chapter one: a dark night, a bright star

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After dropping her sister off at school, Rarity trudged her way through the Everfree forest to make her way to the Lunar Castle. She carried with her a saddlebag filled with a book, requested by Nightmare Moon from the Ponyville Golden Oak library. The Elements of Harmony; A Reference Guide. Rarity had gone to check it out on the way home with Sweetie Belle at the request of the Princess herself, only to find that not a single pony had checked it out in it’s entire time at the library, though, maybe that had something to do with the fact that there wasn’t a librarian to check the book out from.

Honestly, how can one call themselves a library with no way to properly check out a book!? Rarity scoffed to herself at the thought, If I were anypony else, I might have stolen this book without a second thought! Though, Nightmare Moon may not share any of the same reservations she did- and with the insistence she had upon adding this book to her collection- Rarity was certain that if Ponyville did have a librarian, they would surely never see that book again, so perhaps it was a good thing that there was nopony there to monitor the comings and goings of their collection.

With her horn, Rarity levitated a silver badge with a bright teal magical aura that surrounded it, overpowering her own ice blue colored magic- Nightmare Moon had given them to each of her employees, they contain a certain poignant magic that warded off the timberwolves so that everypony could travel safely through the Everfree forest into the castle- if you asked Rarity, however, the greatest threat one could come across in these woods is the scourge of mud clinging to their hooves. For this, she wore a pair of blue rubber boots on her way to the castle, We may live in a state of eternal midnight, but just because nopony can see us in the dark does not mean that we must sacrifice basic hygiene! Rarity insisted to Sweetie Belle just about each night.

After a brief trek through the forest, she came across the cobblestone bridge that led to the grand Lunar Castle. She quickly trotted across it and past the two royal guards stationed at the front door, flashing the silver badge which signified her employment at the castle. “Good night, Dame Heartstrings, Sir Thunderlane.” She greeted the two guards with a respectful dip of her head while they examined her badge.

“Good night, Madame Belle.” The unicorn guard Lyra saluted to her as she gestured to the pegasus, Thunderlane, to open the doors for her.

Rarity rolled her eyes, “Lyra, dear, you have known me since there was sunlight, you can simply call me Rarity.” She muttered in a hushed tone, knowing that even the mere mention of the former rule was something considered to be rather taboo.

She didn’t respond, but she cracked a simple smile as the grand wooden doors opened with a slight creak.

“Oh!” Rarity exclaimed, “What a noise! I simply must have that fixed, thank you, Sir Thunderlane, for alerting me to such a horrendous inadequacy in our castle- this simply will not do.” She called back as she entered the doors, scribbling her note of the creaking entryway into a summoned notepad, quite certain that neither Thunderlane nor Lyra were listening to her in the slightest.

As she entered, the motion sensing lights had turned on two by two, blue flames lining the grand entryway that leads to the, currently unoccupied, throne. Rarity had thought it somewhat tawdry to have the Princess’s throne be the first thing one sees upon entering- but she insisted that the display of power was worth it, so who was she to argue against her Highness? The lights, however, were all Rarity- she prided herself on her flair for the theatrics, and those lights were some of her finest work in the castle.

Without much fuss, she marched with her head high past the rows of guards standing in the halls into her own personal quarters. They were decorated just as the guards quarters were, but she had turned it into something more of a dressing room than a sleeping quarter- though there was a small mattress and bedframe in the leftmost corner, the far more utilized piece of furniture was the large vanity desk and full length mirror affixed to the wall (and of course, a similar chaise lounge to the one she had at home- she insisted that no room was complete without one). She levitated one of many clean uniforms out of the drawers and quickly, magically ironed them out before stepping into them behind her curtain- just in case anypony were to somehow enter- and applied her makeup in the mirror, a dash of blue eyeshadow and mascara over her false eyelashes, just as she wore every night. She pulled her mane back into a businesslike bun, and followed suit with her tail. “Another night, same as always.” Rarity looked at herself in the mirror and affirmed. She knew that tonight would be an easy one, there were no tours to orchestrate, so all she had to do was make sure the insides of the castle were running smoothly, maybe even help out with the decor, as she so often enjoyed doing on her slower nights.

She stepped outside of her room to see more guards in the hallway, “Greetings, Dame Blossomforth,” She grinned to a pegasus standing guard just outside her door, “Have you any idea if Captain Rainbow Dash is here, tonight?”

She nodded with a salute, “Yes, Madame Belle!” She extended her left wing further down the hallway, “At the archives, Madame!”

With a satisfied “Hmph!”, Rarity trotted down to the archives to see if her closest friend at the castle was available to chat- although, technically, she had nothing scheduled for today, so she wished to get a head start on her tidying up, and perhaps fixing that creaky entryway as well, and certainly the best way to do that was alongside a friend. Making her way through the winding hallways, she eventually made her way to a grand door leading to an even grander library. Stationed at the front of the door was a short guardsmare pegasus with a blue coat and an elaborate suit of armor, complete with two steel bat’s wings- and a somewhat more intricate helmet indicating her high rank as the Captain of the Lunar Guard. “Rainbow Dash!” Rarity grinned to the stoic-faced mare, “It is a delight to see you, are you free to accompany me on my rounds?”

The pegasus stood silent for a moment, before removing her helmet to reveal her buzz-cut rainbow colored mohawk. “Heya, Rare!” She smirked, without a salute or proper title, never one to be nearly as formal as the other guardsponies, much to the dismay of Nightmare Moon, of course, but there was no denying that Rainbow Dash was one of their most valuable guards, if not, the most valuable, as the Captain, so alas, there wasn’t much that anypony could do about it. “Sure, I can come with, lemme just get somepony to watch over the door.” She wriggled her wings out from under her uniform with a groan, “Rarity, these armors aren’t very practical for the pegasus guards, you know, our wings are stuck under here! What if we need to fly?”

Rarity hummed to herself in response, “Well, normally my motto is fashion over function, but I suppose that’s not quite as important when the responsibility of the Princess's life may rely on one’s ability to fly… I will see what I can do, for you, Dash!” She made her small spiral bound notepad appear with her horn, and then began to write on it with a quill that was summoned alongside it, making note to sketch out an updated and more practical pegasus armor that still adhered to the Princess’s personal, rather gothic aesthetic.

Rainbow Dash nodded before she flew off down the hallway and asked a nearby guard to cover the library gates as well. Within a moment or two, she flew back towards Rarity and nodded, “We’re set!” She looked over at Rarity’s notes, “So, whaddya have to do tonight, Rare? Press conference, write a speech?”

“Nothing like that, thankfully,” The white unicorn shook her head no. As Nightmare Moon’s private secretary- it was Rarity’s responsibility to manage all interactions the Princess had with the public, including, but not limited to, organizing appearances, press conferences, celebrations, holidays, castle openings, tours, and of course- meetings with foreign dignitaries from outside of Equestria. However, is was a rare moment in which she had none of those things to do, other than simply reading a few letters sent from ponies who wish to have her Highness attend an event and sort them into potential ‘yes’ or ‘no’ piles, which, if anything, is a rather quick activity- not much interests Nightmare Moon, and over the past couple of years, Rarity had become something of an expert in determining what she would deem an acceptable appearance- which, happens to be nearly nothing. So, she had instead decided to spend the night working around the castle, changing the tapestries, rearranging some of the tables- things like that were what she found to be relaxing, and is, technically, an important part of her job. As well as being one of the ones to design the newer castle before she was hired on board as a full time employee, it’s also important to make sure the Lunar Castle is in top shape for anypony who wishes to attend- after all, nopony should step out of the palace of the Princess of Equestria feeling disappointed! “As a matter of fact, I think this may be a good night for some redecoration, do you not agree?”

The pegasus shrugged her shoulders disinterestedly, “The decor looks fine to me, besides, you just changed it, like… a month ago.”

“Has it really been that long?” Rarity emitted a scandalized gasp, “If I changed the decor a month ago- all that means is that we are a month behind the trends, and I can not allow that to happen!”

Rolling her eyes, Rainbow Dash added, “I don’t think the Princess cares about the aesthetics enough to notice that we’re not on trend…”

Aghast, Rarity scrunched her face, “Well she most certainly does! For a Princess who ‘doesn’t care about the aesthetics’, she surely spends quite a lot of effort maintaining our state of eternal night!”

To that, Rainbow Dash let out a snort, “Alright, I’ll give you that one,” She continued scanning over Rarity’s list of daily activities, “You know, there are servants who will dust off the library, right?”

“Yes, yes,” She moaned with exasperation, “But they are not allowed access into the restricted sections, and I will not allow them to grow filthy with disuse.” She trotted around a corner before she arrived at the entryway to the library, the doors carved with Nightmare Moon’s cutie mark, and atop them, a plaque reading “The Royal Library” and in much smaller letters, “Books are not to leave this room.” Which, admittedly, defeated the purpose of a library, but it wasn’t as if many ponies actually made the journey all the way through the Everfree forest just to check out a book or two. She nosed her way through the door, past the guards in front of it, and began passing by dozens of rows of bookshelves, all with exceedingly complicated and specific section titles, What in the Princess’ name is “Arcane Brunch Recipies”, and why did it take up three entire shelves? She groaned as she passed by various sections.

At the very back of the library was a lone door with a massive plaque on it, Restricted to the Public, guarded by two ponies- which Rarity thought seemed rather excessive for such a small, single door. But, nonetheless, she paced forward, “Greetings, Sergeant Flash Sentry, Sir Compass Star.” She smiled, “Just heading in to do some cleaning, don’t mind me!”

Suspiciously, both stallions narrowed their eyes to her, before Rainbow Dash flew in, “Don’t worry, colts, she’s with me- and we’ve got level four clearance.” She smirked confidently.

Nightmare Moon’s castle had five clearance levels- five being the highest. The first clearance level is reserved for common guests to the castle, tourists who wish to see the sights and schedule visits, mostly. Level two is for lower-ranking employees of the castle, servants, kitchen staff, and maids, who are provided access to certain areas of the castle that the public isn’t, but still not allowed into the most crucial rooms. Level three is for those visiting on important business, allowed to hold meetings with the Princess in private meeting rooms, but unable to go into protected rooms, and most non high-ranking guards who have worked there for less than a year and haven’t yet proven themselves to be trustworthy enough for higher clearance yet. Level four is held by direct employees of the Princess, such as Rarity, and high ranking guards like Rainbow Dash or Flash Sentry- these ponies have full access to everywhere in the castle other than the Princess’ private quarters and rooms that she has kept off limits to all but herself, such as her private library. Level five includes access to those rooms, though it is held only by the Princess herself, and can be temporarily granted when necessary, but this privilege is rarely given out- as a matter of fact, in her entire time working at the castle, Rarity had only seen it granted once.

Flash Sentry and Compass Star both saluted Rainbow Dash, before stepping out of the way of the door to allow them access to it. The unicorn mare opened it with her magic as she confidently strutted past the two stallions. “I must admit, it never gets old telling ponies I have high clearance.”

Rainbow Dash laughed, flying upward into the tall, narrow spire where the restricted library was held. “Even with high clearance- I don’t know how anypony is expected to get around this library without wings! It’s gotta be 70 feet high with no stairs! How’re you even gonna clean it?”

Summoning two large feather dusters, Rarity looked up at the pegasus pony and batted her eyelashes, “Well, then, it’s a good thing that I brought a pony with wings, is it not?” She laughed, floating one of the dusters up to Rainbow Dash, who was already halfway up the spire, flicking it under her nose.

“What?!” Rainbow Dash groaned, “You mean you dragged me away from my post just to wipe off a bunch of dirty old books? You realize I could’ve been-”

“Bored out of your mind staring down an empty hallway for three hours and saluting at everypony who walks by?” Rarity began, “Why, yes I do realize, and I know you are so very grateful for your best friend Madame Rarity Belle, for she has granted you an escape from this treacherous task and something to do for the next couple of hours, and the chance to stretch your wings! No, no, you have no need to thank me- your assistance is all the thanks I require.”

Staring down in blank eyed shock for a few moments, Rainbow Dash grabbed the feather duster with a reluctant groan as she began gliding lower to dust the books that were just out of Rarity’s reach.

“Hmph! I thought so,” Rarity sang quietly to herself as she watched Rainbow Dash work.

For the next couple of hours, the two worked on dusting off the shelves and the books themselves. Rarity stopped to give a quick look at the titles of the books while she took them off the shelf one by one, most of them were books about Nightmare Moon written during the Celestial Era, propaganda stating how she had only turned against her sister and “become evil” out of jealousy- surely written to turn generations of ponies against her. Otherwise, they were ancient spellbooks containing recipes for powerful magic- banned from the public due to their outdated and dangerous understandings of the way magic worked. In order to prevent ponies from practicing this dangerous magic, it was to be kept from the public.

“Starswirl the Bearded’s Almanac of Artifacts,” Rarity read out loud, projecting her voice enough for Rainbow Dash to hear, “Oh, but this amulet on the cover is simply to die for, what a shame!”

Rainbow Dash laughed, pulling out another book and dusting it with her tail, “Alicorn: Understanding Equestria’s Most Dangerous and Elusive Threat? What does that even mean?”

“Oh, please! I bet the Princess banned that one on account of it being plain inaccurate!” Rarity scoffed, pulling out another one, a blue book bound with a silver ribbon on its inside, “The Mare in the Moon: Princess Luna before her Darkest Day…” She hesitated as she reached the end of the title. The Princess’s former name, Luna, was so infrequently used that Rarity had found herself somewhat surprised to see it written out that way. She contemplated taking a peek inside, but didn’t want Rainbow Dash to get curious- knowing her, she’d rat the both of them out to the Princess, and they’d both be in trouble. She quickly dusted off the book without another word on the subject.

As if she wasn’t even paying attention, Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the ceiling, before she fluttered her wings until she reached the very top, “Hey, Rare?” She yelled, “You seen this?” Without waiting for a response, she swooped down and picked up the unicorn in her arms and flew her up to the top of the spire.

“Rainbow Dash!” She yelled in protest as she got carried, “My hooves were meant to stay on the ground!” Flailing her hooves while Rainbow Dash continued flying as if she weighed absolutely nothing.

“Rarity, look!” The pegasus gestured upwards by turning her nose towards the ceiling. “See that? A hidden door! It looks like it leads to the top of the spire!”

The unicorn mare rolled her eyes, “Honestly Rainbow- we must’ve seen every inch of this pla…” She trailed off, as she noticed that Rainbow Dash was certainly correct, there was a hidden panel in the ceiling that led to yet another room- one that she had never seen before, “… Well that is quite odd- I thought I’d seen every inch of this place I’m allowed, and even then, I know the doors I’m not meant to enter! What in the Princess’ name is this?”

Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes to look at it, “Maybe it’s another floor of the library? Not sure how any grounded ponies would get to it, though- but I guess the same goes for just about everything else in this room.”

“Perhaps it’s an extra layer of security?” Rarity thought, suddenly no longer paying attention to how high off the ground she was, “That you must ask a guard for approval before entrance, because otherwise nopony could fly you up!”

“Eh,” Rainbow Dash continued, “That works fine for earth ponies and unicorns, but what’s stopping a pegasus pony from flying straight in?”

Cautiously, Rarity asked “… Should we find out?”

“But- what about-“

“The Princess would’ve told us if there was any room we were forbidden entrance to- she had all of them marked off on the guards maps!” Rarity reminded her, “But none of us have even heard of this room- and if it is an extension of the library, should we not finish what we started and clean it?”

The pegasus smirked, “Works for me! Any chance to go through a weird door sounds like an adventure to me! Come on, my hooves are a little full right now, you’ve gotta open it!”

“Oh, right!” Rarity blushed, suddenly recalling just how high off the ground she was, “Let me just…” She extended her hoof to the door, but found that it was somewhat jammed. “Oh, hold on!” She hit the door with a simple spell, hearing the door unlatch itself and open on its own.

“So you need a pegasus to take you up, and a unicorn to open it!” Rainbow Dash confirmed excitedly. “Whatever’s in here must be top secret! Let’s go!” She zoomed up, before Rarity could even think about changing her mind.

When she was placed on the ground again, Rarity couldn’t help but look around the newly found hidden room. They were right in assuming it was the top of the spire, when she looked up, she could see through the glass dome atop the ceiling, making out the stars and moon from the massive window. Below the dome, the walls were lined with even more bookshelves, however, unlike the others in the main and restricted libraries, these were unlabeled and seemed to be entirely disorganized. Rarity briefly thought about putting a system in place while she was up there, but she of all ponies understood the value of organized chaos- thinking back to the way her boutique must look to other ponies, the sheer lack of accord must give more organized ponies a heart attack. There were no chairs or tables, or even pillows scattered about the ground, not any way in or out other than the single hidden trapdoor in the floor. But the most interesting thing in the room was a glass display case, held up by a carved marble podium in the direct center of the circle, on which all of the bookshelves were pointed at, and the moonlight from the dome window reflected almost exactly upon. Inside the small, oblong glass display was a single purple egg, dotted with darker purple spots. “Rainbow Dash… is that?”

“Holy shit!“ Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide, “I mean- I knew it was in the castle, but Nightmare Moon never told anypony where it was, not even me or Flash! I always assumed she just kept it in her quarters!”

What she was referring to, of course, was the fabled dragon’s egg. Rumor had it that when the former Princess Celestia was in control of the kingdom, even before Nightmare Moon’s original banishment, Celestia came into care of a dragon’s egg. Neither Princess was able to properly hatch the egg, and so they had held onto it just in case it ever decided to crack open on its own- after all, the workings of dragons were a mystery to Ponykind, for all either Princess knew, this egg could take thousands of years to hatch! It did, however, seem to be pretty much indestructible, even before it was hatched, so it had become somewhat of an invaluable tool for testing magic. As a matter of fact, after Nightmare Moon’s banishment, Princess Celestia kept it as a test for potential applicants to her school of magic, supposedly, to determine their potential in the methods they use to attempt to crack open the egg, although, nopony was ever expected to actually be able to crack it, and clearly, nopony did. After Nightmare Moon returned, she chose to keep the egg in the hopes that it would eventually open on its own, or that she would soon figure out the spell- or at the very least, find a wizard powerful enough to complete it.

“I can’t believe it…” Rarity’s eyes widened, “Do you really think that it’s been here for thousands of years? And nothing has happened?”

Rainbow Dash inched closer to the egg at the center, “I guess so!” She laughed, “Woah, do you think that when it hatches it’ll be like… already thousands of years old?”

Chuckling, Rarity said, “Don’t be silly, Rainbow Dash! It’s just a little baby!”

“What do you know about dragons?” She huffed with irritation, “Nopony has seen one in, like, a thousand years!”

Rarity found herself stepping closer to the display case alongside Rainbow Dash, “Do you think it’s close to hatching yet?” She narrowed her eyes and nearly pressed her nose up against the glass, “Wait! Dash, come here!”

Rainbow followed suit, pressing her eyes as close to the glass as possible, “Huh? Do you see anything?”

The unicorn inspected even closer to make sure that what she was seeing was real, before confirming, “Look, there! The egg is… quivering!”

Eyes widening, Rainbow Dash confirmed the egg was in fact moving. Although it was difficult to notice from a distance, the closer one got, it was clear that it was rocking back and forth rather intensely, as if whatever was inside it was banging on the sides of the walls, “Oh fuck! You’re right! Do you think it’s about to hatch?”

Rarity twitched her nose in contemplation, “It would be a terribly interesting coincidence if it began to hatch at the exact time we arrived, would it not?” She thought about it more intensely and concluded, “Perhaps it hears us! Do you think that eggs can hear?”

The pegasus pony shook her head, “Probably not,” She thought, before noticing Rarity’s motion from the corner of her vision, “Woah, Rarity, what are you doing?!” She yelled.

Rarity had her head lowered slightly, and her eyes shut while she raised her horn, “Well, obviously, Rainbow Dash, I’m opening the case,” She rolled her eyes at her friend, “After all, if it can not hear us, it’s shaking because it is either about to hatch at any moment, or the poor dear is cold. Either way, I will not allow it to be born within a glass container and left here for the Moon knows how long before somepony checks on it again! Or at the very least, not without a blanket to keep it warm!” Using her magic, she summoned a scarf from within her own quarters, and opened it into a large piece of fabric. “There, that should work.”

“Uh-” Rainbow Dash protested, “Are you sure that we’re even allowed up here? I mean, I’m all for breaking the rules, but I don’t think the Princess is gonna be happy with us if we mess with her egg- and I’m not planning on losing my job anytime soon-”

Rarity briefly wondered if Rainbow Dash was correct, and if this was something that Nightmare Moon would be upset with her for, before she immediately shook out her head and responded, “Nonsense, Dashie. Do you not think that the Princess would be happy that we’re taking such measures to make sure her prized possession is comfortable and safe? Honestly, she would thank us for it!” Without waiting for another word from Rainbow Dash, Rarity levitated the glass containing the egg.

Within a second of Rarity cracking the glass from the table, and just barely managing to slip in the piece of fabric she’d summoned, there was a blinding blue light from the edges shining directly into her eyes. She thought she heard Rainbow Dash calling to her, but it was quite drowned out by the sounds of a loud alarm coming from every direction. It went on for a few rings before the light dulled down, allowing her to see that the sole entrance in the floor was suddenly closed, despite both ponies leaving it open before.

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity shouted above the noise, “What in the name of the Moon is happening?!” She dropped the glass to the floor with a startled fizzling out of her horn’s magic, smashing it into several pieces of sharp glass shattered at their hooves. With that, instantly, there was a dark blue smoke from the remains of the case that swirled above the entire room, enveloping the two ponies as if they were caught in the eye of a twister. Rarity pushed her back against Rainbow Dash’s and closed her eyes, hoping that she’d wake up in mere moments to learn it was all a dream. The pounding roar of whirling wind filled her ears, and she slowly began to feel herself losing grip on the ground beneath her hooves. Behind her, she felt Rainbow Dash flap her wings to try to escape, but it was clear that it was to no avail.

Oh please, please let this be over soon! Rarity pleaded silently, entirely unsure what could possibly be happening, much less willing to entertain the possibility that this was anything more than a strange dream. After all, what are the chances that on the same night, she’d find a hidden room in the library that nopony had even heard of prior to that, find the fabled hidden dragon’s egg in it, and then be slain in a freak tornado of smoke? Absolutely impossible! There was no way in all of Nightmare Moon’s kingdom that she wouldn’t open her eyes and find herself…

Back in the throne room? There was no more wind in her ears, no more piercing sirens, and no more smoke clouding her vision. Slowly, she opened her other eye to make sure that what she was seeing was real, and she had confirmed what she already knew- somehow, she had teleported to the throne room.

Behind her was Rainbow Dash, with one eyebrow arched in surprise. She pointed a hoof at the unicorn with a quizzical stare.

Rarity shook her head, she knew that there was no way her own magic had transported them- the most she’d ever been able to teleport are light objects like pencils and small pieces of fabric, much less two full grown mares. Although she had heard of unicorns finding somewhat abnormal amounts of magical strength in times of intense fear, she hadn’t even intended to teleport- so there was no way this was within her small magical capabilities.

Before she could bring herself to audibly question what just happened, a bright teal beam of powerful magic shot from across the room directly at Rarity- just narrowly missing her thanks to Rainbow Dash swooping out of her way to assure her safety. Instead, the beam had only hit a tapestry on the wall- but it was clear through the gaping burned hole in its center that had the beam hit Rarity instead, she would surely not have lived to tell the tale. She stared in horror at the burned tapestry, both because it was an incredibly poignant visual of just how lucky she was to be alive, and because she knew that the moment this settled down she would have to replace it again.

Putting on a more formal, threatening tone of voice that was considered typical of the royal guard, Rainbow Dash stepped in front of Rarity, “Halt!” She ordered, “Who dares attack a servant of the Princess?!” She looked around the hallway to make eye contact with the other guards that lined the hall- but none of them came to her defense, or even slightly budged. Instead, they all stared at the source of the attack magic…

Princess Nightmare Moon herself.

“A servant of the Princess?” Nightmare Moon’s harsh voice dripped with intrigue, “Why, what servant of mine would slink around the castle to steal my prized, priceless belongings?!” She hissed, her snakelike tongue wavering threateningly over her lips. With a single flap of her wings, she shot up into the sky and back down, her slitted eyes staring directly into Rarity’s eyes. “Why, Madame Rarity Belle?” She widened her eyes with a twinge of genuine shock, “My loyal secretary… Surely, you have an explanation for such treason?!”

Rarity felt her hooves sink nervously into the ground, she felt as though she could hardly move. The unicorn shot a glance to Rainbow Dash, who stood hovering in the sky, staring nervously at Nightmare Moon, surely just preparing for her own turn to be interrogated. She opened her mouth to speak, but found that no words came out.

“Well?!” The princess insisted, lowering her head threateningly above the much smaller pony, “Give me one good reason to justify why I have allowed you to live after your betrayal?”

Swallowing her nervousness in a literal gulp of air, Rarity tried to keep her composure as she talked to her ruler. “Why, why- yes, your highness, you see-” She started, trying to keep a wrap on the nervous stuttering as best she could, though to no real avail, “I had little work to do today, so I thought I would clean around the castle, and I figured since nopony ever cleans the section of the libr-”

“Silence!” The princess growled into the unicorn’s face, “Do not reveal the locations of my assets to the entire castle!”

“M-my apologies, your majesty,” She continued fearfully, digging her hooves into the ground subtly, “I figured since nopony ever cleans a, um, that certain area in the castle, that I would try to dust it off, and I brought a pegasus pony to help me reach the high, um… parts! The high parts, when I came across the room, and, well, I thought it was just another ah, um, extension? To the room, that is? And I-”

Frustratedly, the Princess grinded her teeth together, “Agh- this is ridiculous! Guards!” She yelled to the rows of guards in the hallway, “I have granted you relief from your duties for the next minutes! Exit the throne room!” Watching all of the guards anxiously slink out from the room one by one, she added with a sharp hiss, “Not you, Captain! I’m not finished with the two of you!” After each of them left the room, she continued, “Now, tell me what happened in words I can actually comprehend!” She yelled.

“Oh, well certainly!” Rarity let out a nervous giggle, “Well, after Rainbow Dash and I found the hidden door in the, ahm, restricted hall of the library, we thought it was just more books, when we saw your egg!” She explained, “And, well, the egg was shaking, and we thought it was going to hatch! But I thought- wouldn’t that be a terribly strange thing, were the egg to hatch as soon as we found it!”

Rainbow Dash intercepted Rarity’s rambling by adding, “So then, Rarity thought it must be cold! So she wanted to give it a blanket!”

Realizing how ridiculous that sounded, Rarity sighed, “I simply did not want you to lose an incredibly valuable egg if I could help it!”

Suspiciously, Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow, “That egg has quivered for more moons than I can recall!” She looked up outside the window to see the moon, and squinted to see the face of a pony within it, “Long before I rose to power again, that egg remained shaking! What makes you think you know better than your Princess?”

Suddenly feeling calmer, knowing that Nightmare Moon was at least willing to hear out her side of the story, Rarity continued speaking, “Oh, not at all, Princess!” She groveled, somewhat dramatically, knowing that the Princess appreciates seeing the fear in ponies eyes- even if it’s just a little bit dramatized, “I simply knew not that this is what dragon eggs did! I thought that if I were to help you keep the egg safe, I would be doing my part to be the best servant to you I could possibly be!”

Nightmare Moon sighed, though not quite angrily this time, instead, in a rather disappointed manner, as if a foal asked a silly question to her face, “You should consider yourself lucky, Madame Rarity Belle, Captain Rainbow Dash, that the only punishment I am giving you is this warning;” She proceeded, making intense eye contact with Rarity to make sure she was listening, “Neither of you are to return to that room, neither of you are to touch that egg, and when it hatches, neither of you, under any circumstances, and I mean any whatsoever, are to socialize with that dragon. The only pony in my kingdom to wield the might of dragons shall be me!” She opened her wings intimidatingly, before adding on a final, “Do I make myself clear?”

Immediately, Rainbow Dash and Rarity both nodded their heads anxiously, “Yes, Princess Nightmare Moon!” They bowed courteously in unison.

“Good.” She turned her head, as if she was no longer interested in seeing the two of them. “You’re dismissed. Continue your duties elsewhere.” She commanded, already walking back to her throne.

The two ponies walked out of the room- Rainbow Dash gave a somewhat frightened scamper, while Rarity left slowly, deliberately making each and every hoofstep with her head held high in indignation. She found that as she walked away from the Princess, knowing certainly that both her life and job were safe, the only thing she could find herself feeling was irritation and anger at being scolded like that in front of her friends, and for such a silly mistake, at that. How dare she accuse me of such disloyalty?! She thought to herself, After all I’ve done for her, she nearly obliterates me with a magical blast before even giving me time to deign an apology? Unbelievable! She imagined turning back and looking the Princess in the eyes and telling her exactly how she felt, before remembering that had she wanted to, Nightmare Moon could do a lot worse than just fire her. She thought back to the hole in the tapestry that was nearly a hole in her waist, and she sighed, continuing to walk back out.

Outside, there were several guardsponies staring at them with intense looks of curiosity. Among them was Lyra Heartstrings, who had since changed shifts since working the front gate in the morning. She walked up to the two ponies and asked, “What happened in there?! Are you two… fired?” The last word was whispered in a hush, as though it was a great scandal, though every other pony in that hallway looked just as eager to know the answer as she was.

“...No.” Rarity blinked plainly, not expecting to be asked the question so blatantly, already irritated by Nightmare Moon’s interrogation, but even further so by having to answer ponies asinine questions.

Everypony in the hallway’s eyes went wide, “Woah, really?!” Strawberry Sunrise, a pegasus chef who must’ve overheard the ordeal had asked. “I’ve seen her fire ponies over way less!”

Rarity pondered, realizing that Chef Sunrise was certainly correct- in her time working at the castle, she’d been witness to Nightmare Moon firing ponies over all sorts of missteps, even as minor as leaving the door to the cafeteria closed a few minutes longer than it should be. For all she knew about the Princess, it seemed as if she should’ve certainly been preparing to pack up her belongings and head out of the castle never to return.

“Heh!” Rainbow Dash smugly cut off Rarity’s train of thought, “I guess the two of us were just that irreplaceable! I’m not surprised, where else is she gonna find such an awesome guard?! Come on, Rarity, we should celebrate our not-getting-fired with some hay burgers!”

“Why, I suppose you’re right!” Rarity grumbled at Rainbow Dash with a slight roll to her eyes, “Where in the wide, wide world of Equestria is Nightmare Moon to find another guard who is so wrapped up in gloating that she forgets to return to her post?”

As if she suddenly remembered the order she was given no more than a few seconds ago, she perked up in wide-eyed surprise, “Shit! I’ve gotta get back to my post at the archives!” She said, flying off in less than a second, leaving behind nothing but vague remnants of a rainbow trail.

Rarity sighed, and tilted her head to the guards who still continued staring at her after Rainbow Dash had left, “Now, it appears that you ponies truly have nothing better to do but stick around and gossip,” She hissed, turning her back to them, “But I, on the other hoof, have actual work to do- so you simply must excuse me while I replace the tapestry.” She trotted off in a huff.

One might be surprised by the sheer amount of fabric Rarity had in her quarters. She wouldn’t go as far as to say the Princess had made a habit of wrecking decor, but it wasn’t infrequent for a carpet to get horrifically mudstained by tourists who trudged through the forest on a rainy night, or for a guard to tear their uniform while doing something ridiculous, like having a hoof-wrestle on their break. The tapestries, on the other hand, were near priceless- even Rarity hesitated to replace them when slight tears appeared in them, out of fear of ruining such an artifact. In fact, she had only had to change them two times.

The first time was when Nightmare Moon had first come to power. She sought to claim her original castle, but found it to be simply lousy with reminders of her turncoat sister, and demanded that they be changed from head to hoof as soon as possible. She looked to find the finest artists in Equestria to decorate for her- and somehow landed upon Rarity. At first, she was fearful, she’d heard the legends about the allegedly horrific Mare in the Moon, but she knew that if she were to refuse an offer from her, Nightmare Moon could do terrible things to her, or worse, to Sweetie Belle. She asked of Rarity to design windows and tapestries to show the true story- that she was not the one to betray Princess Celestia, but rather, that Celestia betrayed her and imprisoned her in the moon, then spent a millennia making sure that her own little sister went down in history as Equestria’s greatest traitor. Of course, Rarity was horrified to learn that everything she’d been taught about the former princess was nothing more than mere propaganda, and had decided to dedicate herself to telling the truth about the Princess, and even became her first official employee, her own personal secretary. She’d made brand new tapestries for each and every hallway- in the armory hung beautiful works of art depicting the banishment of Princess Celestia. In the library, there hung a mural of Nightmare Moon’s escape from the moon after being assisted by the four cardinal stars. And, most importantly, the throne room’s tapestries depicted the transformation from Princess Luna to Nightmare Moon, and shows how she bestowed her gift of eternal night upon Equestria. She’d spent weeks sewing each and every one before she got the chance to hang them up- she’d never expected in millions of moons to see herself as the premiere decorator for the castle, and she still considered this to be her proudest accomplishment.

The second time she’d replaced them was certainly infinitely less climactic- they had simply gotten dusty and dirty, and she’d put it off for as long as possible, but she found that it was impossible to ignore the way they were falling apart at the seams (at least, in part due to the fact that Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane, and Flash Sentry had both crashed into them hundreds of times in various hallway races). She’d spent a few weeks attempting to restore them, but found that it was easier to replace all of them one by one, so she spent some time chipping away at them whenever she found the time, slowly but surely replacing every single tapestry in the castle.

Of course, this was merely a month ago, so of course, she was somewhat infuriated that she already has to create a new tapestry from scratch all on her own. Luckily, though, this one was one which had appeared several times throughout the castle, a simple image of the Princess raising the moon over Equestria, so she’d not only done these patterns dozens of times, but had already had the beginnings of one stashed away in her quarters. She’d locked herself in her room to keep working, figuring that if she’d truly focused, she could have finished it with an hour of the night to spare. Besides, it was much easier to pour all of her energy into working on her tapestry as opposed to focusing on the disaster of what happened with Nightmare Moon earlier, anyway.

She hummed to herself while she worked, gently tapping her hoof onto the presser foot of her machine- it was much less state of the art than the one she’d had back at her boutique, but it surely got the job done just as well as any other. In fact, she had proven herself right, in just a few hours, she had finished placing all of her additives onto the tapestry, and it looked ready to be hung. With a sigh of relief that it didn’t take too long, she levitated the long sheet of fabric and trotted into the throne room to replace it.

She was immediately acutely aware of the eyes of the Princess staring intently, although she was cloaked in shadow, there was no doubt that she was sitting there, silently in her throne. Without acknowledging her presence, she used her magic to transport the tattered tapestry back to her quarters, hoping that at least a small portion of it would be salvageable. She stepped across the hallway with her head held high, refusing to give Nightmare Moon the satisfaction of seeing her grovel after being unfairly screamed at just mere hours before.

Or maybe I can take a quick peek- just to see the look on her face when you ignore her menacing glares- Rarity mused to herself, No, no, Rarity. You must maintain your composure, however do you expect to be respected if you give in to your each and every impulse… though, I suppose a glance couldn’t hurt. Subtly, she looked to the throne with just the corner of her eye to find that, much to her surprise, Nightmare Moon wasn’t even looking in her direction!

The unicorn scoffed under her breath, thinking that there was truly no point in making such a dramatic gesture of indifference if it was to be met with indifference as well. She proceeded to walk onward to the other side of the hallway, when suddenly, she heard a familiar sound- a loud creaking coming from the main entryway.

Oh, damnit! She thought, I was supposed to fix that, too! She figured that a new shift of guards was entering the castle, considering that some were only there for the first half of the night, and others for the second half. She continued going about her business as though she didn’t acknowledge their entrance.

“This place looks a lot cleaner than I remember…” A voice, seemingly belonging to a young colt, questioned out loud.

Well, at least somepony notices when I clean up! She smiled, Even if it is just a colt… wait, a colt? Who in Equestria is bringing foals into the castle? Dismissing her questions, she picked up the tapestry on the ground to finally put it up, she’d stalled enough, and it was clear her efforts were barely appreciated by anypony other than… foals, seemingly.

Though, she was stopped short by an unfamiliar mare’s voice, calling out towards her with a strange sense of… relief?

“Rarity!” She had called out excitedly.

Curiously, Rarity finished levitating the tapestry up towards the railing on the ceiling before looking at the mare- a purple unicorn with a long, straight mane, dark blue bangs, with two colored streaks of dark purple and pink. Her cutie mark was a pink and white six pointed star as a cutie mark, surrounded by five other stars. It was something that seemed familiar, even if she couldn’t quite place where she knew it from. She was quite tall, surely taller than Rarity, though that didn’t say much- but nonetheless, her stature seemed to be greater than that of most other ponies. More importantly, she looked rather disheveled, her eyes dropped with a sense of exhaustion. But, as predicted by her voice, Rarity was absolutely perplexed by the fact that as much as she seemed to know her… she had never seen this unicorn in her entire life.

Had she been in her boutique, or even alone in her quarters, the first thing that she would do would be to offer this exhausted looking mare a glass of water and a quick mane washing- but she knew that she was being watched, and if she were to make one misstep in front of the Princess she was already in so much trouble with, well…

Most ponies didn’t know, but there was a protocol for uninvited guests to the castle. In order for a pony to schedule an appointment with the Princess, they must conquer numerous hurdles- and most of the time, she says no. However, that doesn’t stop certain ponies from rushing in and demanding an audience on their own. It was Nightmare Moon’s rule that these ponies were to be treated without welcome, not allowing them to feel comfortable, lest they get the wrong idea that they were able to barge in without warning or permission whenever they pleased. Most of the time, a guard escorts them out of the castle, but if they insist upon staying and having themselves be heard- they are met with what they desire: an audience with the Princess… though, it’s never quite as friendly or open-minded as they hope.

Cautiously, Rarity put on the most insociable voice she could muster, and said, “The castle isn’t open for viewings today. The tapestries all need changing… again.” She huffed curtly, providing the image that she was irritated that she was being bothered.

As if he didn’t hear what she had to say, the creature from which the colt’s voice had emitted had run straight up to her with a childlike excitement and extended his arms into a hug, proclaiming, “Rarity, it’s me!”

Though, upon taking a single glance at him, Rarity realized that the unicorn mare had not brought a young colt alongside her, but rather, a young dragon! He was much smaller than she was, and had luminescent purple scales, alongside large green spines going down his back from the top of his head.

She recalled the still-watching Princess’ words from earlier, ‘Neither of you are to touch that egg, and when it hatches, neither of you, under any circumstances, and I mean any whatsoever, are to socialize with that dragon. The only pony in my kingdom to wield the might of dragons shall be me!’ She had demanded.

Echoing her words, Rarity scrunched her nose and disgustedly responded to the small dragon, “I don’t socialize with dragons,” She winced, seeing the pained look on his face, “I don’t know anypony who would.” She turned away, hoping for that to be the end of their interaction. She’d hated seeing the look on the poor young dragon’s defeated face… though, it seemed as if they did truly know her. Her mind quickly began running wild with every face she’d seen in recent years- she wasn’t one to forget a pony all that often, but she surely wasn’t one to forget a dragon, and she was absolutely certain she’d never met one in all her moons. She thought back to the egg back up in the study- if she hadn’t known any better, she would’ve assumed that the purple dragon came out of it! Its scale color perfectly resembled that which was on the egg from earlier, but, clearly, it wasn’t hatching. Perhaps this may be its cousin, or a brother. She looked back up to Nightmare Moon, who had one eyebrow arched in curiosity at the two newcomers- knowing the princess as well as she did, she was absolutely certain that at any given moment, once they reveal information about themselves, she would reveal that she’s been listening the entire time- that was one thing she knew, and admired about the Princess of the Night- she enjoyed a dramatic entrance.

The purple unicorn leapt out in front of Rarity and pleaded, “Rarity, you have to listen to me!” Her face reflected anxious desperation in her purple eyes, “The future of Equestria is at stake!”

Briefly, she contemplated asking the unicorn just what she meant, but she knew that she was to leave such questioning to the Princess, and instead, just throw up a wall for as long as possible. Besides, she knew that whatever she was saying was likely to be nonsense, it would be far from the first time that somepony had come rushing to the castle with their horn in a twist talking about things that were patently false- had it not been for the fact that she had a dragon with her, chances are, Nightmare Moon would’ve sent her away the moment she stepped into the castle without her permission. Ultimately, she inhaled through her nose and turned her back to the other unicorn, “I don’t know how you know my name,” She started, “But I am far too busy to entertain some tourist’s ridiculous fantasies!”

Continuing her desperate plea, the mare anxiously yelled to the back of Rarity’s head, “I have to get back to the map so I can stop Starlight from changing the past, because every present I come to is worse than the last!”

Starlight? Who in Equestria is that? It was another name that Rarity didn’t recognize, despite the fact that the purple mare spoke as if she’d known for a fact that Rarity knew everything she said with intimate detail. And how in the wide, wide world is she talking about changing the past? And different presents?

Before she got the chance to ask any more questions, even to herself, Nightmare Moon’s booming voice erupted from the throne which the room was centered around, “Time travel you say?” She grinned, peeking her head out from the envelope of shadows she had surrounded herself by.

The pony and the dragon had both looked horrified by her voice, once again, as if they’d known it- though, that was surely far more reasonable, considering that she was the Princess and all. They looked around, staring anxiously at the stained glass windows and tapestries around the room, before the Princess spoke up once more.

“Now, that’s something I’d like to see…” She bore her fangs towards the ponies, allowing each and every one of the guards to circle around the newcomers. “Tell me how you came across this magic to travel through time?!” She demanded.

The purple mare gulped, and for the first time, now that she saw her from a different angle, in better light, Rarity had realized something she wasn’t able to see, previously- she was wrong, this pony wasn’t just a mere unicorn, as she had wings. In all her life, she’d only seen three alicorns- Former Princesses Celestia and Cadence, and of course, the Princess Nightmare Moon herself. Though, she was surer than ever that she’d never encountered this alicorn mare in her life, as she would’ve absolutely remembered if Equestria were to have welcomed a fourth Princess.

The smaller alicorn gulped nervously at Nightmare Moon’s demands, met with a response by Rainbow Dash, who stood at the right side of the circle closing in on her, “The Princess asked you a question!” She barked, “And unless you wanna end up in the dungeon- you’ll tell her what she wants to know!”

The both of them, alicorn and dragon, looked at Rainbow Dash with a sad stare, briefly stunned beyond words.

“Nopony in my kingdom should possess a magic powerful enough to travel through time!” Nightmare Moon towered over the pony angrily, pressing her for an answer.

Though, instead of a legitimate response, all she got was a rather uncouth question of his own from the dragon’s mouth, “Y-your kingdom?” He asked nervously.

His companion shot him a warning glare, before nudging him on the shoulder.

Nightmare Moon contorted her face angrily, before craning her neck back up to emphasize her imposing appearance, “Who else?!” She huffed.

“Um,” He started, “Celestia, of course?” He stuttered.

From the corner of her eye, Rarity noticed all of the guards casting nervous glances at each other while Nightmare Moon cackled in the two traveler’s faces.

“My sister has been imprisoned in the Moon for years!” She guffawed, pointing her hoof towards the window where one could visibly see the outline of Celestia, stuck in the moon. “But it is no less a fate than she sentenced me to! … Now, reveal to me the source of this time magic!” She stamped her hoof.

The alicorn looked conflicted for a moment, before heaving a resigned sigh, “Alright…” She looked up at the Princess.

“Twilight, no!” The dragon called, visibly afraid.

Twilight, Rarity made note of the name to herself, That must be her name, or, perhaps, it is more likely that she is called Princess Twilight, whatever her kingdom may be. She thought to herself that it had a nice ring to it.

Comfortingly, she rested her hoof around the dragon’s leg, “We have no choice, Spike.” She flattened her ears with defeat… or rather, perhaps, determination? “I can take you to it… but you’ll have to get past the Timberwolves!”

Why, that’s not going to work, Twilight! Rarity thought to herself, instantly realizing what she must be intending to do. Rarity rolled her eyes, not expecting Nightmare Moon to even entertain the idea of destroying the Timberwolves, allowing her to escape unchallenged.

Dismissively, Nightmare Moon laughed, “I am the ruler of all of Equestria,” She narrowed her eyes and grinned, “Do you think I can’t deal with Timberwolves?”

“No…” She frowned, lowering her head towards the ground, “I know you can.”

To this, Nightmare Moon frowned, seemingly seeing straight through any plan Twilight may have had. “And if you are thinking of trying to escape,” She lifted the small dragon, Spike, with her horn, before levitating a heavy chain to surround him, “it would be very unfortunate for your friend.” She grinned.

Twilight let out a gulp, before reluctantly walking Nightmare Moon out from the castle, followed by three guards, including Rainbow Dash. Each hoofstep left an echo in its wake. As they walked away, Twilight shot a final, longing glance Rarity’s way, as if it was a final plea for help, or at the very least, acknowledgement.

Although her exterior was disinterested, Rarity was genuinely curious. Who was this mysterious alicorn? Where did she come from? How did she learn time travel magic? What about her dragon? She wanted to ask all these questions and more, but found herself unable to respond. Instead, she just stood there- frozen in place with cold, judgmental eyes latched onto her as the alicorn and dragon walked away- just as it seemed everypony else in the castle was, until the door creaked open and shut once more, and just as quickly as they appeared, Twilight and Spike were gone.

There was silence in the throne room for a moment as the door closed- Rarity even expected for them to all stand in place until Nightmare Moon returned. But, after a few moments, excited stirring came from the cluster of remaining guards, and strangely enough- it was all pointed at Rarity.

“Who was that, Rarity?” Spearhead asked with wide eyes and excitement. “I’ve never seen that pony before! And how did she have a horn, and wings?!”

Crème Brûlée nodded, “And what was up with that dragon?! I thought the Princess was the only pony who had dragons- and even she only has just the egg!”

Gallant Gallop asked, “Is she some kind of wizard that knows how to open it?”

Those, and dozens of other questions came from the guards, overwhelming Rarity, “H-how should I know?” She spat.

“She knew your name!”

“W-well, yes.” She stuttered, “But I promise, I’ve never laid eyes on that mare in all my life! I’m just as confused as you colts! Besides, she will surely return later once Nightmare Moon brings her back- and you can ask her all your questions to her face.”

They each looked confused for a moment, before seemingly collectively deciding to let go of the interrogation of Rarity and instead turn to gossip amongst themselves.

She walked away from them, still trying her hardest to listen in on what they had to say, but finding herself lost in her own thoughts.

Twilight. Princess Twilight.

She thought the name to herself over and over, repeating it, dissecting it like a puzzle she could eventually crack. But of course, nothing came of it. She used her hoof to invisibly trace the strange pony’s six-pointed star cutie mark into the floor. She knew it wasn’t a real, tangible note she could return to, it was simply her miming above the ground, but if she kept picturing it, she knew that any knowledge of this pony she had hidden in the depths of her mind would present itself.

Princess Twilight. She repeated.

Six pointed star… Six pink points… Six white points behind it… Five smaller stars surrounding it.

Princess Twilight. Six pointed stars. Five smaller stars. She let these words play over and over in her head, refusing to let herself forget anything about it in the short moments they were gone. At some point, she thought she must’ve accidentally been mumbling them to herself instead.

She continued doing so for several minutes, until once again, she heard the obnoxious creak of the castle doors and winced at its sound. The trotting of infuriated hooves came barreling through, as Nightmare Moon pouted back to the throne, all the while muttering incoherently to herself. The other guards looked defeated, while they hung their heads low to report back to the ones who stood behind. But, more obvious than anything else, the mysterious alicorn and dragon were nowhere to be seen.

Rarity tilted her head in confusion towards Rainbow Dash, who glided towards her with a concerned expression, “What happened, Rainbow?” She narrowed her eyes, “Did the Princess escape?”

“Princess?” Rainbow Dash blinked, “What Princess?”

“Oh- I mean, she may not be a Princess,” Rarity conceded, “But, she has wings, and a horn, and I thought that only happened to Princesses-”

Without letting her continue her tangent, Rainbow Dash shook out her head, letting her short mane loose from her helmet, “The alicorn escaped, it was weird…” She whispered, “Some portal came out of a crazy table in the middle of the forest!”

“A table?!” Rarity blinked, “Who in Equestria would leave a perfectly good table in the middle of the Everfree forest?”

“That’s the thing!” Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide with excitement, “It’s a magic table! I think it came from her world, because it left when she did!”

Rarity tried to contain all of her confusion, “So she truly is from another world?”

The pegasus guard shrugged, “I guess so, she said something about a pony from her time using a spell to change the past,” She explained, “I don’t really get it, but it seems like she…” Rainbow Dash trailed off, eyes affixed towards Nightmare Moon, who stood beside her throne with anger in her eyes, “Shit, I gotta go, the Princess said that when we get back, the guards need to have a meeting- you better come too, Rarity. I bet she’s gonna wanna have you there.”

“Right away!” The unicorn nodded, head still spinning as she followed the pegasus towards the throne, where all of the guards were beginning to crowd around a door beneath the floor, leading to one of the many meeting rooms in the castle.

She couldn’t help but wonder just what happened- it felt as if absolutely none of her questions were answered, and it appeared that without Twilight sticking around any longer, they might never be.

Well, that’s fine. Rarity thought, That’s just one more thing I don’t have to think about. I can return to my duties the same way I always have… After all, I only need one alicorn Princess barking orders at me! She told herself.

Yet, she couldn’t get the strange mare out of her mind. The way she called out her name with such excitement… such relief… such certainty… Do we know each other, Twilight? She asked silently, knowing that the otherworldly alicorn couldn’t hear her, much less respond. More importantly, a single question weighed on her, far more than any of the others. In fact, it was far less a question, and more a feeling. A looming sense of dread, of curiosity- as if it was fate itself that she encountered this pony. Although every rational bone in her body told her that she was meant to stay put, and let this strange meeting be just that, somehow, she knew that there was more to it, because she couldn’t help herself from asking the question that was plaguing her more than any other.

Twilight… Who are you?

chapter two: a lost star, a found dream

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It was less infrequent than one may think, for Nightmare Moon to call the entire royal guard into an impromptu meeting… often over absolutely nothing. In addition to their scheduled weekly reports to the Princess, and their semi-random evaluations, it was no surprise to Rarity that nearly every pony in the room, standing in a perfect formation, had a great scowl on their face. After all, they were surely expecting yet another patented Princess scolding over ponies taking too long to change in the locker rooms, or doing too many hallway races in their off time. Little did most of them know, that for once, the Princess had news. Real news.

Rarity sat by the large alicorn princess' right hoof side, as she always did during meetings. Although she lacked an ornate and beautiful throne, like Nightmare Moon herself had, she did have quite the wonderful position of power. On the other side of the Princess was Rainbow Dash, the Captain of the Royal Guard, sitting up straight with her hooves at her side.

“Greetings, my defenders,” Nightmare Moon called the meeting to order with a powerful boom of her so-called Canterlot voice, “Some of you may have been told that we received a visitor, tonight.” She hissed through gritted teeth, “To those of you who may be stirring in rumors that spread these halls- I am here to inform you all that not only is it true, but it is greater than I may have predicted.”

The sounds of mutters from the lines of guards came from every part of the room, curiously speculating upon what Nightmare Moon could be talking about.

“Is this about Rarity and Rainbow Dash sneaking around the castle?” One voice whispered.

“No, I heard that an alicorn came to the castle!”

“Really?! Do you think it was Celestia?!”

“It can’t be- then who’s in the moon?”

“Silence!” The Princess yelled, “What you have heard is true- an alicorn has visited our castle, but it is not my traitorous sister. No, it is something far more interesting.”

She sure knows how to drag on an announcement, Rarity thought to herself, suddenly grateful that her tail was tied up in a tight bun, lest anypony see her annoyed twitching. Come on, Princess, I’ve got to pick up my sister!

“The alicorn who has visited us is called Twilight,” She announced, finally, after the murmurs from the crowd had finally died down “She is not of our world, in fact, she is from an entirely different timeline.”

Puzzled stares emitted from the audience, including from Rainbow Dash, who seemed to have trouble grasping the concept herself. The pegasus captain stared down at her hooves, narrowing her eyes at them as if they were a complex equation she was tasked with solving.

“She revealed to me that a very powerful pony from her time used a spell, in order to change an event in the past that allowed the future to change drastically from her own time.” Nightmare Moon explained, not emoting as she did so, instead just staring straight down into the crowd of guards looking up at her, “It appears that the source of this magic is an enchanted table, which she used to make her escape. As well as her otherworldly nature, alongside her was a young dragon. I believe it is the very same dragon from the egg I have held onto for all of these years.”

The ponies in the crowd continued looking confused, even more so with every passing word.

“So… she isn’t here anymore?”

“Did she steal the dragon?”

Alongside these ponies, Rarity had found herself just as confused- after all, how could Twilight have the very same dragon that was in the Princess’ hidden room? She more than anypony would know that there was no way, it was there, perfectly safe, seconds before Twilight had even made it into the door.

Without paying much attention to the ponies questions, the Princess carried on, “This pony comes from a world not unlike ours- as a matter of fact, they are extremely similar- we share much of the same history, we share the same cities in the same places, we even share the same ponies. For each of you that sits in this room, there is another of you, in Twilight’s world, who has likely lived much of the same life, as well.”

Rarity felt her heart sink. She remembered the confidence with which Twilight called out to her, knowing her name before she’d even gotten a look at her face. She thought of the way Spike ran towards her with such excitement. Her mind became filled with a vision, of her sitting across from the two of them at the Lucky Bale Diner in Ponyville, laughing about their jobs. She couldn’t help but find it strange that these two must’ve known her, or at least, a version of her in their own world, whereas she had no idea who they were in this world, or theirs. Maybe they were even friends. The idea unsettled her to her very core.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to speak, but immediately, it was closed as Nightmare Moon continued her speech. “If the magic to alter time exists in her world, that means that not only does it exist in ours, but so does she.” Nightmare Moon stamped her hoof into the ground.

At that, the pegasus on the other side of the Princess finally spoke up, “Wait, so you mean that all this time there’s been another alicorn in our world? And, I wa-none of us knew?” She raised her eyebrows in alarm.

Shooting a warning glare at the guard to stay calm, and to not interrupt her, the Princess continued her speech, “Not exactly, Captain. An alicorn is not born, they are ascended. When a pony does something worthy of ascension, such as a great magical feat…” She looked towards her own cutie mark, which she earned for raising the moon from the sky for the first time when she was nothing more than a young foal, “A unicorn may earn a pair of wings, or a pegasus may earn a horn- an earth pony will gain both.”

She looked toward Rainbow Dash, whose eyes were wide with confusion while she gave her lesson. Briefly, the pegasus held her hoof up to her own forehead, as if to contemplate what would happen if a horn were to sprout from there just then.

“Since each pony in this world likely exists in the other, it is most probable that there is a Twilight in our own world- only ours did not accomplish whatever deed she did in her own world to earn her alicorn status. She, unfortunately, made her escape before she revealed to me what her accomplishment was- but, that is of no matter to me.”

Our world, her world, this world, that world. Rarity felt as if her head was spinning.

“Perhaps most importantly,” Nightmare Moon continued, “Anything that exists in Twilight’s world exists in ours. That means that not only is the magic to travel through time real, but there are at least two ponies capable of utilizing it. Firstly, the wizard who changed the past. Secondly, our alicorn friend herself, Twilight, who used the spell to make her escape.”

Well, sure… Rarity thought to herself, wondering where the Princess could possibly be going with something like that.

“In her world, Twilight can employ the product of the dragon’s egg,” Nightmare Moon began to list, “in her world Twilight is capable of traveling through time and changing the past, and in her world- Twilight is powerful enough to have ascended. Just because these deeds are not accomplished in our own world, does not mean that they are not possible- and if anypony is to wield that might, she must not serve against the Lunar Republic.”

Rarity felt a chill up her spine, Of course, She thought, She wants to figure out a way to get our world’s Twilight to serve her… or…

“And if she refuses to serve my kingdom,” The princess spoke menacingly, “We may not allow a threat like that to run free.”

Although she didn’t announce what plans she may have had for the potential threat to her kingdom, the princess’ voice was laced with obvious intent. Rarity looked down at her hooves, wondering if the princess was even correct, in assuming that just because one version of Twilight was capable of becoming an all-powerful alicorn, that another version is capable of the same thing. Though, her thought process wasn’t the clearest, since she was still trying to recover from the existence of an unknown alicorn princess, let alone one from another world near identical to her own, who apparently knows her, knows a dragon, Nightmare Moon’s dragon, and there exists a near-perfect counterpart in her own world. She was getting a headache just trying to think about it all at once.

Nightmare Moon sat in silence for a few seconds, shaking her head with narrowed eyes as if she was trying to work out a complex problem- though, Rarity could hardly blame her, considering just how much there is to wrap her head around. Ultimately, the Princess stomped her hoof to the ground and yelled, “Go! All of you!” She demanded, “You’re dismissed! Alert the sleep shift, and return to your posts, as usual, tomorrow- but be ready- we shall prepare to find Twilight as soon as we can! And speak nothing of this outside these walls!”

From the crowd, the guards moaned despondently at the idea of having more meetings- although this one was cut rather abruptly, it was only due to the fact that it was so sudden, with so little information on the subject- everypony was frazzled, even the princess. The guards began pouring out of the exit, followed lastly by Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and the princess, all of whom were at the head of the room. Rainbow Dash stood on the side of Nightmare Moon to escort her out, as was her duty as captain, while Rarity walked on her other side silently, until they all exited.

“Madame Belle,” The princess arched an eyebrow, “Do you have what I requested of you? The book, from Ponyville?”

“Oh, uh- why, yes!” Rarity exclaimed in surprise, realizing that she’d entirely forgotten about it in the excitement of the night. She closed her eyes to concentrate on summoning her saddle bag from her quarters, and once it appeared before her, she lifted the book with her horn. “The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide! Just as you requested!”

Nightmare Moon nodded, transporting the book elsewhere. “Very well.” She said, as she slinked curiously past the door to her quarters and down the hallway.

“Where is she going?” Rarity whispered into the pegasus pony’s ear, puzzled.

Without much of a response, Rainbow Dash shrugged her shoulders, “I dunno, maybe she’s having the servers make her some hay fries.”

Rarity rolled her eyes, “Be serious- I hardly think after such a crucial moment, the princess is going to gorge herself on hay fries.”

“Well, that's what I would do!” Rainbow Dash shot into the air, “As a matter of fact, that’s what I’m gonna do right now! Later, Rarity!” She zoomed towards the entrance, leaving behind the vague remnants of a rainbow trail.

Odd. Rarity thought to herself, Normally, she isn’t so… jumpy? She shook her head out. No matter, I must be headed off to pick up Sweetie Belle, anyway. She began to head out herself, with haste, thinking that once again, despite how long the night had been, she’d still been behind schedule.

“I’m here!” Rarity called out to the schoolteacher, Cheerilee, in the courtyard, “I’m here!” She yelled, nearly tripping over herself trying to get to the front entrance. Thankfully, it wasn’t particularly easy to miss- one would think that the eternally dark Equestria would be, well, darker, but instead, since the disappearance of the sun, ponies have instead tacked inconceivably bright lights to everything. While she was sure it was fine for most ponies, spending nearly all day in a much darker castle in the Everfree Forest made walking in the brightly lit Ponyville quite the adjustment. “I am so, so terribly sorry I’m late! My duties at the palace took far longer than anticipated, is Sweetie Belle angry with me?”

Cheerilee flicked her hoof, “Not at all, Ms. Belle!” She smiled, “Sweetie Belle is just waiting around with a couple of her friends, I’ll get her right now.” She walked into the playground and talked to Sweetie Belle, who was playing on the swingset next to an earth pony filly with a reddish mane and pale yellow coat.

Rarity smiled, noticing that her sister’s earth pony friend also didn’t have a cutie mark. Maybe if she has more friends without cutie marks, she’ll stop obsessing so much over it. She waved to her sister while she leaped towards her excitedly.

“Rarity, Rarity!” Sweetie Belle bounced, “You’ll never guess what happened!”

Rarity smiled fondly at her little sister, wrapping her in a hug, “Why, I’m certain it’ll be the most thrilling thing I’ve heard all night!” She giggled, finding her own joke to be somewhat amusing.

The two sisters began to walk back towards their home, while Sweetie Belle continued her story, “I met a new pony at school! She isn’t in any of my classes, but her brother was also late to pick her up, so we were waiting together- and she doesn’t have a cutie mark either! She said that maybe we can try to get ours together! Wouldn’t it be so cool if she’s got an idea for what my talent could be- and I can get my cutie mark? Or maybe I can help her find hers!”

The older mare tried to stifle a laugh as her sister contradicted her previous thoughts on why befriending another pony without a cutie mark could be good for her, “Why, that’s wonderful, Sweetie Belle!” She grinned, “And even if you don’t find your cutie marks- a new friend is always something to be thankful for.”

Dismissing her comment about not finding a cutie mark, Sweetie Belle continued, “Yeah! We’re gonna go zip lining, and bull riding, and surfing, and, and-“

“And, perhaps amidst all of the excitement, you may find time to tell me your new friend's name.” Rarity laughed.

“Oh!” She bounced, “I, um… I don’t know? We were only talking for a few minutes, I forgot to ask!”

She rolled her eyes, though, she smiled as she teasingly remarked, “Honestly, Sweetie Belle! It’s a miracle you’ve remembered anything, if you can’t remember to ask a new friend for her name!”

Sweetie Belle blushed with embarrassment, “I’ll find out her name tomorrow! For sure!” She skipped ahead of Rarity, “Come on! She told me about how she’s got a cousin who got her cutie mark in hoof wrestling, and if I wanna try tomorrow, I gotta stretch my muscles!” She zoomed off ahead.

Rarity gasped at her sister’s sudden running, “Sweetie! Wait for me!” She trotted quickly after her, struggling to keep up until they reached the front door of the boutique, where Rarity was already out of breath, “Honestly, I have no idea where you foals get your energy from- it’s a shame you haven’t any wings, I bet you would’ve been training to be a Wonderbolt by now.”

Sweetie Belle strained to open the door with her horn, before ultimately settling on opening it with her hooves instead, “Hm, I don’t think I’d like not having the ground under my hooves, so I guess I can cross Wonderbolt off my list, anyway.”

“Right,” She laughed at her younger sister, “Because that was the problem with that plan- not that you don’t have wings or anything like that.”

The younger pony shrugged her shoulders, throwing her saddle bag to the side of the room as she entered, “Why does that matter, some unicorns can fly, anyway.”

“I-What?” Rarity gasped in shock, “Whoever said anything about winged unicorns?”

“No, no, not winged unicorns- flying unicorns! Miss Cheerilee told us that with enough practice, unicorns can use their horns to levitate themselves and go wherever they want- which is kind of like flying! I tried during recess one time, but I was barely able to control one of my legs with my horn.” She unceremoniously raised her back leg, only to slam it back into the ground in demonstration.

“Oh, yes, yes! I once knew a stallion who was able to do that for some time. Never could get the hang of it myself, though.” Rarity heaved a sigh of relief, Why am I worried, anyhow? She thought, It’s not like Sweetie Belle is going to reveal any castle secrets- especially when I don’t plan on telling her, anyway. She let out a dramatized yawn, “Well, it has been quite the night, and I think I’m going to retire to my bedroom- if you do not mind!”

“Wait!” The small unicorn sprinted up towards her, “Can you help me study first? I’m not very good at geometry.”

“Oh dear, I didn’t know you had an exam coming up… when is it?”

“Thursday…”

“Thursday?!” Rarity’s eyes went wide, “That’s only in two nights!” She exhaled, trying to stay calm on her sister’s behalf. “I’ll tell you what, sweetheart, how about you make yourself a snack, or perhaps take a bath, and I’ll draw you a few geometry flash cards? We can study for a little bit before bed, if that will make you feel better?”

Sweetie Belle smiled, “Thank you so much, Rarity!” She zoomed off upstairs and left Rarity to work at the table while she bathed.

For some time, Rarity sat down at the table, cutting up sheets of cardstock and drawing on them with markers in order to create a decent deck of flash cards. “Isosceles… Equilateral… Scalene…” She muttered to herself as she sketched out various shapes on the different cards before she had finished everything that was on the worksheet Sweetie Belle had done for homework the night before. She wrote out a set of practice questions before her sister had come back down with a towel wrapped around her mane, looking prepared.

They’d gone for a while going through flash cards, looking over the different shapes and their names and angles. Although she didn’t think as much of her abilities, Rarity knew Sweetie Belle was a quick study, she was just always too busy chatting with her friends during class to pay any attention, to her own admission- she couldn’t blame her, either- even as a grown mare she can’t help but imagine she too would be far more interested in hearing the tale of Button Mash’s latest crush instead of the difference between triangles.

“Alright, how many degrees in this angle?” Rarity asked, holding up a card with her hoof.

Scribbling down numbers onto a sheet of paper, Sweetie Belle asked, “Uh, 90?”

“Yes, indeed!” The older unicorn clapped her hooves together, “But, do remember that if it has a little square in the corner, it’ll be 90 anyway, no need to do the math on paper… What about this one?”

“Oh! It’s a circle, so it has 360 degrees, right?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

“Yes, good! And this one?”

“180 degrees?”

“Correct! And what is this?”

“A scalene triangle!”

“Indeed! And… this?”

“Um, Rarity?” Sweetie Belle asked nervously, “I think that’s a little too advanced for me.”

“Why, whatever do you me-” Rarity questioned, before she flipped the card over and realized her error- instead of one of the shapes on Sweetie Belle’s worksheet, she had instead drawn… “Ah. A six-pointed star! Silly, foolish me, that was just… a sketch of a new applique I thought up at work earlier!”

Oh, for the princess’ sake, Twilight, you’re in my head.

Sweetie Belle arched an eyebrow, “Really?” She asked, “For which dress? It doesn’t look like it’ll go with any of the ones you have now-”

“Well, it’s for a new gown.” Rarity defensively crossed her hooves, “When did you become so nosy, Sweetie Belle- it is quite unbecomi-”

“Oh! Oh! Is it a top-secret project for the princess?” Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened, “Are you making her a new dress for the Starshine Salutation this winter?”

“Yes, yes!” Rarity conceded falsely, hoping that it would get her sister off her back for the moment, “You’ve unveiled my secret, Sweetie, I’m designing the Princess an ensemble, and it is being kept absolutely top secret so those Manehattanite fashion buzzards will keep their claws away until the event, that’s it!” She hummed, before quickly changing the subject. “Now, do you wish to continue working on the flash cards, or shall we call it quits for tonight and return to your studies tomorrow?”

Sweetie Belle yawned, “We can stop here, I’m going to make myself a sandwich,” She shuffled the flash cards with her horn before leaving them out on the table, “Thanks for helping, Rarity!” She walked away from the table and into the kitchen.

Rarity briefly contemplated going back to sleep, but had begun to feel further energized after helping out her sister- besides, somepony had to make sure that Sweetie Belle didn’t somehow burn down the kitchen trying to make a tomato sandwich. She summoned her sketchbook and a pencil closer to her at the table and began drawing.

Rainbow Dash did say that the pegasi need new guard uniforms… What a silly thing of me to forget about, wings! Of course they need to fly, Rarity, where is your mind as of late?

She began sketching a pony with a pair of pegasus wings, before adding various spins on her old design over it, without the bat-wing embellishments. Oh, but they are so pretty, She thought to herself, And the Princess was, well, over the moon with the original designs… Perhaps I can find a way to still work the bat wings in there! She drew some attachments to the wings themselves, before realizing that they would ultimately weigh them down. But, they do need to be protected as well! She shuddered at the idea of unprotected wings, as she recalled hearing stories from the guards who used to work for the former ruler, that some pegasi were harmed and needed metal prosthetic wings that were almost as heavy as the rest of their armor put together, and needed to be oiled four times a night.

“Perhaps the bat wings could be a flexible covering… aluminum, maybe?” She mused out loud. Can pegasi even fly with wing coverings? I’ll have to ask Rainbow Dash tomorrow. She made the note to herself before turning the page.

She looked down at her sketchbook, and without thinking, levitated her pencil and began drawing. “Oh, damnit, Twilight,” Rarity muttered under her breath as she touched the tip of her pencil to the page.

I can appreciate the need to make a dramatic entrance, Rarity thought, scoffing quietly to herself, But honestly, this would be excessive even for me! Entering from another world, knowing that the mere presence of an alicorn princess from an alternate timeline would be enough to halt the night of any old pony, and then leaving before you answer a single question? That’s a little much, even for me.

You can’t even hear me, can you? Perhaps the other Rarity, the who you’re allegedly friends with is berating you for the same thing. ‘Oh, Twilight!’ She mocked internally, if one could possibly mock themselves in their own head, that is, ‘How could you do such a thing? Don’t you know me at all? That poor mare won’t be able to do a thing until she figures out what in Equestria you were doing there!’

Rarity was not patient- she was never quite capable of moving on with her life when there was something else within her sights. Rainbow Dash often complained that when she had a new idea for a dress, or a trip for her and her sister planned for the near future, she was functionally useless until it was out of her sight. Or, when a mysterious otherworldly alicorn princess visited, she could not be bothered to go about her night preparing for work, or drawing guard uniforms, when all she could think about were the dozens of questions left unanswered, potentially permanently. She couldn’t possibly wait an entire night’s rest, or put any of this on hold, she needed to do this now. She drew a few harsh lines on the sketchbook paper determinedly.

Rarity often thought of herself as being the protagonist of her favorite mystery series, Shadow Spade. Much like the titular character, she was rather impatient, and sometimes obsessive, when it came to cracking a case. Whereas most ponies were inclined to forget about the smaller details, or to wait for answers to come to them, Shadow Spade and Rarity both were the exact opposite- they were restless in the pursuit of answers, and searched high and low for even the smallest inclination of one. Ponies like them knew that even in the smallest fragments of a clue- there was a key.

“Alright, Twilight…” She mumbled as she began to draw a mare’s body, “You’re tall, quite taller than I am, anyway- though I have always been rather short, for a unicorn. Your wings are rather large, as well… not any bigger than our Princess’, but larger than that of the average pegasus.”

“Oh!” Rarity mentioned, “Your horn, as well, it’s longer than that of most any other unicorn I’ve met, save for a few Canterlot unicorns, that is. And how could I possibly forget your mane and tail! You know, most unicorns can’t pull off blunt bangs, you must be a rather daring fashionista.”

She looked down at her drawing and felt as if something was missing, before she turned her gaze to the pile of geometry flash cards she had made just moments before, “Oh, right,” She said out loud as she began drawing on the flank, “Your cutie mark… You know, I know I have to have seen this Moon forsaken thing before, but I can not for the life of me possibly place my hoof upon where…”

“Rarity, are you talking to yourself again?!” Sweetie Belle’s irritated voice called from the kitchen.

“No, I am not!” Rarity insisted back to her, “I am-”

Talking to an alicorn Princess from another timeline who can not hear a single word I’m saying? Why, yes, I am. Not as if I have the ability to explain that to her.

“Yes, Sweetie Belle, I’m talking to myself,” Rarity confessed, “I’m sorry, I’ll try to keep it down!” She sighed, before closing her sketchbook and sliding it into her saddle bag. “You can relax, dear, I’ll take care of our supper, you go pack your bag for your sleepover with Zipporwhill tomorrow.” She walked further into the kitchen, leaving behind her saddle bag until the morning. Clearly, she was getting nothing done tonight, so she resigned herself to hoping that things would be better once she woke up.

“Rarity, Rainbow Dash.” Nightmare Moon called from her throne as soon as Rarity had arrived at work again. Rainbow Dash had already been waiting there, at her post beside the throne. It seemed as if after the egg fiasco, the Princess hadn’t intended on allowing the Captain out of her sights, or rather, she was keeping her close by, in case Twilight returned. Rarity herself had walked into the room somewhat later than she had intended, no matter how long she’d worked there, she’d still often found herself to be confused by the winding paths in the Everfree Forest.

“Yes, ma’am!” Rainbow Dash flew to the Princess’ side without a wasted moment, while Rarity attempted to do the same, though, as always, she lagged behind the speedy pegasus pony.

“Apologies for my tardiness, your highness.” Rarity sighed, “I got lost in the forest, yet again. Is something wrong?” She tilted her head with confusion- it wasn’t often that she’d received an immediate summons from the Princess, as a matter of fact, it was probably more common that she’d go through a whole shift without seeing her once until she leaves.

The large alicorn said nothing, instead just beckoning the two ponies into the same conference room they were in before they left for work the night before. Unlike before, though, it was entirely empty, and it made the previously cramped room seem so much larger than it did when it was filled to the brim with half of the employees in the castle.

“What’s going on, Princess?” Rainbow Dash asked just as she glided in through the front door, “Need to update security again? Because, I don’t really know if we have any more ponies in Ponyville who’re even qualified to work in the guard- it took me moons to train up the batch we have now.”

Not responding to Rainbow Dash’s comment, Nightmare Moon used her horn to seal the door shut with magic- not just a locking spell, but rather, a soundproofing spell as well. Rarity swallowed nervously, realizing that whatever she was going to say must’ve been extremely important. “Some new information has come to light, after the both of you left the castle previously… I trust that I have your discretion, for it is something only our ears may know of.” She looked down threateningly, making it painfully clear to the two ponies that there was only one correct answer to her proposition.

“Is this about Twilight?” Rarity blurted out, before immediately slamming her hoof into her mouth with embarrassment. If there was a correct answer to her question, it was surely not that.

Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes at the unicorn, “Madame Belle, I would not be as hesitant to declare my discretion after the stunt the both of you pulled yesterday with the egg.” She reminded her.

Beneath her fur, Rarity felt her cheeks growing hot with embarrassment- in all of the chaos of last night, somehow, the egg incident felt like it was weeks ago. “I- I apologize, your majesty.” She lowered her head towards the taller pony, “You have my discretion.”

“Yes, your highness,” Rainbow Dash echoed Rarity’s sentiment.

“Very well, then.” The Princess agreed, before she took her place on her massive chair, not quite as large as the throne in the entryway, but imposing nonetheless. “After the both of you returned to your homes last night, I realized that I had some… ideas about our alicorn visitor that could have been confirmed. Tell me, did something about her seem… familiar, to the both of you?”

Immediately, Rainbow Dash looked suddenly anxious, “Uh, no?” She fluttered the tips of her wings, swishing her tail back and forth behind her, “I’ve never seen her before!”

“Rainbow Dash, darling!” Rarity smiled at her friend to reassure her, “There’s no need for worry, she’s not going to be angry that you lack the same eye for detail as I,” She turned her attention back towards the Princess before saying, “Forgive Rainbow Dash, the small things are often lost on her- but I’ve been wracking my brain for hours trying to determine where in Equestria I’ve seen that cutie mark! Is that what you’re referring to, your highness?”

Rainbow Dash gulped down a breath, before calmly shaking her head and looking back up at Nightmare Moon, “Oh, um, yeah, I guess I’m not really one to look at stuff like mane color and cutie marks all that much- sorry, Princess.”

Why in Equestria is Rainbow Dash acting so odd? Rarity wondered internally, I’ve never seen her this nervous to address the Princess!

If the pegasus pony was acting strangely, or suspiciously in the slightest, the Princess chose not to acknowledge it. “Indeed you’re correct, Rarity” She nodded her head in appreciative affirmation towards her unicorn secretary, “Her cutie mark should be familiar- it is quite similar to that of our dear prisoner. It seems as if they have a connection, of sorts.”

Rarity froze in place, feeling as if her hooves suddenly became stuck to the ground, as she realized exactly why that six-pointed star cutie mark was so familiar.

“W-what?” Rainbow Dash fluffed up her wings in surprise, “No, no, that doesn’t make any sense, it has to be a coincidence. How would she know him?”

“Yes, Princess,” Rarity nodded her head, equally as surprised, “Just because they have similar cutie marks doesn’t mean they must know each other, besides, it’s not as if I’m close with every gem salespony in Equestria- well, except for Diamond Ring, but he’s the exception, not the rule.”

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes at the two ponies, “If you will not take it from me,” She started, beginning to lower the barrier she set on the door, “Perhaps you’ll hear it from him. I’m sure Shining Armor would love to hear from his old friends.”

It had been quite a long time since Rarity or Rainbow Dash had seen Shining Armor. It seemed like only a mere moon ago when they went to visit him near-daily, but the more she thought about it, she’d realized that it must’ve been more than a full year since she visited the prison in which he was kept. Though, it didn’t mean she had forgotten the way down, with every winding staircase leading down to the poorly lit basement, and every lamp she walked past revealing a new memory of when she and Rainbow Dash used to head down there to sneak their old friend food from the cafe, or a more comfortable blanket. As she allowed her hoof to touch the final stair on the downward descent, she remembered the last time she came there in vivid detail.

She shook her head, as if she was shaking off the memory itself like a fly on her coat, some things were better not to dwell upon.

“Is that you, Thunderlane?” Shining Armor’s voice echoed through the basement as the sound of the three ponies headed down had gotten closer and closer. His eyes widened with visible shock when he saw that it was Nightmare Moon herself, alongside Rarity and Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow… Loving the new manecut… What brings you two here?” He looked at his hooves with a palpable sadness.

He looked smaller than Rarity remembered. She recalled that when she met him, she was stunned by his tall and muscular stature, having not seen many unicorns as large as he was. But now, she looked at him and saw that he looked frailer, his coat had dulled, and his mane was unkempt, despite the fact that one of the first things Rarity did when he became imprisoned was giving him a hairbrush so he wouldn’t fall behind on his mane maintenance. His legs were no longer as muscular as they once were, and when she looked at his face, there was no longer the clean-shaven stallion she once knew, but rather, a pony with sunken cheeks and an unruly blue beard. However, there was something that hadn’t changed, his cutie mark- three stars behind a large blue shield- branded in the center with…

That six pointed star.

“Hello, Shining Armor,” Rarity dipped her head awkwardly, trying to play off the discomfort of the situation.

What do you say to an old friend who you haven’t spoken to in a year? An old friend who lives in a dungeon… imprisoned by your boss… It’s a real shame nopony has written an etiquette manual for this situation, I think it would become an instant bestseller.

“Rarity.” He responded shortly, not even looking back at her.

“What’s with the beard, Starswirl?” Rainbow Dash chortled, clearly having none of the same concerns that Rarity did about the situation.

The unamused stallion exhaled through his nose and narrowed his eyes, “When you figure out how to shave without a blade, let me know.” He turned his back on the visiting ponies, “So, you just came down here to berate me? You know, I expected this from Rainbow Dash, but when did you become so cruel, Rarity?”

“Why, I-”

“You know exactly why we are here…” Nightmare Moon threatened, letting sparks crackle from the tip of her horn, “Speak, colt.”

“Shockingly, I don’t.” The unicorn suppressed a growl, before turning back to look at the Princess, “When you stop speaking in riddles… that’ll be the day…” He muttered under his breath.

Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes at the imprisoned pony, as did Rainbow Dash, but Rarity instead inched closer to the magical barrier which kept him in place. “Is it true that you know her, ” She asked bluntly, “Twilight, that is?”

Instantly, his expression changed from irritation to wide-eyed surprise, and then, finally, rage, he flared his nostrils at Rarity before turning towards Nightmare Moon and glaring directly at her, “If you even look at Twiley,” He dimly lit his horn in threat.

“What?” The alicorn princess mocked, stepping out from behind Rainbow Dash who darted in front of her in response to Shining Armor’s threat, “You’ll tear me to bits from behind a shield? You know, you know better than anypony that there’s no way for any one pony to take that barrier down, you wrote the spell- you know that only the caster may stop it- and I have no intentions to.”

Immediately, he fired off his horn, ricocheting the beam of energy off of the barrier around the room, before it ultimately fizzled out right in front of his hooves. He snarled at Nightmare Moon, “I don’t care- I wrote the spell, and I would spend the rest of my damn life figuring how to rewrite it- and kill you if you hurt my baby sister.”

Nightmare Moon produced a satisfied smirk, before turning back towards Rarity and Rainbow Dash, who was still defensively hovering over the princess’ shoulder, “A younger sister, you say? What did I tell you both, the cutie marks don’t lie.”

Shining Armor ignored Nightmare Moon’s remarks, and instead looked at the two smaller ponies with a desperate stare, “Please,” He begged, “We were friends once- please, don’t let her hurt Twilight…” He turned to Rarity particularly, “You’re a good pony! You’d never hurt Twilight, you’d never let her hurt Twilight, you… you…” He rambled in a panic, at some point, trying less to convince Rarity and rather trying to convince himself.

“Shining Armor, Shining Armor!” Rarity yelled, cutting off his tirade, “We do not wish to hurt Twilight, we just wish to… know about her. May you do that for me, please?” She leaned in closer to the barrier and blinked at him, fluttering her eyelashes sweetly.

Frazzled, Shining Armor huffed, and responded, “You know that’s never worked on me,” He sat down on his bed and crossed his hooves, “I’m not some idiot lovestruck colt who you can just bat your eyelashes at and get to do whatever you want!”

“You may not be a lovestruck colt for Madame Belle, here,” Nightmare Moon hissed threateningly, outstretching her wings to nearly their full size, “But how soon you forget, you have a fiancée on the outside of this dungeon whose fate rests upon your compliance.”

Boldly, Shining Armor stamped his hoof into the ground to meet the eyes of the Princess, once again, his horn crackled with sparks of magic, “And how soon you forget, that you promised her that both of our lives would be spared in exchange for surrender.”

The larger pony sighed and nodded her head cordially, then folded her wings back in place. “Worry not, colt, I made a promise to Lady Cadenza, and, if you recall, unlike my sister, I keep my oaths… If you refuse to speak- I will not force you… but,” She reminded the imprisoned pony matter of factly, already beginning to turn her back and walk towards the stairwell. “I may be willing to renegotiate your sentence in exchange for your cooperation. Remember, Shining Armor, a life sentence is quite a long time to wait to see your fiancée once more… it would be a shame for her to continue her long, long life with you withering away in a dungeon never to be seen again. I’m giving you the opportunity to change that.”

She’s leveraging his sentence?! Rarity blinked in surprise, trying to keep a straight face. When Shining Armor was first taken into the dungeon, the Princess made quite the show of making certain that he would never see the sky again in all of his life- so she could hardly believe that she was offering to even slightly shorten his sentence. Though, knowing Shining Armor, he’d likely not even consider budging- everything was a matter of pride with him, Rarity recalled. But, the fact that Nightmare Moon was willing to do this in return for the mere promise of information on Twilight made her wonder if there was more to the situation than she’d let on.

What could possibly be worth it to Nightmare Moon?

What could you possibly offer her, Twilight?

Before she could even look to see the response of Shining Armor, he had already turned around and laid down on his small cot, “You can forget it, Nightmare Moon.” He huffed, “I won’t let you get to her.”

“Shining Armor, please,” Rarity was, admittedly, saddened, both for the fact that they’d gotten almost no further in learning about Twilight, and that even though he was given the opportunity, Shining Armor still refused the chance to leave his prison. Even though she worked for the princess, that didn’t mean that she felt no sympathy towards her old friend, she still hoped to see him freed. “Can’t you do this for Cadence?”

“Would you do that to Sweetie Belle?” He spat back.

Rarity couldn’t bring herself to answer him.

“That’s what I thought. Just go, Rarity.” Shining Armor snarled, “It’s not like there’s anything you can do for me from here.”

The unicorn mare felt tears welling in her eyes as she turned around, but she blinked them away before racing to meet the other ponies halfway up the stairwell without another word to Shining Armor. Because as much as she hated to admit it- he was right. There was nothing she could do.

Hours had passed since she’d left the dungeon, and the rest of the shift went as one typically did, Rarity went through stacks of paper discussing appearances for the Princess, walking aimlessly around the hallway, assisting in various, menial activities. She’d had an awfully mediocre lunch, and she wandered the hallways. Most of the time, she found her work to be fun- she’d always enjoyed thinking about potential events, and organizing tours- of which she’d only had one during that particular shift, which went by in a matter of mere minutes as the group was absolutely boring and hadn’t asked a single question. However, on this particular night, she’d found herself to be completely and utterly bored the entire time.

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity whined, “Can’t you just leave your post for a moment to get dinner with me?”

“Don’t you remember what happened last time I left my post to hang out with you?” Rainbow Dash arched her eyebrow, “We can hang out after my shift ends, just wait like, two hours for your dinner. Don’t you have planning for the Starshine Salutation to do, anyway?”

The unicorn stomped her hoof into the ground with irritation, “I would,” She rolled her eyes, “If her Highness would choose a location to hold it in. I don’t know why all the fanfare, truly, we all know she’ll just hold it at the Castle again… where else is she going to hold it, Cloudsdale?”

The pegasus pony snorted, “Hey, don’t knock Cloudsdale! It would be a great place for the party! Where better to have the Starshine Salutation than in the sky?”

“First of all, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity started, “The Starshine Salutation is the celebration of the stars which aided in Nightmare Moon’s escape, held on the anniversary of her crowning as Equestria’s true ruler- it is not just a party. And secondly, how is everypony supposed to get there if it’s in Cloudsdale? It’s not as if I could suddenly learn to fly.”

Defensively, Rainbow Dash responded, “Actually, some unicorns can use their magic to-”

“Oh, for the sake of the Moon, Rainbow Dash.” Rarity scowled, “I’ve already heard this once from Sweetie Belle, I do not need to hear it from you, too.”

Rainbow Dash blinked in puzzled surprise, “Sweetie Belle? What was she doing talking about flying spells?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” She rolled her eyes, “Something about unicorn Wonderbolts, you know how she is.”

The pegasus guard looked unconvinced. She shot a glance towards Gallant Gallop, the guard stationed next to her, and dropped her voice to a whisper, “You didn’t tell Sweetie Belle about… the alicorn, right?”

Oh heavens, it’s not my fault flying unicorns have come up so many times in the past several nights! Rarity wanted to exclaim. Instead, she calmly whispered back to Rainbow Dash, “No, worry not- I know that filly can’t keep her mouth shut for long, I would never tell her about anything that important. She was just in another one of her ‘cutie mark brainstorming’ zones, and somehow, Wonderbolt came up.”

She narrowed her eyes before seemingly reluctantly accepting Rarity’s explanation, “Right, right. Wonderbolt cutie mark, sure.” She chuckled nervously, tapping at the ground with her hoof. She stood up straight again and looked down the hallway, “Listen, Rare, I gotta stay here, but, I’ll knock on your door when it’s time for dinner, alright?”

“Ugh, fine,” The unicorn dramatically twirled away to walk back down the hallway, “But if I have starved to death by the time you reach my door, it will be your fault!”

Rarity wondered if any of her other friends were available to meet up- but knew the response would likely be the same. After the appearance of Twilight, all of the guards are under strict instruction to be on high alert in case she reappeared. She had nopony to return home to, on that particular night- Sweetie Belle was having a sleepover with her friend Zipporwhill, during which she promised she’d study for her upcoming exam- but somehow, Rarity doubted that that would be the case. Much more likely that they’d end up shoveling sugar down their throats and playing truth or dare- though, it’s not as if she didn’t do the same thing when she was a foal.

When she had returned to her quarters, the first thing Rarity did was lock her door and look through the pages of her sketchbook to find the drawing of Twilight she’d done the night prior, now that she’d had nothing to do anymore. She narrowed her eyes at it, struggling to see any resemblance to Shining Armor other than the cutie mark.

Well, Rarity shrugged, I suppose there is the blue mane, the shades are different, but it isn’t as if Sweetie Belle and I share the same mane color, either.

Rarity felt as if she’d come into work with plenty of questions about Twilight, and the moment she got just one of them answered, she’d gained so many more. Truth be told, it wouldn’t bother her nearly as much as it was if not for the implication that she and Twilight were friends, in another life. Perhaps, she wondered, that was why none of the other castle employees seemed to be so consumed by it, because they couldn’t feel the desperation in Twilight’s voice, they didn’t feel as if they somehow turned their back on somepony who trusted them completely.

They didn’t turn their backs on somepony who believed they were friends.

It wouldn’t be the first time Rarity had done that, but it didn’t get any easier.

Owning up to her mistakes was something Rarity had never been the best at, to her own admission, but that didn’t mean they didn’t bother her greatly. Even though some… old friends think that she’s remorseless and cold-blooded, that was never the case. As a matter of fact, it was as far from the truth as one could get. She would be lying if she said she didn’t often look back tearfully at her burned bridges with a sense of regret, in some ways wishing that she could piece them back together. But that’s the thing about burned bridges, once they’re burned, you can’t make anything of their ashes other than a mess.

She looked back down at the drawing of Twilight, and thought back to their encounter the night before. Her drawing was perfectly accurate, if she did say so herself, her proportions were rather exact, her wings were grand and regal, and she’d gotten the striping in her mane exactly correct. But, there was still something missing, something familiar about Twilight that couldn’t possibly be captured in a drawing, something Rarity had experienced quite a few times and knew all too well.

There’s a distinctive look in a pony’s eye when they realize they’ve been betrayed by somepony they thought they could trust. It goes by in merely an instant, and what happens after changes drastically from pony to pony. Some get angry and spit in your face, or sulk away, defeated, never to be seen again, but no matter who they are, or what comes after, that split second is the same for everyone.

Rarity knew that better than anyone.

She finally saw the resemblance.

She looked up at the clock on her wall, she’d still had hours to go before dinner with Rainbow Dash, and absolutely no work to do, either. There was nopony looking for her, or expecting her back at home, it would be so, so easy to…

Quietly, Rarity shoved her sketchbook into her saddle bag and trotted out of her room as quietly as she could. She hoped that the guards asked no questions, so she deliberately exuded an air of confidence, keeping her head up high and glancing at nopony- she was a mare on a mission, and she couldn’t possibly be bothered to be stopped.

Carefully, she slipped past the hallway filled with guards and into an armored door, feeling daunted by the downward spiral staircase. She tried to keep the pit in her stomach and the doubtful voices in her head at bay as long as she could.

Once again, Rarity’s mind went back to her favorite novels. Shadow Spade stopped at nothing to get her answers, she’d gone through intensive lengths in order to quench her never-ending thirst for answers. She’d crossed the Dragonlands, spent nights in dungeons, and come face to face with her own worst nightmares, all in the name of justice.

I am Shadow Spade. I am Shadow Spade. I am Shadow Spade. Rarity repeated to herself over and over in rhythm with her hoofsteps tapping against the ground beneath her and echoing throughout the hallway. She was impatient, obsessive, and restless in the pursuit of answers. At that moment, the unicorn felt as if she too could live in the hoofsteps of her hero, and face her own worst nightmares- because that’s just what she had to do.

At long last, Rarity’s hoof touched the floor, and her nostrils, for the second time that night, became overcome with the damp scent of an unkempt basement. If she listened closely, she could hear the rhythmic drip-drop of water up against the floor, and felt her hooves sink into the wet, warped wood ground. Within the poorly lit room, she made out the familiar figure, a tall unicorn stallion trapped behind a barrier, standing defensively with a piercing stare.

“Back so soon? What do you want?”

“Hello, Shining Armor.” Rarity stated calmly, making certain that her voice didn’t waver in the slightest as she spoke, refusing to let any semblance of fear come through her eyes, “I come in peace, I come alone, and I come with questions. Will you indulge me? For old time’s sake?”

The unicorn’s eyes softened, slightly, though he still maintained his guarded expression as best he could. He loosened his stance and looked toward Rarity. He remained silent for several seconds, as if he was truly contemplating his next words as carefully as he could.

“For old time’s sake.” Shining Armor sighed.

chapter three: a bygone dream, an eternal promise

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✧･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.

chapter four: a sworn promise, a fickle hope

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Rarity was never one to pack lightly, so it was no surprise when she arrived at the Ponyville train station carrying seven different suitcases for a four night stay in Canterlot. Her younger sister, on the other hoof, packed far more rationally, with one rather small suitcase which she struggled to hold up with her horn, yet insisted upon levitating the entire way to the station. Rainbow Dash wasn’t there yet, but Rarity was certain that she’d arrive at the last possible second, most likely in a puff of rainbow smoke. The train to Canterlot was arriving in a few minutes, and the brightly illuminated train station was straining Rarity’s eyes- as if that wasn’t giving her enough of a headache, Sweetie Belle was bombarding her with questions from every direction.

“Why are we going back to Canterlot? It’s been over a year!” She bounced carelessly back and forth, talking a mile a minute, “What’s Rainbow Dash’s friend’s name? Is she a unicorn too? Does she have a cutie mark?”

Putting her hoof to her head, Rarity tried to maintain her composure and not yell at her sister just for being excited, “We’re arranging preparations for the Starshine Salutation in Canterlot this year. Rainbow Dash’s friend is named Scootaloo- and I’m quite sure she’s a pegasus, if Rainbow Dash is foalsitting her in her house, it’s in a cloud, after all, and Rainbow Dash says she too, has no cutie mark.”

Seemingly content with those answers, Sweetie Belle took a notepad out from her small bag, something she started doing recently, charmingly mirroring her sister’s affinity for taking notes, “Cool! I’m so excited, I came up with a whole list of things I can do to get my cutie mark in Canterlot, but most of them are about magic… I’ve gotta find some stuff for pegasus ponies, too. Do you think the clouds are different in Canterlot? Oh! Oh! Maybe we can see the Wonderbolts!”

“That sounds lovely, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity nodded, “You know, it’s on the Princess’ list for us to book the Wonderbolts for the show, so perhaps you can convince them to give you a brief show.”

“I know that’s what I’m gonna do!” Rainbow Dash butted into the conversation as she trotted towards the station, beside her, a small orange pegasus filly on a scooter with a pink mane, shaved into a buzzcut that resembled Rainbow Dash’s own, “You know, back before I got this sweet gig with the princess, I was gonna audition for the ‘bolts myself! I could’ve gotten in, too- I bet I could still take Spitfire in a race.” She smirked confidently as she dragged her two large suitcases onto the platform.

“Totally, Rainbow Dash!” The young pegasus leapt up excitedly, flittering her wings quickly, yet barely rising off the ground further than an inch.

“Are you Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle jumped towards her excitedly , “I’m Sweetie Belle!” She grinned as the two struck up a conversation.

Rarity glanced at Rainbow Dash, “Just as I’ve predicted,” She rolled her eyes, the sound of her voice getting drowned out slightly by the sound of the oncoming train, “You’ve arrived at the last possible second.”

“You know it.” She clicked her tongue confidently with a wing-salute motion. “I don’t know what the big deal is, they would’ve waited for us anyway. Nightmare made a big deal about her captain of guard and secretary headed towards Canterlot, we even got a private car!”

Just as she finished her statement, the train pulled into the station and proved her point- with a single train car manned by two female pegasus royal guards, who rapidly escorted Rainbow Dash and Rarity into the doorway, with the scampering fillies following close behind.

“Woah!” Scootaloo’s eyes widened at the empty car, complete with the two guards, an entirely full table of food, and two large, comfortable beds built into the edges of the train, “Do you always get to ride like this?” She asked Rainbow Dash.

Smugly, Rainbow Dash grinned, “Yep,” She took a brief glance, “Well, the beds are new- but that’s only because Ponyville to Canterlot is sort of an all night trip, and we’re only getting on during sleeping hours, so we’ve got some time to crash.”

Excitedly, Sweetie Belle ran towards the bed on the side furthest from the door, “I call this one!” She bounced.

“Well, I suppose we’re sleeping on the right side…” Rarity thought out loud, “Rainbow, are you and Scootaloo alright with the left?”

Scootaloo opened her mouth to speak, but was promptly cut off by Rainbow Dash indifferently responding, “Eh, doesn’t matter to me.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter!” The pegasus foal echoed.

Rainbow Dash yawned, “I’m pretty beat, I think I’m gonna turn in early,” She turned towards the two guards and flicked her wing in their direction, causing them to immediately disperse towards the adjoining train car, presumably to stand guard in front of that door, “Scootaloo, you can crash on my bed, just don’t wake me up. Rare, can you watch them?”

“Oh, it’s no problem, darling.” Rarity responded, “I need to go over my checklists one more time, anyway.” She levitated hers and Sweetie Belle’s luggage into an overhead compartment, making certain to summon her sketchpad and notebook along with it.

Sweetie Belle jumped, “And I can show Scootaloo my list of things to do to get our cutie mark in Canterlot!” She grinned, grabbing her small notepad.

Bewildered, Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle in shock- and for just a moment, Rarity was worried that she’d found her younger sister’s enthusiasm to be intimidating, or her fixation on her cutie mark to be overwhelming, or an embarrassing reminder of Scootaloo’s own blank flank. However, instead, Scootaloo reached into her own saddle bag, and rummaged through, until she pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, “I have a cutie mark list too!” She bounced, and the two ran off to the other end of the cart to compare lists.

“Oh, for the sake of the Moon, there’s two of them.” Rarity feigned horror to a laughing Rainbow Dash, “Who’s foal is Scootaloo, anyway?”

Uncomfortably, Rainbow Dash shifted her wings, “Oh, uh, her parents aren’t in town much… or, um… ever.” She shrugged, “She’s Holiday’s niece, y’know, the earth pony mare who’s married to Lofty? They live just outside Ponyville.”

Blinking with confusion, Rarity responded, “I don’t know either of those ponies.” She admitted plainly, “When did you meet them?”

“Oh, Scoots is just, well,” Rainbow Dash struggled to articulate what she was trying to say, “I guess she was sort of a fanpony, she would wait outside the Everfree Forest sometimes to try to catch me and get my autograph. Said she wanted to be just like me when she grows up. Didn’t think anything of it, since, y’know, I’m pretty awesome. But, one time, I saw her practicing her scooter tricks out in Ponyville, and she’s pretty good! I told her she had nice moves, and she… pretty much hung on my every word after that. I showed her some tricks- she’s not much of a flyer, or, a flyer at all, for that matter, but she asked if I could… teach her, take her under my wing, or something.”

“Well, that was quite kind of you, giving lessons to your fans,” Rarity smiled.

“Nothing kind about it,” Rainbow Dash insisted, “Scootaloo is awesome, and she’s got a lot of potential! And she was super excited to come to Canterlot, she wants to see the Wonderbolts while we’re here.”

“Ah, yes,” Rarity opened her list, the one that the Princess had given her with her requests for the ceremony. “Well, the Wonderbolts are requested for the performance, she’s asking for some changes from them… I’m also meant to search for a few other ponies, Donut Joe, a pastry chef… Fancy Pants and his wife, of course… a traveling magician called Trixie… Good heavens, I don’t know when I’ll get the time to- um, rest.” She cut herself off at the end.

The real reason Rarity was so desperately looking for a reason to slip away from her royal duties, of course, was the promise she had recently made to Shining Armor. She had vowed to make sure no harm would befall his sister- Twilight Sparkle, and she surely couldn’t do that without finding her to begin with…

Well, perhaps she could. She certainly could just steer the Princess away from the topic of the time-traveling alicorn as best she could, assure her there’s nothing to be found- and perhaps eventually she would move on from the fixation. There was no real reason Rarity ever had to even look at the unicorn Twilight, and yet, she plans on spending her time in Canterlot in search of her- if only for the sake of her own undying curiosity.

“Oh, it’s no big deal,” Rainbow Dash peered over at the list. “You and I could split it up- you can wrangle Fancy Pants and that magician pony, I can take Donut Joe, and we can meet back at the Wonderbolts stadium.”

“I suppose you’re right…” Rarity blinked, “You wouldn’t mind taking Sweetie Belle with you, would you? You know how Fancy Pants can be, never wants foals near him.”

A blatant lie.

“Oh, um, yeah, sure!” Rainbow Dash smiled with a shrug, “But, if that’s the case, I’m gonna hit the hay- just one of them is a hooffull, if you know what I’m saying.” She flew into her own designated bed that they decided upon just minutes before and pulled the blanket over her head, knowing her, she’d probably be asleep within the minute. “Night, Rare.”

“Good night, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity concurred. She looked over at the chattering fillies, still on the ground excitedly sharing items from their lists, if she heard correctly, it seemed as if Rainbow Dash was going to have her hooves full indeed with those two, and she reminded herself to buy her a gift as thanks. “Sweetie Belle, you and Scootaloo will be going with Rainbow Dash tomorrow, she’s going to show you to the Wonderbolts arena.”

Sweetie Belle jumped, “Awesome! I’ve never seen the Wonderbolts in real life! I’ve only ever seen them on Rainbow’s tapes!”

Rarity smiled fondly at her sister’s excitement, “I haven’t met them myself, either, but Rainbow Dash says they’re delightful. I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time.” She yawned, as she stepped into her own bed, “I’ll be turning in, now, I trust that you and Scootaloo will do the same shortly.”

In my dreams, perhaps. She scoffed internally, knowing she’d be lucky if the two fillies fell asleep at all. Using her horn, she raised the blanket to lay down beneath it, and stared out from the window. In the corner of her eye, she saw the moonlight flitter in through the skylight on the top of the train car. She could remember the last time she was on the train to Canterlot, sitting in the adjoining train car with her friends… all of them. Forcing the memory away from her mind, she thought back to her goal- to find Twilight Sparkle.

She thought back to that night, where the alicorn Twilight appeared within her castle only to vanish shortly after. Rarity couldn’t help but envision what another alicorn in her world may do for Equestria.

She’d decorate the castle with brilliant bright hues, and walk the halls with dignity and kindness, not lurk in the shadows and menace her subjects. She’d share her wizardly knowledge with the kingdom, and her library would be restricted to none… and every morning, she’d use her magic to raise the su-

The moon. Raise the moon, of course.

She let the thought lull her to sleep.

It was early in the new night when they had gotten off the train, so all of the lights in Canterlot had been turned on, meaning that it was far brighter than Ponyville was on any given night. It reminded Rarity of times before, it felt as if the shadows moved throughout the night, the lights got brighter and dimmer depending on the time, or where the clouds were, like a strange, artificial sense of sun. It was strangely foreign to even her- but especially to the younger foals. She noticed Sweetie Belle wincing away, keeping her eyes pointed towards the ground. Rarity can’t remember the last time her sister had seen light so bright.

They had opted to stop at Restaurant Row before they set out on their journey to the hotel. They’d already given their bags to an employee who was taking them to the suite while they ate, but they had yet to decide what they’d be doing afterwards. “Well, Donut Joe’s place is in Palace Plaza, and Fancy Pants lives on Ursa Boulevard. So we can meet there, ” Rainbow Dash mulled over her hayburger, while Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo chatted between the two of them, “So you and I could go there tonight- then find Trixie and the Wonderbolts tomorrow?”

“That sounds well,” Rarity nodded, “But, the Princess did want me to assess the state of the palace, so I should do that tonight, as it might take quite some time to go through all that space, determine which room is the best for the viewing of the stars…”

“For sure.” She confirmed, hanging out her tongue exaggeratedly, “And, the fillies and I can get some tasty sweets at Donut Joe’s!” She continued, as if she was hardly paying attention to Rarity’s suggestions and instead solely thinking about the food she would later eat- despite the fact that the hayburger right in front of her was sitting there, still being eaten.

She pondered to herself when she’d have the time to sneak off and look for Twilight, and if she bit off more than she could chew to commit to something like that during her trip to Canterlot, considering just how full her hooves were going to be with the work she’ll be doing throughout the weekend- much less how she’s going to convince Rainbow Dash and Sweetie Belle that it truly took that long to wrangle a magician and put on an act. “When do you think you’ll be at the hotel tonight?”

“I dunno,” Rainbow Dash shrugged her shoulders, speaking with a mouth full of chewed up hay, causing Rarity to look uncomfortably down at her own hooves in disgust. “I’ll finish a little before you, so we can wait in the suite for you.”

She nodded her head, That’s good, she thought. No set time to come home, but I should probably be back before the fillies fall asleep… “That’s perfectly well.” Rarity agreed, flagging down the waiter for the bill.

Digging the bits from her saddle bag, Rainbow Dash agreed, “Cool, cool.: I’ll start heading over to see Donut Joe, come on, girls!” She playfully nudged Scootaloo’s side with one wing as she threw the bits on the table, “Say bye to Rarity!”

“Bye, Rarity!” Both fillies echoed as they followed Rainbow Dash from the restaurant, excitedly bouncing behind her, moving as quickly as their small legs could take them in an attempt to race the speedy mare.

Rarity waved pleasantly as the three left the door. She lifted the bits from her saddle bag with her horn, and placed them neatly beside Rainbow Dash’s messily tossed coins. She summoned her notepad from her side, and looked at the list of things she needed to do. Sighing, she stepped up from her seat and began trotting away from the seat, preparing for a long night ahead.

Rarity walked with her eyes pointed forward while she made the journey over to the old palace, careful to make sure she walked with her head held high. It was a skill she’d practiced since she was a filly, Canterlot ponies walked with their heads craned ever so slightly back, with confidence- Ponyville ponies simply looked at their own hooves as they trudged wherever they may be taken. Now, more than ever, her refusal to look up reveals her to be an outsider- after all, only tourists were blinded by the shimmering streetlights of Canterlot. It wasn’t as if she was a mere nopony anymore, she proudly donned the uniform of a servant of the Princess herself, nopony could ever question her place there. Though, she conceded to herself, it was best that she not give them a reason to.

She’d almost forgotten the route to the palace, although she swore she knew the city as well as she knew the back of her hoof. She squinted her eyes as she looked up to the sign, Palace Plaza, it read. She quickly remembered the route once taken, that if she followed that road for long enough she’d find herself at the old palace- it was likely where the Starshine Salutation would be.

Empty is the word that came to mind as she looked at it. There were a hooffull of lunar guards stationed outside the palace, two unicorn stallions and an earth pony mare- Rarity didn’t recognize any of them, so they were likely residents of Canterlot. They stood at the drawbridge that led to the palace, conversing with a fourth pony… an unfamiliar unicorn mare who wasn’t wearing any royal garb, but rather, what seemed to be a wizard’s robe.

Rarity felt her heart speed up, Surely, it couldn’t be that easy, could it? She wondered silently to herself, Surely, there will be more to finding the elusive Twilight Sparkle than just… following the path, is there? Yet, she couldn’t help but hope, that by some miracle, she ran into her

“Just let me in!” The unicorn mare stamped her hoof with irritation, “I traveled quite a long way to fulfill an appointment with the Princess- and I’m certain she won’t be happy to hear this!”

One of the stallion guards insisted firmly to her, “Ma’am, we told you, we don’t see your name on the list- and the Princess isn’t even in Canterlot tonight.”

“I was supposed to be doing a magic show for the Salutation- and I’m sure that her highness will be angry to hear that you couldn’t secure the greatest, most powerful magician in all of Equestria, just because she wasn’t on your silly list!”

“Hello, dear, are you…” Quickly checking her notepad to make certain, “Trixie Lulamoon?” Rarity interrupted the squabble to question the costume-clad unicorn, wearing a purple wizard’s hat and cape patterned with stars, behind her, a large wagon painted purple and blue. If she wasn’t Twilight Sparkle, and she wasn't the magician, Rarity had some choice words for her about her fashion sense.

The silver-maned mare smirked confidently, radiating ego, “The one and only,” She clicked her tongue, “Who might you be?”

Suddenly, Rarity felt a strange disappointment that she hadn’t quite expected, but decided to push it away before she replied. “I’m Madame Rarity, an associate of the Princess- I’ve been sent to-”

“Oh, yes! See, I told you!” Trixie bounced on the tip of her hooves, as if she lost containment of her excitement, “I heard that I was being considered for entertainment for the Starshine Salutation? I was here waiting for your arrival, but these guards wouldn’t allow me in! I hop- I am confident that the Great and Powerful Trixie will not fail to impress!” Before Rarity could even open her mouth to speak once again, as her eyes were clouded by smoke- and before she had known it, Trixie had already taken her place upon her stage.

Oh, pish posh. Rarity sat down to prepare for the show, having not even realized that there was a stage nearby until just then. She figured, eventually she’d have to sit for Trixie’s stage show, at least she’d be getting that out of the way first.

“Ah! Stage is set.” She sang to herself, before smoke-bombing back into the center of the stage “Behold, the magic, the prowess, the abilities, of the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

Great and Powerful, but surely not humble. Rarity chuckled to herself as she watched the show. It was a short, somewhat meticulously planned show- and although she displayed no incredibly powerful magic, she was surely, at best, a wonderful entertainer- if not a little bit full of herself, considering just how much of it was her talking about her own feats of magic, but it seemed to be a part of the act, and truly, was she ever one to talk? She was clearly very devoted to the Princess, it seemed as if the only pony Trixie respected nearly as much as herself was Nightmare Moon, considering how highly she spoke of her- she seemed to be the picture of a truly devoted subject, which is something that would be appreciated greatly by her. Rarity took note throughout the show to tell the Princess that she’d be a perfectly acceptable addition to the ceremony. Careful to show no indication of whether or not she was pleased with her show, Rarity remarked as they parted ways, “I’ll be in contact, expect a letter within the week.” She nodded her head.

Trixie seemed discontented with this answer, “How’d Trixie do?” She blinked, still speaking of herself in the third, as if she were still on stage, “Shall she prepare for her performance at the celebration?”

Inhaling, Rarity responded plainly, “Well, first, I must receive the Princess’ approval.”

“But you liked it?” She asked, before plainly flicking the wrist of her hoof, “I mean, of course you liked it, why wouldn’t you? I’ll start preparing right away.” She confidently flipped her silver mane, dropping her wizard’s hat onto the ground as she did so- only to quickly pick it back up with her horn and put it on, as if nothing had happened. She looked intently at Rarity to make sure she hadn’t noticed.

Which she did, of course, her eye for detail was absolutely unmatched, but she was immediately focused on a more pressing issue. Her wizard’s hat reminded her of Rarity's purpose in coming to Canterlot- not quite the purpose of securing entertainment, but securing… something else.

Could I…? She wondered. It wasn’t as if merely asking gave away her purpose, but somehow it seemed risky, it seemed dishonest, to reveal herself to somepony who could potentially tell others what she was doing.

Though, it wasn’t as if she was doing anything wrong, was she? As a matter of fact, the Princess had been searching for Twilight Sparkle for the past few nights, was there really much of an issue with Rarity inquiring? No, no, she was assisting the Princess. She did nothing wrong.

“Trixie, dear?” Rarity blinked cautiously. “May I inquire something of you?”

Nervously, the unicorn nodded her head.

Rarity dropped her voice to a whisper, making sure that the guards that lingered somewhat nearby wouldn’t be able to hear her. “Do you know of a unicorn by the name of Twilight?”

Instantly, the fur on Trixie’s back bristled, “Twilight Sparkle?” She blinked irritatedly, “Is she being considered as well?” There was no hiding the disdain in her voice, it was clearly on display for anypony to see, and the whisper that Rarity started was immediately shattered by the unicorn mare’s voice.

“Oh, um,” Rarity hesitated, before ultimately deciding upon, “Yes! You two are the last two ponies I’m considering.” Figuring that the explanation fell into her lap far easier than the true reasoning.

“Ugh,” Trixie huffed, immediately launching into a hardly contained rampage, “That pony has no showmareship, no talent. What, so she knows a few spells, reads a few books and thinks she’s so much better than Trixie?”

If one thing is certain- Trixie knows who she is. Rarity thought to herself, casually sneaking looks to make sure the guards still weren’t paying any attention to the conversation.

“She used to spend all her time holed up in the library, but since the Princess returned, nopony has seen much of her.” Trixie stamped her hoof to the floor, “I say, good riddance.”

“Since the Princess returned?” Rarity tilted her head curiously, “What happened then?”

Shrugging, the unicorn continued, “Not sure. Trixie doesn’t spend much time in Canterlot anymore- I’m a traveling act- haven’t lived here in a long time. When the Princess returned, I was in Manehattan putting on a performance, but anytime I come back to Canterlot, Twilight isn’t here, either. Figured she was one of those ponies, y’know? Got all scared of the dark and cooped up in her house when the sun went bye-bye.”

Rarity knew what Trixie referred to, of course- how certain ponies went into hiding when the Princess came into power, certain that the old ruler would return to rescue them from eternal night. Those ponies grew smaller and smaller as the moons went on, though, as more of them came to accept that Nightmare Moon wasn’t there to hurt them, only to take her rightful throne.

Still rambling on, Trixie continued, “If I were you, I wouldn’t waste my time with her, but if you really need to…” She drawled as long as possible, as if she were still deciding whether or not to reveal this information, before she ultimately sighed and said, “Last I heard, she lived on Crescent Lane.”

“Crescent Lane?” Rarity wondered out loud, “Isn’t that right there?” She tilted her horn towards the left, indicating the very next street, lined with extravagant homes that neared mansions.

“Right by the palace,” Trixie confirmed, “They used to be pretty expensive, since all the royals were right there, but it sort of took a nose dive when the Princess came back. Still pretty expensive, though- but she comes from a noble family, you know?”

Shining Armor’s defensive words echoed in Rarity’s mind, from when he claimed they weren’t nobles to be exact. She couldn’t help but giggle when Trixie confirmed her suspicions, though she continued to inquire as she gestured for the showpony to walk alongside her, unconsciously, she walked towards where she recalled Crescent Lane to be, “Nobles, you say?”

“Oh, definitely.” The blue mare continued, “Their great great grandmother was an important guardsmare for the old Princess- Lieutenant Starbright, it was.”

“You seem to know a lot about royal history, do you fancy yourself a scholar?”

Anxiously, Trixie shuffled her hooves, “No, no, nothing like that.” She admitted, “I just did some research of my own, family history.”

Intrigued, Rarity asked, “Oh, do you have noble lineage?” Although she hadn’t recognized Trixie’s surname, Lulamoon, she wouldn’t be surprised if the unicorn mare had history with the royal family- her cutie mark bears a crescent moon, and her blue coat surely resembles that of some older paintings of Nightmare Moon, those from before she was called that.

“Sort of!” Trixie grinned, “I don’t like to brag, or anything,”

Oh, for the sake of the Moon, what a line. She must’ve simply been waiting for me to ask such a question.

“But my family used to work for the Princess, back in the ancient years,” She shrugged, “I’m a descendant of her last apprentice, Soiree Lulamoon. After Nightmare Moon’s banishment, she left the castle, refusing to work under the… other princess.”

Soiree was a name Rarity had never heard before- she’d never heard of Nightmare Moon taking on an apprentice, even in the ancient years. Though, she was often secretive about her past, even to Rarity. “Fascinating,” she hummed to herself.

“I think so,” Trixie agreed, “That’s why you should pick me as the talent for the show, it’s not as if Twilight has any connection to the mare who would have likely been Nightmare Moon’s successor- if I were you, I wouldn’t bother with her…” She thought intensely for a moment, “How’d she get on your list, anyway? I don’t take her as the type of pony to apply to be a magic act.”

That’s surely a complicated question. Rarity pondered, knowing full well that she couldn’t tell Trixie just why she was looking for her- not only would she sound absolutely out of her mind, to claim that there was a second world in which the pony they’d been talking about was possibly an alicorn princess was, in a word, insane, but Rarity was also certain that Nightmare Moon likely wouldn’t want the news of her existence get out any further than the palace walls- she doubted even those few guards stationed outside the old palace had any idea of the situation. Instead, Rarity settled upon answering Trixie’s question with one of her own, “Why do you seem to despise her so much?”

It was something she had been genuinely curious about, Trixie’s reaction to Twilight’s mere existence seemed to indicate that she hated everything about the pony, angry at the mere fact that she exists. It baffled Rarity, to an extent, though she’d surely hated ponies, possibly more than most ponies do, she struggled to imagine Twilight as somepony who was loathed. How could anypony loathe Twilight? She somehow had a sinking feeling in her chest while she awaited Trixie’s answer.

Trixie rolled her eyes and curiously raised an eyebrow towards Rarity, face painted with a smug scowl, “Something tells me you don’t know her very well,” She chuckled, before flicking her ear to the right, “Crescent Lane is that way. Trixie has to go pack up her wagon and get ready for the performance!”

Rarity rolled her eyes fondly, realizing that, no, Trixie’s egotism truly had nothing to do with her magic act- and she was, in fact, just like that. She summoned her notebook in order to check off meeting with Trixie from her list of things to do… which, unfortunately, is not what she had set off to do that evening. She turned around and prepared to walk back to the castle, to check off her real itinerary item for the night.

Or…

No, no. You came here to do a job, Rarity.

But this is the closest you’ve ever been, isn’t it? She looked down the short distance of the crosswalk between Palace Plaza and Crescent Lane, You are one short crosswalk away from Twilight Sparkle.

Rarity Belle, you have a job to do, you’ve already wasted an hour viewing Trixie’s show, you’re behind schedule, there will certainly be time to search for Twilight Sparkle in a few nights, all you need to do is….

Wait.

The four letter word that had been Rarity’s arch nemesis for her entire life, once again, it was the only thing standing in the way of Rarity’s decision making. She had a job to do, she was a direct servant of the Princess and she has been sent on important royal business- at that moment in time, for the first time in her life, Rarity held the title she’s always wanted to, not the title of a Royal Chamberlain, or a highly esteemed dressmaker- but the real title she’s hoped for her entire life.

At that moment in time, Rarity was the most important pony in Canterlot.

Very important pony,

Twilight Sparkle,

Very important pony.

Twilight Sparkle.

Very important pony…

Twilight Sparkle.

Without wasting another moment thinking about it, Rarity let her hooves carry her to Crescent Lane.

For such a large street, there were only a hooffull of homes- likely because of the massive size of them, Trixie hadn’t exaggerated when she called them mansions. Most of them were painted with a fresh coat of purple, with polished silver moldings. The lights seemed notably dimmer, on this road, though perhaps it was because it was in the direct shadow of the massive palace that loomed overhead. On the steps of one home, she saw a pair of unicorn foals, a filly and a cold, practicing magic with their father supervising them, instructing them on where to point their horns. As she walked by, the stallion looked at her with narrowed eyes,

“May I help you, ma’am?” He asked suspiciously.

Instantly, Rarity picked her head up, realizing that she had once again been walking with her head pointed downward again, though she thought her uniform would give her at least some leeway for the ponies of Canterlot not to judge her so harshly.

“I’m quite alright, sir.” She dipped her head to him, before introducing herself, “Madame Rarity Belle, from the Everfree.”

The pony stiffened up, “Ah, from the Everfree?” He raised an eyebrow curiously, “You look quite small, to be a guardsmare.”

“Well, that’s because I’m not.” She insisted, moderately offended by the insinuation that she was too weak to be a guard, because, let’s face it, they may be correct, “I’m the Princess’ chamberlain and secretary- preparing for the Starshine Salutation.”

Almost instantly, the small colt perked up, “The Salutation is in Canterlot this year?” He suppressed a giggle, causing his sister to jab him in the side with her hoof, “Oh, this is gonna be good!”

“Oh, it’ll be more than good,” Rarity smiled softly at the young colt, “It’ll be splendid, divine, even.”

The foals’ father authoritatively whispered to the two chuckling young ponies, “Cut it out, you guys.” He shot a glare down at them, before turning back towards Rarity, “Apologies, Madame. Do you need any help finding anything in Canterlot? We’d be happy to help you out.” He grinned politely, as if to make up for his questioning from earlier.

She wondered if perhaps this pony could help her in her search for Twilight, seeing as they were very likely neighbors, but she figured, perhaps telling Trixie was enough for one night, the last thing she needs is for permanent, gossipy Canterlot ponies to know what the Princess and her staff were doing at the moment. Shaking her head, she continued, “No thank you, sir.” She turned away to walk further down the road, but, just for politeness’ sake, added “It was lovely to meet you.”

“You too!” He responded, before turning back to his two foals to seemingly scold them for their behavior.

“She’s gonna be so angry!” The filly laughed loudly to her brother.

“Please,” The colt snorted, “She’s gonna put that spell of hers over the whole block!”

Rarity couldn’t help but overhear the two foals' conversation- clearly, somepony was soon to be a very miserable mare. She pondered just what spell they were talking about, and she fought an instinct to go back and ask them what they might be talking about, but their father seemed angry at them, so surely, it wouldn’t help her to intrude. Though, deep down she wondered if they could be talking about her, the pony she was looking for. It would be terribly convenient, but… why would Twilight be made so upset by the Salutation? What spell could she possibly cast on an entire block?

With fascination, she gazed at the mansions lining the streets- she’d always dreamed of living in a place like this- while she much more fancied the modern architecture of Ursa Boulevard, she’d be more than happy to settle for a place like the ones on Crescent Lane… if she could ever afford it in her wildest dreams, that is. Other than the father and foals from earlier, she couldn’t help but notice how few ponies were outside. It made sense, it was the middle of the night, most ponies were working, or at school.

Will Twilight even be home? The thought suddenly hit Rarity. What if she’s at work? I mean, she must have a job, right? Even a mare of noble lineage has a job, how else could she live in a place like Crescent Row?

You, Rarity, have a job to do- which you aren’t doing, by the way! She internally berated herself for continuing to follow this path, yet, her hooves kept moving, and she did nothing to stop them.

She made careful attention to look at the mailboxes, as many of them had the owners cutie marks painted onto them, and if she was familiar with anything about Twilight, it was surely her cutie mark, after all the time she spent trying to determine where she knew it from.

Her mind became filled with thoughts of Shining Armor, and how he and Twilight must’ve grown up on the very road she walked down at that moment. He’d be standing right there, playing some silly sport, Rarity thought, looking towards a lawn, she then gazed at a patch of cobblestone beneath a street lamp, And she’d be sitting there, reading, pretending to be watching him throw the ball, only throwing it back whenever it just so happened to land squarely in front of her. She giggled at the thought, Who would’ve thought that those two foals would become the Captain of the royal guard, and an alicorn princess?

The thought came naturally to her, and just as naturally came the abrupt pause in her stream of consciousness as she realized just how wrong she was. Shining Armor wasn’t the Captain of the royal guard, Rainbow Dash was- Shining Armor was nothing more than a disgraced, failure of an ex-soldier locked in a basement, and Twilight was almost certainly not an alicorn princess- as a matter of fact, she was seemingly a long list of things, not one of which was an alicorn princess.

It all came back to that one question, the question she’d asked every night since Twilight’s arrival- although it had been so little time, Rarity has felt like it’s been forever since she first proposed that one simple question; Twilight Sparkle, who are you?

You are a unicorn scholar, you have great magical abilities. Far greater than most ponies. You’ve read far more books than nearly anypony I know, and spend most of your time in the library, studying. What is it you’re studying for, Twilight? And, do you really fear the night, as Trixie said? I must know everything written in the pages you keep your eyes so firmly locked upon- what will you ever do with all that magic? What are you here for? Wh-

“Ouch!” Rarity yelped in pain, realizing that she’d been so lost in thought, she’d walked herself directly into a wall, “Rarity you clumsy fool….” She exclaimed, before looking up to realize that, as a matter of fact, she hadn’t run into anything at all, there was no wall, there was… nothing.

She reached her hoof out to touch the empty space she hit her head against, only to find that her hoof slid easily right through it. She held her hoof to her head and touched where she was hit- it was painful to the touch, so she knew she didn’t just… imagine it. After all, how would that even work, for one to imagine such pain out of nowhere? If she ran into a wall, she’d know she ran into a wall. Of this, Rarity was certain.

She felt a strange sensation, as if her heart was beating suddenly quicker, What… happened? She found herself at a loss for words. She stopped to look inside of the strange invisible wall- behind it was a house, just like any other home on Crescent Row, large, extravagant, well maintained- though, intriguingly enough, unlike every other home on the row which sported a fresh coat of purple paint, this home still maintained the original white walls.

The mailbox, She remembered once again to check the sides of it. It hung entirely open, revealing an entirely empty box, and just slightly obscuring the door of it, but when Rarity craned her neck enough, she was quite certain she could make out the edge of what appeared to be a pink and white six pointed star.

This was it.

She couldn’t believe it- that it was right there in front of her, that she was right there in front of her. She tried to sneak a peek through the windows, the lights were all on, but she couldn’t catch a glimpse of anypony, all she could see was a bookshelf, with one book removed from the shelf. She narrowed her eyes to see the titles, but couldn’t make any of them out. She doubted she would know exactly what they were, anyway, Twilight didn’t strike Rarity as the Shadow Spade type. Perhaps she could introduce her to them, one night, she resolved.

Gently, this time, Rarity tried to walk through the space. One hoof slid in, perfectly fine, as did the next one, though she felt a strange sensation, as if she was stepping through cold water, only to come out on the other side perfectly dry. She quickly shoved her head through, feeling the inexplicable need to shake off the nonexistent water from her mane, but resisted, as to avoid messing up her coat. She prepared herself to walk through- she closed her eyes, and put one hoof in front of the other.

“Owww! Oh, for the sake of the Moon!” Rarity frustratedly yelled, feeling the sensation of a powerful wave crashing directly against her, pushing back any part of her that passed through the barrier.

Suddenly, though, from the other side of the strange magical wall, a noise was heard, the clicking of slow, deliberate hoofsteps against a wooden floor, getting louder and louder. The jingling of a doorknob, as it lit up with a magenta hued unicorn magic before opening, revealing the mare Rarity had longed to see more than anypony else for the last few nights.

Her blue mane was tied up into a messy bun, with strands of hair falling out of a golden hair tie, she wore gold-framed reading glasses and had a chain to keep them around her neck draping from the sides. Her purple eyes looked tired, bearing slight bags underneath them, and a squint on her face that revealed the fact that it’d been quite a few nights since she’d seen bright Canterlot streetlights. She was just barely taller than Rarity, standing at a height shorter than most unicorns she’d seen, yet smaller than the last time she’d encountered… her. Two things, however, were for certain. One being, that on her flank, she bore a pink and white six pointed star as a cutie mark, surrounded by five, white, smaller stars. The other, perhaps more important revelation, was the confirmation of something Rarity had already known, and yet was somehow disappointed to see with her own two eyes- the mare bore a horn, but no wings. Twilight Sparkle was a unicorn.

“It’s not going to work.” The unicorn said simply to an awestruck Rarity, as if it were the most obvious thing. “You can’t get past it- not wearing that, anyway.”

She gestured sarcastically with her hoof as she spoke, indicating Rarity's Lunar Palace uniform. More specifically, she pointed directly to the center of it, the crescent moon shaped silver badge which Rarity used to ward off the Timberwolves, as she walked through the Everfree Forest at the beginning of each night.

“I- um, I-” Rarity began, only to be cut off once more.

“I’m not inviting you to take off your clothes, or anything,” She clarified matter-of-factly, “I’d really prefer if you weren’t here at all- clothes or not. Just so we get that out of the way.”

“I, ah, hm. Excuse me?” She finally managed to choke out what appeared to be a semi-coherent sentence.

“You’re a Lunar Servant. You don’t dress like the other guards, and, to be frank, you’re a little bit small.”

“Why does everypony kee-”

“Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, but you didn’t even try to disable the barrier, so you either don’t have much magic, or much confidence in your magic. Either way, you’re probably not a guardsmare.” She continued blathering on to Rarity, staring her up and down, taking in each and every detail about her, “But, you’re still wearing a uniform, so you’re a high ranking servant- you’re not a cook, or a cleaner, or anything like that. You don’t look like you’re used to the lights, so I’m gonna say you’re not from Canterlot… Manehattan? Trottingham? Ponyville? Baltimare?” Upon realizing that her questioning was eliciting no response, and that Rarity had been stunned into silence, she rolled her eyes, and added on, “You can just stop me whenever I get there,”

Rarity jumped, not expecting the sudden pop quiz, “I’m from, um,” She stuttered.

“Don’t tell me you forgot where you live,” Twilight groaned, a strand of her bangs coming misplaced as she hunched her neck in irritation.

What is wrong with you?! Rarity yelled internally at herself, Just say something!

“P-Ponyville?” The white mare hesitantly confirmed, inexplicably uncertain of this fact, despite the fact that it was without a doubt true.

“Ponyville?” Twilight repeated after her, demandingly, with a twinge of mocking of Rarity's accent, “Are you asking me or telling me?”

“T-telling you, of course!”

“Well, then act like it, for Celestia’s sake.”

“Ponyville.” Rarity stated, as a fact, rather than a question.

“Ponyville.” She confirmed, finally satisfied with Rarity’s response enough to continue without further questioning, “Right outside of Everfree, you’re a direct employee, here on official business, that’s why you’re still wearing the uniform.” She stated plainly, with no hatred, or malice in her voice, just an air of complete and total indifference to anything else that Rarity may have to say to her, “I have no interest in your official business. Goodbye.” She said, before turning back around and walking to re-enter her home, lighting her horn to turn the doorknob.

“W-Wh, huh?” The stunned unicorn stood outside, mouth hanging open- for the first time in quite a long time, completely and utterly speechless, “W-Twilight!”

To this, she stopped in her tracks, and loosened her magic’s grip around the door, “You know my name?” She asked cautiously.

“Why, yes I do,” Rarity sputtered, putting on a face of confidence as best she could, realizing that any other slip up would surely result in Twilight slamming the door in her face once and for all, “Y-you’re Twilight Sparkle, yes?”

She approached closer to the barrier around her home, with a deliberate slowness to her almost menacing steps, “How do you know my name?” She narrowed her eyes intensely, seemingly becoming angrier with each word.

A complicated question, Rarity realized, not entirely sure how to answer the question. She’s a magic enthusiast, is she not? Perhaps she’ll take intrigue in the tale of her time traveling, alicorn counterpart. Or, perhaps she’ll think I’ve got a pin cushion for a brain and make sure her magic barrier breaks my hoof, while I’m at it. Ultimately, she settled upon, “I met you, um, before, but n-”

Without missing a beat, Twilight cut her off to protest the explanation presented to her, “We’ve never met,” Her visible skepticism grew greater, and her eyes threatened to walk away once more, “If I did, I would surely remember it. It’s not every day a Lunar Servant arrives unannounced at my house and slams herself into my barrier… multiple times.”

Defensively, Rarity turned up her nose, “Why, of course we haven’t met,” She huffed, “But I met you! I mean, I didn’t meet you, per se, but I met a version of-”

“I’m going to ask you once, and I’m not going to ask you again,” Twilight’s horn sparked threateningly, her voice dripping with anger, “Who are you, and how do you know my name?”

Quickly, Rarity jolted backwards, “W-Wha, Twilight, please, calm down!”

“Tell me!” She demanded over the crackling of her magic sparks, continuously walking closer and closer, the magic in her horn growing with every step.

Rarity took a deep inhale, Keep it together, darling, she’s a good mare, remember? Not everypony can simply… become an alicorn princess, can they? She finally allowed herself to speak, through long, drawn out words, as if she were reading off of a script, as if she were back at the palace. She’d spent a long time learning to be needlessly hostile to ponies who ask her questions. She tried to envision Twilight as a mere tourist, asking her intrusive questions about the inner workings of the castle. She was in control, she tried to affirm to herself. “Excuse me, madame, but you best be careful where you point that horn of yours- I am not a common trespasser and I refuse to be treated as such,” She demanded, hoping that Twilight wouldn’t immediately notice her trembling hooves, “My name is Madame Rarity Belle, I am the secretary and chamberlain to Her Highness, Princess Nightmare Moon- and you would not believe how long the few nights I have waited to meet you have been. I have nearly been blasted to bits by my own boss, I have had to face down ponies I never wished to see again- your brother, if you’re curious, and I am currently lying to my dearest friend about my whereabouts so I would appreciate just the slightest bit of patience as I struggle to complete my senten-”

“My brother?” Twilight cut her off, the magic on her horn fizzling out immediately, “You’ve seen Shining Armor?”

“Twilight,” Rarity whined, completely forgetting the tough-mare act she was in the middle of putting on, “I was in the middle of telling you to allow me to complete my sentences, so I would appreci-”

“Wait.” She insisted, “What did you say your name was?”

Rarity huffed with irritation, having completely given up, “Madame Rarity Belle, secretary and cha-”

Breathlessly, Twilight’s eyes shot wide open, and the angry demeanor in her face dropped just as suddenly as it appeared, “You’re Rarity?”

“Why, yes of cours-”

Immediately, with a light touch of magic, Twilight removed the moon shaped medallion from her chest and wrapped it in a magenta bubble, pushing it through the barrier with ease. She paced back and forth in front of her door, arching herself over to see the side of Rarity’s body, “Diamonds, diamonds, diamonds…” She muttered to herself, the corners of her lips turned downward pensively, the gears in her brain visibly turning.

“Twilight, dear,” Rarity asked out loud, despite how little Twilight seemed to be listening to anypony other than her own, repetitive mumblings, “Do you plan on letting me in on what in the wide wide world of Equestria is happening?”

With one hoof, she gestured to Rarity, “You can come inside,” She started slowly, “But you’re going to answer every single one of my questions. Does that sound like something you can agree to?”

Rarity stuttered, “Why- I, it depends, what will you be asking me?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow suspiciously, “Seems like you came quite a long way to find me- doesn’t really look like you’re in the position to bargain with me, are you?”

Pondering this question, Rarity stood silently for a moment. There were certainly reasons not to trust her- as a matter of fact, the reasons to distrust her eclipsed the reasons to trust her in every sense of the word. When push came to shove, she truly knew nothing about the mare who stood before her other than her name, but then again, it seemed as if Twilight could say the same for her. She gazed up at the eager unicorn and saw flickers of familiar impatience in her eyes, it echoed her own. She hesitated, before her was Twilight Sparkle, the alicorn princess stripped of the wings and of the title she never bore. The promise Rarity made to Shining Armor hung heavy in the air, the one, tangible excuse she could come up with that she wanted so badly, against all reason to say;

“As you wish, Twilight Sparkle.”

Waning Moon

by salukiseason

prologue: a new dawn, a new night

chapter one: a dark night, a bright star

chapter two: a lost star, a found dream

chapter three: a bygone dream, an eternal promise

chapter four: a sworn promise, a fickle hope