Hush Now

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.