“Princess Luna?”
The Princess of the Night snapped out of her daze and returned her attention to the petitioner before her. The noblemare visiting her Night Court had an off-white greyish coat, and a purple mane with a greying streak. Her golden eyes looked concerned, probably worried she had lost the princess’s interest, that she was boring her with her problems.
And, remarkably, she was.
“Thank you, madam di Bray, we have heard enough.” This night had been so disappointing. In the two weeks since she’d returned from her banishment, nopony had come to her Night Court until tonight. The loneliness that had caused her to strike that awful bargain with the powers of darkness had begun to creep up on her again, though not nearly as strong; she’d come to accept the diurnal nature of most ponies. She now recognized her night offered them comfort and safety while they slept, but still the emptiness of her enormous courtroom had begun to press on her like a great, terrible weight.
That was, until tonight; tonight she was simply annoyed.
The noblemare in question must have misinterpreted what she meant, “Then shall I go home and tell my herd our problems are over?” she asked tentatively. Luna had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. “No, your grace; we will discuss the nature of thy tax problems with our sister in the morning, and we will jointly make a decision as to if thy holdings deserve an exemption.” This was clearly not what the old noblemare wanted to hear. “But… I’ve just told you the nature of the tax myself; was my explanation insufficient?”
Luna was beginning to dislike this mare, “Madam di Bray, the night is long, and we get so few visitors, we’ve little else to do most nights other than read the transcripts from the Day Court.” Recognition finally flashed across the unicorn’s face. “And as such we are fully aware thou petitioned our sister to exempt thy holdings from this tax two days ago.” She made an effort to soften her expression, “Thou hast made a compelling case, but these taxes exist for a reason, and thou cannot simply circumvent our sister’s decision when it is not to thy liking.”
The noblemare bowed low, “I… as you say, princess, my apologies, my actions were uncalled for.” Luna motioned for di Bray to stand, and then bid her adieu. She levitated a few nearby ledgers and economic reports to herself via magic. Di Bray may be a self-entitled fool, but she had a point. The di Bray holdings on Horseshoe Island were the only territory in the kingdom that could grow coffee at commercial levels. An additional 10% tax was unreasonable and economically stifling. Luna hadn’t been lying; she really would bring this up to her sister first thing in the morning.
“Princess Luna?” Luna half-heard herself being addressed by another, more masculine voice after the duchess left. She was much too engrossed in the supply and demand reports from coffee merchants across Equestria. If they dropped this tax the farmers could expand their operations and the everypony could buy more coffee, more cheaply. “Princess Luna?” What kind of crazy pony didn't like the idea of more coffee? Luna loved coffee! Coffee was great! "Princess Luna?" And besides, did Celestia really think that the Council of Nobles could spend this money more intelligently than the merchants and farmers who earned it? Absurd! “Princess- hmph!”
Luna felt herself lose the telekinetic grip on her reference material, and noticed she was now inside a 10-foot, black-and-purple circle that defied her attempts to cast further spells. Baffled, she turned her attention to the unicorn stallion it was centered on. His horn had a warm, golden glow about it, and his face was scrunched up in concentration. He had a simple, tan coat with a short, blonde mane.
Luna found herself frowning, antimagic field was a serious spell. A thousand years ago, she knew the hoof-full of unicorns who could cast it by name. She momentarily considered that this stallion may be an assassin, but dismissed the notion when his expression changed from one of intense concentration to one of pleased satisfaction.
Luna found his mirth infectious, and soon displayed a slight smile of her own, to her annoyance. “Well then,” she said, “if we are quite done abusing high-level spells for the night, young stallion, thou perhaps have something thou would petition to thy princess?” The way he’d interrupted her was quite improper, she was a princess after all, but she decided she’d forgive him. Her second petitioner since her return was a potent spell caster, even if he was a stallion. He was probably here to discuss his research, or request funding for a magical project at her sister’s academy, or maybe even request Luna's assistance for a difficult piece of spellcraft. Regardless of the nature of his petition, Luna was fairly confident it would be worth her time, perhaps even interesting, and it was for this reason she decided to overlook his social blunder.
“Oh, I’m not a petitioner, princess” he said, “allow me to introduce myself; my name is Shining Dawn, I am to be your court wizard.” The Princess of the Night looked at him incredulously. She'd heard, of course, about gender-equality in this new era, but the idea that a stallion could hold a position like court wizard was still shocking. "We... nice to meet you, sir Dawn. Though typically a Princess chooses her own court wizard." The unicorn took this in stride: "Yes, your highness, but as you hadn't yet given the subject much consideration, your sister requests that you allow me to work for you in the mean-time. I assure you, I am quite qualified."
That was for certain. Still, it never hurt to follow protocol. "You've an application, I assume?" There was that infectious grin again, "Of course!" His horn lit up and he levitated a scroll to her from his saddlebags. Luna took it and began reading. The heading of the document was what caught her attention first:
Shining Dawn: Abjuration Specialist
That hurt. It hurt more than it should have. "Abjuration" essentially meant wards, shields, and countermagic; spells that could prevent her from becoming Nightmare Moon again, if it came down to that. She felt at once touched at her sister's thoughtfulness, and devastated that she didn't quite trust her yet. And the worst part was she deserved it. While Celestia loved her, she still deserved every bit of her scrutiny after what she'd done. She wouldn't hold it against Dawn, though; she was beginning to like him. "You're an abjuration specialist, Mr. Dawn?" She said, neutrally. The stallion stood up straighter. "Yes, your highness." he replied, "not usually a specialty of magic that sees a lot of use in courts, but I assure you I am quite skilled in the other schools of magic as well." Well, judging from that response, he didn't know he was to be her pseudo-jailer. She looked over his spell list. "I can see that. Do you mind if I keep this resume?" she asked. "Not at all, Princess; I have plenty of copies." Luna nodded and set the scroll down by her other reference material.
"Antimagic field, that is your best spell, yes?" she asked. He hesitated for a moment, he seemed to consider the question longer that she would've thought necessary. "...yes, Princess." he finally replied after a moment. She raised an eyebrow at him, "You sound unsure about your own spell repertoire." she observed. He blushed again, and Luna just realized how cute he looked when he did that. He stared at his own hooves, abashed. "Well... I can't cast it reliably, so I didn't put it on my application, but I've... sequestered objects before."
Luna just stared at him in disbelief. A sequestered object was utterly undetectable unless you actually came into contact with it. It turned completely invisible and couldn't be detected by magic, not even the most powerful divinations would reveal such an item's whereabouts. "Could thou... could thou try for me... us? We'd very much like to see that." The unicorn looked unsure of himself, but then he looked Luna in the eye, and seemed to gain some determination. Now it was Luna's turn to blush. "I'll... I'll try, Princess."
She walked over to him, and levitated her crown onto the floor in front of him. After another moment's hesitation, he focused, his horn and her crown aglow with his spell. Dozens of motes of golden light swirled about them like fireflies, and the crown began to glow brighter and brighter, until, in a flash, it was gone. Shining Dawn collapsed from the effort, panting heavily. Luna felt a twinge of guilt and concern, but was far too focused on the spot where her crown used to be. She lightly kicked the crown just be sure it hadn't simply been annihilated, and was satisfied with the light contact and "klink" noise from her invisible head-ware. She then rapidly cast several scrying spells to try and detect the crown.
As far has her magic was concerned, her crown did not exist.
"Does our sister know thou can cast that?"
The exhausted stallion just nodded his head.
Luna considered the facts:
One: Celestia knew Luna could not cast that spell herself.
Two: Her sister knew Luna could easily compel this stallion to cast that spell on whatever she wished.
Three: Cast on the Elements of Harmony, nopony would ever be able to find them unless they physically bumped into them.
Four: Celestia knew this, and put this unicorn forward anyways.
Her sister did trust her.
She felt tears sting her eyes. Despite herself, she nuzzled the prone stallion gratefully. "Shining Dawn" she said softly, "I think you and I will get along quite splendidly."