//------------------------------// // chapter three: a bygone dream, an eternal promise // Story: Waning Moon // by salukiseason //------------------------------// ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*:ﾟ･✧* :ﾟ･✧ Once upon a time, in Ponyville, a beautiful unicorn prepared the town hall for the annual Summer Sun Celebration- the wonderful day where once a year, the glorious Princess Celestia chose a new town to grace with her presence, as she raised the sun for the longest day of the year, surrounded by her adoring subjects. The unicorn had a keen eye for beauty, so it was really no surprise that she was selected for the honor of overseeing the decorations for the Princess’ stage, but it was no less than the greatest honor she had ever received, and she was beyond thrilled for it- from the moment she had gotten the call, just a few weeks before, she had been working tirelessly to make this her greatest event yet- that way, she would surely be considered for more high profile events… maybe she’d even be able to move to Canterlot, and be consulted for the decor on events for posh ponies like Fancy Pants, or make dresses for models like his wife, Fleur de Lis… but none of that would happen if this event wasn’t perfect, so it simply had to be nothing less than perfe- Her train of thought was cut off by the sound of the door swinging open, though, it was probably a good thing, had she been left to her own devices she would’ve surely run wild with thoughts about how if the event didn’t go off without a single hitch her life would be entirely over. The sound of heavy hoofsteps on the ground clicked behind her. “Excuse me, are you… Rarity Belle?” A stallion’s voice asked.  “Just a moment, mister!” The unicorn, Rarity Belle, responded absentmindedly, “I am… in the zone, as it were… Ah, there, there’s nothing that some well placed ribbons can’t fix, is there? Now, may I help you with something, sir…?”  “Shining Armor.” The stallion responded. When Rarity turned around, she was admittedly shocked by the stature of the unicorn- he wore full royal guard garb, and had a pristinely white and silver coat- though his blue mane was quite messy. “Sorry to bother, the Princess just told me to check in on the decorations before the celebration, but, it looks like you’ve got it taken care of!”  Starstruck, Rarity widened her eyes and inched closer to the larger pony, “You know the Princess?” She gaped.  “Well,” He chuckled smugly, “You don’t become the captain of the royal guard without knowing ol’ Tia a little bit.” He gestured towards his helmet.  Suddenly, she felt woozy on her hooves, “I’m sorry, did you just call the ruler of all of Equestria, the bringer of day and night, ‘ol Tia’?”  With a confident smile, he responded, “Yeah, we’re cool like that.” He couldn’t help but stifle a giggle at Rarity’s clear shock. “Decor is looking great, I’ll tell the Princess that everything is coming along smoothly thanks to… Rarity Belle?”  “I-” Rarity froze in place, just the thought of her name being uttered towards the Princess was enough to render her so useless that a mere gust of wind could knock her clean over. Trying her hardest to maintain her composure, she inhaled, and exhaled. “Yes, Rarity Belle. Though, my friends call me simply, Rarity.”  “Nice to meet you, Rarity.” Shining Armor nodded kindly as he walked out of the room, “I’ll see you at the ceremony.”  ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*:ﾟ･✧* :ﾟ･✧ “So, what brings you here? I take it her royal Highness sent you down to pull on my heartstrings and torture me until I give up?” Shining Armor, a now frail, disheveled, and stubbly stallion who looked as if he hadn’t slept in ages barked at Rarity.  He sat in a rather small prison cell, behind a magical barrier set up by Nightmare Moon- within it, he’d had little more than a bedroom- a rather uncomfortable-looking mattress alongside a small bedside table with a drawer filled with books Rarity and Rainbow Dash smuggled downstairs to him when he first was imprisoned. Since the two of them stopped visiting him, Thunderlane was the guard who was often tasked with bringing Shining Armor food and water each day. Occasionally, he’d stopped by to tell Rarity how he was doing, but those updates became more and more sparse as the year went on, until eventually, he’d just… stopped, for a few moons- and Rarity knew nothing of Shining Armor’s status.  Until yesterday, that was.  “Shhh!” Rarity hissed back at him, “If the princess knew I was here, she would not take kindly- I haven’t told anypony. I came down to talk to you.” She gently placed her saddle bag down beside her hoof and floated her sketchpad out from its compartment.  Shining Armor immediately put a hoof to his chin, stroking his beard hair in thought, “I take it you haven’t come down here to capture my striking handsomeness through art. But, I’ve been down here quite a while- maybe sickly is the new stylish.” He rolled his eyes, trying to peek at the contents of Rarity’s sketchbook while she perused its pages.  “Hm, not quite,” Rarity thoughtlessly shrugged, mumbling under her breath as she tried to find the correct page, “I give it a few more moons before frailty comes back into fashion for stallions, right now it’s all about long legs.”  He looked puzzled, but shrugged his shoulders and continued responding nonetheless, “Well, then what’d you come down here for, anyway? It’s gotta be important if you’re sneaking under Nightmare Moon.”  “This.” Rarity held up a page of her sketchbook towards the barrier. A drawing of the alicorn princess Twilight- Shining Armor’s own sister. ‘It’s gotta be important’, he says, She repeated to herself, Well, I suppose that is the question, whether or not it’s important, or if I’m about to get myself in loads of trouble for no reason other than my own idiotic curiosity. Who could say?  Suddenly, Shining Armor’s snarky demeanor changed rapidly, and he cracked a smile upon seeing the drawing of his sister- though, it wasn’t the longing, sentimental smile that one would expect from a pony seeing the face of his sibling for the first time in moons, but rather, the restrained smile of trying to stifle a laugh. “W-what is that?” He snorted.  Rarity blinked, confused and offended by his question, “Why, it’s your sister, of course! I only got a brief view of her, but I do believe it’s quite recognizable nonetheless!”  At this, he laughed harder, he’d attempted to reach over and grab the sketchbook for a closer look, only to be stopped by the barrier, but he continued to guffaw at the sight, “I’ve been down here for a while, and I’m sure a lot has changed, but I’d be willing to bet just about anything I have left that my little sister didn’t sprout wings- that’d probably require leaving the house.” He giggled, “Unless she came up with a crazy spell to give herself wings- I wouldn’t put it past her.”  “Ah,” Rarity remembered, “Yes, the wings… I forgot to tell you, it’s been… quite the interesting few nights.” She sighed.  In response, he tilted his head to the side, “What do you mean?”  “Well,” she started, “How much do you know about time travel?”  Quickly, Shining Armor went wide-eyed with terror, “Please tell me she didn’t mess with time,” He paced in his small cell, not breaking eye contact with Rarity even once, “because, honestly, that’s just like her!”  “No, no, no! Nothing of the sort!” Rarity tried to reassure him, though, admittedly, what she said wasn’t entirely truthful, though it wasn’t wholly a lie, either. “Well, I suppose she did… or perhaps a version of her did, but it was not your version of her, so, um, yes. Your sister messed with time.” She nervously added.  He let off an exasperated groan, “Ugh,” He lowered his face into his hoof with a sense of familiar disdain, “What did she do this time?”  And so, Rarity told him, every detail- Twilight’s spontaneous arrival at the castle and just as spontaneous escape, her dragon child companion, the meeting with Nightmare Moon during which it was deduced that Twilight came from an entirely different world than their own, and finally, the haunting implication that she and Rarity were once friends.  By the end, Shining Armor looked just as dizzy as Rarity had felt for the past several hours.  “So, let me get this straight… in another world, my sister became an alicorn princess, hatched the dragon’s egg, and has been traveling between worlds because somepony named Starlight keeps changing the past?”  “Well, when you say it like that, it’s quite a bit to take in all at once,” Rarity rolled her eyes.  “Tell me about it,” He groaned. “I knew Twiley was powerful, but I never thought she was ‘future alicorn princess’ powerful!”  Despite the severity of the situation, Rarity couldn’t help but try to stifle her giggles, “Twiley?” She chuckled.  Shining Armor blushed, “Oh, um- Twilight Sparkle, actually.” He laughed, “My dad used to say that her name was a little too frilly, but she’s named after my mom, Twilight Velvet, and my dad’s mother, Sparkleshine.”  Twilight Sparkle, Rarity thought, letting the name sit in her mind. What their father said was correct, it was somewhat frilly- not quite as regal as she expected for a pony like the one she saw, Twilight Sky, Twilight Sunset, perhaps- regal names suited for a princess. Twilight Sparkle seemed like the name of an up-and-coming underground clothing designer from Bronclyn- not an Equestrian ruler.  “Twilight Sparkle, it’s a nice name.” She decided out loud. She hesitated, slightly before asking her next question, hoping that Shining Armor wouldn’t be hesitant to answer it, “What’s she like, if you don’t mind my asking?”  The stallion arched his eyebrow curiously, “Who wants to know?” Almost immediately, his somewhat relaxed demeanor that he’d been calmed into changed, he stood up again and glared threateningly towards Rarity. “You know, just because we were friends doesn’t mean I’m going to spill out all of my secrets, just so you can tell your princess- go behind my back again?” He spat back at her judgmentally.  Rarity flinched, feeling the fur on her neck rise in shameful surprise, because, truly, she wondered, who in Equestria was she to tell him he was out of line? She opened her mouth to speak, but the words got caught in her throat. I’m sorry, is what she’d tried to say, but instead, she found the words came out different than she’d anticipated.  “Oh, pish posh,” She responded icily instead, “I am here because I want answers. Tell me, oh Captain Shining Armor, had I been here on royal duties, I would’ve had a guard escort me, would I not have?” “Not if you wanted to trick me,” He retorted.  “And if I did?” Rarity asked, turning her back towards the unicorn prisoner, “Here are your options, Shining Armor, either you tell me, your benevolent old friend who wishes for nothing other than information, what in Equestria is so important about your sister that the princess offered to leverage your life sentence in the dungeon over finding her- and perhaps I will be kind enough to convince her to offer mercy to Miss Twilight Sparkle when she finds her, and you and I both know she will. Or, you tell me nothing- the princess will use her vast, dare I say unlimited resources to find her wherever she is, and there will be nopony, not even little old me, to stand in the way of your little sister and the all-powerful alicorn ruler of the eternal night.”  Rarity would be lying if she said she wasn’t talented. Art, creative vision, fashion, schedule organizing certainly- but that was nothing more than the basics. After all, who but her could keep an entire palace in line the way she does? Nightmare Moon may get the credit, but was there any arguing that Madame Rarity Belle the Chamberlain was the true ruler of the house? Getting anypony to do anything she wanted with a few choice words and a bat of the eyelashes? That was talent. She didn’t like to call it ‘manipulation’, per se, rather… benevolent subterfuge.  Though, to be honest, who cared what she called it? It always worked.  “You promise you won't let Nightmare hurt Twilight?” Shining Armor raised his hoof as if he could shake hers from behind his barricade, cautious before he accepted her proposal.  Lifting her hoof to his, feeling nothing but the brief coldness of the barrier on the outside, Rarity nodded, “You have my word.”  “I don’t know why Nightmare Moon wants to know about Twilight so badly,” He admitted nervously as he placed his hoof down to his side, giving a somewhat defeated sigh as he conceded the information to Rarity, “But, I’d be willing to bet it’s about magic- Twilight’s a wizard, she knows more magic than anypony I’ve ever met.”  Rarity chuckled at the thought. Wizards were scholarly ponies who’d studied magic for most of their lives, they locked themselves away in towers and libraries and devoted themselves to the magical craft. They didn’t care for their own appearances, and if they did, they didn't realize that capes and pointy hats with huge brims aren’t quite the pinnacles of style they seemed to think they were. The Twilight she saw that night was, despite her rather disheveled appearance at the time, regal. She’d walked with perfect posture and grace, spoke as if she was in charge of a castle she may have never seen before, and outwitted the princess and all of her guards. Even though she’d never truly met Twilight Sparkle, the image of that very same regal alicorn princess, without her wings, mane tied up into a messy ponytail, with her nose in a book- was off-putting and unfamiliar.  “A wizard?” Rarity scoffed, “What, like, Starswirl the Bearded?”  “You mean, her personal idol?” He raised an eyebrow and laughed, “Yep, she’s a wizard all right, spent most of our childhoods locked up in her room reading her books. She even got her cutie mark for magic, the power went out in our neighborhood, and she managed to write a spell, even in the pitch dark, to regenerate all of the power that we lost. When the lights came back on, she realized she had gotten that star on her flank.” He gestured to his own flank, and his own six-pointed star cutie mark.  Rarity leaned in closer to look at it, “Oh, um, yes, your cutie marks…” She asked, “How did the both of you end up with such similar cutie marks? Is the star some sort of family crest, or something? I know how you Canterlot nobles can be about your insignia.”  “We aren’t nobles, Rarity,” He rolled his eyes at the insinuation, but then shrugged nonetheless, “I actually didn’t know what the star was, until she got her cutie mark.”  “Really?” She asked, looking down at her own flank, “I couldn’t imagine getting a cutie mark and not having a clue what it means.” Briefly, she couldn’t help but laugh at the idea, “Oh, the thought of that happening to Sweetie Belle is rather rich, I must admit, waking up with a mystery mark after all these moons of trying everything and the kitchen sink.”  Shining Armor laughed, putting his hoof behind his head with embarrassment, “You know, I wasn’t all that different from Sweetie Belle when I was her age. Every time one of my school friends got a cutie mark, I was the first one to go and try it, see if I could find my special purpose. Then one day, some colt in my class got a cutie mark in gardening, so I invited him over to teach me, and we could plant some flowers in the front garden.” “Ah, I could see it now, Shining Armor, master florist.”  “Exactly. Anyway, he was trying to show me how to tell if the soil was good for planting, when Twi came by the front door from the library, carrying this huge stack of books. She didn’t go to school like me, she got my parents to put her in some sort of independent study program, so she spent most of her time at the library, and most of the time, she brought the library back home too. She asked what we were doing, and when we told her, she just started throwing all this information at us, best spells to use to encourage plant growth, turning soil into silver, magical carnivorous flora, just… everything. Typical Twilight.” He laughed it off, even though Rarity was quite certain he’d made up those last two topics. “Anyway, she went on her little spiel, went in the house and just… read, didn’t say another word. She took her book to the dinner table, kept trying all these spells around the house, nothing out of the ordinary. My friend didn’t say anything, but the next day at school, I heard him telling everypony about my ‘freaky mad scientist sister’, called her all sorts of names. It was… weird, for most of my life, that was just how she was, I never thought she was strange or anything.” “Ugh,” Rarity scowled, “Foals can be so cruel! What in Equestria did a little filly reading a book do to deserve such ridicule?”  Shining Armor shrugged, “Little colts are jerks, y’know? I didn’t really know what was going on, but they were making fun of my sister, so I had to do something. So, I yelled at them, even threw one of them across the playground with my horn- which was crazy, I’d never managed to lift anything as heavy as a colt at that age, I didn’t know what was coming. One of the teachers ran out, broke up the fight, and she asked me what was going on, and what I was doing throwing ponies around the playground.”  “Oh, heavens. What does one even say in response to a question like that?” “Well, if you’re anything like me, you put on the worst ‘tough stallion’ voice to ever come out of a tiny little colt, and you go,” He laughed slightly, lowering his voice to an impossibly low octave, “‘He messed with my sister.’ As soon as I said it, this mark appeared, and I knew that my destiny was to protect ponies from things that wanna hurt them- whether it’s schoolyard bullies or, uh…” He trailed off at the end, not quite wanting to bring up the elephant in the room.  “That’s touching, truly- that you defended your little sister like that. I’m sure she was grateful, and that those bullies never messed with her again.” Rarity said sincerely, “But, if that’s what there was to your cutie mark story, it sounds rather cut and dry? Why were you so uncertain over it?”  “Well, I knew I was meant to be protecting ponies from their enemies, but this big ol’ star was a pretty big mystery,” He mapped out the cutie mark with the tip of his hoof, drawing it in the air, “The three stars on the top are kinda like my mom’s cutie mark, it’s nearly the same three stars in purple, so that didn’t confuse me so much. And obviously, the shield was about shielding ponies from harm, but the star wasn’t like anything we’d seen before. Even Twilight admitted it wasn’t something she’d seen in her books. But then, she got her own cutie mark, and it was nearly the same star. Didn’t have a clue what it was before, but I guess that it meant that…” He veered off for a few moments, before sadly dipping his head and facing the floor.  “S-Shining Armor?” Rarity blinked in panic, “Are you alright?”  “It meant I was supposed to protect her, that was my purpose.” Shining Armor sighed, “And, clearly, I failed.”  For a moment, Rarity couldn’t help but feel guilty, like it was her fault that he was feeling that way. And perhaps, to some extent, it was, “Shining Armor, you didn’t fail,” She tried to console him, in spite of the glaring problem, “You refused to let Nightmare Moon take time off of your sentence, because you valued your sister’s safety more than your own freedom, I can not think of anything nobler or more knightley than that.”  He didn’t respond to Rarity’s reassurance, at least, not in the way she anticipated him to. Instead, he picked his head back up and glared in her direction, an accusatory expression, rife with anger, “What is she going to do to her, Rarity?” He pleaded, “You clearly think it’s something, you keep going on about how the only thing between Twilight and death is me and you- so what is it? She put a hit out on her? Gonna keep her in the dungeon like me?”  “Shining Armor, please, I-”  “You what?” He exasperatedly snapped back, clearly frustrated beyond the point of the false pleasantries they’d been dealing in, “What’s she gonna do? She's gonna make sure my sister ends up like Cadence?”  There it is.  “I failed her, Rarity.” He continued, getting on his hooves, pacing back and forth within the confines of his small cell, frazzled and irate, “You wanna know why, the whole time that we were friends, I didn’t mention my sister once? Because she hates me! Because by the time I met you, I hadn’t spoken to Twilight for years! I moved to Ponyville, and she never left Canterlot, I failed!” He stomped decidedly before turning back towards the barrier and heading towards Rarity, stunned into silence.  She didn’t dare ask why, it was obvious that he was done speaking to her in any sort of friendly manner, and she didn’t dare contest that decision, either, because it was obvious that she didn’t deserve it.  “You understand more than anypony, Rarity,” He dropped his voice into a hushed whisper, so low that Rarity herself was barely able to hear it, “You know what she’s capable of, the only reason you took this job is because you wanted to protect your sister.”  She continued to hold her tongue, she knew she couldn’t confirm or deny anything that he had to say to his face, she couldn’t even confirm it to herself. She’d often wondered if what he said was true, would she still spend every day justifying this to herself if she had no sister?  Nightmare Moon is a good mare, Rarity once repeated to herself each and every night as she walks into work through the Everfree Forest, Celestia was a bad one. It was her mantra, in the first few moons of working there. Eventually, it turned into solid fact, Nightmare Moon was a good pony, a good princess. As time went on, Rarity’s initial reason for taking the job had turned from an all-consuming terror into nothing more than a little voice in the back of her mind.  But sometimes, in the midst of the quietest nights, a little voice can be the loudest thing in the room.  “I-I have to go,” Rarity stuttered, unable to respond any further, turning away towards Shining Armor and rushing towards the stairwell, picking her saddle bag and sketchbook up with her horn as she turned away, “I’m terribly sorry, we… We will do it again sometime.”  “Wait!” Shining Armor called back to her, just as she placed her hoof on the first stair on the winding set back up towards the castle hallway, “Will you still make sure she’s safe?”  She couldn’t answer him with any sort of sincerity. The longer she thought about it the less sure she was that she could make any sort of promise of that nature. As much as she hated to admit it, she had no power over the choices of the Princess, she had no ability to make promises to Shining Armor- she couldn’t tell him that she could spare his sister the fate that she sold her pride and future ambitions to save her own sister from. She hated to betray him once more, she hated to leave him with this newfound sense of terror. Holding her hooves in place, she was unable to move, she felt frozen to the ground- something about it felt so terribly familiar, too familiar.  There was a certain danger in making promises you can’t keep- somepony always gets hurt, and more often than not, it’s everypony. To overextend oneself is a fatal mistake, one that Rarity had personally spent a year training out of herself ever since her last… incident, and yet, she couldn’t stop herself from responding to Shining Armor with the only words she knew that she shouldn’t have said.  “I’ll do what I must,” She nodded her head towards the unicorn sympathetically as she turned back towards him for one more glance, “Oh, and- Shining Armor?” She added, finally, before she left the dungeon.  “Hm?” He exhaustedly raised his head, as if he couldn’t possibly take any more information from Rarity.  “Caden- Miss Mi Amore Cadenza, is reportedly adjusting well in the Crystal Empire.” She informed the stallion as quickly as possible before running up the stairs, not able to meet his eyes, but still stamping her hooves as hard as she could on each individual stair- it was all she could do to drown out the increasingly distant sounds of sobbing.  “Hey, just finished my shift,” Rainbow Dash’s voice came alongside a repetitive knock on the other side of the doorway, “You ready yet?”  Rarity perked her head up from her desk, where she’d been looking at the drawing she’d done of Twilight, alongside a few new notes on the page.  Sparkle, was written alongside the heading that said Twilight, in a visibly different color. Unicorn. Wizard. Lives in Canterlot? Were the other new notes. She’d stared at the drawing, accompanied by her newfound information, and couldn’t help but feel a profound sense of confusion.  Rarity had only met Twilight Sparkle, the alicorn princess, once, briefly, and to be quite honest, treated her with a fair bit of hostility- but it only took those brief moments to become, admittedly rather obsessed. She’d somewhat created this idea in her mind of somepony that didn’t quite exist- Twilight Sparkle, the regal princess, one who’d come to her with all of the answers she didn’t yet know she needed until she met her. She had a magnificent tower of her own just outside of Equestria, she wore fetching gowns as she greeted her small, yet beautiful kingdom when she woke up, she used her magic to generously provide anything her subjects could ever need, and sat upon a terrace overlooking the smiling ponies beneath the twinkling stars.  Somehow, the thought of Twilight Sparkle, the reclusive intellect wizard who read textbooks at the dinner table and spent all her time at the library was different from the vision she’d created in her mind- and it was as if there were two Twilight Sparkles; the princess, the perfect picture of regality and grace- and the wizard, a solitary academic who doesn’t leave her house. In her own defense, there were two Twilight Sparkles- one of which belonged to an entirely different world, who she may never see again, and one of which belonged to her world, who she may never meet in all her days. So why in Equestria does she still care?  “I’m coming, Rainbow Dash!” Rarity announced, closing up her sketchbook and gently placing it in her bag. She scurried towards the door, where Rainbow Dash was hovering outside, already having taken off her uniform and ready to leave.  Rainbow Dash excitedly dropped her hooves to the ground, “Thank the Moon!” She cheered, “I’m starving! I was thinking we go to Bronco’s?” “Bronco’s? I thought they closed down?”  “Nah, they didn’t close, just relocated,” Rainbow Dash shrugged, “I think the rent was too pricey on the corner spot, but they’re just down the block from where they were before.”  “Oh, well that’s a relief because I don’t know where else in Ponyville I’d get my coffee anyway-”  “Madame Belle?” Their conversation was cut off by the sudden voice of Nightmare Moon, “I thought you were dismissed hours ago?” She lowered her head to make eye contact with the smaller pony.  Startled, Rarity jumped back, but quickly recovered. In all the chaos of the past nights, she still hadn’t quite forgotten that ever since the dragon incident, the princess wasn’t entirely pleased with her, she must still walk on eggshells- no pun intended. “Oh, greetings your majesty!” She curtseyed respectfully, “I was simply waiting for Captain Rainbow Dash so we may go on our dinner in Ponyville, is all. Is there anything I may do for you before we head off, your highness? The sleep shift should be preparing for their duty, I presume?”  “The sleep shift is well, Madame Belle,” Nightmare Moon confirmed, “I am glad you stood behind, however- I did have just one more thing to tell you.” She blinked her slitted eyes coolly.  “Yes, your highness?” Rarity summoned her notepad and pen, preparing to write down whatever she had to say, “Do you need the next shift schedule prepared in advance for this moon?”  The larger princess shook out her head to say no, “Actually, I’ve decided upon the location for the Starshine Salutation this year, and I’d like for you to organize the preparations.” Oh, this again? Rarity internally rolled her eyes- of course, she couldn’t externally roll them, unless she wanted to be disintegrated, or worse- fired. Why does she make an announcement of the location? It’s just going to be the palace again, honestly.  “Oh, of course!” Rarity affirmed, “I’ll start preparing the castle first thing tomorrow, I’ll call Fire Flare and the team-”  “No, no, no!” She shook her head, “I’ve decided to hold the celebration elsewhere, for this year- at least. So many ponies can’t travel all the way through the Everfree Forest, and I want everypony to bask in the glory of my ever most vibrant night sky, do you not agree?”  Momentarily, Rarity was stunned by the announcement. Well then, what a way to subvert my expectations.  “Why, yes of course your majesty! I think that’s an absolutely marvelous idea! Which city will have the honor this year, Manehattan? Vanhoover? I hear that Las Pegasus has a divine view, and plenty of ground-based infrastructure for the non-pegasi-”  “Canterlot.” She said simply, as if there was nothing particularly remarkable about that decision.  “Canterlot?” Rainbow Dash butted in, as she so often, so rudely did, “like, in the old castle?” She asked without much thought.  Rarity jabbed her hoof into Rainbow Dash’s wing, indicating for her to stop talking, “Canterlot sounds marvelous, your highness.” She agreed, scribbling into her notepad, “Do you have any ideas for entertainment?”  “A few, you’ll receive them soon.” She said, thankfully paying no mind to Rainbow Dash’s interruption. “I’d like you to take the train to Canterlot, tomorrow after your shift. I’ve arranged a suite for you and your foal sister for four nights, so you may find ponies out there to assist us, you’ll return here for the weekend and prepare us for our travels, and the ceremony will take place on the first day of Winter, as always.”  Four nights?! Rarity groaned internally, as much as she loved the city, that seemed as if it would be forever, but, of course, who was she to dispute an order? “Of course, your highness. I’ll prepare tonight.” She agreed.  “Good.” The princess nodded her head, and averted her gaze to Rainbow Dash, “You will accompany her, evaluate the conditions, assess the guard situation.”  “Sure thing, your highness!” Rainbow Dash affirmatively saluted.  Nightmare Moon, satisfied, hummed as she walked away from the two mares, heading back to her throne in the front of the castle as they approached the door. As she walked through the hallway, the guards lining her entrance all straightened out in order, until she sat upon her seat, doing nothing but watching over the hall in complete silence.  Canterlot, Rarity wondered. The timing of it all was awfully convenient- the princess hadn’t wanted to set hoof in Canterlot for quite some time, much less hold her most sacred celebration there. She couldn’t help but wonder if it had anything to do with Twilight Sparkle- after all, she wouldn’t need to interrogate Shining Armor to make the connection that she may live there, it was his hometown, presumably his sister’s as well. Even then, it wasn’t as if the ruler of all Equestria needed to come up with an excuse to visit Canterlot, she needn't have an excuse to do, well, anything at all. Or, perhaps there is no ulterior motive, and she just wanted to reach a broader spectrum of subjects outside of Ponyville. Perhaps you, Rarity, are letting your own fixation cloud your thoughts. “Um- Rarity?” Rainbow Dash’s raspy voice interrupted her train of thought, “Is that okay?”  Blinking back into consciousness, Rarity asked, “Oh, terribly sorry, Dash, I was absent, momentarily- what was your question?”  “I’m foalsitting my, uh, my buddy Scootaloo for a few weeks,” Rainbow Dash repeated herself, “Any chance I can take her to Canterlot with us? She’s Sweetie Belle’s age, they’re both blank flanks, it’ll give her somepony to talk to.”  “Certainly!” Rarity agreed, “That’d be lovely, I’m sure the two of them will have fun together, running around on Canterlot adventures!”  Rainbow Dash grinned, “Sweet! I’ll let her know, she’ll be so excited! Now, come on, let’s go, Bronco’s closes for rest in an hour!” She yelled as she zoomed ahead of Rarity, leaving her several yards behind.  Trotting slightly faster, knowing it was a futile effort to attempt to keep up Rainbow Dash’s pace for even a few moments, Rarity followed after her. From the corner of her eye, she saw Nightmare Moon, still sitting silently upon her throne watching her exit. She never quite understood why she did that, surely, the ruler of Equestria had better things to do than sit upon a throne- but then again, if she had a throne, she’d spend every waking moment upon it, too- though, she’d at least bring a book, or something to that effect.  Canterlot.  Her mind raced with thoughts, of the Salutation, of her sister, of Shining Armor. She knew she couldn’t return down to the dungeon, she couldn’t quite meet her old friend’s eyes so soon- but she did know that she made a promise to him. It was a promise she didn’t know if she could keep, but it was one she knew she had to try to maintain- for Shining Armor’s sake, yes, but for her own integrity’s sake, as well. There were only so many times one could leave a friend behind and still call herself a good pony. Rarity wasn’t sure how she was going to keep her promise, and she wasn’t sure if she even could, but she did know two things.  One of these things, she’d known for her entire life. It had come up time and time again, in every single facet of her existence- she couldn’t possibly escape it. She was eager, she was impatient, and she was unyielding in the face of a question that must be answered.  The second thing was a much more recent revelation, one that she’d had no idea of until just nights before that very moment. That being, there was another world out there, and in that world, there was another princess. Whether she would ever return is entirely uncertain, but what was certain, was that a version of her existed in Rarity’s own world. She was either a regal, princess-worthy pony, or a wizardly recluse who won't utter a word to her. Either way, she had something to offer Nightmare Moon, and presumably nothing to offer Rarity other than more unanswered questions and potentially serious harm- and she had no idea if any of it would be worth it.  And yet, she knew more than anything else; those four nights in Canterlot would be spent in search of Twilight Sparkle.