After a few more practice sessions in the Vault, and some lessons in general decorum and etiquette, Princess Luna finally deemed Twilight sufficiently ready to present to her Court.
To Twilight's surprise she was directed to wake early and present herself at Princess Celestia's Solar Court, without the cloak she'd asked Rarity to prepare, an hour before the Sun-Lowering Ceremony.
When she arrived at the doors of the Audience Chamber the guards immediately bowed her in. She trotted up the red carpet, past the crowds of onlookers and the line of waiting petitioners, toward the open area before the golden Sun Throne. Princess Celestia was in her usual place on the throne, with Princess Luna seated to her right and looking on as the Princess of the Day dispensed advice and justice for those few cases that needed to be brought to her personal attention.
Twilight wasn't sure whether Celestia's rule or Luna's rule about kneeling applied here. Just to be safe she knelt carefully before the throne.
"Acolyte Twilight Sparkle!" Celestia said formally, yet with the usual friendly twinkle in her eye. "We welcome you to our Solar Court. Pray take a seat, and observe the proceedings!"
One of the clerks gathered around the base of the throne gestured to a soft cushion that had been placed on one of the throne's lower platforms. Twilight settled herself on it and watched. Item after item came up, all of them for Princess Celestia's attention. It seemed that none of those present had a request for Princess Luna, who sat stolidly and patiently as the session wound to its close. Although Twilight was gradually becoming used to night-shift hours, she found her eyes sliding shut from boredom, and wished she had brought along a book to read.
Eventually the Chamberlain announced the close of business for the Day Court. Celestia and Luna rose and stretched their stiff limbs. Then Celestia led the way down the ramp to the main floor, where a small honor detachment stood ready.
As Luna followed, she glanced briefly at Twilight. "Acolyte, attend us!" she called abruptly.
Twilight jumped up, and quickly trotted after the Princesses.
They proceeded from the Audience Chamber and upstairs, to the projecting platform on which the Lowering and Raising Ceremony was usually performed.
The two Princesses took up station near the balcony's edge. Celestia began the Ceremony, spreading her wings and igniting her horn in a blaze of magic that spread about her like the rays of the Sun. She rose into the air majestically, forehooves lofted as if to take hold of the Sun itself. Then she gently brought her forehooves down. The glow of power around her faded from brilliant yellow to orange, then dusky red, and finally extinguished, just as the last edge of the Sun disappeared below the horizon.
But Celestia did not yet settle to the ground. She turned in the air and waited as Luna spread her own wings and rose into the cooling air, her horn softly gleaming with the cool white light of the Moon on a cold winter's night. She lifted her forehooves to meet Celestia's, carefully, as if receiving a precious gift.
Then she rose into the air, forehooves lofting higher and higher, the glow from her horn increasing in intensity, until it blazed with the brilliance of the full Moon, which had lifted into the sky and now dominated the heavens. With one last toss of her head as if it was nothing at all, Luna cast the Stars across the vastness of space. They all settled in place twinkling, not a single constellation out of alignment.
Both Princesses settled back onto their hooves on the balcony tiles, their wings folding and the magic dissipating from their horns as they turned to look at Twilight.
Who was standing frozen in wonder, a bedazzled smile on her face, her eyes brimming with tears. Belatedly, she realized they were looking at her, and got her emotions under control again, wiping her eyes in embarrassment.
Celestia glanced at Luna, then laughed. "Normally, we only go to that much trouble during the Summer and Winter Solstice. But I felt it was only fitting to put on a bit of a show for your benefit, Twilight! Now, before I turn in for the night, let's have a cup of tea together. I want to hear all about how you're doing!"
"As do we, Twilight!" Luna said, in an uncommonly mild and uncertain tone, very unlike her stern teaching voice.
The dining table in Princess Celestia's quarters was already set. For Celestia this was supper, but there was also a pot of tea and a pile of scones for buttering. The two Princesses settled themselves comfortably with Twilight between them, and Celestia poured out. Once they were all served, she nodded to Twilight with an encouraging smile.
"So, Twilight! How are you doing?"
Twilight glanced at Luna, not sure what to say.
Reading her discomfort, Luna nodded supportively. "We too would like to know, Twilight," she said. "This is a learning experience for us as much as for thee. We wish greatly for thy frankest appraisal of our methods!"
"Well..." Twilight tried to figure out how to put it diplomatically. "It's certainly a lot harder than I'm used to! But actually, I think that's a good thing. It's kind of... like advanced studies for me. I feel I'm really pushing myself in a way I haven't done in a while." She nodded, realizing her feelings even as she spoke them. "Yeah, and that feels really good! I also like that you don't let me slack an inch in my lessons. You demand perfection, and that gives me reason to seek it myself!"
Luna looked troubled. "Twilight, we consider thee a very close friend. We would not readily do anything to jeopardize that friendship. Yet we wish thee to feel that we do not... play favorites? Do we have that right, Sister?"
"Oh, don't worry about that!" Twilight said. "You don't make me feel that way at all!" She realized how that sounded. "Uh, I mean... I understand what you're trying to do, and I appreciate it! Really! You give me confidence to try stuff I wouldn't have thought I could do!" Looking around, she noticed the two flickering tapers, one white and one blue, that provided light for the table. "Like this..."
Concentrating, she thought about carbon dioxide, its chemical weight and properties. About a ball of it, formed around each of the two candle flames. She let loose a mere spark of materialization spell from her horn...
The candle flames snuffed out, as if they'd been switched off.
Then, feeling nervous, she allowed the merest hint of a flame spell to cross her mind, and flicked the magic in her horn -- very gently.
The candles re-lit, first the left then the right, the flames dancing merrily as she gratefully allowed the tension in her gut to relax.
Celestia blinked, astonished. "Well done, Twilight!"
"Yes..." Luna said, a little stiffly. "Very well handled, Acolyte!"
"I see you have an excellent teacher!" Celestia smiled at Luna.
"And we a gifted pupil," Luna replied, a touch of aloofness creeping back into her voice.
"Well, let's finish our tea! And then Luna will take you down to the Lunar Court."
Twilight looked puzzled. "But I thought... wasn't that...?"
Celestia shook her head. "Luna will often join me for the latter hour of my Solar Court, as a courtesy to any of our subjects who wish to speak to her and cannot stay up late. And it's also a way of getting up to speed on things before she takes over. Then she convenes her Lunar Court proper. We wished you to have the full experience of Luna's 'day', so to speak."
"The time at the Day Court can sometimes be tedious," Luna remarked. "But we feel it important to be seen and be available to our subjects here in Canterlot."
"It's certainly nothing like the Lunar Court!" Celestia's smile became tinged with mischief. "I'm sure you'll find it... interesting, Twilight!"
She said no more, and Twilight began to wonder just what she was in for.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
She and Luna returned to Luna's wing and Twilight went to her room to fetch her robe. She found Spike waiting for her, dressed up in a small robe of his own. He abashedly scratched the spines on his head. "I kinda... sorta... asked Rarity if she'd mind doing one for me too. Just in case you needed me with you!"
Twilight wasn't listening. She'd flung on her own robe hurriedly and then glanced in the mirror to make sure it was on straight.
And stood frozen, staring at herself.
Rarity had done her homework. Every line of the robe was perfect: it spoke of darkness and mystery and great power. Gold and silver thread swirled in magic sigils along every border, and the lack of other adornment only added to the mystique.
Hesitantly, she used her magic to flip the hood up. And her face simply vanished within its depths. It was like she was staring into a berobed shadow... dark, silent, and malevolent, with who knew what intent.
Shivering, she flipped the hood down, relieved to see her own, familiar face again.
She found Spike standing next to her, still looking up at her hopefully. "I'm not sure, Spike," she said.
Then she suddenly didn't want to be alone. "... but I guess we can always ask."
When they rejoined Luna, the Princess raised an eyebrow at the request, but nodded. "Thy assistant may accompany thee. But when we summon thee forth it shall be thee alone!"
With Luna were two of her nightmare guards. "These are Nacht and Skaad, head of my Royal Guard," Luna said. The nightmares bowed their heads as they were named. Twilight recognized them as the ones who generally came to collect her with the Chariot. "Nacht will escort thee," Luna said. "Skaad, with us!"
With the guards accompanying them fore and aft, they passed down the corridor, turned a corner, and came to what appeared to be a dead end, facing a dark tunnel-like opening and a sudden drop-off. And then a section of floor beneath them shook loose from the rest and began to slowly descend forwards, diving into the darkness and sinking ever deeper into it. As the darkness settled on them, Luna's horn flared with luminance, yet it only made the contrast between their platform and the endless dark more prominent.
Behind them Twilight heard a crash. She saw that heavy partition doors had slammed shut, cutting off the light from the corridor above. Several more times she heard doors shutting behind them, as they seemed to dive deep through the interior of the mountain.
Finally, she saw a light below, which gradually expanded as they approached it. Their platform descended into place at the bottom of the shaft. Ahead was a narrow tunnel of rough-hewn stone that ran left to right, with flagged flooring and guttering torches for lighting.
Luna confidently strode forward, then turned left. A lengthy walk along the tunnel brought them around a bend to a set of heavy doors. These opened into an even broader corridor, which disappeared into vast shadows on the left, and to the right ended at a set of massive oaken doors, many times taller than they were wide.
Two more nightmare guards were standing watch, one to either side of the doorway. And as she approached the doors, Twilight could hear a rising raucous growling, snarling, and bellowing coming from the space beyond. Spike anxiously huddled closer to her, and Twilight herself wasn't certain she wanted to find out what was on the other side.
Luna led them straight up to the doors, then indicated the open area before them. "Thou will wait here. Skaad, attend us!" She turned away with Skaad smoothly moving to join her, and they both departed through another smaller door in the left-hand wall of the corridor.
Twilight waited nervously.
Then at a signal Twilight couldn't see, the doors before her slowly swung open with a creaking of hinges and heavy scraping of wood on the flagstones. And if the noise emerging from within had been loud before, it became deafening now.
Twilight suddenly didn't mind the obscuring darkness of her hood. She gratefully flipped it up with her magic. Looking up at Nacht, she saw the guard nodding his head toward the door. Gulping a deep breath of air, Twilight cautiously stepped inside with Spike and the guard walking close beside her.
Beyond was a vast cavern, either natural or hewn out of the stone of the mountain's base. It rose to unguessable heights, hidden in shadows. The floor was rough-hewn rock, and down the middle of it ran a broad stretch of night-blue carpeting. And on either side of the carpeting was a vast throng of horrors that made Nacht and Skaad seem staid and ordinary by comparison.
Twilight's encyclopedic mind, already mildly shellshocked by the roaring and thundering that filled the hall, meticulously ticked off the few races she could identify: she saw diamond dogs, gargoyles, a roc, a large bipedal creature with shaggy white fur, several dragons of varying ages and dispositions, a stone goliath, and to her shock even a cockatrice and a basilisk, which sat side by side furiously avoiding each other's gaze. And there were dozens of pony races she had never seen before, outside of old texts in her library: tiny minis, dark-coated aristocratic Morirohin, dragon-headed Longma, kelpies splashing about in a large wooden cistern, hyracotherium chittering insanely to themselves, and many more besides.
Far ahead down the length of the cavern, the carpet split and led to either side of a huge, roaring bonfire. Beyond that, it came together again and rose up to a broad stone dais, which was lit by flaming torches on all sides and surrounded by a phalanx of nightmare guards in multiple rows.
There were more of the guards stationed to either side of the carpet, all along the hall. And Twilight noticed that while the creatures yelling and shouting throughout the hall had no compunctions against cuffing and jostling each other, they unilaterally gave the guards a wide berth. She saw a guard lift up on its wings to stare down a particularly raucous teen-aged dragon. In the face of the nightmare's unblinking golden eyes the dragon hastily ducked its head and quieted down.
The doors behind Twilight swung closed with a loud thump.
At almost the same moment, an immense metallic crash rang out through the hall, like a giant hammer falling onto an equally large anvil. The noise level immediately dropped to near silence. The noise sounded again, and then a third time.
From distant heights above a column of blinding moon-white light speared down and stabbed the dais. And into the light stepped Princess Luna, wearing a cloak of her own. And if Twilight had thought her own robe menacing, Luna's presented an image of sheer sorcery. It shone with depthless night and stars, complementing her mane, and had a rakish cut that suggested much and threatened more.
Luna's eyes blazed with her power. She reared high, and her cry boomed through the hall, the Royal Canterlot Voice in its full symphonic glory:
CITIZENS OF EQUESTRIA! THY PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT HAS ARRIVED!
A flash of lightning and a crack of thunder filled the hall. And a cheer rose up from the multitude of creatures, accompanied by a drumbeat of hooves from the guards around the dais and from all the pony races in the hall. Luna stood calmly, gazing about her audience, appearing to drink in the adulation with proud satisfaction. She waited for the noise level to settle somewhat, then went on in the same booming tone.
BEFORE WE CONVENE OUR LUNAR COURT, WE ARE PLEASED TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT!
Nacht was already nodding for Twilight to advance, and she took the hint. As she began trotting along the carpet, she glanced back and noticed that the guard had put out a hoof to hold back Spike. Then the two of them followed Twilight, at a discreet distance.
WE ARE PLEASED TO WELCOME TO OUR LUNAR COURT ONE WHO SEEKS OUR LEARNING AND EXPERIENCE. ONE WHO DARES ASK OF US THAT WE GUIDE HER HOOVES ON THE PATH OF THE NIGHT! ONE WHOSE NAME SHALL INSPIRE OUR CITIZENS, AND PROVOKE DREAD IN THE MINDS OF EQUESTRIA'S FOES!
Twilight had reached the bonfire, and steadily made her way around it, feeling all eyes upon her. As she rounded the turn and came to the stretch of carpet leading up to the dais, Luna addressed her directly.
STEP FORWARD, PETITIONER! MAKE THY OBEISANCE, AND SPEAK THY WILL!
Twilight steadily advanced toward the base of the dais. She came to a halt, and knelt low. Clearing her throat, she readied the spell Luna had drummed into her the evening before.
Rising up, she faced the Princess of the Night.
And responded in the Royal Canterlot Voice:
WE SEEK TO BE THY STUDENT!
She paused, coughing quietly and painfully to herself. Ow. This hurts! She'd have to keep it short and sweet. Taking a breath, she plunged on.
TO LEARN OF THE WAYS OF THE NIGHT, AND OF ITS CITIZENRY!
Another pause, as she realized her voice was wavering and creaking. Really wish I had some throat drops right about now! She soldiered on one last time.
FOR THE BETTERMENT OF OUR UNDERSTANDING, AND FOR ALL EQUESTRIA!
Her tortured vocal chords finally gave out completely. Thankfully, that seemed to be sufficient. The crowd around her roared in response and the ponies stamped their hooves in applause.
Luna allowed the roaring to continue for a long moment, then stamped her own forehoof, producing the ringing metal-on-metal clash that had sounded earlier. She repeated it, and then again a third time. And then she raised a forehoof towards Twilight.
STEP FORWARD AND BE WELCOME!
Twilight advanced carefully up the carpeted ramp, not wanting to blow the moment by tripping over her own robe. She reached out a forehoof to take hold of Luna's and made a show of bowing over it.
Luna nodded minutely to the carpet at her side, and Twilight came round to stand beside her.
WE ARE PLEASED BY THY PETITION, AND PLEASED TO WELCOME THEE! WE THEREFORE PRESENT TO OUR LUNAR COURT... OUR NEW ACOLYTE... TWILIGHT SPARKLE!
She raised her forehoof one further time, and brought it down upon a heavily-dented circle of metal embedded in the stone of the dais. From this range the crash of her armored shoe on the metal disk left Twilight's ears ringing.
And at the same moment, Twilight's hood was flicked back by Luna's magic, revealing Twilight's shocked expression.
The crowd roared again in response. Looking out over the crowd, Twilight saw that all eyes of the multitude were upon her, cheering, shrieking, and chittering madly. It took palpable force of will to stand tall and proud by Luna's side and not turn around and run for the exit, even assuming she could find one.
She glanced down toward the carpet in front of the bonfire, and saw Nacht and Spike standing backlit by the blaze. Spike was holding up a berobed fist and punching the air proudly. Despite her stage fright, Twilight smiled at her assistant's gleeful team spirit.
Luna called out one final time:
LET OUR LUNAR COURT... COMMENCE!
There was one final raucous cheer from the crowd.
And from then on, it all became surprisingly staid and bureaucratic.