To Do Our Duty

Chapter Four –  Shades of Grey

By: Sturm Panzer

“Well come on, it's only been a couple of days since you sent that letter.  Maybe she's just busy and all.” Applejack commented to Twilight Sparkle.

With a brief shake of her head, Twilight took a moment to look over at the cart that was bringing the latest bunch of wounded and injured Guardponies to the temporary barracks set up in Ponyville's Town Hall.  “It's not like Princess Celestia.  Usually she replies to my letters right away.  I've never seen her take this long to answer, and that worries me.”

Rarity looked over the handful of Pegasus ponies in the cart as they were brought in.  Fortunately the injuries didn't look too bad for these ones.  They were lucky enough to have all their pieces, at least.  “The Princess has a lot on her mind right now, so give her some time to get the affairs of Equestria in order.  I'm sure she'll reply as soon as she can.”

Twilight let out a soft sigh, then turned away from the Town Hall and started back for the Library.  She'd been coming out here every time some of the injured Guardponies were brought in.  Each time, she felt her heart leap into her throat.  Each time she silently prayed to Celestia that Rainbow Dash would not be amongst the wounded.  And then she felt shame and guilt on wishing some other pony would be hurt instead of her friend.

“Come on, Twi, don't be all down in the dumps like that,” Applejack commented quietly as she nudged her shoulder against Twilight's side, “Look at it this way, Dash was alive and well last you saw her, right?  So that means she's been able to take care of herself this long.”

“Applejack's right,” sniffed Rarity, still looking dignified, though she was taking a look over the injured with just as much concern as Twilight was. “Other ponies look at you as a leader, at least of sorts.  If you look all down and depressed, others will feel the same way.”

“Thanks.  Both of you.  I'm…  I'm just all anxious about this whole mess.”  Twilight let out a soft sigh, opening the door to the Library and then paused at the door.  “I'll be ok.  I'm going to do some studying.  I was reading about a far-seeing spell that might let me look in on Rainbow Dash.  I'd at least feel a little better if I knew she was ok right now.”

“All right dear,” Rarity said, looking over back toward the Hall.  “I'm going to take a wander back over and see if I can get any information from the Guardponies about what's going on.  Come by my boutique later and well have some tea.”

“While you're at it, can you see if they can spare any Pegasus for weather duty?  The crops need some more rain, and the sooner, the better.”  One of Applejack's hooves lightly kicked at the dry ground.  “We're looking at a smaller harvest as is, I don't want to see it getting worse.”

“I'll try asking them, but I don't know how much help they can give us,” commented Rarity as she started walking back toward the Hall.

Twilight had noticed that Rarity was dressing up more than usual, and today's extravagance was in an outfit that would have been more appropriate for Canterlot court than for walking around Ponyville.  “Maybe she's just waiting for Prince Blueblood to show up?” thought Twilight.  She then ruthlessly suppressed the flash of heat that surged through her belly at the memory of how the Prince has looked at her.

Once inside the Library, Twilight wandered over to her desk, noting that Spike was still not back yet.  He was supposed to be out helping Fluttershy with her animals.

The purple unicorn had barely opened the tome she was researching when a loud, piercing cry sounded that nearly made Twilight jump as she was startled.  “What?!”  looking around quickly, she saw a brilliant red and orange bird perched on the sill of the opened window.  Somehow she'd totally missed seeing it when she came in, unless it just arrived…

Twilight blinked at the bird a few times, and it took those seconds before she realized who it was.  “Philomena?  What are you doing here?”

With a sharp cry the bird took wing and glided across the room to Twilight's desk.  She was now certain that it was indeed Philomena, Princess Celestia's pet phoenix.  Although what it was doing in Ponyville, so far from Canterlot, was a complete mystery.

Once Philomena had landed on a pile of books, Twilight could see that it was carrying a small bundle wrapped up in green silk, which the bird dropped and pushed toward Twilight with one foot.

“What's this?...”  The unicorn lifted up the bundle and carefully opened it. Inside there was another, smaller, bundle, along with a carefully folded piece of paper.  Inside the smaller bundle was a small trapezoid made of some kind of pale green rock, and well polished.

To my Faithful Student,

There is much that I need to say, but a written letter is a poor medium for saying those words.

I have not forgotten or ignored your letter.  Instead I will give you the answers to your questions in person, since I know you would prefer to hear me give them, rather than read a mere letter.

Philomena has delivered to you a Keystone with this letter.  Unlock the power of the Keystone and I will be able to speak to you personally.

Your proud mentor, Princess Celestia

“A Keystone?” Twilight muttered to herself, looking at Philomena, who was perched expectantly on the pile of books still.  “I know I've heard of that term before, now where did?......” Turning, the unicorn wandered over to the one of the bookcases, looking up along the shelves, squinting a bit as she looked over the tomes.  Then with a soft sigh, a handful of the books floated over to the desk, where Twilight could start reading them.  “Ok, Philomena.  Let's see what you brought me…”

Twilight was awoken by a loud knocking on the door, followed by Rarity's voice, “Oh Twilight, are you home?”

Blinking the sleep from her eyes, Twilight walked over to the door, realizing the sun was setting outside.  “Oh, Hi Rarity.  I'd kind of fallen asleep while studying.  I'm sorry, I forgot all about having tea with you.”

“Oh that's quite alright, dear.  You're had a lot on your mind, and I have to say that you seem a little better now than you did this morning. ”  Rarity glanced over at the Town Hall briefly, then back.  “I heard that Prince Blueblood will be coming back tonight, but he hasn't arrived yet, so I thought I'd stop by and see how you are.  What were you studying?”

“Philomena brought me something from the Princess.  It's something called a 'Keystone',” Twilight nodded to the phoenix, who was curled up on top of a pillow on a chair and was sleeping with it's beak tucked under one wing.  “I haven't figured out how it works, though.”

Both unicorns turned toward the Town Hall as some kind of commotion was happening over there.  Then they both left the Library and ran over, to see what was going on.

It only took a few minutes to cover the distance at a full gallop, with Rarity taking a slower pace because of her dress that she didn't want to mess up, and getting left behind by the purple unicorn.  But once there, it took Twilight a moment to figure out what she was looking at.

A trio of Pegasus ponies, all decked out in the same kind of black outfits that Twilight had seen Rainbow Dash wearing a few nights ago, were standing around a single griffin, who looked much worse for wear.  It had obviously been roughed up a fair bit, and it's limbs were securely tied up.  A unicorn officer, along with a couple of other Guardponies were present, just as another black Pegasus came out from the Hall, her mask was off and some of her yellow coat could be seen underneath.

The Unicorn officer nodded to another Unicorn, then toward the griffin.  “Take it inside and down to the basement for interrogation.”

The lone black Pegasus nodded to the trio, “Good work,” she said, then softly, “I'm sorry to hear about Bluetip, Dash.  She'll be missed.”

Pushing up her goggles, Twilight could see Rainbow Dash's eyes, and the hurt inside them briefly before the Pegasus looked up at the sky.  “Yeah, thanks..  She and I..  We went to flight school together, we were in the same class…”

“Dash!” Twilight called out as she ran over to her friend.  “Are you ok?  What happened?  What are they doing with that griffin?”

“Twilight?” Rainbow Dash said, looking a little confused for a moment, then taking the look of a filly that's caught red handed by her mother doing something they know they shouldn't be.  “Uh, I just got back here from doing a mission..”

“That's enough, Miss Sparkle,” the lone Pegasus stated flatly.  “Dash, take the rest of your Flight back to the forward camp.”

Looking at the other Pegasus, Dash nodded slightly, ”Ok..“ but she was interrupted by Twilight.

“Wait, what's going on?  Why are you capturing griffins?” demanded Twilight, looking mainly at Dash, as if trying to divine an answer from her friend's face.

Instead of getting a clear answer, Dash's face took on a haunted look, as if she was witnessing some atrocity and was helpless to stop it.  

It was the other Pegasus that spoke first with a commanding tone.  “Rainbow Dash.  Take your Flight back to the forward camp.  I'll talk to miss Sparkle.  Now go.”

“Yes, Spitfire.”  Dash replied reluctantly, then vaulted upward into the night sky, along with the other two black-clad Pegasus ponies.

Whirling to face Spitfire, who she remembered as one of the original members of the Wonderbolts, Twilight stood form as she faced off with her.  “What's going on?  Interrogating prisoners secretly?  How many do you have locked up down there?  Why wasn't anyone told about this?”

Spitfire didn't shy away, instead she took an aggressive pace forward.  “Yes.  We're capturing prisoners for interrogation.  Information is what's saving lives out there.  If we have to be rough on a few savages to bring this war to a close, then that's what we'll do.”  Turning her head, the yellow Pegasus looked at the griffin who was being carried inside by a unicorn.  “Anyway, it's not like they're ponies or anything, so why are you worried about what happens to them?  Why should you care if some of them suffer an unpleasant death?”

Twilight was stunned, she couldn't believe what she'd just heard!  Standing there with her mouth hanging open, it took her a few seconds before she found her voice, “What?!  They're not ponies, but they're still living, thinking creatures, deserving of at least some respect!”

Wrong,” stated Spitfire in a fat, uncompromising tone.  “They are dangerous savages, willing to kill us in a moment if they see the chance.  The Buffalo are even worse, as they are trying to crush all of Equestria under their hooves until they rule everything.  To stop them, I will do whatever is required.”

“No, they aren't like that,” protested Twilight,” we dealt with the buffalo a couple of years ago, and were able to resolve things peacefully.  It can be done again, I'm sure of it!”

With a soft sigh, Spitfire shook her head.  “Miss Sparkle, I know that you are Her Majesty's pupil, but you have led a far too sheltered life.  I guess I have to show you the ugly reality.”  The Pegasus paused a moment to muster her thoughts before continuing.  “We are the ones that are fighting and dying to protect you from the barbarians that want to enslave us all.  War is not pretty, or fun.  It's brutal and ugly.  It is our sworn duty to serve the Princess and fight for her to protect you all.  In the course of doing our duty, sometimes we have to get our hooves dirty, be it mud or blood.  We all know that we may not make it back home after this is over.  Rainbow Dash lost one of her teammates tonight, she knows very well the price of duty.  As do us all.”

Turning around, Spitfire looked over her shoulder at Twilight, “The Princess may have taught you everything about magic, but it's clear she didn't teach you anything about duty and honour.  Good night, Miss Sparkle.”  And then she headed back inside.

“Why the nerve of her,” Rarity admonished, shaking her head as she came up beside Twilight.  “How dare she speak to you like that.”

Twilight just hung her head down a little as she turned and headed back to the Library.  “Come on, Rarity.  Let's just go. “  Slowly, she raised her head back up, “I need to figure out how the Keystone works, then I can talk to the Princess.”

It wouldn't be until the following day when Twilight was finally able to get a breakthrough with the Keystone.  After trying various methods to activate it, her hard work was finally rewarded with the stone lighting up with a soft tone.  It floated up into the air, and a trail of small motes of green light trailed down from the sides, forming first an arch, then a doorway.  Once the motes touched the floor, a clear, soft chime was heard, getting a startled squawk from Philomena.  The space in the doorway turned opaque, then transparent, like she was looking through slightly green-tinted water.

On the other side was Princess Celestia, and a room from the Palace in Canterlot.  The Princess smiled as she stepped up to and then slowly passed through the shimmering field and into Twilight's Library.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight Exclaimed.  “It's so good to see you again, Princess.”

Stepping over to lightly touch her nose against Twilight's cheek in greeting, Celestia smiled.  “It's very good to see you again, my faithful student.  I wish it was over better reasons though.”  The Princess lifted her head and stepped over to the window, looking out over the town for a moment, then motioning Twilight over to join her at the window.  “You have questions that you want answered.”

Taking a bit of a breath, bracing herself for the inevitable, Twilight stepped over beside Celestia, looking out with her.  “Yes, and with what happened last night, I have even more.”

Princess Celestia lightly folded one wing around Twilight's side, drawing the smaller unicorn in against the bigger mare's body as she and Twilight settled on the floor.  “When Captain Firehoof brought me the list of ponies that he wanted to induct in to the Wonderbolts, I saw that your friend's name was on that list.  It wasn't an easy decision to make, in fact I agonized over it for days before I finally gave approval to him to go ahead.”

There was a brief pause as Celestia sighed and then continued.  “There was three reasons that I had for allowing Rainbow Dash to join.  First, each one of the Wonderbolts are ponies who's loyalty is above reproach.  Each one is sworn to serve, no matter what the cost.  Rainbow Dash, as the Element of Loyalty, is one who will always be without question in my mind.”

“Second,” there was another pause before the Princess spoke again, “When I met Rainbow Dash for the first time, I saw into her heart, and I knew what she was capable of.”  Celestia's eyes closed as she continued, “She's hurting inside, I know.  Her spirit is battered and bent, but it is not broken.   Her ties of Friendship with you all here in Ponyville are still with her, and held dear in her heart.  The memories of the one she loves are all that sustain her right now.  Those bonds are so strong, they will not break, no matter how much her spirit bends.  She suffers from a grievous wound deep inside her, but it, like all wounds, will heal with time.  When she returns back home, she will need all of you to make her whole again.”

The silence lasted for several long moments, both of them just sitting there, looking out the window.  Finally, Twilight broke the silence, “You said there was three reasons.  What's the third?”

Opening her eyes, Celestia looked at Twilight for a moment.  “The third reason is that the Wonderbolts are bring led by my dear sister.”

“Princes Luna?” Twilight said softly, more than a little surprised by that revelation.  “Princess Luna's leading the Wonderbolts?

The Princess looked up at the sky for several seconds.  “Yes, Luna's leading them.  But more than just that, she's taking care of them. She's with them now, giving them the strength to carry on, even when they must do difficult things.  And there to be a shoulder for them when they suffer losses.  I know that dear Luna's keeping a special eye on Rainbow Dash.”

“Do difficult things…” Twilight said softly.  “You mean like torture the griffins they captured?”

Celestia closed her eyes once more, taking a few soft breaths before she answered her pupil.  “This is an ugly time for us.  To save Equestria, many things must be done.  Some of those things are ugly, but they must be done.  The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

There was another silence that dragged on for a few minutes before Twilight could get the courage to ask what was also bothering her.  “Why can't you just end the war?”

Slowly, Celestia's eyes opened and she looked down at Twilight.  “It's not that simple, my dear pupil.  It's not like I can just wave my horn, cast a spell, and make the war end.”

“But you raise the sun!  You're all-powerful!  Why can't you just make the buffalo stop fighting?  Why can't you…” Twilight choked a bit , tears welling up and running down her cheeks as she found herself astonished that she could ask this of her Princess, “Why can't you just kill the leaders of the buffalo or something, to stop them?!”

Princess Celestia just smiled to Twilight, like a mother would when tending to a young foal with a skinned knee.  Using her hair, she lightly wiped the tears from Twilight's cheeks as she explained.  “It doesn't work that way, my cherished pupil .  There are Rules that even I must follow.  The matters of the lives of ponies must be decided by ponies.  I am not allowed to directly intervene.  Such are the Rules.  Whether you think the Rules are fair or not, they are the Rules that Luna and I are bound to.”

“But, Nightmare Moon!....” started Twilight, but was interrupted by the Princess.

“Nightmare Moon did not directly interfere with the lives and affairs of Ponies.  She used her powers to control the Night and the Moon, to which she's tied.  Her control of the Night would affect ponies, as was her due, just as my power over the Sun and the Day affects them.  In both cases, it's not directly.  There are Rules even Nightmare Moon can not break.”

“I..  I think I understand…” Twilight said with a soft sniffle.

“This was something I had hoped to shield you from until you were older, but knowing this is more important right now.”  Slowly Celestia rose back up and turned toward the portal.

“How long will this war last?” Twilight asked as she followed her Princess.

“Look inside yourself and you may learn that answer.  Remember, you have the power within you to be able to see the future,” Celestia said with a smile.  “Of the four ponies that can, only you are aware of your potential.”

“But how?  I've tried and failed each time!  What do I have to do?”

Celestia shook her mane slightly as she walked to the portal.  “You're trying too hard.  The future is like the truth.  Neither black nor white.  Both can change, depending on what questions you are asking.  When you can finally see the truth for what it is, you can see the future.”

And with that the Princess stepped through the portal, which closed with a soft tone behind her, leaving the Keystone floating in the air, and slowly settling to the floor. Next Chapter: Chapter Five -- Blood and Tears Estimated time remaining: 12 Minutes