“uhhhh…?”
“ehh……ah…..wa?”
“…………..”
The princesses stood, shell shocked by the shadowy entities proclamation. Each trying to process the eldritch voice they had heard. Luna had completely shut down, so caught up in signing her own death warrant that the derailment of her train of thought had put her into a confused trance. Celestia and Cadence continued to make small noises of distress, the younger princess barley suppressing tears as her mind jumped to her child back in Equestria.
The Stars were less readable, having little in the way of distinct facial features. Instead they stood off to the side; silent and rapidly fluctuating in luminosity.
Eventually Twilight managed to marshal her thoughts back into coherency and stepped forward. “Sorry...all of us?”
“Yes.”
“Wait. What?”
Umbra shifted in in his side of the room. The eyes moved closer and the motions of his indistinct arms giving the impression he was leaning across some invisible table. “My apologies, that all came out rather melodramatically. I am here under the authority of the Wardens of order to make a determination on whether the four of you are fit to continue being Alicorns. Each of you Princesses, not just the Night Bringer, have demonstrated…shall we say…questionable behaviour.” Umbra’s voice was weird. It seemed to be completely unperturbed by the acoustics of the room and deliver itself directly to their ears. It was like listening to the royal Canterlot voice; powerful and authoritively, but as soft and as quite as a whisper.
“So…you’re here to judge us?”
“That’s a little harsh. I’m a perfectly reasonable being. You of course will have the chance to defend yourself. And we’re not going to punish you, no-pony’s getting trapped in a celestial object or worse.” Now that Twilight looked harder she though she could make out Umbra’s mouth. The barest hint of white pulled back in an unsettling smile.
Luna could audibly be heard grinding her teeth as her wings carried her into the air, setting her face to apparent face with Umbra. "You seem as if you are enjoying this Warden. Perhaps too much. Are we to assume you enjoy tormenting us?"
“Not at all.” Umbra said. “But…well…you know more about what happened last time don’t you? When the Wardens came to this world? A lot more than you’ve been letting on. A lot more than you’ve said…well…not that that is entirely your fault is it? But that would be getting ahead of the proper order of things.”
Twilight could have sworn she heard Luna growl. She looked over at Celestia but she was still wearing her calm mask. One glance over at Cadance though and Twilight knew the truth. That calm was an illusion. Luna’s eyes narrowed as Umbra materialised a pale flower in front of her.
Twilight peered at it curiously. It looked like a Moon Orchid. At Umbras satisfied smirk she glanced back at Luna. Was…was she was crying?
“My point being Luna, You out of any of them know better why I might take a slightly personal stake in this.”
Luna dropped back down to the floor, bringing the flower with her. She still looked angry but was subdued for the time being. “Very well. Let us get this test over with.”
“I assume then that my ponies will remain safe?” Celestia asked. Though she had looked frightened before while no one had been looking something had changed. She was the ruler so Equestria and once again she looked the part. Voice absolute and radiating both a figurative and literal aura of power.
“Oh don’t worry. I value my life far too much to risk crossing you Helia.”
The shadows around Umbra seemed to bubble as coils of darkness flowed into the room and between the ponies. For the briefest of moments each of looked towards each other in solidarity before the darkness enveloped them like a blanket and each were left alone.
“Who’s Helia? Twilight though as she sat back down and pondered into the darkness. Little did she know that one wall of darkness away her mentor was asking the same question.