Once, Twilight would have been delighted to stroll through the square, and watch the birds fly above and the bees buzz among the flowers as their lives went on under the hooves of the ponies of Queen's Landing. Once, she would have smiled at being here. A time ago, she would have sucked in every second of exploring this city of great history. Once upon a time...
But when House Stark did not bend to her whims, and Princess Mercury declared war on the North, Twilight was pushed into a fight she would have done anything to avoid, and her dreams of the South were sullied. Now, on the day of her death, it seemed only fitting she try and rekindle them. Life was too short to neglect one's dreams, even if life was being put down prematurely to the mark of a good cause. And no matter what anypony said, she knew now: this war was for a good cause.
It was most unfortunate she wouldn't be around for the rest of it. She took no joy in bloodshed, but as a pony who grew up under the corrupted Sombra, when the Warden of the North was far more than daring and deadly tyrant, she was not against it where it was needed. And now, there was no doubt in her mind that Mercury was due to meet death. Well after House Stark passed, but at an unpleasant end for her, Mercury would follow. Most unfortunate that Twilight, as the one who started rebellion and passed sentence, as the Warden, and some would say Princess of the North, would not be around to swing the sword.
The sunlight was hot, she had never before been so bothered by it, even after these long weeks held captive in Queen's Landing. Frankly, though the ponies swore at her and bade her farewell to the deepest pits of the four hells, she didn't think they could be much hotter. Maybe it was nerves. She wasn't adversed to killing, but she enjoyed the thought of her own death even less. But if it had to happen, it had to happen. Nopony could change the disaster that the last leg of her campaign had been. She dared to play the Game of Thrones, and she did not win.
Who now should play in her stead, she wondered? The self proclaimed Princesses Celestia and Luna were closest to her heart, if not her cause. Her followers had many known names among them, but no proven leaders. Perhaps one of them would rise. Back in the winters of the her childhood, she never would have thought that she could rise to be what her older brother had worked to become. What he gave his life in the Old War to make of his family. Hmm, what would Shining think of her if he could see her now?
The roar of the crowded mass was the first thing she heard, but the first she saw was her rival, and her better in the world of warfare. True, Twilight Stark fought an uphill battle against a foe with superior arms, but in the end, it was only a pony's mind and swordplay that mattered, and her mind was not up to snuff with Mercury's hordes, and her blade was not enough to cut through the opposing strategy. Well played, Princess Mercury. Now keep the Throne you so rigorously defended.
"Kill her!"
"Death to the Last Stark!"
"The North is no more!"
"Die, traitor, die!"
On and on they went, some too foolish to see what Mercury was doing in the shadows of her chair, others too unwilling to stand against her, and so they fell beside her. But they almost all shouted indignities to her.
"Long live Princess Mercury and House Iridia!"
"We'll bury your corpse in your precious snow!"
"Death to Stark!"
"Put an end to Stark, put an end to the War!"
"Grab the biggest pike you've got! We all want to see it when it stops rolling!"
"Let House Stark live no longer!"
The Princess was rather quiet. Of course, she would be. She had finished their Game, and now she was celebrating her victory by watching the mindless masses bury Twilight's reputation and memory just before her body would cease to function. It all happened so quickly once she was moving through the rilled crowd.
She found herself standing alone on the execution stand, Princess Mercury and her entourage behind her, of which Twilight once thought she had at least one or two friends, but now, it was clear, that their lives were worth more to them than what was right. Not everypony plays the Game for the betterment of the world. She ought to have expected nothing less of them, really.
But it was the crowd before her that really shocked her. Scattered, a few friendly faces, ponies with no position or room to help, but sympathizers, who frowned in the midst of angry yelling and cross demands. But the overwhelming sentiment was that Twilight Stark's name would go down with the likes of her predecessor, and the hatred scorn known to ponykind as Discord, and the Queen of Changelings across the seas that prevented Celestia and Luna from intervening sooner. House Stark's line was long, but their reign was short. Twelve years were spent as Warden, and in the end, it was less than six months that truly mattered, in the grand scheme of things.
They continued to shout their fury at her.
"Visit all four hells, over and over and over again!"
"Let us all take a stab at her!"
"Twilight Stark is fit to be eaten by our dogs, let them have her blood!"
The Princess enjoyed their fury for a while longer, allowing them the chance to get out their insults, ruffle whatever feathers she thought Twilight cared about, and listened to the satisfaction brought about by their cries. But when her satisfaction ended, and Princess Mercury bade Twilight Stark speak, she found it very hard to. In the end, these ponies that wished her fates worse than death, but certainly death as well, were sheep. Tricked by Princess Mercury into making the world what she wanted it to be, they were falling and did not know it.
It was never the job of the Princess to change the world, only to keep it running. Let the ponies make the changes they wanted. Mercury never saw that, she only thought about what she wanted. And as Twilight stood, the sword that would take her life mere feet from her, unsheathed and thirsting for her blood, she pitied the crowd. They were pawns, and when Mercury was tired of them, she would turn her powers against them as her armies had mounted to oppose Twilight and her small band of bannermen.
"My name is Twilight Stark. I am the last of my House; I have no more siblings, nor did I bear any heirs. I chose to stand against the Princess of the Realm, and forsake my life and honor-"
Already the chorus of boos and hisses assaulted her, but the guards hushed them on the Princess' command, and Twilight went on.
"And I raised an army...I called my bannermen and raised my sigil against the Crown....and I waged war from the North, and brought upon my own people more suffering, after many long and hard years of it less than two decades before....and I was captured and my company slain....and I was parted with my horn....and kept in a dungeon to starve and rot....and I stand before you now, to share what I have done and show you how much I have lost by fighting Princess Mercury."
The crowd booed less now, partly because they reveled in her admission of defeat, and partly because the guards were getting rougher with those that distracted attention from Twilight. Now was the best chance she'd ever have. So she let those words sink in, and just as the biggest smile came to Mercury's face, Twilight found one even bigger, and finished what she had to say.
"And I regret none of it! The North will remember!"
And the crowds became sour, and the guards got nasty, and the sword moved swiftly to her neck, and before another five seconds had passed, Twilight Stark's head was rolling down the stand, and her body collapsed in the scorching heat of the sun. But even then, Princess Mercury was no longer smiling.