Princess of Shadows, Darkness, and Light

by jwizard

Chapter Two: Shadow's Fall

Equestria, 07-27-05, A.L.F., 7:22 P.M. (After Luna’s Fall)

Within a few hours of this announcement, the Council met in the chambers to discuss how they were going to implement damage control. Lord Blueblood, of House Blueblood, was arguing with Lord Night of House Sparkle.

“This may be how you run things in YOUR house, but I REFUSE to allow a jumped-up pegacorn to tell me how to run my own damn House!!” Blueblood snorted, puffs of air coming from his nostrils.

“First of all, Princess Celestia is not a pegacorn,” said Lord Night of House Sparkle. “Secondly, you have no choice, as only those houses that use the meritocracy system have any authority. Since my own House and House Belle are the only Unicorn Houses that do so, that means that the rest of you are Lords and Ladies in name only. I’ve already given orders to seize all of your assets, and your domiciles are currently under lockdown.” Smugly, Night noticed that Blueblood was beginning to sweat.

Turning to his cousin, the Lady Belle, Blueblood, now sweating profusely, looked at her with pleading eyes. For her part, Harmony Belle wanted nothing to do with the wannabe Lord, or the House that was such a stain on the Houses of the Day Court, now the only court of nobles since Luna’s banishment along side of her nightmare. Now she was happy, in that, while she couldn’t outright ABOLISH his seat, she could ensure that he and his son, the self-styled Prince of the Unicorns, would have no authority.

“Oh, don’t give me that look cousin. Myself and Lord Night have no intention of abolishing your house, nor removing its seat,” she said in a haughty tone. “However, you will have to concede to the meritocracy if you, or any of your descendants, wish to sit on said seat, and attend the Council.”

All of the other unicorn nobles realized that if there was any hope of salvaging their plans, they would have to go along with it for now. Their happy, yet dark thoughts were further shot down by the next statements made by the Lady Belle.

“The model of acceptance for meritocracy is one that requires service in the public sectors, or on the front line. Service in the private sector, such as the accumulation of either land and/or wealth has been rejected by myself, Night, and the Princess. You all received the memorandum concerning this. Therefore, I’m glad to say that this discussion is over. You will all be escorted to the public guest wings of the palace, save for those of your sons and daughters who HAVE distinguished themselves. The rest of you will be informed concerning your status. Lord Blueblood, neither you nor your son will be sitting in your seat; instead, it will be taken over by your daughter.” She grinned maliciously; Blueblood’s daughter had been excommunicated from her family because she was soulbound to Angel Hearts, Night’s niece. This caused further consternation, as the Council law forbidding those who favored their own gender to sit on a Council seat was now, of course, null and void. That law was recent; it was less than six months that it had been ratified.

Now huffing heavily, Blueblood realized that his last avenue had been closed. There simply wasn’t anything more that he could do to stop all his plans from being ruined. Panicking, Blueblood collapsed, his over-stressed heart no longer able to fight the combined effort of the strain of his weight and emotional stress. Gasping, Harmony called out to the Guards. “Guards, call for medical ponies!! We have a possible heart attack!! “

---

Blueblood woke up to a hoof stroking his mane. Looking up, he saw the one pony who had every reason to hate him, smiling down. “Oh thank Celestia, you made it through,” she sighed, still stroking his mane.

Blueblood struggled with his parched throat, only to have his daughter levitate the cup over to him. She tipped it so he could drink. He shot a dirty look at her; he never did like being nursed at the best of times, and now that his magic was all but useless, it made his mood particularly sour. His look changed to one of resignation as he saw the horseapple-eating grin that Platinum had on her face. Honestly, why did I name her after the Unicorn Princess? She’s far too like that insufferable Clover the Clever. Still, I love her so much right now; she makes a far better candidate than Prince ever would.

After a few sips, Blueblood was able to croak something he had wanted to say for years. “I’m sorry, my little princess.”

“For what?” She asked, with a confused frown.

“For allowing the Council to play politics with your happiness,” he said, after another sip of water.

“Oh papa, I forgave you for that ages ago.” Smiling softly, she continued to feed him small sips of water while stroking his mane. “I know that the other lords were pressuring you to do so, since Princess Celestia’s take on such relationships has been well established. In any case, that’s just rain water in the Everfree now. I’m here for you, as long as you need.”

Shocked, he started to cough. “What about the seat?’”

Turning his head gently, Platinum Posey directed him the other bed, which had a portable writing table, an open ink pot, and several stacked scrolls. Winking, she simply said, “I put my years as a personal accountant to the Princess to good use. Most of what I handled was accounts for disaster relief, as well as aid for underprivileged pegasi.”

Starting to grin, Blueblood realized that his family most definitely was in better hooves. Platinum’s personal fortune rivaled that of many of the other houses, with the exception of House Fancy.

“I’m glad,” he sighed, falling back to sleep.

---

Equestria, 07-27-05, A.L.F; 11:58 P.M. (After Luna’s Fall)

Walking silently, a shadowy figure made its way through the corridors of the local hospital. The figure had only one purpose, to find the inept Blueblood and punish him for failing the Dark King’s plans.

As it made its way to where Blueblood was sleeping peacefully, the figure pondered its current assignment. How did a wraith hunter of his caliber get dragged into this mess? This loose end was simply hanging by a thread anyway. Oh well, at least it pays well. I’ll finally be able to afford that cute little pony mare I saw in the Gryphon’s market. Such a shame, really; his daughter was quite the looker too.

Finally, the hunter reached his destination. Approaching the ajar door as silently as only a wraith hunter could, the assassin looked into the room, seeing that both targets were present. Approaching the bedside, the merc levitated a syringe over the left foreleg of the unfortunate stallion. As he went to plunge it in, however. it went through the leg. Too late to realize that this was, in fact an illusion, the assassin jumped away only to have two simultaneous attacks sprung on him. The first one was a mana-blocking ring on his horn; the second was a rune-blade through his chest.

As he felt the lifeblood flow out of him, he turned to see a beautiful face, with a sad frown on her muzzle. He then realized his mistake; his other target was as much a guard as a noble. Oh horseapples!! Ah well, at least a beautiful face is the last thing I’ll see….

Wiping her blade, Platinum sent three pulses through the gem around her neck, letting the guards know that the trap was sprung.

---

Equestria, 07-27-05, A.L.F; 12:22 A.M. (After Luna’s Fall)

A few houses away from the hospital, a group of pony mercenaries was waiting for confirmation that their targets were dead. They were engaged in the favored pastime of soldiers the world over; gambling.

Suddenly, all of the boarded up windows were blasted in, while simultaneously, the doors were kicked in. Within a few moments, members of the previously thought to be defunct Lunar Guard had surrounded the entire gang, including the leader.

Looking over the roster of known felons, it was confirmed that said leader was guilty of crimes involving pleasure slavery. Realizing this, the Captain dealt with such a pony as his Mistress would; simply lopping off the pony’s head, then using his magic to burn the body until there was nothing left. The rest of the bandits were escorted to tunnels underneath Canterlot Castle, to await petrification in three days’ time.

Far, far to the north, a wild cry of pain was heard. The Emperor of the Shadows had lost his last connection into Equestria’s high government. With that, the last of his plans fell through, and he descended into a madness that would last for over 1000 years….

---

Comments

[-Brutus]

I like how they abolished some powers that they once welded. I wonder what Luna is up to.

[jwizard]

Yeah, she's being sneaky, isn't she?