It was a wondrous night in Canterlot as I finished adjusting the stars. Of course, every day and night was wondrous now – by my own decree. No more sister. No more sun. Just the soft moonlight and playfully twinkling stars.
“Kibitz!” Our royal voice echoed through the mountain range of the new capital – a capital I had had no part in choosing. Part of me wanted to change that, and uproot the entire capital back to the Everfree: my Everfree. Part of me wanted to go even further and build my own capital just as my oh-so-precious sister had done. And still, part of me listened to the echoes.
There was something satisfying to the acoustics of these mountains. Whenever I spoke, ponies would hear. I could appreciate the wisdom of that in my cursed sister’s choice, so… perhaps I might keep the place after all.
“Kibitz!” I called again, cracking the marble underhoof in my impatience.
The marble… was far too white. If I kept the capital, I would definitely need to heavily remodel it with more onyx and silver. It would be expensive, no doubt, but money wasn’t an issue when I had all the time in the world.
“Kibitz!”
“I— I am r-right here, Your Highness.” At last my seneschal appeared, panting and wheezing as he crawled through the door. “Y-you need only call once, though. It—” he gasped for air, “—t-takes t-time for me to climb to the top of the tallest spire in all of Canterlot.”
“Ah, my apologies.” I bowed my head. “I keep forgetting your lack of wings. Back before my sister—” he flinched as I said the word, “—usurped me, yours was a family of pegasi. In all honesty, you have performed admirably given the state of things.”
Yes, there was no need to replace him yet.
I looked out over the principality: my principality. No longer was it a diarchy, nor was it hers. “Tell me then, Kibitz. What is on the itinerary for today?”
Scrambling to his hooves, the old pony pulled out a thick black book and began to page through it. “Well, the griffons arrived yesterday, demanding to know what happened to Princess Cel— your sister!”
He hacked his lungs out some more, clearly still light headed from his climb. I said nothing, of course, for I can be just as merciful as my sister. There was nothing wrong with a small slip up here or there as long as he remembered.
No more sister. No more sun.
“There’s…” he hesitated, “...a session of open court scheduled, should you wish to hold it, and then, finally, there’s your lesson with Twilight Sparkle.”
I arched my brow. “Has she come to her senses since our last session?”
Kibitz bit his lip. “I-I don’t believe you’d find it that way, Your Highness…. She has, at the least, stopped declaring her undying vengeance when anypony nears her after you allowed her brother and Prin— Lady Cadance to visit.”
I tsked. “A shame. I cannot simply let her talent go to waste. It seems another disciplinary session will be in order, then. Make sure the switches are suitably supple this time. Test them personally, if you must. It will do young Twilight no good if they cannot handle the punishment I have in mind.”
“Yes, Your Highness…. As you say, Your Highness….”
I ignored his resigned sigh. “Come then! Let us deal with the griffons!”
I leapt from my spire and began to circle down to the courtyard below. As I glided, the wind cut through my coat and feathers – delightfully chill for the normally oppressive heat of the summer. Candles and torches alighted the many windows of the castle: my castle.
Each twinkled like one of my stars above. Alas, if the castle had only been done in onyx and silver rather than marble and gold, then the palace would truly reflect the beauty above.
Still, there was work to be done before I tackled that problem.
I alighted upon the ground, and began to stride through the grounds toward the guest wing. As I strode up the steps to the entrance, I made my presence known by thrusting the doors open so that their slams echoed through the hall. Much like the zebras and minotaurs before them, I fully intended on giving the griffons fair warning.
“It has been long since I lasted hunted, griffons!” My royal voice carried down the hall and, indeed, through the whole building – perhaps the mountain if I was lucky. “Prepare yourselves, for soon I will see just how cunning you are compared to your ancestors of long ago!”
Moving swiftly down the halls, I soon found myself at the rooms sized for griffons. I opened the doors to find the first room empty, window ajar. The second was in a similar state, and by the time I opened the third I was beginning to sense a pattern.
Running to the window, I made sure they could hear me, wherever they were. “Cowards! You dare run from the prospect of such a glorious hunt beneath the stars? Are you so easily frightened by something as trivial as the mandraboara! Fie, they are naught compared to the hydras I hunted with the griffons of old! Your ancestors would be ashamed!”
“I-I believe, Your Highness, t-that they thought you were to be hunting them, not hunting with them.” Kibitz – late as ever – gulped down mouthfuls of air as he finally caught up.
“T’would be barbaric to do that!” I frowned deeply. “Besides, if I wished them dead, I’d need only scare them to death as they slept! I am not the Mistress of Dreams and Nightmares for nothing!”
“Forgive me, Your Highness, but must you shout that such that the whole of Equestria can hear it?” he sighed.
“Of course!” I bared my fangs in a grin. “It is only proper that all of Equestria hears the might of their proper ruler, is it not? That is arguably the only good aspect of my sister’s—” he flinched again, “—choice in capitals.”
He sighed. “As you wish, then, your Highness…. You dealt with the griffons most… expediently, however, so you’re free for an hour or so until court.”
“Very well, then.” I smiled. “If you need me, I shall be in the dungeons until then.”
Kibitz winced. “I am unsure that’s—”
“Are you questioning me, Kibitz?” I turned my gaze on him, and he instantly prostrated himself.
“No, Your Highness!” He quivered, sweat beading his brow. “I-I am merely worried for you! You are never yourself after you’ve been there to tend to the Prin— prisoners!”
With all the speed of a glacier, I lowered my head to stare into his eyes. The blue draconic irises reflected in them were still so unfamiliar to see, yet I knew there was no going back.
“You know.” It was a statement not a question.
“I suspected.” He squirmed beneath my gaze, but knew well enough to dare not gaze away.
“Suspected, you say?” I inched my face closer and he wriggled back. “That is past tense.”
“Well, you have essentially just confirmed them.” He tried and failed to sink lower into the floor. “I know better than to look on my own.”
I silently gazed at him, letting him stew for a minute. “Yes…” I finally hissed. “You do know better, don’t you? You aren’t like Twilight Sparkle, are you?”
He gulped. “No… I’m nothing like Twilight Sparkle”
Baring my fangs in a smile at him, I backed up to stand regally before him once more. “Come, then. Perhaps it is time I show somepony my greatest triumph.”
With measured paces, I began to depart, only to stop as it became apparent that there were no hoofsteps trailing me. I glanced back, waiting, and upon seeing me do so he hesitantly crawled forward.
“You can do better than that, Kibitz,” I harrumphed, “I am not about to smite you or anything of that ilk.”
Cautiously he rose to his hooves and crept forward like the floor was littered with broken glass. Upon reaching me I moved forward once more, only to stop yet again as it became apparent he was falling behind. As he saw me do so, something changed in his demeanor and he finally began to trot like any reasonable pony should have.
I, thankfully, did not have to stop again as we traversed the mostly empty halls of the castle.
We walked in silence to the dungeons, although Kibitz breathing did begin to hitch as we descended the stairs into their depths. Very little light made it this deep into the castle, and we were, in fact, entering the mountain itself.
Down, down, down we went in the darkness – my horn briefly lighting to catch Kibitz each time he almost fell. Such was the only light my horn shed, and – from my example – such was there no light whatsoever from his.
Finally, a brief lightening came to the inky blackness. As we turned corner after corner descending the stairs, it became more apparent until we found ourselves before a simple metal door with bars on the window and torchlight shining forth.
The faint sound of sobbing could be heard from within.
“Are you ready, Kibitz?” I whispered to my raggedly breathing companion.
“There…” he stared at the door, biting his lip, “...are no other prisoners?”
I frowned. “I am nothing if not merciful. The rebels shall sleep eternally upon my moon, dreaming of naught but the sunny skies they so clearly wish to shun me for. They can have what they want, so long as I get something in kind.”
Kibitz squirmed, but I payed it no mind. He was allowed a difference of opinion, after all, so long as he did not act upon it. He would come to see the truth in time. Of this, I was sure.
Instead, I walked to the door and opened it – the faint sobbing becoming slightly clearer. There was no need for a lock on this door, after all.
Kibitz crept forward once more, clearly reluctant to enter. Huffing, I brushed ahead of him to enter the cell – if one could call it that. I had wanted to stuff her in a dark, dank, and dirty hole in the ground to never see the sky again, but she had just been so… piteous when I found. The least I could do was give her an actual bed rather than a pile of hay.
And – as she always was – she remained curled up on that bed, sobbing into the pillows I had to conjure for her daily. So weak. So contemptible. So pathetic.
“I’m sorry, Lulu. I’m so, so sorry. Why couldn’t you just forgive me? Why did it come to this? I never wanted this.” The same five sentences, over and over without an end in sight.
“How—” Kibitz choked at the sight, having finally worked up the courage to cross the threshold, “—how long has she been like this? What did you do?”
It took a lot to not smite my seneschal where he stood for that, but I managed not to by promising myself the next poor rebel to talk like that would face that fate instead. I would simply have to make sure I did it out of sight so that Kibitz would believe he joined his brethren on the moon.
“I did nothing,” I hissed. “She was like this when I found her, and she has been like this ever since. Weak and pathetic and vulnerable. Do you see now? She is not worthy of your love.”
“I’m sorry, Lulu. I’m so, so sorry. Why couldn’t you just forgive me? Why did it come to this? I never wanted this.”
Kibitz solemnly stared upon the former sovereign of the sun. “Yes, Your Highness…” he gave a great sigh, “...I think I do see now. It eases a great burden from my withers to know I’ve been doing what I should have all along.
The sun shone down on the gardens of Canterlot. Another day had come, and the meeting with the griffons had been quickly dealt with. It was only natural for me to come here with the free time I had managed to briefly gain. It was the only place for me to go now whenever I had the time.
“I’m sorry, Lulu. I’m so, so sorry. Why couldn’t you just forgive me? Why did it come to this? I never wanted this.”
Tears stained the base of the cold, dull, dead, grey statue in front of me as I sobbed – curling around the rearing hooves of my sister. Kibitz stood behind me, giving me both the space I needed and the support I wanted. He always knew just what to do.
I had an hour and fifty-three minutes to mourn before open court, and he let me have an hour and forty-seven with her. He had to prod me to get my attention at the end, as usual, yet we both never acknowledged the invasion of space. It was a necessary breach of conduct if I was to make it on time.
As we walked away from the statue, I couldn’t help but ask as I always did, “D-do you think she’s having pleasant dreams?”
“I— I don’t know, Your Highness,” Kibitz sighed. “All I can do is assure you that – be it in a dream or in reality – my family shall forever and always continue their sacred duty of serving both the sun and the moon.”
