Canterlot Castle
Seventeen Hours Into Eternal Night
Twilight
Quietly, carefully, Twilight slowly closed the door behind her, leaving Nightmare Moon sleeping on the bed. She got a last glimpse of her black fur as the door closed with a quiet ‘click.’
“Good-night princess.”
“GAH!”
Twilight spun around to face the source of the unexpected voice. The deep baritone belonged to a tall bat-like pegasi she had never seen before. The stallion had dark grey fur and tufted ears. His eyes were yellow and were slit like Nightmare Moon’s. His wings were like a bat’s, black and leathery. His armor was thick and silver, though Twilight suspected there was hardened iron beneath the silver furnishings. The stallion smiled at her pleasantly, revealing two small fangs.
“Is everything alright princess?” He asked her in a concerned tone.
Twilight didn’t know what to say. Two things above all kept her from replying. First, this was a type of pony she had never seen of before, only heard about in legends. Two, the armored stallion was addressing her as princess.
PRINCESS!
“I…I’m sorry, but you’re mistaken. I’m not the princess.” Twilight told him carefully.
The stallion cocked his head as if thinking, though his posture was relaxed, so he obviously didn’t see her as a threat.
“Are you not Twilight Sparkle, daughter of Nightmare Moon, Empress of Equestria?”
Twilight stuttered as her mind picked up what he just said.
“Empress? Since when was did she become Empress?”
The stallion nodded his head as if something had just been confirmed.
“Ah, I see. You have been asleep for the most of the past twenty-four hours yes?”
“…yes.”
“Well your highness, when Celestia failed to reappear and with the Royal Guard currently in custody and her imperial majesty’s army in Canterlot, the nobles of Equestria immediately recognized the empress’s claim to the throne and swore eternal fealty to her.”
Twilight shifted uncomfortably at this revelation and scowled, the nobles were always a pampered gaggle of cowards. Twilight then looked at the stallion curiously and opened her mouth to say something, but he interrupted her.
“You are Twilight Sparkle correct?”
“I…yes, yes I am.”
Then to her complete surprise, the stallion kneeled before her. He lowered his head and his silver armor clinked as he bowed.
“Then by the Empress’s command, I Noctis, Knight-Commander of her majesty’s Imperial Legion, do hereby swear loyalty to you, Twilight Sparkle, Crown Princess of Equestria.”
“P—P—Princess?!?!” She stuttered.
Noctis’s ears flickered and he straightened back up.
“Oh.” Noctis said carefully. “Has her majesty not told you yet?”
“Um…no. Told me what?”
Noctis reached with a leathery wing and pulled out a piece of parchment from his armor.
“Here, this should explain things.”
Twilight took it from him with her magic and held it aloft in front of her, eyes darting across the page.
An Edict to the Equestrian Council of Confederate Nobility.
With the restoration of the Lunar Throne of Equestria, her majesty Nightmare Moon declares her daughter, Twilight Andromeda Sparkle, to be Crown Princess of Equestria. In accordance with the law, Princess Twilight Sparkle’s authority is second only to Empress Nightmare Moon.
Signed Her Imperial Majesty, Nightmare Moon, Empress of Equestria and Alicorn of the Moon.
…
…
…
“Are you alright princess? You look a little pale.”
Noctis was not kidding. Twilight sat frozen staring at the paper, her face turning pale beneath her lavender fur. She had just gone from the Princess’s student to the Empress’s Crown Princess in less than twenty-four hours, and if she was reading the proclamation correctly, was second in command of all of Equestria.
What was worse, it was now public knowledge that Twilight was Nightmare Moon’s daughter.
“I—I…” Twilight trailed off, her capacity for thinking had taken a drastic plummet in the short span of five minutes.
Noctis walked up to Twilight and gently prodded her. “Princess?”
No response but a consistent eye-twitch.
Then, a familiar voice cut through the awkward silence.
“Twilight!!”
Twilight broke out of her state of shock just in time for a small baby dragon to hug her forelegs.
“I’ve been looking all over for you! You won’t believe what ponies around here are saying about you! I…hey wait a moment….Twilight, why do you have wings?”
A small sense of shame infected Twilight, and she couldn’t bring herself to match eyes with her assistant.
“I…Spike, please, ask me later.”
Spike however, seemed to have an epiphany. For in that moment he stepped back from her and looked up at Twilight with wide eyes.
“No. You…Nightmare’s dau—“Spike immediately stopped and gaped at her. Then, before Twilight could react, Spike keeled over in a dead faint.
“Huh.” Noctis murmured. “He gave the same look to the Empress, but he didn’t faint in her presence.”
Twilight was not comfortable with that comparison, but set her feelings aside and levitated Spike onto her back. She then turned to Noctis, there were some ponies she needed to talk to. She turned to Noctis.
“I need to find Princess Cadance and Captain Shining Armor. Where can I find them?”
Noctis looked skeptical at her respectful address of the two ponies. His face contorted into a concerned frown.
“Your highness, perhaps it would be best to wait for the Empress to wake up before we do anything else. There are matters of state that she needs to address. The integrity of the castle has been compromised after the magical flare, several of the enchantments woven into the castle have disappeared from the power of the disruption. The rest are unstable and could collapse anytime and along with the enchantments, the castle walls around Celestia’s chambers are extremely damaged, some of the walls have even collapsed completely. We are going to need the Empress and her magical skill if we are to repair the castle swiflty.” Noctis stated primly.
Twilight was shocked to hear the commander’s damage report. She did not think her magic flare had done any extensive destruction, it hadn’t before, but if the commander was telling the truth, then it was no wonder that Nightmare was exhausted.
But then again, the damage to the castle might prove an opportunity. There might be new holes in the defenses that she could take advantage of later. She would have to explore the damaged areas to discover anything useful.
But for now, Twilight needed to find Cadance and Shining. And for that, she would need to play her part as Nightmare’s princess. Only by working within the system could she hope to exploit it.
Her time would come, and when it did, she would end the Eternal Night.
“Commander,” Twilight demanded. “The Empress will wake in her own time, and until then I have business to attend to. Now please, tell me where they are.”
Noctis’s expression turned neutral, hiding his reaction from Twilight, but he nodded his head anyway.
“Very well princess, if you will follow me, I shall escort you to your servants.”
Twilight winced at his reminder of Cadance’s and Shining’s ‘servitude’ to her, but she followed Noctis regardless, carrying Spike on her back.
As the two walked away from the tower where Nightmare slept, Twilight’s thoughts turned over in her head. Different thoughts and ideas churned through Twilight head. No longer did she think the Elements of Harmony might be the best course of action. Not only were the Elements out of her reach, but Twilight did not think she had the confidence to wield them again against her mother.
The Elements now presented a dilemma to Twilight.
She didn’t know what the Elements would do to Nightmare, she had never had a clear picture to begin with. All Twilight knew was that Celestia had once used the Elements against Nightmare, and the end result had been her banishment for a thousand years.
Is there no other way?
Maybe…maybe she could persuade Nightmare to lower the moon and raise the sun. It was probably within her power, Celestia had, and it only made sense that Nightmare did too. Time was not on Twilight’s side. It was only a matter of time before the world started to cool and the plants would wither.
By then, Twilight would have no choice. She would have to use the Elements on her mother, regardless of the consequences.
But first she would need to free her friends. Discreetly. Twilight did not know how Nightmare would react if she found out she was still acting against her.
In order to free her friends, Twilight needed to know where the ‘cisterns’ that Nightmare told her about, the place where they were being held.
And the perfect pony to answer that question might be walking right next to her. And in addition to answering Twilight’s questions about her friends, he might even shed some details on Nightmare’s army.
“Commander Noctis, you intrigue me.” She started diplomatically. “I was not aware of the presence of the Lunar Pegasi before your appearance at the Empress’s side. Could you please explain to me how you came to be in my mother’s service?”
Noctis smiled, his disquiet with Twilight disappearing as pride washed over his features.
“Ah princess, I am glad you asked. My ponies have a long history with Empress Nightmare Moon. It spans back more than a thousand years, when she saved the Lunar Pegasi from genocide.”
“What?!” Twilight gasped. She had heard or read none of this. History of Equestria during times a thousand years ago were poorly documented, and only a small percentage of ponies were literate then. Many histories of that time were hoofed down orally from generation to generation until some ponies had the intelligence to write it down. The destruction of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters a thousand years ago had wiped out all accurate records of the previous eras, leaving histories like the Hearthswarming Eve Tale to vague interpretation.
In fact, now that Twilight thought about it, it was probably why there weren’t any historical records on Nightmare Moon prior to her banishment.
“Oh yes.” Noctis stated simply. “Tales of her majesty’s feats on our behalf have been passed down from our ancestors to us. Before her, we were hunted and executed because other ponies thought we were the spawn of dark magic. No civilization would shelter us, or showed us pity. Among the Pegasi Legions, before the time of Commander Hurricane, if a Lunar Pegasi was born, it was common practice for the innocent foals to be dropped from the skies.”
The way he said it, Noctis made it sound like a he was reciting a random fact. But he wasn’t fooling Twilight. She could tell from his rigid posture as he walked and the hardening of his eyes that a righteous fury coursed through him.
And Twilight couldn’t find it in herself to blame him. From what few fragments of history that could be found, it was easy to picture the ponies of that time as extremely superstitious. It made Twilight’s blood boil to think that ponies could be capable of such atrocities.
Noctis continued.
“Those of our ancestors that survived, through luck mostly, gathered together so as to help guard against the marauders that would hunt them. For centuries they lived like vagabonds, always on the run, never staying in one place. It was easier to live and learn under the gentle light of the moon when your enemies worked during the day. They lived in a small colony, forever on the run.” Noctis took a deep breath. “Until she came.”
“Nightmare Moon?”
“Yes.” He replied. “When she ascended the throne with her sister, one of the first things she did was create her own guard. But unlike her sister, she did not choose from among the nobility or the gentry. Instead she found our ancestors, and brought them to their castle in the Everfree Forest. There, under the promise of her protection and the sanctuary of her rule, she made them the Night Watch, the counterpart to Celestia’s Day Guard.”
“But there is no Day Guard.”
Noctis grunted. “After the Empress’s banishment, Celestia changed the name from Day Guard to Royal Guard.”
“Oh.”
“Anyway where was I? Oh yes! Nightmare Moon taught all of Equestria that the Lunar Pegasi were ponies just like them, and she never wavered in her protection of us. Even as association with us damaged her own standing among the rest of Equestria, driving them firmly into Celestia’s camp.”
Noctis spoke wistfully, as if what he said were a far off dream.
“For a time, we were happy, and free. Safe from those that would have hunted us down. Saved by your mother, princess.”
Then, Twilight shrunk back from him a little as anger and bitterness crept back into his voice.
“But it was not to last.”
“I don’t under—“
“A thousand years ago, the Lunar Pegasi lost their champion, and their savior. The Empress was banished by her own sister, for reasons we have never discovered. And after that night, the old ways returned. As soon as the empress was gone, ponies began hunting us again en masse. Many of my ancestors died as they tried to escape Equestria. Eventually, they found respite beyond Equestria’s borders in the far north among the roosts of the Unicorn Mountains, and there safe from their hunters my ancestors founded the Citadel of Stars.”
Twilight searched her memory for any scratch of information she could have heard of this, but she could find none. “I’ve never heard of that place.”
“I’m not surprised.” Noctis snorted. “My ancestors did not announce their presence to Equestria, not when Equestria would have destroyed them. From what started as caves, my ancestors built it from the ground up into a mighty fortress.”
Twilight interrupted him. “But why didn’t your ancestors go to Princess Celestia? I don’t think she would have turned them away!”
“You think my ancestors would have turned to help to the very alicorn that took away their savior?!” Noctis snorted contemptuously. “If it were not for her actions, we would not have been forced into exile. No Princess Twilight Sparkle, we would never have turned to the pony that helped renew our persecution.”
Twilight remained silent, thinking over all that Noctis had told her. But she had another question.
“If the Lunar Pegasi were safe in the Citadel of Stars, then why have you returned to help my mother?”
“Do not think we ever forgot that we were once a part of Equestria, safe under her guidance and protection. Years after the establishment of the Citadel of Stars, one of our spies in Equestria picked up on a prophecy told by Starswirl the Bearded that he recited on his death bed to Celestia.”
A cold feeling of Deja vue, came over Twilight. “What prophecy?”
“On the longest day of the thousandth year, the Stars will aide in her escape, and she will bring about Nighttime Eternal.”
“Oh, that prophecy.”
“You have heard it?” Noctis asked.
“No, I read it in a book in the Canterlot Archives.”
Noctis smiled. “So you too were looking for the Empress’s return.”
“Probably not for the reasons you imagine Commander.” Twilight dodged.
“Oh?”
“Never mind, but please continue.”
Noctis cocked an eyebrow at her reluctance but continued anyway. “Since hearing the prophecy, my ponies had hoped that one day we could be a part of Eqeustria once more, no longer forced to hiding on the outskirts of Equestrian Civilization. When our elders saw the Mare In The Moon disappear from the moon’s surface, we knew she had returned, and that our time had come again. I led our greatest legion, the Fightin’ 501st from the Citadel of Stars to the outskirts of Canterlot, were the Empress found us. From there, she led us to the where the Officers of the Royal Guard were planning along with the puppet Princess Cadance. She distracted them while we took our positions, and then we captured them in one fell swoop.”
Twilight had been listening intently before, but now it was possible that Noctis might reveal where the prisoners are located.
“So you took the entire Royal Guard captive?”
“Yes your highness.” Noctis replied dutifully. "I was surprised that Celestia had them in such small numbers. My officers and I were expecting far more."
“Where have you imprisoned them? I know for a fact that Canterlot Castle does not have a dungeon.”
Noctis smiled slyly. “Do you now? I’m sorry to correct your highness but this castle indeed has a dungeon, it was just sealed off and abandoned. Upon taking the castle, we reopened the dungeon and placed the entire Royal Guard inside along with five criminals her imperial majesty had apprehended before we arrived.”
Trying to stop the desperation in her voice, Twilight had to know if the five criminals he spoke of were her friends.
“Criminals? What had those five ponies done to warrant my mother’s attention?” She asked calmly.
“From what the Empress told me, those five ponies were a band elite troops Celestia had sent to re-imprison her.” Noctis smiled at her. “She also said that if it were not for you, she would have not been able to overcome them. On behalf of my ponies, I thank you princess.”
“Oh…I…uh…your welcome…I guess.” Twilight sputtered. She couldn’t believe Nightmare had portrayed her friends to be some sort of elite assassins or what-not. It wasn’t a complete lie, as she and her friends had indeed set out to defeat Nightmare, but it was unfair to display them to the Lunar Pegasi that they were far more dangerous than they actually were. Perhaps she could sow some seeds of doubt in Noctis’s mind as to their true nature.
“Are you sure they’re elite troops?” Twilight asked him.
“Well, I don’t have any proof, but there is no reason to think her majesty would imprison just anypony. Her majesty did warn us that they were master actors, and to not fall for any of their tricks. I have seen them just once, and I am shocked at the amount of acting they still perform, even behind bars. If not for her majesty’s statement otherwise, I would think those five were just plain country folk, and release them immediately.”
Twilight sighed, knowing that this line of talking would get her nowhere. It seemed that Nightmare had thought of everything in order to keep her friends imprisoned. Even if it meant deceiving her own soldiers.
Noctis’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Ah, here we are your highness.”
Twilight shook herself from her musings and tried to remember what she was trying to do before she got sucked into the conversation with Noctis. The doors in front of them were small, and plain, lacking the fittings of anything decorative. From what Twilight remembered of the castle’s layout, this was outfitted to be a servant’s quarters.
Twilight looked over to Noctis who was standing rigidly at attention beside the door.
“Oh, um…are you just going to stand there?” She asked skeptically.
“Just until one of my soldiers relieves me, you cannot go unescorted around the castle your highness.” Noctis stated a matter-of-factly. “My legionnaires are currently securing the damaged castle so that nothing slips in while we repair it. And her majesty tasked me with making sure you are always safe.”
That’s just great. Now how am I supposed to get anything done?
“Thank you Commander, please attend your post until I am done inside or you are relieved. That is all.”
“Yes, your highness.”
I never thought those military protocol books Shining gave me for my birthday would ever be of use.
Leaving Noctis by himself in the hallway, Twilight slowly pushed open the door and stepped inside, Spike still out cold on her back.
Two ponies, one pink and one white, stared back at her as she gazed into the room.
A brittle silence descended like a wall between Twilight and the two of them.
“Can I come in?”