//------------------------------// // Rebuked for Grieving // Story: Nightmare: An Equestrian Tragedy // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// I sat in my armchair, feeling alone for the first time in a century. While I did have my relationship with my sister, bumpy as it could be at times, her running the kingdom meant we rarely if ever had time to be a family these days. That had all been amended by my first love. Amber Dust, the most charming performer I had ever met, and easily the best chess player. Assuming she wasn’t cheating with her skillful illusions, that is. She easily could be. I still remembered the first time she had shown me what she could really do. It had been after I’d come to her sobbing about how my sister would never accept our relationship. She’d simply transformed into a stallion in the blink of an eye and said ‘Well that would be a problem if she thought I was a mare. We had breakfast this morning when I asked to court you. She said yes.’ If I hadn’t had her in my bed before, I would have been fooled myself. She definitely could teach the two of us a thing or two on illusions. I was quite certain even Starswirl could learn at least three things from her. I would have loved a lesson right now. Because it would mean she was here. With me. In my chambers. And therefore not traveling to Trottingham on business. She’d been gone for only three hours and I already felt like it had been a century. An impressive feat of emotional distress, even for someone who thought of centuries as decades at this point in her life. A sudden knock on my chamber door caught my attention, forcing me out of my melancholy for a brief moment as I hoped Amber decided not to go after all. “Come in!” I said happily. “My Princess,” a page announced as my chamber doors creaked open. “A message has arrived for you from King Sombra of the Crystal Empire.” Two ponies walked in, placing a dark wooden chest the size of my barrel and shoulders down on the floor near my seat before bowing politely. “Are you sure it is meant for me?” I asked suspiciously. “I understood that my sister and I were handling the negotiations together.” “His herald clearly stated this was for you, as head of the Equestrian Army, m’lady,” the page informed, bowing again as he and the two porters left the room, closing the door behind them. To most that might seem suspicious. But I had long ago insisted that I be the only one present when I read any mail addressed to me. Exception to Celestia, Amber, and whoever my second in command was at the time. There was no need for prying eyes to learn of things before I had a chance to prepare a proper response. I turned my attention to the box. It was rather off of him to send a chest. Celestia and I knew little about the Crystal King. His nation was fairly isolationist, and what little I did hear was about lots of grand architecture and arcane accomplishments. He seemed normal enough, just a tad aggressive. For the last four months he had been massing his troops on our northern border. Not in a way as to indicate an immediate attack, more to present a show of force. Much like the griffons would do on occasion before sending a representative to negotiate for something. He seemed to have the same sort of territorial nature and aggression as they did. And that’s all right. I could hardly fault somepony for being a touch aggressive. Several weeks ago, Celestia and I had sent him a letter asking him to please remove his troops, explaining we understood his nation was strong and we did not need to be reminded of such things. Along with an invitation to a private meeting to discuss anything he might require. It would be a reasonable diplomatic move to make a display of wealth after a show of force. This could be a chest of gold or a few spellbooks. While that would be reasonable, why deliver it to me? Celestia would be the one to receive such a thing. Perhaps he assumed the Supreme Commander was the highest power of Equestria? It’s not like he had much diplomatic contact with us before. Yes, that would be reasonable. I’d simply examine the chest and contents then bring it to Celestia. I worked the chest’s latch with my magic and opened the lid. I immediately gasped at the foul smell, immediately becoming horrified at what might lay under the parchment nestled atop the boxes contents. I tentatively went to move the parchment, noticing it bore the words ‘With love, Sombra’ along with a wax seal to mark it as an official document for whatever reason. Please be some regional food… Please be some regional food… I repeated to myself as I moved the parchment aside. Inside the box was Amber’s head. Night Court, Canterlot - 8th of Solardusk 17 EoH Present Day “THE BUCK!?” Lyra screamed in complete and utter disbelief. “Sombra killed her, and sent me her head in a box as a declaration of war,” Luna repeated. Lyra’s jaw seemed to refuse to close for a full minute before she angrily and disgustedly sputtered. “What kind of Tournament of Crowns bullshit- WHY!?” Luna looked down at the floor for a few long moments. “When dealing with monsters such as Sombra, the why is always the same. To break your mind for their amusement. I can remember little of the rest of the week. I remember gathering the army and leading a strike force into the heart of the Crystal Empire, but not the details. “I remember driving my halberd through Sombra’s skull after the hardest battle of my life, despite Celestia’s protests, only for him to turn to smoke and vanish along with his entire capital city… The rest of the Empire literally turning to ash the moment he left. That’s all. The rest is an all-consuming rage beyond even the Nightmare's comprehension.” Lyra shook her head in disbelief, staring off into the distance. “I-I can’t even… I don’t know how to tell you… I sympathize. If someone did that to Bonbon, I’d… I don’t even know what I might do,” she rambled. “That’s not even the part which pushed me towards the Nightmare,” Luna said casually. “What!?” Lyra snapped disbelievingly. “You had to know who Amber was and that she died violently for that part to make sense,” Luna informed. “You see…” Lunar chambers, The Castle of the Two Sisters - 24th of Midwinter 2828 RH 2,376 Years Ago - The Renneighsaunce It had been just over a week since I had sort of avenged Amber. It was impossible to know for sure. Celestia seemed to think he had invoked some form of necromancy to revive himself later and was investigating the situation. To my surprise, she apologized for insisting I spare him. She understood, and for once she had said that in her mind, my actions were justified. A nice change of pace. If only I had been even one notch above the absolute bottom of depression. I might have appreciated her sentiments. At least my sister was actively searching for necromancy tomes to try and identify what the smoke form might have meant. That might amount to something. It would be nice to preserve his body and use it for a chamber pot holder. A flash of green and accompanying whiff of sulfur alerted me as several letters arrived via Dragonfire candles. I hadn’t attended the Night Court in days. Maybe a week. I didn’t know. It had to be scribes or clerks asking me to work on something. The letters had been coming for three days, now there were a full fifteen stacked up atop my writing desk. Deciding I needed to at least try and find a distraction I stood up and walked slowly to the desk. Picking up the first letter with my magic I opened it, doing a double take at the contents. It was short, angry, and bitter. A noblemare whose proposal was unable to be heard in the Day court had come to the Night Court and I had not been there. So she was livid, insisting that justice had not been served to her as she was entitled to be served properly. I flame of rage welled up in my heart. How dare she! Did she not know what I was going through? I tossed the letter aside and opened the next. Aside from the name and wording, it was identical. Another noble angered by me not being in court. The same was true of every last one of the fifteen letters. By the fourth letter I had concluded that something had gone wrong in communication with the nobility. I was taking a leave of absence. My mate had just died. They couldn’t have known. If they had they would not have been so rude. Surely that would be impossible. Picking up my quill and ink, I quickly composed a letter explaining the entirety of the month's events. It hurt to write it all down, but at the same time I felt a little sense of closure from the situation. The beginnings of the first step in beginning to think about starting to go through with being happy again. Or maybe it was just a hunger pain. Once the letter had been written I performed a simple copying charm to duplicate it and sent a copy to each noble who had written me using my own Dragonfire candle. As the letters vanished I felt a sense of ease. Surely they would spread the word and I could have another month or two to return to a properly functional state. Fifteen minutes later, I received my first reply. Luna Solaris, The details of your personal life are of no interest to me, nor of any importance to anypony of importance. It is your duty to hear the cases Princess Celestia will not and can not. You will perform this duty without fail or I shall use all means available to me in order enforce the law as it is written. Sincerely,[\right] Lord Scarlet Cloud Jr. Esquire For the first time, I felt part of the love for my nation wither. The other replies came in one by one over the course of the evening. The other fourteen nobles shared Lord Cloud’s sentiments. The love for Equestria began to die. Night Court, Canterlot - 8th of Solardusk 17 EoH Present Day “I have no words,” Lyra said as Luna paused, knowing she would react to that part of her story. “Nor did I,” Luna replied bitterly. “You see now what happens when nobles are largely unopposed, right? Had I been allowed to make my order, the knowledge that they would likely get caught if they tried to get away with taking the law into their own hooves or perverting the law for their own gain would have prevented such disrespect and lack of common decency. “The nobility’s opinions of me have hardly changed since then. Naturally, with having been gone for a thousand years I have nothing to really work from for their respect… But that should mean I’m not looked down on either.” “There has to be some noble family that appreciates you,” Lyra said desperately. “Oh sure, most younger ponies noble or not at least see me naturally or a bit positively. And three of the sixty-eight houses do like me just fine,” Luna said with a smile. “Clan Bassalt is one of them. They have been loyal and supportive to me since… Since I was a young filly, actually. I used to hang out all the time at a tavern they ran. Well, turned out it was a brothel… But at the time I thought it was a tavern. Blind and what not.” Luna smiled and shook her head slightly at the memories from her distant past. “Would you like a happy memory as a brief aside?” Lyra nodded. “Please… this got real dark.” “Had I been able to see, or even found out that my beloved fillyhood hang out was in actuality an underground lesbian club, I would have been able to easily find a lover the moment I came of age,” Luna chuckled. “Instead, for years and years I was the owner’s ‘spiritual niece’ as she put it. When Celestia and I were given the throne, other heads rolled too, and my ‘spiritual aunt’, a full blooded Thestral, wound up in charge of her clan. That clan being Bassalt. Yes, it sounds like the name of the stone, but the slightly drawn out ess sound, that makes it the Nocturn word for ‘ironclad’. “Her clan has supported me loyally ever since. They even kept up the Night Patrol illegally when the Night Court and other projects of mine were disbanded after my banishment. There were even the beginnings of a plan to build a ladder to get me down, before mages worked out the distance to the moon, and well, physics said no. “I do have my supporters and loyal hearted ponies. But when they are less than one percent of a nation, and the majority despises you… You tend to lose sight of what blessings you do have. “And that feeling, along with the reality that created it, only got worse with time. This next part is- Well, it’s a typical event of the next thousand years which went by.”