There are still nights where I regret the things that I did. The choices that I made. I can say absolutely that I'm proud to be who I am - a Princess, a Princess who brings up the beautiful shining moon for all to see. That much I can feel my heart beat faster for. I can feel my chest swell with pride for that, but, no matter how nice it feels, it never lasts long enough for me to cherish the moment. Because right about then the guilt washes over me. The most I can do in these moments is be thankful that I'm alone. My knees buckle and suddenly I'm weeping on the floor, not caring how I look, just caring about what a monster I am. Just caring. Those things, that I did, I feel guilty for, afterwards. Yet no matter how awful and horrid I feel I can't shake it. I can't help the way everypony despises the cold, dark night. I can't help that, no matter how bright my moon and the twinkling stars glow, all they do is shut their eyes and hide away in their houses. I can't help my want to seek out the ones who have nightmares. Not to help them, though. To scold them. As their nightmares are about me, and I forbid anything of that sort. In no way will I let my subjects fear me! It's been too long, far too long, since I've been back from the moon, and I can't go back, there is no way, they must fear my actions, they must fear my choices, but they shall not cower, they shall rejoice... and those sort of outbursts are the reasons why I do what I do. Because no matter whether or not I choose to watch closely, I can see an alternate imagine of myself terrifying them. And that's my excuse. Whoever chooses to believe that I have justice to my reasons I'll let think so. But I know that once one pony learns the truth about my nights, then the fear will grow. Just more excuses for me to carry on with my nightly chores.
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Three light, but stern, knocks echoed down the empty hallway, where the only thing taking up space would be the knights armor positioned like real guards on either side in an even pattern. Other than that, orange sunlight poured through the open windows, accompanying the soft twitters of birds and the brushing of squirrels exploring branches on the outside. On the inside, standing in front of a particularly heavy door, with dark painting's of stars all along the outer fringe, was Princess Celestia. Pursing her lips, the fair Princess knocked on the door again, harder this time. No response. The royal white sighed, eyeing the door curiously. What in the world was her sister doing? The Princess knocked again, waiting afterwards, straining to hear the sound of hooves trotting to the door, or even a faint yawn.
Instead, Celestia was greeted by silence. With another grim expression and a long, tired, sigh, Princess Celestia's horn glowed white, and the royal golden doorknob began to turn. Just as the door was opened and Celestia took a half-step forward, it was flung open by none other than the very pony she had been looking for in the first place.
"Luna!" Celestia's magic failed, and the Solar Princess stepped back in surprise. "Where have you been? I knocked several times, and the sun has almost set." She hesitated again. "Though I didn't wake you, my sister?" The navy blue alicorn stepped into the bright hallway, her unusually large pupils shrinking inside of her dark irises. With a shy smile, the Lunar Princess nuzzled her older sister.
"No, I am alright. I was just.... ah..." Her mind picked up the first excuse that came to mind. "I was just busy." After a short moment passed and her older sister still appeared unconvinced, she added, "With stuff."
Princess Celestia nodded, her eyes narrowed slightly. "...right. Well, sister, I just came to alert you of the time." She teetered over Princess Luna's head, trying to see if any of the windows inside the darkened room were open, but at the precise moment her sister jumped out and slammed the door shut behind her.
"Uh... thank you, sister. I had not known the time. I will be outside to raise the moon.... promptly." With that Princess Luna started off down the hallway, but not before she slyly locked the door from inside. Whether or not Princess Celestia had been supposed to spot the quick moment where her sister's horn had glown blue or not, she had spotted it, and her already suspicious eyes narrowed even further. Surely Princess Luna was okay?
"Your Highness, I..." A husky voice from down the hallway turned the Solar Princess' attention from her peculiar sister back to her royal duties.
"Shining Armor, you know there is no need for any of those pleasantries any longer." She said with a kind smile, turning to face the white stallion.
"O-of course, Yo- I mean, Celestia." Blushing slightly, he carried on. "Twily - uh, I mean, Princess Twilight, wanted to talk to you about something. She didn't tell me about it or anything, but she did say that it was urgent. Follow me, please, Pr- Celestia." Returning the Princess' warm smile he started down the hallway, Celestia in tow. All thoughts of Princess Luna's odd behavior now vanished from mind, Celestia was now focused on what her past student could need. After all, she had more than enough books to teach herself everything she knew... lost in her thoughts, Princess Celestia hardly noticed when Shining Armor had come to a full stop. It was just pure luck that she didn't accidentally pull him undertow.
"Twilight, what is it you need?" The purple alicorn was standing in front of an old ram-shackle closet, her violet skin pale with whatever emotion was racing through her mind. "Twilight?" The Solar Princess asked once more, clearly concerned for her ex-student.
At that moment Twilight turned to face her older brother and past mentor, shaking slightly.
"P-Princess Celestia. I... I've f-found something..." Her eyes widened in fear, she motioned the two over to the wooden door. As the two came to her side, Twilight pointed a violet, shaking hoof towards the bottom part of the door, where the problem could immediately be spotted.
There was a small pool of blood, splattered on the purple carpets and dried on the bottom of the ramshackle wooden door.
Outside of the long windows dotted evenly on either side of the cobblestone hallway, snall bits of snow began to fall, just as the moon began to rise. Alone on the highest tower of the massive castle stood the Princess of the Night. Princess Luna elaxed her glare at the moon and looked down at her hooves. Inside of her mind, pieces and imagines ofn ghtmares containing her face flashed before her eyes. With a grimace, Princess Luna turned from the moon brightened balcony and bathed herself in the darkness behind her, slowly making her way down to the winding steps in which she came from. As her navy blue hoof hit the first step, a single tear fell down to her cheek.
"Why... why do I... fell this! Ugh!" The Lunar PRincess lashed out forcefully at the wall, somehow maintaining her grace and balance on the steep staircase. The candles above her flickered and the lanterns swished to and fro as the force of her back hooves met the stone wall. "Why in all of Equestria would I... how..." Through the heavy tremors of fear and guilt, Princess Luna began to feel something else. Witch each step down the cold, ever-winding staircase, the nightmares became more vivid, more gruesome, and more terrifying. By the time Princess Luna had met the last step of the stair case she was shaking fearfully, not knowing what to feel. It was also then that her guilt and sorrow began to surrender. A wave washed all of the remorse and depression back into her mind, and brought in a darker water, with no moonlight to remind it of day time.
A dark swirl of anger and purple fire began to swirl in the chest that Princess Luna had once puffed out with pride. Being a Princess was regal. Not easy.
"Tonight, I shall find them all..."
If somepony had been listening to Princess Luna's last sentence, one may have believe that it was Nightmare Moon speaking.
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"Detective T. L. DeCender reporting for duty." The deep chocolate incodren pushed his hair out of his equally dark eyes, and broguhtt his bade to Twilight's face.
"Princess Celstia and Princess Twilight - your majestie's, what can I do for you?" Twilight Sparkle blushes slightly, her already purple cheeks turning a violent shade of violet.
"Thank you for coming, Detective DeCender. I hope you'll assist us in keeping this quiet...?" The tone of Twilight's voice made it obvious that this question was not a matter of opinion, but an order - or, at least, a very kind one. Behind the purple alicorn, Princess Celestia nodded slowly in agreement. A moment after, DeCender followed suit.
"Of course, your majesties. My I ask what the problem is?" The unicorn eyed the two inquisitively, not knowing what in all of Equestria could be important enough to hire a detective for.
Twilight teetered on the edge of speaking, but just as she opened her mouth to speak, she snapped in shut, and moved back a step. The purple alicorn tossed a meaningful glance up at her former mentor, who nodded and stepped forward instead.
"If you'll please follow us, Detective." The dark chocolate unicorn nodded seriously, using his magic to levitate a small note pad and pen in front of his face. Immediately Princess Celestia turned around, walking off in the direction of the door. As the three walked, Princess Celestia spoke to DeCender.
"You see, Detective, two days ago Princess Twilight found... Princess Twilight found blood stains in this castle." The detective's eyes widened, but he nodded seriously. Just as Princess Luna began to speak again, the Detective began to scribble furiously on his note pad. "That was two days ago. We explored the door it was on, adnd the room - it was my younger sister's old bedroom - to no avail." Celestia paused for a moment, letting the Detective catch up on his notes. He nodded once he was done, listening just as intently as he had been before.
"The three of us - that is, Twilight, her brother, Shining Armor, and I - we were fully prepared to let the situation die out. We allowed none to enter that coridoor, but we did not remove the stain for... for ease of access." Celestia added with a grimace.
"But yesterday Shining Armor found something else. A window on the fourth floor had been shattered open, and the broken glass both on the window and ground had blood stains on the edges.... yet another hallway had to be closed off, to protect the evidence. That was yesterday evening. I'll be happy to show you both pieces of evidence, and I was... strongly hoping you could help us gain some ground on this." Princess Celestia ended the explanation with a grimace, and blinked as the Detective furiously scribbled on his note pad.
"Oh, also," Twilight jumped in earnestly. "I did a bit of... well, detective work myself, and I ruled out a few. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Shining Armor, and I are most definitely out." At that piece of information, the Detective rolled his eyes behind his notepad. "We did a bit of background on some of the Knights, and nothing seemed out of place. Though, in all technicality, anypony from the Royal Guard is a possibility."
Conveniently enough, it was just then that the three arrived at the ramshackle door where the first piece of evidence had been found. Looking down at the bottom of the door, all three of their expressions changed.
Princess Celestia's eyes widened, and her pearly white knees grew stiff.
Twilight grew pale just as she had two days prior, and quickly the violet alicorn began to quiver violently in her very own purple skin.
DeCender stared at the bottom of the door, his dark brown eyes searching uneasily for the blood stain that was no longer there.
