Luna huffed a long upset groan. A week had passed since the Midnight Onyx had safely returned to Canterlot. Things had become interesting. A vibrant, overtly exuberate mare had sprung from the ship and proceeded the make the Princess of the Night’s life a living hell. It would seem that for Equestria few necessary qualifications were needed to be a ruler. One must only be big, beautiful, and an alicorn and ponies would just do as you say. Frankly, it disturbed Luna how easily Gusty broke the thousand years of courtly tradition and tossed her physical and metaphorical weight around. While the mischievous mare’s ploys were always to fulfil something she or Celestia wanted out of the Council of Nobility, it still irritated her.

Perhaps this was because Gusty’s extravagance attracted the attention of her coltfriend rather exclusively. Jealousy was a powerful emotion that had always held a place in Luna’s heart, and she was no longer afraid to admit it. To enhance the disgruntlement, she had never intended to be directly competing with an female opponent to keep her relationship afloat. Gusty and her attitude had seemingly changed overnight and in no small part due to the stallion’s actions. It hurt worse that the first thing Guardian Angel had said upon his return was:

“Luna. I need a full mental diagnostic on Gusty as soon as possible.” Before stumbling off into the Palace to bathe and then sleep for two days straight.

He had been covered in blood and filth, and looked like he had not slept in half a month, but Luna had wanted attention. She would have let him take her then and there just to prove a point both to Guardian Angel and herself. However, the stallion’s will was difficult to dilute and after later hearing all that had transpired she understood his dour mood better. That did not excuse him shirking his promises but would allow him a time extension. Time enough to rest and prepare for more meaningful time together. Meanwhile she was left to help Celestia manage Gusty.

“You know Gusty it would best if you managed to use less...diplomatic force during Court,” Celestia commented.

“You are probably right. But you can’t argue with the results, ‘Tia.” Gusty chomped down on the celery she had on a levitating fork. After all, it was lunchtime in the throne room.

Luna looked down at her food while her sister and peer chattered on. Tea, a large medley of vegetables, and a salty pastry of rye stared up at her expectantly. It was a tasty meal, but she was feeling more peckish than usual, That was likely guilt, she had been a little lax on her dreamwalking duties this week, one of the many consequences of this new and improved Gusty.

“Sister, are you feeling well?” Celestia asked. “You haven’t touched your food.”

“Yeah. What’s the big deal Luna? You actually come to Morning Court for several days, hardly say a thing the whole time, and now you aren’t eating?” the other alicorn chimed in.

In response, she lifted up the the pile of vegetables not with her fork but with just her magic and stuffed the whole group into her mouth. She narrowed her eyes at the other two mares as she barely kept the food in her mouth whilst chewing. They were silent as she quickly finished the food.

“I feel fine. A little annoyed perhaps,” she stated waiting on their responses.

“Yes, but why?” Gusty questioned before Celestia.

“Stress…” Luna rubbed an itchy eye, “A general lack of sleep, and hormones.”

“The kind where a mare spends too much time away from her stallion?” her sister questioned with a coy grin. Luna cast a harsh scowl at Celestia who rolled her eyes playfully in response.

“I did not come here to discuss my relationship, sister,” she admonished. Her elder sibling nodded graciously before turning to look at Gusty.

“Yeah. What are you here for? Shouldn’t you be sleeping? I know how tiring dreamwalking can be!” The teal mare advised correctly. How she knew the specifics of traversing the Astral Plane, Luna decided to ignore.

“Quite. I came here to discuss things with you Gusty Twilight.” She bowed her head as she spoke warmly. This was important to her as much as it was Guardian Angel. Keeping the errant mare of unfathomable power properly coddled kept the citizens of Equestria safe. Her quarry raised an eyebrow in concern but waited for Luna to continue.

“It would seem,” she paused momentarily to clear her dry throat, “That the majority of the magic that had been affecting your mind has been removed. I’m sure you’ve noticed the improved memory capacity as well as your mood.”

“Well, of course!” Gusty swung her mane merrily. “I haven’t felt this great in literal millennias! I can remember just about everything, like you said, and I don’t have strange voices yelling at me anymore. While not every memory is especially happy, overall it’s like I’m a whole new mare. I don’t feel compelled to dwell on the Shadow-kin anymore either.”

Pausing, the ancient alicorn’s face pulled into a serious stare. Luna unconsciously swallowed the lump in her throat. Like Guardian Angel had described, she could feel the raw ability Gusty had inside of her. A mere glance from the teal mare felt like a knife held to one’s neck.

“But, I want to know why and how. I don’t understand what he did. The curse of his kin is not something easily broken nor the magic I placed on myself. It takes more than an iron will and the power he has to have done such,” Gusty commented, never breaking eye-contact with Luna.

“Speaking frankly, dear, what Stormy did nearly killed him. I’ve never seen him sleep this much, nor eat this much. And the few times Luna had me check on him he was pale and sickly.” Celestia placed a hoof on her friend’s back as she spoke.

Gusty’s gaze relaxed and she sat back in her chair. The oldest mare seemed lost in thought for a moment as she looked at no particular spot on the table. She remained silent while she looked back up, Luna took that as her cue to continue what her sister had started.

“Further, I said majority,” she emphasized. “It seems that he only destroyed the magic you created. The affliction his family gave you still lives.”

“Lives?” Gusty questioned with clear horror. She raised an eyebrow at her.

“I will not mince words, Gusty Twilight,” Luna stated evenly. “The Curse of the Shadow-kin, as we are calling it, is a sentient thing. Had it continued to assault your mind while he was shielding you, it would have killed itself, and most likely, Guardian Angel as well. But it stopped, with purpose. It is only a matter of time before it regains its strength and resumes its malignancy within your mind.”

The teal mare’s face lowered in deep concentration. Flattening her ears in apprehension the Princess of the Moon waited impatiently. She had no idea how Gusty would react or how the other mare was going to feel about this realization. Every little flick of her eyelashes made Luna feel more uncomfortable. Pressure slowly started to build in the mare of the night’s head until it was almost an audible thing, but Gusty finally broke her silence.

“How long will it take?” she murmured coldly still not looking up.

“We don’t know. Symptoms could start tomorrow, next mouth, next year maybe, could happen even now,” Celestia delivered the rest of the news. Her elder sister placed a wing around Gusty, slipping out of her chair to stand by her friend. The teal mare exhaled a long sigh in response and turned her head away from the two solar sisters.

“You know...I’m actually pretty okay with not knowing,” she started before turning back to look between them. “I’d rather it happen when it happens, I-I-I don’t think I could handle the anxiety of knowing when. I want to be able to enjoy this reprieve from centuries of suffering, as short or as long as it might be.”

A calm, but confining silence fell between them. Luna stood from her chair in order to elicit some form of noise over the quiet. It proved insufficient, so she let her hooves clop loudly as she went to take the opposite side of Gusty.

“To paraphrase my stallion, ‘We will be here for you, no matter what”” Luna placed a hoof on the other alicorn’s shoulder. Gusty looked down at her limb with an almost confused look on her face.

“Your stallion…” the teal mare paused before she gasped. “You two are the couple! Ohhh! It all makes sense now! I still have your scarf by the way.”

Luna cleared her throat authoritatively, at least as authoritatively as her smaller stature would allow. Gusty rambled on for a moment before Luna’s continued “authoritative” clearing of her throat got her attention.

“As I was saying, we are here to help rid you of this particularly resilient malady, but you must report any symptom changes before your condition worsens to the point where you are uncooperative,” Luna warned.

“That’s a scary thought...but not something I haven’t experienced…” Gusty replied slowly. Her brow knitted together in thought for a moment, before her face relaxed, but she remained silent.

“The important part is that you know your symptoms, and once they start you can inform us immediately. While Luna and I may not be able to replicate the magic you created originally, we can certainly make a few charms that will help deal with the associated anxiety and paranoia you experience,” her elder sister continued playing her part beautifully.

“A welcome relief I can assure you,” the teal mare nodded, “Otherwise I guess we just wait? I suppose I could find a way to entertain myself until things get worse...maybe I’ll go visit Guardian Angel...or drag Bunker to a musical...hmm, now that I can think there are just so many possibilities!”

They needed their quarry to understand the gravity of the situation. Having studied many of Gusty’s dreams, Luna felt certain that the mare was so determined to pretend she did not take things seriously that she sometimes waxed senile. However, no matter how hard she tried Gusty knew exactly the danger she posed to those around her, especially now that the layers and layers of mind altering magic had been removed. Luna pitied her because of such, twas a cruel existence to know that at any given moment you could snap and destroy half the planet. In reality, that was the true torture and suffering of the Curse of the Shadow-kin, the unknowing horror of what moment would be the last one you were in control.

Gusty had managed to survive the millennias of anguish, but now her armor had been stripped away. Having observed it deep in the mare’s subconscious, Luna knew that this made her afraid, terrified. Gusty would never admit that williningly though; a flaw of pride that a certain stallion had seen through immediately. However, it had become apparent that at least a portion of her recognized that she required help, the will to survive trumping the psychological crutch of hubris. It was to that end that Luna also needed to recruit an assistant.

“Unfortunately, I must be going. I have some work that needs doing,” she cut over the chatter of her elder sister and Gusty. It broke up their long theory chain of various and nefarious activities that could be participated in by the wayward mare.

“Work so soon? I honestly thought you would get at least a quick nap in before you started,” Celestia chriped with a hint of concern in her voice.

“I might yet, it depends on how lucky I am. Zeccaran could very well not be awake.” Luna shook her head at the likelihood of the striped stallion being asleep at lunchtime.

“Just kick the legs out from under his cot, or chair, depending, that always wakes him up,” Gusty smirked evilly.

“How rather crass. How have you two remained friends?” Luna questioned.

“He needs the abuse to keep him acting like a normal pony. So I provide the abuse. It's a very...ride or die relationship. Besides I own him for killing Gertrude’s daughter. Still not sure if I’m going to forgive him for that one.” Gusty gave a cold grimace in remembrance of the recent events. Luna decided that a different time would be best to direct blame to the proper party, and turned to leave.

“A fair assessment,” She said over her shoulder before pausing at the door to toss a general insult in the direction of her sister and rival. “Have a nice afternoon you two lazy louts!”

Instead of teleporting or walking, Luna opted to make a quick get away via magic smoke. It was her favorite mode of transportation, and scaring a noble or two with a shadow of sparkling blue-purple nothingness was always rather enjoyable. The transformation spell worked well to spy and eavesdrop as well, if she remembered to use it, afterall it was very difficult to contain a cloud of sentient smoke. Making her way down into the bowels of the Palace, Luna slipped into the ventilation ducts. She followed the narrow paths into the Advanced Research Division, circumventing the guards and checkpoints. Even the presence of small insects inside the vents would trigger alerts at the various security stations, but smoke did not hold the form needed to be detected making it impossible to stop her from coming and going as she pleased. It was a very minor security flaw, and one that very few magicians could exploit at that. Other than herself, Luna only knew of about five ponies that could manage casting the spell, three of whom were Equestrian Royalty.

Luna’s thoughts were stopped when she spilled out of the air duct into Zeccaran’s lab-abode and beheld the most interesting of sights. On the lounge sofa buried beneath a mare twice his size sat the stallion in question. The couple had not noticed her enter the facility and continued their game of tonsil hockey. Ending the smoke spell Luna retook her normal form and stood gaping in surprise. She had not even been aware that Zeccaran cared for the company of other ponies, to see him this compromised left her in shock. However, it was the particular pony that now pinned him to the sofa that was the most dangerous thing about this revelation.

Having gathered her composure, Luna quietly scooted back towards the door to the lab proper. She lifted a back hoof and swung it against the door frame’s hardy wood three times. Zeccaran and his girlfriend jumped in surprise, followed by a long irritated groan being emitted by the zebra.

“I knew it was a dream, I knew it!” he grumbled loudly, “I can’t ever have anything nice ever!” The red-maned mare raised an eyebrow at him before rolling her eyes and leaning against him silently.

Luna cocked her head to one side and laid her ears flat in anger. She would not have interrupted if this was not the waking world.

“I am afraid that this not a dream, dear Zeccaran. And to that effect, I must ask you: do you have a death wish?” she inquired.

“So...wait. This is real?! Oh, thank the stars and moon!” he leaned back in and kissed the mare again. She giggled smartly before pushing him away and motioning toward Luna.

“I guess you ignored the death wish part?” the mare rather graciously remarked.

“Yeah, but I can die happy now,” the zebra responded nuzzling his companion back. Luna stifled a gag, Zeccaran did not fit the description of lovey-dovey: Not even when his girlfriend mewled back appreciatively.

“Anyway. You do know who that is, correct?” she asked her acolyte.

Zeccaran paused from nuzzling and sat up properly as his mare leaned up to do the same. Luna caught her give a small worried look toward the zebra before a look of acceptance took over her features.

“Well...she’s my girlfriend, her name is Pixima, Pixie for short, she works in the A.R.D, and runs the Archives...What else is there to know?” Zeccaran questioned.

“Let us consider some broad features about her. She’s taller than myself. Outrageously attractive, yellow eyes, trademark enormous wings.” Luna put a hoof to her temple as she spoke. Hopefully it would not take much more for the zebra to understand the dire situation he had put himself into.

“You aren’t taller than Princess Luna, are you?” Zeccaran asked. In response Pixie stood up and trotted over next to her. The red-maned mare was just slightly taller than Gusty if Luna guessed correctly, which made her easily taller than her.

“I believe I am,” Pixie laughed pointing out the obvious.

“Okay...but I don’t understand the context of the other stuff. Maybe I’m just thinking the wrong things?” the zebra squinted with a lift in his voice.

Luna raised an eyebrow is a general disgruntlement. This was simple, and Zeccaran would be able to realize on his own if he perhaps decided to stare somewhere besides Pixie’s plot. Frankly, that would help him figure the issue out if he was not only looking at its shape. Continuing to wait, Luna let a frown come onto her face. If this was the level of cognitive thought she was going to be recruiting to her cause it might be better to just dreamwalk into Gusty’s mind alone.

A short empty gasp escaped Zeccaran and his black stripes seemingly turned the off-white grey of the rest of his coat. The connection had been made and with it the fear had set in as expected.

“Pixie….you aren’t a Stormwalker are you?” he questioned quietly, his throat tight.

“Well, he finally figured it out, Princess,” the mare turned her head to face Luna, “Better sooner than later I guess. I didn’t want to stress him out over it, but he would have had to be told some time.”

Zeccaran babbled incoherent curses and statements mentioning fear and death. Both the mare of the moon and the red-maned mistress folded their ears in dismay. They were forced to wait for several minutes as the zebra eventually calmed enough to gather himself. Still, he remained panting, just short of hyperventilating, as he looked between them with worry.

“L-like what are we going to do...if he finds out, G-guardian Angel will kill me!” he shrieked

“Oh, he won’t do that...but he’ll probably beat your stripes off...make you wish you were dead things like that.” Pixie seemingly enjoyed Zeccaran’s ability to torment himself via his imagination. Luna rolled her eyes at the other mare’s words. Meanwhile the zebra continued to fret even as his girlfriend left her side and joined him on the sofa again.

Luna took to examining the small lounge as Pixie attempted to calm her now even more irrational companion. It was a quaint little room, although it possessed many of the normal comforts. On the far side of the area a door led into a dim room marked by the flickering of a candle or lamp. Blankets and several stacks of notes and scrolls were scattered in wads in the doorway. Grimacing, Luna returned her attention to her soon to be helpers and waited with raised eyebrows before deciding to speak.

“Barring your self-destructive behavior: while you are still alive I require your assistance.” Luna tapped a hoof as a means to draw a little more attention towards her.

Zeccaran sighed with a hearty shake of worry and looked over at her with wide eyes. “What do you need, Princess?”

“Dreamwalking. I need you to come with me for a specific venture,” she informed him.

“But...I don’t really know what I’m doing...are you sure?” the stallion asked skeptically from the couch.

“I am certain. Your natural ability is greater than even my own. Though you might be inexperienced, I can easily help you focus your abilities. Besides, it’s to help Gusty,” Luna explained.

“Gusty..as in Gusty Twilight?” Pixie asked, Luna nodded to confirm. “Is my brother dating her yet? He was very determined the last time I spoke to him. It was two years ago now.”

Silence followed Pixie’s question. The Princess of the Moon and the zebra looked at one another a smile slowly spreading both of their lips. It was not long before they were laughing and then cackling. The red-maned mare looked between them question what was so funny, and if it was an inside joke she wished to know. This only made Luna and Zeccaran laugh even harder.

“So you haven’t even sent him any letters over the last two years?!” the zebra blathered. “He hasn’t sent you any either?! That’s hilarious!”

Luna had to sit down and lean onto the door frame that led into the room to avoid falling from her hooves. The head curator of the Royal Archives had mentioned in formal paperwork that she would be on an extended research venture. However, Luna did not realize that it had been so long. The idea of Gusty and Guardian Angel was not incomprehensible but with the current state of things it was hysterical that Pixie thought her brother had wooed the errant mare. Perhaps had he tossed his very being in between the curses of his kin and Gusty’s mind shortly after they had met it could have happened but it had taken almost three years for Guardian Angel to even know to do such. This only made it more enjoyable for Luna to laugh at; especially because she was the pony dating Pixie’s brother.

“Sorry to laugh at your expense,” Zeccaran said rubbing the back of his neck as they slowly stopped cackling.

“Yes, I don’t mean to seem pretentious,” Luna said to Pixie, “but your brother gave up on dating her about the time she got married to another stallion, turning his attention to a different mare.” She pointed at herself, to which the other mare’s eyes widened in surprise.

“He’s dating you!? Zeccaran, why didn’t you tell me Luna and Guardian Angel were a thing?” Pixie asked with a faux-incredulousness.

“Uh..because I didn’t know until just now?” he responded with a big lift in his voice.

“You’ll have to forgive Zeccaran, he has the romantic aptitude of a goblin,” Luna giggled.

“True. But thats why I like him.” Pixie slapped the zebra on the back with a hoof. An awkward moment passed before Luna let a sigh whisper out of her snout.

“Back to the subject at hoof. Zeccaran: We will be doing preliminary testing this evening. With the majority of the magic surrounding Gusty’s mind removed we should have an easy time making small incursions into her subconscious to ensure that the entity that has been affecting her remains dormant for as long as possible. Or at least until we find a safe way to remove it,” she explained.

“So this curse...it’s alive?” Pixie questioned instead of the zebra.

“Yes...though I did not mention that was what it was.” Luna tilted her head. It was surprising for the red-maned mare to know details. Especially when the information was on a need to know basis. However, even in her short explanation she had not given away specific details, but it was possible that Guardian Angel had informed his sister as she was a high ranking member of the A.R.D. Still that seemed suspicious, even for a meddling Stormwalker, and that was saying something.

“True. But I don’t have another word for the way my brother originally described it to me. You know me...left to think over what could possibly be causing such a large amount of psychological distress..an entire archive full of books and rare knowledge.Though correct me if I’m wrong,” Pixie gave a sly smile.

“You are not. And I must say your power of deduction is most disturbing.” Luna shivered a little. It was certainly a good thing the Stormwalkers were on Equestria’s side. She dare not think of the consequences should they decide they no longer desired peace. Gusty’s previous distrust would be more than justified if such a travesty occured.

“Well, Princess...I hate to sound selfish but if that’s all you needed do you mind if Pixie and I go back to what we were doing?” Zeccaran piped up with a blush growing on his face.

“I suppose. Although..” Luna paused and gave her stallion’s little sister a once over. “Perhaps I shall also enlist the help of miss Pixima in the ever-growing hyperbole of Gusty Twilight. Especially now that she knows more than I realized.”

Pixie raised her brows inquisitively, making her eyes sparkle a little too similarly to her brother’s “You could. It would keep me busy now that I’m on vacation. What do you have in mind?”

“Why don’t you happen to bump into Gusty sometime this week. Her demeanor is rather bubbly in comparison to how it has been, and I think that will rub off on you. Start up a friendship with her and monitor her behavior. I will get you some reference material so you can make more educated analysis of her actions,” Luna recommended. At this point any additional information could be helpful. Keeping Pixie involved with the investigation instead of outside it also seemed like a prudent idea.

“Soooo...spy on her by being her friend? Rather devious don’t you think?” the snowy mare teased.

“Perhaps. However, it will help keep you where I can see you as well.” Luna let just a touch of contempt enter her voice in an effort to play along.

“Alright..I’ll play your game, Luna. But, don’t expect me to play fair!” Pixie gave a bit of a dark chuckle.

“I wouldn’t expect you to.” Luna glanced between the zebra and his companion one last time, “I suppose I should leave you two lovebirds to it. See you this evening.”

Turning back into smoke, Luna made a hasty exit. She had some relaxing to do, and there was not a better place than the hooves of Guardian Angel. Hopefully he was still in her room sleeping and not off on a hunt. Luna made a mental note that she needed to squeeze a few extra moments in with him before things picked up again. Even if Gusty did not start experiencing symptoms until much later, her stallion would be busy trying to figure out a way to help the mare. Luna had always admired his determination to undo what had been done, but these days it just made her jealous. Still, it was not as if she and Guardian Angel’s relationship was poor, she just wished that it was more. Until Gusty was fully cleansed of the works of the Shadow-kin Luna severely doubted it could be. However, it was she that would be sleeping in the same bed as him and not Gusty, and that was enough to put a smile on her face. She just hoped that would last forever.

And so ends Act 3...

Edit: I just realized I used the wrong version of Pixie!