The train station felt eerie.
Twilight supposed a train station in what looked like the middle of the night was going to seem eerie no matter what, but there was something off about it nevertheless. The book had emphasized the fact that citizens of Eventide rarely left home, spending close to their entire lives within the city. That could be true of ponies in general--there were residents of Ponyville who'd not even set hoof in Canterlot, despite the relative closeness--but the book's author sought to hammer into the reader that Eventide was its own world, more than a semi-independent city state within Equestria. Cloudsdale, which had the same status, could be alien, but plenty of pegasi from it went to ground, and plenty of grounders went up, even if the non-winged ones needed help.
Eventide had a train station, and yet, it didn't look like a very frequently used one. A bit like a foal's playset, still in the box, shiny and pristine. No wear and tear of hooves and claws walking across the wood, no paint flaking on the benches, no litter that had been missed during cleanup because there was always a candy wrapper or two that ended up left behind even by the diligent. Maybe Rarity's sharper eyes would have caught something, a twinkle of dropped bits in the moonlight or the signs of scuffs that had been painted over to hide them, but Twilight couldn't see anything.
The giant toy train station had barely any life. The seven of them, and the nine guards, were the only passengers getting off, and nopony got on. She could reason that the area had been cleared out for the sake of not crowding visiting royalty, but for what Twilight had to keep reminding herself was the middle of the day, it was uncomfortably vacant. Except for the two ponies there to greet them.
Please don't remember me please don't remember me please don't--
"Twilight Sparkle!"
Horseapples.
Masquerade came prancing up to her with such speed that Twilight momentarily feared being skewered on her horn. "Look at you, darling! It's as if just yesterday we were schoolfillies and now you're in the company of a princess! Oh! Speaking of which--" She paused to turn her attention to Princess Luna and bow. "Do forgive my overexcitement, Your Highness. I am Lady Masquerade. It is my privilege to welcome you to our city."
Has she always had a title?
Twilight couldn't remember. She'd spent so many of her interactions with Masquerade trying to get away from her. The little filly had been relentless in trying to chase her around with fur dye and hoof polish and at some point she'd gotten her magic around a box of ribbons and--
She's with the Umbral Society.
Her old Gifted School classmate was working with the secretive shadow-rulers of a city that she still wasn't sure was extending a genuine olive branch. Twilight tried to remember where in the class she scored, whether she was one of the ones who barely qualified or who was top of the class. She wanted to have an idea of how worried she should be, but she couldn't remember anything but the chasing and the very dexterous telekinesis required to tie seven ribbons around different parts of the same pony at once.
The earth pony mare had followed behind Masquerade, and now she was speaking, and something about her voice wrenched Twilight's attention away from her own thoughts, demanding she listen. She was inclining her head, and her tone was low and warm. "And I am Gentlemare Honour Code. I never thought I would see the day that I would be welcoming the Princess of the Night back into Eventide."
Twilight just barely noticed Luna's wince.
"Rise, both of you." Princess Luna gave a flowing gesture with her wings for emphasis, and both ponies rose at her command. "Your princess appreciates your warm welcome, and looks forward to seeing how this lovely city has grown in her absence."
Masquerade looked like she was suppressing a squeal. "Oh, you are just as regal as I'd imagined, Your Highness. Please, allow us to show you Ebony Tower. It was built... well, by the timescale of an alicorn, it was built quite recently. The stained glass windows are just to die for..."
Twilight missed whatever she said next, because her ears flicked backward when she realized that her friends were whispering, and the alarm bells were already ringing before she turned around to face a very amused looking Applejack in the middle of saying, "...Didn't jus' make up that accent out o' thin air."
Rainbow was snickering madly. Rarity, meanwhile, had her teeth clenched and her perfectly-coiffed tail gave a lash. "I can. Hear. Both of you."
That was when the high-pitched "Oooooooo" of Pinkie Pie had an idea reared its head. "Maybe we should all do a Rarity accent too? We'll fit in and make friends better!" A strangely passable mimicry of Rarity's voice, if Rarity had just inhaled helium, promptly provided a sample of, ""Hi darlings, let's party!" She then paused and shook her head hard enough to send pink curls bouncing in all directions. "No no, that's not right..." She stood up straight, puffed out her chest, and fluttered her eyes, the mimicry suddenly a few steps below helium, if still not quite Rarity. "Hello darlings, wonderful evening!"
Rarity had on a very strained smile. "Pinkie dear--"
But the false accent was gone and the topic was changing at the speed of pink. "But it's not really evening, right? The sun's still out there. We just can't see it. How does anypony tell time here?" A GASP interrupted the words, and it had never been for lack of breath. "If there's no days, how do you even know when your birthday is? There might be lots of birthday parties that should be happening right now and aren't!"
"They probably use clocks, Pinkie dear."
"But if a clock breaks, the sun's your backup! If the sun goes down, but your clock says it's still early, you know it's broken! There could be a pony in this city with a stopped clock who thinks it's still yesterday!"
"I imagine, in that case, they would check with a friend's clock and fix theirs."
"But--"
"They... didn't seem to want to talk to us very much, did they?" Quietly standing among the now-barely-keeping-their-voice down friends, Fluttershy was staring off at Princess Luna, Masquerade, and Honour Code, who were steadily putting distance between themselves and the six mares still on the train platform. Most of the guards were also with them, though two had stayed behind, making a valiant effort to not look awkward or to laugh.
"Hm?" Rarity looked in the same direction. "Oh! Well, I'm certain they're just a bit starstruck by Princess Luna. It's not every time that long-lost royalty trots into your city. That's all. They asked for all of us, after all. We're invited guests as well."
"Guests invited to a trap."
"You goin' t' harp on that the whole time?"
"They keep a big magical thing that Nightmare Moon put here, so yeah I'm gonna! Come on, AJ! They've got 'evil' written all over them!"
They were her friends. Honourary family. She loved every last one of these five mares dearly and would trust them with her life. And right at this moment, she was reminded why the idea of all of them being relied on to be diplomats had horrified her so much. "Just... don't insult anypony to their faces? Please? Now, come on. We don't want to get left behind."
One by one, six mares and two guards left the too-clean train station behind, heading toward the dark spire in the distance.
Brandywine could always tell exactly how far away she was from Eventide, from the volume of the screams.
The forest was calling, and she had to fight to keep herself present as she kept pace with Blackbird. Moonlight dappled their coats as it streamed through the canopy, shining off her companion's glossy feathers, and she tried to focus on the dancing of the light instead of countless voices that cried out with every hoofstep. Eventide wasn't silent, its cobblestone paths and cultivated gardens speaking in their own way, but here the magic was something very close to alive, enough to know she could commune with it, and enough to demand it, louder and louder, the deeper they roamed from the city.
She envied Blackbird. She could see some of the same distraction in her eyes, sometimes, on stormy days, but it wasn't nearly as strong even then, and the sky was clear today.
Hooves had trod upon grass, twigs, and leaves in silence for a time, with the two mares' eyes focused straight ahead on the barely-visible path, but Brandy needed a distraction, and so she spoke. "Train's probably getting here soon." She snorted. "I hope leaving Mask in charge of the welcome committee isn't going to bite us in the flanks."
Blackbird rolled her eyes, hopping to one side and half-turning toward Brandy without much slowing her pace. "Oh come on, she's very charming."
"She's charming in a nobility kind of way," Brandy insisted with another snort. "All of our intel says that these are small-towners, plus a scholar. They're going to want to chuck her out a window."
"She's adaptable," was all Blackbird could offer at first in response, and as a roll of her shoulders and flex of her wings sent more reflections of moonlight dancing across the undergrowth, she added, "Besides, Honour's good at keeping her in line."
"Somehow. Don't know how she does it."
"It's her voice. It's like a parent voice, and we're all her foals."
"Speak for yourself. Even if it works on Mask, it doesn't work on--"
They stopped as one, rocking back slightly as if something had physically pushed them out of taking the next step. Both were silent, unmoving, for a time, and to an outside observer, there would seem to be no reason for it. They were simply two mares staring out into the forest.
It would take time for someone to notice the distortion in front of them, something so subtle that it would be easy to subconsciously ignore, or to blame on the subpar lighting causing the mind to play tricks. It was a constant, slight bubbling in the air, looking as if it should be accompanied by the hissing of carbonated water and yet was completely, utterly silent. Many could easily walk right through, without even noticing.
The two of them, hooves planted, looked at each other.
"You don't have to do this," Blackbird said, not for the first time since they'd departed.
Brandy shook her head and stomped a hoof. "I'm not letting you go alone."
With the tone of mare accustomed to arguing with a brick wall and who already knew that each word would bounce off, she pressed on, "You can't follow, Honour and Mask are busy, and waiting to nightfall is calling it too close." Her voice softened slightly, "...I'll be okay. It's a short trip, and Zig's got stuff to make coming back easier."
"I'm still sending eyes after you." The next hoof-stomp came with sparks of bright green dancing up and down her leg. "The militia might've cleared the path, but new things blunder in all the time. The forest isn't safe." It begged the question of why, in all good sense, their destination had to be in it, but Brandywine had stopped thinking that this particular individual had any sense long ago.
She hated relying on those outside the Inner Circle. Even kin.
But they had orders.
"If you insist," Blackbird said with a sigh, then stared at the bubbling surface of the Shroud's edge, the whisper of a prayer on her lips as she opened her wings wide. "Moon's grace protect us..."
She went through in one single jump-turned-glide, that almost landed in a crash.
Brandywine watched the moonlight leave her feathers, but on this day, she wouldn't be allowed to see the sun replace it, see the way that Blackbird's feathers, coat, and mane shone with colours that could never be seen during the night. Instead, she just saw the harsh landing, watched four legs buckle in near-collapse, and heard the scream.
For a moment, it was all Brandywine could hear, Blackbird's pain drowning out even the calls of the earth beneath her hooves. And then, as the scream faded to heavy breathing and shaking legs straightened, Brandy turned her attention from her agonized kin, attuned herself to those voices, focused on the depths of soil and rock, and her soul dove.
Her abilities weren't wholly unique. There were stories of those similarly inclined, just not many, and scattered across the generations, plenty more of them pre-Equestrian than post-Unification. There were enough accounts, enough journals, enough knowledge locked up in the Ebony Tower for her to have learned some measure of how to handle it from long-dead tutors. She'd memorized the words as a filly, desperate to understand her curse, and the old lessons were branded into her mind.
The first was to never go too deep. The wild places had enough in the upper levels, impressions left of the world that could be anything from days to a few seasons old, and it was those who cried out to her, still remembering their mortal forms and driven to experience one more day of something that was almost life. Go further, and that was where the echoes were older, from years, decades and centuries, reaching impressions of beasts no living pony had ever laid eyes on, even the oldest mare in her shining Canterlot.
Things older than any pony.
Older than the concept of ponies.
Older than the ancient ancestor of all sapience.
Older than grass, older than trees, having been alive in only the most abstract of sense.
Dive too deeply into what the earth remembered, and you could forget yourself.
Brandywine kept to the surface, gathered the loudest voices, and her eyes shone green as the echoes of life took form once more. Blackbird no longer had to support her weight, as a spectral bear offered a shoulder to lean against. An owl, dove, and crow briefly circled above her, searching for anything moving toward them that heard the scream, and then landing when there was no sign of approaching danger. A rabbit and a squirrel scampered a short distance along the path before doubling back to look up at her with specks of dark where eyes should've been.
Blackbird turned and looked at her, with pain and fatigue and, despite their arguing, a glimmer of gratitude, and nodded her head. Brandywine, already feeling her own legs starting to wobble, gave a nod of her own. She watched Blackbird leave, the echoes following her, and then slowly lowered herself to the grass with a sigh.
She knew one thing for sure. This had better be worth it.
The Ebony Tower was exactly as described, and Luna stared up at the spire in uncomfortable silence. The dark stone stretched high into the sky, and she found herself trying to recall how far up Nightmare Moon had erected the Shroud. She had wanted significant height, to allow herself to fly, as well as grant space to the many pegasi who had joined her.
How many? I can't recall how many bowed to her. Swore fealty, believing she was me. Believing that their princess had come to them, had chosen them to usher in a new age.
It still felt like the tower must be close to the peak of the dome, unless the acts to preserve it also had included expansion, making it taller and wider to continue to contain the growing city-state. The thought that they might have done so disturbed her, as did her inability to remember how large the city had been.
They kept it. Why? To honour her? To exalt their new goddess even as she was exiled?
"Beautiful, isn't it?" It was Masquerade's voice. That awestruck, reverent voice in an accent that involved ages of linguistic shift, but still held a core of the unicorns who had bowed low, horns nearly scraping the ground, centuries ago.
It was beautiful. The shine of the stone in the artificial moonlight, the spikes that lined many of its surfaces, an apparent lack of windows that she assumed was an act of illusion, all of it things a young Luna would have gushed over, would have adored. She would have clammoured to be present as it was built, and would have celebrated its completion. It would have looked right at home as a monument to all things Lunar.
They said it was recent, by my timescale. This was built well after our banishment. They did this...
As she stared at the grand monument, a thought wormed its way through her mind, one that made the stars in her mane and tail dim ever so slightly.
Sister told me nothing of Eventide, until the letter forced her hoof. Why? To shelter me from the guilt of having turned an entire city against her while under the Nightmare's influence?
Or because she feared that I would fall again upon learning that I still have devotees? That it would go to my head?
Another voice broke her from the dark musing, one much like Masquerade's, and yet further shifted, and never quite having shed the feeling of artifice that a trained ear could catch. A voice that accompanied far better memories.
"Absolutely lovely," Rarity gushed, as she came up beside Luna, not quite touching her but coming a hair's breadth from doing so. "To think that such a marvel lies within Equestria's borders!" She was not looking straight up, as Luna had been, and instead scanning what was immediately in front of her, trained eyes sweeping every shining surface and sharp barb. "This much obsidian, so far from the Dragonlands. Along with black opal, black tourmaline, and is that blizzard stone?" A practiced gasp came with a raised hoof. "It is! How marvelous."
A warm smile adorned one of her local guide's faces, and Honour Code stepped closer as well, though not as close, casting a glance at the guards before keeping to a respectful distance. "It's rare to find somepony who can recognize the components, and that there are so many." The gentlemare glanced at the trio of gemstones adorning Rarity's flank briefly, before aiming that all too kind smile at her. "Would you happen to be a jeweler, my lady?"
Rarity gave the titter of one who had heard the question many times and was very good at hiding how tired she was of it. "A dressmaker by trade, but gemstones have a strong place in my work." She cast her own look at her mark and paired it with her own gracious smile. "Having an eye for the unique beauty of each, and how they may work in combination with each other and with fabric, is--"
Shadows fell over the ponies, and Luna saw her six companions instinctively tense, Rainbow shifting to take wing as she looked up. The guards were more stoic in turning their gaze upward, her escourts were completely unfazed, and Luna herself could already tell what was passing in front of the false moon. Griffons, three of them, the one in front larger than the other two, gliding well above their heads and making no movement to dive at them, their destination likely at the far end of the city. It brought back some memories, of a group of refugees who had arrived from a Griffonstone still locked in its civil war.
"Woah!" Rainbow's eyes were wide as they followed the griffons, then looked back down at the ponies below her. "What are those uniforms? That looked like Wonderbolts! Only the older style. The really, really older style."
Again Honour Code's warm smile found a target. "Eventide has its own militia. The aerial combatants do model themselves a bit on the original Wonderbolts. Including some of their signature tricks."
"That's... awesome..." Then in an instant, the fanfilly made way for familiar suspicion as she swooped close to Honour Code, practically snoot to snoot. "I mean, what does an Equestrian city need a militia for? What are they training for?"
"Rainbow..."
Twilight's warning word fell on deaf ears, but Honour Code's smile never wavered. "That would be for all of the monsters."
Rainbow blinked, pulling back. "Monsters?"
The next words came out in complete nonchalance, with just a hint of pride. "Oh yes. The swamps are full of them. Cragodiles, water deer, the occasional hydra... We regularly need to send fighters out to thin their numbers." Her chest puffed out, and more of the pride surged forward. "And you are looking at a one-pony squad."
Blinking had all but stopped. "You've fought a hydra?"
"Heyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Pinkie Pie raced over, getting into the gentlemare's personal space with much less suspicion and much more wide grinning. "We fought a hydra too! Welllll, there was a lot more running and screaming and hop-skip-jumping than fighting, but then Twilight charged right at it. Oh! And then there was the time we--"
"Ahem."
It seemed miraculous that Pinkie stopped at the sound, but she wasn't the only one, many eyes turning to Rarity where she still stood right next to Luna. "As lovely as it is to travel down a road of our most dangerous memories..." Her gaze moved back behind them, and Luna followed it, seeing Fluttershy half-hiding behind Applejack and shivering. "I do believe that we are on our way to meet the chancelor? I would hate to keep a pony of her station waiting."
"Well said." And with that, Masquerade stepped forward, placing an effortless smile on her lips as she looked up at Luna with that same look of reverence. "It would be my privilege to introduce you to Chancellor Penumbra, Your Highness."
Luna forced herself to smile back. "I have been looking forward to the meeting as well." She gazed again at the tower, looking like a dream from her fillyhood, and managed to add, "Let us be off."
Two equines sat around a stone table, the cluster of spectral animals around Blackbird providing a light source that matched the green of the flickering lanterns hanging from the tunnel walls. Here, underground, Blackbird started to feel a little more herself. She could almost ignore the burning scent in her nostrils, which she reminded herself again and again was psychosomatic, that it would fade in time and that she hadn't really burned off all of her feathers under the oppressive sun, nor could her current host also smell it.
Zigzag looked at home at their place at the table, one front hoof crossed over the other. Strange that a creature streaked with pastel pinks and blues that reminded Blackbird of candyfloss could have the shadows suit them so well, but when she nosed over the trinket from her saddlebags, they looked like nothing short of a royal gazing upon the gift of a visiting dignitary to their domain. More green light flowed from their curved horn, drawing the artefact close, and the unicorn zony tilted their head left and right, taking in the polished moonstone inlaid with intricate patterns of thin orichalcum thread.
"Well isn't this an expensive investment on the chancellor's part." They set the stone down, but the magical grasp was replaced by a pink hoof laid on top of it. They looked at her, practically through her, with sharp golden eyes. "How long have we had this?"
Blackbird, accustomed to far more frightening stares, was unfazed. "Two weeks before we sent the invitation. It needed time to charge itself on the local mana. It just needs to attune to a user."
A smirk crossed their muzzle. "Which is where I come in, naturally." The ghostly squirrel scampered close, and they shooed it away with their free hoof. "Who else is going to be at this party?"
"Me, Penny, Brandy, Dusty, Honour, and Mask."
"The chancellor, all three secretaries, the militia captain, and the archmagus." They shook their head, smirk gone and a troubled frown in its place. "That's a lot of risk. The Element-Bearers could behead the Society in one swoop."
"Penny believes they're too merciful to kill us if it goes sideways." The words came easily, as she'd been saying it to everyone on the need-to-know list since the wheels were set in motion. The trust in the words had not wavered, but she was growing truly tired of saying them.
"Maybe she should ask Discord about their mercy." They leaned toward her, ears pointed forward, and the glowing bear lumbered closer at the display of aggression from them. "Though it might be another thousand years before he can break out and answer."
Blackbird remained unmoved, rolling her eyes slightly as she fought the urge to yawn. Walking in sunlight was exhausting, and she wanted to sleep for a week. "Discord was an enemy of the Crowns. We're citizens. The princess would clearly stop them before they went that far."
"And how do we know that?" That got her to react, and they seized upon her wide-eyed look to keep going. "She isn't the same alicorn who shrouded us. Maybe she wants Eventide wiped off the map so she can forget her past mistakes."
That was not a conversation Blackbird had had, or ever desired to have, with one of her kin. Everyone had a slightly different idea of what Princess Luna would be like, how she would fit into the Umbral Society's world, and while not everyone wanted her involved too closely after her reconciliation with her sister, she hadn't heard a single one be so hostile.
She responded the only way she could, which was for her briefly widened eyes to narrow. "...Have you always been this pessimistic and I just didn't notice, or did someone piss in your morning oats?"
Lips pulled back and flat teeth were bared. "Whether the chancellor will admit it or not, the princess is an outsider, just like her sister." Their hoof pressed down on the stone with increased force, and the spectral rabbit was glared into retreat when it started to hop closer. "She's been in exile through our history. She has no reason to care what happened to us during it, or to truly see us as her herd." With a sigh, the aggression ebbed away, ears drooping as they admitted, "I want to be wrong, but deifying her before we know her is dangerous."
Blackbird didn't know what to say to that, and it frightened her. Could all of them be so wrong about the character of the Lunar Princess? She'd cast aside the name Nightmare Moon, had forgiven her sister, but surely she hadn't thrown away her loyalties to her most devoted. She would want to usher them all into the new, harmonious age with her...
...Wouldn't she?
"So it's a no, then?" she asked instead, and the owl flapped over, not faltering at all at Zigzag's stare. "I'll tell Penny we need to go with plan B."
She didn't dare tell them that she was well past plan B, having gone through C, D, E, F, and G before braving the sunlight to get here. The others had either refused to take part for varying personal reasons--Penny would never force others to take the risky jobs--or were unable to attune. She could see the wires starting to shine from an inner light, and knew lack of attunement would not be a problem as it had been for the zebras she'd frantically nosed it into the hooves of. Full attunement took time, and the party could not be delayed, and while she had someone in mind for plan I, she could feel the clock ticking.
She did her best to keep from sighing in relief when Zigzag shook their head and responded, "...No. I'll help." The links of the thin chain attached to the stone clinked as glow surrounded it and it settled around their neck. "You'll need the best, and we know that that's me. I'm just going to complain the entire time."
Blackbird snorted. "Works for me. You and Dusty can be complaint buddies."
"Oh?" They gave a chuckle as they adjusted the chain, examining the budding glow. "Good to know that one of you has some sense in all this." As they pushed off from the table, they jerked their head toward the darker tunnels behind then. "Now, come on, I'll get you a potion so you don't catch fire on the road."
Blackbird glared at the choice of wording. "I wouldn't need it if you lived in the city like a sane being."
"You wouldn't need it if you'd come after sunset like a sane being. Luckily for you, I have the ingredients. Now come on, don't want to keep the chancellor's guests waiting..."
The inside of the Ebony Tower was even gloomier than the exterior, and Twilight found herself squinting to try to see in the light from the magical torches that lined the walls of the hallway. She could hear her friends grumbling, and stumbling, as they too struggled in the dark, but Honour Code and Masquerade's hooffalls never faltered, nor did Princess Luna's. The guards also seemed to be handling themselves just fine, and it made her wonder if there was a night vision enchantment on their armour alongside the illusions.
Even before cracking open the book, Twilight had been made familiar with what was known of the Umbral Society's structure. A quick, crash course. And so by the time they'd gotten on the train, Twilight knew about the chancellor and secretaries.
None were elected to their positions, despite their titles being a holdover from old democratic earth pony governments. The exact process of their selection was kept from outsiders, but the best guess had been that a chancellor chose their successor, and the new chancellor appointed their secretaries. What was known was that a chancellor's position was for life, or until they stepped down, and the secretaries would leave when they did, if they didn't die, quit the position, or have it taken from them due to conduct the Society considered unacceptable.
There were always four in total, one chancellor and three secretaries. While the chancellor could be any kind of pony--in theory, they didn't even need to be a pony at all, but in practice, all since the beginning had been--the secretaries were always one pegasus, one earth pony, and one unicorn. Their exact titles were always self-chosen, reflecting a virtue, skill, or something else they felt they brought to the Umbral Society to make it better. She'd been given their names and titles to memorize, and as they all walked down the stone hall, she pulled the information to the front of her mind.
Brandywine. Earth Pony. Secretary of Strength.
Blackbird Song. Pegasus. Secretary of Hope.
Diamond Dust. Unicorn. Secretary of Sorcery.
And Penumbra. The Society Chancellor.
She hadn't been sure what to expect upon walking through the tall doors at the end of the hall, into what looked to be a meeting room, four chairs clustered around a table with only one pony waiting for them, but the pegasus mare she saw wasn't it.
Illuminated by more magically-lit torches, Penumbra was striking. She was paint-patterned, her pelt half obsidian, half golden, and it had a metallic sort of sheen that came from both possessing the correct fur type and committing to a level of dedicated personal grooming that Twilight was sure would make even Rarity balk. The colour scheme continued into her mane and tail, the two colours alternating in streaks, and her wings were solid-coloured, but each were different in which colour, her left black and the right gold. The colours also bisected her face, a bright white blaze separating a gold left side and black right side like a river, and sharp blue eyes gleamed from each shore.
She definitely wasn't a pony seen everyday. She was also young, startlingly so.
Of the six Bearers of the Elements, Applejack was the oldest and Rainbow the youngest, but there weren't many years within the gap that the other four squeezed into. Penumbra was clearly a mare, not a filly, but barely so, easily younger than Rainbow, and seeing her in this position of authority felt strange. There was no minimum age beyond adulthood to be part of Parliament, and so many local governments structured themselves the same way, but high-ranking positions still carried the unspoken assumption of being for those with more life experience.
The surprise over her age may have been why, as Penumbra approached and bowed to Princess Luna, so low that the feathers of her spread wings brushed the floor, Twilight's eyes automatically went where they did, and found the next shock.
Ponies in positions of leadership rarely had a mark for it. While rulership marks had existed throughout history, they were few and far in-between--such marks were one a generation at most, and accounted for some of history's most wise political leaders, as well as its most dangerous tyrants--and so, for the most part, being a leader was treated by ponies as something that was less innate and more learned. Skills that anypony could hone. After all, even the princesses weren't marked to be royalty, simply for their ability to move the sun and moon.
Twilight hadn't known what to expect from the mark. Possibly something that provided an edge in the job, like one for organization or public speaking. Or a mark for something that could be pursued as a hobby instead of a career, like art or music.
It was neither.
Twilight had seen her mark before. Not on another pony, but on the cover of the book now tucked in her saddlebags. The sun, half behind the pre-Summer Sun Celebration moon, Mare and all. Not a mark for something tangentially related, or completely unrelated, to her work. Not even a rare mark for general leadership, which could have explained her being so young. A mark for the Umbral Society.
A mare who could turn out to be her enemy had a mark-deep dedication to her role.
Twilight tried to shove the thought away. She could also be a friend. A new friend for Princess Luna, who needed plenty in this far off time from everything she'd known. This could be the start of something wonderful, the reconciliation of the two sisters helping the lingering rifts in Equestria to mend.
Or one of them could say or do something horribly wrong, the Umbral Society could turn on them and trap them all in this creepy tower while they launched a civil war, and, while she was playing "worse case scenario," let's add Luna falling back to Nightmare Moon in despair to the mental image.
"Your Highness." The voice was crisp and clear, the sort honed for speeches. "I am Chancellor Penumbra of the Umbral Society. It's an honour."
Princess Luna easily matched her voice's speech-like rhythm. "The honour is mine, chancellor. I have looked forward to meeting the pony who safeguards the creatures of Eventide beneath her wings."
"You flatter me. I am a representative of the citizens' will, nothing more."
"You are too humble." Much like with Masquerade and Honour, she made a motion with her wings and said, "Now rise. I am a guest, and you the host. You need not grovel at my hooves."
"You're too kind." Penumbra slowly rose, and as she did so, she was markedly not like the other Eventide mares in how she looked around at Twilight at her friends with a smile. "And you must be the mares we have to thank for the restoration of our princess." She started to nod around to each pony. "Lady Applejack..."
"Eeyup."
"Lady Rarity..."
"Charmed, darling."
"Lady Rainbow Dash..."
"Who else?"
"Lady Fluttershy..."
"Eep."
"Lady Pinkamena Pie..."
"Hiiiiiiii!"
"And Lady Twilight Sparkle."
"It's... a pleasure," she said with a forced smile. "But please, call me Twilight."
"As you wish, Twilight." Penumbra's smile didn't quite reach her eyes, and those eyes didn't seem to want to look directly into her own, instead planting themselves in the general vicinity of her snout. "But if we're going to be on such a friendly basis, I insist you call me Penny." She turned to the others again with one more nod. "And the same goes for all of you."
All of her friends made sounds of assent, in tones of differing cheerfulness, and that seemed to satisfy Penumbra, who turned next to Honour Code and Masquerade. "Thank you for greeting our guests at the station and escourting them here. If you'd like to attend to duties elsewhere, you're free to do so and I'll see you at the celebration."
"It was a dream come true to escourt Her Highness," Masquerade said with the sort of dreamy voice that reminded Twilight of Rarity when she spoke of Canterlot. "But... I do have some research to attend to, so I suppose I must take my leave."
"And I should check on the militia," Honour Code added, "There've been reports about particularly aggressive swarms of flash bees that are too close to the city for my liking."
Penumbra nodded, and the two nodded back before giving Princess Luna one last brief bow and trotting back out the doors. She then brought her attention to the table, and gestured toward it with a golden wing. "As for the rest of us, I'll have more chairs brought in, along with some food. I'm sure the train ride has left all of you hungry."
That earned a universally positive reaction, even from Rainbow, who flapped over to the table with a cheer, Pinkie pronking right behind her with the rest in tow. Twilight, however, wasn't sure if she'd be able to eat, and found her eyes drifting back to Penumbra's flank.
What did a mark for the Umbral Society mean?
Was it a leadership mark, one specific to running the Society? That was a very narrow mark, but such things weren't unheard of. Marks could range from "have a variety of skills in this broad field" to "be supremely good at this one specific thing" and plenty of ponies fell all over the spectrum.
Could it be like Applejack's mark, more having to do with where she felt she belonged? If she enjoyed being in this tower, and being around her fellow members, so much that it felt like her true home and family, such a thing could have manifested, though it did imply that the Society regularly recruited pre-marked ponies.
It was the last option, however, that worried her. Zealots could have marks that matched the iconography of their movements, indicating such an intense belief in their values that it became an inescapable part of their identity. They were the things cautionary tales were made out of, and the historical examples tended to out-horror the fictional ones. If Penumbra's mark meant embodying the values of the Umbral Society...
They could be new friends. Twilight wouldn't let herself discard that hope. But the image of the old moon covering part of the sun disturbed her, and now that image was stamped on a powerful mare, one who had them in her domain.
The book was heavy in one of her saddlebags, her Element heavy in the other.
She hoped they would be enough.