Equestria's Midnight

by Snake Staff

Canterlot

Canterlot. Once a city of the royal diarchs, it was now abundantly clear that there was only one ruler of the land. By the order of Luna, the Nightmare Queen, the city had been rebuilt after its sacking in the Last War. The buildings now sported the queen’s colors: night black, with glittering white gems artfully embedded in tasteful patterns. In its own way, the city was beautiful.

More important was a difference only a unicorn could sense: that alone of Equestria’s sizable cities, magic flowed freely in Canterlot. None of Izardor’s Black Mirrors drained this land, a fact for which the city’s unicorns gave deep thanks to their queen. Orcs were banned from the city, the Order of the Night serving instead to secure it. Both of these things did not serve to endear the city and its queen to the rest of the Shadow’s forces, but the dark god himself seemed to tolerate the arrangement. For the moment, at any rate.
…

“May the Night Court come to order! Order!” shouted Sounding Trumpet, Queen Luna’s royal announcer. The assorted nobles, commanders, and Legates had been busy chatting, plotting, and making deals as they awaited the ruler’s arrival. To the extent that he was heard at all, he was generally ignored. “Order! The Queen approaches! Order!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.

That got everypony’s attention well enough. The chatter dulled to a low whisper, and then nothing at all. The unicorn stallion cleared his throat and waited. Moments passed, and then he raised a horn to his lips and blew. A long, low note rang over the expectant ponies. “Make way! Make way for Her Majesty Luna, the Nightmare Queen, Lady of the Night, Duchess of Canterlot, Slayer of a Thousand Foes, Lady-Marshal of the Order of the Night, Ruler of the Celestial Bodies, Regent of Izrador, She whose reign is forever! All hail!”

Silence fell as the stallion’s voice died off. A chill drifted through the throne room as the assorted dignitaries backed away from the rich blue-silver carpet in its center. The queen required a clear path to the throne. All eyes settled on the massive double doors, some in anticipation, others in fear. Not a sound could be heard from beyond, but anypony with even the slightest magical senses could feel what was coming.

Without warning or pretense, the doors of the throne room flung themselves open. Anypony foolish enough to have gotten too close would have been crushed, though this time at least nopony had. Two armored unicorns stepped through. Members of the Queensguard, an elite unit of the Order of the Night selected for prowess physical and magical, as well as loyalty, they were ever with their sovereign.

Behind them walked the last of the pureblooded alicorns. Towering above even the largest stallion, her coat was the inky black color of a moonless night. Her majestic, flowing blue main glittered with the stars of her sky. Her long wings were folded neatly at her side; her sharp, polished horn reflected the torchlight. She wore elegant slippers of glittering blue glass, a blue-black brooch decorated with replicas of her finest constellations, and a silver crown decorated with beautifully-carved blue diamonds. At Luna’s appearance, the entire court, dozens of ponies, wordlessly dropped to their knees before their Nightmare Queen.

Lady Rarity stood not far from her husband, Prince Blueblood, as the queen entered and the doors sealed themselves behind her. They too abased themselves before his distant relative, their eyes low to the floor. Awe and fear chilled her blood. Inside Rarity’s mind, somepony else had a very different reaction.

“Traitor,” Princess Twilight’s voice hissed. “Murderer. Kin-slayer.”

Rarity almost winced. It was always this way in Luna’s presence. Twilight Sparkle might have been busy at all hours of day and night, but she always found a way to spare a fragment of herself to watch the Nightmare Queen through her Avatar’s eyes. Even the smallest piece of information could prove vital. And not once in all Rarity’s years had she been able to look at the other alicorn without voicing her hatred for her. Rarity always feared that Luna might somehow hear, however many times Twilight had assured her that it wouldn’t happen unless she tried channeling her own power through Rarity’s form.

Luna proceeded down the carpet to her throne, not even seeming to look at the crowd around her. Two guards preceded her, two followed. In all her years she had never been without guards in public, a fact Twilight had attributed to her keen awareness of the dangers of betrayal. She sat herself down on the throne slowly, gazing imperiously down on her subjects. She allowed the moment to linger before gesturing to Sounding Trumpet.

“All rise!” he yelled out, blowing his horn again. “Queen Luna will now hear your petitions.”

Slowly, the assembled audience got to its hooves. The chattering from before was gone, replaced by utter rapt attention. Luna nodded to Sounding, and his horn glowed as he held a long scroll in front of his face.

“Lord Blinding Light, Her Majesty will now hear your petition for redress of grievance against Legate Ivy Heart.”

The indicated stallion stepped out of the crowd. An older, light orange specimen, he wore a well-tailored shirt and coat in purple and green, his house colors.

“Your majesty,” he bowed low before regaining his hooves and beginning his speech. “Our house has served you and Izrador for generations. You know well that we have always been loyal, always contributed to the war efforts, always rooted out traitors wherever we have found them-”

“We would appreciate it if thou wouldst get to thy point. We have much work to do this night.”

Nopony knew why the queen insisted on speaking in such an archaic manner, nor why she had forbidden others from doing so. All they knew was that it was her will, and thus it was so,

Lord Light was clearly somewhat flustered at being interrupted, but quickly came to the conclusion that most of the ponies had: if Luna did not wish to indulge in the usual court theatrics, she must be very impatient and irritable indeed. A wise pony wouldn’t wish to draw her ire.

He cleared his throat, sweating slightly and tugging at his suddenly too-tight collar. “Of course, Your Majesty. My grievance is this: during a recent inspection of my family’s iron mines, Legate Heart confiscated over a score of earth pony slaves from my servants without explanation or compensation. Iron production subsequently fell by over twelve percent, forcing me to open my reserve stock to meet quota. I shall have to do so for at least another week until the replacements I purchased arrive. I seek compensation for the lost slaves, iron, and production.”

“And in what form dost thou seek thy compensation?”

“Your Majesty, I ask that-”

What Lord Light was going to ask Rarity never found out, for he was yet again cut off. This time, the interruption came from the doors bursting open and a soft purple unicorn storming in. The court gave a collective gasp at such raw impudence, and Luna narrowed her eyes in annoyance at the intruder. Any other pony would have been put to death on the spot for such insubordination, but Grand Legate Flashfire was the Order of the Shadow’s highest representative in Canterlot. She was known to be somewhat eccentric and usually avoided court, meaning that whatever had driven her here must be important.

“Speak,” Luna said, “What doth thou wish?”

Flashfire shook her head. “Not I. Our master would speak to you.”

Luna’s eyes went wide, then narrowed to slits. “Out,” she demanded, her voice dangerously low. “Out, all of you.”

Lord Light was utterly befuddled. “But, Your Majesty-”

The Nightmare Queen turned to stare at him. He ran from the court with his tail between his legs.

Rarity, in the crowd with the others, was already being seized by a will that wasn’t her own.

“I have to hear this. Izrador himself speaking to the traitor-witch? The sheer value of this conversation is beyond measure.”

“But I’m not sure even I can hide from-”

“Do it!” came the princess’s voice, in a tone that brooked no argument.

When Rarity looked, her feet had already started trying to wind their way out of the stampeding court ponies. She ducked, dodged, bumped, apologized, and generally found a path free with all the grace that could be expected from her. She didn’t see where her husband had gone, for which she was a little sorry. He was such a nervous wreck. If his “auntie” hadn’t intervened, a unicorn of such low magical talent almost certainly would have wound up sacrificed to a Black Mirror. His position and very existence were totally dependent on the good will of a volatile mare he knew full well was willing to kill even the closest of relations. It would be enough to drive anypony crazy with fear.

Still, her duty to the world’s future came before her sympathies to the stallion she had wed. If Princess Twilight wanted to hear this conversation, Lady Rarity would do her utmost to make it so. She made her way through the castle corridors until she found her usual small, out of the way storage chamber. She shed her outer lair of finery, even mussing her exquisitely-groomed mane. Underneath was a far simpler brown outfit, one often worn by menial castle servants. A small illusion concealed her horn from casual view. She wished she had the time and materials to die her coat a less vibrant color, but she hadn’t a moment to spare.

In her servant disguise, Rarity climbed a set of stairs to the level above the castle’s throne room. On the way, she had to dodge a pair of patrolling guards, silence an enchantment of detection, and hide herself beneath a bed in a servant’s quarters. Not many ponies knew it, but there was a tiny crack in the ceiling of the throne room that, with a little encouragement, had worked its way to the corner of the servant chamber. Thanks to the room’s odd acoustics, Luna’s propensity for loud speech, and Rarity’s own naturally keen hearing, by pressing her ear to the corner the white unicorn could just barely make out what was being said below. All she heard was the sound of one set of hooves hitting the stone floor over and over – presumably, the Nightmare Queen was pacing.

Rarity held still for several minutes, heart steadily beating faster as she imagined all the scenarios in which she might be caught. She was a spy, not a fighter, and the longer she stayed here the greater the odds became that somepony would wander in and capture her. She could call on a portion of Twilight’s power if needed, but that would expose her utterly. Still, the princess was adamant that Rarity hold her position until they had heard what was about to be said, and so she did.

Without warning, a spasm wracked Rarity’s body. She rolled away, flailing wildly, flecks of spit flinging from her open mouth. If her vocal cords had been working, she would have screamed. As it was, she kicked out and spasmed hard. She hit the bed and floor, making plenty of noise. Just as suddenly as they had started, the fits ended, and Rarity was instead enveloped in the sensation of extreme cold. She shivered, feeling like she was in a blizzard without the slightest shelter or heat.

“He’s here,” even Twilight’s voice was tinged with fear, “Listen, quickly!”

Slowly, mustering all the willpower she possessed, Rarity dragged herself back to the spot and pressed her ear to the ground.

“-canst thou not just send Sombra to do it? He is thy general, let him handle such a lowly task.”

“He has disappointed me of late.” Rarity felt like she was about to die. The voice she heard drove her to abase herself even as light and warmth seemed to disappear around her.

“This wast not our agreement, Izrador. We have more than fulfilled our end of the bargain. We are a queen, not an errand-foal.”

“A queen would control her subjects.”

“We do control our subjects!”

“Perhaps that explains why no less than three of them are eavesdropping on us at this very moment?”

Rarity’s blood chilled. Of course, how could a mere roof hope to hide her from a god? She’d be found, captured, dragged before him to have her soul flayed and her secrets pried out and…

“Get out of there! Now!”

Twilight’s voice snapped Rarity back to reality from her very vivid imaginations of the tortures she would endure. She had just begun moving when Luna spoke again.

“Bah! ‘Tis merely the court gossips! A few nights in chains should teach them some respect!”

“…As you say.”

When the guards stormed in moments later to arrest her, Rarity could have sobbed with relief.

Comments

[Snake Staff]

3735941

I'm not sure you've been reading this, or you might have noticed that they haven't. Also, you might wish to wait to see what actually happened between Luna and her sister before you make that call.

[Alex Wadegrove]

3735941 Cry harder. He can do whatever the hell he wants; it's fiction of already fictional characters.