. It was just a nightmare. Look, Luna chased the skeleton away. It's ok now."
Luna landed next to them. She poked her head in over his shoulder.
"Yes, little Bulla. The monsters are gone." Luna spoke slowly, "You are safe. You are with Daddy, me, and friends."
Pixiu walked over. "Hello, little Bulla. I am Monk Pixiu. It's nice to meet you."
Bulla turned her head to look. Then lifted her head. Her crying and whimpering calmed down slightly.
Pixiu chuckled seeing her face. "Yes. I'm a giant panda. We are just as sacred to your people as you are to us."
Bulla stared at him for a short time as she sobbed. Then she raised her arms. "Panda?" she said softly.
Vegeta and Pixiu looked at each other, and Vegeta handed her off.
Bulla easily fit in his large paw and he lifted her up to his broad shoulder. "It's ok, little cub. It's ok."
"How did a monster like him end up with such a cute cub?" a griffon muttered.
"Sh-Shhhut up!" Ermendrud shouted looking back and forth between the two.
Bulla turned and saw the griffons.
Bulla screamed at the top of her lungs.
Luna immediately grimaced and lit her horn.
"What's wrong?! Is the child steeped in dark magic as well?!" one of Poppycock's nobles shouted.
"No," Luna said loudly. "She is steeped in dream magic and her fear is warping the dreamplane slightly. No one is in any mental danger."
"You mean like how her father imprisoned you for hours and burnt you in real life?!"
Bulla pushed herself out of Pixiu's arms and hid behind her father's legs, hugging one tightly. She peeked around it and glared at Ermendrud, the closest griffon, with her red face. "You hurt Pinkie Pie! You're a dead duck!"
Vegeta hunched over gripping his chest as Luna's body glowed bright white.
Ermendrud erupted in a burst of feathers and fur and a cooked duck with white paper poultry booties on the end of the drum sticks dropped to the ground.
Vegeta reached out his hand and shouted "Luna, help me!"
Ermendrud squealed a squawk of surprise as he turned back. Except he was pink-skinned naked with a duck bill and webbed front feet.
At the same moment Vegeta shouted, Luna's white glow turned into flames.
Luna gasped looking at her back and flank. "We're on fire!" She began rolling on the ground. "Put us out! Put us out!"
Gallons of water plunged on her as Celestia, Cadence and Twilight lit their horns.
Vegeta and Pixiu threw off their jacket and outer robe and rushed to stamp her out.
Bulla stumbled backwards and started to scream again.
This time the whole room shook in a strong earthquake as stones fell and the stained-glass windows shattered one after the other. Part of the wall and ceiling collapsed revealing the white void beyond quickly darkening and a deep rumble in the distance getting closer.
"Stop panicking! None of this is real!" Irmhild and Poppycock shouted at almost the same time to their followers.
Vegeta made it to his feet and raised his arm. A doorway began to form behind Bulla. He rushed up and grabbed her in one fluid motion, tucked her close, then crashed through the still materializing archway.
A brilliant white light consumed everything.
Everyone woke up.
And the statement none of this was real instantly evaporated.
Celestia was in the center of what looked like a large blast zone and unicorns were still desperately casting water spells to put out the still burning carpets, woodwork and drapes. Celestia was unharmed, but as Luna pulled herself out of the debris of the former dais, she was covered in a patchwork of burns matching the white flames she suffered.
Then the real screaming started.
Ermendrud was unconscious on the ground in a sea of fur and feathers, burned over every inch of his body. His tail charred black and snapped off two-thirds of the way up. Then there was his prominent duckbill and what clearly would have been webbed feet in place of his talons.
"You said we'd be safe!" a pony screamed, "We never were! You put us at the mercy of the dark mage!"
Poppycock looked around calmly at the panic, then shouted. "Congratulations on your 1500-year coup, alien! You tricked the eastern races to become gods, got them to give you magic to become alicorns because any alicorn automatically becomes ruler of Equestria for life no matter the race before or after the transformation! But Equus herself has rejected you! You're as Black as the Sin you wield from your false horn and no good being is going to stand for it! We will drive you and your minions off this planet and back through the mirror where you belong!"
He pulled loose his white bowtie, pulled a jeweled pendant from under his shirt and threw it on the ground causing a blinding flash.
He and Blarney were gone.
Celestia stood. "GUARDS!" her Canterlot voice boomed. "SEAL THIS ROOM! WE NEED TO SORT EVERYPONY ONE BY ONE FOR ARRESTS! AND GET THAT GRIFFON TO MEDICAL NOW!"
She spread her wings and leaped in the air over the panicking and blindly running in circles. She landed where the two had been standing. She lit her horn and touched it to the ground. Then she raised her head and teleported away.
She found herself in a black cave full of a low mist.
She cast a spell, but nothing happened. She found she could manipulate it with a wind spell, but dissipating it was not working. She then noticed she was starting to feel funny. A huge wind spell blew away the fog but the odd sensation quickly came back.
Then Poppycock walked into view in front of her. He had a medical air mask on his muzzle and a bottle with him confirming there was something in the air.
"Stop!" She reared back and blasted a large magical beam at him.
The image shattered and the beam continued on until it hit a crystal wall and bounced back. She ducked and heard glass shatter behind her. She lifted her head and walked over. Multiples of her reflection began to appear around her.
"Mirrors…"
She heard laughter.
"Oh! The mighty alicorn princess fooled by simple glass."
"You can't hide forever, fiend. You can't teleport back through the crystals!"
His image appeared behind her in the reflections. "If it's so simple, come and find me."
Celestia charged a beam and blasted everything as she spun in a circle. Then she raised a full body shield as the beam ricocheted in a thousand directions.
Eventually it fizzled out.
"How does it feel that your simple trick was so easily thwarted?" she said smugly. She lit her horn and saw a huge field of broken glass.
"Did you create a maze to spin me in circles chasing you? You wasted quite a bit of time in the crystal caverns. I see leaving the lower entrances to the city guards was a mistake, but we must be close to an exit if this was your idea of an escape route."
"True, but you're not going to find it fast enough. How's your head? Feeling a little light headed?"
Celestia cast a wind spell that circled her head.
"Whatever poison you put in here will not affect me."
Suddenly she started to cough. She felt worse.
He laughed. "I wouldn't do that. Your magic is only adding more poison to the air itself."
She stopped the spell, and began to feel better.
"What the Tartarus is this?!"
"Oh, cursing is such beneath your highness. You want to know a little secret the griffons taught me? Air is not one of the four elements, but is a mix of several parts they call gasses. There's life gas, lifeless gas, and empty gas — life gas that has been stripped of its life essence by things like fire— or say, breathing, for example. And empty gas can be frozen into huge blocks of ice. Dry ice they call it, because it does not melt. It just develops a thin coating of fog before turning directly into a gas. The griffons have been testing this for a long time. Seems unicorn wind and air spells simply recreate the mixture of gasses the pony last breathed. So say, there's more empty gas than normal, it will just recreate it. And as you said, we've been wasting a lot of time here."
Suddenly she heard the deep metallic echo of a metal chain turning on a wrench lifting something heavy.
She looked around, and saw a giant wall of fog racing towards her.
Blarney's voice then filled the cavern. "Enjoy suffocating while still having air in your lungs! HaHaHaAHAHAHHH!"
Celestia cast a wind wall spell around her. While it stopped the fog getting close as it enveloped the area, she kept getting dizzier and dizzier. She tried imagining green meadows and clear blue skies and putting that imagery into the spell, but the burning in her lungs was telling her it wasn't working.
Celestia tried everything she could think of to alter the spell in some way, but everything failed. She fell to her knees. Her head wobbled and she wanted to sleep. She thought about Luna crying at her death. Then she did hear Luna crying.
She thought she saw a white feather drop down and disappear in a flash.
Celestia saw images of Luna as a filly crying in her timeout corner, her curly blue hair still showing. She saw herself with her long pink hair in a ponytail sneak in.
"Hey, Lulu."
Luna turned around, "Tia?" she sniffled.
"Master Starswirl said you lost the lab mice? But they love you. What did you do to scare them away?"
"I don't know! Master Starswirl called it cursed atomics and smashed my alchemy set and now I can't do alchemy anymore!" she sobbed. "But it wasn't cursed from what I could tell. It smelled really nice so I caught the air in a water jar then gave it to the mice. And they were all happy and playing and running around. Then they curled up and fell asleep. So I took them out of the glass box to put them back in the cage. But they woke up and started to squirm so I put them down to ask what was wrong but they ran away without telling me!"
Celestia forced herself to her feet as hallucination Celestia put her front hoof around Luna. "It will be ok. How about once your punishment is over, you show me how you made this 'happy air' and we'll figure it out together? Ok?"
Celestia lit her horn and a massive pile of white powder appeared in front of her. She hit it with a massive heat beam. The air was sweltering and shimmering inside the windshield as the glowing mass grew through the pile and the center hollowed out into melting slag.
"Well, first I burned this," she heard filly Luna say in her mind. "Then I burned what that made again. And did that a few times, then it made some white stuff that didn't burn. But it melted and made that nice smell so I made a biiiiigity big big big pile of it and burned it to give to the mice."
"You hated atomics so much Starswirl that you punished Luna. If her happy air made the mice jump around then fall asleep, then she clearly made life air. YOU KNEW THIS STUFF EXISTED THE WHOLE TIME! AND NOW IT'S BEING USED TO KILL ME AND MY LITTLE PONIES! YOU PRIDEFUL ASSHOLE! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"
Princess Cadence had taken charge and ordered the guards and staff around from a side room. Luna was sleeping on the floor. Twilight was hopelessly lost in a panic attack sitting in a giant, and ever-increasing pile of paper bags.
"All the nobles have been separated and all of House of Gleanings' supporters have been detained," one said. "The giant panda has jumped out a window and has flown away riding a cloud."
"The city guards have encircled the castle, but are staying outside the barrier. They are waiting for us to make the first move," the other reported. "There was a brief skirmish, but the panda escaped without being pursued. They must deem him unimportant."
Suddenly Luna woke up and shook her head.
"Did you finally find them?" Cadence asked.
"Yes. Vegeta's premature exit tore a hole into the Somnian Sea itself instead of any particular dreaming mind. They are rescued and back in their proper bodies…"
"But?"
"Vegeta's emotions to shield his daughter from the Somnian sea's lethean effects hast flooded it with dark magic. Even if we slept a week, we could not clear it. Oh! All the world will be awashed with nightmares for the next two months! Maybe only one if we do naught else!"
"I see…" Cadence nodded. "Has anyone heard from Celestia? It's been almost 50 —"
Celestia suddenly teleported in, gave a loud gasp for air, then collapsed. "Seal the crystal…" she said, still gulping in air. "caves… Poison trap… Magic… doesn't work… the griffons…" Celestia stopped talking and focused on breathing.
All the guards saluted, shouted, "Yes! Princess Celestia!" then comically crushed and climbed over themselves getting out of the door.
Luna teleported in front of Celestia and lowered her head. "Sister, what were you poisoned with?" she lit her horn. "We—"
Celestia wrapped her front legs around her neck and pulled her down. Luna turned off her horn and just hugged her crying sister. Celestia began to pat her head like she did when she was a filly.
"My silly little pyromaniac filly… You saved my life…"
"What?!" Twilight shouted.
Luna smiled awkwardly. "Teeeee-ah, what's this about?"
Suddenly Celestia raised her hoof, "Wait, that's it! I'll remove Starswirl's name from the library!"
Twilight squealed a gasp then started blowing into the bag again. She popped out the bottom and created a new one, growing the pile further.
"Ummm, before you accidently kill poor Twillie, I think a briefing and a turning over of leadership is in order. As Vegeta always points out, I am now a foreign empress before a princess of Equestria."
"We see ambition in thy eyes, Cadence," Luna narrowed her eyes. "That is rarely a good thing."
She smiled. "The thought has only just occurred to me that the crystal ponies may be more comfortable ruled by an empress instead of a princess. I will talk to Shining once this is over and maybe put it up to a vote with the crystal ponies." She turned serious and looked down on the papers, "Now to the briefing, currently—"
"Princess Cad— Oh," Captain Stone Wall ran into the room. "Princess Celestia, I did not know you returned. The city guards are projecting a recording into the clouds they made! It looks like a recording of what occurred in the dreamwalk!"
"What?!" Celestia and Luna shouted.
"Didn't you cast the spell to disrupt recording after the fact?!" Celestia shouted.
"Yes!" Luna shouted back. "The only way it could be done is if it was recorded as it happened."
"No mind stone slipped through our searches," Captain Stone Wall said vehemently. "We strip searched everyone. The nobles bitched to hell but all the ambassadors and the aides they were allowed complied without issue."
Twilight stopped huffing for a moment. "Then what did the pony do?! Imbed it in their skulls?!"
"That spying technique is a very old trick we would not miss. The stone would have to be over two feet inside flesh to avoid the scans."
"Ponies really do that?!" Twilight said horrified. She then threw up in her paper bag.
Across Canterlot, Poppycock is undergoing surgery under local anesthetic.
A solid gold wire was removed from a magical box connected to a long string as his entire scalp was pulled back and a gold lattice medallion was peeled off the top of his skull. The long golden wire was then snaked back through his mouth and emerged from under his jaw muscle through the temple arch and the lattice was removed completely.
"This surgery can't be repeated easily," the surgeon said.
"Well, that's why you're the best damn plastic surgeon in Equestria." Blarney said threateningly as nurses injected his skull.
"As long as we don't get caught with these in our heads, that's fine," Poppycock said.
Blarney then pulled a string out from under his tongue and pulled. He vomited out an identical box with a golden wire. An aide opened it and took the crystal out. He handed it off then detached the wire.
"How ever it was done," Celestia stood. "We need to stop it."
She collapsed after one step.
Luna grabbed her and lowered her down. "Sister, the poison."
"The enemy is operating on the assumption I'm dead. My ponies need to see me."
"Not like this you don't," Cadence came over. "You're a huge target like this."
"And after thou impersonated us before the nobles, they will claim thou to be just another pony, and thou have no strength to prove otherwise."
"Buck it all!" Celestia cursed. "Luna, knock everyone in Canterlot out. This isn't the time to worry about injuries and deaths."
"Sister, Vegeta polluted the sea with his dark magic. Everybeing currently asleep has emerged into horrid nightmares and the whole planet will be suffering for at least two months."
"The medicine worse than the disease?"
"Yes, we believe so. We must calm everyone over Vegeta, and thrusting the common ponies into a nightmare immediately after whatever edited lie is being shown, they will dream of him. We will never convince them it was not an attack."
"Ugh… and let me guess… the city guards have the palace surrounded? Oh no. Rainbow Dash! Twilight! Stop her before she starts a war!"
Twilight gasped again then teleported.
Suddenly an instascroll popped in front of Cadence's face. The shimmering paper meant it was from the empire.
Before she could read it, Twilight reappeared and crashed through the wooden table screaming. She teleported again leaving a dizzy Rainbow Dash in the middle of papers and broken wood. Twilight soon returned with an angry Applejack who already had her hat in her hoof.
"What the hay was that for?!" Applejack shouted, holding her hat in the air.
Twilight teleported again, and quickly returned. "Fluttershy and Rarity are in medical with—"
"What the hay is wrong with you, Twilight?!" Applejack shouted again.
Rainbow Dash shook the stars from her eyes. "Yeah, Twilight! What's wrong with you?!"
"Look behind thee," Luna ordered.
They turned and saw Celestia on the ground looking very unwell.
"Princess Celestia!" the both shouted.
"What happened?!" Applejack asked the same time Dash asked "Are you ok?!"
"We art in the middle of a coup and civil war and ye were antagonizing the besieging army, weren't ye?"
"Civil…" "…War?"
While Luna and Celestia chastised them for their rashness and quick tempers, Cadence took the time to unroll the scroll.
"No…" Celestia said, still breathing heavily. "You will do nothing… They are being supported by the griffons with weapons and poisons magic has no defense…"
Rainbow Dash's ears fell.
"Ya'll mean Pinkie Pie?" Applejack said, putting her hat back on.
A knock came at the door.
Captain Stone Wall walked over and partially opened it. "What's your report?"
"Marchioness Pumpernickel has rallied the sympathetic nobles. They would like access to instascrolls to order their private guards to attack the city guards at the princesses' demand."
"Good mare," Celestia said.
"Has Vegeta mentioned a 'Son Goku'?" Cadence asked.
"Yes," Celestia and Luna said together.
"He's here."
"Really?!" Luna asked excitedly.
"That's wonderful news," Celestia smiled. "Tell Shining Armor to get him to Canterlot immediately."
"He's already on his way," she looked at the scroll. "He summoned a herd of yellow cloud creatures, asked them if they knew where Vegeta was, and flew off with them."
"Feiyu's kind," Celestia said. "Too bad they already left to defend the embassies."
"Want me to teleport?" Twilight asked.
"No Twilight." She looked at Captain Stone Wall, "Gather all the loyal nobles in the destroyed throne room. I will be making an appearance."
"Sister, you can't even stand."
"Do ya want all them to see you like this?" Applejack asked.
"They need to see me like this," she said firmly.
The nobles were all gathered under heavy guard.
The dais side doors opened. Celestia stumbled out, one hoof over Luna's shoulder, and Applejack under her for support.
Applejack paused seeing the destroyed throne room, almost causing them to trip, but she picked up the pace.
There were a few faint gasps, but mostly silent shock as Celestia was carried in front of them.
"Oh my Cele— Princess Celestia, did Poppycock do this to you?" a stallion asked.
Celestia raised her head. "I teleported right into a poisoned trap. I only now just escaped and teleported back to the palace."
The nobles glanced at each other.
"My dear little ponies, Poppycock and his allies somehow snuck a memory stone into the palace and are now broadcasting an altered version of the dreamwalk on the clouds prepared by the pegasi guards above the city."
Celestia paused to let that sink in. "There is no doubt they are doing this to panic the populace and gain fodder for the upcoming fight. There is also a good chance they are being told I am dead and my sister is being controlled or is a co-conspirator with Prince Vegeta. Your own guards are watching this as well."
She shakily raised a hoof to silence them. "You will all be given your scrolls. Although it will tip our hand, tell them I have survived the poison Poppycock threw in my face to breathe in and to ready themselves to fight. We also just received a scroll from Prince Shining Armor. A flawed teleportation attempt landed Vegeta's allies in the empire and they are flying here to Canterlot as we speak being guided by members of Feiyu's race. Everyone will stay back until Son Goku has arrived. Once he is here, we will go on the attack. While I have no doubt the city will be in chaos, the city guards are staying beyond the walls and barriers for now, and even allowed Pixiu and Feiyu to pass through with little interference. They did not run, but are rallying their embassies' guards and staff. Hopefully the traitors stay that way. While it pains me to think of the ruin that will befall our dear capital in the meantime, we need to buy time for all of our reinforcements to arrive. Then we strike."
"Is this Son Goku so important that we must wait to strike while our properties burn down?" another stallion asked.
"Prince Vegeta has described him as the greatest ki warrior he's ever known, many times stronger and more talented than him. An undefeatable juggernaut on the battlefield, a great leader of beings, his only weaknesses are his overly abundant kindness and good-natured silliness reminiscent of Lady Pinkie Pie. But I find a rival to bear the element of laughter no weakness at all. We are waiting, because ki can defeat the griffons' foul weapons and heal the wounds they cause."
Celestia smiled. "You have all believed in Prince Vegeta, my little ponies, and I thank you. Now I ask you to believe in the one he believes in."
"That's all I need to hear," Marchioness Pumpernickel said loudly, "Hand me the scroll."
The others concurred and demanded scrolls as well.
"Thank you, my ponies…"