The moon’s light filtered through the stained glass windows, going from pale and eerie blue to a panoply of colours that danced on the white stone walls like a kaleidoscope of shapeless forms. Within those motions was a tall, shadowy creature, moving from one spectacle of light to another with detached and steady steps that rang across the empty corridor. It was a practiced step, one honed through decades of use to signal both the creature’s stature and its presence: dainty yet powerful.
The guards at the hall’s end snapped a salute as she passed, eyes narrowing as they made themselves rigid; failure was not an option on that night, not after the preceding day’s disastrous events.
She smiled at them, a tiny, wispy line on her hard features, which did more to agitate than to comfort, then it was gone and so was she, marching on and into her castle home. The corridor with its frescos and glass images of long-past executions was abandoned in favour of a bend in the road.
Her study loomed ahead, the heavy oak door flanked by two bat-winged soldiers, and marked with runes and etched symbols of the moon was closed against the evasive torchlight that splashed orange hues about the route. She ignored them and took a straight path to the doorway, opening its cumbersome frame with but an inkling of her magic.
“Good night,” the guards whispered as one, both serious and with a hint of playfulness disguised beneath their tone.
“Yes, it will be,” she concurred before being swallowed up by the study’s darkness.
The moon stood above her, shining like a beacon in the dark sea of unmoving stars. Pointing right at Equestria’s precious satellite was a massive telescope, one that took up the great majority of the observatory carved out of the study’s side. A dusty sign dangled over the device’s side, proclaiming that it was out of use. Between herself and the telescope was a large mahogany desk, one inlaid with bountiful scroll-work across it large surface.
Luna trotted over to her desk and glanced across the heaps and piles of paper with a discerning eye. More work. Papers to keep the bureaucracy of their country rolling along, to make sure that power was being abused by the right people in the right places. She hated every second of it.
Why would she need to do this? Why were some ponies so pompous that they thought it possible to go against the rule of the twin sisters? A thousand years ago, in a land oh so familiar, there were noble ponies as well, but they were concerned with matters of chivalry and devotion, not filling their own pockets.
Blowing a stray strand of her mane away from her eyes, the Lunar Princess glared at some of the sheets. Some were notes detailing anti-corruption plans that were sure to fail, others requests for bits where they had been sent before.
Her sister had ruled not with the iron hoof but with a tender one, and this is what she reaped. Technology had advanced, Luna conceded. Ponies had changed and the society as a whole had grown more powerful. But the utter lack of respect to their leaders was galling. The gaping wounds in the spirits of many would not be healed so easily, and the ideals that had spread were not going to be tamed any longer.
Luna had already lost any chance at reclaiming the way Equestria had been. As she sat on the creaky old chair, older than most of the ponies in the estate, save for two, she considered once again that it might not be a bad thing, necessarily.
Still, some warnings had to go out, and many ponies had to be put back into place. If the gentle, kind hoof of her sister would not do, then another, stronger one would have to cull the batch.
There was still the issue of morality and the fairness of taking such drastic measures, but when one had lived for countless millennia, it was easy to see how a bit of pain now could greatly affect the future.
Papers flew about, pushed along by an infinitesimally small portion of her magic. A pen weaved and waved through them, signing here and making notes there, all in an old script that would give many secretaries a headache. Time slid on, unbidden and silent until a knocking proceeded to emanate from the door.
Luna lifted her head towards the entrance, a dozen invisible shields strengthening themselves around her with nary a thought. “Come in,” she ordered.
As the door slid open, a long, narrow leg stepped out, pearly white against the stark darkness of her study. “Luna, it’s me,” Celestia said as she trotted into the room. Her tone was as subdued as her eyes, hardly reaching the younger sibling.
“Ah, how are you faring tonight, my dear sister?”
The white monarch shared a smile with her sibling. “I’m well,” she lied. For a moment, they fixed one another, gauging and reading the body of the other, as only two sisters could do. “Oh, all right, fine. I feel terrible,” Celestia recanted, finally letting her shoulders and ears sag.
Tossing her pen and papers onto the desk, Luna trotted around to Celestia. “What chagrins you so?” They hugged, wrapping long wings around the body of one another and trading warmth and love.
She sighed. “Last night. Blueblood. That little wonderbolt filly. All these... bloodthirsty ponies.” A shudder ran through the Princess and Luna let go.
“Is it truly that bad, sister?”
“Luna, ponies died. I know they did some bad things, but they certainly didn’t deserve to die for it. There’s no crime that deserves so big a punishment. And it’s all my fault.” She sat down hard. “They were my ponies, my charges, and I failed to protect them. There’s so much I could have done. The worse thing is that it could happen again!”
The darker alicorn stood and circled around, gently coasting up to the massive, ceiling-high bookshelves that dominated the far end of her study. “Celestia, we of all ponies know that some die. Those ponies that were attacked, I studied them. They were bad examples, horrible leaders. Mayhaps it is best that they are no longer amongst us?”
Celestia perked up, a tiny scrowl forcing its way across her otherwise serene features. “What are you saying, Luna?”
“Just think about the harm that some ponies bring to others. As rulers, we can’t let it continue. We must intercede to protect those below us, Noblesse Oblige. What these... villains have done may have been wrong, but we can still use this as an opportunity to protect the weak.” She swept her wing towards the cluttered surface of her desk. “Look at all that. This work stems from a lack of organization. The political machine of Equestria has been bogged down by the rust of corruption and the plague of infidelity.”
Standing tall with a bent back and her hackles threatening to rise, the solar Princess navigated her way around the desk, keeping its large wooden frame between them. "Luna, I, I trust you, with everything: my life, the ponies we rule. You're my sister and confidant and as such I believe in you to do the right things when the time comes. Please, please tell me that you have nothing to do with this massacre."
Luna sighed and tore her attention away from the books and scrolls. They locked eyes, magenta and cyan swimming into one another as the continuous ticking of the clock wore on. “I have nothing to say regarding this, Celestia. I was not the pony to kill these villains, although I do not fully disapprove of their goals.”
It was Celestia’s turn to sigh. Then, she groaned as her entire frame seemed to sag. “I’m going to sleep... if I can get any,” she said before turning and heading to the exit. “Good night, Luna. Enjoy your time. Make the best of it, and please think of the little ones first.”
The door shuddered shut, rattling in its frame. It glowed a deep blue, with threads of magic that snaked across the air and touched Luna’s horn. It was locked.
She made her way to the telescope, abandoning the shelves and the night’s worth of work in favour of trotting around the steel tube. Her breath left her along with pangs of remorse, almost physical blows to her gut. Yes, she was going to hurt her sister. But it was for her own good. Doubt would do nothing at that point.
Walking along the tube of burnished steel, she waited until she found a specific place, one where a tiny etch had been cut along the shiny surface. Pressing on it revealed a hidden compartment, filled with stacks of paper and a single long scroll on a wooden rod.
Back at her desk, she pushed aside the disorderly mess of hated paperwork, keeping only her quill as she placed instead the sheets she had secreted within the telescope. It began to be separated the moment it touched the surface. Sheets with the images and names and descriptions of ponies flew about, staring eyes focused upwards and to the ceiling from within a hundred faces.
Three stood out, placed in the middle of the rest, each with a tiny stack of their own. The Dreamer. The Planner. The Executor. Nestled in the ranks of their soon-to-be peers. Luna surveyed the recruits, calling to mind their deeds, the things that made them who they were. The kindling of hatred locked within their hearts that was threatening to burn its way out.
She was going to give them a purpose. She was going to let those flames burn, not to hurt ponykind, but to cull out the vile from within Equestria.
From a drawer, she pulled out new pages and began marking, in excruciating detail, the events that had transpired those nights before. Her precious defenders were good, yes. But they could not be left unchecked, unaccounted for.
They had witnessed first hoof the weakness and mortality of others; that in and of itself was a danger. They could not be allowed to seek their own justice unguided.
The tip of her quill scratched the last letter onto the page before lifting off, victorious of the deed well done. She huffed and smiled at the pages, content. There was only one thing left for that night’s morbid duty.
A pulse of magical power escaped her and grabbed ahold of the scroll, twisting it about in mid-air and unfurling it above the desk.
On it, a thousand faces looked her way, each one plastered in its own tile with a name carved below. Some, a dozen or more, a tiny number amongst the multitude, had a black cross over their features, and that was her goal.
Lifting the pen again, Luna scratched off half a dozen more, removing them from the list of those needing punishment.
But there were so many left.
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