Black as night; Princess Luna’s dream from so many years ago returned to her in her time of grief. Once again the obsidian alicorn mare was there, and once again they held conversation. What surprised the Princess of the Night more than anything was that tears were flowing down her spectral companion’s face as well.
“What reason do you have to shed tears this day,” asked the Princess quietly.
The serpentine eyed alicorn blinked profusely. She turned her face from Princess Luna and concealed herself with her smoke-like hair, embarrassed to be looked upon with sympathy, “I’ve.. I’ve lost a good friend today.”
“Nay, not you as well?”
“Yes. But the worst part of all this is that neither of us can find solace in the company around us. We are alone.”
“..Aye. ‘Tis true.”
“You have not received any consolation from your sister?”
The Princess’ face fell and her voice became dark with anger, “Nay, I have not.”
For a while the two alicorns shared a silence with each other.
“I’ll make you a deal,” the phantasm finally spoke, revealing her now dry face to her fellow mourner, “I know the house of the servant who is responsible for your friend’s demise. Oh yes,” the dark mare quickly interrupted Princess Luna’s state of shock, “This was no accident. It was cold and premeditated murder. I will help you find evidence to bring the three responsible for your friend’s death to justice. In the meantime, you must do something for me.”
“Name it,” the Princess coldly replied, “I will offer you almost anything under my power for the identities of the blackguards who did this crime against me!”
“I am a phantom, a dream that comes to ponies in the night. For a short time each night I have meaning, but as soon as ponies wake up, I am returned to the sepulcher of oblivion where all dreams rest during the day. I want a corporeal form.”
“This is a strange request,” the Princess of the Night declared.
“Is it really?” asked the phantom.
“During my time of power in the world you can easily traverse the minds of all who dream. You have the ability to see and comprehend things only I can imagine. What need have you of such a mundane thing as a body?”
“What good is all the knowledge in the world if you don’t have a place to stand in that world?” The obsidian alicorn paused, looking for the correct words to describe why she wanted what she wanted, before sighing deeply, “I will be honest with you; I’ve envied you for years. I’ve followed you for ages because you have so much that I’m jealous of; you can stride dreams as I do, but you also stride the lands above as its mistress. You can make a permanent impact on the world, while all I can do is be stuck between being a night terror and a half remembered dream. I want physical meaning. I want to feel the moonlight on my eyes and see the willows sway in the breeze of the night air. I want to hear the quiet trickle of the brook and the joyous chorus of the animals that sing in the twilight. I want to be known by others, and I want to be loved.”
The Princess thought for a time on this plea; it was a passionate request, but how could such a thing as giving a dream substance be done? “Even with my most powerful spells I could not create a body or an illusion thereof for you on my own. The task may not be possible.”
“Why not use the powers of the Elements of Creation,” the black mare suggested.
“I am unsure if I could even attempt to wield them on my own. I will think of a means of giving you sustained consciousness in due time, you have my word. Now,” the Princess took two steps forward, her face was veiled in darkness once more, “Tell me the name of the den of murderers I seek.”
The black mare constructed a large looking glass of obsidian from her smoky mane. She forced it to appear before the Princess’ vision, and in the near liquid clarity of its reflection she could see the image of Lord Adamant, descendant of Diamond I. Rage slowly poisoned every fiber of the Princess’ mind. It took every single bit of her will power to maintain her composure in front of her spectral guest.
“Thank you for this information,” she finally muttered, “I will remember our bargain.”
The black mare nodded before replying, “Good hunting and good luck.”
“Only the unskilled need luck,” the Princess bitterly replied.
The day had passed quickly, and Princess Luna awoke near the time when the moon was to rise. She quickly administered the spells to raise the moon, but she purposefully left it so the stars above remained unlit. The moon rose, but it appeared as if it was the eye of a predator seeking its prey. In this way, it was similar to the mood of its administrator. It was but a short time later that Princess Luna had strode to the front of Lord Adamant’s estate. It was a large château, with its front doors recessed in a large stone porch. A spacious lawn filled out the front of the house, and both the house and the lawn were enclosed by stone walls that reached up to the arch in the Princess’ back.
The Princess momentarily stopped before a set of iron gates that shut out the world from the unicorn royalty’s castle. She waited only an instant before opening the doors before her with her magic. The gesture was a little too forceful, as she unintentionally blew the doors out of the upper pair of the set’s hinges. She didn’t mind the property damage. The act of breaking and entering set off a magically created caterwauling within the small castle itself. Good; somepony would be awake to answer the door. Before she even got the chance to use her magic to rap the doors down with the door knocker, the head butler of the house presented himself before the Princess. It was apparent he was surprised to receive anyone so late at night, let alone one of the Royal Sisters. “Your Majesty,” he quickly offered, “What can the Diamond house do for you?”
“I require the immediate presence of your master.”
“I’m afraid Lord Adamant is not in residence. You see, he has taken an unexpected journey, and he will not be back for some time.”
“Where?”
The butler gave a conciliatory bow and replied, “I’m afraid my Lord did not say.”
The Princess’ eyes narrowed and her anger began to creep into her voice, “Tell me, you are the head butler?”
The butler remarkably managed to maintain his mask of cool professionalism, “Yes, your Grace.”
“And you are constantly at your master’s side and his consul?”
“Such is my duty, your Majesty.”
“Then tell me this; Am I a half-wit foal?” the Princess lowly growled.
“Ma’am?”
“You are either the most incompetent servant I have ever met, or you have just told me a blatant lie. I will only repeat myself once; where is your master? Be exacting in how you choose your next words, servant, or the next chamber you shall set eyes on will be my dungeon.”
The butler paused for a time, and then sighed, “I’m afraid I must repeat myself as well, your Grace; My Lord Adamant is—“ There was a blinding flash, and cold stone walls met the eyes of the butler of the Diamond house, just as he had been promised.
The Princess stalked into the foyer of the castle where she bellowed into the bowels of the house, “ADAMANT! I KNOW YOU ARE HERE! PRESENT YOURSELF AND YOUR STAFF AT ONCE TO ME!” Dust left the rafters to fall to the floor in the wake of Princess Luna’s vocal barrage. Servants rushed from their quarters further in the house, partly out of confusion and partly of alarm towards the front halls of the house, when the entirety of them stopped in their tracks to bow before the Princess of the Night as they realized who the summons came from. No small amount of time later, the master of the house presented himself along with his wife. Lord Adamant and Lady Amethyst descended from their chambers in the upstairs quarters, and their son Corundum came shortly afterwards. The family was dressed in their finest clothes, which Princess Luna assumed in her angry state of mind had been to make her wait as long as possible while also flaunting their power and prestige.
Lord Adamant looked to Princess Luna’s presence as one does to an inconveniently placed speck of dirt on an otherwise clean white surface, “Your Majesty, while I do realize that your duties leave you to work at..unusual hours, might it have not been more prudent to have me come to you at the castle at a decent hour, rather than to raise Tartarus by breaking and entering into my home and waking my entire household?”
“Spare me, Adamant. Can you confirm that this is all of your staff?”
“What does it matter to you how many servants I have?”
“Because your house is stained with the blood of the one who was to be Captain of the Guard! Where is the one who has a wine cask for his Destiny Brand?”
“Amontillado has been ill, which is why he is not present.”
“Liar! I witnessed him and two others run from the site where Orpheus was murdered just yesterday!”
“You come into my house,” the Lord of the manor spoke with growing frustration, “You accuse my staff of murder, and I have yet to hear of any secondary witnesses or of corroborative evidence to back up your unsubstantiated claims.”
“There is no need for further evidence,” the Princess of the Night roared, her pupils slamming into turquoise slits, “I am the Princess, and my word is law!”
“My Princess’ name is Celestia,” Lord Adamant coldly replied, “and I do not recognize your authority.”
The household servants blanched in terror at this declaration by their master; he had uttered treason directly to the face of a Princess, and now their fate would be bound up with his, however horrible it may be. The shadows in the entire house lengthened, the darkness grew deeper and deeper, and the Princess’ fury grew as well. With a great and guttural roar, the Princess stood on her hind legs and meant to blast the royal unicorn and his household from the face of the earth.