Imperial Affairs

by The Sound of Loneliness

A New Face on the Moon

“Your Majesty, I must ask you to reconsider. Surely you haven’t forgotten your promises.” Rarity spoke reluctantly, carefully choosing her words.
She couldn’t risk saying a single word that could be considered disrespectful—not to someone like Nightmare Moon and especially not around her always-present guards.

“And this is precisely why she must be sent away,” Nightmare Moon let a hint of irritation slip into her voice. “Would you rather see her dead, Rarity?”

“I... N-no, Empress.” Rarity had to pause to swallow a sudden lump in her throat.

“Good. I knew you would see reason, Rarity. After all, you are my most cherished advisor.” Rarity wisely said nothing in response.

Rarity thought she heard a guard behind her chuckling. To even simple grunts, who were only here to carry the chest with the Elements, her true role was no secret.

They walked silently for a few moments, but Rarity could feel their exchange wasn’t over yet. The air had begun to swell with pressure. Rarity could not bear it. She looked up at her Empress. Rarity knew full well what a repugnant creature she had ended up serving—but she couldn’t help but feel awed by her.

The black mare was wearing her new, silver tiara adorned with numerous gems, gleaming in the moonlit corridor. Her polished shoes and white gold necklace shone brilliantly. The necklace was set with the most perfect, twinkling emerald Rarity had ever seen. It had been gifted to the new sovereign by a griffon diplomat from a faraway land to indicate their good will. Rarity delivered the package herself.
Nightmare Moon’s slitted pupils moved to stare back at Rarity. Rarity quickly looked away but the Empress had already noticed her bewilderment. She smiled down to her advisor like a cat would smirk at a mouse—yet this look didn’t feel malicious, weirdly.

"Isn’t the rebuilt palace a miracle, Rarity?" Nightmare Moon suddenly spoke up, catching poor Rarity off guard. "The walls masoned from wondrous gleaming stone, softly lighting the halls at night—and the towers shine with silver in the moonlight. Guests always say they thought it was a mirage. And it was all only rebuilt in a single year. Quite a feat, especially considering the original castle took ten years to complete. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Rarity struggled to pinpoint Nightmare Moon’s intentions this time, but she knew better than to resist.

“Certainly, Your Majesty. But don’t forget the interior! Such magnificent tapestries and carpets. And, of course, no one will ever forget seeing the new throne room and its carefully restored stained glass windows complete with newly added murals,” Rarity cautiously answered. She had quite a number of similar discussions such as this during her life as a Canterlot designer. She even managed to suppress her stuttering despite the creature she spoke to.

Nightmare Moon laughed at her response. Rarity sighed in relief, recognizing the Empress was simply playing with her again.

“Yes, the interior is most certainly regal too, Rarity. But it wouldn’t be half as beautiful without you, my dear. Never forget you made nearly half of it yourself,” Nightmare Moon spoke with the sort of affection Rarity would give to Opalescence. “Come now, Rarity. Let’s not keep our prized guests waiting.”

The Empress, her advisor and the Imperial Guards tasked with carrying the chest together approached a pair of fluted, ebony doors where another pair of guards stood. They saluted their approaching Empress and were quick to open the doors for her. The Empress’ private balcony awaited beyond. Normally, it was privately reserved for her and foreign guests in the Imperial palace, but today a crowd had assembled.

In the middle of the balcony floor a chalk-white magical circle gleamed, surrounded by runes and inscriptions Rarity couldn’t make sense of. Twilight probably could, though. She studied them for at least 20 minutes before Rarity and her Empress arrived with the Elements. The rest of her friends were present too. Rainbow Dash gave Rarity a fierce look and Applejack refused to give even that simple gesture. Pinkie didn’t bother to lift her eyes from the floor and Fluttershy couldn’t even bring herself to look at Nightmare Moon. The poor pegasus had a lot of excuses to be afraid recently.

Celestia was there too, directly in the center of the circle. Rarity guessed some sort of magical barrier was present and the six, rifle-armed guards surrounding everyone assured Twilight didn’t try to break it. The young alicorn knew better than anypony that magical barriers were too frail to adequately protect from bullets.

“Luna!” Celestia called out, “Sister! I know you can hear me in there!” Stripped of her jewellery and position, Celestia was now hardly as imposing as she once was. “Send me away! Kill me, if you must, but I beg you! Push this thing away from yourself! Do not let it destroy everything we built together! Our ponies need you more than ever, sister.”

Nightmare Moon listened to Celestia’s plea without moving a single muscle before breaking into an amused smile.

“Goodness, Celestia! Have dignity! You are a princess, even in defeat. You had your chance to beg and you know you wasted it. Do not grovel for nothing.”
The Sun Princess for a moment looked like she wanted to respond but instead she sadly bowed her head, accepting her failure.

“Now then, give them their gems.”

By the Empress’ order the two guards opened the chest they carried, revealing the tools which Rarity and her friends were to use.

One by one each mare took her gem and proceeded to her place around the circle, with Fluttershy being helped by Pinkie.
After ensuring every mare was where she was supposed to be, Nightmare Moon gave the order: “You may begin, Twilight.”

But the young Princess still hesitated.

“Do it, Twilight,” Celestia uttered. “You have no choice. She will get rid of me regardless of your help. Don’t hurt yourself over a lost cause.” Tears had already run down Celestia’s cheeks, “Remember, Twilight, you will always be my star pupil. Stay safe and keep your friends well. That is all you can do.”

Rarity couldn’t contain her own tears any longer—none of her friends could.

“I will never forget you, Princess! None of us will! I promise!”

“I know, Twilight. Thank you. Goodbye, my little ponies.” Celestia collected the final bits of her shattered pride and stood upright, awaiting the execution of the Empress’ sentence.

“Goodbye, Princess,” Twilight murmured. The young princess looked like she might collapse any second.

After gathering the remnants of her strength, Twilight Sparkle channelled the power of her crown, extending lines of light towards all of the other elements. The magical circle was becoming so bright it was painful to look at. The bat pony guards turned away, their sensitive eyes unable to handle the glaring display.
A brilliant pillar of light burst into the sky, towards the moon. No less than a second later the light was gone. The magical circle no longer gleamed and the Princess was no longer with them.

Twilight collapsed on the spot. Rainbow Dash and Applejack tried to find solace in each other’s hooves, or maybe they tried to physically support each other and not copy Twilight. Rarity tried her best to comfort Fluttershy, who was by this point weeping. Even Pinkie couldn’t resist despair. She simply sat there with her face uncharacteristically serious and her mane and tail straight, without any hint of the usual curls.

Nightmare Moon stared back at the face now looking down at her sadly from the moon and deeply grinned. Vengeance as it’s best served: cold.
She called upon the sergeant of the squad of guards.

“Prepare a carriage and send these six back to Ponyville. Make sure they get there. But first, give them an hour.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” The guard answered readily, but his tone betrayed him.

Nightmare Moon nodded and entered her palace. The six weren't in shape to move now. In fact, nopony was. A little time from her majestic night could be spared to let her little ponies to pull themselves together.

How quaint. They thought their helmets would help them hide tears.

Comments

[Odd_Sarge]

Fantastic intro! I'm not sure where this will go, but I'm really enjoying it so far.

[Batpony46]

Nice start will be looking forward to this

[The_Darker_Fonts]

I love it so far. Little edit you could use

After gathering the remains of her strength for a few long moments, Twilight Sparkle channeled the power of her crown, extending lines of light towards all other elements. A moment later, the magical circle already was so bright it hurted to look at. The bat ponies in the guard had it the worst, their sensitive eyes couldn’t take this much light, they had to turn away or risk falling blind. Another moment later a brilliant pillar of light bursted into the sky, towards the moon. A second later the light was gone, the magical circle no longer gleamed and the Princess was no longer with them.

Hurted should be changed to "was painful" and bursted to burst.

[The Sound of Loneliness]

10316569
Indeed, I could. Apparently, finding someone both competent and willing enough to help me out with this thing here is quite challenging.