The sun had only just gone down. The house was quiet, almost sepulchral in its silence. There were a few exceptions, the butler knew. Dust Runner and the Lady Sunbeam were both in the Lady Moonchaser's chambers sobbing. The Lady Starshadow had not left her own chambers since the news had arrived.
Silver Monocle had been the family butler for decades. He had never seen the family in such a state. He could only hope that another miracle arrived, but they were apparently using a lot of those lately. Then the bell rang and there was a knock at the door. He went to the door fully intending to tell the pony to leave.
As he looked through the door's peephole however, he saw something rather unexpected. A stallion stood on the doorstep, his features could not quite be made out under his garment. In the extremely dim light, Monocle couldn't quite tell if he was wearing a ceremonial traveler's cloak that would invoke the laws of hospitality, or the ceremonial robes of a court wizard. Either way, he supposed he needed to at least open the door.
"Hello, how may I help you?" Monocle would observe proper decorum marching to the gallows.
"I... Is the Lady Moonchaser in?" The cloaked pony seemed unsure of himself, almost as if he couldn't decide which answer he would rather hear.
The butler narrowed his eyes ever so slightly in suspicion. "No. I'm sorry sir, I'm afraid she's not in at the moment."
"May I ask when she will return?" Ahah. An admirer. Silver Monocle was almost grateful for the return to normal problems. Lovestruck schoolcolts he knew how to deal with. He subconsciously shifted into a guard and block mode of conversation.
"No sir, I'm afraid that I have not been made aware of the Lady's schedule." Hold a moment, he had used a shortened form of her titles. He obviously felt he had some familiarity with her...
The cloaked pony nodded. "Would it be possible to leave a message for her with her maid Dust Runner or her sister, the Lady Sunbeam?" For some reason, Silver Monocle found himself thinking back to a similar conversation a few weeks ago with a young mare taking place on that same doorstep.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that they aren't seeing anypony right now." Guage the reaction, how does he respond to being stopped at every turn.
The stallion nodded slowly. "Very well, will you please deliver the message to them?"
"Of course sir, what is the message?"
Inkwell paused, what could he say? Tell them I'm sorry. Tell them that they were right all along and I'm a fool for not realizing it. Tell them I'm going to fix things. Tell them...
The cloaked stallion smiled, a small, soft, sad smile. "Just tell them I called." He turned to leave.
"Sir!" The stallion turned back to see the old butler looking at him with a quizical expression. "What name shall I give them for their mysterious caller?"
The cloaked pony looked surprised for a moment. "I..." As he raised a hoof to gesture, he caught sight of it for the first time since landing at the mansion. He almost laughed, he had forgotten... but... somehow, it seemed right. Inkwell was a pony with a life and a family. A pony who may return someday.
The cloaked pony couldn't risk that. He couldn't start a war as another pony and then leave him to one day live with the consequences...
He thought about what he had done. The things that defined him as separate from his counterpart. The wings, the friends, the fights, the execution... the execution... well, it wasn't like he was ever going to escape that blasted pseudonym anyway, although that ridiculous title would have to go. Really though, the name itself wasn't too bad, it was somewhat poetic really, the last light and all that...
He smiled at the butler, a real genuine smile. Then the black alicorn with the deep blue mane reached up and took off his hoood. He gave the old earth pony the pseudonym that had been haunting him since he gave it to Discord's interrogation team, and then he spread his very real feathery wings and vanished into the night.
Silver Monocle stood there for a time, stunned. Then he very slowly and carefully closed and bolted the door. He then promptly broke all precepts of decorum and galloped down the hallways, shouting at the top of his lungs for the mares he served.
When he arrived at the wing of the manor that the family bedchambers occupied, he sat down and slid to a stop, looking at Lady Starshadow standing in the doorway to her chambers with a rather amused expression, and Lady Sunbeam standing in the doorway to her sister's room, looking quite confused while Dust Runner standing behind her looked slightly scandalized.
He sat there panting for a moment, then began to offer his explanation. Several times. Finally he settled for delivering the message. "The Lady Moonchaser had a caller. He just left."
Lady Starshadow raised an eyebrow. "Must have been an important pony to get you worked up like this."
The butler nodded, years of training beginning to reassert themself in his mind and behavior. "No Madame, not to many. In fact, I rather doubt that there are more than a dozen ponies who even know his name."
The noblemare looked at him for a moment. Her daughter had told her about a pony nopony knew. A brilliant stallion with a habit of doing the impossible, but she had also said that he had left, that he wasn't around anymore or something like that. She hardly dared to hope... but she had to hope... she had to be sure. "Who was he?"
"There's a reason that we could never get a straight answer to that question out of Lady Moonchaser. I can see it now that I've heard him make an oath without words."
The mares ignored the awkward phrasing, two of them knew what he meant and the third didn't really care. "Silver Monocle," Starshadow's tone was almost an order. "What was his name?"
The butler looked directly into the eyes of the mare he had served for so long. He said two words. Three identical gasps followed his delivery of what had once been a pseudonym. Dust Runner and Sunbeam started asking questions over each other while Starshadow just looked on with tears in her eyes. If anypony could give her daughter a chance, then it was the stallion that she never stopped talking about. The pony that Moonchaser claimed could do the impossible.
It was amazing how much hope could be infused into a home so laden with despair by only mentioning a single name. Just two words that were originally supposed to protect an identity had now somehow become one. Watching the other three ponies present, she saw why Moonchaser believed in him so much. If his name could do this, then what could the pony himself do.
Smiling for the first time that day, she turned and went back into her chambers, whispering under her breath those two words. The name of the pony that changed the rules of the game...
"Midnight Star."