The Moon shone brightly.
A purple unicorn floated in a seemingly endlessly deep, endlessly wide and endlessly empty body of water. The only things that could be seen were the Moon beyond the surface and its beams of light. He had a short choppy dark indigo mane with a few magenta streaks. His cutie mark was a dark disk surrounded by a white halo. The Moon shone brightly.
The unicorn gazed at it as he swam in its direction. After a few minutes, he arrived at the surface of the body of water. He then took a peek of what lay beyond the surface. Upon raising his head above the surface, he found himself in a small pond beside an abandoned road. The Moon shone brightly.
He stepped out of the water and onto the road. The marble road was overgrown with weeds, the stone plates were tilted and puddles had formed in its holes. Broken pillars and indiscernible statues senselessly littered the roadside. However, without taking much notice of this, the unicorn started to walk towards the Moon while following the road. The Moon shone brightly.
He walked for only a few minutes, as he contemplated the immaculate marble road. The road sparkled spotlessly while the roadside was adorned with mighty white pillars with silver statues of ponies in armor on their top. The road stopped at an apparently endless stairway towards the Moon. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, the unicorn halted for a second, taking a quick glance around before fixing his gaze on the Moon, he ascended the stairs unthinkingly towards it. The Moon shone brightly.
The stallion walked up the stairs which seemed to float in the void. No matter which direction one would look, only darkness could be seen, with the exception of the stairs and the bright Moon themselves. The stairs appeared to extend infinitely upwards and downwards. No stars, no landscape, no trees, no buildings nor anypony. Only the bright Moon and the staircase were visible. Suddenly, the steps began to disappear from up above and from down under rapidly diminishing his available ground to stand on until the stairway was completely gone and he floated in the void. The Moon still shone brightly.
However, an alicorn-shaped shadow began to cover the Moon, darkening it. As the Moon no longer shone brightly, only the darkness of the void was left in which the unicorn floated. He then felt a strong presence reaching him from the darkness.
With cold sweat dripping from his forehead, a purple unicorn abruptly awoke wide-eyed from his sleep. He was called by Nightmare Moon. After quickly collecting himself and wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with his hoof, he stepped out of his canopy bed to prepare to meet Nightmare Moon. The curtains of the bed depicted golden stars and several moons in different phases. The walls of the room followed the same motif as they had been painted with luminescent paint to portray the night sky, which contained the Moon, stars, nebulas, shooting stars and even comets.
The room had many neatly organized bookshelves and a desk with orderly arranged writing and geometric tools, papers divided into various stashes, an open star chart, test tubes and alchemy materials. All furniture in the room was made of the darkest ebony. However, he hadn't the time to dwell on his room, as he needed to answer the call of his queen. He quickly took his cloak from the coat rack and dashed through the door.
The cloak had the same theme as his room. It was a dark indigo and had star constellations illustrated on it which he would love to talk about in a moment of less hurry, a full yellow moon on where his cutie mark would be and a staff with its top shaped like a crescent was depicted on the left side of the chest. The clothing represented his rank as archmage and pupil of her majesty Nightmare Moon.
He rushed through the endless hallways ignoring anypony he could've met in them. Not only because he didn't want to be late attending the call of his mentor, but rather, because he wanted to be there before somepony else. He was almost there, just two more turns to reach the throne room. Then, as he took the penultimate turn and could see the entrance to the throne room, he spotted another cloaked pony galloping from the opposite side of the corridor. He rushed towards the entrance trying to cross it before the other pony but failed as they slipped through the entrance before him.
Upon entering the room himself, he beheld Her Majesty, Nightmare Moon, seated upon her obsidian throne. Queen Nightmare Moon was an Alicorn with a coat dark as the moonless night, a mane and a tail which could be rather likened to ghastly nebulas than hair, fangs bright as stars and eyes with slit pupils that seemed to peer into one's soul. The room was lit by the beams of moonlight from the windows and torches of blue flames. Two indigo and silver tapestries hung beside the Throne, the left one depicting Nightmare Moon's escape from the Moon with the aid of the stars and the other one depicting her victory over Celestia.
To the right of Her Majesty stood a unicorn stallion with a well-kept bright white coat and a delicate fetlock waved mane wearing a suit and tie portraying star constellations. He was Elusive, Nightmare Moon's major-domo and closest advisor. Nothing occurred in the castle without his knowledge, he was the motor that kept things running in the castle.
Nightmare stared with a displeased and uninterested gaze towards a white unicorn stallion who stood before her. He was half a head taller than most ponies and wore a full suit of pitch-black armor accentuated by blue and gold on the shoulder pads. Sweat beaded on his bare forehead while his hooves grasped nervously on his helm. Bags had started forming below his clear azure eyes and his long blonde wavy mane certainly had experienced better days in the past. It seemed he was frantically trying to argue for something.
Further back in the throne room was the cloaked beige unicorn mare that Dusk Shine had followed in. The cloak, which was equal to the one Dusk was wearing, signalized her as Her Majesty's other pupil, Moondancer. She had a long straight red mane and magenta eyes. After catching his breath, he proceeded to stand to her left.
Noticing that Dusk had finally entered the room, Moondancer extended her left hoof towards where Dusk stood and gave him a side glance and a smirk. Dusk Shine groaned quietly as he took out a bag of ten bits and tossed it over to Moondancer. She caught the bag and put it in one of her cloak’s inner pockets. It was not that he lamented the lost bits, as he received a fairly generous allowance from the treasury which remained mostly unspent, as in the castle it was provided for him and most of his needs were covered. Thus, they used the bits in childish bets like seeing who manages to attend Nightmare Moon's call first.
Besides Moondancer and himself, Her Majesty had one more pupil. Neither of them has ever seen her yet and didn't know much about her besides rumors like her having been previously detained due to dueling. They wondered why Nightmare Moon never gave her any limelight.
After finishing their short transaction, the pupils returned to look towards the throne. At this moment Nightmare Moon struck her hoof on the obsidian stone, interrupting the white unicorn which now stared at her anxiously.
She then spoke, "therefore, thou shalt be blissful to engage into the Northern Front soon. Wouldst thou not agree, nephew?" With a snide grin, she concluded; "after all, since thou now hast the experience, thou shalt want to compensate for thy errors during the assault on the changelings, Blueblood."
Blueblood felt his blood freeze as she said his name. He soundlessly gulped before bowing and answering "then... I shall depart immediately, aunt." He then proceeded to march out while he glared at the floor and uttered what one could only guess were profanities under his breath. Dusk Shine and Moondancer snickered at his predicament as he passed by.
As Blueblood left the room, Nightmare moon addressed her pupils, "my children, please come forward." Obeying her command, her pupils moved closer to the throne and bowed before her and remained bowed. She then resumed, "tonight, I've summoned you as there are missions of crucial importance I require you to attend to." Her pupils leaned closer in anticipation as she proceeded, "this shall finally attest to your abilities as my students."
"Two nights ago, the terrorist known as the 'Ghost' has struck upon Ponyville. The Triumequat of the Lunar inquisition will gather there to oversee the investigation," she then directed her gaze towards Dusk Shine, "you are to depart there next night at the sixth waking hour to aid them capturing the 'Ghost' and ensure Ponyville’s safety for the Eterna Nox Festival in one week."
"Yes, mentor," replied Dusk.
Satisfied with this answer, Nightmare Moon then shifted her gaze towards Moondancer. "Currently, a sudden harshening of the weather in the North hinders the further advance of the invasion," explained she, "you're to travel there to assist in the invasion. Your train departs at the fourth waking hour."
"Yes, mentor," replied Moondancer. She then turned her head towards Dusk and with a grin commented, "See? I have told you I was the one she would entrust the front lines to." She gestured her hoof towards herself for emphasis. "While you will have to deal with townponies and Inquisitors, I will be expanding our mentor's dominion."
Dusk Shine furrowed his eyebrows and rolled his eyes preparing to get into his arguing stance to retort, "Oh, C'mon..."
"We will not tolerate your exasperating purposeless squabbles in Our presence," quickly interrupted Nightmare Moon with the thunderous Canterlot Royal Voice. Her pupils frantically regained their posture as she directed a remark at Moondancer, "furthermore, I'll be giving orders to the local officers to keep you away from the battlefield."
Dusk quickly stuck out his tongue at his colleague and reassumed his posture. Moondancer only furrowed in response. Nightmare Moon then continued in a calmer yet, serious tone, "you must comprehend that your conduct does reflect on my person."
One could hear the undertones of disappointment and reproach from her answer. After all, it was not the first their arguments ended up being a nuisance to their mentor. Especially, after the "show" they had put on for their first Grand Galloping Gala which was enough to make her only allow them to participate in public events with stricter schedules and predetermined procedures. Not that they disliked this decision too much, as any time they didn't have to waste with narcissistic nobles and crazed crowds was time they could devote to purposefully learning and bettering their magic.
"And you can assume the image it conveys when my recluse pupils remain solely within the castle walls hidden away from the eyes of the public," proceeded she with her admonishment. "Elusive will be providing you with the details of the mission and the necessary attire in view of your temporary change in ranks."
The white unicorn bowed to the queen before slowly trotting out of the room. As he passed by the pupils, he remarked whisperingly, "well... If the children would follow me." They puckered their lips and squeezed their eyes in response to the remark as if they had bitten a bitter lemon while following Elusive in lockstep.
Dusk Shine watched as the Moon slowly descended below the tree line of the surrounding Everfree forest from the windows of the hall he trotted through. He had spent too much time in Elusive's atelier; now he didn't any time left to sleep. He was also rather sure it wouldn't have taken so long if Elusive didn't insist taking the measurements by hoof instead of using magic because it allowed him "to take more accurate measurements", Dusk wasn't even certain he needed to take his measurements, but one should not question the tailor at his work. Moondancer stayed with him as she would depart first and thus her garment would need to be finished first.
Staring out the windows once again, he saw the Moon completely vanish behind the tree line and then, almost as if mocking any observer who would think another celestial body would rise in its place, it rose again signalizing the beginning of the first waking hour. He continued along the hallway until he reached the stairs leading downwards. There was still somepony he wanted to meet before packing.
The stairs led to the castle's dungeons. Even with the recent attempts at renovating the massive dungeon complex, its ancientness was apparent from its time-worn cobblestone walls. Quite a few of those still showed visible cracks, torches were only present enough to dimly light its corridors and various sections were blocked off due to cave-ins that happened throughout the past millennium. At least it was completely dry now. Most of the cells, however, were empty as the ones in Canterlot were still used to house most of the political prisoners.
One could easily get lost wandering through the endless dimly lit corridors of the dungeon. However, the path he needed to take was well-known to him and he moved swiftly through the passageways. After not more than a few minutes, he was almost at last turn he would need to take. Then a gray coated cell guard came out from where Dusk wanted to go.
"Again... just a waste of my time..." grumbled the stallion while staring at the tray he held with uneaten food. He wore a light purple armor with a helmet with a fish-like fin.
Noticing Dusk the guard came to an abrupt stop before asking. The surprised stallion then asked, "Sir, do you... uh... need anything?"
Dusk responded with only silence.
"I don't think Her Maj—"
"I would like to see the prisoner," interrupted Dusk while bringing out a bag with twenty bits from his cloak's inner pockets and tossing it over.
"Uh," responded the surprised stallion before cracking a sheepish smile, "please, be quick." He handed over the cells' keys to Dusk.
"...Could you also give me the tray?" Asked Dusk.
The stallion looked a bit puzzled before answering, "yes, of course."
The stallion stood guard at the beginning of the corridor. After trotting past three empty cells, Dusk entered the fourth one. The cell was compact, although not too small. It had an iron bed with worn dull gray sheets and a bowl with water. A stallion sat in the middle of the cell. His curly magenta, lilac and yellow mane and tail were slightly scraggly, the bright pink of his coat slightly faded, his ribs partly visible, iron restrainments bound his wings and an inhibitor ring was placed around his horn. His eyes half-open and absent-minded he continued to move a small pebble to his right and to his left and then back like a well-tuned clock.
Locking the cell door behind him, Dusk Shine sat before the Alicorn putting the tray between them. The pebble got knocked out of the way ricocheting on one of the cell bars. With a look of annoyance, the Alicorn shifted his gaze towards the wall to his left. The tray's contents were nothing extraordinary, but far better than one would expect from prison food: A carrot, an apple and a daisy sandwich.
Putting his best smile forward Dusk attempted to establish the first contact, "so... are you alright?"
The Alicorn offered no reaction.
"You should probably eat something," advised Dusk.
Once more silence was the only response.
Dusk, unsatisfied with such response, grabbed the daisy sandwich with his telekinesis and floated it before the Alicorn's face. With a tone similar to the one of a foalsitter talking to the foal Dusk required, "Clear the landing lane for the Wonderbolts to come down."
With this Dusk was awarded a response. The Alicorn gave him a glare of indignation and slight bewilderment.
Dusk avoided his eyes by staring at the tray's contents instead. "You know... I don't think she would have wished for you to die of inanition." He then hugged the Alicorn, which caught him by surprise as it seemed he could not decide whether to shove Dusk away or not. Dusk then whispered into his ear, "You should reconsider Nightmare Moon's proposal. I worry about you."
After breaking from the embrace, Dusk stood and watched the Alicorn quickly revert his gaze towards the wall again. Looking down towards the Alicorn, Dusk declared in a dispassionate tone, "I will be leaving the tray here." He then stepped out of the cell locking the door behind him. As he walked back towards the watchpony who still stood guard at the start of the corridor, he heard quiet bite and munching noises. A small smile crept onto Dusk's face in response.
Walking past the Guard, Dusk tossed the keys back to him. He had only a few hours left to pack before departure.