Cadence, the Princess of Love. A pony who had given her love to all, and spread it wherever she went. She had not even come into her own as a ruler, for the Crystal Empire remained sealed away. The coroner had done an admirable job of hiding the rot, Luna thought, but over a month alone in a cave would do horrible things to a corpse, even if the pony hadn’t died by starvation beforehoof. Luna’s keen eyes picked out the missing feathers, the holes the coroner had missed or been unable to entirely conceal. She tried not to eye the poor young alicorn’s lips - those had been rotten away entirely, and the false cover for them was almost horrifyingly obvious to her immortal eye. There was only so much they could do...
Cadence was to be laid down next to her fiance, Shining Armor. A stallion whose entire life had revolved around protecting others. The two had not technically ever been wed, but Luna had thought they would have wanted it this way in any case, and her family concurred. The stallion’s mind had been eaten away by Chrysalis, and she had allowed it to burn away entirely once her deception had been revealed. Of the four, he looked the closest to unharmed, the tears of blood long since cleaned from his coat.
Twilight Sparkle would be laid down with the rest of her family, but for the actual funeral she was presented next to the others. It was arguable that she should not have been there - she’d been only a lowly apprentice after all. (The pony who had argued that would probably regain her hearing in a few months - the Royal Canterlot Voice was not kind) But Luna knew full well what Celestia had wanted for Twilight - one day, the student would surpass the teacher and succeed the throne of Equestria. She had saved her nation half a dozen times over, perhaps more. She was magic, and the strongest spellcaster of this generation, possibly the strongest since Starswirl and Meadowbrook. She didn't deserve death, but she deserved this place of honor.
And lastly, there lay Celestia.
Even in death, she was the picture of regal perfection and the beauty of the morning sun. Her hooves had been placed together, and she still wore the royal ornamentation she had died in. Her body had been broken and shattered mere days ago, but now… she might have been sleeping.
A thousand years ago, Luna remembered wanting nothing more than the sight before her now. She’d wanted nothing more than to kill her own sister, and to be there when she was buried. So that she could laugh at the foalish sister who had denied her her birthright.
Now she wanted nothing more than to trade places - to be the corpse, and her sister the ruler.
The irony was not lost on the Princess of the Night.
“What is she doing here?”
”Where was she when her sister was dieing?”
“Night mare indeed...”
Nor, it seemed, on her subjects.
“Scum.”
“Usurper.”
She tried to ignore them as she gave a eulogy for each of the four to be buried. Throughout it all, she maintained her regal posture and every ounce of strength she could muster.
The Royal Wedding had been a trap, of sorts. Princess Cadence had been replaced by the changeling queen Chrysalis, and had used the opportunity to wed Shining Armor and do everything possible to pull love from his mind.
Twilight Sparkle had crashed the wedding with the real Cadence’s long rotted corpse, forcing the queen to reveal herself early. The Queen had fought Celestia, and Twilight had gone to get the elements of harmony. Twilight never returned.
While Celestia had not lived through her second and final duel with the love-empowered Chrysalis, her sacrifice had bought Canterlot the time needed to rally. The batponies that served as Luna’s personal guard had been called in, and over the course of a day exterminated the changeling horde. Unfortunately, Shining Armor’s mind had been burned away as Chrysalis drew on every last drop of emotion she could to fight the alicorn.
And so, Celestia and Shining Armor had died. Twilight had been killed by the changelings sent to secure the elements, and her friends had died with her. They were having their own funerals at home - Luna would attend those as well.
Luna wasn’t sure what she said in her eulogy - she remembered seeing ponies nod along, and once or twice had even heard a chuckle. She wished she could remember what she’d said that was so funny. She remembered Twilight and Shining’s family, the mother all but a zombie and the father sobbing uncontrollably. There was a lot of ceremony and pomp, and when the four were finally lowered, Luna looked to the sun.
… She didn’t want to lower it.
Ironic, again. But this… this would be the last time Celestia’s sun shone down upon... well, Celestia. She had spent over a millennium and a half performing this sacred duty, and… putting it down now would signal the end of that era. Luna kept thinking that at any moment Celestia would spring up from her grave, clop her hooves together, smirk and mutter ‘just as planned’.
Did you feel like this when you had to banish me, sister?
She gulped and reached out with her magic.
Celestia was going to jump out and scare her.
The sun began to sink low on the horizon, wobbling a bit from Luna’s inexperience with the sun.
Any second now.
The sky turned from yellow to crimson, and from crimson to gray.
… It was over.
Luna would stay by Celestia’s grave all night, shooing away her guards and all her subjects. She wanted to cry. She wanted to cry over her sister for a long, long time.
And Princesses let no one see them cry.
The sun rose on the horizon, wobbling a bit from Luna's inexperience.
The door to Luna’s bedchamber swung open with a loud thud. The familiarity of the navy drapes, black bedsheets and deep purple frame brought her no comfort. She laid down and sobbed into her pillows.
The Princess of the Night was alone.
“Oh my.” A familiar voice sneered. “How very… well, I was going to say sad, but it’s kind of pathetic actually.”
Luna’s magic struck the tile with enough force to crack the stone beneath the carpet.
“Now now.” Celestia chuckled, floating just above where the magic struck. “That’s hardly how you’re supposed to greet a guest, sister dear.”
Luna glared.
“What?” Celestia blinked. “Are you not surprised I am alive?”
“The first thing we did when we learned of your attack,” Luna said quietly, “was devise a way to see through changeling transformations. Our guards may not be able to use it, but I can. Drop it, and we shall drop this tower on you.”
"Don't you mean 'or'?"
"We do not. Prepare thyself for battle."
“‘We’? Oh, the royal plural.” ‘Celestia’ was engulfed in green fire, and the changeling queen rolled her eyes. “Very well.” She said dryly. “Skipping the theatrics, I’m here to parley with you.”
The light drained out of the room, and Luna’s fury blazed white-hot in her eyes. “PARLEY?!?! YOU MURDEROUS-”
“Murderous love-sucking parasite, yes yes, I’ve heard it before.” Chrysalis raised an… eyebrow? Eye ridge? “But wouldn’t Celestia want you to talk rather than fight?”
Luna could feel the changeling magic in her mind - she knew full well Chrysalis was trying to manipulate her… but… she was right. Celestia would have talked. “What do you want?”
The changeling queen’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not about what I want - you know what I want. I’m going to offer you a way to get what you want.”
It was Luna’s turn to sneer. “What could you possibly offer us?”
“I offer you a chance to stabilize Equestria.”
“Ha! You destabilized it in the first place.”
“That is one perspective.” Chrysalis agreed, alighting on the carpet. “But that doesn’t change the facts. There are whispers of war - there are many in the nobility and commoners who want to dethrone you. They think you arranged Celestia’s death for your own personal gain.” She grinned. “And I can give them to you. My changelings are everywhere in Equestria - Canterlot was to be only the first city to fall. They will know precisely where your enemies are.”
Luna filed that information away - there were changelings all across Equestria. “And I suppose you want to be me in exchange?”
“Of course not. I cannot imitate an alicorn of your power - Cadence was relatively weak and inexperienced. And more importantly, her powers did not alter the sky.” She smirked and transformed once more.
“No, Chrysalis will die soon enough. I will be Starlight Glimmer.” Chrysalis batted her new forms’ eyelashes and stepped closer to Luna. “In a week, we will meet at a pub and have a few drinks. In a few months, we will be married. I will have the power of the Princess’ bride - and the prime minister, for that matter - with which to conduct my operations.”
Luna scowled. She did like the form Chrysalis had taken (dat flank), but she’d really wanted to try out a stallion this century, and that hair was atro- wait, that wasn’t the problem, this creature was an abomination! “And why precisely should we not just vaporize you and be done with it?”
‘Starlight’s’ smile faded. “Do that, and my entire hive will know, and act on their orders. In the event of my murder, they will kill every single pony that they can before you put them down. Thousands will die. And when all is said and done, you will still have a rebellion on your hooves that will cost millions of lives. Or you can have a beautiful mare in your bed for years, help me fake my death, and keep your precious nation intact.”
Luna was silent.
“Well, my dear Luna?” Starlight Glimmer purred. “What shall it be?”
It was very well done, Luna thought.
She wasn’t sure what changeling had to play the unfortunate role of their queen’s doppelganger, but the creature’s illusion of a broken changeling queen held tightly before all the flashing cameras and cheery faces. Luna had learned over the last few weeks that a Queen's transformation was physical, while a drone's was largely an illusion. Starlight Glimmer gladly and proudly spoke of their daring tracking and murder of the once-proud changeling queen. The new scar of crystal that ran across the mountains behind Canterlot was said to be part of Luna’s ultimate vengeance upon the monster.
Another lie to add to the pile, Luna supposed. At least the nobles had begun to quiet down.
The changelings were themselves pulling a very convincing act - they pretended that Chrysalis had been a queen like Celestia or Luna was a princess; they had followed solely because she bore political power. Luna knew that the changelings worked by a hive mind - while Chrysalis’ death could potentially give the remaining changelings free will, they obeyed because they had no choice, and knew full well this death was a fake.
Starlight’s proud smile faltered often over the course of the proceedings - whenever Chrysalis’ ‘body’ was insulted and spit upon, or her death cheered to the skies. Even some of the changelings spat and cheered as part of the act.
Luna placed a comforting hoof around her ‘lover’s’ shoulder, smiling a bit. It was remarkably easy to love a changeling that wanted you to love them. Luna’s heart was fluttering every time she saw Starlight now.
Starlight’s smirk was cruel. In the back of Luna’s mind, she knew that Chrysalis had planned this from the beginning - Starlight would be Luna’s lover, and Luna would never even care to send her away.
Luna kissed Starlight’s lips.
The wedding to Starlight Glimmer was the happiest day of Luna’s life.
… Well okay, she’d been married once or twice before (500 years before she was banished to the moon is a mighty long time) but they’d been nothing quite like this. As she looked deep into Starlight Glimmer’s eyes, she felt nothing but joyous adoration for the mare she loved. No doubt, like her second wedding. No fear or nervousness, like the first. And no desire to run away like the third (that she actually had run away from, because her future husband turned out to be a giant squid monster, but that was another story).
She didn’t need to pretend for the cameras anymore as she pressed her lips to Starlight’s. She didn’t need to resist as she felt Starlight feed off of her love. There was no need at all.
This was only the start of so many happy memories together. Luna knew it.
And Starlight Glimmer’s grin was infectious. She leaned in close to Luna’s ear as the bells began to ring and whispered “Just. As. Planned.”
Luna felt a thrill run through her at those words.
It was their tenth anniversary, and Luna hadn’t felt so happy in a long time. Starlight Glimmer was the best lover Luna had ever had, and the nobility had finally accepted her rule with all the enthusiasm of Celestia. Luna had brought Starlight a bottle of fine wine for their evening alone, away from the machinations of the court and the common pony.
Starlight’s smile as she sipped up the wine was the most beautiful thing Luna had ever seen.
“Mmm, such an obedient bride.” Starlight sneered. “It’s hard to believe that ten years ago you were my enemy.” She clinked her glass against Luna’s. “And now you’re thoroughly under my hoof. It's even even harder to believe your mind has lasted for so long - I've been taking it easy on you, but anypony else would surely have burned away after ten years of this. How does it feel, Princess?”
“Wonderful.” Luna smiled. Starlight loved to play this game. She would pretend that she was an evil monster that had taken Luna’s mind. It was one of Luna’s favorites.
“Pathetic.” Starlight laughed, downing the entire glass of wine. “Tell me you’re worthless, lover.”
“Well, Flea Market was pretty bad, though with a name like ‘Flea Market’ we probably should’ve seen that coming.”
It took Starlight a moment to realize why she’d said that. “Ah.” Starlight smirked and poured herself another glass. Luna hadn’t finished hers yet. “Funny.”
“I’m glad you think so, my darling.” Luna smiled sleepily. Such a lovely voice, Starlight had.
“Let’s try that again, shall we. Tell me, Luna, that you are a pathetic worthless being who is fucking her sister’s murderer.”
Luna set down her still-full glass, her smile never wavering. “We are a pathetic worthless being who is fucking our sister’s murderer over.”
Starlight’s smirk faltered. “What did you say?”
Luna’s own smile faded away.
Starlight coughed, and blood suddenly stained the floor. Her glass fell out of her magic grip and shattered against the carpet and tile.
Luna noted that it was the same spot she’d scorched all those years ago. She wished she could say she’d planned that.
“Y- what have you done?!” Starlight- No, Chrysalis snarled.
“You let your guard down.” Luna said quietly, pouring her wine onto the carpet. “A mere decade is all it took? Truly? That’s not the time to form a bond, that’s a pit stop. Even ignoring our time on the moon, we’ve lived 500 years.”
Starlight collapsed, coughing.
“The poison in you now is a little something the Zebra created. They call it kaftan dilka, the Killing Joke.” Luna said quietly. “First goes your magic - ALL of your magic. The changelings’ hive mind with you will be broken, and you will be unable to change. And then your body will shut down from the heart outward. In less than a day, it will look like natural causes. Even to your fellow changelings.”
“H… how?!” Chrysalis gasped. “I… made you… love me…”
Luna nodded. “We do love you, Starlight Glimmer.”
Chrysalis convulsed one last time. Her eye continued to dart around.
“But I loved my sister more.” Luna wiped up the blood forming on ‘Starlight Glimmer’s’ mouth with a small cloth. “Enjoy your stay in hell.”
Luna led the final procession for Starlight Glimmer’s funeral. As Prime Minister, she received a full state funeral, and Luna was properly miserable and teary for the whole affair.
Princess Luna had her revenge. She had rid herself and her nation of a powerful enemy. And perhaps most importantly, she had a stabilized Equestria once more.
She hoped that wherever Celestia was, she was proud.
Luna tried not to smile as she leaned down to kiss Starlight Glimmer’s eyes good-bye.
Just as planned.