The Steadfast Sky : Together & Alone
The Grey Potter
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/11495/The-Steadfast-Sky
http://cosmicponyfiction.tumblr.com

“Celestia!”

As soon as I saw her. I ran, mud splashing up my belly, cloak flying behind me, horn exposed in the rain, my wings struggling and batting against the heavy cloth of my cloak, trying to beat themselves free. I didn’t care! I just ran right into her and slapped my soggy legs around her, pulling my sister close. She was cold, stiff, so we were both quickly on our way to drenched. But I didn’t care! I didn’t, not at all!

I missed her! I missed her so bad! I missed her from the moment we left without her. I mean…

“You left without saying anything, Celestia!” I cried, “You could have at least said goodbye to me!”

“Y-yeah, I know…” she stammered, “Sorry…”

“Oh,” I continued, “if we had just talked, I thought, maybe we could have worked out something…”

“S-sorry…”

“Oh, but I’m not mad at you!” I drew back, grinning broadly. “And I’m sorry we didn’t leave a light out for you either! After all the crazy things that just happened... Well, I thought it was best we didn’t use our Elements for a while, you know? Or, really, you wouldn’t know! Oh so much to explain…!”

I chuckled, a stupid, drunken sound. I was in a tizzy, words just bumbling all over themselves. I didn’t care how they sounded or… or whatever! Did I sound stupid? I felt stupid! But it was okay! Oh, I was shivering, a great fear leaving me. I thought we’d never find her…

Blankly, she mumbled, “Elements…” It took me a moment to remember what she was talking about!

“Oh, but!” I drew back a small step, beaming. She didn’t return the smile. But I knew what would cheer her up! “Loyalty’s all better now, you know!”

That caught her attention. My sister’s weary eyes snapped into a confused frown, eyes drifting downwards. Her hair surged green, tips blackening. Odd. For a moment, I wondered if it was a random effect, or responding to her moods or… Well, it was a strange thing in the first place that Celestia’s hair was acting like that!

She started mumbling. Words hissing quietly between her teeth, low enough where she might’ve thought I didn’t hear.

“… don’t deserve such noble honor… little…”

“Now don’t get down on yourself, Celestia!” I happily chided, “This Element chose you, and you deserve it the same as we do.”

I yanked my bag forward and immediately went for the proper pocket. If Celestia could see this, then maybe she wouldn’t feel so down on herself…

“It’s not in the same form, but…”

I drew out the noble crown Loyalty, spindly gold whole and sparkling, gemstone bright and cheery. Not even the dull rain could diminish its otherworldly beauty. It was almost like it had a light all its own… which it did, didn’t it? My Element, Discord’s Element, both were the same. Bright under our wet clothes, bright through the dreariest rain ever.

“But it’s whole,” I continued, “It’s whole, and it’s yours.”

My sister’s face turned blank, staring firmly at Loyalty. Pink washed out the green mane color in an instant, flowing downwards as if the rain was washing it away. She raised a hoof, and it twitched over her chest as blue and purple started spilling out from her roots…

Well, she wasn’t talking down to herself, so she may be happier? In a way…?

Strangely, instead of lifting the tiara with her own aura, Celestia instead reached out her hoof. I thought she meant to just… touch it, or something. But then, she took the tiara by its band, holding it in her ankle. She turned the Element this way and that, her expression growing gloomier and gloomier, mane rolling with dollops of color…

I heard the sound of rain splattering off cloth, and Discord came squelching up beside us. His steps were hesitant, like he was uncertain if he should say anything. But after a quick glance my way, he was offering my sister a bright and cheery smile.

“Celestia,” he said warmly, “Good to see you again.”

“Discord…” she mumbled. She looked up at the both of us, then back down again, at the Element grasped in her ankle. “I’ve got to… talk to both of you…” She nodded back behind her. “Please…”

“Sure!” Discord said, moving past us, “I’m all for getting out of this horrible rain!”

“Oh yeah!” I laughed, “Uhg, I was so happy to just be dry. We’ve been walking in this for a week, Celestia! A week!”

She mumbled, “That sounds terrible.”

“It was,” Discord asserted, “Still is. How about we get inside?”

Well, I guess that was that. I followed after my sister, glancing back at the statue of Generosity. In passing, I wondered where The Element was. It had to be here somewhere.

But right then, I didn’t want to worry about that. I had just found my sister! We had so much to catch up on, and so many questions. I mean, how’d she wind up here? How’d her mane get like that? Heck, maybe Celestia had already found the Element! I hope we didn’t freak her out… She’s so quiet now…

Discord and I were both eager to get out of the rain, but Celestia didn’t seem to have that same urgency. She hung back, or stood a good few feet away from us, avoiding our eyes. Did she not want to see us? Was something wrong? That just made me want to rush more. It’s not good to avoid these problems!

I just needed to talk to her, a nice long chat, out of this horrible, oppressive rain.

It didn’t take long at all to get back to the hospital. Celestia reluctantly rushed to catch up to Discord and I, and we let her be the first to the door. She offered us a few darting glances, then moved to open the door with her teeth. Was she hiding her magic? But her horn was so plainly visible… Quickly, I remembered to hide my own horn.

But before my sister even touched the door, she froze, and scrambled back down the slick stairs. I frowned, opened my mouth to ask what the problem was.

The heavy door swung outward, forced open by a bright purple aura. It groaned loudly as it wobbled, nearly bashing into the outer wall before it was caught. Standing, framed in the doorway, was a blue pony with curly hair, wire glasses neatly set on her snout. A healer’s cutie mark was on her flank, and she looked –

“When we let you out of your room,” the healer snapped down at Celestia, supremely irritated, “It still does not mean you can run amok willy nilly! Please, you’re not well yet, and—“

“It’s… Sorry, Healer Redheart…” Celestia slowly pointed to the both of us. “My… um, family…”

“Your family?” Her posture slowly straightened into something more professional. Her eyes drifted over me, and she said, “Well it’s nice to…”

Healer Redheart’s neatly drifted over to Discord. Her eyes snapped wide, and she stumbled back, bashing off the wall, gulping loudly for air.

“Draconequus?!” she gasped.

“Wow! I think that’s the first time somebody’s reacted to me in terror,” Discord joked loudly, grin toothy and fake. “How long did that take?”

“Um… over a year?” I gently joked back. “That sounds about right…”

Celstia looked stunned, “H-healer Redheart?”

The healer remained frozen, backside glued to the side wall. Her eyes followed Discord as he pushed past me, mumbling about the stupid rain and wanting to get freaking inside. I walked in uneasily, watching Redheart as she slowly fell back into a reasonable posture. But she still seemed on edge, and she never could take her eyes from my friend.

Firmly, I told her, “Discord’s not going to hurt anybody.”

“Got no reason to,” Discord huffed, “Really. Don’t mind me.”

“I just… I simply had no idea.” Healer Redheart mumbled, “So young, and you’re working for The… Our Glorious Leader, The Shadow Stallion.”

Discord laughed. And I admit, it was my own gut instinct to deny the claim instantly. I think under different circumstances, I would have.

But right now, we didn’t even know if she was working for The Stallion or not. She was clearly afraid of The Shadow Stallion, sure. But that didn’t mean a thing. Not a thing at all…

So I said nothing. And, taking my cue, Discord said nothing either. He just yanked off his cloak and stared at his feet, wings flicking stiffly as he shook the water off his back.

“We’re just here for Celestia, ma’am,” I said plainly, smiling. “No need to trouble yourself, alright?”

I thought it might help ease her mood. No need to worry about what The Stallion wanted if we were just passing through, right? Yet, Redheart looked confused.

She asked, “You mean, Miss Helios?”

Celestia made a terribly small sound and buried her face in her ankle, green and black seeping down her mane in a flash.

Darn it. I think we suck at this.

And yet, Redheart either didn’t question it, or couldn’t drum up the courage to ask for clarification. She mumbled a few things about how Miss Helios was still ill, that there was an empty room for us, and that she had other patients to attend to. And just like that Celestia quietly lead us upstairs, blankly directing us to our own room, one right next to hers. Finally, we could hang our cloak to dry, and make sure our belongings weren’t too badly soaked.

Immediately after slapping his cloak over the coat hanger, Discord declared, “I don’t want to push this too far.”

“Yeah, I agree,” I said with a nod, “But we can use the cover story. Say we’re here for the Element…”

“I don’t like it,” he retorted, “It’s the last thing I want to lie about, and I don’t want to scare people into doing what I want. I don’t like it.”

Discord’s talons gripped my shoulder, claws flush against my fur. I turned to him, his own nervousness bleeding through to me now. He looked tired. We both were.

He said, “They have such mixed messages about us now. That counter pony think’s we’re pilgrims, doctor thinks we’re here for your sister, nobody knows whether we’re with The Stallion or against him, because we don’t know what they want to hear…” He gave me a shaky grin. I could feel him shivering, cold rain and cold thoughts mixing inside him. “Barely here half an hour, and already our story’s a mess.”

“We just need to get the Element, get my sister, and get out,” I said, “Faster we do so, the less chance there is for problems.”

He nodded, claws slowly uncurling from my shoulder. “Right.”

“And anyway…” I frowned. Tried to flap my wings once or twice, to beat the water from them. The muscles twinged stiffly as I bounced on my hooftips, air between the feathers still the strangest feeling in the world. “I think Celestia came here because she was sick? She’s acting… and looking funny. And when I hugged her, she was shaking like a leaf!”

“She definitely seemed unlike herself,” Discord commented lightly.

“Yeah… she doesn’t seem at all well.”

“And that’s some crazy kind of magical sickness if it messes with her hair color like that.”

“Well,” I said, “I suppose that means we have a lot that we need to ask her.”

The matter settled, or at least set aside for now, we went to her room, and found it unlocked. Sitting on the bed, Celestia looked up from her ankles, Element still glittering between her feet. She still refused to put it on.

The room was sparse. Other than a tea tray on the bedside table and a tiny satchel tucked beside it, she had nothing. No cloak, no bags, no personal items of any sort. No furniture besides a couple of sitting cushions and a bare coat rack. It was so empty and simple. Hollow. Either she hadn’t been here long, or she really had abandoned everything to get here.

Celestia nodded towards the tea tray, swirling mane drifting over her face.

“I-it’s fresh,” she said, “Biscuits…”

With a few exchanged glances. I finally let the shadows drop from around my horn, and served us all. Celestia on the bed, Discord and I on cushions on the floor. Almost as a guilty pleasure, I had my own crown placed atop my head. Celestia was staring at it.

“What…?” she asked me.

“It’s the Element of Honesty,” I admitted. “I got it around the same time I got these…”

I flared my wings, happy that I could move them so easily now. She stared at them too. And continued to stare as I struggled to fold them back in place. She, uh, didn’t need to know that part was hard. I suppressed a wince as a couple feathers jammed the wrong way, bending at the… stem… bit.

Celestia mumbled, “Didn’t notice… You have wings now…”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. A thick purple band streaked past her right ear. When she opened her eyes, she was smiling. A completely unreadable, hollow expression.

“My sister…” she said, “It’s great to see you like this. Though… I will admit, I’m a little envious. You’re so lovely…”

She shifted a little, hind legs tucking a little tighter to her body. Her eyes flicked back down to her Element, hair rolling over her eyes.

“I have,” Celestia said, “A lot I have to account for.”

“Like what, sister?” I asked.

“What I’ve done to you two…” she mumbled, “What I think about you two…”

“Celestia,” Discord said suddenly, voice booming in comparison to Celestia’s mumbling, “You don’t have to do this now.”

“Whuh… Y-Yes,” I quickly agreed, “You’re ill! Or, I think you’re ill…”

“I am…” she muttered, “In a sort of way…”

Voice loaded with sympathy, I quietly asked, “What even is it that you have?”

“I… I don’t know,” she said, “A personal infection. Something I… something I may have…”

Thick green seeped down her left side, swirling and replacing colors in thick, spinning swirls. Celestia’s face fell even further, eyes falling over her Element once more.

“Something I’ve done entirely to myself,” she said, voice suddenly clearer. “You reap what you sow, right?”

I stared, watching her mane as it seeped and spun. “Reap what… Did you infect yourself or something?”

“What I did to myself infected me, yes,” she chuckled darkly. “But in some ways, I was already infected, wasn’t I?”

“No…?”

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Discord spoke again, his words sudden and blunt. Celestia turned to my friend, dimly aware of him.

“Pardon?” she asked.

“You left because you wanted to better yourself,” he said, “Is that what you did? Infected yourself with this, because you thought it would make you a better person?”

Celestia didn’t answer.

Instead she just buckled over and cried.

“Discord,” I hissed. He held out his palms, shrugging like he couldn’t have avoided one single question. Glaring at him, I tried to go comfort my sister.

But her hair flushed again. The green was taking over, engulfing everything, curdling at the tips of her mane until it turned a sickly, rotten black.

I stared at the shifting colors, patting her lightly on the back.

“Celestia,” I said, “It’s—“

“Yeah, yeah,” Celestia grunted, “Get offa me. Uhg…”

She straightened and… There were tears on her face. Real tears. And yet, it was like a valve had been snapped shut, and she was completely fine. No, not fine. And barely herself. Her eyes were narrowed, lips tight, posture lazily slouched onto one leg. She looked lazily around the room, and acted as if everything she saw displeased her.

I touched her shoulder, and she rolled away from it.

“I’m serious,” Celestia huffed, “Siddown.”

I did, confused. I whispered to Discord, “I think she really is sick…”

His expression was dark. “Or worse…”

“Worse than this?”

“Hey!” Celestia snapped, “Don’t you know it’s rude to whisper conspiratorially across the room from someone!? Seriously, guys, manners! They’re not some bullshit summoned by fancy arcane Unicorns!”

I stared, “Celestia…?”

“Maybe,” she grunted, “What?”

“Did you just swear?”

“Yeah? So?”

A bad memory resurfaces, one I’d rather not remember about my sister.

And yet, “You hit me when I swore.”

She flinched. The black tips pulsed. “I’m a fully grown and respectable adult,” she said crisply, “You’re still a filly. World of difference there, little sister.”

“Did you… Are you…?” I stammered. Sick? Yeah, I believed it now. I really—

Discord jabbed an elbow into my side. This would’ve hurt only a little, but my side currently had a wing attached to it. His elbow jammed into the bone, and I cried out.

“Discord!”

“Oh geez, sorry!”

“Hey!” Celestia snapped, “Don’t hurt my sister you…!”

Discord held his hands up to, in apology. Yet I froze. Written across his palms were two bright, clear words.

NIGHTMARE CELESTIA

I shook my head furiously. It wasn’t like that! Not at all! I mean… she wasn’t even an alicorn! Her Element was whole again! Sure, she hadn’t put it on, but…

“Guys…”

We both flinched. Celestia was off the bed, hanging above us. Pink was wobbling through the green, black still staining her mane’s tips.

“I’m really scared,” she whispered, “Help me…”

Her forelegs wrapped around us, pulling us both into a fragile hug.

“I’ve done so much wrong to you both,” Celestia cried, “I would understand if you both hated me now…”

“I don’t hate you,” I mumbled.

“Yeah,” Discord said, “Me neither.”

“And it must seem like,” she sniffed, “Like I’ve gone a little crazy…”

“Uh…”

“Well…”

“But I’m trying to fix it. Okay?” She nodded firmly, apparently just for herself. “I’ll fix it…”

Celestia hung between us, and we gave each other confused glances over my sister’s head. Or, I should say, I gave Discord confused glances, and he just looked down at Celestia with a twisted sort of pity. I almost understood why. With how weak she seemed, it hardly seemed like Celestia could fix anything.

“I need to apologize,” Celestia said, pulling away and wiping at tears. “So… so can you give me a moment to collect myself?”

“Sure!” Discord yapped. I gave him a confused look.

I said, “Oh yeah, sure?”

“Yes!” he gripped my shoulder and pulled me to my feet. “We’ll just wait right outside the door for you, okay?”

“Yes,” Celestia sniffled. “Okay…”

“Okay! So, let’s go Luna…”

He wheeled me around to the door, pushing me through and closing it with his tail. He listened quietly for a moment more. I wanted to throw a dead silence over the door. Within me, I just had the urge to yell—

But about what, I wasn’t sure.

“A nightmare?!” I hissed, looking up and down the mostly empty corridor, “You think she’s being taken over by nightmares?”

“Well. Maybe…” he frowned at the door. “Just remembering some things I’ve read. When Bookends was changing, it took a while. The Illuminator described how his mane was changing, smoldering. He became moody, and more and more erratic.”

He looked at me. “Now what about that doesn’t describe Celestia right now?”

“We are not turning my sister to stone,” I hissed, “Don’t you dare tell me it’s what we have to do, I refuse to!”

“We don’t have to,” he asserted, “At least, not yet. She’s on her way down, but she’s not there yet…” he glanced at the door, face knotted in thought. “And, at this point, I think we could hug it out of her before she falls too far.”

“Then why didn’t we?!” I quietly cried, “Let’s go back in right now and—“

“No!” He darted between me and the door, hand just stopping over my horn. I had almost unconsciously lit it up. “Luna. We still don’t know what’s going to attract…” he glanced around, “What He will notice.”

I stopped. Stopped for now. To talk. But my insides were turning and winding, wings fluttering and ruffling restlessly at my sides.

“Discord,” I quickly mumbled, “My sister is suffering.”

As if on cue, there was a shout from within the room.

“SHUT UP, YOU’RE RUINING MY LIFE.”

We stared at the door for a long time after that, listening, not because we wanted to, but because the conversation with herself had gotten too loud to ignore. She seemed to be furiously arguing with herself, crying out in a number of different warped voices.

“When we fix her,” Discord said slowly, still staring at the door. “We’ll have to prepare to run, right afterwards.”

“Okay then, get our bags!”

“We can’t run, Luna,” he asserted, “We can’t leave this place before we’ve found The Element.”

I stood in place. My eyes darted around, as if the Element was in plain sight and I just wasn’t looking hard enough. Unconsciously, I found I couldn’t stand still. My wings were still fluttering, and my tail flicked over my legs, still heavy from the rain.

“I want to ask,” I said, “Just bluntly ask them. Where is it? Where’s Generosity?”

“I don’t—“

What it was or wasn’t, I never heard. Because the door popped open right behind Discord, and there was Celestia. Her mane didn’t show any green, or black. It was right back to the soupy mess of pink, blue, and purple. She still wasn’t wearing her Element. It sat on the bedside table, still as whole and as beautiful as ever.

Celestia took a deep breath, “Okay. Okay, you can come in now.”

Discord and I exchanged a furious glance battle, but both of us were moving inside the moment Celestia stepped back.

She started, “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t,” I half-cried. “There’s nothing to be sorry about! You’re sick!”

She cringed, “Goodness, no. I’m not apologizing for being sick. I wish to apologize for my behavior towards you two, in our year in Canterlot… and maybe even a bit before.”

It was the last damn thing I wanted to hear right now. I didn’t care! It didn’t matter right now!

Yet, there she was. Celestia gave a knowing glance at Discord.

“Discord…”

“Yes?” he replied, wary.

“I think I know why I’ve been so harsh to you.”

“Really?”

She nodded sagely. “You see, the thing is… you irritate me.”

He opened his mouth, closed it. What are you supposed to say to that? Both of us just stared at my sister.

Apparently, he did have a response to that. Flatly, he said, “Yeah, uh… I could’ve told you that.”

“No! I mean…” Celestia shook her head, hair spinning. “I really care a lot about poise and appearances. While you… don’t.”

“I could’ve told you that too,” he offered.

“But I think I didn’t understand that before!” she cried, “And so I was attacking you, verbally, because of that disconnect between us. And I’m sorry for that.”

Her hoof plopped down on his shoulder, like she had just said something profound. Discord looked at the floor, shifting his shoulders.

He said, “Okay.”

“And Luna!” Celestia cried, turning to me. More and more purple was taking over her mane. “My dearest sister!”

“Celestia,” I asserted, “Do you really think you’re up for this right—“

“I realized,” she cried over me, “There was actually a time when I was very, very proud of raising you!”

“Oh,” I scrunched up my brow, “Yeah, but, that was a long time ago, wasn’t it?”

“It was! And now…” she wrapped her forelegs around me. Her embrace was cold. She smelled funny. Like dead leaves. “My sister, I have to move past those times. I can’t keep thinking of you as my responsibility… you’re already so grown up…”

Over Celestia’s shoulder, Discord looked sour. And I felt sour as well. Everything about this felt tainted. Like it was something she was saying on her death bed, or because she was drunk. Something she’d immediately turn away from the normal she regained a moment of sanity.

Ingenuine? I suppose it was a good a word as any other.

“Celestia…” I mumbled.

“Great!” Discord shouted, “So now that we’ve solved all our personal problems, I recommend we start looking for The Element of Generosity, don’t you think?”

Celestia blankly looked up from the hug. Legs still around my shoulders, she turned to look at Discord, purple on the wane.

“The Element…?” she mumbled.

“It’s here, isn’t it?” He asked, waving towards the window. “That’s Paleheart, isn’t it?”

“Paleheart?” she asked. “Generosity’s birth name?”

“Yeah,” Discord said, “So. You’ve been here the longest. What have you found out about the Element, Celestia?”

I thought that was pushing it. She wasn’t in her right head. She needed time to get better…

“Well I…” A dribbling sliver of green seeped down her mane, curdling black around the tips—

Sweet sun and moon, not again! This just felt wrong. Talking to her, when she was like this, when she was struggling so badly with the nightmares inside her…

Why were we just leaving her like this?

My Elements began to shimmer, both at once, wanting to hold her tightly and just blast this sickness out of my poor, lost sister.

“Luna…” Discord warned.

“Celestia!” I cried, “As soon as we find the Element, I’m going to help fix you, okay?”

My sister froze, staring at me, snouts near close to touching. The blue was surging and swelling now, thank goodness.

And yet…

“No. No I…” She asserted, “I’ve got to do this on my own. I’ve—“

“You don’t have to, Celestia!” I reached out and hugged her again. “Discord, and me, we’re both here for you, okay? We’re all the Elements of Harmony. And we’ll all stick together, grow strong, and get through this! All with each other! Okay? Okay?!”

“Okay…” she mumbled.

“But!” I finally released her, and she let go as well. She still stood close, eyes flicking… I continued, trying to explain the situation. “We have reason to believe that our Elements are strong enough to attract The Stallion’s attention. So the plan is, find Generosity, get rid of the nightmares inside of you, and then run, because our lives depend on it. Okay?”

She bit her lip. “Doesn’t make sense…”

“What doesn’t?” Discord asked, “We’ve got to catch you up. Ask whatever you want.”

She said, “There’s nothing to be fixed…”

“Celestia,” Discord stated clearly, “It may be frightening to accept it, but what’s happening to you is clearly the nightmare. That’s something we can fix. I’ve read about it! They’ve found a way to reverse…”

He stopped suddenly, a confused look crossing his face. But Celestia had heard enough. Green seeped down her hair, her voice becoming more and more on edge.

“This is all me, Discord,” she asserted, “I may be a… a mess right now. But you’re not going to cleanse me of me.” She huffed a little frustrated sigh, “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“But it’s,” Discord said, “You’re clearly being overtaken by—”

“By what? Myself?”

“Yes,” Discord said firmly. “By the parts of yourself that you hate.”

“I know that too,” she snapped, “But that’s not something you can just magic away, can you?” She ground her teeth, hair now becoming darker and darker. “I’ll always, always have these horrible, dark parts of myself, got it?! You think you can just magic away a part of who I am, because you have little magic trinkets? Well forget about it! I am me. And I’ve got to…”

She took a deep breath, steadying herself. Little streaks of color brushed away the green, colors, for once, becoming even bands.

She said, “And I’ve got to solve this myself.”

For a moment, there was silence. The first firm thing Celestia had said, in a way that seemed so much like herself. It was like seeing her assertions before we returned to Canterbury. But that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Better than drunk, flighty Celestia. But…

Oh, my poor, lost sister…

Finally, Discord said, “Hey, it’s still worth a shot, isn’t it? No harm in trying to magic your flaws away.”

Celestia snorted weakly, shaking her head.

“So um,” I said, “Generosity?”

“Here,” Celestia said, “But I don’t know where.”

“But you know it’s here?” I asked, “How?”

She shrugged, “Call it mare’s intuition.”

Well that was frustratingly vague. I said, “You know, with how things are going, I kind’ve just want to go up to that front desk and ask them about it directly.”

“Ask?” Celestia said, “Really?”

“Yeah.” I nodded to Discord. “Let’s go to the front, and ask them for Generosity … Wow.” I snickered. “Sounds kind’ve wrong when I say it like that.”

“Worth a shot,” Discord replied, “Come on, Luna. Celestia…”

“I’m not allowed to leave the room,” she huffed. Then, with a small slice of uncharacteristic sarcasm, “Ask the staff if I can come out of time-out, will you?”

“Sure,” Discord said.

And so, we left. Stopped outside the door to get our bearings, but otherwise, we headed to the stairs. I remembered to adjust my spell, hiding my horn and dipping my tiara under the shadows. Discord was quiet, letting me cast, eyes directed at the floor.

We were descending when he finally spoke, “You know, something that your sister said is getting to me.”

“What is it?” with a sad smile, I asked, “Everything?”

“Yeah, sure. But in particular, remember when she said ‘How are you supposed to remove the me from the me?’” He looked over his shoulder, towards the room, then back at his feet. “And I thought, right when she said that… Even though Paleheart and Butterfly Bright knew how to cleanse each other, Paleheart still wound up in stone. I think, he, or they both, realized that no matter how long they could keep each other going… they couldn’t remove their own weaknesses. And, no matter how long or how hard they kept each other up, they were still due for their ultimate fate…”

We reached the bottom of the stairs. The desk was only a little ways away, and the mopping stallion still working quit circles with his mop.

“Is it stupid?” Discord whispered, trying to not be overheard.

“What is?” I asked just as quietly.

“I thought… You know, despite what all those Illuminators were saying, I thought we could fight fate…”

“We still don’t know, Discord.” I whispered, “We don’t know what happened to them, and we don’t know why. Maybe they were just too late to fix themselves… But us? We’re discovering the ability to cleanse ourselves far, far earlier than they did!”

“Maybe…”

“I think we’ll be fine,” I said, “Let’s just get Generosity, fix my sister, and get out.”

Rain dully thrumming outside, we approached the desk. Papers still drifted around the mare’s head, and she smiled at us tiredly as we approached.

“So,” she said, “You’re family with Miss Helios?”

I winced. Word got around fast enough. Or maybe she just saw us climbing the stairs with Celestia. Either way, we were in need of a topic change.

“So,” I said, “We found the statue of Generosity.”

The mare nodded, “Well, that’s nice.”

“But,” I asked, “Where’s the Element?”

She blinked, staring up at us. The papers around her head became a little more still.

“The Element?” she asked, “ Wasn’t he The Element?”

“Yeeees,” I said slowly, “He was. But we’re looking for The Element of Generosity itself. The rock that that gave Paleheart his power in the first place.”

She looked even more confused. Opened her mouth, closed it, stared down and shuffled her notes quietly.

“He was an alicorn,” she mumbled, “He didn’t need a source of power. He was a god.”

I turned to Discord. He looked just as perplexed as the desk pony did did.

“Do people really know so little about how this works?” I whispered. He shrugged in return.

“Well, anyway,” Discord said aloud. “What’s your name?”

“Papercut, sir.”

“Papercut,” he asked, “Have you seen any perfect, immaculate stones? Big round ones?” He summoned a simple illusion of Honesty’s rock form, spinning it with a flick of his finger. “Unblemished? Sort’ve made of the same rock as the alicorn?”

Wide-eyed, Papercut shook her head.

“Damn. Might not be here, then… Oh!” Discord plucked at his necklace, pushing the gem forward for Papercut to see. “What about anybody wearing something like this? Anybody with a golden necklace come in or out of the hospital?”

“No,” she said, “First I’ve seen of that. I think, at least…”

“Please, try to remember,” Luna asserted. “This is really important.”

“Fate of the country depends on it,” Discord joked, snickering into his paw.

“It’s nothing to laugh about, Discord,” I said, “I’m serious.”

“Yeah, sorry…” He turned back to the desk pony. A few more papers were zipping around her now, landing, with one leaving in a flash. “Okay. How about… a glowing, powerful rock. A rock that responds to goodness, purity and—“

“That is enough!”

From up above, a voice shot, quick and sharp like the snap of a whip. We all turned. Redheart was racing down the stairs, hooves clapping loudly on the marble. She marched up to us, back straight, face firm.

“Smiley,” Redheart snapped. The mopping stallion jumped a little. “Detain these two!”

The stallion, Smiley, apparently, just stood there. His single eye glanced down at his mop, then looked over towards us.

He asked, “Detain…?”

“Yes. Please escort them to their room.” The healer’s foreleg snapped up, pointing directly towards us. “They’re clearly dangerous rogue agents, and I will not have my patients threatened!”

Both Smiley and Papercut were staring at the Healer now, but she continued to stand firm, posture and face stone cold.

“Looook,” Discord said slowly, “We’re just looking for The Element. Then we’ll be on our way—”

“There’s nothing more threatening to this hospital than what you are requesting!” Redheart snapped, “Put it out of your mind! There’s nothing the likes of you could use it better for than its purposes here!”

“Yes there…” Discord frowned, trying to dissect the sentence, “Yes there is?”

“Ma’am,” I said briskly, stepping forward. Resolutely, I said “We need the Element so that we may save all of Equestria.”

I stood firm before her, my statement clear. I tried to appear formal as possible, silently thanking my year’s training in Canterlot. With all the weight of my training, I thought that would certainly impress her.

It didn’t. If anything, she seemed even more imposing. Her eyes looked distantly beyond me, firm and fixated.

“Save it, will you? Tell me, for who’s benefit? What foul purpose do you intend to use these objects of purity for?”

“For everybody, of course,” Discord said, “What do you think ‘save’ means?”

“I think it means whatever you want it to mean,” she snapped, “Right until you expend them for your own kind…”

Again, she looked past me. I realized she was looking at Discord, and turned towards him. He was stoic, jaw set, meeting her gaze with his own.

Redheart snorted, “What would a pony-eater want to ‘save’ the country for?”

Discord flinched, expression darkening. The two other ponies had a strong reaction to that. Papercut tumbled backwards, bouncing off the wall behind her.

He said, “You sure are assuming a lot about me, aren’t you?”

“You’re not with the Shadow Stallion, are you?”

He huffed and firmly said, “No.”

“Discord…” I warned.

“Then,” Redheart retorted, “I’m assuming you’re a rogue.”

He puffed up proudly. “Yes. I am.”

“Then you’re even more dangerous than I assumed!” Redheart cried, “Nothing’s going to stop you from taking whatever pony you want, when you want to…”

“Hey—!”

“You don’t know Discord!” I shouted. “You don’t know him, or anything he’s gone through, or how hard it’s been for him! I am VERY SICK of people seeing Discord as something scary, or less than a pony! So, KNOCK IT OFF!”

Unconsciously, my Elements flashed. Both of them. Briefly, my spell was revealed, and I barely thought to hide it. That was nothing. It meant nothing. Stallion couldn’t find us from a single flash of indignant anger. He couldn’t. Ridiculous.

In a huff, I spun back to Discord. His jaw was set, eyes rooted to the ground. I walked to his side and stood firm, in support.

“You—” Redheart stumbled, but I wasn’t hearing it.

“My name is Luna,” I asserted, “And his is Discord.”

“You can make that necklace work?” she asked, “Both of you can?”

“Of course we can!” I said, “They’re the Elements of Harmony!”

“Show me.”

“Alright—!”

“No.” Discord slapped a hand over my Element. “We don’t know if he’ll see it or not.”

“Who’ll see it?” Redheart asked.

“The Shadow Stallion,” Discord shot.

I hesitated, “Should we really…”

“It’s obvious,” Discord said with a wave, “They’re not working for him. You,” He pointed to Redheart, “You hate me. And yet you still know what I am, by name. Are you also rogue?”

After a long pause, she said, “In as much as this whole hospital being rogue.”

“Why? This was his Sanatorium, wasn’t it?” Discord asked. “Generosity’s?”

“What does that matter?” Redheart asked.

“Paleheart and Butterfly Bright, Generosity and Nightmare Kindness, they were such close friends—”

“What does friendship mean to a being like that?” Redheart shot, “He didn’t care that this was a friend’s old home. It just meant there was a place where unicorn researchers could easily be snatched up…”

Silence fell again, an uneasy one. Redheart did seem to want to look at us anymore. Discord was standing firm, but I could tell, something was wrong in his eyes. Papercut barely knew who to look at, or what side she should be on.

There was a small clatter beyond us. We all looked at Smiley, picking up the fallen mop in his ankle.

“Well I have no idea what’s going on,” Smiley huffed, “I just do maintenance here.”

“Redheart…?” Papercut asked. “But… I thought that…”

“Healer Redheart,” I asserted, “We really do need The Element of Generosity. Do you know where it is?”

“It would destroy the hospital to take it,” she said firmly, “It would. I cannot give it to you.”

“How would it?” Suddenly, it hit me. “The Element isn’t literally built in the foundation, is it?!”

“It may as well be,” Redheart snapped. “Put it out of your head. Take your sick family and leave.”

“Redheart,” Papercut cried out, “She’s not well…!”

“Yes. Fine,” she sighed deeply, tried to steady herself, “You will wait for Miss Helios to heal, and then you will leave with her. That is all. Now. I have…” She glanced up the stairs. “Much, much more important matters to attend to.”

And with one last glance at Discord, Healer Redheart departed, stomping up the stairs.