//------------------------------// // Darkness and Honesty (Part Two) // Story: The Sun Never Sets // by Mr Fislewait //------------------------------// I awoke to Tavia nudging me in the ribs with her hoof. At first I was a little confused as to where I was, it had been a long time since I had received a good nights rest and waking up I briefly thought I was back home and that everything up to that point had been some horrible nightmare. Only briefly though, the reality of my situation quickly set in and with it came confusion. "I thought you said you were moving out in the morning?" I asked, rubbing sleep from my eyes and yawning. Even though the rest had been incredibly refreshing I still found my body tired and aching from the past two weeks. Around us a few of the other ponies were packing belongings onto one of the carts but the majority of the camp appeared to be remaining here. "It is..." Tavia seemed about to say something but quickly caught herself before she finished and shook her head in exasperation. "I'm sorry, I don't think I ever introduced myself properly. I'm Octavia Melody, you said your name was Sunset Shimmer correct?" I nodded in confirmation, stifling another yawn before it could escape my throat. "Now, Miss Shimmer, you mentioned something about a magical mishap. I don't mean to sound too forward but perhaps you might elaborate?" Something was clearly up and while I was willing to invest a little trust into Octavia I hadn't forgotten the words I'd overheard before falling to sleep, while she might pity me it sounded as though she had something unfortunate in mind for me. "I'd been studying magic in Canterlot, I was hoping to impress my teacher with something special so I was trying to teleport with the aid of one of the old magical artifacts, I was really hoping to wow her with something to mark the nine hundred and ninetieth Summer Sun Celebration but somehow the spell dropped me off here." As lies went there was certainly some basis in the truth, at the time I'd barely even considered the possibility that time travel might be the cause of my problems but at the time it seemed a convenient way of explaining my knowledge being so outdated. My working theory was that I was periodically traveling between different realities whilst remaining at the same place in space and time, if Octavia bought it then I'd be covered for my lack of knowledge on current events since I first stepped through the portal to CHS. "I... I hate to be the one to break this to you, Miss Shimmer, but that was a little over eleven years ago," as she had done before the mare gave me a look of genuine sympathy, evidently she had bought the lie. I wasn't proud of it but it certainly seemed that my practice manipulating people in CHS was paying off. "Oh," I whispered with feigned shock. "Anything happen while I was gone?" Octavia cast a forlorn look to the Moon while biting down on her lip, almost to the point of drawing blood. "No... nothing you need concern yourself with. Miss Shimmer, if you'd like to hop into the wagon we've prepared then we have some breakfast for you. I'm not sure how long you've been out here but you look in desperate need of a meal and a lie down. I don't mean to sound rude but your leg looks awful, I can't imagine it is comfortable walking about on it." For a few moments I considered my options, Octavia was clearly not very good at lying and whatever she and her friends had in store for me was likely a trap, that being said I didn't particularly want to hurt her, my leg meant running from them was impossible and after what I had done to the changelings I was pretty much magically exhausted. With both fight and flight options denied to me I instead opted to go for your own favorite option, talking. "So what happens if I try to run right now?" I asked bluntly. To her credit Octavia took my comment in her stride, rather than deny what was going on she simply sighed and leveled with me. "If you run then Shady Skies will catch you, maybe hurting you in the process, then we will be forced to stick an inhibitor on your horn and chain you up in the wagon to be brought before our superiors," a sliver of her former pity remained, replaced for the most part with an excess of formality. "What happens if I come with you without resistance?" "No inhibitor, no chains, but if you try anything funny then Shady will probably take it out on you," she shrugged her shoulders in a very matter of fact manner. "What happens when we get to your 'superiors'," this time she didn't answer, instead averting her eyes to the floor. "Fine, different question, what sort of charge am I going to be held for?" my voice took on a certain level of resignation, at this point the best I could do was go with the guards and hope for an opportunity to escape to present itself. "Political dissidence, Princess Nightmare Moon is very careful to keep a close eye on anypony that might be a threat to her reign. I'm afraid that you have certain traits that fit a profile for ponies warranting immediate arrest," her eyes drifted to my flank as she finished speaking. That pretty much answered most of my questions, it was still dark because Nightmare Moon had won, presumably upon her return as opposed to her first appearance, as Octavia had recognized the name of the Summer Sun Celebration. Hilariously the crime I was being arrested for had nothing to do with me being a powerful unicorn, or even having lied to the guards, the only reason they were bringing me in was that I had a Sun for a cutie mark, my name probably hadn't done me any favors either. "The Mare in the Moon, that's Celestia now isn't it?" I asked receiving a curt nod as an instantaneous answer. "What's the punishment for political dissidents?" "If you come quietly? You'll probably be thrown into the dungeons," Octavia didn't see fit to inform me what would happen if I didn't come quietly, judging from the grim expression on her face though it wasn't that hard to take a guess. "Well then, I guess I better go enjoy my last breakfast as a free mare," I said in a matter of fact way and made my way over to the wagon. Depending on how things played out I expected that I would likely end up sitting in a prison cell for a few days before whatever magic powered the mysterious dimensional portal stole me away to some horrible new world. All things considered it was preferable to facing a potential execution for an arbitrary crime. ---------------------------- The breakfast was a mixture of trail rations, oats and an apple, yet it was still the best food I had eaten since leaving CHS. My guards kept their distance, opting to leave me alone and unattended within the wagon. If I could have mustered enough magic to perform even a small teleportation spell I could probably have slipped away without any of them noticing, sadly that wasn't the case. As we journeyed across the badlands though I did come to feel a little sympathy for my captors, while the five of them were all united in seeing me brought before their boss none of them seemed to be very happy about what they were doing. A part of me wondered what would happen to them if I were to escape, judging from their behavior I doubted it would be pleasant. Considering that we were stuck out in the badlands I was somewhat surprised when we stopped after only about three hours. "The two of us will be leaving the others behind here. Please refrain from doing anything foolish, Miss Shimmer, I have no desire for this to be any harder on you than it needs to be." Octavia led me from the wagon towards a small wooden fortress. Rather than enter though we instead approached a cluster of batponies and pegasi who were working on a number of sky chariots. Evidently wherever we were heading it was not in the badlands. "Star Hunter!" Octavia called to one of the pegasi. "I require a chariot to escort myself and this prisoner to the castle." The pegasus nodded and began seeing to the work as Octavia turned and whispered in my ear. "For your own sake please don't speak out of turn. While there are many ponies who still pine for the days of the sun there are a great many who have sworn undying fealty to the princess and would see you punished harshly for any act of rebellion. I hold no real sway at court, in truth I am only out here in the badlands for having displeased her highness, but I might be able to ensure a comparatively light sentence for you so long as we don't have a direct audience with the princess." "I imagine bringing her a dangerous dissident to throw in the dungeons would help earn you some favor at court wouldn't it?" I whispered back as I considered my situation. "Yes. Yes it would, but though I have accepted my place as a cog in the system I refuse to climb the political ladder at the expense of my fellow ponies. It may not seem the case right now but I'm trying to do you a favor, Miss Shimmer." As we boarded our chariot I began to realize just how sad the whole situation was, all of these ponies no doubt remembered life under the rule of Celestia, they knew how wrong this world of eternal night was but were powerless to do anything about it. If ensuring somepony was thrown in a comfy cell was considered an act of kindness in this world then I dreaded the kind of things that wicked ponies might do. --------------------------- Our chariot flight took us quickly across the skies of Equestria. I periodically flexed my magic when I thought nopony was watching but even conjuring a small burst of light seemed to give me a headache, my window for escape seemed to be rapidly dwindling and I was powerless to prevent my incarceration. At first I thought we were headed towards Canterlot, the course we were traveling on seemed about right but the chariot began its descent long before we reached the mountain, instead descending towards a great and shadowy palace nestled within the Everfree forest, the old castle of the sisters if my history lessons were to be believed. The chariot parked itself upon a great balcony attached to the side of the castle and Octavia politely thanked the charioteers for their service before directing me inside. The room we entered was devoid of any other ponies, it appeared to be some sort of meeting chamber with a series of moderately comfortable blue and black sofas making up the entirety of its furnishing and great banners hanging from the walls adorned with moon iconography and representations of the alicorn herself. As soon as we entered Octavia passed a small note on to a servant waiting just outside the room before turning to me. "I can't promise you safety but I am going to try and keep you alive," she explained taking a seat on one of the sofas, "that being said though, if you wish to take your chances at the mercy of the princess and her guards then this is likely your last chance to escape." She closed her eyes and turned to face the door the servant had been behind, as it was I was left entirely out of her line of sight, even if I'd felt I had a chance of escaping at that moment I'm not sure I could have brought myself to do it, after all, how would Octavia have explained to her superiors that she had lost an unarmed political prisoner in the middle of the Princess' own castle. I may not have known the mare but I felt as though she didn't deserve to suffer the inevitable fallout of such a willful act of disobedience. After a few minutes of silence somepony opened the door to the chamber and Octavia rose to meet them, a smile upon her face. I sort of just sat there frozen in place, mouth wide open in disbelief and stared like an idiot at the newcomer. "Octavia, darling, while it is always a pleasure to see you I must say that you have come at a dreadful time. The Princess is somewhat out of sorts at the moment and I doubt she would take your presence very kindly," even though I'd barely seen you as a unicorn Rarity I knew for certain that it was that world's version of you standing before me. Her cutie mark was unmistakable, her voice and demeanor though a little colder than what I was used to were still recognizable as belonging to my friend from CHS. You...she was dressed up in a jacket in much the same style as the guards armor with her hair tied up in a bun, she embraced Octavia in a hug and the pair exchanged brief kisses on the cheeks. "I'm sorry to hear things have been difficult around here. I was actually hoping you might do me a favor. I apprehended this mare in the badlands and was hoping you might have her assigned a comfortable cell without news having to reach the ears of the Princess. She hasn't proven to be any trouble and so far her only crime has been having a rather unfortunate special talent." Octavia gestured to me and I finally managed to close my mouth, managing to make myself look a little more respectable. Rarity final noticed me and almost instantly flew into a panic. "Oh no no no. Octavia, this can't be happening! You have chosen the worst, possible, time to spring something like this on me!" at first her voice sounded downright hostile but it very quickly slipped into a more worried and sympathetic tone. Whatever was happening seemed to bode ill for me. "Last night the Princess was approached by a traveler who has left her rather terrified for the safety of her rule, if this mare winds up before her I'm afraid it will be a public execution for sure to make an example of those who would oppose the throne!" the two mares trotted up to me with fear in their eyes. "What do we do, Rarity," Octavia whispered in hushed tones. The unicorn stood deep in thought for a few seconds before perking up, an idea written plain upon her face. "You leave, head back to the badlands. If pony asks you about the prisoner you brought in you tell them she has been sent to the deepest dungeons," she turned sharply on the spot and pointed a hoof in my direction, "how is your magic and your manners?" she asked, raising one eyebrow. While I had decided to lie to Octavia earlier it seemed the time for deceiving her had now passed. Considering how much trust they were investing in me it seemed in my best interest to let the mares who seemed willing to potentially put their own lives on the line for me know exactly what they were getting into, besides, even if she didn't know me I felt as if I knew Rarity and lying to my friends had never ended well before then. "I was a magical prodigy, personal student to Celestia herself but right now though I can probably just about levitate something small if I put my mind to it. My manners could probably use some work but I think I can still remember most of what the princess taught me about correct manners around court," the other two mares mouths dropped and Rarity briefly mouthed something unintelligible before regaining her tongue. "I thought Twinkleshine was meant to be Celestia's student," she finally managed to say her voice deathly quiet. "I was her previous student, we fell out, I ran away and my life has mostly been one downhill slide since then." Rarity looked between me and Octavia a couple of times then nodded. "Octavia, make yourself scarce, I'll take of this. Now then, from here on out you are called Dusk Shadow," I was about to open my mouth to object but Rarity raised a hoof to silence me. "No objections, a name like that will earn you favor with the Princess if need be, I'd rather not know your real name, ignorance is a great aid in such an act of deception." Prompted by a wave from Rarity, Octavia left the room while the unicorn paced around me sizing me up. "As chamberlain it is expected of me that I have some servants of my own. From here on out you are my personal hoofmaid, you will either await me within my chambers or wait upon me while I am on business." I nodded. Servant was a pretty decent step up from a life in prison and a big leap from public execution. "I expect for you to follow my orders to the letter, while we are in the presence of other members of the castle staff you are not to speak unless spoken to. You will be expected to wear your uniform at all times, even in private," I gave her an incredulous look, while the other pieces of advice had all made some sense this one seemed a little out of place, "it's a dress with a bustle, so long as you are wearing it nopony will be able to see your cutie mark." I nodded again, her plan to keep me safe was starting to make sense. "Now I expect you to pull your weight around the castle, you will be helping me maintain the elegant decor of the palace as well as assisting with paperwork. Once the princess has gotten over her current panic though I might see fit to have you privately dismissed from the castle grounds, if such a time comes then I would appreciate you never speaking of this matter again if you should ever be caught again. Now then, I'm going to go fetch your uniform, don't leave this room while I'm gone, we can't risk anypony else seeing you. Rarity strode to the door but before leaving gave me one last appraising look. "Welcome to the castle, Miss Shadow, I hope we can one day see you safely out of its halls."