Queen Nightmare Moon

by Makitk

Chapter 6

There was a loud crash of metal impacting with stone in the hallway leading up to the Queen's chambers, followed by a softer thud and some ringing of metal rolling across the floor. The ringing stopped abruptly, but then approaching hoofbeats replaced its sound.

Nightmare Moon sat up straight in her bed from the first noise, startled out of a restless slumber.

"Hail Contrail," one of the pair of male guards at the door spoke - louder than Nightmare Moon would have wished.

"Is the Queen still asleep?" a mare's voice asked in reply.

Nightmare Moon rolled out of bed and sighed to herself. "I have to get these doors soundproofed."

"Last I checked, yes," the guard continued unabated. "You have some wax on your tail there."

"Oh, yeah, I missed the candelabra by an inch there. Who moved it?" Contrail replied.

"Actually," the other guard started, "I think I heard the Queen's bed creak. She may be awake."

Nightmare Moon used her magic to pull the door to her bedchamber open, grab hold of Contrail as the mare was trying to pull the wax from her tail, pulled the Lunar Pegasus into the room, and then smacked the door close again.

"I can hear you talking, bloody morons," she grumbled, looking around for her crown while her personal messenger was blinking her eyes to the darkness which enveloped every inch of the room.

"My Queen," Contrail spoke, bowing low as soon as she figured out which of the shapes around her was the Alicorn in question. Her movement made something small roll out of the pouch she had strapped to her side, and the thick rug covering the room's floor was the only thing preventing it from ringing out again as it fell down.

"That would be me, yes," Nightmare Moon agreed, stepping brusquely past her to retrieve her crown from the other side of the room. "Who put my crown on my dresser?!? It's supposed to be on my nightstand, darnit."

There was a thud behind her as the Lunar Pegasus pony had tried to turn to keep facing her while at the same time attempting to retrieve the metal object from the floor, resulting in her now laying on her side on the floor with the item between her teeth.

The Queen turned to face her while moving her crown on top of her head with her magic, then raised the eyebrow above her pink gemstone eye. "You worry me sometimes, Contrail dear."

Contrail smirked up from her position on the floor, and spat the item from her mouth again. "I'm sorry, my Queen."

Nightmare Moon stepped to within a few inches of the other, then sank through her unshod hooves to lay on the floor with Contrail. "What have you brought me today?"

The Lunar Pegasus mare grinned up as her Queen took the rare opportunity of their relative aloneness to show how kind she could be with her, and nuzzled the metal thing closer. "It's a hornring, my Queen. It's used by the Unicorn dayponies near the East Coast during weddings; they put one on each other to symbolize the bond between mare and stallion. They are only ever made in pairs, and each set is unique."

The dark Alicorn lifted the item up to get a better look at it, noticing the quality of the work done on the ring. "This must have been made by a master artisan to be sure," she realized at once.

The gold ring itself was slightly slanted, to account for the tapering of a unicorn's horn, and had fine cursive lettering engraved on the inside, in lines barely a hair's width. The outside of the ring was rounded around some small gemstones, engraved lines mimicking rolling waves connecting one to the other.

"I'm sorry I could only take the one with, but the other is kept by the artisan in question; a Unicorn by the name of Sparkle the Engraver," Contrail explained. "He said the wedding is in a few weeks' time, and would only hear of your offer if you would come to be present for the festivities to show you are, how did he say this? 'A Queen who cares for the little ponies'?"

Nightmare Moon lowered the ring and glared over it in the Lunar Pegasus mare's direction.

"I'm just repeating what he said, my Queen," Contrail mumbled weakly, looking back with her own gemstone eye and proper slitted one.

The Queen waved the mare's concerns away with a shake of her head and softening of her expression. "You are about the only one in this realm who has nothing to fear from me, my child," she spoke in barely a whisper.

The other mare nodded slowly to that, inching a bit closer to her Queen. "I know, my Queen... but you are still intimidating when something rouses your anger."

Nightmare Moon gave a quick nod to that, putting the ring back in the other's pouch so she would not fumble it herself. "Instinct can be a wonderful thing. The audacity of that artisan... to call me out like that," she snorted, narrowing her eyes.

"He feels secure in knowing he is the best there is in his field, my Queen. It makes him bold and forward, and dismissive of others," Contrail sighed. "But it is his one and only requirement before he would agree to work as the Royal Jeweler."

"I should go there with a detachment of my Nightguard and force him back here in chains," the Queen mused, an evil grin forming on her face before she winced suddenly and looked away from the other.

"I saw nothing," Contrail coughed uneasily, also looking away, "but if I may make a suggestion? It is an invitation to a party, my Queen... and we have had so few of those recently."

"My sister and this infernal hunt for the remaining Elements has been keeping me occupied," Nightmare Moon sighed, reaching up to rub a hoof at her right temple. "I guess I am due some entertainment."

"If you let me, I could deliver them the news and see to it that the party is in your honor, my Queen?" the mare suggested, an odd shine passing over the gemstone wedged in her skull.

The Queen looked her over for a moment, seeing the eagerness in her. "Promise me you will not burst out in excited yelling if I agree," she muttered. "I only woke up moments ago and will need refreshment before I can handle that."

The mare before her sat up and crossed her left hoof in front of her chest, grinning up at her. "I promise, my Queen!"

Nightmare Moon winced lightly at the, already too excited, exclamation, then gave a slow nod. "See my sister first and be sure she is awake, inform her of our plans, get yourself some refreshments and a rest, and then be on your way again. When I arrive, I expect that party to be big enough to fully ingrain in them the knowledge I am here to stay."

"And to give your blessings to the happy couple, my Queen?" Contrail suggested.

"Yes, yes, that too," the Alicorn mumbled. "Stars, you're getting as bad as my sister."

"I'm eager to help out in any way I can, my Queen," the mare grinned back, putting her right hoof against the side of her head as a salute.

"Aren't you gone yet?" Nightmare Moon wondered with a smile at the other's antics. "Fly safely, my child."

"Yes, my Queen!" Contrail exclaimed, then made for the doors as they opened, skidded across the floor outside the Queen's chambers, bumped her rear into the wall opposite it, and then set off at breakneck speeds through the hallway.

"Ack, careful!" a voice down in the hall cried out, and some clattering followed, leaving Nightmare Moon rolling her healthy eye in its socket. Her gemstone eye just did not want to do that. At all. No matter how much she had tried in front of a mirror.

The guards peered into the room from where they stood on opposite sides of her door, and the Queen narrowed her eyes at them. "Get me the maester builder. I need this door soundproofed before I lay my head down to rest again."

"Yes, my Queen," the guard closest to the staircase stated, quickly leaving his post while she shut the door again with her magic.

"A party in the East," Nightmare Moon muttered to herself, falling sideways on the lush thick blue wall-to-wall carpet which felt so nice and soft under her hooves. "I must have the tailor make me a new dress for the occasion."

A moment passed with dress ideas going by in her head, then she lifted it with a start. "Oh!"

The door swung open as her magic grabbed it firmly, and she stood next to the remaining guard an instant later, staring him down.

"Get me Merryweather and Starstruck on the double," she demanded of him. "I need to prepare my sister for a party."