The sisters walked side by side, still under the effects of the recent revelation. Luna tramped forward, often criss-crossing her legs, as if she was drunk (despite such a state being impossible for alicorns), while Celestia hung her head, but made progress with more confident steps. Clover walked a good twenty yards in front of them, leading the way through the alleyways of the chaos-ridden city.
Many minutes passed before eventually, Luna broke the silence between them.
"Could it be?" she began in a hushed voice "Could it be true? Could Arcana and Discord work together? If true, why? What would she gain from such an alliance? It just doesn't make any sense!"
Celestia sighed heavily. She lifted her head higher, and turned to Luna. She said, her voice equally low:
"It seems excessive, even for Arcana. Even considering the lies she has fed us. Why would she want to harm ponykind? Letting Discord loose could only result in what has happened. And even if they had some sort of agreement going on, there is no way she could have believed in Discord keeping his end of the bargain."
Luna pondered upon those words, and tried to straighten her walking pattern. It was unbecoming for an alicorn to walk like some mortal, drunk out of her mind.
"No matter what she believed, she lied to us once again. She said ponykind misusing the Teardrops of Creation is causing all the unnatural phenomena. If Discord's claim is true, she knew it was actually him from the very beginning. But then why would she send us here, alone? She would know we would encounter Discord eventually. Is this supposed to be a test? A trial? Or she just wanted to get rid of us, hoping this jester would just snap us out of existence?"
Meanwhile, Clover slowed down, being aware of the sisters' conversation, and the fact that whatever it was about, it slowed them down. But as they got closer to each other, Luna furrowed her brows at the mare, and gestured with a hoof that she should just trot along, keep up the pace. Go on, no eavesdropping!, she indicated.
After Clover put some distance between them, Celestia answered.
"It would be awfully contrived to sentence us to death by sending us to fight a chaos god. Discord doesn't seem like the one who would just easily kill...
She glanced up to Clover from Luna, then continued:
"...well, except maybe a few select cases. But anyhow, I'd like to believe there is something much more sinister at work here. Although I'm losing sight of how the Teardrops fit into this ploy. If she wants them so hard, why release Discord??? That would only make recovering them harder, wouldn't it? Ah, this is getting so convoluted in my head!"
Celestia touched her temple with the tip of a wing. Luna stepped a bit closer, and tried to shoot her sister a reassuring smile, with very limited success. Still, Celestia appreciated the gesture, smiled back, and placed said wing upon Luna's back.
About a minute later, Luna spoke again.
"At this point, I'm not even sure there are any Teardrops of Creation here at all. But we'll get to the bottom of this, won't we? And if this Discord plot turns out to be true, we'll call together a grand council session. And Arcana will have to answer for betraying ponykind in front of the whole tribe."
Celestia smiled again. And it was a smile filled with pride, filled with appreciation, and fulfillment. She answered.
"Of course, my sister! Whatever will happen from now on, make sure to don't lose sight of the truth even for a second. But I can assure you, wherever destiny calls us, I'll stay by your side. Always."
☼☽
About half an hour later, the trio arrived at a small, unassuming house on the outskirts of Canterlot. A trap door, that presumably led to a basement, was opened by Clover, albeit with some difficulty. Poor mare was still very used to manipulating the world around her with magic.
"Okay, this way." she said "Watch out, the way down is pretty steep. Also low, so watch your horns."
That last part seemed like an understatement to the alicorns. Luna fit through, just barely, but Celestia had to bend down a bit to walk down the stairs to the basement. Once again, she got a reminder that most dwellings in Equestria weren't sized for her.
Once they were in the basement, they looked around. The dirt floor didn't really go well with the many shelves stacked with tomes, books, and scrolls. There were also two desks, strewn with an assortment of papers and parchment. And at the further desk, a stallion read at candlelight, not even noticing the three mares entering.
Surely, he was a sight to behold. He was lanky and tall, almost as tall as Luna, and wore a blue cape and wizard's hat. Both were adorned by little bells, which jingled on his hat as he was moving his head, looking between two books. He seemed to be pretty old too, judging by his long, light grey beard.
After the few moments the sisters measured up this basement, Clover loudly greeted the stallion, snapping him out of his concentration.
"Helllooo, Master Starswirl! I'm back! And look, I brought along some guests this time."
Starswirl looked up at Clover, then only with his eyes, she focused on the alicorns. He loudly sniffed the air, as if he expected it to have a different scent after the new arrivals. After a few moments, he properly turned towards the sisters, and gave them a wide-eyed stare.
"A-A-ALICORNS!!!" he loudly exclaimed after a few moments.
He trotted over to the majestic mares, and began measuring them up. Celestia and Luna glanced at each other, but Celestia finally came to, and exclaimed:
"Sorry, we didn't even introduce ourselves. We are Luna and Celestia, indeed of the alicorn tribe, just as you said. We're here to help ponykind out of its predicament with Discord."
But Starswirl paid her no mind. He continued his personal discovery, now focusing on Luna. He circled her quickly, like a shark would his prey, then began sniffing the blue alicorn all over. Luna raised an eyebrow almost sky high.
"Excuse me?" she exclaimed.
Starswirl snapped out of it, momentarily, and then began circling her, but now in the other direction. Then after many rounds, he stopped, right behind Luna. He lowered his head, and leaned in a bit closer.
Luna immediately swooshed her tail between her legs, and exclaimed, much louder now:
"EXCUSE ME?!"
Starswirl straightened up, and simply stated:
"Mare."
Luna scrunched up her muzzle, as Starswirl moved over to Celestia, and at first, only profusely stared at the taller sister. She carefully said:
"So it's that bad..."
"Yes." Clover slowly nodded, with closed eyes "I was hoping there was still something left in him of Starswirl, but alas, not even his own ward could protect the place from Discord's corrupting magic. His only luck was that he could stay out of sight in this basement. Because most powerful mage or not, no ward could have protected him against a chaos spell directly cast at him."
Celestia couldn't answer, as Starswirl got interested in her mane, and put a foreleg knee-deep into it.
"Ahhh! Silky! Wavy!"
Celestia stepped away, but Starswirl insisted, although like some foal, a different thing grabbed his interest. Namely, Celestia's mark of destiny. He poked at it multiple times, so Celestia stepped away again, now ending up right next to the wall of the small basement. And unable to distance herself any further, she also brought up a small barrier between herself, and the discorded stallion.
Starswirl couldn't be stopped though, and he simply poked at the golden haze of the barrier, right over Celestia's mark.
"Cutie! Cutie! Cutie mark!" he said, in a giggly, strangely satisfied voice.
Luna looked upon all this with furrowed brows. Celestia's apologetic smile calmed her down a bit, but that didn't help how awkward she felt.
"Sun! Sun! Sun!" Starswirl babbled on. Then, he suddenly turned to Luna's flank.
"Moon! Moon!" he said, then looking back and forth between the two cutie marks, he continued "Sun! Moon! Sun! Moon! Sun and Moon! Duality, harmony."
Those last two words came out of his mouth sounding much more serious and collected than any of his rambling so far. Clover was surprised, the sisters likewise.
"A slight clear episode, maybe?" Luna pondered.
"Possibly. A small epiphany, perhaps." Clover said her take "You have to know that Starswirl was the leader of both the solar and lunar mages, responsible for the Sun-Moon cycle; synchronizing their efforts."
"He was on both teams?!" Celestia asked with her head turned a bit sideways.
"Well, yes. As I implied earlier, Starswirl is the most powerful mage alive, possibly ever. And besides, the spells controlling those two heavenly objects aren't that different."
Clover paused for a moment, as the sisters gave each other a mutual glance, having "doubt" written on their faces.
"...Although looking at you two, I bet you think so differently."
"Our relatively newfound connection to the celestials indeed make us skeptical regarding that. But this doesn't matter right now. Let's fix this crazy stallion instead." Luna said, then turned to Celestia "Um, you want the honors? I mean, he's standing closer to you right now..."
Celestia heard her sister's intonation, and surmised she wouldn't want to deal with Starswirl if not necessary. The mentioned stallion was still standing next to Celestia, looking back and forth between them with the innocent expression and curiosity of a little foal. It was a goofy sight, but also sad, in a way.
"Sure, of course. I'll deal with it."
Celestia dispelled the barrier she put down just a minute ago, and positioned herself to face the crazed mage. She wanted to grab his attention somehow, and therefore, called out his name multiple times, to no avail. She needed him to stay still, so the spell could be concentrated on the head.
Ultimately, it was Clover who grabbed Starswirl's attention:
"Please, kind master, would you look into the eyes of the nice alicorn? She just wants to help you!"
Starswirl's erratic head movements stopped, and he indeed fixed his gaze on Celestia. Actually, he looked upon her with such a wide eyed stare, as if she was an... well, an alicorn!
Celestia lit up her horn, focused the spell, and brought the tip closer to the stallion's head. But as she wanted to release, Starswirl's expression suddenly turned furious, his horn lit up too, and stuck Celestia's with it.
The resulting magical discharge shorted out the spell, and Celestia recoiled with a hiss of pain. Starswirl jumped away, defying his apparent age, and ended up in the middle of the room.
"What in the cursed name of the gods...?! What did he do that for?" Luna exclaimed loudly, gesturing with a foreleg towards Starswirl.
"I...I dunno! He must have felt threatened, somehow. He's always been pretty eccentric. I'm.. I'm sorry about this." apologized Clover, reflexively holding a hoof in front of her mouth.
Luna looked back at her sister, and seeing she was just fine, she continued:
"This means we have to do this the hard way, sadly. I'll hold him down, while Celestia casts the spell."
"Are you sure that is necessary? Couldn't you just cast an area-of-effect spell instead?"
"I'm afraid the increased yield of such a spell would tip Discord off." Celestia said "We shouldn't risk it. It's lucky we're still in relative safety here."
"We'll do this quickly. And effectively. No excuses!" Luna declared, despite Clover's silent protest. Surely, Luna must have noticed her frown, but she paid it no mind. As a matter of fact, Celestia didn't, either.
So Luna cast a telekinetic spell, but as the aura started to wrap around Starswirl, he jumped back, and shot Luna right between the eyes. The alicorn flinched, and cried out in pain.
"Why, you cursed son-of-a-god! That was the last straw! I'll show you! Celestia, let's stun him! No way he will let himself fixed up otherwise!"
"Are you sure we should..."
But Celestia couldn't finish her sentence. Luna was casting again, but Starswirl was on the nose. Magical energies swirled around his horn, but before either of them could release their respective spells, Clover jumped between them, with forelegs spread apart.
"No, no, stop, please!"
Both alicorn and unicorn were frozen. But they didn't let go of their spells, and stared down each other intensely.
"For pony's sake, please let go!" Clover pleaded to Luna "You will just make him shoot up the place, laying waste to all these magical scrolls and tomes! Or worse, you could make him hurt himself."
Reluctantly, Luna dissipated the built up magic from her horn, and let out a sigh. Starswirl was still in a battle stance though, and was ready to cast at a moment's notice. Clover turned to him, and slowly approached.
"It's okay! It was just a misunderstanding. They didn't want to hurt you master, they just wanted to fix your mind."
Starswirl glanced at his apprentice, and his expression softened somewhat. It seemed he didn't understand the words as much as Clover's gentle tone. And arriving right in front of him, she stroked his chest a few times in a calming manner.
"Things are going to be alright! No one's gonna hurt you master. Why don't you ease up a bit? Come on, sit down. I'll brew you some tea. You like tea, don't you?"
Starswirl, finally, let go of his accumulated magic, and let the mare lead him to his desk, where he sat down on a straw pillow.
"See? Comfy. Now stay put, I'm gonna make some tea real quick."
Starswirl merely stared at Clover, who slowly released his front leg, and walked back towards the sisters. She was shaking her head, with a tear forming in the corner of her left eye.
"It's so sad, seeing one of the greatest minds of Equestria in a state like this."
"So what now?" Luna asked, rubbing the very minor spellburn between her eyes.
"We'll wait until he falls asleep, and cast the spell then. That's what we should have done in the first place, probably." Celestia answered.
"That's a good idea." said Clover "Although his sleep pattern was always erratic. You might have to wait past midnight."
"Not a problem for me." came from Luna "But what until then? Do we just sit idly?"
"I dunno. But do you want some tea?"
☼☽
The alicorn sisters opted for some rest while Clover was making tea. They pulled their legs beneath themselves, and closed their eyes. They couldn't sleep away, they didn't want to, but it was relaxing.
Clover was fumbling with the teapot over a small arcane convector. Celestia couldn't help it, but open her eyes, upon hearing the unusually loud noises that merely involved making some tea. Clover manipulated the objects around her very clumsily, having to resort to her mouth and hooves. Celestia smiled a bit, as she found the scenario amusing, but chided herself for it the next moment, as it must have been much less amusing for the poor mare. Eventually, the alicorn asked:
"Shall I help you with something?"
"No, no, thank you. I better get used to this eventually. I'm still facing a lifetime without magic."
Celestia frowned, but Clover tried to cut the negative emotions short with a little smile.
"It's fine. I'd rather give up my magic than my sanity. And besides, earth ponies always do everything like this."
Celestia didn't want to answer, and shifted her gaze to the ground. After a while, she closed her eyes again.
Some minutes later, the teapot was whistling. Celestia wanted to pay it no particular mind, considering Clover's previous words, but her curiosity got the best of her. She lifted an eyelid just a little, so no one could have told she was spying on her surroundings. Clover finished making the tea, and poured out a cup. Then she put some sort of harness on her horn that ended in a tray, and put the cup of tea on it. This way, she brought it over to Starswirl.
"Clever." Celestia commented to herself.
☼☽
After tea time was over, about an hour had passed. Starswirl has eased into reading some book, and after Clover put away the tea related stuff, she did the same. Only the occasional turning of a page could be heard. That, or a sigh from Clover.
Luna didn't seem to care, she was meditating. But at each sigh, Celestia lifted her head, and looked at the unicorn mare. She was obviously bothered by something. Celestia wanted to ask by what, but each time, Clover rather quickly resumed reading.
Some time passed. As if Clover stopped reading. She rested her head upon the book, and stared at the opposite wall. Its dirty-gray color was a rather unassuming sight. Then she shifted her gaze at Celestia. The alicorn eventually looked up, and their eyes met.
"Can I ask something?" Clover began dourly.
Celestia expected her to speak up for a time now. She answered.
"Of course."
"Tell me then: Who are you exactly?"
That caught Celestia off-guard a bit. She blinked, then said:
"We told you, didn't we? We are Luna and Celestia. Alicorns. We came here to help."
"Is that the full truth?!"
"It's exactly the amount you need to know." came from Luna, who suddenly came to. Her eyes snapped open, and stared at Clover with furrowed brows.
Celestia stood up properly, and opened her mouth, but Clover cut her attempt to speak short.
"Who is "Magikhan Arcana"?"
Now Luna stood up as well. She pointed a hoof towards Clover.
"As I said, what we told you...
...is not the full truth!" Clover interrupted her, and raised her voice. "But I deserve to know it! Just WHO are you? Did this Arcana really release Discord? And if that was the case, how come you know this...whoever Arcana is? Tell me!"
Luna blinked long, then stared at Clover. It wasn't an expression anypony would wish to be looked upon with. But the brave little pony stood it, without a hitch.
"You're not in the position to demand anything. We'll help ponykind, but our privacy will NOT be intruded upon."
"But how could I trust you then?"
"Whether you trust us or not is...
A hoof gently placed upon her withers interrupted Luna's sentence. She turned around to face her sister.
"Luna? I think Clover deserves to know the truth. It was kept from us. But we're in this together now. So let's try to be better. Do not let half-truths and almost-lies poison this budding alliance."
"You're..."
But Luna grunted, and drooped her ears. Whatever she wanted to say, didn't come out. She looked sideways, as if in shame. She sighed.
"...right. Tell her."
Celestia stepped forward. She struck an ominous figure as she puffed out her chest, and looked down at the comparatively tiny unicorn in front of her. She began in a deliberately paced manner.
"We are warriors, Clover. From a far away land. We came here upon strict orders, to find an ancient artifact -called the Teardrops of Creation- sacred to our tribe. But when we saw your situation, we decided to help you instead. That's why we came to Canterlot eventually. Hoping to find answers to defeating Discord."
Celestia paused. And that was enough for Luna to take over.
"I was the leader of this mission. We were aware that the natural order of things was tampered with. But we were led to believe it was you, ponykind, misusing the artifact we were searching for. I was ignorant. Our tribal leader, Magikhan Arcana made me believe many false things. She probably knew from the start Discord overtook Equestria. But now I see, thanks in no small part to my sister Celestia. It was wrong of me that I tried to hide this. But at least now you know. That is the truth."
Luna hung her head, indicating she had finished. Clover looked back at Celestia.
"A-anything else?"
Celestia shook her head once.
"No. I think that mostly covers it."
"So... Is this Arcana on Discord's side, or not?"
"We're not sure, actually. It wouldn't make sense, but we can't put it past her either. She did many questionable things in the last few centuries."
"Centuries... Huh." Clover mumbled out in some disbelief.
"Yes. Alicorns are immortals. We don't age, at least not in the same manner mortals do."
Clover put a hoof on her chin. She visibly pondered upon Celestia's words.
"That's a lot to take in all at once." she said finally "Even still... You said you came here originally just hunting for some artifact? Is that it?"
"Y-yes." Celestia stammered briefly, obviously not proud of the fact. "It was our mission. But after we saw how much ponykind suffered, we shifted our priorities."
Luna glanced at Celestia. Clover noticed, but didn't react. Instead, she said:
"Fine. Sure, I understand. But you didn't actually find this artifact then, did you? You abandoned the search when you encountered Discord, no?"
"That's exactly how it happened."
"Can I ask what kind of artifact this is? What can it do? Does it have a purpose?"
"We're not so sure. But it's apparently the aspect of our great creator, the god La'uriel. A shard of her existence, of her magic. And therefore, it is of great power. But we don't know what it can do exactly. We don't even know what it looks like. Apparently not even our Magikhan knows. Or she just didn't tell."
"And you're sure this artifact is located here in Equestria?"
"We were led to believe that." came the answer, but from Luna this time. Then, she added "Are you going anywhere with these questions? We'll answer anything we can, but at this point, you know as much as we do."
Clover squinted. She turned around, and began searching a bookshelf with her eyes.
"As a matter of fact, I am."
Fixated on a certain book, she walked over, stood on her hindlegs, and tugged on the spine with the tip of her snout. When the book got dislodged from among the others slightly, she could bite on it, and put it down on her desk.
She was skimming the book quickly. The sisters, taking a glance at it, noticed that it looked more like some oversized journal, full of scribbles, notes, drawings, and it even had some maps, just pasted between certain pages. Then after some minutes, Clover cleared her throat, and began, in a rather ominous voice.
"Not so long ago, probably only a few days before Discord took over, we found something. Buried deep within a place called the Everfree Forest. It was a cave, or more like a dungeon. It must have held something, because after unlocking many doors within, we were stopped by one which we couldn't open. It was secured by magical runes and enchantments. Ones so advanced that we never saw before. Starswirl believes that this dungeon holds what is called the "Elements of Harmony", an artifact from old pony legends, granting its wielder vast, unimaginable power. Now it might be a long shot, but what if what you seek, and these "Elements" of ours, are one and the same?"
Celestia and Luna looked into each other's eyes briefly, with a look that indicated both doubt and sudden realization. Concentrating on Clover again, Luna only managed to blurt out a "Huh."
"It's possible." Celestia managed to say after several seconds. "Do you have any more information regarding your artifact?"
"I'm afraid only some old mares' tales, and believe me, they are useless. But on the site, we've made many notes. I even made a detailed drawing of the door we couldn't pass. Maybe you could make sense of these runic patterns?"
The sisters walked behind Clover, and looked over her shoulder. The drawing in her notebook depicted a huge stone door, with no apparent locking mechanism, but with many generic security runes adorning it. Celestia scoffed.
"These won't cause a problem. We know how to de-enchant them."
"Really? Well, that's great news! We might be going somewhere with this thing, after all! But here's something else, too. These were carved into the stone wall next to the door. Some glyphs? So elaborate, but I couldn't recognize the writing system. They probably belong to some dead language. Take a look."
Clover flipped a page, revealing what she was talking about. Celestia and Luna gasped. They didn't say anything for seconds. Clover glanced behind herself at them.
"Something's wrong?"
"Kindness."
"Loyalty."
Clover raised an eyebrow.
"Pardon?"
"That's what it says." answered Celestia "In Elder. Transcribed with alicorn glyphs."
"Whoa. Well... And does it mean anything? Besides the words themselves?"
"We don't know. This seems pretty random." said Luna "But I think your hunch was right. The Teardrops of Creation indeed should be inside this place. The alicorn writing is probably not a coincidence."
"I understand. Despite not even you having the slightest idea of what these are capable of, at least now we have a glimmer of hope. And by we, I mean ponykind. Celestia, Luna, there is nothing I can provide in return, but I must plead you: if you can access this artifact, and by some miracle, unleash its power, please turn it against Discord, and deliver us of our plight. Please! A crippled mare begs you."
Luna shook her head once:
"There's no need to beg. If we can figure out these Teardrops; Elements; or whatever they may be called, we WILL vanquish the mad god, and give back Equestria's sanity."
"That's right!" Celestia confirmed "And we won't rest until we discover the secrets we need to know, so we can help you as soon as possible."
"Then I guess that's as good of a cue as any." Clover said, and closed her book "I thank you for your help in advance, whatever might come of it."
She stood up, and picked up a saddlebag from the corner of the basement. She put it on with some effort, and put away the book.
"Let's go. I'll lead the way."
"We're leaving already?" Luna asked.
"Yes? I mean, what should we wait for?"
"Well, I just thought fixing up Starswirl here was a priority."
"Considering this recent development, he couldn't provide more help even if he was sane. Besides, he won't go anywhere. You can fix him later if this doesn't work out."
Clover pointed out the old stallion for emphasis, who was lost in some tome, while he was slowly swaying back and forth. He indeed didn't seem to leave the place anytime soon.