Applejack had spent the day, after the whole deal with the Tournament and Luna’s revelations, walking around the castle. There were a couple of points that just didn’t stick right with her, and some looking around might give her a few answers. She figured it would be an easy chore she took upon herself. Land sakes, she was walking up and down Sweet Apples Acres all the time when looking for sick trees and other problems. This wouldn’t be a thing even worth mentioning about.

What was that sayin’ Granny told her once? Pride goeth before fall? Well, she sure as hay didn’t fall, but she came close. The darn thing was huge and it had more corridors than a an apple tree had leaves. It wasn’t enough that she had decided to walk most of it, no sir, she had to keep getting lost.

She still did it in the end. Sheer Apple stubbornness won the day. What was her prize? The bitter realisation that someponies can’t expect to be treated right even in their own home. And that went for both sides of the issue.

She didn’t just walk around blindly. Applejack kept her eyes open and her ears… also open. First off, what she heard. Nothing good, that’s for darn sure. Ponies were talking about Raegdan and Luna. If that was part of their great plan, well then, whoopee for them. It worked. Ponies were talking. What they said however was a different tale.

Nopony trusted Luna. The main reason was -no surprise there- the whole Nightmare Moon thing. Spend a thousand years being the representation of fear and evil in everypony’s heart and they will hold it against ya forever it seems. There were two more recent reasons though.

Reason numbah one; Raegdan. Luna spending all her time with the fella that, from what she gathered, threatened to throttle half the castle inhabitants so far, terrorised the rest and, let’s not forget, attacked Princess Celestia, tended to rub ponies off the wrong way. Apparently, Twilight either didn’t bother telling them or she didn’t know herself, but Raegdan had more control issues than she had thought. She said he only got into major trouble every few months in the past, but that was no longer the case. He’d either go looking for fights with the guards and everypony else or just explode randomly at some perceived slight, scaring the bejeezus out of anypony around. Truth be told, it seemed that if he slipped up some more Celestia will have her hoof forced to do something much more substantial about it.

Reason numbah two; Luna herself. Apparently she was cut from the same cloth as Raegdan. She wouldn’t go looking for fights, oh no, she knew where to find them. She would march out to where the guards were training and kick their flanks to the hospital. Her rages were known too. She would explode at times and yell loud enough to drive ponies to the wall. Like, literally, her voice would push a pony until they were stopped by a wall. The provocations were silly things, like Raegdan’s was.

Come up behind either of them too quietly and you might get your neck bitten off. Well, maybe they had reasons to be jumpy. They hadn’t had quiet lives as far as she could tell. But try to be nice and offer them something to drink or eat and you got it thrown on your face along with some classy death threats. Happen to follow the same path they did behind them? They would turn around and kick your flank. Spend more than a minute in the same room as them? You can guess what happened. And that’s how that particular creek flowed...

Funnily enough, those were the exact reasons nopony trusted Raegdan either. It was like a perfect little yin yang thing they had going, only both parts were black.

As for the tournament, nopony was overjoyed over the idea of a Lunar Guard. The guards swore they would be dead before even thinking about joining “a couple of psychos” and everypony else would consider the idea laughable if it wasn’t so terrifying.

It was a shame really. Applejack would appreciate somepony trying to get rid of some of the dangerous critters lying around. That was the only part she really applauded of Luna’s ideas.

Whelp, that covered the work the furred wonders on top of her head did. As for her peepers now…

She once told Applebloom to mop the house while she was out. Applejack came back later at night, tired as hay and approvingly noticed that Applebloom did a fine job. Then she decided to head for a snack first. After what she saw, she took a gander around the rest of the house. The little rascal had only mopped the path that would take Applejack from the door to her room, banking on her being too tired to actually pay attention to her work.

Same thing happened here. Like Rarity had pointed out to her, the castle was being redecorated so it incorporated images of Luna too. Well, that was a mighty load of horseapples. The only places where that change occurred was the entrance, throne room, and the corridors that led to Celestia’s and Luna’s respective towers. The rest of the castle was all still pure Celestia and nothing seemed to indicate any attempt to change that.

Now, after all her hard work, she could understand the reasoning ponies had. They had “a couple of psychos” in this here castle, feeding off each other, and now they had to show to one of ‘em the same respect they showed to Celestia, the pony who was the epitome of kindness, forgiveness, and all around goodness? On the other hoof… maybe by refusing to act towards Luna, at least, as her sister wanted them to, made the problem worse.

Applejack had concerns. A concerned citizen had to act. She decided to act in the most honored tradition of ponies with a problem with the government. She was gonna complain and demand some answers.

Now, whose ears should she be heading to bite off? This required some thinking from her noggin’. Celestia? If she wasn’t doing her best she sure as hay would be doing it now, so no go. Luna? That… would be plain stupid, let’s bury this line of thought and never speak of it again. Steadfast Ray? Whoo, boy, that would be a disaster. She could it see it now. “Excuse me there, old trooper, but ah got a complaint. I just plain disagree with the way y’all, Princess Luna, and the guy who just killed one of your men, all treat each other. When can I expect that to be all fixed?” Would he use his fancy unicorn magic to throw her out or was he a traditionalist and just buck her flank out the door, that was the real question.

Talking about Steadfast Ray… there was that one other guy she did just recently hear about…

“Enter.” A young stallion’s voice answered Applejack’s knock on the door.

She pushed the door open and walked into the office. It was pretty nice, she had to admit. Spacious and large, nice thick carpet that her hooves sank into with a gentle tickle, maps on the wall. Wowsers, he even had a scaled model of Equestria on a table. Hmm, it didn’t even have Ponyville on it though. Too small for the important details then. She really digged the family pictures on the back. Showed the fella still had his head on straight about his priorities. Was that tiny filly, Twilight? She looked just darn adorable.

“Can I help you miss… Applejack, was it?” he asked after he gave her enough time to roll her eyes over everything. She looked him over. White coat, blue mane with cyan streaks, pretty eyes, taller than normal, nice muscled bod- he looked nice, that’s what she meant.

“Well, hello there, Mr. Shining Armor. Yep, that’s mah name, alright. Applejack Apple of Sweet Apple Acres, straight out of Ponyville. You might not know it, seeing it’s not on your fancy, little model there-”

“Wait, you are that Applejack?” he said with pleasant surprise. He came around his office and offered a hoofshake. “You are one of Twily’s friends! I’ve wanted to meet with you ever since she wrote us about you. I want to thank you for standing by her side, and everything you girls have gone through saving Equestria from Nightmare Moon and Discord, but mostly for being her friend. Twilight needed some mares of her age in her life.”

“Aw shucks, Mr. Shining Armor,” she blushed as she returned his nice, strong hoofshake. Twilight’s brother didn’t just spend most of the day in an office. “We are her friends and we all stick together. That’s how we do things in Ponyville.”

He laughed excitedly. “Please, call me Shining, Miss. Applejack. The proper term is Captain Armor but this is off limits for Twily’s friends!” It was a nice and big honest smile too. She liked him plenty so far.

“As long as you call me just Applejack or AJ then it’s a deal.” His smile got even wider. Applejack answered it with one of her own.

“So, Applejack, please, have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?”

“Nah, ah’m fine, I swung by the dining hall for some juice before I came here,” she told him as she parked her tushy on one of the comfy chairs set on the side. He joined her, sitting on the other one, a small table set among them.

“Is there anything I can help you with or is this just a social visit?”

“I wish I could say it’s the latter, but I have things I wanna talk about. Specifically, things that have come up since my friends and I came with Twilight here yesterday.”

“Wait, Twilight is IN the castle? As in, right now? Spending time here?” he asked, taken aback.

“You didn’t know? I thought she visited her folks yesterday.”

“She might have, but I wasn’t there. I’m surprised to hear that. We might have to cut this meeting short. There’s someone I should let know about this,” he said apologetically.

“If you are talking about Raegdan, he knows.” Shining’s expression spoke wonders. “That’s why we came actually. They made up all fine and seem to be chums again.”

Shining’s relief was palpable. “Oh, good. That’s good. That’s a load off my chest. You met Raegdan then?” Applejack nodded. “You can guess why I feel like that then. I trust Raegdan, my whole family would trust him with Twilight’s life even if he had to face Discord himself, but the last two years have been just unbearable.”

“I snooped around the castle a bit and heard some tales. I know a few things. Even about him attacking Princess Celestia. What was up with that anyways?”

Shining inhaled through gritting teeth. “Does Twilight know what happened?”

“Just what I know. He attacked Princess Celestia. Won’t tell why. Ah figure it’s the usual routine for him.”

“Yeah,” Shining agreed. “He keeps things very close to his chest. But I agree with him on that, Twilight is better off not knowing why. Can I trust you not to tell her what happened?”

“It depends. If I think it’s something she needs to know, I can’t promise I’ll keep my yap shut,” she warned him.

Shining nodded. Apparently, that was good enough for him. “I guess somepony who is spending more time by Twilight’s side than me should know a few things more, in case it is needed. Congratulations, you are that somepony now,” he finished with a bitter smile.

“One day, he just went berserk. He charged at Princess Celestia with a spear he somehow got in his hands. He was yelling, sometimes in his own language, sometimes in Equestrian. He kept telling the Princess that he wanted her dead. That he would kill everypony he could. That he wouldn’t ever stop, no matter what. Pretty scary stuff, huh?”

He had noticed Applejack’s shiver. She could picture the tall guy doing that all too well. In her imagination though, he was wearing black armor and held something more substantial than a spear.

“The Solar Guards that were with the Princess tried to keep him off with shields and forcefields, but he just broke through them and barreled over the two guards that tried to stop him. He caught them by surprise, see. They were both unicorns, and by the time they realized their spells hadn’t managed to stop him, he was all over them and just smashed their heads against each other, taking them down. Then he reached Princess Celestia and…”

“And?” Don’t pause for suspense you stupid colt. This ain’t one of your camping horror stories.

“She put him down with a single kick. Launched him all the way across her room. Then he got up and charged again. And again. And again. He just wouldn’t stop, like he told her. He did manage to draw some blood, which was quite the feat considering he was a moving mass of blood and bruises by that point.”

“Why? What got into him? Why that sudden hate at Princess Celestia? She seemed to like him, most of the time at least. She was not happy at all with him today.”

“Princess Celestia does like him, most of the time at least. Raegdan, for all his faults, knew how to treat her. As a normal mare. He never paid attention to her crown. And he likes her too, very much actually. I think he admires her in a way. Don’t scoff, I know how he acts against her now. Before the whole thing with Twilight happened, they were acting like a pair of happy parents with Twily and Spike as their foals. No, not that way, more like siblings, they weren’t like that. There were bad moments, especially during the first five or six years, but not as bad as the last couple of years. He was getting awfully provoked then, so he gets some leeway as far as I am concerned. It was either by contemptuous fools who thought that neither he or Twilight deserved to be in Princess Celestia’s company or just plain morons who didn’t pay attention to the giant signs that said “don’t buck with this person or this filly”.”

“Then, to everypony’s surprise, things suddenly calmed down. Ponies laid off him and Twilight was no longer getting harassed by idiots who would get a face full of Raegdan for their troubles. He even became outright approachable to strangers. He just turned and left when he was running out of patience instead of… his usual self.”

“A couple of years later, Twilight left him and Raegdan started… breaking down again. I don’t know what she did, only the two of them do, but it drove him insane.”

Shining Armor took a deep breath. Applejack could tell that he hated this part. “More insane, actually. I like him, but despite everything, he never was in his right mind. He keeps switching from friendly to hateful and from kind of remorseful to utterly uncaring. We hoped that he would mellow back down again when he started being friends with Luna, but no dice. He takes the dislike against her very badly. And she returns the sentiment. It’s a conundrum we have. They get worse off each other, but at the same time they keep each other calm when left alone. We have no idea how to handle them, yet, apart from letting them spend as much time as possible away from everypony up on Luna’s tower.”

Applejack pushed him back to the starting topic. “About why he attacked the Princess…”

“Hmm? Oh, yes. Forgive me. I got sidetracked there. So, the Princess was his greatest remaining friend at the time, Twilight having left and Princess Luna still being banished and unknown, and then one day he suddenly hates her and starts spewing death threats against everyone. He attacks and the Princess fights back. Princess Celestia realized what he was doing at the end, and stopped him, but he never forgave her for not doing what she was supposed to.”

“I’m confused,” she said. “What was the Princess supposed to do?”

“Kill him of course. Raegdan wanted to die. That was a suicide attempt.”

“What the hay is wrong with her? Twilight, give us a hoof!” Applejack called out. Twilight had chosen the darn worst moment to freeze up, but ah gotta give her credit. She shook herself out of it the moment Applejack called out to her.

Pinkie was shaking violently. Rarity was trying to hold her still, so Applejack decided to imitate her unicorn friend and give her a hoof. It was hard. Her legs were going all over the place and she started to bounce her head all around, knocking it hard against the floor. Fluttershy rushed over and tried to keep Pinkie from giving herself a concussion.

“Come on, Twilight. What is wrong? What do we do?” she called out. Twilight was examining Pinkie, her stance betraying the fear she also felt, but she was valiantly holding herself together.

“I.. I am not sure. Seizures, contracted pupils, foaming… I think she’s been poisoned!” Twilight announced.

“What?” That was Rainbow. She did a good job in voicing everypony’s shock.

Applejack looked back towards the table. She didn’t believe her eyes. Rainbow was still on her chair, watching them, but that was ok. Rainbow didn’t get in the way if she didn’t know what to do in these situations and let other ponies take charge that knew better. It was Raegdan and Luna that made her hair stand on end.

Luna was not even looking towards them. She was sitting as she was before, taking sips of tea and looking straight down in front of her. Raegdan stood next to her, watching her drink from all the cups he had gathered in front of her, keeping them in sight with the edge of his eyes, waiting, patient as you please. Pinkie Pie was poisoned right in front of them! She didn’t know what they were trying to accomplish, but this was time for action not… whatever they were doing! Pinkie needed help now.

“I am going to try a general healing and cleansing spell. It might help,” Twilight said and her horn lit, getting ready to cast.

Rarity urged her on. “Quickly, Twilight. We need to settle her down and get her to a doctor.” Applejack turned her attention back to the task at hand. She could deal with those two heartless jerks later.

That turned out to be a mistake. There was a clanging sound, metal against wood, and suddenly Raegdan’s hand was wrapped around Twilight’s horn and pulling, breaking her concentration and the spell she was casting.

Twilight yelled out. “Raegdan, what are you doing? Pinkie needs my help, let me go!”

“Not this kind of help, little one. This is for your own good, trust me!”

Twilight was trying to pull her horn out of his grasp. Spike had jumped on Raegdan’s back, shouting to put her down, his little fists banging against his armor. Raegdan was trying to get his arm behind him and grasp the baby dragon without hurting him. Applejack itched to buck him right in his face for doing this now, but Pinkie gave a hard jerk and almost kicked herself in the face. Applejack’s inner voice damned her luck to tartarus itself. She couldn’t let go of Pinkie, not without risking her hurting herself.

Rainbow Dash now had something she knew she could do. She flew out of her seat, backed off a little to gain distance and then, fast as ever, launched towards Raegdan. Applejack watched as she flipped mid-air and, right as she reached him, used her momentum and strength to hit him with her back legs as hard as she could, right on the spot where the wound on his side was.

“Let my friends go, you monster!” she yelled. Raegdan’s face went white with the sudden pain. He lost his grip on Twilight and tried to backhand Rainbow. He was too slow this time and Rainbow was ready for him. She ducked under his arm, kicked his side again and followed it with another kick to his head. Applejack wanted to cheer for her feisty friend!

Both blows landed successfully and now Raegdan was bleeding from the edge of his mouth. Rainbow tried to push again. She turned around for another kick, but Raegdan managed to counter this time. Rainbow took a second too long to twist around and pull her leg back, readying her kick. That was all Raegdan needed. He grabbed Rainbow’s back hoof and swung her over him and to his other side, smashing her against a chair.

“You complete and utter idiot! Sit down, all of you. We know what we are doing.” He yelled, spitting blood on the floor.

Twilight had ran next to the rest of them. Applejack had been too busy trying to hold down Pinkie to help, as did Rarity and Fluttershy, but it looked like their struggles were now ending. Twilight could get them out lickety split.

“I am going to try and teleport us to the castle infirmary. They can help her there!”

Applejack saw Raegdan’s eyes burn with anger. “NO!” he shouted for Twilight to stop, but she was already casting.

His leg flew towards Twilight’s face before she finished and knocked her down.

“That drawing kind of looks like Raegdan. Is it yours?” Applejack asked Shining Armor.

“It was a gift from him. He used to tell stories to Twilight, often at bedtime. His people have thousands upon thousands of them, as he says. This is from his favourite one. Twilight begged him to retell it when he visited once and I fell in love with it. He made this for me on my next birthday.”

“Whoever this is supposed to be, he sure looks scary. His armor looks a lot like Raegdan’s.” If you made a few changes and added the moon imagery you could almost swear it was him. The drawing was of an armored bipedal creature, much like Raegdan. It wore silver looking, spiky armor with a tattered black cloak. His head looked a bit too big. The helmet had spikes pointing up, resembling an iron crown and looked sinister, much like Raegdan’s did. He was holding a large, club like weapon. He was standing on the slope of a mountain, bones beneath his feet, and a sinister tower in the distance behind him. Even further behind was a volcano spewing fire and black smoke, darkening the sky.

“He does. He was the villain of the story. Evil incarnate. The Dark Lord.” Shining smiled. “I wondered why he gave me a picture of him rather than any of the heroes.”

“Why did he?”

“He tried to spin some tale about how I needed to be my own hero and this was a representation of what I was going to fight against in my life, but gave up halfway.” Shining laughed at the memory he was reliving. “He admitted in the end that he just preferred to draw him because he looks cooler. He said the real evil guys don’t advertise it like that anyway.”

It was a nice drawing technically, but not to Applejack’s taste. She had more of a fancy for peaceful vistas. Stallions. “They all go cuckoo over some shining armor,” she thought with a chuckle at her pun. Well, them and Rainbow. Applejack switched the topic back to where they were before being distracted by the strange picture.

“Ok, so any ideas as to why he had been so sour when he first came here? I keep hearing he got into fights, but why?” Applejack asked Shining Armor. After telling her about his… suicide attempt they spent some time going over what happened next. He told her how Princess Celestia locked him up and kept trying to get him back to his senses. He kept up his constant and violent goading, which she ignored, until he accepted she was not going to do what he wanted and his acceptance of it. Raegdan was a very complicated mess, so she tried to make sense of him by going over the beginning again.

“Apart from what had happened to him before he arrived? I can’t tell you about that, Princess Celestia’s orders. It’s not a story you would want to hear anyway. I only know the basic outlines and I still get nightmares. But, if you wonder why he didn’t get any better until a lot later…”

“I have a couple of theories now. I… am willing to share them, but you must make sure nopony hears about them. And I mean nopony. If this reaches the wrong ears, Raegdan will be lucky to avoid being killed. That includes Princess Celestia too. Her continuous protection is the only reason Raegdan hasn’t been killed by the Solars yet. If she loses what little trust she has left in him and they get a whiff of that...”

“Keep in mind, I wasn’t part of the Guard then. I was still in school. But I knew Raegdan, he escorted Twilight everywhere, and he brought her home at least once a week. My parents and I came to know him and he was always polite and civil with us. It was during one of those visits actually, when he said something that stuck with me.”

“What was it?” Applejack asked.

“We were in the living room waiting for dinner to get ready. Twilight was in the kitchen, trying to give mom a hoof. At one point he keeps staring at the wall across from him and I asked what was so interesting about it. He turns to me and says “I was just admiring your dog.” I honestly didn’t expect that answer. We had no dog, nor was there any picture of one in the room. So, I ask him where he saw that and he points at an empty section of the wall.”

Applejack felt one of her eyebrows move up on its own volition. “He was seeing things?”

“Yes! No, wait, I didn’t mean it like that,” Shining said, planting his hoof over his face. “He was looking at the paint. It had been some time since we had a new layer of paint over and there were traces of water damage and dirt. He pointed it out at me, tracing it with his finger. I didn’t see it at first, but if you really looked at it and filled some parts with your mind you could see a dog running. I asked him, “how did you make that out so easily?”. He answered “patterns”.

“Patterns?” Applejack asked for validation.

“Patterns,” Shining confirmed. “He said “We are good at seeing patterns. Too good, sometimes. We often see things that are not really there. We live and breathe them, you could say”... that had got him pretty depressed for some reason, now that I think about it.”

“What’s that got to do with all the hassle he was causing at first?”

“When I became Captain of the Guard I had to review potential… security risks, let’s call them. That included Raegdan. Checking his history, it got me thinking about that day. Patterns. So, I started looking for them, trying to see them like Raegdan did. Really look at them and fill them in with my mind. He himself said that his kind lived them.” Shining walked to his office, pulling out a very thick folder and brought it over.

“That’s a pretty big doorstopper,” Applejack said with admiration.

Shining chuckled as he opened the folder “His most serious episodes occurred when he felt Twilight or Spike were threatened or hurt in any way. But there were others of lesser magnitude, often left explained as simple losses of control.” He leafed through the folder. “But if you fill in some parts, you find-”

“A pattern,” Applejack finished.

“Exactly!” said Shining with the satisfaction of a teacher whose student paid attention. “His “random attacks”, almost half the time had two things in common. They always happened in one of two general places in the castle and always against two classes of ponies. It was always near the living quarters or offices and always against ponies who worked as aides for the Nobility or branches of the government.” He pulled a heap of papers from the folder. Shining Armor had separated them in two stacks. One was labeled “Random attacks” and the other “Twilight/Spike attacks”.

Applejack got hold of the one that had Twilight’s name. It was full of reports. They all shamelessly pointed to Raegdan as the aggressor, and the sections where the injuries were noted down were all overflowing. She compared them with a few from the other stack. Same deal. Raegdan was still the one that initiated everything, according to the guards, but here the injuries were mostly small things, with some exceptions, like a couple of bruises or a terrified pony.

“So he had a grudge against the powerful folk?”

“See, I thought that too. But if he did, why didn’t he attack them directly? So I looked again, poring over for another explanation. After every such attack, those reports say that he was caught about twenty to forty minutes later, often in his room. Compare that with his more spur of the moment episodes that involved Twilight and Spike mostly, and you will find that in those cases he was apprehended almost instantly, often waiting for the guards right where he was.”

“The tall fella was working with a plan? All that was a ruse?”

“Not all of it, but a lot. I think he was looking for something. He didn’t attack those ponies for nothing. He was scaring them off the premises, hiding under the guise of his impromptu violence, to search for whatever he was after.”

Applejack started to understand. “Their rooms! Their offices! He was using the time he had before he got caught to search in there.”

“Right!” Shining agreed, excitement filling him as someone else followed his reasoning. “That’s why he was often caught in his room. He was rushing back there to hide whatever he found. He was probably making his own search for patterns while creating one of his own!”

“What was he looking for? Did you find out?”

Shining shrugged. “I just got theories. But if he got into all that trouble, kept on it so methodically and stealthy, and easily accepted getting into trouble with the Princess for it, there is only one reason I can imagine him doing that for.”

“Twilight and Spike.” Applejack was certain. If Raegdan cared for one thing, that was it. “But why, exactly?”

Shining nodded. “Patterns, again. You know how he first met Twilight? Ok, I can tell from your grimace. Grizzly thing. It was the first and most serious attack against Twily that ever happened. But it wasn’t the only one. Once again-”

“Patterns.” Gee golly, this was kinda fun and exciting. She felt like a detective just listening and agreeing with him.

“Princess Celestia was getting her ear talked off to get rid of him. He was getting goaded, through Twilight and Spike, to act dangerously threatening. There were rumors spreading about him. I think somepony was trying to get him out of the way, either so they could try again or retribution. I believe Raegdan had realized that, so for whenever he was locked in the dungeons or indisposed for other reasons, he must have made a deal with Princess Celestia to keep Twilight and Spike by her side at all times, no matter what. That way, she was safe even if he wasn’t there. Twilight couldn’t even come visit us while he was in the dungeons. She even slept in the Princess’ chambers.”

“You thinkin’ Twilight is still in danger then?” That wouldn’t do. Nopony was touching a hair of her friends’ manes while she was around.

Shining shook his head. “I think that’s over with. I told you, he calmed down a few years after his arrival. I think that he was done with his search then.”

“Wait a darn tootin’ moment,” she said suspiciously. “If he had found who tried to hurt Twilight, wouldn’t he tell the Princess or somepony? Maybe you?”

Shining laughed outright. “Raegdan? Let somepony else deal with whoever tried to hurt Twilight or Spike, especially whoever was behind her foalnapping? Never. I think I can guess what happened. I have no proof, just ideas, but even if I did, I don’t know if I would tell the Princess. Whoever did this to my little sister deserved what he got from him,” he snarled.

“I think,” he said after a short, contemplative pause, “that Raegdan somehow managed to find out who was behind it. And then he killed him. That’s why things calmed down later on. There was nopony out there guiding others to goad him and Raegdan himself was basking in a job well done. I searched but I can’t find anything. There were some influential ponies that had gone missing in that time period, but no bodies or sign of foul play were found, so that’s a dead end. If he indeed do something, he was extremely thorough.”

Applejack contemplated what she learned. Raegdan might have been smart and patient, considering he probably found out the pony that tried to kidnap Twilight, even if it took him years and he did it alone. But… that was an if. What if he got the wrong pony? That seemed improbable since, as Shining said, things calmed down, but it just might mean that the real culprit decided to just give up. Not likely, but there’s a chance.

Raegdan went at it alone. He wasted years, digging little by little. All this, without ever leaving the castle. All of it, completely unneeded if he just told the Princess about it. But he didn’t. Because if he did, and Princess Celestia caught the guy, she would imprison him. So Raegdan chose not to. It didn’t matter that the threat to Twilight would be gone anyway. Raegdan wanted blood.

She didn’t like that. Smart, patient, bloodthirsty and, judging from the way he switched from nice guy to vicious, borderline insane. Oh, and let’s not forget, he tried to commit suicide by Celestia. That was a new one. She bet every single apple on her farm that this was the first time somepony tried to off himself that way. She had a couple more things she needed to ask.

“Tell me, how did he hook up with Princess Luna?”

Applejack hated having to be the responsible one. Pinkie was convulsing worse by the second and somepony had to hold her down before she hurt herself more. When Rarity and Fluttershy, to her immense surprise, launched themselves at Raegdan, she was the only one left behind to do this. Did she damn her luck enough yet?

Rarity was the first to reach him. She didn’t bother with magic, Rarity never did when angry. Instead, with a screech, she hurled herself at Raegdan and tried to punch his face. Raegdan’s reflexes stopped her. He saw her coming at the edge of his vision and like lightning, his fist jabbed forward, hitting Rarity right on the chest and stopping her mid-jump. Rarity fell down cradling her aching chest. Spike jumped off Raegdan’s back and rushed to her aid.

“Are you all deaf? Listen to me, and sit down. We are doing… doing…”

Fluttershy didn’t physically assault Raegdan. She used something else instead.

“How dare you!” she yelled. Raegdan had turned towards her, looked straight into her wide stare, and was caught.

The Stare. It deserved the capital S. Fluttershy described it to Applejack once as an attempt to make someone feel as sorry as possible. Applejack had seen her use it plenty of times and one time she was at the right angle to get caught in it a bit. It was unnerving. She felt as if she was looking at Granny’s eyes when she once tried lying to her. It brought to Applejack’s mind her parents, their eyes telling her they trusted her to be good while they were gone for their walk. The look in Applebloom’s eyes as she followed Applejack’s every action, learning from her examples. The steady stare of Big Mac, his quiet assurance that he would always support Applejack all the way. And beneath all those images, a voice that was asking “are you doing what is right?”.

No wonder it brought a dragon to tears.

Raegdan was now captivated in the same situation. He was shaking, almost as much as Pinkie under Applejack’s hooves was. His face had gone almost sheet white, more than when Rainbow hit him on his side. His eyes had gotten wide as saucers, the pupils so dilated there was only blackness in them.

“How dare you hit Rainbow? Rarity? Twilight! We have been your friends and this is how you pay us back? Pinkie is hurting, the same mare who cheered for you, and you let her suffer? You are not getting away with this, buster! You are going to let us go and then, when Pinkie is alright, you are going to give everyone a heartfelt apology-”

Fluttershy was lost in her effort to keep her Stare right in Raegdan’s eyes and delivering her speech. She couldn’t see what Applejack did by her side. He was mouthing something, the same two words, over and over, and had started sweating profusely. He was terrified.

Applejack couldn’t leave Pinkie Pie. She was gurgling now, her mouth had filled with that terrible foam and she was unconsciously trying to spit it out. Applejack fought to keep her head sideways and her airway clear. If she turned her head upwards it would slide back her throat and choke her. Applejack checked to see if Twilight managed to get up, but no luck. She was still out of it. She called out for Rainbow Dash, desperately trying to get her to return to the fight. Raegdan was scared out of his mind. When fellas like him felt like that, they didn’t back off. They fought back.

He was pulling his hammer from his side, eyes still locked with Fluttershy’s.

There was a rainbow colored blur and Raegdan was away from Fluttershy and rolling on the floor as Rainbow Dash rammed into him. She didn’t stop this time, nor did she try staying close to his reach. She was flying around the room, gaining momentum, and when she had enough, she rammed back into him with the sound of hooves clashing against metal. Applejack did cheer this time.

“I won’t let you hurt my friends!” Rainbow yelled.

“You stupid, damn-,” he spoke something in his alien language, “you are doing this worse for yourselves! I am trying to stop you from- OOF!”

Applejack called for Fluttershy to get back and help her. It took a few tries. Fluttershy was captivated by the hammer that Raegdan dropped. Poor girl probably understood what could have happened there. But this was not the time for that! She could barely keep Pinkie down on her own any longer.

Rainbow was holding her own against him, but Raegdan was resourceful and didn’t bother playing nice. As he fell backwards with another hit from Rainbow, he reached from the floor and with a startled “eep”, he pulled the half-conscious Rarity towards him. He looked straight at Rainbow and lifted his hand, ready to bring it on Rarity’s face.

Rainbow took the bait. Her protectiveness kicked in, and she dove straight for Raegdan. But now he was ready for her and she was heading in a straight course for him. He shifted his arm’s aim mid swing and punched straight forward, instead of down, his fist flying between Rainbow’s outstretched hooves and nailing her right on the forehead.

There was a crack and Rainbow crushed down, dizzily shaking her head. Raegdan cradled his hand, examining his fingers with a grimace of intense pain. Rainbow had quite the hard skull so Applejack seriously doubted the breaking sound came from her.

He should have been paying attention because the last attack came from the most unlikely source. Spike had enough and jumped on him, making him lose his balance and landing on his back.

Spike was mad. Raegdan’s threat to really hurt Rarity was the last straw for the baby dragon. His irises were reptilian slits and fire was coming out of his mouth. He tried to scratch at Raegdan, but his armor proved stronger than his stubby claws. His flame intensified. He turned towards Raegdan’s head and took a deep breath.

“Little flame, stop! I can explain, don’t-”

Spike didn’t have time to breathe out his fire. He was encased in a blue field of magic and lifted off of him.

“Enough!” a voice echoed in the room, stopping them all in their tracks.

Luna had decided to intervene.

“Now, you might wonder about that, but Princess Celestia tried to stop Raegdan from ever meeting with Luna,” Shining told Applejack.

“Let me have a wild guess here. She was considerin’ he might try something?” A pretty solid bet to make. Everything about Raegdan so far pointed towards him trying stuff that wouldn’t be welcome by anypony.

“If you think about it, it was a wise call. Princess Celestia didn’t think that Raegdan would exactly hit it off with the mare that -despite not being in control at the time- tried to hurt Twilight and her friends.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. What changed Princess Celestia’s mind?”

Shining sighed in resignation. “Nothing. We just found out one day that Raegdan had, for all intents and purposes, moved into her chambers. He must have met with her, probably sneaked in the tower right under our noses, and…”

“Just became friends?”

Shining gave her an incredulous stare. “It just doesn’t fit at all with him. There never was any fight with her, no arguments, nothing. And I wouldn’t describe their relationship as mere friendship. Raegdan has become something between her servant, guard, and confidant. They do everything together. It’s rare to see them away from each other, and when we do it means one of them is going to get into trouble.”

“What do they do, anyways? I kept hearing they get into trouble but you make it sound as if they spend most time away from everypony.”

“Most of the time, they do stay in Luna’s tower. They are up to something, as displayed by their Lunar Guard idea, but I have no idea what else. Sometimes they come out of there with some hidden gem from Raegdan’s kind, but that’s rare. When they are not up there, they get into fights. Sometimes it’s Luna, the others it’s Raegdan. About fifty-fifty I’d say.”

Applejack was reminded of what she really wanted to talk about. Shining Armor was the best pony available to tell her about that, but he might not take it well. It was a chance she had to take. No pain, no gain. “There is something that Luna mentioned today…”

She saw she had Shining’s attention and continued. “She said that the Guard refuses to guard her chambers, and nopony obeys her commands, apart from Raegdan. She seemed pretty sour about that…”

She trailed off. Shining Armor was looking at her with disbelief. “That’s what she said?”

Applejack hesitated. “This- isn’t that true? There were no guards at all at her tower, or servants either.”

“No, it is true… kinda. But… they themselves are the prime cause.”

“Because they get into fights with ponies, you mean?”

“No, NO! You are right, maids and the rest of the staff are too afraid of them both to go up there. I tried to fix things from my side of things. I had Guards guarding her chambers, but they drove them off. The guards that were posted there came back with near horror stories. Luna was using her magic to ransack through their sleep, somepony -who am I kidding, it was Raegdan- was going through their private belongings and… well, one of the guards had enough and made a comment. Something along the lines of “can’t wait for Princess Celestia to banish her back to the moon again”. They went completely berserk, understandably. The guards were lucky to escape with no life threatening injuries. After that, everypony refused to go near them and Princess Luna and Raegdan seemed to be fine with that. In fact, Raegdan forbid me from sending anypony at the tower.”

“They didn’t seem to be fine with it today,” Applejack explained to him. “Luna gave a whole speech to Princess Celestia about it. Plus, the Princess seemed to know nothing about that. Haven’t you guys told her?” This reeked. This all reeked to high heavens. First they scare everypony away then they complain about it? What were they trying to pull?

Shining seemed embarrassed. He didn’t even dare to look Applejack in the eyes. “In all honesty… Princess Celestia is not being told much.”

“WHAT?”

Shining Armor tried to defend himself. “It’s just that… Princess Celestia has a whole country to look after, among all her other duties. Things that we think we can handle, or she can’t do much about, just gets put aside. It’s the unwritten rule around here. Princess Celestia doesn’t need to know every single thing that happens. It’s why we have other officials and ministers after all.”

“Ok, ok, let’s just ignore all that collective lyin’ you‘re doing, for now,” Applejack said placing her hoof over her eyes, “and let’s get back to Luna’s Lunar Guard idea.” Applejack explained to Shining Armor what Luna wanted to do.

“That… is not a bad idea. It would certainly help relieve all that aggression they have. If it was up to me however, I’d just let them go at it on their own. I doubt there is much that would be trouble for the two of them if they are careful. If it would mean an end to the Lunar Guard idea, so much the better.”

Typical so far. Another pony who was against that. “You hate the idea too, huh?”

Shining’s face betrayed his incredulousness. “Are you kidding me? Do you know what will happen if Princess Luna goes ahead with that? The Solar Guard will have a fit! They are not raising any trouble now because they don’t believe anything will come out of it.”

Ok… She had to expect that. Commander Steadfast was pretty clear on how far away from warm he was about that idea. Maybe Rainbow had called it right this time. “They don’t like the competition?”

“Competition? They don’t care about that at all. It’s the fact that the one pony they were first founded to kill wants to have her own personal army.”

Applejack blinked. She blinked again. Then she gently hit her ears with her hoof. Nope, they seemed to be working fine. Maybe the problem was her brain or something deeper. “I am sorry, Shining. I seem to be a tad more tired that ah thought. Did you just say the Solar Guard is here to kill Luna or should I go get mah head checked?”

“You don’t know how the Solar Guard began, do you?” She shook her head. She never paid attention to all the military stuff. Rainbow might have known, but she would have expected her to say something by now. “It was because of Nightmare Moon. Nopony could stand up to her. Every Guard regiment that tried was brushed off like flies. Princess Celestia was the only one who could take her on, but it was her sister in there. She held back from really fighting her, getting near killed for it in some of their sorties, until she was able to use the Elements on her own and banish her.”

“Afterwards, the whole fiasco let the Royal Guard know how truly unprepared they were with dealing with the really heavy stuff. So they formed the Solar Guard. Their job was to tackle threats that went above the Royal Guard’s capabilities, but also defend Princess Celestia. They live by the idea that each one of them dead in a battle protecting the Princess is one attack less that Princess Celestia has to deal with. You see, if you girls hadn’t managed to deal with Nightmare Moon or Discord, the complete strength of the Solar Guard would be dealing with them next.”

Applejack didn’t feel good about the potential of that attempt. “I doubt they’d be able to do much. Those three today didn’t really put on a good show,” she said sadly. Poor fellas didn’t deserve what they got.

“I didn’t see the fight myself, but I heard about it. Raegdan got lucky.”

“He did end up with a couple of deep holes in him,” she agreed.

“Not what I meant.” Shining was frowning now. Whatever it was, she was meant to take this seriously. “Raegdan didn’t fight their best. Despite what Luna asked for, Commander Steadfast was not going to endanger what he considers to be a precious commodity that belongs to the Princess in a fight over pride. Besides, they were armed and armored with standard Royal Guard gear.”

“They get better stuff in the Solar Guard?”

“Much better. I am talking about enchanted armor and weapons the likes of which I have never seen. Not even they have enough of them to equip their every member, but they have enough to put the smackdown on everything. I doubt they could get Discord, but Nightmare Moon? She was never going to win, even if you girls hadn’t been there.”

Wow. Seems like Raegdan really did get lucky after all. “They aren’t going to try anything against Luna, are they? I mean, she is not Nightmare Moon anymore.”

“No, no. There’s no risk for that. Princess Celestia told Solar Commander Steadfast not to get any ideas and if there’s something the good Commander does it’s obeying her wishes. At least, as long as he believes they are not a danger to herself. If Luna makes a wrong move they take as hostile action against Princess Celestia though… she doesn’t stand a chance, Princess Celestia’s orders or not.”

“Little dragon, I applaud your courage, your fighting spirit, and your haste to defend your friends. However, if you try to direct your flames against my companion again I will tear off your scales, one by one!”

As Applejack was levitated in the air, she made the thought that ponies who performed those kind of threats would yell and shout. Luna didn’t do that. She was talking all civil and quiet like, barely putting any emphasis on her words. It was creepy as heck.

“Luna! That’s enough! Put them down.” Raegdan was making his way up on his feet again. He favored his right side. Considering the smacks Rainbow delivered to his wounded side, he must be in a real load of pain right now. Good! He took a deep breath. “What do I do?”

Luna nodded towards Pinkie. Raegdan rushed to her side and gripped her down, using his knee to hold both her legs down. “Pinkie Pie did a flawless job consuming the poison and there was nothing, not the tiniest speck left to identify it. It is to our fortune that Rarity did manage to pour a spoonful in her cup before Pinkie Pie managed to consume it all. We needed to know what poison it was before we try to treat it-”

“You could still have helped! She was having seizures! Why didn’t Raegdan help us instead of attacking us?” Applejack rarely felt anger like that. She kicked and bucked ineffectively in the air.

Luna didn’t seem to pick up on Applejack’s intense displeasure, or didn’t care. “There are poison variants that are enchanted to feed on magic to quicken or enhance their effectiveness. There is even a very rare one that once it feeds on enough magic, it pollinates the air with itself, poisoning everyone around the victim. We are not dealing with that one, thankfully. But it is enchanted. The magic infusion of a healing spell or a teleport with the power of Twilight Sparkle would kill your friend in seconds. There is nothing we can truly do probably, but she might stand a chance if she is lucky.”

Applejack’s teeth gritted against each other. If Luna thought talking so casually about Pinkie Pie dying was making anything better, she was bucking the wrong tree. So what if it they weren’t sure what poison it was? They could still use the time to drag Pinkie down to some help!

“Likewise, there are more mundane poisons that are equally effective, but an earth pony is normally resistant to most of them because of their inherent magic. If Raegdan laid his hands on your friend in that case, it might have hastened the poison’s work if only a little. The risk was not worth it.”

She turned to the armored figure. “Raegdan. We need to remove as much of the poison from her stomach as possible and get her to the infirmary. Letting a guest die unattended in our chambers will not do.” This had better be just her way of relieving tension with a stupid joke, because if she really meant that, she was getting so bucked!

“I’ve got it,” he said. He knelt next to Pinkie Pie and pulled her up to his embrace, Applejack and Fluttershy refrained from making any protests. He seemed to know what he was doing and at least it was something that would aid Pinkie. He scooped out the foam from her mouth and then forced two of his long fingers inside her throat. Pinkie Pie started wiggling and choking until she gave a loud gag and he turned her head so she could empty her stomach. A torrent of half digested soup, vegetables, candy,and brown sludge covered the carpet. When she was done, Raegdan nodded at Luna and waited for her instructions.

“Good. You will have to carry her down to the castle’s infirmary. Even levitation magic is dangerous for her now, but thanks to your ability you are the best method of transportation.” Raegdan shifted Pinkie in his grasp, one hand forcing Pinkie’s head tight against his chest, the other wrapped around her body.

Raegdan paused before heading out and looked at the still unconscious Twilight, regret emanating in waves from him. “Can you carry Twilight down there, please? I want to get a doctor to check her out too.”

“Rarity and Rainbow too,” Applejack added. They weren’t leaving anypony behind.

“Of course,” Luna agreed and she lifted the other three mares in her magic too. “Raegdan, we will be making our way down on our own. If you could rush with Pinkie Pie, please?” Raegdan nodded at her command and sprinted out, Pinkie still trembling in his arms. He only halted for a few seconds at the door to look behind him, at a pensive Spike.

The little dragon whispered an apology on the verge of tears. Raegdan only stood long enough to flash him a proud smile before running out the door.

Pinkie Pie was going to die. That’s what it looked like at the moment. The doctors did what they could. She had been fitted with so many tubes and IV lines that Applejack wanted to cry just seeing her. She looked so frail and weak. The doctors feared she would stop breathing. They had another line ready to bring oxygen to her lungs in case she… lost the strength to do so on her own. By the time Raegdan had brought her here, the white foam Pinkie kept drooling had become deep red.

They weren’t even allowed in the room. All she had seen was brief glimpses as doctors and nurses made their way in and out the door. The benches they occupied were comfortable enough, nothing like any proper hospitals she had ever been at. She just hoped the doctors here were better too. Please, please, don’t let Princess Celestia have skipped out on getting the best of the best, here of all places!

Pinkie was the glue that kept them all together. She was the one who always pulled them together when their everyday lives threatened to drift them even slightly apart. She would drag them all, one by the other, into each other’s company, no matter what. Pinkie was not just the laughter, she was the joy of the group. Sheer and unadulterated joy, eager to be spread among her friends, making each moment something to hold to as precious and irreplaceable. Applejack was ashamed that sometimes the rest of them faltered as worthy bearers of the Elements they had been entrusted with. But it was with sheer pride that she watched Pinkie Pie, hopping her way around Ponyville, bringing smiles on everyone’s faces, knowing that her friend never did fail like the rest of them. Never could. Pinkie Pie was laughter and joy and smiles and…

Applejack sniffed hard. She didn’t want to start crying. If she did she wouldn’t stop. She refused to believe that it was needed anyway. Pinkie Pie would make it through. She would. Life would not be so cruel as to take her away from them, not like this. Pinkie had so much more to do, so many more days to brighten. She was going to see her hop and skip next to her again. There was no way that the last image she carried of Pinkie Pie would be the shivering mare that had to be tied down, plugged with all those- all those…

Oh Celestia, please, please save her. She could understand those ponies now. She wanted somepony to beg, to plead with, to save her friend. Her heart felt like it was swelling, but not in a pleasant way. It was as if despair filled it and it tried to escape the claustrophobic confines of her chest. It hurt, it really hurt. It hurt even more as she caught another glimpse of Pinkie, a doctor leaning over her and injecting something into her. She could do nothing. Her friend was dying and Applejack could do nothing. None of them could. It was all up to the doctors.

So now, all they could do was sit outside and wait. All of them were tired and some of them hurting physically, but they weren’t going anywhere yet. Fluttershy and Rarity were crying their eyes out, giving in to the despair and fear.

Fluttershy, even at this moment, was trying to put her own grief at hold so she could console Rarity who was sobbing uncontrollably. That girl called herself a coward, but now when the chips were down, Fluttershy was the one who stood strong and supported her friends.

“I wasn’t listening,” Rarity was wailing. “Pinkie Pie spent all afternoon with me, talking to me, and I can’t even remember what she was talking about. My friend is going to die and I wasn’t listening the last time she talked to me in private…” Rarity’s self loathing was filling the air around her. She had nopony to blame outright, so she blamed herself. She blamed herself for letting Pinkie eat the defiled sugar, for not drinking the tea she had in front of her and feeling the effects first, for being an inattentive friend… Rarity kept searching for reasons to blame herself, trying to tempt the universe to change the chain of events and put her in Pinkie’s place.

Rainbow Dash was still undecided on whether to follow their lead or keep on raging against Luna and Raegdan. Rainbow needed a target, somepony to focus her energy on. She had chosen Luna and Raegdan and was not going to give up soon. In Rainbow’s mind they were as guilty as whoever did the actual poisoning. They took too long to act, they were not prepared enough, they hurt her friends, they let it happen. She was firing reason after reason they were to blame for this. Applejack knew this was only a precursor. Rainbow would soon find another target, one that would take the blame gladly. Herself. And when- IF, if Pinkie didn’t make it, which she would, Rainbow would never stop blaming herself.

Twilight was sitting next to Applejack, her head hung low, hiding from view the massive shiner that Raegdan gave her. She wasn’t taking it well. None of them did, but Twilight probably had it worse. Applejack knew that Twilight was blaming herself for what happened. It’s what the young mare did best out of all of them. Spike had curled against her, but Twilight didn’t notice him. She had hoped to have her friends meet someone she liked and spend a few days in the castle like a vacation of sorts. Instead, it all culminated to this moment, Pinkie fighting for her life in that dreadful room across from them, and Twilight was trying to come to terms that she could have killed her friend, because she broke her tenet of thinking before acting. Because she never studied medicine. Because she once again didn’t let herself listen to Raegdan.

Applejack didn’t believe that. She wanted to blame them, oh she wanted to blame someone for this so much, and this happened in their rooms on their watch. Rainbow was not right, but Applejack almost wanted her to be. Rainbow had been screaming her head off about how Luna and Raegdan tried to poison them. Applejack half-heartedly tried to talk some sense into her, tell her there was no way that’s what really happened. Raegdan loved Twilight and Spike too much to let something like that happen. Rainbow’s counterargument though, was too close to truth to ignore.

“He might care for Twilight and Spike, but he won’t shed a single tear if it’s any of the rest of us that bites it.” It was enough to flare up all of Twilight’s worries and guilt to even more massive levels. She kept touching the bruise on her face, as if making sure that it really happened. Applejack tried to feel for her, support her, but…

Pinkie was dying. Twilight’s relationship with the guy who just sat there waiting for Luna to tell him what to do, watching as if what was happening wasn’t important enough as long as it wasn’t happening to Twilight, could go hang itself. If Pinkie- when Pinkie got better, then they could talk.

She looked down the hallway, eyeing a door that was just the tiniest sliver open. That’s where they were now. As soon as Luna arrived down here, she dropped everyone unceremoniously on the floor, asked Raegdan for confirmation whether the doctors had been told about the magic eating poison, and then pulled him in there. They hadn’t come out yet. A nurse went inside at one point and, after some muffled shouting, Applejack saw her running with fear in her eyes. In a few minutes she returned carrying a bag filled with what Applejack guessed were medical supplies.

Rainbow didn’t do a shoddy job against him this time. Good. She hoped he was hurting a lot.

Applejack wanted to have a word with them. Or several, and she would be saying most of them. They wouldn’t be nice words either. She decided to do so. Any action was better than just sitting on her chair, feeling splinters plunge in her chest every time Pinkie’s door opened. Applejack never handled grieving well. She needed to be active, to do something, anything. She had to keep her body or mind occupied with something else. She got up and walked to the door leading to the ones she wanted to spew all her fears at. The girls barely glanced at her as she left her seat, too lost in their own tormenting thoughts to truly notice.

The room was dark but through the tiny opening she could spot a small light at the other end. Carefully, she pushed the door, making sure she made no noise. It swung easily enough on well oiled hinges and Applejack thanked her lucky stars. She wanted to catch them by surprise and not give them any time to think up any excuses this time. She was going to do this like when questioning Applebloom. Questions, shooting one after another, barely giving them time to think through their answers. Now, she just had to be extra careful as she squeezed through and gently pressed her hooves on the floor til she was right on top of them.

This room was large. There were enough beds for maybe six or eight patients at least, but she couldn’t be sure due to the majority of it being in the dark. She eyed her target, the flickering light behind a bed screen. She could hear hushed mutterings but was too far to make them out. It was nothing that couldn’t be fixed with her sneaking skills, sharpened by years of being the big sis. She crept her way deeper into the room, the voices becoming clearer with each step.

Raegdan’s voice cleared up. “...are ok?”

Luna was answering him. Her tone surprised Applejack. Gone was the formality and clipped voice. She sounded sad. “I’m fine, Raegdan. It was just a few drops. A single, normal sip would have killed me in a day or two, but I can handle this. I am weak, but not that much.”

“Did you have to do it this way? Luna, you are not trying to-”

Luna cut off Raegdan’s worried questioning. “No. I promised, Raegdan, and I will keep my word to you. Pinkie promise, right?” Applejack wondered about that but then she remembered. Raegdan had read Twilight’s letters. He probably told her about that. “It was the fastest way to identify the poison, despite the risk. It was our fault, after all.”

Applejack promised to herself that she was getting an honest answer to her question about that. And if she didn’t like the answer she was going to spend the rest of her life in a dungeon for regicide.

She could see their shadows through the screen. They were blurry and distorted, but they were there. She could make them out, sitting next to each other, real close, probably leaning on each other. Maybe Rarity’s suspicions were true. Or not. It didn’t matter right now.

“What do you mean, your fault?” she asked.

Raegdan was the fastest of the two. By the time Luna got off the bed and her horn lit, ready to cast, he had already ripped through the sheet and stood in front of Applejack. His armor was missing and new bandages covered his side, a pink smudge already spreading. Fresh bruises covered his face and body. When he saw who he was facing he visibly wilted.

“Out of everyone that it could be, it had to be you,” he said in a voice of surrender.

“You don’t like me much, do ya, big boy?” Applejack answered.

He shrugged. “I fear you. Let’s leave it at that. Can we help you? Or can you just leave?”

Applejack questioned his statement, but chose to turn towards Luna who had reclaimed her previous aloof appearance. “Yeah, no! Y’all could start by explaining to me what you meant when you said what happened is your fault. If you were the ones to try and poison us…”

Applejack dropped that line of reasoning from her thoughts. It was obvious from Luna’s shock and Raegdan’s horrified expression that she was bucking an empty tree. “Spill. What did ya mean?”

Raegdan sat back on the bed, only this time facing Applejack. He motioned for Luna to come next to him and she obliged at once. Luna raised her head to answer, the way she always seemed to do, but Raegdan put his bandaged left hand on the back of her neck and shook his head.

Luna seemed to deflate. She kept her head low and eyes cast down as she answered. “This was not the first poisoning attempt we had to deal with.”

Applejack’s eyes wide shot open wide. Today was all about surprises. “Explain. Now. Or I bring Twilight and Princess Celestia in here and you can explain all this to them.”

Luna and Raegdan seemed to take the threat much more seriously than Applejack would have expected. They exchanged a look and Luna continued. “There have been more attempts since my return. This was the third using poison. We… we didn’t even think that someone would take a chance at hurting one of you. We believed ourselves to be the sole targets.”

“Why didn’t you tell anypony about this? What about your sister?”

“Celestia? What can she do? Give an order to stop trying to kill us? We still have no idea who is behind this. Anypony could be helping them. We are not exactly popular.”

“Ah know. I did some asking around. Seems to me you are doing this to yourselves.”

Raegdan answered her, a shade of anger in his voice. “Don’t think you have the whole picture. We are all alone in this. There is no one we can trust who can actually help. Celestia cannot do anything more than she does already, and she cannot be involved in this. The only one I trust of the Guard is Twilight’s brother and he is in the same boat as her. All we can do is weather this, hope they make a mistake, and keep searching for them on our own. Why do you think we need the Lunar Guard? We have no one on our side. We are fighting for our lives! If we give the slightest opening we will end up dead. We no longer allow anyone at Luna’s tower for a reason. We need help from ponies we can trust!”

This explained much of what she heard today. Their distrust and anger directed towards everypony… they must have been feeling trapped in a place where anypony could be their enemy. No wonder they were ecstatic about today’s fight. They thought they were turning things to their advantage.

Applejack didn’t want to be the one to burst their little bubble, but somepony had to. “Don’t hold your breath for that.”

Raegdan’s and Luna’s head whipped to her direction.

“I had a talk with Shining Armor and I asked around. The way you both acted today, nopony wants to have anything to do with any kind of Lunar Guard.”

It crushed them. Raegdan and Luna looked scared at each other, having a whole conversation with their eyes and they both slumped down. Raegdan lowered his head and closed his eyes while one of his arms went around Luna who hid her face in his neck.

“I’m sorry, but that’s the honest truth. Even if somepony wishes to join, I doubt it will be somepony you two will be able to trust.”

Luna’s voice was muffled but Applejack could hear the cracks in it as she spoke. “We failed. First step of all our plans and we didn’t even make it this far. It’s all my fault. I wanted us to show off. I thought we did so well! We are dead, Raegdan. We are worse than dead. Celestia will find out everything, and then… then…” Luna started quietly sobbing.

Raegdan turned his torso against her and took her in his embrace, letting her sob on his chest. “Luna, we can still do this. We still have options. Even if it all goes bad, at worst… at worst we run. I can get us out. It might be to a life of hell, but it is better than the alternative,” he whispered urgently, fighting to calm her down. Applejack barely heard him among the Alicorn’s whimpers.

“What are you two trying to do? What do you fear so much?” Applejack asked in a hushed whisper. Their despair and fear filled the room. Despite her own tragedy waiting a few steps behind her, Applejack tried to be gentle. Gone was the strong, proud princess. Luna cried in Raegdan’s arm, her facade shattered, exposing a terrified pony beneath.

“Lots of things,” he took a deep breath. “Survive for one. These assassination attempts are only the first step. More elaborate ones will follow when it’s plain that simple things like poison and magic bombs don’t work. We banked all our hopes on having some fighters on our side in due time. For our protection and... other things.” Raegdan’s hands moved comfortingly over Luna’s mane and her back as he talked, trying to soothe her.

“Other things? Like what?”

Luna stopped her quiet crying just enough to answer with malice. “Like you.”

“Pardon?”

“The Elements,” Raegdan explained half-heartedly. He didn’t seem to want to expand on this but Luna’s comment didn’t give him an option. Applejack would just keep pressing now and he knew it. “We want them gone. We need them gone. Either we made sure they are no longer needed and they go back where they came from or we would just take them and... destroy them.”

Applejack couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The Elements were Equestria’s greatest protection. They were virtues in solid form. And they wanted them destroyed?

“The Elements are needed to protect the world. And you two just want to take that away? Are you crazy?”

“Oh, wake up!” Raegdan said disdainfully. “You think those little gems are the only way to protect yourselves and believe everything is fine because with those you can take down the big obvious targets? They are not. You can do just fine without them. And in essence, the Elements are useless!”

“You think L- Nightmare Moon and Discord were evil and dangerous? They were nothing!” he shouted. ”Worse than nothing. They would never be able to win, not if all of you faced them instead of cowering. They were big, they were evil, they were frightening, and they could be beaten. They were just big bullies. But, real evil, that, you cannot defeat by shooting a magic ray at it once and be done with it. It stays forever, because it is in everyone. Little things like greed, pride, little lies, and distrust. Those are its true face. Little, unimportant acts that you can just wave off, until they pile up more and more, like a swarm of cockroaches, and then fall on all of you, drowning worlds in their filth. Come on, miss Honesty, don’t you know how little lies become big ones? You think corruption and madness works differently? The Elements blind you to that, just like Celestia does. You see them shining and dazzling, taking down the big targets. You keep looking up at them and fail to see the gutter that pools at your feet. The Elements will be the death of your world in the end.”

“Even without those reasons, I want them gone. I’ll shatter them with my own hands or cast them outside this world if I have to. As long as they exist and Twilight is bearing one of them, she is gonna keep getting thrusted into one great danger after another.” Raegdan was almost roaring out his fury. “I have other reasons too, I admit to that, but the point remains! You, out of everyone involved, should be supporting us in this. How long until one day someone decides to get the initiative and kills one of you to take this weapon out of the picture? What if that one is you? I know you have a little sister. Doesn’t she have precious little already? Is she going to lose her older sister too?”

Applejack ignored his rant and the irony he missed in it. He hadn’t seen the Elements in action and that’s why he had no faith in them. But that last part… Applejack had never thought of it like this, but he had a point. If some threat wanted to protect itself from them, all it had to do was take one of them out. She… she realized that if Raegdan was right that it could be her. She could be leaving her family behind forever every time she answered the Princess’ call. One day, she might walk away and never return again.

“Just like ma and pa,” she thought.

She moved her attention back to the pair in front of her. After witnessing today’s confrontation with Princess Celestia, Applejack had half a mind to drag all her friends back to Ponyville away from those two. The only reason she didn’t was her gut. Applejack always had a propensity to tell if somepony was honest or not. Raegdan was like a screaming red light for her. Almost his every action and word was like giant flaming letters to her eyes, spelling out “liar”. Except for a very few. His love for Twilight and Spike was genuine, no question. But it wasn’t that which pushed her to hold her tongue and search deeper.

It was his apology about his lack of guilt. He was lying about that, Applejack would bet everything she owned on this. Applejack believed that Raegdan, deep down, at the deepest core of his being, felt guilt. He lied when he denied it, and the little hints she was getting all day told her he lied to himself most out of everyone, so much that he genuinely believed it now. If she needed any proof, his reaction to Fluttershy was it. Luna… Luna was ringing hollow before. It was only now that Applejack felt she was seeing something of her true self. They did have feelings. They made friends out of each other, they supported and comforted the other. Raegdan looked out for Luna and she did the same for him. They were not the complete monsters they had made almost everypony start to believe.

But did this change things? Were those facts making up for their actions, no matter how justified they felt they were? She looked at them again. They resembled foals, trying to keep each other brave during a thunderstorm. Shining Armor said that they were keeping each other calm. She wondered how often that translated to this exact scene being played over and over in the privacy of their tower. How many times did they plunge into depression and fear? Did they ever feel they had the freedom to let their guard down and just enjoy themselves? Maybe, but Applejack wouldn’t bet a lot of bits on how high that number was.

They wouldn’t make it on their own. She was certain of that. They trusted no pony, not even those closest to them for help. Even now, they would not tell the exact truth. They were hiding things, even as they cradled each other. She wasn’t sure what she should do. They were habitual liars. Maybe they felt it necessary to be so, maybe that’s who they just darn were. How much could she trust of what they said? Applejack’s instincts were not infallible, no matter how much she wished her darn fancy necklace helped with that. This could be a huge mistake, listening and believing them. Should she trust their word that things really were that bad and even Princess Celestia hadn’t taken notice?

She glanced back towards the direction where Pinkie was still fighting for her life. Applejack could hear Pinkie’s answer, clear as day, in her mind, followed by happy giggles. “They are our friends, and friends help each other.” Pinkie… she would trust in her ailing friend. She would help them like they did in Ponyville because that was the right way to do things. Not their own. She would show them that there could be ponies they could trust. That Raegdan’s fables of big, little evil, had no place in Equestria. That there were more ponies out there that could be their friends apart from the two of them for each other. Family, friends, and honest work would win the day.

She just needed an opening, something to worm her way into their core and change their path. And she had one. Today’s talks with Shining Armor and their current condition showed her what the weak link in their chain of solitude was. Luna obviously only had Raegdan to hold onto. Raegdan was the key, and Raegdan’s greatest weakness had been made clear again and again. She knew which tasty worm she had to use to bait her hook. She kept silent for a little more, waiting for Luna’s tremors to subside.

“I know how you can fix this.” She had their attention, Applejack knew it, even if they didn’t show it. “Ponies will not trust you, not with the way you act. But if you change your act enough to show them they can trust you to work with you…”

“Girl, I think you are underestimating how badly we are seen. We are not totally blind you know. We know enough of their opinion.”

“And it is well deserved.” That hit its mark, even a little bit. “You need to do this. You told me, Raegdan, they only need to hurt one of us to remove the Elements. But the same goes for you. How long until somepony figures out that all he has to do to remove you from Luna’s side is to target Twilight and Spike. You can’t be standing guard over all of them.” And… hooked! Raegdan was now fully paying attention to her and actually listening to her words.

“You are not trusted. But we are. Princess Celestia is. Show Equestria that you have a better side, work the way we do, along our side, just enough to stop scaring them away and you might be surprised. Try it our way for once. Twilight and Spike might have died today, Raegdan. Because of the way you chose to do this on your own, they were in danger while under your roof.” No pony today, not the ones in the arena, Celestia, or Rainbow had delivered a strike that hit him that hard.

“All y’all have to do is temper down the violent behavior. Show some understanding. Say sorry once in a while, y’know? Stop hitting anypony who scoots too close with a stick. Do as Princess Celestia suggests. Go out, be seen acting in a decent manner. Everypony is so focused on the bad shows you’ve all made of yourselves because that’s all you’ve done so far. Give them an alternate view. What do y’all have to lose?”

Raegdan was going to give this a shot, she knew. Maybe not because he believed it would work, but because he had no other viable choice. At least, not one that held as much promise as this one, one that Twilight and Spike would approve of after the catastrophe of today. He and Luna were whispering in each other’s ears. She wondered if they ever thought about playing nice before or trusted themselves enough to try it.

Luna announced their decision, her despair waned in the face of a new plan to follow, one that had renewed her hopes. Applejack hoped she was doing the right thing. She still didn’t know their exact end goals. The one she did wasn’t one she was going to allow to happen. But as long as she could use Twilight as a deterrent, she thought there would be no special trouble.

“We- we will try your way, Applejack, but we will need a lot of help. We are not sure if we can convince anypony on our own. But we… we can act with help, at least. We are familiar with pretending to be something we are not, we might be able to keep it up long enough to get a few ponies solidly on our side.”

Applejack wasn’t happy with that notion, but she would take it. Even this, an attempt to “pretend to be something they are not”, might change their behavior enough. Little lies did turn to big lies, but sometimes little lies turned to little truths, especially if those lies were the truth all along.

Luna continued, her regal stance returning. “We will have to act fast. Our first order of business will be to actually find the poisoner, at least the assassin who delivered it in our rooms. If we let this attempt against our... friends?” she questioned. Applejack nodded encouragingly. Luna kept going with renewed vigor. “If we cannot protect our friends, how can we show ponies they can put their faith in our abilities? We will find our culprit and bring our wrath down upon him. The Lunar Guard will not go down without a fight! Raegdan. This is our new chance! We fight back. They backed us to a corner and now they shall reap the spoils.”

Raegdan grinned viciously at the idea of finding the one who endangered his children. Applejack knew that he had too much to deal with at the moment, and no target. But when he found one? Oh boy.

Applejack frowned a bit at the idea that Pinkie’s happenstance was to be used as another attempt for them, but she gave it a pass. Plus, she saw what Shining Armor meant. If there was one person she wanted to get his hands on the one who did this to Pinkie, it was Raegdan. As long as he didn’t kill him of course. This wouldn’t help anypony, not Pinkie, not Applejack, nor Raegdan and Luna. But if she had her way, she would make sure he had a couple of minutes of personal time with whoever did it in a small room.

Pinkie. She had to get back out and find out if there were news. She spent too much time here already. If something had-

The door behind her burst open and along with the sudden rays of light that flooded the room came a lavender unicorn, her hurried trotting followed by the serene steps of Princess Celestia.

Twilight was shedding tears. Oh no, this… this didn’t bode well.

Twilight ignored Applejack and Luna and jumped onto Raegdan’s lap, eliciting a wince of pain from the half naked biped. Luna quickly scooted away and put her serene mask over her face again, her face unmarked by her tears with a quick spell that was cast the instant the door opened.

“Raegdan, help her, you have to help her, you must know something that can help! Please! Please, save Pinkie Pie!” Twilight was frantically begging him, her front hooves shaking his shoulders, hope trying to come up her voice, but failing, ending shattered and broken.

“Twilight, what’s going on? What’s happened to Pinkie Pie?” Applejack was having trouble breathing. This didn’t sound good, not at all. What had happened out there while she was in here?

Princess Celestia answered Applejack from behind her. “I am sorry. The doctors are doing everything they can, but with the amount of poison she ingested… There is nothing they can do to save her. Her natural earth pony magic is feeding the poison. Luna told us what the poison was but any treatment is useless with the strength the enchantment currently has. We can cast no spell to help her, not without killing her outright. We cannot even do anything to ease her pain. I am sorry, Applejack. There is nothing to be done. All we might be able to give her is a quick… release.” Celestia was talking calmly but tears were making small wet trails on her face.

The rest of the girls and Spike came rushing in behind her too. All of them crying now, all of them with a sparkle of hope shining in their eyes. Applejack realized what this was. They came in to beg the alien creature, the one that had knowledge outside of Equestria, to share his secrets and save their friend. Applejack turned to Raegdan, hope blooming in her chest too. “He knows things,” Twilight had said. “They have no magic.” He had to know a way to treat her without spells.

Raegdan looked at all of them, one by one, before turning to Luna, exchanging another one of their looks. Their expressions of pity ravaged their hopes.

“I am sorry, little one. I have nothing. I am no scientist. I am no doctor. All I have are half remembered things I read or learned a lifetime ago. I don’t know anything that can help your friend.”

“No!” Twilight refused to believe him. “You have to know something, anything. You- you once told me that your people had machines that could cleanse the blood! What about that, we can use that!”

Raegdan tried to bring her down gently. “Twilight, that’s all I know about that. A machine that can clean the blood. That’s it. I don’t know how to build it, I don’t know how it works, I am not even sure about its uses in medicine. I’m sorry.”

Twilight’s hopes evaporated, like they did for all of them. She leaned against Raegdan’s chest, much like Luna did before, and sobbed loudly.

Rarity tried to push him for more, refusing to give up. “Raegdan, please. There must be something you can do. Some secret, some skill you have, something!” The white unicorn was joined by the quiet pleading of Fluttershy to save her friend. Even Rainbow had let go of the vestiges of her anger, quietly repeating “please” to him, over and over.

Raegdan’s attempt to remain composed shattered before the expectations they were piling before him, the mass of supplication,and appeal for hope. Applejack figured that he couldn’t deal with this well because it was so outside his comfort zone. This wasn’t something he could fix or scare away with violence. He couldn’t help where it truly mattered. Pinkie Pie was doomed.

“What do you expect from me? I have nothing! You are the ones with magic, with the knowledge of how you actually work. I am not some mythical creature with ancient knowledge,” he shouted at them with bitter sarcasm. ”I don’t have a horn on my head, or a magic mane. I don’t attract virgins with my purity and my blood doesn’t heal the sick or grant eternal life. I have no magic, or technology that can help you. All I have left is what you see before you, my flesh and blood. She is going to die! Accept it! I cannot stop that from-”

He halted his angry rant. He appeared to be thinking something over, gazing somewhere in the distance behind them. Twilight stopped her crying and looked up to his face, waiting. They all leaned forward, hope daring to spring up again. Even Princess Celestia held her breath. His eyes were glazed and his mouth was moving, mouthing his alien words.

“I think… I think I have an idea. Luna, we need to talk. Tell me if this could work…” he pulled Luna away from them and they started arguing in whispers.

Applejack didn’t believe this. Only this fella could actually think of something like that. Luna was sitting behind him, giving him something to lean on, pride and worry both occupying her face at once.

Raegdan was sitting on the edge of Pinkie’s bed. They had removed the tubes from Pinkie’s mouth and moved her so she was half sitting on her rump, leaning on Raegdan’s torso like a foal. They debated a bit for the best way to do this until Raegdan just unsheathed one of his knives and gave it to Luna to make a proper cut.

His arm with the sliced wrist was in front of Pinkie’s mouth, the blood flowing in her mouth. His other hand was gently massaging her throat, urging her to swallow. Raegdan was sweating, his skin was turning pale, and seemed to be getting tired. He had spent most of his day bleeding in one way or another.

Applejack and the others were standing by the side, watching with some disgust. Princess Celestia seemed to find some amusement in it after her initial look of disturbance.

The unicorn doctor dared to cast a monitoring spell on Pinkie. His amazed bewilderment brought waves of relief among them. “I don’t believe this. It’s working. The nullifying effect is weakened, but digesting it spreads it all over her system for long enough. Her magic is being depleted and the poison is starting to get weaker. The antidote will start to work. She is gonna make it,” he announced with a smile. They all cheered, crying out in relief. “Keep going for as long as you can, my big friend. We can stop in a few minutes and replenish what you lost so you can continue this in the morning!”

Raegdan nodded tiredly. A smile was spreading on his face. Applejack turned to see what he was looking at. Twilight, Spike, and Celestia were standing over her side, looking at him with undisguised pride. Applejack felt pride for him too. She was going to do as she said. She was going to help those two and get the girls behind her. They saved Pinkie Pie from certain death. They owed them this.

“You know, among my kind,” Raegdan started to say with weary amusement, “there is this myth that drinking blood like this, from a dead-not dead-drinker of blood, when standing on the edge of dying, you come back to life as a creature of the night, and become like him.” He turned towards Pinkie Pie and employed a strange accent. “Rise Pinkie Pie. Your Mastah calls you. Rise from death and embrace ze night! Ve shall dance in ze moonlight and drink ze blood of ze innocent!” Luna was the only one to laugh at this.

He looked back at their expressions of shock. “This is why I don’t do humor often. It is wasted on you,” he said and kept on feeding Pinkie his magic nullifying blood. “Ze blood is ze life... You could at least fake a chuckle, my little ones.”

Luna and Raegdan exchanged a satisfied glance. Applejack knew in her heart that this was a moment of potential change for them. Whatever they were afraid of, whatever they wanted to achieve, she believed they had a proper chance now. Now all Applejack and her friends had to do was stand by their side and keep them in line. Things would change for those two, starting tomorrow, after some well-deserved sleep.

Applejack was tired as buck.

She just wished they both hadn’t smiled like that when talking about finding their potential assassin. Luna had grinned like that earlier today at the tournament too...

Author's Notes:

The_Mechanic has written a spin-off story of this fic where you can read Raegdan's tournament fight from the eyes of Sgt. Heavy Hoof, earth pony Solar Guard. The story is here: Blood, Dirt and Steel

Thanks to Requiem17 for editing.