Before Princess Luna could finish casting her spell to end the life of Lord Adamant and his family, a blinding golden light emanated from behind her field of vision. She was knocked off balance by a magical force, and her spell flared into the ceiling, singeing the large wooden beams directly above. The gold light faded, and her sister walked into her field of vision. The Sun Princess looked on the sight before her with a grave face. She looked down to the Princess of the Night and then to Lord Adamant and his household. Finally she said in a low, serious tone to the Lord of the manor, “We will discuss this in the morning.” With that, she transported Lord Adamant’s butler back to the chateau from the dungeons, and then teleported her sister’s stunned form and herself back to the interior of Everfree Castle.
As Princess Luna began to stir, the first words she heard were, “What in the name of the sun and stars were you thinking?!”
The azure alicorn began to regain her senses, and she noticed that she was in her sister’s quarters. She slowly began to pick herself up, “They needed to be punished. They murdered Orpheus!”
Princess Celestia turned away from her sister, “But can you prove it? That’s the most important thing!”
“I am a Princess! My words are truth incarnate!”
The Sun Princess whirled around toward her sister “No! We may be princesses, but even our testimony must be validated by a court of law. You can’t just go out and exact your own justice on whomever you please. Even we must be under the law, otherwise we risk becoming tyrants! The law is ultimately what provides structure and happiness to ponies’ lives!”
Princess Luna yelled, “WELL I’M NOT HAPPY!” Tears began to flow afresh down her face, “Everypony I’ve ever loved like family is gone, because of your ponies and their hatred, I’ve lost everything.”
“They’re your ponies too, Lulu,” Princess Celestia tried to say, but the Lunar Princess continued, “No, they’re not! Not anymore. I’ve given them protection and safety for hundreds of years, and when I asked for one thing in return, they revile me and make me out to be a witch. They despise me in spite of everything I’ve done for them.”
“If you had listened to me and followed my plan,” Princess Celestia replied, “this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Shut up,” Princess Luna growled, “I hate you. I hate your plans. I wish you and every last one of your stinking foals would disappear! I renounce our familial bond, and I cut ties with you from this day forward!”
The Princess of the Sun was stunned beyond all belief, but she weakly tried to speak as she raised her hoof to her sister, “Luna, please.” Princess Luna turned away from her sister, and she walked out of her sister’s quarters in dead silence.
The trial that was held regarding the death of Orpheus was mostly a formality on the court’s part. No verdict was ever reached, due to lack of impartial witnesses, and the case was ultimately dropped. Princess Luna had expected as much; no justice for a supposed witch and a vam-pony in the public’s eyes. In accordance with her promise, the Princess began to research ways to bring the black alicorn mare from the world of dreams to the waking world. Months passed like days as she sought with furious madness a means of bridging the gap between the mind and the real world.
In time, the two of them together found their answer. “We shall craft magically imbued armor to enhance my abilities,” the Princess declared. She pointed to her shadowy compatriot with her hoof, “You must design the form of the armor itself; the magic will not bind if the spell and armor are both made by one of us. Ideas that come from dreams and pure imagination will translate into the greatest anchor between our worlds. Once you imagine it, I shall create the armor in physicality, and this will be the bridge between our two worlds.”
“Excellent,” the phantasm flashed a smile of triumph, “Now, I’ve thought of the exact day we should do it.”
“When,” the Princess of the Night curtly asked.
The black alicorn chuckled, “The longest day of the year, in three years from now. Ironically, the stars will be perfectly aligned to make you more powerful than you could possibly dream, even more powerful than your sister on her day of triumph. There won’t be another like it for a thousand years. It also means we can take vengeance on our enemies at that time.”
“Vengeance,” muttered the Princess.
“Yes! For Orpheus. For all Antrozi. For you. What say you, Princess? Do you have the mettle to take what is rightfully yours?” the dark alicorn offered out her hoof to the Princess for a shaking of hooves.
Princess Luna stared at the hoof for a long time, as she truly considered the thought for the first time; vengeance..Yes, there was a blood debt to be paid back in full, with interest. She raised her hoof, and shook the black mare’s hoof, “We have an accord.”
“Splendid! Now,” the black mare tossed her head in a slow motion, and from her smoke-like mane materialized a dark lavender helm. She reared up on her back hooves and in similar fashion a regal chest plate adorned with a quarter moon and armored horse shoes appeared as from thin air. The dark alicorn phantasm grinned at the Princess, “Well, what do you think?”
Princess Luna studied the ensemble for a moment before nodding, “It is good! It truly appeals to me.”
“I thought you might like it,” the dark mare smiled with closed lips, “But we’ve played enough, and talk is pointless now; let’s get to work.”
The Princess nodded, “Aye," and her dark dream began to collapse around her.
The Princess woke from her eventful slumber and immediately set to the task of creating her arcane armor. A feverish obsession filled her with each passing moment that she worked on it; calculating the exact measurements of her body, designing the spells she required, and ticking off each day until her time of due vengeance would arrive. She did not sleep a single day or night that she worked on the armor; neither did she eat or drink. Only a small portion of her mind mused on how she could press on for so long without food or rest, but she ultimately dismissed it; it was irrelevant and unnecessary. She never left her room, save to go to the library to search for a scroll or ancient text, or to quickly receive materials she had called for from mages or armorers. The servants had started placing food outside her door when they realized her chambers remained locked at all times, but over time as they noticed that the food remained untouched outside the door to the Princess’ chamber and that the occasional servant would see her in the night bustling about the castle, they simply stop bringing food. She seemed alright, the servants thought; perhaps she was getting food from somewhere else, because she certainly couldn’t be going months on end without food, right?
The nights were bitterly cold during the final three years of the Golden Diarchy. The stars only occasionally shone in the night; there was too much cloud cover more often than not. The skies in those days appeared to have been haphazardly made, and the moon was frequently filled with only the dullest light. It was apparent for all to see that the artist of the night no longer cared for her work. To what her thoughts and craft were turned to, though, nopony had the faintest idea.