The night was quiet, but cloudy. A special request had been issued to the Canterlot weather team to cover the moon tonight. This was a special occasion.
The High Priestess just finished her prayer and stepped away from the coffin, giving the noble guests a reverent look. Her Majesty specifically intended them all to only be guests.
Captain Thunder, wearing his ceremonial silvery armor, lifted his hoof up, signalling the row of Guards to prepare. Six barrels were lifted at his command. The Captain sharply dropped the lifted limb, six shots were fired. He repeated the gesture, another volley was let loose.
Twilight couldn’t lie, even considering how morbid the occasion was, the ceremony was beautiful. Wavy deserved nothing less. Twilight knew her only a little, the bat-winged mare hadn’t been the most talkative—as natural for her position—but she had enjoyed spending her free time in the archives. Something they had in similar. The archives had a collection of thestral holy books, Wavy had been drawn to those like a moth to a light. To the light which burned her in the end.
To think that it was only a week since they spent a whole hour together searching the archives for Deus Ex Noctis, an ancient tome from the times before Luna was banished. Twilight was glad to finally have an excuse to venture deeper through the rows of shelves in search of great treasures of old. It felt like it was in another life now.
Life… such a fickle thing.
It was time was to say goodbyes. The first one was to be the family, in Wavy’s case her brother. A stallion stepped forth, stopping to give them all respectful nod and a bow to Her Majesty. His name was Bright White, he had a bar somewhere in the city, from Rarity’s words at least. Twilight didn’t know if she could trust anything coming from her any longer.
Twilight proceeded to look at the pony in guilt for today’s ceremony. Rarity was appropriately grim. The unicorn had tried to run, but there was nowhere she could go. Hippogriffs couldn’t carry her away with them and without their help it was only a matter of time before Her Majesty’s vengeance caught up with her. Rarity seemed aware as much. She didn’t hide, neither did she resist; evidently the reasons why she was allowed to stand here now instead of the dungeon… or worse. Twilight wouldn’t be surprised if Rarity’s crime was answered in kind, it was becoming harder and harder to blame Her Majesty for her past brutality if this was the kind of issues she had to deal with.
How had Princess Celestia managed to handle all of this alone!?
There was no asking now, of course, the creature next to her wouldn’t let her.
To her credit, Her Majesty’s sister tried to be as little of a nuisance as possible. Just as Rarity had remarked once, she was studying them... For now nothing else.
It was the time for Twilight to begin new research—the research into ways of aiding the still alive Princess.
She needed to learn her name, for now, “Huffy” would do. Twilight imagined contently the amount of delight this name would cause the white mare.
Twilight's turn to say goodbyes had come. She quietly walked forwards and looked down into the open coffin. Wavy looked tranquil, quite unlike when she had been alive.
Her Majesty’s sister had caught Rarity sneaking out of the palace, but lost her trail and reported nothing to save face in front of this failure. As if there was anything to save. All of this could have been avoided. Wavy could be alive, Rarity wouldn’t have betrayed them and Luna wouldn’t have been stolen away by Sombra, of all ponies.
Well… it didn’t matter what that potion did now, though she’d told Her Majesty about it, of course. Nightmare Moon listened to what Twilight had to say, she even agreed with her conclusion, but decided to take absolutely no action! As if Twilight just told her about a Daring Do book. Had she known from the start and simply hadn't told them to avoid panic? Was that her plan all along? Twilight couldn't bring herself to even try to calculate the possibility at the moment.
Regardless, Luna would soon let them know if it worked. At least Huffy could simply burn the vampony to ashes, sun exposure was supposed to be lethal for them, hopefully.
Twilight patted Wavy on the shoulder one last time and went back to Her Majesty’s side. One by one all of the guests—including Huffy and Rarity—had their moment. Rarity, as expected, cried her makeup off, she knew the palace staff better than anyone else did. Huffy, on the other hoof, didn’t shed a single tear on her uncharacteristic black dress. The first one in the palace since before the Civil War that hadn’t been designed by Rarity.
There were no coincidences in this palace. Rarity wasn’t allowed to stand with them for a reason, Her Majesty put her in behind to shove in her face these very dresses, a show no one but Rarity had a chance to understand. Rarity would take the hint, Her Majesty wouldn’t have bothered otherwise.
Her Majesty will make sure every second of Rarity’s existence from now own reminded her of what she did. Nightmare Moon's vengeance didn't have to be violent for it to hurt. What was Rarity thinking, really?
She could only pity her poor friend now. After all, everything here had a meaning and Twilight was given Rarity’s usual place, to the right from Her Majesty, for a reason.
The palace didn’t seem to be affected by the funeral, apart from the rain, which tapped quietly on the windows now when every creature was safely under their roof.
It was time for dinner now, but not the one in the great hall. The quiet one, which didn’t include any officials and pledges. Those were more of a special occasion, usually, Her Majesty did not enjoy putting herself at everyone's display. This time it only included Twilight, even servants were dismissed for the moment. Her Majesty wanted to share a moment with someone she enjoyed, for once. Perhaps Twilight ought to be flattered, but being friends (if it could even be called such) with Nightmare Moon was weird. Much like with Shadow, if Spike’s letters were to be believed.
With Shadow it too was more about guessing than anything else. Well no, not outright guessing. The Empress did leave very clear signs for them. But Twilight still wished she could just tell them plainly what she wanted for them to know.
“Twilight,” Nightmare Moon suddenly said, pulling Twilight out of her thoughts. “What do I do?” her voice was low and mournful, it completely stunned Twilight.
“Empress? Are you asking me?”
“There’s no one else left,” Nightmare Moon explained. “Celestia and Luna are gone, Rarity abandoned me, my Shadow I sent away. You are the only one left. Will you too leave me, Twilight?” The young Princess found herself at the loss of words. This… was completely uncharacteristic, to the point where Twilight was forced to consider this a provocation. She usually used hints and half-tones and rarely anything this direct, let alone so private.
“I did something wrong, Twilight,” the onyx mare continued. “Why does this keep happening? What did I do to make even Rarity would turn on me?!”
“Why not ask her, Your Majesty? She does seem to be still… cooperative.” Twilight felt sour taste spreading down her throat, being forced to practice this deliberately cold-hearted language was one of the downsides of being politically engaged.
“It… isn’t this simple Twilight. Rarity cannot tell me anything I do not know already,” Twilight gave her monarch a perplexed look, to which she responded with a sad smile and a prolonged chuckle. She said nothing, waiting for Twilight to formalize her question.
“Your Majesty… forgive me for asking, but how can you know something you didn’t hear?”
Nightmare Moon still said nothing, her smile only becoming slightly wider. Twilight curiously peered into her monarch's face. Apart from her saddened smile she could see… a hint. Perhaps she didn’t need Her Majesty to answer? She waited for Twilight to make a connection.
Twilight asked herself the same question. What would it take for her to always know everything? The most obvious option was to create a spy network, but Her Majesty evidently didn’t have one, not extensive enough at least. Her only agent appeared to be Shadow, who was away at the moment, doing little to change her awareness. Her Majesty didn’t learn her intel in a common way.
If she didn’t have servants to spy for her… what else could there be?
“Twilight, do you remember how we met?” the Empress asked out of nowhere. Another hint?
“...Well, I read a prophecy in the book and tried to attract Princess Celestia’s attention,” Nightmare Moon nodded, signaling for her to continue. “Then, she sent me to Ponyville to oversee a celebration, where I met my friends… Stars, it was so simple back then. Then, after you and Luna returned, I went to study the prophecy again to find a way to stop you.”
“I remember, I watched as you explained your plan to your new friends. This is how I knew where you headed.” The detail made Twilight bite her lip uncomfortably, “What happened next, Twilight?”
“We… went through the forest and didn’t fall prey to your attempts to stop us. We found the Elements and used them to bring Luna out again.” Nightmare Moon gave her another nod,
“...That’s it.”
Nightmare Moon chuckled, shaking her head slightly,
“There’s one more episode to this story, Twilight. What happened after you defeated me?”
“We all went back to Ponyville together with Princess Celestia and Luna.”
“Good, Twilight!” the Empress congratulated. “What did Princess Celestia do?”
“Well… she… reconciled with Luna?”
“Good! Good, Twilight!” Nightmare Moon sounded almost proud. “How did she know where to find you?”
The question dumbfounded Twilight, for she’d never thought about this before… or had she? Twilight remembered an argument she had with Shadow when she first met the changeling.
Back then, Shadow had asked her why she loved Princess Celestia, but simultaneously hated Shadow’s Mistress. Shadow couldn't see the difference between the two mares. Shadow went on to compare the methods used by both high mares and found them almost identical. Twilight was quick to point out that Shadow knew very little of the way Equestria used to be, but it seems Shadow knew a lot more than Twilight liked to believe she did.
"She… sent me there...” Twilight continued. Nightmare Moon leaned forward, gesturing her to continue,
“She… knew exactly where we would go, because she put the Elements in the ruined Castle herself.”
“Precisely, Twilight!” Nightmare Moon approved with a delighted smile. “Why didn’t she simply give them to you?”
“They don’t work unless we are tied by the Magic of Friendship,” Twilight mechanically responded.
“Good! And now, Twilight, the final part of this riddle, who wrote the prophecy?” Twilight felt her shoulders sinking on their own accord. She could see now, this was incredibly simple, her own puppet strings made so apparent now.
“Princess Celestia,” Twilight gave the now obvious answer. Nightmare Moon clapped her hooves softly, but her joy dissolved immediately upon seeing what her lesson caused for her student across the table.
This revelation threatened the very foundations of her being. She had been manipulated and used as a tool for her entire life. None of it was a coincidence.
Just for how long was she in Princess’ scope? Since she entered the School For Gifted Unicorns? Maybe earlier? Celestia had been grooming Twilight to become her instrument of bringing Luna back to her side.
Twilight felt glad she was seated, as she had lost her bearings and felt her head spinning like Rainbow’s new troop transports in flight. Just… how much of her wasn’t Celestia’s doing?!
“I am sorry, Twilight, but this is our way,” she heard a whisper to her ear and felt Her Majesty’s soft embrace.
“Please, do not bear hard feelings for her, Princess Celestia only did what she had to. She did what was required for Equestria.”
Twilight felt her eyes rapidly watering,
“I… I can’t believe this! She planned my entire life for me! Did I ever had a choice at anything?!” Twilight cried out. Her Empress didn’t answer, only continuing to calmly caress her,
“Were-were you using me to?” Twilight sobbed.
“I am sorry,” the response came. “Celestia hated every second of doing this to you. I wish we didn’t have to treat you all like this, but there is no other way. Are you glad to know the truth, Twilight?”
“N-no… I-I wish I didn’t!”
“Good...” Nightmare Moon whispered. The Empress took a long breath before continuing, “Then, you understand why it has to be this way. We have a huge burden to carry, Twilight. For the sake of our ponies, we must continue. For our subjects to sleep soundly, we must stand guard. They will never know the full extent of our duties, because our hallowed duty is to protect them from such revelations.”
“Why me?”
“Because Celestia believed that you have what it takes. She always had an eye for the capable and deserving. She cared for you, Twilight. She was very fond of you.
"There is one more question left to answer this night. Twilight, now you have a choice, one that only belongs to you. I ask you now: will you help me?”