"Where--?" Twilight set her horn glowing, tried to look around, but the darkened space was so big, she couldn't see anything other than her friends standing in the puddle of light she was casting and craning their necks as well, the cart full of Rarity's luggage sitting half in shadow. "Where are we?"
A piece of the darkness moved, Princess Luna stepping into the light to smile down at her. "Sister Celestia calls it the Night Palace." She looked around, too, her smile becoming a frown. "Nowhere near as nice as our old place, but I guess that's pretty much a ruin nowadays." She sighed. "I don't come here that often..."
She took a wide-hoofed stance on the shiny marble floor, and dark energy burst from her, a wave that struck walls and ceiling after a few seconds and set spots glowing like stars, the room finally lighting up enough for Twilight Sparkle to see that they were indeed in the main hall of the Night Palace, a place she'd visited many times during her years in Canterlot, the indigo and purple carpeted steps leading up to the Night Throne just across the room from where they stood. But every time she'd been here before--
Twilight gestured at the emptiness where desks, tables, stalls and workstations had once stood. "Where are the Stargazers? The Night Guard? Moondancer and Shady and...and all the rest of the Night Ministry?"
Princess Luna gave a snort. "It's taken me more than a year, but I've finally sent them all on their way. I mean, I can understand that Sister Celestia needed those other ponies while I was gone; there's no way she could've run both day and night by herself!" Wings unfurling, she rose slightly into the air and spread her front hoofs. "I'm very grateful to the Stargazers, of course, for taking care of things the past thousand years, but, well, I never needed anypony's help to bring on the night before..." She landed with four delicate clicks of her silver shoes, clicks that echoed through the emptiness of throne room. "So now that I'm here, we can go back to how things used to be."
So many questions crowded Twilight's head, she was still trying to pick one when Princess Luna gave the floor another click. "But I'd best get the night wrapped-up or we won't have a clear field for sunrise. It's at 6:46, so at 6:30, I'll meet you all here and we'll head across the courtyard to the Day Palace for Celestia's little ceremony." She gestured to one of the hallways that led from the main hall. "The last of the Stargazers left a week ago, I think, so take any rooms you like, and I'll see you all in an hour and eight minutes!" Spreading her wings once more, she leaped upward, the darkness swallowing her like smoke
Silence for a long moment, then Fluttershy's soft voice: "I always thought Canterlot would be...brighter...."
"This isn't--" Twilight made an effort to organize her thoughts. "We'll see the city later, but right now--" She turned to Spike, staring around the hall with his mouth open. "Spike, can you head over to Moondancer's? See what she knows, and stop by my parents' place, too: they might--"
"Parents?" Applejack blinked at her. "Y'know, I ain't never heard you mention your folks afore, Twilight."
Twilight gave the cider-colored earth pony a sideways smile. "They're both retired and absolutely determined not to travel: I was kind of a surprise to them late in life." She gestured to the third pillar along the wall to the left of the main hall's big mahogany doors. "My dad's desk was always right there, and Mom worked across the courtyard in the Day Ministry for more than fifty years." Another little chill down her back. "There must've been 500 ponies living and working in this building, ponies whose families had done the same jobs for generations..."
"Yow." Rainbow Dash was still looking around, too. "And the princess gave 'em the boot?" She leveled her gaze at Twilight. "That couldn't've been popular."
Twilight could only nod, and Spike puffed smoke from his nostrils. "I'll be back quick as I can," he said, heading for the door.
"And bring some streamers with you!" Pinkie's voice came loud as a balloon pop in the silence. "I mean, this place is gloomy even for a Night Palace!" She shrugged her panniers around. "I need to get unpacked, then it's tiki torches in the corners, mirror balls on the ceiling, a little bandstand over by the--"
"OK!" Twilight shook the rest of her indecision away. "Let's put all that on page two of our lists, then turn back to page one. First we'll pick our rooms and get this ceremony out of the way, then we can see what's going on here." She turned to Rarity, slipping into the harness of her luggage cart. "You need any help with all that, Rarity?"
"No, no." She flashed a dazzling smile. "Just let me take the first room down the hallway, would you?" She strained against the harness, and the cart began creaking forward. "Then once everypony's settled, come see me. I've got the outfits for our first day all picked out."
"Outfits??" cried Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
Rarity rolled her eyes. "They're very minimal, very tasteful, and will merely set off our Elements of Harmony neckpieces, which I would also suggest we wear."
Rainbow Dash had leaped into the air, her wings beating furiously. "If you think I'm gonna get all frou-froued up--!"
"Please, girls." Twilight slung her own pack over her back and stood. "Our Elements of Harmony, yes, considering they're why we're here. But can we please take a look at what Rarity's got for us before we jump to any conclusions?"
No one said anything, but Dash did settle to the floor again. "OK." Twilight nodded toward the hallway. "We'll meet in Rarity's room in, say, half an hour?"
"Got it!" Dash zipped off so fast, the air of the throne room swirled around Twilight, and Pinkie wasn't far behind, giggling and bouncing out of sight.
"Ummm..." Fluttershy glanced through her hair at Applejack. "I don't want to be a bother, but...could I follow along with you, Applejack? Just...just for a little while?"
"Sure thing, sugar cube." Applejack gave the pegasus a big smile. "We'll get us a couple'a sweet suites, how 'bout?"
Fluttershy giggled, and the two started across the marble floor for the doorway.
Twilight gave Rarity another look. "You sure you don't need--?"
"Quite...fine..., thank you!" The cart was moving at a crawl, but it was moving. "I'll see you...in half an hour."
"All right, then." Her mind turning over her new apprehensions, Twilight trotted past Rarity and into the hallway.
***
Decidedly not huffing and puffing, two things a true lady would never do, Rarity still heaved a rather large sigh of relief upon dragging the cart to the first door down the hallway. Knowing the opportunity this week represented, she had packed nearly half her shop--sewing machine, fabrics, patterns and all--and was determined to take full advantage of whatever luck might come her way.
Poking her nose at the doorknob, she pushed inside, hoping the place would be large enough for a workroom--and stopped with a gasp, the charcoal-black unicorn stallion rifling the cabinets along the far wall spinning to face her.
His steel-gray mane and tail looked as if they'd perhaps been nicely styled a number of weeks ago, and his cutie mark appeared at first glance to be a basketball, a brownish circle with curving lines throughout it. Too many lines, though, Rarity realized at once, and the background color of his coat showed between them, giving her the impression of a spherical framework of some sort.
A book hovered before him in the light of his horn, the panniers across his back already holding several others, and the shelves of the cabinet he was going through were full of them: dusty old tomes of the sort Rarity imagined Twilight would be interested in. So she took a stance in the doorway, found her most imposing voice, and said, "A book thief, is it? And not a very bright one, either, stealing from Princess Luna's own palace!"
The book slid into his pack. "They're not hers," he said, his voice deep and gentle and not at all what Rarity had imagined a thief would sound like. "Well, all right, they probably are hers, but she's made it quite clear she's not interested in them." His eyes moved--looking her up and down, she realized--and while she found their deep blue color quite attractive, the disdain in them was decidedly less so. "And I take it you're my replacement?"
She sniffed. "The only replacement I'm interested in is you replacing those books!" She tapped the ground decisively. "At once, if you please, or I shall have to call--" Realizing that she should have called out to her friends before this point in the conversation, Rarity forced herself to continue with false bravado. "--for reinforcements!"
His eyes narrowed. "That might prove difficult, what with Her Highness deciding she doesn't need anypony around here anymore." He gestured with his snout. "So call by all means, miss. I just find myself doubting you'll get a response. Now, if you'll excuse me..." He pushed brusquely past her into the hall.
Shock froze her in place for a second, but just for a second. "I will most certainly not excuse you!" She stormed out after him. "I shall instead inform the princess of your actions and request she take all appropriate measures!"
"Fair enough." He looked back over his shoulder. "Tell her it was Orrery Stargazer and that Mother and I and the rest of us are staying with my uncle Daybreak. It'll save her the trouble of having to track me down."
Rarity blinked at him. "Orrery?"
He rolled his eyes. "It's an old family name. I was really looking forward to getting rid of it once Mother retired and I took her place as Night Minister, but, well, that's not going to happen now, is it?" He started to face forward again, then stopped and gave her another look. "Don't I know you from somewhere?"
"Possibly." Rarity considered: apparently this stallion was involved in whatever Twilight had been talking about earlier in the throne room, a gentlecolt of formerly high rank now fallen on hard times. Feeling a twinge of pity, she offered, "I am Rarity of the Carousal Boutique in Ponyville, here by royal decree of her Highness, Princess Luna. I do hope you'll forgive me for thinking you a thief, but I'm newly arrived and wasn't expecting to find anypony here."
Orrery's brow wrinkled. "Princess Luna reads 'Clothes Horse' magazine?"
Rarity let herself smile. "As, apparently, do you."
His eyes rolled again. "I have sisters, and we've been in somewhat close quarters of late." He turned all the way around and gave her a bow, smooth and sophisticated and making Rarity's heart pick up just a bit. "I accept your apology, Miss Rarity, and offer you one of my own that I'm no longer in a position to offer you the welcoming reception you deserve." He blew out a little sigh. "If you've a spare moment, however, my uncle is still the Day Minister, and I feel certain we can arrange some small soiree to show you that this--" He gestured at the shadowy hallway around them. "This dreariness isn't at all representative of Canterlot."
Rarity caught her breath. Just what she'd been hoping for! "You honor me greatly with your invitation, sir. My companions and I will be overjoyed to accept."
"Companions?" He blinked. "You travel with an entourage, Miss Rarity?"
"I travel with my friends, Mr. Stargazer." She waved a hoof toward the other end of the hall. "We were instrumental in returning Princess Luna to herself and to the rest of Equestria, and she has therefore--"
"That, uhh..." Orrery's ears folded slightly. "That might not be something you wish to spread about publicly." He took a step backwards, then turned and started for the arch that led back into the throne room. "Still, send word to my uncle's house when you're free, and we'll see what we can do to amuse you and your friends. Now, I'll ask you again to excuse me." And he trotted through the archway and out of sight.