FSE

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(For some reason, this chapter gets around 4 hits a day. It is my most-read chapter, period. Could one of my apparently regular readers let me know what I did so right here?)

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At Celestia's brusque departure, baby Jadis began crying. Twilight Sparkle almost joined her. "What the... What was that? I've never seen her like that!"

I picked up Jadis and tried to soothe her. My holding her seemed to agitate her further at first, but I persisted in calmly rocking her, and over time she calmed.

Meanwhile, Luna whispered, "Did you not notice how she was merely white instead of radiant?"

"Well, yeah, but I figured that was just an aftereffect of the tea."

"Discord always produced a graying discoloration in those he touched directly. Subtle, but noticeable."

Rainbow Dash hit the ceiling. "You mean..."

Applejack pulled her down by the tail and shushed her. "She'll be fine once we deal with Discord, right? Just means we shouldn't be doing exactly what she says in the mean time."

Luna paced. "In this case coincidentally, we will. We must go to Las Pegasus and dispose of Discord before he - or she - can cause irrevocable harm."

Twilight Sparkle groaned. "But you were right about us being exhausted. If I unlocked my knees I'd fall over."

Luna closed her eyes. "You must. I realize now I cannot wield them myself - not yet, and not soon."

I said, "If it is a trap, he's not going anywhere. You can get a nap and go when you're ready."

Luna looked to me, nodding. "All right. Go get any more specific information you can - from Celestia or... that other one. The rest of you, sleep."

Her horn glowed a touch, and everypony but her sagged to the floor. Jadis fell asleep too, mercifully. I put her down on the cushions, got directions, and slipped out.

I climbed and climbed - these two floors were widely separated. And at the top were all six of the royal guards who'd accompanied Celestia moments before.

"I bear a message for princess Celestia, from Luna." I thought it wisest to omit her temporarily claimed title.

The earth pony in the center said, "There are delicate negotiations in progress. You may deliver it when they are complete."

Oh shit. What could she be doing?

That was partially answered when giggles came from inside the room.

"It is urgent, and that doesn't sound too... ummm... negotiative."

"We have been specifically instructed to treat messages from your so-called empress as low priority. In fact, the higher the priority you claim, the lower the priority we give it."

Though the thought of trying to send a super-non-urgent message crossed my mind, it was immediately dismissed as too stupid to try.

I slunk off down the stairs again. At least I can find Cheerilee and get more useful information.

Fortunately, she was easy to find - a chamberlain (and this time I'm sure it was a chamberlain) directed me to the small suite she had been given on the other end of Luna's floor.

I ambled in and said hi. A splashing sound came from a side room and a return, "Omar?"

"Oh - you're taking a bath? I guess I'll stay out here..."

"Whatever for?"

Oh right. I've never actually seen her wear clothing anyway.

I slipped in. Cheerilee was soaking and relaxing. "So, they're off to Las Pegasus?"

"Well, before they go they'd like to hear just what Discord said. Celestia wasn't as informative as possible."

Cheerilee nodded. "Sure! He spent a lot of time monologuing, but from time to time he'd pose a riddle. 'Wouldn't you really like to know? I'll go where ponies gather no snow.' Which helps narrow things down, but we do have several cities that don't get snow. Another was, 'Who stands apart, will die for their art!' Which I didn't quite get. But then he added, 'You want a real hint, little clover? What's black and white and red all over?' And of course that's a newspaper. And the Las Pegasus News headquarters are well outside town."

Oh shit oh shit. "Umm, thanks! Gotta deliver that. Heh, pardon the pun."

I ambled back out; I ran only once the door was closed, just in case Discord was still connected to her.

I burst into Luna's unguarded room, waking everyone as I closed the door. "It's not Las Pegasus! It's Ponyville! And it can't wait!"

That got the gang's attention. Instant alertness. I didn't explain just what else I'd worked out, not wanting to risk that it wouldn't get them properly agitated.

Luna asked, "Where is that?"

Twilight Sparkle said, "Where we first met. Their home."

Rainbow Dash said, "For them, we're good to go. Uh, right?" The others concurred.

The mists engulfed us and we raced under the low-lying clouds to Ponyville in under a minute.

The town square was already in chaos - ponies were dashing and pegasi were flying every which way. Luna disgorged us onto the balcony of the town hall.

Luna squinted, scanning. Her horn was glowing brightly.

Discord suddenly appeared right next to us. "So, the 'empress' Luna comes in to save the day. Trying to bypass your sister's restrictions?"

He reached in to pet Rainbow Dash; she dodged. "But you know you're really loyal to Princess Celestia. So what are you even hoping to do here?"

They were already charging up the elements. They were taking their time.

Discord waved off her efforts dismissively. "Come, now. It's not sufficient for you to be loyal to Luna - you need to be not loyal to Celestia."

They remained focused.

Discord rolled his eyes and added, "But if you aren't loyal to Celestia, Rainbow Dash can't fulfil her role, can she?"

The elements' slowdown began, and Discord's confidence finally broke - but it was too late. Rainbow Dash finally explained, "I can if she's not herself! You made a big mistake when you touched her!"

Discord, confused, only got out, "But..." before the rainbow beam petrified him.

The chaos began to subside with a half-life of around ten seconds.

The gang was not merely worn out by this effort: they were devastated. Twilight began heaving and quivering. Applejack sort of toppled, caught by Pinkie - who, though physically all right seemed sad and didn't bounce out of it. Fluttershy and Rarity collapsed inwards, their eyes glazed over. Rainbow Dash jumped up and cried, "Yeeeah!"... and landed heavily, holding her head. "Ow..."

Luna, not heeding their difficulties, flew forward out over the square and demanded in a booming voice, "What is the meaning of this?"

Instant silence. A fair number of the townsponies supplicated, even without recognizing her. After a few seconds Luna added, "Well?" - the floodgates opened and it seemed everypony was answering her question at once.

Twilight Sparkle's spasms intensified and she vomited - I couldn't hear it over the cacophony. Alarmed, I rushed alongside her. She dry-heaved a few more times and said something I couldn't hear.

Luna, giving up on picking out individual voices, declared, "Silence!" Still hovering, she pointed down to a pale green earth mare who'd apparently seemed unusually cogent. "You! Explain this!"

She supplicated again and began, "Well, we lately were cursed with a plague. And it wasn't a normal disease. It was a real curse! An' the only one we know around here who can do curses is Zecora!"

I shook my head and pointed to the statue of Discord. Luna saw me and declared, "It wasn't her. It was Discord, whom we have just defeated. His petrified remains are visible there." She pointed to us. "What have you done with this Zecora?"

"We were trying to find her, your majesty. We hadn't done much of anything yet. If... if she didn't do it, we're sorry."

Luna scanned the populace. "Good. Now all of you."

Many of the ponies chanted out, 'We're sorry, Zecora.'

"No. All of you."

Almost all of them, this time.

Luna singled out a dark gray pegasus stallion who'd held his tongue. "You!"

He swallowed and said, "I wasn't chasing her to begin with... but sorry? I could have spoken up in her defense."

From above, there was a terriffic "Oops! Oh my!" and a scream as Zecora came plummeting from the cloudy sky.

Rainbow Dash made a standing start as if to catch her, but wobbled and crashed into the railing, her head still unsteady. Meanwhile, the pegasus that Luna had singled out streaked into the sky and caught Zecora so abruptly I was sure that it would have been worse than the landing - but it seemed not to be harmful, and after a short loop, he delivered her to the ground.

She clapped him on the shoulder. "For this aid, a new friend you have made!"

Slowly gliding down after was Ditzy Doo. "Sorry I dropped you..."

Zecora looked up and replied, "You should be proud, for hiding an me on a cloud. I was sure I'd be found, down there on the ground!"

"No! It's my fault they came after you in the first place. See, I was..." she got quiet enough that we couldn't hear as she glided down below our level and faced away.

Luna interrupted, "The plague was sent by Discord. It was not your fault in the least."

Ditzy looked up. "Are you sure? 'Cause I do seem to cause an awful lot of..."

"Yes." - "eep. Okay."

A unicorn bravely poked her head up and asked, "Excuse me. Who are you, and where is princess Celestia?"

That was answered by the arrival of Celestia's sunbeam, right among us on the balcony.

After quietly saying, "Not quite where I expected to find you...", Celestia spoke to the crowd. "Our time of troubles, of which you have been the center, has passed. This is in large part due to the efforts of my dear, recently recovered sister Luna. I would say it would be the dawn of a new day, but I think we've had quite enough of day for a while. Now, if she would resume her place as a princess of Equestria, she may give us a new night."

Luna flew back over to us, and they conversed quietly for several seconds.

Then, to great cheers, the sun gently slipped below the horizon. Luna stood still, almost unable to accept the praise, as the stomping continued.

Celestia turned and nuzzled Twilight Sparkle next to the ear, and looked out over the six. "Oh, my little ponies, how you have suffered, and carried on. You shall have all of the rest you need."

Luna added, "... to be ready for next time."

That ominous note was overlaid with gasps and squeals of joy coming from below, and then chants of "Lu-na!"

I looked to her, and then the sky - and boggled. Some pegasi were clearing the clouds away, revealing a sky with the depth I was accustomed to at home. There were stars of all brightnesses, with multitudes of dim ones, not simply star-star-star-done. As their work continued, a milky way became visible. And then, instead of the blobby Magellanic clouds, there was a barred spiral companion galaxy. More oohs and aahs emerged as the pegasi unveiled a tiny dim blue and red splotch that had to be a nebula. Now that's a sky.

Luna cracked a smile, and looked to her sister - she was arranging for the six to be carried off to their beds. When she'd finished, she asked, "What do you think?"

Celestia looked up. "I can see I let my standards for night slip over the last thousand years."

"Perhaps, but mine have raised."

Something occurred to me - I turned to Luna and asked, as quietly as I could while remaining audible, "It's not... real, is it?"

Luna grinned, then winced (she later explained that her smiling muscles had cramped up). After flexing her jaw for a moment, she said, "Not yet. I will have to work with my sister on that. It shall take a little while. Something to keep us out of trouble."

I laughed. She looked at me quizzically, and I was left wondering whether it had been meant as a joke at all.

But there was something - somepony - missing. And... "We didn't leave anyone watching Jadis!"

"Yes... I suppose we should get back to Canterlot."

The mists began to rise, but I interrupted, "Hey! Aren't you going to say goodbye?"

Luna boomed out, "Citizens of Ponyville. I have more work to do. Fare well."

A few more cries went up in response, and we left.

---

Candice stormed out of the bedroom. "You... you..."

"Look. If you want Celestia/Celeste/Celes action, you're going to have to write it yourself. Here's a sheet of paper. Don't make a fool of yourself."

"I... No, thanks. And anyway, wasn't Scootaloo 'patient zero'?"

"No, she actually did avoid being bitten, and like Doctor Whatshisname was only getting it via the slower airborne transmission vector. She's quick, remember? Discord was the real patient zero."

"I call it an ass-pull, but I guess it's a pass. Sort of a pass-pull."

---

There is a sequel, hosted at FimFiction. It is an interlude leading into a second adventure that I might get around to writing some day.

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/140633/game-night